cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
AnimalFinder: A semi-automated system for animal detection in time-lapse camera trap images

Abstract Although the use of camera traps in wildlife management is well established, technologies to automate image processing have been much slower in development, despite their potential to drastically reduce personnel time and cost required to review photos. We developed AnimalFinder in MATLAB® to identify animal presence in time-lapse camera trap images by comparing individual photos to all images contained within the subset of images (i.e. photos from the same survey and site), with some manual processing required to remove false positives and collect other relevant data (species, sex, etc.). We tested AnimalFinder on a set of camera trap images and compared the presence/absence results with manual-only review with white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), wild pigs (Sus scrofa), and raccoons (Procyon lotor). We compared abundance estimates, model rankings, and coefficient estimates of detection and abundance for white-tailed deer using N-mixture models. AnimalFinder performance varied depending on a threshold value that affects program sensitivity to frequently occurring pixels in a series of images. Higher threshold values led to fewer false negatives (missed deer images) but increased manual processing time, but even at the highest threshold value, the program reduced the images requiring manual review by ~ 40% and correctly identified > 90% of deer, raccoon, and wild pig images. Estimates of white-tailed deer were similar between AnimalFinder and the manual-only method (~ 1–2 deer difference, depending on the model), as were model rankings and coefficient estimates. Our results show that the program significantly reduced data processing time and may increase efficiency of camera trapping surveys.
Cation and anion vacancies in cubic molybdenum nitride

Abstract Epitaxial MoNx layers deposited on MgO(001) by reactive magnetron sputtering in 20 mTorr N2 at Ts = 600–1000 °C exhibit a cubic rock-salt type structure, a N-to-Mo ratio that decreases from x = 1.25–0.69 with increasing Ts, and a lattice constant that simultaneously decreases from 4.26 to 4.16 A. A combination of composition, thickness, lattice-constant, and atomic area-density measurements indicate that the rock-salt structure contains both anion and cation vacancies, with the Mo site occupancy ΧMo decreasing from 0.89 ± 0.06 to 0.70 ± 0.04 while the N site occupancy ΧN increases from 0.60 ± 0.04 to 0.88 ± 0.04, as x increases from 0.69 to 1.25. Density functional calculations for over 200 cubic MoNx configurations confirm the energetic stability of both cation and anion vacancies and predict ΧMo to decrease from 1.00 to 0.67 for x = 0.54–1.50, while ΧN increases from 0.50 to 1.00 for x = 0.50–1.36. The simulations are in good agreement with experiments and indicate a preference for a 75% site occupancy on both sublattices for compositions near stoichiometry, with ΧMo = 0.75 for x = 1.00–1.22 and ΧN = 0.75 for x = 0.86–1.00. Correspondingly, cubic stoichiometric MoN is most stable in the NbO structure.
Teaching an Undergraduate Dynamics Course for Mechanical “Engineering Technology” Students: Successful Implementation for Students Learning

Applied mechanics is a branch of the physical sciences that describes the response of bodies (solids and fluids) or systems of bodies to external forces. It deals with the basic concepts of force, moment and its effects on the bodies at rest or in motion. It helps engineers or engineering students to understand how different bodies behave under the application of different types of loads. Mechanics can be broadly divided into two branches as called Statics and Dynamics. Statics deals with the bodies at rest whereas dynamics involves studies related to bodies in motion. In particular, the major emphasis of a dynamics course is to provide the details of the principles of applied mechanics or physics with the studies of motion of objects caused by forces or torques. It is an important course to develop a method of stripping a problem to its essentials and solving it in a logical, organized manner. In our institution, we offer a one-quarter long Dynamics class for Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) curriculum. This course teaches several topics of solving dynamics problems that belong to Kinematics in Rectilinear & Angular Motions, Plane Motion, Kinetics, Work & Energy, and Impulse & Momentum. This course is designed for the MET students, who are more “hands-on” and have mathematical knowledge up to Calculus II. However, the prerequisite of this course is Tech Statics, not Calculus II. On the other hand, the prerequisites of Tech Statics are Physics and Pre-Cal-II. Therefore, MET students enrolled in Dynamics course solve problems using algebra rather than using calculus. As a whole, this course becomes challenging to convey different concepts of dynamics to our students within 10 weeks’ time frame. To facilitate the overall learning, the course instructors solve different interesting realistic dynamics problems, besides solving the conventional problems from the text book. Solving these realistic dynamics problem helps our students to enhance their conceptual understanding, and motivate them to pursue further in subsequent chapters. The paper presents in details several interesting problems related to different chapters and how they are linked to convey the targeted message related to course objectives. The paper also presents how different topics taught in this class fulfill the targeted course objectives, which are mapped with ABET Engineering Technology criteria. While a course in Dynamics could be a common offering in many universities, the authors of this paper presents the pedagogical approaches undertaken to successfully teach or implement the course objectives to the undergraduate engineering technology students.Copyright © 2016 by ASME
Exosomes from uninfected cells activate transcription of latent HIV-1.

HIV-1 infection causes AIDS, infecting millions worldwide. The virus can persist in a state of chronic infection due to its ability to become latent. We have previously shown a link between HIV-1 infection and exosome production. Specifically, we have reported that exosomes transport viral proteins and RNA from infected cells to neighboring uninfected cells. These viral products could then elicit an innate immune response, leading to activation of the Toll-like receptor and NF-κB pathways. In this study, we asked whether exosomes from uninfected cells could activate latent HIV-1 in infected cells. We observed that irrespective of combination antiretroviral therapy, both short- and long-length viral transcripts were increased in wild-type HIV-1–infected cells exposed to purified exosomes from uninfected cells. A search for a possible mechanism for this finding revealed that the exosomes increase RNA polymerase II loading onto the HIV-1 promoter in the infected cells. These viral transcripts, which include trans-activation response (TAR) RNA and a novel RNA that we termed TAR-gag, can then be packaged into exosomes and potentially be exported to neighboring uninfected cells, leading to increased cellular activation. To better decipher the exosome release pathways involved, we used siRNA to suppress expression of ESCRT (endosomal sorting complex required for transport) proteins and found that ESCRT II and IV significantly control exosome release. Collectively, these results imply that exosomes from uninfected cells activate latent HIV-1 in infected cells and that true transcriptional latency may not be possible in vivo, especially in the presence of combination antiretroviral therapy.
Identifiability of Kronecker-Structured Dictionaries for Tensor Data

This paper derives sufficient conditions for local recovery of coordinate dictionaries comprising a Kronecker-structured dictionary that is used for representing $K$ th-order tensor data. Tensor observations are assumed to be generated from a Kronecker-structured dictionary multiplied by sparse coefficient tensors that follow the separable sparsity model. This paper provides sufficient conditions on the underlying coordinate dictionaries, coefficient and noise distributions, and number of samples that guarantee recovery of the individual coordinate dictionaries up to a specified error, as a local minimum of the objective function, with high probability. In particular, the sample complexity to recover $K$ coordinate dictionaries with dimensions $m_k\times p_k$ up to estimation error $\varepsilon _k$ is shown to be $\max _{k \in [K]}\mathcal {O}(m_kp_k^3\varepsilon _k^{-2})$ .
HIV-1-associated inflammation and antiretroviral therapy regulate astrocyte endoplasmic reticulum stress responses

Antiretroviral (ARV) therapy (ART) has effectively suppressed the incidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated dementia in HIV-1 positive individuals. However, the prevalence of more subtle forms of neurocognitive dysfunction continues to escalate. Recently, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been linked to many neurological diseases; yet, its role in HIV/neuroAIDS remains largely unexplored. Furthermore, upregulation of astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1), a novel HIV-1 inducible gene, along with ER stress markers in a Huntington's disease model, suggests a possible role in HIV-associated ER stress. The current study is focused on unfolded protein responses (UPRs) and AEG-1 regulation in primary human astrocytes exposed to HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND)-relevant stimuli (HIV-1 virions, inflammation and ARV drugs). Interleukin (IL)-1β and the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor abacavir upregulated expression of ER stress markers in human astrocytes, including binding immunoglobulin protein (BiP), C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), and calnexin. In addition, IL-1β activated all three well-known UPR pathways: protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase (PERK); activating transcription factor 6 (ATF-6); and inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α). AEG-1 upregulation correlated to ER stress and demonstrated astrocyte AEG-1 interaction with the calcium-binding chaperone, calnexin. IL-1β and abacavir enhanced intracellular calcium signaling in astrocytes in the absence of extracellular calcium, illustrating ER-associated calcium release. Alternatively, calcium evoked in response to HAND-relevant stimuli led to mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) opening in human astrocytes. Importantly, IL-1β- and abacavir-induced UPR and mPTP opening were inhibited by the intracellular calcium chelation, indicating the critical role of calcium signaling in HAND-relevant ER stress in astrocytes. In summary, our study highlights that ARV drugs and IL-1β induced UPR, AEG-1 expression, intracellular calcium, and mitochondrial depolarization in astrocytes. This study uncovers astrocyte ER stress as a novel therapeutic target in the management of HIV-1-associated neurotoxicity and possibly in the treatment of neuroAIDS.
Understanding Peer Pressure in Middle School

Many perceptions of adolescent peer pressure come through adult interpretation. This study focused on how adolescents themselves perceived peer pressure. A sample of 368 middle school students who ...
Mechanical Characterization in Molecular Simulation

A standardized procedure for extracting mechanical properties from molecular simulation unfortunately does not exist. The challenge is to construct a suitable procedure and extract useful mechanical measures comparable to macroscale metrics (stiffness, strength, fracture toughness, etc.). As a result, there have been many methods developed to exploit the capabilities of atomistic simulation (such as steered molecular dynamics, direct calculation of virial stress and strain, free energy minimization, etc.), and various analytical tools and models to interpret such results (e.g., the classical Bell model for rate dependence, worm-like chain models for entropic unfolding, etc.). Here, we look at a sample of approaches used for mechanical characterization in molecular simulation.
Primary Endoscopic Stapes Surgery: Audiologic and Surgical Outcomes.

Objective Evaluate outcomes following primary endoscopic stapes surgery. Study design Retrospective case series. Setting Two tertiary otologic centers. Patients Eighty-one ears with surgically confirmed stapes fixation. Interventions Total endoscopic stapedotomy or stapedectomy. Main outcome measures Surgical and audiologic outcomes. Results Eighty-one subjects were included (60% women) with a median age of 47.6 years (range, 19.1-73.6 yr). Etiologies of hearing loss included otosclerosis (96.3%), stapedial ankylosis (2.5%), and congenital stapes fixation (1.2%). The median follow-up was 5.3 months (range, 1.2-50.4 mo). 74.1% required scutum removal, and the chorda tympani nerve was sacrificed in 7.4%. Two techniques were used: 51.9% underwent stapedectomy and 48.1% underwent stapedotomy (with use of laser, drill, or both in 74.4, 20.5, and 5.1% of cases, respectively). The median air-bone gap (ABG) improved from 31.3 dB preoperatively to 6.25 dB postoperatively at last follow-up (p 15 dB change from baseline) or facial nerve injury. Postoperatively, 29.6% of patients reported dysgeusia, of which 8.3% was persistent at last follow-up. Postoperative disequilibrium was reported in 17.3% of cases, with 100% resolution at last follow-up. Comparison of the stapedotomy and stapedectomy groups revealed no significant differences in audiologic or surgical outcomes. Conclusions Endoscopic stapedotomy and stapedectomy are effective techniques to manage stapes fixation resulting in a median postoperative ABG of 6.25 dB and ABG closure to within 10 dB in 84% of patients.
Association of physical activity on changes in cognitive function: Boston Puerto Rican Health Study.

Objective: To evaluate the association of habitual physical activity engagement on changes in cognitive function among Puerto Rican adults.Methods: Longitudinal data (2-year follow-up) from the Bos...
Science of sintering ceramic matrix composites

ABSTRACT Critical issues in the conventional, pressureless sintering of ceramic matrix composites containing particulate or whisker-type inclusions are examined. Current work in the search, for processing improvements which will allow the attainment of high density and controlled microstructure by pressureless sintering is illustrated with examples that exploit the use of sintering aids, colloidal techniques and viscous sintering.
Re-viewing The Way Beyond “Art”: Herbert Bayer, Alexander Dorner, and Practices of Viewership

Architect, painter, and designer Herbert Bayer was a progenitor of modern exhibition design that emphasized the visual perception of its audiences; his associate and occasional collaborator, Alexan...
Test on kisspeptin levels in girls with idiopathic central precocious puberty and its significance

The aim of this study was to explore the signifi - cance of plasma kisspeptin levels in diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation through the analysis of the kisspeptin levels of girls diagnosed with idiopathic central precocious puberty (ICPP) prior to treatment and after 6-months of treatment and those with simple premature thelarche (PT). A total of 70 girls including 24 girls diagnosed with ICPP, 21 girls with PT and 25 normal girls were enrolled in the study. ELISA analysis was conducted to detect the plasma levels of kisspeptin. The kisspeptin level of the ICPP group prior to treatment (1.80±0.13 ng/ml) was significantly higher than those of the other two groups. The kisspeptin level of the ICPP group after 6 months of treatment (1.49±0.21 ng/ml) was signifi - cantly lower than that prior to treatment (P<0.05). It may be concluded that the plasma level of kisspeptin is associated with the initiation of pubertal development, and it may serve as an important parameter in the diagnosis of ICPP and the evalua- tion of therapeutic effects.
Monetary and Nonmonetary Cost Factors in the Cycle of Unhealth

Policymakers have long suggested a need to overhaul supplemental nutrition assistance programs in the USA to save taxpayer money. However, these efforts are often met with resistance because cutting costs is often paired with reducing the quality of diet which can result in even greater costs in government-provided healthcare. This research takes a consumer-driven perspective and explores the cost factors driving food purchases for low-income, urban consumers in order to better understand the ways that the current food marketing system is failing to provide this population with value. The samples include a 32-person sample from a low-income urban area in North Carolina as well as a 52-person general population sample taken from Amazon mTurk. This exploratory research shows that low-income consumers tend to rely more heavily on well-known food and are most concerned about the cognitive burden and time required to prepare meals at home. These findings can be used to better understand the shopping decisions of low-income consumers and for policy makers to design higher value supplemental nutrition programs to address these concerns.
Branched-Chain Amino Acids Depletion during Hemodialysis Is Associated with Fatigue.

BACKGROUND Fatigue is one of the most debilitating symptoms reported by maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients. Hemodialysis causes marked depletion in plasma essential amino acids. We studied the cross-sectional relationship of pre- and post-hemodialysis branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) concentrations with fatigue in MHD patients. METHODS MHD patients self-reported fatigue during a dialysis session using the Brief Fatigue Inventory. Pre- and post-dialysis plasma levels of BCAAs (valine, leucine, and isoleucine) were measured using HPLC-mass spectrometry. RESULTS The mean age of study participants (n = 114) was 54.8 ± 12.8 years. Plasma levels of BCAAs decreased significantly post-dialysis compared to pre-dialysis (303.8 ± 9.4 vs. 392.1 ± 9.4 μM/L, p < 0.0001). Fatigue score increased as a function of age (p = 0.015). There was no association between pre-dialysis plasma levels of BCAAs and fatigue. A significant negative correlation was found between post-dialysis plasma levels of BCAAs and fatigue (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS These preliminary findings suggest that disruption in BCAAs homeostasis may play a role in precipitating fatigue.
Mutations Outside the Ure2 Amyloid-Forming Region Disrupt [URE3] Prion Propagation and Alter Interactions with Protein Quality Control Factors.

The yeast prion [URE3] propagates as a misfolded amyloid form of the Ure2 protein. Propagation of amyloid-based yeast prions requires protein quality control (PQC) factors and altering PQC abundance or activity can cure cells of prions. Yeast anti-prion systems composed of PQC factors act at normal abundance to restrict establishment of the majority of prion variants that arise de novo. While these systems are well described, how they or other PQC factors interact with prion proteins remains unclear. To gain insight into such interactions we identified mutations outside the Ure2 prion-determining region that destabilize [URE3]. Despite residing in the functional domain, sixteen of seventeen mutants retained Ure2 activity. Four characterized mutations caused rapid loss of [URE3] yet allowed [URE3] to propagate under prion-selecting conditions. Two sensitized [URE3] to Btn2, Cur1 and Hsp42, but in different ways. Two others reduced amyloid formation in vitro. Of these, one impaired prion replication and the other apparently impaired transmission. Thus, widely dispersed sites outside a prion's amyloid-forming region can contribute to prion character and altering such sites can disrupt prion propagation by altering interactions with PQC factors.
Academic Functioning of Youth in Foster Care: The Influence of Unique Sources of Social Support.

Abstract Youth in foster care often experience more difficulty in school compared to their non-foster care peers. Difficulties exist across domains of academic functioning, including both performance (e.g., low grades) and behavioral health (e.g., high externalizing concerns) in school. One factor that has been shown to be associated with positive academic functioning in the general population but remains to be comprehensively examined among youth in foster care is social support. This includes examining specific sources of support for youth in foster care and taking into consideration the context of frequent placement disruptions many children in foster care experience. This study sought to determine which sources of social support are associated with academic functioning for youth in foster care by examining child-report of social support from parents, teachers, friends, and classmates in relation to school grades and teacher-reported behavioral health outcomes. Information on each source of social support was obtained from the self-report of 257 youth in foster care, and information on placement characteristics were obtained from child welfare casefiles. Teachers provided information on youth’s behavioral health in school, and academic grades were obtained from school records. Results suggested that youth reported teacher social support, as compared to parent, friend, or classmate social support, was most influential for both performance and behavioral health in school. Findings highlight the need for additional research on the important role of teachers for promoting academic success amongst youth in foster care, as well as the importance of placement changes in relation to academic functioning.
Avoiding Lock-In of Solar Geoengineering

Concerns raised by solar geoengineering include physical impacts as well as worries that solar geoengineering might undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, foster heightened international conflict, put society at risk of accelerated warming if solar geoengineering efforts were to cease, and impose injustices on disadvantaged peoples and future generations. Even researching solar geoengineering may be problematic, some contend, because it might put society on a “slippery slope” toward solar geoengineering deployment or “lock in” inappropriate solar geoengineering technologies. After offering a brief introduction to solar geoengineering and to the lock-in and slippery slope concerns surrounding solar geoengineering, this essay explores possible mechanisms for addressing those concerns under the assumption that solar geoengineering research will be undertaken.
First Responders: An International Workshop on Collecting and Analyzing Evidence of International Crimes

This report presents major points of discussion and recommendations from an international conference held in September 2014 in Salzburg, Austria. Workshop participants discussed how local and international NGOs, journalists, forensic scientists, health professionals, and other “first responders” to war crimes and human violations can most effectively work with courts — and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in particular — in the collection of evidence of serious war crimes, such as genocide and crimes against humanity.
Liberal Democracy, Human Rights, and the Eucharistic Community: Contrasting Voices in American Orthodox Ethics:

The relationship between Eastern Orthodoxy and the political ethos of the West is of crucial importance for contextualizing the Church’s social engagement in the present day. Aristotle Papanikolaou...
Looking Beyond the Easel: Artists' Contexts and Resale Payment

This Essay intervenes in a long-running debate in the United States about the rights of visual artists: when a collector sells a work for more than its purchase price, should the artist share in the gain? Artists based in major art-market jurisdictions-with the exception of the United States and China-now have statutory resale or royalty rights. This Essay's contribution to an already-extensive body of legal scholarship draws on the theoretical insights of the feminist art historian, Linda Nochlin, to critique legal scholars' opposition to resale rights and build an affirmative case for them. In her 1971 explication of why so few great artists were women, Nochlin emphasizes the role of institutions of all sorts in shaping artistic reputation, in particular by denying artists who are women of the same footing as men. In contrast, debates over resale rights have been shaped by often-unstated assumptions about the creation of works of art, their critical and historical assessment, and their reception in art markets that ignore the roles of institutions in defining artistic achievement. Instead, critical assessment and market outcomes may be assumed to be the necessary consequences of immutable orders. Moreover, Nochlin's insights focus attention on how distinct institutions can reinforce each others' effects, operating to disadvantage artists who are women. Interlocked institutions, each vulnerable to error, can leave artists of merit in obscurity. Once an artist is newly "discovered" - or in many memorable cases "rediscovered" - nothing in the natural order of things justifies denying the artist some share (not a large amount in statutory schemes of resale rights) of the proceeds from resale. The Essay also extends Nochlin's emphasis on the context in which artists work to encompass the role played by an artist's family and life partner in the artist's ability to realize work. Invisible in many accounts of art-world and art-market ecosystems, artists' life partners are not co-authors of artistic works, but make sustained contributions to an artist's ability to work. Thus, a resale right should not-as proposed by the Register of Copyrights-terminate with the artist's death.
17. Preserving structural integrity in cryopreservation

Cryopreservation success is affected by coupled phenomena which are commonly classified as resulting from exposure to low temperatures, kinetics of ice crystallization, toxicity of ice-controlling agents (ICAs), degradation of biological material in a suspended state, and development of thermo-mechanical stresses—the focus of the current presentation. Cryopreservation success is not dependent merely upon instantaneous effects, but upon evolution of events along the cryopreservation protocol. While the analysis of small specimens frequently benefits from quite homogeneous conditions, higher complexity is introduced to the analysis of large-size cryopreservation, where field properties such as temperature, concentration, and stress vary in space and time. In vitrification of large specimens for example, the cooling rate as a function of temperature vary across the specimen, leading to a spatially distributed probability to suppress crystallization. Simultaneously, the toxicity potential of ICAs is also affected by the cooling rate as a function of temperature. Furthermore, temperature gradients drive a non-uniform thermal strain field in the material, which results in thermo-mechanical stresses and possibly structural damage. As another intriguing display of coupled phenomena, crystals may form along fractures during rewarming. With such strongly coupled effects, the path-dependency nature of cryopreservation processes calls for special means of investigation. The cryomacroscope is a unique device for the task, by in situ exploration of physical events along the cryopreservation protocol. Using both visible and polarized light, this presentation displays a selection of cryomacroscopy movies highlighting crystallization, thermal contraction, stress concentration, fracturing, stress relaxation, and ICA contamination. This presentation further discusses the unmet needs for engineering concepts in the study of cryopreservation, as opposed to the diagnostic approaches that historically dominated the field. Acknowledgments This project is supported by Award Number R21EB011751from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering , Award Number R21RR026210 from the National Center for Research Resources , and Award Number R21GM103407 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences .
Compiler Support for Low-Cost Synchronization Among Threads

Abstract: Traditional compilation techniques for synchronization have targeted architectures with relatively high synchronization overhead, and have been used to synchronize loops or different processes at a coarse granularity. Processors will soon be available that have multiple, tightly-coupled instruction streams on a single chip, and these processors will support the exploitation of finer-grained parallelism among threads of a single process, e.g. through simultaneous multithreading. This paper proposes synchronization techniques for such architectures. These techniques are unique in their support for architectures with extremely low synchronization overhead and for overlapping different loop nests. The proposed techniques account for underlying communication costs, and make trade-offs between reducing synchronization overhead and maximizing parallelism. These techniques have been implemented in the Pedigree post-pass compiler.
Blind denoising of structural vibration responses with outliers via principal component pursuit: BLIND DENOISING VIA PRINCIPAL COMPONENT PURSUIT

SUMMARY Structural vibration responses themselves contain rich dynamic information, exploiting which can lead to tackling the challenging problem: simultaneous denoising of both gross errors (outliers) and dense noise that are not uncommon in the data acquisition of SHM systems. This paper explicitly takes advantage of the fact that typically only few modes are active in the vibration responses; as such, it is proposed to re-stack the response data matrix to guarantee a low-rank representation, through which even heavy gross and dense noises can be efficiently removed via a new technique termed principal component pursuit (PCP), without the assumption that sensor numbers exceed mode numbers that used to be made in traditional methods. It is found that PCP works extremely well under broad conditions with the simple but effective strategy no more than reshaping the data matrix for a low-rank representation. The proposed PCP denoising algorithm overcomes the traditional PCA (or SVD) and low-pass filter denoising algorithms, which can only handle dense (Gaussian) noise. The application of PCP on the health monitoring data of the New Guangzhou TV Tower (Canton Tower) shows its potential for practical usage. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Expansion of a Pyrrole in meso‐Tetra­phenylporphyrin to a Pyrazine Imide Moiety­ Using a Beckmann Rearrangement

The group 10 metal complexes of β,β′-dioxoporphyrin monooxime 10M (M = NiII, PdII, PtII) are susceptible to a Beckmann rearrangement to produce the corresponding ring-expanded metallopyrazinoporphyrin imides 11M in good yields. These chromophores possess metallochlorin-like optical properties. Demetalation of the NiII complex furnishes the free-base porphyrinoid 11, which possesses a porphyrin-like optical spectrum. The monooximes are ultimately derived from meso-tetraphenylporphyrin, and the formal replacement of the porphyrin β,β′-double bond by an imide functionality is thus demonstrated. The imide functionality serves as a synthetic handle for further modification of the chromophore.
Membrane systems in skeletal muscle of the lizard Anolis carolinensis.

The iliotibialis muscle of the iguanid lizard Anolis carolinensis is composed of fibers that display highly developed membrane systems. One of these systems is composed of the so-called “transverse” tubules, which may branch in both the horizontal and vertical planes and which usually are connected to the surface sarcolemma via intermediary passages composed of caveolar vesicles. The remaining membrane system comprises the various elements of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Three reasonably distinct yet confluent conformations of SR can be found: (1) highly developed “conventional” SR which surrounds each myofibril and is segmented into specialized regions according to the divisions of the sarcomeres, such as junctional SR at the A–I levels, “network” SR massed over the I/Z/I band complexes, and fenestrated collars at the M lines; (2) subsarcolemmal SR whose junctional SR cisternae form peripheral couplings with the inner surface of the external cell membrane; and (3) extensive masses of proliferated SR that form roughly cylindrical bodies oriented longitudinally within intermyofibrillar spaces. These last (“columnar SR”) are found at all depths of the fibers and may be collected into less discrete aggregates that lie just underneath the sarcolemma, including the soleplate regions of motor end plates. The degree of development of the Anolis skeletal muscle membrane systems may reflect the requirements for rapid movement of the fibers.
Impact of Emotional Intelligence, Ethical Climate, and Behavior of Peers on Ethical Behavior of Nurses

This study examines factors impacting ethical behavior of 103 hospital nurses. The level of emotional intelligence and ethical behavior of peers had a significant impact on ethical behavior of nurses. Independence climate had a significant impact on ethical behavior of nurses. Other ethical climate types such as professional, caring, rules, instrumental, and efficiency did not impact ethical behavior of respondents. Implications of this study for researchers and practitioners are discussed.
Coronary artery spasm: An often overlooked diagnosis

Coronary vasospasm can lead to myocardial injury and even sudden cardiac death. It has generally been overlooked as a diagnosis since atherosclerosis is a more common cause of acute coronary syndromes and because of the dilemma involved in its diagnosis. A middle-aged man with a history of smoking and cocaine use presented to the emergency department with left-sided arm/chest discomfort and diaphoresis. The electrocardiogram showed anterior ST elevation and hyper-acute T waves, which completely resolved shortly after sublingual nitroglycerin was administered. Subsequent angiogram revealed a 70% focal stenosis in the mid-left anterior descending artery. Coronary vasospasm occurs more commonly in arteries with underlying atheromatous disease, although normal vessels are not excluded. Cigarette smoking and cocaine use are among the major culprits that have been implicated as risk factors for the occurrence of coronary vasospasm. Eventually, the patient had percutaneous coronary intervention of his left-anterior descending artery and remained asymptomatic.
Glyphosate-tolerant CP4 and GOX genes as a selectable marker in wheat transformation

The lack of alternative selectable markers in crop transformation has been a substantial barrier for commercial application of agricultural biotechnology. We have developed an efficient selection system for wheat transformation using glyphosate-tolerant CP4 and GOX genes as a selectable marker. Immature embryos of the wheat cultivar Bobwhite were bombarded with two separate plasmids harboring the CP4/GOX and GUS genes. After a 1 week delay, the bombarded embryos were transferred to a selection medium containing 2 mM glyphosate. Embryo-derived calli were subcultured onto the same selection medium every 3 weeks consecutively for 9–12 weeks, and were then regenerated and rooted on selection media with lower glyphosate concentrations. Transgenic plants tolerant to glyphosate were recovered. ELISA assay confirmed expression of the CP4 and GOX genes in R0 plants. Southern blot analysis demonstrated that the transgenes were integrated into the wheat genomes and transmitted to the following generation. The use of CP4 and GOX genes as a selectable marker provides an efficient, effective, and alternative transformation selection system for wheat.
Tailgate partisanship: Political and social expression through bumper stickers

Abstract One of the more common forms of political participation is the display of decals on automobiles as a means of political expression. Individuals use bumper stickers for purposes such as showing allegiance to an organization, spreading the message of an interest group, and communicating candidate preferences in a campaign. Through a survey of automobiles conducted before the 1992 election, this article provides an examination and empirical classification of bumper sticker messages. Stickers are categorized according to their expressive content, and three questions are addressed: (1) what is the frequency of expression through bumper stickers? (2) how much of this expression is political? and (3) what patterns can be identified in the use of bumper stickers for expressive purposes? The results suggest that car owners apply decals to their vehicles as a form of identification and solidarity with a group sharing common beliefs.
Norepinephrine exhibits two distinct profiles of action on sensory cortical neuron responses to excitatory synaptic stimuli.

Located within the central gray of the caudal pons, the locus coeruleus (LC) is the sole source of norepinephrine (NE) projections to the forebrain. NE is released both tonically and phasically from axonal varicosities in LC efferent target circuits. NE has been shown to produce a diverse set of actions, including suppression of spontaneous and stimulus evoked discharge, augmentation of synaptically evoked excitation, and inhibition and gating of otherwise subthreshold synaptic inputs. Utilizing an extracellular in vitro tissue slice preparation and microiontophoretic techniques, the dose-dependent actions of NE on glutamate-evoked discharges of layer II/III and layer V sensory cortical neurons were investigated. Noradrenergic effects were further examined in terms of cell and adrenoceptor specificity. The results indicate two exclusive modulatory actions of NE: 1) ejection current-dependent suppression of glutamate evoked discharge, and 2) ejection current-dependent facilitation of glutamate-evoked discharge followed by suppression of the maximal facilitated response. These effects were observed in both normal and low Ca(2+) / high Mg(2+) bathing media, suggesting a postsynaptic site for NE's actions. The facilitation of glutamate evoked discharge was selectively mimicked by the alpha-1 agonist, phenylephrine, whereas the dose-dependent suppression was mimicked by the beta-agonist isoproterenol. These results suggest that the suppressant and facilitating actions of NE are mediated by beta and alpha-1 receptors, respectively. In general, these results are consistent with previous demonstrations of NE modulatory actions on central neurons, but indicate that in the cerebral cortex these effects are both cell- and receptor-specific.
Scrotal Abscess as Initial Presentation of Squamous Cell Carcinoma

We report a case of scrotal squamous cell carcinoma in a 67-year-old man that presented as a recurrent nonhealing scrotal abscess. Radical scrotectomy and bilateral simple orchiectomy were performed. A pudendal thigh flap was used for wound closure. To our knowledge, this is the first report of its use after radical surgery for scrotal cancer. The clinical features, staging, and treatment of scrotal squamous cell carcinoma are reviewed. In this report, we highlight the importance of including scrotal cancer in the differential diagnosis when evaluating a scrotal abscess.
Bubble percolation in extended inflationary models

Abstract The analysis of bubble percolation in extended inflationary models is given. Inflation, followed by percolation and thermalization of true vacuum bubbles via collisions, occurs without fine-tuning of parameters. The distribution of bubble sizes may include a small but non-negligible number of very large bubbles which can influence large-scale structure.
Data-parallel Langevin dynamics simulations of Josephson junction arrays

Abstract We discuss the advantages of parallel computing with respect to both computing speed and coding techniques. As an example of an application, we show results of dynamical simulations of two dimensional Josephson lattices in external magnetic fields. Using data parallel computing, we are able to study the dynamics of very large systems and identify the interplay between spatial and temporal scales in complex systems.
Femtochemistry of ICN in liquids: dynamics of dissociation, recombination and abstraction

The femtosecond reaction dynamics of ICN in the liquids CHCl_3, CH_2Cl_2, and CDCl_3 are reported. As in gas phase studies, we probed the dynamics of bond breakage and rotational alignment, but not in the presence of the solvent structure. Furthermore, we observed the subsequent process of solvent-induced atom-diatom recombination and examined its role in the overall mechanism of hydrogen (and chlorine) abstraction reaction. The elementary dynamics in these liquid solutions, and for two different states of the reaction (CN + I and CN + I∗), are compared with molecular dynamics simulations, which provide a remarkably good microscopic picture of the different femtochemical steps.
Effects of Bearing Preload, Oil Volume, and Operating Temperature on Axle Power Losses

In order to boost the fuel economy of their vehicles, automotive OEMs and suppliers have been investigating a range of options from alternate vehicle propulsion systems down to optimized component level technologies. A rear axle differential with a hypoid gear set is one of the least efficient drive train components, and as such, provides unique opportunities for improvements. It has therefore attracted significant attention from researchers to reduce the power losses. Both loaded and unload power losses have been studied before and found to vary significantly with load and speed conditions. This paper will focus on the effects of the axle pinion bearing preload, axle gear oil levels and operating temperatures on axle power losses during the fuel economy driving cycles where both axle load and speed vary significantly. In this paper, power loss measurements from experiments conducted on an automotive rear drive axle on a dedicated dynamometer will be presented. Tests were conducted under a range of speed and load conditions that were developed from EPA fuel economy driving cycles. Both urban and highway cycles were included in the tests. Separate tests were conducted for unloaded spin losses and loaded power losses. The tests were conducted at a few different controlled levels of gear oil operating temperatures, gear oil volumes and pinion bearing preloads, and their influence on power losses were quantified. The measured power losses, at a matrix of load and speed conditions provide a series of power loss maps as a function of gear oil operating temperature, oil volume, and bearing preload. Using these power loss maps, the overall axle efficiency or power loss during any driving cycle can be quantified by integrating the instantaneous power losses as the axle goes through the driving cycles. Similar maps can be created for other influences and the proposed procedure can be utilized to quantify their influences on a given driving cycle. Results from this study indicate that with the combination of appropriate preloads, gear oil volume and temperature control, axle efficiency can potentially be improved by roughly 3% in the tested axle.Copyright © 2011 by ASME and General Motors
Determining the position of a jammer using a virtual-force iterative approach

Wireless communication is susceptible to radio interference and jamming attacks, which prevent the reception of communications. Most existing anti-jamming work does not consider the location information of radio interferers and jammers. However, this information can provide important insights for networks to manage its resource in different layers and to defend against radio interference. In this paper, we investigate issues associated with localizing jammers in wireless networks. In particular, we formulate the jamming effects using two jamming models: region-based and signal-to-noise-ratio(SNR)-based; and we categorize network nodes into three states based on the level of disturbance caused by the jammer. By exploiting the states of nodes, we propose to localize jammers in wireless networks using a virtual-force iterative approach. The virtual-force iterative localization scheme is a range-free position estimation method that estimates the position of a jammer iteratively by utilizing the network topology. We have conducted experiments to validate our SNR-based jamming model and performed extensive simulation to evaluate our approach. Our simulation results have showed that the virtual-force iterative approach is highly effective in localizing a jammer in various network conditions when comparing to existing centroid-based localization approaches.
A microfabricated low cost enzyme-free glucose fuel cell for powering low-power implantable devices

Abstract In the past decade the scientific community has showed considerable interest in the development of implantable medical devices such as muscle stimulators, neuroprosthetic devices, and biosensors. Those devices have low power requirements and can potentially be operated through fuel cells using reactants present in the body such as glucose and oxygen instead of non-rechargeable lithium batteries. In this paper, we present a thin, enzyme-free fuel cell with high current density and good stability at a current density of 10 μA cm−2. A non-enzymatic approach is preferred because of higher long term stability. The fuel cell uses a stacked electrode design in order to achieve glucose and oxygen separation. An important characteristic of the fuel cell is that it has no membrane separating the electrodes, which results in low ohmic losses and small fuel cell volume. In addition, it uses a porous carbon paper support for the anodic catalyst layer which reduces the amount of platinum or other noble metal catalysts required for fabricating high surface area electrodes with good reactivity. The peak power output of the fuel cell is approximately 2 μW cm−2 and has a sustainable power density of 1.5 μW cm−2 at 10 μA cm−2. An analysis on the effects of electrode thickness and inter electrode gap on the maximum power output of the fuel cell is also performed.
Stabilization through taxation in n -person games

In formulating solutions forn-person cooperative games, the concept of stability has played a dominant role. Although the core concept has the strongest stability, the core of a game is often empty. In this paper, the taxation system is incorporated into our framework, so that a modified solution concept, which enjoys the stability of core, can be developed. Various formulations based on principles such astaxation proportional to income andequity after tax are given.
Performance optimization of vision apps on mobile application processor

Optimizing performance of compute-intensive vision apps running on mobile application processor (AP) is critical to satisfactory experience for smartphone and tablet users. Most existing vision algorithms were primarily designed and implemented for desktop and server platforms. Porting them to a mobile platform without adapting the algorithms to account for the platform's limitations would cause serious algorithmhardware mismatches, yielding unnecessary runtime degradation. Modern mobile AP, which integrates multicore CPUs, GPUs and other special-purpose accelerators, offers multiple options of porting vision apps to various computing cores. To develop an optimized implementation for a vision app, it is necessary to understand the potential mismatches for better algorithm adaptation and optimized mapping of the algorithm to a handheld platform. In this paper, we identify mismatches and propose adaptation guidelines for three different porting strategies: porting an algorithm to 1) a mobile CPU, 2) a mobile GPU, and 3) mobile heterogeneous multicores (mobile CPUs+GPUs). For each strategy, we illustrate the adaptation/porting guidelines using an exemplar vision task. Experimental results demonstrate that with proper adaptation following the proposed guidelines, we could achieve a significant speedup with little accuracy drop.