cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of progesterone synthesis in normal and transformed human placental cells by tight binding inhibitors of 3β-hydroxysterioid dehydrogenase

Abstract The biosynthesis of progesterone from [ 3 H]pregnenolone was curvilinear over a 6 h time course in human placenta cytotrophoblasts and in human placenta choriocarcinoma cells (JEG-3 cells). Mass measurements determined independently by radioimmunoassay indicate that the progesterone synthesized by cytotrophoblasts (21.0 ± 5.20 ng / 6 h/mg protein) is substantially higher than that synthesized by the JEG-3 cells (4.48 ± 0.56 ng / 6 h/mg protein). Two tight binding inhibitors of 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (2α-cyanoprogesterone I and cyanoketone II), and a potent inhibitor of the microsomal conversion of pregnenolone to progesterone (2α-bromo-5α-androstan-3-one-17β-acetate III) were compared as inhibitors of progesterone synthesis in the two cell-types. Compounds I and II were very potent inhibitors yielding IC50 values of between 10 and 20 nM. At higher concentrations (100 nM — 1,000 nM) compound I promoted a complete cessation of progesterone synthesis which could be reversed by washing the cells free of inhibitor. By contrast compound III was ineffectual as an inhibitor yielding an IC50 value greater than 10 μM. This 1,000-fold difference in inhibitory potency suggests that 2α-cyano-substituted steroids display an unusual capacity to inhibit progesterone biosynthesis and secretion in normal and transformed human cells.
HoxA10 Activates Transcription of the Gene Encoding Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Phosphatase 2 (Mkp2) in Myeloid Cells *

HoxA10 is a homeodomain transcription factor that is frequently overexpressed in human acute myeloid leukemia. In murine bone marrow transplantation studies, HoxA10 overexpression induces a myeloproliferative disorder with accumulation of mature phagocytes in the peripheral blood and tissues. Over time, differentiation block develops in these animals, resulting in acute myeloid leukemia. In immature myeloid cells, HoxA10 represses transcription of some genes that confer the mature phagocyte phenotype. Therefore, overexpressed HoxA10 blocks differentiation by repressing myeloid-specific gene transcription in differentiating myeloid cells. In contrast, target genes involved in myeloproliferation due to HoxA10 overexpression have not been identified. To identify such genes, we screened a CpG island microarray with HoxA10 co-immunoprecipitating chromatin. We identified the DUSP4 gene, which encodes mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase 2 (Mkp2), as a HoxA10 target gene. We analyzed the DUSP4 5′-flank and identified two proximal-promoter cis elements that are activated by HoxA10. We find that DUSP4 transcription and Mkp2 expression decrease during normal myelopoiesis. However, this down-regulation is impaired in myeloid cells overexpressing HoxA10. In hematopoietic cells, c-Jun N-terminal kinases (Jnk) are the preferred substrates for Mkp2. Therefore, Mkp2 inhibits apoptosis by dephosphorylating (inactivating) Jnk. Consistent with this, HoxA10 overexpression decreases apoptosis in differentiating myeloid cells. Therefore, our studies identify a mechanism by which overexpressed HoxA10 contributes to inappropriate cell survival during myelopoiesis.
Genetic mapping and developmental timing of transmission ratio distortion in a mouse interspecific backcross

Transmission ratio distortion (TRD), defined as statistically significant deviation from expected 1:1 Mendelian ratios of allele inheritance, results in a reduction of the expected progeny of a given genotype. Since TRD is a common occurrence within interspecific crosses, a mouse interspecific backcross was used to genetically map regions showing TRD, and a developmental analysis was performed to identify the timing of allele loss. Three independent events of statistically significant deviation from the expected 50:50 Mendelian inheritance ratios were observed in an interspecific backcross between the Mus musculus A/J and the Mus spretus SPRET/EiJ inbred strains. At weaning M. musculus alleles are preferentially inherited on Chromosome (Chr) 7, while M. spretus alleles are preferentially inherited on Chrs 10 and 11. Furthermore, alleles on Chr 3 modify the TRD on Chr 11. All TRD loci detected at weaning were present in Mendelian ratios at mid-gestation and at birth. Given that Mendelian ratios of inheritance are observed for Chr 7, 10 and 11 during development and at birth, the underlying causes for the interspecific TRD events are the differential post-natal survival of pups with specific genotypes. These results are consistent with the TRD mechanism being deviation from Mendelian inheritance rather than meiotic drive or segregation distortion.
Compositional differentiation of maize hybrid stovers using analytical pyrolysis and high-performance liquid chromatography.

Pyrolysis/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (PY/GC/MS) and high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC−ED) were carried out on stover samples from ten commercial ...
Screening mammography after breast cancer treatment: patterns in community practice

Background Guidelines for screening women post-breast cancer treatment are generally lacking. This study was conducted to review the literature on guidelines for this population and to evaluate whether there is a common practice in the community for following these women.
THE INFLUENCE OF A SALINITY AND NUTRIENT GRADIENT ON COASTAL VS. UPLAND TRITROPHIC COMPLEXES

We examined the relative strengths of top-down and bottom-up effects acting on insect herbivores feeding on five species of plants growing in coastal or upland regions of a Florida salt marsh. Three of the plant species, Borrichia frutescens, Coccoloba uvifera, and Baccharis halimifolia, grew close to the shore, while the two remaining species, Myrica cerifera and Persea borbonia, grew in upland areas with lower salinity and no tidal input. For each species, we added nitrogen fertilizer and reduced parasitism with sticky traps in a fully factorial design, and assessed the relative impacts of these bottom-up and top-down manipulations on the most common herbivores of each plant. We then used a within-study meta-analysis to integrate the results and quantitatively compare the strengths of top-down and bottom-up effects on the herbivores of these coastal and upland plants. Both fertilization and reduction of parasitism resulted in significant increases in herbivore densities, and the effects of these treatme...
Competitive binding of CUGBP1 and HuR to occludin mRNA controls its translation and modulates epithelial barrier function

RNA-binding proteins CUG-binding protein 1 (CUGBP1) and HuR are highly expressed in epithelial tissues and modulate the stability and translation of target mRNAs. Here we present evidence that CUGBP1 and HuR jointly regulate the translation of occludin and play a crucial role in the maintenance of tight junction (TJ) integrity in the intestinal epithelial cell monolayer. CUGBP1 and HuR competed for association with the same occludin 3′-untranslated region element and regulated occludin translation competitively and in opposite directions. CUGBP1 overexpression decreased HuR binding to occludin mRNA, repressed occludin translation, and compromised the TJ barrier function, whereas HuR overexpression inhibited CUGBP1 association with occludin mRNA and promoted occludin translation, thereby enhancing the barrier integrity. Repression of occludin translation by CUGBP1 was due to the colocalization of CUGBP1 and tagged occludin RNA in processing bodies (P-bodies), and this colocalization was prevented by HuR overexpression. These findings indicate that CUGBP1 represses occludin translation by increasing occludin mRNA recruitment to P-bodies, whereas HuR promotes occludin translation by blocking occludin mRNA translocation to P-bodies via the displacement of CUGBP1.
Simulations of electric potential and field profiles in Si microstrip detectors with various strip widths/pitch configurations: introduction of guard strip concept for better field distribution

Two-dimensional simulations of the electrical properties of Si microstrip detectors various strip width/pitch configurations have been systematically performed using a processing and device simulation tool. It has been found that the detector full depletion voltage (V/sub fd/) depends greatly on the ratios of strip width (W) to pitch (P) and pitch to detector thickness (d). The value of V/sub fd/ increases with the decreasing ratio of W/P: V/sub fd/ for W/P=0.1 (P=100 m) is almost twice of that of a bulk detector (W/P=1) for different bulk resistivities (simulation of before and after radiation). The increasing rate of V/sub fd/ with decreasing W/P is much higher when W/P<9.3. It has also been found that, for a given strip width, the strip pitch should be kept smaller than the sum of detector thickness and strip width, i.e. P<d+W or P<d (if W<<d). Otherwise the value of V/sub fd/ will be affected significantly (much larger than that of a bulk detector). It is clearly shown through the simulation that this increase of V/sub fd/ is due to the lateral depletion from the strip edge. A new width/pitch configuration with guard strips is proposed, which has shown a great promise to push the W/P ratio down to 0.1 without greatly affecting the detector full depletion voltage.
Cooperative control of two arms in the transport of an inertial load in zero gravity

In designing a robot control system for dual arm configurations, the control engineer is faced with two challenges: to derive the equations of motion for a given situation, and to meet certain desired control requirements (for instance, minimum energy). The former may involve closed kinematic chains, such as the case when the two arms are grasping a common object. The latter usually involves nonlinear optimization. These issues are considered in the context of transporting an inertial load using two planar three-link arms. A generalized 'reduction transformation' is applied to the dynamics to remove the singularity in the system equations. A suboptimal minimum energy method is presented to reduce a difficult 12-state, six-control nonlinear optimization to two independent, nonconflicting suboptimizations. A simulation example is provided to illustrate the degree of energy reduction possible using the optimal arm torque distribution that was developed. >
Cross reactions to Histoplasma capsulatum in mice

It is shown that a cross reaction occurs in mice infected with a sublethal dose of Histoplasma capsulatum. The animals showed similar protection, as to life, to a challenge with H. capsulatum as they did to Blastomyces dermatitidis. Protection measured on tissue response in the surviving animals was recognizable with the homologous, but not with heterologous challenge.
Ion beam sputter-fabrication of Bi-YIG films for magnetic photonic applications

We report the fabrication of polycrystalline and epitaxial Bi-substituted yttrium gallium iron garnet films on amorphous oxide coated Si wafers and single crystalline gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrates for potential magnetic photonic device applications via reactive ion beam sputtering of a single phase (Bi/sub 0.8/Y/sub 2.2/)(Ga/sub 1/Fe/sub 4/)O/sub 12/ target. The observed Bi-YIG film magnetic properties are sensitive to sputtering parameters like the reactive molecular oxygen ion or radical neutral oxygen atom flux substrate impingement, and the specular or nonspecular geometry control of the reflected neutral substrate bombardment. Nonferrimagnetic amorphous Bi-YIG films are obtained using the specular sputtering geometry that can be recrystallized as randomly oriented single-phase YIG films with in-plane anisotropy using post-deposition rapid thermal annealing (RTA). Also, nonspecularly sputtered Bi-YIG films with improved interfaces and weak nanocrystallinity can be fabricated, yielding "as grown" ferrimagnetic behavior that can be further improved by RTA. Epitaxial Bi-YIG films on GGG with extremely soft magnetic characteristics and strong in-plane anisotropy have also been fabricated.
Alzheimer's disease: A piscatorial trek

The evidence for linkage between Alzheimer's disease and markers on both chromosomes 19 and 21 [Pericak-Vance et al., 1991] by the affected-pedigree-member (APM) method [Weeks and Lange, 1988] cannot be replicated on any of the available GAW8 data sets when marker allele frequencies are estimated from the combined sample. The strong dependence of the APM method on accurate estimation of marker allele frequencies, and the effects of noninformative pairs and of genetic distance in informative pairs of relatives are illustrated
A novel control algorithm for wearable robotics using phase plane invariants

With microprocessing power greatly increasing, hardware is no longer a hurdle in the development of controllers for wearable robotic systems, specifically lower limb robots. The challenge remains in developing smart algorithms that are able to detect which task a person is about to perform and then determine the correct desired movements for the robotic system. This paper reflects on four existing control algorithms for the task of level ground walking, and then presents theory and test results of a novel control algorithm based on phase plane invariants. The goal of this paper is to produce the correct motor reference command in a continuous fashion rather than based on determining distinct states for a given task.
Performance evaluation of an oxygen sensor as a function of the Samaria doped ceria film thickness

The current demand in the automobile industry is in the control of air-fuel mixture in the combustion engine of automobiles. Oxygen partial pressure can be used as an input parameter for regulating or controlling systems in order to optimize the combustion process. Our goal is to identify and optimize the material system that would potentially function as the active sensing material for such a device that monitors oxygen partial pressure in these systems. We have used thin film samaria doped ceria (SDC) as the sensing material for the sensor operation, exploiting the fact that at high temperatures, oxygen vacancies generated due to samarium doping act as conducting medium for oxygen ions which hop through the vacancies from one side to the other contributing to an electrical signal. We have recently established that 6 atom % Sm doping in ceria films has optimum conductivity. Based on this observation, we have studied the variation in the overall conductivity of 6 atom % samaria doped ceria thin films as a function of thickness in the range of 50 nm to 300 nm at a fixed bias voltage of 2 volts. A direct proportionality in the increase in the overall conductivity is observed with the increase in sensing film thickness. For a range of oxygen pressure values from 0.001 Torr to 100 Torr, a tolerable hysteresis error, good dynamic response and a response time of less than 10 seconds was observed.
The structure of the turbulent pressure field in boundary-layer flows

The paper is discussion of measurements of the statistical properties of the pressure field at the wall of turbulent attached shear flows. These measurements have been made only in part by the author. A preliminary discussion is given of the important limitations imposed by the imperfect space resolution of contemporary pressure transducers. There follows a discussion of the appropriate scales of the pressure field. It is shown that measurements of the longitudinal cross-spectral densities lead to similarity variables for the space-time covariance of the pressure and for the corresponding spectra. The existence of these similarity variables may be due to the dispersion of the sources of pressure by the mean velocity gradient. Such a mechanism is illustrated by a simple model. Lateral cross-spectral densities also lead approximately to similarity variables.Computations based directly upon detailed pressure-velocity correlation measurements by Wooldridge & Willmarth reveal that an important part of the pressure at the wall of a boundary layer is contributed by source terms which are quadratic in the turbulent velocity fluctuations; the interaction of the mean strain rate with normal velocity fluctuations, being in effect limited to a region very near the wall, supplies a dominant contribution only at high frequencies and its scales, downstream convective speed and convective memory are markedly smaller than those of the observed wall pressure.The inner part of the Law of the Wall region (y* [les ] 100) seems to be substantially free of pressure sources and within that region (a) the pressure can be given in terms of its boundary value, and (b) the local velocity field is dependent upon but unbale to affect appreciably the turbulent pressures.
Scientific Foundations of Hormesis. Part 2. Maturation, Strengths, Limitations, and Possible Applications in Toxicology, Pharmacology, and Epidemiology

The notion of hormesis has undergone numerous modifications in the course of the 20th century. Because of its unfortunate association with homeopathy, hormesis did not gain acceptance among biomedical professionals. The lack of a plausible mechanism for its occurrence may have contributed much to the rejection of this concept. This treatise outlines the conceptual struggle for an understanding of the widespread occurrence of low dose effects that appear to be opposite to those caused by high doses as also seen in hormesis. An incomplete conceptualization of time as a fundamental variable of effects (in addition to dose) is identified as one of the major reasons why hormetic responses were not observed more frequently than was reported by Calabrese and Baldwin.7 The definition of hormesis as an (over)compensation response to an inhibitory signal lacks a designation for (over)compensation responses to stimulatory signals in the other direction. Hormoligosis, which was coined by Luckey for all low-dose stimu...
A psychological point of view: violations of rational rules as a diagnostic of mental processes

The target article focuses exclusively on System 2 and on reasoning rationality: the ability to reach valid conclusions from available information, as in the Wason task. The decision-theoretic concept of coherence rationality requires beliefs to be consistent, even when they are assessed one at a time. Judgment heuristics belong to System 1, and help explain the incoherence of intuitive beliefs.
Stiffness reduction and fracture evolution of oblique matrix cracks in composite laminates

A constitutive model to predict the onset and evolution of matrix cracking and the subsequent stiffness reduction is derived analytically. The formulation is valid for symmetric laminates with otherwise arbitrary stacking sequence and matrix cracks in one or two directions. The proposed model calculates the reduction of the mechanical properties of the damaged laminate as function of crack densities. The onset and evolution of matrix cracks are predicted by the model in terms of undamaged lamina properties and the critical strain energy release rates for modes I and II (GIC and GIIC). Therefore, there is not need for postulating damage evolution functions and no need for empirically adjusting the associated material parameters. The model formulation was specialized for the particular case of unidirectional loading. Comparison with experimental data showed an excellent prediction of crack initiation and evolution for a variety of laminate stacking sequences. The combination of constitutive and damage evolution equations formed an integrated, mechanistic damage model with no adjustable parameters.
Perpetual Peace: Kant’s Rules for Warfare in the Contemporary World

According to Kant, “some confidence in the character of the enemy must remain even in the midst of war, as otherwise no peace could be concluded and the hostilities would degenerate into a war of extermination.” In other words, accepting the inevitability of war, following a code of conduct during armed conflict distinguishes legitimate from illegitimate warfare. Remarkably, Kant envisioned the heart of the modern laws of war, or jus en bello, now codified in the Geneva Conventions and their Protocols and further reflected in customary law. At the same time, neither Kant nor the authors of the Geneva Conventions envisioned how contemporary means and actors in armed conflicts have threatened the central efficacy of the normative framework for lawful combat. This brief essay suggests how the ideas embedded in Kant’s Preliminary Article 6 might be embellished to accommodate some verities of our contemporary world.
A Case of Undiagnosed Craniopharyngioma in an Army Mechanic

ABSTRACT Primary care providers are often the initial evaluators of soldiers presenting with acute eye complaints. It is crucial for these providers to master performing the basic eye examination with a systematic approach. Obtaining a thorough history is an important first step to the eye examination, but providers need to be careful not to narrow the diagnosis solely based on the history. Regardless of the presentation of the ocular complaints, a complete ocular examination must be performed. This article presents a case of brain tumor in an active duty soldier who was initially undiagnosed because of its unusual presentation.
Factors Associated with Life Expectancy in Patients with Metastatic Spine Disease from Adenocarcinoma of the Lung

Study Design Retrospective study. Objective Our objective was to identify preoperative prognostic factors associated with survival in patients with spinal metastasis from lung carcinoma. Methods A retrospective analysis of 26 patients diagnosed with lung carcinoma metastatic to the spinal column was performed to determine factors associated with survival. We used 3 months survival as the clinical cutoff for whether surgical intervention should be performed. We analyzed patients who survived less than 3 months compared with those who survived more than 3 months. Demographic, preoperative, operative, and postoperative factors including functional scores were collected for analysis. Results The median survival for all patients in our study was 3.5 months. We found a statistically significant difference between the group that survived less than 3 months and the group that survived greater than 3 months in terms of extrathoracic metastasis, visceral metastasis, and average postoperative modified Rankin score. Conclusion Determining which patients with lung cancer spinal metastases will benefit from surgical intervention is often dictated by the patient's predicted life expectancy. Factors associated with poorer prognosis include age, functional status, visceral metastases, and extrathoracic metastases. Although the prognosis for patients with lung cancer spinal metastases is poor, some patients may experience long-term benefit from surgical intervention.
Tuning Thermoelectric Properties of Type I Clathrate K8–xBaxAl8+xSi38–x through Barium Substitution

The thermal stability and thermoelectric properties of type I clathrate K8Al8Si38 up to 873 K are reported. K8Al8Si38 possesses a high absolute Seebeck coefficient value and high electrical resistivity in the temperature range of 323 to 873 K, which is consistent with previously reported low temperature thermoelectric properties. Samples with Ba partial substitution at the K guest atom sites were synthesized from metal hydride precursors. The samples with the nominal chemical formula of K8–xBaxAl8+xSi38–x (x = 1, 1.5, 2) possess type I clathrate structure (cubic, Pm3n), confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The guest atom site occupancies and thermal motions were investigated with Rietveld refinement of synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction. Transport properties of Ba-containing samples were characterized from 2 to 300 K. The K–Ba alloy phases showed low thermal conductivity and improved electrical conductivity compared to K8Al8Si38. Electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficients were measured over the tempera...
Macromolecular Components of Chick Embryo Tissue Diseased With the Virus of Equine Encephalomyelitis.

Chick embryo tissue diseased with virus of equine encephalomyelitis (Eastern strain) has been studied in relation to the homogeneous macromolecular substances recently obtained from normal tissue1 and the results observed are described here.Eleven-day chick embryos were inoculated with virus and harvested when moribund. The heads were removed and the body tissue was ground without diluent in chilled Ten Broeck grinders. Extraction, ultracentrifugal fractionation and analysis were similar to those of the previous studies.1When the diseased tissue mince was extracted in 20% suspension with a mixture of equal parts 0.9% sodium chloride solution and glycerin at pH 8.5 and the pellets were dissolved in 0.9% saline (the sequence employed by Wyckoff2 for isolation of the equine encephalomyelitis virus protein3) the component with s20° = ca 250 × 10−13 cm sec−1 dynes −1 was observed in the second or third ultracentrifugal cycle (Fig. 1 and 2). This product was infectious to the order of 1014 mouse units per gram,...
On the Choice of Culture Identity in Cross-culture Communication

The developed modern communication technology and global integration process make cross-culture communication become frequently.In the process of communication,the communicator's choice of the identity has great importance to cross-culture communication.In a whole,cross-culture communicator has three choices on the identity,which are insisting on original cultural identity,changing into foreign culture and surpassing the above two cultures.The relation between people and culture and the characters and developing trends of culture decide the right culture identity in cross-culture communication should be insist the original cultural identity.
Effect of inoculum concentrations of Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus on aflatoxin accumulation and kernel infection in resistant and susceptible maize hybrids

Over a 3-years period, we compared aflatoxin accumulation and kernel infection in maize hybrids inoculated with six inoculum concentrations of Aspergillus flavus isolate NRRL 3357 or A. parasiticus isolate NRRL 6111 which is a norsolorinic acid producer. Aflatoxin resistant and susceptible maize hybrids were inoculated with six conidial concentrations (ranging from 1 × 103 to 1 × 108/ml) of either A. flavus or A. parasiticus using the side-needle technique 7 days after midsilk (50 % of the plants had silks emerged). Aspergillus kernel infection and aflatoxin contamination was determined at ca. 63 days after midsilk. For each hybrid, aflatoxin levels were very similar regardless of the inoculum concentration. With the exception of the A. parasiticus treatments in 2007, the lowest inoculum conidial concentration (1 × 103/ml) for both fungal species was sufficient to produce statistical differences between the resistant and the susceptible maize hybrids for aflatoxin contamination. There was more variability in kernel infection between inoculum concentrations than that observed in aflatoxin accumulation. Since our aflatoxin evaluations are conducted in a warm, humid environment, putting less disease pressure on plants via lower inoculum concentrations may make it possible to identify genotypes that have moderate levels of resistance to aflatoxin accumulation.
Facial shape-from-shading using features detection method

The shape reconstruction from one image is an important problem in the computer vision field. It is the so-called shape from shading problem SFS. It is known to be an ill-posed problem, because each pixel has a family cone of surface normal's satisfying the image-irradiance equation. To make the shape from shading problem well-posed, several constraints were imposed on the surface of the 3D object, the model of the camera, and the light source which illuminates the 3D object. The idea of the proposed method is to use a facial features detection method to determine the singular points of the face in order to use them to generate the 3D object. It occurs in two main steps: the first step is the extraction of the facial features the eyes, the nose and the mouth. Using this information, we can extract the singular points which represent the maximum gray-scale value and apply the local fast-marching method to compute the depth of these points. The second step is the application of the global fast-marching to compute all points around the singular points. The proposed method is tested on real facial images.
Porous Liquids Based on Rationally Designed Complex, Hierarchical Nano- and Microarchitectures

Porous liquids with permanent porosity are a new area of materials science, which should exhibit attractive properties to open up long-term applications in chemical processes. However, since 2007 when the idea was firstly put forward, these unique porous materials remained essentially hypothetical. The creation of permanent pores in dense liquid state is much more challenging than that in rigid solids, owing to the loose packing of liquid molecules with free to move properties. As proposed, the homogeneous incorporation of rigid porous solids into the liquid phase to afford permanent porosity is a promising synthetic strategy toward porous liquids fabrication. Unfortunately, there are a number of challenges associated with creating porous liquid, such as intermolecular self-filling, easy collapse or decomposition of the organic hosts, and serious settling of nanoparticles. Very recently, the development of supramolecular chemistry based on hierarchical assembly of nanoscale elements into three-dimensional, complex nano- and microarchitectures gives birth to a great opportunity to address the above issues for porous liquid fabrication. Here, porous liquids based on the rationally designed complex, hierarchical architecture with robust porous structure are presented along with potential applications such as gas separations.
The design and integration of a software configurable and parallelized coprocessor architecture for LQR control

The increasing integration of computing into the physical systems we rely on everyday motivates the need to more easily marry advanced control theory, which is used to control these systems, with the computing platforms used to implement the controllers. This article explores one path of easing this integration using reconfigurable hardware technology, and discusses practical system-level details that must be addressed for integrating our idea into real-world systems. We present a software configurable and parallelized coprocessor architecture for LQR control that can control physical processes representable by a linear state-space model. Our proposed architecture has distinct advantages over purely software or purely hardware approaches. It differs from other hardware controllers in that it is not hardwired to control one or a small range of plant types (e.g. only electric motors). Via software, an embedded systems engineer can easily reconfigure the controller to suit a wide range of control applications that can be represented as a state-space model. One goal of our approach is to support a design methodology to help bridge the gap between controls and embedded system software engineering. Control of the well-understood inverted pendulum on a cart is used as an illustrative example of how the proposed hardware accelerator architecture supports our envisioned design methodology for helping bridge this gap. Additionally, we explore the design space of our co-processors parallel architecture in terms of computing speed and resource utilization. Our performance results show a 3.4 to 100 factor speedup over a 666 MHz embedded ARM processor, for plants that can be represented by 4 to 128 states, respectively. This article concludes with a discussion of the practical integration details required for interfacing the controller with a real inverted pendulumcart system. A software-configurable FPGA-based LQR coprocessor is proposed for CyberPhysical Systems.Improved hardware-level parallelism is achieved by refactoring standard LQR equations.Control of an inverted pendulum is used to compare software and hardware performance.A 3.4 to 100 factor speedup over a 666 MHz embedded ARM processor is demonstrated.Details are provided for interfacing the compute logic with a physical motor.
Covalent Organic Frameworks as a Platform for Multidimensional Polymerization

The simultaneous polymerization and crystallization of monomers featuring directional bonding designs provides covalent organic frameworks (COFs), which are periodic polymer networks with robust covalent bonds arranged in two- or three-dimensional topologies. The range of properties characterized in COFs has rapidly expanded to include those of interest for heterogeneous catalysis, energy storage and photovoltaic devices, and proton-conducting membranes. Yet many of these applications will require materials quality, morphological control, and synthetic efficiency exceeding the capabilities of contemporary synthetic methods. This level of control will emerge from an improved fundamental understanding of COF nucleation and growth processes. More powerful characterization of structure and defects, improved syntheses guided by mechanistic understanding, and accessing diverse isolated forms, ranging from single crystals to thin films to colloidal suspensions, remain important frontier problems.
An examination of the hypersaline phases of Eocene Lake Uinta, upper Green River Formation, Uinta Basin, Utah

The early evolution of ancient Lake Uinta has been the focus of significant study due to the enormous hydrocarbon reserves in the Uinta Basin’s lower to middle Green River Formation. In contrast, the upper Green River Formation, which includes strata recording the lake’s highest level (Mahogany zone), as well as three previously poorly delineated hypersaline phases, is less understood but still important for developing a complete lacustrine system evolutionary model. Detailed descriptions and mineralogy from several cores, as well as examination of geophysical logs from hundreds of oil and gas wells, were used to help delineate these three hypersaline lake phases and better define the events related to the infilling of Lake Uinta. Lake Uinta’s first hypersaline phase, recorded in the Uinta Basin, occurred synchronously with the upper R-6 and Mahogany zone deposition. Evaporite minerals, mostly nahcolite nodules and small shortite crystals, were deposited in the basin’s paleo-depocenter in central Uintah County. The second hypersaline phase is represented by a nearly basin-wide small-evaporite-crystal facies (both nahcolite and shortite), as well as a large-evaporite-nodule facies (nahcolite), also centered on the basin’s eastern paleo-depocenter in central Uintah County. Near the end of the second hypersaline phase, sediments originating from the southeast and north began to infill the lake, pushing the paleo-depocenter to the west. The third hypersaline phase is represented by a thick sequence of lacustrine sediments with disseminated evaporite minerals (nahcolite, shortite, and other more exotic sodium evaporite minerals) and bedded salts (halite and trona) centered in north-central Duchesne County.
Employer Sanctions and the Wages of Mexican Immigrants

Wage differences between authorized and unauthorized Mexican immigrants can be explained by human capital factors prior to the 1986 passage of employer sanctions, which prohibited knowingly hiring unauthorized aliens. However, a significant post-1986 wage differential has been interpreted as employers “passing along” expected costs of sanctions through lower wages for unauthorized immigrants. I test this explanation using administrative data on employer sanctions enforcement, finding employer sanctions enforcement levels are related to Mexican immigrants’ wages but have no statistically significant differential effect based on legal status. Estimated savings to employers due to the pay gap are orders of magnitude larger than actual fines.
Systematic Review of Vocational Preferences on Behavioral Outcomes of Individuals with Disabilities

Assessing performance of individuals with disabilities in relation to their preferences is a method of determining the social validity of practices. The benefits of using vocational preferences on related behavioral outcomes of individuals with disabilities such as task completion, challenging behavior, and indices of happiness, have been explored through several studies. The purpose of this systematic review was to assess the effects of preference for certain vocational activities on performance outcomes for individuals with disabilities. A comprehensive search resulted in a total of 16 included studies. Studies were analyzed according to (a) participant characteristics (e.g., diagnosis, age), (b) setting, (c) work tasks, (d) service provider, (e) experimental design or observational method, (f) preference assessment method, (g) independent variable, and (h) outcomes. Studies were appraised with quality indicators for single-case research. While outcomes were primarily positive in support of incorporating preferred vocational conditions, quality indicators were generally lacking and there are numerous areas calling for future research.
Instabilities in Underwater Composite Structures: Hydrostatic and Shock Loading

Abstract Experimental studies on the underwater buckling of composite tubes are conducted to evaluate and compare their collapse mechanics. Experiments are performed in a pressure vessel designed to provide constant hydrostatic pressure through the collapse. Filament-wound carbon-fiber/epoxy and glass/polyester tubes are studied to explore the effect of material type on the structural failure. Mitigation strategies are explored through polyurea coatings of different thicknesses on the interior or exterior of the tube to explore the effects of these configurations on implosion pulse mitigation. Shock-initiated implosions are also studied, where underwater explosives are used to load the structures with shock waves of varying magnitude. Three-dimensional digital image correlation technique is used to capture the full-field deformation and velocities during the implosion event. Local pressure fields generated by the implosion event are measured using dynamic pressure transducers to evaluate the strength of the emitted pressure pulses. These studies make a significant contribution to the state-of-the-art in the dynamic implosion of composite structures.
Sophomores meet the traveling salesperson problem

When students in computer science first encounter the traveling salesperson problem (TSP), often in their first two years, there are many interesting things that they can learn. This encounter might well occur in a discrete mathematics class, where they can easily use the counting techniques of discrete mathematics to show that the brute-force solution method has factorial running time. Textbooks and instructors are likely to say that this is why methods that quickly find good approximate solutions are used instead. Students might wonder, however, if there are faster methods of obtaining exact solutions. One that might come to mind is to use backtrack search to avoid recomputing partial sums of costs for the traveling salesperson. This paper presents an analysis of this method, finds its running time, and shows that this is not a substantial improvement. This paper also investigates if an exact formula can be found for the number of additions used by this method and succeeds in doing so. Better yet, students in a discrete mathematics course likely have the background to follow the proofs for these two results and can thus convince themselves that what they might think should be a big improvement is not. In the process they learn that mathematics can help them to discover important aspects of a computer science problem. Strong students might be able to create the proofs themselves if they are given the theorems and perhaps some hints.
Effect of line voltage on lightning attachment to 220-kV and 500-kV lines

Calculation results of attachment probability to conductors of 220–500 kV overhead transmission lines without shielding wire depending on polarity of instantaneous voltage are presented. For overhead lines with a horizontal arrangement of conductors without shielding wire the probability that a negatively charged lightning will strike to a positively charged phase rather than to a negatively charged phase is more 3 times for 220 kV lines and 9 times for 500 kV lines. The results of calculations agree well with the data of field measurements on an overhead line 220 kV.
BRCA1/BRCA2 Germline Mutation Carriers and Sporadic Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Background The outcomes of sporadic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients with germline mutations of BRCA1 / BRCA2 remains unclear. The prognostic significance of BRCA1 / BRCA2 mutations on survival is not well established. Study design We performed targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) to identify BRCA1/BRCA2 germline mutations in resected sporadic PDAC cases from 2000 to 2015. Germline BRCA mutation carriers were matched by age and tumor location to those with BRCA1 / BRCA2 wild-type genes from our institutional database. Demographics, clinicopathologic features, overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS) were abstracted from medical records and compared between the 2 cohorts. Results Twenty-two patients with sporadic cancer and BRCA1 (n = 4) or BRCA2 (n = 18) germline mutations and 105 wild-type patients were identified for this case-control study. The BRCA1 / BRCA2 mutations were associated with inferior median OS (20.2 vs 27.8 months, p = 0.034) and DFS (8.4 vs 16.7 months, p BRCA1 / BRCA2 mutation (hazard ratio [HR] 2.10, p BRCA1 / BRCA2 mutated group, having had platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy (n = 10) was associated with better survival than alternative chemotherapy (n = 8) or no adjuvant therapy (n = 4) (31.0 vs 17.8 vs 9.3 months, respectively, p Conclusions Carriers of BRCA1 / BRCA2 mutation with sporadic PDAC had a worse survival after pancreatectomy than their BRCA wild-type counterparts. However, platinum-based chemotherapy regimens were associated with markedly improved survival in patients with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations, with survival differences no longer appreciated with wild-type patients.
Roll-to-Roll Nanoforming of Metals Using Laser-Induced Superplasticity

This Letter describes a low-cost, scalable nanomanufacturing process that enables the continuous forming of thin metallic layers with nanoscale accuracy using roll-to-roll, laser-induced superplasticity (R2RLIS). R2RLIS uses a laser shock to induce the ultrahigh-strain-rate deformation of metallic films at room temperature into low-cost polymeric nanomolds, independently of the original grain size of the metal. This simple and inexpensive nanoforming method does not require access to cleanrooms and associated facilities, and can be easily implemented on conventional CO2 lasers, enabling laser systems commonly used for rapid prototyping or industrial cutting and engraving to fabricate uniform and three-dimensional crystalline metallic nanostructures over large areas. Tuning the laser power during the R2RLIS process enables the control of the aspect ratio and the mechanical and optical properties of the fabricated nanostructures. This roll-to-roll technique successfully fabricates mechanically strengthened ...
Antigen-Presenting Cells in the Eye and Ocular Surface

Antigen-presenting cells (APCs) are critical for the initiation of adaptive immune responses and for maintenance of peripheral tolerance. APCs are strategically positioned as immune sentinels ready to respond to invading pathogens in peripheral tissues. APCs are bone marrow-derived, seed peripheral tissues, collect antigens, and traffic to secondary lymphoid organs, where they communicate with lymphocytes to orchestrate adaptive immune responses. Consequently, migration and accurate positioning of APCs is indispensable for immune surveillance and the induction of tolerance. Once thought to be devoid from most ocular tissues, APCs can be found in almost all layers of the eye and ocular surface.
Linking Flow, Brand Attitudes and Purchase Intent in Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds initially gained visibility from businesses seeking to create a virtual brand presence within the online platforms. More recently however, many companies have abandoned virtual worlds, leading experts to speculate that a lack of knowledge about how to effectively market branded products may ultimately represent one the contributing factors in the seemingly mass corporate exodus. Virtual worlds offer opportunities for high levels of involvement in activities, which are consistent with flow theory. Flow has been defined inconsistently within the information systems (IS) literature. This research-in-progress examines how a reconceptualized model of flow influences brand attitudes and purchase intention of individuals participating in virtual worlds.
The Neurobiological Foundations of Behavior: Environmental Challenge and Response

This chapter is particularly addressed to those readers who do not have a background in medical or biological science. It offers first a brief selective survey of neurobiological and biobehavioral research which we hope will provide a useful technical background to our discussion in Chapter 7 of the neurobiology of mood. Subsequently we introduce the reader to the literature on the psychophysiology of environmental challenge.
Partial Area Under the Curve: An Additional Pharmacokinetic Metric for Bioavailability and Bioequivalence Assessments

To facilitate specific product development, AUCs obtained over time intervals of interest, known as partial AUC, can be used for bioavailability and bioequivalence assessment. Partial AUC, which describes shapes of pharmacokinetic profiles, is most useful in products with complicated release mechanisms where traditional bioequivalence variables such as C max and AUC0–∞ are not sufficient to distinguish performance of products and ensure therapeutic equivalence. In this chapter, the utility of partial AUC in formulations with same release mechanism, formulations with multimodal release mechanisms, and formulations with different release mechanisms are discussed in detail.
It's Not Planned, But Is It Okay? The Acceptability of Unplanned Pregnancy Among Young People

Abstract Background It is well-established that current measures of pregnancy intentions fail to capture the complexity of couples' lived experiences and decisions regarding reproductive decision making. Despite limitations, these measures guide programs, policy, and clinical practice. Herein, we explore prospective pregnancy acceptability, which captures whether individuals anticipate considering an unexpected pregnancy welcomed, manageable, or okay. Methods Individual qualitative interviews were conducted with 50 young (ages 18–24 years) women and their male partners (N = 100) to elucidate prospective pregnancy desires and perspectives on pregnancy planning. Using a thematic approach, we analyzed data from a subsample (n = 88) of participants who did not currently desire a pregnancy. Results Despite lack of pregnancy desire, 37 participants indicated that a pregnancy would be acceptable. Several themes emerged as reasons for pregnancy acceptability, including feeling prepared for children, relational stability, having knowledge of what it takes to parent, and taking a “whatever happens” approach toward pregnancy planning. Notably, a number of reasons for pregnancy acceptability were also described as reasons for lack of acceptability. For example, although many parents in the sample found pregnancy acceptable owing to their knowledge of the time and resources that raising children required, other parents found pregnancy unacceptable for this same reason. Conclusions Acceptability captures nuances of prospective views on pregnancy and what it means for young people's lives that current intentions language and framing often neglects. Additionally, acceptability may be a construct that resonates with the perspectives and lives of young people for whom the notion of active pregnancy planning is not salient.