cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Downregulation of RAD17 in head and neck cancer.

Background. DNA repair genes play a critical role in maintaining genome stability and have been implicated in tumorigenesis. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) often shows chromosomal instability. We examined the expression of human RAD17, a DNA damage cell cycle checkpoint gene, in primary head and neck cancer tissue. Methods. Significance analysis of microarrays was applied to expression array results examining more than 12,000 genes in 7 samples of primary HNSCC and 6 samples of normal control oral epithelial tissue. Additional confirmation was performed by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in these samples and western blot with an additional 12 primary HNSCC and 7 normal samples, followed by loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis and quantitative PCR at the RAD17 locus. Results. Multiple checkpoint and DNA repair genes were downregulated in primary head and neck tumor tissue compared with normal control epithelial tissue, including hRAD17. Its Z-score and fold change were −2.5 and 0.39, respectively. The results of normalized, quantitative RT-PCR showed decreased expression of hRAD17 mRNA in tumor tissue (mean value 0.2166) when compared with normal tissue (mean value 0.3957, p < .05). Western blot demonstrated undetectable expression of hRAD17 protein in primary tumor tissue (0/12), while there was strong expression of hRAD17 protein in normal oral mucosal tissue (6/7). To determine possible mechanisms of inactivation, the hRAD17 locus at 5q13 was analyzed using microsatellite markers, showing 70% LOH in 30 primary HNSCCs. Quantitative PCR showed that RAD17 DNA copy number was decreased in the majority of head and neck tumor tissue samples. Conclusion. Loss of hRAD17 expression occurs frequently in HNSCC, is often due to genomic deletion, and may facilitate genomic instability in HNSCC. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2008
Tree-based modeling of complex interactions of phosphorus loadings and environmental factors

article i nfo Phosphorus (P) enrichment has been observed in the historic oligotrophic Greater Everglades in Florida mainly due to P influx from upstream, agriculturally dominated, low relief drainage basins of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). Our specific objectives were to: (1) investigate relationships between various environmental factors and P loads in 10 farm basins within the EAA, (2) identify those environmental factors that impart major effects on P loads using three different tree-based modeling approaches, and (3) evaluate predictive models to assess P loads. We assembled thirteen environmental variable sets for all 10 sub-basins characterizing water level management, cropping practices, soils, hydrology, and farm-specific properties. Drainage flow and P concentrations were measured at each sub-basin outlet from 1992-2002 and aggregated to derive monthly P loads. We used three different tree-based models including single regression trees (ST), committee trees in Bagging (CTb) and ARCing (CTa) modes and ten-fold cross-validation to test prediction performances. The monthly P loads (MPL) during the monitoring period showed a maximum of 2528 kg (mean: 103 kg) and maximum monthly unit area P loads (UAL) of 4.88 kg P ha −1 (mean: 0.16 kg P ha −1 ). Our results suggest that hydrologic/water management properties are the major controlling variables to predict MPL and UAL in the EAA. Tree-based modeling was successful in identifying relationships between P loads and environmental predictor variables on 10 farms in the EAA indicated by high R 2
Phthalocyanine Photodynamic Therapy of Experimental Iris Neovascularization

Photodynamic therapy using chloroaluminum sulfonated phthalocyanine (CASPc) effectively closed experimental iris neovascularization induced in 6 eyes of cynomolgus monkeys by argon laser retinal vein occlusion. Neovascularization was followed by iris photography, fluorescein angiography, and histopathologic examination by light and electron microscopy. Intravenous injection of CASPc followed by irradiation with 675 nm light damaged endothelial cells and pericytes, leading to exposure of the basal lamina and thrombotic occlusion of the blood vessels. Surrounding tissue appeared preserved without evidence of thermal damage. Resorption of occluded vessels by macrophages began 2 to 3 days after photodynamic therapy. Neovascularization reappeared 7 days after photodynamic therapy, probably representing growth of new vessels. Photodynamic therapy with CASPc may be a useful adjunct in the treatment of iris neovascularization. The model is useful in elucidating the ultrastructural changes observed after photodynamic therapy using phthalocyanines.
Parallel turbo-sum-product decoder architecture for quasi-cyclic LDPC codes

In this paper, we first propose a parallel turbo-sum-product (PTSP) decoding algorithm for quasi-cyclic (QC) low-density parity-check codes, and show that our proposed algorithm achieves better error performance and faster convergence than the sum-product (SP) or overlapped SP (OSP) algorithm. Based on our PTSP algorithm, we then propose a partly parallel decoder architecture, which requires smaller memory size, less memory access and power consumption, and simpler control than decoder architectures based on the OSP algorithm.
WHAT IS ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL MISUSE IN THE UNITED STATES ACCORDING TO THE EXPERTS

A self-administered 16-page questionnaire eliciting opinions about cut-off points for alcohol misuse was mailed to ten experts (seven men, three women) in alcohol research and treatment. These experts were selected to be representative of alcohol investigators from universities and research institutions from across the United States of America. Experts were asked to provide input with respect to frequency-qua ntity of alcohol use, high-risk drinking, and negative consequences items. Results revealed considerable variability in opinion about the different indicators of alcohol misuse. Exact agreement between different alcohol-use experts was rare. Reliability estimates revealed highest agreement for indicators of high-risk drinking, followed by negative consequences, and then frequency-quantity. Comments from the experts indicated that most felt that frequency and quantity should be considered together rather than separately. As expected, recommended cut-off points for alcohol misuse varied by age of the drinker, with more leeway given to older than younger adolescents.
Peak-to-mean power control in OFDM, Golay complementary sequences and Reed-Muller codes

We present a range of coding schemes for OFDM transmission using binary, quaternary, octary, and higher order modulation that give high code rates for moderate numbers of carriers. These schemes have tightly bounded peak-to-mean envelope power ratio (PMEPR) and simultaneously have good error correction capability. The key theoretical result is a previously unrecognized connection between Golay complementary sequences and second-order Reed-Muller codes over alphabets Z/sub 2/h. We obtain additional flexibility in trading off code rate, PMEPR, and error correction capability by partitioning the second-order Reed-Muller code into cosets such that codewords with large values of PMEPR are isolated. For all the proposed schemes we show that encoding is straightforward and give an efficient decoding algorithm involving multiple fast Hadamard transforms. Since the coding schemes are all based on the same formal generator matrix we can deal adaptively with varying channel constraints and evolving system requirements.
An Autologous In Situ Tumor Vaccination Approach for Hepatocellular Carcinoma. 2. Tumor-Specific Immunity and Cure after Radio-Inducible Suicide Gene Therapy and Systemic CD40-Ligand and Flt3-Ligand Gene Therapy in an Orthotopic Tumor Model

Diffuse hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a lethal disease that radiation therapy (RT) currently has a limited role in treating because of the potential for developing fatal radiation-induced liver disease. However, recently diffuse HCC, “radio-inducible suicide gene therapy” has been shown to enhance local tumor control and residual microscopic disease within the liver for diffuse HCC, by using a combination of chemoactivation and molecular radiosensitization. We have demonstrated that the addition of recombinant adenovirus-expressing human Flt3 ligand (Adeno-Flt3L) after radio-inducible suicide gene therapy induced a Th1-biased, immune response and enhanced tumor control in an ectopic model of HCC. We hypothesized that sequential administration of recombinant adenovirus-expressing CD40L (Adeno-CD40L) could further potentiate the efficacy of our trimodal therapy with RT + HSV-TK + Adeno-Flt3L. We examined our hypothesis in an orthotopic model of diffuse HCC using BNL1ME A.7R.1 (BNL) cells in Balb/c mice....
Investment Banking and Analyst Objectivity: Evidence from Analysts Affiliated with M&A Advisors

We find evidence that conflicts of interest arising from M&A relations influence analysts' recommendations, corroborating regulators' and practitioners' suspicions in a setting, i.e. M&A relations, not previously examined in research on analyst conflicts. In addition, the M&A context allows us to disentangle the conflict of interest effect from selection bias. We find that analysts affiliated with acquirer advisors upgrade acquirer stocks around M&A deals, even around all-cash deals, wherein selection bias is unlikely. Also consistent with conflict of interest, but not selection bias, target-affiliated analysts publish optimistic reports about acquirers after, but not before, the exchange ratio of an all-stock deal is set.
Simulation and Modeling of Single Photon Avalanche Diodes

A comprehensive SPICE model is developed for single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs). The model simulates both the static and dynamic behaviors of SPADs. Parameters of the model were extracted form experimental data obtained from SPADs designed and fabricated in a standard 0.5μm CMOS process. In this model, the resistive behavior of the device was modeled with an exponential function. Moreover, the device simulated response to incident optical power stimulation is modeled. Experimentally extracted parameters were incorporated into the model, and simulation results agreed with the experimental data.
Nymphs of the Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae): Aspects of Formation and Transformation

Mature colonies of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, like most other termite species, produce a reproductive caste in the form of nymphs that subsequently give rise to alates. Temporal production of nymphs in C. formosanus was monitored in monthly collections from four field traps in New Orleans, LA. Nymphs were present throughout the year with peak numbers observed during October/November and May. Large nymphs first occurred in December and peaked in March. Fewer than 1.5% workers formed nymphs within 3 months after collection from the field and after removal of the preexisting nymphs. Collections from other colonies, kept in the laboratory for >2 yr, did not produce any nymphs. It is speculated that a nymph induction factor (NIF), possibly coming from a mature physogastric queen, elicits nymph formation. The same or a similar factor may also be responsible for further development of nymphs and their transformation to alates. In the absence of this latter factor, the nymphs, except those in the most advanced stage of development, are either cannibalized or transform into brachypteroid neotenics. A scheme for the formation and transformation of various developmental stages within each caste of C. formosanus is presented.
Best practices for safety improvement through high-volume institutional incident learning: lessons learned from 2 years

Incident learning systems (ILSs) are a key component of improving patient safety in radiation oncology, but the practicalities of ILS implementation can present major challenges. We describe the implementation and best practices derived from 2 years of experience with institutional incident learning, with details on root cause analysis (RCA), a list of key process improvements, and operational aspects of ILS use. The structure of the ILS is consistent with recommendations from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). Workflow is analyzed for incident reports from initial reporting to analysis and feedback to the reporter, including staffing required. A system for incident categorization is shown, as well as sample events selected for root cause analysis, and suggestions for providing feedback to users of ILS. In the first 2 years of the ILS implementation from 2012 to 2014, 1897 near-miss incidents were reported. There is widespread participation in the ILS program across all professional groups inside the department, with at least 75 % of clinical staff having filed at least one report. Total workload for the ILS program is estimated to be approximately one full-time employee, shared by approximately eight team members. Fifteen events were selected for RCA during this period. Eighteen major process improvement projects are described, ranging from issues related to process standardization, automation, staffing, new organization structures, and equipment purchase. A unique high reporting volume institutional ILS has successfully resulted in numerous improvements in process, safety, and quality. Details for implementation and best practices for incident learning have been presented to allow adaptation in other practices.
The Observation Of Inoculation Of Antitoxic Serum Of Rabies And Its Side Reaction From 2005 To 2009 In Zongyang County

Objective To understand the status about the inoculation of antitoxic serum of rabies and its side reaction in Zongyang county,and provide evidence for rabies control.Methods The registered data about the inoculation of antitoxic serum of rabies and side reaction from 2005 to 2009 in rabies vaccination clinics of Zongyang county Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) were collected and analyzed.Results A total of 598 cases were inoculated antitoxic serum of rabies during recent 5 years,accounted for 2.75% of persons inoculated rabies vaccine.From their occupational composition,farmers,students,preschoolers,workers and cadres accounted for 46.32%,30.43%,17.22%,4.85% and 1.17% respectively.From the composition of their expose place,the top 3 were arms(37.46%),legs(32.44%),head and facial region(22.07%).The total incidence of adverse reactions of antitoxic serum was 16.56% after inoculation,the rate showed a decreasing trend(χ2 = 15.54,P0.01),and it was significant in different age groups(χ2 = 33.66,P0.01).Compared to the other age groups,cases aged 5～35 had a higher incidence of adverse reactions.Conclusion In the management of rabies-treatment clinics,we should enhance the training of exposure classification,and increase the injection rate of the passive immunity.The domestic enterprises should improve the purification of rabies antitoxic serum and reduce the risk of their use.
Parameter grey estimation of Volterra model based on Simpson formula with different steps

Based on Lagrange interpolation formula,Simpson formula with different steps was deduced to deal with the influence of unequal interval and most fluctuating data on parameter estimation with high precision.According to grey system theory,an improved method of parameter grey estimation was put forward.Parameters of Volterra model were estimated and simulated by this method,and compared with the results of former curve fitting methods.The issue of initial values was also analyzed.The analyses indicate that the improved method with Simpson formula is superior to the former ones when the data observed are unequal interval and most fluctuating,and parameter estimation can be fulfilled with high precision.
DIAL: A Distributed Adaptive-Learning Routing Method in VDTNs

In this paper, we focus on designing an efficient routing method in Vehicle Delay Tolerant Networks (VDTNs) without centralized infrastructures. Current routing methods either have limited routing efficiency or need the help of centralized infrastructures to improve the routing performance, which is deviated from the goal of building VDTNs without centralized infrastructures. In this paper, we propose a DIstributed Adaptive-Learning routing method for VDTNs, namely DIAL, by taking advantage of the human beings' communication feature, that is, most interactions are generated by pairs of people who interacted often previously. DIAL consists of two components: the information fusion based routing method and the adaptive-learning framework. The information fusion based routing method enables DIAL to improve the routing performance by sharing and fusing multiple kinds of routing information without centralized infrastructures. Furthermore, based on the information shared by information fusion based routing method, the adaptive-learning framework enables DIAL to design personalized routing strategies for different vehicle pairs without centralized infrastructures. Therefore, DIAL can not only share and fuse multiple kinds of routing information of each vehicle without centralized infrastructures, but also design a personalized routing strategy for each vehicle pair. Extensive trace-driven simulation demonstrates that DIAL has better routing success rate and shorter average delay in comparison with state-of-the-art routing methods, which need the help of centralized infrastructures in VDTNs.
Chemical Aspects of Clean Fuels Production

The passage of the revised Clean Air Act Amendments on November 15, 1990 and recent EPA regulations will result in landmark changes in the major transportation fuels in the United States. There could be significant changes in the compositions of both gasoline and diesel fuels based on recipe formulation or performance standards designed to meet both environmental considerations and quality requirements. For gasoline, the major changes might include adding oxygenates, reducing total aromatic as well as benzene concentration, and lowering the Reid vapor pressure (RVP). The next-generation diesel fuel must conform to the lower sulfur content and possibly higher cetane index specifications. This paper discusses various process technologies and refinery configurations that could be required to produce tomorrow’s fuels.
Spirituality in education in a global, pluralised world

Chapter one of this book begins by grappling with the meaning of spirituality, presenting various definitions and perspectives, a familiar approach in the literature of spirituality. de Souza sugge...
The energetics of prenucleation clusters in lattice solutions

According to classical nucleation theory, nucleation from solution involves the formation of small atomic clusters. Most formulations of classical nucleation use continuum “droplet” approximations to describe the properties of these clusters. However, the discrete atomic nature of very small clusters may cause deviations from these approximations. Here, we present a self-consistent framework for describing the nature of these deviations. We use our framework to investigate the formation of “polycube” atomic clusters on a cubic lattice, for which we have used combinatoric data to calculate the thermodynamic properties of clusters with 17 atoms or less. We show that the classical continuum droplet model emerges as a natural approach to describe the free energy of small clusters, but with a size-dependent surface tension. However, this formulation only arises if an appropriate “site-normalized” definition is adopted for the free energy of formation. These results are independently confirmed through the use of Monte Carlo calculations. Our results show that clusters formed from sparingly soluble materials (μM solubility range) tend to adopt compact configurations that minimize the solvent-solute interaction energy. As a consequence, there are distinct minima in the cluster-size-energy landscape that correspond to especially compact configurations. Conversely, highly soluble materials (1M) form clusters with expanded configurations that maximize configurational entropy. The effective surface tension of these clusters tends to smoothly and systematically decrease as the cluster size increases. However, materials with intermediate solubility (1 mM) are found to have a balanced behavior, with cluster energies that follow the classical “droplet” scaling laws remarkably well.
Uniformly oversampled sequence detection in the presence of unknown jitter

In this paper we propose a technique to deal with unknown random jitter in a band-limited Gaussian channel. The jitter caused by the deviation or displacement of signal pulses affects the performance of the communication system. We show that a sampling set as small as twice the baud rate is enough for good detection performance. Detection is done by means of a suboptimal algorithm with polynomial time computational complexity. The results are compared for different transmission rates. The simulation results for Gaussian pulses and sinc pulses show that despite the sub-optimality of our algorithm, the bit-error probability remains relatively close to optimum.
Commuter exposure to PM2.5, BC, and UFP in six common transport microenvironments in Sacramento, California

Abstract This study was designed to estimate and compare the air pollution exposures experienced by commuters in six common transportation modes utilized by California residents, and to evaluate the impact of practical exposure mitigation strategies in reducing commute exposures. We measured concentrations of fine particle matter (PM 2.5 ), black carbon (BC), and ultrafine particles (UFP) for 161 commutes between April 2014 and November 2015 in Sacramento, CA. We collected measurements for six modes including single occupancy vehicles, high occupancy vehicles (multiple occupants), buses, light rail, train, and bicycling. The largest average concentrations for most pollutants were measured during train commutes and the lowest average concentrations were observed during light-rail commutes. Mitigation options were explored for personal vehicles, bicycling, and train commute modes. We found that ventilation settings of personal vehicles can reduce in-vehicle PM 2.5 , BC, and UFP concentrations by up to 75%. Similarly, bicycle route choice can reduce exposures by 15–75% with the lowest concentrations observed during commutes on dedicated bicycle paths away from traffic sources. Train commuters experienced UFP concentrations an order of magnitude greater when the locomotive engine was pulling the rail cars versus pushing the rail cars. We found that UFP concentrations during bus, bicycling, and train commutes were 1.6–5.3 times greater than personal vehicle commutes, while light rail commutes had 30% lower UFP concentrations than personal vehicle commutes. The largest exposure per mile occurred during bicycle commutes with PM 2.5 , BC, and UFP exposures of 1.312 μg/mile, 0.097 μg/mile, and 3.0 × 10 9 particles/mile, respectively. Train commutes experienced the largest exposure per mile of all of the combustion-derived transportation commute modes. BC accounted for 5–20% of total PM mass across all commute modes with an average fraction of ∼7% of PM 2.5 .
Generating Fine-Grain Multithreaded Applications Using a Multigrain Approach

The recent evolution in hardware landscape, aimed at producing high-performance computing systems capable of reaching extreme-scale performance, has reignited the interest in fine-grain multithreading, particularly at the intranode level. Indeed, popular parallel programming environments, such as OpenMP, which features a simple interface for the parallelization of programs, are now incorporating fine-grain constructs. However, since coarse-grain directives are still heavily used, the OpenMP runtime is forced to support both coarse- and fine-grain models of execution, potentially reducing the advantages obtained when executing an application in a fully fine-grain environment. To evaluate the type of applications that benefit from executing in a unified fine-grain program execution model, this article presents a multigrain parallel programming environment for the generation of fine-grain multithreaded applications from programs featuring OpenMP’s API, allowing OpenMP programs to be run on top of a fine-grain event-driven program execution model. Experimental results with five scientific benchmarks show that fine-grain applications, generated by and run on our environment with two runtimes implementing a fine-grain event-driven program execution model, are competitive and can outperform their OpenMP counterparts, especially for data-intensive workloads with irregular and dynamic parallelism, reaching speedups as high as 2.6× for Graph500 and 51× for NAS Data Cube.
Autoimmune hepatitis in the setting of human immunodeficiency virus infection: A case series

Liver injury in the setting of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is more commonly attributed to viral hepatitis or highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) toxicity. The severity of liver injury is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. The emergence of autoimmune diseases, particularly autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) in the setting of HIV infection, is rare. Previous reports indicate that elevated liver enzymes are a common denominator amongst these patients. We present two patients with HIV infection, on HAART, with virological suppression. Both patients presented with elevated liver enzymes, and following liver biopsies, were diagnosed with AIH. The clinical course of these patients underscore the therapeutic value of corticosteroids, and in some cases, addition of immunosuppression for AIH treatment.
Central and Autonomic Aspects of Aggression and Dominance in Reptiles

There are reciprocal relationships between the central and autonomic aspects of aggression, social status, and psychological stress. My interest in these emerged during a research project concerned with forebrain control of social behavior using the green anolis lizard, Anolis carolinensis, as a model species. This report will first summarize relevant aspects of the ethology of A.carolinensis in naturalistic laboratory habitats and then discuss the known and putative relationships of aggressive and status-related behavior to underlying neural and endocrine mechanisms.
A LASER-MICROPYROLYSIS SYSTEM FOR THE STUDY OF ORGANIC SEDIMENTS AND INCLUSIONS

Abstract An instrument has been devised and assembled as follows. A solid sample having a polished or otherwise prepared surface up to 15 × 3 mm is mounted in the ionization chamber of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The surface is examined with a microscope that looks through a window above the sample, and a micro-area selected for study. A low-energy laser beam is projected through the microscope objective and pyro-lyzes the selected area of the sample; craters as small as 10 microns diameter can be made with present optics. The pyrolysis products are released into the electron beam, and are analysed. A well-resolved mass spectrum is displayed on an oscilloscope and photographed. Preliminary runs have been made on coals, various pure minerals, and organic high polymers. Particles of mass number in the range up to 300 are prevalent, and are thus large enough to represent significant fragments of the original solid structure. The mass numbers found indicate that highly unstable primary products are formed and analysed. The technique has been used to study the composition of various macerals in place in coal.
Chapter 11 Identification of Ligands Targeting RGS Proteins: High‐Throughput Screening and Therapeutic Potential

Regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) proteins represent unique targets for the modulation of G protein‐coupled receptor‐mediated signal transduction cascades. Functionally, RGS proteins act to limit the duration of signaling of activated G proteins due to its ability to act as GTPase activating proteins (GAPs). This GAP activity catalyzes the intrinsic GTPase activity of G protein α subunits, such as those in the Gαo, Gαi, and Gαq families. Because of their unique regulatory properties, RGS proteins have emerged as an interesting target for development of both small molecule laboratory tools and potential future therapeutics. In this chapter, the utility of RGS modulators will be briefly reviewed, with a main focus on high‐throughput screening methods and progress being made to discover new RGS ligands.
Testing Pituitary Function

The regulatory control of secretion and release of pituitary hormones is discussed in Chapter 3. The specific tests involved in the evaluation of each hormone of the pituitary gland form the subject of this chapter. In evaluating the pituitary gland, it is essential to determine whether all hormones need to be evaluated. Depending on the circumstance, one, more than one, or all trophic hormones may require evaluation. Also, the choice of tests depends on whether hypo- or hyperfunction is suspected. Provocative tests are used when hypofunction is suspected, and suppression tests are employed when hyperfunction is suspected. In the following discussion, each hormone is discussed separately, focusing on specific indications, methods of testing, and the types of tests involved; following this, collective testing of all pituitary hormones (total pituitary workup) is outlined.
RAPID DETECTION OF FAECAL COLIFORM BACTERIA IN THE FOOD PROCESSING PLANT1

A medium composed of 2% tryptone and 0.5% bile salts incubated at 44.5–45C is quite selective in the detection of faecal coliform bacteria. Production of indole after 24 hours of incubation constitutes the positive test. Through the use of large test tubes, samples of materials weighing 1 or more grams may be taken directly at the sites of operation within foods processing plants. The medium and the procedure are sensitive to 1 to 2 cells per inoculum, and it has detected Escherichia coli in samples yielding no colonies of coliform bacteria when plated at 1:10 on violet red bile agar.
Biased Gatekeepers? Partisan Perceptions of Media Attention in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

Deciding which stories to cover is an essential function of the press, and pundits and citizens commonly criticize journalists for these so-called “gatekeeping” choices. While journalists may indee...
Technical Report: Safe, Aggressive Quadrotor Flight via Reachability-based Trajectory Design

Quadrotors can provide services such as infrastructure inspection and search-and-rescue, which require operating autonomously in cluttered environments. Autonomy is typically achieved with receding-horizon planning, where a short plan is executed while a new one is computed, because sensors receive limited information at any time. To ensure safety and prevent robot loss, plans must be verified as collision free despite uncertainty (e.g, tracking error). Existing spline-based planners dilate obstacles uniformly to compensate for uncertainty, which can be conservative. On the other hand, reachability-based planners can include trajectory-dependent uncertainty as a function of the planned trajectory. This work applies Reachability-based Trajectory Design (RTD) to plan quadrotor trajectories that are safe despite trajectory-dependent tracking error. This is achieved by using zonotopes in a novel way for online planning. Simulations show aggressive flight up to 5 m/s with zero crashes in 500 cluttered, randomized environments.
Renewable resources of the northern half of the United States: potential for 100% renewable electricity

We previously presented a model for deep penetration of renewables in the electricity sector of the southern half of the United States (Khoie and Yee in Clean Technol Environ Policy 17(4):957–971, 2015). In this paper, we present a strategy for the northern half of the United States to utilize its available renewable resources to gradually decrease its reliance on fossil fuels in electricity generation and develop energy portfolios with increasing share of renewables. Using the electricity generation data from the US EIA (Electricity, electric power monthly, 2019d. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/ ), and the renewable resource maps produced by NREL (Geospatial data science, 2018a. http://www.nrel.gov/gis/solar.html ; Geospatial data science, 2018b. http://www.nrel.gov/gis/wind.html ), we develop strategies for the states in the northern half of the USA. We group these states into seven regions: West Coast, Mountain States, Middle West States, Lake States, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and New England states. For each region, we determine when and if the electricity generation from renewables will meet the region’s electricity need while accounting for a 1% annual increase in electricity demand. The renewable resources included in our models are solar (rural, urban, and rooftop photovoltaic), wind (onshore), hydro, biomass, and geothermal which vary greatly from region to region. We also include nuclear, coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Our results show that the West Coast, Mountain, and Middle West regions have the potential to become 100% renewable in the years 2041, 2039, and 2038, respectively. Additionally, our results show that the four regions of Lake, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and New England states may not be able to produce 100% of their electricity demand from their renewable resources.
An Adaptive Algorithm on Light Intensity Applied to Threshold Selection for Pipeline Detection Based on Image Processing

Pipeline is one of the safest and most effective ways to transport oil and natural gas, whose quality is correlative with the safety of oil or gas transportation. Therefore, effective extractive detection of pipeline faults is essential. In the work of extracting pipeline faults, selecting the appropriate thresholds is a very important step. Based on some traditional image processing algorithms, a processing algorithm for parallel detection with the method of adaptive threshold is proposed briefly here, and the corresponding examples and processing effects are also given. The experimental results show that the method can accurately select the optimal threshold for pipeline inspection under certain illumination intensity, which provides great convenience for the subsequent processing in the field of pipeline detection.
Response of sweetpotato to pendimethalin application rate and timing

Field trials were conducted near Pontotoc, Mississippi; Chase, Louisiana; and Clinton, North Carolina, in 2017 and 2018 to determine the effect of pendimethalin rate and timing application on sweetpotato crop tolerance, yield, and storage root quality. Treatments consisted of five pendimethalin rates (266, 532, 1,065, 1,597, and 2,130 g ai ha–1) by two application timings (0 to 1 or 10 to 14 d after transplanting). Additionally, a nontreated check was included for comparison. Crop injury (stunting) was minimal (≤4%) through 6 wk after transplanting (WAP) and no injury was observed from 8 to 14 WAP, regardless of application timing or rate. The nontreated check yielded 6.6, 17.6, 5.5, and 32.1 × 103 kg ha–1 of canner, no. 1, jumbo, and total grades, respectively. Neither pendimethalin application timing nor rate influenced jumbo, no. 1, marketable, or total sweetpotato yield. Overall, these results indicate that pendimethalin will be a valuable addition to the toolkit of sweetpotato growers.Nomenclature: Pendimethalin; sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. ‘Covington’, ‘Beauregard’
Positional Scanning MUC1 Glycopeptide Library Reveals the Importance of PDTR Epitope Glycosylation for Lectin Binding

One of the main barriers to explaining the functional significance of glycan-based changes in cancer is the natural epitope heterogeneity found on the surface of cancer cells. To help address this knowledge gap, we focused on designing synthetic tools to explore the role of tumor-associated glycans of MUC1 in the formation of metastasis via association with lectins. In this study, we have synthesized for the first time a MUC1-derived positional scanning synthetic glycopeptide combinatorial library (PS-SGCL) that vary in number and location of cancer-associated Tn antigen using the "tea bag" approach. The determination of the isokinetic ratios necessary for the equimolar incorporation of (glyco)amino acids mixtures to resin-bound amino acid was determined, along with developing an efficient protocol for on resin deprotection of O-acetyl groups. Enzyme-linked lectin assay was used to screen PS-SGCL against two plant lectins, Glycine max soybean agglutinin and Vicia villosa. The results revealed a carbohydrate density-dependent affinity trend and site-specific glycosylation requirements for high affinity binding to these lectins. Hence, PS-SGCLs provide a platform to systematically elucidate MUC1-lectin binding specificities, which in the long term may provide a rational design for novel inhibitors of MUC1-lectin interactions involved in tumor spread and glycopeptide-based cancer vaccines.
A Low-Profile Supercapacitor-Based Normal and Shear Force Sensor

This paper focuses on the development of a thin normal-shear force sensor based on the use of a supercapacitive sensing mechanism. The sensor has a quad structure with four sensing units in which the bottom substrate has four pairs of electrodes while the top deformable portion has a solid-state electrolyte. The application of normal and shear forces increases the contact area between the solid-state electrolyte and the electrodes. Key innovations in the sensing mechanism include the use of a paper-based solid state electrolyte, the use of 3d-printing with a combination of soft and hard polymers to construct the top portion of the sensor, and the use of deep learning to model the sensor response. The sensor can accept any combination of shear and normal forces and can measure both their magnitudes and orientation. The deep learning based sensor response model enables accurate sensor calibration while accommodating the imperfections in the stiffness distribution of the sensor. The normal and shear force sensitivities are of the order of 50 nF/N and 22 nF/N respectively, which are orders of magnitude larger than the sensitivity of a traditional capacitive force sensor.
Geologic Analysis of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Uranium Resources and Mines

The mining and milling of uranium ore is the first step in the production of fissile material and is a rate-limiting step for the indigenous production of nuclear weapons in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). This study reports a geologic analysis of uranium mines in the DPRK in order to bound the state's potential uranium production. The analysis suggests that the uranium deposits of the possible mines are of four types: (1) black shale (metamorphosed organic shale); (2) limestone; (3) granite/metasomatic; and (4) metamorphic deposits. Comparison with geologically-related, uranium-bearing host rocks in the Republic of Korea (ROK) indicate that DPRK uranium mines are associated with medium-to-high quantities of average low-grade ore (0.001-0.04 wt.% uranium). Using this low-grade ore, expansion of the state's nuclear arsenal would require the extraction of larger quantities of uranium ore than has been previously assumed. The DPRK's geology could, therefore, limit the future development of its nuclear weapons program.
Injuries in central forward players in handball – Biomechanical perspective

Handball is a highly dynamic sport that involves almost all joints during play. Handball, like other dynamic sports, sees common musculoskeletal injuries in various body locations. Identifying the mechanism of injury is the key in injury prevention. This literature review focuses on the biomechanical aspect of injuries in central forward players in handball. This review will assist the coaches and trainers to implement effective training and injury prevention programs among handball players.
When Extraordinary Circumstances Yield Exceptional Consequences: The Importance of Readiness, Receptiveness, and Responsiveness.

During her last semester prior to retirement, a university professor of teacher education supervised 15 interns enrolled in a preparation program and college department different from the professor’s usual program and department due to changes in the college’s preparation program student enrollment and faculty availability. The ever-changing, extraordinary circumstances experienced by the interns and supervisor during the 2020 spring semester illuminate the vital roles of readiness to teach, receptiveness to feedback, and responsiveness to expectations (Author & Merritt, 2018). Established on authentic expressions and exchanges of trust, efficacy, agency, and cultural humility (TEACH), their shared journeys yielded exceptional consequences for both the interns and the supervisor guided and supported by the supervisor’s expertise as teacher educator, co-constructivist, and instructional coach.
Some Potential Means for Venture Valuation

In some modern venture valuation approaches, option pricing theory plays an important role. The aim of this paper is to present some tools and viewpoints which might be helpful for future investigations along this line. We model the value-dynamics Xt of an imbedded underlying X as a non-lognormally-distributed generalization of the geometric Brownian motion. In detail, Xt is supposed to be a solution of a stochastic differential equation of the form with non-constant volatility function ? (t) and Brownian motion Wt . For this, we discuss a certain decision problem concerning the size of the trend function b . Under some handy-toverify but far-reaching assumptions, we investigate the (average) reduction of decision risk that can be obtained by observing the sample path of X . Furthermore, we also show some connections with the valuation of call options on X .
Morphometry and Stereology

Most biologists interested in morphometric analysis and stereology purchase programs to do the work, and a specific knowledge of all the algorithms and Statistical calculations behind their Operation is not critical. The programs are booted up, the menus are consulted to see what functions are possible, and the Operator instructs the Computer to perform certain Operations from the menu. At the same time, if the Operator does not possess knowledge concerning the types of questions that may be asked, the limitations inherent in the sampling techniques being used, and the general underlying assumptions necessary for morphometric analyses, the Software may not be used to its ultimate extent. The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the capabilities and a few of the shortcomings of morphometric analysis programs used today. Several texts (Baidock and Graham, 2000; Hader, 1991; Howard and Reed, 1998; Mouton, 2002; Russ, 1986, 1990, 2002; Russ and Dehoff, 2000) cover most aspects of the mechanics behind morphometric analysis and stereology and address specific applications in great detail. They are recommended reading prior to embarking upon a project requiring morphometric or stereologic analysis methods. The text by Misell (1978) was written prior to the currently available Software, but deals extensively with the principles and methods for image enhancement and analysis not confined to Computers.
Probabilities of detecting submersed aquatic vegetation species using a rake method may vary with biomass

Abstract Levels of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) are commonly assessed using a modified garden rake. However, the utility of the rake sampling method relative to methods that are typically viewed as more definitive (and expensive) such as snorkeling and coring remains a matter of debate. This study explores whether probabilities of species detections for four SAV species varied among sampling units in a rake-biomass study and, if so, whether such variation reflected variation in species abundance. Variation in detection probabilities, when unaddressed, may yield biased estimators of percent frequency of occurrence (“occupancy”) and of occurrence-habitat associations. Biomass-driven variation in detection probabilities is important because such variation may not be explainable using covariates typically measured when sampling using the rake method. This study found substantial among-unit variation in detection probabilities, with majorities of that variation on the logit or modeling scale being associated with biomass but not with the non-biomass covariates substrate type, water depth and day of study. The study closes by exploring sampling protocols and modeling methods that may yield improved SAV occupancy estimates.
Economic analysis of the use of in vitro produced embryos transferred during heat stress under dairy herd constraints.

Abstract The use of embryo transfer helps to improve reproductive performance during periods of heat stress. In vitro produced embryo transfer (IVP-ET) is more expensive than artificial insemination. We hypothesized that the value IVP-ET in seasonal herds depends on herd constraints, such as the maximum number of milking cows and the maximum number of calvings that can be accommodated throughout the year. Therefore, the objective of this study was to estimate how profitability in dairy herds exposed to summer heat stress is affected by the number of months in which IVP-ET is used, the use of IVP-ET in repeat-breeder cows, IVP-ET cost, and herd constraints. We built and used a nonlinear programming model of a dairy herd with young stock and cows with monthly Markov Chain transitions. The model varied the number of heifers calving in each calendar month to maximize herd profitability. We varied IVP-ET cost ($100 or $200), duration of the IVP-ET program (2 or 4 months), and the breeding number in which IVP-ET started (1st or 3rd). In total, 20 scenarios were simulated. Maximum profitability was obtained when IVP-ET was not used, regardless of herd constraints. The 16 scenarios in which IVP-ET was used showed increased seasonality in milk yield, numbers of milking cows, total cows, total calvings, and heifer calvings because the program tried to limit the number of IVP-ET breedings in the summer. The addition of the calving constraint increased the value of IVP-ET. The breakeven cost per IVP-ET ranged from −$6.79 to $24.38 compared with conventional semen cost of $20. In conclusion, the current market costs of IVP-ET did not warrant application with the objective to increase reproductive performance during heat stress. Herd constraints on the maximum allowable seasonality in the monthly number of milking cows and calvings affected the value of IVP-ET during heat stress.