cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An integrated approach to optimization of Escherichia coli fermentations using historical data

Using a fermentation database for Escherichia coli producing green fluorescent protein (GFP), we have implemented a novel three-step optimization method to identify the process input variables most important in modeling the fermentation, as well as the values of those critical input variables that result in an increase in the desired output. In the first step of this algorithm, we use either decision-tree analysis (DTA) or information theoretic subset selection (ITSS) as a database mining technique to identify which process input variables best classify each of the process outputs (maximum cell concentration, maximum product concentration, and productivity) monitored in the experimental fermentations. The second step of the optimization method is to train an artificial neural network (ANN) model of the process input-output data, using the critical inputs identified in the first step. Finally, a hybrid genetic algorithm (hybrid GA), which includes both gradient and stochastic search methods, is used to identify the maximum output modeled by the ANN and the values of the input conditions that result in that maximum. The results of the database mining techniques are compared, both in terms of the inputs selected and the subsequent ANN performance. For the E. coli process used in this study, we identified 6 inputs from the original 13 that resulted in an ANN that best modeled the GFP fluorescence outputs of an independent test set. Values of the six inputs that resulted in a modeled maximum fluorescence were identified by applying a hybrid GA to the ANN model developed. When these conditions were tested in laboratory fermentors, an actual maximum fluorescence of 2.16E6 AU was obtained. The previous high value of fluorescence that was observed was 1.51E6 AU. Thus, this input condition set that was suggested by implementing the proposed optimization scheme on the available historical database increased the maximum fluorescence by 55%.
An analysis of the susceptibilities of several populations of Rattus norvegicus to warfarin.

SUMMARY An analysis was made of the dose-response of several populations of Ratt?bs norvegtcus fed upon baits containing 0t005 °/O warfarin for various numbers of days. Warfarin-susceptible populations fell within a narrow range, with LFP50s and LFP98s (lethal feeding periods in days to obtain 50 °/O and 98 °/O mortalities respectively) of up to 3 0 and 5 0 days respectively. The probability of aUn individual rat from these populations surviving a six-day feeding period was estimated at 0 003 or less. Populations with responses falling beyond these limitswere regarded as warfarin-resistant. Six of nine populations of R. norvegicus, from England, Germany and the United States, were determined to be warfarin-susceptible within the narrow limits given above. In all six cases, no animals survived the sis-day WHO feeding test for anticoagulant susceptibility. In three populations from the United States, where rats survived six days feeding, their population responses clearly fell outside the measures given above. It is suggested, tentatively, that anticoagulantresistant Norway rat populations be defined as those whose LFP50 and LFP98 exceeds 3 0 and 5 0 days respectively, and in which the probability of an individual aniinal surviving a six-day feeding upon 0@005 °/O warfarin is 0@01 or more.
A new simulation framework for autonomy in robotic missions

Autonomy is a key enabling factor in the advancement of robotics for remote exploration. As the level of resources devoted to this effort continues to increase, it has become equally important to provide simulation tools and environments to scientists in which to test the autonomy algorithms. While industrial robotics benefits from a variety of high quality simulation tools, researchers developing autonomy software are still dependent primarily on block-world simulations. The Mission Simulation Facility (MSF) project addresses this shortcoming by providing a simulation toolkit that will enable developers of autonomous control systems to test their Systems' performance against integrated, standardized simulations of NASA mission scenarios. The MSF provides a distributed architecture that connects the autonomous system to a set of simulated components replacing the robot hardware and its environment.
Targeted Overexpression of Tissue Inhibitor of Matrix Metalloproteinase-4 Modifies Post Myocardial Infarction Remodeling in Mice

Rationale:Myocardial infarction (MI) causes an imbalance between matrix metalloproteinases and tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases (TIMPs) and is associated with adverse left ventricular (LV) remodeling. A uniform reduction in TIMP-4 post-MI has been observed. Objective:To examine post-MI remodeling with cardiac-restricted overexpression of TIMP-4, either through a transgenic or viral delivery approach. Methods and Results:MI was induced in mice and then randomized to targeted injection of an adenoviral construct (10 μL; 8×109 plaque forming units/mL) encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP) and the full-length human TIMP-4 (Ad-GFP-TIMP4) or GFP. A transgenic construct with cardiac-restricted overexpression TIMP-4 (hTIMP-4exp) was used in a parallel set of studies. LV end-diastolic volume, an index of LV remodeling, increased by >60% from baseline at 5 days post-MI and by >100% at 21 days post-MI in the Ad-GFP only group. However, LV dilation was reduced by ≈50% in both the Ad-GFP-TIMP4 and hTI...
Non-equilibrium behavior of HCN channels: Insights into the role of HCN channels in native and engineered pacemakers

Objective : I f, encoded by the hyperpolarization-activated, cyclic nucleotide-modulated (HCN) channel gene family, modulates cardiac pacing. During cardiac pacing, changes in membrane potential are rapid, preventing the very slow HCN channels from reaching equilibrium. Here, we examined the properties of HCN channels under non-equilibrium conditions to shed insight into how different HCN isoforms contribute to cardiac pacing. Methods and results : HCN1, 2 and 4 channels were heterologously expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes or mammalian Cos7 cells and subjected to voltage clamp. We found that HCN1 channel activation ( V 1/2) depended strongly on the holding potential ( V H) for short (100 ms; V 1/2=−118 mV, −78 mV and −19 mV for V H=+70, −75 and −140 mV, respectively, in Xenopus oocytes) but not long (300-ms) test-pulses, hinting that shifts of V 1/2 under non-equilibrium conditions may alter the impact of I f in different phases of the cardiac circle. Consistent with this notion, when a train of SA nodal-like action potentials was applied in voltage-clamp experiments, HCN1 exhibited pronounced current–voltage (IV)-hysteresis. Using computational modeling, we demonstrate that the intrinsically sluggish HCN1 activation kinetics underlie their IV-hysteretic behavior and do not hinder the ability to modulate cardiac pacing. By contrast, HCN4 did not exhibit IV-hysteresis. This difference can be attributed to the relatively large activation time constant and markedly delayed onsets of time-dependent HCN4 currents. Indeed, HCN2 channels, which have intermediate activation time constants and delays, displayed and intermediate hysteretic phenotype. Conclusion : We conclude that non-equilibrium properties of HCN channels contribute to cardiac pacing. These results provide insight for tuning the firing rate of endogenous and induced pacemakers using engineered HCN constructs with distinct gating phenotypes.
Sphingosine-1-phosphate regulation of mammalian development

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) was first identified as a lysophospholipid metabolite whose formation is required for the irreversible degradation of sphingolipids. Years later, it was discovered that S1P is a bioactive lipid that provokes varied cell responses by acting through cell-surface receptors to drive cell signaling. More recent findings in model organisms have now established that S1P metabolism and signaling are integrated into many physiological systems. We describe here the surprising breadth of function of S1P in mammalian development and the underlying biologic processes that S1P regulates.
Scheduling in anti-windup controllers: Output feedback case

We present results for incorporating a measure of scheduling in a form of anti-windup augmentation scheme. This is achieved by keeping a nominal linear controller as long as possible and relying on a family of controllers with decreasing authority, once the system leaves the small signal regime. The scheduling is to override the nominal controller. The emphasis is on providing performance guarantees, even for open loop unstable plants, though design of invariant sets and similar stability concepts are also possible. The guaranteed performance measures are local, in the sense that they depend on peak bounds on the disturbance, which are assumed to be known. The main idea is demonstrated through an example with an unstable plant.
Testosterone replacement therapy in older adult men

Serum testosterone levels decline slowly with normal ageing in men and, although all men are not destined to become hypogonadal as they age, the prevalence of androgen deficiency in the older male is not insignificant. Over the past several decades, there has been an increasing interest in evaluating whether testosterone therapy (male HRT) might be beneficial for certain older men in preventing or reversing some aspects of ageing. The major androgen target organs of interest with regard to beneficial effects of male HRT include bone, muscle, adipose tissue, the cardiovascular system and the central nervous system (libido and aspects of mood). At the same time, potential adverse effects of male HRT on target organs such as the prostate continue to be evaluated. It is the purpose of this review to summarize the information to date with regard to testosterone replacement therapy in the older man and to discuss areas where more research and clinical information need to be forthcoming. Hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) for post-menopausal women has been studied and discussed for many years. The idea of male HRT, however, is a relatively recent development, with increasing interest in this area occurring only over the past two decades. Reasons for this nascent enthusiasm include burgeoning evidence that testosterone levels decline with normal male ageing (and with age-associated diseases) and an interest in preventing age-related dysfunction and prolonging quality life among an ever increasing population of older adults. The decline in testosterone with age often parallels unfavourable changes in organs upon which androgens act and the goal of male HRT would be to prevent, stabilize or even reverse some of these detrimental target-organ changes.
High-resolution characterization of the pancreatic adenocarcinoma genome

The pancreatic adenocarcinoma genome harbors multiple amplifications and deletions, pointing to the existence of numerous oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes driving the genesis and progression of this lethal cancer. Here, array comparative genomic hybridization on a cDNA microarray platform and informatics tools have been used to define the copy number alterations in a panel of 24 pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines and 13 primary tumor specimens. This high-resolution genomic analysis has identified all known regional gains and losses as well as many previously uncharacterized highly recurrent copy number alterations. A systematic prioritization scheme has selected 64 focal minimal common regions (MCRs) of recurrent copy number change. These MCRs possess a median size of 2.7 megabases (Mb), with 21 (33%) MCRs spanning 1 Mb or less (median of 0.33 Mb) and possessing an average of 15 annotated genes. Furthermore, complementary expression profile analysis of a significant fraction of the genes residing within these 64 prioritized MCRs has enabled the identification of a subset of candidates with statistically significant association between gene dosage and mRNA expression. Thus, the integration of DNA and RNA profiles provides a highly productive entry point for the discovery of genes involved in the pathogenesis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
The AIDS: A chain price index approach

Abstract An AIDS-like demand system model is developed with an easy-to-calculate chain-price index that replaces the price index in the original AIDS.
Microwave-assisted synthesis of palladium nanoparticles supported on graphene: A highly active and recyclable catalyst for carbon–carbon cross-coupling reactions

Abstract We have developed an efficient method to generate highly active Pd nanoparticles supported on graphene (Pd/G) by microwave-assisted chemical reduction of the corresponding aqueous mixture of a palladium salt and dispersed graphite oxide (GO) sheets. The Pd/G demonstrated excellent catalytic activity for the carbon–carbon cross-coupling reactions (Suzuki, and Heck) with a broad range of utility under ligand-free ambient conditions in an environmentally friendly solvent system. It also offers a remarkable turnover frequency (108,000 h−1) observed in the microwave-assisted Suzuki cross-coupling reactions with easy removal from the reaction mixture, recyclability with no loss of activity, and significantly better performance than the well-known commercial Pd/C catalyst. The catalyst was fully characterized by a variety of spectroscopic techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, TGA, electron microscopy (SEM, TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The remarkable reactivity of the Pd/G catalyst toward Suzuki cross-coupling reactions is attributed to the high degree of the dispersion and concentration of Pd(0) nanoparticles supported on graphene sheets with small particle size of 7–9 nm due to an efficient microwave-assisted reduction method.
Insulin-Stimulated Glucose Disposal: Does Adipose Play a Role?

Although muscle is thought to be a primary assimilator of glucose, adipose may provide a substantial amount of substrate for gluconeogenesis, even in the fed state.
Ascending Projections of Simple and Complex Cells in Layer 6 of the Cat Striate Cortex

Receptive field properties vary systematically across the different layers of the cat striate cortex. Understanding how these functional differences emerge requires a precise description of the interlaminar connections and the quality of information that they transmit. This study examines the contribution of the two physiological types of neuron in layer 6, simple and complex, to the cortical microcircuit. The approach was to make whole-cell recordings with dye-filled electrodes in vivo to correlate visual response property with intracortical projection pattern. The two simple cells we stained projected to layer 4, as previously reported ([Gilbert and Wiesel, 1979][1];[Martin and Whitteridge, 1984][2]). Six of the eight complex cells that we labeled projected to the superficial layers, a pathway not previously described in the cat. The remaining two cells targeted the infragranular layers. Layer 4 is dominated by simple cells, whereas layers 5 and 2+3 are mainly composed of complex cells ([Hubel and Wiesel, 1962][3]; [Gilbert, 1977][4]). Hence, our results indicate that the ascending projections of simple cells in layer 6 target other simple cells. In parallel, the ascending projections of a population of complex cells in layer 6 favor other complex cells. Anatomical experiments in several species ([Lund and Boothe, 1975][5]; [Burkhalter, 1989][6]; [Usrey and Fitzpatrick, 1996][7]; [Wiser and Callaway, 1996][8]) had also demonstrated that layer 6 gives rise to two separate intracortical pathways. Pooling the results of these anatomical studies with our own suggests a common feature of the laminar organization: cells that project to different intracortical targets have distinct functional characteristics. [1]: #ref-21 [2]: #ref-46 [3]: #ref-32 [4]: #ref-19 [5]: #ref-42 [6]: #ref-7 [7]: #ref-60 [8]: #ref-61
Constructing images of science: people, technologies, and practices

Abstract Project SEARCH (Science Education and Research for CHildren) is an outreach program designed to bring the science resources of a large research university to classrooms and community centers. University science students share activities, materials, and content expertise with local classrooms and after-school programs. Using observations, surveys, and interviews, we examined the experiences of these students as teachers and role models for the children, with a particular focus on after-school programs. We found that there was often a tension between the students' notions of formal science learning, and the demands of the after-school settings for lively and entertaining activities. But community agencies and schools uniformly valued the enthusiasm and the resources provided by the SEARCH students. Children were engaged in the activities and looked forward to the students' visits. Most importantly, they saw the students as positive and diverse models for the role of scientist. The SEARCH experience highlights both the value of providing diverse and challenging experiences for children, and the need for dialog and reflection on those experiences.
Luminescent Quantum Dot-Bioconjugates in Immunoassays, FRET, Biosensing, and Imaging Applications

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (quantum dots, QDs), such as CdSe-ZnS core-shell, are highly luminescent and stable inorganic fluorophores that represent a promising alternative to organic dye...
1, 4-Diazaspiro[4.5]decane-2, 3-dione

The spirane 1,4-di­aza­spiro­[4.5]­decane-2,3-dione, C8H12N2O2, or 2,2-penta­methyl­ene-4,5-imidazolidinedione, has been prepared and found to crystallize with two independent mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit. Though nearly identical in geometry, the two distinct mol­ecules undergo two different styles of co-operative hydrogen bonding, namely a planar and a canted arrangement.
Characteristics of Tropospheric Ozone Production and Transport in East Asia

Recent studies have shown that the level of ozone concentration in the troposphere is increasing (Bojkov and Reinsel, 1985). This is very important because, along with the OH radical, ozone is the chief tropospheric cxidant and thus changes in ozone levels lead to alterations of the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere. Other problems caused by tropospheric ozone are the deleterious effects of the gas on vegetation, forestry, and human health. Also, because of its absorption characteristics, ozone is one of the major “greenhouse gases” contributing to possible global warming. Next to water vapor and carbon dioxide, ozone plays the most important role in the energy budget of the troposphere.
Mechanical and surface coagulation

Abstract The kinetics of coagulation by stirring of α-FeOOH-sols is investigated. It is found to conform quantitatively to that predicted for a surface coagulation. The fact that the rate of mechanical coagulation increases strongly with ( S V ), (S being the liquid-air surface generated by stirring in the sample of volume V) supports this interpretation. The activation energy of coagulation by stirring agrees with that expected for systems of critically low stability. In view of the very long “shelf life” of the systems involved, the colloid stability in hydrophobic systems of the type investigated must be assumed to be much lower in the air-water interface than in the bulk. In contradistinction to ordinary bulk coagulation, the rate of mechanical coagulation is found to be almost independent of the presence of secondary particles, so that the Smoluchowski equation is not needed in the quantitative theory describing it.
Acute care surgery and emergency general surgery: Addition by subtraction.

INTRODUCTION The formation of Acute Care Surgery services leads to decreased time to treatment and improved outcomes for emergency general surgery (EGS) patients. However, minimal work has focused on the ideal care delivery system and team structure. We hypothesize that the implementation of a dedicated EGS team (separate from trauma and surgical critical care), with EGS-specific protocols and dedicated operating room (OR) time, will increase productivity and improve mortality. METHODS This is a retrospective review of financial and EGS registry data from fiscal year (FY) 12 to FY15. Data are from an academic, university-based EGS team composed of two acute care surgery attending surgeons, advanced practitioners (APs), residents, and a fellow. In FY12, processes were implemented to standardize paging of consults, patient sign-out with attending surgeons' and APs' participation, clinical/billing protocols, OR availability, and quality improvement. Outcomes included relative value units (RVUs), surgical case volume, charges/payments, and number of patient encounters. The secondary outcome was mortality. The χ test was used to compare mortality, and p < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS Total patient encounters increased from 6,723 in FY 12 to 9,238 in FY 15 (+37%). Relative value units increased from 18,422 in FY 12 to 25,314 in FY 15 (+37%). Charges increased by 76% and payments increased by 60% from FY 12 to FY 15. Charges per encounter increased from $461 in FY 12 to $591 in FY 15 (+28%) Additionally, both inpatient and surgical case loads increased. Mortality remained stable throughout the study period (FY 12, 4.5%; FY 13, 5.2%; FY 14, 5.3%; FY 15, 3.2%: p = 0.177). CONCLUSIONS Implementation of dedicated OR time, defined EGS team structure, practice protocols, and active attending surgeons'/APs' participation was temporally related to increased case volume, patients seen, and revenue, while mortality remained unchanged. Further study is necessary to establish the translatability of these data to other systems. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Economic/decision, level III.
Approach to Evaluating the Multimorbid Patient with Cardiovascular Disease Undergoing Noncardiac Surgery

Older patients undergo more inpatient and outpatient procedures than do younger individuals, and their risk of suffering undesired outcomes is greater. The performance of a productive preoperative assessment entails more than the application of the sundry clinical practice guidelines relating to a patient's various medical diagnoses. A better approach involves adoption of a physiologically integrated, whole-person assessment that takes into account the patient's cognitive function, mood, physical function and mobility (including the possibility of frailty), social support, nutritional status, and medication use. This article outlines such an approach and highlights the many gaps in the current evidence base.
Studies on Equine Encephalomyelitis in Michigan

Received for publication January 29, 1947. Aided by a grant from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, Inc. Presented before the Medical Bacteriology, Immunology and Comparative Pathology Section of The Society of American Bacteriologists at the 46th General Meeting in Detroit, Michigan, May 22, 1946. 1. Fothergill, L. D., and Dingle, J. H. 1938, A fatal disease of pigeons caused by the virus of the eastern variety of equine encephalomyelitis. Science 88: 549-550. 2. TenBroeck, C. 1938, Birds as possible carriers of the virus of equine encephalomyelitis. Arch. Path. 25: 759. 3. Tyzzer, E. E., Sellards, A. W., and Bennett, B. L. 1938, The occurrence in nature of "equine encephalomyelitis" in the ring-necked pheasant. Science 88: 505-506. 4. Davis, W. A. 1940, A study of birds and mosquitoes as hosts for the virus of eastern equine encephalomyelitis. Amer. Jour. Hyg. 32: 45-59.
Variation in Peroxide Production by Beta Hemolytic Streptococci

The peroxide-forming bacteria have been shown by McLeod and Gordon' to be the pneumococci, streptococci, lactic acid bacilli, certain sarcinal forms and the anaerobes. These organisms also fail to produce catalase, thereby permitting an accumulation of peroxide to which their delicacy in subculture is attributable. Exclusion from air and light, and growth in mediums containing tissue fluids which supply catalase, or the addition of certain reducing substances such as cystein or sodium thioglycollate, are therefore necessary for the growth and preservation of these organisms. Demonstration of peroxide production by bacteria growing in liquid medium can be made by the peroxidase test.2,3 If only small quantities are formed, however, and at irregular intervals (as is the case with the streptococci) this test is unreliable, as shown by McLeod and Gordon4 who recommended chocolate agar on which the cumulative action of very small quantities of peroxide is manifested by a green discoloration. Penfold5 was the first to show that on benzidine blood agar peroxide-producing pneumococci and streptococci produced a black or brown pigment which he concluded was formed by the oxidation of the amino bodies of the benzidine by peroxide produced by the organisms. Peroxidase, contained in blood, was necessary for the test. Nonperoxide-producing organisms did not give the reaction. Although Penfold found that all strains of pneumococci and streptococci tested gave a positive reaction with benzidine, certain streptococcal strains gave variable results. This variability was shown by some strains giving all black colonies at one time and, at other times, a mixture of black and white colonies. Attempts to develop permanent black and white cultures of these strains were unsuccessful, and he concluded that the power to form peroxide is an erratic function of certain strains of hemolytic streptococci. Avery and Morgan,' using the peroxidase test on broth cultures, reported peroxide production by all pneumococcus cultures and by 15 of 23 strains of hemolytic streptococci. The observation of McLeod and Gordon7 that streptococci produced peroxide at a later period than pneumococci was confirmed by the former workers who showed that in
The impact of laparoscopy on modern urologic practice.

SUMMARY The original concept of laparoscopy developed as a branch of cystoscopy. Since the use of the Nitze cystoscope at its inception, laparoscopy has kept pace with the innovations in our cystoscopic inventory. The recently emerging interest of urologists in utility of the laparoscope for a variety of urologic surgery is a welcome renascence of this procedure, which has been used mainly by our gynecologic colleagues, in part because of our own lack of pursuit in its development. Laparoscopy should now become an integral part of our urologic teaching and practice.
Abstract P010: Specific Renal Outer Medulla Upregulation of α-and β-Adrenergic Receptor Subtypes in Spontaneously Hypertensive African Green Monkeys

The African Green Monkey ( Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus ) is a highly translational model of spontaneous hypertension (HT). Within the cohort of measured colony animals, 33% (98 of 300) of adult African Green Monkeys exhibit systolic blood pressures (SBP)> 140 mmHg, assessed by forearm cuff plethysmography. Heart rate is elevated in HT vs. normotensive (NT) animals (121±2 bpm vs. 134±2 bpm, p 0.05), but β2 adrenoceptor expression was upregulated in HT animals (β2: NT RQ 0.36 ± 0.13 vs HT RQ 2.05 ± 0.82; p 0.05, all groups compared with Mann-Whitney U Test). These data suggest that the renal outer medulla of HT African Green Monkey may be sensitized to sympathetic nerve activity via elevated adrenergic receptor gene expression. Thus, subtle changes in renal sympathetic outflow may elicit renal medullary vasoconstriction and contribute to the development of the spontaneous hypertensive phenotype in the African Green Monkey.
Analyzing Tetrahymena Movement with an Inexpensive & Engaging Inquiry Lab

Building on other studies and reports, we describe an educational laboratory exercise in which students analyze the movement of the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila, using free video-capture and image-analysis software (ImageJ), along with a relatively inexpensive ($45–70) digital microscope camera that is USB 2.0 compatible. Specifically, students record Tetrahymena activity under different control and test conditions, and they later use ImageJ to analyze the movement patterns. While this technique is demonstrated to show how methanol affects Tetrahymena behavior, students can use the approach to examine activity under a variety of circumstances, enabling them to conduct their own inquiry-based experiments in lab or as part of a larger independent research project.
Security vulnerability analysis of design-for-test exploits for asset protection in SoCs

SoCs implementing security modules should be both testable and secure. Oversights in a design's test structure could expose internal modules creating security vulnerabilities during test. In this paper, for the first time, we propose a novel automated security vulnerability analysis framework to identify violations of confidentiality, integrity, and availability policies caused by test structures and designer oversights during SoC integration. Results demonstrate existing information leakage vulnerabilities in implementations of various encryption algorithms and secure microprocessors. These can be exploited to obtain secret keys, control finite state machines, or gain unauthorized access to memory read/write functions.
A National Analysis of Long-term Survival Following Thoracoscopic Versus Open Lobectomy for Stage I Non-small-cell Lung Cancer.

Objective:The objective of this study was to compare the long-term survival of open versus thoracoscopic (VATS) lobectomy for early stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Background:Data from national studies on long-term survival for VATS versus open lobectomy are limited.Methods:Outcomes of pati
Robustness-based evaluation of hydropower infrastructure design under climate change

Abstract The conventional tools of decision-making in water resources infrastructure planning have been developed for problems with well-characterized uncertainties and are ill-suited for problems involving climate nonstationarity. In the past 20 years, a predict-then-act-based approach to the incorporation of climate nonstationarity has been widely adopted in which the outputs of bias-corrected climate model projections are used to evaluate planning options. However, the ambiguous nature of results has often proved unsatisfying to decision makers. This paper presents the use of a bottom-up , decision scaling framework for the evaluation of water resources infrastructure design alternatives regarding their robustness to climate change and expected value of performance. The analysis begins with an assessment of the vulnerability of the alternative designs under a wide domain of systematically-generated plausible future climates and utilizes downscaled climate projections ex post to inform likelihoods within a risk-based evaluation. The outcomes under different project designs are compared by way of a set of decision criteria, including the performance under the most likely future, expected value of performance across all evaluated futures and robustness. The method is demonstrated for the design of a hydropower system in sub-Saharan Africa and is compared to the results that would be found using a GCM-based, scenario-led analysis. The results indicate that recommendations from the decision scaling analysis can be substantially different from the scenario-led approach, alleviate common shortcomings related to the use of climate projections in water resources planning, and produce recommendations that are more robust to future climate uncertainty.
Sulphur Pressure Measurements of Molybdenum Sesquisulphide in Equilibrium with Molybdenum

It has been established that molybdenum sesquisulphide, not molybdenite, is in equilibrium with molybdenum metal and sulphur vapor in the vicinity of 1100°C. The S2 pressure for this system has been obtained using the Knudsen orifice method and the standard free energy for the dissociation of S2.
Mathematics Teachers’ Knowledge and Productive Disposition for Teaching: A Framework and Measure

Mathematics teacher education aims both to increase knowledge (cognitive constructs) and to instill productive disposition (affect-related constructs) for teaching mathematics. Prospective teachers’ knowledge and productive disposition are theoretically intertwined and together make up Mathematical Proficiency for Teaching (MPT). Although both aspects of MPT represent simultaneous goals in university classes, most research has focused on one kind of outcome or the other, and those studies that address both often use separate, disconnected measures. In this chapter we discuss the MPT framework and describe a novel MPT survey that simultaneously measures pedagogical content knowledge (i.e., knowledge) and teaching self-efficacy and motivation beliefs (i.e., productive disposition) for teaching the topic of multidigit addition and subtraction. We describe our use of the survey measure to investigate how one methods (pedagogy) class contributed to elementary teachers’ MPT for this topic. Our results from a cross-sectional study and a longitudinal follow-up show the survey measure is psychometrically well-behaved, measures substantially different constructs in spite of a narrow content focus, and characterizes strengths and limitations of the specific methods class in question. Implications for research and theory are discussed.
A parallel electrostatic Particle-in-Cell method on unstructured tetrahedral grids for large-scale bounded collisionless plasma simulations

Abstract An unstructured electrostatic Particle-In-Cell (EUPIC) method is developed on arbitrary tetrahedral grids for simulation of plasmas bounded by arbitrary geometries. The electric potential in EUPIC is obtained on cell vertices from a finite volume Multi-Point Flux Approximation of Gauss' law using the indirect dual cell with Dirichlet, Neumann and external circuit boundary conditions. The resulting matrix equation for the nodal potential is solved with a restarted generalized minimal residual method (GMRES) and an ILU(0) preconditioner algorithm, parallelized using a combination of node coloring and level scheduling approaches. The electric field on vertices is obtained using the gradient theorem applied to the indirect dual cell. The algorithms for injection, particle loading, particle motion, and particle tracking are parallelized for unstructured tetrahedral grids. The algorithms for the potential solver, electric field evaluation, loading, scatter-gather algorithms are verified using analytic solutions for test cases subject to Laplace and Poisson equations. Grid sensitivity analysis examines the L 2 and L ∞ norms of the relative error in potential, field, and charge density as a function of edge-averaged and volume-averaged cell size. Analysis shows second order of convergence for the potential and first order of convergence for the electric field and charge density. Temporal sensitivity analysis is performed and the momentum and energy conservation properties of the particle integrators in EUPIC are examined. The effects of cell size and timestep on heating, slowing-down and the deflection times are quantified. The heating, slowing-down and the deflection times are found to be almost linearly dependent on number of particles per cell. EUPIC simulations of current collection by cylindrical Langmuir probes in collisionless plasmas show good comparison with previous experimentally validated numerical results. These simulations were also used in a parallelization efficiency investigation. Results show that the EUPIC has efficiency of more than 80% when the simulation is performed on a single CPU from a non-uniform memory access node and the efficiency is decreasing as the number of threads further increases. The EUPIC is applied to the simulation of the multi-species plasma flow over a geometrically complex CubeSat in Low Earth Orbit. The EUPIC potential and flowfield distribution around the CubeSat exhibit features that are consistent with previous simulations over simpler geometrical bodies.
Impact of Distressed Modulus of Existing Concrete Pavement on Performance of Unbonded Concrete Overlay

Unbonded concrete overlay (UBCO) is used to improve the performance of the existing cracked jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP). Unbonded JPCP overlay involves placement of an interlayer of hot mix asphalt (HMA), which acts as a separation layer between the existing concrete pavement and the JPCP overlay. One of the factors that affect the performance of unbonded JPCP overlays is existing pavement condition and the severity of damage of existing pavement immensely affects the performance of unbonded overlay. The severity of damage is described by the distressed elastic modulus thus, accurate determination of the distressed elastic modulus of the existing concrete pavement is essential for predicting the accurate performance of the unbonded overlay. This study focuses on analyzing the impact of distressed modulus by conducting simulations in the AASHTOWare pavement ME design software version 2.3 and evaluating the predicted performance of JPCP overlay for two different climatic regions. The results indicated that the distressed modulus of existing concrete pavement significantly affects the transverse cracking and pavement roughness of JPCP overlay while it has a minimal impact on joint faulting.
Determination of Heparinoid Structures

This chapter describes the approaches which have been used to present the current state of knowledge of heparinoid structures that serve as the basis for further structural studies which must be performed in the examination of structure–activity relationships. There are some structural features of heparinoids which are so well established that they are assumed to be present in all heparinoid fragments. These usually include the structures of the glycosidic linkages, the pyranose ring structures of all of the monosaccharide residues and the repeating uronic acid-glucosamine disaccharide nature of the polymers. Heparinoid fragments formed by nitrous acid cleavage always have anhydromannose residues at their reducing terminals, whereas fragments formed by heparin lyase cleavage have HexA residues at their nonreducing terminals. This chapter also discusses the determination of further aspects of the structures of heparinoids required for the development of heparinoid-specific methodology so as to supplement both the classical and the physical methodology which has been applied to other carbohydrate polymers.
Confinement and Tension Stiffening Effects in High Performance Self-consolidated Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Concrete Composites

Confinement and tension stiffening effects were studied on self-consolidating, hybrid fiber reinforced concrete (SC-HyFRC) composites and compared to plain self consolidated concrete (SCC) specimens without fibers. The SC-HyFRC composites consist of both steel macrofibers and PVA microfibers with a total fiber volume fraction of 0.015. Cylindrical specimens were confined by continuous steel spirals with transverse reinforcement ratios ranging from 0.32%-1.91% and tested in uniaxial compression. The SC-HyFRC composites despite 2-3 times smaller transverse reinforcing ratios exhibit similar ductility and softening behavior compared to the plain SCC specimens. The effect of SC-HyFRC composites on tension stiffening behavior was investigated using axially reinforced dogbone specimens. The reinforced SC-HyFRC revealed tension stiffening and carried tension to strains far exceeding the yield strain of the reinforcing steel.
Perspectives on Experiments, Modeling and Simu1lations of Grain Growth

Grain growth is a process through which the average crystal, or grain size, in a fully crystalline material increases due to curvature driven motion of individual grain boundaries. The average grain size increases as small grains shrink and disappear (see Fig. 1). Grain growth occurs in a very wide range of engineering materials, and because grain sizes affect almost all properties, grain growth must be understood and controlled in order to obtain polycrystalline materials with properties, performance, and reliability required for a wide range of applications. Despite the long understood importance of grain growth, and many attempts to model it, modeling has proven difficult in any but the most simple and quasi-empirical ways [1]. Computer simulation, on the other hand, has proven to be a powerful tool for the study of grain growth and has in fact precipitated improved modeling and improved understandings of experimental results.
Statistical Theory and the Computer

Everyone here knows that the modern computer has profoundly changed statistical practice. The effect upon statistical theory is less obvious. Typical data analyses still rely, in the main, upon ideas developed fifty years ago. Inevitably though, new technical capabilities inspire new ideas. Efron, 1979B, describes a variety of current theoretical topics which depend upon the existence of cheap and fast computation: the jackknife, the bootstrap, cross-validation, robust estimation, the EM algorithm, and Cox’s likelihood function for censored data.
The Invariance of the Core Subspace

The invariance of the core subspace V0 of a GMRA under the group Γ of unitary operators implies the existence of a unitary representation of Γ on V0, thus enabling the use of tools from abstract harmonic analysis. Because of the required condition δ−1Γδ ⊂ Γ, the invariance of V0 also gives invariance of Vj for j > 0, and thus representations of Γ there as well. The invariance of V1 in turn implies the invariance of W0 = V1 ∖ V0, where the representation of Γ is useful in proving the existence of orthonormal or Parseval wavelets. In this chapter we explore results that follow from analyzing these representations of Γ.
The Drosophila ERG channel seizure plays a role in the neuronal homeostatic stress response

Neuronal physiology is particularly sensitive to acute stressors that affect excitability, many of which can trigger seizures and epilepsies. Although intrinsic neuronal homeostasis plays an important role in maintaining overall nervous system robustness and its resistance to stressors, the specific genetic and molecular mechanisms that underlie these processes are not well understood. Here we used a reverse genetic approach in Drosophila to test the hypothesis that specific voltage-gated ion channels contribute to neuronal homeostasis, robustness, and stress resistance. We found that the activity of the voltage-gated potassium channel seizure (sei), an ortholog of the mammalian ERG channel family, is essential for protecting flies from acute heat-induced seizures. Although sei is broadly expressed in the nervous system, our data indicate that its impact on the organismal robustness to acute environmental stress is primarily mediated via its action in excitatory neurons, the octopaminergic system, as well as glia. Furthermore, our studies suggest that human mutations in the human ERG channel (hERG), which have been primarily implicated in the cardiac Long QT Syndrome (LQTS), may also contribute to the high incidence of seizures in LQTS patients via a cardiovascular-independent neurogenic pathway.
Online Inverse Reinforcement Learning Under Occlusion

Inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) is the problem of learning the preferences of an agent from observing its behavior on a task. While this problem is witnessing sustained attention, the related problem of online IRL - where the observations are incrementally accrued, yet the real-time demands of the application often prohibit a full rerun of an IRL method - has received much less attention. We introduce a formal framework for online IRL, called incremental IRL (I2RL), and a new method that advances maximum entropy IRL with hidden variables, to this setting. Our formal analysis shows that the new method has a monotonically improving performance with more demonstration data, as well as probabilistically bounded error, both under full and partial observability. Experiments in a simulated robotic application, which involves learning under occlusion, show the significantly improved performance of online IRL as compared to both batch IRL and an online imitation learning method.
Racial Ideology and White Youth: From Middle Childhood to Adolescence:

The author explores how white youth interpret and produce racial ideologies in the United States from middle childhood (ages 10–13) to adolescence (ages 14–17). In Wave 1, interviews and ethnograph...
Trends in Diverting Loop Ileostomy vs Total Abdominal Colectomy as Surgical Management for Clostridium difficile Colitis.

Importance Diverting loop ileostomy and colonic lavage has generated much interest since it was first reported as a potential alternative to total abdominal colectomy for treating Clostridium difficile colitis in 2011. To our knowledge, few studies have validated the benefit reported in the initial description, and the association of this new approach with practice patterns has not been described. Objective To examine the national adoption pattern and outcomes of diverting loop ileostomy vs total abdominal colectomy as treatment for fulminant C difficile colitis. Design, setting, and participants This retrospective cohort study used data from hospitals participating in the National Inpatient Sample database across the United States from January 2011 to September 2015 and included 3021 adult patients who underwent surgery for C difficile colitis during the study period, comprising 2408 subtotal colectomies and 613 loop ileostomies. The data were analyzed between November 2018 and April 2019. Exposures Loop ileostomy as surgery of choice. Main outcomes and measures In-hospital mortality. Results Of 2408 participants, 1416 (58.8%) were women, 1781 (78.4%) were white, and 627 (21.6%) were individuals of color and the mean (SD) age was 68.2 (14.8) years. During the overall study period, 613 patients (20.28%) underwent diverting loop ileostomy without total abdominal colectomy. The annual proportion of patients undergoing only diversion increased from 11.16% in 2011 to 25.30% in 2015. Significantly more loop ileostomies were performed within the first day of hospitalization, in contrast to subtotal colectomies (23.31% vs 12.21%; P Conclusions and relevance This study demonstrates the adoption of diverting loop ileostomy to treat C difficile colitis across the United States. While fulminant C difficile colitis remains a condition with high mortality rates, no significant difference in this outcome was observed between loop ileostomy and total abdominal colectomy. Loop ileostomy may represent a viable surgical alternative to total abdominal colectomy, although the grounds for selection of treatment need to be clarified.
Anatomic Variation for Cardiac Transplantation in Adults with Congenital Heart Disease

Cardiac transplantation in the adult with congenital heart disease is challenged by confounding pathophysiological states as well as anatomic variation in venous and great vessel anatomy. Indications for cardiac transplantation in this population center around a few different conditions: