cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of implant programs on performance, carcass characteristics, and lipogenic gene expression in Holstein steers

Nineteen Holstein steers were randomly assigned to one of four treatments; no implant (CON); 36 mg zeranol (Ralgro) on d 0 and 20 mg estradiol benzoate plus 200 mg progesterone (Synovex S) on d 84 and 169 (RSS); Ralgro on d 0, Synovex S on d 84, and 28 mg estradiol benzoate plus 200 mg trenbolone acetate (Synovex-Plus) on d 168 (RSP); or Ralgro on d 0, and Synovex-Plus on d 84 and 168 (RPP). Subcutaneous adipose biopsies were collected before implanting (d -14) and on d 97, 182 and at slaughter for measurement of mRNA concentrations of fatty acid synthetase (FAS) and acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC). Implanted steers had greater average daily gain, dry matter intake, final body weight, hot carcass weight and longissimus muscle area than controls. No differences were observed in feed conversion ratio (FCR), dressing percentage, 12 th rib backfat, kidney pelvic and heart fat, marbling score, yield grade or WarnerBratzler shear force values. Treatment did not affect serum metabolite concentration. Real Time PCR analysis of subcutaneous adipose mRNA concentrations indicated implants decreased ACC and FAS expression on d 97. ACC expression was increased significantly for RPP compared to RSP on d 182 and increased for the average of RSP and RPP compared to RSS on d 259, whereas FAS expression was not affected on d 182 or 259. Results suggest that lipogenic gene expression is affected by anabolic implants, particularly early in the feeding period and may partially explain how implants affect carcass characteristics, albeit a limited number of steers were used.
Rapid and apparently error-prone excision repair of nonreplicating UV-irradiated plasmids in Xenopus laevis oocytes.

Repair of UV-irradiated plasmid DNA microinjected into frog oocytes was measured by two techniques: transformation of repair-deficient (delta uvrB delta recA delta phr) bacteria, and removal of UV endonuclease-sensitive sites (ESS). Transformation efficiencies relative to unirradiated plasmids were used to estimate the number of lethal lesions; the latter were assumed to be Poisson distributed. These estimates were in good agreement with measurements of ESS. By both criteria, plasmid DNA was efficiently repaired, mostly during the first 2 h, when as many as 2 x 10(10) lethal lesions were removed per oocyte. This rate is about 10(6) times the average for removal of ESS from repair-proficient human cells. Repair was slower but still significant after 2 h, but some lethal lesions usually remained after overnight incubation. Most repair occurred in the absence of light, in marked contrast to differentiated frog cells, previously shown to possess photoreactivating but no excision repair activity. There was no increase in the resistance to DpnI restriction of plasmids (methylated in Escherichia coli at GATC sites) incubated in oocytes; this implies no increase in hemimethylated GATC sites, and hence no semiconservative DNA replication. Plasmid substrates capable of either intramolecular or intermolecular homologous recombination were not recombined, whethermore » UV-irradiated or not. Repair of Lac+ plasmids was accompanied by a significant UV-dependent increase in the frequency of Lac- mutants, corresponding to a repair synthesis error frequency on the order of 10(-4) per nucleotide.« less
On the Performance of Synchronous Multiprocessors

In this correspondence, we study the performance of a multiprocessor in which a crossbar is employed to interconnect p processors to m commonly shared memory modules. A set of nonuniformly distributed probabilities including a probability P(0) which denotes the probability of a processor not generating any request is also employed to illustrate the program behavior, but no distinction is made between processors. Several relations between the average request completion time, the average processor utilization, and the effective memory bandwidth are obtained. One approximation method based on the idea of aggregation is proposed. Its solutions are compared to the exact solution.
Role of Thyrotropic Hormone in Iodine Metabolism of Embryonic Rat Thyroid Glands in Organ Culture

Embryonic thyroid glands of 16-16.5-day-old and 17-17.5-day-old embryonic rats were cultured for 4 days in 4 different media: a synthetic medium; the synthetic medium to which TSH was added; the synthetic medium to which serum from hypophysectomized rats was added; and the synthetic medium to which both serum from hypophysectomized rats and TSH were added. 2. Thyroid explants of 16-16.5-day-old embryonic rats made no significant use of added 131I when cultured in the completely synthetic medium. The addition of serum prepared from the blood of hypophysectomized rats increased somewhat the capacity of the explants to metabolize m I. The addition of TSH had a significant effect on the functional activity of the embryonic thyroid explanted into culture either in the synthetic medium or in the synthetic medium to which serum had been added. In the former, addition of the TSH enhanced utilization of the added 131I, and only in the presence of TSH was the formation of labeled T4 observed. 3. When embryonic glan...
Skeletal indicators of locomotor adaptations in living and extinct rodents

Living rodents show great diversity in their locomotor habits, including semiaquatic, arboreal, fossorial, ricochetal, and gliding species from multiple families. To assess the association between limb morphology and locomotor habits, the appendicular skeletons of 65 rodent genera from 16 families were measured. Ecomorphological analyses of various locomotor types revealed consistent differences in postcranial skeletal morphology that relate to functionally important traits. Behaviorally similar taxa showed convergent morphological characters, despite distinct evolutionary histories. Semiaquatic rodents displayed relatively robust bones, enlarged muscular attachments, short femora, and elongate hind feet. Arboreal rodents had relatively elongate humeri and digits, short olecranon processes of the ulnae, and equally proportioned fore and hind limbs. Fossorial rodents showed relatively robust bones, enlarged muscular attachments, short antebrachii and digits, elongate manual claws, and reduced hind limb elements. Ricochetal rodents displayed relatively proximal insertion of muscles, disproportionate limbs, elongate tibiae, and elongate hind feet. Gliding rodents had relatively elongate and gracile bones, short olecranon processes of the ulnae, and equally proportioned fore and hind limbs. The morphological differences observed here can readily be used to discriminate extant rodents with different locomotor strategies. This suggests that the method could be applied to extinct rodents, regardless of ancestry, to accurately infer their locomotor ecologies. When applied to an extinct group of rodents, we found two distinct ecomorphs represented in the beaver family (Castoridae), semiaquatic and semifossorial. There was also a progressive trend toward increased body size and increased aquatic specialization in the giant beaver lineage (Castoroidinae). J. Morphol., 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Seven new species of Eimeria Schneider, 1875 (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from colubrid snakes of Guatemala and a discussion of what to call ellipsoid tetrasporocystic, dizoic coccidia of reptiles.

During a survey of Guatemalan herpetofauna in the summers of 1998–2000, 29 presumed new species of Eimeria Schneider, 1875 were found, seven of which have a distinct elongate-ellipsoidal shape (L/W ratio ≥ 1.7) and are described herein. Six of the seven new species are similar in oocyst length, width and L/W ratio and sporocyst length, width and L/W ratio, lack a micropyle, oocyst residuum, Stieda body, sub- and parastieda bodies, have a polar granule and sporocyst residuum, and their sporocysts appear to have dehiscence sutures. The seventh is slightly smaller and has sporocysts with a Stieda body. The new species are: E. coniophanes n. sp – whose sporulated oocysts from Coniophanes fissidens are 29.2×14.9 (27–31×13–16) $$\upmu$$ m, with sporocysts $$10.0\times7.8 \ \upmu$$ m; E. coniophis n. sp. –from Conophis lineatus are 32.0×16.5 (30–34×14–18) $$\upmu$$ m, with sporocysts $$10.2\times8.9\upmu$$ m; E. dryomarchoni n. sp. – from Drymarchon corais are 32.2×17.7 (31–34×17–19) $$\upmu$$ m, with sporocysts $$10.7\times8.6 \ \upmu$$ m; E. leptophis n. sp. – from Leptophis mexicanus are 29.5×17.0 (28–31×16–18) $$\upmu$$ m, with sporocysts $$10.0\times9.1 \ \upmu$$ m; E. oxybelis n. sp. – from Oxybelis aeneus are 31.8×16.5 (29–33×15–18) $$\upmu$$ m, with sporocysts $$10.3\times8.8 \ \upmu$$ m; and E. scaphiodontophis n. sp. – from Scaphiodontophis annulatus are 30.0×15.3 (28–33×14–16) $$\upmu$$ m, with sporocysts $$9.9\times7.9 \ \upmu$$ m. Sporulated oocysts of E. siboni n. sp. from Sibon nebulata are 24.3×14.2 (21–27×13–16) $$\upmu$$ m, with sporocysts $$10.0\times7.1 \ \upmu$$ m and with a Stieda body. We conclude that until all aspects of each life-cycle are known, it is prudent at this time to name all tetrasporocystic dizoic coccidia from snakes as members of Eimeria rather than place some of them in Choleoeimeria Paperna & Landsberg, 1989.
High Pressure X-Ray Studies of Polyethylene

High-pressure x-ray diffraction and optical studies of polymers using the gasketed diamond-anvil cell have been carried out by several investigators [1–5]. Crystallization and crystal phase transitions can be observed directly using these methods. However, there are two serious problems involved in the utilization of the gasketed diamond-anvil cell for such studies. These are Variation of pressure with temperature and the accurate measurement of pressure.
Response patterns in second somatosensory cortex (SII) of awake monkeys to passively applied tactile gratings.

This experiment explored the effects of controlled manipulations of three parameters of tactile gratings, groove width (1.07–2.53 mm), contact force (30–90 g), and scanning speed (40–120 mm/s), on ...
Populations, Feeding Ecology and Molt of Steller's Eiders

-This study considers the temporal and spatial distribution of Steller's Eiders (Polysticta stelleri) during molt along the north side of the Alaska Peninsula from Port Heiden to Bechevin Bay. Subadult eiders molted primarily at Nelson Lagoon, adult males at Nelson Lagoon and Izembek Bay, and adult females primarily at Izembek Bay. Only a few eiders used Bechevin Bay, Seal Islands, and Port Heiden. Although the flightless period overlapped among different age and sex classes, subadults were flightless first, then adult males, and last, adult females. Eiders maintained spatial and temporal separation during the flightless period, thereby reducing competition for food
The Effect of Specimen Thickness on the Tearing Energy of a Gum Vulcanizate

Abstract We have examined the effect of thickness on the critical tearing energy of a simple gum vulcanizate of SBR in pure shear. Laboratory experiments and finite-element calculations agree that the tearing energy that is measured with a pure-shear specimen increases with the thickness of the specimen. Laboratory measurements indicate that the deformation for crack growth in a pure-shear specimen increases with the thickness of the specimen. Finite-element calculations show that the energy available for release at a given deformation also increases with thickness in the range from t=1.4 mm to t=14 mm. Experiments show that the crtical tearing energy varies linearly with thickness in the range t=0.7 mm to t=2.7 mm. The effect of thickness on the tearing energy was also studied by calculating the J-integral at various points of the crack through the thickness of the pure-shear specimen. In general, the J-integral calculated at the surface of the specimen can be higher than the J-integral calculated at the...
Interference in Wireless Channels

The analysis and discussion so far in Chaps. 4 and 5 examined the effects of fading and shadowing in wireless systems while ignoring the possibility that the signal under consideration might be impacted by other signals, typically from other channels operating at the same frequency band. The contribution from other channels is often referred to as the cochannel interference or CCI. In simple terms, if the contribution from CCI exceeds a certain value, the ability to detect the signal of interest is adversely impacted leading to outage as well as further degradation in error rate performance (MacDonald 1979; Aalo and Zhang 1999; Muammar and Gupta 1982; Winters 1984; Cardieri and Rappaport 2001; Yang and Alouini 2003). Often, there might be several cochannels instead of a single one. Even these cochannels might not be operating all the time, making it necessary to model the number of cochannels as a random variable. Thus, there are two factors that affect the performance of wireless systems in fading or shadowed fading channels, namely the noise and CCI. The analysis and studies carried out in Chaps. 4 and 5 can be treated as noise limited. If noise is neglected, we will be dealing with interference limited systems. In reality, wireless systems operating in fading should be analyzed when both the noise and interference cannot be ignored (Okui 1992; Yao and Sheikh 1992; Simon and Alouini 2005). The interference from cochannels affects both the outage probabilities and error rates. In fact, outage probabilities and error rates go up in the presence of CCI. The existence of CCI even leads to outage floors or error floors, suggesting that any further increase in the desired signal power or SNR will have no impact on the outages or error rates.
The Entrepreneurial Value Creation Theory

The Entrepreneurial Value Creation Theory explains the entrepreneurial value creation and its realization via a venture (see figure 10.1). The entrepreneurial value creation process consists of two iterative stages, the venture formulation (Stage 1) and the venture monetization (Stage 2). In Stage 1, the entrepreneur begins with either the entrepreneurial opportunity or the entrepreneurial intention to found a new venture to realize the entrepreneurial reward. In Stage 1, the entrepreneurial competence is formulated, the process of which is explained by the Theory of Entrepreneurial Competence (see chapter 5). Many ventures fail during Stage 1. If a venture transitions to Stage 2, further investments are required to build dynamic complementary capabilities, which are then embedded in the business model design. If the venture is unable to procure further investments, the venture returns to Stage 1 and the entrepreneurial competence is reformulated, before the venture may return to Stage 2. In Stage 2, the Business Model Theory, within the Entrepreneurial Value Creation Theory, explains the elements of the business model design, the venture value drivers.
What Can We Learn About Policy Analysis and Change from the Language of Oversight

This paper centers on language as a foundational component of policy regimes. In particular, the paper focuses on the language contained in a new dataset of reports issued by the the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in the U.S. as providing a common glue, or lens, through which to view bureaucratic policymaking and oversight across a range of issues. The language of policy analysis is influential in two respects. First, the language of policy analysis signals to executive agencies a need to focus internally on management initiatives, or externally, on policy initiatives. This has tremendous importance for whether bureaucracies focus internally on efficiency or externally on achieving the goals encoded in policy. Second, this language influences the information bureaucracies are likely to generate through the regulatory process and the relevance of this information for decision-making at higher levels of government. The language of policy analysis supports an integrative policy regime that spans both policy issues and executive agencies. Furthermore, the binding language of policy analysis evolves and develops in systematic ways with the larger macro political context. Using this new data set on GAO reports from 1991 through the present, cluster and text analysis illuminates the language of GAO reports as indicative of a policy regime and relates the development of the regime to larger political developments in the United States. The paper concludes by offering insights relating the language of policy analysis to policy change and information processing in the administrative state in the U.S.
Birds of the Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire the world has ever known, had, among other things, a goodly number of falconers, poultry raisers, birdcatchers, cooks, and other experts on various aspects of birding. We have records of this, largely in the Yinshan Zhengyao, the court nutrition manual of the Mongol empire in China (the Yuan Dynasty). It discusses in some detail 22 bird taxa, from swans to chickens. The Huihui Yaofang, a medical encyclopedia, lists ten taxa used medicinally. Marco Polo also made notes on Mongol bird use. There are a few other records. This allows us to draw conclusions about Mongol ornithology, which apparently was sophisticated and detailed.
Self-Assembled Networks: Control vs. Complexity

DNA-based self-assembly of nanoelectronic devices is an emerging technology that has the potential to enable tera-to peta-scale device integration. However, self-assembly currently is limited to manufacturing small computing blocks (nodes) which must then be interconnected to build a larger computing system. In this paper, the authors study node networks created by varying control over three aspects of the self-assembly process (node placement, node orientation, and inter-node link creation). In particular, the authors examine the tradeoff between node complexity and control required during self-assembly to maximize the number of connected nodes in the network. As the level of control decreases, the authors find that node communication hardware needs to be augmented to allow link sharing between several transceivers. This also results in better network connectivity in the presence of defective nodes and links. Finally, the authors show that for a data parallel architecture with enough available nodes, the specific network topology has a negligible effect on performance
Routing algorithm for multiple unsplittable flows between two cloud sites with QoS guarantees

Large scale cloud applications may require users to get multiple resources (e.g., VMs, storage) from different sites and simultaneously connect each pair of resources by a path that can satisfy certain Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements. Finding such paths with the bandwidth constraint is known as the unsplittiable flow problem, which is shown to be NP-hard. Accordingly, various approximations as well as heuristic algorithms are proposed to maximize the amount of routed flows. However, the existing solutions suffer from either low performance in maximizing the amount of routed flows or excessive computation time. In this paper, we propose a new efficient heuristic for a special case, where multiple flows are sent between two cloud sites. Our heuristic algorithm first determines level cuts, set of links that are at same distance from source to destination, whose removal disconnects the source and destination. It then uses randomized best fit algorithm for assigning the flows to the links in the possible bottleneck cuts, which are the level cuts whose total available bandwidth is less then (1+γ) times the total requested bandwidth. It finally tries to forward flows between the level cuts using bandwidth constrained shortest path algorithm per flow. We demonstrate the efficiency of our heuristic using simulation.
Flexoelectric characterization of BaTiO3-0.08Bi(Zn1/2Ti1/2)O3

Flexoelectricity, the linear coupling between the strain gradient and the induced electric polarization, has been widely studied as a substitution for piezoelectricity among ceramic lead-free materials. Its potential in micro/nano-scale sensing has especially gained attention, outweighing the performance of cutting edge lead-based piezoelectric materials. In this letter, the flexoelectric coefficient of lead-free ceramic BaTiO3-0.08Bi(Zn1/2Ti1/2)O3 (BT-8BZT) was investigated in the transverse mode. The thermal dependence of flexoelectricity in BT-8BZT was investigated at temperatures ranging from 25 °C to 200 °C, and the results were compared with those of BaxSr1-xTiO3 (BST) ceramics. The effective μ12 of BT-8BZT is ∼25 μC/m at room temperature and can remain as high as ∼13 μC/m at 200 °C. This result suggests that BT-8BZT can be effectively used for micro/nano-sensing within a broad range of temperatures.
A distributed algorithm for mapping the graphical structure of complex environments with a swarm of robots

This paper presents a novel multi-robot mapping algorithm which allows a large number of simple robots to map the discrete graphical structure underlying an environment of multiple disjoint subregions. Examples of such environments include rooms in a building, buildings in a town, chambers in a cave network, or islands in an archipelago. Each robot is limited to a small communication range, compass, GPS sensor, and a short-range proximity sensor (e.g. bump sensor). Furthermore memory is limited, so no metric map of the environment is stored. Instead the algorithm determines which robots inhabit the same subregion, and which of these groups of robots are able to communicate. This information is captured in a disk graph representation. It is proven that these simple capabilities are sufficient to guarantee that all agents will determine the graphical structure in a finite time. Two environment configurations were tested with a range of quantities of robots. These simulations confirm that processing time is polynomial in the number of robots and indicate that the number of steps to convergence is linear in the number of robots.
An Atmospheric Hydraulic Jump in the Santa Barbara Channel

AbstractAs part of the Precision Atmospheric Marine Boundary Layer Experiment, the University of Wyoming King Air sampled an atmospheric environment conducive to the formation of a hydraulic jump on 24 May 2012 off the coast of California. Strong, northwesterly flow rounded the Point Arguello–Point Conception complex and encountered the remnants of an eddy circulation in the Santa Barbara Channel. The aircraft flew an east–west vertical sawtooth pattern that captured a sharp thinning of the marine boundary layer and the downstream development of a hydraulic jump. In situ observations show a dramatic rise in isentropes and a coincident sudden decrease in wind speeds. Imagery from the Wyoming Cloud Lidar clearly depicts the jump feature via copolarization and depolarization returns. Estimations of MBL depth are used to calculate the upstream Froude number from hydraulic theory. Simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model produced results in agreement with the observations. The innermost dom...
Effect of sodium restriction and corticosteroids on glandular kallikrein in plasma and in the submandibular gland.

We investigated whether sodium restriction or mineralocorticoid influence the release of submandibulary kallikrein into the blood and/or the concentration of kallikrein in glandular tissue. For this we measured submandibular gland blood flow, arterial and submandibular gland venous kallikrein, and kallikrein in glandular homogenates of male Sprague-Dawley rats after one week of either low sodium or deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) treatment. We also studied the effect of dexamethasone on the concentration of kallikrein in gland tissue and peripheral plasma. Kallikrein in plasma and in homogenates was measured by radioimmunoassay. Blood flow was determined by timed collections of venous outflow. Kallikrein release was calculated as the arteriovenous difference in kallikrein times the rate of submandibular gland plasma flow. The concentration of kallikrein in arterial plasma, the basal submandibular kallikrein release into blood, and the concentration of kallikrein in submandibular gland tissue were all higher during low sodium than during normal sodium intake (20.1 ± 3.6 ng/ml vs 10.7 ± 0.5, p< 0.05; 0.40 ± 0.09 ng/min/100 g bw vs 0.18 ± 0.02, p< 0.05, and 81.6 ± 5.5 lig/mg protein vs 65.1 ± 4.0, p< 0.05, respectively). In contrast, DOCA treatment did not affect the concentration of kallikrein in arterial plasma, the basal release of kallikrein from the submandibular gland into blood, or the concentration of kallikrein in the gland. Dexamethasone in doses that did not affect the normal growth of the animals had no significant effect on the concentration of kallikrein either in submandibular gland tissue or in peripheral plasma. We concluded that sodium restriction increases the kallikrein content of the submandibular gland and its release into blood, but this effect is probably not caused by increases in mineralocorticoid levels. The increased release of submandibular gland kallikrein into blood may explain, in part, the increased plasma levels of kallikrein observed during sodium restriction.
Prevention of Contrast and Radiation Injury During Coronary Angiography and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

In this review, we provide a summary of the recently published literature on various methods of preventing contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) and radiation-related injuries associated with cardiac catheterization and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The overall reported incidence of CI-AKI is declining, primarily due to adaptation of a standardized definition for CI-AKI as well as implementation of pre-procedural protocols to prevent or decrease the risk of CI-AKI. The implementation of increasing awareness and establishing radiation protection culture has been shown to be effective measures in reducing radiation exposure. Coronary angiography and PCI are valuable diagnostic and therapeutic tools in cardiovascular medicine. Accurate imaging of the coronary arteries in cardiac catheterization is dependent on the use of intravascular injection of iodinated contrast media and fluoroscopic imaging. Patients undergoing diagnostic and interventional cardiac catheterization may be exposed to a substantial amount of contrast media and ionizing radiation. Administration of contrast media is correlated with increased risk of CI-AKI, and exposure to radiation is known to be associated with a spectrum of acute and chronic tissue injuries.
Characterization of Siglec-8 Expression on Lavage Cells after Segmental Lung Allergen Challenge.

Background Siglec-8 is present at a high level on human blood eosinophils and low level on blood basophils. Engagement of Siglec-8 on blood eosinophils causes its internalization and results in death. Siglec-8 is a potential therapeutic target in eosinophilic asthma. Objectives The aim of this study was to determine Siglec-8 levels on eosinophils and basophils recruited during lung inflammation. Method We analyzed surface Siglec-8 by flow cytometry on cells obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) 48 h after segmental lung allergen challenge of human subjects with mild allergic asthma and used confocal microscopy to compare Siglec-8 distribution on BAL and blood eosinophils. Results Like their blood counterparts, BAL eosinophils had high unimodal surface Siglec-8, while BAL basophils had lower but detectable surface Siglec-8. BAL macrophages, monocytes, neutrophils, and plasmacytoid dendritic cells did not express surface Siglec-8. Microscopy of freshly isolated blood eosinophils demonstrated homogeneous Siglec-8 distribution over the cell surface. Upon incubation with IL-5, Siglec-8 on the surface of eosinophils became localized in patches both at the nucleopod tip and at the opposite cell pole. BAL eosinophils also had a patchy Siglec-8 distribution. Conclusions We conclude that 48 h after segmental allergen challenge, overall levels of Siglec-8 expression on airway eosinophils resemble those on blood eosinophils, but with a patchier distribution, a pattern consistent with activation. Thus, therapeutic targeting of Siglec-8 has the potential to impact blood as well as lung eosinophils, which may be associated with an improved outcome in eosinophilic lung diseases.
Cell-wall dyes interfere with Cryptococcus neoformans melanin deposition.

Melanization is an intrinsic characteristic of many fungal species, but details of this process are poorly understood because melanins are notoriously difficult pigments to study. While studying the binding of cell-wall dyes, Eosin Y or Uvitex, to melanized and non-melanized Cryptococcus neoformans cells we noted that melanization leads to reduced fluorescence intensity, suggesting that melanin interfered with dye binding to the cell wall. The growth of C. neoformans in melanizing conditions with either of the cell-wall dyes resulted in an increase in supernatant-associated melanin, consistent with blockage of melanin attachment to the cell wall. This effect provided the opportunity to characterize melanin released into culture supernatants. Released melanin particles appeared mostly as networked structures having dimensions consistent with previously described extracellular vesicles. Hence, dye binding to the cell wall created conditions that resembled the ‘leaky melanin’ phenotype described for certain cell-wall mutants. In agreement with earlier studies on fungal melanins biosynthesis, our observations are supportive of a model whereby C. neoformans melanization proceeds by the attachment of melanin nanoparticles to the cell wall through chitin, chitosan, and various glucans.
Comparing calendar and cycle life stability of redox active organic molecules for nonaqueous redox flow batteries

Abstract High stability of energy-rich redox active organic molecules (ROMs) in all states of charge is required for reliable operation of nonaqueous redox flow batteries (NRFBs), in which charged ROMs are used to store electric energy in external reservoirs. Calendar life stability and cycle life stability characterize capacity fade during storage of charged ROMs in the reservoirs vs. continuous cycling of the electrochemical cell. For insufficiently understood reasons, these two metrics of cell performance can be at odds with each other. In this study, we examine ROM systems consisting of dialkoxybenzene and 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole derivatives. By varying ROM structure and electrolyte composition, chemical stability of the charged states is varied over a wide range, and calendar life and cycle life stabilities are compared. For ROM systems that exhibit the highest chemical stability, the cycle life is largely (but not exclusively) limited by parasitic reactions involving the crossover of reaction products between the cell compartments. It appears that in many instances the cycling performance is strongly affected by poor membrane selectivity.
Broadcast news navigator (BNN) demonstration

The Broadcast News Navigator (BNN) is a fully implemented system that incorporates image, speech, and language processing together with visualization and user preference modeling to support intelligent, personalized access to broadcast news video. The demonstration will illustrate the use of the system's underlying machine learning enabled story segmentation and processing, called the Broadcast News Editor (BNE). A live, scenario-based demonstration will illustrate the use of named entity search, temporal visualization of entities, story clustering and geospatial story visualization, discovery of entity relations, and personalized multimedia summary generation. By transforming access from sequential to direct search and providing hierarchical hyperlinked summaries, we will demonstrate how users can access topics and entity specific news clusters nearly three times as fast as direct search of digital video. In short, we will demonstrate intelligent news on demand enabled by a suite of AI technologies.
Kognitive Grenzen der Rationalität

In den drei vorhergegangenen Kapiteln beschaftigten wir uns mit dem Einflus von Motivationen und Zielen auf das menschliche Verhalten in Organisationen. Der Inhalt dieser Kapitel bildet eine wesentliche Erweiterung der „klassischen“ Organisationstheorie, welche den Beschaftigten als „Instrument“ ansieht. In diesem und dem folgenden Kapitel wollen wir uns auf andere Eigenschaften der Organisationsmitglieder konzentrieren — auf ihre Eigenschaften als rationale Wesen. Wenn wir am Ende des siebten Kapitels das Studium dieser Eigenschaften und deren Implikationen fur die Organisationstheorie abschliesen, haben wir damit auch die Hauptaufgaben, die wir uns gesetzt haben, erfullt: 1. Schrittweise Eliminierung der Scheinwahrheiten der klassischen Beschreibung des Beschaftigten als Instrument. 2. Ersetzung dieser Abstraktion durch eine andere, welche anerkennt, das Mitglieder von Organisationen Wunsche, Motive und Triebe haben, und das ihr Wissen und ihre Fahigkeit zum Lernen und Problemlosen begrenzt ist.
Pop the Feed Filter Bubble: Making Reddit Social Media a VR Cityscape

On Reddit, users from tens of thousands of communities create and promote internet content, including pictures, videos, news, memes, and creative writing. However, like most social media feeds, subscribing to a very small subset of available content creates filter bubbles. These bubbles, while created unintentionally, skew perceptions of reality. This phenomena provides an impetus for researchers to design techniques breaking out of filter bubbles. Virtual reality provides opportunities for new environments that contextualize social media among multiple perspectives. We present one solution to the filter bubble problem: Blue Link City, which enables contextualized exploration of Reddit.
Litter quantity, litter chemistry, and soil texture control changes in soil organic carbon fractions under bioenergy cropping systems of the North Central U.S

Soil organic carbon (SOC) storage is a critical component of the overall sustainability of bioenergy cropping systems. Predicting the influence of cropping systems on SOC under diverse scenarios requires a mechanistic understanding of the underlying processes driving SOC accumulation and loss. We used a density fractionation technique to isolate three SOC fractions that are conceptualized to vary in SOC protection from decomposition. The free light fraction (FLF) is particulate SOC that is present in the inter-aggregate soil matrix, the occluded light fraction (OLF) is contained within aggregates, and the heavy fraction (HF) is associated with minerals. We evaluated surface (0 to 10 cm depth) SOC fraction changes from baseline conditions 5 years after biofuel cropping system establishment at two temperate sites with contrasting soil textures. The biofuel cropping systems included no-till maize, switchgrass, prairie, and hybrid poplar. The FLF concentration (g fraction C g bulk soil−1) did not change significantly from baseline levels under any of the cropping systems at either site after 5 years. Except for poplar, OLF concentrations were reduced in all systems at the site with coarse-textured soils and maintained at the site with fine-textured soils. In poplar systems, OLF concentrations were maintained on coarse-textured soils and increased on fine-textured soils. The HF concentrations also increased under poplar on the coarse-textured soil. A structural equation model indicated that OLF concentrations increased with lower litter C:N, and HF concentrations increased with greater litter quantity and lower litter C:N mass ratios. C:N increased over time within all SOC fractions, suggesting that all pools are sensitive to land-use change on sub-decadal timescales. In agreement with modern SOC theory, our empirical results indicate that increasing litter input quantity and promoting plant species with low C:N litter may improve SOC storage in aggregate and mineral-associated soil fractions.
Different Phenotypes of Osteoarthritis in the Lumbar Spine Reflected by Demographic and Clinical Characteristics: The Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project

Objective To determine if associations between demographic and clinical characteristics and appendicular joint osteoarthritis (OA) reflect different phenotypes of OA in the lumbar spine. Methods Participants were from the Johnston County OA Project. Demographic information consisted of age, sex, and race (white and African American), and clinical characteristics consisted of body mass index (BMI), low back pain and injury, and knee, hip, and hand OA. Participants were categorized as having spine OA, facet joint OA, both spine OA and facet joint OA, or neither spine OA nor facet joint OA (referent group). Multinomial regression models were used to determine odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Results Of 1,793 participants, the mean ± SD age was 66.2 ± 10.1 years, and the mean ± SD BMI was 30.7 ± 6.2. The majority of the participants were women (n = 1,144 [63.8%]), and 31.8% of the participants (n = 570) were African American. Eighteen percent of participants had neither spine OA nor facet joint OA, 22.8% had facet joint OA, 13.2% had spine OA, and 46.0% had both spine OA and facet joint OA. In adjusted analyses, African Americans were less likely to have facet joint OA (OR 0.68 [95% CI 0.49-0.95]) or both spine OA and facet joint OA (OR 0.51 [95% CI 0.37-0.70]). Women were more likely to have facet joint OA (OR 1.71 [95% CI 1.24-2.36]). Having a BMI of ≥30 was associated with having facet joint OA (OR 1.76 [95% CI 1.28-2.42]) and both spine OA and facet joint OA (OR 1.85 [95% CI 1.37-2.51]). Knee OA was associated with all 3 OA groups, while lower back injury was associated only with those with spine OA. Participants with hip OA were less likely to have facet joint OA. Conclusion Race, sex, BMI, hip OA, and lower back injury may help identify different OA phenotypes in the lumbar spine.
What is the fate of xylem-transported CO2 in Kranz-type C4 plants?

High concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon in stems of herbaceous and woody C3 plants exit leaves in the dark. In the light, C3 species use a small portion of xylem-transported CO2 for leaf photosynthesis. However, it is not known if xylem-transported CO2 will exit leaves in the dark or be used for photosynthesis in the light in Kranz-type C4 plants. Cut leaves of Amaranthus hypochondriacus were placed in one of three solutions of [NaH13 CO3 ] dissolved in KCl water to measure the efflux of xylem-transported CO2 exiting the leaf in the dark or rates of assimilation of xylem-transported CO2 * in the light, in real-time, using a tunable diode laser absorption spectroscope. In the dark, the efflux of xylem-transported CO2 increased with increasing rates of transpiration and [13 CO2 *]; however, rates of 13 Cefflux in A. hypochondriacus were lower compared to C3 species. In the light, A. hypochondriacus fixed nearly 75% of the xylem-transported CO2 supplied to the leaf. Kranz anatomy and biochemistry likely influence the efflux of xylem-transported CO2 out of cut leaves of A. hypochondriacus in the dark, as well as the use of xylem-transported CO2 * for photosynthesis in the light. Thus increasing the carbon use efficiency of Kranz-type C4 species over C3 species.
A Pattern Matching method for finding Noun and Proper Noun Translations from Noisy Parallel Corpora

We present a pattern matching method for compiling a bilingual lexicon of nouns and proper nouns from unaligned, noisy parallel texts of Asian/Indo-European language pairs. Tagging information of one language is used. Word frequency and position information for high and low frequency words are represented in two different vector forms for pattern matching. New anchor point finding and noise elimination techniques are introduced. We obtained a 73.1\% precision. We also show how the results can be used in the compilation of domain-specific noun phrases.
Desmoplastic Fibroma in the Distal Humerus of a 14-Year-Old Boy: A Case Report.

CASE We present the case of a 14-year-old male who presented with a pathologic elbow fracture. Imaging demonstrated a lytic distal humerus metaphyseal lesion with a soap bubble appearance. After fracture healing, frozen sections obtained at open biopsy suggested fibrous tissue; thus, curettage and bone grafting was performed. Pathology confirmed desmoplastic fibroma. The patient experienced a recurrence 18 months later and had repeat curettage and allograft strutting. He had no evidence of re-recurrence 2 years after the second surgery. CONCLUSIONS Desmoplastic fibroma may mimic the presentation of many bone lesions. Recurrence is common despite curettage and bone grafting. This patient performed well without wide resection.
Summary and Overview

Animal data have convincingly established that the intake of certain supplemental nutrients reduces the risk of cancer induced by a wide range of tumor initiators and promoters but that an excess intake of other nutrients enhances cancer risk. Examples of protective nutrients are vitamins A, C, and E, folic acid, and selenium.1–3 The effects of some of these nutrients are site specific as well as tumor specific.
Strategies for deploying unreliable AI graders in high-transparency high-stakes exams

We describe the deployment of an imperfect NLP-based automatic short answer grading system on an exam in a large-enrollment introductory college course. We characterize this deployment as both high stakes (the questions were on an mid-term exam worth 10% of students’ final grade) and high transparency (the question was graded interactively during the computer-based exam and correct solutions were shown to students that could be compared to their answer). We study two techniques designed to mitigate the potential student dissatisfaction resulting from students incorrectly not granted credit by the imperfect AI grader. We find (1) that providing multiple attempts can eliminate first-attempt false negatives at the cost of additional false positives, and (2) that students not granted credit from the algorithm cannot reliably determine if their answer was mis-scored.
Worry less about the algorithm, more about the sequence of events

Background: Many algorithms exist for learning network structure and parameters from data. Some of these algorithms include Grow Shrink, Incremental Association Markov Blanket, IAMB, Fast IAMB, and Interleaved IAMB, Hill Climbing, Restricted Maximization and Maximum-Minimum Hill Climbing. These algorithms optimize the fit to the data, while ignoring the order of occurrences of the variables in the network structure. Objective: This paper examines if sequence information (i.e., one variable occurs before another) can make algorithms for learning directed acyclical graph networks more accurate. Methods: A 13- variable network was simulated, where information on sequence of occurrence of some of the variables was assumed to be known. In each simulation 10,000 observations were generated. These observations were used by 4 conditional dependency and 4 search and score algorithms to discover the network from the simulated data. Partial sequence was used to prohibit a directed arc from a later variable to an earlier one. The Area under the Receiver Operating Curve (AROC) was used to compare the accuracy of the sequence-constrained and unconstrained algorithms in predicting the last node in the network. In addition, we examined the performance of sequence constrained algorithms in a real data set. We analyzed 1.3 million disability assessments done on 296,051 residents in Veterans Affairs nursing homes; where the sequence of occurrence of variables was inferred from the average age of occurrence of disabilities. We constructed three networks using Grow-Shrink algorithm, one without and the other two use two permutation of the observed sequence. The fit of these three models to data was examined using Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC). Results: In simulated data, algorithms that used sequenced constraints (AROC = 0.94, confidence intervals, C.I. = 0.86 to 1) were significantly more accurate than the same algorithm without use of sequence constraints (AROC = 0.74, C.I. = 0.65 to 0.83). The agreement between discovered and observed networks improved from range of 0.54 to 0.97 to range of 0.88 to 1. In the real data set, the Bayesian network constructed with use of sequence had 6% lower BIC scores. Conclusions: Sequence information improved accuracy of all eight learning algorithms and should be routinely examined in learning network structure from data.
Traitement des formes métastatiques et avancées des carcinomes épidermoïdes du canal anal

Les formes metastatiques ou avancees des cancers du canal anal sont rares. En cas de recidive locoregionale, la chirurgie de rattrapage offre, au prix d’une colostomie terminale definitive, une chance de remission prolongee pour les patients avec une morbidite acceptable. Le facteur pronostique principal est la qualite de l’exerese chirurgicale complete R0, amenant a envisager des exereses elargies avec reconstruction perineale par lambeau myofasciocutane. Dans les formes avancees non operables ou metastatiques, de recents progres ont permis de mieux definir les standards therapeutiques. Les protocoles DCF modifie et paclitaxel‒ carboplatine sont desormais les deux schemas de premiere ligne de reference. L’immunotherapie par anti-PD-1 a montre des resultats encourageants chez certains patients. La place de la chirurgie chez les patients oligometastatiques reste a definir et se discute au cas par cas en RCP.
Relevance Ratio: Evaluating the Probative Value of Expert Testimony in Child Sexual Abuse Cases

It is hard to overstate the importance of expert testimony in American courtrooms. Much of this testimony concerns scientific matters that are beyond the ken of ordinary experience. In cases where scientific matters play a central role, jurors may give substantial weight to expert testimony or even treat it as dispositive. Standards pertaining to the admissibility of scientific testimony are critical to the outcome in many trials. In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the United States Supreme Court adopted a new standard for the admissibility of expert scientific testimony.' Under Dauber, courts must independently assess the scientific validity of an expert's methodology. The Court explicitly rejected the Frye rule, under which courts based the admissibility of expert testimony entirely on whether the expert's methodology had achieved general acceptance in the relevant scientific community.2 Whether a technique is "generally accepted" is now only one consideration in a multi-pronged analysis, which includes the falsifiability of the expert's theory and the scientific technique's rate of error.3 Daubert could not have come at a better time. In recent years, critics have attacked expert testimony in many areas as 'Junk science" 4