cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Separation of the enantiomers of the aminonaphthylalanines by paper chromatography

Abstract Resolution of enantiomers of certain aminonaphthylalanines has been achieved by conventional paper chromatography in n -butanol:pyridine:water (1:1:1). The materials have been characterized as enantiomers by their optical properties and this has been confirmed by reaction with l -amino acid oxidase.
Effect of Elicitor Dosage and Exposure Time on Biosynthesis of Indole Alkaloids by Catharanthus roseus Hairy Root Cultures

Late exponential phase hairy root cultures of Catharanthus roseus were elicited with pectinase and jasmonic acid. The effects of elicitor concentration and exposure time on growth and levels of several compounds in the indole alkaloid biosynthetic pathway were monitored. Pectinase decreased the fresh weight to dry weight ratio of the roots, while addition of jasmonic acid had no significant effect. Selective effects on indole alkaloid yields were observed upon addition of elicitors. An increase of 150% in tabersonine specific yield was observed upon addition of 72 units of pectinase. Transient studies at the same level demonstrated possible catabolism as serpentine, tabersonine, and lochnericine levels decreased immediately after elicitation. The levels of these compounds recovered back to control levels or were higher than the control levels after some time. Jasmonic acid was found to be a unique elicitor leading to an enhancement in flux to several branches in the indole alkaloid pathway. Jasmonic acid addition caused an increase in the specific yields of ajmalicine (80%), serpentine (60%), lochnericine (150%), and horhammericine (500%) in dosage studies. Tabersonine, the likely precursor of lochnericine and horhammericine, decreased at lower levels of jasmonic acid and then increased with increasing jasmonic acid concentration. Transient studies showed that lochnericine and tabersonine levels go through a maxima, then decrease back to control levels and reduce below control levels, respectively. The yields of ajmalicine, serpentine, and horhammericine increased continuously after the addition of jasmonic acid. The methods described in this article could generally be used in devising strategies for enhancement in productivity of secondary metabolites and for probing and studying the complex secondary metabolite pathways in plant tissue cultures.
Choice of Monitoring Mechanism for Optimal Nonparametric Functional Estimation for Binary Data

Optimal designs of dose levels in order to estimate parameters from a model for binary response data have a long and rich history. These designs are based on parametric models. Here we consider fully nonparametric models with interest focused on estimation of smooth functionals using plug-in estimators based on the nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator. An important application of the results is the derivation of the optimal choice of the monitoring time distribution function for current status observation of a survival distribution. The optimal choice depends in a simple way on the dose-response function and the form of the functional. The results can be extended to allow dependence of the monitoring mechanism on covariates.
Identifying Ontological Modifications to the Resource-Event-Agent (REA) Enterprise Ontology Using a Bunge-Wand-Weber Ontological Evaluation

ABSTRACT: A Bunge-Wand-Weber (BWW) ontological evaluation was performed to evaluate the REA enterprise ontology for appropriateness as a basis for today's enterprise systems. A BWW ontological evaluation emphasizes two criteria (completeness and clarity) and two independent mappings (representation and interpretation). The results of the evaluation confirm that the majority of the REA constructs correspond with a subset of the BWW constructs. Based on the results of this study, there are recommended modifications to the REA enterprise ontology including extensions associated with state, event, and system related constructs, as well as other clarifications.
Fucosylated chondroitin sulfate inhibits plasma thrombin generation via targeting of the factor IXa heparin-binding exosite

Depolymerized holothurian glycosaminoglycan (DHG) is a fucosylated chondroitin sulfate with antithrombin-independent antithrombotic properties. Heparin cofactor II (HCII)-dependent and -independent mechanisms for DHG inhibition of plasma thrombin generation were evaluated. When thrombin generation was initiated with 0.2 pM tissue factor (TF), the half maximal effective concentration (EC50) for DHG inhibition was identical in mock- or HCII-depleted plasma, suggesting a serpin-independent mechanism. In the presence of excess TF, the EC50 for DHG was increased 13- to 27-fold, suggesting inhibition was dependent on intrinsic tenase (factor IXa-factor VIIIa) components. In factor VIII–deficient plasma supplemented with 700 pM factor VIII or VIIIa, and factor IX–deficient plasma supplemented with plasma-derived factor IX or 100 pM factor IXa, the EC50 for DHG was similar. Thus, cofactor and zymogen activation did not contribute to DHG inhibition of thrombin generation. Factor IX–deficient plasma supplemented with mutant factor IX(a) proteins demonstrated resistance to DHG inhibition of thrombin generation [factor IX(a) R233A > R170A > WT] that inversely correlated with protease-heparin affinity. These results replicate the effect of these mutations with purified intrinsic tenase components, and establish the factor IXa heparin-binding exosite as the relevant molecular target for inhibition by DHG. Glycosaminoglycan-mediated intrinsic tenase inhibition is a novel antithrombotic mechanism with physiologic and therapeutic applications.
An Efficient Window-Based Countermeasure to Power Analysis of ECC Algorithms

Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) has been adopted in many systems because it requires shorter keys than traditional public-key algorithms in primary fields. However, power analysis attacks can exploit the power consumption of ECC devices to retrieve secret keys. In this paper, we propose an efficient window-based countermeasure that is secure against existing power analysis attacks. Compared to previous counter- measures, our method has low memory overhead, requiring only a table of w+1 entries when the window size is w bits. It also has better performance than many algorithms that perform one point addition or subtraction for every bit in the scalar.
Dynamic broadcasting in parallel computing

We consider the problem where broadcast requests are dynamically generated at random time instants at each node of a multiprocessor network. In particular, in our model packets arrive at each node of a network according to a Poisson process, and each packet has to be broadcast to all the other nodes. We propose an on-line, distributed routing scheme to execute the broadcasts in this dynamic environment. Our scheme consists of repeated execution of a partial multinode broadcast task, which is a static communication task where any M/spl les/N arbitrary nodes of an N-processor network broadcast a packet to all the other nodes. The dynamic broadcasting scheme that we propose can be used in any topology, regular or not, for which partial multinode broadcast algorithms with certain properties can be found. We derive such an algorithm and we analyze the corresponding dynamic broadcasting scheme for the hypercube network. We show that its stability region tends to the maximum possible as the number of nodes of the hypercube tends to infinity. Furthermore, for any fixed load in the stability region, the average delay is of the order of the diameter of the hypercube. Our analysis does not use any approximating assumptions. >
Resource partitioning among British and Irish mustelids

Summary 1. Seven species of mustelid carnivore live in the British Isles: weasel, stoat, mink, polecat, pine marten, badger and otter. Recent studies have hypothesized that coexistence of these species is facilitated by partitioning of resources according to prey size, particularly that of mammalian prey. This hypothesis has been supported by evidence of character displacement derived from even size ratios in skull length and canine diameter. 2. To test whether this hypothesis is supported by empirical data, 98 studies of the diet of mustelids living in Great Britain and Ireland were analysed. Two main predictions were tested; that larger males ate larger prey than females and that larger species ate larger prey than smaller species. 3. Male mustelids ate larger prey than females but there was no relationship between predator size and prey size, either for all species or when largely vermivorous badgers and piscivorous otters were excluded. There was no difference in dietary niche breadth between the sexes. Dietary niche breadth increased with body size in the assemblage excluding otters and badgers. The dietary niches of mustelids were partitioned along several axes, none of which was clearly related to prey size. 4. The dietary niches of the five species living in Ireland (stoat, mink, pine marten, otter and badger) were more similar to one another in Ireland than in Great Britain and there was no difference in niche breadth between Irish and British mustelids. There was no evidence of competitive release in the diets of Irish mustelids. 5. Resource partitioning according to prey size is apparent between the sexes within species, and this is probably correlated to sexual selection for size dimorphism. Empirical data do not, however, support a hypothesis of resource partitioning according to prey size between species. Interspecific aggression provides an alternative hypothesis explaining character displacement among mustelids.
Magneto-rayleigh-taylor instabilities on thin foils driven by a 1-MA LTD

While not widely used, thin foils as Z-pinch loads may soon become necessary to achieve the required mass for higher current-driven x-ray sources, and they may also offer useful options for x-ray pulse shaping [1]. This paper reports our latest design and experimental progress on the study of the dominant instability, the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability (MRTI). Planar Al foils as thin as 400 nm thick driven by the 1-MA linear transformer driver (LTD), MAIZE, at the University of Michigan, are used as the dynamic load targets for this investigation. For a LTD in the 1 MA, 100 ns risetime regime, MRTI growth may exhibit ∼5 e-foldings for observation with a laser backlighter. Inductance considerations for the magnetically-insulated transmission line, a planar foil load design, laser schlieren and interferometry diagnostics, and experimental progress will be presented along with MRTI theory.
Octoson imaging in pediatric urology

Ultrasonic imaging of infants and children using an automated transducer water-path delay scanning system (Octoson) overcomes many of the technical difficulties of contact B mode ultrasound imaging and computed tomography. These disadvantages relate to small patient size, motion artifacts, hypothermia, and lack of patient cooperation. Sedation may be required for either conventional study. The automated water-path system is soothing to small children, maintains the body temperature of infants, and avoids direct transducer contact. Sedation is not necessary. Excellent resolution, shorter scan time than computed tomography, and greater flexibility of patient and transducer positioning allows much more complete imaging information. In addition, the panoramic view obtained using this modality serves to demonstrate the complete lesion and its relationship to surrounding structures.
Cell size and invasion in TGF-β–induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition is regulated by activation of the mTOR pathway

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) occurs during development and cancer progression to metastasis and results in enhanced cell motility and invasion. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) induces EMT through Smads, leading to transcriptional regulation, and through non-Smad pathways. We observe that TGF-β induces increased cell size and protein content during EMT. This translational regulation results from activation by TGF-β of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) through phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and Akt, leading to the phosphorylation of S6 kinase 1 and eukaryotic initiation factor 4E–binding protein 1, which are direct regulators of translation initiation. Rapamycin, a specific inhibitor of mTOR complex 1, inhibits the TGF-β–induced translation pathway and increase in cell size without affecting the EMT phenotype. Additionally, rapamycin decreases the migratory and invasive behavior of cells that accompany TGF-β–induced EMT. The TGF-β–induced translation pathway through mTOR complements the transcription pathway through Smads. Activation of mTOR by TGF-β, which leads to increased cell size and invasion, adds to the role of TGF-β–induced EMT in cancer progression and may represent a therapeutic opportunity for rapamycin analogues in cancer.
Energy of Midlatitude Transient Eddies in Idealized Simulations of Changed Climates

As the climate changes, changes in static stability, meridional temperature gradients, and availability of moisture for latent heat release may exert competing effects on the energy of midlatitude transient eddies. This paper examines how the eddy kinetic energy in midlatitude baroclinic zones responds to changes in radiative forcing in simulations with an idealized moist general circulation model. In a series of simulations in which the optical thickness of the longwave absorber is varied over a wide range, the eddy kinetic energy has a maximum for a climate with mean temperature similar to that of present-day earth, with significantly smaller values both for warmer and for colder climates. In a series of simulations in which the meridional insolation gradient is varied, the eddy kinetic energy increases monotonically with insolation gradient. In both series of simulations, the eddy kinetic energy scales approximately linearly with the dry mean available potential energy averaged over the baroclinic zones. Changes in eddy kinetic energy can therefore be related to the changes in the atmospheric thermal structure that affect the mean available potential energy.
Neuroendocrine Manifestations of Phospholipid Antibody Disease Identified by Long-Term Follow-Up Study of Patients with Phospholipid Antibodies

UNLABELLED Recurrent clinical thrombotic episodes and/or recurrent fetal wastage are the clinical features of phospholipid antibody (aPL) syndrome, which is characterized by a bland thrombosis, but is not inflammatory, as is found in other connective tissue diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Previous reports have suggested that some patients with primary aPL syndrome may progress to develop other autoimmune diseases, including inflammatory diseases such as SLE. The aim of this study was to determine the long-term outcome of women with aPL antibodies, with regard to progression of their underlying autoimmune disease. To that end, a retrospective study was made of women with aPL and primary aPL syndromes who had been followed at our institution for a minimum of 3 years. Charts were reviewed, patients interviewed, and laboratory tests were performed to determine whether the clinical nature of the disease and/or its autoantibody profile had changed. Thirty patients were enrolled into the study (29 with aPL syndrome, 1 with consistent aPL and no syndrome). Follow-up ranged from 3 to 22 years. Results were as follows: The autoimmune clinical features were unchanged in 27 patients, but 3 patients developed inflammatory disease, presenting with nasal chondritis (2), cutaneous vasculitis (3), and mucosal ulcer (1). In each case, these changes occurred during pregnancy or the immediate postpartum period. One patient fulfilled criteria for SLE as seen by a change in her autoantibody profile. Another incidental finding was that three other patients were diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer, two being diagnosed during the follow-up period. IN CONCLUSION (1) Inflammatory disease may develop in some patients with aPL and appears to be set off by pregnancy, a known trigger for clinical thrombotic events in aPL patients. (2) Thyroid cancer may be associated with aPL, and this association warrants further study with larger number of patients.
Kennedy, the early sixties, and visitation by the angel of death.

The inaugural issue of Pathologia Veterinaria in 1964 contained the first detailed account of lesions in aborted fetuses following natural, experimental, and postvaccinal infection with bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1). The article, written by pathologists Kennedy and Richards, described diagnostic gross and histologic features in 13 bovine fetuses. The authors provided clinical and epidemiologic features of 1 postvaccination outbreak, including the absence of clinical signs in infected dams and the propensity for abortions to occur after 6 months’ gestation. Subsequent field and experimental studies corroborated and expanded these observations. As a result of this and later reports, veterinarians became alert to the association between infectious bovine rhinotracheitis and abortion, including the risks of exposing pregnant cattle to live vaccinal BoHV-1. Methods were developed to corroborate a morphologic diagnosis of herpetic abortion in cattle, including immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, and polym...
Development of a PET protocol to equalize noise for PET/CT leg acquisitions

The goal of this work is to use phantom and patient data to determine if a single PET leg protocol can be developed that will reduce or redistribute scan time and equalize noise throughout the resulting images by varying scan times by bed position (BP). Most PET protocols use a constant time per BP regardless of patient size. The extreme but consistent tapering (across patients) of legs from pelvis to foot is in contrast to the wide distribution of patient sizes in the upper body. It may be possible to define an acquisition protocol that redistributes scan time per BP such that the image noise is relatively constant through the length of the leg, for all patients. Phantom data were taken from four pairs of bottles, positioned as legs, with diameters between 4.5 to 19.5 cm that were filled with equal radioactive concentrations. ROI measurements were made to relate diameter to noise which could then be used to calculate scan times, for a range of diameters, that would equalize noise throughout the image slices (assuming an inverse quadratic relationship between noise and scan time and assuming random, scatter, and attenuation, would be comparable for the bottle pairs as for legs). 55 PET/CT patient leg studies were used. Geometric measurements were taken from the CT to calculate each patient's effective leg diameter. 95% of all patients had effective leg diameters that tapered at a rate that was within 30% of the mean. The leg measurements were translated into scan times per BP, resulting in a scan sequence that would require 75% less scan time for some BPs. The calculated scan times suggest that redistributing time from the lower-legs and feet to the pelvis and upper-legs will more closely equalize noise throughout the image without increasing the total scan time. It appears that a single protocol may be suitable for all patients and will be an improvement over the current practice of a constant time for each BP, if equalized noise is truly the correct optimization.
Valet parking without a valet

What would it be like if we could give our robot high level commands and it would automatically execute them in a verifiably correct fashion in dynamically changing environments? This work demonstrates a method for generating continuous feedback control inputs that satisfy high-level specifications. Using a collection of continuous local feedback control policies in concert with a synthesized discrete automaton, this paper demonstrates the approach on an Ackermann-steered vehicle that satisfies the command "drive around until you find an empty parking space, then park." The system reacts to changing environmental conditions using only local information, while guaranteeing the correct high level behavior. The local policies consider the vehicle body shape as well as bounds on drive and steering velocities. The discrete automaton that invokes the local policies guarantees executions that satisfy the high-level specification based only on information about the current availability of the nearest parking space. This paper also demonstrates coordination of two vehicles using the approach.
Toward wind farm monitoring optimization: assessment of ecological zones from marine landscapes using machine learning algorithms

Within the perspective of siting wind farms offshore of Rhode Island, USA, the State and National Environmental Agencies had requested a local marine ecological assessment, which led to an ecological zoning of the area. In view of expanding this zoning outside its limit of the test area and filling gaps in ecological zones, an effort to model those ecological zones using marine landscape or abiotic features was carried out. This study tests the accuracy of selected machine learning algorithmic models, decision tree, and random forest, for relating marine landscapes features to ecological sub-regions. Both models show to be good predictive tools with accuracy after cross validation of the order of 5–3%. Key abiotic variables to provide an accurate model were investigated. The study demonstrates the importance of the distance to coast, the sediment characteristics (fraction of clay, median size of the sediments), the hydrodynamic features, in particular not only tidal current/drag force, but also wave drag force, and finally the oceanographic characteristics such as stratification and sea surface temperature to built a good predictive model. Those findings provide some insight on the pre-monitoring effort optimization.
Variation in Grasshopper (Acrididae) Densities in Response to Fire Frequency and Bison Grazing in Tallgrass Prairie

Abstract While weather can contribute significantly to grasshopper population dynamics in North American grasslands, local environmental conditions resulting from land use practices may be equally important. In this study, significant differences in grasshopper density were detected among adjacent watersheds from Kansas Flint Hills tallgrass prairie that differed in fire frequency and especially bison grazing treatments. Grasshopper densities were ≈2.5 times greater in grazed watersheds compared with ungrazed ones. Grasshopper densities also varied somewhat in response to fire frequency, mostly in species-specific ways. No treatment interactions on overall grasshopper density were detected. The effects of fire frequency and bison grazing were implemented in part through their combined effect on the structural heterogeneity of vegetation, and other habitat characteristics. Individual grasshopper species responded uniquely to combinations of fire frequency and bison grazing. Grazing resulted in significant ...
Towards Autonomous Topological Place Detection Using the Extended Voronoi Graph

Autonomous place detection has long been a major hurdle to topological map-building techniques. Theoretical work on topological mapping has assumed that places can be reliably detected by a robot, resulting in deterministic actions. Whether or not deterministic place detection is always achievable is controversial; however, even topological mapping algorithms that assume non-determinism benefit from highly reliable place detection. Unfortunately, topological map-building implementations often have hand-coded place detection algorithms that are brittle and domain dependent. This paper presents an algorithm for reliable autonomous place detection that is sensor and domain independent. A preliminary implementation of this algorithm for an indoor robot has demonstrated reliable place detection in real-world environments, with no a priori environmental knowledge. The implementation uses a local, scrolling 2D occupancy grid and a real-time calculated Voronoi graph to find the skeleton of the free space in the local surround. In order to utilize the place detection algorithm in non-corridor environments, we also introduce the extended Voronoi graph (EVG), which seamlessly transitions from a skeleton of a midline in corridors to a skeleton that follows walls in rooms larger than the local scrolling map.
Freezing, fragmentation, and charge separation in sonic sprayed water droplets

Abstract Water droplets are generated by sonic spray, transferred into vacuum through a capillary interface, and then passed through two image charge detectors separated by a drift region. The image charge detectors measure the charge and velocity of each droplet. For around 1% of the droplets, the charge changes significantly between the detectors. In some cases it increases, in others it decreases, and for some droplets the charge changes polarity. We attribute the charge changing behavior to fragmentation caused by freezing. Simulations indicate that the time required for a droplet to cool and freeze in vacuum depends on its size, and that droplets with radii of 1–2 μm have the right size to freeze between the two detectors. These sizes correspond to the smaller end of the distribution present in the experiment. When the charge on a droplet increases or changes polarity, fragmentation must be accompanied by charge separation where fragments carry away opposite charges. In some cases, two fission fragments were observed in the second charge detector. We show examples where the droplet breaks apart to give fragments of the same charge and opposite charges. The fragmentation and charge changing behavior found here is consistent with what has been found in the freezing of larger suspended and supported droplets.
State assignment for low-power FSM synthesis using genetic local search

The power consumption of a finite state machine can be reduced if fewer internal nodes change states during operation. We assign the symbolic states representation so that the most probable state machine transitions change fewer state bits. We calculate the state transition probabilities from the given input signal probabilities and the Markov chain state probabilities (estimated from probability simulation). We reduce the Hamming distances between the binary representations of frequently transitioning pairs of states. Using a genetic local search algorithm, we can quickly find near optimal state assignments for finite state machines with less than fifty states and good assignments for larger benchmarks. The average power consumption is estimated using a sequential transition density simulator on gate-mapped representation of the design. The gate's switching density is measured for each edge in the state transition graph and then scaled using the state transition density. Results using the MCNC benchmarks show that low-power state assignment produces encodings that consume about 20% less power than current "area optimizing" state encoding programs. When these encodings are synthesized into multilevel gate representations using SIS, we find that the area is also reduced. >
Effect of flame retardants on pyrolysis and combustion of α‐cellulose

In the combustion of wood, the α-cellulose fraction contributes most of the flaming; the lignin fraction supports the major part of the glowing. In the present study, thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses were conducted to determine the affect of low concentrations of flame retardants on the kinetics of pyrolysis and phenomena of combustion of α-cellulose. The flame retardants investigated—sodium tetraborate, aluminum chloride, potassium bicarbonate, and ammonium phosphate—were found to lower the active pyrolysis temperatures and increase the yield of chars. The kinetic data obtained by then no gravimetric analysis of the treated -cellulose in vacuum suggest that at least two mechanisms :ire involved. The early stage is controlled by pseudo-zero-order and the late stage is of pseudo-first-order. Sodium tetraborate and aluminum chloride caused little reduction in activation energies. Ammonium phosphate decreased the activation energy mostly in the early stage. Potassium bicarbonate lowered activation energies of both stages. Further thermal analysis in helium and oxygen showed that flaming combustion of α-cellulose was substantially reduced by treatment, and its exothermic peak occurred near the end of pyrolytic volatilization. The heat of pyroiysis was reduced significantly by treatment. The heat of combustion is distributed to a wider temperature range, and the maximum intensity of flaming was much reduced by treatment.
2,2,2‐Trichloroethoxysulfonamide

[69226-51-3] C2H4Cl3NO3S (MW 228.42) (reagent used as a nitrogen source for N-atom transfer reactions (aziridination, CH insertion); as a starting material for the preparation of imidodithioate derivatives.) Alternate Names: 2,2,2-trichloroethylsulfamate; sulfamic acid, 2,2,2-trichloroethyl ester. Physical Data: mp 57–58 °C. Solubility: sol in alcohol, CH3CN, THF, EtOAc, CH2Cl2, C6H6. Form Supplied in: white solid; commercially available; best prepared from Cl3CCH2OH and ClSO2NCO1. Purification: chromatography on silica gel. Handling, Storage, and Precautions: no special precautions are required, shelf-stable.
Longevity and Fecundity of Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica) on Foliage Grown Under Elevated Carbon Dioxide

Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) have been increasing steadily over the last century. Plants grown under elevated CO2 experience physiological changes that insuence their suitability as food. Previous studies have found increased insect herbivory on plants grown under elevated CO2. To determine effects of consuming foliage of soybean (Glycine max) grown under elevated CO2 on adult survivorship and fecundity, Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica Newman) were fed for the duration of their adult lives leaves grown under elevated CO2 (550 mol/mol), under ambient atmosphere (370 mol/mol), or grown under ambient atmosphere but supplemented with a solution of sugars. To determine effects of a diet of foliage grown under elevated ozone (O3), another anthropogenic gaseous pollutant, beetles in the laboratory were fed soybean leaves grown under elevated CO2, elevated O3, or a combination of both elevated gases. Leaf tissue was also analyzed for longevity-enhancing antioxidants, because increases in dietary antioxidants can increase lifespan. Lifespan of Japanese beetles was prolonged by 8 Ð25% when fed foliage developed under elevated CO2, but consuming foliage that had taken up sugars to approximately the same level as foliage grown under elevated CO2 had no effect on fecundity or longevity. Females consuming elevated CO2 foliage laid approximately twice as many eggs as females fed foliage grown under ambient conditions. Consuming foliage grown under elevated O3 had no effect on fecundity. No signiÞcant differences in total antioxidant content of foliage from ambient and elevated CO2 conditions were detected. Although the precise mechanism is unclear, by altering components of leaf chemistry other than sugar content, elevated CO2 may increase populations of Japanese beetles and their impact on crop productivity.
Design of ESD protection for large signal swing RF inputs operating to 24GHz in 0.18um SiGe BiCMOS process

The performance degradation resulting from the addition of ESD protection devices to very high speed Analog/RF designs is the main reason for low ESD robustness in these applications. This paper introduces an ESD methodology that combines device development and characterization as well as simulation, for high speed Analog/RF products. In this work a special ground referenced ESD network is introduced for protecting RF ports with asymmetrical signal swings in the range of +3.5V/−3.5V operating from 6– 24GHz.
Proof automation and type synthesis for set theory in the context of TLA

This thesis presents effective techniques for discharging TLA+ proofobligations to automated theorem provers based on unsorted and many-sortedfirst-order logic. TLA+ is a formal language for specifying and verifyingconcurrent and distributed systems. Its non-temporal fragment is based on avariant of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory for specifying the data structures. TheTLA+ Proof System TLAPS is an interactive proof environment in which users candeductively verify safety properties of TLA+ specifications. While TLAPS is aproof assistant that relies on users for guiding the proof effort, itgenerates proof obligations and passes them to backend verifiers to achieve asatisfactory level of automation.We developed a new back-end prover that soundly integrates into TLAPS externalautomated provers, specifically, ATP systems and SMT solvers. Two maincomponents provide the formal basis for implementing this new back-end. Thefirst is a generic translation framework that allows to plug to TLAPS anyautomated prover supporting the standard input formats TPTP/FOF orSMT-LIB/AUFLIA. In order to encode higher-order expressions, such as sets bycomprehension or total functions with domains, the translation to first-orderlogic relies on term-rewriting techniques coupled with an abstraction method.Sorted theories such as linear integer arithmetic are homomorphically embeddedinto many-sorted logic. The second component is a type synthesis algorithm for(untyped) TLA+ formulas. The algorithm, which is based on constraint solving,implements one type system for elementary types, similar to those ofmany-sorted logic, and an expansion with dependent and refinement types. Theobtained type information is then implicitly exploited to improve thetranslation. Empirical evaluation validates our approach: the ATP/SMT backendsignificantly boosts the proof development in TLAPS.
Rostral ventrolateral medullary opioid receptor activation modulates pressor response to muscle contraction.

The effects of an opioid agonist, [d-Ala2]methionine enkephalinamide (DAME), administered into the rostral ventrolateral medulla (rVLM) or caudal ventrolateral medulla (cVLM) on cardiovascular resp...
SnO2 Nanofibers Gas Sensor Detecting H2 Dissolved in Transformer Oil

Hydrogen is an effective fault gas dissolved in transformer oil, and online monitoring its concentration has important meaning on condition assessment and fault diagnosis of power transformer. A facile and simple synthesis method of ultra-sensitive SnO2 nanofibers through a hydrothermal approach was reported. The crystalline phases and microstructures were performed by X-ray powder diffraction and field-emission scanning electron microscopy. The gas sensor based on prepared SnO2 nanofibers was fabricated by a side-heated preparation, and its gas sensing performances to H2 were measured. The fabricated sensor exhibits excellent sensing properties to H2, such as low optimum operating temperature, high gas response, rapid response and recovery time, good stability and repeatability.
Cell volume regulation of rabbit cortical collecting tubule in anisotonic media

Volume regulation of nonperfused rabbit cortical collecting tubules in anisotonic bathing media was examined in vitro. When media osmolality is abruptly increased by 150 mosmol/kgH2O with the addition of NaCl, tubules shrink by 20% but do not volume regulate. However, volume regulatory increase (VRI) is observed when 1 mM butyrate is present in the bathing media or when tubules are pretreated with hypotonic media. When media osmolality is increased, butyrate-treated tubules shrink to 74% of their isotonic control volume. As evidence of volume regulation, butyrate-treated tubules swell while still bathed in hypertonic media, recovering in 30 min 78% of the volume lost due to osmotic shrinkage. The butyrate effect requires external Na+ and is inhibited by amiloride. When media osmolality is lowered to 150 mosmol/kgH2O, nonbutyrate tubules swell before showing typical volume regulatory decrease. When these tubules are returned to isotonic media, they immediately shrink to 78% of control volume before showing evidence of VRI. These results suggest that, under the appropriate conditions, cortical collecting tubules are capable of VRI.
Confrontations over Natural Resources

Access to natural resources1 is often perceived among the major security risks of the twenty-first century. Although conventional wisdom suggests that natural resources should sustain broad-based development, there is a large body of academic literature that states otherwise. Using econometric specifications and selected case studies, some scholars claim that resource-rich countries tend to perform comparatively worse in economic growth, per capita income (Dobbs et al. 2013), various indicators of human welfare (Bulte, Damania, and Deacon 2005), and social development (Carmignani and Avom 2010; IMF 2012); they are also more prone to civil conflict (Ross 2004c; Ross 2006) and nondemocratic tendencies (Ross 2001). Since the birth of the “resource curse” hypothesis in the 1990s, concerns over the role of resources in development and security expanded, which has been reflected in the statements, policy documents, and practical actions of international organizations, NGOs, and development agencies. In this chapter, we spotlight natural resource promotion as one possible development strategy that can be assessed within our four-dimensional framework.
Connected dominating set in wireless ad hoc networks

A Wireless Ad Hoc Network (WANET) is dynamically formed by a collection of static or mobile hosts communicating with each other over a scarce shared wireless channel, in absence of a fixed infrastructure and a predefined central administration system. Wireless ad hoc networks can be flexibly and quickly deployed for many applications such as automated battlefield, search and rescue, and disaster relief, etc. Due to its characteristics of dynamic topology, multi-hop communication and strict resource limitation, routing in WANET presents a challenging problem and has drawn significant attentions. Although no physical backbone is present, a virtual backbone formed by nodes in a Connected Dominating Set (CDS) can be superimposed and plays a very important role in routing, broadcasting and connectivity management in wireless ad hoc networks. However, the construction of an Minimum Connected Dominating Set (MCDS) is proven to be NP-hard. Therefore research work has been focused on designing approximation algorithms for the MCDS problem. A number of approximation algorithms are presented in this dissertation. Firstly, in homogeneous wireless ad hoc networks, where the network topology can be represented by a Unit Disk Graph, a completely localized distributed algorithm called r-CDS is proposed to construct an MCDS, which has a constant performance ratio of 172. Applying certain pruning rules on locally redundant nodes, the size of the CDS can be further reduced. Secondly, in a special case of heterogeneous wireless ad hoc networks where the network topology can be represented by a Disk Graph with Bidirectional links (DGB), two efficient approximation algorithms are presented to obtain an MCDS. The performance ratio of these algorithms is constant if the ratio of the maximum transmission range over the minimum transmission range in the network is bounded. Distributed versions of these algorithms are also implemented. The size relationship between a maximal independent set and a CDS is shown, as well as a bound of the maximum number of independent neighbors of a node in disk graphs. Lastly, a polynomial time approximation scheme (PTAS) is presented to find a minimum d-hop connected dominating set (d-CDS) in a class of growth-bounded graphs, including unit disk graphs, unit balls, etc., which can represent a majority of existing wireless networks. Based on predefined network parameters, the growth-bounded graph can be partitioned into clusters. d-CDS is constructed for each cluster and the union of each d-CDS forms a d-CDS for the graph, with some additional nodes connecting them. Performance and complexity analysis of the PTAS are provided.
NOνA: Physics, Status and Technology

NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that uses the upgraded NuMI beamline at Fermilab as its neutrino source and a 14 kiloton surface detector in northern Minnesota as its primary neutrino detector to measure a broad range of quantities in neutrino oscillation physics: θ13, θ23, |∆m223|, the CP violating phase δ and the neutrino mass hierarchy. The experiment’s physics scope and its detectors’ novel design as low-Z, high granularity tracking calorimeters are described, along with its front-end readout and data acquisition systems. NOvA’s schedule and initial performance are also presented.
Hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia associated with possible hypopituitarism in a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

ABSTRACT Objective To describe endocrine dysfunctions associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Methods We present a case report, discuss the laboratory findings, and suggest potential contributing factors in this complex milieu. Results A 44-year-old man infected with HIV was admitted with loss of consciousness after a grand mal seizure and was found to have a prolonged course of hypoglycemia in conjunction with increased serum levels of insulin and C peptide. Iatrogenic hypoglycemia was excluded by laboratory evaluations. Hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction was suspected because the serum growth hormone and cortisol concentrations during hypoglycemia were low. Radiologic evaluation of the brain revealed no structural abnormalities involving the hypothalamic-pituitary area. A normal cortisol response to adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation (cosyntropin, 250 mg) was documented on two occasions. The cause of the severe hypoglycemic episode and the possible hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction in this patient is unknown. Conclusion Despite the complexity of endocrine disorders in HIV-infected patients, the course of the disease in this patient underscores the possibility that some of the endocrinologic changes may be reversible.
Journey Toward High Reliability: A Comprehensive Safety Program to Improve Quality of Care and Safety Culture in a Large, Multisite Radiation Oncology Department.

Background:High-reliability organizations (HROs) focus on continuous identification and improvement of safety issues. We sought to advance a large, multisite radiation oncology department toward high reliability through the implementation of a comprehensive safety culture (SC) program at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Radiation Oncology.Methods:In 2011, with guidance from safety literature and experts in HROs, we designed an SC framework to reduce radiation errors. All state-reported medical events (SRMEs) from 2009 to 2016 were retrospectively reviewed and plotted on a control chart. Changes in SC grade were assessed using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Hospital Survey. Outcomes measured included the number of radiation treatment fractions and days between SRMEs, as well as SC grade.Results:Multifaceted safety initiatives were implemented at our main academic center and across all network sites. Postintervention results demonstrate increased staff fundamental safety knowledg...
Influence of estradiol benzoate on pituitary responsiveness to LH-RH at different stages of the estrous cycle in rats.

SummaryThe effect of estradiol ben-zoate (EB) on the pituitary response to LH-releasing hormone (LH-RH) was studied in the different stages of the estrous cycle of rats. An iv injection of 0.4 μg LH-RH always raised serum LH in the oil-treated control group. The magnitude of the increase varied according to the stage of the estrous cycle, being greatest in Proestrus and Estrus, and lowest in Diestrous II (DII). EB injected 24 hr before increased the pituitary response to LH-RH regardless of the stages of the cycle, but did not modify the fluctuation of pituitary responsiveness. The basal levels of LH at 9 am throughout the cycle in the oil-treated control rats were highest in Diestrus I and lowest in Diestrus II. Pretreatment with EB lowered the basal LH levels only on the day of DI. On the day of Estrus, the pituitary response was greatest at 4 hr, and the lowest level at 14 hr in the control rats. Injection of EB suppressed the pituitary response to LH-RH at 4 and 9 hr, and did not alter this response a...
Dynamics of Self-Thinning Plant Stands

The growth of plants in even-aged, pure stands and the decline in the number of these plants are represented with a set of S-system differential equations. The S-system representation captures the observed interdependence between average size and number of plants, demonstrates how a plant stand approaches the well-established 3/2 power relationship between number and size, and also accounts for the observation that in stands of perennial species, old plants usually remain smaller than predicted by the relationship. The model includes, as special cases, earlier models that only partially represent the mutual dependence between number and average size. The S-system model incorporates well-known growth laws, and thus circumvents the problem of identifying the most appropriate growth and decline functions in the analysis of actual data. For particular parameter settings, the S-system can be solved analytically to yield explicit closed-form relationships between the numbers and sizes of plants, not only in the range where the stand dynamics moves along the size-limiting relationship, but also for large numbers of small plants and small numbers of large plants.
Randomized phase II study comparing the MET inhibitor cabozantinib to temozolomide (TMZ) or dacarbazine (DTIC) in ocular melanoma: A091201.

TPS9087 Background: Ocular melanoma has been described to express the receptor tyrosine kinase MET in up to 80% of specimens and preclinical data suggests that MET inhibitors reduce proliferation a...
Power Generation and Energy Management

This chapter discusses the generation of power and energy management (and harvesting) for unmanned aircraft. Implications for design as well as operation are discussed. Range and endurance for combustion-powered aircraft are compared with battery/electric aircraft; some design bounds for photovoltaic powered aircraft are described; and fuel cell powered aircraft are briefly discussed. Operationally, computation of energy-optimal flight speeds is described, and Monte Carlo simulations showing the utility of optimal flight speeds for small tactical unmanned aircraft are described. Finally, energy harvesting via autonomous soaring is presented. Keywords: UAV; energy management; flight planning; flight control; design; electric powered aircraft; solar powered aircraft