cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A novel mode of cell detachment from fibrillar fibronectin matrix under shear.

Cells within tissues are surrounded by fibrillar extracellular matrix (ECM) that supports cell adhesion via integrin receptors. The strength of cell interactions with fibrillar matrix and the effects of force on these interactions have not been quantified. To this end, we used a spinning disc device to apply radially increasing shear to human HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells attached to a cell-derived fibrillar fibronectin (FN) matrix. The shear required to detach 50% of HT1080 cells was eight times greater on a FN-coated, rigid glass substrate than on fibrillar FN matrix. Covalent crosslinking of the FN matrix increased its stiffness tenfold and produced a modest increase in shear detachment force for these cells. On FN-coated surfaces, cells detach by releasing interactions between α5β1 integrin and FN. By contrast, cell detachment from fibrillar matrix occurred through a novel mechanism of fibril breakage, which left holes in the matrix visible by fluorescence microscopy. These results show that cells require less force to detach from fibrillar matrix than from FN adsorbed on glass and that detachment occurs through breaking fibrils instead of by release of integrin-matrix bonds. Thus, ECM fibril breakage is another molecular feature to consider when understanding cell and tissue homeostasis.
From spikes to EEG: Integrated multichannel and selective acquisition of neuropotentials

Electrical signals recorded from the brain cover a wide range of amplitudes, frequencies, and spatial scales, from spikes and local field potentials (LFP) inside the brain to electrocorticograms (ECoG) and electroencepalograms (EEG) outside. Each of these signal modalities represent different aspects of neural dynamics that can be combined to infer brain state and function in a broader context.We present a 16-channel interface circuit fabricated in a 0.5 μm CMOS process for the selective acquisition and digitization of any of the modalities. Each channel features a fixed gain bandpass amplifier with a tunable frequency response which allows isolation of the signal of interest without hardware modification and a programmable gain/resolution analog to digital converter (ADC). The bandpass amplifier analog front end has an input referred noise of 1.94 μV rms for a bandwidth of 8.2 kHz while drawing 12.2 μA of current from a 3.3 V supply. Experimental recordings with the system show spike signals in rat somatosensory cortex as well as alpha EEG activity in a human subject.
Comparison of postoperative complication risk prediction approaches based on factors known preoperatively to surgeons versus patients.

Background Estimating the risk of postoperative complications can be performed by surgeons with detailed clinical information or by patients with limited information. Our objective was to compare three estimation models: (1) the All Information Model, using variables available from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP); (2) the Surgeon Assessment Model, using variables available to surgeons preoperatively, and (3) the Patient-Entered Model, using information that patients know about their own health. Study design Using the ACS NSQIP 2011 data for general and colon surgery, standard ACS NSQIP regression methods were used to develop models. Each model examined Overall and Serious Morbidity as outcomes. The models were assessed using the c-statistic, Hosmer-Lemshow statistic, and Akaike Information Criterion. Results The overall morbidity rate was 13.0%, and the serious morbidity rate was 10.5% for patients undergoing general surgery (colon surgery: 31.8% and 26.0%, respectively). There was a small decrement in the c-statistic as the number of predictors decreased. The Akaike Information Criterion likelihood ratio increased between the All Information and Surgeon Assessment models, but decreased in the Patient-Entered Model. The Hosmer-Lemshow statistic suggested good model fit for five colon surgery models and one general surgery model. Conclusion Although a small decline in model performance was observed, the magnitude suggests that it may not be clinically meaningful as the risk predictions offered are superior to simply providing unadjusted complications rates. The Surgeon Assessment and Patient-Entered models with fewer predictors can be used with relative confidence to predict a patient's risk.
Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking), Federalism, and the Water-Energy Nexus

While the actual and potential water impacts of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) are well-known and the subject of sometimes intense scholarly debate, few discussions to date have situated fracking within the larger legal and policy conundrum known as the water-energy nexus. This nexus acknowledges that, just as water supply and energy production are mutually dependent, so water policy and energy policy should also develop in tandem. Thus, the water-energy nexus demands that regulators view fracking’s intersections with water resources as more than “merely” an environmental law problem.Developing water policy and energy policy in tandem, however, raises federalism issues that are relevant to the United States’s increasing reliance on fracking and shale gas to supply its natural gas needs. Fracking has already been the subject of serious federalism debates, but these debates have generally focused on whether an individual state or the federal government is the more appropriate regulator of fracking and its environmental impacts — i.e., the debate has concentrated around issues of how to fit fracking into more traditional governance structures for on-shore energy development, water resource management, and environmental regulation, all of which suggest that states should be the primary regulators. Viewing fracking through the lens of the water-energy nexus, however, both adds a broader context to this federalism debate and suggests that fracking should constitute both a significant focus of and potential testing ground for the increasing federal interest in integrating water management and energy policy.
The beginning of kinesin's force-generating cycle visualized at 9-Å resolution

We have used cryo-electron microscopy of kinesin-decorated microtubules to resolve the structure of the motor protein kinesin's crucial nucleotide response elements, switch I and the switch II helix, in kinesin's poorly understood nucleotide-free state. Both of the switch elements undergo conformational change relative to the microtubule-free state. The changes in switch I suggest a role for it in “ejecting” adenosine diphosphate when kinesin initially binds to the microtubule. The switch II helix has an N-terminal extension, apparently stabilized by conserved microtubule contacts, implying a microtubule activation mechanism that could convey the state of the bound nucleotide to kinesin's putative force-delivering element (the “neck linker”). In deriving this structure, we have adapted an image-processing technique, single-particle reconstruction, for analyzing decorated microtubules. The resulting reconstruction visualizes the asymmetric seam present in native, 13-protofilament microtubules, and this method will provide an avenue to higher-resolution characterization of a variety of microtubule- binding proteins, as well as the microtubule itself.
The Last Scientist, the First Magician: Dramatic and Epic Theater as Alternative Images of Science

In his “A Programmatic Attempt at an Anthropology of Knowledge,” published in 1981, Yehuda Elkana briefly introduced the notions of dramatic and epic theater as metaphors for distinct and opposite conceptions of history. He elaborated more fully on this theme in a paper published in 1982 on the occasion of the Albert Einstein centenary celebration. Elkana there criticized the “myth of simplicity” surrounding Einstein, and proposed to replace a “facile holism” often attributed to Einstein with “two-tier thinking.” According to Elkana, Einstein's historical epistemology was a blend of an epic, contingent view of historical scientific change coupled with strong scientific realism.
The Effects of Race Differences in Work History, Work Attitudes, Economic Resources, and Health on Women ' Retirement

The effects of work history, work attitudes, economic resources, and health on the retirement of women, particularly Black women, are poorly understood. This report examines racial differences in t...
Effect of carbon fibers on the vibration-reduction ability of cement

Abstract The addition of short carbon fibers (0.5% by weight of cement) to cement paste containing silica fume (15% by weight of cement) and methylcellulose (0.4% by weight of cement) causes the loss tangent under flexure at a loading frequency of ⩽1 Hz to decrease by up to 25% and the storage modulus (⩽2 Hz) to increase by up to 67%, such that both effects increase in the order: as-received fibers, ozone-treated fibers, dichromate-treated fibers, and silane-treated fibers. The addition of methylcellulose to cement paste containing silica fume causes the loss tangent to increase by up to 50% and the storage modulus to decrease by up to 14%. Silane treatment of silica fume has little effect on the loss tangent, but increases the storage modulus by up to 38%.
Cutting edge: Foxp3-mediated induction of pim 2 allows human T regulatory cells to preferentially expand in rapamycin.

Addition of rapamycin to cultures of expanding natural CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T regulatory cells (Tregs) helps maintain their suppressive activity, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. Pim 2 is a serine/threonine kinase that can confer rapamycin resistance. Unexpectedly, pim 2 was found to be constitutively expressed in freshly isolated, resting Tregs, but not in CD4+CD25− T effector cells. Introduction of Foxp3, but not Foxp3Δ2, into effector T cells induced pim 2 expression and conferred preferential expansion in the presence of rapamycin, indicating that Foxp3 can regulate pim 2 expression. Finally, we determined there is a positive correlation between Treg expansion and Foxp3 expression in the presence of rapamycin. Together, these results indicate that Tregs are programmed to be resistant to rapamycin, providing further rationale for why this immunosuppressive drug should be used in conjunction with expanded Tregs.
Comparison of Ca2+ loading and retention in isolated skeletal muscle triads and terminal cisternae

Ca2+ loading and retention were examined in isolated skeletal muscle triads and terminal cisternae to determine 1) whether excessive loading altered the response of triads to depolarization-induced Ca2+ release and 2) whether these vesicles were similar in their ability to load and retain Ca2+. A mixture of triads and terminal cisternae was loaded with variable amounts of Ca2+ and then subjected to maximal depolarization. Ca2+ release was monitored by changes in extravesicular fura 2 fluorescence using 340/380-nm excitation and 510-nm emission wavelengths. The amount of Ca2+ released from triads due to maximal depolarization increases with increasing Ca2+ loads until a maximal response is obtained, indicating triad saturation. At pH 7, triadic vesicles preferentially loaded and retained Ca2+ at low Ca2+ loads, but, with increasing loads, nontriadic vesicles began to retain Ca2+. At pH 6.5, which should close all open uncoupled ryanodine receptors, triadic and isolated terminal cisternae vesicles loaded and retained Ca2+ in a similar manner. A population of triads, which have some uncoupled ryanodine receptors, did not retain their loaded Ca2+ at pH 7.0 but did retain Ca2+ at pH 6.5; this resulted in a doubling of the amount of Ca2+ released on maximal depolarization after loading at pH 6.5.
Light-Dependent Short-Term Modulations of Elongation in Rice Plants

Effet de quantites croissantes ou decroissantes de lumiere sur la croissance de plants de riz. Consequences sur la balance hydrique de ces plants
GABA Activity Mediating Cytosolic Ca2+ Rises in Developing Neurons Is Modulated by cAMP-Dependent Signal Transduction

In the majority of developing neurons, GABA can exert depolarizing actions, thereby raising neuronal Ca2+. Ca2+elevations can have broad consequences during development, inducing gene expression, altering neurite outgrowth and growth cone turning, activating enzyme pathways, and influencing neuronal survival. We used fura-2 and fluo-3 Ca2+ digital imaging to assess the effects of inhibiting or activating the cAMP signal transduction pathway on GABA activity mediating Ca2+ rises during the early stages of in vitro hypothalamic neural development. Our experiments stemmed from the finding that stimulation of transmitter receptors shown to either activate or inhibit adenylyl cyclase activity caused a rapid decrease in Ca2+ rises mediated by synaptically released GABA. Both the adenylyl cyclase activator forskolin and the inhibitor SQ-22,536 reduced the Ca2+ rise elicited by the synaptic release of GABA. Bath application of the membrane-permeable cAMP analogs 8-bromo-cAMP (8-Br-cAMP) or 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)-cAMP (0.2–5 mm) produced a rapid, reversible, dose-dependent inhibition of Ca2+ rises triggered by synaptic GABA release. Potentiation of GABAergic activity mediating Ca2+ rises was observed in some neurons at relatively low concentrations of the membrane-permeable cAMP analogs (20–50 μm). In the presence of tetrodotoxin (TTX), postsynaptic Ca2+ rises triggered by the bath application of GABA were only moderately depressed (13%) by 8-Br-cAMP (1 mm), suggesting that the inhibitory effects of 8-Br-cAMP were largely the result of a presynaptic mechanism. The protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitors H89 and Rp-3′,5′-cyclic monophosphothioate triethylamine also caused a large reduction (>70%) in Ca2+ rises triggered by synaptic GABA release. Unlike the short-term depression elicited by activation of the cAMP signal transduction pathway, Ca2+ depression elicited by PKA inhibition persisted for an extended period (>30 min) after PKA inhibitor washout. Postsynaptic depression of GABA-evoked Ca2+ rises triggered by H89 (in the presence of TTX) recovered rapidly, suggesting that the extended depression observed during synaptic GABA release was largely through a presynaptic mechanism. Long-term Ca2+ modulation by cAMP-regulating hypothalamic peptides may be mediated through a parallel mechanism. Together, these results suggest that GABAergic activity mediating Ca2+ rises is dependent on ongoing PKA activity that is maintained within a narrow zone for GABA to elicit a maximal Ca2+ elevation. Thus, neuromodulator-mediated changes in the cAMP-dependent signal transduction pathway (activation or inhibition) could lead to a substantial decrease in GABA-mediated Ca2+ rises during early development.
A Sense of Place

. Sense of Place.California's North Coast Ethnographic Photography by Scott M. Patterson. Introduction by Suzanne Abel-Vidor and Mark Rawitsch. essays by Vicki Patterson. Lowell John Bean. John Collier Jr. Ukiah and Willets. California: Grace Hudson Museum/Mendocino County Museum, 1989. 61 pp, 32 B&W photographs, $10.00 (paperback).
Visual features in genre classification of html

Automatic genre classification historically has focused on extracting textual features from documents. In this research, we investigate whether visual features of HTML documents can improve the classification of fine grained genres. Three different sets of features were compared on a genre classification task in the e-commerce domain - one with just textual features, one with HTML features added, and a third with additional visual features. Our experiments show that adding HTML and visual features provides much better classification than textual features alone.
Predicting the transport properties of fractured rocks from seismic information: numerical experiments

Abstract The hydraulic properties including porosity and permeability of fractured rock masses are estimated from seismic velocities derived from controlled numerical experiments. Models of fractured media are developed to represent fractures embedded in an otherwise intact rock. Fracture porosity and permeability are computed using a hydraulic model that accounts for fracture length, aperture and orientation. Seismic attributes are used as a guide to detect the onset of reflections from the fractured medium. Seismic velocities of the fractured layers are computed from the transit times of seismic waves propagating through the layer. The study shows that the velocity ratio between the fractured and the intact rock correlates with the hydraulic properties. Low velocity ratios are associated with high fracture porosity and permeability. Empirical least-squares regression relationships are developed to describe the correlations for practical use.
Bronchioalveolar Stem Cells in Cancer

In all tissues of the body, epithelial stem cells play a critical role in directing tissue generation and organogenesis during development, in repair following injury, and in regeneration following tissue loss. In the highly branched and compartmentalized lung, homeostatic maintenance and responses to injury are driven by multiple, different, resident stem/progenitor cell populations. Consistent or repeated failure of lung stem/progenitor cell function in the absence of oncogenic mutation can result in lung epithelial injury and chronic lung disease, which carries high levels of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Lung stem/progenitor cell dysfunction due to oncogenic mutation drives the development of lung cancer, which poses a highly significant risk to human health and constitutes the most common form of cancer death worldwide. Cancer is identified by its cell of origin, namely the type of cell that incurred the first oncogenic mutation. Over the last two decades, multiple studies have postulated that stem cells themselves, or cells that have de-differentiated and acquired stem-like properties, may serve as the originating cancer cell. Like stem cells that drive development, tissue repair, and regeneration, cancer stem cells are characterized by properties of self-renewal and the ability to produce differentiated progeny. These characteristics are also hypothesized to underlie the role cancer stem cells play in the propagation and spread of the disease. Lung cancer stem cells are putatively derived from several possible cell sources, with evidence coming from pathological and genomic analyses of human tumors as well as molecular and cellular analyses of transgenic mouse models. The stem cell-like resistance to injury and proliferative potential of the stem cells of the distal lung, including airway club cells, bronchioalveolar stem cells and alveolar epithelial type 2 cells, make each of these distinct populations potential reservoirs for lung cancer stem cells.
Selective Infusion of Urokinase and Thrombectomy in the Treatment of Acute Cerebral Sinus Thrombosis

Acute cerebral sinus thrombosis caused a patient to decompensate rapidly and required immediate relief of her venous thrombosis as a life-saving procedure. The thrombus was laced with urokinase and removed from the sinuses with thrombectomy catheters. This reinstituted flow and she recovered full neurologic function within 4 hours.
Active calcium transport by intestinal endoplasmic reticulum during maturation

Calcium uptake by intestinal endoplasmic reticulum was determined during maturation in the rat. Calcium uptake was enhanced severalfold by the presence of ATP in suckling, weanling, and adolescent rats. Uptake values were higher during early life and decreased gradually with age. Calcium uptake represented transport into the intravesicular space of the microsomes as evident by marked decrease in the uptake of 0 degrees C compared with values at 25 degrees C and by rapid release of intravesicular calcium by the ionophore A23187. Calcium uptake was dependent on magnesium and media pH and was inhibited by vanadate. Sodium oxalate enhanced calcium uptake. Oligomycin and sodium azide did not inhibit calcium uptake by microsomes, suggesting that calcium uptake represents a property of the microsomes rather than mitochondrial uptake. Initial rate uptake was linear up to 30 s. Maximal uptake occurred at pH 7.2. Kinetic studies revealed a high-affinity, high-capacity system in microsomes from suckling rats (Vmax 2.26 +/- 0.2 nmol.mg protein-1.15 s-1 and Km 0.56 +/- 0.01 microM) compared with a low-capacity system in microsomes from adolescent rats (Vmax 0.72 +/- 0.1 nmol.mg protein-1.15 s-1 and Km 0.69 +/- 0.02 microM). These findings suggest that the endoplasmic reticulum of the enterocyte may play a major role in regulating intestinal cytosolic calcium homeostasis during early development.
The Nature and Scale Size of Irregularities in The D-Region of the Ionosphere as Observed on a Near Vertical Incidence V.L.F. Sounder

A v.l.f. ionospheric sounding system has been designed, built, and operated by the U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory for the purpose of examining the structure and propagation characteristics of the D-region. The system consists of a 30 kW phase stable CW transmitter, two horizontal half-wave dipole transmitting antennas aligned along and normal to the geomagnetic field, and three receivers capable of measuring phase and amplitude. The receivers are located in mobile vans. The transmitting antennas possess ground wave nulls normal to the antenna axes at midpoint and most of the radiation is directed upward thus allowing a suitably placed receiver to receive only an ionospherically reflected downcoming wave. Spaced receiver measurements have been made at 10, 13, 17 and 23 kc/s. Spectra of phase and amplitude fluctuations and the cross correlograms between phase and amplitude are presented. The drift direction and velocity of ionospheric inhomogeneities derived from cross correlations of fluctuation data between pairs of receivers are discussed. The reflection coefficients predicted by the full-wave solution of the wave equations for propagation in a continuous magneto-ionic medium are compared with measured characteristics of the polarization ellipse of the downcoming wave. The profiles of electron density and collision frequency which give the best agreement between the theoretical and experimental results are discussed.
Principal Costs: Reversing the Polarity of the Principal-Agent Dyad

Despite the diversity of topics addressed in the extensive research on principal-agent relationships (i.e., agency theory), we suggest that an unfortunate common denominator has been a one-sided de...
Application of size-exclusion chromatography/low angle laser light scattering in fermentation processes

An experimental method to assay polysaccharide depolymerase activity in fermentation broths is reported. This method is based on size exclusion chromatography equipped with low angle laser light scattering detection. The method is more sensitive than traditional chemical assays when characterizing biopolymeric substrates.
Investigation on HBsAg Baseline of Yi Nationality Primary School Students

Objective To master the hepatitis B virus infection status and vaccine immunization effect in Yi nationality primary school students.Method The blood samples of 356(236 boys,120 girls)Yi nationality students aged 6-14 years old in a township primary school were detected with HBsAg colloidal gold strip.Results The test results of 338 out of 356 students were approved to be effective and in which 298 were HBsAg negative,40 were positive(11.24%).In 40 positives,31 were boy students(77.50%) and 9 girl students(22.50%)with a ratio of 3.44∶1.Conlusion Hepatitis B vaccine immunization to newborn babies as well as fundamental and intensive immunity to un-infected population should be strengthened for protecting the teenagers and controlling the disease.
Implementation of an Automated Mobility-on-Demand System

There is currently much discussion, development and research, both in expert circles and in the public sphere, concerning automated (or often “autonomous”) vehicles. Within this discourse, personally used vehicles assume a central position, that is to say, focus is geared toward increasing vehicle automation on city streets and highways.
Aloneness and the Isakower phenomenon

Under the sway of the oedipal imperative, the Isakower phenomenon has long been regarded as a regressive perceptual defense against castration anxiety accompanying incestuous wishes, often stimulated by primal scene exposure-fantasy. Clinical material from the psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a borderline patient with object constancy deficits is offered to support a reconceptualization of the Isakower phenomenon: Following annihilatory rage and the destruction of extant inner objects, resulting in a regression to the "drive organization of memory," the face-breast imagery within the Isakower phenomenon arrives as a hallucinatory alternative to unbearable aloneness.
Media Representations of Family in the United States

American media portrayals of family are tied to social, historical, and economic factors often overlooked in the contemporary debate about family ideals. Emerging out of a period of growth in the post-World War II era, the nuclear family and its characteristics have been imbued into the daily discussions about the subject. The effect on gender, race, sexuality, and class in media portrayals has been studied by a range of scholars. Within gender, women seek to bridge the private and public spheres while men rarely find themselves represented at home. Minorities struggle for accurate portrayals that will destigmatize them. Meanwhile, LGBT families strive to be seen at all. Class finds itself commonly used to segment viewers, allowing them to identify both by behavior and spending habits. Mass media can provide both a repetitive and a hegemonic view of family, and a medium to challenge notions of family and create a societal discussion. Keywords: family; gender; LGBT; media; race
Abstract 4613: Cytotoxicity of selenium trastuzumab and bevacizumab immunoconjugates against triple negative breast cancer cells

Breast cancer (BC) is the second leading cause of death among women with an estimated 246,660 new cases of invasive breast cancer expected to be diagnosed this year. Of the different subtypes, 15-20% are classified as triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) because they lack three key receptors; progesterone, estrogen and HER2. These receptors are considered essential for “targeted therapies”. Thus, systemic chemotherapy is the only TNBC drug treatment option. In this study, two clinical monoclonal antibodies; Herceptin® and Avastin® were covalently labeled with redox selenium and used to treat two TNBC cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468) in culture. TNBC cell lines were treated with vehicle control, increasing concentrations of selenium as Selenite (ranging from 2 to 20 µg); Se-Herceptin® or Se-Avastin® and compared to native antibodies with equal concentrations of protein. Cell counts and viability were analyzed using Beckman ViCell Counter and Trypan Blue exclusion over a seven day period. Selenite, Se-Avastin® and Se-Herceptin® were observed to be more cytotoxic over dose and time to both TNBC cell lines in comparison to control cells and cells treated with native antibodies alone. Morphological changes were observed under phase contrast microscopy in all selenium treated cell lines. In contrast, visible alterations in morphology were absent in native Herceptin® and Avastin® treated cells compared to control cells. We believe this is the first report of selenium Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) being demonstrated as cytotoxic to these TNBC cell lines, suggesting a potential strategy to design more effective treatments of TNBC resistant to chemotherapy. Citation Format: Soni Khandelwal, Lauren Gollahon, Julian Spallholz, Mallory Boylan, Maria Del Mar Garcia-Hernandez. Cytotoxicity of selenium trastuzumab and bevacizumab immunoconjugates against triple negative breast cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4613. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4613
The Wearable Learning Cloud Platform for the Creation of Embodied Multiplayer Math Games

Games as a means of education have been starting to become more of an everyday reality. Not only are games used in classrooms, but they are used in industry to train soldiers, medical staff, and even surgeons. This paper focuses on physically active (i.e. embodied) multiplayer games as a means of education; not only by having students play, but also by having students create games. The embodied multiplayer aspect allows for a more interactive experience between players and their environment, making the game immersive and collaborative. In order to create these games, students must exercise their computational thinking abilities. The Wearable Learning Cloud Platform has been developed to enable students to design, create, and play multiplayer games for STEM. This platform allows users to create, edit, and manage the behavior of mobile technologies that act as support to players of these games, specified as finite-state machines. The platform provides a means of testing created games, as well as executing (running) these games wirelessly by serving them to smart phones (or smart watches) so that students can play them with other students, in teams, or as individual players.
Lipopolysaccharide Regulation of the Immune Response

Bacterial endotoxin, which comprises a significant portion of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria, causes a large number of biological effects on a susceptible host such as man or the useful experimental animal, the mouse. When the classical phenol-water extraction method is employed to isolate endotoxin from the outer membrane of the gram-negative family Enterobacteriaceae, purified lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is obtained and this high-molecular-weight molecule exhibits most of the endotoxin-associated effects in the host (Morrison and Ryan, 1979). LPS is a potent immunomodulator and acts on lymphoreticular cells, e.g., B cells, macrophages (Mo), and T cells (Table 1). There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that LPS may exert all host biological effects, including toxic manifestations, via an interaction with lymphoreticular cells (Michalek et al., 1980b; Vogel and Mergenhagen, 1982). In this chapter, we will limit ourselves to LPS effects on lymphoreticular cells that would be beneficial and also occur in our natural host-parasite environment. We encounter LPS in significant amounts from our gram-negative gastrointestinal flora, and therefore, the LPS-lymphoreticular cell interaction probably first, and continually, occurs in gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), e.g., Peyer’s patches.
Simulated nitrogen deposition favors stress-tolerant fungi with low potential for decomposition

Abstract Global changes such as atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition can alter the structure of microbial communities, but a mechanistic understanding of the linkages between community structure and ecosystem function is lacking. Here we apply a trait-based framework to an analysis of litter fungal communities in a temperate forest exposed to >20 years simulated N addition in order to develop hypotheses regarding the mechanisms underlying community responses and resulting changes in ecosystem function. We performed metabarcoding of the total and active fungal communities and measured extracellular enzyme activity in leaf litter after it decomposed for approximately two years in a long-term simulated N deposition experiment. We found that N fertilization decreased the relative abundance of six species in the active community that were highly correlated with lignin decomposing enzyme activity. Four of these species have currently unknown taxonomic identity and should be targets for isolation and further characterization. Nitrogen fertilization also increased species richness and relative abundance of yeasts in the total community and decreased their relative activity levels, suggesting these species may be dormant or otherwise inactive. Together these responses may contribute to accumulation of organic matter in soils by favoring yeasts that are not strong enzyme producers and by disfavoring the fungal species that are most active in litter decomposition.
Clonal Propagation of Orchids

Ever since Knudson [3] developed a nonsymbiotic in vitro culture method for germination of orchid seeds, tissue (in vitro) culture has played an important and highly significant role in the cultivation, propagation, breeding and preservation of orchid species and hybrids. The purpose of this chapter is to present the procedures in detail for clonal propagation of orchids as successfully practiced in our laboratory.
Roles of Modeling in Statistical Inference

A common format for a course in advanced statistical inference is to accept as given a parametric family of statistical or probability models and then to proceed to develop what is an almost exclusively model-dependent theory of inference. The usual focus is on the development of efficient estimators of model parameters and the development of efficient (powerful) tests of hypotheses about those unknown parameters.
Fast Adaptive Augmented Lagrangian Digital Image Correlation

Digital image correlation (DIC) is a powerful experimental technique for measuring full-field displacement and strain. The basic idea of the method is to compare images of an object decorated with a speckle pattern before and after deformation in order to compute the displacement and strain fields. Local Subset DIC and finite element-based Global DIC are two widely used image matching methods; however there are some drawbacks to these methods. In Local Subset DIC, the computed displacement field may not satisfy compatibility, and the deformation gradient may be noisy, especially when the subset size is small. Global DIC incorporates displacement compatibility, but can be computationally expensive. In this thesis, we propose a new method, the augmented-Lagrangian digital image correlation (ALDIC), that combines the advantages of both the local (fast and in parallel) and global (compatible) methods. We demonstrate that ALDIC has higher accuracy and behaves more robustly compared to both Local Subset DIC and Global DIC. DIC requires a large number of high resolution images, which imposes significant needs on data storage and transmission. We combined DIC algorithms with image compression techniques and show that it is possible to obtain accurate displace- ment and strain fields with only 5 % of the original image size. We studied two compression techniques – discrete cosine transform (DCT) and wavelet transform, and three DIC algorithms – Local Subset DIC, Global DIC and our newly proposed augmented Lagrangian DIC (ALDIC). We found the Local Subset DIC leads to the largest errors and ALDIC to the smallest when compressed images are used. We also found wavelet-based image compression introduces less error compared to DCT image compression. To further speed up and improve the accuracy of DIC algorithms, especially in the study of complex heterogeneous strain fields at various length scales, we apply an adaptive finite element mesh to DIC methods. We develop a new h-adaptive technique and apply it to ALDIC. We show that this adaptive mesh ALDIC algorithm significantly decreases computation time with no loss (and some gain) in accuracy.
The highs and lows of physical browsing: How shelf position affects book usage in academic libraries

Abstract In most academic libraries, books are placed on shelves in an order determined by their Library of Congress call number. Many who work in libraries have had the general impression that books that end up on the upper and lower shelves are at a disadvantage for being used. Surprisingly, little research had been done to test this assumption quantitatively. This study sought to address that deficit by measuring 2.25 years of usage statistics of approximately 21,000 books correlated to what shelves they were on. There was a clear preference for in-library use of items stored at the eye level of average patrons. For both checkouts and in-library use, items from the bottom shelf were used the least. When correlated to the different ways books could be discovered and then removed from the shelves, results indicated that physically browsing the shelves biased a patron to choose books at eye level significantly more often and to choose books on the bottom shelf significantly less often. While done in a large, academic library, this research may be useful to any library where books are placed on bookshelves for patrons to browse.
DBF: Dynamic Belief Fusion for Combining Multiple Object Detectors

In this article, we propose a novel and highly practical score-level fusion approach called dynamic belief fusion ( $DBF$ D B F ) that directly integrates inference scores of individual detections from multiple object detection methods. To effectively integrate the individual outputs of multiple detectors, the level of ambiguity in each detection score is estimated using a confidence model built on a precision-recall relationship of the corresponding detector. For each detector output, DBF then calculates the probabilities of three hypotheses ( target , non-target , and intermediate state ( target or non-target )) based on the confidence level of the detection score conditioned on the prior confidence model of individual detectors, which is referred to as basic probability assignment . The probability distributions over three hypotheses of all the detectors are optimally fused via the Dempster’s combination rule . Experiments on the ARL, PASCAL VOC 07, and 12 datasets show that the detection accuracy of the DBF is significantly higher than any of the baseline fusion approaches as well as individual detectors used for the fusion.
Questionable Research Practices: How to Recognize and Avoid Them:

This article focuses on questionable research practices (QRPs) that bias findings and conclusions. QRPs cast doubt on the credibility of research findings in home health and nursing science in gene...
Selective bond scission in formic acid by low-energy electrons

We report recent results of mass-resolved anion fragment momentum imaging experiments to investigate dissociative electron attachment to formic acid, for incident energies between 5 eV and 9 eV. A remarkable site-selectivity is found for a resonance at 8.5 eV by comparing anion fragment yields for two deuterated isotopologues of formic acid. This results in an H− fragment from the O-H bond of the transient anion, with negligible contribution from C-H break. In contrast, a lower-energy resonance at 7.1 eV dissociates by C–H or O–H break to produce H− and the neutral radicals HOCO or HCOO.
Experimental Verification of 3D Model-Based Restoration for 3D-SIM with Data Reduction

We validate experimentally our previously developed 3D model-based (MB) approach for 3D structured illumination microscopy (3D-SIM) and show its ability to provide accurate 3D restoration using a reduced number of raw 3D-SIM images.
Considering the Role of the Menstrual Cycle on Increased Suicidality in Adolescent Females

Increased suicide in adolescent females calls for further study of potential risk and resiliency factors. Considering the relationship that menstrual cycle plays on mood and increased likelihood of suicidality in adult women, it is likely that a similar relationship is present in adolescents. The current review used PubMed and PsycInfo to assess articles related to menstrual cycle and suicide in adolescents. Limited data was present on the role that menstrual cycle and related disorders such as PMS and PMDD has on the worsening of mood symptoms and suicidal ideation and attempts, with minimal research conducted on adolescents. This review identifies a gap in research regarding premenstrual distress as a potential risk factor for suicidal ideation and attempts in adolescents. The present review suggests future routes for research in this area and the impacts that a better understanding of the complex relationship between menstrual cycle and suicide could provide in order to minimize the impact of menstrual distress on suicidality.
A Possible Undescribed Aulopiform Fish Allied to the Genus Apateodus from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Chalk of Kansas, U.S.A.

We describe an isolated lower jaw of a fossil bony fish collected from the Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas. The specimen exhibits some characters common to a relatively rare Late Cretaceous aulopiform fish genus Apateodus Woodward. However, because it also exhibits some features not found in Apateodus, along with its fragmentary condition and preservation mode, we conservatively refer it to as ‘cf. Apateodus sp.’ where it may belong to a previously undescribed aulopiform species phylogenetically allied to Apateodus. The recognition of this potential new taxon from the well-studied Niobrara Chalk demonstrates that there is yet to learn much about the biodiversity and paleoecology of the Western Interior Seaway that existed during the Late Cretaceous in North America.
Elements of Vivid Cartography

As maps become more common and popular in the media to illustrate large social and environmental problems such as climate change, cartographers who are given this task are searching for ways to pre...
Heterogeneous Transfer Learning on Power Systems: A Merged Multi-Modal Gaussian Graphical Model

Machine Learning (ML) is gaining increasing popularity to tackle uncertainty in physical systems, such as modern power systems. However, ML models can be hardly trained for newly-built power grids with limited data, especially when different power grids have different dimensionalities and distributions for measurement data. To tackle this problem, we propose a novel Heterogeneous Transfer Learning (HTL)-based method to boost the data volume of the target grid. Specifically, we propose a Merged Multi-Modal Gaussian Graphical Model ( $M^{3}G^{2}M$ ) with a physical data merging process for knowledge transfer. To solve the maximum likelihood estimation of $M^{3}G^{2}M$ with imbalanced data from two grids, we propose a novel Expectation-Maximization algorithm. Finally, we quantify the negative transfer via the KL-Divergence to measure the distribution similarity between the source grid and the target grid for the transferring confidence. We demonstrate the advantages and the generalizability of our proposed models in diversified data sets for power systems and human action-sensing systems.
Spurious Suppression Techniques for 3-D Printed Coaxial Resonator Bandpass Filters

Design methods to enhance the passband-to-stopband bandwidth of coaxial bandpass filters (BPFs) are reported. Stopband enhancement is achieved by: 1) introducing a transmission zero (TZ) through mixed electromagnetic (EM) coupling and 2) by reducing the RF signal coupling to one of the spurious modes by varying the relative orientation of the RF posts. A low-cost additive manufacturing (AM) concept is proposed as the key-enabling integration scheme for these types of filters due to 1) easing the manufacturing of otherwise complex geometries and 2) allowing for monolithic integration. For proof-of-concept demonstration purposes a two-pole prototype and a four-pole prototype were designed at 3.5 and 3.6 GHz. They were manufactured using a low-cost stereolithography apparatus (SLA)-based 3-D printer. The BPFs exhibited low insertion loss (IL < 0.5 dB) and a 4.5 stopband-to-passband ratio with 35 dB rejection, which is the highest among the existing spurious-free coaxial cavity-based BPFs.
Back to the Basics-Is Comfort Care the Same as Do Not Resuscitate? How Misinterpreting Code Status May Lead to Potential Patient Harm.

Several research studies have shown that code status documentation is misinterpreted or incorrectly defined by a significant number of medical professionals. This misinterpretation among the medica...
SU-E-T-500: Initial Implementation of GPU-Based Particle Swarm Optimization for 4D IMRT Planning in Lung SBRT

Purpose 4D-IMRT planning, combined with dynamic MLC tracking delivery, utilizes the temporal dimension as an additional degree of freedom to achieve improved OAR-sparing. The computational complexity for such optimization increases exponentially with increase in dimensionality. In order to accomplish this task in a clinically-feasible time frame, we present an initial implementation of GPU-based 4D-IMRT planning based on particle swarm optimization (PSO). Methods The target and normal structures were manually contoured on ten phases of a 4DCT scan of a NSCLC patient with a 54cm3 right-lower-lobe tumor (1.5cm motion). Corresponding ten 3D-IMRT plans were created in the Eclipse treatment planning system (Ver-13.6). A vendor-provided scripting interface was used to export 3D-dose matrices corresponding to each control point (10 phases × 9 beams × 166 control points = 14,940), which served as input to PSO. The optimization task was to iteratively adjust the weights of each control point and scale the corresponding dose matrices. In order to handle the large amount of data in GPU memory, dose matrices were sparsified and placed in contiguous memory blocks with the 14,940 weight-variables. PSO was implemented on CPU (dual-Xeon, 3.1GHz) and GPU (dual-K20 Tesla, 2496 cores, 3.52Tflops, each) platforms. NiftyReg, an open-source deformable image registration package, was used to calculate the summed dose. Results The 4D-PSO plan yielded PTV coverage comparable to the clinical ITV-based plan and significantly higher OAR-sparing, as follows: lung Dmean=33%; lung V20=27%; spinal cord Dmax=26%; esophagus Dmax=42%; heart Dmax=0%; heart Dmean=47%. The GPU-PSO processing time for 14940 variables and 7 PSO-particles was 41% that of CPU-PSO (199 vs. 488 minutes). Conclusion Truly 4D-IMRT planning can yield significant OAR dose-sparing while preserving PTV coverage. The corresponding optimization problem is large-scale, non-convex and computationally rigorous. Our initial results indicate that GPU-based PSO with further software optimization can make such planning clinically feasible. This work was supported through funding from the National Institutes of Health and Varian Medical Systems.
Demand for Live Theater with Market Segmentation and Seasonality

Using performance level box-office receipts from the PacificConservatory of the Performing Arts over eight years, we analyzeperformance-level demand for live theater. The disaggregated data allowsus to estimate demand at a particular venue and to characterize theseasonality of demand for live theater. We examine whether the supply ofshows matches the differentiated tastes of theater-goers at each of thethree locations and the sensitivity of demand to critical reviews andprior attendance.
Structure of the yeast histone H3-ASF1 interaction: implications for chaperone mechanism, species-specific interactions, and epigenetics.

The histone H3/H4 chaperone Asf1 (anti-silencing function 1) is required for the establishment and maintenance of proper chromatin structure, as well as for genome stability in eukaryotes. Asf1 participates in both DNA replication-coupled (RC) and replication-independent (RI) histone deposition reactions in vitro and interacts with complexes responsible for both pathways in vivo. Asf1 is known to directly bind histone H3, however, high-resolution structural information about the geometry of this interaction was previously unknown. Here we report the structure of a histone/histone chaperone interaction. We have solved the 2.2 A crystal structure of the conserved N-terminal immunoglobulin fold domain of yeast Asf1 (residues 2–155) bound to the C-terminal helix of yeast histone H3 (residues 121–134). The structure defines a histone-binding patch on Asf1 consisting of both conserved and yeast-specific residues; mutation of these residues abrogates H3/H4 binding affinity. The geometry of the interaction indicates that Asf1 binds to histones H3/H4 in a manner that likely blocks sterically the H3/H3 interface of the nucleosomal four-helix bundle. These data clarify how Asf1 regulates histone stoichiometry to modulate epigenetic inheritance. The structure further suggests a physical model in which Asf1 contributes to interpretation of a "histone H3 barcode" for sorting H3 isoforms into different deposition pathways.