cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exposure route affects the distribution and toxicity of polystyrene nanoplastics in zebrafish

Abstract The widespread use of polystyrene (PS) products in a myriad of consumer products has resulted in widespread contamination of PS nanoplastics (PSNPs) in aquatic ecosystems. Fish early life stages are exposed to nanoplastics dermally and via gills. Additional routes of exposure include oral via the ingestion of contaminated prey and maternal transfer. However, there is limited amount of work studying the impact of exposure route in the toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics of PSNPs. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of exposure routes (aqueous and microinjection) on the organ distribution and toxicity of PSNPs. We “mimicked” the maternal exposure of PSNPs to zebrafish by injecting a known concentration of fluorescent particles directly into 2-cell stage embryos. Endpoints were collected starting at 96 h post-fertilization until several weeks post-hatch to evaluate depuration. Although both exposure routes led to the accumulation of PSNPs in the yolk sac followed by brain, eyes, gut and swim bladder, the aqueous exposure caused higher PSNP concentrations in the brain and eyes and the injection exposure caused PSNP accumulation mainly in the trunk area. A waterborne exposure also reduced antioxidant gene expression; increased frequency of developmental abnormalities such as bent tails, jaw deformities and pericardial edema; and resulted in lower growth rates and hypoactivity. Overall, a waterborne exposure to PSNPs resulted in higher transfer to the brain and caused greater toxic effects to zebrafish compared to an injection exposure and highlights the key role of exposure routes in the uptake, localization and subsequent distribution of nanoparticles.
A Rapid Assessment of Psychological Distress and Well-Being: Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Shelter-in-Place

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an unfolding crisis with a profound psychological and public health impact on individuals and society. Methods: We surveyed 986 San Francisco Bay Area residents who are participants of the ongoing Stanford WELL for Life Study and were affected by the Shelter-in-Place Order on March 17, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports data collected from March 23 to April 2, 2020. The survey assesses types of worries, emotions, distress, and well-being during this time period. We will continue to collect data on well-being at five additional time points over the next 12 months. Findings: A majority (66%) reported being distressed, about 8-fold higher than the 7% usually reported in the general population before COVID-19. Over 90% were concerned about getting COVID-19 infection and over 52% felt more stressed now. Feeling more stressed was associated with a 3-fold risk of distress (95% CI 2·07-4·93). Compared to data obtained before COVID-19, positive emotions decreased and negative emotions increased significantly (p<0·0001). Negative emotions related to Shelter-in-Place was associated with a 4-fold risk of distress (95% CI 2·70-6·36) but better well-being was significantly associated with a reduced risk of distress. Interpretation: The increased distressed among physically healthy individuals during this time suggest a likely surge in demand for psychological health care and support. Screening and support for psychological health during and after COVID-19 may help minimize its long-term adverse effects on individuals and communities. Funding Statement: Stanford University Department of Medicine; Foundational funding for the phase I (infrastructure) of the Stanford Wellness Living Laboratory (WELL) was provided by Amway via an unrestricted gift through the Nutrilite Health Institute Wellness Fund. Declaration of Interests: The authors state that they have no conflicts of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: The Institutional Review Board at Stanford University approved both the WELL Study and the COVID-19 WELL study.
Complications from Seizures During Video-EEG Monitoring

Continuous video-EEG monitoring (VEM) remains the preferred diagnostic tool to classify seizure-like events and is often the first step in epilepsy surgery evaluation process. Hospital admissions for VEM are typically limited to a few days to capture the typical events of interest. To capture events, the patients are often subjected to appropriate activation procedures designed to record events in a safe and efficient manner. Tapering antiseizure medications (ASM) is one technique commonly used to provoke habitual attacks. Reducing ASM after admission to the epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) raises concerns about producing complications associated with lowering medication. These include status epilepticus, increased numbers of seizures and seizure clusters, and worsening severity of seizures such as provoking convulsive seizures when the habitual seizures are less severe. The patient, referring physician, and care team working in the EMU should be aware of the possibilities of complications and how to handle them when they occur.
With Kindled Affections: Worship and Emotion

There is nothing more obvious yet more contested than the role of emotion and feeling in Christian prayer and worship. This issue has divided churches and has often defined differences between wors...
A Pseudo-Pseudo-Differential ADC Achieving 105dB SNDR in 10kHz Bandwidth Using Ring Amplifier Based Integrators

This brief presents a high-resolution ADC which makes use of the pseudo-pseudo-differential noise filtering technique in an oversampling ADC architecture with ring amplifier based integrators. The pseudo-pseudo-differential noise filtering technique utilizes single-ended circuits while maintaining the even-order rejection found in fully-differential structures which alleviates, in the active analog blocks, the need for differential matching and circuit overhead such as common-mode feedback. Additionally, pseudo-pseudo-differential provides a cancellation of low frequency flicker noise without the need for traditional techniques such as auto-zero, correlated-double-sampling, or chopping and mitigates double-sampling thermal noise penalties by processing input signal twice. In this prototype, the flicker corner is maintained below 50Hz with measured ADC performance achieving a peak SNDR of 105.0dB and a dynamic range of 106.5dB while consuming 1.17mW from a 1.8V supply.
Transcriptome profiling of embryonic retinal pigment epithelium reprogramming

Abstract The plasticity of human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) has been observed during proliferative vitreoretinopathy, a defective repair process during which injured RPE gives rise to fibrosis. In contrast, following injury, the RPE of the embryonic chicken can be reprogrammed to regenerate neural retina in an FGF2-dependent manner. To characterize the mechanisms underlying embryonic RPE reprogramming, we used laser capture microdissection to isolate RNA from 1) intact RPE, 2) transiently reprogrammed RPE (t-rRPE) 6 hours post-retinectomy, and 3) reprogrammed RPE (rRPE) 6 hours post-retinectomy with FGF2 treatment. Using RNA-seq, we observed the acute repression of genes related to cell cycle progression in the injured t-rRPE, as well as up-regulation of genes associated with injury. In contrast, the rRPE was strongly enriched for MAPK-responsive genes and retina development factors, confirming that FGF2 and the downstream MAPK cascade are the main drivers of embryonic RPE reprogramming. Clustering and pathway enrichment analysis were used to create an integrated network of the core processes associated with RPE reprogramming, including key terms pertaining to injury response, migration, actin dynamics, and cell cycle progression. Finally, we employed gene set enrichment analysis to suggest a previously uncovered role for epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) machinery in the initiation of embryonic chick RPE reprogramming. The EMT program is accompanied by extensive, coordinated regulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) regulators, and these observations together suggest an early role for ECM and EMT-like dynamics during reprogramming. Our study provides for the first time an in-depth transcriptomic analysis of embryonic RPE reprogramming and will prove useful in guiding future efforts to understand proliferative disorders of the RPE and to promote retinal regeneration.
Relationship between professional networks and practice change in environmental education

Environmental educators exchange ideas in social networks, which may in turn impact their practices. This study uses social network analysis, surveys, correlation analysis and interviews to examine...
Lymphocyte Activation Gene-3 Regulates Dendritic Cell Metabolic Programing and T Cell Priming Function.

Deficiency of lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG3) is significantly associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk with in vitro results demonstrating increased TNF-α and decreased IL-10 secretion from LAG3-deficient human B lymphoblasts. The hypothesis tested in this study was that Lag3 deficiency in dendritic cells (DCs) would significantly affect cytokine expression, alter cellular metabolism, and prime naive T cells to greater effector differentiation. Experimental approaches used included differentiation of murine bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs) to measure secreted cytokines, cellular metabolism, RNA sequencing, whole cell proteomics, adoptive OT-II CD4+Lag3+/+ donor cells into wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 and Lag3-/- recipient mice, and ex vivo measurements of IFN-γ from cultured splenocytes. Results showed that Lag3-/- BMDCs secreted more TNF-α, were more glycolytic, used fewer fatty acids for mitochondrial respiration, and glycolysis was significantly reduced by exogenous IL-10 treatment. Under basal conditions, RNA sequencing revealed increased expression of CD40 and CD86 and other cytokine-signaling targets as compared with WT. Whole cell proteomics identified a significant number of proteins up- and downregulated in Lag3-/- BMDCs, with significant differences noted in exogenous IL-10 responsiveness compared with WT cells. Ex vivo, IFN-γ expression was significantly higher in Lag3-/- mice as compared with WT. With in vivo adoptive T cell and in vitro BMDC:T coculture experiments, Lag3-/- BMDCs showed greater T cell effector differentiation and proliferation, respectively, compared with WT BMDCs. In conclusion, Lag3 deficiency in DCs is associated with an inflammatory phenotype that provides a plausible mechanism for increased cardiovascular disease risk in humans with LAG3 deficiency.
Adoption of E-book Platform by Historical New York Times Best-Sellers: An Examination of the “Long Tail” Theory in Action

The book-publishing industry has been dramatically impacted by the advent and growing popularity of the e-book platform. This paper examines this phenomenon from the context of the long tail theory by testing the e-book adoption rate for a sample of novels listed in decades past as New York Times Best-sellers. Additionally, the paper estimates annual sales of a sampling of these works to verify the existence of demand for e-book versions of novels that may no longer be in print.
Expectations as Endowments: Reference-Dependent Preferences and Exchange Behavior

Evidence on loss aversion and the endowment eect suggests that people evaluate outcomes with respect to a reference point. Yet little is known about what determines reference points. This experiment shows that expectations determine reference points. We endow subjects with an item and randomize the probability they will be allowed to trade it for an alternative. Subjects that are less likely to be able to trade are more likely to choose to keep their item, as predicted when reference points are determined by expectations, but not when reference points are determined by the status quo or when preferences are reference-independent.
Reproductive outcome following amniocentesis for genetic indications

Abstract Midtrimester amniocentesis for the diagnosis of genetic abnormalities antenatally is now standard care for women who are at special risk because of age or previous reproductive history. We reviewed reproductive losses after genetic amniocentesis in 2,300 completed pregnancies studied at our own diagnostic center in order to reassess the inherent risks associated with the procedure. There were 63 (2.84%) total losses in the study group, the bulk of which occurred between the time of the amniocentesis and 28 weeks' gestation (2.07%). Anterior placentation was associated with a twofold increase in losses when compared to posterior placentation (3.06% versus 1.57%, p
Analyzing Organizational Structures Using Social Network Analysis

Technological changes have aided modern companies to gather enormous amounts of data electronically. The availability of electronic data has exploded within the past decade as communication technologies and storage capacities have grown tremendously. The need to analyze this collected data for creating business intelligence and value continues to grow rapidly as more and more apparently unbiased information can be extracted from these data sets. In this paper we focus in particular, on email corpuses, from which a great deal of information can be discerned about organization structure and their unique cultures. We hypothesize that a broad based analysis of information exchanges (ex. emails) among a company’s employees could give us deep information about their respective roles within the organization, thereby revealing hidden organizational structures that hold immense intrinsic value. Enron email corpus is used as a case study to predict the unknown status of Enron employees and identify homogeneous groups of employees and hierarchy among them within Enron organization. We achieve this by using classification and cluster techniques. As a part of this work, we have also developed a web-based graphical user interface to work with feature extraction and composition.
The Effects of Starvation and Refeeding on Muscle Protein Synthesis and Catabolism in the Young Rat

We studied the effects of acute starvation and refeeding on muscle protein synthesis and degradation in young rats. As measures of synthesis, we determined muscle RNA concentration and the rate of incorporation of [14C]leucine into skeletal muscle protein (Sm). As an estimate of nitrogen retention we measured urea production (UrP). Starvation reduced these variables significantly. One refeeding period returned Sm to control values, only partially restored RNA concentration, and increased UrP. We determined the urinary excretion rate of 3-methylhistidine (3-MH) as a measure of the rate of myofibrillar protein degradation. Excretion of 3-MH was lowest in control and highest in starved rats. Refeeding decreased 3-MH excretion to a level midway between control and starved animals. Growth was attended by high rates of synthesis and low rates of degradation. Starvation depressed synthesis and increased degradation. With refeeding, synthesis increased and degradation decreased, compared with the starved state.
Fibroblast-type reticular stromal cells regulate the lymph node vasculature

The lymph node vasculature is essential to immune function, but mechanisms regulating lymph node vascular maintenance and growth are not well understood. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important mediator of lymph node endothelial cell proliferation in stimulated lymph nodes. It is expressed basally in lymph nodes and up-regulated upon lymph node stimulation, but the identity of VEGF-expressing cells in lymph nodes is not known. We show that, at homeostasis, fibroblast-type reticular stromal cells (FRC) in the T zone and medullary cords are the principal VEGF-expressing cells in lymph nodes and that VEGF plays a role in maintaining endothelial cell proliferation, although peripheral node addressin (PNAd)(+) endothelial cells are less sensitive than PNAd(-) endothelial cells to VEGF blockade. Lymphotoxin beta receptor (LTbetaR) blockade reduces homeostatic VEGF levels and endothelial cell proliferation, and LTbetaR stimulation of murine fibroblast-type cells up-regulates VEGF expression, suggesting that LTbetaR signals on FRC regulate lymph node VEGF levels and, thereby, lymph node endothelial cell proliferation. At the initiation of immune responses, FRC remain the principal VEGF mRNA-expressing cells in lymph nodes, suggesting that FRC may play an important role in regulating vascular growth in stimulated nodes. In stimulated nodes, VEGF regulates the proliferation and expansion of both PNAd(+) and PNAd(-) endothelial cells. Taken together, these data suggest a role for FRC as paracrine regulators of lymph node endothelial cells and suggest that modulation of FRC VEGF expression may be a means to regulate lymph node vascularity and, potentially, immune function.
Separation of Glycosaminoglycan-Derived Oligosaccharides by Capillary Electrophoresis Using Reverse Polarity

Abstract A comparative study on compositional analysis of two sets of eight unsaturated disaccharide standards derived from heparin/heparan sulfate and chondroitin/dermatan sulfate was carried out using capillary electrophoresis performed in both normal and reverse polarity modes. While these heparin/heparan sulfate disaccharides (S. A. Ampofo, H. M. Wang, and R. J. Linhardt (1991) Anal. Biochem . 199, 249-255) and chondroitin/dermatan sulfate disaccharides (A. Al-Hakim and R. J. Linhardt (1991) Anal. Biochem . 195, 68-73) have previously been fractionated using normal polarity capillary electrophoresis, multiple buffer systems and conditions were required to separate certain disaccharide isomers and these separations often resulted in poor peak symmetry and significant tailing. This paper demonstrates that reverse polarity capillary electrophoresis completely resolves disaccharide mixtures into all components using a single buffer, 20 mM phosphoric acid-sodium phosphate at pH 3.48. This improved resolution is due primarily to an increase in the sharpness of peaks and improved peak symmetry. Separation of heparin-derived oligosaccharides, ranging from disaccharide to hexasaccharide, had also previously been reported using normal polarity capillary electrophoresis (U. R. Desai, H. M. Wang, S. A. Ampofo, and R. J. Linhardt (1993) Anal. Biochem . 213, 120-127). This paper now demonstrates the separation of 13 heparin-derived oligosaccharides of sizes ranging from disaccharide to tetradecasaccharide using both reverse and normal polarities. An enzymatic digestion of bovine lung heparin containing many of these larger oligosaccharides was also compared in both normal and reverse polarity modes. Mixtures containing oligosaccharides primarily differing in size (number of saccharide units) were better resolved using normal polarity.
Effect of pioglitazone on progression of subclinical atherosclerosis in non-diabetic premenopausal Hispanic women with prior gestational diabetes.

The Pioglitazone in the Prevention of Diabetes (PIPOD) study was a single arm 3-year open-label pioglitazone treatment to determine the effects of pioglitazone in women with prior gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) who had completed the troglitazone in the Prevention of Diabetes (TRIPOD) study. Here we report the results on progression of subclinical atherosclerosis, measured by carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) in non-diabetic women. Data were analyzed to compare CIMT progression rates during pioglitazone treatment to rates that had been observed during either placebo or troglitazone treatment in the TRIPOD study. Sixty-one women met the entry criteria with mean age of 40 years. In the 30 women who came to PIPOD from the placebo arm of TRIPOD, the CIMT rate was 69% lower during pioglitazone treatment than it had been during placebo (0.0031 vs. 0.0100 mm/yr, p = 0.006). In the 31 women who came to PIPOD from the troglitazone arm of TRIPOD, CIMT rate was 38% lower during pioglitazone than it had been during troglitazone, a difference that was not statistically significant (0.0037 vs. 0.0060 mm/year; p = 0.26). Adjustment for differences in baseline characteristics and potential on-trial confounders did not alter the conclusion but did increase the CIMT rates differences slightly. We conclude that treatment with pioglitazone slowed CIMT progression in women who had been on placebo in the TRIPOD study and maintained a relatively low rate of progression in women who had been on troglitazone. Pioglitazone slows progression of subclinical atherosclerosis in young Hispanic women at increased risk for type 2 diabetes.
Role of cysteine residues in cell surface expression of the human riboflavin transporter-2 (hRFT2) in intestinal epithelial cells

The water-soluble vitamin B2 (riboflavin, RF) is an essential micronutrient for normal cell function and survival. Recent studies have identified a role for the human riboflavin transporter-2 (hRFT2) in normal intestinal RF absorption. However, little is known about the cell biology of this transporter and specifically about the molecular determinant(s) that dictate its cell surface expression in human intestinal epithelial cells. Here we show that the full-length hRFT2 protein fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP) (GFP-hRFT2) is expressed exclusively at the apical membrane domain of Caco-2 cells. COOH-terminal sequence was essential in dictating cell surface expression with a specific role for conserved cysteine residues (C463 and C467). Mutation of C463 and C467 ablated RF uptake, explained by retention of the constructs within the endoplasmic reticulum. Modeling analysis suggested a potential disulfide bridge between C463 and C386. Consistent with this prediction, mutating the C386 site in the context of the full-length transporter resulted in intracellular retention, whereas mutation of another conserved cysteine (C326A) was without effect on hRFT2 targeting. Intracellular trafficking of hRFT2 was also examined and appeared to involve distinct vesicular structures, the motility of vesicles critically dependent on an intact microtubule network. These results demonstrate a potential role for specific cysteine residues in the cell surface expression of the hRFT2 in human intestinal epithelial cells.
Use of ozone generating devices to improve indoor air quality.

Room ozonization has been in widespread use to “freshen” indoor air for more than 100 years. This use is sometimes promoted with the claim that ozone can oxidize airborne gases, and even particulates, to simple carbon dioxide and water vapor. Aside from whether ozone can improve indoor air quality, the potentially deleterious consequences to public health of overexposure to ozone are of concern. The literature on both allegations is reviewed. It indicates that ozone is not a practical and effective means of improving indoor air quality, especially in light of its potentially serious risk to health.
Child Rearing in African American Families: A Study of the Disciplinary Practices of African American Parents.

This study examined the disciplinary patterns and practices of 121 African American parents. Results indicated that the context of the disciplinary episode influenced how African American parents disciplined their children. Implications for counselor education and practice are discussed.
Assay of Topical Corticosteroids by Suppression of Experimental Inflammation in Humans

Formulated corticosteroids were assayed on human skin using as a measure of anti-inflammatory activity the suppression of blisters produced by kerosene and pustules provoked by croton oil. Vascoconstriction activity was evaluated at the same time. The rank order of anti-inflammatory efficacy corresponded reasonably well with clinical judgements of comparative effectiveness although the ranking was not always the same for the identical steroid in the two models. With some steroids ointments were superior to creams while the reverse was true for other. Vasoconstriction generally correlated with anti-inflammatory activity but strong exceptions occurred.
LLL reduction and a conjecture of Gunnells

Paul Gunnells has developed an algorithm for computing actions of Hecke operators on arithmetic cohomology below the cohomological dimension. One version of his algorithm uses a conjecture concerning LLL-reduced matrices. We prove this conjecture for dimensions 2 through 5 and disprove it for all higher dimensions.
Transient performance of D-C machinery — I

PREVIOUS STUDIES HAVE STRESSED the need for more accuracy in the calculation of transient currents than is provided by present methods. For the design of shipboard power systems, these methods are not sufficiently accurate and do not adequately reflect the influence of initial conditions of load, voltage, and speed on peak currents. There was also a disappointing lack of experimental verification of the important assumptions upon which the theoreticians were proceeding. Before developing a new approach or following a published calculation, it becomes evident that the limitations of any relations are determined by the validity and accuracy of the assumptions employed. It is concluded from this work that a more fundamental knowledge of the internal phenomena of rotating machinery is required before developing relations describing transient response of a d-c machine within design accuracy. Flux variations are fundamental to machine behavior in that they govern generated voltage, leakage fluxes, commutation, coefficients of induction, and eddy currents.
"CYBERETHICS": A PANEL DISCUSSION

HEINZ VON FOERSTER: Ever since Allan M. Turing commented on Kurt Goedel’s Paper `Ueber formal unentscheidbare Saetze s der Principia Matematica and verwandter Systeme I’ ’ Monatshelfte s . . Math. Phys. 38, 1921 173 ] 198 , under the title `On computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem,’ ’ the German word `Entscheidungsproblem’ ’ has been absorbed in the English scientific discourse to refer to problems, propositions, and questions whose solvability, decidability, and answerability is under question. Both Turing and Goedel have shown that even within the most carefully developed systems of formal thought undecidables arise. I would like to draw to the attention of my cybernetic colleagues that not only in these lofty, abstract realms of logic but also in the language of daily life we are vis-a-vis of in principle undecidable questions. For instance: ` was the defendant temporarily insane when he committed the crime? ’’ Or `how did the universe come into being? ’’ How can I say these are in principle undecidable questions when there are so many answers given to them?
Grid-generated isotropic homogeneous turbulence at high Reynolds numbers

Consideration is given to an empirical formula for the longitudinal correlation function for grid-generated incompressible fluid turbulence at Reynolds numbers above 12,800. The formula, which relates the longitudinal correlation function to the inverse cube of a dimensionless geometrical ratio, is shown to minimize the global correlation integrals into which the two-point velocity correlation tensor has been substituted subject to a global constraint on the Sobolev concomitent of the longitudinal correlation function. Furthermore, the energy spectrum function associated with the empirical formula is shown to satisfy a tertiary Helmholtz-type linear condition throughout the initial period of decay.
Studies on effects of elevated temperature for guided-wave structural health monitoring

Large thermal variations can cause significant changes in guided-wave (GW) propagation and transduction for structural health monitoring (SHM). This work focuses on GW SHM using surface-bonded piezoelectric wafer transducers in metallic plates for the temperature range encountered in internal spacecraft structures (20°C to 150°C). First, studies done to determine a suitable bonding agent are documented. That was then used in controlled experiments to examine changes in GW propagation and transduction using PZT-5A piezoelectric wafers under quasi-statically varying temperature (also from 20°C to 150°C). Modeling efforts to explain the experimentally observed increase in time-of-flight and change in sensor response amplitude with increasing temperature are detailed. Finally, these results are used in detection and location of mild and moderate damage using the pulse-echo GW testing approach within the temperature range.
Equivalency of linear least sqaures curve fitting and reciprocal functions in protein circular dichroic spectra analysis

Two methods for the analysis of the circular dichroism spectra of proteins for determination of secondary structure have been examined. These are the linear curve fitting of the data, minimized in the least squares sense, and the method of reciprocal functions proposed by C.C. Baker and I. Isenberg, Biochemistry 15 (1976) 629. It is shown that the use of these two methods give results that are identical, providing the same set of reference spectra are used in each case, and, therefore, that no new information is obtained by the use of either one over the other.
An Attachment-Theory Approach Psychology of Religion

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate that attachment theory, as origi- nally proposed by John Bowlby and subsequently refined by a host of other researchers, provides a powerful framework for integrating research and theory concerning the psychology of religion. The essay begins with a brief over- view of contemporary models of attachment, with particular emphasis on adult attachment relationships. Selected literature is reviewed concerning a variety of topics in the psychology of religion, including research on images of God, conversion, and prayer, and attachment theory is shown to provide a useful conceptual framework for integrating these findings. It is argued that extending attachment theory in this direction may benefit religion researchers as well as social and developmental psychologists interested in such topics as interpersonal relationships, stress and coping, and loneliness.
THE AREA ABOVE THE ORDINAL DOMINANCE GRAPH AND THE AREA BELOW THE RECEIVER OPERATING CHARACTERISTIC GRAPH

Abstract Receiver operating characteristic graphs are shown to be a variant form of ordinal dominance graphs. The area above the latter graph and the area below the former graph are useful measures of both the size or importance of a difference between two populations and/or the accuracy of discrimination performance. The usual estimator for this area is closely related to the Mann-Whitney U statistic. Statistical literature on this area estimator is reviewed. For large sample sizes, the area estimator is approximately normally distributed. Formulas for the variance and the maximum variance of the area estimator are given. Several different methods of constructing confidence intervals for the area measure are presented and the strengths and weaknesses of each of these methods are discussed. Finally, the Appendix presents the derivation of a new mathematical result, the maximum variance of the area estimator over convex ordinal dominance graphs.
Mitral Stenosis in 15 Dogs

Mitral stenosis was diagnosed in 15 young to middle-aged dogs. There were 5 Newfoundlands and 4 bull terriers affected, suggesting a breed predisposition for this disorder. Clinical signs included cough, dyspnea, exercise intolerance, and syncope. Soft left apical diastolic murmurs were heard only in 4 dogs, whereas 8 dogs had systolic murmurs characteristic of mitral regurgitation. Left atrial enlargement was the most prominent radiographic feature. Left-sided congestive heart failure was detected by radiographs in 11 dogs within 1 year of diagnosis. Electrocardiographic abnormalities varied among dogs and included atrial and ventricular enlargement, as well as atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. Abnormalities on M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiograms included abnormal diastolic motion of the mitral valve characterized by decreased leaflet separation, valve doming, concordant motion of the parietal mitral valve leaflet, and a decreased E-to-F slope. Increased mitral valve inflow velocities and prolonged pressure half-times were detected by Doppler echocardiography. Cardiac catheterization, performed in 8 dogs, documented a diastolic pressure gradient between the left atrial, pulmonary capillary wedge, or pulmonary artery diastolic pressures and the left ventricular diastolic pressure. Necropsy showed mitral stenosis caused by thickened, fused mitral valve leaflets in 5 dogs and a supramitral ring in another dog. The outcome in affected dogs was poor; 9 of 15 dogs were euthanatized or died by 2 1/2 years of age.
Boxfishes as unusually well-controlled autonomous underwater vehicles.

Abstract Boxfishes (family Ostraciidae) are tropical reef‐dwelling marine bony fishes that have about three‐fourths of their body length encased in a rigid bony test. As a result, almost all of their swimming movements derive from complex combinations of movements of their median and paired fins (MPF locomotion). In terms of both body design and swimming performance, they are among the most sophisticated examples known of naturally evolved vertebrate autonomous underwater vehicles. Quantitative studies of swimming performance, biomechanics, and energetics in one model species have shown that (i) they are surprisingly strong, fast swimmers with great endurance; (ii) classical descriptions of how they swim were incomplete: they swim at different speeds using three different gaits; (iii) they are unusually dynamically well controlled and stable during sustained and prolonged rectilinear swimming; and (iv) despite unusually high parasite (fuselage) drag, they show energetic costs of transport indistinguishabl...
Scaling of curvature in subcritical gravitational collapse

We perform numerical simulations of the gravitational collapse of a spherically symmetric scalar field. For those data that just barely do not form black holes we find the maximum curvature at the position of the central observer. We find a scaling relation between this maximum curvature and distance from the critical solution. The scaling relation is analogous to that found by Choptuik for black hole mass for those data that do collapse to form black holes. We also find a periodic wiggle in the scaling exponent.
On the complexity of computing the diameter of polytope

We show that it isDP-hard to determine the combinatorial diameter of a polytope specified by linear inequalities with integer data. Our result partially resolves a long-term open question.
Distributed Cognitive Sensing for Time Varying Channels: Exploration and Exploitation

Spectrum under-utilization calls for the open and dynamic spectrum access mechanism, which allows the unlicensed user equipped with cognitive radios to opportunistically sense and access the spectrum that not occupied by primary users. In practice due to the hardware limitations, each cognitive radio user may be only able to sense a portion of the interested wide span spectrum. Hence, a hardware-constrained cognitive MAC to conduct efficient and intelligent spectrum sense decision is desired. In this paper, we formulate the cognitive radio spectrum sensing problem under time-varying channels as an adversarial bandit problem without any assumption of the channel statistics. A fully distributed strategy is proposed to address the fundamental tradeoff between spectrum exploration and spectrum exploitation during the sensing periods. Simulation results demonstrate that significant performance gain can be achieved by the proposed algorithm when the channels are time-varying on small time-scales. A coordination scheme for the multi-user case is also presented and the effectiveness is also demonstrated by the simulation results.
Temperature Dependence of Emulsion Morphologies and the Dispersion Morphology Diagram. 3. Inversion Hysteresis Lines for Emulsions of Middle and Bottom Phases of the System C6H13(OC2H4)2OH/n-Tetradecane/“Water”

The morphologies and phase volume fractions at which inversion occurred for (macro)emulsions formed by the middle-phase microemulsion (M) and water-rich bottom phase (B) were determined by means of electrical conductivity measurements for the amphiphile/oil/“water” system C6H13(OC2H4)2OH/n-tetradecane/aqueous 10 mM NaCl at temperatures from 25 °C down to 12 °C, near the lower critical end-point temperature (Tlc =10.4 °C). The M/B and B/M morphologies and their inversion hysteresis lines conformed to the previously postulated dispersion morphology diagram; that is, within experimental uncertainties, the two emulsion inversion lines in phase volume−temperature space met at a “critical point” that coincided with the lower critical end point for the phases.
Bevacizumab prior to vitrectomy for diabetic traction retinal detachment

To assess the efficacy and safety of preoperative intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) before vitrectomy for diabetic tractional retinal detachment (TRD). Using ICD-9 codes, we located all patients with diabetic TRD who underwent 3-port 20-gauge vitrectomy primarily performed by one surgeon between January 2004 and January 2009. Eyes receiving IVB were compared with those not. The following outcomes were compared: visual acuity (VA), duration of surgery, and complication rates. A total of 99 eyes of 90 patients were included in the analysis. In all, 34 patients received IVB on an average of 11.5 (range, 3–30) days previtrectomy. Age was 46.5 and 51.6 in the IVB and non-IVB groups, respectively. VA was improved significantly in both groups: from 20/617 to 20/62 in the IVB group, and from 20/443 to 20/86 in the non-IVB group (P=0.11 between groups). Operating time and postoperative complications (glaucoma, RD, and revitrectomy rate) were similar in both groups. On comparing IVB and non-IVB eyes in younger patients (≤40), operating time was shorter (P=0.02) and a trend to better VA in the IVB group was seen. Preoperative IVB may be a useful adjunct to vitrectomy for severe PDR complicated by TRD, particularly in younger diabetics.
Variation in Aggressiveness of Ash Yellows Phytoplasmas.

ABSTRACT Twelve strains of phytoplasmas belonging to the ash yellows (AshY) group, from across the known range of AshY and representing six host species, were assessed for differences in ability to suppress growth and cause chlorosis in graft-inoculated Fraxinus pennsylvanica (green ash) and Catharanthus roseus (periwinkle). In each of two experiments with ash and one with periwinkle, different strains caused significantly different degrees of growth suppression and loss of foliar greenness. These growth and color impacts were positively and significantly correlated among experiments and between ash and periwinkle, indicating strain variation in aggressiveness. After two strains that differed in aggressiveness were coinoculated to periwinkle plants, polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR/RFLP) assays of DNA from leaves remote from the inoculation sites revealed the presence of the aggressive strain sooner and more frequently than that of the less aggressive strain. Thus, a...
The Increasing Significance of Electricity: Strategic Implications for Energy Planning

This paper examines the fundamental changes that have taken place in the U.S. energy-economic relationships over the past decade. Special attention is focused on one particular form of energy, namely electricity. It is argued that the generally accepted prognosis for sluggish primary energy growth over the next two decades does not necessarily apply to electricity. The factors behind this dichotomy are examined and their implications discussed.
Bit section instruction set extension of ARM for embedded applications

Programs that manipulate data at subword level, i.e. bit sections within a word, are common place in the embedded domain. Examples of such applications include media processing as well as network processing codes. These applications spend significant amounts of time packing and unpacking narrow width data into memory words. The execution time and memory overhead of packing and unpacking operations can be greatly reduced by providing direct instruction set support for manipulating bit sections.In this paper we present the Bit Section eXtension (BSX) to the ARM instruction set. We selected the ARM processor for this research because it is one of the most popular embedded processor which is also being used as the basis of building many commercial network processing architectures. We present the design of BSX instructions and their encoding into the ARM instruction set. We have incorporated the implementation of BSX into the Simplescalar ARM simulator from Michigan. Results of experiments with programs from various benchmark suites show that by using BSX instructions the total number of instructions executed at runtime by many transformed functions are reduced by 4.26% to 27.27% and their code sizes are reduced by `1.27% to 21.05%.
PROGNOSIS OF FETUSES WITH A CYSTIC HYGROMA

This paper reports our experience with 55 fetuses identified in utero to have a cystic hygroma. The outcome of fetuses with an isolated cystic hygroma, cystic hygroma with non-immune hydrops, and cystic hygroma with multiple anomalies was evaluated. Approximately two-thirds of karyotypes were aneuploid, and a strong association of septation and aneuploidy existed. Only five cases, four of which had isolated hygromas, came to term and resulted in live births. Two of these involved small non-septated lesions which resolved in utero.
Titanium alloys for hip joint replacements

Abstract Pure titanium and titanium-base alloys are known to be the most corrosion resistant and biocompatible of all implant materials in the body. Pure titanium is preferably used for hip cup shells with polyethylene inserts. The high strength Ti-6AI-4V alloy is mainly used for anchorage stems of femoral components with wear-resistant CoCrMo metal or Al 2 O 3 ceramic ball heads. Two new high-strength titanium alloys for implants, developed by Zwicker (Ti-5AI-2.5Fe) and by Semlitsch (Ti-6AI-7Nb) in the last decade, are already in clinical use.
AgRP-deficiency could lead to increased lifespan.

Abstract The Agouti-related protein (AgRP) is a central orexigenic peptide leading to increased food intake when ubiquitously overexpressed. AgRP-deficient (AgRP−/−) mice have either no phenotype or present an age-related leanness. In this study, AgRP−/− mice were fed alternate high fat or low fat diets in an effort to determine whether AgRP is a mediating factor for the effects of dietary fat on metabolic parameters. There were no striking metabolic differences between AgRP−/− and the equally obese wild type littermates but AgRP−/− mice displayed a significantly longer lifespan. The point estimate of median survival for the AgRP−/− group was 9.8% greater while the significantly low hazard ratio (0.494) suggests that mortality incidence of AgRP−/− mice is less than one-half that of the wild type reference population. It is concluded that although AgRP−/− mice become morbidly obese consuming a high fat diet (a landmark feature for a shortened lifespan), they seem to overcome obesity- and age-related pathologies and live significantly longer than their metabolically similar wild type littermates.
The impact of CEO core self‐evaluation on the firm's entrepreneurial orientation

Although much has been attributed to a CEO's personality, one particularly intriguing, and as yet unexplored, investigation is its impact on the firm's entrepreneurial orientation. Additionally, despite calls from the upper-echelon literature, CEO personality research has been hobbled by the absence of a unifying construct that captures core dimensions of personality, and by the difficulty in obtaining such intimate assessments from executives. Building on recent advances in personality research, in particular the identification and validation of the core self-evaluation construct that captures the core facets of an executive's sense of self-potency, we develop and test a model of the impact of CEO core self-evaluation on entrepreneurial orientation. Then, consistent with upper echelons and personality theory, we specify the contingent role of environmental dynamism. Using multisource data from a sample of CEOs and their top management teams from 129 firms, including a time-lagged assessment of the firm's entrepreneurial orientation, we find evidence to suggest that CEOs whose personalities reflect higher core self-evaluations have a stronger positive influence on their firms' entrepreneurial orientation. In addition, we find that this influence is particularly strong in firms facing dynamic environments, but negligible in stable environments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
NORMALITY RELATIONS AND CONVEXITY OF YIELD SURFACES FOR UNSTABLE MATERIALS OR STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS.

Abstract : The stress-strain relations for materials and the load-deflection relations for structural elements play corresponding roles in the analysis of three-dimensional continua and of structures respectively. Mathematically equivalent and phenomenologically quite similar, they are treated simultaneously here. As in previous treatments of stable (rising) plastic stress-strain curves, unstable (falling) curves in simple shear or tension are generalized to all states of stress through the exploration of the work done in a cycle of stress (Drucker) and in a cycle of strain (Ilyushin). The plastic increment of strain is found to be normal to the current yield surface for a wide class of unstable materials in which a continuous variation of strain produces a unique continuous variation of stress and of the shape and position of the yield surface. In the absence of any significant alteration in the (stable) elastic response, each yield surface then is shown to be convex. The degree of concavity possible when the elastic response is stable but is non-linear and does alter appreciably due to plastic deformation is illustrated by a non-linear elastic spring and a plastic block in parallel. Such concavity would not be observable in the yield surfaces of common structural metals, but might be found for soils, rocks or concrete and can be quite pronounced for structural elements. (Author)
First bone formation in the developing chick limb

Abstract Embryonic chick limb mesenchymal cells differentiate into fibrocytes, chondrocytes, myocytes, and bone cells. Previous studies of these cells in culture suggested that osteoblast differentiation may be coincident with muscle and cartilage cytodifferentiation. Characteristic features of the osteoblast phenotype seen in vivo include the expression of alkaline phosphatase activity preceding and associated with cells elaborating a mineralized, collagenous matrix. The studies reported here demonstrate that osteoblasts can be detected as early as stage 28 in the developing chick limb by monitoring this activity. Alkaline phosphatase histochemistry and biochemistry indicate the presence of enzyme activity in the presumptive periosteum by this stage. Furthermore, the localization of this activity precedes the hypertrophy of cartilage and subsequent mineralization of the cartilage core. On the basis of these observations, as well as studies on inorganic phosphate and calcium accumulation in the developing limb, we suggest that the osteoblast phenotype may become committed to its phenotypic pathway in the same temporal sequence as muscle and cartilage cells. In addition, the first recognizable expression of limb osteoblasts is observed long before major cartilage core hypertrophy, vascular invasion, and subsequent core mineralization. Thus, the first bone formation is not associated with cartilage, but represents a separate, unique, and intrinsic limb phenotype.