cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of Trichloropropene Oxide on the Ability of Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons and Their “K-Region” Oxides To Initiate Skin Tumors in Mice and To Bind to DNA In Vitro

The potent epoxide hydrase inhibitor, 1,1,1-trichloro-2,3-propene oxide (TCPO), enhanced the tumor-initiating ability of benzo(a)pyrene (BP) and 3-methylcholanthrene (MCA) but had no effect on 9,10-dimethyl-1,2-anthracene (DMBA) initiation in a two-stage system of tumorigenesis in female Charles River CD-1 mice. The tumor-initiating ability of dibenz(a,h)-anthracene (DBA) was decreased by prior topical treatment with 10 ..mu..moles of TCPO. The tumor latency period of BP and MCA was decreased by TCPO but had no effect on DMBA or DBA. Topical treatment with 10 ..mu..moles of TCPO did not initiate tumors in a two-stage system in mouse skin nor did it cause any histopathologic changes in the skin. The K-region epoxides of BP, DMBA, and MCA were weak tumor initiators when compared to the parent compounds. TCPO only slightly increased or had no effect on the tumor-initiating activity of the above epoxides. Pretreatment with Croton oil 18 hours prior to initiation with BP-4,5-epoxide also slightly enhanced the tumorigenic response in mouse skin. DBA-5,6-epoxide, when tested as a complete carcinogen at high doses (1 mg daily/10 days), was found to be a weak carcinogen but with activity comparable to that of DBA. TCPO only slightly increased the in vitro epidermally mediated covalent binding of the abovemore » parent polycyclic hydrocarbons to DNA.« less
New Tools for Analysis and Optimization of Mistuned Bladed Disks

This paper describes methods to calculate the maximal magnitude attained by a frequency response function under bounded perturbation of a set of parameters. These methods enable accurate and ecient determination of the worst-case (maximal) response amplitudes that a bladed disk may experience in the presence of unpredictable but bounded perturbations. The accuracy and eciency of the proposed algorithms is demonstrated using a bladed disk model subject to 56 simultaneous perturbations in the blade-alone natural frequencies. Accuracy and eciency are achieved even in the presence of a large numbers of perturbations. Therefore, the proposed algorithms are well suited for conducting realistic parametric studies required to design robust bladed disks that consistently perform their function despite manufacturing variations, wear, and other real-world imperfections.
Testing pressurized spacesuit glove torque with an anthropomorphic robotic hand

While robotic hands have been developed for manipulation and grasping, their potential as tools for performance evaluation of engineered products - particularly compliant garments that are not easily modeled - has not been broadly studied. In this research, the development of a low-cost anthropomorphic robotic hand is introduced that is designed to characterize glove stiffness in a pressurized environment. The anthropomorphic robotic hand was designed to mimic a human hand in a neutral posture corresponding to the naturally relaxed position in zero gravity, and includes the transverse arch, longitudinal arch, and oblique flexion of the rays. The resulting model also allows for realistic donning and doffing of the prototype spacesuit glove, its pressurization, and torque testing of individual joints. Solid models and 3D printing enabled the rapid design iterations necessary to successfully work with the compliant pressure garment. The performance of the robotic hand is experimentally demonstrated with a spacesuit glove for different levels of pressures, and a unique data processing method is used to calculate the required actuator torque at each finger's knuckle joint. The reliable measurement method confirmed that glove finger torque increases as the internal pressure increases. The proposed robotic design and method provide an objective and systematic way of evaluating the performance of compliant gloves.
Synchronous versus diachronous methods in the measurement of obsolescence by citation studies

Using the literature of human and medical genetics, the results of a synchronous citation study of obsolescence over a 19-year period were compared with the results of a di achronous citation study...
The financing of terror in the age of the Internet: wilful blindness, greed or a political statement?

Begins with the Staff Report to the National Commission on Terrorist Attack on the United States, which indicates the methods used to trace, seize and freeze terrorist assets, and the informal methods used by al‐Qaeda to transfer money. Questions the amount of progress made since September 11 to freeze funds. Focuses on encryption technology and how it allows illegal use of the Internet in the form of cyber laundering and e‐cash, and on the move by terrorists into narcotics production and trafficking ‐ which is defined as nacre‐terrorism. Describes efforts to proscribe cyber crime, including cyber laundering and cyber terrorism, including controls on privacy and encryption. Shows how business corporations can become involved with terrorism, including a case study on tanzanite.
Comparing the band structure of Ag(1 1 1) monolayers on Ni(1 1 1) and Ni (0 0 1)

Abstract Ag(1 1 1) monolayers prepared on two substrates, Ni(1 1 1) and Ni(0 0 1), were studied with angle-resolved photoemission; their two-dimensional band dispersions were found to be identical within experimental uncertainties. Comparing the present results with those for Ag/Cu(0 0 1), the major difference is just a shift of 0.32 eV in all the binding energies. Thus the band topology of Ag overlayers in these systems is quite insensitive to the electronic and atomic structures of the substrates.
Responding maintained under intermittent schedules of electric-shock presentation: "Safety" or schedule effects?

Four experiments were conducted in which lever pressing by squirrel monkeys was maintained under multiple, mixed, or chained schedules of electric-shock presentation. In the first two experiments, a multiple schedule was employed in which a fixed-interval schedule of shock presentation alternated with a signaled two-minute component. Initially, no events were scheduled during the two-minute component (a safety period). In the first experiment, the safety period was "degraded" by introducing and systematically increasing the frequency of periodic shocks presented during that component. In the second experiment, the proportion of overall safe time to unsafe time was decreased by decreasing the value of the fixed-interval schedule while holding constant shock frequency during the two-minute component. In the third experiment, the overall arrangement was changed from a multiple to a mixed schedule in an attempt to determine whether fixed-interval responding would be maintained when a single exteroceptive stimulus was associated with both components. In the fourth experiment, the overall arrangement was changed from a multiple to a chained schedule in an effort to determine whether fixed-interval responding would be maintained when its consequence was presentation of a signaled "unsafe" period. Fixed-interval responding was well maintained under all experimental conditions; the varied relationships obtained lend more support to conceptualizations of shock-maintained behavior as exemplifying schedule-controlled behavior than to suggestions that such behavior may be readily accounted for by "safety theory."
The regioselectivity and stereoselectivity of the photorearrangement of 3-methoxy-4-methoxycarbonyl-4-methyl-2,5-cyclohexadien-1-one

The photochemistry of racemic and enantiomerically pure 3-methoxy-4-methoxycarbonyl- 4-methy1-2,5-cyclohexadien-1-one (3) is discussed. The photochemistry of racemic and enantiomerically pure 3 is discussed.
Investigating the performance of discrete wavelet transform for phasor estimation in digital relays

Digital relays traditionally use phasor estimation techniques based on the digital Fourier transform (DFT) and its variants. In recent literature, it is claimed that discrete wavelet transform (DWT) based filter performs better than traditional filters for phasor estimation. However, these claims are not well supported by sufficiently detailed analysis. This paper presents a detailed analysis to verify the claim. Both synthetic waveforms and fault waveforms simulated with PSCAD/EMTDC are used. Effect of the decaying dc offset on filter performance is studied in detail. Performances of DFT, Cosine, and least-error-square (LES) algorithms are compared with DWT algorithm.
Postprocessing using a single-parity interleaved block code for a Viterbi detector

A postprocessing approach is proposed which uses a single-parity, interleaved block code for correcting the errors made by a Viterbi detector. The code proposed here was simulated for an EPR4 channel with two sets of interleave depth D and code word length N with rates 39/40 and 19/20. Simulation showed a realized coding gain of 1.33 dB at a BER=10/sup -5/ and 1.59 dB at a BER=10/sup -6/ for the code with 39/40 rate. The corresponding numbers for the code with 19/20 rate are 1.54 dB and 1.76 dB.
Sexuality, birth control and abortion: a decision-making sequence.

A matched group of women who conceived during a 2-month period in 1971 was used to trace some parameters involved in their decision to carry their pregnancies to term or to seek an abortion.Several specific indices to the decision were considered: whether coitus was anticipated; whether the pregnancy was planned; whether birth control methods were used; and how the pregnancy ended. The effects of age, marital status, religion, reasons for the abortion or carrying the pregnancy to term, and attitude towards a possible delivery were also studied.It was found that coitus was anticipated by the majority of women, but pregnancy was unplanned for. Two-thirds of the women who did not want to become pregnant were not using a contraceptive method; yet, regardless of whether pregnancy was planned or unplanned, one of three women chose to have an abortion.Among the most common reasons for women indicating that contraceptive measures were not used were: ‘I didn't want sex to seem planned’ and ‘I thought I was in a safe period’. The decision to have an abortion usually depended upon the woman's marital status, age, religion, and previous use of birth control. Surprisingly, among women who had not planned to become pregnant, the percentage of women choosing abortion was the same from both subgroups of women who used or did not use contraception. It was also surprising that no strong relationship seemed to exist between the type of contraceptive technique used and the decision to have an abortion.Women who planned ahead to have an abortion if they became pregnant were more often using contraception; thus for these women abortion was not a primary method of family planning but a back-up for failed contraception. Women who had their babies, infrequently considered abortion as an alternative.It was predicted and found true that women who positively viewed the prospect of having a child chose to carry the pregnancy to term while those who expressed unhappiness at having a baby chose abortion. Unexpectedly, we found the overwhelming majority of women who claimed ‘I would be neither happy nor unhappy to have this baby’ chose to have an abortion. Thus a woman's so-called neutral statement regarding a desire was generally seen not to be neutral.Our use of a pregnant population of women who conceived at the same time (conception cohort) for the analysis of the decision of whether to have an abortion or carry to term, when abortion is legal, thus seemed to be feasible and practical.
Punishment and competition over food in captive rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta

Current socioecological models predict that clumped food resources influence aggression, yet definitions of clumped resources often include two concepts: time spent at the resource and distance between resources. To disentangle these two aspects of clumping, we conducted an experiment on 15 multimale–multifemale groups (range 50–110 individuals) of captive rhesus macaques at the California National Primate Research Center in which we varied both food size and interfood distance independently to test which factor more significantly influenced two forms of feeding competition, contest competition and punishment. At interfood distances of 1–6 m, two same-sized apple pieces of 1 g, 5 g, 15 g or 30 g were offered to the monkeys simultaneously during each of 297 trials. Aggression was recorded 5 min before the arrival of the food, when the food arrived and 5 min after. Results of the independent effects of food size revealed that larger food size was significantly associated with both contest competition and punishment. Interfood distance was not significantly associated with either contest competition or punishment. These results suggest that the size or handling time of food may be a better predictor of within-group aggression than is the spatial distribution of food.
Rapid learning in cortical coding of visual scenes

Experience-dependent plasticity in adult visual cortex is believed to have important roles in visual coding and perceptual learning. Here we show that repeated stimulation with movies of natural scenes induces a rapid improvement in response reliability in cat visual cortex, whereas stimulation with white noise or flashed bar stimuli does not. The improved reliability can be accounted for by a selective increase in spiking evoked by preferred stimuli, and the magnitude of improvement depends on the sparseness of the response. The increase in reliability persists for at least several minutes in the absence of further movie stimulation. During this period, spontaneous spiking activity shows detectable reverberation of the movie-evoked responses. Thus, repeated exposure to natural stimuli not only induces a rapid improvement in cortical response reliability, but also leaves a 'memory trace' in subsequent spontaneous activity.
Properties of Dialectric Image Lines

The properties of a dielectric rod on an image surface are reviewed, and experimental results on straight sections, various bends, and a twist are presented. Techniques for measuring insertion parameters and field distributions are described.
Modular Code Generation from Triggered and Timed Block Diagrams

In previous work we have shown how modular code can be automatically generated from a synchronous block diagram notation where all blocks fire at all times. Here, we extend this work to triggered and timed diagrams, where some blocks fire only when their trigger is true, or at statically specified times. We show that, although triggers can be eliminated, this is not desirable since it destroys modularity and may also result in rejecting some diagrams that could be accepted. To avoid this we propose a modular code generation method that directly accounts for triggers. We also propose methods specialized to timed diagrams. Although timed diagrams are special cases of triggered diagrams, treating them directly allows us to obtain efficient code. We achieve this by enriching the interface of a macro block with firing time information and using this information to avoid firing the block unnecessarily. Existing firing time representations are generally conservative, in the sense that they cannot represent the exact set of firing times of a macro block, but a super-set. To remedy this, we devise a novel and accurate (exact) representation. This representation uses finite automata and is amenable to algebraic manipulation and generation of efficient code.
More transverse polarization signatures of extra dimensions at linear colliders

Polarization of both electron and positron beams at a future linear collider (LC) allows for the measurement of transverse polarization asymmetries. These asymmetries have been shown to be particularly sensitive to graviton or other spin-2, s-channel exchanges in the process e+e−→f (f≠e) which allows for a doubling of the usual search reach. A question then arises as to whether other e+e− processes also show comparable sensitivity. Here we extend our previous analysis to the set of final states e+e−, W+W−, 2γ and 2Z as well as to the Moller scattering process e−e−→e−e−. We demonstrate that these reactions yield transverse polarization asymmetries which are somewhat less sensitive to graviton exchange than are those obtained in our earlier analysis for e+e−→f.
Serum cholesterol and colorectal polyps

Colorectal cancer and hypocholesterolemia have recently been associated, and colorectal polyps have a known relationship with colorectal cancer. In order to establish further evidence regarding the nature of the serum cholesterol-colorectal cancer relationship, this study investigated the hypothesis that men with colorectal polyps would have lower serum cholesterol levels than men without polyps. Of the 1380 men screened by sigmoidoscopy for colorectal polyps, 246 had at least one polyp. The men with polyps were older than those without, and also had higher cholesterol levels, but after controlling for age, there were no serum cholesterol differences. These data suggest that low serum cholesterol is not etiologically linked to cancer. Analyses of potentially confounding variables showed smoking to be strongly related to the presence of polyps.
Effects of salicylates on the distribution and early plasma disappearance of thyroxine in man.

ABSTRACT The early curve of plasma distribution, the hepatic volume of distribution and the hepatic clearance of 131I-thyroxine were measured before and after the intravenous administration of 2 g of sodium salicylate in 8 normal humans. Salicylates increased the rate of disappearance of thyroxine from the plasma in all subjects. The fraction of radioactivity entering the liver was not changed by salicylate but the fraction entering the nonhepatic tissues was significantly increased. Hepatic volume of distribution and clearance of thyroxine increased in all subjects. These distributional changes cannot be explained solely on the basis of an altered concentration of dialyzable thyroxine.
Accurate determination of band structures of two-dimensional dispersive anisotropic photonic crystals by the spectral element method

The spectral element method (SEM) is used to calculate band structures of two-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) consisting of dispersive anisotropic materials. As in the conventional finite element method, for a dispersive PC, the resulting eigenvalue problem in the SEM is nonlinear and the eigenvalues are in general complex frequencies. We develop an efficient way of incorporating the dispersion in the system matrices. The band structures of a PC with a square lattice of dispersive cylindrical rods are first analyzed. The imaginary part of the complex frequency is the time-domain decay rate of the eigenmode, which is very useful for tracing a band from discrete numerical data. Modification of the band structure of TE mode by an external static magnetic field in the out-of-plane direction is explored for this square lattice. A plasmon resonance mode is found near the plasmon frequency when the magnetic field is nonzero. The band structure of a PC with a triangular lattice is also calculated with the SEM. Other types of lattices can also be treated readily by the SEM.
BCLS Versus ACLS

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the differences between advanced life support measures that can be used in the prehospital management of penetrating trauma as opposed to basic life support prehospital management. Prehospital providers can be divided into basic life support providers (BLS) – in the United States, emergency medical technicians or EMTs – and advanced life support (ALS) prehospital providers normally called paramedics [1–3]. Although basic providers are restricted to splinting, bandaging, alignment of displaced limbs, and the administration of oxygen, many basic EMTs will have obtained an intermediate level (EMT-I) who can start intravenous fluids and in many states obtain a more definitive airway such as using a Combitube or even endotracheal intubation. Paramedics can initiate IVs, perform chest decompression for a pneumothorax, perform endotracheal intubation or a cricothyrotomy, and administer many medications. The difficult question is whether the patient outcome for penetrating trauma is better with basic life support (who are much more likely to rapidly transfer the patient to definitive care – the so-called scoop and run) or provide advanced life support – more likely to administer the IV fluids, intubate the patient, assess and decompress the chest, etc., but the time taken to perform these procedures will prolong prehospital times. (The so-called stay and play) This is the main theme for this chapter.
Diffusive scaling and the high energy limit of DDIS

After reviewing the recent developments on the high energy evolution equation beyond the BK‐ JIMWLK equation, we discuss their impact on the inclusive diffractive cross section in DIS. Due to the Pomeron loop effects, the cross section exhibits a new scaling law‐the ‘diffusive’ scaling which eventually replaces the geometric scaling as predicted by the BK‐JIMWLK equation.
Coal-based activated carbons: NOx and SO2 postcombustion emission control

Abstract A coal-based activated carbon was used to adsorb nitric oxide (NO) and SO 2 at temperatures between 20-140°C. At a relative NO/SO 2 ratio of 40/1, the rate of NO uptake and the conversion of NO-to-NO 2 was decreased by approximately 15% as compared to the case when no SO 2 was present. Adsorbed NO 2 consisted of two species, the more strongly bound of which could be removed by desorption at temperatures between 100-150°C. Adsorbed SO 2 also consisted of two species, the more strongly bound of which required a temperature of 300°C to desorb. The concentration of the more weakly held SO 2 decreased in the presence of adsorbed NO 2 while the overall concentration of adsorbed SO 2 increased in the presence of NO 2 as compared to without NO 2 . The data suggest that the sites which catalyze NO -> NO 2 are either poisoned or eliminated by adsorbed SO 2 .
Function of cardiac muscle in aging rat.

The series of studies to be discussed here have attempted to define the nature and mechanism of age associated alterations in the function of the heart. I would like to acknowledge the encouragement and critical comment of Dr. Nathan Shock and the efforts of Dr. Edward Lakatta and Dr. Gary Gerstenblith in designing and performing the more recent studies.
Second Language Pronunciation Teaching: Insights from Research

Despite increased interest in second language (L2) pronunciation in recent years, the topic has been marginalized in the field of second language acquisition and teaching. Far less work has been carried out on L2 pronunciation, compared to skills such as grammar and vocabulary that have received much attention. Most of the instructional materials and practices developed for L2 pronunciation tend to heavily rely on basic intuitive notions suggested by language teachers and researchers, rather than research-based evidence (Derwing & Munro, 2005).
Physical Resilience in Older Adults: Systematic Review and Development of an Emerging Construct

Background Resilience has been described in the psychosocial literature as the capacity to maintain or regain well-being during or after adversity. Physical resilience is a newer concept that is highly relevant to successful aging. Our objective was to characterize the emerging construct of resilience as it pertains to physical health in older adults, and to identify gaps and opportunities to advance research in this area. Methods We conducted a systematic review to identify English language papers published through January 2015 that apply the term "resilience" in relation to physical health in older adults. We applied a modified framework analysis to characterize themes in implicit or explicit definitions of physical resilience. Results Of 1,078 abstracts identified, 49 articles met criteria for inclusion. Sixteen were letters or concept papers, and only one was an intervention study. Definitions of physical resilience spanned cellular to whole-person levels, incorporated many outcome measures, and represented three conceptual themes: resilience as a trait, trajectory, or characteristic/capacity. Conclusions Current biomedical literature lacks consensus on how to define and measure physical resilience. We propose a working definition of physical resilience at the whole person level: a characteristic which determines one's ability to resist or recover from functional decline following health stressor(s). We present a conceptual framework that encompasses the related construct of physiologic reserve. We discuss gaps and opportunities in measurement, interactions across contributors to physical resilience, and points of intervention.
Testing the causality between CYP9M10 and pyrethroid resistance using the TALEN and CRISPR/Cas9 technologies

Recently-emerging genome editing technologies have enabled targeted gene knockout experiments even in non-model insect species. For studies on insecticide resistance, genome editing technologies offer some advantages over the conventional reverse genetic technique, RNA interference, for testing causal relationships between genes of detoxifying enzymes and resistance phenotypes. There were relatively abundant evidences indicating that the overexpression of a cytochrome P450 gene CYP9M10 confers strong pyrethroid resistance in larvae of the southern house mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus. However, reverse genetic verification has not yet been obtained because of the technical difficulty of microinjection into larvae. Here, we tested two genome editing technologies, transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALEN)s and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas9), to disrupt CYP9M10 in a resistant strain of C. quinquefasciatus. Additionally, we developed a novel, effective approach to construct a TALE using the chemical cleavage of phosphorothioate inter-nucleotide linkages in the level 1 assembly. Both TALEN and CRISPR/Cas9 induced frame-shifting mutations in one or all copies of CYP9M10 in a pyrethroid-resistant strain. A line fixed with a completely disrupted CYP9M10 haplotype showed more than 100-fold reduction in pyrethroid resistance in the larval stage.
Practical Management of the Patient With Cystic Fibrosis

The average age of death of patients with cystic fibrosis used to be one year. It is now five years. A child is born with cystic fibrosis every two and one-half hours, and it is estimated that there are 25,000 living patients with cystic fibrosis in the United States. With our present treatment we know that the average duration of life will continue to grow longer and that more than the present 10 per cent will live to adult life.
Research on dynamic hold-up of water-soluble polymer in porous medium

During the oil extraction process,liquid hold-up is one of the key factors in influencing the effect of polymer flooding.Directing at the application conditions limitation of water-soluble polymer on site,the dynamical hold up law of polyacrylamide solution in artificial core was conducted with starch-cadmium iodide colorimetry in this paper,and the effect of kaolin clay,surfactant on liquid hold up was inspected.The results show that the retention volume of polymer was decreased when surfactant have been contained in the solution,on the other hand,the exist of kaolin clay in solution raised retention volume of polymer in the core,and the hold-up volume was increased with the increasing of kaolin content.When both the surfactant and polymer were included in solution,these two would react to each other which resulted in competitive adsorption in rock surface and reduced their effective content.So,in order to enhance the flooding efficiency,the concentration of surfactant and polymer should adjust based on the contribution of the two to EOR and their differences of adsorption and liquid hold up.
Teaching Real Data Interpretation with Models (TRIM): Analysis of Student Dialogue in a Large-Enrollment Cell and Developmental Biology Course

Data interpretation is an important skill that should be developed within undergraduate biology courses. The authors present instruction in which students collaborate to understand authentic data u...
Competition between CO2 Reduction and H2 Evolution on Transition-Metal Electrocatalysts

The well-known hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) volcano plot describes the relationship between H binding energy and the corresponding hydrogen evolution catalytic activity, which depends on the species of metal. Under CO2/CO reduction conditions or in cases where CO impurities enter electrodes, the catalyst may exist under a high coverage of coadsorbed CO. We present DFT calculations that suggest that coadsorbed CO during hydrogen evolution will weaken the binding strength between H and the catalyst surface. For metals on the right-hand side (too weak of hydrogen binding) this should lead to a suppression of the HER, as has been reported for metals such as Cu and Pt. However, for metals on the left-hand side of the volcano (too strong of hydrogen binding), this may actually enhance the kinetics of the hydrogen evolution reaction, although this effect will be countered by a decreased availability of sites for HER, which are blocked by CO. We performed experiments in Ar and CO2 environments of two represe...
Response to “Comments on ‘An Assessment of Steam-Explosion-lnduced Containment Failure. Parts I-IV’” by B. W. Marshall, Jr.

(1988). Response to “Comments on ‘An Assessment of Steam-Explosion-lnduced Containment Failure. Parts I-IV’” by B. W. Marshall, Jr. Nuclear Science and Engineering: Vol. 100, No. 2, pp. 171-171.
Effects of N-Glycan Composition on Structure and Dynamics of IgG1 Fc and Their Implications for Antibody Engineering.

Immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1), a subclass of human serum antibodies, is the most widely used scaffold for developing monoclonal antibodies to treat human diseases. The composition of asparagine(N)297-linked glycans can modulate the binding affinity of IgG1 Fc to Fc γ receptors, but it is unclear how the structural modifications of N-glycan termini, which are distal from the binding interface, contribute to the affinity. Through atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of a series of sequentially truncated high-mannose IgG1 Fc glycoforms, we found that the C′E loop and the Cγ2-Cγ3 orientation are highly dynamic, and changes in N-glycan composition alter their conformational ensembles. High-mannose glycoform preferentially samples conformations that are more competent to FcγRIIIa binding, compared to the truncated glycoforms, suggesting a role of IgG1 Fc N-glycan in optimizing the interface with the Fc receptor for efficient binding. The trajectory analyses also reveal that the N-glycan has large amplitude motions and the carbohydrate moiety interconverts between Fc-bound and unbound forms, enabling enzymatic modification of the glycan termini.
Empirically Testing Some Important Factors for Expert Systems Quality

As organizations become more dependent on expert systems (ES), the quality of those systems becomes increasingly important. A study based on information collected from 67 projects in IBM's Corporate Manufacturing Expert Systems Project Center identified..
Unusual Iliac Crest Stress Fracture in a Marathoner: A Case Presentation

Abstract This case presentation describes a 50-year-old healthy woman who developed left-sided hip pain while training for the Boston Marathon. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a stress fracture of the left iliac body. This injury was unique in that it did not occur in the setting of low bone mineral density and it did not fall into the current published radiographic categorization based on location of injury. This case illustrates an uncommon and atypical bone stress injury in an endurance athlete. It should be considered in the differential diagnosis of runners presenting with hip or lumbopelvic pain. Level of Evidence V
Word-list intrusion errors predict progression to mild cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE Preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) defined by a positive AD biomarker in the presence of normal cognition is presumed to precede mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Subtle cognitive deficits and cognitive inefficiencies in preclinical AD may be detected through process and error scores on neuropsychological tests in those at risk for progression to MCI. METHOD Cognitively normal participants (n = 525) from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative were followed for up to 5 years and classified as either stable normal (n = 305) or progressed to MCI (n = 220). Cox regressions were used to determine whether baseline process scores on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT; intrusion errors, learning slope, proactive interference, retroactive interference) predicted progression to MCI and a Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) score of 1 after considering demographic characteristics, apolipoprotein E e4 status, cerebrospinal fluid AD biomarkers, ischemia risk, mood, functional difficulty, and standard neuropsychological total test scores for the model. RESULTS Baseline AVLT intrusion errors predicted progression to MCI (hazard ratio = 1.04, 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.07, p = .008) and improved model fit after the other valuable predictors were already in the model, χ2(df = 1) = 6.330, p = .012. AVLT intrusion errors also predicted progression to CDR = 1 (hazard ratio = 1.10, 95% confidence interval 1.02-1.18, p = .016) and again improved model fit, χ2(df = 1) = 4.682, p = .030. CONCLUSIONS Intrusion errors on the AVLT contribute unique value for predicting progression from normal cognition to MCI and normal cognition to mild dementia (CDR = 1). Intrusion errors appear to reflect subtle change and inefficiencies in cognition that precede impairment detected by neuropsychological total scores. (PsycINFO Database Record
Percutaneous endovascular sapheno-femoral bypass for treatment of chronic iliac vein stent occlusion

We report a case of a 45-year-old female with a history of chronic iliac vein and inferior vena cava (IVC) occlusion, who presented with diffuse bilateral lower limb edema and pain secondary to severe postthrombotic syndrome. Computed tomography and digital subtraction angiography demonstrated reocclusion in the patient's previously placed iliofemoral and IVC stents. Recanalization was achieved with a percutaneous endovascular bypass approach after unsuccessful attempts using standard and other advanced endovascular techniques including sharp needle and radiofrequency wire recanalization.
RNA sequencing confirms similarities between PPI-responsive oesophageal eosinophilia and eosinophilic oesophagitis.

Background Although current American guidelines distinguish proton pump inhibitor-responsive oesophageal eosinophilia (PPI-REE) from eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE), these entities are broadly similar. While two microarray studies showed that they have similar transcriptomes, more extensive RNA sequencing studies have not been done previously. Aim To determine whether RNA sequencing identifies genetic markers distinguishing PPI-REE from EoE. Methods We retrospectively examined 13 PPI-REE and 14 EoE biopsies, matched for tissue eosinophil content, and 14 normal controls. Patients and controls were not PPI-treated at the time of biopsy. We did RNA sequencing on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue, with differential expression confirmation by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We validated the use of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded vs RNAlater-preserved tissue, and compared our formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded EoE results to a prior EoE study. Results By RNA sequencing, no genes were differentially expressed between the EoE and PPI-REE groups at the false discovery rate (FDR) ≤0.01 level. Compared to normal controls, 1996 genes were differentially expressed in the PPI-REE group and 1306 genes in the EoE group. By less stringent criteria, only MAPK8IP2 was differentially expressed between PPI-REE and EoE (FDR = 0.029, 2.2-fold less in EoE than in PPI-REE), with similar results by PCR. KCNJ2, which was differentially expressed in a prior study, was similar in the EoE and PPI-REE groups by both RNA sequencing and real-time PCR. Conclusion Eosinophilic oesophagitis and PPI-REE have comparable transcriptomes, confirming that they are part of the same disease continuum.
Evaluation of a New Protamine Titration Method To Assay Heparin in Whole Blood and Plasma

When unfractionated heparin is used for therapeutic anticoagulation, the heparin effect must be monitored to avoid thrombotic or hemorrhagic complications. The ability of a factor Xa inhibition (XaI) assay was compared with that of a low-level heparin protamine titration (LLHPT) assay to measure the concentration of heparin after heparin was added in vitro to specimens of plasma and whole blood. Heparin effect on the activated partial thromboplastin time also was assessed in the same specimens. The XaI and LLHPT assays had comparable precision and provided linear results over a wide range of heparin concentrations. Both assays slightly underestimated the total amount of heparin added to the specimens. The most rapid test was the whole blood LLHPT assay; this test therefore may be useful for bedside monitoring of heparin. A significant disadvantage of the LLHPT assay was the large sample size required to perform it. These results provide in vitro evidence that the XaI and LLHPT assays can provide equally precise monitoring of heparin concentration.
Visible Light Photoreduction of CO2 Using CdSe/Pt/TiO2 Heterostructured Catalysts

A series of CdSe quantum dot (QD)-sensitized TiO2 heterostructures have been synthesized, characterized, and tested for the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 in the presence of H2O. Our results show that these heterostructured materials are capable of catalyzing the photoreduction of CO2 using visible light illumination (λ > 420 nm) only. The effect of removing surfactant caps from the CdSe QDs by annealing and using a hydrazine chemical treatment have also been investigated. The photocatalytic reduction process is followed using infrared spectroscopy to probe the gas-phase reactants and gas chromatography to detect the products. Gas chromatographic analysis shows that the primary reaction product is CH4, with CH3OH, H2, and CO observed as secondary products. Typical yields of the gas-phase products after visible light illumination (λ > 420 nm) were 48 ppm g−1 h−1 of CH4, 3.3 ppm g−1 h−1 of CH3OH (vapor), and trace amounts of CO and H2.
The Oxindole-3-Acetic Acid Pathway in Zea mays

Research interest concerning the catabolism of the plant hormone IAA has continued since auxin’s discovery in the 1930s, because catabolism is a way for the plant to regulate hormone level and thus hormone activity. Until recently, it was accepted that IAA was decarboxylated during oxidation. The “indole oxidase” was presumed to be peroxidase due to the results from in vitro studies [9, 25] even though chemical evidence for carboxyl-free IAA metabolites in plants was lacking. However, we know now that several plants oxidize the IAA ring with carboxyl-retention as shown unambiguously with physicochemical methods in corn, broad bean, and Scots pine [18, 29, 5]. There is also chemical evidence that a similar pathway may occur in rice [11].
Education Localization for Optimizing Globalization’s Opportunities and Challenges in Africa

With decreasing diversity in societies in the world today, the dramatic impact of globalization on education has resulted in deprivation of opportunity that enhances human capabilities, as well as human development challenges. Globalization has led to internationalization of higher education in Africa, but countries do not have the resources to meet the exploding demand without compromising quality or equity.
ConOut: Contextual Outlier Detection with Multiple Contexts: Application to Ad Fraud

Outlier detection has numerous applications in different domains. A family of techniques, called contextual outlier detectors, are based on a single, user-specified demarcation of data attributes into indicators and contexts. In this work, we propose ConOut, a new contextual outlier detection technique that leverages multiple contexts that are automatically identified. Importantly, ConOut is a one-click algorithm—it does not require any user-specified (hyper)parameters. Through experiments on various real-world data sets, we show that ConOut outperforms existing baselines in detection accuracy. Further, we motivate and apply ConOut to the advertisement domain to identify fraudulent publishers, where ConOut not only improves detection but also provides statistically significant revenue gains to advertisers: a minimum of 57% compared to a naive fraud detector; and \(\sim \)20% in revenue gains as well as \(\sim \)34% in mean average precision compared to its nearest competitor. Code related to this paper is available at: https://github.com/meghanathmacha/ConOut, https://cmuconout.github.io/.
Distortions in the surface of last scattering

The surface of last scattering of the photons in the cosmic microwave background is not a spherical shell. Apart from its finite width, each photon experiences a different gravitational potential along its journey to us, leading to different travel times in different directions. Photons passing through an underdense region started farther away from us than those traveling through an overdense region. Thus, the surface of last scattering is corrugated, a deformed spherical shell. We present an estimator quadratic in the temperature and polarization fields that could provide a map of the time delays as a function of position on the sky. The signal to noise of this map could exceed unity for the dipole, thereby providing a rare insight into the universe on the largest observable scales.
Terrestrial Sources and Sinks of Atmospheric Methyl Bromide: Three-Dimensional Modeling of Tropospheric Abundance and Sensitivities

Current estimates of methyl bromide surface fluxes are inconsistent with the observed tropospheric mole fractions (9 to 10 ppt, globally averaged) and the calculated atmospheric lifetime (1.7 ± 0.2 years), with midrange estimates of sinks exceeding sources by at least 50 Gg y. Given the uncertainties in process-specific surface flux estimates, we consider several distributions of terrestrial sources and sinks that satisfy the constraints on atmospheric abundance. Mole fractions corresponding to each distribution are simulated with a three-dimensional chemical transport model based on analyzed observed winds, coupled to a simple model of the ocean mixed layer. All of the resulting scenarios overestimate the observed zonal gradient, with interhemispheric ratios ranging from 1.39 to 1.60. In the absence of unknown sources, model results imply a biomass burning source near the upper limit of the range of present estimates (50 Gg y). Sensitivities to surface fluxes are also calculated to determine the extent to which uncertain terms in the methyl bromide budget can be better quantified using long-term measurements. Results show that a global network capable of accurately monitoring the monthly, zonal mean distribution of CH3Br would be able to distinguish between biomass burning fluxes and other known terrestrial sources and sinks. Modeled sensitivities to biomass burning emissions also highlight the importance of including tropical locations in any long-term monitoring network. However, technological sources and soil sinks have similar zonal patterns, and long-term, “background” mole fractions are relatively insensitive to zonal flux distributions. It is only when we examine the high frequency variability of the concentration that the effect of longitudinal gradients in the flux field becomes apparent.
Robust Eco Adaptive Cruise Control for Cooperative Vehicles

We propose a cooperative adaptive cruise control which exploits a front vehicle acceleration forecast, available via vehicle-to-vehicle communication, to reduce vehicle energy consumption. The proposed control design can be applied to groups or platoons of cooperative vehicles, which locally optimize performance while maintaining their relative distance bounded at all times. The proposed approach adopts a learning-based model predictive control scheme, and maximizes performance while guaranteeing robust safety against the uncertainty on the front vehicle acceleration forecast. Simulations show the validity of the proposed control design.
Post-traumatic Headache After Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Association With Neurocognitive Outcomes

Post-traumatic headache is common after pediatric traumatic brain injury and affects thousands of children every year, but little is known about how headache affects recovery after traumatic brain injury in other symptom domains. We aimed to determine the association between headache and other common symptoms after pediatric traumatic brain injury and explore whether subjective complaints of headache are associated with objective deficits on specialized neurocognitive testing. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of children ages 3-19 years following traumatic brain injury with a completed Sports Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT) questionnaire. Post-traumatic headache was defined by a score more than 2 on the SCAT question for headache and define headache groups for comparison. In our cohort, we analyzed data from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Second Edition (WASI-II). Headache was reported in 40 (33%) patients presenting for post-traumatic brain injury care among 121 pediatric traumatic brain injury patients and did not differ by injury severity. Median total SCAT symptom score in the headache group was 5-fold higher compared to patients without headache (median 45.5 vs 9; P < .001). Significantly lower-scaled scores in color naming, matrix reasoning, letter sequencing, and letter switching were also found in the headache group (all P ≤ .03). Our study shows that headache, as reported by patients on the SCAT, is associated with higher symptom scores in all other symptom domains, including sleep, mood, sensory, and cognitive. Headache was also associated with worse objective neurocognitive measures and may identify patients who could benefit from specialized follow-up care and management.