cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Making tuple spaces safe for heterogeneous distributed systems

Abstractly speaking, the law Lof a policy is a functionthat returns a ruling for every possible regulated-event thatmight happen at a given agent. The ruling returned by thelaw is a possibly empty sequence of primitive operations,which is to be carried out locally at the location of the eventfrom which the ruling was derived (called the home of theevent). (By default, an empty ruling implies that the eventin question has no consequences—such an event is eﬀectivelyignored.)Concretely, under the Moses implementation of LGI, thelaw is deﬁned by means of a Prolog-like program 3 Lwhich,when presented with a goal e, representing a regulated-eventat a given agent x, is evaluated in the context of the control-state of this agent, producing the list of primitive-operationsrepresenting the ruling of the law for this event. Beforeintroducing the structure of such laws we deﬁne the types ofevents that are regulated by laws under Moses, the structureof an agent’s control-state, and the primitive operations thatcan be included in the ruling of a law.The Regulated Events:The events that are subject to thelaw of a policy are called regulated events. Each of theseevents occurs at a certain agent, called the home of theevent. The following are two of these event-types.1. sent(x,m,y)—occurswhen agent xsends an L-messagemaddressed to y. The sender xis considered the homeof this event.2. arrived(x,m,y)—occurswhen an L-message msent byxarrives at y. The receiver yis considered the homeof this event.The Control State: The control-state CS
Preventing complications following catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: is intracardiac echocardiography the answer we are seeking?

This editorial refers to ‘Complications of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation in a high-volume centre with the use of intracardiac echocardiography’ by B. Aldhoon et al. , on page 24 Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) is now a commonly performed procedure throughout the world.1 Although there are many theoretical benefits of eliminating AF, improvement in quality of life remains the only proven benefit of this complex procedure. One of the fundamental principles of medicine is primum non nocere according to which the physician should not cause harm to the patient. It is this light that we must consider the very important issue of complications which occur in patients undergoing catheter ablation of AF. This is particularly true because the only proven benefit of AF ablation is to improve quality of life. While theoretic reasons exist to allow hypothesizing that elimination of AF may prevent heart failure, reduce dementia, lower stroke risk, and prolong survival, definitive proof is lacking. In the present issue of the journal, Aldhoon et al. 2 report the complications which occurred at a single centre in 959 consecutive patients who underwent 1192 AF ablation between March 2006 and …
Model multilayer structures for three-dimensional cell imaging

The prospects for SIMS three-dimensional analysis of biological materials were explored using model multilayer structures. The samples were analyzed in a ToF-SIMS spectrometer equipped with a 20 keV buckminsterfullerene (C60 + ) ion source. Molecular depth information was acquired using a C60 + ion beam to etch through the multilayer structures at specified time intervals. Subsequent to each individual erosion cycle, static SIMS spectra were recorded using a pulsed C60 + ion probe. Molecular intensities in sequential mass spectra were monitored as a function of primary ion fluence. The resulting depth information was used to characterize C60 + bombardment of biological materials. Specifically, molecular depth profile studies involving dehydrated dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) organic films indicate that cell membrane lipid materials do not experience significant chemical damage when bombarded with C60 + ion fluences greater than 10 15 ions/cm 2 . Moreover, depth profile analyses of DPPC‐ sucrose frozen multilayer structures suggest that biomolecule information can be uncovered after the C60 + sputter removal of a 20 nm overlayer with no appreciable loss of underlying molecular signal. The experimental results support the potential for three-dimensional molecular mapping of biological materials using cluster SIMS. # 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Testing Stationarity with Wavelet-Based Surrogates

AbstractTraditional methods of using surrogate data to test for linearity of time-series data can be extended into the time-frequency domain to test for stationarity. Surrogates are time series that are created directly from the original dataset through manipulation and seek to replicate important properties of the original dataset. By comparing the original signal to the surrogates, additional structure in the original dataset not explained by the replicated properties may be revealed. The surrogates used for the purpose of testing stationarity are stationarized versions of an original signal that have the same Fourier amplitudes, but have randomized phases. Wavelet analysis is used in this method to transform the signals into the time-frequency domain and wavelet scalograms are used to quantitatively compare the original signal to the stationarized surrogate signals. Methods introduced in previous research compare the local and global spectral features of the surrogate signals with the local and global ...
A Critical Role for TLR4 Induction of Autophagy in the Regulation of Enterocyte Migration and the Pathogenesis of Necrotizing Enterocolitis

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) develops in response to elevated TLR4 signaling in the newborn intestinal epithelium and is characterized by TLR4-mediated inhibition of enterocyte migration and reduced mucosal healing. The downstream processes by which TLR4 impairs mucosal healing remain incompletely understood. In other systems, TLR4 induces autophagy, an adaptive response to cellular stress. We now hypothesize that TLR4 induces autophagy in enterocytes and that TLR4-induced autophagy plays a critical role in NEC development. Using mice selectively lacking TLR4 in enterocytes (TLR4(ΔIEC)) and in TLR4-deficient cultured enterocytes, we now show that TLR4 activation induces autophagy in enterocytes. Immature mouse and human intestine showed increased expression of autophagy genes compared with full-term controls, and NEC development in both mouse and human was associated with increased enterocyte autophagy. Importantly, using mice in which we selectively deleted the autophagy gene ATG7 from the intestinal epithelium (ATG7(ΔIEC)), the induction of autophagy was determined to be required for and not merely a consequence of NEC, because ATG7(ΔIEC) mice were protected from NEC development. In defining the mechanisms involved, TLR4-induced autophagy led to impaired enterocyte migration both in vitro and in vivo, which in cultured enterocytes required the induction of RhoA-mediated stress fibers. These findings depart from current dogma in the field by identifying a unique effect of TLR4-induced autophagy within the intestinal epithelium in the pathogenesis of NEC and identify that the negative consequences of autophagy on enterocyte migration play an essential role in its development.
Constitutive Expression of Alpha Interferon by Skin Dendritic Cells Confers Resistance to Infection by Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus

The role of dendritic cells (DC) in the initiation of immune responses against foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is poorly understood. We analyzed the innate response of freshly isolated swine skin DC to the virus and show a rapid induction of beta interferon (IFN-beta) mRNA but not IFN-alpha mRNA. However, these DC secreted both IFN-alpha and IFN-beta proteins in response to live virus but not killed virus. Furthermore, the surface expression of swine major histocompatibility complex class II (SLA II) or CD80/CD86 molecules and antigen processing functions were not affected by FMDV exposure. Given the demonstrated sensitivity of FMDV to IFN-alpha/beta, there was no productive or nonproductive infection of these cells. Finally, freshly isolated skin DC constitutively expressed intracellular IFN-alpha protein in the absence of stimulation, with no detectable secretion of the cytokine until virus exposure. In situ analysis of these DC showed that these cells express and store IFN-alpha in uninfected animals. This is the first demonstration of the constitutive expression of IFN-alpha in resident, tissue-derived DC and indicates that skin DC can play an important role in the innate immune response of swine to viral infections.
A consensus process on the use of exercises and after action reports to assess and improve public health emergency preparedness and response.

Introduction The objective of disaster preparedness is to ensure that appropriate systems, procedures, and resources are in place to provide prompt, effective assistance to disaster victims, thus facilitating relief measures and rehabilitation of services. Disaster preparedness efforts include the identification of possible health scenarios based on the probability of hazards and vulnerability of the population as a basis for creating a disaster plan. Exercises that simulate emergency response, involving the health and other sectors, have been suggested as useful tools to test the plans on a regular basis and measure preparedness efforts; the absence of actual testing is likely to negate even the best of abstract plans. Problem Exercises and after action reports (AARs) are used to document preparedness activities. However, to date, limited analysis has been performed on what makes an exercise an effective tool to assess public health emergency preparedness (PHEP), and how AARs can be developed and used to support PHEP improvement efforts. The scope of this project was to achieve consensus on: (1) what makes an exercise an effective tool to assess PHEP; and (2) what makes an AAR an effective tool to guide PHEP improvement efforts. METHODS: Sixty-one PHEP experts were convened by the use of Nominal Group Techniques to achieve consensus on a series of characteristics that exercises should have when designed to assess PHEP and on the recommendations for developing high-quality AARs. RESULTS: The panelists achieved consensus on a list of recommendations to improve the use of exercises and AARs in PHEP improvement efforts. Such recommendations ranged from the characteristics of the exercise audience to the evaluation methodology being used and the characteristics of the produced AAR such as its structure and content. CONCLUSIONS: The characteristics of the exercise audience, scenario and scope are among the most important attributes to the effectiveness of an exercise conducted for PHEP evaluation purposes. The evaluation instruments used to gather observations need an appropriate matching between exercise objectives and the response capabilities tested during the exercise, to build the base for the production of a good AAR. Improvements in the design and creation of exercises and AARs could facilitate better reporting and measurement of preparedness outcomes. Savoia E , Preston J , Biddinger PD . A consensus process on the use of exercises and after action reports to assess and improve public health emergency preparedness and response. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2013;28(3):1-4 . Language: en
EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc.: Mistakes, Same-Sex Marriage, and Unintended Consequences

In EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., the Supreme Court held that a job applicant need not notify an employer of a needed religious accommodation in order to bring a claim of religious discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The decision has been heralded as a victory for religious employees and job applicants. Although Abercrombie is certainly a victory for many of these individuals, it is not clear that the decision will always be beneficial to religious employees. Indeed, while the decision enhanced protections for job applicants with clear religious accommodation it may have inadvertently penalized a different class of religious job applicants — those who convey only subtle signs of religious belief.
The Construction of Historical Memory in the Exegesis of Kor 16, 106

© 2015 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. This article analyzes reports about the capture and torture of the companion 'Amma¯r b. Ya¯sir and their later use in the exegesis of Kor 16, 106. It also shows why the reports were generated by different sectarian communities (Imami¯ Si¯'ites, Zaydites, Murʇi'ites) in the different parts of the early Islamic empire (Kufa, Mecca, Medina, Basra, and Jazira) in the late first/seventh and early second/eighth centuries. Through a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the isna¯ds of reports, the article shows that it is possible to correlate information about the sectarian affiliations of reports' transmitters with the contents of the reports and in the process shows why different communities remembered and transmitted the specific forms of the reports that they did. The article shows how literary Islamic sources are susceptible to a much more granular historical analysis than previously assumed.
The Machalilla Culture: An Early Formative Complex on the Ecuadorian Coast

Excavations at the site of G-110: La Cabuya provide significant new data on the content and chronological position of the Machalilla culture. Trade pottery establishes its contemporaneity with the late period of the Valdivia culture, estimated at between 1800 and 1500 B.C. While seafood appears to have provided the main subsistence in both cultures, the ceramics and other artifacts are distinct. Machalilla pottery is well made, with thin walls and a high frequency of polished surfaces. Vessel shapes include carinated bowls and stirrup-spout jars. Typical decoration is by incision or thick red painting, separately or in combination, in simple but distinctive patterns. The Machalilla culture cannot be related to any of the known Formative complexes in Mesoamerica or South America, so that its origin cannot be suggested. Its termination was brought about by Mesoamerican contact, which added new traits to the Machalilla complex, producing the combination of elements characterizing the Chorrera culture.
Repetition in Media Models: A Laboratory Technique:

Recent advertising media models demand estimates of effects of repetitive exposures on consumers in particular advertising situations. A laboratory technique for providing such estimates is suggest...
Assessment of Technology Integration using Technology Readiness Levels

Integration is ubiquitous in systems development. Although much has been written about the need to explicitly characterize integration in the context of technology development and maturation, current TRL evaluation methods do so implicitly or altogether incorrectly. We argue that integration is an inherent sub-attribute of technology readiness and that TRL descriptions hold some of the conceptual building blocks with which such an explicit characterization of integration may be constructed. To do so we elaborate on the concept of integration in the context of technology maturation, and draw from well-established published work to generate characterizations of integration for each readiness level. These descriptions build upon fundamental concepts of systems integration such as system architectures, abstraction, interfaces, and interactions. We illustrate the use of these generic descriptions by creating specific ones for a representative emerging technology in aeronautics.
Correlation Between Concentrations of Circulating Free Fatty Acids and Ketone Bodies.

SummaryAfter injection of heparin into corn oil-fed rats the level of plasma FFA was determined as a function of time. In the absence of metabolic alterations induced by fasting or by hormone administration or deletion, an elevation in plasma FFA was accompanied by a concomitant elevation in the concentration of blood ketone bodies. Control corn oil-fed rats injected with saline showed no such response. The results indicate that an increased level of plasma FFA per se can accelerate hepatic ketogenesis.
Loss of p21CIP1/WAF1 does not recapitulate accelerated malignant conversion caused by p53 loss in experimental skin carcinogenesis.

The p21CIP1/WAF1 protein is considered a downstream effector of tumor suppression by p53. We have previously demonstrated that p53 null keratinocytes have lower basal p21CIP1/WAF1 mRNA levels and that tumors derived from these cells following transduction with the v-rasHa oncogene grow faster than wildtype keratinocytes and rapidly progress to undifferentiated carcinomas (Cancer Res 54: 5584 – 5592, 1994). In this study, primary keratinocytes differing in p21CIP1/WAF1 gene dose were transduced with v-rasHa encoding retrovirus and grafted to nude mouse hosts to test whether the p53 null phenotype is mediated through p21CIP1/WAF1. Resulting tumors from all genotypes were well differentiated papillomas; focal carcinomas were observed in 43, 30 and 44% of papillomas derived from +/+, +/− and −/− keratinocytes, respectively. p21CIP1/WAF1 deficient keratinocytes expressing v-rasHa do not display the degree of increased growth observed in p53 deficient tumors in vivo or the decreased responsiveness to negative growth regulation by Ca2+ in vitro. These results suggest that p21CIP1/WAF1 does not regulate the differentiated phenotype or malignant progression of v-rasHa initiated keratinocytes and that additional functions of the p53 protein other than transcriptional regulation of the p21CIP1/WAF1 gene are required for p53 mediated tumor suppression.
Educational Needs and Customer Service Practices of Retail Stores That Sell Pesticides in Illinois

A survey of 936 retail stores was conducted in Illinois to help understand how pest management recommendations are made, identify current sources of information, and assess educational needs. Overall response rate was 43%, and significant differences in the level of employee training, educational materials used, and customer referrals were noted among lawn and garden stores, home improvement centers, hardware stores, and general merchandise stores. While 72% of lawn and garden centers assigned specific employees to make pesticide recommendations, only 39% of hardware stores identified a specialized employee. Over 80% of lawn and garden centers referred customer questions to extension or Master Gardeners, while less than 20% of general merchandise stores made similar referrals. Improving customer service was the most important potential outcome of additional employee training, followed by improving the ability of sales staff to explain product labels. Reducing potential liability was identified as an important training outcome by 68% of home improvement centers. Fact sheets were identified by 60% of respondents as being very useful to store employees, while programs at educational centers were identified by less than 20% of respondents as being very useful. Retail stores that sell pesticides represent an important source of pest control information and product recommendations for the average homeowner. As store employees become more knowledgeable about integrated pest management, this should improve their ability to make recommendations and ultimately increase consumer safety.
Bringing student backgrounds online: MOOC user demographics, site usage, and online learning.

MOOCs gather a rich array of click-stream information from students who interact with the platform. However, without student background information, inferences do not take advantage of a deeper understanding of students’ prior experiences, motivation, and home environment. In this poster, we investigate the predictive power of student background factors as well as student experiences with learning materials provided in the first MITx course, “Circuits and Electronics.” We focus on a group of survey completers who were given background questions, and we use multiple regression methods to investigate the relationship between achievement, online resource use, and student background. Online course providers may be able to better tailor online experiences to students when they know how background characteristics mediate the online experience.
On the rheology of refractive-index-matched, non-Newtonian blood-analog fluids for PIV experiments

Four commonly used refractive-index (RI)-matched Newtonian blood-analog fluids are reviewed, and different non-Newtonian blood-analogs, with RI of 1.372–1.495, are investigated. Sodium iodide (NaI), sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN) and potassium thiocyanate are used to adjust the RI of blood-analogs to that of test sections for minimizing optical distortions in particle image velocimetry data, and xanthan gum (XG) is added to the fluids to give them non-Newtonian properties (shear thinning and viscoelasticity). Our results support the general belief that adding NaI to Newtonian fluids matches the RI without changing the kinematic viscosity. However, in contrast to claims made in a few studies that did not measure rheology, our investigation revealed that adding NaI or NaSCN to XG-based non-Newtonian fluids changes the viscosity of the fluids considerably and reduces the shear-thinning property. Therefore, the RI of non-Newtonian blood-analog fluids with XG cannot be adjusted easily by varying the concentration of NaI or NaSCN and needs more careful rheological study.
The Challenge of Teaching Chinese Philosophy: Some Thoughts on Method

In this essay I offer an alternative perspective on how to organize class material for courses in Chinese philosophy for predominately American students. Instead of selecting topics taken from common themes in Western discourses, I suggest a variety of organizational strategies based on themes from the Chinese texts themselves, such as tradition, ritual, family, and guanxi ( 關係 ), which are rooted in the Chinese tradition but flexible enough to organize a broad range of philosophical material.
Nannoplankton malformation during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum and its paleoecological and paleoceanographic significance

The Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is characterized by a transient group of nannoplankton, belonging to the genus Discoaster. Our investigation of expanded shelf sections provides unprecedented detail of the morphology and phylogeny of the transient Discoaster during the PETM and their relationship with environmental change. We observe a much larger range of morphological variation than previously documented suggesting that the taxa belonged to a plexus of highly gradational morphotypes rather than individual species. We propose that the plexus represents malformed ecophenotypes of a single species that migrated to a deep photic zone refuge during the height of PETM warming and eutrophication. Anomalously high rates of organic matter remineralization characterized these depths during the event and led to lower saturation levels, which caused malformation. The proposed mechanism explains the co-occurrence of malformed Discoaster with pristine species that grew in the upper photic zone; moreover, it illuminates why malformation is a rare phenomenon in the paleontological record.
Low complexity parameter estimation for the generalized RAKE receiver

RAKE reception is commonly used in the downlink of direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) cellular systems. However, RAKE receivers suffer performance losses in frequency selective channels due to inter-symbol interference (ISI) and multiple access interference (MAT). Recently, the generalized RAKE (G-RAKE) receiver has emerged as a low complexity technique for downlink interference suppression. We propose simple approaches herein to place fingers and estimate key parameters of the G-RAKE receiver. Simulations show that a G-RAKE receiver utilizing this approach provides significant performance improvement over a conventional RAKE receiver.
New Medical and Surgical Insights Into Neonatal Necrotizing Enterocolitis: A Review.

Importance Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) has long remained a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in neonatal intensive care units. While the mainstay of treatment for this devastating condition remains largely supportive, research efforts continue to be directed toward understanding pathophysiology as well as how best to approach surgical management when indicated. Observations In this review, we first examine recent medical observations, including overviews on the microbiome and a brief review of the use of probiotics. Next, we discuss the use of biomarkers and how clinicians may be able to use them in the future to predict the course of disease and, perhaps, the need for surgical intervention. We then provide an overview on the use of exclusive human milk feeding and the utility of this approach in preventing NEC. Finally, we discuss recent developments in the surgical management of NEC, beginning with indications for surgery and following with a section on technical surgical considerations, including peritoneal drain vs laparotomy. The review concludes with outcomes from infants with surgically treated NEC. Conclusions and Relevance Although medical treatment options for NEC are largely unchanged, understanding of the disease continues to evolve. As new research methods are developed, NEC pathophysiology can be more completely understood. In time, it is hoped that data from ongoing and planned clinical trials will allow us to routinely add targeted preventive measures in addition to human milk, such as prebiotics and probiotics, to the management of high-risk infants. In addition, the discovery of novel biomarkers may not only prove useful in predicting severity of illness but also will hopefully allow for identification of the disease prior to onset of clinical signs. Finally, continued investigation into optimizing surgical outcomes is essential in this population of infants, many of whom require long-term parenteral therapy and intestinal rehabilitation.
Near-Optimum Control of a Robot Manipulator

Abstract This paper proposes a near-optimum control algorithm for a highly nonlinear robot manipulator model via a parameter sensitivity method. The method uses Pontrvagin's maximum principle and the Riccati formulation of the linear state regulator problem. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by simulation results for a two-link planar robot.
Learning Affine Hull Representations for Multi-Shot Person Re-Identification

We consider the person re-identification problem, assuming the availability of a sequence of images for each person, commonly referred to as video-based or multi-shot re-identification. We approach this problem from the perspective of learning discriminative distance metric functions. While existing distance metric learning methods typically employ the average feature vector as the data exemplar, this discards the inherent structure of the data. To overcome this issue, we describe the image sequence data using affine hulls. We show that directly computing the distance between the closest points on these affine hulls as in existing recognition algorithms is not sufficiently discriminative in the context of person re-identification. To this end, we incorporate affine hull data modeling into the traditional distance metric learning framework, learning discriminative feature representations directly using affine hulls. We perform extensive experiments on several publicly available data sets to show that the proposed approach improves the performance of existing metric learning algorithms irrespective of the feature space employed to perform metric learning. Furthermore, we advance the state of the art on iLIDS-VID, PRID, and SAIVT, with absolute rank-1 performance improvements of 6.0%, 11.4%, and 6.0% respectively.
Iodine-Starch test for assessment of hyperhidrosis in amputees, evaluation of different methods of application.

Purpose: Hyperhidrosis is a common problem for amputees. The iodine–starch test is frequently used to assess hyperhidrosis, but a method for its application has not been described for amputees.Meth...
Development of a sandwich ELISA with potential for selective quantification of human lactoferrin protein nitrated through disease or environmental exposure.

Lactoferrin (LF) is an important multifunctional protein that comprises a large fraction of the protein mass in certain human fluids and tissues, and its concentration is often used to assess health and disease. LF can be nitrated by multiple routes, leading to changes in protein structure, and nitrated proteins can negatively impact physiological health via nitrosative stress. Despite an awareness of the detrimental effects of nitrated proteins and the importance of LF within the body, cost-effective methods for detecting and quantifying nitrated lactoferrin (NLF) are lacking. We developed a procedure to selectively quantify NLF using sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), utilizing a polyclonal anti-LF capture antibody paired with a monoclonal anti-nitrotyrosine detector antibody. The assay was applied to quantify NLF in samples of pure LF nitrated via two separate reactions at molar ratios of excess nitrating agent to the total number of tyrosine residues between 10/1 and 100/1. Tetranitromethane (TNM) was used as a laboratory surrogate for an environmental pathway selective for production of 3-nitrotyrosine, and sodium peroxynitrite (ONOO−) was used as a surrogate for an endogenous nitration pathway. UV-vis spectroscopy (increased absorbance at 350 nm) and fluorescence spectroscopy (emission decreased by > 96%) for each reaction indicate the production of NLF. A lower limit of NLF detection using the ELISA method introduced here was calculated to be 0.065 μg mL−1, which will enable the detection of human-physiologically relevant concentrations of NLF. Our approach provides a relatively inexpensive and practical way to assess NLF in a variety of systems.
Molecular Anatomy of the Developing Human Retina

Clinical and genetic heterogeneity associated with retinal diseases makes stem-cell-based therapies an attractive strategy for personalized medicine. However, we have limited understanding of the timing of key events in the developing human retina, and in particular the factors critical for generating the unique architecture of the fovea and surrounding macula. Here we define three key epochs in the transcriptome dynamics of human retina from fetal day (D) 52 to 136. Coincident histological analyses confirmed the cellular basis of transcriptional changes and highlighted the dramatic acceleration of development in the fovea compared with peripheral retina. Human and mouse retinal transcriptomes show remarkable similarity in developmental stages, although morphogenesis was greatly expanded in humans. Integration of DNA accessibility data allowed us to reconstruct transcriptional networks controlling photoreceptor differentiation. Our studies provide insights into human retinal development and serve as a resource for molecular staging of human stem-cell-derived retinal organoids.
Axon terminal hyperexcitability seen in epileptogenesis in vitro.

In the study of epilepsy, a great deal of attention has been devoted to synaptic mechanisms of seizure induction and expression. Many efforts have focused on understanding changes in the balance between synpatic excitation and inhibition. For example, the application of a number of excitatory amino acids can evoke epileptiform activity (Lehman et al., 1987; McCaslin and Morgan, 1986;. Meldrum, 1986; Piredda and Gale, 1986; Turski et al., 1987a,b), and, conversely, antagonists of excitatory amino acid receptors can suppress seizures or seizurelike activity in some models (Czuczwar et al., 1985; Czuczwar and Meldrum, 1982; De Sarro et al., 1985; Heinemann et al., 1985; Lehman et al., 1987; McNamara et al., 1988; Meldrum, 1986; Sagratella et al., 1987; Traynelis and Dingledine, 1988; Turski et al., 1987a; Walther et al., 1986). Changes in responses to excitatory amino acids are associated with pathological neuroplasticity and accompany both in vivo kindling and similar in vitro stimulation models of epileptogenesis (Mody et al., 1988; Stelzer et al., ss1987). In addition to altering the receptor mediation of synaptic responses, excitation within a neural network may be increased by altering the frequency and probability of synaptic transmission. Thus, in the hippocampal slice, the application of convulsant drugs, disturbances in extracellular ion concentrations, and tetanic stimulation which leads to epileptiform activity can all result in a greater number of excitatory synaptic interactions between cells.
Global Advances in Quality of Life and Well-Being: Past, Present, and Future

This paper documents global progress in human well-being since the end of World War II and, more specifically, since 1950. The paper focuses on the transformative changes in quality of life that have occurred over this period in four of the most critical sectors of well-being: the health, education, economic, and welfare sectors. We also consider the significant impact that changes in the natural environment have and continue to make on humanity. In all five sectors we also identify what we regard as the underlying “drivers” that have made these transformative changes in the human condition possible and suggest how the strength of these changes can be expected to contribute to the further enhancement of quality of life and well-being over at least the near term. In pursuing these objectives, we argued in favor of adopting a more positive view with respect to the advances in quality of life and well-being that have taken place since 1950.
Metabolism of recombinant human erythropoietin in the rat.

Erythropoietin is the only hematopoietic growth factor which behaves like a hormone. Produced primarily in the kidneys and to a small extent in the liver, erythropoietin interacts with primitive erythroid progenitor cells in the bone marrow. Under normal circumstances, the plasma concentracentration of erythropoietin is maintained within narrow limits but is subject to change according to the adequacy of tissue oxygenation. Thus, tissue hypoxia stimulates erythropoietin production while a surfeit of oxygen suppresses it. Erythropoietin, however, is never absent from the plasma since it is an obligatory growth factor for erythroid progenitor cells1.
“Can we trust the Indians with our data?” An examination of the emergence of information privacy laws in India

This paper looks at the nature and current state of evolution of privacy laws in India. India is an emerging economy, but the Indian ITeS environment has already emerged into a mature and highly competitive destination to outsource a variety of business processes from technically advanced nations. There is, however, a tension that exists between the IT industry’s needs and the Indian societal needs in general. One of the causes of such tension pertains to the issue of privacy. An important facet of the IT industry is information privacy — an aspect demanded and expected by its global customers. But the notion of privacy is hardly global. Different countries have different notions of privacy, often based on cultural norms, resulting in widely differing privacy laws. This paper studies the evolution and development of privacy laws from the context of four main players, namely, the law and legal environment, governmental policies, the IT industry and the citizenry of India. The study shows that while India has made several strides in matching the privacy needs of its global clientele, there are several areas which require further work. To some extent, the democratic structure in India, as well as its security needs have made it difficult and cumbersome to enact privacy laws, and more work is required in this area.
The hamster cheek pouch model of carcinogenesis and chemoprevention.

The Syrian golden hamster cheek pouch carcinogenesis model is probably the best-known animal system for studying events involved in the development of premalignancy and malignancy in human oral cancer. Like the mouse skin model of carcinogenesis, the hamster cheek pouch model provides data on the effect of carcinogens, promoters, and chemopreventive agents, which makes both these models very useful in selecting chemopreventive agents for human cancer intervention studies (1–8). Our first approach to understanding the important early events that occur in the hamster cheek pouch model of carcinogenesis was to compare this model with the mouse skin model, in which a number of critical events have already been well characterized (9–11). The carcinogenesis studies in the hamster cheek pouch were carried out using multiple applications of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a] an thracene (DMBA) (0.5% in mineral oil, 3 times a week). This protocol induced a hyperplastic response in the pouch epithelium after only a few applications, followed by the appearance after 6–8 weeks of treatment of a variety of dysplastic lesions resembling human premalignant lesions. Benign and malignant tumors (papillomas and squamous cell carcinomas [SCCs]) started to develop after 10 weeks of treatment (12,13).
The role of innovative methods in combating emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere in shipping

The world merchant fleet covers about 90 % of all world trade. Over the past decades, there has been a growth trend and currently stands at 93,262 units, or 1.9 billion tons of deadweight. As the number of fleets grows, so does fuel consumption, which in turn increases emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. Currently, annual carbon dioxide emissions are about 800 million tons. According to experts, this figure may double by 2060. International organizations are taking steps to reduce emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. After analyzing the main methods of controlling emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere from ships and the realities of the modern maritime transport market, it should be noted that more attention should be paid to the problem of inefficient use of energy resources, as well as the development and implementation of innovative technologies in shipping. The irrational use of energy resources is often due to inefficient feedback between the participants in the maritime transport. Creation and development of a program based on a conceptual scheme should reduce the irrational costs of energy resources, which in turn will lead to a decrease in emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere in the industry of maritime transportation. The introduction of innovative technologies, and in particular, autonomous ships, needs more attention. Having considered such a project as YARA Birkeland, it should be noted that the development and development of ships with zero emissions should play a key role in solving the problem of emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. Even in the early stages of developing autonomous ships, it is becoming clear that autonomous ships in synergy with existing concepts such as Slow Steaming can lead to revolutionary changes in environmental issues
Basic data report for drillholes H-14 and H-15 (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant-WIPP)

Drillholes H-14 and H-15 were drilled to investigate data gaps in the hydrologic hole distribution at the WIPP site. In addition to the information gained on the Culebra Dolomite Member, the holes yielded hydraulic and/or stratigraphic information on the Forty-niner, Magenta Dolomite, and Tamarisk Members of the Rustler Formation in an era where no such information was available. Hydraulic tests were also conducted on the lower part of the Dewey Lake Redbeds in H-14. A suite of geophysical logs was run on the drillholes and was used to identify different lithologies and aided in the interpretation of the hydraulic tests. 3 refs., 4 figs., 6 tabs.
Trends in the incidence and survival of ovarian cancer: An analysis of the SEER database.

e16587 Background: Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of gynecologic cancer related deaths as well as the fifth overall cause of cancer deaths among American women. The vast majority of cases are ...
Measured neutron light-output response for trans-stilbene and small-molecule organic glass scintillators

Abstract The neutron light-output response from quasi-monoenergetic neutrons was measured for a O5.08 × 5.08 cm trans-stilbene and a O5.08 × 5.08 cm small-molecule organic glass scintillator . Quasi-monoenergetic neutrons were isolated from a time-of-flight measurement of a Cf-252 spontaneous fission source with a flight distance of 200 cm. Two different methods of waveform analysis were implemented, where the neutron light output response proportional to the detected pulse height distribution (PHD) and pulse integral distribution (PID) were extracted for both types of scintillators. The light output response proportional to the pulse integral was determined by integrating the digitized waveform with an integration window length of 150 ns, which contained > 90% and > 95% of the scintillation light for an averaged neutron and photon waveform above 0.5 MeVee. The extracted light-output data were fitted with a semi-empirical function based on the Birks’ formula. The results show that the small-molecule organic glass scintillator produced more light than the trans-stilbene scintillator for a range of neutron energies of 0.79 ± 0.04 MeV to 3.65 ± 0.38 MeV. The fitted semi-empirical function was used in MCNPX-PoliMi with MPPost to simulate the detector response from an independent measurement of a Cf-252 spontaneous fission source to test the fidelity of the extracted light output response functions. The simulated and measured total neutron count rate agreed to within ± 3 % and ± 1% for the trans-stilbene and small-molecule organic glass scintillators. Due to the different light-output response of the two scintillators, the intrinsic neutron detection efficiency was calculated for equal observable ranges in light output and neutron-equivalent energy units. The intrinsic neutron detection efficiency in the observable light-output range of 0.06 MeVee to 2.4 MeVee was calculated to be 28.66 ± 1.43 % and 34.66 ± 1.73 % for pulse height and pulse integral analysis, respectively. For the same observable light-output range, the intrinsic efficiency of small-molecule organic glass was calculated to be 32.54 ± 1.63 % and 37.39 ± 1.87 % for pulse height and pulse integral analysis, respectively. When observing equal light-output ranges, the small-molecule organic glass was 11.92 ± 6.23% and 7.88 ± 7.35% more efficient than the trans-stilbene using pulse height and pulse integral analysis, respectively. When observing equal neutron-equivalent energy ranges, the trans”–stilbene scintillator was 8.4 ± 6.46% and 11.95 ± 6.23% more efficient than the small-molecule organic glass for pulse height and pulse integral analysis, respectively.
Prepare for the expected worst: Algorithms for reconfigurable resources under uncertainty

In this paper we study how to optimally balance cheap inflexible resources with more expensive, reconfigurable resources despite uncertainty in the input problem. Specifically, we introduce the MinEMax model to study "build versus rent" problems. In our model different scenarios appear independently. Before knowing which scenarios appear, we may build rigid resources that cannot be changed for different scenarios. Once we know which scenarios appear, we are allowed to rent reconfigurable but expensive resources to use across scenarios. Although computing the objective in our model might seem to require enumerating exponentially-many possibilities, we show it is well estimated by a surrogate objective which is representable by a polynomial-size LP. In this surrogate objective we pay for each scenario only to the extent that it exceeds a certain threshold. Using this objective we design algorithms that approximately-optimally balance inflexible and reconfigurable resources for several NP-hard covering problems. For example, we study variants of minimum spanning and Steiner trees, minimum cuts, and facility location. Up to constants, our approximation guarantees match those of previously-studied algorithms for demand-robust and stochastic two-stage models. Lastly, we demonstrate that our problem is sufficiently general to smoothly interpolate between previous demand-robust and stochastic two-stage problems.
Teaching Citizenship: Race and the Behavioral Effects of American Civic Education

Political scientists have identified how resources, attitudes, and mobilization impact political participation across racial groups. However, the role of civic education has largely been overlooked in shaping these trends. I develop a theory that suggests exposure to civics curricula yields heterogeneous effects on the political participation of youth across racial groups. I test my hypotheses with data from the Black Youth Project's 2005 Youth Culture Survey, supplemented by two original data collections from 2017–2018. I find that civic education courses are associated with higher rates of external efficacy among white youth, but not for black and Latinx youth. Contrastingly, civic education courses appear to increase acts of public voice among black and Latinx respondents, but not for their white peers. Rather than viewing civic education courses as a panacea for low rates of youth political participation, scholars and policymakers should pay closer attention to the ways in which the content of civic education courses contributes to heterogeneous effects across racial and ethnic groups.
What Psychology Teachers Should Know About Open Science and the New Statistics

Psychology teachers have likely heard about the “replication crisis” and the “open science movement” in psychology, and they are probably aware that psychologists have proposed new standards for re...
Simulation Based Training to Improve Closed Loop Communication in a Pediatric Emergency Department

Background: Effective teamwork and communication are key elements of patient safety. This is especially true in the pediatric emergency department where patient volume, acuity and the intermingling of a large inter-professional staff may make clear, effective and timely communication challenging. Ineffective communication has been associated with medical errors and poor outcomes. Closed loop communication (CLC) promotes clarity and a shared mental model by allowing team members to verbalize (call out), confirm (acknowledge and …
Chapter 3 – Ergodic Theory

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on stationary sequences of random variables by considering some examples of stochastic processes. Ergodic theory provides a vehicle for the study of stationary sequences; the basic “pointwise ergodic theorem” is a generalization of the strong law of large numbers. The starting point for ergodic theory is the notion of a measure-preserving transformation. The pointwise ergodic theorem is applied to prove a basic result of information theory. The chapter discusses the development of the Shannon-McMillan theorem.
Yeast pericentrin/Spc110 contains multiple domains required for tethering the γ-tubulin complex to the centrosome

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae spindle pole body (SPB) serves as the sole microtubule-organizing center of the cell, nucleating both cytoplasmic and nuclear microtubules. Yeast pericentrin, Spc110, binds to and activates the γ-tubulin complex via its N terminus, allowing nuclear microtubule polymerization to occur. The Spc110 C terminus links the γ-tubulin complex to the central plaque of the SPB by binding to Spc42, Spc29, and calmodulin (Cmd1). Here, we show that overexpression of the C terminus of Spc110 is toxic to cells and correlates with its localization to the SPB. Spc110 domains that are required for SPB localization and toxicity include its Spc42-, Spc29-, and Cmd1-binding sites. Overexpression of the Spc110 C terminus induces SPB defects and disrupts microtubule organization in both cycling and G2/M arrested cells. Notably, the two mitotic SPBs are affected in an asymmetric manner such that one SPB appears to be pulled away from the nucleus toward the cortex but remains attached via a thread of nuclear envelope. This SPB also contains relatively fewer microtubules and less endogenous Spc110. Our data suggest that overexpression of the Spc110 C terminus acts as a dominant-negative mutant that titrates endogenous Spc110 from the SPB causing spindle defects.