cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enhanced perchloroethylene reduction in column systems using surfactant-modified zeolite/zero-valent iron pellets.

Surfactant- (hexadecyltrimethylammonium, HDTMA) modified zeolite (SMZ)/zero-valent iron (ZVI) pellets having high hydraulic conductivity (9.7 cm s-1), high surface area (28.2 m2 g-1), and excellent mechanical strength were developed. Laboratory column experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of the pellets for perchloroethylene (PCE) sorption/reduction under dynamic flow-through conditions. PCE reduction rates with the surfactant-modified pellets (SMZ/ZVI) were three times higher than the reduction rates with the unmodified pellets (zeolite/ZVI). We speculate that enhanced sorption of PCE directly onto iron surface by iron-bound HDTMA and/or an increased local PCE concentration in the vicinity of iron surface due to sorption of PCE by SMZ contributed to the enhanced PCE reduction by the SMZ/ZVI pellets. Trichloroethylene and cis-dichloroethylene production during PCE reduction increased with the surfactant-modified pellets, indicating that the surfactant modification may have favored hydroge...
Reaction injection molding of polyureas. II: Rheo-kinetic changes and model simulation

An experimental and theoretical study of reaction injection molding (RIM) of polyurea was conducted in this work. A lab-scale RIM machine was used to carry out the polyurea bulk polymerizations. A “free-table” viscometer was designed to measure the fast rheological changes and liquid-solid transition. A mathematical model was proposed to simulate the fast reaction and rheological changes in the polyurea RIM process. The parameters of this model were determined based on the solution polymerization data from FTIR and Haake rheometer measurements. Combined with an appropriate heat transfer equation, this model predicts fairly well the adiabatic temperature and viscosity rises of bulk polyurea reactions in RIM.
Threshold ion photodissociation. Bromobenzene and iodobenzene ions

Abstract Photodissociation of bromobenzene and iodobenzene ions at wavelengths near the one-photon threshold was studied as a function of pressure in an ICR ion trap. An analysis was made of the effects on the observed wavelength dependence of three factors: the thermal distribution of ion internal energies, the kinetic shift attributable to IR-radiative lifetime limiting of photoexcited ions, and the contributions of two-photon dissociation at wave-lengths near or below threshold. Quantitative procedures were developed for taking all of these into account and values were obtained for the zero-Kelvin dissociation thresholds: these are calculated to be 2.81±0.07 eV (440±10 nm) for the bromobenzene ion and 2.48±0.06 (499±12 nm) for the iodobenzene ion. A value of 1142±5 kJ mol−1 is derived for ΔHfo0(C6H5+).
Potato scab control on organic soils. I. Initial response to PCNB.

Incidence of potato scab was significantly reduced on a muck soil of high exchange capacity by PCNB with no reduction in tuber yield at rates up to 300 pounds per acre. Rates of 100, 200, and 300 pounds actual fungicide were used. Broadcast application followed by thorough mixing with the soil to a 6–8 inch depth proved satisfactory. Row application was not used in these tests. At the higher rates residual activity was apparent the year following application. Repeated treatments the second year caused further significant scab decline. Accumulative reduction in scab incidence from a series of moderate yearly doses appears to be the most efficient use of PCNB on muck soil. This practice would be inconsistent with standard cropping methods used on muck, however, since potatoes are not ordinarily raised on the same muck soil in successive seasons. Economic considerations will be important in determining the exten of PCNB use and its acceptability among potato growers.
Emergency Management on the Pacific Rim: From Global Warming To Globalization

Emergency management has professionalized. It is no longer the province of officials unschooled in the application of modern information technologies and it is no longer the province of those inexperienced in natural and technological disaster management. While many communities and some nations still rely upon untrained and inexperienced emergency managers, the costs of that choice are often very high. It is essential to have competent and capable people who understand modern decision support systems, remote sensing, satellite imaging, and other essential technologies. More importantly, it is critical to expand the involvement of elected officials at all levels and the public in disaster management. Centralized decisionmaking is seldom effective in disaster response, political and social support is essential for sustained hazard mitigation efforts, and local and regional capacity-building can make communities more resilient and more capable of responding effectively with minimal outside help. It is within...
CO and Temperature Measurements in a Flat Flame by Laser Ab orption Spectroscopy and Probe Techniques

Abstract Carbon monoxide and temperature have been measured in the post-flame region of laminar, pre-mixed methane/air flat flames at atmospheric pressure using both laser absorption spectroscopy and conventional probe techniques. The laser absorption measurements employed a tunable diode laser to record fully resolved absorption lines in the fundamental band of CO near 4.7 microns. Probe measurements were made with thermocouples and sampling microprobes (uncooled quartz and water-cooled stainless steel). The extracted gases were analyzed for CO and CO2 using NDIR instruments. The laser absorption measurements of CO in rich flames were in good agreement with chemical equilibrium calculations based on metered fuel and air flow-rates and measured local temperature. In lean flames, measured levels of CO exceeded equilibrium values, as expected, due to incomplete reaction of CO to CO2 near the flame front. Temperatures inferred from the relative absorption in lines from different vibrational levels were in go...
Response of suspension bridges to travelling earthquake excitations: Part II-lateral response

Abstract The lateral response of suspension bridges to travelling earthquake excitations is investigated in the time and frequency domains. The ground motion inputs at one support are assumed to propagate, with different speeds, such that they hit the other supporting points of the structure with no change of shape (non-dispersive waves). It is assumed that the vibration of the center span can be treated separately from that of the side spans; furthermore, both the piers and towers are assumed to be relatively rigid in the lateral direction. A finite element dynamic analysis is utilized to investigate the lateral earthquake response. The response of the Golden Gate Bridge to ground motions recorded during the 1979 Imperial Valley earthquake is studied. It was found that the transmission time can have a significant effect on the response, that a relatively large number of modes is necessary to obtain a reasonable representation of the response, that uniform ground motion is not a good assumption, and that the additional cable tension induced by the lateral excitation is very small in comparison with the dead-load value; however, the induced displacements and flexural stresses can be significant live load conditions.
Key concepts in model selection: performance and generalizability

What is model selection? What are the goals of model selection? What are the methods of model selection and how do they work? Which methods perform better than others and in what circumstances? These questions rest on a number of key concepts in a relatively underdeveloped field. The aim of this paper is to explain some background concepts, to highlight some of the results in this special issue, and to add my own. The standard methods of model selection include classical hypothesis testing, maximum likelihood, Bayes method, minimum description length, cross-validation, and Akaike's information criterion. They all provide an implementation of Occam's razor, in which parsimony or simplicity is balanced against goodness-of-fit. These methods primarily take account of the sampling errors in parameter estimation, although their relative success at this task depends on the circumstances. However, the aim of model selection should also include the ability of a model to generalize to predictions in a different domain. Errors of extrapolation, or generalization, are different from errors of parameter estimation. So, it seems that simplicity and parsimony may be an additional factor in managing these errors, in which case the standard methods of model selection are incomplete implementations of Occam's razor. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.
Mother's Time on Meal Preparation, Expenditures for Meals Away from Home, and Shared Meals: Effects of Mother's Employment And Age of Younger Child

Family role theory is the framework used to guide this study of how mother's employment and age of younger child affects mother's time in meal preparation and cleanup, expenditures for meals away from home, and meals shared by the family both at home and away. Eleven null hypotheses are generated and tested using data from the 11 state urban/rural comparison of families' time use. Analysis of covariance (with total family income controlled) is the primary statistical tech nique employed. Results indicated that the time spent by mothers in meal prep aration/dishwashing varied by their employment, and age of the younger child. Expenditures for meals purchased away from home did not differ by the mother's employment status or age of the younger child. Meals eaten together as a family were not related to the mother's employment status in urban areas, but were related in rural areas. Where meals were eaten together varied by employment status of the mother and age of the younger child. Implications for home econ omists and suggestions for future research are presented.
The Solution-Focused Debriefing Group: An Integrated Postviolence Group Intervention for Adults.

Abstract A solution-focused debriefing group model for adult survivors of violence is described. This model integrates Critical Incident Stress Debriefing and solution-focused counseling techniques.
Plaintiff injury and defendant reprehensibility: Implications for compensatory and punitive damage awards.

A criticism of the civil jury is that jurors' decisions about damages are capricious and arbitrary. In particular, critics point to the skyrocketing nature of punitive damage assessments as evidence of a system run amok. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that influence jurors' decisions about compensatory and punitive awards. We assess whether, as the law intends, jurors' decisions about compensation are influenced by the severity of the plaintiff's injury but not by the reprehensibility of the defendant's conduct, and whether assessments of punitive damages are related to the defendant's conduct but not to the plaintiff's injury. Across three cases, mock jurors generally utilized relevant information and ignored irrelevant factors in their decisions about damages. Results are discussed in terms of the extent to which juror decision making comports with legal doctrine.
Crustal diapirism in Bransfield Strait, West Antarctica: Evidence for distributed extension in marginal-basin formation

New multichannel seismic data from Bransfield Strait, West Antarctica, image complex fan-shaped faulting patterns along the Antarctic Peninsula margin. Although a neovolcanic zone running along the strait9s axis has been presumed to be a nascent spreading center and the primary focus for extension, the fan- shaped faulting pattern can be interpreted instead as evidence for intracrustal diapirism, suggesting separate, diffuse zones of extension. Further-more, the diapiric trend ∼5° divergent from that of the neovolcanic zone supports temporal and spatial evolution of stress, perhaps in response to complex plate interactions to the northeast.
Seroprevalence of antibodies to Chlamydia pneumoniae in women with preeclampsia

Abstract Objective Preeclampsia shares many risk factors and pathophysiologic features with coronary heart disease. We studied whether, like atherosclerosis, preeclampsia is related to seroprevalence of immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibodies to Chlamydia pneumoniae. Methods Cross-sectional comparisons were made for 37 women with preeclampsia and 37 women with normal pregnancies at term. In these two groups, antibody titers for IgG, IgM, and IgA seroprevalence to C pneumoniae and IgG to Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydia psittaci were compared. Results Immunoglobulin G antibodies to C pneumoniae at a titer of at least 1:16 were more common in women with preeclampsia (25 of 37) than in women without (15 of 37) (odds ratio 3.1; 95% confidence interval 1.2, 7.9). There were no significant differences in the seroprevalence of IgA or IgM antibodies to C pneumoniae. Women with preeclampsia were also no more likely to have IgG antibodies to C trachomatis or C psittaci. Conclusion Women with preeclampsia had an increased IgG seroprevalence to C pneumoniae but not to C trachomatis or C psittaci. These preliminary data suggest a specific association between infection with C pneumoniae and preeclampsia.
Amino Acid Changes in the L Polymerase Protein of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Which Confer Aberrant Polyadenylation and Temperature-Sensitive Phenotypes

Abstract Ts G16(I) is a temperature-sensitive mutant of vesicular stomatitis virus . In vitro , at the permissive temperature (31°), it makes long poly(A) tracts, shows a larger increase in polyadenylation in the presence of S-adenosyl-homocysteine than its parental wt (Glasgow) virus, and makes an excess of polycistronic mRNA. In vitro transcription is also more thermosensitive than that of wt virus. Previous work suggested that there are at least two mutations in the L gone of ts G16(I), one effecting the poly(A)-associated phenotypes, the polycistronic phenotype, and the ability to grow at 34.7°, the other affecting in vitro thermosensitivity for transcription and ability to grow at 37°. We report further characterization of two revertants: 35G16p25, which grows at 34.7° and has regained the wt poly(A), SAH and polycistronic RNA phenotypes; and 37G16p25, isolated from 35G16p25 based on growth at 37°, which has regained the wt phenotype for in vitro thermosensitivity of transcription. Both revertants were shown to be due to intracistronic reversion[s] in the L gene. Sequencing of the L genes indicated that the ts G16(I) poly(A), SAH, polycistronic RNA, and growth at 34.7° phenotypes were associated with amino acid 1488 phenylalanine → serine and that transcription thermosensitivity and growth at 37° were associated with changes in cysteine 1291.
Mechanisms Leading to Losses in Conventional Betavoltaics and Evolution: Utilizing Composite Semiconductor With Infused Radioisotope for Efficiency Improvement

In this paper, we demonstrate remarkably improved efficiency over various conventional betavoltaics with critical energy loss problems. Radioactive sulfur (35S) was uniformly infused within a semiconductor material (selenium) and volumetrically encapsulated in the harvesting betavoltaic cells. By eliminating or reducing the potential loss factors with this new method, highly efficient energy conversion was achieved compared with conventional approaches. First and second generation prototype devices were fabricated and tested. A maximum output power of 687 nW was obtained from the micropower source using 33.61 mCi of 35S. The overall efficiency of the prototype device was 7.05%.
Multicultural Training Reexamination, Operationalization, and Integration

The Multicultural Program Development Pyramid is a five-tiered framework outlining stages of multicultural counseling training (MCT) program development. The pyramid is intended to serve as a guide to help program developers formulate their own unique MCT programs. The pyramid lays out a path of critical choice points in MCT development, beginning with the generation of an explicit philosophy of training and proceeding through the stages of identifying training objectives, selecting instructional strategies, choosing from among several proposed program designs, and evaluating the program. Use of the pyramid encourages the critical examination of a full range of choices at each stage. Implications of the pyramid for current MCT, the scientist-practitioner model, and the future of MCT research and development are discussed.
Orthogonalization Process by Recurrence Relations

An orthogonalization process is proposed, applicable to spaces which are realizations of abstract Hilbert space. It is simpler than the Gram-Schmidt process. A recurrence relation which orthogonalizes a physical space is proposed and it is shown that the generalized Langevin equation is contained therein. This process serves as a basis for understanding the nature of the dynamic many-body formalism.
The American South in a Global World

The American South in a Global World. James L. Peacock, Harry L. Watson, and Carrie R. Matthews, eds. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005. 299 pp.
Cardiac muscle diseases in genetically engineered mice: evolution of molecular physiology

Recent advances in molecular, cellular, and genetically based technologies now offer the possibility of generating genetically engineered mice that display physiological phenotypes with direct relevance to human pathophysiological states. The ability to create gene ablations, gene duplications, and gene modifications should allow the use of genetic approaches to map in vivo pathways responsible for complex physiological phenotypes. Recent work from our laboratory utilizing this approach to study cardiac muscle diseases in both the adult context (cardiac hypertrophy) and in the embryonic context (congenital ventricular defects) will be discussed, as well as the steps that led to the generation and characterization of these novel mouse model systems. A large body of work from independent laboratories now points to the inception of a new field of molecular physiology that will fuse mouse genetics and in vivo physiology using appropriate miniaturized physiological technology. Recent advances and prospects for future directions are summarized.
News agency and news mediation in the digital era

This paper explores the work of news agency journalism, an increasingly important node in circuits of news communication across the world. My ethnographic site is a medium-sized news agency office in Germany and I focus especially on ‘slotwork’, a rotating role in the editorial collective where one editor is responsible for coordinating incoming news streams, for determining which stories are of substantial news value, for distributing stories to newswriters on shift and editing their work, and for monitoring and synchronising the agency’s news output with the streams of key competitors and clients. In the spirit of the special issue, I discuss how digital information technologies, professional editorial practices and powerful praxiological and mediological discourses on the character of slotwork define the daily life of newsmaking. I am particularly interested in news journalists’ epistemic and practical strategies for dampening the dense informational mediation of digital news in order to retain a sense of professional and practical agency in the face of many contingencies.
Nonlinear dynamics of periodically paced cardiac tissue

This manuscript reviews various experimental methods and mathematical approaches for nonlinear dynamics of paced cardiac tissue. A particular focus is on cardiac alternans. Several mapping models are introduced to predict alternans at the cellular level. Experimental observations and modeling approaches are introduced to understand mechanisms of alternans formation in extended heart tissue. In addition, potential bifurcation mechanisms of alternans and the underlying interplay between calcium and voltage dynamics are discussed.
Diverse diseases, diverse variants

Recent studies using high-throughput sequencing technologies have identified millions of genetic variations in the human genome. Of these, ~97% of identified variants are noncoding variants, and many of them exist in intragenic regions. When the genetic variants are located outside of genes, it is not easy to interpret the function of the noncoding genetic variants by traditional genetic approaches. Ma et al. tested the relationship between disease-associated genetic variants and regulatory elements by comparing existing datasets. They curated ~100,000 disease-associated genetic variants and compared them against different types of regulatory elements from the FANTOM5 and ENCODE projects. The genetic variants were categorized into four different disease categories: Mendelian diseases, complex diseases, cancer-predisposing germline variants, and recurrent cancer somatic mutations. They found that although Mendelian disease variants and recurrent cancer somatic mutations were enriched in missense variants, the majority of complex disease variants were noncoding variants, and this enrichment did not change even when they tested only the causal variants. They also found that functionality and evolutionary constraints were higher in Mendelian disease variants and cancer (germline or somatic) variants compared with complex disease variants. Last, they showed distinct localization of disease-associated genetic variants between different disease categories. Mendelian disease variants and cancer variants were enriched within the transcriptional promoter regions; however, complex disease variants did not show this enrichment. This suggests that genomic variants within transcriptional promoters may represent a regulatory mechanism for Mendelian disease and cancer pathogenesis but not for complex disease pathogenesis. This striking difference could be partially due to the fact that most complex disease-associated variants were discovered in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and therefore may not be the causal variants. The authors also tested for these associations among the potential complex disease causal variants and observed similar enrichment, which suggests that different types of regulatory regions should be investigated for different categories of disease. In addition, this study supports the importance of performing functional genome-wide association studies (functional GWAS) that comprehensively investigate both regulatory elements and genetic variations to test for the association between outcome (disease) and variants. M. Ma et al ., Disease-associated variants in different categories of disease located in distinct regulatory elements. BMC Genomics 10.1186/1471-2164-16-S8-S3 (2015). [[Full Text]][1] [1]: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/16/S8/S3
Small-scale, intensive cultivation methods: The effects of deep hand tillage on the productivity of bush beans and red beets

This study examined how one aspect of intensive cultivation, double digging by hand (loosening the planting bed to 50 cm deep), contributed to crop productivity and nutrient uptake in bush beans (1994 and 1995) and red beets (1995 only). Comparison beds were prepared with the soil cultivated to 25 cm (single dig) and 6 cm (surface cultivation). Although there were significant differences (1994 beans) between the surface cultivated beds and other cultivation types for leaf mass and chlorophyll content, there were no significant differences in the total mass of beans (whole fruit) produced. There were no significant differences in beet green or root (edible portion) biomass among cultivation methods. Levels of Ca, Mg, and K in the bean fruits and beet roots were not significantly different among cultivation methods. This study demonstrated that deep cultivation significantly alters the soil profile as measured by penetrometer resistance, but that this change does not necessarily alter productivity or nutrient uptake. We suggest that deep hand tillage has little effect on crop productivity in well-watered and moderate to high fertility soils. These results are similar to those found in mechanically subsoiled systems.
Online Routines and Identity Theft Victimization: Further Expanding Routine Activity Theory beyond Direct-Contact Offenses

Objectives: The purpose of the current study was to extend recent work aimed at applying routine activity theory to crimes in which the victim and offender never come into physical proximity. To that end, relationships between individuals' online routines and identity theft victimization were examined. Method: Data from a subsample of 5,985 respondents from the 2008 to 2009 British Crime Survey were analyzed. Utilizing binary logistic regression, the relationships between individuals' online routine activities (e.g., banking, shopping, downloading), individual characteristics (e.g., gender, age, employment), and perceived risk of victimization on identity theft victimization were assessed. Results: The results suggest that individuals who use the Internet for banking and/or e-mailing/instant messaging are about 50 percent more likely to be victims of identity theft than others. Similarly, online shopping and downloading behaviors increased victimization risk by about 30 percent. Males, older persons, and ...
Computer Simulation of the Flow Field and Particle Deposition by Diffusion in a 3-D Human Airway Bifurcation

ABSTRACT Air flow and ultrafine particle diffusion patterns within an airway bifurcation are investigated by numerically solving the corresponding full Navier-Stokes equations in a three-dimensional curvilinear coordinate system using PHOENICS flow-simulation software. Weibel's human lung morphology, airway generation I = O, was applied in the computer simulation. Computational parameters such as grid sizes, boundary condition treatments, iteration numbers, and convergence criteria have been verified by experimental data measured within the same (mathematically specified) bifurcation geometry. Velocity patterns generated by computer simulation show excellent agreement with the experimental results. Detailed velocity and particle concentration distributions are discussed. Results show that both the inlet and outlet flow boundary conditions have significant effects on the flow and concentration distribution patterns within the bifurcation. The scales of secondary flow within the daughter branches are shown ...
Improved tracking of time-varying encoding properties of visual neurons by extended recursive least-squares

Traditional approaches to characterizing the transformation from stimulus to response in sensory systems assume both stationarity of the stimulus and time-invariance of the stimulus/response mapping. However, recent studies of sensory function under natural stimulus conditions have demonstrated important features of neural encoding that are in violation of these assumptions. Many sensory neurons respond to changes in the statistical distribution of the stimulus that are characteristic of the natural environment with corresponding changes in their encoding properties. In this paper, an extended recursive least-squares (ERLS) approach to adaptive estimation from stimulus/response observations is detailed. The ERLS approach improves the tracking ability of standard RLS approaches to adaptive estimation by removing a number of assumptions about the underlying system and the stimulus environment. The ERLS framework also incorporates an adaptive learning rate, so that prior knowledge of the relationship between the stimulus and the adaptive nature of the system under investigation can be used to improve tracking performance. Simulated and experimental neural responses are used to demonstrate the ability of the ERLS approach to track adaptation of encoding properties during a single stimulus/response trial. The ERLS framework lends tremendous flexibility to experimental design, facilitating the investigation of sensory function under naturalistic stimulus conditions.
Chromosome Analysis of Autopsy Tissue

Various aneuploidies of the sex chromosomes are the most common chromosome abnormalities encountered in autopsies of adults. The Turner (usually 45,X but mosaicism is common) and Klinefelter (47,XXY) syndromes are two examples (1). Deletions or unbalanced translocations and inversions are rarely seen in autopsies of adults because patients with these abnormalities seldom survive into adulthood. Approximately 1/500 adults carries a genetically balanced abnormality of chromosome structure. These balanced chromosome anomalies may affect the reproductive history of an individual, but rarely affect the phenotype (2). Some adults have sporadic chromo some changes as part of a chromosome breakage syndrome such as Fanconi anemia (3), ataxia-telangiectasia (4), Bloom syndromes (5), and others.
A Case Study of Alpers' Disease in Siblings

ABSTRACT.A 9-month-old boy presented with sudden onset of twitching of his left hand, foot, then face. The seizure subsequently became secondarily generalized. This was followed by a period of status epilepticus. His seizures were difficult to control, and included prolonged episodes of epilepsia partialis continua. This child's neurological condition progressed, with concomitant liver dysfunction, until death two months later. Serial EEGs were performed throughout the course of his illness.Twenty-two months later, this patient's 10½- month-old sister presented with a nearly identical onset of epilepsia partialis continua, also left-sided. Her liver function tests and biopsy showed findings similar to those of her brother, and the course of her illness was also similar. She died 4½ months after the onset of her symptoms.The clinical findings of these children fit well with those described by S. G. Boyd et al. (1986), and suggest that they suffered from “Alpers disease”. A review of this clinical entity, i...
Analysis of data on industrial accidents related to stepladders

In Japan, a number of fall accidents have been associated with equipment such as stepladders. In this study, industrial accident cases were investigated to understand the incidence of accidents caused by stepladders. A total of 34,195 industrial accidents resulting in at least a 4-day absence from work in 2006 (25.5% of the total industrial accidents) were analyzed based on casualty reports from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Each accident was classified by industry type, accident type, the number of absent days, and victim's age, sex, employment period, injury or disease type, and injured or disease-affected part. There were 992 stepladder-related accidents (6 were fatal accidents). The estimated annual number of stepladder-related accidents was 3,896 (24 were fatal accidents, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3,657-4,135), which accounted for 2.9% of all accidents (95% CI: 2.7-3.1). Based on industry type, 45.5% of the stepladder-related accidents occurred in the construction industry, 15.5% in the manufacturing industry, and 12.3% in the commercial industry. Most of these accidents occurred among >49 years male workers in the construction and manufacturing industries, whereas two-third of these workers in the commercial industry were aged 31 days. For 18.4% of workers, the duration of employment at the time of the accident was Language: ja
Detection Probability and Efficiency of Infield and Border Traps for Capturing Overwintered Boll Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) at Low Population Levels

The probability of detecting low overwintered populations of boll weevils, Arithonomus grandis grandis Boheman, with infield or border traps at the rate of 2.46/ha was determined. Even though all fields were infested with F1 weevils, the parent population was not detected in 20% of the border-trapped fields; however, it was detected in all of the infield-trapped fields. The capture in traps away from overwintering habitat was greater than or equal to the capture in traps adjacent to overwintering habitat. The male boll weevils responded to the traps at a younger average age than the females.
Abstract 2377: Variation in the BRCT1 domain of the DNA repair gene XRCC1 delays invasive breast cancer in mice

The breast cancer susceptibility protein BRCA1 C-terminal (BRCT) domain coordinates protein interactions in DNA repair and cell cycle control, and comprises over 100 member proteins. One of these, XRCC1, is involved in base excision repair and single strand break repair. In order to investigate the role of the XRCC1-BRCT1 domain in breast cancer, we generated a mouse line with a variation of leucine (L) from arginine (R) at position 360, and crossed it with PyMT transgenic mice with a highly penetrant metastatic breast cancer phenotype. PyMT mice with advanced tumors expressing the L360R variant (N=20) had an average tumor volume of 360±57 mm 3 compared to an average tumor volume of 730±69 mm 3 for PyMT/wild type littermates (N=20), significant at p less than 0.01. In addition, the L360R variant was associated with a significant decrease in metastatic foci in the lungs of PyMT mice, an increase in tumor cell apoptosis as measured by caspase 3 immunohistochemistry, a decrease in tumor cell proliferation as measured by ki-67 immunohistochemistry, and a decrease in PARP binding as determined by NADH depletion. These preliminary observations suggest that the XRCC1/BRCT1 domain is involved in invasive breast cancer, and that genetic variation of this domain can suppress the invasive phenotype by decreasing tumor cell proliferation and increasing apoptosis of tumor cells possibly in association with altered PARP binding and activity. The XRCC1 L360R mouse is a promising animal model to further investigate the potential of targeting the XRCC1/BRCT1 domain for adjunctive treatment of invasive breast cancer. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2377. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-2377
Capacity constrained routing algorithms for evacuation route planning

Evacuation route planning identifies routes to minimize the time to evacuate vulnerable population to safe destinations. It is critical for numerous important applications like disaster management and homeland defense. Traditional warning systems did not consider capacity constraints of the transportation network and led to unanticipated effects on the evacuation process. Effective evacuation route planning honoring the capacity constraints of transportation network has the potential of reducing congestion during large scale evacuations. Previous approaches of evacuation route planning use linear programming method to generate optimal evacuation plans by using time expanded networks, which requires a user-provided upper-bound on evacuation time. This method is computationally expensive and its scalability is limited. There is an immediate need for a scalable algorithm that generates high quality evacuation plans. This thesis presents a comprehensive overview of the algorithm framework for evacuation route planning problem and propose new approaches to address the limitation of previous works. First, an alternate optimal algorithm using A* search is presented. This algorithm uses only the original network to find optimal solutions and it does not require prior knowledge on evacuation time. However, this algorithm is not scalable to large size networks. To address the need for more computationally efficient algorithms, a new heuristic approach is proposed, namely Capacity Constrained Route Planner(CCRP). Earlier versions of CCRP are CCRP_03 and CCRP_05, they produce high quality solutions while the run-time is reduced to less than half of the optimal algorithm, but its scalability to large size network is limited. Major improvements are done in the CCRP algorithm to scale up to large evacuation scenarios. An improved heuristic algorithm CCRP_06 is proposed by exploring available design decisions for CCRP. We characterize the design space and evaluate the performance of CCRP. A wide range of shortest path algorithms and data structures are explored. We prove that CCRP_06, which uses Dijkstra's algorithm with double-bucket, is faster than the linear programming method in real evacuation scenarios and requires less memory. Experiment evaluation shows that CCRP_06 produces high quality solutions and is much more computationally efficient than the linear programming algorithm.
Bacteriologic findings with ectopic pregnancy

The fallopian tubes and peritoneum of 27 patients were cultured at the time of salpingotomy/salpingectomy to determine if active tubal infection was the cause of post-operative temperature elevations. Infection was documented in six patients (22%). Previous exposure to Chlamydia trachomatis was documented with 2 endocervical cultures and 17 serum specimens positive for IgG antibody. The culture results, however, did not correlate with the postoperative febrile morbidity.
Iterative sorting of apical and basolateral cargo in Madin–Darby canine kidney cells

For several decades, the trans-Golgi network (TGN) was considered the most distal stop and hence the ultimate protein-sorting station for distinct apical and basolateral transport carriers that reach their respective surface domains in the direct trafficking pathway. However, recent reports of apical and basolateral cargoes traversing post-Golgi compartments accessible to endocytic ligands before their arrival at the cell surface and the post-TGN breakup of large pleomorphic membrane fragments that exit the Golgi region toward the surface raised the possibility that compartments distal to the TGN mediate or contribute to biosynthetic sorting. Here we describe the development of a novel assay that quantitatively distinguishes different cargo pairs by their degree of colocalization at the TGN and by the evolution of colocalization during their TGN-to-surface transport. Keys to the high resolution of our approach are 1) conversion of perinuclear organelle clustering into a two-dimensional microsomal spread and 2) identification of TGN and post-TGN cargo without the need for a TGN marker that universally cosegregates with all cargo. Using our assay, we provide the first evidence that apical NTRp75 and basolateral VSVG in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells still undergo progressive sorting after they exit the TGN toward the cell surface.
Robust and Effective Metric Learning Using Capped Trace Norm: Metric Learning via Capped Trace Norm

Metric learning aims at automatically learning a metric from pair or triplet based constraints in data, and it can be potentially beneficial whenever the notion of metric between instances plays a nontrivial role. In Mahalanobis distance metric learning, distance matrix M is in symmetric positive semi-definite cone, and in order to avoid overfitting and to learn a better Mahalanobis distance from weakly supervised constraints, the low-rank regularization has been often imposed on matrix M to learn the correlations between features and samples. As the approximations of the rank minimization function, the trace norm and Fantope have been utilized to regularize the metric learning objectives and achieve good performance. However, these low-rank regularization models are either not tight enough to approximate rank minimization or time-consuming to tune an optimal rank. In this paper, we introduce a novel metric learning model using the capped trace norm based regularization, which uses a singular value threshold to constraint the metric matrix M as low-rank explicitly such that the rank of matrix M is stable when the large singular values vary. The capped trace norm regularization can also be viewed as the adaptive Fantope regularization. We minimize singular values which are less than threshold value and the rank of M is not necessary to be k, thus our method is more stable and applicable in practice when we do not know the optimal rank of matrix M. We derive an efficient optimization algorithm to solve the proposed new model and the algorithm convergence proof is also provided in this paper. We evaluate our method on a variety of challenging benchmarks, such as LFW and Pubfig datasets. Face verification experiments are performed and results show that our method consistently outperforms the state-of-the-art metric learning algorithms.
The tree-frogs (Family Hylidae) of Costa Rica: diagnosis and distribution

The tree-frog family Hylidae is represented in Costa Rica by 39 species placed in five genera. Anotheca and Phrynohyas are represented by a single form; Hyla by 26 species ; Phyllomedusa by six species; and Smilisca by five species. Within the latter three genera the species may be grouped by similarities as fol­lows: Hyla - Miliaria group; fimbrimembrana, immensa and richardtaylori; Faber group: rosenbergi; Albomarginata group: rufitela; Leucophyllata group: ebrac­cata, loquax, microcephala and phlebodes; Rubra group: boulengeri, elaeochroa and staufferi; Uranochroa group; debilis, pictipes, rivularis, tica, legleri, Iythrodes, rufioculis and uranochroa; Zeteki group: picado; and zeteki; unassigned to group: angustilineata, colymba, lancasteri and pseudopuma; Phyllomedusa - Callidryas group: annae, calcarifer, callidryas, saltator and spurrelli; Lemur group: lemur; Smilisca - Baudinii group: baudinii and phaeota; Sordida group: sila, sor­dida and puma. Brief synonymies, diagnoses and a summary of distinguishing character­ istics are given for all species except the Phyllomedusa. The following names are placed in synonymy: Hyla cherrei Cope, H. microcephala Boulenger and H. underwoodi Boulenger (= H. microcephala Cope); Hyla spilomma Cope and Acrodytes modesta Taylor & H. M. Smith (= Phrynohyas venulosa Laurenti). Twelve of the 39 species are known only from Costa Rica. Within Costa Rica four majar geographic distribution patterns are found. Seven species are wide-ranging lowland form found on both Atlantic and Pacific coasts ; six are restricted to the Atlantic lowlands; 20 are found only in the cordilleras. On an altitudinal basis 21 species occur in the Tropical Lowlands 19 species in the Subtropical zone, 5 are Lower Montane forms and only 2 are found above 2 500 m in the Montane zone. 12 species are restricted to the Tropical Lowlands, 13 to the Subtropical zone and one to the Lower Montane. 10 species ocrur in both Tropical and Subtropical zones, two in Sub tropical and Lower Montane and two in Lower Montane and Montane zones. The breeding site of each species serves as one mcasure of its ecologic niche. Fifteen forms breed in ponds or marshes, 12 are stream breeders, six lay eggs out of water on lea ves of bushes or trees and three deposit the eggs in water trapped in epiphytic bromeliads. The known sympatric ocrurrence of Costa Rican hylids is summarized. A summary of diagnostic characteristics and a key to Costa Rican hylids in English and Spanish is provided to aid in field identification.
The extrusion-based additive manufacturing of moisture-cured silicone elastomer with minimal void for pneumatic actuators

Abstract The extrusion-based additive manufacturing (AM) of moisture-cured silicone elastomer with minimal voids and high strength, elongation, and fatigue life is presented. Due to the soft nature and extended cure time of moisture-cured silicone, AM is technically challenging. When each layer is deposited, it can compress and deform previous layers. This compression is exploited to prevent void formation in silicone AM. This research aims to explore process parameters for voidless silicone AM of solid and thin-wall structures for pneumatic actuators. Experiments were performed to study effects of flowrate, layer height, and distance between adjacent silicone lines on the solid and thin-wall vertical layer deformation and void generation. The results were then applied in AM of two thin-walled hollow silicone pneumatic parts: the sphere-like balloons and finger pneumatic actuators. The sphere-like balloons exhibited diametric expansion between 152 and 207% with burst stress between 1.46 and 2.55 MPa (which is comparable to the base material properties) while the pneumatic finger actuators were able to fully articulate over 30,000 cycles before failure.
Shrink fast correctly

Function inlining, case-folding, projection-folding, and dead-variable elimination are important code transformations in virtually every functional-language compiler. When one of these reductions strictly reduces the size of the program (e.g., when the inlined function has only one applied occurrence), we call it a shrink reduction. Appel and Jim [1] introduced an algorithm to perform all shrink reductions (producing a shrink normal form) in quasilinear time. They proved confluence but not correctness.We have implemented this algorithm as part of an end-to-end verified compiler for Gallina, the specification language of the Coq theorem prover. We have given the first proofs of these properties: correctness with respect to contextual equivalence, reduction (in one pass) of all administrative redexes with one applied occurrence introduced by CPS conversion, and termination. The correctness and termination proofs are machine-checked in Coq.Because we use a pure functional language without imperative array update, our implementation is O(N log N) rather than O(N). Still, it's quite fast: we give performance results on some nontrivial benchmarks.
Dominance for large brains in laboratory mice.

In terms of the total genetic variance attributable to additive and dominance effects in laboratory-reared mice, the results of the diallel study of Hahn and Haber and that of Henderson are quite similar. Variance due to directional dominance toward large brains is considerably less for laboratory cage-reared animals in both studies than for mice reared in enriched environments.
Transcriptional Regulatory Mechanisms in Adipose and Muscle Tissue Associated with Composite Glucometabolic Phenotypes.

OBJECTIVE Tissue-specific gene expression is associated with individual metabolic measures. However, these measures may not reflect the true but latent underlying biological phenotype. This study reports gene expression associations with multidimensional glucometabolic characterizations of obesity, glucose homeostasis, and lipid traits. METHODS Factor analysis was computed by using orthogonal rotation to construct composite phenotypes (CPs) from 23 traits in 256 African Americans without diabetes. Genome-wide transcript expression data from adipose and muscle were tested for association with CPs, and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) were identified by associations between cis-acting single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gene expression. RESULTS The factor analysis identified six CPs. CPs 1 through 6 individually explained 34%, 12%, 9%, 8%, 6%, and 5% of the variation in 23 glucometabolic traits studied. There were 3,994 and 929 CP-associated transcripts identified in adipose and muscle tissue, respectively; CP2 had the largest number of associated transcripts. Pathway analysis identified multiple canonical pathways from the CP-associated transcripts. In adipose and muscle, significant cis-eQTLs were identified for 558 and 164 CP-associated transcripts (q-value < 0.01), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Adipose and muscle transcripts comprehensively define pathways involved in regulating glucometabolic disorders. Cis-eQTLs for CP-associated genes may act as primary causal determinants of glucometabolic phenotypes by regulating transcription of key genes.