cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Developing professional competencies through challenge to project experiences

Industry can contribute significantly toward a dynamic engineering curriculum. A major theme in the industry-based dialogue with universities is that engineering graduates need to improve their professional skills; including written proficiencies, oral communication expertise, and teamwork skills. The authors have redesigned a course that combines water and wastewater treatment into a challengebased instruction that develops both the students' conceptual and professional competences associated with civil engineering. The university joined with an industry partner to use their existing facility as an anchor for challenge-based learning activity. Opportunities for students to demonstrate and practice professional skills were extensively integrated into the design experience. While challengebased instruction concepts are by no means new, the principles have not previously found widespread application within the civil engineering discipline. The objective of this study was to investigate student experiences for learning both content and professional competencies within a wastewater treatment course. A major finding of this study is that the traditional lecture style course could be redesigned in a manner that develops students' expectation of what it means to be a professional and the skills associated with that, while at the same time advancing their knowledge of wastewater treatment. The students self-reported that the most significant aspects of the learning experience were those related to their professional competencies. Those particular learning experiences relate directly to the skills requested by industry.
Monocytosis Is an Independent Risk Factor for Survival in Agnogenic Myeloid Metaplasia.

Background: Young (age 30 × 109/L, and platelet count < 100 × 109/L (Dingli et al. Cancer 2006;106:623). In the current study, we identify absolute monocytosis of ≥ 1 × 109/L as an additional independent risk factor for survival in AMM. Methods: A consecutive cohort of WHO-defined AMM patients diagnosed before the age of 60 years was identified. The impact of various clinical and laboratory parameters on overall survival was evaluated with univariate and multivariable analysis. Results: The study included 129 patients (median age 52 years, range 18–60; 69 males) with AMM. An overall median survival of 75 months was univariately affected by platelet count 30 × 109/L, monocytosis of ≥ 1 × 109/L, and, where cytogenetic studies were available (n=41), presence of unfavorable cytogenetic abnormalities (p < 0.01 in each instance). On multivariable analysis, all but leukocyte count maintained their significance. The independent prognostic value of monocyte count was also validated against the modified Dupriez score (see above) and thus allowed further refinement of the particular CBC-based PSS that included monocytosis of ≥ 1 × 109/L as a fourth risk factor; low-risk identified patients with none of the 4 risk factors, intermediate-risk with one risk factor, and high-risk with 2 or more risk factors (Figure 1). For comparison, Figure 2 illustrates survival curves according to the original Dupriez PSS. Conclusion: Monocytosis of ≥ 1 × 109/L is an independent risk factor for inferior survival in AMM. ![Figure 1. ][1] Figure 1. Mayo score ![Figure 2. ][1] Figure 2. Dupriez score [1]: pending:yes
Phosphorylation on PstP controls cell wall metabolism and antibiotic tolerance in Mycobacterium smegmatis [preprint]

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its relatives have dynamic cell walls that respond to environmental stresses. Modulation of cell wall metabolism under stress is thought to be responsible for decreased cell wall permeability and increased tolerance to antibiotics. The signaling pathways that control cell wall metabolism under stress, however, are poorly understood. Here, we examine the signaling capacity of a cell wall master regulator, the Serine Threonine Phosphatase PstP, in the model organism Mycobacterium smegmatis. We studied how interference with a regulatory phosphorylation site on PstP affects growth, cell wall metabolism and antibiotic tolerance. We find that a phospho-mimetic mutation, pstP T171E, slows growth, misregulates both mycolic acid and peptidoglycan metabolism in different conditions, and interferes with antibiotic tolerance. We show that the peptidoglycan regulator CwlM is a substrate of PstP, and may be an important mediator of the role of PstP in controlling peptidoglycan metabolism. These data suggest that phosphorylation on PstP affects its activity and is important in the transition between growth and stasis.
Neurodiversity and Autism Advocacy: Who Fits Under the Autism Tent?

In their thoughtful article, McCoy et al. (2020) raise concerns about partial representation, in which nonelected advocates or advocacy organizations fail to engage and hold themselves accountable ...
Held Down and Held Back: Systematically Delayed Principal Promotions by Race and Gender:

Recent scholarship highlights the many benefits of diversity among principals, including improved teacher retention and student outcomes. We use survival analysis to assess the probability and time...
Evaluating components of existing theories for loss of control eating in a sample of young racially/ethnically diverse men

Abstract The current study evaluated components of existing theoretical models for loss of control (LOC) eating in young men. The link between body image concerns, including concerns with fat and muscularity, and LOC eating frequency was evaluated in 1109 ethnically/racially diverse men (18–30y). Dietary restraint, compulsive exercise, and emotion dysregulation were evaluated as putative mediators. Body mass index (BMI) and race/ethnicity were examined as moderators. Participants completed online surveys. Path analyses in Mplus tested indirect paths using the bias-corrected bootstrap method. Higher body fat concerns were directly linked to LOC eating frequency and indirectly linked through greater dietary restraint, compulsive exercise, and emotional dysregulation (ps
Mobile Wallets: Theoretical and Empirical Analysis:

AbstractMobile wallets (m-wallet) have played a prominent role in changing our system of payment from cash to digital payment. The current study employs a systematic review of articles published on...
The Division of Assets in Multiagent Systems: A Case Study in Team Blotto Games

Multi-agent systems are designed to concurrently accomplish a diverse set of tasks at unprecedented scale. Here, the central problems faced by a system operator are to decide (i) how to divide available resources amongst the agents assigned to tasks and (ii) how to coordinate the behavior of the agents to optimize the efficiency of the resulting collective behavior. The focus of this paper is on problem (i), where we seek to characterize the impact of the division of resources on the best-case efficiency of the resulting collective behavior. Specifically, we focus on a team Colonel Blotto game where there are two sub-colonels competing against a common adversary in a two battlefield environment. Here, each sub-colonel is assigned a given resource budget and is required to allocate these resources independent of the other sub-colonel. However, their success is dependent on the allocation strategy of both sub-colonels. The central focus of this manuscript is on how to divide a common pool of resources among the two sub-colonels to optimize the resulting best-case efficiency guarantees. Intuitively, one would imagine that the more balanced the division of resources, the worse the performance, as such divisions restrict the sub-colonels' ability to employ joint randomized strategies that tend to be necessary for optimizing performance guarantees. However, the main result of this paper demonstrates that this intuition is actually incorrect. A more balanced division of resources can offer better performance guarantees than a more centralized division. Hence, this paper demonstrates that the resource division problem is highly non-trivial in such enmeshed environments and worthy of significant future research efforts.
Genomic and cDNA selection-amplification identifies transcriptome-wide binding sites for the Drosophila protein sex-lethal

Background Downstream targets for a large number of RNA-binding proteins remain to be identified. The Drosophila master sex-switch protein Sex-lethal (SXL) is an RNA-binding protein that controls splicing, polyadenylation, or translation of certain mRNAs to mediate female-specific sexual differentiation. Whereas some targets of SXL are known, previous studies indicate that additional targets of SXL have escaped genetic screens. Methodology/principal findings Here, we have used an alternative molecular approach of GEnomic Selective Enrichment of Ligands by Exponential enrichment (GESELEX) using both the genomic DNA and cDNA pools from several Drosophila developmental stages to identify new potential targets of SXL. Our systematic analysis provides a comprehensive view of the Drosophila transcriptome for potential SXL-binding sites. Conclusion/significance We have successfully identified new SXL-binding sites in the Drosophila transcriptome. We discuss the significance of our analysis and that the newly identified binding sites and sequences could serve as a useful resource for the research community. This approach should also be applicable to other RNA-binding proteins for which downstream targets are unknown.
Medicare Plan Decisions: What Strategy Do Older Adults Use for e-Healthcare Decision-Making and What Intelligent Assistance Do They Need?

Medicare Plan Finder (MPF), an e-healthcare tool on Medicare.gov, is designed to support beneficiaries in selecting a Medicare plan. The large number of plans and complexity of plan attributes make decisions arduous for older adults, whose decisions can suffer from cognitive aging. No studies have explored the optimization of older adults’ decision strategies while making a plan decision. We applied decision strategies (LEX = plan selection based on a prime attribute; SAT = selecting an initial plan that satisfies minimum attribute cutoffs; MCD = comparing two plans at a time until a winner is selected; EBA = successively eliminating plans that do not meet attribute criteria; and WAD = comparing multiple plans for attribute trade-offs) from consumer theories to observational data from 29 participants (65+ years) selecting a plan using MPF with counselor assistance. Transcripts were analyzed to identify (1) participant strategies and (2) counselor intervened strategies. Before counselors’ first intervention, 7 participants used no strategy, while 19 used only one strategy, mainly SAT. Most often, counselors promoted LEX (f = 29), followed by MCD > SAT > EBA > WAD (fs = 26, 23, 19, & 12). With counselors’ intervention, participants came to use two (f = 17; most frequently, SAT then LEX [f = 7]) or more strategies. From 88 counselor interventions, participants adopted a strategy about 58%. Our findings highlight how older adults’ e-healthcare decision strategies are impacted by on-task interventions and inform the development of real-time artificial intelligence (AI) decision assistants for Medicare plan decisions.
Content, delivery, and curricular integration: Bridging the gap between foundational sciences and pharmacy communications.

Abstract Background and purpose The purpose of this study was to assess impact on knowledge, communication skills, and self-confidence of an oral presentation through integrated learning within a pharmaceutical sciences course and a pharmacy practice course within the first year of a three-year, accelerated pharmacy curriculum. Educational activity and setting First-year, first-quarter students were assigned to research, prepare, and give an oral presentation of an immunology topic pertaining to an autoimmune disease or an immune deficiency. In addition to assessments of content (immunology) and delivery (communications), students completed a 15-item, four-point Likert scale anonymous post-presentation survey, which provided an opportunity for the students to provide feedback about the assignments. Students were also encouraged to provide subjective feedback. Findings A total of 140 students (88%) completed the survey. Results indicated favorable student response to the assignments. On average, students viewed this activity as a positive experience (total mean = 1.44 (95.71%)). Furthermore, students strongly agreed that the activity helped with public speaking and reinforced basic immune system concepts. Analysis of student responses and comments indicated positive reaction to active learning and self-directed learning. Summary Overall results indicated an improvement in student confidence in ability to communicate specific material learned in a pharmaceutical sciences course. Curricular integration through oral presentations is one approach to increase student knowledge of pharmaceutical sciences and improve confidence and student self-awareness of personal communication skills.
Solitary-Waves in Self-Induced Transparency

Numerous systems are known to give rise to velocity or wavelength “selection”: crystal growth, fluid flow, shock waves, etc... Mathematically, the velocity or wavelength appear as non-linear eigenvalues1,2. It is often the case that the “unperturbed” problem (e.g., the zero-surface tension limit for crystal growth and fluid flow) has a continuous non-linear eigenvalue spectrum because of some underlying symmetry. The addition of a perturbation will usually break this symmetry and will lead to a discrete spectrum, that is to “selection”. Exactly integrable PDEs provide a particularly interesting ground for selection studies. They typically have a continuum of soliton solutions with different velocities or amplitudes. Adding a generic perturbation destroys their exact integrability. Solitons should disappear or become solitary-waves under such perturbations. There are many examples where ordinary perturbations destroy the family of solitons, leaving a single solitary-wave3. The effects of singular perturbations are more subtle, but have been investigated in the last few years for the cases of the standard exactly integrable PDEs (KdV, NLS, SG; see several of the articles in these proceedings). The conclusion of these works is that higher derivatives destroy all solitary-waves; generally, steady-state solutions have capillary waves going out all the way to infinity from the main peak. The purpose of this article is to report on some work4,5 on the coupled Maxwell-Bloch equations. In the slowly varying envelope approximation (SVEA), these PDEs reduce to an exactly integrable system which can be treated by the inverse scattering transform6,7. Also, to all orders in perturbation theory, there is a continuum of solitary-wave solutions.
Technology Development Report: Cddf, Dual Use Partnerships, Sbir/Sttr: Fiscal Year 2003 Activities

The FY2003 NASA John C. Stennis Stennis Space Center (SSC) Technology Development Report provides an integrated report of all technology development activities at SSC. This report actually combines three annual reports: the Center Director's Discretionary Fund (CDDF) Program Report, Dual Use Program Report, and the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program Report. These reports are integrated in one document to summarize all technology development activities underway in support of the NASA missions assigned to SSC. The Dual Use Program Report provides a summary review of the results and status of the nine (9) Dual Use technology development partnership projects funded and managed at SSC during FY2003. The objective of these partnership projects is to develop or enhance technologies that will meet the technology needs of the two NASA SSC Mission Areas: Propulsion Test and Earth Science Applications. During FY2003, the TDTO managed twenty (20) SBIR Phase II Projects and two (2) STTR Phase II Projects. The SBIR contracts support low TRL technology development that supports both the Propulsion Test and the Earth Science Application missions. These projects are shown in the SBIR/STTR Report. In addition to the Phase II contracts, the TDTO managed ten (10) SBIR Phase I contracts which are fixed price, six month feasibility study contracts. These are not listed in this report. Together, the Dual Use Projects and the SBIR/STTR Projects constitute a technology development partnership approach that has demonstrated that success can be achieved through the identification of the technical needs of the NASA mission and using various available partnership techniques to maximize resource utilization to achieve mutual technology goals. Greater use of these partnership techniques and the resource leveraging they provide, is a goal of the TDTO, providing more support to meet the technology development needs of the mission areas at SSC.
Laparoscopy in Urological Oncology

The laparoscopic approach has evolved in the field of uro-oncology. In specialized centers, the laparoscopic technique has been employed in the treatment of kidney, adrenal, prostate, bladder, urothelial, and testicular cancers. The minimally invasive approach reproduces open surgery with less morbidity, allowing quicker convalescence. This chapter presents the oncological outcomes of laparoscopic surgery and briefly discusses the technical aspects of each procedure.
The value of active scanning to senior executives: Insights from key decision‐makers

This paper examines the elements of active scanning as a tool to interpret rapidly changing markets. Active scanning is the concerted effort of an organization to direct its intelligence gathering activities toward its environment, markets and customers by integrating diverse information inputs into a cohesive perspective of rapidly changing markets and emerging opportunities. A Delphi process was used to present these elements to a panel of senior decision‐makers including Directors and Vice‐Presidents from Compaq, AT&T, Microsoft and IBM. The results suggest that the active scanning is important to organizations operating in turbulent environments when future states are unpredictable. The implications include developing new sensing and interpretation skills for managers to help the organization interpret and respond to their environmental pressures.
The Disaster in Darfur in Historical Perspective

This article is to demonstrate that the current crisis in Darfur is not a spontaneous insurgency at the beginning of the twenty-first century but the culmination of neglect, religion, and racism since the end of the nineteenth century. Historically, there has been a long record of conflict between the African Fur and Masalit and the Arabs of Darfur, particularly the Baqqara. This racial hostility was compounded by the cultural discrimination between the rustic, illiterate Baqqara Arabs of Darfur, commonly known as the awlad al-gharib (westerners) and the more sophisticated literate riverine Arabs of the towns located in the heartland of the Sudan along the river Nile, the Awlad al-Bahr (people of the river). This juxtaposition of the center versus the periphery is central to any understanding of the history of Sudan of which the disaster in Darfur is the most recent manifestation. Moreover, since 1969 Darfur has been the strategic battleground in the much larger conflict begun by Muammar Qadhafi of Libya in 1969 to establish an Arab, Islamic Sudanic Libyan Empire south of the Sahara. In this 40 years' war the current crisis in Darfur is yet another act in a Shakespearean tragedy about the long road to disaster in Darfur. The theme of the play remains the same, but this act, the most bloody to be sure, must be understood by the international community as another episode in the continuing struggle for control of the most strategic regions of the Chad basin, Darfur.
The job creating machine

Creating new jobs is critical in an election year. If people vote with their pockets, then the job issue will decide the fate of the coming presidential election. In a jobless recovery, employment is a measure of economic prosperity, and the trump card that could decide the leadership of the nation and its future.
Factors Influencing the Properties of Whisker-Metal Composites

Composites of aluminum reinforced with α-silicon carbide whiskers have been fabricated by a powder metallurgical technique. Although reinforcement was achieved, composite properties fall considerably below what is expected from the constituent properties. This is inter preted in terms of voids, fiber breakage, and imperfect fiber orientation and the conclusions are supported by a study of the fracture mode of samples tensile tested at temperatures to 500°C.
A robust and lightweight feature system for video fingerprinting

In this paper, a new content-based feature identification method for video sequences is presented. It is robust to a number of image transformations and relatively lightweight compare to most state of the art methods. A scale and rotation invariant descriptor for a set of interest points in detected key frames is proposed based on modified minimal spanning tree algorithm. In addition, a predicative coding scheme is used to achieve minimal size of the descriptor for transmission. Furthermore, the pairwise distance between the frequency responses of the curvature vector from the descriptors is calculated and compared to efficiently match query with a large database. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
Toxicology of Biocides

Biocides are generally defined as chemicals or biological agents that are capable of destroying, preventing or rendering harmless, pathogenic organisms. In terms of regulatory activity, the scope of biocides has expanded to the extent that they are regarded as nonagricultural biocides. Their use requires that they be registered and approved through national and international regulatory schemes. Biocides are extensively used in industry, domestically, agriculturally and with medical and veterinary applications. Thus, they find widespread use, particularly in pulp and paper manufacturing, in personal care products, preservatives and as sanitizers, disinfectants and sterilants. Because they are reactive with pathogenic organisms, biocides are potentially toxic and, through misuse, can result in adverse health effects. This review discusses the use patterns, chemistry, toxicology, human health effects and environmental aspects, of several representative biocides of a wide range of chemical structures and applications. Keywords: regulation; use patterns; physicochemical properties; mechanism of action; toxicology; ecotoxicology 2,2-dibromo-3-nitrilopropionamide; methylenebisthiocyanate; quarternary ammonium compounds; 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol; isothiazolones; tetra-(hydroxymethyl)-phosphonium sulfate; peracetic acid; glutaraldehyde
A combined parameter scaling and inverse technique to upscale the unsaturated hydraulic parameters for heterogeneous soils

[1] Determining a large number of soil hydraulic parameters for heterogeneous soils remains a challenge because inverting for too many parameters can lead to parameter values that are nonunique. Furthermore, such inversions may need very long simulation times, for example, months or more when inverting field-scale problems. In this research, a combined parameter scaling and inverse technique (CPSIT) is proposed to upscale hydraulic parameters from the local scale to the field scale. The CPSIT approach includes two steps: (1) parameter scaling and (2) inverse modeling. In step 1 the number of parameters to be estimated at field scale (FS) is reduced by applying parameter scaling whereby a heterogeneous soil is treated as a composition of multiple equivalent homogeneous media (EHMs). In step 2 the FS parameters for the reference EHM are determined using the inverse technique and observations from well-designed field experiments. The advantages of the CPSIT approach are that the number of parameters to be inverted is reduced by a factor of the number (M) of EHMs, and the simulation time is reduced by a factor of about M2. The CPSIT approach was tested by upscaling the hydraulic parameters using a field injection experiment at the Hanford Site. Results show that when the CPSIT upscaled parameters were used to simulated flow, the mean squared residual was reduced by 83.2% relative to that when the local-scale parameters were used.
Dynamic Ice Breakup Control for the Connecticut River near Windsor, Vermont

The Cornish-Windsor bridge is the longest covered bridge in the United States and has significant historical value. Dynamic ice breakup of the Connecticut River can threaten the bridge and cause flood damage in Windsor, Vermont. We monitored ice conditions throughout the 1985-86 winter, observed a mid­winter dynamic ice breakup, conducted controlled release tests during both open water and ice cover conditions, and analyzed more than 60 years of temperature and discharge records. River regulation presents alternatives for ice mangement that would minimize water levels during breakup. In this paper we develop the basis of a method to produce a controlled ice breakup at lower stage and discharge than occur during major natural events.
Estimation of biological signals by time-frequency methods

We address the problem of estimation of biological signal parameters and present methods based on the phase gradient of the short time Fourier transform which may be used to accurately estimate signal parameters. The methods are robust and are well suited to the analysis of non-stationary multicomponent signals. Specifically addressed are the problems of recovery of crisp narrow-band time-frequency representations from very small data sets, accurate estimation of speech formants, blind recovery of the group delay of the transmission channel and equalization of time-frequency representations.
Multidimensional multiphysics simulation of nuclear fuel behavior

Nuclear fuel operates in an environment that induces complex multiphysics phenomena, occurring over distances ranging from inter-atomic spacing to meters, and times scales ranging from microseconds to years. This multiphysics behavior is often tightly coupled and many important aspects are inherently multidimensional. Most current fuel modeling codes employ loose multiphysics coupling and are restricted to 2D axisymmetric or 1.5D approximations. This paper describes a new modeling tool able to simulate coupled multiphysics and multiscale fuel behavior, for either 2D axisymmetric or 3D geometries. Specific fuel analysis capabilities currently implemented in this tool are described, followed by a set of demonstration problems which include a 10-pellet light water reactor fuel rodlet, three-dimensional analysis of pellet clad mechanical interaction in the vicinity of a defective fuel pellet, coupled heat transfer and fission product diffusion in a TRISO-coated fuel particle, a demonstration of the ability to couple to lower-length scale models to account for material property variation with microstructural evolution, and a demonstration of the tool’s ability to efficiently solve very large and complex problems using massively-parallel computing. A final section describes an early validation exercise, comparing simulation results to a light water reactor fuel rod experiment.
Meteorologists from the University of Tokyo: Their Exodus to the United States Following World War II

The emigration of 11 young Japanese meteorologists to the United States following World War II is investigated. Their move is examined with the benefit of a historical backdrop that includes a study of the socioeconomic conditions in Japan and the education that they received at the University of Tokyo. Oral histories and letters of reminiscence from these scientists are used with standard source material to reconstruct the conditions of postwar Japan. The principal results of the study are that 1) these scientists were among the intellectual elite, because of the rigorous screening process in the Japanese educational system; 2) their scientific education was fundamentally grounded in traditional physics and a wide range of geophysical sciences; 3) they all experienced austere living conditions and poor job prospects in the war-torn Japanese economy; and 4) they made a strong scientific connection with U.S. researchers in the areas of numerical experimentation and numerical weather prediction, which facil...
Generalized B-spline surfaces of arbitrary topology

B-spline surfaces, although widely used, are incapable of describing surfaces of arbitrary topology. It is not possible to model a general closed surface or a surface with handles as a single non-degenerate B-spline. In practice such surfaces are often needed. In this paper, we present generalizations of biquadratic and bicubic B-spline surfaces that are capable of capturing surfaces of arbitrary topology (although restrictions are placed on the connectivity of the control mesh). These results are obtained by relaxing the sufficient but not necessary smoothness constraints imposed by B-splines and through the use of an n-sided generalization of Bezier surfaces called S-patches.
Preparative separation of the complementary strands of DNA restriction fragments by alkaline RPC-5 chromatography

High pressure reversed phase chromatography (RPC-5) at pH 12 was used for preparative separation of the complementary strands of the smaller DNA fragments which are generated by the Hae III restriction endonuclease digestion of Col El DNA. A single high pressure RPC-5 chromatographic step at neutral pH served to purify duplex fragments 70, 172, 250 and 440 base pairs long; each of these yielded two elution peaks upon chromatography under alkaline denaturing conditions.
Active surveillance; a reasonable management alternative for patients with prostate cancer: the Miami experience

OBJECTIVE To examine the outcome of patients diagnosed with ‘low-risk’ prostate cancer managed by active surveillance (AS). PATIENTS AND METHODS In all, 157 men with localized prostate cancer were followed on AS. The inclusion criteria for AS included: Gleason score of ≤ 6, a serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level of ≤15 ng/mL, stage ≤ T2, low-volume disease and >12 months of follow-up. The follow-up was rigorous, with PSA tests and a digital rectal examination every 3 months for 2 years, and a repeat biopsy 6–12 months after the initial diagnosis and yearly when indicated. Continuance of AS was based on the PSA doubling time, re-biopsy score, Gleason score, tumour volume, stage progression and patient preference. RESULTS In all 99 patients met the inclusion criteria; their mean age at diagnosis was 66 years, their mean PSA level 5.77 ng/mL and the mean follow-up 45.3 months. On initial repeat biopsy, 63% had no cancer and 34% had a Gleason sum of ≤ 6. Eight patients were treated (three with hormones; five with curative intent); two had radical prostatectomy (one had pT2c pNO Gleason 7 disease); three had radiotherapy. The probability is that 85% would remain treatment-free at 5 years; no patient died from prostate cancer. The PSA doubling time and clinical stage at diagnosis were predictive of progression. CONCLUSION Patients who are followed on AS must be selected using narrowly defined inclusion criteria and closely followed with a standard regimen of PSA testing, digital rectal examination and repeat biopsy.
Oak Ridge Biosurveillance Toolkit: Scalable machine learning for public health surveillance

As the number of data sources for public health surveillance continues to grow both in volume and variety, there is a need to develop data-driven machine learning tools that can automate discovery and aid decision makers in obtaining quantifiable insights on emerging disease spread phenomena. In this talk, we present an overview of scalable machine learning tools that we have been developing as part of advancing this mission. In particular, our machine learning tools can automatically (a) detect multi-scale spatial and temporal break-out patterns of disease occurrence, (b) quantify multi-modal co-occurrence disease patterns to identify local-and national-level “hotspots” and (c) predict how patterns of co-occurrence correspond to `intervention' strategies.
Dry Matter Partitioning of Nonbearing Apple Trees Following Injury by European Red Mite (Acari: Tetranychidae)

Apple trees ( Malus × domestica Borkhauser) of ‘Bisbee Delicious’ (a spur type), ‘Triple Red Delicious’ (a nonspur type), ‘Golden Delicious’, and ‘Red Stayman 201’ were subjected to various levels of European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Koch), injury for 3 yr after planting. Mite injury (as measured by the mean seasonal cumulative mite days for the 3 seasons) ranged from 35 to 1,821 for the experimental trees. Dry matter accumulation in tree partitions was measured at the end of the 3rd growing season, and the effect of mite injury was analyzed. All 4 cultivars tested responded to mite injury in a similar manner, although tree size was influenced greatly by intrinsic differences among cultivars. Reductions in dry matter accumulation in the tree as a whole, the aerial portions, and the root systems occurred as a result of mite injury. The percentage of reduction per 1,000 mite days was greatest for the root system (7-12%), whereas reductions in other partitions averaged about 6%. The effect of mite injury during the non bearing phase, although statistically significant, is not a likely critical factor in the establishment and early production of an orchard. The importance of establishing biological mite control with Stethorus punctum (LeConte) early in the life of an orchard outweighs any negative effects on early growth.
Tumor Suppressor MMAC/PTEN Inhibits Cytokine-induced NFκB Activation without Interfering with the IκB Degradation Pathway

The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) pathway has been implicated in the activation of the proinflammatory transcription factor nuclear factor kappaB (NFkappaB). To investigate the role of this pathway in NFkappaB activation, we employed mutated in multiple advanced cancers/phosphatase and tensin homologue (MMAC/PTEN), a natural antagonist of PI 3-kinase activity. Our results show that cytokine-induced DNA binding and transcriptional activities of NFkappaB were both inhibited in a glioma cell line that was stably transfected with MMAC/PTEN. The ability of interleukin-1 (IL-1) to induce inhibitor (IkappaB) degradation or nuclear translocation of NFkappaB was, however, unaffected by MMAC/PTEN expression, suggesting that PI 3-kinase utilizes another equally important mechanism to control NFkappaB activation. It is conceivable that NFkappaB is directly phosphorylated through such a mechanism because treatment with protein phosphatase 2A significantly reduced its DNA binding activity. Moreover, IL-1-induced phosphorylation of p50 NFkappaB was potently inhibited in MMAC/PTEN-expressing cells. Whereas the mediators of NFkappaB phosphorylation remain to be identified, IL-1 was found to induce physical interactions between the PI 3-kinase target Akt kinase and the IkappaB.IkappaB kinase complex. Physical interactions between these proteins were antagonized by MMAC/PTEN consistent with their potential involvement in NFkappaB activation. Taken together, our observations suggest that PI 3-kinase regulates NFkappaB activation through a novel phosphorylation-dependent mechanism.
⁎4662 Octreotide reduces sphincter pressure in sphincter of oddi dysfunction: further support for selective denervation of the sphincter.

Sphincter of Oddi (SO) motility is modulated by inhibitory and excitatory neurons present in its myenteric plexus. The excitatory neurons are predominantly cholinergic while inhibitory neurons produce nitrous oxide and vasoactive intestinal peptide. Octreotide inhibits both groups of neurons. This explains the relatively equivocal effect of octreotide on the normal SO. In SOD evidence suggests a loss of inhibitory neurons while excitatory neurons remain intact. We hypothesize that octreotide can suppress this unopposed cholinergic activity resulting in relaxation of the hypertensive SO. Aim: To determine the effect of octreotide on the hypertensive SO. Methods: 38 patients presenting with recurrent abdominal pain and SOD (basal pressure >40 mm Hg) were studied. SOM was performed in standard fashion. The test group (n=19) received octreotide acetate 100 mg IV while the control group (n=19) received IV saline. Basal, phasic and duct pressure as well as phasic amplitude and frequency were recorded before and 3 minutes after the IV infusion. Changes in these parameters before and after IV infusions were compared. Results:See table. Octreotide caused a statistically significant reduction in basal and peak SO pressure as compared to saline. Conclusions:Relaxation of the hypertensive SO in response to octreotide supports the hypothesis of selective denervation and indicates a potential role for octreotide in the medical treatment of SOD.
Why the observed jet quenching at RHIC is due to parton energy loss

Abstract Significant jet quenching in central Au+Au collisions has been discovered at RHIC. This Letter provides theoretical arguments and lists experimental evidence that the observed jet quenching at RHIC is due to parton energy loss instead of hadron rescattering or absorption in a hadronic medium. These include: (1) hadron formation time based on the uncertainty principle, (2) p T dependence and (3) centrality dependence of the observed jet quenching, (4) jet-like leading hadron correlations (5) high- p T azimuthal anisotropy and (6) experimental data from Pb+Pb collisions at SPS and e + A collisions. Direct measurements of the parton energy loss in the direction of a triggered high- p T hadron and the medium modified fragmentation function on the back-side are proposed to further verify the partonic nature of the observed jet quenching. The importance of jet quenching studies at lower energies at RHIC is also discussed.
Early Deterioration Warning for Hospitalized Patients by Mining Clinical Data

Data mining on medical data has great potential to improve the treatment quality of hospitals and increase the survival rate of patients. Every year, 4-17% of patients undergo cardiopulmonary or respiratory arrest while in hospitals. Clinical study has found early detection and intervention to be essential for preventing clinical deterioration in patients at general hospital units. This paper proposes an early warning system (EWS) designed to identify the signs of clinical deterioration and provide early warning for serious clinical events. The EWS is designed to provide reliable early alarms for patients at the general hospital wards (GHWs). The main task of EWS is a challenging classification problem on high-dimensional stream data with irregular, multi-scale data gaps, measurement errors, outliers, and class imbalance. This paper proposes a novel data mining framework for analyzing such medical data streams. The authors assess the feasibility of the proposed EWS approach through retrospective study that includes data from 41,503 visits at a major hospital. Finally, the system is applied in a clinical trial at a major hospital and obtains promising results. This project is an example of multidisciplinary cyber-physical systems involving researchers in clinical science, data mining, and nursing staff.
Sites and Mechanisms of Action of Halothane on Skeletal Muscle Function in Vitro

In isolated rat diaphragm strips, halothane augments the tension produced during caffeine-induced contractures in a dose-related manner. Potassium-induced contracture tension is augmented in the presence of halothane to a concentration of 0.75 per cent, and decreased at halothane concentrations of more than 1 per cent. The time of peak tension for potassium-induced contractures is diminished by all halothane concentrations. T-tubular disruption by hypertonic glycerol does not alter anesthetic-induced augmentation of caffeine-induced contractures. It is postulated that halothane augments calcium-release processes in sarcoplasmic reticulum. Membrane events or excitation-contraction coupling steps may be also altered by halothane.
Liquid-Metal Embrittlement of Type 316L Stainless Steel by Gallium as Measured by Elastic-Plastic Fracture Mechanics

Abstract In order to bound failure of austenitic stainless steel storage containers housing Ga-containing compounds, the liquid-metal embrittlement of Type 316L (UNS S31603) stainless steel (SS) by Ga was investigated. Type 316L SS compact tension specimens were exposed to liquid Ga using a depassivation technique to wet the specimen. Linear elastic and elastic-plastic fracture mechanics methods were used to compare the fatigue and fracture behavior. Mild liquid-metal embrittlement was observed, as indicated by increased fatigue crack growth rate, decreased number of fatigue cycles to failure, decreased crack initiation resistance, and increased crack growth rate. Stable cracking was observed for all test conditions. A small amount of intergranular cracking was observed following Ga exposure. No effect of test temperature on embrittlement was observed over the small temperature range examined (35°C to 75°C). Decreasing crosshead displacement rate promoted Ga embrittlement. Based on fractography, profilome...
A Comparison of Psychometric Functions for Detection in Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Listeners

Psychometric functions (PFD) for the detection of pure tones were obtained with a two-interval forced-choice procedure from a group of listeners with normal hearing and a group of listeners with sensorineural impairments of presumed cochlear origin. Five PFDs were obtained for each group at each of the four test frequencies (500, 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz). The slopes of PFDs were abnormally steep in some of the hearing-impaired listeners, but were statistically significant only at 2000 Hz.
Learned Predictions of Error Likelihood in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the related medial wall play a critical role in recruiting cognitive control. Although ACC exhibits selective error and conflict responses, it has been unclear how these develop and become context-specific. With use of a modified stop-signal task, we show from integrated computational neural modeling and neuroimaging studies that ACC learns to predict error likelihood in a given context, even for trials in which there is no error or response conflict. These results support a more general error-likelihood theory of ACC function based on reinforcement learning, of which conflict and error detection are special cases.
Growth and characterization of ZnSe grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy using diisopropyl selenide and diethyl zinc

Abstract Diisopropyl selenide (DIPSe) and diethyl zinc have been used successfully to grow ZnSe epitaxial layers on GaAs by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE). The epilayers have been characterized by optical microscopy, Rutherford backscattering, X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence. High quality crystalline material exhibiting good surface morphology was obtained in the temperature range 380–500°C and pressure range 30–400 Torr. At temperatures below 440°C and a total reactor pressure of 300 Torr and above, the growth process is controlled by surface reaction kinetics. As the pressure is decreased, surface reaction processes control the growth process up to 580°C. At 100 and 300 Torr, the activation energy values of the thermally activated growth process are similar to those measured using other alkyl Se sources. The crystalline quality was assessed by RBS as a function of thickness of the films. Photoluminescence spectra are analyzed in detail and the effects of sample thickness, precursor ratios and growth temperature are discussed.
Production of multifunctional chimaeric enzymes in plants: a promising approach for degrading plant cell wall from within.

Summary Multifunctional chimaeric hydrolases can be created by covalently linking heterologous catalytic and functional domains in a single polypeptide. Previously, we have generated a number of chimaeric lignocellulosic hydrolases that contain two to five modules [Biotechnol Bioeng (2009) 102: 1045; Appl Environ Microbiol (2009) 75: 1754]. These chimaeras closely resemble the parental enzymes in kinetics and other enzymatic properties, and some exhibit improved synergy in degrading natural substrates when compared to mixtures of parental enzymes. In addition to the applications in fermentative enzyme production, the chimaeric genes can be used in the construction of a single plant transformation binary vector carrying several genes that encode a complete set of lignocellulosic hydrolase activities. The advantages of this approach include ease in vector construction and transformation, as well as downstream plant analysis and breeding. The hydrolases sequestered in biomass feedstock can potentially assist enzymatic pretreatment and sugar conversion. Here, we report the gene expression and functional characterization of a chimaeric hemicellulase in transgenic tobacco plants. T1 transgenic plants produced up to 19-mg active enzymes per gram of total-soluble leaf proteins. The results demonstrate the feasibility of producing multifunctional lignocellulosic hydrolases in plants. Key considerations in the design, construction and plant expression of the chimaeric genes are discussed.
Single antenna time reversal detection of moving target

This paper is concerned with a moving target detection using time reversal in dense multipath environments. We show that the Doppler shift in the time reversal re-transmission simplifies the detector design, yet still achieves the focusing effect. Thus, the Doppler diversity is utilized to achieve high target detectability by time reversal.
Restoration of Dystrophin Expression in MDX Mice by Intravascular Injection of Naked DNA Containing Full-Length Dystrophin cDNA

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a lethal, X-linked, recessive disease caused by a defect in the dystrophin gene. No effective therapy is available. Dystrophin gene transfer to skeletal muscle has been proposed as a treatment for DMD. However, successful treatment for DMD requires restoration of dystrophin in the affected muscle fibers to at least 20% of the normal level. Current gene transfer methods such as intramuscular injection of viral vector or naked DNA can only transfect a small area of muscle, and therefore is of little clinical utility. We have developed a semisystemic method for gene transfer into skeletal muscle of mdx mice, an animal model for DMD. Naked DNA was injected through the tail artery or vein of mice, in which the aorta and the vena cava were clamped at the location just below the kidneys. The DNA solution was thus forced into the blood vessels of both legs. Luciferase gene expression was detected in all muscle groups in both legs. The effects of injection speed, injection volume, and ischemia time on gene expression were also optimized. LacZ staining was used to check the spread of gene expression in muscle. Although the percentage of transfected fibers was modest (approximately 10%), beta-galactosidase was found in all muscle groups of both legs. Finally, plasmid DNA encoding full-length dystrophin gene was injected into mdx mice and widespread restoration of dystrophin protein was observed in all muscles of both hind limbs. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that the semisystemic delivery of naked DNA is a potential approach towards the long-term goal of gene therapy for DMD.