cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Targeted PET imaging of chemokine receptor 2 in head and neck cancer and progression

1149 Introduction: Targeted PET imaging of chemokine receptor 2 in head and neck cancer and progression Objectives: The overall mortality rates of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have not significantly improved over the past several decades. A significant reason is the lack of tools, especially at the molecular level, to detect disease at early stages and to reliably assess presence of regional and/or distant metastasis. The expression of chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) is increased in HNSCC. The goal of this study was to determine if changes in CCR2 expression with HNSCC progression could be imaged in patient derived xenografts (PDXs) tumor models with a novel targeted PET tracer, 64Cu-DOTA-ECL1i. Methods: The CCR2 binding peptide, ECL1i, was conjugated to a DOTA chelator and radiolabeled with 64Cu. In vivo pharmacokinetic evaluation was performed in wild-type C57 mice. PET imaging was carried out in HNSCC PDX models at multiple time points during progression of the malignancy. The imaging specificity was confirmed by competitive receptor blocking studies. The expression of CCR2 in PDX tumors was characterized by immunohistochemistry (IHC). De-identified human HNSCC tissues were also used to confirm the up-regulation of CCR2 and test the binding of 64Cu-DOTA-ECL1i to this receptor. Results: The integrity of DOTA-ECL1i was characterized with mass spectrometry. The high radiolabeling specific activity (1.04 mCi/nmol) led to tracer amount (10-100 pmol) administration for in vivo studies. Biodistribution of 64Cu-DOTA-ECL1i showed fast renal clearance with low accumulation in the liver. PET imaging in HNSCC PDX mice showed gradual increase in tumor uptake from 0.87 ± 0.14 %ID/g (n=8) at 9 weeks post tumor implantation to 1.70 ± 0.35 %ID/g (n=5) at 13 weeks. Competitive receptor blocking significantly decreased tumor uptake to 0.63 ± 0.08 %ID/g (n=3, p < 0.005), suggesting the targeting specificity. IHC of PDX tumors showed up-regulation of CCR2 in tumor cells, which was also confirmed in human HNSCC specimens. Autoradiography of 64Cu-DOTA-ECL1i in human HNSCC tumors demonstrated binding specificity and a similar profile to the immunostaining, indicating CCR2-mediated uptake. Conclusions: CCR2 was identified as a biomarker to target HNSCC in both PDX models and human malignant tissues. 64Cu-DOTA-ECL1i demonstrated high CCR2 imaging sensitivity and specificity in PDX tumor models. Its binding capability to human tissue indicated the great potential for future clinical translation.
Virtual World-Building: Implications for Education and Training

When users of a virtual world such as Second Life engage in world-building they learn and use a complex array of technological and social skills and knowledge, all of which are afforded by the platform and indigenous to its culture. The majority of virtual world-builders are adults, a large number of whom are over 30 years old, which raises questions about adults as learners and the circumstances under which they engage in purposeful learning. The aim of this chapter is to familiarize readers with examples of world-building and consider its relevance to education and training.
Abstract 2511: Reperfusion Measured by Mean Transit Time Predicts Clinical Improvement in Hyperacute Ischemic Stroke Patients Better Than Time-to-Peak and Tmax

Background: Early reperfusion is associated with improved clinical outcome in acute ischemic stroke; however, there is no consensus regarding which perfusion parameter may best serve as a marker of...
Column Theory and Analyses

Members that resist axial or eccentric compression forces are found in many structures and machines, and the overall behavior of such columns or struts will be studied in this chapter. Local, torsional, and lateral buckling and the like, although quite important in engineering, are beyond the scope of this text.
User-specific learning for recognizing a singer's intended pitch

We consider the problem of automatic vocal melody transcription: translating an audio recording of a sung melody into a musical score. While previous work has focused on finding the closest notes to the singer's tracked pitch, we instead seek to recover the melody the singer intended to sing. Often, the melody a singer intended to sing differs from what they actually sang; our hypothesis is that this occurs in a singer-specific way. For example, a given singer may often be flat in certain parts of her range, or another may have difficulty with certain intervals. We thus pursue methods for singer-specific training which use learning to combine different methods for pitch prediction. In our experiments with human subjects, we show that via a short training procedure we can learn a singer-specific pitch predictor and significantly improve transcription of intended pitch over other methods. For an average user, our method gives a 20 to 30 percent reduction in pitch classification errors with respect to a baseline method which is comparable to commercial voice transcription tools. For some users, we achieve even more dramatic reductions. Our best results come from a combination of singer-specific-learning with non-singer-specific feature selection. We also discuss the implications of our work for training more general control signals. We make our experimental data available to allow others to replicate or extend our results.
Memory Task Performance Across Augmented and Virtual Reality

As commodity virtual reality and augmented reality hardware becomes more accessible, the opportunity to use these systems for learning and training will increase. This study provides an exploratory look at performance differences for a simple memory matching task across four different technologies that could easily be used for learning and training. We compare time and number of attempts to successfully complete a memory matching game across virtual reality, augmented reality, a large touchscreen table-top display and a real environment. The results indicate that participants took more time to complete the task in both the augmented reality and real conditions. Augmented reality and real environments were statistically different than the fastest two conditions, which occurred in the virtual reality and table-top touch display conditions.
A Variation on a Very Familiar Algorithm.

This manuscript is dedicated to the memory of Celia LaGrange, a mathematics teacher for more than twenty-five years. She approached her teaching with enthusiasm and creativity and was an inspiration to her students. We would also like to acknowledge the assistance of John NerT in the preparation of this manuscript. ord it as (1, 7). In this ?ght the standard multip?cation table can be redrafted (table 1). One-digit numbers may also be thought of as ordered pairs, for example,
ISRE-Reporter Mouse Reveals High Basal and Induced Type I IFN Responses in Inflammatory Monocytes.

Type I and type III interferons (IFNs) are critical for controlling viral infections. However, the precise dynamics of the IFN response have been difficult to define in vivo. Signaling through type I IFN receptors leads to interferon-stimulated response element (ISRE)-dependent gene expression and an antiviral state. As an alternative to tracking IFN, we used an ISRE-dependent reporter mouse to define the cell types, localization, and kinetics of IFN responding cells during influenza virus infection. We find that measurable IFN responses are largely limited to hematopoietic cells, which show a high sensitivity to IFN. Inflammatory monocytes display high basal IFN responses, which are enhanced upon infection and correlate with infection of these cells. We find that inflammatory monocyte development is independent of IFN signaling; however, IFN is critical for chemokine production and recruitment following infection. The data reveal a role for inflammatory monocytes in both basal IFN responses and responses to infection.
AIDS-Associated Malignancies.

Malignancies were one of the earliest recognized manifestations that led to the description of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The majority of cancers in AIDS patients are associated with coinfection with oncogenic viruses, such as Epstein–Barr virus, human herpesvirus 8, and human papillomavirus, with resulting malignancies occurring secondary to diminished immune surveillance against viruses and virus-infected tumor cells. Over 50% of AIDS lymphomas are associated with Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and/or HHV8 infection. HHV8-associated diseases include Kaposi sarcoma (KS), primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), and multicentric Castleman disease (MCD). EBV is associated with several malignancies, including Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Coinfection with HIV and HPV is associated with an increased risk of various squamous cell carcinomas of epithelial tissues. HAART has significantly impacted the incidence, management, and prognosis of AIDS-related malignancies. In addition to changing the natural history of HIV infection in regard to incidence and survival, HAART has dramatically decreased the incidence of certain virally mediated HIV-associated malignancies such as KS and primary CNS lymphoma. The beneficial effects of HAART on these tumors are attributed to drug-mediated HIV suppression and immune reconstitution. However, HAART has had a less favorable impact on EBV- and HPV-related malignancies. This chapter presents an overview of HIV-associated malignancies mediated by HHV-8, EBV, and HPV, and reviews the effect of HAART on the epidemiology, presentation, treatment, and outcomes of these cancers.
Rural telephony since divestiture

This paper determines whether local rural telephone rates have increased as well as whether rural rates have increased more or less than other telephone rates since the divestiture of AT&T. Also, examined are long distance rates, penetration levels and subsidization in rural telephone markets in an attempt to ascertain whether universal service is in jeopardy in rural areas.
ON DISCRETE TIME MODEL REFERENCE ADAPTIVE CONTROL SYSTEM

This article presents a discrete time model reference parameter tracking technique which is applicable for less order reference model. The order of the reference model equal (n-1) where n is the number of the adjustable parameters in the physical plant. The technique utilizes a modified gradient method where the knowledge of the exact order of the nonadaptive system is not required. Computer simulations are provided to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed technique through different examples.
In Praise of Ordinariness: The Wisdom of Living

In this final chapter, Moore reprises the overall argument of the book including the evolution of personhood and its dependence on the entire set of structures and institutions that form a culture. He reiterates the need to understand how persons emerge at the boundary of biology and culture and how the uncertainty and dynamically shifting nature of today’s aspirational culture creates great difficulties for generating and sustaining personhood. He ends with the optimistic suggestion that, as a culture, we need only aspire to creating the conditions for persons to live ordinary lives. All that is necessary for the wellbeing of persons and the maintenance of personhood can be gained from a non-aspirational daily life.
Biochemical Characterization of Full‐Length Oncogenic BRAFV600E together with Molecular Dynamics Simulations Provide Insight into the Activation and Inhibition Mechanisms of RAF Kinases

The most prevalent BRAF mutation, V600E, occurs frequently in melanoma and other cancers. Although extensive progress has been made toward understanding the biology of RAF kinases, little in vitro characterization of full-length BRAFV600E is available. Herein, we show the successful purification of active, full-length BRAFV600E from mammalian cells for in vitro experiments. Our biochemical characterization of intact BRAFV600E together with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the BRAF kinase domain and cell-based assays demonstrate that BRAFV600E has several unique features that contribute to its tumorigenesis. Firstly, steady-state kinetic analyses reveal that purified BRAFV600E is more active than fully activated wild-type BRAF; this is consistent with the notion that elevated signaling output is necessary for transformation. Secondly, BRAFV600E has a higher potential to form oligomers, despite the fact that the V600E substitution confers constitutive kinase activation independent of an intact side-to-side dimer interface. Thirdly, BRAFV600E bypasses inhibitory P-loop phosphorylation to enforce the necessary elevated signaling output for tumorigenesis. Together, these results provide new insight into the biochemical properties of BRAFV600E , complementing the understanding of BRAF regulation under normal and disease conditions.
SOAR: A Framework to Build Positive Psychological Capacity in Strategic Thinking, Planning, and Leading

Today’s challenging global business and economic environment makes it necessary to develop strategic thinkers who perform well together and deliver results. Traditional ways of thinking about strategy may limit one’s ability to effectively address and adapt to the ever-changing conditions and turbulent environment in which organizations operate. A McKinsey Quarterly study of 1300 global executives found that the highest performing organizations had a clear purpose, an understanding of strengths, shared aspirations, and leaders who knew how to unleash opportunities with a result-driven process. This chapter introduces SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results), an evidenced-based framework that is a profoundly positive approach to strategic thinking, planning, and leading used by hundreds of international organizations to build strategic capacity at the individual, team, and the organization level. SOAR’s operating system is Appreciative Inquiry, one of the most effective and widely used approaches for fostering positive change. SOAR creates a reservoir of positive energy to frame issues from a solution-oriented perspective that is generative and focused on strengths, new ideas, innovations and the best in people to emerge. SOAR begins with a strategic dialogue among all stakeholders in a team or organization into what is working well (strengths), what are possibilities for growth (opportunities), what are individual and shared desires (aspirations), and what are measures of success (results). In this chapter, the convergence of research and practice on SOAR is discussed. Next, results are presented of empirical research on SOAR’s role in building positive strategic capacity via the SOAR profile, a rapid assessment instrument used by individuals and teams to create a baseline understanding of one’s natural ability to think, plan, and lead strategically from a SOAR-based perspective. The chapter concludes with a discussion of SOAR’s role in promoting an inclusive environment that facilitates performance among multicultural teams and organizations in which SOAR-based strategy is a dynamic and generative process that focuses on strengths, whole system solutions, and stakeholder inclusion while building positive psychological capital.
Killer Applications of Industrial AI

In industry, the applications that help companies to continuously improve their work will become the “killer applications” of Industrial AI.
CncC/Maf-mediated xenobiotic response pathway in insects

Insects have evolved resistance to almost all insecticides developed for their control. Multiple mechanisms of resistance, including enhanced metabolism and excretion of insecticides, target-site insensitivity, reduced penetration of insecticides, and avoidance behavior, have been reported. The genes coding for proteins involved in resistance have been identified in numerous insects. The enzymes and transporters required for all three phases of insecticide metabolism and excretion including cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, glutathione S-transferases, UDP-glucuronosyltransferases, carboxylesterases, and ATP-binding cassette transmembrane transporters have been identified. Recent research in multiple insect species identified CNC-bZIP transcription factor superfamily members as regulators of genes coding for enzymes and transporters involved in insecticide metabolic resistance. The information on the pathway including reactive oxygen species, cap "n" collar isoform-C, and its heterodimer partner, muscle aponeurosis fibromatosis transcription factors involved in overexpression of enzymes and transporters involved insecticide resistance will be summarized.
Cartels and Their Weaknesses

This working paper identifies the antitrust cartel as a unique criminal group and attempts to explain the success of the U.S. DOJ Antitrust Division's Corporate Leniency Policy by highlighting how it interacts with other enforcement mechanisms to take advantage of the inherent instability of these organizations.
Health tuurism as scene of formation of behaviour - demonstration - of possible research directions

Over recreation health tourism – mainly wellness tourism – services also ensure knowledge acquisition by informal learning for health. Depend upon former results this study formulates such examination directions by that this sector of tourism can became effective place of health education.
Utilization of a NIST SRM: a case study for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in NIST SRM 1957 organic contaminants in non-fortified human serum

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) generates and maintains thousands of Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) to serve commerce worldwide. Many SRMs contain metrologically traceable mass fractions of known organic chemicals and are commercially available to aid the analytical chemistry community. One such material, NIST SRM 1957 Organic Contaminants in Non-Fortified Human Serum, was one of the first materials issued by NIST with measurements for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) listed on the Certificate of Analysis and was commercially available in 2009. Since the release of SRM 1957, nearly 400 units have been sold to date, and over 50 publications related to PFAS measurements have included this material for multiple analytical purposes, such as a quality control material, for interlaboratory comparison, as an in-house comparison tool, for inter- and intra-day measurement accuracy, as an indicator of isomeric patterns of PFAS, and for other uses. This perspective details the ways SRM 1957 is utilized by the analytical community and how data have been reported in the literature. A discussion on accurately comparing SRM data to generated data is included. Furthermore, we conducted an in-depth investigation around additional applications for NIST SRMs, such as a matrix-matched reference material, and for the identification of targeted compounds during high-resolution mass spectrometry data collection. Ultimately, this manuscript illustratively describes the ways to utilize a NIST SRMs for chemicals of emerging concern.
Medical image processing techniques based on optical coherence tomography and their applications

Due to the time consuming,poor reproducibility and the subjective nature of manual image analysis,the fast,accurate and objective detection and quantification of biomarker imaging are crucial for the study and diagnosis of various diseases.Research development and progress in medical imaging techniques based on Optical Coherence Tomography(OCT)and their applications are reviewed in this paper.Features and applications of OCT imaging systems are briefly introduced;problems to be resolved,main research and difficulties involved are presented.Noise reductions in time-domain OCT and spectral-domain OCT imaging systems are discussed;the advantages and disadvantages in these methods are analyzed,and future researches are predicted.Applications of polarization-sensitive OCT in medical imaging analysis are also briefly introduced.This review paper involves various biological subjects such as retina,cornea,coronary,prostate,teeth,esophagus,colon,bladder,skin,and breast,which provide rich information about the state-of-the art of OCT medical image automatic analysis.
Participatory Design for STEM Learning Environments with Youth & Families

There are many different contexts for teaching computing/STEM, so it important that youth are able to participate in the learning environments, as well as their design. As more computing education programs are created, we need to bring youth and their communities into the fold of determining how the learning environment can serve them. This study seeks to explore ways for youth and their families to share how computing/STEM affects their community, then how to design an informal learning program with them. To do this, I propose using a photovoice project to invite youth and their families to show how STEM/computing affects their lives. The outcome of this research will help inform the design of informal computing education programs towards being more inclusive of learners whose identities are underrepresented in computing.
Impact of high salt versus low salt intake on the response of sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity to orthostasis in women with a history of normal pregnancy

Previous studies have demonstrated that sympathetic baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) increases during orthostatic stress in humans. We recently showed that dietary salt intake affects sympathetic neura...
Zoom, Enhance! Measuring Surveillance GAN Up-sampling.

Deep Neural Networks have been very successfully used for many computer vision and pattern recognition applications. While Convolutional Neural Networks(CNNs) have shown the path to state of art image classifications, Generative Adversarial Networks or GANs have provided state of art capabilities in image generation. In this paper we extend the applications of CNNs and GANs to experiment with up-sampling techniques in the domains of security and surveillance. Through this work we evaluate, compare and contrast the state of art techniques in both CNN and GAN based image and video up-sampling in the surveillance domain. As a result of this study we also provide experimental evidence to establish DISTS as a stronger Image Quality Assessment(IQA) metric for comparing GAN Based Image Up-sampling in the surveillance domain.
Characterization of water use and water balance for the croplands of Kansas using satellite, climate, and irrigation data

Abstract Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states in the United States, where agricultural irrigation is a primary user of underground and surface water. Because of low precipitation and declining groundwater levels in western and central Kansas, sustainable management of irrigation water resources is a critical issue in the agricultural productivity of the state. The objective of this study is to analyze and characterize the water use and water balance in the croplands of Kansas using satellite observations, meteorological data, and in situ irrigation water use records. We used actual evapotranspiration (ETa), precipitation, soil moisture, and irrigation water use to calculate water balance for Kansas in 2015 at scales of counties, climatic divisions, and groundwater management districts (GMD). The Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance model was implemented to estimate 30-m resolution ETa. Results showed that the seasonal (May – September) precipitation, soil water storage change, and ETa are 528 mm, 80 mm, and 555 mm, respectively, on average of all croplands in the state. The annual net irrigation water consumption was 293 mm for irrigated croplands, indicating that irrigation water constitutes an substantial portion of the water supply in the state. The total volumetric irrigation water use was 3.24 km3 for all croplands within five GMDs in western and south-central Kansas, while only 0.38 km3 was outside of GMDs. The multiple regression models of ETa against precipitation and irrigation water use were statistically significant with R2 values of 0.71 and 0.87, respectively, at county and climate division scales. Regression models also indicated a higher rate of ETa response to irrigation water use than that to precipitation. Our study demonstrated the spatial patterns of crop water use and water balance in Kansas, which could provide useful information for management of irrigation agriculture and water resources for the state.
Monitoring and management of fibrosing interstitial lung diseases: a narrative review for practicing clinicians:

Close monitoring of patients with fibrosing interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) is important to enable prompt identification and management of progressive disease. Monitoring should involve regular assessment of physiology (including pulmonary function tests), symptoms, and, when appropriate, high-resolution computed tomography. The management of patients with fibrosing ILDs requires a multidisciplinary approach and should be individualized based on factors such as disease severity, evidence of progression, risk factors for progression, comorbidities, and the preferences of the patient. In this narrative review, we discuss how patients with fibrosing ILDs can be effectively monitored and managed in clinical practice.
End-to-End Routing Approach for SDN Based Wireless Ad Hoc Network

In this paper, we present novel solutions to the problem of routing flows through a SDN (Software Defined Network) based wireless ad hoc mesh network such that the mean wait time is minimized. We present two routing algorithms: Long-Short Path (LSP) and Stop and Reroute (SR). LSP routes short flows using the MC3 congestion first path finding algorithm and routes long flows using the SPF topology first path finding algorithm. SR routes all flows using MC3. However, when a short flow is routed along a path that is used partially by long flows, a long flow with the latest released time is chosen and routed along a different path chosen using MC3. Our simulations show that our algorithms improve the network performance by reducing the mean wait time by an average of 15.6%, reducing the mean slowdown by an average of 2.0%, reducing the maximum completion time by an average of 7.8% and by increasing the mean throughput by an average of 9.0% compared to using just the common SPF algorithm for all flows. Explicitly considering the flow size in choosing a path through the network improves network performance along multiple dimensions; therefore, flow size should be considered explicitly in routing path selection algorithms.
Statistical and Computational Methods for Analysis of Shotgun Metagenomics Sequencing Data

Shotgun metagenomics sequencing has been increasingly used for studying microbial communities in large scale. Besides providing information on microbial and gene compositions, such data can be explored to answer other important questions in microbiology and functional microbiome. The main hurdle in making the most of these rich datasets is to ask the novel questions and to develop new computational algorithms to address these questions. In this chapter, we review several such problems, focusing on biological questions to be addressed, the available statistical and computational methods developed for these problems, and the areas that need further methodological development. New statistical and computational methods based on k-mer counts, deep learning, profile hidden Markov models have been developed and have shown great promises. We will review methods for binning sequencing reads based on k-mer counts, genome assemblies using de Bruijn graphs, methods for strain identification, methods for estimating bacterial growth dynamics, and methods for identifying and quantifying novel biosynthetic gene clusters. We use several real metagenomic data sets to illustrate these methods.
Solubility parameter and liquid volume—Inorganic compounds

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the solubility parameter and liquid volume for organic compounds in tabular form. The tabulation is arranged by carbon number such as C, C2, and C3, to provide ease of use in quickly locating the data by using the chemical formula. The compound name and chemical abstracts registry number (CAS No) are also provided in columns. Values for solubility parameter and liquid volume are given in the adjacent columns. The next column provides the code for the tabulation. For the tabulation, the results for solubility parameter are ascertained from heat of vaporization and liquid volume. In preparing the tabulation, a literature search is conducted to identify data source publications. Both experimental values for the property under consideration and parameter values for estimation of the property are included in the source publications. The publications are screened, and copies of appropriate data are made. These data are keyed into the computer to provide a database of values for compounds for which experimental data are available. The database also serves as a basis to check the accuracy of the estimation methods. Upon completion of data collection, estimation of values for the remaining compounds is performed. The compilations of CRC, Daubert and Danner, TRC, and Yaws are used extensively. Estimates for the enthalpy of vaporization at the boiling point are primarily based on the Kistiakowsky rule and Riedel method. The Joback method is used for estimating critical temperature. Estimates of liquid density are primarily based on the Schroeder correlation, Le Bas method, and Tyn-Calus equation. Liquid volume is ascertained from molecular weight and liquid density (molecular weight/density).
Bandwidth-Limited Optimal Deployment of Eventually-Serializable Data Services

Providing consistent and fault-tolerant distributed object services is among the fundamental problems in distributed computing. To achieve fault-tolerance and to increase throughput, objects are replicated at different networked nodes. However, replication induces significant communication costs to maintain replica consistency. Eventually-Serializable Data Service (ESDS) has been proposed to reduce these costs and enable fast operations on data, while still providing guarantees that the replicated data will eventually be consistent. This paper revisits ESDS instances where bandwidth constraints are imposed on segments of the network interconnect. This class of problems was shown to be extremely challenging for both Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) and for Constraint Programming (CP), some instances requiring hours of computation time. The paper presents an improved constraint programming model, a constraint-based local search model that can obtain high-quality solutions quickly and a local search/constraint programming hybrid. The experimental results indicate that the resulting models significantly improve the state of the art.
A Bayesian Sparse Generalized Linear Model With an Application to Multiscale Covariate Discovery for Observed Rainfall Extremes Over the United States

Predictive insights on extreme and rare events are important across multiple disciplines ranging from hydrology, climate, and remote sensing to finance and security. Characterizing the dependence of extremes on covariates can help in identification of plausible causal drivers and may even inform predictive modeling. However, despite progress in the incorporation of covariates in the statistical theory of extremes and in sparse covariate discovery algorithms, progress has been limited for high-dimensional data where the number of covariates is large. In this paper, we propose a general-purpose sparse Bayesian framework for covariate discovery based on a Poisson description of extremes frequency and a hierarchical Bayesian description of a sparse regression model. We obtain posteriors over regression coefficients, which indicate dependence of extremes on the corresponding covariates, using a variational Bayes approximation. Experiments with synthetic data demonstrate the ability of the approach to accurately characterize dependence structures. The method is applied to discover the covariates affecting the frequency of precipitation extremes obtained from station-level observations over nine climatologically homogeneous regions within the continental U.S. The candidate covariates at multiple spatial scales represent station-level as well as regional and seasonal atmospheric condition, indices that attempt to capture large-scale ocean-based climate oscillators and hence natural climate variability, as well as global warming. Our results confirm the dependence structures that may be expected from known precipitation physics and generate novel insights, which can inform physical understanding and perhaps even predictive modeling.
Fiber-Matrix Interface Failures

Interface fractures of aluminum-graphite composites under transverse loading are expected to occur within the graphite fibers, but very near the interface. Residual stresses in aluminum, reinforced with the new high modulus pitch-based fibers, are much lower than would be expected based on simple elasticity calculations. The excess stress may be relaxed by shearing internal to the fibers or at the interface rather than by plastic flow of the matrix. The internal shearing also occurs during repeated thermal cycling of these composites; the fibers are repeatedly intruded, then extruded, during repeated temperature excursions.
INVENTORY OF GLACIERS IN MONGOLIA, DERIVED FROM LANDSAT IMAGERY FROM 1989 TO 2011

Glaciers in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia provide an estimated 11% of the total water resources within the country. Yet, their number and area in inconsistent. Using satellite imagery acquired fr...
Membrane Lipid Composition and Vesicle Size Modulate Bilirubin Intermembrane Transfer EVIDENCE FOR MEMBRANE-DIRECTED TRAFFICKING OF BILIRUBIN IN THE HEPATOCYTE*

To characterize the mechanisms underlying intracellular bilirubin transport, stopped-flow fluorometry was utilized to study the effects of membrane vesicle size and lipid composition on the kinetics of unconjugated bilirubin movement between model and native hepatocyte membranes. Bilirubin transfer rates declined asymptotically with increasing donor vesicle diameter, due primarily to a 1.4 kcal.mol-1 decrease in the entropy of activation for the larger vesicles. The incorporation of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine significantly enhanced the dissociation of bilirubin from phosphatidylcholine vesicles. Cholesterol induced a biphasic effect on the transfer rate constant; an initial decrease in rate from 248 to 217 s-1 associated with cholesterol:phospholipid ratios up to 20% was followed by a dramatic rise to 312 s-1 as the cholesterol concentration was increased to 70 mol %. The bilirubin dissociation rate from isolated rat liver endoplasmic reticulum (9.1 s-1) was significantly slower than for both basolateral and canalicular plasma membranes, which exhibited rate constants of 11.7 and 25.8 s-1, respectively. Collectively, these data suggest that the cholesterol: phospholipid ratio is the principal determinant of bilirubin dissociation from membranes. We postulate that the inherent cellular membrane cholesterol gradient in the hepatocyte creates a directed flux of bilirubin from the plasma membrane to teh endoplasmic reticulum and represents a potential driving force for intracellular bilirubin transport.
Reflex activation of sympathetic nervous system by ANF in humans.

Recent studies in experimental animal preparations suggest that ANF might alter sympathetic nervous system function. In the present investigation, direct recordings of postganglionic muscle sympathetic nerve activity were obtained from the peroneal nerve of conscious human volunteers. These data and hemodynamic parameters were recorded before and during infusions of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF, 99-126) or placebo (isotonic saline) in 10 subjects. Base-line ANF (36.5 +/- 3.8) increased to 329 +/- 22 pg/ml during 20-min infusions of ANF (15 ng.kg-1.min-1). This did not alter heart rate or blood pressure but reduced central venous pressure (CVP) by 47 +/- 10% (P less than 0.01). Base-line-integrated sympathetic activity (14.4 +/- 2.4 bursts/min) increased 30 +/- 12% during ANF infusion (P less than 0.05). However, when CVP was fixed at control levels with head-down tilt or lower body positive pressure, sympathetic activity was unchanged from pre-ANF base-line levels. These data indicate that exogenous infusions of ANF reduced CVP and unloaded cardiopulmonary baroreceptors. This elicits reflex increases of muscle sympathetic efferent activity. When CVP is maintained at control levels, ANF does not alter sympathetic neural outflow to muscles.
Comparison of strain hardening in polycrystals and single crystals: The example of copper

Tests on copper single crystals oriented about 2 deg from were in agreement with earlier work on similar crystals. Comparison to polycrystals using the Taylor factor showed agreement only for large-grained material. Literature data for single crystals in plane strain compression also agreed only with large-grained copper strain hardening curves. These results suggest that grain size strengthening occurs which is not accounted for in the Taylor analysis. It is therefore concluded that polycrystal strain hardening in copper is not simply a Taylor-averaged single crystal process.
Microwell Plate Detection Systems for Amplicon Detection and Characterization

Sequence-specific methods for the detection of the products of nucleic acid amplification procedures (amplicons) have been developed for a variety of solid phases, including nylon membranes, microwell plates, microparticles, and, most recently, microchips (oligonucleotide probe microarrays). This chapter deals with procedures in which the molecules that capture amplicons are immobilized onto the surface of wells of microwell plates. Microwell plate detection systems can be divided into two formats based on the molecule used to capture amplicons: an oligonucleotide probe (sequence-specific capture) and avidin (nonspecific capture). Microwell plate detection systems have been developed in-house and are available commercially. Microwell plate detection procedures are frequently based on capture and detection of biotinylated amplicons. This requires that the primer used in the PCR amplification to generate the amplicon strand complementary to the probe be tagged with biotin. The biotin substituent will allow the amplicon to be either captured or detected by avidin (or streptavidin), depending on the detection format. Polystyrene microwell plates are typically used for amplicon detection because of their high DNA binding capabilities. There is substantial literature demonstrating the excellent analytical performance and clinical utility of microwell plate detection systems for PCR amplicon detection. Microwell plate detection of amplicons is flexible, is compatible with virtually any target, and can easily detect multiple pathogens under common hybridization and wash conditions.
The standard model of star formation applied to massive stars: accretion discs and envelopes in molecular lines

We address the question of whether the formation of high-mass stars is similar to or differs from that of solar mass stars through new molecular line observations and modelling of the accretion flow around the massive protostar IRAS20126+4104. We combine new observations of NH 3 (1,1) and (2,2) made at the Very Large Array (VLA), new observations of CH 3 CN(13― 12) made at the Submillimeter Array, previous VLA observations of NH 3 (3,3) and NH 3 (4,4) and previous Plateau de Bure observations of C 34 S(2-1), C 34 S(5―4) and CH 3 CN(12―11) to obtain a data set of molecular lines covering 15-419 K in excitation energy. We compare these observations against simulated molecular line spectra predicted from a model for high-mass star formation based on a scaled-up version of the standard disc-envelope paradigm developed for accretion flows around low-mass stars. We find that in accord with the standard paradigm, the observations require both a warm, dense, rapidly rotating disc and a cold, diffuse infalling envelope. This paper suggests that accretion processes around 10 M ⊙ stars are similar to those of solar mass stars.
A Transcriptional Switch Mediated by Cofactor Methylation

We describe a molecular switch based on the controlled methylation of nucleosome and the transcriptional cofactors, the CREB-binding proteins (CBP)/p300. The CBP/p300 methylation site is localized to an arginine residue that is essential for stabilizing the structure of the KIX domain, which mediates CREB recruitment. Methylation of KIX by coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase 1 (CARM1) blocks CREB activation by disabling the interaction between KIX and the kinase inducible domain (KID) of CREB. Thus, CARM1 functions as a corepressor in cyclic adenosine monophosphate signaling pathway via its methyltransferase activity while acting as a coactivator for nuclear hormones. These results provide strong in vivo and in vitro evidence that histone methylation plays a key role in hormone-induced gene activation and define cofactor methylation as a new regulatory mechanism in hormone signaling.
Endoplasmic Reticulum/Golgi Nucleotide Sugar Transporters Contribute to the Cellular Release of UDP-sugar Signaling Molecules

Extracellular UDP-sugars promote cellular responses by interacting with widely distributed P2Y14 receptors, but the mechanisms by which these molecules are released from cells are poorly understood. Given the active role of UDP-sugars in glycosylation reactions within the secretory pathway, we hypothesized that UDP-sugar release includes an exocytotic component. This hypothesis was tested by assessing the contribution of endoplasmic reticulum (ER)/Golgi-resident UDP-GlcNAc transporters to the cellular release of their cognate substrates. A sensitive and highly selective assay for UDP-GlcNAc mass was developed using purified AGX2, an isoenzyme of human UDP-GlcNAc pyrophosphorylase. Robust constitutive release of UDP-GlcNAc was observed in yeast as well as in well differentiated human airway epithelial cells. The human UDP-GlcNAc transporter HFRC1 was overexpressed in human bronchial epithelial cells and was shown to localize in the Golgi and to enhance the surface expression of N-acetylglucosamine-rich glycans. HFRC1-overexpressing cells also displayed increased constitutive and hypotonic stress-stimulated release of UDP-GlcNAc. Yeast mutants lacking Yea4 (the ER UDP-GlcNAc transporter endogenously expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae) showed reduced UDP-GlcNAc release. Yea4-deficient cells complemented with Yea4 showed UDP-GlcNAc release rates at levels similar to or higher than wild type cells. Our results illustrate that ER/Golgi lumen constitutes a significant source of extracellular UDP-sugars and therefore plays a critical role in nucleotide sugar-promoted cell signaling.
What do nonlinear optical spectroscopy and picosecond photinduced absorption have to say about excited states in conjugated polymers

Abstract We present a self-consistent picture of the excited state energy spectrum of poly(para-phenylene vinylene) based on theoretical calculations of exicted states and and experimental electroabsorption (EA) and picosecond photoinduced absorption measurements (PA). Our calculations place the one electron—one hole continuum (nBu) at 0.9 ± 0.2 eV above the 1Bu exciton. This is in agreement with EA and ps PA in the i.r., which finds an even-parity exciton (the mAg) about 0.7 eV away from the 1Bu. The high energy ps PA at 1.5–1.7 eV is to a biexciton whose energy is consistent with our estimates.
The social transmission of disease between adult male and female reproductives of the dampwood termite Zootermopsis angusticollis

The susceptibility of adult male and female dampwood termites (Zootermopsis angusticollis) to an infection carried by a mate was studied by exposing dealates to a 4 × 107 or a 6 × 104 spores/ml solution of the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae. Following exposure to spores, male and female dealates were paired randomly in four treatments: (1) male and female exposed to spores; (2) male exposed to spores/female exposed to a control solution lacking fungal spores; (3) male exposed to a control solution/female exposed to spores and (4) male and female exposed to a control solution. Males and females exposed to 4 × 107 spores/ml acquired and transmitted the infection to their unexposed mate, and had significantly lower survival relative to controls. When males and females were exposed to 6 × 104 spores/ml, however, there were no significant differences in survivorship among the four treatments. Therefore, at the lower pathogen load, dealates were able to control infection. To compare the susceptibility of exposed...
Optimal Quantum Control of Multimode Couplings between Trapped Ion Qubits for Scalable Entanglement

We demonstrate entangling quantum gates within a chain of five trapped ion qubits by optimally shaping optical fields that couple to multiple collective modes of motion. We individually address qubits with segmented optical pulses to construct multipartite entangled states in a programmable way. This approach enables high-fidelity gates that can be scaled to larger qubit registers for quantum computation and simulation.
Feedback directed implicit parallelism

In this paper we present an automated way of using spare CPU resources within a shared memory multi-processor or multi-core machine. Our approach is (i) to profile the execution of a program, (ii) from this to identify pieces of work which are promising sources of parallelism, (iii) recompile the program with this work being performed speculatively via a work-stealing system and then (iv) to detect at run-time any attempt to perform operations that would reveal the presence of speculation.We assess the practicality of the approach through an implementation based on GHC 6.6 along with a limit study based on the execution profiles we gathered. We support the full Concurrent Haskell language compiled with traditional optimizations and including I/O operations and synchronization as well as pure computation. We use 20 of the larger programs from the 'nofib' benchmark suite. The limit study shows that programs vary a lot in the parallelism we can identify: some have none, 16 have a potential 2x speed-up, 4 have 32x. In practice, on a 4-core processor, we get 10-80% speed-ups on 7 programs. This is mainly achieved at the addition of a second core rather than beyond this.This approach is therefore not a replacement for manual parallelization, but rather a way of squeezing extra performance out of the threads of an already-parallel program or out of a program that has not yet been parallelized.
Using Curriculum-Based Measurement to Prevent Failure and Assess Learning in the Content Areas

Many students continue to experience reading difficulties into their secondary-school years. Difficulties include poor word decoding, limited vocabulary knowledge, and deficits in working memory capacity. Such difficulties limit the ability of students to acquire new knowledge and be successful in content-area classes. In this article, we describe a curriculum-based measure, vocabulary matching, that teachers can use to assess and monitor the performance of students with reading difficulties in the content areas. Vocabulary matching, has been found to be a valid and reliable measure of performance and progress in content areas. A case study is provided to illustrate the use of vocabulary matching in content-area instruction.