cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Technical Note: Single time point dose estimate for exponential clearance.

OBJECTIVE Although personalized dosimetry may be desirable for radionuclide therapy treatments, the multiple time samples required to determine the total integrated activity puts a burden on patients and clinic resources. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that when some prior knowledge is known about the tracer kinetic parameters, the total integrated activity (and thus radiation dose) can be estimated from a single time sample. METHODS Mathematical derivations have been performed to generate equations for the total integrated activity in terms of a single time sample of activity for monoexponential and biexponential clearance. Simulations were performed using both exponential models where the rate constants and associated parameters were randomly sampled from distributions with a known mean. The actual total integrated activity for each random sample was compared with the estimated total integrated activity using the mean value of the parameters. Retrospective analysis of 90 Y DOTATOC data from a clinical trial provided a comparison of actual kidney dose with the estimated kidney dose using the single time point approach. RESULTS The optimal sampling time for the single point approach was found to be equal to the mean time of the rate constant. The simulation results for the monoexponential and biexpoential models were similar. Regressions comparing the actual and estimated total integrated activity had very high correlations (r2 > 0.95) along with acceptable standard errors of estimate, especially at the optimal sampling point. The retrospective analysis of the 90 Y DOTATOC data also yielded similar results with an r2 = 0.95 and a standard error of estimate of 61 cGy. CONCLUSIONS In situations where there is prior knowledge about the population averages of kinetic parameters, these results suggest that the single time point approach can be used to estimate the total integrated activity and dose with sufficient accuracy to manage radionuclide therapy. This will make personalized dosimetry much easier to perform and more available to the community.
New concepts in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive solid malignancy with a median overall survival of 8 months (1). First line combination therapy of cisplatin and pemetrexed has brought an overall survival benefit of only 11 weeks compared to cisplatin alone (2,3). Despite the limited efficacy of this regimen, it has continued as standard MPM therapy 14 years after its acceptance, underscoring the urgent need for novel treatments that improve the lives of MPM patients. Within this focused review (4), Wald and Sugarbaker elaborate on novel advanced classification and prognostication methods that shine a light on the path to personalized medicine, possibly matching the right therapy with the right patient. Several key principles and evolving concepts in the care of MPM patients are discussed.
Antihypertensive and Other Treatments in Early Stages of Diabetic Nephropathy

In the distant past, diabetic nephropathy was diagnosed as >300 mg/day of proteinuria in a person with at least a 10-year history of diabetes mellitus. The traditional methods of renal biopsy and 24-h urine collections to diagnose and monitor early diabetic nephropathy have rapidly evolved (especially since 2010), but the lessons of clinical trials performed a decade or more ago still hold. Strict glycemic control (e.g., A1c < 7 %) has its most impressive impact on preventing diabetic nephropathy in type 1 diabetics, but it is still recommended for type 2 diabetics. Some inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin system can prevent both albuminuria and progressive decline in renal function in diabetics, independently of their blood pressure-lowering efficacy. Before ACE-inhibitors were developed, however, blood pressure-lowering drugs (e.g., diuretics, beta-blockers, and vasodilators) showed similar, albeit probably smaller, beneficial effects in these parameters. Restriction of dietary protein to reduce albuminuria and/or slow loss of renal function is often difficult for patients to execute correctly, and is less “evidence-based,” particularly in diabetics, who already have many dietary limitations that are probably more important in the long-term. Similarly, the degree of albuminuria is inversely proportional to dietary sodium intake, so some authorities recommend a low-sodium diet (which reduces albuminuria, blood pressure, and the need for diuretics). Ongoing research in this important area is challenging, because of the intrinsic variability of albumin excretion, the many years between the onset of persistent albuminuria and end-stage renal disease (in the 20–40 % of type 1 diabetics who develop it), and the competing risk of morbidity and mortality from other causes (especially in type 2 diabetics) before end-stage renal disease.
Parallelism, Science, and Society

The Hermetic tradition in the Renaissance and earlier — with its parallelisms — seems to have contributed to the West’s Scientific Revolution in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in a number of ways. For example, Pythagorean approaches to number were not mathematics proper, but directed attention to number as a key to nature; this appears to have facilitated mathematical thinking. The writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus are an expression of this movement. Numerological techniques are associated with the mathematical revolution in sixteenth century Europe, notably in the works of Jodocus Clichtovaeus and Cornelius Heinrich Agrippa von Nettesheim.1
Processor partitioning: an experimental performance analysis of parallel applications on SMP cluster systems

Currently, clusters of shared memory symmetric multiprocessors (SMPs) are one of the most common parallel computing systems, for which some existing environments have between 8 to 32 processors per node. Examples of such environments include some supercomputers: DataStar p655 (P655 and P655m) and P690 at the San Diego Supercomputing Center, and Seaborg and Bassi at the DOE National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center. In this paper, we quantify the performance gap resulting from using different number of processors per node for application execution (for which we use the term processor partitioning), and conduct detailed performance experiments to identify the major application characteristics that affect processor partitioning. We use the STREAM memory benchmarks and Intel's MPI benchmarks to explore the performance impact of different application characteristics. The results are then utilized to explain the performance results of processor partitioning using three NAS Parallel Application benchmarks. The experimental results indicate that processor partitioning can have a significant impact on performance of a parallel scientific application as determined by its communication and memory requirements.
The Sporophytes of Seed-Free Vascular Plants – Major Vegetative Developmental Features and Molecular Genetic Pathways

Seed-free vascular plants, collectively referred to as pteridophytes, include several distinct lineages, of which some have living representatives: the lycopsids, sphenopsids, ferns, and psilotopsids. Although the last three are included in a monophyletic group (the moniliformopses) by some workers, the most comprehensive phylogenies that include both extant and extinct taxa reject the monophyly of moniliformopses. The sporophytes of the main living groups of seed-free plants exhibit significantly divergent morphologies, both among the different groups, and between those and the seed plants. In terms of vegetative features, such differences are seen in embryo structure and development, body plan, stele architecture, branching, leaf development and phyllotaxis, and rooting structures. These divergent morphologies are determined by fundamental differences in development and are thought to reflect independent origins of major developmental features that are supported by the current understanding of plant phylogeny. In this context, it becomes highly enticing to search for shared pathways (process homologies) and homoplasy in the molecular genetic mechanisms that control development. Understanding the gene pathways that control fundamental developmental features in the different lineages will greatly improve the resolution of vascular plant phylogeny. In this chapter, I present a comparative survey of major vegetative features of sporophytes, emphasizing the differences among the various living seed-free lineages and between those and seed plants, and I review the state-of-the-art knowledge of molecular genetic pathways that control the development of seed-free plant sporophytes. Results published to date point, in some cases, to highly conserved pathways, such as the one shared between the control of rhizoid development in bryophytes, and that of root hairs in flowering plants; this broad taxonomic range brackets, phylogenetically, all seed-free plant lineages which are hence hypothesized to share the same pathway. In other cases, such as leaf development, ­different lineages reveal complex mosaics of shared and divergent pathways. However, as molecular genetic studies of seed-free plants are still in their infancy compared to those of seed plants, and especially of angiosperms, most aspects of their vegetative sporophyte development have yet to be characterized from a molecular standpoint.
Manual versus computer-automated semen analyses. Part III. Comparison of old versus new design MicroCell Chambers

Objective To determine accuracy and precision of old and new design MicroCell counting Chambers analyzed manually and with a computer-automated semen analyzer (CASA; Hamilton-Thorn Research, Beverly, MA). Design Prospective study using comparative measurements of the concentration of latex beads with old and new design MicroCell Counting Chambers (Conception Technologies, Inc., La Jolla, CA). Main Outcome Measure Beads were counted manually and with CASA to evaluate the accuracy of old and new design 20 MicroCell Chambers. Results The old design 20 MicroCell Chamber demonstrated a significant difference in bead concentration beginning at the 9.9mm CASA stage position compared with stage positions of 0 to 9.5mm. The new design 20 MicroCell Chamber demonstrated the same difference at the 8.0mm CASA stage position compared with stage positions 0.0 to 7.6mm. Similar findings were observed when the beads were analyzed manually. Conclusions When analyzed within a specific range of stage positions, the old and new design 20 MicroCell Chambers are accurate and precise whether analyzed manually or with CASA.
Determining the Dynamic Efficiency with which wiping Materials Remove Liquids from Surfaces

While a number of tests exist to characterize wiping materials for their capacity and rate of sorption, none of these static tests describe how effectively a wiper will remove liquid from a surface under dynamic conditions of use. This paper describes the development and application of a test for dynamic wiping efficiency, or “wipe-dry,” under conditions similar to manual wiping operations. The method was used to characterize 11 commercially available fabrics used as wipers in industrial, food service, and cleanroom applications. As a class, fabrics constructed by hydroentangling generally outperformed those made by other means. Of those, fabrics with bulky character exhibited superior wipe-dry. Also included are comparative data of sorbent capacity, rate of sorption and bursting strength.
Deviant: A Mutation Testing Tool for Solidity Smart Contracts

Solidity is a widely used scripting language for developing smart contracts in blockchain applications. Quality assurance of Solidity contracts is of critical importance because bugs can lead to considerable loss of assets. As software testing is a common practice for quality assurance, many Solidity projects have included built-in tests. It is unclear, however, what level of quality assurance these built-in tests can achieve. This paper presents Deviant, a mutation testing tool for Solidity smart contracts. It automatically generates mutants of a given Solidity project and runs all mutants against the given tests to evaluate their effectiveness. To simulate various faults in Solidity smart contracts, Deviant provides mutation operators for all the unique features of Solidity according to the Solidity fault taxonomy, in addition to the traditional programming constructs. We have used Deviant to evaluate the effectiveness of the tests for three Solidity projects. The results indicate that these tests have not yet achieved high mutation scores and that a test suite adequate for the statement and branch coverage criteria of Solidity smart contracts does not necessarily provide a high-level assurance of code quality. Such observations offer important guidelines for Solidity developers to implement more effective tests in order to deliver trustworthy code and reduce the risk of financial loss.
Speech Emotion Recognition: Models Implementation & Evaluation

Speech emotion recognition (SER) is a new emergent field of research that has several possible applications in both human-computer and human-human interaction systems. The body of work on emotion detection from speech signal is relatively limited. Nowadays, researchers are yet augmenting on what features effects the identification of emotion in speech. There is a significant ambiguity as to the finest algorithm for emotion's classification, and which emotions to class together as well. In this work, we seek to address these matters. We use Support Vector Machines (SVMs) and Artificial Neuron Network (ANN) to classify opposite emotions. There is a variability of temporal and spectral characteristics that can be extracted from human speech. We focus only on Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) as inputs to the classification algorithms. The classification reports obtained from the conducted experiments allow us to say that, for the given parameters, the ANN model was better detecting the speech carried emotional information than the SVM.
Teaching Listening Comprehension of Science e-Texts for Students With Moderate Intellectual Disability:

This study examined the effects of a treatment package that combined technology-based supports and systematic instruction on the comprehension skills of elementary-aged students with moderate intel...
Perioperative complication rates following neoadjuvant therapy in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

688Background: Whether upfront resection or total neoadjuvant therapy is superior for the treatment of potentially resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains controversial. The impact of n...
Stakeholder Identified Community Garden Program Outcomes

Extension clientele often contact agents for expertise on starting or maintaining a community garden; however, agents’ ability to collect meaningful data from these activities can be a challenge. This 3-page publication discusses a statewide study that was conducted by the author to identify community garden outcomes. Written by Susan Webb and John Diaz and published by the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, January 2018. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/wc295
Ex vivo comparison of leakage pressures and leakage location with a novel technique for creation of functional side‐to‐side canine small intestinal anastomoses

OBJECTIVE To determine the ability of functional side-to-side small intestinal anastomoses (FSS-SIA) created with an electrothermal bipolar vessel sealing (EBVS) device to resist leakage. STUDY DESIGN Experimental, ex vivo. SAMPLE POPULATION Jejunal segments (n = 130) from 10 healthy canine cadavers. METHODS Four types of anastomoses were created (two segments/construct and 15 constructs/group): EBVS (group A), EBVS + transverse stapling (group B), stapled (group C), and EBVS + suture augmentation (group D). Initial leakage pressure (ILP), initial leakage location (ILL), and maximal intraluminal pressure were compared between groups, and five group A constructs were analyzed histologically. RESULTS Initial leakage pressure was greater in group D than in groups A, B, and C (P < .011). There was a difference in ILL among groups (P = .003). Leakage occurred at the side-to-side intestinal anastomosis fusion line in 13 of 15 (87%) constructs for groups A and B and in nine of 15 (60%) constructs for group D. Maximal intraluminal pressure was greater in group C than in groups A, B, and D (P < .004). Histological examination was consistent with collagenous fusion without cavitation defects. CONCLUSION Functional side-to-side small intestinal anastomosis was consistently achieved with an EBVS device. Augmentation of EBVS anastomoses with simple interrupted sutures along the anastomotic fusion line increased ILP compared with stapled anastomoses. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Despite the success and feasibility of creating an FSS-SIA with an EBVS device, additional in vivo studies are required to determine the effectiveness of intestinal fusion prior to clinical implementation.
Restoring the State's Power to Defame: The Legal Life of Character in the Era of Roosevelt and Trump

While the abstract equality of citizens before the law is imagined as protection from arbitrary, subjective legal judgments of an individual's character, I argue that judgments of character play a pivotal yet unexamined role regulating access to citizenship in American law. Through a comparative analysis of President Trump and President Theodore Roosevelt, I show how their seemingly personal obsession with libel law reveals a deeper interest in consolidating the state's power as sole arbiter of character in order to weaponize the “good moral character” requirement in immigration and naturalization law as an instrument of racial and ethnic exclusion.
Providing Care to Patients with AKI and COVID-19 Infection: Experience of Front Line Nephrologists in New York

Governor Cuomo recently stated, “We will lose people, the virus takes the most vulnerable. The challenge is to make sure we don’t lose anyone else we could have saved.” Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, known as COVID-19, was first described in China in December 2019 (1). A global pandemic followed in the months to come, leading to devastating consequences. By April 26, 2020, COVID-19 had spread to >200 countries, infecting >2.9 million people, and resulting in >200,000 deaths globally (2). The suspected index case of COVID-19 infection leading to the New York City/Westchester outbreak was described in a man who became ill on February 22. By the third week of March, New York City had become an epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States. Nearly 1 million Americans have been infected with the virus and New York accounts for 29% of these infections. Never in our lifetime have so many people fallen ill simultaneously. The rapid increase in hospitalizations has challenged the delivery of health care in unprecedented ways. AKI has been reported in up to 25% of patients with severe COVID-19 infection (3,4). The volume of patients with severe AKI in a single hospital poses unique challenges for the nephrologist including ( 1 ) infection prevention ( 2 ) workforce ( 3 ) dialysis resources, and ( 4 ) communication. We report our experience of providing care to hospitalized patients with AKI in the Bronx during the first month of the outbreak. Montefiore Medical Center (MMC), located in the North Bronx in close proximity to Westchester County, has been one of the main urban tertiary care centers for patients in New York City with COVID-19 infection. MMC’s two main campuses are the Moses and Weiler Hospitals. Moses Hospital is a 726-bed hospital with five intensive care units (ICUs) (47 beds) and Weiler …
Electroweak Constraints from the COHERENT Experiment

We compute bounds on coefficients of effective operators in the Standard Model that can be inferred from observations of neutrino scattering by the COHERENT experiment. While many operators are bound extremely well by past experiments the full future data set from COHERENT will provide modest improvements for some operators.
A Book Review of Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism

Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism by Nick Dyer-Witheford, Atle Mikkola Kjosen, and James Steinhoff is part of the Digital Barricades series that addresses concerns in the nexus of digital media, geopolitics, and political economy. In this wider context, Inhuman Capital assesses the relationship of AI and capitalism with a twofold purpose. On an empirical level, the book surveys the current state of AI research and development while, on a theoretical level, it explores in depth the utility of Marxist thought toward an analysis of a capitalist project beyond and without human involvement. Despite their unambiguous ideological leanings, the authors’ deliberate situating of the work among literature in the discourse, the attention to underlying political economies, and a detailed overview of AI technologies - and this can be said at the outset of the review - are certain to broaden the prospective readership of Inhuman Power beyond academic circles.
183 Overcoming immunotherapy resistance in T cell-inflamed lung cancer

Background Tumor infiltrating T cells (TIL) are highly correlated with response to checkpoint blockade immunotherapy (CBT) in melanoma. However, in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), 61% of patients have TIL, but only 32% respond to CBT. It is unknown how these T cell-inflamed tumors are resistant to CBT. Understanding and overcoming this resistance would greatly increase the number of cancer patients who benefit from CBT. Methods To understand lung-specific anti-tumor immune responses, a NSCLC cell line derived from an autochthonous murine lung cancer (KP cell line) was transplanted into syngeneic C57BL/6 mice subcutaneously or intravenously. To study antigen-specific responses, the KP cell line was engineered with SIY and 2C TCR transgenic T cells, which are specific for SIY, were adoptively transferred into tumor-bearing animals. Results Subcutaneous KP tumors responded to CBT (aCTLA-4 and aPD-L1) with significant tumor regression while lung KP tumors were CBT resistant. Immunohistochemistry found that this was not due to lack of T cell infiltration, as lung tumors contained 10-fold higher numbers of CD8+ TIL than subcutaneous tumors. Single cell RNA sequencing of TIL uncovered that CD8+ TIL in lung lesions had blunted effector molecule expression that correlated with a lack of IL-2 signaling. Adoptive transfer of naive, tumor-reactive 2C T cells resulted in equally robust T cell proliferation in both the inguinal and mediastinal lymph nodes (LNs). However, RNA sequencing of adoptively transferred 2C T cells isolated 3-days after transfer from draining LNs identified that T cells activated in the mediastinal LN had reduced levels of IL-2 signaling and blunted effector functions early during priming. Flow cytometry confirmed that T cells primed in the mediastinal LNs did not express CD25, GZMB, or IFN-g, while T cells in inguinal LNs upregulated all three of these effector molecules. Delivery of IL-2 and IL-12 during priming was sufficient to restore effector molecule expression on 2C T cells in mediastinal LNs. Analysis of published patient data identified that a subset of lung cancer patients showed a sizable population of CD8+ TIL with low IL-2 signaling and low expression of effector molecules, including common targets of CBT. Conclusions Immunotherapy resistance in T cell-inflamed tumors is due to defective CD8+ T cell effector differentiation. IL-2-based therapies could enhance differentiation of functional CD8+ effector T cells and could turn immunotherapy resistant tumors to immunotherapy sensitive tumors. This is the first mechanistic study providing evidence for a distinct type of T cell dysfunction resistant to current CBT. Ethics Approval This study was approved by MIT’s Committee on Animal Care, protocol number 0220-006-23.
VDAC Regulation by Tubulin and its Physiological Implications

A significant portion of the mitochondria outer membrane (MOM) control functions is realized through the voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC) that constitutes a major pathway for ATP/ADP across MOM. We have recently found that dimeric tubulin induces reversible blockage of VDAC reconstituted into planar lipid membrane and dramatically reduces mitochondrial respiration. The voltage sensitivity of the blockage equilibrium is truly remarkable. It is described by an effective “gating charge” of more than ten elementary charges, thus making the blockage reaction as responsive to the applied voltage as the most voltage-sensitive channels of electrophysiology. Analysis of the tubulin-blocked state demonstrated that although this state is still able to conduct small ions, it is impermeable to ATP and other multi-charged anions because of the reduced aperture and inversed selectivity. The findings, obtained in the channel reconstitution assay, were supported by experiments with isolated mitochondria and human hepatoma cells. Thus, regulation of VDAC by tubulin that was first discovered in vitro, was then related to the action of this protein in vivo. The mechanism of VDAC-tubulin interaction appears to be more complex than was initially thought; in particular, it is very sensitive to the membrane lipid composition. Tubulin adsorption on the membrane affects the on-rate of tubulin-VDAC binding and depends on the lipid packing stress as well as on the membrane surface charge. Immediate physiological implications include new insights into the function of serine/threonine kinase signaling pathways, microtubule activity in the case of the highly dynamic microtubule network in cancerogenesis and cell proliferation, and the role of lipids in mitochondrial dynamics and MOM permeabilization characteristic of apoptosis.
Continuity Through Change: Developmentalism and Neoliberalism in Democratic Brazil (1985-2018)

Conventional wisdom claims that Brazilian economic governance underwent a sea-change over the three decades between the return to democracy and the election of 2018. Yet even during moments of intense reform, Brazil adopted a much more moderate and incremental approach than its Latin American peers, preserving the building blocks of the "developmental state." This paper charts the period from the 1980s to the end of 2018, which subtly shifted patterns and priorities of economic policy, but in many ways preserved its overall tenor and format. Changes arose more as a result of external or fiscal constraints than because of a clear consensus in favor of dismantling the developmental state; without such pressures, there is little reason to believe that reforms would have happened at all. Most of the changes of 1985-2018 generation, as a consequence, were in the direction of strengthening the state — increasing the autonomy of the bureaucracy, gaining control of the fiscal accounts, and imposing monetary authority — rather than in the direction of dramatically overhauling the developmental emphasis of that state. In consequence, while the density of policies may have changed, the contours of the developmental state remain, despite a generation of reforms.
IIoT-ARAS: IIoT/ICS Automated Risk Assessment System for Prediction and Prevention

As IT/OT convergence continues to evolve, the traditionally isolated ICS/OT systems are increasingly exposed to a myriad of online and offline threats. Although IIoT enhances the reachability in ICS, improved data analytics, ensuring ease of access and decision making, it unwittingly opens the ICS environment to attackers. The design of IIoT introduces multiple entry points to an isolated system, which is used to protect itself via air-gapping and risk avoidance strategies. This study explores a comprehensive mapping of threats and risks for IT/OT convergence. Additionally, we propose IIoT-ARAS - an automated risk assessment system based on OCTAVE Allegro and ISO/IEC 27030 methodologies. The design of IIoT-ARAS is aimed to be agentless, with minimum interruptions to the OT environment. Furthermore, the system performs automated regular asset inventory checks, threshold optimization, probability computation, risk evaluations, and contingency plan configuration.
Mechanistic Study of Electron Spin Polarization Transfer in Covalent Donor–Acceptor-Radical Systems

The mechanism of spin polarization transfer from a photogenerated spin-correlated radical pair to a stable radical was studied in a covalent donor-chromophore-acceptor-stable radical (D-C-A-R•) system, where the donor (D) is 4-methoxyaniline (MeOAn), the chromophore (C) is 4-(N-piperidinyl)-naphthalene-1,8-dicarboximide (ANI), the acceptor (A) is naphthalene-1,8:4,5-bis(dicarboximide) (NDI) and the stable radical (R•) is (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl (TEMPO). Experiments probed the effect of the spin–spin exchange interaction between D•+ and A•− as well as the charge recombination dynamics of D•+-C-A•− on spin polarization transfer from the D•+-C-A•− SCRP to R• as a function of the dielectric environment in glassy media at cryogenic temperatures. The results show that spin polarization on R• is generated by asymmetry in the charge recombination pathways rather than variations in the spin–spin exchange interaction between D•+ and A•−. These results inform design criteria for using an SCRP to spin polarize a third spin for potential applications in quantum information science.
TH-EF-BRB-06: Intensity Modulated Imaging?: Clinical Workflow for Fluence Field Modulated CT On a TomoTherapy System

Purpose: This work presents a new approach that uses the multi leaf collimator present on TomoTherapy devices to modulate the imaging beam. This allows for targeted imaging in which only regions of clinical importance for IGRT (patient positioning confirmation) receive a high level of image quality. This allows the total imaging dose to decrease, especially for healthy tissue. Methods: A clinical TomoTherapy machine was programmed to deliver imaging dose such that small pre-defined volumes of interest (VOI) received relatively higher levels of image quality with respect to surrounding regions. Four different size ROIs were placed at varying distances from isocenter. The noise and mean CT number were compared between VOI and un-modulated scans. Dose distributions were generated using a treatment planning dose calculator. A clinically feasible workflow was developed to implement this technique that used treatment planning contours to define VOI positions. Results: The VOI-FFMCT technique produced an image noise within 5% of an unmodulated scan for all size VOIs. The VOI technique required a total imaging dose of 0.61, 0.69, 0.60, and 0.50 times the “full dose” acquisition dose for VOI sizes/locations of 10/13/10/6 cm in diameter and located 0/2/5/6 cm from isocenter respectively. Mean CT numbers for the VOI scans were within 1% of the unmodulated case. Conclusion: This approach, which combines state-of-the-art radiation therapy fluence control with a novel imaging approach has been implemented on a clinical system with no hardware or software changes. A clinically feasible method for implementing this technique was developed which requires no additional user input relative to the current procedures in our clinic. The method allows physicians to choose between: (1) better image quality at no dose penalty or (2) equal image quality while reducing dose levels relative to today’s standard of care. Research grants from GE HealthCare and TomoTherapy.
Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus (HTLV) Antibodies in Mycosis Fungoides and Leukemias and Lymphomas

Except for mature T-cell leukemia/lymphoma, which is characterized by an aggressive course and poor prognosis, the antibodies to HTLV-1 antigens generally have not been found in patients with other leukemias from HTLV non-endemic areas of Japan, and infrequently have been present in mycosis fungoides/Sezary Syndrome (MF/SS) patients (1). The high incidence of HTLV antibodies in patients with acute leukemias (10%) compared to the normal healthy population (2%) in non-endemic areas of Japan was assumed to result from blood transfusions. The significance of HTLV antibodies in patients with leukemias/lymphomas other than mature T-cell leukemia/lymphoma from endemic areas of Japan has remained obscure due to the presence of HTLV antibodies in significant proportion of the healthy population. However, infection of not only T, but also B and non T/non B cells with HTLV (2), indicates that HTLV may not be strictly T-cell tropic, but that it could also infect any class of lymphocytes or stem cells of hematopoietic origin. Since the presence of HTLV in the healthy U.S. population is very rare {<1%}, we have examined U.S. patients with MF/SS and various leukemias/lymphomas for HTLV antibodies in serum/plasma and HTLV p-19 antigen expression by cells to assess the role of HTLV in these malignancies or its acquisition through blood products.
Ultrasonic Sensors in Robotic Seam Tracking

A seam tracking system for application in robotic arc welding using an ultrasonic sensor has been developed. The acoustic sensing system obtains range information between the sensor and the workpiece. Real time surface characterization and the calculation of the torch path is performed on an LSI 11/23 microprocessor, interfaced to the controller of an Advanced Robotics Corporation, Cyro 725 robot.
Isolation and Characterization of Filterable Marine Bacteria

Anderson, J. I. W. (Northeast Shellfish Sanitation Research Center, Narragansett, R.I.), and W. P. Heffernan. Isolation and characterization of filterable marine bacteria. J. Bacteriol 90:1713–1718. 1965.—By a process of double filtration of seawater, first through a membrane filter with a pore diameter of 0.45 μ and then through a membrane filter with a pore diameter of 0.22 μ, it was possible to isolate on the surface of the latter membrane a group of marine organisms not usually encountered by conventional techniques of pour plates or one-stage filtration. Many of the isolates could not be identified, but the largest single group belonged to the genus Spirillum; other isolates were placed in the genera Leucothrix, Flavobacterium, Cytophaga, and Vibrio. A group of four organisms which was not identified was characterized by the formation of large, club-shaped cells, 20 to 30 μ long. Of the 25 strains studied in detail, 22 required seawater for growth and 8 retained their filterable property after cultivation. No filterable bacteria were isolated from terrestrial samples. Images
High‐Throughput Quantitative Real‐Time PCR

Recent technical advances in quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) have allowed for extensive miniaturization, thereby rendering the technique amenable to high-throughput assays. Large numbers of different nucleic acids can now rapidly be measured quantitatively. Many investigations can benefit from this approach, including determination of gene expression in hundreds of samples, determination of hundreds of genes in a few samples, or even quantification of nucleic acids other than mRNA. A simple technique is described here to quantify 1880 transcripts of choice from any number of starting RNA samples.
Mathematical Modeling and Large-Scale Computing in Energy and Environmental Research

The advent of new super computer architectures is helping to revolutionize the modeling process for large-scale physical problems. The advance in computational capabilities has allowed the incorporation of more physics in the model. This has greatly increased the complexity of the mathematical models necessitating the application of a wider range of mathematical research. Through this development, the distinction between much of pure and applied mathematics is rapidly disappearing. The breadth of the modeling process, utilizing physical, mathematical, numerical, and computational concepts, will be emphasized. Specific applications involving energy-related and environmental problems will be presented and used to illustrate the need for strong interrelationships between the aspects of the steps in modeling.
The bovine leukemia virus encapsidation signal is discontinuous and extends into the 5' end of the gag gene.

In order to define bovine leukemia virus (BLV) sequences required for efficient vector replication, a series ofmutationsweremadeinaBLVvector.Testingthereplicationefficiencyofthevectorswithahelpervirusand helperplasmidsallowedforseparationofthemutantvectorsintothreegroups.Thereplicationefficiencyofthe first group was reduced by a factor of 7; these mutants contained deletions in the 5*end of thegaggene. The second group of mutants had replication reduced by a factor of 50 and had deletions including the 5* untranslatedleaderregion.Thethirdgroupofmutantsreplicatedatlevelscomparabletothoseoftheparental vector and contained deletions of the 3* end of the gag gene, the pol gene, and the env gene. Analysis of cytoplasmic and virion RNA levels indicated that vector RNA expression was not affected but that the vector RNA encapsidation was less efficient for group 1 and group 2 mutants. Additional mutations revealed two regions important for RNA encapsidation. The first region is a 132-nucleotide-base sequence within the gag gene(nucleotides1015to1147oftheproviralDNA)andfacilitatesefficientRNAencapsidationinthepresence of the second region. The second region includes a 147-nucleotide-base sequence downstream of the primer binding site (nucleotide 551) and near thegaggene start codon (nucleotide 698;gagbegins at nucleotide 628) and is essential for RNA encapsidation. We conclude that the encapsidation signal is discontinuous; a primary signal, essential for RNA encapsidation, is largely in the untranslated leader region between the primer binding site and near thegagstart codon. A secondary signal, which facilitates efficient RNA encapsidation, is in a 132-nucleotide-base region within the 5*end of thegaggene. Retroviral vectors have been useful for studying various aspects of retroviral replication and for many applications of gene transfer. A retroviral vector contains all the cis-acting sequences necessary for retrovirus replication but is deficient in the production of some or all of the viral proteins necessary for replication and virus production (33). Retrovirus vectors were originally produced as virus particles by using a replication-competent virus as a helper. Retrovirus vectors are now commonly produced as virus particles, with retrovirus helper (or packaging) cells. Helper cells contain the coding sequences
Systems integration of the 777 Airplane Information Management System (AIMS): a Honeywell perspective

The systems integration of the 777 Airplane Information Management System (AIMS), both within the AIMS system and with the other systems on the airplane, represented the most complex system integration effort ever undertaken at Honeywell Air Transport Systems Division. The technological innovations in the AIMS design, coupled with an aggressive program schedule, were major factors in the AIMS challenge. Honeywell and Boeing had to work closely together to complete the design and development of AIMS in a time frame that supported the 777 Early ETOPS goal. With teams from the two companies working as one unit, redundant activities were eliminated, technical and program problems were identified and solved rapidly, and schedule time was saved by both teams helping with tasks that were traditionally considered to be the other team's job.
Faculty Development and Adult Learning: A Model for Transforming Higher Education

Excerpt: Summer classes were about to begin and we sat around a table wondering what the three of us might have in common to teach the seventy master's students coming next week. Leo was a sociologist and we (Karen and Mary) are curriculum and instruction faculty. We all agreed it was going to require a transformed approach to teaching and collaborating together; that was six years and three cohorts ago. Our intent is to share...
Mast cells are required for optimal autoreactive T cell responses in a murine model of multiple sclerosis

Once considered to be of sole importance in allergy and parasitic infections, the role of mast cells in other pathologic and protective immune responses is becoming increasingly evident. We previously demonstrated that mast cells contribute to the severity of EAE, the rodent model of multiple sclerosis. Here we show that one mode of mast cell action is through effects on the autoreactive T cell response. Early indices of both peripheral CD4 and CD8 T cell activation, including IFN-γ production and increases in CD44 and CD11a expression, are attenuated in mast cell-deficient (W/Wv) mice after myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein35–55 priming when compared to WT animals. Reduced infiltrates of activated T cells in the central nervous system are also observed. Importantly, selective repletion of the mast cell compartment restores most T cell responses in the lymph nodes and the central nervous system, correlating with reconstitution of severe disease. The adoptive transfer of WT-derived encephalitogenic T cells results in significantly less severe disease in W/Wv recipients, indicating that mast cells also exert potent effects after the initial T cell response is generated. Our data provide the first in vivo evidence that mast cells can significantly influence T cell responses and suggest that mast cells exacerbate disease during both the inductive and effector phases.
Nucleotide sequence of a cDNA clone of Brassica napus 12S storage protein shows homology with legumin from Pisum sativum

The most abundant protein in seeds of Brassica napus (L.) is cruciferin, a legumin-like 12S storage protein. By in vitro translation of embryo RNA, and pulse-chase labelling of cultured embryos with 14C-leucine, we have shown that the 30 kd α polypeptides and 20 kd β polypeptides of cruciferin are synthesized as a family of 50 kd precursors which are cleaved post-translationally. One member of the cruciferin family was cloned from embryo cDNA and sequenced. The nucleotide sequence of the cruciferin cDNA clone, pC1, contains one long open reading frame, which originates in a hydrophobic signal peptide region. Therefore, the complete sequence of the cruciferin mRNA was obtained by primer extension of the cDNA. The predicted precursor polypeptide is 488 amino acids long, including the 22 amino acids of the putative signal sequence. The amino acid composition of cruciferin protein is very similar to the predicted composition of the precursor. Comparison with an amino acid sequence of legumin from peas, deduced from the nucleotide sequence of a genomic clone, shows that the α polypeptide precedes the β polypeptide on the precursor. Cruciferin and legumin share 40% homology in the regions which can be aligned. However, cruciferin contains a 38 amino acid region high in glutamine and glycine in the middle of the α subunit, which is absent in legumin. Legumin has a highly charged region, 57 amino acids long, at the carboxyl-end of the α subunit, which is not found in cruciferin. Both of these regions appear to have originated by reiteration of sequences. re]19850513 ac]19850715
Friction anisotropy at Pd(100)/Pd(100) interfaces

Friction anisotropy was studied between two Pd(100) single-crystal surfaces sliding in an ultrahigh vacuum environment. Friction measurements were made using Pd(100)/Pd(100) interfaces modified by adsorption of octane at coverages ranging from 4 to 40 molecular monolayers (ML). The relative crystallographic orientation of the two Pd(100) surfaces was systematically varied and friction measurements were made at each orientation as a function of octane coverage. These measurements have revealed that friction is anisotropic with respect to Pd(100) lattice orientation. When the surfaces were aligned, forming a commensurate interface, and sheared along the 〈110〉 direction with 4 ML of octane at the interface, the static friction coefficient was μs > 8.0 ± 2.0. A minimum in the static friction coefficient was obtained when the two Pd(100) surfaces with 4 ML of octane at the interface were misoriented by θ = 45°. Under these conditions, the static friction coefficient for sliding along the 〈110〉 direction of the...
Hypertrophic subaortic stenosis in the aged.

Abstract The case of a 67-year-old man with idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis is presented. The diagnosis was made by clinical and laboratory methods, and was confirmed at necropsy. This report adds to the knowledge of the natural history of this dynamic cause of obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract.
A Robust Semi-Analytical Method for Calculating the Response Sensitivity of a Time Delay System

It is often necessary to establish the sensitivity of an engineering system’s response to variations in the process/control parameters. Applications of the calculated sensitivity include gradient-based optimization and uncertainty quantification, which generally require an efficient and robust sensitivity calculation method. In this paper, the sensitivity of the milling process, which can be modeled by a set of time delay differential equations, to variations in the input parameters is calculated. The semi-analytical derivative of the maximum eigenvalue provides the necessary information for determining the sensitivity of the process stability to input variables. Comparison with the central finite difference derivative of the stability boundary shows that the semi-analytical approach is more efficient and robust with respect to step size and numerical accuracy of the response. An investigation of the source of inaccuracy of the finite difference approximation found that it is caused by discontinuities associated with the iterative process of root finding using the bisection method.
Grain Growth in Al-(Cu, Pd, Nb) Thin Films

The microstructure of 1 µm thick Al films containing 0.5 and 2%Cu (weight percent), 0.3%Pd, and 0.3%Pd-0.3%Nb were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) as a function of isochronal and isothermal anneals. The grain size, grain size distribution, and precipitate morphology of these films was measured from 200 to 500°C, with the activation energy for grain growth (Ea) determined for 1 h anneals at 200, 300, 400 and 500 °C. Normal grain growth was recorded for the AlCu films annealed at temperatures ≤400°C; however secondary grain growth occurred in the Al-2Cu film annealed for 1 h at 500°C, with grains as large as 16 µm in diameter observed. Grain growth in the Al-0.3Pd films resulted in strongly bi-modal grain size distributions, with the onset of significant grain growth retarded for 1 h anneals at temperatures ≤300°C. The addition of Nb to the Al-0.3Pd film resulted in monomodal grain size distributions over the entire temperature range. The role of crystallographic texture on grain growth in thin films is discussed.
Sufficiency in Blackwell’s theorem

Abstract If one information service is more informative than the other, then any agent values it more. In fact, the opposite implication (sufficiency) is also true, and this characterization is the celebrated Blackwell’s theorem. We present here a short proof of sufficiency. Actually, we show a stronger result: it is enough to check whether the value of the service is greater than the value of the other for any fixed positive a priori probabilities and a set of terminal actions that has only two elements.
AIDS and the Question of Culture: Focus on Social Cognitive Theory

Each of us has a variety of personal theories we use to explain physical, biological, and interpersonal phenomena. Also, our personal theories are our guides as we move toward greater meaning and belief in our lives. This writing shows the reason to utilize the new/recent theory approach in social work practice concerning the issue of AIDS in a cultural-based study on a micro level, though it may compete with macro-level values equally. The social work practice setting needs to open up for engaging dialogue with individuals and large groups within a safe environment and a positive attitude. Not only does this gate allow us to understand clients' and social workers' ways of doing, being, and saying but also ways in which our audience/player (client/we) can perform their/our power of talking about AIDS without fear, guilt, shame, and feelings of despair.