cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Riboflavin enhancement of bilirubin photocatabolism in vivo

Intravenos verabreichtes Riboflavin-5′-Monosodium-Phosphat-Salz (FMN) bewrikt eine beschleunigte Senkung des Plasma-Bilirubin-Spiegels bei Gunn-Ratten, wenn diese vorher fluoreszierendem Tageslicht (300 Kerzen) ausgesetzt waren. FMN beschleunigt ausserdem den Photozerfall in vitro. Die Bilirubin-Phototherapie durch Injektion eines geeigneten Katalysators wird diskutiert.
Efflorescence as a source of hydrated sulfate minerals in valley settings on Mars

Abstract A distinctive sulfur cycle dominates many geological processes on Mars and hydrated sulfate minerals are found in numerous topographic settings with widespread occurrences on the Martian surface. However, many of the key processes controlling the hydrological transport of sulfur, including sulfur sources, climate and the depositional history that led to precipitation of these minerals, remain unclear. In this paper, we use a model for the formation of sulfate efflorescent salts (Mg–Ca–Na sulfates) in the Rio Puerco watershed of New Mexico, a terrestrial analog site from the semiarid Southwest U.S., to assess the origin and environmental conditions that may have controlled deposition of hydrated sulfates in Valles Marineris on Mars. Our terrestrial geochemical results ( δ S 34 of −36.0 to + 11.1 ‰ ) show that an ephemeral arid hydrological cycle that mobilizes sulfur present in the bedrock as sulfides, sulfate minerals, and dry/wet atmospheric deposition can lead to widespread surface accumulations of hydrated sulfate efflorescences. Repeating cycles of salt dissolution and reprecipitation appear to be major processes that migrate sulfate efflorescences to sites of surface deposition and ultimately increase the aqueous SO 4 2 − flux along the watershed (average 41,273 metric tons/yr). We suggest that similar shallow processes may explain the occurrence of hydrated sulfates detected on the scarps and valley floors of Valles Marineris on Mars. Our estimates of salt mass and distribution are in accord with studies that suggest a rather short-lived process of sulfate formation (minimum rough estimate ∼100 to 1000 years) and restriction by prevailing arid conditions on Mars.
Standards for the rapid prototyping industry

This paper proposes that development of formalized standards for the rapid prototyping (RP) industry will help enable the continued growth and further advancement of RP technologies. Appropriate standards can provide common methods for measuring the benefits and limitations of RP, as well as facilitate the transition of current advanced rapid manufacturing capabilities from the research laboratory to commercial products. Results and recommendations from a prior RP industry workshop at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in October 1997 form the basis for this discussion paper. This paper was presented as part of the 2nd Internet Conference on Rapid Prototyping to gather additional information and obtain further viewpoints regarding the need for and potential content of standards for the RP industry. An addendum is provided to summarize and analyze the results of the conference discussion.
Imaging of Mesothelioma

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an asbestos-related neoplasm that originates in pleural mesothelial cells and progresses locally along the pleura until it encases the lungs and mediastinum, ultimately causing death. Imaging plays a crucial role in diagnosis and optimal management. Computed tomography (CT) continues to be the primary and initial imaging modality. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) complements CT scan and is superior in determining chest wall and diaphragmatic invasion. FDG18-PET/CT provides anatamo-metabolic information and is superior to both CT and MRI in overall staging and monitoring response to therapy. This chapter will detail the imaging finding of MPM and role of imaging in guiding management.
Power system on a chip (PSoC): analog emulation for power system applications

This contribution addresses VLSI-based hardware analog emulators of power systems. The goal is to develop a computational tool we refer to as a power system on a chip (PSoC). We review various problems and proposed solutions encountered from the design stage to the PC-board hardware implementation stage and finally to the anticipated VLSI implementation stage. In addition to various characteristic features, it has already been noted that using analog emulation for power system analysis allows for reduction in computation time, without significant loss in accuracy, compared to numerical methods. We further validate this through observations obtained from comparative runs between software and analog hardware environments.
Microfluidics: streamlining discovery in worm biology.

Advances in the application of microfluidics technology to biological assays using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans help to automate otherwise time-consuming experiments.
Rule of Law or the Rule of Politics? Harmonizing the Internal and External Views of Supreme Court Decision Making

Law professors and political scientists generally subscribe to opposed theories of Supreme Court decision making. Law professors, to a great degree, adhere to an internal view: Supreme Court justices decide cases according to legal rules, principles, and precedents. Political scientists follow an external view: justices decide cases according to their political ideologies or preferences. This Article develops an interpretive-structural theory that harmonizes these seemingly opposed views. This interpretive-structural theory not only explains why the internal and external views often are both effective but also why, sometimes, one approach might be more effective than the other. The Article concludes by comparing the interpretive-structural theory with the “new institutionalism” that is emerging in political science.
Understanding Microbe-Induced Cancers

Microbes are important causes of human cancers, and our estimation of their significance continues to grow as cancer biology is better dissected. A classification system is proposed that highlights common and proposed microbe-induced pathways toward oncogenesis, with an emphasis on types of targeted cells and host-microbial interactions. The central principles that underlie oncogenesis induced by the many diverse microbes and the major mechanisms involved are outlined. The phenomenon of microbe-induced cancers raises a number of important biological questions, the solving of which may inform other fields, including aging and degenerative disorders. Finally, our challenge for the future is to better understand the steps in microbe-induced cancers to optimize both prevention and therapy. Microbes induce an estimated 20% of all fatal cancers in hu- mans (1), suggesting the tremendous potential of controlling microbe-related processes for cancer prevention. Pathogenic microbes can be indigenous or exogenous (foreign), although distinctions between these two categories may not always be obvious. Many infectious agents induce cancer (2-7), but the following three types of agents account for most known mi- crobe-related cancer cases in humans: human papilloma viruses (HPV; causing anogenital cancers), Helicobacter pylori (gastric cancers), and hepatitis B and C viruses (hepatic can- cers; refs. 8-10). The HPVs and hepatitis viruses have pro- vided notable successes of infectious disease control for cancer prevention. A vaccine against infection with HPV-6, HPV-11, HPV-16, and HPV-18 received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for preventing cervical cancer (8). In Taiwan, vaccinating children against hepatitis B dramati- cally reduced hepatic cancer and has been standard preven- tive care for over 20 years (11). These are the only two established effective interventions in this field to date, how- ever, and work with H. pylori has illustrated the highly com- plex nature of particular microbial interactions that have thus far limited the ability of interventions to prevent the cancers they cause. Although microbes, especially viruses, had long been known to induce cancers in animals (12), our understanding of the extent of this problem in humans began only in recent decades and continues to expand. I predict that microbes will be found to play a much larger role in malignancies than we understand today, involving as yet undiscovered mechanisms
Cognitive-behavioral self-intervention versus self-monitoring of anger: Effects on anger frequency, duration, and intensity

In the self-regulation of anger, it is unclear whether the effects are due to self-monitoring or actual self-intervention. This is especially important in the light of the reactivity often attributed to self-monitoring. The present study compared both procedures within a reversal design involving college students with moderate levels of anger. Intervention consisted of behavioral contracting and relaxation as well as cognitive strategies of reappraisal and imagery. Measures included anger frequency, duration, and intensity, all of which were obtained in naturalistic settings. Results revealed significant and dramatic reductions in anger frequency and duration during self-intervention but no such improvements with self-monitoring apart from a slight reduction in anger intensity. The return to baseline self-monitoring was associated with no relapse in anger but a maintenance of treatment gains. Secondary findings of interest were a correlation between anger intensity and anger duration and a predominance of anger directed at persons rather than situations. In general, the outcome of this study adds strength to the inference that cognitive-behavioral self-interventions are effective for anger and that this effectiveness goes beyond mere reactivity. The effects are most pronounced for anger frequency and duration and this offers clues for future focal points in the practice of anger management.
Polynomial synthesis of supervisor for partially observed discrete-event systems by allowing nondeterminism in control

We study the supervisory control of discrete-event systems (DESs) under partial observation using nondeterministic supervisors. We formally define a nondeterministic control policy and also a control & observation compatible nondeterministic state machine and prove their equivalence. The control action of a nondeterministic supervisor is chosen online, nondeterministically from among a set of choices determined offline. Also, the control action can be changed online nondeterministically (prior to any new observation) in accordance with choices determined offline. The online choices, once made, can be used to affect the set of control action choices in future. We show that when control is exercised using a nondeterministic supervisor, the specification language is required to satisfy a weaker notion of observability, which we define in terms of recognizability and achievability. Achievability serves as necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a nondeterministic supervisor, and it is weaker than controllability and observability combined. When all events are controllable, achievability reduces to recognizability. We show that both existence, and synthesis of nondeterministic supervisors can be determined polynomially. (For deterministic supervisors, only existence can be determined polynomially.) Both achievability and recognizability are preserved under union, and also under intersection (when restricted over prefix-closed languages). Using the intersection closure property we derive a necessary and sufficient condition for the range control problem for the prefix-closed case. Unlike the deterministic supervisory setting where the complexity of existence is exponential, our existence condition is polynomially verifiable, and also a supervisor can be polynomially synthesized.
THE DECAPODA: NEW INITIATIVES AND NOVEL APPROACHES

Research on fossil decapod crustaceans has accelerated since the publication of the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology dealing with the group. Increase in the number of paleontologists studying the Decapoda, exploration of previously poorly known areas, and major advances in neontological research has made it possible to transform fossil decapods from the category of interesting and beautiful fossils to that of useful subjects for research in paleoecology and paleobiogeography. Classification of fossil decapods has become more refined as new taxa have been recognized in the fossil record and as neontological approaches to classification, including larval anatomy, comparative spermatology, morphology of novel structures, and molecular analysis, are considered in conjunction with fossil evidence. This combination of approaches can now be used to develop testable hypotheses regarding phylogeny of the group. Detailed observational data on living and fossil biotic associations has been coupled with experimental studies to enhance our understanding of organic interactions as well as to understand the biasing factors of taphonomy that affect the fossil record of organisms with organic exoskeletons. Broad studies of distribution of decapods in time and space are now possible, owing to the increase in number of fossil sites studied and taxa described. We can define patterns of biogeographic distribution that can be tested against patterns derived from the study of more commonly preserved organisms, such as the mollusks. As this research continues, it is anticipated that studies of paleobiogeography and paleoecology will increasingly rely on data from the fossil record of the decapod Crustacea.
The Effect of Brooding Temperature on Broiler Performance

Abstract In response to the energy crisis of the 1970s, this laboratory recommended that initial brooding temperatures for broilers be reduced to 29.4 C from 32.2 or 35 C. Because environmental temperature has been implicated in the ascites syndrome, this work was conducted to see whether the recommended brooding temperature of 29.4 C the 1st wk, 26.7 C the 2nd wk, and 23.9 C the 3rd wk would be satisfactory for broiler production when compared with higher brooding temperature regimens starting at 32.2 or 35 C. Brooding chicks at a temperature of 29.4 C the 1st wk, 26.7 C the 2nd wk, and 23.9 C the 3rd wk did not adversely affect broiler performance at 6 wk of age, when compared with higher brooding temperature regimens. Under the conditions of this experiment, brooding chicks at a temperature of 29.4 C the 1st wk, 26.7 C the 2nd wk, and 23.9 C the 3rd wk was satisfactory when compared with the higher temperature brooding regimens. Mortality due to ascites and total mortality significantly increased for broilers brooded in the negative control temperature regimen of 26.7 C the 1st wk, 23.9 C the 2nd wk, and 21.1 C when compared with some or all of the higher brooding temperature regimens. Heat loss calculations based on a commercial setting show an 18% savings in liquified petroleum (LP) gas usage for chicks brooded at 29.4 vs 35 C and a savings of 10% in LP gas usage for chicks brooded at 29.4 vs 32.2 C on a winter day.
Influence of intramammary infusion of calcium on the calcium status of periparturient lactating dairy cows.

Sixteen multiparous pregnant cows (14 Holsteins and 2 Jerseys) were arranged in a randomized complete block design and assigned to intramammary infusion of Ca (8 cows) or intramammary infusion of distilled, deionized water (8 cows). Beginning 1 wk before expected calving, plasma Ca concentration was monitored daily until calving. Immediately after the first milking postpartum, an initial (0-h) blood sample was collected via a jugular catheter; then, 40 ml of either a 50% Ca borogluconate solution containing 1.6 g of Ca or 40 ml of distilled, deionized water were infused in the right forequarter of the udder. Changes in plasma Ca concentration were monitored every 10 min for the 1st h and then hourly thereafter until the next milking. This infusion and sampling protocol was applied for three consecutive milkings (36 h). Milk Ca concentration from individual quarters for each milking also was monitored. Cows infused with water had lower milk Ca concentration in the infused quarter than in the uninfused quarters during the third and fourth milkings postpartum. Milk Ca for cows infused with Ca was higher in infused quarters than in uninfused quarters at the second milking postpartum. However, this difference lessened during the third milking and was reversed during the fourth milking. Plasma Ca concentration of control cows decreased toward the end of each 12-h sampling interval but was much more stable for cows infused with Ca. The enhanced ability of cows infused with Ca to maintain plasma Ca concentration postpartum might translate into improved transition from nonlactating to lactating diets and could potentially reduce the incidence of metabolic disorders during the periparturient period. However, this response and potential side effects, such as the possibility that mastitis could accompany intramammary infusion of Ca, should be evaluated further before adopting this procedure.
Criteria for finite element discretization of shells of revolution

A method is described whereby an efficient finite element discretization scheme for a shell of revolution can be predetermined and subsequently refined for successive analyses by considering the following criteria: 1.Stress intensification in the vicinity of a concentrated action. 2.Variation in the strain energy intensity function. Several case problems have been studied to validate the procedure.
Tunneling through GaAs-Ge superlattices for high efficiency solar cells

Tunneling currents in superlattice-based solar cells for high efficiency are major conduction mechanism in addition to thermal carrier escape. We propose a model for GaAs/Ge mqw structures, through which, tunneling current can be found as function of device geometry (quantum well and barrier width) Fermi energy and conduction band offset. Our model is adoptable to any mqw structure in the intrinsic region of pin solar cells. High short circuit currents are computed based on a tunneling model that includes device parameters, solar photon incidence and open circuit voltage. Under one sun, and at room temperatures, we predict tunneling currents in excess of 30mA/cm2 for GaAs-Ge multijunction mid region of pin III–V solar cell structure. The total unit (top and bottom cell) is a high efficiency solar cell (in excess of 40%) with a 28% top cell and a 22% bottom cell.
Concurrent Initiation by Air in the Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization of Methyl Methacrylate

The effect of air in atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methyl methacrylate (MMA) was studied. Air initiated polymerization was clearly noticed by the appearance of a low molecular weight peak in the synthesis of high molecular weight poly(isobutylene)-graft-poly(methyl methacrylate) (Mn = 5.0 × 105 g/mol). The concentration of chains initiated by oxygen (air) was ≈8 × 10−4 mol/L, determined using the Gladstone-Dale relationship. The tentatively proposed mechanism for air initiated polymerization was supported by kinetic studies. Similar to typical ATRP systems, the rate of air initiated polymerization increased with temperature, [MMA], amount of air, and activity of the catalyst complex. Polymers with lower polydispersities (Mw/Mn = 1.13) were obtained in the presence of Cu(II) as compared to Cu(I) catalyst complex system. Kinetic plots for the air initiated bulk polymerization of MMA at (•) 20 °C, (▪) 50 °C, and (▴) 90 °C.
Broadband Dielectric Measurements on Highly Scattering Materials

Dielectric properties of highly scattering dyed corn meal have been studied in broadband microwave and millimeter-wave frequency ranges from 3.95 to 12.4 GHz and from 34 to 120 GHz. Complex dielectric permittivity has been obtained using a free-space quasi-optical spectroscopy technique and a standard waveguide transmission/reflection (T/R) calibration method. The broadband transmittance and reflectance spectra have been recorded to yield the refractive and absorption index and calculate the real and imaginary parts of dielectric permittivity. The density dependence of complex permittivity of highly scattering dyed corn meal is presented. Different scattering mechanisms and the scattering model for a corn meal material have been discussed. Detailed analysis of measurement uncertainties, including instrumentation errors, to manifest the accuracy of both techniques, has also been performed.
Vasoactive receptors in abdominal blood vessels of the dogfish shark, Squalus acanthias.

Abstract Previous studies have demonstrated that the ventral aorta of the dogfish shark, Squalus acanthias, responds to a variety of cell‐signaling agents. To investigate the generality of vasoactive receptors in the shark vasculature, in particular a conductance artery (anterior mesenteric) and vein (posterior intestinal), I measured the effect of acetylcholine, endothelin, nitric oxide, natriuretic peptides, and prostaglandins on tension in isolated rings from these vessels. Both vessels responded to these agents, and responses to receptor‐specific ligands for endothelin and natriuretic peptide receptors suggest that B‐type endothelin receptors are expressed in both vessels and that the artery expresses both A‐ and B‐type natriuretic peptide receptors; however, the vein (like the ventral aorta) expresses only the B‐type natriuretic peptide receptor. My data suggest that a suite of signaling systems is ubiquitous in both arteries and veins in at least this elasmobranch species. Their role in hemodynamics...
Evolution of Carbon during Burnout and Sintering of Tape-Cast Aluminum Nitride

The surface nature and the composition of AlN powder, as-received and exposed to binder burnout, were studied using XPS and TEM. The surface of as-received AlN powder was covered by a thin layer of aluminum oxynitride and oxide mixture. A small portion of residual carbon from binder burnout was bound to oxygen atoms on the AlN powder surface, and the majority of the carbon was amorphous graphitoid carbon which covered the AlN powder surface uniformly. AlN samples were made using tape casting and pressureless sintering. Surface-carbon-to-oxygen ratio of AlN powder after binder burnout was evaluated using XPS. The surface C/O atomic ratios were observed to correlate with the sintering behavior, the composition of the second phase, the second phases distribution, and grain-boundary composition, as well as thermal conductivity of AlN samples.
Probabilistic Mission Identification of Aircraft Engine Usage Using Nonparametric Density Estimation Techniques

Fatigue life prediction of aircraft gas turbine engine rotating components requires estimates of the applied stress values throughout the life of the component. These values may vary considerably from flight-to-flight, and are highly dependent upon the mission type. However, engine flight data recorders currently do not have the capability to identify the mission type, so an automated mission identification method would greatly improve remaining life predictions. In this paper, a method is presented for predicting the most likely mission type for a given flight history. It is based on volume integration of the joint probability densities that are common to both the flight history and a standard mission. An analytical framework is presented, including a brief description of the adaptive kernel method used to estimate the probability densities of the flight history and standard mission. The effectiveness of the method is illustrated using rainflow stress data associated with actual flight histories. The results can be used to improve fatigue and fracture risk predictions of military gas turbine engines.
Effects of commissurotomy on a preoperatively learned visual discrimination

Three normal pigtail monkeys (Macaca nemestrina) were trained to perform a visual discrimination problem by pushing with a finger on the correct one of two black and white patterns presented simultaneously side by side. Use of right and left hands was equalized by forced alternation every twenty trials. When the monkeys had learned the discrimination and were performing at high level with each of the four possible eye-hand pairs, the optic chiasm and cerebral commissures were sectioned in the midline. The postoperative performance with the different eye-hand combinations indicated that the acquired memory in all three cases had been laid down in one hemisphere only.
The Threshold Hypothesis, Semilingualism, and Other Contributions to a Deficit View of Linguistic Minorities

Although some educational researchers have appealed to "semilingualism" or "limited bilingualism" to explain differences in student achievement among language minority students, in this article the author argues that the construct contributes much more to the malady than the remedy in the education of linguistic minorities. The author reviews four kinds of reputed evidence for semilingualism (from studies of language variation, lin - guistic structure, school performances, and language loss) and concludes that all of it is either spurious or irrelevant. The author argues that semilingualism is essentially indis- tinguishable from classical prescriptivism and that Cummins's Threshold Hypothesis, which incorporates the semilingualism thesis, should be abandoned on empirical, theo- retical, and moral grounds. An alternative account of the descriptive facts Cummins sought to explain is presented, and implications for education are discussed.
Dicamba-responsive genes in herbicide-resistant and susceptible biotypes of kochia (Kochia scoparia)

Abstract The herbicide resistance to dicamba (HRd) biotype of kochia is resistant to several auxinic herbicides and is impaired in shoot gravitropism and other auxin-mediated responses. To better characterize the biotype and investigate its mechanism of resistance, we used messenger RNA (mRNA) differential display to compare patterns of dicamba-induced gene expression in HRd and susceptible (S1) plants. More than 60,000 complementary DNA fragments were generated and examined, 106 of which were isolated and used as probes on Northern blots to confirm gene expression levels. Steady-state levels of > 90% of mRNAs did not change after dicamba application. However, several mRNAs were detected whose levels were decreased, increased, or differentially regulated between the biotypes within minutes of dicamba treatment. The abundance of three mRNAs decreased after treatment, two of which had significant sequence similarity to choline monooxygenase and 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, respectively. Convers...
Index Insurance and Pastures

We explore potential effects of index based insurance on common property resources, assessing its impacts on the animal stocking decisions of pastoralists and the resulting impact on a common property pasture. We find a range of potential outcomes. Although index insurance has the capability of enhancing the welfare of pastoralists by augmenting expected payoffs without degrading the common property resource, under some conditions the insurance can increase overstocking problems in low rainfall states of nature. If identified, these potential unintended negative effects of the insurance on common property might be mitigated by additional technological and/or market interventions.
The Politics of Official Apologies: Beyond Sentiment? Apologies and Their Effects

Popular views of apologies and most scholarship focus logically on their emotional dimensions. The hope is that apologies will contribute to societal reconciliation, dampening animosities and fostering feelings of national unity. This book takes a wider view of apologies and of reconciliation itself, arguing that apologies assist also in altering the terms of national membership. Reconciliation often includes more than enhanced collective sentiments, extending to the redistribution of political authority and economic resources. Political actors use apologies to advance claims because apologies underscore a state's obligations – moral, political, and sometimes legal – to indigenous people, including the redesign of government policies in ways that largely conform to indigenous objectives. Apology and the attendant historical discussion further these objectives because indigenous arguments rest on historical claims of mistreatment as well as broken treaties and agreements. As Rebecca Tsosie asks in the case of Native Americans, “Why should Congress continue to respect its historic bargain with Native peoples if the citizens of the United States begin to doubt the existence or validity of those agreements?” Revisiting history and apologizing for aspects of it contribute to the needed justifications in all of our cases. The central question, whether and in which ways are apologies effective, remains to be answered. This chapter seeks to answer that question, assessing in each instance of apology its effects on the legal, political, and affective dimensions of membership and belonging.
Isolation of a new nonaborane cluster form: arachno-B(9)H(11).(PPh(3))(2).

The novel cluster arachno-B9H11(PPh3)2 (1) is formed in relatively high yield in the reaction between B5H9 and Cp2ZrCl2/n-BuLi in the presence of PPh3 and air. The structure is based on that of iso...
Review: prophylactic interventions reduce oral mucositis in patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

Source Citation Worthington HV, Clarkson JE, Eden OB. Interventions for preventing oral mucositis for patients with cancer receiving treatment. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006;(2):CD000978. 16625538
Nonoperative management of abdominal trauma.

In an effort to reduce the rate of non therapeutic celiotomy yet avoid the possibility of missed injuries, surgeons are evaluating protocols for nonoperative management of abdominal trauma. Discussion of this controversial issue includes specific approaches to the diagnosis and management of splenic injury, gunshot wounds, and stab wounds.
A Visual Analytics Approach for Categorical Joint Distribution Reconstruction from Marginal Projections

Oftentimes multivariate data are not available as sets of equally multivariate tuples, but only as sets of projections into subspaces spanned by subsets of these attributes. For example, one may find data with five attributes stored in six tables of two attributes each, instead of a single table of five attributes. This prohibits the visualization of these data with standard high-dimensional methods, such as parallel coordinates or MDS, and there is hence the need to reconstruct the full multivariate (joint) distribution from these marginal ones. Most of the existing methods designed for this purpose use an iterative procedure to estimate the joint distribution. With insufficient marginal distributions and domain knowledge, they lead to results whose joint errors can be large. Moreover, enforcing smoothness for regularizations in the joint space is not applicable if the attributes are not numerical but categorical. We propose a visual analytics approach that integrates both anecdotal data and human experts to iteratively narrow down a large set of plausible solutions. The solution space is populated using a Monte Carlo procedure which uniformly samples the solution space. A level-of-detail high dimensional visualization system helps the user understand the patterns and the uncertainties. Constraints that narrow the solution space can then be added by the user interactively during the iterative exploration, and eventually a subset of solutions with narrow uncertainty intervals emerges.
Introduction to Algebra

The search for good data-transmission codes has relied, to a large extent, on the powerful and beautiful structures of modern algebra. Many important codes, based on the mathematical structures known as Galois fields, have been discovered. Further, this algebraic framework provides the necessary tools with which to design encoders and decoders. This chapter and Chapter 4 are devoted to developing those topics in algebra that are significant to the theory of data-transmission codes. The treatment is rigorous, but it is limited to material that will be used in later chapters. Fields of characteristic two Real numbers form a familiar set of mathematical objects that can be added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided. Similarly, complex numbers form a set of objects that can be added, subtracted, multiplied, and divided. Both of these arithmetic systems are of fundamental importance in engineering disciplines. We will need to develop other, less familiar, arithmetic systems that are useful in the study of data-transmission codes. These new arithmetic systems consist of sets together with operations on the elements of the sets. We shall call the operations “addition,” “subtraction,” “multiplication,” and “division,” although they need not be the same operations as those of elementary arithmetic. Modern algebraic theory classifies the many arithmetic systems it studies according to their mathematical strength. Later in this chapter, these classifications will be defined formally. For now, we have the following loose definitions. Abelian group. A set of mathematical objects that can be “added” and “subtracted.” Ring. A set of mathematical objects that can be “added,” “subtracted,” and “multiplied.” […]
Synthesis of Common Management Concerns Associated with Dam Removal

Managers make decisions regarding if and how to remove dams in spite of uncertainty surrounding physical and ecological responses, and stakeholders often raise concerns about certain negative effects, regardless of whether these concerns are warranted at a particular site. We used a dam-removal science database supplemented with other information sources to explore seven frequently raised concerns, herein Common Management Concerns (CMCs). We investigate the occurrence of these concerns and the contributing biophysical controls. The CMCs addressed are the following: degree and rate of reservoir sediment erosion, excessive channel incision upstream of reservoirs, downstream sediment aggradation, elevated downstream turbidity, drawdown impacts on local water infrastructure, colonization of reservoir sediments by nonnative plants, and expansion of invasive fish. Biophysical controls emerged for some of the concerns, providing managers with information to assess whether a given concern is likely to occur at a site. To fully assess CMC risk, managers should concurrently evaluate site conditions and identify the ecosystem or human uses that will be negatively affected if the biophysical phenomenon producing the CMC occurs. We show how many CMCs have one or more controls in common, facilitating the identification of multiple risks at a site, and demonstrate why CMC risks should be considered in the context of other factors such as natural watershed variability and disturbance history.
Risk of Hepatocellular Cancer in HCV Patients Treated With Direct-Acting Antiviral Agents

Background and Aims The risk of hepatocellular cancer (HCC) after sustained virological response (SVR) with direct-acting antivirals (DAA) is unclear. Our aim was to examine the risk and determinants of HCC in patients cured with DAA. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of hepatitis C virus patients who were treated with DAA in any of the 129 Veterans Health Administration hospitals between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015. We calculated the annual incidence rates of HCC by SVR. We used Cox regression models to compare the risk of HCC in patients with vs those without SVR and to identify factors associated with incident HCC among patients with SVR. We reviewed a sample of HCC patients for tumor size and stage at diagnosis. Results Among 22,500 patients treated with DAA (19,518 with SVR; 2982 without SVR), the mean (standard deviation) age was 61.6 (6.1) years, and 39.0% had cirrhosis. There were 271 new cases of HCC, including 183 in patients with SVR. Compared with patients without SVR, those with SVR had a significantly reduced risk of HCC (0.90 vs 3.45 HCC/100 person-years; adjusted hazard ratio, 0.28, 95% CI=0.22–0.36). Patients with cirrhosis had the highest annual incidence of HCC after SVR (1.82 vs 0.34/100 person-years in patients without cirrhosis; adjusted hazard ratio, 4.73. 95% CI, 3.34-6.68). Most (>44.8%) HCC were classified as stage I. Maximum size of the largest lesion was ≤5 cm in over 75% of cases. Conclusions Among patients treated with DAA, SVR was associated with a considerable reduction in the risk of HCC. We did not find any evidence to suggest that DAAs promote HCC. However, in patients with SVR, the absolute risk of HCC remained high in patients with established cirrhosis. These patients should be considered for ongoing HCC surveillance.
Abstract 254: 14, 15-EET Protects Heart Pericytes by Delaying I/R Injury-induced Calcium Overloading

Background - Pericytes are an important cellular component of the blood vessel wall of the arteries, arterioles, and microvessels of the heart; they provide structural integrity and regulate vessel diameter by contracting and relaxing dynamically in response to vasoactive stimuli. It has been suggested that pericytes contribute to coronary no-flow due to pericyte constriction following myocardial infarction, thus worsening outcome. It has also been demonstrated that intracellular calcium is involved in perciyte constriction. Our previous findings indicate that cardiomyocytes are protected following ischemia/ reperfusion injury (I/R) by the eicosanoid 14,15-EET. Since 14,15-EET is protective following I/R and a vasodilator, we tested the hypotheses that I/R injury induces calcium overloading, which injures peciytes, and that 14, 15-EET is able to block this process. Methods and Results - We isolated and cultured pericytes from the mouse heart ventricle by 3G5 antibody Dynabead sorting. Pericytes were characterized by multiple immunocytochemical markers for contractile proteins, cytoskeletal protein, and cell surface receptors (alpha-smooth muscle actin, calponin-1, NG2, vimentin, CD31,smoothlin, and fibroblast protein-1). Cultured pericytes were subjected to 5 hours of oxygen and glucose deprivation, with or without 14,15-EET, followed by 15 hours of re-oxygenation in the absence of 14,15-EET. Calcium imaging and cell death during re-oxygenation were assessed by Fluo-4 and propidium iodide respectively. Digital images were taken with confocal microscope (Nikon Eclipse Tie-A1RSi). The brightness of the green fluorescent signals represents the relative level of intracellular calcium and the red fluorescent signals represent the cell death. We found that calcium signal peak (overloading) occurred during re-oxygenation, immediately followed by cell death. This process was delayed by 14,15-EET treatment during oxygen and glucose deprivation. The cell death at 5h, 10h, and 15h of re-oxygenation was 57.2%, 71.1%, and 85.3% in control group, and 19.9%, 35.3%, and 58.3% in 14,15-EET treated group. Conclusions - Our data suggests that 14,15-EET-induced protection in pericytes is mediated through the calcium signaling pathway.
Efficacy and safety of checkpoint blockade for treatment of advanced melanoma (mel) in patients (pts) age 80 and older (80

10009Background: Little is known about the use of checkpoint blockade in pts aged 80+. Here we report the efficacy and safety of these agents in this pt population. Methods: We identified mel pts a...
Low-noise staircase, tunneling, and conventional avalanche photodetectors

Many novel materials and device structures have been explored over the years in the quest for low-noise avalanche photodetectors (APD), which are attractive for a wide range of applications in imaging, communications, sensing, etc. This includes the introduction of heterojunctions to modify impact ionization rates [1], culminating in the proposal by Capasso et al. of a solid-state analog to the photomultiplier tube — the staircase APD [2]. In this device, band engineering and a small applied bias is used to form the conduction band into a series of steps, where impact ionization occurs deterministically as electrons cross each step. Unfortunately, the technologically-available materials at the time did not possess the necessary combination of large conduction band offset, small bandgap bottom step, and large Γ-L energy separation required to achieve true staircase operation.
Resurrection of the Russian Orthodox Church: Narrative of Analysis of the Russian National Myth*

Objective The following research is a qualitative and narrative analysis aimed at understanding Russia's recent emphasis on the importance of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to discover the narrative frameworks on national myth put forth by authoritarian regimes help maintain state legitimacy. Methods The researchers utilized the M3S open-source intelligence platform at Texas A&M University to analyze the news coverage events on the state-controlled broadcast media Rossiya24 from November 30, 2014 to November 30, 2015. Results The researchers found four narrative components utilized as part of the national myth discourse: the reconciliation of the ROC and the Russian state, ROC as the unifier of all Slavic people, ROC and Russian moral authority, and ROC and the Russian citizen. Conclusion This case study on national legitimacy demonstrates opportunities for communication scholarship to offer points of impact for policymakers.
Insights Gained from Tracking Users’ Movements Through a Cyberlearning System’s Mediation Interface

Cyberlearning has the ability to connect learners from diverse settings to learning resources regardless of the learners’ proximity to traditional classroom environments. Tracking users’ movements through a cyberlearning interface provides data that can be used both to interpret students’ level of engagement in the learning process and to improve the cyberlearning system’s user mediation interface. The Online Watershed Learning System (OWLS), which serves as the end user interface of the Learning Enhanced Watershed Assessment System (LEWAS), is an open-ended guided cyberlearning system that delivers integrated live and/or historical environmental monitoring data and imagery. Anonymous user tracking in the OWLS helped to identify students from various courses as ‘groups of users’ across the world and assisted in providing information about the importance of various components of the mediation interface. A pilot test of this tracking capability was conducted in two first-year engineering courses at Virginia Western Community College during the fall 2015 semester. During this pilot test, tracking data was collected from a total of roughly 80 students from a total of four course sections. The data collected included the amount of time that each student spent using each component of the OWLS, the paths that he or she used to navigate through these components and how frequently each student returned to the OWLS. Suggestions for system modifications based on comparison of the time students spent using various system components with students’ post-test evaluation of the educational value of these components are included. To address the limitation of the data collected during the pilot study, which could not identify a user across different devices, a user login system is being developed for investigating individualized learning. The current system will address the need to understand in real-time the learner-specific pathways of content and progression, and these learners’ levels of engagement within the system.
Printability analysis in additive manufacturing

In recent years Additive Manufacturing (AM) has advanced from design and fitting validation to biomedical, rapid tooling, tissue engineering, the arts and even food manufacturing. The corresponding scale reduction did not coincide with improving two of the most important process characteristics, namely print accuracy and build time. In this paper we introduce a computational framework for computing the maximum build volume for given non-circular extruders and printing machines that have 2, 3 and perhaps higher number of degrees of freedom (DOF). The proposed method also outputs the accessible configuration space of a multi-DOF AM machine that is instrumental in planning the final (temporal) motion of single or multiple print heads. Furthermore, we show that the proposed method allows the ranking of multiple extruders based on their volumetric deviation from nominal geometry. This formulation makes no assumption about the number of machine DOFs, nor about the planarity of the target contour, making...
Item Quality Improvement: What Determines a Good Question? Guidelines for Interpreting Item Analysis Reports

Medical schools strive to administer high-quality exams. These exams are often authored and graded by basic science and clinical faculty with content expertise; however, these faculty may lack expertise in question writing as well as familiarity with the psychometrics involved in item analysis. This short communication overviews the background related to multiple choice questions, proposes how to interpret an item analysis report, and makes recommendations for evidence-based grading decisions. The guidelines described here have helped ensure that faculty at one Midwestern medical school appropriately address psychometrically flawed items and make defensible grading decisions.
Immune Response to Dengue and Zika.

Flaviviruses such as dengue (DENV), yellow fever (YFV), West Nile (WNV), and Zika (ZIKV) are human pathogens of global significance. In particular, DENV causes the most prevalent mosquito-borne viral diseases in humans, and ZIKV emerged from obscurity into the spotlight in 2016 as the etiologic agent of congenital Zika syndrome. Owing to the recent emergence of ZIKV as a global pandemic threat, the roles of the immune system during ZIKV infections are as yet unclear. In contrast, decades of DENV research implicate a dual role for the immune system in protection against and pathogenesis of DENV infection. As DENV and ZIKV are closely related, knowledge based on DENV studies has been used to prioritize investigation of ZIKV immunity and pathogenesis, and to accelerate ZIKV diagnostic, therapeutic, and vaccine design. This review discusses the following topics related to innate and adaptive immune responses to DENV and ZIKV: the interferon system as the key mechanism of host defense and viral target for immu...
What If Sharia Weren’t the Enemy? Rethinking International Women’s Rights Advocacy on Islamic Law

For many international women’s rights activists, especially those operating from a western context, sharia is believed to be a major obstacle to women’s rights. In order to protect women from Muslim religious law, these advocates often position themselves aggressively against so-called sharia legislation, and sharia in general. I believe that this approach is counterproductive, and ultimately exacerbates, rather than improves, the situation for women living in Muslim-majority countries. In this article I explain how current international feminist strategies have helped create an unwinnable and unnecessary war: that of “sharia vs. women’s rights.” Drawing on observations incident to my work on the zina (extra-marital sex) laws in Nigeria and Pakistan, I argue for an alternative: international women’s rights advocates concerned about the situation of Muslim women would do better not to mention Islamic law at all. This would be a major strategy shift, requiring significant restraint on the part of western secular feminist activists, but I believe it is worth it. Below, I explain how, with this shift in approach, international women’s rights advocates might more effectively contribute to securing rights for women in Muslim-majority countries. This shift could also open up a new appreciation for a wider spectrum of feminism – including that coming from a sharia-mindful perspective. In short, I argue for a world of international advocacy for women that is nuanced and sophisticated and works with - not against - the reality of sharia in Muslim lives.