cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Detection of Aberrant TERT Promoter Methylation by Combined Bisulfite Restriction Enzyme Analysis for Cancer Diagnosis

Aberrant CpG dinucleotide methylation in a specific region of the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter is associated with increased TERT mRNA levels and malignancy in several cancer types. However, routine screening of this region to aid cancer diagnosis can be challenging because i) several established methylation assays may inaccurately report on hypermethylation of this particular region, ii) interpreting the results of methylation assays can sometimes be difficult for clinical laboratories, and iii) use of high-throughput methylation assays for a few patient samples can be cost prohibitive. Herein, we describe the use of combined bisulfite restriction enzyme analysis (COBRA) as a diagnostic tool for detecting the hypermethylated TERT promoter using in vitro methylated and unmethylated genomic DNA as well as genomic DNA from four melanomas and two benign melanocytic lesions. We compare COBRA with MassARRAY, a more commonly used high-throughput approach, in screening for promoter hypermethylation in 28 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded neuroblastoma samples. COBRA sensitively and specifically detected samples with hypermethylated TERT promoter and was as effective as MassARRAY at differentiating high-risk from benign or low-risk tumors. This study demonstrates the utility of this low-cost, technically straightforward, and easily interpretable assay for cancer diagnosis in tumors of an ambiguous nature.
Neighborhood density and travel mode: new survey findings for high densities

ABSTRACTAt high densities, land uses get close enough to each other to support walk, bike, and transit modes above 60% of total trips. The San Francisco Bay Area census was used to define five density levels: rural, exurban, suburban, central city, and urban core. The urban core definition, over 50 persons per neighborhood acre, is much denser than in other research. The California Household Transportation Survey supplied new data on block group area, population, trip stages, trip distances, trip time, and travel mode by density. The National Household Transportation Survey supplied block group population, density, travel mode, and income data. Both sources show a strong nonlinear relationship going from rural to urban core: auto miles and trips decrease as walk and transit miles and trips increase. With density, people travel fewer miles and spend less time traveling. High-income households in dense areas travel far fewer miles than those living at higher densities. With sufficient density, complementary...
The possibility of obtaining ultra-low-δ18O signature of precipitation near equatorial latitudes during the Snowball Earth glaciation episodes

Abstract Hydrothermally-altered rocks with ultra-low-δ18O and δD were discovered in Karelia, Russia, over 500 km along the Belomorian Belt of the Baltic Shield. The ages of low δ18O and δD values are 2.41 Ga and 2.29 Ga, corresponding to the first and third Paleoproterozoic Snowball earth glacial episodes. Paleogeographic reconstruction suggests low latitudes for Baltica throughout Paleoproterozoic ice ages, requiring an effective distillation of water isotopes over short transport distances. Here we summarize how to use hydrothermally altered rocks to infer δ18O value of altering meteoric waters, then use an idealized General Circulation Model to test climate states with variable amount of ice cover and to check the hydrologic possibility of ultra-low-δ18O precipitation at low latitudes. Our model results suggest that the low δ18O values in precipitation is best achieved if the area of open water is quite narrow around the equator between latitudes 5°S and 5°N, or the Jormungand climate state. The δ18O of precipitation is high (>−15‰) over open water where high-δ18O vapor from ocean mixes with low-δ18O atmospheric water vapor. As such, a position of about 5–10° north or south of the equator is needed in order to achieve low δ18O of precipitation from an open water source. Our results suggest a slushball climate state with wide areas of open water is less likely to produce ultra-low-δ18O rocks for the low latitude position of Baltica.
Energy-spectral efficiency tradeoff for heterogeneous networks with QoS constraints

In this paper, we investigate the energy efficiency (EE) and spectral efficiency (SE) tradeoff in multi-cell heterogeneous networks (HetNets). Our objective is to maximize both EE and SE of the network while satisfying the rate requirement of users. We use multi-objective optimization techniques to define the objective function. We propose a three-stage algorithm in this paper. First, we select the cell-center radius for the fractional frequency reuse (FFR) method. Second, we assign the frequency resources to satisfy the rate requirements of users and maximize the objective function. Third, the power allocation subproblem is solved by using the Levenberg-Marquardt method. Our numerical results show that a Pareto-optimal solution exists for EE and SE. We present results for different rate constraints.
Medical Education in the Era of Alternative Facts

In an era of distrust of large institutions and erosion of truth, how can medical educators merit the trust of future physicians and instill in students a lifelong appreciation for the importance of hypothesis testing, peer review, and critical analysis of research?
Restoration of motor control and proprioceptive and cutaneous sensation in humans with prior upper-limb amputation via multiple Utah Slanted Electrode Arrays (USEAs) implanted in residual peripheral arm nerves

Despite advances in sophisticated robotic hands, intuitive control of and sensory feedback from these prostheses has been limited to only 3-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) with 2 sensory percepts in closed-loop control. A Utah Slanted Electrode Array (USEA) has been used in the past to provide up to 81 sensory percepts for human amputees. Here, we report on the advanced capabilities of multiple USEAs implanted in the residual peripheral arm nerves of human amputees for restoring control of 5 DOF and sensation of up to 131 proprioceptive and cutaneous hand sensory percepts. We also demonstrate that USEA-restored sensory percepts provide a useful source of feedback during closed-loop virtual prosthetic hand control. Two 100-channel USEAs were implanted for 4–5 weeks, one each in the median and ulnar arm nerves of two human subjects with prior long-duration upper-arm amputations. Intended finger and wrist positions were decoded from neuronal firing patterns via a modified Kalman filter, allowing subjects to control many movements of a virtual prosthetic hand. Additionally, USEA microstimulation was used to evoke numerous sensory percepts spanning the phantom hand. Closed-loop control was achieved by stimulating via an electrode of the ulnar-nerve USEA while recording and decoding movement via the median-nerve USEA. Subjects controlled up to 12 degrees-of-freedom during informal, ‘freeform’ online movement decode sessions, and experienced up to 131 USEA-evoked proprioceptive and cutaneous sensations spanning the phantom hand. Independent control was achieved for a 5-DOF real-time decode that included flexion/extension of the thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers, and the wrist. Proportional control was achieved for a 4-DOF real-time decode. One subject used a USEA-evoked hand sensation as feedback to complete a 1-DOF closed-loop virtual-hand movement task. There were no observed long-term functional deficits due to the USEA implants. Implantation of high-channel-count USEAs enables multi-degree-of-freedom control of virtual prosthetic hand movement and restoration of a rich selection of both proprioceptive and cutaneous sensory percepts spanning the hand during the short 4–5 week post-implant period. Future USEA use in longer-term implants and in closed-loop may enable restoration of many of the capabilities of an intact hand while contributing to a meaningful embodiment of the prosthesis.
Molecular Modeling of Carbon Dioxide Adsorption in Metal-Organic Frameworks

Abstract Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion are one of the most serious environmental problems of the current century. Carbon capture using solid adsorbent materials is considered to be a promising strategy for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and has attracted intense interest from both academic and industrial researchers in the past decade. Among the various adsorbents available, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been widely studied both computationally and experimentally for this application, and the number of papers published on this topic continues to increase. In this chapter, an overview of the current status of the computational study of MOFs for carbon capture is provided. We briefly introduce the major molecular modeling techniques and discuss some important work from the literature on CO2 separation from different gas mixtures. In addition, a brief review of high-throughput computational screening of MOFs for carbon capture is provided. This chapter demonstrates the important role that molecular modeling plays in this research area.
Label propagation in RGB-D video

We propose a new method for the propagation of semantic labels in RGB-D video of indoor scenes given a set of ground truth keyframes. Manual labeling of all pixels in every frame of a video sequence is labor intensive and costly, yet required for training and testing of semantic segmentation methods. The availability of video enables propagation of labels between the frames for obtaining a large amounts of annotated pixels. While previous methods commonly used optical flow motion cues for label propagation, we present a novel approach using the camera poses and 3D point clouds for propagating the labels in superpixels computed on the unannotated frames of the sequence. The propagation task is formulated as an energy minimization problem in a Conditional Random Field (CRF). We performed experiments on 8 video sequences from SUN3D dataset [1] and showed superior performance to an optical flow based label propagation approach. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the propagated labels can be used to learn better models using data hungry deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) based approaches for the task of semantic segmentation. The approach demonstrates an increase in performance when the ground truth keyframes are combined with the propagated labels during training.
Schwarzschild and linear potentials in Mannheim's model of conformal gravity

We study the equations of conformal gravity, as given by Mannheim, in the weak field limit, so that a linear approximation is adequate. Specializing to static fields with spherical symmetry, we obtain a second-order equation for one of the metric functions. We obtain the Green function for this equation, and represent the metric function in the form of integrals over the source. Near a compact source such as the Sun the solution no longer has Schwarzschild form. We conclude that a solution of Mannheim type cannot exist for these field equations.
Multisite Generalization of the SHArP Weather Generator

AbstractGeneralization of point-scale stochastic weather generators to simultaneously produce output at multiple sites provides more powerful support for hydrology and climate change impact studies...
Formation, Alkylation, and Hydrolysis of Chiral Nonracemic N-Amino Cyclic Carbamate Hydrazones: An Approach to the Enantioselective α-Alkylation of Ketones

The α-alkylation of ketones is a fundamental synthetic transformation. The development of asymmetric variants of this reaction is important given that numerous natural products, drugs, and related compounds exist as α-functionalized ketones or derivatives thereof. We previously reported our preliminary studies on the development of a new enantioselective ketone α-alkylation procedure using N-amino cyclic carbamate (ACC) auxiliaries. In comparison to other auxiliary-based methods, ACC alkylation offers a number of advantages and is both highly enantioselective and high yielding. Herein, we provide a full account of our studies on the enantioselective ACC ketone α-alkylation method.
Metric Transformations and the Filtered Monotonic Polynomial Item Response Model.

The $$\theta $$ metric in item response theory is often not the most useful metric for score reporting or interpretation. In this paper, I demonstrate that the filtered monotonic polynomial (FMP) item response model, a recently proposed nonparametric item response model (Liang & Browne in J Educ Behav Stat 40:5–34, 2015), can be used to specify item response models on metrics other than the $$\theta $$ metric. Specifically, I demonstrate that any item response function (IRF) defined within the FMP framework can be re-expressed as another FMP IRF by taking monotonic transformations of the latent trait. I derive the item parameter transformations that correspond to both linear and nonlinear transformations of the latent trait metric. These item parameter transformations can be used to define an item response model based on any monotonic transformation of the $$\theta $$ metric, so long as the metric transformation is approximated by a monotonic polynomial. I demonstrate this result by defining an item response model directly on the approximate true score metric and discuss the implications of metric transformations for applied testing situations.
Leveraging shared memory in the ross time warp simulator for complex network simulations

Scalability of parallel discrete-event simulation (PDES) systems is key to their use in modeling complex networks at high fidelity. In particular, intranode scalability is important due to the prevalence of many-core systems, but MPI communication between cores on the same node is known to have drawbacks (e.g., software overheads). We have extended the ROSS optimistic PDES framework to create memory pools shared by MPI processes on the same node in order to reduce on-node MPI overhead. We perform experiments to compare the performance of shared memory ROSS with pure MPI ROSS on two different systems. For the experiments, we use several models that exhibit a variety of characteristics to understand the conditions where shared memory can benefit the simulation. In general, higher remote event rates means that simulations are more likely to benefit from using shared memory, but this may also be due in part to improved rollback behavior.
Moving fast, thinking fast: The relations of physical activity levels and bouts to neuroelectric indices of inhibitory control in preadolescents

Abstract Background Structured vigorous physical activity (VPA) can improve cognitive control in children, but studies relating daily physical activity (PA) to cognitive control have yielded conflicting findings. While objectively measured daily PA summarizes all occurrences of PA within a registered period, a minimum duration of continuous PA is required for registration of a PA bout. Because brief bouts of high-intensity PA can account for a large proportion of children's daily activity-related energy expenditure, this study assessed whether daily and bouted VPA were selectively related to cognitive control in preadolescents relative to other PA intensities. Methods A total of 75 children between the ages of 8 and 10 years (49% girls) wore an ActiGraph wGT3X+ on the hip for 7 days. The acceleration signal from the vertical axis was summarized over 1 s, 5 s, and 15 s epochs. Daily and bouted moderate PA, moderate-to-vigorous PA, and VPA were measured. PA bouts were expressed as the frequency and time spent in 2 different continuous PA bouts, one lasting ≥10 s and the other lasting ≥30 s at a given intensity. Inhibitory control was assessed using behavioral responses to a modified flanker task (mean reaction time (RTmean) and accuracy). Attentional resource allocation and cognitive processing speed were measured using the amplitude and latency of the P3 component of event-related brain potentials, respectively. Associations between PA, behavioral indices of inhibitory control, P3 amplitude, and latency were assessed using hierarchical regression models. Results Daily VPA was not related to RTmean or accuracy on either congruent or incongruent trials. In contrast, more time spent in VPA bouts lasting ≥30 s predicted shorter P3 latency across epochs and flanker congruencies (all β ≤ –0.24, all p ≤ 0.04). The associations between shorter P3 latency and the time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA bouts lasting ≥30 s were less consistent and largely limited to congruent trials (congruent: β (–0.31, –0.34)). No significant associations were observed upon correction for false discovery rate. Conclusion The pattern of uncorrected associations aligns with the dose–response literature and suggests that brief VPA bouts may yield the greatest benefits to cognitive processing speed in preadolescents. Future studies using measures of brain structure and function are needed to understand the mechanisms linking bouted VPA to neurocognitive function during childhood.
Managing Grazing to Restore Soil Health, Ecosystem Function, and Ecosystem Services

Ruminants including domestic livestock, have been accused of causing damaging impacts on the global environment and human well-being. However, with appropriate management, ruminant livestock can play a significant role in efforts to reverse environmental damages caused by human mismanagement and neglect. Worldwide, at least one billion people living in grazing ecosystems depend on them for their livelihoods, usually through livestock production, and for other ecosystem services that affect human well-being. For long-term rangeland sustainability and ecological resilience, agricultural production policies are urgently needed globally to transform current damaging industrial inorganic input agricultural practices to resource conservation practices that enhance ecosystem function. This is supported by evidence that farmers and ranchers who apply regenerative management practices to restore ecosystem functionality create sustainable, resilient agroecosystems cost-effectively. With enhanced management of grazing resources, domesticated ruminants can be used to produce higher permanent soil cover of litter and plants, which are effective in reducing soil erosion and increasing net biophysical carbon accumulation. Incorporating forages and ruminants into regeneratively managed cropping systems can also elevate soil organic carbon and improve soil ecological function and reduce production costs by eliminating the use of annual tillage, inorganic fertilizers and biocides. Ecosystem services that are enhanced using regenerative land management include soil stabilization and formation, water infiltration, carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling and availability, biodiversity, and wildlife habitat, which cumulatively result in increased ecosystem and economic stability and resilience. Scientists partnering with farmers and ranchers around the world who have improved their land resource base and excel financially have documented how such land managers produce sound environmental, social, and economic outcomes. Many of these producers have used Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) grazing management as a highly effective approach for managing their grazing lands sustainably. This approach uses short-duration grazing periods, long adaptively varied post-grazing plant recovery periods requiring multiple paddocks per herd to ensure adequate residual biomass, and adjustment of animal numbers as environmental and economic conditions change. Using this approach, farmers and ranchers have achieved superior ecosystem and profitability outcomes. This manuscript summarizes the use of AMP grazing as regenerative tool for grazed and rotationally cropped lands.
Assessing OSHA Performance: New Evidence from the Construction Industry

The determinants of OSHA performance can be examined by breaking the regulatory process into three elements relating to enforcement, compliance behavior, and the adequacy of standards in addressing safety outcomes. This paper develops and applies this framework to the U.S. construction industry during the period 1987 to 1993. Enforcement activity among the firms in the sample was substantial, with firms facing a high probability of annual inspection. But, despite this significant enforcement effort, inspections have a modest effect on firm compliance with OSHA standards. Finally, the health and safety standards cited most frequently diverge from the major sources of fatalities and injuries on construction projects. These results suggest that historic enforcement policies toward construction make less sense as OSHA moves into its fourth decade of operation. More generally, the paper illustrates the problem of focusing enforcement resources on large, highhprofile companies even though they often are not the major source of regulatory problems in an established area of public policy intervention. © 2001 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.
A High Note: Drug Misuse in Popular Rap Music.

During the last decade, drug abuse rates, particularly prescription drugs, have increased. Simultaneously, music consumption has dramatically increased, and the leading genre is currently rap music...
Emergent collective locomotion in an active polymer model of entangled worm blobs

Abstract Numerous worm and arthropod species form physically-connected aggregations in which interactions among individuals give rise to emergent macroscale dynamics and functionalities that enhance collective survival. In particular, some aquatic worms such as the California blackworm (Lumbriculus variegatus) entangle their bodies into dense blobs to shield themselves against external stressors and preserve moisture in dry conditions. Motivated by recent experiments revealing emergent locomotion in blackworm blobs, we investigate the collective worm dynamics by modeling each worm as a self-propelled Brownian polymer. Though our model is two-dimensional, compared to real three-dimensional worm blobs, we demonstrate how a simulated blob can collectively traverse temperature gradients via the coupling between the active motion and the environment. By performing a systematic parameter sweep over the strength of attractive forces between worms, and the magnitude of their directed self-propulsion, we obtain a rich phase diagram which reveals that effective collective locomotion emerges as a result of finely balancing a tradeoff between these two parameters. Our model brings the physics of active filaments into a new meso- and macroscale context and invites further theoretical investigation into the collective behavior of long, slender, semi-flexible organisms.
Forgotten in Life, Celebrated in Death: Romany (Gypsy) Grave Markers from Northern New Jersey

This article examines 19th- and 20th-century Romany grave markers from northern New Jersey. It argues that these exceptional markers served as a way for members of the Romany community to signal their membership in a distinctive ethnic subculture. Since the 19th century, the Romany people, or Gypsies, have found final resting places from their long travels in the cemeteries of northern New Jersey. Unlike many other ethnic groups, the Romany are unseen to all but the most persistent observers. Aside from scattered mentions in newspaper articles of camps, horse trading, fortunetelling, and lavish funerals, they are almost invisible. In the urban cemeteries of northern New Jersey, however, magnificent memorials for “Gypsy” kings and queens provide a glimpse of the rich traditions of this distinctive subculture. Monuments of polished black and red granite ornamented with gilt lettering, etched with photographs, or adorned with enameled portraits proclaim the tenacity and pride of this often-persecuted group. Rather than marking a particular religious ideology or reflecting the position of the Romany people within the society as a whole, these markers reflect the beliefs and accomplishments of a distinctive cultural group and speak to that group’s values, even when those values diverge from those of the larger society.
The many timescales of context in language processing

Abstract Language input is often noisy and ambiguous. Yet, humans are able to successfully communicate their thoughts to one another by leveraging contextual information to make inferences about the intended meaning of the input. Though there is broad agreement on the role and importance of context, the term is used so flexibly that it can be difficult to know what it refers to and how to make progress on studying it. Here, we propose that a key dimension which spans domains of context is the timescale over which the contextual information is sampled for the purpose of inferring meaning. We review the literature on context effects in language comprehension, organizing our discussion around a few relevant temporal windows, milliseconds, seconds, and minutes, and then propose that the individual's lifetime of language experience and historical time both constitute relevant contexts for language processing as well. We then discuss how construing of context in this way reveals gaps in the existing research landscape and propose new avenues of inquiry to address them.
Channeled particle acceleration by plasma waves in metals

Presently existing high-energy particle accelerators are limited to acceleration gradients of order 10 MV/meter. This implies that to achieve ultrahigh energies exceeding several TeV would require great distances. In recent years there has been an increased interest in the high-gradient linear acceleration of changed particles.1, 2 One concept which promises very high gradients is the plasma accelerator.3 In this scheme longitudinal plasma oscillations with phase velocities near the speed of light provide large electric fields which are intended to accelerate particles to high energy over a short distance.
On the Origin of Solar Energetic Particle Events

The 3-D Plasma and Energetic Particles (3DP) instruments on the WIND spacecraft are providing new insights on the origin of solar energetic particles. In this paper, recent results on the solar origin of 1-300 keV electrons and 0.1-6 MeV protons are reviewed. The main findings are that one class of electron events escaping into interplanetary space are related to the impulsive phase of the flare (radio type III burst related events), but there is also a second class of events released after the impulsive phase of the flare that is possibly related to coronal shocks. In two thirds of all proton events, low energy protons (<6 MeV) are released roughly an hour later than the electrons and are most likely accelerated at the shock fronts of coronal mass ejections. The remaining third of proton events show a puzzling velocity dispersion that could be explained by a non-simultaneous release of protons at different energy.
Effects of Linker Length and Transient Secondary Structure Elements in the Intrinsically Disordered Notch RAM Region on Notch Signaling

Formation of the bivalent interaction between the Notch intracellular domain (NICD) and the transcription factor CBF-1/RBP-j, Su(H), Lag-1 (CSL) is a key event in Notch signaling because it switches Notch-responsive genes from a repressed state to an activated state. Interaction of the intrinsically disordered RBP-j-associated molecule (RAM) region of NICD with CSL is thought to both disrupt binding of corepressor proteins to CSL and anchor NICD to CSL, promoting interaction of the ankyrin domain of NICD with CSL through an effective concentration mechanism. To quantify the role of disorder in the RAM linker region on the effective concentration enhancement of Notch transcriptional activation, we measured the effects of linker length variation on activation. The resulting activation profile has general features of a worm-like chain model for effective concentration. However, deviations from the model for short sequence deletions suggest that RAM contains sequence-specific structural elements that may be important for activation. Structural characterization of the RAM linker with sedimentation velocity analytical ultracentrifugation and NMR spectroscopy reveals that the linker is compact and contains three transient helices and two extended and dynamic regions. To test if these secondary structure elements are important for activation, we made sequence substitutions to change the secondary structure propensities of these elements and measured transcriptional activation of the resulting variants. Substitutions to two of these nonrandom elements (helix 2, extended region 1) have effects on activation, but these effects do not depend on the nature of the substituting residues. Thus, the primary sequences of these elements, but not their secondary structures, are influencing signaling.
The Path of Social Amnesia and Dewey's Democratic Commitments

When the brutal apartheid regime in South Africa was brought to an end, Nelson Mandela and his government decided that the violence of the apartheid era should be publicly discussed and mourned. Only thus could the humanity of the victims be reclaimed after years of suffering and humiliation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission would allow those who had committed atrocities to seek amnesty only if they would truthfully and remorsefully describe their acts to the victims’ families and the nation as a whole. Honest openness regarding the most heinous of war crimes was, in Bishop Desmond Tutu’s perspective, one of the critical steps towards avoiding a crippling social amnesia. Tutu rejected the arguments of those Afrikaners who suggested that the country should simply forget the past and move on after its painful decades of violence and revolution; this will to amnesia, he argues, is unrealistic, for “the past, far from disappearing or lying down and being quiet, has an embarrassing and persistent way of returning and haunting us unless it has in fact been dealt with adequately. Unless we look the beast in the eye we find it has an uncanny habit of returning to hold us hostage.”
Justice as a Framework for the Solution of Environmental Conflicts

Debates in environmental conflicts are very often considered as driven by self-interests of the stakeholders and activist groups involved. While they do actually play an important role, there is little convergence as to what can be understood as a self-interests. Moreover, their importance for motivating behavior in the course of conflict resolution is largely over-estimated by respondents. It is argued that behavior in ecological conflicts is driven by feelings of justice and injustice. Those feelings can differ largely depending on individual scopes of justice, values, needs, and feelings of attachment to nature and the environment. Research from justice psychology provides important insights in how these differences in justice perceptions occur and how they influence behavioral decisions and commitment. A justice framework is proposed as a tool to analyze and solve ecological conflicts.
Linkage between Ductile Fracture and Extremely Low Cycle Fatigue of Inconel 718 Under Multiaxial Loading Conditions

Ductile fracture and extremely low cycle fatigue (ELCF) [1] are two common failure modes in aircraft engines and turbomachinery designs [2]; however, the linkage between these two failure modes under multi-axial loading conditions has never been systematically studied. Inconel 718 (IN718) is one type of high temperature alloys widely used in turbomachines. Specially designed specimens and tests were used to achieve desired multi-axial loading conditions. Two groups of tests were conducted: (a) round bar specimens with different notches; (b) plane strain specimens. Similar types of tests were conducted for IN718 under both types of failure modes (ductile fracture and ELCF). It is found that the ductile fracture of IN718 under multi-axial loading conditions is strongly dependent on stress triaxiality, but weakly dependent on the Lode angle parameter [3]. A 3D fracture locus was calibrated using modified MohrCoulomb (MMC) criterion proposed by Bai and Wierzbicki [4]. It is found that the same phenomenon of stress state dependency exists in the ELCF, which need to be addressed. The mechanism linkage between these two failure modes was explored.
The Fieldtree: A Data Structure for Geographic Information Systems

Efficient access methods, such as indices, are indispensable for the quick answer to database queries. In spatial databases the selection of an appropriate access method is particularly critical since different types of queries pose distinct requirements and no known data structure outperforms all others for all types of queries. Thus, spatial access methods must be designed for excelling in a particular kind of inquiry while performing reasonably in the other ones. This article describes the Fieldtree, a data structure that provides one of such access methods. The Fieldtree has been designed for GIS and similar applications, where range queries are predominant and spatial nesting and overlaping of objects are common. Besides their hierarchical organization of space, Fieldtrees are characterized by three other features:(i) they subdivide space regularly, (ii) spatial objects are never fragmented, and (iii) semantic information can be used to assign the location of a certain object in the tree. Besides describing the Fieldtree this work presents analytical results on several implementations of those variants, and compares them to published results on the Rtree and the R+tree.
Numerical simulations of atmospheric releases of heavy gases over variable terrain

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Energy, is conducting safety research related to the possible consequences of liquefied natural gas (LNG) spills. Under this program, LLNL and the Naval Weapons Center (NWC) jointly conducted the Burro and Coyote series of LNG spill experiments at China Lake, California during 1980 and 1981 respectively (Koopman et al., 1982; Koopman, 1982). LLNL is concurrently developing models for use in predicting the vapor dispersion from LNG spills (Ermak et al., 1982).
Anomalous Hardening in Model Alloys and Steels Thermally Aged at 290°C and 350°C: Implications to Low Flux Irradiation Embrittlement

Age hardening at 290 C and 350 C in five simple ferritic alloys with systematic variations in Cu and Mn and four A533B-type split melt steels with systematic variations in Cu and Ni was evaluated for times up to 7200h. Significant yield stress increases were found in alloys containing high copper and nickel. The hardening is consistent with formation of copper-rich precipitates. However, the precipitation kinetics are accelerated relative to estimates based on extrapolations of the high temperature copper diffusion coefficient. Further the observed high sensitivity to both copper and nickel content is not understood. The rapid thermal kinetics suggest that embrittlement due to age hardening could occur in sensitive pressure vessel steels during extended service. Further, high thermal diffusion rates must be considered in models of the effect of flux on hardening and embrittlement. Anomalously high diffusion would also introduce a new rate-dependent regime at very low fluxes. Hence, the peak irradiation hardening from copper-rich precipitates may occur at much lower fluences than predicted by current data correlations.
Ventricular aneurysm: A clinical-pathologic correlation

Abstract The effect of formation of aneurysm on the course of patients with myocardial infarction has not been well established. Forty patients at this institution were diagnosed as having a left ventricular aneurysm following myocardial infarction from 1946 through 1968. All cases were reviewed, and the clinical course was carefully outlined. Twenty-four cases were confirmed at autopsy. The mean time from the initial infarction until formation of aneurysm was 2.8 years and until death was 4.8 years. All patients with aneurysm were symptomatic, 85 percent with congestive heart failure, 65 percent with angina and 41 percent with some form of arrhythmia. Only 2 patients had clinically suspected arterial embolization. Autopsy findings revealed extensive coronary artery disease in all patients. The aneurysms were variously placed in the left ventricle and averaged 5 cm in diameter; none was greater than 3 mm in wall thickness. Mural thrombi were found in 44 percent of the aneurysms. The finding of extensive coronary artery disease in all patients with ventricular aneurysm emphasizes that coronary arteriography should be performed in this group and that revascularization probably should be combined with excision of the dyskinetic segment.
Umbilical Cord Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation has been successful for a variety of malignant and nonmalignant hematopoietic diseases (1–5). Since the first related donor UCB transplant for Fanconi’s anemia in 1988 and the first unrelated donor UCB transplant (UCBT) in 1993, more than 2000 patients have undergone UCBT. Prior to and since the first successful UCBT, numerous studies have been performed looking at the suitability of this stem cell source for patients of all ages. Additionally, numerous UCBTs have been performed for a variety of diseases, ranging from nonmalignant hematologic disorders, enzyme deficiencies, congenital metabolic disorders to hematologic malignancies, and, recently, nonmyeloablative stem cell transplantation (SCT) (6).
Stress tolerance to stress escape in plants: role of the OXS2 zinc‐finger transcription factor family

During dire conditions, the channelling of resources into reproduction ensures species preservation. This strategy of survival through the next generation is particularly important for plants that are unable to escape their environment but can produce hardy seeds. Here, we describe the multiple roles of OXIDATIVE STRESS 2 (OXS2) in maintaining vegetative growth, activating stress tolerance, or entering into stress-induced reproduction. In the absence of stress, OXS2 is cytoplasmic and is needed for vegetative growth; in its absence, the plant flowers earlier. Upon stress, OXS2 is nuclear and is needed for stress tolerance; in its absence, the plant is stress sensitive. OXS2 can activate its own gene and those of floral integrator genes, with direct binding to the floral integrator promoter SOC1. Stress-induced SOC1 expression and stress-induced flowering are impaired in mutants with defects in OXS2 and three of the four OXS2-like paralogues. The autoactivation of OXS2 may be a commensurate response to the stress intensity, stepping up from a strategy based on tolerating the effects of stress to one of escaping the stress via reproduction.
Psychometric techniques in environmental research

Abstract Behavioral changes may be the earliest and only manifestation of neurotoxicity. Moreover, it is well known that extensive brain damage can occur with little or nondetectable clinical neurological deficit. Psychometric techniques now in use in toxicological and epidemiological research have been proposed to assess in an objective manner early manifestations of functional neurological changes that may be due to environmental neurotoxic agents. Methodological issues are reviewed and the following topics are addressed: (1) the description of representative examples of performance tests; (2) the validity and reliability of psychometric techniques; (3) the analysis of individual and composite test scores; (4) the nature of these variables; (5) the assessment of individuals and groups; (6) the use of multivariate statistical techniques; (7) the assessment of dose-response relationships; and (8) some methodological problems in the evaluation of neurotoxic effects when confounding variables are present. Psychometric techniques can be easily included in the protocol of cross-sectional health evaluation studies (morbidity studies); the sensitivity of psychometric techniques is partly a function of the discriminative selection of the appropriate tests but it may be enhanced through the use of adequate mathematical-statistical techniques.
Fatigue Performance of Laser Peened 7050-T7451 Aluminum Alloy

Laser peening is an emerging technology for the surface treatment of metallic materials that is capable of enhancing resistance to fatigue failure. This paper presents results quantifying the effects of laser peening on residual stress and fatigue performance of samples machined from 7050-T7451 aluminum alloy. Residual stress distributions were measured for treatment with different laser peening parameter sets using the slitting method. For particular laser peening parameter sets, stress versus life data were generated over a range of applied loads and compared with as-machined and shot peened results. Two different sample types were used for fatigue testing: smooth bend bars and notched bend bars. In general, laser peening produced a fatigue life improvement of approximately 3 to 6 relative to as machined samples and 1.5 to 2 relative to shot peened samples over the range of stress levels tested.© 2006 ASME
Three down and counting: the transformation of human mammary cells from normal to malignant in three steps

An array of genetic mutations associated with human breast cancers has been identified. However, which specific combination of mutations permit normal cells to form breast cancer remains unknown. Elenbaas et al. recently described an experimental system for studying the genetic requirements for the development of breast cancer.
Glandless Cottonseed, Peanut and Soy Protein Ingredients in Ground Beef Patties: Effect on Rancidity and Othei Quality Factors

Defatted flours and protein concentrates and isolates produced from glandless cottonseed, peanut, and soybean were used in rehydrated state (1:2 dry material/water) to replace 10% of the meat in ground beef patties. Fat content of both all-beef and extended patties was adjusted to 20%. Patties were baked on racks to varying final internal temperatures. Extended patties were compared with all-beef patties for rancidity development, cooking properties, and sensory quality. All the oilseed protein ingredients retarded oxidative rancidity development in cooked refrigerated patties, with the highest antioxidant potential shown by the cottonseed protein ingredients. Extended patties had higher cooked yields than all-beef patties, contamed less fat, and were not significantly different from all-beef patties in sensory quality.
An equilibrium stress field model for finite element solutions of two-dimensional elastostatic problems

Abstract It is useful to have the dual formulation to the usual compatible element model in order to provide bounds on the exact solution. An element whose stress field satisfies the equilibrium differential equations and which is connected to the adjoining elements in such a manner as to provide continuity of the stress vector across all boundaries furnishes the desired dual. A suitable equilibrium model is formulated for use in a routine manner in the finite element scheme. Guidelines for the formulation of other elements are given and the causes of troubles which have plagued earlier investigators are isolated. Numerical results are given which serve to illustrate and validate the ideas presented.
Best Practice Models of Effective Vocational Rehabilitation Service Delivery in the Public Rehabilitation Program: A Review and Synthesis of the Empirical Literature.

Rehabilitation counselors and practitioners are under increased pressure to adopt and pursue evidenced-based practices, and the rehabilitation counseling literature has been criticized for a lack of empirical work providing support for individual-level interventions. The purpose of this literature review was to examine the last 25 years of rehabilitation research with specific attention to empirical studies related to active employment-focused interventions and present models of best practices that already exist within the literature. Findings indicated that 35 empirical studies met the search criteria of presenting services or models with initial evidence of supporting employment outcomes. In the review process, studies were classified into seven categories based on topic, including interagency collaboration, counselor education and customer outcomes, services to a targeted group, supported employment and evidence-based practice (EBP), empowerment and customer self-concept, essential elements of service ...
Nursery area characteristics of pleuronectids in coastal Alaska, USA

Juveniles of four species of pleuronectid flatfishes were abundant in bays and nearshore areas around Kodiak Island, Alaska during August 1991. Flatfish nursery areas located in deep water bays such as those surrounding Kodiak Island have not been previously reported. Age-0 rock sole (Pleuronectes bilineatus), flathead sole (Hippoglossoides elassodon), Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) and age-1 yellowfin sole (Pleuronectes asper) were collected close to one another and at first appeared to share nursery areas. Closer examination of associated within-bay distribution, depth, substrate, temperature and salinity data revealed characteristics which limited nursery area overlap. The major concentrations of juveniles of these species could usually be segregated by one or more of the physical parameters investigated. Based on the physical characteristics found to be most important in determining distribution of juveniles for each species, we hypothesize the following relationships. Age-0 rock sole are found predominantly in water depths less than 50 m, on sand or mixed sand substrate outside of or within bays. Age-0 flathead sole are found predominantly in water depths greater than 40 m, on mud or mixed mud substrate throughout bays. Age-0 Pacific halibut are found predominantly in water depths less than 40 m, on mixed sand substrate near or outside mouths of bays. Age-1 yellowfin sole are found predominantly in water depths less than 40 m, on mixed substrates at upper reaches of bays. These hypotheses will be field tested, after which the relationships may be considered for application to broader geographic areas.
A Video-Frequency Noise-Spectrum Analyzer

A wave analyzer capable of measuring noise spectra in the video-frequency range is described. Part I of the paper discusses requirements in noise-analyzer design. Part II is a detailed description of a practical instrument. A frequency range of 50 kc to 10 Mc is covered, without bandswitching, at virtually constant sensitivity. The width of the analyzing pass band, 33 kc, remains constant over the measuring range. The lowest spectral level that can be measured is 7 microvolts per root kilocycle.