cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Microwave imaging for breast cancer detection and therapy monitoring

Microwave imaging is based on recovering the electrical properties, namely permittivity and conductivity, of materials. Microwave imaging for biomedical applications is particularly interesting, because the available range of dielectric properties of different tissues can provide substantial functional information about their health. Breast cancer detection and treatment response monitoring are areas where microwave imaging is becoming a promising alternative/complementary technique to current imaging modalities, mainly due to the significant dielectric property contrast between normal and malignant breast tissues. In this paper, we present our latest clinical microwave imaging system along with some 2D and 3D reconstructed images from different phantom experiments and patient data.
Intraocular pressure (IOP) passive sensor modeling, design, fabrication and measurement

This work describes a miniaturized implantable passive pressure sensor and a remote sensing technique for pressure measurement. The sensor device consists of a capacitor array and a coil inductor, which form a high-Q LC type resonator. The capacitor array, which is also membrane structures, is fabricated by surface micromachining technique. The deflection of the membrane depends on the pressure applied to it. The higher the pressure, the larger the deflection, and the larger the capacitor is. This change of the capacitance will also change the resonant frequency of the LC resonator, and it can be detected by various types of coil detectors. One detecting prototype using a secondary resonator is proposed in this work, the sensing distance can be improved to about 1.5cm, which is larger than most of the publication work in this area. This large sensing distance will allow the detector to be integrated into a spectacles frame. It has more accurate results than prior works. The sensor itself can be smaller than 1.5mm×1.5mm×1mm, and after biocompatible material coating, the sensor can be implanted into the human body. This sensor was particularly designed for intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement. It can provide multiple and continuous IOP readouts under everyday conditions, which is desired to monitor any fluctuations of IOP, and it is very useful for glaucoma diagnosis. The sensor can also be implanted into any other part of human body to remotely measure any pressure of a tissue or inside a chamber, e.g. the pulmonary artery.
Forecast of the Potential Impact of Increased Royalty Income on the Pennsylvania Economy, 2008-2011

Natural gas distributed throughout the Marcellus black shale in northern Appalachia could boost proven U.S. gas reserves by trillions of cubic feet. A recent Pennsylvania Public Broadcasting television program explored issues and opportunities faced by landowners navigating the legal and practical issues of leasing their land for natural gas exploration and extraction. In return for lease rights, parties recovering gas customarily pay landowners royalties, which are agreed upon shares of the value of gas lifted from natural deposits.
Review of Instrumented Indentation

Instrumented indentation, also known as depth-sensing indentation or nanoindentation, is increasingly being used to probe the mechanical response of materials from metals and ceramics to polymeric and biological materials. The additional levels of control, sensitivity, and data acquisition offered by instrumented indentation systems have resulted in numerous advances in materials science, particularly regarding fundamental mechanisms of mechanical behavior at micrometer and even sub-micrometer length scales. Continued improvements of instrumented indentation testing towards absolute quantification of a wide range of material properties and behavior will require advances in instrument calibration, measurement protocols, and analysis tools and techniques. In this paper, an overview of instrumented indentation is given with regard to current instrument technology and analysis methods. Research efforts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) aimed at improving the related measurement science are discussed.
Building Community Capacity to Engage Government Reflections of Nonprofit Leaders on Post-Katrina New Orleans

Much intellectual effort is dedicated to examining the relationship between citizens and their government. In theory, for example, it is presumed that if government officials and citizens work coll...
Long-term enzyme correction and lipid reduction in multiple organs of primary and secondary transplanted Fabry mice receiving transduced bone marrow cells.

Fabry disease is a compelling target for gene therapy as a treatment strategy. A deficiency in the lysosomal hydrolase α-galactosidase A (α-gal A; EC 3.2.1.22) leads to impaired catabolism of α-galactosyl-terminal lipids such as globotriaosylceramide (Gb3). Patients develop vascular occlusions that cause cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and renal disease. Unlike for some lysosomal storage disorders, there is limited primary nervous system involvement in Fabry disease. The enzyme defect can be corrected by gene transfer. Overexpression of α-gal A by transduced cells results in secretion of this enzyme. Secreted enzyme is available for uptake by nontransduced cells presumably by receptor-mediated endocytosis. Correction of bystander cells may occur locally or systemically after circulation of the enzyme in the blood. In this paper we report studies on long-term genetic correction in an α-gal A-deficient mouse model of Fabry disease. α-gal A-deficient bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMCs) were transduced with a retrovirus encoding α-gal A and transplanted into sublethally and lethally irradiated α-gal A-deficient mice. α-gal A activity and Gb3 levels were analyzed in plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, BMMCs, liver, spleen, heart, lung, kidney, and brain. Primary recipient animals were followed for up to 26 weeks. BMMCs were then transplanted into secondary recipients. Increased α-gal A activity and decreased Gb3 storage were observed in all recipient groups in all organs and tissues except the brain. These effects occurred even with a low percentage of transduced cells. The findings indicate that genetic correction of bone marrow cells derived from patients with Fabry disease may have utility for phenotypic correction of patients with this disorder.
Verification Across Multiple Identities: The Role of Status

We explore how the external social structure influences internal self-processes by examining whether one's status in the social structure influences one's ability to self-verify across multiple identities. We also examine whether greater verification is related to positive self-feelings (higher self-esteem and mastery) in a stable manner, across identities. We investigate three identities: the worker identity and the academic identity (both instrumentally oriented) and the friend identity (expressively oriented). We consider the status characteristics of race/ethnicity, gender, age, and education. Using data from a random sample of Los Angeles County residents, we find that high compared with low status characteristics are associated with the verification of identities. Different status characteristics are related to the verification of different identities through a common system of meaning. Further, greater verification is associated with higher self-esteem and higher mastery across identities. The find...
Dissecting diabetes/metabolic disease mechanisms using pluripotent stem cells and genome editing tools.

Background: Diabetes and metabolic syndromes are chronic, devastating diseases with increasing prevalence. Human pluripotent stem cells are gaining popularity in their usage for human in vitro disease modeling. With recent rapid advances in genome editing tools, these cells can now be genetically manipulated with relative ease to study how genes and gene variants contribute to diabetes and metabolic syndromes. Scope of review: We highlight the diabetes and metabolic genes and gene variants, which could potentially be studied, using two powerful technologies e human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) and genome editing tools e to aid the elucidation of yet elusive mechanisms underlying these complex diseases. Major conclusions: hPSCs and the advancing genome editing tools appear to be a timely and potent combination for probing molecular mechanism(s) underlying diseases such as diabetes and metabolic syndromes. The knowledge gained from these hiPSC-based disease modeling studies can potentially be translated into the clinics by guiding clinicians on the appropriate type of medication to use for each condition based on the mechanism of action of the disease.
A panel of IgG1 b12 variants with selectively diminished or enhanced affinity for Fcγ receptors to define the role of effector functions in protection against HIV.

Passive transfer of neutralizing antibodies is effective in protecting rhesus macaques against simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) challenge. In addition to neutralization, effector functions of the crystallizable fragment (Fc) of antibodies are involved in antibody-mediated protection against a number of viruses. We recently showed that interaction between the Fc fragment of the broadly neutralizing antibody IgG1 b12 and cellular Fc receptors (FcRs) plays an important role in protection against SHIV infection in rhesus macaques. The specific nature of this Fc-dependent protection is largely unknown. To investigate, we generated a panel of 11 IgG1 b12 antibody variants with selectively diminished or enhanced affinity for the two main activating FcRs, FcRIIa and FcRIIIa. All 11 antibody variants bind gp120 and neutralize virus as effectively as does wild-type b12. Binding studies using monomeric (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] and surface plasmon resonance [SPR]) and cellularly expressed Fc receptors show decreased (up to 5-fold) and increased (up to 90-fold) binding to FcRIIa and FcRIIIa with this newly generated panel of antibodies. In addition, there was generally a good correlation between b12 variant affinity for Fc receptor and variant function in antibody-dependent cell-mediated virus inhibition (ADCVI), phagocytosis, NK cell activation assays, and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) assays. In future studies, these b12 variants will enable the investigation of the protective role of individual FcRs in HIV infection.
Muscle Diseases: The Muscular Dystrophies

Dystrophic muscle disease can occur at any age. Early- or childhoodonset muscular dystrophies may be associated with profound loss of muscle function, affecting ambulation, posture, and cardiac and respiratory function. Late-onset muscular dystrophies or myopathies may be mild and associated with slight weakness and an inability to increase muscle mass. The phenotype of muscular dystrophy is an endpoint that arises from a diverse set of genetic pathways. Genes associated with muscular dystrophies encode proteins of the plasma membrane and extracellular matrix, and the sarcomere and Z band, as well as nuclear membrane components. Because muscle has such distinctive structural and regenerative properties, many of the genes implicated in these disorders target pathways unique to muscle or more highly expressed in muscle. This chapter reviews the basic structural properties of muscle and genetic mechanisms that lead to myopathy and muscular dystrophies that affect all age groups.
Information Distribution, Utilization, and Decisions by New Product Development Teams*

Typically, organizations use new product development processes composed of activities followed by decision points, where projects are continued or abandoned. A decision maker likely possesses some common information also held by other decision makers and some unique information (that only she/he possesses). If a team relies mainly on overlapping, or common, information, decisions may suffer, but if they share and utilize information originally possessed by a subset of individual members, better decisions can be made. In this paper, the authors designed and conducted four studies to examine the effects of information distribution and utilization on new product team decision-making. In study 1, the findings show that team members tend to use information possessed by everyone (i.e., common information) but neglect critical information possessed only by one of them (i.e., unique information). This common information bias results in suboptimal new product continuation decisions. In study 2, the interplay between the common information bias and team commitment to the NPD project favored by unique information is examined. The results show that although commitment influences new product development team decisions, the common information bias is stronger. Study 3 was conducted to rule out an alternative explanation for the effect of information distribution�the perception of information importance. In study 4, the focal hypotheses were re-tested using a different sample to add confidence in the findings.
Finding junctions using the image gradient

The author proposes a junction detector that works by filling in gaps at junctions in edge maps. It uses the image gradient to guide extensions of disconnected edges at junctions. A novel representation for the gradient, the bow tie map, is used to implement the endpoint growing rules, which include following gradient ridges and using saddle points in the gradient magnitude. The authors demonstrate the junction detector on real imagery. >
Acoustic televiewer log images of natural fractures and bedding planes in the Toa Baja Borehole, Puerto Rico

Although borehole conditions made acoustic televiewer logging difficult in the Toa Baja borehole, more than 180 meters of continuous, acceptable quality televiewer logs were obtained in the intervals from 730 to 880 meters and from 2,515 to 2,675 meters in depth, indicating the presence of fractures that appear to be open in situ. Most of the largest, possibly open fractures in these intervals are either nearly parallel to directions given by the dipmeter log and may represent solution openings or minor washouts along bedding planes, or dip steeply to the south or southwest across bedding. The televiewer log confirms the presence of an apparently open set of fractures near 867 meters in depth, where circulation was lost during drilling, and in the interval from 2,600 to 2,650 meters in depth, where the temperature log indicates anomalous heat flow in the surrounding formation.
Weight Loss and Blood Pressure Control (Pro)

Overweight is an increasingly prevalent condition throughout the world. Current estimates, which are probably conservative, indicate that at least 500 000 000 people worldwide are overweight as defined by a body mass index (BMI) of between 25.0 and 29.9 and an additional 250 000 000 are obese with a BMI of 30.0 or higher.1 In the United States, recent data indicate that as much as 66% of the adult population is overweight or obese.2 Overweight and obesity are established risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), stroke, noninsulin dependent diabetes (NIDDM), certain cancers, and numerous other disorders.3,4,5,6,7 It is also a risk factor for hypertension.8 Hypertension, defined as a systolic blood pressure in excess of 140 mm Hg or a diastolic blood pressure higher than 90 mm Hg, is also a globally increasing public health concern. Roughly 1 billion individuals worldwide are estimated to exhibit clinically significant elevated blood pressure with about 50 million of those residing in the United States.8 Hypertension, in turn, is associated with increased risk for CVD, stroke, renal disease, and all-cause mortality.9,10,11,12 The JNC VII report defines Stage 1 hypertension as blood pressure levels between 140 and 159 mm Hg systolic and 90 and 99 diastolic. Additionally, the report establishes a category of Prehypertension (Systolic blood pressure between 120 and 140 mm Hg or diastolic between 80 and 89 mm Hg). These 2 blood pressure classifications are deemed to be appropriate primary targets for lifestyle modification interventions, including weight loss. Higher levels of blood pressure, or stage 1 hypertension that is maintained over a long period, should be addressed primarily with medications or other physician directed treatments. There is a positive relationship between overweight or obesity and blood pressure and risk for hypertension. As early as the 1920s, a significant …
Rad52-mediated DNA annealing after Rad51-mediated DNA strand exchange promotes second ssDNA capture

Rad51, Rad52, and RPA play central roles in homologous DNA recombination. Rad51 mediates DNA strand exchange, a key reaction in DNA recombination. Rad52 has two distinct activities: to recruit Rad51 onto single-strand (ss)DNA that is complexed with the ssDNA-binding protein, RPA, and to anneal complementary ssDNA complexed with RPA. Here, we report that Rad52 promotes annealing of the ssDNA strand that is displaced by DNA strand exchange by Rad51 and RPA, to a second ssDNA strand. An RPA that is recombination-deficient (RPA(rfa1-t11)) failed to support annealing, explaining its in vivo phenotype. Escherichia coli RecO and SSB proteins, which are functional homologues of Rad52 and RPA, also facilitated the same reaction, demonstrating its conserved nature. We also demonstrate that the two activities of Rad52, recruiting Rad51 and annealing DNA, are coordinated in DNA strand exchange and second ssDNA capture.
Definition of a juvenile hormone-sensitive period in Rhodnius prolixus

Abstract This paper is an attempt to establish the times of onset and termination of the juvenile hormone-sensitive period for metamorphosis in fifth-instar larvae of Rhodnius. Small regions of the abdominal integument were exposed to discrete pulses of the juvenile hormone analogue ZR-515 (methoprene) by applying small drops of a mixture in paraffin to the dorsum at various times after a bloodmeal and removing these drops after different time intervals. The diffusion coefficient of the analogue in the integument was estimated and used together with estimates of its metabolism to determine the lag times between application of the analogue and its rise to above threshold concentration in the epidermis, and between removal of the analogue source and its fall to below threshold concentration in the epidermis. These lag times were estimated to be 1.5 and 24h, respectively. Knowledge of the lag times makes it possible to establish the limits of the juvenile hormone-sensitive period or metamorphosis from the responses of larvae to variously-timed pulses of the analogue. The juvenile hormone-sensitive period has the following properties. For the population as a whole it lasts from about day 3 to about day 9 after a bloodmeal. Any individual in that population, however, only requires the presence of juvenile hormone during a 2 to 4-day period. The exact duration of an individual's sensitive period within these limits is a stochastic event. Surprisingly, for any individual, a pulse of juvenile hormone is equally effective when experienced early as when experienced late during its juvenile hormone-sensitive period.
Yoga's Impact on Inflammation, Mood, and Fatigue in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose To evaluate yoga’s impact on inflammation, mood, and fatigue. Patients and Methods A randomized controlled 3-month trial was conducted with two post-treatment assessments of 200 breast cancer survivors assigned to either 12 weeks of 90-minute twice per week hatha yoga classes or a wait-list control. The main outcome measures were lipopolysaccharide-stimulated production of proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-), and interleukin-1 (IL-1), and scores on the Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory-Short Form (MFSI-SF), the vitality scale from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form (SF-36), and the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. Results Immediately post-treatment, fatigue was not lower (P .05) but vitality was higher (P .01) in the yoga group compared with the control group. At 3 months post-treatment, fatigue was lower in the yoga group (P .002), vitality was higher (P .01), and IL-6 (P .027), TNF- (P .027), and IL-1 (P .037) were lower for yoga participants compared with the control group. Groups did not differ on depression at either time (P .2). Planned secondary analyses showed that the frequency of yoga practice had stronger associations with fatigue at both post-treatment visits (P .019; P .001), as well as vitality (P .016; P .0045), but not depression (P .05) than simple group assignment; more frequent practice produced larger changes. At 3 months post-treatment, increasing yoga practice also led to a decrease in IL-6 (P .01) and IL-1 (P .03) production but not in TNF- production (P .05).
Modeling and intelligibility in ambient environments

The field of ambient environments and ubiquitous computing has matured greatly over the past 20 years. We are no longer building toy applications but are focusing on real applications that have real impacts on user. We must now consider usability concerns when designing these applications, and particularly support for intelligibility, or the ability of applications to explain their behavior. This paper discusses the importance of intelligibility, particularly for applications that model human activity, and describe work my group has conducted in understanding how users understand these applications and toolkit support for intelligibility.
On the chance accuracies of large collections of classifiers

We provide a theoretical analysis of the chance accuracies of large collections of classifiers. We show that on problems with small numbers of examples, some classifier can perform well by random chance, and we derive a theorem to explicitly calculate this accuracy. We use this theorem to provide a principled feature selection criterion for sparse, high-dimensional problems. We evaluate this method on microarray and fMRI datasets and show that it performs very close to the optimal accuracy obtained from an oracle. We also show that on the fMRI dataset this technique chooses relevant features successfully while another state-of-the-art method, the False Discovery Rate (FDR), completely fails at standard significance levels.
Impact of including elective pregnancy terminations before 20 weeks gestation on birth defect rates.

Background The majority of U.S. birth defects surveillance programs do not include elective terminations before 20 weeks gestation among the pregnancy outcomes covered. To assess the impact of defects among elective terminations before 20 weeks gestation, data from a birth defects registry that does include terminations before 20 weeks gestation were analyzed. Methods Using information from the Texas Birth Defects Registry, the number of cases and rate of 49 conditions were analyzed in two ways: excluding defects detected among elective pregnancy terminations before 20 weeks gestation, and including defects among terminations before 20 weeks. Results By including defects detected among elective terminations before 20 weeks, the number of cases increased by five percent or greater for nine conditions: anencephaly (29%); spina bifida without anencephaly (13%); encephalocele (21%); Patau syndrome (19%); Edwards syndrome (11%); Down syndrome (6%); omphalocele (15%); gastroschisis (5%); and anophthalmia (7%). There was no impact for 27 conditions, for which there were no cases detected among elective terminations before 20 weeks. The greatest impact was observed for anencephaly; the rate of anencephaly increased from 2.76 to 3.56 per 10,000 live births when defects among elective terminations before 20 weeks were included. Conclusions Excluding defects among elective terminations before 20 weeks results in counts and rates that are somewhat incomplete, especially for conditions that are more commonly detected and electively terminated before 20 weeks. The impact varies by condition. Teratology 66:S32–S35, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Experimental and Model Based Studies on Current Distribution in Superconducting DC Cables

Current distribution among tapes in superconducting cables has been studied as a function of variations in contact resistance, individual tape critical current, and index (n)-value of individual tapes. It has been shown that besides contact resistances, variations in other superconducting parameters affect current distribution. Variations in critical current and n-value become important at low contact resistances. The effects of collective variations in contact resistances, individual tape critical current, and n-value were studied using Monte Carlo simulations method. Using a validated mathematical model, 1000 cables were simulated with normally distributed random values of contact resistances, individual tape critical current, and n-value. Current distribution in the 1000 simulated cables demonstrated the need for selecting tapes with a narrow distribution in the superconducting parameters to minimize the risk of catastrophic damage to superconducting cables during their operation. It has been demonstrated that there is a potential danger of pushing some tapes closer to their critical current before the current in the cable reaches its design critical current.
Superficial Femoral Artery Pseudoaneurysm Causing Extensive Deep Venous Thrombosis: A Case Report

This is a case report of a fifty-six-year-old, obese, corticosteroid-dependent asthmatic who presented with a pulsatile left thigh mass, left calf and foot swelling, and two block left calf claudication. Upon investigation, he was found to have a superficial femoral artery pseudoaneurysm compressing the superficial femoral vein causing a deep venous thrombosis (DVT) of the superficial femoral, popliteal, posterior tibial, and peroneal veins. The patient underwent lytic therapy for the DVT, followed by resection of the superficial femoral artery aneurysm and reconstruction of the superficial femoral artery. The cause of the superficial femoral artery pseudoaneurysm is undetermined, since he had no history of trauma, infection, or vascular intervention. Very few cases of superfi cial femoral artery aneurysm or pseudoaneurysms have been reported in the literature. This is a unique case owing to the presentation from DVT caused by compression of the surrounding venous structures.
Colony budding and its effects on food allocation in the highly polygynous ant, Monomorium pharaonis.

To advance our understanding of the causes and the consequences of budding (colony multiplication by fragmentation of main nests), we investigated nest movement in the facultatively polydomous Pharaoh ant, Monomorium pharaonis. Demographic data revealed that Pharaoh ants are highly polygynous and have a relatively low worker to queen ratio of 12.86. Budding experiments demonstrated that the number of available bud nests has a significant effect on colony fragmentation and increasing the number of bud nests resulted in smaller colony fragments. The overall distribution among bud nests was uneven, even though there was no evidence that the different life stages and castes partitioned unevenly among the bud nests and the analysis of individual colonies revealed no evidence of an uneven split in any of the colonies. This demonstrates that Pharaoh ants have the ability to exert social control over colony size and caste proportions during budding, which may contribute to their success as an invasive ant. The intensity of nest disturbance had a significant effect on whether or not the ants migrated into bud nests. Major disturbance resulted in the ants abandoning the source nest and migrating to bud nests and minor disturbance did not stimulate the ants to abandon the source nest. The results of the successive budding experiment which allowed the ants the opportunity to bud into progressively smaller nest fragments demonstrate that Pharaoh ants maintain a preferred minimum group size of 469 28 individuals. Food allocation experiments utilizing protein marking revealed that nest fragmentation in Pharaoh ants has no negative impact on intracolony food distribution. Overall, our results suggest that nest units in the Pharaoh ant behave like cooperative, rather than competitive, entities. Such cooperation is most likely facilitated by the fact that individuals in all bud nests are genetically related, remain in close proximity to each other, and may continue to exchange individuals after budding.
SIDE PAYMENTS OR EXEMPTIONS: THE IMPLICATIONS FOR EQUITABLE AND EFFICIENT CLIMATE CONTROL

the efficiency of the treaty. Side payments in international treaties provide inducements for voluntary cooperation by countries for whom treaties would otherwise fail to yield welfare gains. This paper analyzes the conditions under which the side payments that are necessary to induce the participation of developing countries in an efficient climate control treaty can also satisfy prevailing notions of fairness in international climate control. International agreements are necessary to overcome the free-rider problem and provide global public goods like climate control. Ideally, international treaties would be efficient as well as equitable. An efficient climate control treaty will satisfy two conditions. First, the treaty will produce the optimal level of global emissions abatement. At the optimal level of global emissions abatement, the global marginal benefit from the last unit of emissions reduction is equal to the global marginal cost 1 . Second, the treaty will minimize the total cost of global emissions abatement by allocating emissions abatement across countries in some way that equalizes countries’ marginal abatement costs. A treaty that satisfies both of these conditions is efficient because it maximizes the potential net benefit from global emissions reduction. An inefficient treaty, therefore, is one that fails to satisfy one or both of these conditions. Two problems immediately arise in designing an efficient treaty. First, not all countries may benefit equally from climate control. Second, equalizing marginal abatement costs will require countries with lower marginal abatement costs to abate more than countries with higher marginal abatement costs. This implies that an efficient climate control treaty may generate greater net benefits for some countries than for others and that some countries could potentially be worse off due to their participation in the treaty. In which case, side payments will be necessary to induce sovereign nations to join an efficient climate control treaty. However, it is also true that countries do not equally share responsibility for the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that is driving climate change. Nor do
Development of a modeling strategy for adaptive multifunctional solar energy building envelope systems

To achieve significant progress towards global targets for clean on-site energy self-sufficiency within the building sector, the integration of adaptive high efficiency solar collection systems into building envelope systems could offer broad additional benefits beyond power generation, such as: daylighting, hot water heating and purification, thermal comfort control, energy use reduction through lowered lighting and cooling loads, and tie-ins to direct current (DC) microgrids. Dramatic system efficiencies could be achieved with multifunctional envelopes by coupling to building systems to respond to fluctuations in weather and building use patterns. The development of active building envelope systems is impeded by current modeling workflows which do not provide adequate feedback or facilitate rapid design iteration within the context of building energy modeling (BEM). A simulation environment, Modelica, has purported extensibility and ease of co-simulation through the functional mock-up (FMI) standard. This environment is evaluated here through the development of a model for a novel multifunctional building envelope system, with concentrating photovoltaic and thermal collectors (BITCOPT) that incorporates multiple active and passive energy strategies simultaneously, while providing architectural benefits such as increased transparency and connection to views. The model is calibrated with measured data from an experimental prototype and is used to extrapolate the system's theoretical power generation and energy efficiency effects. The simulation environment did indeed facilitate extensible model construction, encouraging future work to be pursued in co-simulation of the model with BEM via the FMI standard. The model structure, correlation to measured data, extrapolated results and future work are described here.
Components of Density-related Stress as Potential Determinants of Population Quality in the Gypsy Moth (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae)

During outbreaks of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), pupal weights are reduced, the period of larval development is shortened by 1–3 weeks, and late instars feed relatively little at night. In a series of laboratory studies, effects of several density-correlated stress factors provided insufficient explanations for this density-related variation in gypsy moth biology. When larvae were crowded or partially starved (food was withheld on alternate days), pupal weights were reduced but the period of larval development was extended by 0–3 (crowding) and ca. 8 (starvation) days. Development was similar among larvae collected as eggs from different-density populations and was not substantially affected by exposing larvae either to freeze-dried larvae or to large quantities of silk and other larval products. When larvae were inoculated with a nucleopolyhedrosis virus that causes epidemics during outbreaks, 72% were killed, but development of surviving larvae was similar to that of controls. Further, larvae from all treatments and populations fed largely during scotophase. In conjunction with findings of concurrent studies, these results support the hypothesis that density-related variation in gypsy moths results primarily from changes in food quality and microhabitat.
Splitting Method for Grounding Grids Corrosion Diagnosis Using a Block Dividing Approach

To benefit the corrosion diagnosis,generally,the spiltting method of circuit theory is used which can divide the larger ground grid into several small scaled sub-grids to diagnosis by several touchable nodes.The testability for branches can be changed,by adopting the traditional splitting method,namely,along with the touchable nodes splitted.First,the influence of testability for braches is analyzed.The concepts of blocks and their prototypes,uncertain-branch groups and their prototypes,projection of blocks and part of touchable nodes are defined.Based on the mode of block,a new approach of grounding grids corrosion diagnosis by blocks is put forward.According to the desired corrosion diagnosis area,the blocks together with their projections and the parts of touchable nodes,which participate in the diagnosis are determined.According to the testing data of the corresponding parts,the resistances of intrinsic branches in a block can be determined by a linear least square method,thereby,the resistances of clear branches in the block can be worked out.The ranges of resistances of uncertain-branches in the block are also evaluated by a dichotomy algorithm.With the proposed approach,a grounding grid can be divided into several small scaled sub-grids.As a result,the efficiency is improved and the cross-interferences are reduced.An experimental grounding grid with thirty-eight branches is used as an example.The results of corrosion diagnosis show that the proposed approaches are feasible and only a few tests are needed to meet the requirements of diagnosing a certain part of the grounding grid,and the efficiency of corrosion diagnosis can be improved rapidly by the method.
Epidermal Growth Factor and Prostatic Carcinoma: An Immunohistochemical Study

Abstract Associations between epidermal growth factor (EGF) and carcinoma of the prostate (CAP) have not been systematically investigated. We used indirect immunohistochemical techniques to demonstrate cytoplasmic EGF in paraffin-embedded sections of the following primary prostatic tissues: benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) (N = 10), BPH adjacent to CAP (N = 42), clinically localized CAP (N = 45), untreated metastatic CAP (N = 10), and metastatic CAP after varying periods of androgen deprivation (N = 10). In six of the latter 10 cases biopsies of the primary tumor obtained before androgen deprivation therapy were also available for study. Three of the BPH specimens (6%) and 44 of the CAP specimens (68%) stained. Forty per cent of the localized tumors stained but all untreated and treated metastatic tumors stained (p
Amniotic fluid examination as an aid in the assessment of gestational age.

Amniotic fluid creatinine and bilirubin concentrations and percentage of fetal sebaceous cells were determined simultaneously in 65 normal obstetric patients who had a reliable menstrual history. These constituents in the amniotic fluid were then compared to the gestational age determined from the menstrual history and by physical and neurological examinations of the newborn infant. Of the three, amniotic fluid creatinine concentration was the most reliable. After 36 weeks’ gestation, the creatinine concentration was 1.8 mg. per cent or greater.
DEA Environmental Assessment (I): Concepts and Methodologies

This study consists of two chapters (I and II, in Chaps. 16 and 17, respectively). One of the two chapters discusses an empirical study in which this research explains how to use DEA environmental assessment to establish corporate sustainability. The other chapter summarizes previous works on the research area. The first chapter (I) discusses that environmental assessment and protection are important concerns in modern business. Consumers are interested in environmental protection and they avoid purchasing products from dirty-imaged companies even if their prices are much less than the ones produced by green-imaged companies. A green image (often, not reality) of corporations is recently becoming very important for corporate survivability in a global market. By extending previous works on environment assessment and corporate sustainability, where companies need to consider both economic prosperity and pollution prevention in their business operations, this study discusses a use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for environmental assessment by utilizing the radial measurement. The proposed approach analytically incorporates different combinations of disposability concepts into the proposed radial models. It is easily envisioned that the proposed radial measurement for environmental assessment can guide corporate leaders and managers in identifying how to invest for eco-technology innovation on the abatement of undesirable outputs (e.g., industrial pollution). To document the practicality, this study applies the proposed approach to 153 observations on S&P 500 corporations in 2012 and 2013. The empirical investigation confirms that investors pay more serious attention on company’s green image for corporate sustainability in a long horizon than profitability in a short horizon.
Analog performance of scaled bulk and SOI MOSFETs

This paper presents a systematic study of scaled MOSFET for analog RF applications. An analog performance metric of intrinsic gain, f/sub T/, linearity, and g/sub m//I/sub ds/ ratio is considered. Impact of device scaling on this performance metric has been analyzed. Our study indicates that while scaling gate length (Lg) improves various trade-offs, scaling oxide thickness (T/sub ox/) and source/drain extension junction depth.(X/sub l/) do not impact trade-offs significantly and they can be set by other constraints such as power supply and gate leakage currents. Also, it is shown that, even for the frequencies in the range of GHz (where AC kink effect is totally suppressed), analog performance of SOI devices is inferior to that of the bulk devices due to capacitive drain-to-body coupling and gate-workfunction engineering is essential in FDSOI devices for improving analog performance at threshold voltage compatible with the bulk technology. As gate oxide is reduced to less than 2nm, gate leakage and the reduced supply voltage can seriously affect many analog circuits such as switch-capacitor or sample and hold circuits. The effect of gate oxide scaling and gate leakage currents on sample and hold circuits is therefore discussed in detail with reference to performance parameters such as non-linearity, acquisition time and droop rate.
Chronic Total Occlusion Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Patients with a chronic total occlusion (CTO) often present with stable exertional angina resulting from insufficient blood flow through collaterals to meet myocardial oxygen demand during stress. The objectives of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on these lesions include relief of symptoms, improvement in left ventricular function and remodeling, and potential decrease in mortality. There are currently no randomized trials that have assessed outcomes in patients with CTOs treated with complex PCI compared to medical therapy or coronary artery bypass graft surgery. However, several ongoing investigations aim to evaluate a large range of outcomes and new technology and techniques in CTO PCI, offering the promise of stronger evidence-based guidelines for the care of these complex patients. In this article, we assess the current knowledge regarding prevalence, indications, and outcomes of CTO PCI and provide an up-to-date review of the literature.
Webgazer: scalable webcam eye tracking using user interactions

We introduce WebGazer, an online eye tracker that uses common webcams already present in laptops and mobile devices to infer the eye-gaze locations of web visitors on a page in real time. The eye tracking model self-calibrates by watching web visitors interact with the web page and trains a mapping between features of the eye and positions on the screen. This approach aims to provide a natural experience to everyday users that is not restricted to laboratories and highly controlled user studies. WebGazer has two key components: a pupil detector that can be combined with any eye detection library, and a gaze estimator using regression analysis informed by user interactions. We perform a large remote online study and a small in-person study to evaluate WebGazer. The findings show that WebGazer can learn from user interactions and that its accuracy is sufficient for approximating the user's gaze. As part of this paper, we release the first eye tracking library that can be easily integrated in any website for real-time gaze interactions, usability studies, or web research.
Analysis of common barriers to rural patients utilizing hospice and palliative care services: An integrated literature review

Background and purpose The aim of this literature review is to explore barriers and potential solutions related to hospice (HC) and palliative care (PC) services among rural residents. Although the healthcare system is continually advancing, healthcare providers may not be optimizing HC and PC referrals for the growing rural population who underutilize these services. Suggested methods to close the utilization gap between HC and PC services among rural patients appear feasible, but universal effectiveness cannot be determined. Methods An integrative literature review was conducted to evaluate diverse sources of literature. An electronic literature search was carried out using databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane, PsycINFO, and Pubmed. The search was limited to English only, full text, peer reviewed, and published between 2010 and 2016. Search terms included rural, hospice, palliative, care access, and barriers. Conclusion There are several barriers that interrelate to decreased utilization of PC and HC for rural populations and there are many options for overcoming them to equalize care. Implications for practice Although advances to the general healthcare system are expediently rising, the rural patient population seems to fall short of these important life-changing services, especially in the realm of PC/HC. Beginning in primary care, this patient population can be affected and included in a positive manner.
Nash Equilbria for Quadratic Voting

Voters making a binary decision purchase votes from a centralized clearing house, paying the square of the number of votes purchased. The net payoff to an agent with utility $u$ who purchases $v$ votes is $\Psi (S_{n+1})u-v^{2}$, where $\Psi$ is a monotone function taking values between -1 and +1 and $S_{n+1}$ is the sum of all votes purchased by the $n+1$ voters participating in the election. The utilities of the voters are assumed to arise by random sampling from a probability distribution $F_{U}$ with compact support; each voter knows her own utility, but not those of the other voters, although she does know the sampling distribution $F_{U}$. Nash equilibria for this game are described. These results imply that the expected inefficiency of any Nash equilibrium decays like $1/n$.
Cropping Preferences of Common Lepidopteran Pests in a Cotton/Soybean Cropping System

Two soybean varieties (an early-maturing Group V and a later-maturing Group VII) and two cotton varieties (a conventional and a transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner [Bt]) were grown in adjacent replicated large field plots at two locations for 3 growing seasons. The abundance of commonly-observed lepidopteran pests within these two crops was observed weekly throughout each growing season. The green cloverworm, Hypena scabra (F.); soybean looper, Pseudoplusia includens (Walker), and; velvetbean caterpillar, Anticarsia gemmatalis Hubner, preferred soybeans over cotton at all six test sites. The bollworm complex, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) and Heliothis virescens (F.), preferred soybeans at one site, cotton at two sites, and no crop preference at three sites. There was no difference in the seasonal mean abundance of the pests between the two soybean maturity groups. A few varietal differences were noted on soybeans on specific sampling dates; however, they occurred when insect numbers were low. Populatio...
HELIOTHIS VIRESCENS AND H. ZEA (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) FEASIBILITY OF USING OIL-SOLUBLE DYE TO MARK POPULATIONS DEVELOPING ON EARLY-SEASON HOST PLANTS

A greenhouse test and two field tests were conducted to determine if a dye method of marking the fat body using Red Calco Dye could be used to identify adult tobacco budworms, Heliothis virescens (...
The role of SMAD3 in the genetic predisposition to papillary thyroid carcinoma

To identify and characterize the functional variants, regulatory gene networks, and potential binding targets of SMAD3 in the 15q22 thyroid cancer risk locus. We performed linkage disequilibrium (LD) and haplotype analyses to fine map the 15q22 locus. Luciferase reporter assays were applied to evaluate the regulatory effects of the candidate variants. Knockdown by small interfering RNA, microarray analysis, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assays were performed to reveal the regulatory gene network and identify its binding targets. We report a 25.6-kb haplotype within SMAD3 containing numerous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in high LD. SNPs rs17293632 and rs4562997 were identified as functional variants of SMAD3 by luciferase assays within the LD region. These variants regulate SMAD3 transcription in an allele-specific manner through enhancer elements in introns of SMAD3. Knockdown of SMAD3 in thyroid cancer cell lines revealed its regulatory gene network including two upregulated genes, SPRY4 and SPRY4-IT1. Sequence analysis and ChIP assays validated the actual binding of SMAD3 protein to multiple SMAD binding element sites in the region upstream of SPRY4. Our data provide a functional annotation of the 15q22 thyroid cancer risk locus.