cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Automatic contour tracking in ultrasound images

In this paper, a new automatic contour tracking system, EdgeTrak, for the ultrasound image sequences of human tongue is presented. The images are produced by a head and transducer support system (HATS). The noise and unrelated high-contrast edges in ultrasound images make it very difficult to automatically detect the correct tongue surfaces. In our tracking system, a novel active contour model is developed. Unlike the classical active contour models which only use gradient of the image as the image force, the proposed model incorporates the edge gradient and intensity information in local regions around each snake element. Different from other active contour models that use homogeneity of intensity in a region as the constraint and thus are only applied to closed contours, the proposed model applies local region information to open contours and can be used to track partial tongue surfaces in ultrasound images. The contour orientation is also taken into account so that any unnecessary edges in ultrasound images will be discarded. Dynamic programming is used as the optimisation method in our implementation. The proposed active contour model has been applied to human tongue tracking and its robustness and accuracy have been verified by quantitative comparison analysis to the tracking by speech scientists.
Soviet Policy Toward Under-Developed Areas in the Economic and Social Council1

The increasing manifestations of Soviet interest in the United Nations Technical Assistance Program and in the establishment of a Soviet “Point Four” program for the under-developed, non-Communist countries of southeast Asia are of crucial importance to the west. In great measure the ultimate defense of western civilization lies in its ability to guide the surging flow of Asian nationalism into constructive, stable and satisfying channels of economic, social and political reforms. Soviet interest in under-developed areas is not new, but since the death of Stalin, a precipitant and ingenious reversal of tactics has occurred. Nowhere has this interest been more evident than in the Economic and Social Council and in its subsidiary bodies. Though the changed Soviet tactics in no way signify a modification of the long term objectives of Soviet strategy, they do demand a corresponding flexibility and imaginativeness on the part of western diplomacy. By understanding past Soviet behavior, acquiring an accurate knowledge of early postwar Soviet policy toward underdeveloped areas, and investigating the rationale behind that policy, the direction and intensity of present Soviet policy may be better analyzed and viewed in its proper perspective.
Simulating Lattice Qcd On a Caltech/ Jpl Hypercube

Simulation of lattice quantum chromodynamics QCD on the 128-node Caltech/JPL lellarklllfp Hypercube achieves a sustained speed of 600 MFLOPS. The simu lations have produced excellent physics results on the forces between quarks. A speedup of 100 on the 128- node machine is obtained. We stress the importance of keeping up the communication speed as the processor speed increases and have devised a vectorized scheme to reduce the communication latency, leading to a 71% reduction in communication time. Practical experiences with the parallel implementation are discussed and a general performance analysis is reported.
A storage saving scheme to share HD-quality content in community networks

Community networks can provide the geographical advantage to cover and connect community members. In addition, it is more beneficial to share HD-quality content among those community members via the community networks. Recently, we have proposed a personal video recorder (PVR) iquestbased community network based on the multiple-loop fiber channel arbitration loop (FC-AL) connection, which can provide the scalability without using expensive FC-AL switches. As a community network size grows, however, popular programs tend to be stored redundantly in many PVRs, thereby wasting the storage space that could otherwise be used to store additional TV programs. Thus, we propose how to extend program storage hours in a community network by presenting storage saving algorithms for both PVRs and network disks. Through extensive simulations, we finally show that our schemes significantly extend program storage hours by an average of 69.7%.
CW theory for optical fiber photon-pair generation

We derive a CW theory for optical-fiber photon-pair sources, including the effect of non-zero response time of the fiber’s Kerr nonlinearity. We also include the effects of realistic transmission and detection losses. This theory predicts stronger photon-number correlations than seen experimentally with a pulsed pump, showing the need for development of a pulsed pump theory.
Pathogenesis of sodium and water retention in cirrhosis of the liver

Sodium retention is the most common renal abnormality of cirrhosis and eventually leads to the formation of ascites. There is now a strong body of evidence that the arterial vasodilatation, mainly splanchnic, that occurs during liver cirrhosis is a major factor in the pathogenesis of renal sodium and water retention. The arterial vasodilatation and the subsequent hypotension stimulate a baroreceptor-mediated neurohormonal vasoconstrictor and antinatriuretic response in a attempt to compensate the relative underfilling of the circulation. The cause of the arterial vasodilatation is thought to be a circulating factor and several recent studies have implicated an excessive vascular production of nitric oxide (NO). In animal models of cirrhosis administration of NO antagonists corrects the hyperdynamic circulation and improves renal sodium excretion. The treatment of sodium retention is often difficult in liver cirrhosis and it is possible that the identification of a vasodilator substance which can be inhibited could provide a new tool in the therapeutic approach of sodium and water retention in cirrhosis.
Abstract T P143: Addressing Stroke Disparities through Exploring Health Information-Seeking Behaviors among Young Adult African Americans

Introduction: Health information-seeking behaviors (HISB) are complex, varying by age, race and socioeconomic status. Examination of the process of HISB is critical in addressing the disproportionally high stroke risk in African Americans (AAs), especially in young adults where the stroke risk is greatest. We developed a survey to understand HISB related to stroke knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes, targeted to young AA professionals aged 21-45. Methods: Phase 1 consisted of focus groups in four states, followed by Phase 2: development, pretesting and pilot survey administration of an online survey. AA members of the southern region of the National Urban League Young Professionals (NULYP) network, a 24-chapter consortium across 11 states, were recruited for participation. Results: Phase 1 consisted of 20 AAs, 15 women, ages 26-42. Five themes emerged: 1) health concerns, 2) preventive actions, 3) preventive awareness, 4) stroke knowledge, and 5) trust in information source. Health information was primarily...
Considerations Limiting Zero-Resistance Currents in High-Temperature Superconductors

The fundamental processes governing the appearance of dissipation due to flux motion in superconductors are reviewed. The dominant thermally-activated resistive processes are discussed, and evidence for a sharp melting transition of the flux lattice is assessed.
How to measure the size of tumors: the RECIST standard vs. volumetrics

Response Evaluation Criteria for Solid Tumours (RECIST) proposed 1D criteria for determining if 3D tumors are growing malignantly. Here, the error introduced is quantified using physical ellipsoids and fitting to clinical data on liver malignoma.
Effects of Protein Structure on Iron−Polypeptide Vibrational Dynamic Coupling in Cytochrome c

Cytochrome c (Cyt c) has a heme covalently bound to the polypeptide via a Cys-X-X-Cys-His (CXXCH) linker that is located in the interface region for protein-protein interactions. To determine whether the polypeptide matrix influences iron vibrational dynamics, nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy (NRVS) measurements were performed on (57)Fe-labeled ferric Hydrogenobacter thermophilus cytochrome c-552, and variants M13V, M13V/K22M, and A7F, which have structural modifications that alter the composition or environment of the CXXCH pentapeptide loop. Simulations of the NRVS data indicate that the 150-325 cm(-1) region is dominated by NHis-Fe-SMet axial ligand and polypeptide motions, while the 325-400 cm(-1) region shows dominant contributions from ν(Fe-NPyr) (Pyr = pyrrole) and other heme-based modes. Diagnostic spectral signatures that directly relate to structural features of the heme active site are identified using a quantum chemistry-centered normal coordinate analysis (QCC-NCA). In particular, spectral features that directly correlate with CXXCH loop stiffness, the strength of the Fe-His interaction, and the degree of heme distortion are identified. Cumulative results from our investigation suggest that compared to the wild type (wt), variants M13V and M13V/K22M have a more rigid CXXCH pentapeptide segment, a stronger Fe-NHis interaction, and a more ruffled heme. Conversely, the A7F variant has a more planar heme and a weaker Fe-NHis bond. These results are correlated to the observed changes in reduction potential between wt protein and the variants studied here. Implications of these results for Cyt c biogenesis and electron transfer are also discussed.
Surgical complications in renal transplant recipients.

This article reviews complications in the kidney transplant patient related to other surgical procedures and related to organ transplantation, with emphasis on the surgical aspects.
Muḥammad the Prophet of Allah

In or about a.d. 571 a child was born to the Quraysh at Makkah and was given by his mother a name which may remain for ever uncertain. His tribe called him al-Amīn1 (the faithful), apparently an honorific title. The form which his name takes in the Koran (3: 138, 33: 40, 48: 29, 47: 2) is Muḥammad2 and once (61: 6) Aḥmad. In popular usage he is Muhammad (highly praised)—a name borne by more male children than anyother. The baby’s father, ‘Abdullāh,died before his birth; the mother, Āminah, when he was about six years old. It therefore fell to the lot of his grandfather, ‘Abd-al-Muṭṭalib, to bring up the boy, and after the grandfather’s death the duty devolved Upon his paternal uncle abu-Ṭālib.
Predicting self-regulation and vocabulary and academic skills at kindergarten entry: The roles of maternal parenting stress and mother-child closeness

Abstract We examined the indirect relations between maternal parenting stress when children were 15months of age and children’s vocabulary and academic skills when they were about to enter kindergarten, testing for potential mediation by mother-child closeness and children’s self-regulation skills. Participants had been involved in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project and included 1760 European American, African American, and Hispanic low-income mother-child dyads. Structural equation modeling revealed that mothers’ parenting stress when children were 15 months old was inversely related to children’s vocabulary and academic skills just prior to kindergarten, and that mother-child closeness at 25 months and children’s pre-kindergarten self-regulation skills consecutively mediated these associations in a three-path mediation model. The findings highlight the benefits of mother-child closeness in toddlerhood, and negative implications of maternal parenting stress. The discussion focuses on how maternal parenting stress is related to later maternal behavior, ultimately shaping child outcomes.
Periodic domain boundary ordering in a dense molecular adlayer: Sub-saturation carbon monoxide on Pd(111)

Abstract We describe a previously unreported ordered phase of carbon monoxide adsorbed on the (111) facet of single crystal palladium at near-saturation coverage. The adlayer superstructure is identified from low energy electron diffraction to be c(16×2) with respect to the underlying Pd(111) surface net. The ideal coverage is determined to be 0.6875 ML, approximately 92% of the 0.75‐ML saturation coverage. Density functional theory calculations support a model for the molecular packing characterized by strips of locally-saturated (2×2) regions, with the CO bound near high-symmetry surface sites, separated by antiphase domain boundaries. The structure exists in a narrow coverage range and is prepared by heating the saturated adlayer to desorb a small fraction of the CO. Comparison of the c(16×2) domain-boundary structure with structural motifs at lower coverages suggests that between 0.6 and 0.6875 ML the adlayer order may be more strongly influenced by interadsorbate repulsion than by adsorption-site-specific interactions. The system is an example of the structural complexity that results from the compromise between adsorbate–substrate and adsorbate–adsorbate interactions.
Mechanism of Electrical Conduction in Molten Cu S-Cu Cl and Mattes

The specific conductance and its temperature dependence were measured over the entire composition range of the molten Cu2S-CuCI system. At a typical temperature of 1200°C, 10 mol pct of the ionically conducting CuCl reduced the specific conductance from about 77 ohm−1cm−1 for pure Cu2S to about 32 ohm−1cm−1, and 50 mol pct CuCl reduced the conductance to that for pure CuCl—about 5 ohm−1cm−1. The nature of electrical conduction in molten Cu2S, FeS, CuCl, and mixtures was studied by measuring the current efficiency of electrolysis at about 1100°C. The Cu2S, FeS, and mattes were found to conduct exclusively by electrons, but addition of 15 wt pct CuS to Cu2S produces a small amount of electrolysis. Addition of CuCl to Cu2S suppresses electronic conduction, and ionic conduction reaches almost 100 pct at a CuCl concentration of about 50 mol pct. These facts are interpreted in terms of electron energy level diagrams by analogy to the situation in solids.
The Respiratory Therapy Profession Is at a Crossroads.

In 2007, the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) commissioned a task force to provide recommendations for the future direction of respiratory therapy in 2015 and beyond.[1][1] After 3 years of study, conferences, and discussions with a wide range of individuals and organizations
Predictive factors on the receipt and completion of adjuvant chemotherapy in a mixed sociodemographic cohort of patients.

6137 Background: African Americans are more likely to die from breast, colon and lung cancer compared to whites. They are also less likely to receive and complete recommended therapy. The reasons f...
Génesis de la Renta Mínima de Inserción en Catalunya. Actores, trayectorias, posiciones y recursos

espanolA partir de los anos 1970 se produce en la mayoria de paises de la Europa occidental un fenomeno que se conocera como «nueva pobreza». Este fenomeno es, segun Robert Castel, un indicador del debilitamiento de la sociedad asalariada y del pacto keynesiano-fordista que la sustentaba. La nueva pobreza es el resultado del debilitamiento del pleno empleo, del debilitamiento de la estabilidad de los puestos de trabajo y de las protecciones vinculadas al empleo asalariado. En respuesta a estas situaciones emergen las llamadas rentas minimas. En el caso catalan, la Renta minima de insercion sera concebida como un dispositivo orientado a la capacitacion social y profesional de los «pobres» en proyectos de insercion definidos localmente. En este articulo se indaga en las razones, en el caso catalan, que llevaron a dar respuestas locales y de capacitacion individual a fenomenos vinculados a mutaciones en las estructuras economicas y sociales de nuestra epoca. Este articulo inspirado por la sociologia de las categorias de la accion publica y de la sociologia de los problemas sociales, defiende que la forma que toma la renta minima en Catalunya debe entenderse como el resultado del tipo de actores y del contexto de produccion de este dispositivo mas que como una respuesta tecnica y racional a un problema social. EnglishBeginning in the 1970s, most countries in Western Europe have experienced the phenomenon of the «new poverty». According to Robert Castel, this phenomenon is an indicator of the decline of salaried society and of the Keynesian-Fordist pact that underpinned it. The new poverty is the result of the decline of full employment and weakened stability in terms of jobs and the protections linked to salaried employment. «Minimum income» projects emerge as a response to these situations. In the Catalan case, guaranteed minimum income is conceived as an instrument aimed at the social and professional training of «the poor» in locally defined integration projects. This article investigates the reasons that led to the Catalan approach consisting of providing local responses, emphasizing individual training, to phenomena associated with mutations in the economic and social structures of our age. Taking its inspiration from sociology of categories of public action and from sociology of social problems, the article argues that the way in which minimum income has been implemented in Cataluna should be understood as the result of the kind of actors and context in which this tool has been produced, rather than as a technical and rational response to a social problem.
NGOs and the Climate Justice Movement in the Age of Trumpism

The election of Donald Trump presents a new context for climate justice. Local and national fights have gained importance, and building a mass movement has become a major strategic priority. NGOs need to support grassroots, frontline, and social movement leadership, overcoming structural challenges and joining fights on issues not traditionally associated with stopping climate change. These alliances of movements and NGOs represent the best hope for people and the planet.
Effect of temperature control on the metabolite content in exhaled breath condensate.

Abstract The non-invasive, quick, and safe collection of exhaled breath condensate makes it a candidate as a diagnostic matrix in personalized health monitoring devices. The lack of standardization in collection methods and sample analysis is a persistent limitation preventing its practical use. The collection method and hardware design are recognized to significantly affect the metabolomic content of EBC samples, but this has not been systematically studied. Here, we completed a series of experiments to determine the sole effect of collection temperature on the metabolomic content of EBC. Temperature is a likely parameter that can be controlled to standardize among different devices. The study considered six temperature levels covering two physical phases of the sample; liquid and solid. The use of a single device in our study allowed keeping saliva filtering and collector surface effects as constant parameters and the temperature as a controlled variable; the physiological differences were minimized by averaging samples from a group of volunteers and a period of time. After EBC collection, we used an organic solvent rinse to collect the non-water-soluble compounds from the condenser surface. This additional matrix enhanced metabolites recovery, was less dependent on temperature changes, and may possibly serve as an additional pointer to standardize EBC sampling methodologies. The collected EBC samples were analyzed with a set of mass spectrometry methods to provide an overview of the compounds and their concentrations present at each temperature level. The total number of volatile and polar non-volatile compounds slightly increased in each physical phase as the collection temperature was lowered to minimum, 0 °C for liquid and −30, −56 °C for solid. The low-polarity non-volatile compounds showed a weak dependence on the collection temperature. The metabolomic content of EBC samples may not be solely dependent on temperature but may be influenced by other phenomena such as greater sample dilution due to condensation from the ambient air at colder temperatures, or due to adhesion properties of the collector surface and occurring chemical reactions. The relative importance of other design parameters such as condenser coating versus temperature requires further investigation.
Redetection of human papillomavirus type 16 infections of the cervix in mid-adult life

Abstract Purpose To assess whether HPV 16 originally detected in adolescent women can be redetected in adulthood. Methods A convenience sample of 27 adult women with known HPV 16 detection during adolescence was assessed for HPV 16 redetection. A comparison of the long control region (LCR) DNA sequences was performed on some of the original and redetected HPV 16 isolates. Results Median age at reenrollment was 27.5 years (interquartile range of 26.7–29.6). Reenrollment occurred six years on average after the original HPV 16 detection. Eleven of 27 women had HPV 16 redetected. Some of these HPV 16 infections had apparently cleared during adolescence. LCR sequencing was successful in paired isolates from 6 women; in 5 of 6 cases the redetected HPV 16 isolates were identical to those detected during adolescence, Conclusions HPV 16 may be episodically detected in young women, even over long time periods. HPV 16 redetection with identical LCR sequences suggests low-level persistent infection rather than true clearance, although newly acquired infection with an identical HPV 16 isolate cannot be excluded. However, this study suggests that a new HPV 16-positive test in a clinical setting may not indicate a new infection.
Proof pearl: wellfounded induction on the ordinals up to Ɛ 0

We discuss a proof of the wellfounded induction theorem for the ordinals up to Ɛ0. The proof is performed on the embedding of ACL2 in HOL-4, thus providing logical justification for that embedding and supporting the claim that the ACL2 logic has a model.
TCT-397 Ipsilateral Balloon Occlusion Technique for Percutaneous Closure After Transfemoral Aortic Valve Replacement

Vascular complications are associated with increased mortality following Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). The ipsilateral balloon occlusion technique (IBOT) involves passage of a balloon catheter from the ipsilateral superficial femoral artery to enable controlled closure of large-
A Theory of Civil Problem-Solving Courts

This article is the first to develop a problem-solving theory for the civil justice system. Drug courts pioneered the problem-solving model in the 1990s to pursue therapeutic goals as an alternative to “assembly line” sentencing. This Article explores the potential for migration of the drug court framework into the two most commonly adjudicated civil cases: rental housing and consumer debt. Three structural conditions in the civil courts—high-volume dockets, systemic lack of counsel, and corporate capture of the small claims process—routinely position vulnerable classes of individuals on the losing end of litigation. In the aggregate, these conditions have rendered the civil justice system predictably ineffective in combatting recurring social issues such as substandard housing and unscrupulous debt collection. The heart of the problem-solving theory in drug courts is the availability of an alternative remedy: treatment over prison. In civil courts, the remedy itself is not necessarily deficient; it is access to the remedy that is compromised. Relying on two years of field research in an experimental court, this Article demonstrates how core drug court principles, such as naming the purpose of the court as solving a social problem, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a strong judicial role, can be manipulated to address process failures in the civil justice system and reimagine the courts as proactive institutions responsible for the pursuit of socially beneficial outcomes. The Article also argues that a civil problem-solving theory survives many of the valid critiques levied against drug courts. In particular, drug courts have come under fire for playing a moralizing role and using compulsory treatment as a form of social control. A civil problem-solving court, however, would not exacerbate the negative impact of state power on already over-burdened groups. Instead, the targets of monitoring and behavior modification are the more powerful private actors to the litigation, such as property owners and debt buyers, who otherwise have been known to manipulate the courts—an instrument of the state—to evade their legal obligations and suppress individual rights.
Rethinking the Lens of Spanish: Grounding a Chicana Feminist Language

This essay examines the significant role Chicana feminist writers play in contesting mainstream perspectives on U.S. Spanish. Through the development of Chicana and U.S. Latina feminist discourse centered on the reclamation and affirmation of one’s inherited tongue, women have generated robust methodologies to understand the benefits of embracing the hybridity, intersectionality, and complexity of communication. From Gloria Anzaldua’s “mestiza consciousness” and Cherrie Moraga’s “theory in the flesh” and “coming from a long line of vendidas” to Ana Castillo’s “Xicanisma” and Emma Perez “sitio y lengua,” a new understanding of identity formation about the languages defining one’s cultural reality enabled women the ability to challenge the hegemonic identity politics for women by fostering narratives of “selfhood” that rethink the lens of Spanish in Chicana feminism.
A Fiber Optic Ultrasonic Sensing System for High Temperature Monitoring Using Optically Generated Ultrasonic Waves

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and characterization of a novel fiber optic ultrasonic sensing system based on the photoacoustic (PA) ultrasound generation principle and Fabry-Perot interferometer principle for high temperature monitoring applications. The velocity of a sound wave traveling in a medium is proportional to the medium's temperature. The fiber optic ultrasonic sensing system was applied to measure the change of the velocity of sound. A fiber optic ultrasonic generator and a Fabry-Perot fiber sensor were used as the signal generator and receiver, respectively. A carbon black-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material was utilized as the photoacoustic material for the fiber optic ultrasonic generator. Two tests were performed. The system verification test proves the ultrasound sensing capability. The high temperature test validates the high temperature measurement capability. The sensing system survived 700 °C. It successfully detects the ultrasonic signal and got the temperature measurements. The test results agreed with the reference sensor data. Two potential industry applications of fiber optic ultrasonic sensing system are, it could serve as an acoustic pyrometer for temperature field monitoring in an industrial combustion facility, and it could be used for exhaust gas temperature monitoring for a turbine engine.
Current Approaches to Pronunciation Instruction: A Longitudinal Case Study in French

A body of previous work in second‐ and foreign language pronunciation instruction (e.g., Lord, 2005; Miller, 2012) has shown that explicit phonetic and pronunciation instruction is beneficial. However, Olson (2014) noted that just a few minutes per week of instruction are devoted to pronunciation in most classrooms. What is the effect of such limited, sporadic attention to this critical aspect of language? This study traced the longitudinal development of four students over the first four semesters of French language study at a large Midwestern university. Analyses focused on a global measure of pronunciation accuracy—the number of incorrectly pronounced syllables (Lappin‐Fortin, 2018; Sturm, 2013a)—and included qualitative analyses of the types of errors participants continued to make. Results indicate that students’ pronunciation does improve to a certain extent but that progress is inconsistent both across phonemes and across students. This baseline study sets the stage for future studies of the impact of systematic, explicit instruction.
Prevalence and maternal characteristics associated with receipt of prenatal care provider counseling about medications safe to take during pregnancy.

Abstract Use of some medications during pregnancy can be harmful to the developing fetus, and discussion of the risks and benefits with prenatal care providers can provide guidance to pregnant women. We used Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System data collected for 2015 births aggregated from 34 US states (n = 40,480 women) to estimate the prevalence of self-reported receipt of prenatal care provider counseling about medications safe to take during pregnancy. We examined associations between counseling and maternal characteristics using adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR). The prevalence of counseling on medications safe to take during pregnancy was 89.2% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 88.7–89.7). Women who were nulliparous versus multiparous (aPR 1.03; 95% CI: 1.02–1.04), who used prescription medications before pregnancy versus those who did not, (aPR 1.03; 95% CI: 1.02–1.05), and who reported having asthma before pregnancy versus those who did not, (aPR 1.05; 95% CI: 1.01–1.08) were more likely to report receipt of counseling. There was no difference in counseling for women with pre-pregnancy diabetes, hypertension, and/or depression compared to those without. Women who entered prenatal care after the first trimester were less likely to report receipt of counseling (aPR 0.93; 95% CI: 0.91–0.96). Overall, self-reported receipt of counseling was high, with some differences by maternal characteristics. Although effect estimates were small, it is important to ensure that information is available to prenatal care providers about medication safety during pregnancy, and that messages are communicated to women who are or might become pregnant.
Reconstitution of defective respiratory burst activity with partially purified human neutrophil cytochrome B in two genetic forms of chronic granulomatous disease: possible role of Rap1A

Neutrophil plasma membranes from patients with the X-linked and autosomal recessive forms of chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) that lack cytochrome b are incapable of generating superoxide anion (O2-) in vivo and in vitro. The O2- generating activity of these defective membranes was reconstituted with the addition of partially purified human neutrophil cytochrome b in a detergent-based, cell-free activation system. Depending on the detergent system used, 50% to 100% of the activity of control membranes was recovered, and this activity was directly dependent on the cytochrome b concentration. However, when cytochrome b was purified to 99% homogeneity, the reconstitutive capacity of the cytochrome was lost, possibly because of subtle denaturation of the cytochrome or the removal of an additional required cofactor. Examination of the latter possibility with respect to a protein known to coassociate with the cytochrome, ie, Rap1A, indicated that this ras-like protein was present in the partially purified cytochrome preparation used to reconstitute activity in CGD membranes, but was missing in the highly purified preparation. However, the finding that Rap1A was present in normal amounts in the neutrophil membranes from all four major types of CGD (including those missing cytochrome b) suggested that the conditions required of the reconstitution assay did not favor the reassociation of the membrane-derived Rap1A with exogenously added cytochrome b or that another unidentified membrane component was lost during the final purification step. The normal expression of Rap1A in CGD cell membranes also indicates that this protein is not responsible for the absence of O2- production in the X-linked and autosomal recessive cytochrome b-negative forms of CGD. Finally, these results show that the expression of Rap1A in the plasma membrane is not dependent on the coordinate expression of cytochrome b, despite the close association shown for these two proteins in the normal cell membrane.
Brush reinfestation following mechanical manipulation.

Rootplowing and front-end stacking are two mechanical manipulation practices that were used to reduce brush density. The rate of brush reinfestation was faster for front-end stacking than rootplowing; however, pricklypear density was not reduced by rootplowing. Grass seeding following mechanical brush manipulation had no major long-term effect on brush reinfestation. Brush reinfestation was negatively correlated to rainfall, suggesting faster rate of brush reinfestation in drier years.
Lurking in the Shadows: Stranger Danger and Target Selection

Once motivated to commit a criminal act, the aggressor will look for favorable individual and situational factors in which to carry out the attack. The selection procedure is highly predictable and purposeful involving the right person who happens to be in the right place at the right time. Even when the criminal’s motivation appears to be highly illogical, their planning and execution may be highly rational. Once understood, potential targets can choose to take steps to protect themselves and avoid certain situations. Potential targets need to recognize that criminals prefer those who offer maximum gain, control, and access. They favor locations that minimize the risk of detection and situations that reduce contact with possible guardians.
Temporal expression of tumor necrosis factor-α and nitric oxide synthase 2 in rat small intestine after endotoxin

Temporal changes in tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and nitric oxide synthase 2 (NOS 2) were evaluated in segments of duodenum, jejunum, and ileum removed from male Sprague-Dawley rats 30, 60, 120, 180, and 240 min after lipopolysaccharide (LPS), 5 mg/kg, intreperitoneally. Plasma was assayed for TNF-α and for nitrate/nitrite (NOx). Intestinal and plasma TNF-α were elevated by 60 min after LPS and were back to control levels by 180 min. For control rats, NOS 2 was detected in the ileum, but not in the duodenum or the jejunum. In rats treated with LPS, NOS 2 was detected in all areas of the intestine at 120 min and was greatest at 240 min. Plasma NOx was elevated at 120 min and continued to increase to 240 min. The time course of changes in intestinal TNF-α and NOS 2 were similar to those reported for other tissues and suggest that the early and late actions of the LPS on the intestine may involve both mediators.
Abstract A27: Differential protein-interactome of MYB-NF1B fusion in adenoid cystic carcinoma

Chromosomal translocations occur frequently in adenoid cystic carcinomas (ACC). In salivary gland ACC, the commonly identified rearrangement occurs at chromosome t(6:9), resulting in the fusion of the transcription factor genes, MYB and NF1B. The gene fusion encoding a chimeric MYB-NF1B is a unique genetic feature, regarded as a hallmark in ACC carcinogenesis. Although MYB-NF1B may be involved in the deregulation of MYB expression and its downstream gene targets, the precise role of MYB-NF1B in the development and maintenance of ACC remains to be clearly defined. Here, we engineered an inducible system to express either MYB or MYB-NF1B in ACC-01 cells, which express low levels of endogenous MYB but not MYB-NF1B, to study the molecular and mechanistic role of MYB-NF1B. Immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry analysis revealed the presence of previously unreported MYB- and MYB-NF1B-interacting partners, including vimentin and nuclear myosin (MYO1C). These interactions were positively validated in several patient-derived xenograft models of ACC. Interestingly, MYB and MYB-NF1B interaction with vimentin and MYO1C appeared to be differentially regulated, and altering vimentin expression reduces MYB levels, while maintaining relatively steady levels of MYB-NF1B. MYO1C is involved in transcriptional regulation, and altered MYB-NF1B binding activity with nuclear myosin may modulate downstream gene targets. While detailed further study is needed, these findings suggest a potential distinct function of MYB-NF1B that may play an important role in ACC pathogenesis. Citation Format: Joseph O. Humtsoe, Hyun-Su Kim, Margaret Soucheray, Danielle Swaney, Patrick K. Ha. Differential protein-interactome of MYB-NF1B fusion in adenoid cystic carcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-AHNS Head and Neck Cancer Conference: Optimizing Survival and Quality of Life through Basic, Clinical, and Translational Research; 2019 Apr 29-30; Austin, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2020;26(12_Suppl_2):Abstract nr A27.
Swarm Control for Autonomous Navigation Support

In a denied environment, vehicles equipped with all-source navigation capabilities (e.g. magnetic, visual, etc.) can maintain assured PNT solutions and serve as anchors for other vehicles in a surveillance network. Mission vehicles not equipped with these features are subject to integration drift and can benefit from relative navigation updates. In a surveillance network, vehicles can perform relative measurement updates using radio ranging. In a time-synchronized network, localization accuracy for vehicles equipped only with radio ranging is primarily dependent on multilateration geometry to anchors. The primary contribution of this paper is a real-time distributed swarm control scheme to autonomously optimize multilateration for offboard mission vehicles in a surveillance network. Swarm guidance is provided by Semi-Cooperative Self-Aligning Swarm (SCSAS), a distributed greedy algorithm which uses surveillance data to control navigation support vehicles to optimize multilateration for selected offboard mission vehicles. Using multiple 10K-trial Monte Carlo simulations, the proposed algorithm demonstrates distributed control which results in consensus-like optimization of 2-D position MSE for selected offboard mission vehicles broadcasting surveillance data.
Lung recovery after long venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support for COVID-19 acute respiratory failure: A case report

Introduction: Venovenous (VV) Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is an effective rescue therapy for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)- acute respiratory failure. However, the optimal duration of ECMO support and time to lung recovery remain unknown. Description: A 48-year-old Hispanic male without significant past medical history was transferred to a tertiary care high-volume ECMO center on mechanical ventilation after 11 days of progressive shortness of breath due to COVID-19 pneumonia. He was transferred heavily sedated, paralyzed, in the prone position, and with lung protective mechanical ventilation settings of 6cc/kg of ideal body weight, tidal volume of 350cc, positive end-expiratory pressure of 14 cm H2O, respiratory rate of 30 breaths per minute, and FiO2 of 100%. His driving and plateau pressures were 13 and 27 cm H2O, respectively. Three days after intubation, his PO2/FiO2 ratio repeatedly dropped below 80 and he was placed on Vf -Vj ECMO for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). During his ICU course, the patient received adjunctive therapies, including Remdesivir and Dexamethasone. He was extremely encephalopathic, resulting in a failed trial of extubation and requiring tracheostomy placement 14 days after intubation. His ECMO run was complicated by oxygenator failure and emergent exchange of ECMO circuit despite anticoagulation with bivalirudin. His course was complicated by superimposed Enterobacter pneumonia and he was treated with antibiotics. After 38 days of VV ECMO support, he showed improvement in compliance and gas exchange, indicating lung recovery. The patient was weaned successfully from ECMO and remained on mechanical ventilation for almost 30 days after decannulation. The ICU team carried out aggressive physical therapy, the patient was weaned off mechanical ventilation, his tracheostomy was decannulated, and he was discharged on 2L O2. CT at the time of discharge showed “improved aeration of both lungs” with residual lung fibrosis and bronchiectasis (Figure 1). Discussion: ARDS remains the most common indication for long-term ECMO support, which is frequently complicated by severe deconditioning, secondary infection, and vascular complications. In a stratified analysis of 127 patients who received ECMO support for respiratory failure, patient survival was 52% after being on ECMO for more than 20 days.1 Despite multiple complications, including superimposed infection and oxygenator failure, our patient showed recovery from his ARDS. He was eventually extubated and discharged from the hospital, indicating ECMO as an effective treatment for COVID-19 pneumonia. VV ECMO support for COVID-19 pneumonia should be considered for all eligible patients as infection rates and continue to rise.
On-farm colorimetric detection of Pasteurella multocida, Mannheimia haemolytica, and Histophilus somni in crude bovine nasal samples.

This work modifies a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay to detect the bovine respiratory disease (BRD) bacterial pathogens Pasteurella multocida, Mannheimia haemolytica, and Histophilus somni in a colorimetric format on a farm. BRD causes a significant health and economic burden worldwide that partially stems from the challenges involved in determining the pathogens causing the disease. Methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have the potential to identify the causative pathogens but require lab equipment and extensive sample processing making the process lengthy and expensive. To combat this limitation, LAMP allows accurate pathogen detection in unprocessed samples by the naked eye allowing for potentially faster and more precise diagnostics on the farm. The assay developed here offers 66.7-100% analytical sensitivity, and 100% analytical specificity (using contrived samples) while providing 60-100% concordance with PCR results when tested on five steers in a feedlot. The use of a consumer-grade water bath enabled on-farm execution by collecting a nasal swab from cattle and provided a colorimetric result within 60 min. Such an assay holds the potential to provide rapid pen-side diagnostics to cattle producers and veterinarians.
Diverse digital and fuzzy composite transcriptional elements are prevalent features of mammalian cis-regulomes

Mammalian transcriptional regulatory sequences are comprised of complex combinations of simple transcription factor (TF) motifs. Stereospecific juxta-positioning of simple TF motifs generates composite elements (CEs), that increase combinatorial and regulatory specificity of TF-DNA interactions. Although a small number of CEs and their cooperative or anti-cooperative modes of TF binding have been thoroughly characterized, a systematic analysis of CE diversity, prevalence and properties in cis-regulomes has not been undertaken. We developed a computational pipeline termed CEseek to discover >20,000 CEs in open chromatin regions of diverse immune cells and validated many using CAP-SELEX, ChIP-Seq and STARR-seq datasets. Strikingly, the CEs manifested a bimodal distribution of configurations, termed digital and fuzzy, based on their stringent or relaxed stereospecific constraints, respectively. Digital CEs mediate cooperative as well as anti-cooperative binding of structurally diverse TFs that likely reflect AND/OR genomic logic gates. In contrast, fuzzy CEs encompass a less diverse set of TF motif pairs that are selectively enriched in p300 associated, multi-genic enhancers. The annotated CEs greatly expand the regulatory DNA motif lexicon and the universe of TF-TF interactions that underlie combinatorial logic of gene regulation.
Torsional-Flexural Buckling of Thin-Walled Sections Under Eccentric Load

A detailed analysis of the behavior of thin-walled open sections under eccentric loading is presented, with emphasis on singly-symmetric sections loaded in the plane of symmetry. It is shown that for a given shape, depending on eccentricity and slenderness, a variety of behavior modes is possible: continuous purely flexural beam-column behavior, flexural instability, torsional-flexural instability and, in exceptional cases, purely torsional instability. The purpose of this paper is the development of accurate design methods and procedures. For most practically important open shapes yielding by simple flexural beam-column action governs when the load is applied on the side of the shear center opposite from that of the centroid. If the load is applied on the open side of the section, or between shear center and centroid, failure can be by torsional-flexural instability, by yielding in the beam-column mode, or by flexural instability. Experimental investigation is in very satisfactory agreement with theory.
A study of crowdsourced segment-level surgical skill assessment using pairwise rankings

Currently available methods for surgical skills assessment are either subjective or only provide global evaluations for the overall task. Such global evaluations do not inform trainees about where in the task they need to perform better. In this study, we investigated the reliability and validity of a framework to generate objective skill assessments for segments within a task, and compared assessments from our framework using crowdsourced segment ratings from surgically untrained individuals and expert surgeons against manually assigned global rating scores. Our framework includes (1) a binary classifier trained to generate preferences for pairs of task segments (i.e., given a pair of segments, specification of which one was performed better), (2) computing segment-level percentile scores based on the preferences, and (3) predicting task-level scores using the segment-level scores. We conducted a crowdsourcing user study to obtain manual preferences for segments within a suturing and knot-tying task from a crowd of surgically untrained individuals and a group of experts. We analyzed the inter-rater reliability of preferences obtained from the crowd and experts, and investigated the validity of task-level scores obtained using our framework. In addition, we compared accuracy of the crowd and expert preference classifiers, as well as the segment- and task-level scores obtained from the classifiers. We observed moderate inter-rater reliability within the crowd (Fleiss’ kappa, $$\kappa = 0.41$$ ) and experts ( $$\kappa = 0.55$$ ). For both the crowd and experts, the accuracy of an automated classifier trained using all the task segments was above par as compared to the inter-rater agreement [crowd classifier 85 % (SE 2 %), expert classifier 89 % (SE 3 %)]. We predicted the overall global rating scores (GRS) for the task with a root-mean-squared error that was lower than one standard deviation of the ground-truth GRS. We observed a high correlation between segment-level scores ( $$\rho \ge 0.86$$ ) obtained using the crowd and expert preference classifiers. The task-level scores obtained using the crowd and expert preference classifier were also highly correlated with each other ( $$\rho \ge 0.84$$ ), and statistically equivalent within a margin of two points (for a score ranging from 6 to 30). Our analyses, however, did not demonstrate statistical significance in equivalence of accuracy between the crowd and expert classifiers within a 10 % margin. Our framework implemented using crowdsourced pairwise comparisons leads to valid objective surgical skill assessment for segments within a task, and for the task overall. Crowdsourcing yields reliable pairwise comparisons of skill for segments within a task with high efficiency. Our framework may be deployed within surgical training programs for objective, automated, and standardized evaluation of technical skills.