cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
GCA: Global congestion awareness for load balance in Networks-on-Chip

As modern CMPs scale to ever increasing core counts, Networks-on-Chip (NoCs) are emerging as an interconnection fabric, enabling communication between components. While NoCs provide high and scalable bandwidth, current routing algorithms, such as dimension-ordered routing, suffer from poor load balance, leading to reduced throughput and high latencies. Improving load balance, hence, is critical in future CMP designs where increased latency leads to wasted power and energy waiting for outstanding requests to resolve. Adaptive routing is a known technique to improve load balance, however, prior adaptive routing techniques either use local or regionally aggregated information to form their routing decisions. This paper proposes a new, light-weight, adaptive routing algorithm for on-chip routers based on global link state and congestion information, Global Congestion Awareness (GCA). GCA uses a simple, low-complexity route calculation unit, to calculate paths to their destination without the myopia of local decisions, nor the aggregation of unrelated status information, found in prior designs. In particular GCA outperforms local adaptive routing by 26%, Regional Congestion Awareness (RCA) by 15%, and a recent competing adaptive routing algorithm, DAR, by 8% on average on realistic workloads.
Reading, Writing, and Presenting Original Scientific Research: A Nine-Week Course in Scientific Communication for High School Students †

High school students are not often given opportunities to communicate scientific findings to their peers, the general public, and/or people in the scientific community, and therefore they do not develop scientific communication skills. We present a nine-week course that can be used to teach high school students, who may have no previous experience, how to read and write primary scientific articles and how to discuss scientific findings with a broad audience. Various forms of this course have been taught for the past 10 years as part of an intensive summer research program for rising high school seniors that is coordinated by the Young Scientist Program at Washington University in St. Louis. The format presented here includes assessments for efficacy through both rubric-based methods and student self-assessment surveys.
A late-surviving apatemyid (Mammalia: Apatotheria) from the latest Oligocene of Florida, USA

A new species of Apatemyidae, Sinclairella simplicidens, is based on four isolated teeth that were screenwashed from fissure fillings at the late Oligocene Buda locality, Alachua County, Florida. Compared to its only congener Sinclairella dakotensis, the new species is characterized by upper molars with more simplified crowns, with the near absence of labial shelves and stylar cusps except for a strong parastyle on M1, loss of paracrista and paraconule on M2 (paraconule retained but weak on M1), lack of anterior cingulum on M1-M3, straighter centrocristae, smaller hypocone on M1 and M2, larger hypocone on M3, distal edge of M2 continuous from hypocone to postmetacrista supporting a large posterior basin, and with different tooth proportions in which M2 is the smallest rather than the largest molar in the toothrow. The relatively rare and poorly-known family Apatemyidae has a long temporal range in North America from the late Paleocene (early Tiffanian) to early Oligocene (early Arikareean). The new species from Florida significantly extends this temporal range by roughly 5 Ma to the end of the Paleogene near the Oligocene-Miocene boundary (from early Arikareean, Ar1, to late Arikareean, Ar3), and greatly extends the geographic range of the family into eastern North America some 10° of latitude farther south and 20° of longitude farther east (about 2,200 km farther southeast) than previously known. This late occurrence probably represents a retreat of this subtropically adapted family into the Gulf Coastal Plain subtropical province at the end of the Paleogene and perhaps the end of the apatemyid lineage in North America.
Burkitt’s Lymphoma of the Rectosigmoid and Stomach Presenting as Hematochezia

Patient: Female, 51 Final Diagnosis: Burkitt’s lymphoma of the rectum and stomach Symptoms: Hematochezia Medication: — Clinical Procedure: EGD and colonoscopy Specialty: Gastroenterology and Hepatology Objective: Rare disease Background: Burkitt’s lymphoma (BL) is an uncommon cause of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in adults and accounts for only 0.1–0.5% of all malignant tumors of the colon and rectum. Very few cases of rectosigmoid and stomach BL have been reported in adults. Case Report: A 51-year-old Hispanic woman presented with a 1-month history of hematochezia, associated with a foreign-body sensation in the rectum and 7 kg weight loss. Initial laboratory workup showed normocytic anemia and positive fecal occult blood. Computed tomography of the abdomen revealed an asymmetric appearance of the stomach and pylorus with nodularity of the mucosa and thickening of the posterior wall, and a 10.8-cm rectal mass. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy and colonoscopy were performed and biopsies of the stomach and rectum were obtained; histopathology demonstrated involvement by Burkitt’s lymphoma in the gastric body nodule and rectal mass. After 4 cycles of chemotherapy, a follow-up abdominal CT demonstrated complete resolution of the mural thickening of the rectum and no intra-abdominal lymphadenopathy. Conclusions: Our case illustrates the importance of considering BL in the extensive differential diagnosis of rectal bleeding, change in bowel habits, and other lower and upper GI symptoms, since the rapidly growing nature of this rare malignancy requires a prompt diagnosis and initiation of appropriate therapy.
Subject to Change Without Notice: Mock Schedules and Flexible Employment in the United States

This article draws on a case study of a high-end food-service firm, where most workers are undocumented Mexican immigrants. This firm has institutionalized employment relations characterized by flexibility, precariousness, and contingency. I specify its unique market context, showing how vulnerable and precarious employees are essential to the firm’s ability to control business uncertainties. Pulling from [Alvin Gouldner (1954)][1] I develop the concept of the mock calendar as a micro-level strategy of management that obscures the conditions of precarious employment at this firm. The mock calendar communicates time and scheduling. It is “mock” because it is illusory: it changes and shifts according to managers’ daily manipulations. However, given the high-end and uncertain market niche this company operates in, managers are forced to provide workers with symbolic and meager material concessions. I conclude by suggesting that scheduling manipulation is an under-theorized arena of workplace control. Given recent literature that documents the widespread problems of wage theft, overtime violations, and lack of paid breaks for many service workers, understanding the micro processes that maintain and reproduce forms of twenty-first-century precarity is extremely relevant. [1]: #ref-29
Conserved properties of individual Ca2+-binding sites in calmodulin.

Calmodulin (CaM) is a Ca2+-sensing protein that is highly conserved and ubiquitous in eukaryotes. In humans it is a locus of life-threatening cardiomyopathies. The primary function of CaM is to transduce Ca2+ concentration into cellular signals by binding to a wide range of target proteins in a Ca2+-dependent manner. We do not fully understand how CaM performs its role as a high-fidelity signal transducer for more than 300 target proteins, but diversity among its four Ca2+-binding sites, called EF-hands, may contribute to CaM’s functional versatility. We therefore looked at the conservation of CaM sequences over deep evolutionary time, focusing primarily on the four EF-hand motifs. Expanding on previous work, we found that CaM evolves slowly but that its evolutionary rate is substantially faster in fungi. We also found that the four EF-hands have distinguishing biophysical and structural properties that span eukaryotes. These results suggest that all eukaryotes require CaM to decode Ca2+ signals using four specialized EF-hands, each with specific, conserved traits. In addition, we provide an extensive map of sites associated with target proteins and with human disease and correlate these with evolutionary sequence diversity. Our comprehensive evolutionary analysis provides a basis for understanding the sequence space associated with CaM function and should help guide future work on the relationship between structure, function, and disease.
Social Identity Theories

Social identity theory originated as a social psychological explanation for prejudice and discrimination. It has since expanded into a general social identity perspective that encompasses several mutually complementary theories. The most notable of these are social identity theory, communication accommodation theory, ethnolinguistic identity theory, and self-categorization theory. This entry describes these theories, their history, and their importance for understanding interpersonal communication. Keywords: identity; self; social influence
Underemployed Attorneys and Underserved Communities: Getting to the Corps of the Problem

According to a 2012 survey published by the American Bar Association, there were 46,364 graduates in the class of 2012 from law schools across the country. 1 The survey gathered the employment status of 97.4% of those graduates. 2 Of that group, only 62.3% were reportedly employed in a position for which bar passage was required 3 —and only 56.2% of those were long-term, full-time jobs. 4 Almost 13% were employed in positions where a Juris Doctorate was considered an advantage, but not a requirement. 5 Nearly 5000 graduates—more than 10%—were not employed at all, but had not abandoned the job search just yet. 6
Stereochemical vocabulary for structures that are chiral but not asymmetric: History, analysis, and proposal for a rational terminology

Asymmetric objects are necessarily chiral, but a structure may be chiral and not asymmetric if it possesses one or more proper rotation axes. Chiral but not asymmetric molecules are important in chemistry and its applications, but no suitable term exists for the designation of such structures, and their terminology in the literature is confused and chaotic. Dissymmetric has been redefined by some authors as "chiral but not asymmetric," in conflict both with Pasteur's definition of the term as "not superposable on its mirror image" (without other restrictions, i.e., chiral) and the understanding of the term in stereochemistry. Moreover, dissymmetric and asymmetric are frequently confused because of their similar forms. Furthermore, dissymmetric is widely used in many other definitions in chemistry, physics, and other disciplines. Thus, dissymmetric is unsuitable in the new definition of "chiral but not asymmetric," and a new term is needed. The adjective "symmanumorphous" is therefore proposed for "chiral but not asymmetric". "Sym" (from symmetry) indicates the presence of some symmetry in the structure, and "manu" (from "manus," Latin for hand, e.g., manual, manuscript) refers to its handedness. "Morphous," from the Greek "morphē," that is, form, is widely used, for example, anthropomorphous, enantiomorphous, etc. Symmanumorphous is convenient and euphonious and at 15 characters (same as enantiomorphous) is not unduly long. The nouns "a symmanumorph" (a structure that is chiral but not asymmetric) and "symmanumorphism" (the phenomenon of chirality without asymmetry) are also proposed. The new terminology is adaptable in other languages and would contribute to creating order out of linguistic chaos.
Preferential solvation in carbonyl-twisted PRODAN derivatives.

The Roses and Bosch model for preferential solvation is used to analyze the fluorescence behavior of two PRODAN derivatives in binary solvents with one or two protic components. The preferential solvation results suggest that the excited PRODAN derivatives form two H-bonds. The model allows for determining the characteristics of the singly H-bonded excited states. They show red-shifted fluorescence but relatively little quenching. In contrast, the doubly H-bonded excited states are significantly quenched when the protic solvent is a strong H-bond donor (large SA value). With two protic solvents there is little preferential interaction even though the solvents have very different H-bond-forming ability.
Electron microscope observations of degenerating and regenerating pancreas following ethionine administration

It has been previously shown, that administration of dl-ethionine (α-amino-γ-ethylmercaptobutyric acid), an amino acid analogue of methionine, results in selective pancreatic acinar cell destruction. This is followed by a subsequent regenerative phase with almost complete restitution of the acinar cells (4, 7, 19). The progressive degenerative changes observed by light microscopy have been a decreased perinuclear basophilia : eosinophihe cytoplasm, accompanied by zymogen granule destruction; a disruption of acinar cell pattern; increased vacuolization, disintegration and removal of acinar cells. Factors such as sex (1), protein depleted diet (3, 18), methionine administration (2), animal weight, age, and dosage level of ethionine (3, 4) influence the ultimate course of degeneration and regeneration. A cursory review of the literature indicated that no electron microscope study of this biological model of degeneration and regeneration has been undertaken. A number of ultrastructure studies of normal, starved, refed, pilocarpineinjected and neutral red injected pancreas has been made (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21).
In search of amorphization-resistant boron carbide

Abstract Despite its superior mechanical properties, boron carbide suffers from amorphization, a pressure-induced phenomenon that disturbs crystalline order and likely reduces shear strength. Numerous experimental and computational studies have investigated the structure and origins of amorphization, yet strategies to mitigate this deleterious phenomenon elude. However, recent investigations have revealed three new research avenues for addressing this issue. First, we identify crystallographic cage spaces that may accommodate foreign atoms to potentially prevent structural collapse. Second, we propose polymorph-level tailoring through strict control of processing conditions. Finally, we demonstrate that reducing grain size to nanometer scale increases hardness and may counter amorphization.
Convergence of Postman and Vygotsky Perspectives Regarding Contemporary Media’s Impact on Learning and Teaching

The nature of technology (NOT) addresses issues such as what technology is, how and why technology is developed, the unequal beneficial and malevolent consequences that accompany any technology, the way technology influences how to think and act, and the relationship between society and technology.
Utilization of fertility treatment and reproductive choices by lesbian couples

Objective To describe intentions and outcomes of lesbian couples requesting reproductive assistance; and report number of cycles needed to achieve a live birth. Design Retrospective chart review. Setting University-based fertility center. Patient(s) A total of 306 lesbian couples who sought reproductive assistance between 2004 and 2015. Intervention(s) Intrauterine insemination or IVF using donor sperm. Main Outcome Measure(s) Mean age, relationship status, family size, preconception goals, conception attempts, number of cycles to achieve a live birth. Result(s) Preconception plans were available for 233 couples: 76.4% planned for one partner to conceive and carry (single partner conception); 23.6% planned for both partners to eventually conceive and carry (dual partner conception). Of 306 couples who presented, 85.1% attempted single partner conception, and 68% of these achieved a live birth. Dual partner conception was attempted by 14.9% of couples, and 88.9% achieved a live birth. Of those who conceived with IUI, a mean (±SD) of 3 ± 1.1 cycles were completed. Of those who conceived with IVF, a mean of 6 ± 1.4 IUI and 1.7 ± 0.3 IVF cycles were completed. Conclusion(s) Lesbian couples may improve their likelihood of a live birth if both partners attempt conception. Further studies are needed to understand why one-fifth of patients did not pursue treatment.
Pro-inflammatory immune responses in leukocytes of premature infants exposed to maternal chorioamnionitis or funisitis

Acute chorioamnionitis contributes to premature birth, and is associated with postbirth complications. How chorioamnionitis impacts neonate’s developing immune system has not been well defined. Blood from extremely preterm infants (≤28 wk gestation) was drawn at the first, second, and fourth week of life. Blood was either left unstimulated or stimulated for 4 h with PMA/ionomycin. mRNA expression of transcription factors in unstimulated cells (RORC, TBET, GATA3, and Forkhead box protein 3 (FOXP3)) and inflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, and IL-6) in unstimulated and stimulated cells were analyzed. Data were analyzed based on the diagnosis of chorioamnionitis, funisitis and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). At 1 wk of life, exposure to funisitis, but not maternal chorioamnionitis was associated with an increased expression of RORC and RORC/FOXP3 ratio. These increases in RORC and RORC/FOXP3 ratio were sustained over the 4 wk of follow-up. Leukocytes from infants who developed BPD had increased stimulated and unstimulated IL-4 at the first week of life, but these increases were not sustained over time. In contrast, infants with mild BPD had a sustained decrease in stimulated IL-2. Chorioamnionitis exposure, in particular to funisitis, lead to enhanced Th17-like responses that persist for 4 wk after birth. Infants who later developed BPD did not exhibit a strikingly distinct immune profile.
679. Efficient Reconstitution of a 7kb Therapeutic Mini-Dystrophin Gene in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Dog Muscle

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a devastating muscle wasting disease caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene. Restoring dystrophin expression by adeno-associated virus mediated gene therapy holds great promise as a mutation-independent therapy for all DMD patients. The full-length dystrophin cDNA (≈11 kb) is far beyond the 5 kb packaging capacity of a single AAV vector. Consequently, truncated micro- and mini-dystrophin genes have been used. The micro- and mini-dystrophin genes encode ≈30% and ≈50% of the full-length dystrophin coding sequence, respectively. Mini-dystrophin is expected to provide better protection than micro-dystrophin. We have previously shown that dual AAV vectors can efficiently express a 6 to 8-kb mini-dystrophin in mdx mice. Dual AAV-mediated mini-dystrophin gene therapy significantly ameliorated histopathology and improved muscle function in mdx mice, a mouse model of DMD. To translate this promising therapy to large mammals, here we evaluated the reconstitution of a 7-kb minigene in the canine model of DMD by local injection. We engineered a pair of dual-AAV vectors to express a 7-kb canine codon-optimized ΔH2-R15 mini-dystrophin gene. For easy detection, a flag-tag and a GFP gene were fused to the N-terminal and C-terminal ends, respectively. To determine whether dual AAV vectors can lead to efficient mini-dystrophin expression, we co-delivered both vectors to the extensor carpi ulnaris muscle in the forelimb of DMD dogs at a dose of 2×013 vg particles/vector/muscle. Two months after gene transfer we evaluated transduction efficiency and observed successful expression of mini-dystrophin from the dual-AAV vectors. All flag-tag positive myofibers were also positive for minidystrophin, GFP and dystrophin-associated glycoprotein complex proteins. Importantly, mini-dystrophin gene therapy also reduced muscle force loss under the stress of repeated cycles of eccentric contraction. These results establish the proof-of-concept for mini-dystrophin gene therapy in dystrophic muscles of large mammals.
Cardiac Ultrasound in Stroke Investigation

Abstract Cardiac sources of stroke may account for 20–30% of the near 800,000 strokes that occur annually in the United States. Conventional transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) remains the cornerstone of noninvasive cardiac imaging for this disorder, although moderately invasive transesophageal echocardiography is superior for the identification of most cardiac sources of emboli. Clinical paradigms in the use of TTE and TEE continue to evolve, with Appropriate Use Criteria currently classifying their use as “appropriate.” In addition, newer imaging methods, such as cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may also have an important role in identifying cardiogenic sources of embolism. The clinical integration of these newer imaging methods on treatment and prognosis remains to be defined.
Passive Diagnosis of Hidden-Mode Switched Affine Models with Detection Guarantees via Model Invalidation

Smart systems, ranging from smart homes to infrastructure networks such as traffic and power networks, are examples of cyber-physical systems that are oftentimes safety critical, yet prone to system failures. This chapter contributes to the area of passive fault detection and isolation for such systems, modeled as hybrid dynamical systems, from a model invalidation perspective. In particular, we present a model-based approach for guaranteed detection and isolation of generic faults in cyber-physical systems, where both the systems and the faults are represented by hidden-mode switched affine models with time-varying parametric uncertainty subject to process and measurement noise. We show that model invalidation based fault detection and isolation can be reduced to the feasibility of a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem, which can be solved efficiently by leveraging state-of-the-art MILP solvers. In addition, for a given pair of models (system and/or fault models), we introduce the notion of T-distinguishability and show that the T-distinguishability test for any pair of models also reduces to a feasibility check of a MILP problem. Using this property, we show that the satisfaction of the T-distinguishability property with a finite T allows us to implement the model invalidation algorithm using only data from a finite horizon with guarantees of fault detection and isolation in a receding horizon manner. Finally, building on these results, a real-time fault detection and isolation scheme is presented, which runs multiple model invalidation problems simultaneously at run-time with guarantees for the detection and isolation delays when identifying specific faults.
Input and state estimation for earthquake-excited building structures using acceleration measurements

Estimating both state and ground input for earthquake-excited building structures using a limited number of absolute acceleration measurements is critical to post-disaster damage assessment and structural evaluation. Input estimation in this case is particularly challenging due to the lack of direct feedthrough term, which renders the system weakly observable for its input. Hence, input estimation in this scenario is sensitive to modeling error and measurement noise. In this paper, a two-step strategy is proposed to estimate both state (displacement and velocity) and ground input using a limited number of absolute acceleration measurements for building structures. First, the ground input is estimated by solving a least squares problem with Tikhonov regularization and Bayesian inference. In the second step, floor states are estimated using Kalman filter with input obtained from the first step, the least squares with Tikhonov regularization and Bayesian inference. The proposed strategy was numerically evaluated based on a sheartype building structure.
Development of rapid diagnostic techniques for idiopathic blindness in the American lobster, Homarus americanus, from eastern Long Island Sound

Idiopathic blindness is a condition that afflicts approximately 50% of the lobsters, Homarus americanus H. Milne-Edwards, 1837, in Long Island Sound (LIS). The condition occurs in lobsters from LIS and Narragansett Bay, but has lower prevalence levels in the Gulf of Maine. Grossly, the condition presents as patches of cloudy, gray-colored regions in the eyes of afflicted animals. Histologically, the ommatidia show signs of altered pigment distribution, necrosis of the optic nerves and rhabdoms, and hemocyte infiltration through the protective basement membrane separating the ommatidia from the optic nerves. Severe lesions show areas with necrotic ommatidia and nearly complete loss of the underlying associated optic nerves. We assessed a rapid, nondestructive, diagnostic technique for determining blindness in lobsters. We compared the use of an otolaryngoscope (o-scope) with stereomicroscopy on live, frozen, and histologically-fixed eyes. Live lobsters from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, and off southern Massachusetts were assessed with the o-scope. Right eyes were analyzed via standard histological procedures. Left eyes were frozen and stored at –80 °C, and later thawed and reassessed for blindness. The o-scope had good sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing blindness in the laboratory with good inter-observer comparisons among trained staff. Initial results indicate that the etiological agent of idiopathic blindness is present throughout a large portion of the sound, and that lobsters are probably continually exposed to it. The use of the o-scope as a diagnostic tool will help us better understand the distribution of idiopathic blindness in lobsters from the New England region.
Useful roles of emotions in artificial agents: a case study from artificial life

In this paper, we discuss the role of emotions in AI and possible ways to determine their utility for the design of artificial agents. We propose a research methodology for determining the utility of emotional control and apply it to the study of autonomous agents that compete for resources in an artificial life environment. The results show that the emotional control can improve performance in some circumstances.
Indeterminacy, Value Pluralism, and Tragic Cases

This Article addresses two fundamental questions of legal theory: Does the law provide a uniquely correct answer to each legal question? And if the answer is no, then how should a legal decisionmaker choose among multiple but conflicting legitimate legal answers? I argue that the thesis of value pluralism articulated by Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997) provides powerful answers to both questions. Value pluralism holds that there are multiple human goods and that these goods are objective, distinct, and incommensurable. It thus explains why there are some cases for which the law cannot provide a uniquely correct answer, but only a range of justifiable choices. Such cases are both legally indeterminate and shot through with incommensurable and conflicting value choices. These are tragic cases because the judge cannot help but choose one value over another and thus bring about irredeemable loss whichever option he or she chooses. What, then, is a legal decisionmaker to do when facing such a tragic case? In the second half of the article, I draw on Berlin’s endorsement of practical wisdom (or phronesis) as a constructive path toward thinking through legal decisionmaking in tragic cases. A judge facing a tragic case requires not only technical skill and theoretical wisdom, but also a capacious sensitivity to all of the context-specific facts and values at play in the case. How to cultivate such sensitivity and a corresponding sense of humility in the face of tragic cases becomes the key question of normative jurisprudence.
All Examination of Scatter in Small Fatigue Crack Growth

Test data from small, corner fatigue crack tests are used to examine the relationships between the standard deviation of the rates of growth and the number of grains intersected by the crack front as functions of crack length. A nonlinear regression analysis is used to obtain a relationship for the standard deviation of the growth rates as a function of crack length.
Serum LCAT and Lipid Levels in grc−-Bearing Rats with Liver Cancer

The relationships between DEN-induced neoplastic changes in the liver and serum LCAT and lipid levels were examined in the R16 strain (grc -) and its wild type counterpart, the ACP strain (grc +). The R16 strain developed preneoplastic foci, hyperplastic nodules and hepatocellular carcinomas, whereas the ACP strain did not. In addition, the R16 strain developed a number of extrahepatic malignancies. The LCAT activities in both strains were markedly decreased concomitant with preneoplastic and neoplastic cell proliferation. The lipid levels in the R16 strain were higher than those in the ACP strain, and the levels of VLDL + LDL in the R16 strain increased with the development of hyperplastic nodules and of hepatocellular carcinomas.
The Legal Framework for New Economic Governance and Its Implications for Wage Policy

This chapter examines the implications of the new European economic governance framework from a policy-learning point of view. It is argued that a new form of EU learning influence has emerged in the wake of the EMU legal and institutional crisis. The author takes the view that an inherent asymmetry in the EMU, namely the presence of a unified monetary policy without a commensurate coordination of social policy and wage-setting mechanisms, contributed to the development of the crisis. The latent consequences of this flaw – diverging (wage) growth and cost competitiveness – were brought into full view when the global financial crisis struck. In response, new wage governance instruments were established in order to exert learning pressure on wage development and wage-setting systems in the EU. The substantive orientation of this new framework is examined with an eye to determining whether it qualifies as a learning process under which wage and spending cuts supplant the role of currency depreciation as a means of addressing external economic shocks and competitiveness gaps. Finally, drawing on recent findings concerning the workings of the ‘European Semester’, the chapter assesses whether the new economic governance reforms are already generating learning outcomes at the domestic level.
Computer Aided Melanoma Skin Cancer Detection Using Image Processing

Abstract In recent days, skin cancer is seen as one of the most Hazardous form of the Cancers found in Humans. Skin cancer is found in various types such as Melanoma, Basal and Squamous cell Carcinoma among which Melanoma is the most unpredictable. The detection of Melanoma cancer in early stage can be helpful to cure it. Computer vision can play important role in Medical Image Diagnosis and it has been proved by many existing systems. In this paper, we present a computer aided method for the detection of Melanoma Skin Cancer using Image Processing tools. The input to the system is the skin lesion image and then by applying novel image processing techniques, it analyses it to conclude about the presence of skin cancer. The Lesion Image analysis tools checks for the various Melanoma parameters Like Asymmetry, Border, Colour, Diameter,(ABCD) etc. by texture, size and shape analysis for image segmentation and feature stages. The extracted feature parameters are used to classify the image as Normal skin and Melanoma cancer lesion.
Overexpression of WIF-1 in human urinary bladder cancer cells induces G1 arrest and chemosensitivity, via inhibition of AKT activation and SKP-2 expression, and a resultant increase in P27/KIP1 expression

2200 Over-expression of Wnt genes (e.g. Wnt 7b) and down-regulation of secreted Wnt antagonist expression (e.g. sFRP1 and WIF-1) have been reported in human urinary bladder cancer. The down-regulation of sFRP1 and WIF-1 is associated with the hypermethylation of CpG islands in their promoters, suggesting their role as tumor suppressors, an etiology for their loss of function, and possible therapeutic intervention strategies. In this study, we have established stable cell lines overexpressing WIF-1 in human invasive urinary bladder cancer T24 cell line. T24 cells with WIF-1 over-expression exhibited a significant G1 arrest in cell cycle progression and a decrease in cellular proliferation when compared to T24 cells with vector control transgenes. Consistently, p27/KIP1 protein expression is also up-regulated, and SKP-2 is down-regulated in T24 cells overexpressing WIF-1 gene. These results suggest G1 arrest and inhibition of cell growth by WIF-1 over-expression may be mediated through down-regulation of SKP-2 and a resultant accumulation of p27/KIP. In addition, we have shown that WIF-1 expression in T24 cells results in an inhibition of constitutive AKT activation and increased chemosensitivity to paclitaxol. Taken together, our findings should encourage the development of WIF-1 as a novel agent or in combination with other therapeutic drugs for the treatment of human urinary bladder cancer.
Mixing and transport.

In order to truly understand the physics of environmental flow, one must understand the mixing and transport process. A better understanding of mixing and transport phenomena will in turn be crucial to predict the fate and transport of contaminants in environmental flows. The present review is intended to constitute and discuss the key points of the mixing and transport papers published in 2007. Many papers reviewed herein are grouped into general mixing and fluid dynamics, some active areas related to environmental fate and transport, riverine, lacustrine, estuarine and coastal systems and then into subfields within these categories.
Confidence in the Qualified Crowd: A Platform for Sourcing EEG Annotations

The use of new signal processing and machine learning algorithms to find digital biomarkers in electroencephalogram (EEG) signals requires annotations for EEG signals at scale and in an on-going manner. In this paper, we provide an overview of the computational infrastructure to support this with an emphasis on how we efficiently process EEG signal data from multiple sources and manage all of the corresponding information. If each annotator is better than 50% accurate, increasing the number of annotators for annotation tasks will result in higher and higher reliability of the annotation. Our platform enables new approaches to quantifying the accuracy of annotations based on the annotators' accuracy, expertise, and relevant experience.
The Race for Revision and Recognition: Interwar Hungarian Cultural Diplomacy in Context

In the wake of the First World War there was an explosion of cultural diplomatic activity and Hungary was no exception. However, as this study shows, Hungary was very much unlike its regional and Western European counterparts. Unlike the Germans, Italians, British and French, Hungarians were not trying to spread Hungarian culture per se. Hungarians employed cultural diplomacy to alter the post-war order. Considering the weakness of its economy, the frailty of its nearly non-existent military and the lack of weight that the country carried on the international political stage, the Hungarian government saw cultural diplomacy as a promising and viable alternative for changing the post-war status quo. Demonstrating the country's contribution to European and indeed to universal culture and civilisation was the fundamental message of Hungarian cultural diplomacy. However, other regional powers also aimed to portray their contributions in the very same way. In the resulting competitive climate, the Hungarian political leadership not only believed that the international community needed to be enlightened about the historical and cultural deeds of the Hungarian nation but also aimed to prove Hungary's supposed cultural supremacy over its regional counterparts. This article traces these efforts and their main themes through domestic and international festivals and gatherings, amongst them the 1930 St. Emeric's Year, the Fourth World Scout Jamboree in 1933 and the 1937 Paris World's Fair. In the end, the essay examines the real and perceived utility and limitations of small power cultural diplomacy in the age of great power politics.
Non-myeloablative umbilical cord blood transplantation for atypical dyskeratosis congenita.

Background Short telomere syndrome (STS) in children may result in phenotypically heterogenous clinical spectrum ranging from completely asymptomatic to typical dyskeratosis congenita (DC). Patients with this cancer predisposition syndrome may have multiple organ dysfunctions including pulmonary fibrosis, liver cirrhosis, and bone marrow failure. Not all mutations in telomerase or telomere genes have been identified, and STS may pose a diagnostic and management challenge. Methods A retrospective chart review and literature search were done for this report. Results Here, we report a case of atypical DC with a heterozygous germline missense mutation in the postmeiotic segregation increased 2 (PMS2) gene, exon 5, (c.466A>G (p. Thr156Ala)). The PMS2 (a mismatch repair protein) gene is known to be an important mediator of telomere-induced aging. The patient was transfusion dependent and underwent successful umbilical cord blood transplant using a non-myeloablative regimen with alemtuzumab, fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and total body irradiation. Conclusion In this case of atypical DC with a previously unreported germline missense mutation in PMS2, the patient was successfully treated with an umbilical cord blood transplant with a non-myeloablative regimen.
Long-term Follow-up of Preoperative Infant Event-related Potentials in School-age Children with Craniosynostosis.

Background Previous studies demonstrated impaired auditory processing in children with sagittal and metopic craniosynostosis before surgical correction. This study investigated whether worse presurgical neural response as assessed by event-related potentials (ERP) was predictive of poorer school-age neurocognition. Methods Preoperative infant ERP was recorded in 15 sagittal and 18 metopic patients. Mismatch negativity and P150 paradigms were derived from ERP recordings, as previously published. Of those, 13 sagittal and 13 metopic patients returned for neurocognitive evaluation 6 or more years later. ERP was correlated to neurocognitive outcomes using Spearman's correlations controlling for age. Two-tailed t-tests were used to evaluate the influence of age at the time of surgery (6 months) and morphologic severity on neurocognitive outcomes. Results In the sagittal group, no significant correlations were found between preoperative mismatch negativity or P150 amplitudes and neurocognitive outcomes. Although no correlation was found between mismatch negativity and neurocognitive outcome in the metopic group, those with lower P150 amplitudes had higher scores in performance IQ (r = -0.877, P < 0.001) and full-scale IQ (r = -0.893, P < 0.001). Morphologic severity and neurocognitive outcomes showed no relationship in the sagittal or metopic groups. Patients who received surgery at less than 6 months had higher full-scale IQ (109.69 versus 95.92, P = 0.025), visuomotor integration (103.15 versus 90.46, P = 0.041), and visual perception scores (105.69 versus 96.08, P = 0.033). Conclusions Preoperative infant ERP does not correlate with school-age neurocognitive outcomes. Earlier age at the time of surgery was associated with improved neurocognitive outcomes.
Transcriptional and translational regulation of gene expression in the general control of amino-acid biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the transcriptional and translational regulatory events that involve in the general amino-acid control of S. cerevisiae. General-control-mediated derepression of certain lysine biosynthetic enzymes is also partially over-ridden by a lysine-specific repression mechanism when lysine is not limiting. The same phenomenon may apply to certain leucine biosynthetic enzymes that are subject to leucine-specific repression. By contrast, multivalent repression of enzymes in the isoleucine-valine pathway by a mixture of isoleucine, valine, and leucine does not interfere with their derepression by the general control system in response to starvation for other amino acids. Smaller increases have been observed for the leucine and glutamate pools. It is not obvious why S. cerevisiae responds to limitation for a single amino acid by increasing the size of many different amino-acid pools. Perhaps single amino-acid limitation occurs rarely in nature, such that multiple-pathway derepression is generally a simple and effective response to starvation conditions, with specific repression mechanisms operating to over-ride derepression of those pathways for which no amino-acid limitation exists.
Hydrogen sensitivity of doped CuO/ZnO heterocontact sensors

Abstract Heterocontact sensors based on p-type CuO and n-type ZnO ceramics have been shown to exhibit a high sensitivity to reducing gas species and an intrinsic selectivity. In this work, doped heterocontact sensors were prepared via solid state synthesis routes. CuO was doped with various monovalent (Li, Na) and isovalent (Ca, Sr, Ni) dopants at different compositions to form both single phase and two phase samples. Effects of dopants on hydrogen sensitivity through conductivity and heterogeneous microstructure were investigated using dc current–voltage measurements and ac impedance analysis. It was observed that both monovalent and divalent dopants increased the hydrogen sensitivity significantly. The highest sensitivity was observed in a 2.5 mol% Ni-CuO/ZnO heterocontact and low amounts of Li doping were shown to greatly enhance the rectifying characteristics.
Not just another financial derivatives book

Rubinstein M.: (1999) Derivatives: A PowerPlus Pic-ture Book, In the Money, 381 pages plus CD-ROM, distributed only through the Internet (http://www.in-the-money.com) Rubinstein M.: (2001) Rubinstein on Derivatives, Lon-don: Risk Books, 471 pages, ISBN 1-899332-53-7
On nondeterministic workflow executions

The ability to compose existing services to form new functionality is one of the most promising ideas enabled by SOA and the framework of (web) services. A composition or a workflow often involves services distributed over a network and possibly many organizations and administrative domains. Nondeterminism could occur in a composition in at least two ways. The first form is the result of modeling abstraction that hides the detail information and thus makes the "computation" appear non-deterministic. The second form is closely related to "operational optimization", e.g., one may try to invoke more than multiple services for a task, whichever completes first will produce the result and preempts all other services. In this paper, we focus on the latter and measure the complexity of service execution as the amount of needed resources and controlling mechanism for executing nondeterministic service compositions.We formalize the model and complexity problem and develop technical results for this problem in the general setting as well as special cases.
Modeling a semi-flexible filament in cellular Stokes flow using regularized Stokeslets

SUMMARY Many physical and biological systems involve inextensible fibers immersed in a fluid; examples include cilia, polymer suspensions, and actin filament transport. In such systems, the dynamics of the immersed fibers may play a significant role in the observed macroscale fluid dynamics. In this study, we simulate the dynamics of an approximately inextensible semi-flexible fiber immersed in a two-dimensional cellular background flow. The system is modeled as an immersed boundary problem with the fluid dynamics described using the Stokes equations. The motion of the immersed fiber is computed by means of the method of regularized Stokeslets, which allows one to calculate fluid velocity, pressure, and stress in the Stokes fluid flow regime because of a collection of regularized point forces without computing fluid velocities on an underlying grid. Simulation results show that, for some parameter values, the fiber may buckle when approaching a stagnation point. These results provide insight into the stretch–coil transition and macroscale random walk behavior that have been reported in mathematical and experimental literature. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A rapid, efficient method for purifying DNA-binding proteins. Denaturation-renaturation chromatography of human and yeast mitochondrial extracts

We describe a novel method for the purification of DNA-binding proteins. Isolated mitochondria were lysed in boiling sodium dodecyl sulfate-containing buffer, the extracts were chromatographed on hydroxylapatite in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate, and DNA-binding activities were identified after adding a large excess of nonionic detergent (Triton X-100) and assaying fractions by a gel retardation procedure. Fractions containing DNA-binding activity were bulk renatured and chromatographed on phosphocellulose in the presence of Triton X-100. When applied to human mitochondria, the technique resulted in the purification to homogeneity of fully functional mitochondrial transcription factor 1 (mtTF1), the major activator of mammalian mitochondrial transcription. Moreover, the yield of mtTF1 purified by this method was at least 25 times higher than that obtained by conventional nondenaturing chromatographies. When yeast mitochondria were subjected to the same protein isolation scheme, a 19-kilodalton putative yeast homologue of mtTF1 was purified to homogeneity. These results suggest that the denaturation-renaturation approach may be a valuable general method for the identification and high yield purification of DNA-binding proteins.
Text Categorization: An Experiment Using Phrases

Typical text classifiers learn from example and training documents that have been manually categorized. In this research, our experiment dealt with the classification of news wire articles using category profiles. We built these profiles by selecting feature words and phrases from the training documents. For our experiments we decided on using the text corpus Reuters-21578. We used precision and recall to measure the effectiveness of our classifier. Though our experiments with words yielded good results, we found instances where the phrase-based approach produced more effectiveness. This could be due to the fact that when a word along with its adjoining word - a phrase - is considered towards building a category profile, it could be a good discriminator. This tight packaging of word pairs could bring in some semantic value. The packing of word pairs also filters out words occurring frequently in isolation that do not bear much weight towards characterizing that category.
Hiring Teams from Rivals: Theory and Evidence on the Evolving Relationships in the Corporate Legal Market

How are relationships between clients and law firms in the corporate legal market evolving, and why? Drawing on interview and survey data from 166 chief legal officers of SP (2) formally limited in duration and subject to renegotiation, these relationships nevertheless continue to be enduring; and (3) clients focus not only on law firm platforms and lead partners, but also on teams and departments within the preferred providers, allocating work to these subunits at rival firms over time, and following “star” lawyers from firm to firm more often if they move as part of a team. The combination of long-term relationships and subunit rivalry provides law firms in these relationships with steady aggregate work flows and allows companies to keep cost pressure on firms while preserving relationship-specific capital, quality assurance, and soft forms of legal capacity insurance - that is, a soft guarantee that their law firms will stand ready to provide legal services when and as needed by their clients. Apart from their descriptive value, our findings have normative implications for law firms, corporate departments, law firms, and law schools.