cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Protective Efficacy of Live Attenuated Salmonella enterica Serovar Gallinarum Vaccine Strains against Fowl Typhoid in Chickens

Salmonella enterica serovar Gallinarum is the etiological agent of fowl typhoid, which constitutes a considerable economic problem for poultry growers in developing countries. The vaccination of chickens seems to be the most effective strategy to control the disease in those areas. We constructed S. Gallinarum strains with a deletion of the global regulatory gene furand evaluated their virulence and protective efficacy in Rhode Island Red chicks and Brown Leghorn layers. The furdeletion mutant was avirulent and, when delivered orally to chicks, elicited excellent protection against lethal S. Gallinarum challenge. It was not as effective when given orally to older birds, although it was highly immunogenic when delivered by intramuscular injection. We also examined the effect of apmimutant and a combination of furdeletions with mutations in the pmiandrfaHgenes, which affect O-antigen synthesis, and ansB, whose product inhibits host T-cell responses. The S. Gallinarumpmimutant was only partially attenuated, and the ansBmutant was fully virulent. The furpmiandfuransBdouble mutants were attenuated but not protective when delivered orally to the chicks. However, a pmifurstrain was highly immunogenic when administered intramuscularly. All together, our results show that the furgene is essential for the virulence of S. Gallinarum, and the furmutant is effective as a live recombinant vaccine against fowl typhoid.
Basic programs to determine sample size and exact power in anova designs

Two BASIC programs are described. The first program calculates the sample size per treatment group (n) required to achieve the desired power in any fixed effect ANOVA design. The second program calculates the power to five decimal accuracy when df 1 , df 2 , alpha, and phi are provided, and can be used to determine the power that will result when an investigator uses some arbitrary sample size
Design of knowledge-based expert systems for time-critical applications

Real-time knowledge-based systems (KBSs) are increasingly used to monitor and control real-time processes. Although a KBS may perform well on the average in terms of computation time, it may fail to deliver results while meeting deadlines in some critical cases. This is not acceptable in a hard real-time system where all timing constraints imposed by the environment must be continuously observed by the embedded computer and the failure to meet a single deadline may be catastrophic. Thus the technology for building a new generation of real-time KBSs must be developed before we can rely on these smart systems to perform complex, safety-critical monitoring and control functions in a real-time environment as we currently do on embedded software programs implemented in procedural languages. In this article, we examine some fundamental issues in the design and development of real-time KBSs including (1) response time analysis, and (2) rule-base optimization and synthesis. >
Rotational legged locomotion

In this paper we presented a novel, agile robot mechanism, which we call a rotopod, which combines aspects of wheeled and legged locomotion. A general description of how a tripedal rotopod can be made to step, rotating the mechanism about one leg, and moving the center of the mechanism, is presented. The concept of a gait for this mechanism is defined, and is used to show how extremely agile the mechanism can be. Specific resistance is employed as a way to explore the relative efficiency of this mechanism versus a wheel. Finally, we describe our first prototype rotopod and report on experiments conducted to characterize stepping
Role of PCSK9 and IDOL in the pathogenesis of acquired LDL receptor deficiency and hypercholesterolemia in nephrotic syndrome

Background. Nephrotic syndrome (NS) leads to elevation of serum total and LDL cholesterol. This is largely due to impaired LDL clearance, which is caused by hepatic LDL receptor (LDLR) deficiency despite normal LDLR mRNA expression, pointing to a post-transcriptional process. The mechanism(s) by which NS causes LDLR deficiency is not known. By promoting degradation of LDLR, Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin type 9 (PCSK9) and inducible degrader of the LDL receptor (IDOL) play a major role in post-translational regulation of LDLR. We, therefore, tested the hypothesis that LDLR deficiency despite its normal gene expression in NS may be due to upregulation of hepatic PCSK9 and IDOL. Methods. LDLR, IDOL and PCSK9 expressions and nuclear translocation of liver X receptor (LXR) that regulates IDOL expression were determined in the liver of rats with puromycin-induced NS and control (CTL) rats. Results. Compared with the CTLs, the NS rats showed marked elevation of serum total and LDL cholesterol and a significant reduction in hepatic LDLR protein expression. This was accompanied by marked upregulation of hepatic PCSK9 and IDOL expressions and heightened LXR activation. Conclusions. LDLR deficiency, hypercholesterolemia and elevated plasma LDL in NS are associated with upregulation of PCSK9 and IDOL. Interventions targeting these pathways may be effective in the management of hypercholesterolemia and the associated cardiovascular and other complications of NS.
The optimal lateral root branching density for maize depends on nitrogen and phosphorus availability

Observed phenotypic variation in the lateral root branching density (LRBD) in maize (Zea mays) is large (1-41 cm(-1) major axis [i.e. brace, crown, seminal, and primary roots]), suggesting that LRBD has varying utility and tradeoffs in specific environments. Using the functional-structural plant model SimRoot, we simulated the three-dimensional development of maize root architectures with varying LRBD and quantified nitrate and phosphorus uptake, root competition, and whole-plant carbon balances in soils varying in the availability of these nutrients. Sparsely spaced (less than 7 branches cm(-1)), long laterals were optimal for nitrate acquisition, while densely spaced (more than 9 branches cm(-1)), short laterals were optimal for phosphorus acquisition. The nitrate results are mostly explained by the strong competition between lateral roots for nitrate, which causes increasing LRBD to decrease the uptake per unit root length, while the carbon budgets of the plant do not permit greater total root length (i.e. individual roots in the high-LRBD plants stay shorter). Competition and carbon limitations for growth play less of a role for phosphorus uptake, and consequently increasing LRBD results in greater root length and uptake. We conclude that the optimal LRBD depends on the relative availability of nitrate (a mobile soil resource) and phosphorus (an immobile soil resource) and is greater in environments with greater carbon fixation. The median LRBD reported in several field screens was 6 branches cm(-1), suggesting that most genotypes have an LRBD that balances the acquisition of both nutrients. LRBD merits additional investigation as a potential breeding target for greater nutrient acquisition.
Spiral inductor model extraction: A survey of the field

Equivalent circuit model extraction of spiral inductors is an active area of research. Uses of equivalent circuit extraction range from simply providing insight to a designer, to allowing for automated design optimization. Over the years, many equivalent circuit topologies have been proposed for modeling spiral inductors. A history of the development of such topologies is presented. The extraction of one such topology is demonstrated.
Claiming Our Soul

Abstract This article describes an “empowerment” group that was managed by mostly African-American women inmates at a prison facility in conjunction with a non-inmate “outside” sponsor and the ways in which the women used the group to address issues of loss of identity and role, grief, cultural and community isolation, spirituality, and recovery from addiction. Implications for social work practice are discussed.
Evidence for a luteinizing hormone surge center in the hypothalamus of the pig.

Studies were conducted to determine whether there is an LH surge generator in the hypothalamus of the pig. In experiment 1, 157-day-old ovariectomized (OVX) gilts received 1.5 microg estradiol benzoate (EB)/kg BW i.m. every 12 h from 0 through 24, 48, 72, or 96 h. Blood was sampled every 6 h from 3 to 36 h and every 3 h from 36 through 144 h. One of 3, 4 of 4, 4 of 4, and 2 of 3 gilts displayed an LH surge after treatment for 24, 48, 72, and 96 h, respectively. With the exception that time to maximum LH concentration was greater in gilts treated for 96 h than in those treated for 72 h (p < 0.05), parameters of the surge were similar among all gilts. In experiment 2a, an Alzet osmotic pump containing EB or vehicle was inserted s.c. behind an ear of 124-day-old OVX gilts, resulting in the following daily doses of EB: 0, 0.75, 1.50, or 3.00 microg/kg BW. Blood was sampled at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 h and every 8 h thereafter through 168 h to evaluate surge secretion of LH, and every 15 min for 8 h starting at 168 h to evaluate pulsatile LH secretion. Zero of 3, 0 of 2, 3 of 3, and 3 of 3 gilts displayed an LH surge after 0, 0.75, 1.50, and 3.00 microg EB/kg BW, respectively. Parameters of the surge were similar among gilts. Pulsatile LH secretion, evaluated 7 days after pump insertion, was significantly suppressed for estradiol-treated gilts compared to controls. In experiment 2b, at 182 days of age, 10 gilts used in experiment 2a plus 2 additional gilts in the original group prepared but not used for experiment 2a, were randomly assigned in groups (n=3) to the following daily doses of EB: 0, 0.19, 0.38, or 0.75 microg/kg BW, administered again by osmotic pump. Treatment and blood-sampling schedules were the same as in experiment 2a. Zero, 0, 1, and 2 gilts displayed an LH surge after treatment with 0, 0.19, 0.38, and 0.75 microg EB/kg BW, respectively. Parameters of the surge were similar among gilts that displayed an LH surge. Pulsatile LH secretion was significantly suppressed for estradiol-treated gilts compared to controls. Thus, the LH surge resulted from positive feedback stimulation of a specific surge generator rather than attenuation or dissipation of negative feedback inhibition of estradiol on a pulse generator.
Long-term symptomatic control of Zenker diverticulum by flexible endoscopic mucomyotomy with the hook knife and predisposing factors for clinical recurrence.

ABSTRACTObjective Flexible endoscopic treatment for Zenker diverticulum (ZD) is well established. Although recurrence of symptoms is relatively frequent, it has hardly been studied. In the present study, we analyse the long-term development of ZD patients’ symptoms after successful endoscopic mucomyotomy, as well as interventional safety, sustainability of success, and predisposing factors for clinical recurrence. Methods Forty-six consecutive patients (54% male, mean age 67 years) with symptomatic ZD were treated using a hook knife and soft diverticuloscope. Follow-up interviews at 1 and 6 months inquired about a broad pool of symptoms and the dysphagia score. For further analysis, patients were retrospectively stratified into a ‘recurrence’ and ‘no recurrence’ group. Results After 100% initial success, 30% of patients reported recurrence of symptoms after 4.4 months (range 1-40) and were re-treated (mean 1.39 sessions/patient). Though the ‘recurrence’ group showed a higher dysphagia score and frequency ...
Overall performance evaluation of embedded microchannel cooling layers for 3D architecture chips

Modern manufacturing processes have allowed construction of 3D integrated circuits (IC) with embedded cooling. This technology has been proven to be the most effective solution for dissipating the high heat fluxes of up to 100 W/cm2 generated during the operation of 3D IC chips. Recent published works indicate that it is possible to maintain the maximum surface temperature below the allowable limits for electronic devices (358 K or 85 °C) with low pumping power requirements. A microchannel cooling layer suitable for 3D IC applications is numerically analyzed in this work. The chip area considered is 10 mm × 10 mm and the thickness of the walls between channels is 100 µm. 3 different width levels and 7 different height levels are considered. A total of 21 configurations are simulated. The total heat supplied to the cooling layer is 200 W. The volumetric flow rate is constant for all simulations and its value corresponds to the flow rate required to keep the maximum surface temperature of the base configuration (890 µm width and 100 µm height) at 85 °C. The overall performance of microchannel a microchannel cooling layer with similar geometry as the base configuration has been recommended in the literature for 3D IC applications. Results from this investigation indicate that the overall performance of the microchannel cooling layer is improved for channels with high height to width ratios. The recommended configurations lead to similar pumping powers, but the reduction in maximum surface temperature is near 35 °C as compared with the base configuration.
Motor Efficiency

The results of a motor-efficiency study conducted on a project that required nine medium-voltage motors are presented. Motor-efficiency economics, motor-design parameters that effect efficiency, motor-application factors relevant to efficiency, and efficiency testing will be discussed.
Creatinine, potassium, and virus content of the muscles following infection with the Coxsackie virus.

SummaryInfection of unweaned mice with certain strains of “Coxsackie virus” is followed by loss of muscle potassium and creatinine and by creatinuria.The muscles of paralyzed mice are highly infectious.
Performance Estimation of Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Using Artificial Neural Network

A direct methanol fuel cell can convert chemical energy in the form of a liquid fuel into electrical energy to power devices, while simultaneously operating at low temperatures and producing virtually no greenhouse gases. Since the direct methanol fuel cell performance characteristics are inherently nonlinear and complex, it can be postulated that artificial neural networks represent a marked improvement in performance prediction capabilities. Artificial neural networks have long been used as a tool in predictive modeling. In this work, an artificial neural network is employed to predict the performance of a direct methanol fuel cell under various operating conditions. This work on the experimental analysis of a uniquely designed fuel cell and the computational modeling of a unique algorithm has not been found in prior literature outside of the authors and their affiliations. The fuel cell input variables for the performance analysis consist not only of the methanol concentration, fuel cell temperature, and current density, but also the number of cells and anode flow rate. The addition of the two typically unconventional variables allows for a more distinctive model when compared to prior neural network models. The key performance indicator of our neural network model is the cell voltage, which is an average voltage across the stack and ranges from 0 to 0:8V. Experimental studies were carried out using DMFC stacks custom-fabricated, with a membrane electrode assembly consisting of an additional unique liquid barrier layer to minimize water loss through the cathode side to the atmosphere. To determine the best fit of the model to the experimental cell voltage data, the model is trained using two different second order training algorithms: OWO-Newton and Levenberg-Marquardt (LM). The OWO-Newton algorithm has a topology that is slightly different from the topology of the LM algorithm by the employment of bypass weights. It can be concluded that the application of artificial neural networks can rapidly construct a predictive model of the cell voltage for a wide range of operating conditions with an accuracy of 10−3 to 10−4. The results were comparable with existing literature. The added dimensionality of the number of cells provided insight into scalability where the coefficient of the determination of the results for the two multi-cell stacks using LM algorithm were up to 0:9998. The model was also evaluated with empirical data of a single-cell stack.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Improving Early Identification and Ongoing Care of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Poor adherence to recommended screening for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and pediatricians’ lack of confidence in providing care for children with ASD reflect quality gaps in primary care. This study aimed to increase the proportion of toddlers screened for ASD and improve physicians’ self-efficacy in providing care to children with ASD. METHODS: Twenty-six Utah primary care practices participated in a 3 to 6 month learning collaborative (LC) to improve identification and ongoing care of children with ASD. Monthly chart audits assessed whether an ASD screening tool was administered at 18- and 24-month visits. Physicians completed pre-LC and post-LC surveys to assess changes in self-efficacy in providing care and changes in perceived barriers to implementation of screening and caring for children with ASD. RESULTS: Before the LC, 15% of 18- and 24-month visits had documented ASD screening, compared with 91% during the last month of the LC ( P CONCLUSIONS: The LC was effective in increasing and sustaining recommended ASD screening of toddlers and improving physicians’ perceived self-efficacy in caring for children with ASD. Improving primary care screening, skills, and knowledge may improve the timing of diagnosis, initiation of treatment, quality of care, and outcomes for children with ASD.
Goal-Setting Interventions for Students with Behavior Problems: A Systematic Review:

Students with persistent behavior problems, including those with or at risk for emotional or behavioral disorders, often struggle to be self-regulated learners. To improve self-regulation skills, n...
Why Nato Endures: The Curious Relationship

A curious relationship has developed within the Atlantic Alliance, also known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), since its inception in 1949. NATO is widely regarded as the most successful alliance ever, and statesmen on both sides of the Atlantic have lavished praise upon it. They also complain incessantly about its shortcomings, most of which they blame on their counterparts across the sea. These complaints have not gone unnoticed by observers in the press and academia, who have been quick to pronounce the Alliance “in crisis,” or even on the brink of collapse. Looking back over the history of the Alliance, there seems to have been scarcely a year when it was not widely said to be in crisis, or at least in disarray. Is it really the case that NATO is perpetually on the brink of collapse? Claims that NATO is in crisis have been frequent in no small part because the idea of a crisis is a useful one for insiders and outsiders alike. For insiders, warning of an actual or impending crisis is the rhetorical equivalent of a shot across the bow – a way of serving notice that trouble is brewing and something should be done about it forthwith. For outsiders, a crisis in the Alliance is the rhetorical equivalent of an alarm bell – a way of dramatizing a problem that might otherwise be dismissed as unworthy of space on a prestigious op-ed page or in a scholarly journal.
Enhancing Palpation Skills Through the Use of Stereognosis Drills

Context: Musculoskeletal palpation is taught in our athletic training programs as part of the injury evaluation process. However, as palpation skills are taught, the focus is oftentimes on accuracy of surface-anatomy landmarks instead of the ability to discriminate qualitative information such as tissue tone, spasm, or pain response from the soft tissue. Because palpation is foundational for evaluation and intervention, a need exists for further development of this skill. Objective: Provide educators with instructional techniques to enhance palpation skills. Background: Manual medicine techniques are increasingly common in athletic training and require superb palpation and soft tissue discrimination skills. The ability to detect large and small differences in tissue qualities during orthopaedic evaluation can lead to a more accurate assessment as well as enhance manual medicine intervention techniques. Description: We describe 4 activities to enhance palpation skills (coin discrimination, sheet tension, v...
Preclinical findings predicting efficacy and side-effect profile of LY2940094, an antagonist of nociceptin receptors

Nociceptin/Orphanin FQ (N/OFQ) is a 17 amino acid peptide whose receptor is designated ORL1 or nociceptin receptor (NOP). We utilized a potent, selective, and orally bioavailable antagonist with documented engagement with NOP receptors in vivo to assess antidepressant- and anxiolytic-related pharmacological effects of NOP receptor blockade along with measures of cognitive and motor impingement. LY2940094 ([2-[4-[(2-chloro-4,4-difluoro-spiro[5H-thieno[2,3-c]pyran-7,4'-piperidine]-1'-yl)methyl]-3-methyl-pyrazol-1-yl]-3-pyridyl]methanol) displayed antidepressant-like behavioral effects in the forced-swim test in mice, an effect absent in NOP -/- mice. LY2940094 also augmented the behavioral effect of fluoxetine without changing target occupancies (NOP and serotonin reuptake transporter [SERT]). LY2940094 did not have effects under a differential-reinforcement of low rate schedule. Although anxiolytic-like effects were not observed in some animal models (conditioned suppression, 4-plate test, novelty-suppressed feeding), LY2940094 had effects like that of anxiolytic drugs in three assays: fear-conditioned freezing in mice, stress-induced increases in cerebellar cGMP in mice, and stress-induced hyperthermia in rats. These are the first reports of anxiolytic-like activity with a systemically viable NOP receptor antagonist. LY2940094 did not disrupt performance in either a 5-choice serial reaction time or delayed matching-to-position assay. LY2940094 was also not an activator or suppressor of locomotion in rodents nor did it induce failures of rotarod performance. These data suggest that LY2940094 has unique antidepressant- and anxiolytic-related pharmacological effects in rodents. Clinical proof of concept data on this molecule in depressed patients have been reported elsewhere.
Dynamics of Value Creation, Capture, and Erosion: Towards a Theory of Firm Sustainability

Wikipedia defines sustainability as “the capacity to endure.” In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework to provide a basis for a theory of firm sustainability. Our framework is premised on three fundamental assumptions: 1) Firm sustainability is a function of value creation (+), value capture (+), and value erosion (−) in served markets, 2) Value creation, value capture, and value erosion are dynamic, related, and interdependent processes 3) a theory of firm sustainability is interdisciplinary. Value is the cornerstone of modern market analysis. Hence our framework is rooted in three interrelated, yet distinct processes that comprise the foundation of all business activity: value creation, value capture, and value erosion. A firm’s capacity to sustain is determined by its ability to create value, capture value, and counter value erosion in its served markets. In this paper, we meld research streams from marketing, organizational theory, and strategic management to forge an understanding of value and initiate a broader discussion and research on firm sustainability.
High-Resolution, Fully Distributed Hydrologic Event-Based Simulations Over a Large Watershed in Texas

The spatial variability of watershed characteristics has to be considered in detail when developing a flood prediction model because it has great influence on the generation of runoff and other hydrologic processes. Physically based, distributed-parameter models can use detailed watershed data that are becoming more readily available to improve hydrologic simulations. However, the computational penalty can be very high for simulations over large catchments. In this study, a physically based, distributed-parameter hydrologic model was used to simulate different flooding events over an 11,285 $$\hbox {km}^{2}$$ basin at 150 m $$\times $$ 150 m grid resolution. To overcome the computational demand, the model was run on nine sub-catchments separately, without losing hydrologic connectivity among the sub-catchments. The outflow from an upstream sub-basin was used as the inflow into the next sub-basin, allowing this inflow to join the flow generated in the downstream sub-basin in a dynamic mode. Rainfall data from weather radar were used as input. This approach also allowed excluding certain sub-basins from the model simulations without affecting the hydrologic connectivity. A calibration was performed on one sub-basin only, and then, the model was validated over the entire watershed. The simulation results were reasonable and similar to results from single catchment simulations. By using this approach, it was possible to employ observed stream discharge at interior points of a catchment as part of the model inputs. It will also make it possible to run fully distributed, physically based models over very large catchments at very high resolution.
Broadband supercontinuum generation in tapered multimode graded-index optical fibers

We experimentally demonstrate for the first time uniform and broadband supercontinuum generation in long tapered multimode fibers. This is achieved through an accelerated geometric parametric instability that forces the sidebands towards higher/lower frequencies.
Robust Fréchet Mean and PGA on Riemannian Manifolds with Applications to Neuroimaging

In this paper, we present novel algorithms to compute robust statistics from manifold-valued data. Specifically, we present algorithms for estimating the robust Frechet Mean (FM) and performing a robust exact-principal geodesic analysis (ePGA) for data lying on known Riemannian manifolds. We formulate the minimization problems involved in both these problems using the minimum distance estimator called the L\(_2\)E. This leads to a nonlinear optimization which is solved efficiently using a Riemannian accelerated gradient descent technique. We present competitive performance results of our algorithms applied to synthetic data with outliers, the corpus callosum shapes extracted from OASIS MRI database, and diffusion MRI scans from movement disorder patients respectively.
Etalon-based fiber optic sensors

Progress in the development of fiber sensors with the Fabry-Perot interferometer (etalon) configuration is reviewed. Fabrication methods and performance results for intrinsic and extrinsic sensors are presented. Application of these devices in measuring temperature, strain, ultrasonic pressure, and gas pressure in internal combustion engines is described. Techniques by which the fiber Fabry-Perot sensors have been successfully embedded in composites and metals are indicated.
An ultra-low-power wake-up receiver with voltage-multiplying self-mixer and interferer-enhanced sensitivity

A 0.5V self-mixer-first 550MHz 220nW wake-up receiver in 0.13μm CMOS has a −56.4dBm sensitivity at 36.36kbps and an energy consumption of 6.1pJ/bit. A 10-stage voltage-multiplying self-mixer using MOS transistors in weak inversion consumes 2.7nW and offers multi-stage conversion gain at baseband. In the presence of a −43.5dBm PM interferer, the alternate 1.1uW high frequency baseband path in the receiver offers an enhanced sensitivity of −63.6dBm.
SOMO–HOMO Level Inversion in Biologically Important Radicals

Conventionally, the singly occupied molecular orbital (SOMO) of a radical species is considered to be the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), but this is not the case always. In this study, we considered a number of radicals from smallest diatomic anion radicals such as superoxide anion radical to one-electron oxidized DNA related base radicals that show the SOMO is energetically lower than one or more doubly occupied molecular orbitals (MOs) (SOMO–HOMO level inversion). The electronic configurations are calculated employing the B3LYP/6-31++G** method, with the inclusion of aqueous phase via the integral equation formalism of the polarized continuum model solvation model. From the extensive study of the electronic configurations of radicals produced by one-electron oxidation or reduction of natural-DNA bases, bromine-, sulfur-, selenium-, and aza-substituted DNA bases, as well as 20 diatomic molecules, we highlight the following important findings: (i) SOMO–HOMO level inversion is a common phenomen...
Spectral asymmetry of atoms in the van der Waals potential of an optical nanofiber

We measure the modification of the transmission spectra of cold $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms in the proximity of an optical nanofiber (ONF). Van der Waals interactions between the atoms an the ONF surface decrease the resonance frequency of atoms closer to the surface. An asymmetric spectra of the atoms holds information of their spatial distribution around the ONF. We use a far-detuned laser beam coupled to the ONF to thermally excite atoms at the ONF surface. We study the change of transmission spectrum of these atoms as a function of heating laser power. A semiclassical phenomenological model for the thermal excitation of atoms in the atom-surface van der Waals bound states is in good agreement with the measurements. This result suggests that van der Waals potentials could be used to trap and probe atoms at few nanometers from a dielectric surface, a key tool for hybrid photonic-atomic quantum systems.
Research Article: Assessing the impact of coal ash exposure on soil microbes in the Dan River

Abstract. In February of 2014, over 50,000 tons of coal ash was spilled from a retired power plant into the Dan River of North Carolina. Coal ash exposure can have either positive or negative effects on an ecosystem, largely depending on the concentration and species of the heavy metals it contains. The resulting alterations within an ecosystem can include both abiotic factors, such as the pH of contaminated soils or waterways, and biotic factors, including the viability and diversity of exposed organisms. Herein, we report that one year following the coal ash spill into the Dan River significant differences were observed in several abiotic factors of contaminated bank and channel soils, including pH and content of chromium, sulfur, and calcium. Furthermore, the density, diversity, and fitness of the microbes in soils exposed to coal ash were also altered when compared to reference samples. The implications of these variations are discussed.
An L1-minimization based algorithm to measure the redundancy of state estimators in large sensor systems

Linear models have been successfully used to establish the connections between sensor measurements and system states in sensor networks. Finding the degree of redundancy for structured linear systems is proven to be NP-hard. Previously bound-and-decompose, 0–1 mixed integer programming and hybrid algorithms embedding 0–1 mixed integer feasibility checking within a bound-and-decompose framework have all been proposed and compared in the literature. In this paper, we exploit the computational efficiency of linear programs to present a novel heuristic algorithm which solves a series of l 1 -norm minimization problems in a specific framework to find extremely good solutions to this problem in remarkably small runtime.
Getting Started in Optimization: Problems of a Single Variable

One measure of the size of an optimization problem is the number of design variables – more design variables imply a larger and, thus, more challenging optimization problem. It’s helpful to start with problems of a single variable in order to become comfortable with the overall ideas in optimization before moving on to problems with more variables. It helps, also, that methods which work for any number of variables sometimes include a step that uses single variable methods.
Tissue factor promoter polymorphism as a prognostic factor in patients with metastatic colon cancer

4108 Background: Tissue Factor (TF), a transmembrane glycoprotein, initiates the physiologic coagulation cascade. Cumulative evidence implies that TF plays a key role in tumor angiogenesis. Elevate...
Issues of Age and Health

Knowing the age of people tells us something about their physical health. It also tells us something about their cognitive abilities, accumulated knowledge, coping strategies, and environment. Age tells us what kinds of historical events people have lived through, what their daily activities and concerns might be, and how others might perceive their abilities. Not surprisingly, age is an important variable for health psychology.
Privacy, Identity, Databases: Toward a New Conception of the Consumer Privacy Discourse

The past several decades have been characterized by a growing concern over consumer privacy. Aided by advances in technology, many corporations routinely compile records of consumer transactions into vast databases. The resulting dossiers of personally identifiable data are then sold to direct marketers or by data collectors themselves. Not surprisingly, many legal scholars have deemed these developments an unprecedented threat to personal privacy. However, despite the liveliness of the debate on the topic, the current discourse on privacy has failed to articulate a compelling rationale for protecting consumer information. Legal scholars often merely assume that records of routine consumer transactions are inherently private. Several other rationales have been proposed. Some scholars suggest that collection of consumer data is an affront to personal dignity, others treat it as an Orwellian monitoring of everyday activities, while some scholars argue that data collection deprives consumers of a property interest in their information. This article argues that these rationales are either too vague, too broad, too narrow or simply based on factually incorrect assumptions. Furthermore, the current privacy discourse tends to overlook the cultural context of data collection. Finally, many scholars overlook the economic and social efficiency of data collection. Instead, this paper proposes a new, more sophisticated rationale for limiting access to consumer information. It develops a legal definition of privacy that encompasses both the cultural meaning of consumer data collection and the established principles of privacy law. Through an exploration of the Supreme Court jurisprudence, it finds that, at heart, privacy law protects not personal information per se but rather only information that is expressive of identity. Given this theoretical framework, the paper proceeds to locate a privacy interest in consumer data. Consumption is the central activity of contemporary society. Our choice of products and brands is expressive of our consumer identity, which in turn is closely related to our identity as individuals. Accordingly, since consumption choices are an expression of personal identity, we can effectively employ the principles of privacy law to control the collection and sale of consumer information. This innovative approach avoids the pitfalls of the current privacy discourse, and provides a solid conceptual foundation for tackling privacy issues in the Information Age.
Men's Reactions to Hypothetical Forceful Sexual Advances from Women: The Role of Sexual Standards, Relationship Availability, and the Beauty Bias

The study investigated 142 college men's reactions to a vignette in which they were to imagine receiving a physically forceful sexual advance from a female casual acquaintance. Participants were predominantly middle-class Caucasian students from psychology classes. Results revealed that men with more restricted sexual standards had significantly more negative reactions to the advance than did men with less restricted standards. Further, only 16% of men with more restricted sexual standards, compared to 34% of men with less restricted standards, said they would consent to sex with the vignette woman. Men who were instructed to assume that they had a girlfriend in the scenario situation had more negative reactions to the advance than did men who assumed that they did not have a girlfriend. Evidence was found for a beauty bias: men who read that the initiator was average looking had less positive reactions than did men who read that the initiator was very attractive. Results add support to the authors' Sexual Opportunity Model explaining men's reactions to coercive sexual contact with women.
Transforming Threads into Actors: Learning Concurrency Structure from Execution Traces

The threads and shared memory model is still the most commonly used programming model. However, programs written using threads interacting with shared memory model are notoriously bug-prone and hard to comprehend. An important reason for this lack of comprehensibility is thread based programs obscure the natural structure of concurrency in a distributed world: actors executing autonomously with their own internal logic and interacting at arms length with each other. While actors encapsulate their internal state, enabling consistency invariants of the data structures to be maintained locally, thread-based programs use control-centric synchronization primitives (such as locks) that are divorced from the concurrency structure of a program. Making the concurrency structure explicit provides useful documentation for developers. Moreover, it may be useful for refactoring thread-based object-oriented programs into an actor-oriented programs based on message-passing and isolated state. We present a novel algorithm based on Bayesian inference that automatically infers the concurrency structure of programs from their traces. The concurrency structure is inferred as consistency invariants of program data, and expressed in terms of annotations on data fields and method parameters. We illustrate our algorithm on Java programs using type annotations in Java classes and suggest how such annotations may be useful.
Community Noise and Air Pollution Exposure During the Development of a Multi-Well Oil and Gas Pad.

Unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) in the United States is increasingly being conducted on multiwell pads (MWPs) and in residential areas. We measured air pollution, noise, and truck tra...
DIFFERENTIAL INFLUENCE OF mRNA CAP METABOLISM ON PROTEIN SYNTHESIS IN DIFFERENTIATING EMBRYONIC CHICK LENS CELLS

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the differential influence of mRNA cap metabolism on protein synthesis in differentiating embryonic chick lens cells. In an experiment described in the chapter, a homologous cell-free translation system, derived from differentiating cells obtained from 15-day embryonic chick lenses, efficiently utilizedendogenous lens mRNA for the synthesis of lens polypeptides. The incorporation of [35s]-methoinine into lens polypeptides indicated that differential synthesis of lens proteins was altered in response to the accumulation of mRNA caps. IP7GMP, specifically released from short m7GMP-containing capped oligonucleotides, but not from m7GMP-containing capped mRNA by a m7GpppN-pyro-phosphatase activity, is associated with a differential increase in lens polypeptide chain synthesis. Product inhibition of the m7GpppN-pyro-phosphatase by m7GMP is relieved by conversion of m7GMP to m7Guanine and ribose-5-phosphate. Decreased levels of m7GMP are associated with increased levels of endogenous mRNA translation.
Comparison of porous and nonporous hydroxyapatite and anorganic xenografts in the restoration of alveolar ridges

This paper reports the results of surgical investigation of three types of hydroxyapatite implanted in ten adult Macaca fascicularis monkeys. The hydroxyapatite was placed in edentulous alveolar ridges of the animals. Three types of implants were evaluated-porous hydroxyapatite, nonporous granular hydroxyapatite, and xenografts of bovine bone. The results indicated that all three implants increased the thickness and height of the alveolar ridge. The anorganic xenogeneic bone was more effective in being replaced by host bone than either the porous or nonporous hydroxyapatite. Bony ingrowth into the hydroxyapatite in the porous implants was more extensive than bony growth around nonporous particles.
Intervention principles in pediatric health care: the difference between physicians and the state

According to various accounts, intervention in pediatric decisions is justified either by the best interests standard or by the harm principle. While these principles have various nuances that distinguish them from each other, they are similar in the sense that both focus primarily on the features of parental decisions that justify intervention, rather than on the competency or authority of the parties that intervene. Accounts of these principles effectively suggest that intervention in pediatric decision making is warranted for both physicians and the state under precisely the same circumstances. This essay argues that there are substantial differences in the competencies and authorities of physicians and the state, and that the principles that guide their interventions should also be conceived differently. While both the best interests standard and the harm principle effectively incorporate important aspects of physicians’ ethical obligations, neither adequately reflects the state’s ethical obligations. In contrast to physicians, the state has major obligations of distributive justice and neutrality that should form an integral part of any proposed ethical principles guiding state intervention in pediatric decision making. The differences are illustrated by examining recent cases involving parental refusal of chemotherapy in aboriginal Canadian communities and parental refusal of blood transfusions by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Comparison of Frozen Sections and Nonlinear Imaging for Evaluation of Mohs Surgical Margins

Rapid fluorescent labeling combined with optical sectioning and H&E-rendering algorithms can provide histological imaging of surgical specimens more rapidly than frozen sections by avoiding the need to freeze tissue and physically cut slides. Using a novel protocol that enables precise coregistration of nonlinear microscopy (NLM) and diagnostic frozen sections (FSA) produced during Mohs surgery, we present the results of a study comparing the relative accuracy of NLM and FSA.
Evaluation of the bandwidths and spatial resolutions achievable with near-infrared observations of venus below the cloud deck

Abstract We identified potential atmospheric windows with which to study the Venusian surface on the nightside and calculated the approximate scattering footprint as would be seen by a prospective aerial mission. The emission from the surface, its scattering through the atmosphere, and the emission from the atmosphere were calculated from the surface to various heights beneath the cloud deck. We explored the effects of different sensor altitudes, varying surface emissivity, variation in elevation causing changes in surface temperature, and variations in the temperature profile, on the possible surface viewing atmospheric windows. The effects of surface emissivity and surface elevation dominated, and those of sensor altitude and variation in temperature profile are relatively small. The prospective windows are largely expanded versions of previously identified windows that have been exploited by satellites and ground-based observation with an additional window centered at 1.27 μm. Any mission that exploits the improved visibility beneath the cloud decks should make use of 0.7–1.0, 1.1, and 1.27 μm windows, as these provide a comprehensive ability to extract information about the surface. We explored the effect of sensor altitude and surface elevation on the scattering footprint. The scattering footprint beneath the cloud deck varies from ~15 to 5 km depending on wavelength at our nominal altitude of 40 km, a significant improvement over the 50–100 km footprint for orbiting satellites. Lowering the sensor altitude only mildly reduces the scattering footprint, as most scattering is caused by the dense lowermost atmosphere. Increased surface elevation reduces the scattering footprint. We concluded that regions elevated above the mean planetary radius represent the best targets as these have the greatest amount of the electromagnetic spectrum identified as surface viewing atmospheric windows and the smallest scattering footprint. These windows have the potential to elucidate questions about the composition and redox state of the surface of Venus, even for low emissivity materials (e.g., fine-grained hematite at e ~0.5), which have important implications for the evolution of the planet.
Collagen receptor- and metalloproteinase-dependent hypertensive stress response in mesangial and glomerular endothelial cells

Progressive alteration of the extracellular matrix (ECM) is the characteristic of hypertensive nephropathy (HN). Both mesangial and endothelial cells have the ability to synthesize and degrade ECM components, including collagens through the activation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in stress conditions, such as in hypertension. On the other hand, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been shown to mitigate hypertensive renal matrix remodeling. Surprisingly, whether H2S ameliorates receptor-mediated (urokinase plasminogen activator receptor-associated protein, uPARAP/Endo180) collagen dysregulation in Ang-II hypertension is not clear. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Ang-II alters the expression of Endo180, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), MMPs, and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs) leading to the dysregulation of cellular collagen homeostasis and whether H2S mitigates the collagen turnover. Mouse mesangial cells (MCs) and glomerular endothelial cells (MGECs) were treated without or with Ang-II and H2S donor GYY (GYY4137) for 48 h. Cell lysates were analyzed by Western blot and RT-PCR, and cells were analyzed by immunocytochemistry. The results indicated that, while Ang-II differentially expressed MMP-13 and TIMP-1 in MCs and in MGECs, it predominantly decreased tPA, Endo 180, and increased plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), MMP-14, and collagen IIIA and IV in both the cell types. Interestingly, H2S donor GYY treatment normalized the above changes in both the cell types. We conclude that Ang-II treatment causes ECM remodeling in MCs and MGECs through PAI-1/tPA/Endo180 and MMP/TIMP-dependent collagen remodeling, and H2S treatment mitigates remodeling, in part, by modulating these pathways.