cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reproduction in Crop Plants

The breeding procedures that may be used with a particular crop species are determined by its mode of reproduction. This relationship will become clearer as the breeding methods used with the various crop species are studied in more detail. It may be illustrated here quite simply by comparing two common crop plants, wheat and corn, which differ in their pollination method. In wheat, a self-pollinating crop, pollen normally fertilizes the flower in which it is borne; no new genes are introduced during pollination that may affect the purity of a variety. The seed of an improved variety of wheat may be harvested and planted over and over again if, during its production, reasonable care is exercised in the maintenance of varietal purity. Contrast this with corn, a cross-pollinated crop. In corn the pollen-bearing organ is borne in the tassel and the seed-bearing organ is borne in the shoot. Pollen is transported through the air from the tassel to the portion of the silk extending from the shoot before pollination and seed production are consummated. The pollen may be carried by the wind for large distances, with seeds borne on a single ear of corn arising by pollination with pollen grains originating from many different plants, so there is a constant mixing of different genes for particular traits of the corn plant. This results in a different reproductive system operating in a field of open-pollinated corn than in a field of self-pollinated wheat.
On the Statistical Comparison of Climate Model Output and Climate Data

Abstract Some broad issues arising in the statistical comparison of the output of climate models with the corresponding climate data are reviewed. Particular attention is paid to the question of detecting climate change.
Understanding the Level of Concussion Knowledge in High School Sports in New Jersey

BACKGROUND Coaches, athletic trainers (ATCs), and parents/guardians (parents) are important contributors to the proper identification and management of concussions in student-athletes. However, there are limited studies on the identification of concussion knowledge gaps that will help inform educational efforts and improve concussion outcomes in these groups. OBJECTIVE To identify gaps and factors influencing concussion knowledge for high school athletics. DESIGN Survey. SETTING Public, private, and recreational leagues in New Jersey. PARTICIPANTS 41 coaches, 34 ATCs, and 65 parents of high school student-athletes. METHODS A 17-item online survey examining concussion knowledge was distributed to coaches, ATCs, and parents. Analyses included ANOVA for between-group comparisons of continuous variables and Pearson's correlations for categorical data. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS Demographics, concussion knowledge, application of knowledge, access to educational materials, and confidence in the ability to identify concussions. RESULTS Significant between-group differences were found for overall knowledge (F[2137] = 11.0, P < .001), factual knowledge (F[2137] = 8.7, P < .001), and application of knowledge (F[2137] = 3.5, P = .03), with parents scoring lower. Coaches, ATCs, and parents had gaps in factual knowledge of baseline testing scores and identification regarding symptom severity. More coaches (73.2%) and ATCs (97.1%) felt confident in concussion knowledge compared with parents (31.3%; P < .001). All groups thought mandatory education, new law, and guidelines were positive in promoting better care of student-athletes. CONCLUSIONS Knowledge gaps were identified in all groups. Educational programs for these groups should consider including targeted techniques, including vignettes, to illustrate application of concussion knowledge. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE III.
Current status of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty.

The dilating balloon catheter that permits percutaneous treatment of many arterial stenoses and some occlusions represents an advance in the treatment of peripheral vascular disease. Although more time and experience are needed to establish the ultimate position of this form of therapy, the authors believe that it should be included in the armamentarium of every major vascular center.
EphA2 receptor tyrosine kinase is a tumor suppressor gene in mammalian skin

3962 Overexpression of EphA2 receptor tyrosine kinase is frequently detected in many common types of human cancer and has been correlated with tumor prognosis. This has led to the suggestion that EphA2 is an oncoprotein. This notion predicts that EphA2 gene deletion in vivo will lead to reduced tumor susceptibility. Surprisingly, we report here that EphA2 knockout mice exhibited dramatically increased susceptibility to skin tumorigenesis in the classical DMBA/TPA two-stage carcinogenesis model. Deletion of EphA2 led to several fold increase in tumor multiplicity and significantly shortened tumor latency. Further, tumors in homozygous knockout mice showed significantly accelerated growth and malignant progression toward invasive squamous cell carcinoma. Loss of EphA2 did not appear to affect apoptosis, but was associated with increased tumor cell proliferation. Treatment of primary keratinocytes from wild type mice with ephrin-A1 inhibited ERK1/2 activities and suppressed cell growth; both effects were abolished in EphA2-null keratinocytes. Similar to human cancers, EphA2 expression was elevated in tumor parenchyma compared with adjacent normal tissues, possibly as a result of oncogenic activation of Ras, which is prevalent in DMBA-induced skin tumors and is known to promote transcriptional activation of EphA2 expression. These results demonstrate that EphA2 is a novel tumor suppressor gene in mammalian skin. Overexpression of EphA2 in tumors may represent a compensatory feedback mechanism to negatively regulate tumor growth and progression.
On the realization of double occurrence words

Let S be a double occurrence word, and let M_S be the word's interlacement matrix, regarded as a matrix over GF(2). Gauss addressed the question of which double occurrence words are realizable by generic closed curves in the plane. We reformulate answers given by Rosenstiehl and by de Fraysseix and Ossona de Mendez to give new graph-theoretic and algebraic characterizations of realizable words. Our algebraic characterization is especially pleasing: S is realizable if and only if there exists a diagonal matrix D_S such that M_S+D_S is idempotent over GF(2).
An insight analysis and detection of drug-abuse risk behavior on Twitter with self-taught deep learning

Drug abuse continues to accelerate towards becoming the most severe public health problem in the United States. The ability to detect drug-abuse risk behavior at a population scale, such as among the population of Twitter users, can help us to monitor the trend of drug-abuse incidents. Unfortunately, traditional methods do not effectively detect drug-abuse risk behavior, given tweets. This is because: (1) tweets usually are noisy and sparse and (2) the availability of labeled data is limited. To address these challenging problems, we propose a deep self-taught learning system to detect and monitor drug-abuse risk behaviors in the Twitter sphere, by leveraging a large amount of unlabeled data. Our models automatically augment annotated data: (i) to improve the classification performance and (ii) to capture the evolving picture of drug abuse on online social media. Our extensive experiments have been conducted on three million drug-abuse-related tweets with geo-location information. Results show that our approach is highly effective in detecting drug-abuse risk behaviors.
Improved predictive models of peptide presentation on MHC I

Large surveys of peptides naturally presented on major histocompatibility class I (MHC I) proteins have enabled improved MHC I ligand prediction by dramatically expanding the available data for many MHC I alleles. However, it is unclear to what extent antigen processing signals can also be learned from these datasets. Here, we developed a predictor of antigen processing by training neural networks to discriminate mass spec-identified MHC I ligands from unobserved peptides, where both classes of peptides are predicted to be strong MHC I binders. The resulting predictor shows qualitative consistency with established preferences for the transporter associated with antigen processing, proteasomal cleavage, and endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidases. When we combined the antigen processing predictor with a novel pan-allele MHC I binding predictor in a logistic regression model, the combination model significantly outperformed the two components alone as well as the NetMHCpan 4.0 and MixMHCpred 2.0.2 tools at predicting mass spec-identified MHC I ligands. Our predictors are implemented in the open source MHCflurry package, version 1.6.0 (github.com/openvax/mhcflurry).
A Multi-hypothesis Learning Algorithm for Human and Mouse miRNA Target Prediction

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that play a key role in regulating gene expression and thus in many cellular activities. Dysfunction of cells in these tasks is correlated with the development of several kinds of cancer. As the functionality of miRNAs depends on the location of their binding on their targets, binding site prediction has received a lot of attention in the last several years. Despite its importance, the mechanisms of miRNA targeting are still unknown. In this paper, we introduce an algorithm that partitions miRNA target duplexes according to hypotheses that each represents a different mechanism of targeting. The algorithm, called multi-hypothesis learner, examines all possible hypotheses to find out the optimum data partitions according to the performance of these hypotheses for miRNA target prediction. These hypotheses were then utilized to build a superior target predictor for miRNAs. Our method exploited biologically meaningful features for recognizing targets, which enables establishment of hypotheses that can be correlated with target recognition mechanisms. Test results show that the algorithm can provide comparable performance to state-of-the-art machine learning tools such as RandomForest in predicting miRNA binding sites. Moreover, feature selection on the partitions in our method confirms that the partitioning mechanism is closely related to biological mechanisms of miRNA targeting. The resulting data partitions can potentially be used for in vivo experiments to aid in discovery of the targeting mechanisms.
Aerobic exercise enhances positive emotional reactivity in individuals with depressive symptoms: Evidence from neural responses to reward and emotional content

Abstract Reward sensitivity and emotional reactivity have been identified as two candidate mechanisms of anhedonia in depression. There is a paucity of research examining whether deficits in reward sensitivity and emotional reactivity can be modified through brief, behavioral interventions. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on the reward positivity (RewP) and late positive potential (LPP) among individuals reporting variable symptoms of depression. Using a within-subjects design, 66 young adults completed a 30-min session of aerobic exercise and seated rest on separate days. Reward sensitivity and emotional reactivity were assessed following each session using the RewP and LPP event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Results indicated that the LPP to positive stimuli was potentiated following exercise, while no effect on RewP was observed. Notably, individuals who experienced greater emotional reactivity to positive stimuli following exercise also exhibited increased sensitivity to rewards. Depressive symptom severity failed to moderate any effects, suggesting beneficial effects of acute exercise on positive emotional reactivity across depressive symptom profiles. These findings suggest that aerobic exercise increases emotional engagement to positive stimuli, which may have implications for resolving deficits in emotional reactivity to positive content in depression.
Climate change mitigation as a co-benefit of regenerative ranching: insights from Australia and the United States

'Managed grazing' is gaining attention for its potential to contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing bare ground and promoting perennialization, thereby enhancing soil carbon sequestration (SCS). Understanding why ranchers adopt managed grazing is key to developing the right incentives. In this paper, we explore principles and practices associated with the larger enterprise of 'regenerative ranching' (RR), which includes managed grazing but infuses the practice with holistic decision-making. We argue that this broader approach is appealing due to a suite of ecological, economic and social benefits, making climate change mitigation an afterthought, or 'co-benefit'. RR is challenging, however, because it requires a deep understanding of ecological processes along with a set of skills related to monitoring and moving livestock and feeding the soil microbiome. We review the literature regarding links between RR and SCS, then present results of qualitative research focused on motivators, enablers and constraints associated with RR, drawing on interviews with 52 practitioners in New South Wales, Australia and the western United States. Our analysis is guided by a conceptual model of the social-ecological system associated with RR that identifies determinants of regenerative potential. We discuss implications for rancher engagement and conclude with a consideration of leverage points for global scalability.
The Mueller Scattering Matrix Elements for Rayleigh Spheres

All 16 elements of the Mueller light scattering matrix for a Rayleigh sphere are predicted from systematic application of the input-output polarizers used to measure scattering intensities from a classical electric dipole.
The role of subduction erosion in the generation of Andean and other convergent plate boundary arc magmas, the continental crust and mantle

Abstract Subduction erosion, which occurs at all convergent plate boundaries associated with magmatic arcs formed on crystalline forearc basement, is an important process for chemical recycling, responsible globally for the transport of ~1.7 Armstrong Units (1 AU = 1 km3/yr) of continental crust back into the mantle. Along the central Andean convergent plate margin, where there is very little terrigenous sediment being supplied to the trench as a result of the arid conditions, the occurrence of mantle-derived olivine basalts with distinctive crustal isotopic characteristics (87Sr/86Sr ≥ 0.7050; eNd ≤ −2; eHf ≤ +2) correlates spatially and/or temporally with regions and/or episodes of high rates of subduction erosion, and a strong case can be made for the formation of these basalts to be due to incorporation into the subarc mantle wedge of tectonically eroded and subducted forearc continental crust. In other convergent plate boundary magmatic arcs, such as the South Sandwich and Aleutian Islands intra-oceanic arcs and the Central American and Trans-Mexican continental margin volcanic arcs, similar correlations have been demonstrated between regions and/or episodes of relatively rapid subduction erosion and the genesis of mafic arc magmas containing enhanced proportions of tectonically eroded and subducted crustal components that are chemically distinct from pelagic and/or terrigenous trench sediments. It has also been suggested that larger amounts of melts derived from tectonically eroded and subducted continental crust, rising as diapirs of buoyant low density subduction melanges, react with mantle peridotite to form pyroxenite metasomatites that than melt to form andesites. The process of subduction erosion and mantle source region contamination with crustal components, which is supported by both isotopic and U-Pb zircon age data implying a fast and efficient connectivity between subduction inputs and magmatic outputs, is a powerful alternative to intra-crustal assimilation in the generation of andesites, and it negates the need for large amounts of mafic cumulates to form within and then be delaminated from the lower crust, as required by the basalt-input model of continental crustal growth. However, overall, some significant amount of subducted crust and sediment is neither underplated below the forearc wedge nor incorporated into convergent plate boundary arc magmas, but instead transported deeper into the mantle where it plays a role in the formation of isotopically enriched mantle reservoirs. To ignore or underestimate the significance of the recycling of tectonically eroded and subducted continental crust in the genesis of convergent plate boundary arc magmas, including andesites, and for the evolution of both the continental crust and mantle, is to be on the wrong side of history in the understanding of these topics.
Sex-specific effects of ketogenic diet after pre-exposure to a high-fat, high-sugar diet in rats.

Abstract Background and aims The objectives were to evaluate the relationship between ketogenic diets, the ketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), parameters known to increase risk for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in both sexes, using a pre-clinical model of obesity. Methods and results Rats had access to a diet high in fat and sugar (HFS) for 12 weeks. After HFS, they switched to chow (HFS–CH) or ketogenic diet (HFS-KD) for 3 weeks to model a dietary intervention. Body weight, adiposity, and food intake were measured. Glucose tolerance and corticosterone response to stress were measured after HFS, then again after the intervention. Both sexes increased body weight, food intake, and adiposity compared to control (CTL) while on HFS. HFS females showed impaired glucose tolerance. HFS males developed a dampened corticosterone to stress, whereas HFS females developed an exacerbated response. The effects of HFS on adiposity and corticosterone were reversed in HFS–CH males. These same improvements were observed in HFS–CH females, although they still had impaired glucose tolerance. HFS-KD males showed some improvements, however, they still had higher body weight and adiposity than CTL. The same pattern was observed in females. These beneficial effects of KD correlated with plasma BHB levels in females but not in males. Conclusions These data model effects reported in clinical literature and serve as a valuable translational tool to further test causal mechanisms that lead to desirable outcomes of KD. These sex-specific relationships are important, as KD could potentially affect endocrine mechanisms differently in males and females.
Adversarial Attacks on Hierarchical Composite Classifiers VIA Convex Programming

Adversarial perturbation attacks were shown to inflict severe damage on simple one-stage classifiers. In this paper, we examine the vulnerability of Hierarchical Composite Classifiers to such attacks. We formulate a maximin program to generate perturbations attacking these models, and obtain an approximate solution based on a convex relaxation of the proposed program. With the proposed approach, the relative loss in classification accuracy for the super-labels increases drastically in comparison to perturbations generated for One Stage Composite Classifiers. Additionally, we show that fooling a classifier about the ‘big picture’ is generally more perceptible.
CrossMine: efficient classification across multiple database relations

Most of today's structured data is stored in relational data- bases. Such a database consists of multiple relations that are linked together conceptually via entity-relationship links in the design of relational database schemas. Multi-relational classification can be widely used in many disciplines including financial decision making and medical research. However, most classification approaches only work on single “flat” data relations. It is usually difficult to convert multiple relations into a single flat relation without either introducing huge “universal relation” or losing essential information. Previous works using Inductive Logic Programming approaches (recently also known as Relational Mining) have proven effective with high accuracy in multi-relational classification. Unfortunately, they fail to achieve high scalability w.r.t. the number of relations in databases because they repeatedly join different relations to search for good literals. In this paper we propose CrossMine, an efficient and scalable approach for multi-relational classification. CrossMine employs tuple ID propagation, a novel method for virtually joining relations, which enables flexible and efficient search among multiple relations. CrossMine also uses aggregated information to provide essential statistics for classification. A selective sampling method is used to achieve high scalability w.r.t. the number of tuples in the databases. Our comprehensive experiments on both real and synthetic databases demonstrate the high scalability and accuracy of CrossMine.
Clinical Implications of Germline Testing in Newly Diagnosed Prostate Cancer.

Abstract Context Germline testing (GT) is increasingly impacting prostate cancer (PCa) management and screening, with direct effects in urology, medical oncology, and radiation oncology. The majority of testing indications and recommendations center on men with metastatic disease, although guidelines now encompass newly diagnosed, early-stage PCa and entail assessment of personal history, pathologic features, and family history to determine eligibility for testing. Objective To describe current guidelines on GT for men with PCa and the impact on management. An additional objective was to review the literature on current uptake of GT across practice settings. Evidence acquisition A nonsystematic review was performed of current guidelines on GT in PCa from professional societies and consensus conferences, detailing supporting evidence for these recommendations. This was supplemented by a literature review of uptake of GT and precision medicine in practice. Evidence synthesis Multiple guidelines and consensus panels recommend GT for men with metastatic PCa. Guidelines endorse BRCA2 testing in metastatic PCa because of strong evidence for PCa risk, aggressiveness, and PARP inhibitor candidacy. Testing of additional DNA repair genes in metastatic disease is also endorsed across guidelines. Immunotherapy with pembrolizumab is an option in some guidelines for men with DNA mismatch repair deficiency. In localized disease, GT is recommended on the basis of histologic features and family history; criteria vary between guidelines. GT for localized disease informs hereditary cancer risk and will probably impact future PCa management. Practice gaps exist regarding utilization of GT. Conclusions Germline evaluation is increasingly important in the management of men with metastatic PCa and may also affect the prognosis for men with localized disease. The presence of germline mutations has important hereditary cancer implications for men and their families. Uptake of germline evaluation may be underutilized in some practice settings, so strategies for optimization are required. Patient summary Patients with prostate cancer should talk to their doctor about the pros and cons of genetic testing, with attention to family history and cancer features. Genetic testing can have important implications for treatment, cancer screening, and family cancer risk.
The Levels of Lactate, Troponin, and N-Terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Are Predictors of Mortality in Patients with Sepsis and Septic Shock: A Retrospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND Serum lactate, troponin, and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) have been proposed to be useful prognostic indicators in patients with sepsis and septic shock. This study aimed to evaluate the predictive ability of these biomarkers and assess how their prognostic utility may be improved by using them in combination. MATERIAL AND METHODS A retrospective review of the medical records of 1242 patients with sepsis and septic shock who were admitted to the Richmond University Medical Center between June 1, 2018, and June 1, 2019, was carried out; 427 patients met the study criteria and were included in the study. The primary outcome measures included 30-day mortality, APACHE II scores, length of hospital stay, and admission to the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU). RESULTS High levels of lactate (>4 mmol/L), troponin (>0.45 ng/mL), and NT-proBNP (>8000 pg/mL) were independent predictors of 30-day mortality, with an adjusted odds ratio of mortality being 3.19 times, 2.13 times, and 2.5 times higher, respectively, compared with corresponding reference groups, at 95% confidence intervals. Elevated levels of lactate, troponin, and NT-proBNP were associated with 9.12 points, 7.70 points, and 8.88 points in higher APACHE II scores, respectively. Only elevated troponin levels were predictive of a longer length of hospital stay. In contrast, elevated lactate and troponin were associated with an increased chance of admission to the MICU. CONCLUSIONS Elevated levels of serum lactate, troponin, and NT-proBNP are independent predictors of mortality and higher APACHE II scores in patients with sepsis and septic shock.
Non-Uniform Sampling and Reconstruction from Sampling Sets with Unknown Jitter

This paper addresses the problem of non-uniform sampling and reconstruction in the presence of jitter. In sampling applications the set X = {xj: j ∈ J} on which a signal f is sampled is not precisely known. Two main questions are considered. First, if sampling a function f on the countable set X leads to unique and stable reconstruction of f, then when does sampling on the set X′ = {xj + δj: j ∈ J} also lead to unique and stable reconstruction? Second, if we attempt to recover a sampled function f using the reconstruction operator corresponding to the sampling set X (because the precise sample points are unknown), is the recovered function a good approximation of the original f?
Impact of Three Different Serum Sources on Functional Properties of Equine Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

Culture and expansion of equine mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are routinely performed using fetal bovine serum (FBS) as a source of growth factors, nutrients, and extracellular matrix proteins. However, the desire to minimize introduction of xenogeneic bovine proteins or pathogens and to standardize cellular products intended for clinical application has driven evaluation of alternatives to FBS. Replacement of FBS in culture for several days before administration has been proposed to reduce antigenicity and potentially prolong survival after injection. However, the functional consequences of MSC culture in different serum types have not been fully evaluated. The objective of this study was to compare the immunomodulatory and antibacterial properties of MSCs cultured in three serum sources: FBS or autologous or allogeneic equine serum. We hypothesized that continuous culture in FBS would generate MSCs with improved functionality compared to equine serum and that there would not be important differences between MSCs cultured in autologous vs. allogeneic equine serum. To address these questions, MSCs from three healthy donor horses were expanded in medium with FBS and then switched to culture in FBS or autologous or allogeneic equine serum for 72 h. The impact of this 72-h culture period in different sera on cell viability, cell doubling time, cell morphology, bactericidal capability, chondrogenic differentiation, and production of cytokines and antimicrobial peptides was assessed. Altering serum source did not affect cell viability or morphology. However, cells cultured in FBS had shorter cell doubling times and secreted more interleukin 4 (IL-4), IL-5, IL-17, RANTES, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, fibroblast growth factor 2, eotaxin, and antimicrobial peptide cathelicidin/LL-37 than cells cultured in either source of equine serum. Cells cultured in FBS also exhibited greater spontaneous bactericidal activity. Notably, significant differences in any of these parameters were not observed when autologous vs. allogeneic equine serum was used for cell culture. Chondrogenic differentiation was not different between different serum sources. These results indicate that MSC culture in FBS will generate more functional cells based on a number of parameters and that the theoretical risks of FBS use in MSC culture should be weighed against the loss of MSC function likely to be incurred from culture in equine serum.
Safety of Baricitinib 4 mg for the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Objective We evaluated the safety of baricitinib 4 mg at 24 weeks for the treatment of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods Multiple databases were searched from inception up to November 26, 2019 for randomized controlled trials comparing baricitinib 4 mg with placebo for the treatment of moderate to severe RA. The safety outcomes of interest were the incidence of serious adverse events, adverse events leading to study discontinuation, all infections, and serious infections. Adjusted risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled for safety outcomes. The Cochrane tool was used to assess the risk of bias. Results This analysis included four randomized controlled trials with 3106 patients. For serious adverse events, the pooled RR (95% CI) was 1.09 (0.76-1.57). For adverse events leading to study discontinuation, the pooled RR (95% CI) was 1.41 (0.94-2.11). For all reported infections, the pooled RR (95% CI) was 1.24 (1.10-1.40), For serious infections, pooled RR (95% CI) was 0.97 (0.51-2.57). Conclusions Patients with RA taking 4 mg baricitinib daily did have an increased risk of infections; however, the incidence of serious adverse events, adverse events leading to study discontinuation, or serious infections were not significantly different in patients treated with baricitinib 4 mg compared with placebo.
Partisan Gerrymandering Under Federal and State Law

This book chapter examines the state of partisan gerrymandering litigation under federal and state constitutional law in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Rucho v. Common Cause.
Modeling Electron Scattering and Acceleration by Whistler Mode Chorus Waves in Jupiter's Magnetosphere: Effects of Magnetic Field Model, Total Electron Density, and Electron Injections

We evaluate the energetic electron scattering and acceleration due to whistler mode chorus waves using realistic magnetic field and density models in Jupiter's magnetosphere, and study the potential effects of electron injections. The bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients are calculated using the total electron density from the diffusive equilibrium model and the magnetic field strength from the VIP4 internal magnetic field and CAN current sheet model. The electron phase space density evolution due to chorus wave is simulated at $M=10$ . The typical chorus waves could cause fast pitch angle scattering loss of electrons from tens to several hundred keV, and gradual acceleration of relativistic electrons at several MeV. The latitudinally varying density and $\text{VIP}4+\text{CAN}$ magnetic field model leads to faster pitch angle scattering and acceleration of electrons at energies above 100 keV than the constant density and dipolar magnetic field model. The simulation is compared to the electron dynamics during an electron injection event observed by Juno on 29 October, 2018. The electron flux is enhanced at low energies during the injection event, and the Fokker Planck simulation indicates an enhanced electron acceleration due to chorus waves subsequent to the injections. The modeling indicates an electron flux increase by nearly 1 order of magnitude within 1 day, suggesting the potentially important role of chorus waves in forming Jupiter's radiation belts after injections.
A Wrinkle in Time: Circadian biology in pulmonary vascular health and disease.

An often over looked element of pulmonary vascular disease is time. Cellular responses to time, which are regulated directly by the core circadian clock, have only recently been elucidated. Despite an extensive collection of data regarding the role of rhythmic contribution to disease pathogenesis (such as systemic hypertension, coronary artery and renal disease), the roles of key circadian transcription factors in pulmonary hypertension remain under-studied. This is despite a large degree of overlap in the pulmonary hypertension and circadian rhythm fields, including not only shared signaling pathways, but also cell-specific effects of the core clock that are known to result in both protective and adverse lung vessel changes. Therefore, the goal of this review is to summarize the current dialogue regarding common pathways in circadian biology, with a specific emphasis on its implications in the progression of pulmonary hypertension. In this work, we emphasize specific proteins involved in the regulation of the core molecular clock while noting the circadian cell-specific changes relevant to vascular remodeling. Finally, we apply this knowledge to the optimization of medical therapy, with a focus on sleep hygiene and the role of chronopharmacology in patients with this disease. In dissecting the unique relationship between time and cellular biology, we aim to provide valuable insight into the practical implications of considering time as a therapeutic variable. Armed with this information, physicians will be positioned to more efficiently utilize the full four dimensions of patient care, resulting in improved morbidity and mortality of pulmonary hypertension patients.
Fertilization and Liming

Fertilizing and liming crops grown under no-tillage is not radically changed when compared to conventional practices. There are differences, however. Most of these differences arise from the fact that, under no tillage, the soil is not moved nor disturbed except in the slot where the seeds are placed. Also, under most systems of no-tillage, a residue of dead plant material is left on the soil surface and a kind of natural mulch is formed. The non-disturbance of soil resembles conditions in permanent pasture so that principles proved there are valid for row crops grown under no-tillage in general. The presence of a surface mulch changes the soil water regime, particularly at the soil surface. Principles of fertilization and liming for no-tillage are based on these two conditions as well as on the nutrient requirements of plants and the specific soil and climatic conditions encountered.
Energy resource endowments of India

This chapter outlines the energy resources of India. Alternative measures for aggregate energy consumption are presented, and current consumption patterns are reviewed. Resource estimates are developed for coal, oil and natural gas, hydropower potential, nuclear fuels, non-commercial energy and other energy sources. A classification scheme appropriate for each resource has been adopted. The resource endowments described in this chapter will be used later in conjunction with planning practices for an analysis of future energy resource development strategies.
Model Predictions of Fracture Due to Explosions

Evidence indicates that small model systems using the same material, same explosive, and similar geometry give good quantitative predictions of strains in a number of rocks, but only qualitative predictions of fracture. It appears that an equation of state that is applicable to blasting in rocks does not involve strain rates, but that fracture is time dependent. Fracture caused by rapidly applied loads cannot, in general, be predicted by assuming that materials fail at a certain state of stress or strain. Some additional "property" of the material must be known. The consistency between nonsimilarity of fracture in model systems, and the existance of such a "property" is pointed out. Experiments demonstrating variation in time required to complete fracture of plaster bars with applied stress are described. A mechanism of fracture is proposed that accounts for variation in time required to complete fracture and for the difference in static and dynamic ultimate stresses that have been reported by various investigators. Some predictions that follow from this mechanism of fracture are presented.
Chemotherapy Monitoring With EIS: Early Findings

We are currently imaging women undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer. Patients with palpable tumors are recruited by our participating oncologists to undergo chemotherapy prior to tumor resection. Treatment plans timing and duration vary based on the protocol selected for a specific patient. However, in all cases, treatments consist of several sessions of chemotherapy prior to tumor resection surgery. Typically, patients are imaged on the days of their treatments, just before infusion. The final imaging session is scheduled to take place on the day of surgery. To date we have imaged 8 patients multiple times and are able to compare changes between sessions with some of these patients. Using our latest 3D reconstruction algorithm, we have found a correlation between the response of the patients as established in pathology, following surgery, and the apparent shrinkage of the volume of tissue above 90% of maximum conductivity. This correlation between the reconstructed data and the findings in pathology would indicate the usefulness of EIS in monitoring the response to chemotherapy.
Distributed Simulation of Vehicular Networks

Surface transportation systems continue to be plagued by concerns regarding safety, excessive delays, and pollution. These problems will only become progressively worse in the future, particularly in developing nations as they modernize and become more mobile. The widespread deployment of smart vehicles that include unprecedented computation, wireless communication, and sensing capabilities will revolutionize the transportation industry, offering new approaches to alleviating these problems. For example, systems soon to be launched under the Vehicle-Infrastructure Integration (VII) initiative by government agencies and private companies will deploy a variety of roadside and mobile sensing platforms. Such systems can also offer a rich variety of new computation and communication services to travelers. Due to their highly mobile and dynamic nature, distributed systems composed of networked in-vehicle computers and roadside infrastructure present new challenges to manage the flood of data that will be created as well as to provide effective information services. Suitable system evaluation tools are essential to understand these systems and evaluate alternate design approaches. Such tools must be able to capture both realistic vehicle movements as well as communication and computer system behaviors. This presentation will describe challenges and our experiences in experimenting with and evaluating vehicular networks through analysis, simulation, and experimentation. We will describe a distributed simulation testbed that has been developed that federates transportation and wireless network simulators, and has been populated with data corresponding to the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Impact of ESD generator parameters on failure level in fast CMOS system

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) generators are used for testing the robustness of electronics towards ESD. Most generators are built in accordance with the IEC 61000-4-2 specifications. It is shown that the voltage induced in a small loop correlates with the failure level observed in an ESD failure test on the systems comprising fast CMOS devices, while rise time and current derivative of the discharge current did not correlate well. The electric parameters are compared for typical and modified ESD generators and the effect on the failure level of fast CMOS electronics is investigated. The consequences of aligning an ESD standard with the suggestions of this paper are discussed with respect to reproducibility and test severity.
The influences of post-tropical reintensification and dissipation on North Atlantic shipping routes

Many North Atlantic tropical cyclones undergo a process of extratropical transition in which their tropical characteristics are entirely replaced by extratropical characteristics as the storm moves northward. After extratropical transition, the post-tropical cyclone can reintensify into a deep extratropical storm with hurricane force winds and high seas. This can be especially dangerous to mariners along North Atlantic shipping routes as northerly routes are favoured during hurricane season to remain clear of the normal domain of North Atlantic tropical cyclones. Due to the lack of understanding of extratropical transition, post-tropical forecasts are generally inaccurate. This study compares extratropical transitioned storms during the extratropical transition process. Two groups of storms were compared and contrasted: one group of storms that reintensified and the other that dissipated shortly after extratropical transition. In this study, we focused on baroclinic effects of shear and synoptic circulation interaction. A relationship between storm shear and pressure during post-tropical transition has been developed in this study. This results showed that lower sea level pressures (i.e., 978 hPa) combined with wind shear differences between upper and lower levels of the atmosphere (i.e., 9 m s−1) during extratropical transition was present in nearly all events in which post-tropical reintensification occurred. The methods developed in this study can be easily implemented into the operations for the marine routing and shipping industry.
Approximate XML query answers in DHT-based P2P networks

Due to the increasing number of independent data providers on the web, there is a growing number of web applications that require locating data sources distributed over the internet. Most of the current proposals in the literature focus on developing effective routing data synopses to answer simple XPath queries in structured or unstructured P2P networks. In this paper, we present an effective framework to support XPath queries extended with full-text search predicates over schemaless XML data distributed in a DHT-based P2P network. We construct two concise routing data synopses, termed structural summary and peer-document synopsis, to route the user query to most relevant peers that own documents that can satisfy the query. To evaluate the structural components in the query, a general query footprint derivation algorithm is developed to extract the query footprint from the query and match it with structural summaries. To improve the search performance, we adopt a lazy query evaluation strategy for evaluating the full-text search predicates in the query. Finally, we develop effective strategies to balance the data load distribution in the system. We conduct extensive experiments to show the scalability of our system, validate the efficiency and accuracy of our routing data synopses, and demonstrate the effectiveness of our load balancing schemes.
The Roles of COMT val158met Status and Aviation Expertise in Flight Simulator Performance and Cognitive Ability

The polymorphic variation in the val158met position of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene is associated with differences in executive performance, processing speed, and attention. The purpose of this study is: (1) replicate previous COMT val158met findings on cognitive performance; (2) determine whether COMT val158met effects extend to a real-world task, aircraft navigation performance in a flight simulator; and (3) determine if aviation expertise moderates any effect of COMT val158met status on flight simulator performance. One hundred seventy two pilots aged 41–69 years, who varied in level of aviation training and experience, completed flight simulator, cognitive, and genetic assessments. Results indicate that although no COMT effect was found for an overall measure of flight performance, a positive effect of the met allele was detected for two aspects of cognitive ability: executive functioning and working memory performance. Pilots with the met/met genotype benefited more from increased levels of expertise than other participants on a traffic avoidance measure, which is a component of flight simulator performance. These preliminary results indicate that COMT val158met polymorphic variation can affect a real-world task.
Floater behaviour and territory acquisition in male purple martins

Abstract The behaviour of non-territorial male purple martins, Progne subis, was monitored while they were present as ‘floaters’ in a colony. Most floaters (22 of 24) did not intrude on all territories under observation with equal frequency: a large proportion of their intrusions occurred at only three to five territories. The bias in intrusion frequency on certain territories was not explained by the size of the territory (number of cavities), age of the owner (adult versus subadult male), or the nesting stage of the owner. Males required an average of 8 days (range 2–29 days) to acquire a territory. The behaviour of individual floaters (intrusion rate, frequency of challenge to owner, median duration of intrusions) was not significantly correlated with their tenure in the floating population. Both adult and subadult males acquired territories primarily by gaining control over some of the cavities defended by other males, rather than through eviction or filling vancancies. The behaviour of floaters appears to represent an asymmetric ‘war of attrition’ where persistence at a territory can pay off even though floaters almost always lose individual fights with owners.
Corneal photocoagulation with continuous wave and pulsed holmium: YAG radiation.

Abstract In this study, the effectiveness of pulsed and continuous wave (CW) holmium:YAG lasers in coagulating in vitro pig corneas was analyzed. With the CW laser, irradiance and exposure time were varied; irradiance, from 162 to 324 W/cm 2 and exposure time, from 200 to 800 ms. With the pulsed laser, number of pulses and radiant exposure were varied; number of pulses per lesion, from 4 to 30 and radiant exposure, from 10 to 25 J/cm 2 . Laserinduced corneal damage was determined by analyzing histological cross sections of each lesion. Depth and diameter of the lesions were plotted against the varying laser parameters. Light and birefringent photomicrographs of typical lesion histology show that the pulsed laser significantly damaged superficial layers of the cornea and could not achieve the coagulation depths produced by the CW laser. Additional histology demonstrates that minimal surface damage (intrastromal coagulation) occurred when the CW laser beam was delivered with a sapphire-tipped contact probe. The results provide empirical data on the sensitivity of each parameter in producing a range of coagulation end points. In addition, the experimental results describe trends between the parameters of either laser and the extent of coagulation.
Activation of Wingless Targets Requires Bipartite Recognition of DNA by TCF

Summary Specific recognition of DNA by transcription factors is essential for precise gene regulation. In Wingless (Wg) signaling in Drosophila , target gene regulation is controlled by T cell factor (TCF), which binds to specific DNA sequences through a high mobility group (HMG) domain [1]. However, there is considerable variability in TCF binding sites [2–5], raising the possibility that they are not sufficient for target location. Some isoforms of human TCF contain a domain, termed the C-clamp, that mediates binding to an extended sequence in vitro [6]. However, the significance of this extended sequence for the function of Wnt response elements (WREs) is unclear. In this report, we identify a cis -regulatory element that, to our knowledge, was previously unpublished. The element, named the TCF Helper site (Helper site), is essential for the activation of several WREs. This motif greatly augments the ability of TCF binding sites to respond to Wg signaling. Drosophila TCF contains a C-clamp that enhances in vitro binding to TCF-Helper site pairs and is required for transcriptional activation of WREs containing Helper sites. A genome-wide search for clusters of TCF and Helper sites identified two new WREs. Our data suggest that DNA recognition by fly TCF occurs through a bipartite mechanism, involving both the HMG domain and the C-clamp, which enables TCF to locate and activate WREs in the nucleus.