cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Engram: An Immersive Audio-Walk.

Engram: An Immersive Audio-Walk. Media event created by Tomas Rajnai and Jens Nielsen, Noon, May 27, 2015, for Hallgrimmskirkja, Rekyavik, Iceland. Recording vocalists: Jo Rideout, Stefan Marling, ...
OPERATING EFFECT OF DISINFECTION SURVEILLANCE NETWORK IN HOSPITALS IN CHENGDU

Objective To know the disinfection effect in hospitals in Chengdu by building up disinfection surveillance network.Methods Data were collected and analyzed through the surveillance network covering all the hospitals in Chengdu.Results 168 864 samples from 14 714 hospitals were tested in four years,the eligible rate was 97.7%.The sampling qualified rate of the outpatient department、clinic and community health service center were comparatively low.The eligible rate increased significantly in the hands of healthcare workers,pressure steam sterilization and hospital sewage.Conclusion The administrative supervision of the disinfection quality in hospitals is further strengthened by the surveillance network in Chengdu.
Users' perspectives of hospital pharmacy computer systems

A survey was conducted to determine if user characteristics affected respondents' expectations of computer systems and to identify the most and least desirable features hospital pharmacists want in computer systems. A questionnaire was mailed to 200 hospital pharmacists selected randomly. The survey was designed to gather demographic data, general systems information, and information on system features in 10 major categories. A total of 111 surveys were returned. Of the respondents, 55% had some type of computer system. The leading type of system used by the respondents was a mainframe-shared system. The majority of respondents (87.4%) indicated that they had a "moderate" amount of experience with computer systems. The most commonly preferred hardware was the minicomputer. It appeared that user characteristics did not influence the pharmacists' expectations of computer systems. In ranking the categories, the hospital pharmacists indicated that the i.v. admixture area, inpatient drug distribution, and clinical functions were the most important for computer applications.
Walter Kohn’s Influence on One Engineer

My first personal encounter with Walter was a rather distant one, in fact one that Walter was not even directly aware of, but one that was the first step on a path that had a profound and direct effect on the course of my own career. In 1982, the Institute for Theoretical Physics at UCSB organized a major workshop on Polymer Dynamics (I still have the t-shirt). I was five years beyond my Ph.D. that year, a recently tenured associate professor at the University of Minnesota, and deeply involved in research on polymer diffusion in entangled polymer fluids. The ITP workshop included participation and remarks by Walter both on the field of the workshop and on the general nature of ITP.
Waveform design for coherent MIMO radar radiation management and transmit-receive beam refocusing

In this paper, we propose a novel waveform design approach for coherent multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar to make radar radiation management and transmit-receive beam refocusing at the radar receiver feasible. The transmitted waveforms are coded in the space domain to form a defocused transmit beam pattern for radiation management, and further in time domain to be orthogonal so that they can be separated and extracted through matched filtering at the radar receiver for transmit-receive beam refocusing processing. The proposed waveform design and beamforming approaches are validated through simulations.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Phosphocreatine and Determination of BOLD Kinetics in Lower Extremity Muscles using a Dual-Frequency Coil Array

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides the unique ability to study metabolic and microvasculature functions in skeletal muscle using phosphorus and proton measurements. However, the low sensitivity of these techniques can make it difficult to capture dynamic muscle activity due to the temporal resolution required for kinetic measurements during and after exercise tasks. Here, we report the design of a dual-nuclei coil array that enables proton and phosphorus MRI of the human lower extremities with high spatial and temporal resolution. We developed an array with whole-volume coverage of the calf and a phosphorus signal-to-noise ratio of more than double that of a birdcage coil in the gastrocnemius muscles. This enabled the local assessment of phosphocreatine recovery kinetics following a plantar flexion exercise using an efficient sampling scheme with a 6 s temporal resolution. The integrated proton array demonstrated image quality approximately equal to that of a clinical state-of-the-art knee coil, which enabled fat quantification and dynamic blood oxygen level-dependent measurements that reflect microvasculature function. The developed array and time-efficient pulse sequences were combined to create a localized assessment of calf metabolism using phosphorus measurements and vasculature function using proton measurements, which could provide new insights into muscle function.
Genome-wide association and epistasis studies of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum resistance in soybean

viii THESIS ORGANIZATION ix CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 1 Soybean 1 Pathogen Biology 1 Prevalence and Causes of Yield Losses 4 Control Measures 5 Genetic Control and Analysis 7 Association Mapping 10 Epistasis 14 CHAPTER 2 GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION AND EPISTASIS STUDIES OF Sclerotinia sclerotiorum RESISTANCE IN SOYBEAN 15 Introduction 15 Experimental Procedures 18 Results and Discussion 31 CHAPTER 3 GENERAL CONCLUSION 60 Conclusion 60 Recommendations for Future Work 60 REFERENCES 62
Fixed Final Time Optimal Control via Simple Cell Mapping

A cell mapping strategy based on Bellman'sPrinciple of optimality (BP) is proposed to solve the fixed final time optimalcontrol of strongly nonlinear systems with state and control bounds. Thefixed final time problem is transformed into a fixed final time-fixed finalstate optimal control problem by reversing the time. This transformationallows to solve the problem in the framework of the BP. Backward searchingalgorithms within the cell mapping context are used to obtain the solution ofthe new problem. This approach reduces considerably the computational effortrequired for the original problem when it is solved by a forward searchingapproach. The vibration control problem of damped and undamped variablestiffness oscillators with bounded stiffness tuning range is studied todemonstrate the effectiveness of the approach. A numerical study on theconvergence of the method is also presented.
The Legacy Debt Associated with Past Social Security Transfers

A number of studies have used estimates of historical and projected lifetime net transfers (benefits less taxes) by birth cohort under the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance program to calculate and compare the aggregate present-value sum of such transfers for selected birth-cohort groups. Those calculations indicate that, from a program accounting perspective, the earliest generations of program participants received large transfers from later generations of participants. Some recent studies have referred to this cumulative transfer to the earliest generations as a “legacy debt” and characterized it as a burden borne by the later generations. This article clarifies the legacy debt concept and discusses the conditions required for a legacy debt to exist in a meaningful economic sense.
Sarcopenia: An Endocrine Disorder?

ABSTRACT Sarcopenia is defined as low muscle function (walking speed or grip strength) in the presence of low muscle mass. A simple screening test—the SARC-F—is available to identify persons with sarcopenia. The major endocrine causes of sarcopenia are diabetes mellitus and male hypogonadism. Other causes are decreased physical activity, loss of motor neuron units, weight loss, inflammatory cytokines, reduced blood flow to muscles, very low 25(OH) vitamin D levels, and decreased growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1. Treatment for sarcopenia includes resistance and aerobic exercise, leucine-enriched essential amino acids, and vitamin D. In hypogonadal males, testosterone improves muscle mass, strength, and function. Selective androgen receptor molecules and anti-myostatin activin II receptor molecules are under development as possible treatments for sarcopenia. Abbreviations: COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; DHEA = dehydroepiandrosterone; IGF-1 = insulin-like growth factor 1; GH = growth hormone; mTOR = mammalian target of rapamycin; SARM = selective androgen receptor molecule
Adjoints, Projections, Pseudoinverses

This chapter is concerned with developing some technical theorems in mathematics that will be used in the remainder of the text.
Decellularization and characterization of a whole intervertebral disk xenograft scaffold.

Intervertebral disk (IVD) degeneration is a multifactor process that results in the physical destruction of the nucleus pulposus (NP) and annulus fibrosus (AF). This compromises IVD function and causes significant disability and economic burden. Strategies to replace the entire composite structure of the IVD are limited and most approaches do not recapitulate the heterogenous biochemical composition, microarchitecture or mechanical properties of the native tissue. Our central hypothesis was that donor IVDs which resemble the size and biochemistry of human lumbar IVDs could be successfully decellularized while retaining the tissue's structure and function with the long-term goal of creating a composite scaffold for tissue engineering the human IVD. Accordingly, we optimized a procedure to decellularize bovine tail IVDs using a combination of detergents, ultrasonication, freeze-thaw cycles, and nucleases. The resultant decellularized whole IVD xenografts retained distinct AF and NP regions which contained no visible intact cell nuclei and minimal residual bovine deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA; 65.98 ± 4.07 and 47.12 ± 13.22 ng/mg, respectively). Moreover, the NP region of decellularized IVDs contained 313.40 ± 50.67 µg/mg glycosaminoglycan. The presence of collagen type II was confirmed via immunohistochemistry. Additionally, histological analysis of the AF region of decellularized IVDs demonstrated retention of the native angle-ply collagen microarchitecture. Unconfined compression testing demonstrated no significant differences in swelling pressure and toe-region modulus between fresh and decellularized IVDs. However, linear region moduli, peak stress and equilibrium moduli were all significantly reduced. Together, this research demonstrates a successful initial step in developing a biomimetic acellular whole IVD xenograft scaffold for use in IVD tissue engineering. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A:2412-2423, 2018.
Molecular Detection of Foodborne Bacterial Pathogens

The PCR has come a long way since its discovery, evolving from a tool used mainly in forensic, medical, pharmaceutical, and plant sciences to food science and the food industry. It may be one of the most remarkable discoveries of the 20th century and has opened new doors in a wide array of fields that would never have been possible prior to its utilization. Although research have shown that PCR can be a powerful method for detection of foodborne pathogens in pure culture as well as in certain foods, much more work needs to be done to truly make it the best alternative detection technique to conventional cultural methods. Until the enrichment steps can be eliminated, the rapidity of PCR assays can still be argued. Foods also are so different in their composition, resulting in a multitude of compounds that may be inhibitory to the detection of some pathogens while not affecting others, thus making it more challenging to design a one-size-fits-all PCR assay for foods.
Pathological Findings of Septic Loosening

Bone loss secondary to an infectious process in total joint replacement progresses in different stages. The first stage is primary osteolysis which is the direct action of the infecting bacteria and by the host’s immune response to these bacteria. Implant removal causes additional damage to the bone if not performed carefully. If a two-stage revision is planned a temporary antibiotic loaded spacer that is not stable can also cause further bone loss. The soft tissues are involved with a progressive thickening of the joint capsule, and with an iperplasia of the synovial membrane (Fig. 1). In the active phase of the infectous process, synovial membrane exudate can be found in the joint space. In the chronic phase this exudate evolves into a scar tissue.
A Neutronic Assessment of Strontium-90 Transmutation in Fusion Reactors

Transmutation of /sup 90/Sr using fusion neutrons has been suggested as a possible technique for disposing of this waste nuclide. For transmutation to be attractive, high transmutation rates relative to natural decay are required. Effective half-lives for /sup 90/Sr were computed for fusion reactor blankets constructed of various materials. To obtain satisfactory transmutation rates, fusion reactors with high first wall neutron currents and with highly moderating blankets were found to be necessary. An effective half-life for /sup 90/Sr of <5 y was extremely difficult to achieve with the fusion concepts and blankets studied. A waste management system was formulated to determine the reduction in the /sup 90/Sr inventory and the number of burners required for various fission usage scenarios. Efficient and fast chemical separations were needed to reap the benefits of a short effective half-life. For the fusion burners considered, it was found that the /sup 90/Sr inventory could not be reduced to less than one-fourth of the inventory without transmutation if fission usage continued at a constant rate. Such a reduction is not sufficient to justify the transmutation disposal of /sup 90/Sr.
High Risk Narratives: Textual Adventures

The paper explores how individual chosen risk is rendered in texts using 5 recent popular best selling books. They describe high adventure in distant, exotic locales—jungles, storms, mountains, and at sea. Dramaturgical analysis, based on Kenneth Burke's pentad of actor, acts, scene, agency and purpose, reveals how differential attention to and focus upon some aspects of the narrative selected actors and their acts, some features of the scene, the limited agency or tools employed, and the adventuresome purposes of the actors. Conversely, the same devices suppress or omit descriptions of other actors, acts, features of the scene and purposes, although they are mentioned or implied. The texts, quasi-ethnographies, illuminate how the commodification of leisure, seeking risky experience, and the social construction of risk are features of postmodern cultures. The works complement academic research by social scientists that analyze risk because they place risk in context—telling a good story and providing often riveting detail—and show how narrative forms can be used to express high risk experience.
Personalized Robot Tutors that Learn from Multimodal Data

As the cost of sensors decreases and ability to model and learn from multi-modal data increases, researchers are exploring how to use the unique qualities of physically embodied robots to help engage students and promote learning. These robots are designed to emulate the emotive, perceptual, and empathic abilities of human teachers, and are capable of replicating some of the benefits of one-on-one tutoring from human teachers. My thesis research focuses on developing methods for robots to analyze and integrate multimodal data including speech, facial expressions, and task performance to build rich models of the user's knowledge and preferences. These student models are then used to provide personalized educational experiences, such as optimal curricular sequencing, or leaning preferences for educational style. In this abstract, we summarize past projects in this area and discuss applications such as learning from affective signals and model transfer across tasks.
Wavelength Locking of a Diode Laser to the Maximal Slope of a $\pi$ -Phase-Shifted Fiber Bragg Grating for Acoustic Emission Detection

We theoretically and experimentally investigate a locking method for a fiber-optic acoustic emission (AE) sensor system based on a $\pi $ -phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating ( $\pi $ -FBG) and a distributed-feedback diode laser. The $\pi $ -FBG features a narrow notch in the middle of the reflection spectrum for high-sensitivity AE detection. The investigated locking method generates a signal that is proportional to the second derivative of this spectral notch, which is used as the error signal. The laser wavelength is automatically locked to one of the zero-crossing points of the error signal, which corresponds to the maximum slope of the selected side of the spectral notch. With the laser locked to the maximum slope, the optimal sensitivity for AE detection is obtained. We also show that the locking point is immune to low-frequency variations of the output power of the laser.
A Plant Immune Receptor Degraded by Selective Autophagy.

Abstract Plants recycle non-activated immune receptors to maintain a functional immune system. The Arabidopsis immune receptor kinase FLAGELLIN-SENSING 2 (FLS2) recognizes bacterial flagellin. However, the molecular mechanisms by which non-activated FLS2 and other non-activated plant PRRs are recycled remain not well understood. Here, we provide evidence showing that Arabidopsis orosomucoid (ORM) proteins, which have been known to be negative regulators of sphingolipid biosynthesis, act as selective autophagy receptors to mediate the degradation of FLS2. Arabidopsis plants overexpressing ORM1 or ORM2 have undetectable or greatly diminished FLS2 accumulation, nearly lack FLS2 signaling, and are more susceptible to the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. On the other hand, ORM1/2 RNAi plants and orm1 or orm2 mutants generated by the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing have increased FLS2 accumulation and enhanced FLS2 signaling, and are more resistant to P. syringae. ORM proteins interact with FLS2 and the autophagy-related protein ATG8. Interestingly, overexpression of ORM1 or ORM2 in autophagy-defective mutants showed FLS2 abundance that is comparable to that in wild-type plants. Moreover, FLS2 levels were not decreased in Arabidopsis plants overexpressing ORM1/2 derivatives that do not interact with ATG8. Taken together, these results suggest that selective autophagy functions in maintaining the homeostasis of a plant immune receptor and that beyond sphingolipid metabolic regulation ORM proteins can also act as selective autophagy receptors.
A qualitative exploration of parents', youths' and food establishment managers' perceptions of beverage industry self-regulation for obesity prevention.

OBJECTIVE We aimed to explore the range of stakeholders' perceptions of the Balance Calories Initiative (BCI), under which the American Beverage Association pledged to decrease per capita US consumption of beverage energy by 20 % by 2025. DESIGN Semi-structured cross-sectional interviews were conducted in 2017. SETTING Participants were recruited from communities targeted by the BCI (Montgomery, AL; North Mississippi Delta, MS; Eastern Los Angeles, CA).ParticipantsA total of thirty-three parents and thirty-eight youths aged 10-17 years were recruited through youth-serving organizations, street intercept and snowball sampling; sixteen store/restaurant managers were recruited at businesses. Participants were asked about their awareness of the BCI. Parents and youths were asked to 'think aloud' as they viewed BCI messages (e.g. 'Balance What You Eat, Drink, and Do') and managers were asked about beverage marketing. RESULTS Twelve parents and twenty-four youths had seen BCI messages; only four managers were aware of the BCI. Many parents and youths showed some misunderstanding of BCI messages (e.g. that they should drink more sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) or they needed to equalize healthy and unhealthy beverage intake). Only one manager had communicated with beverage companies about the BCI. CONCLUSIONS We found mixed comprehension and low awareness of BCI messages in communities targeted by the American Beverage Association for reduced SSB consumption. Industry self-regulation attempts to reduce SSB consumption may have limited effectiveness if stakeholder input is not addressed. Public health practitioners should be aware of the need to address youths' and parents' misunderstandings about SSB consumption, especially in BCI-targeted communities.
New Species of Meteterakis (Nematoda: Heterakidae) in Physignathus cocincinus (Squamata: Agamidae) from Cambodia

Meteterakis pursatensis n. sp. (Nematoda, Heterakidae) from the large intestine of Physignathus cocincinus (Squamata, Agamidae) is described and illustrated. Meteterakis pursatensis n. sp. represents the 21st Oriental species assigned to the genus, and is distinguished from other Oriental species by the distribution pattern of the genital papillae, 7 pairs, 1 pair anteriolateral to ventral sucker but within anterior limits of caudal alae, 1 pair medial to anterior fleshy papillae, 3 pair posterior medial to posterior papillae of anterior fleshy pair, 2 pair tandem, midway between ventral sucker and cloaca, and length of spicules (0.50–0.57 mm).
Towards an Adaptive Multi-Modal Traffic Analytics Framework at the Edge

The Internet of Things (IoT) requires distributed, large scale data collection via geographically distributed devices. While IoT devices typically send data to the cloud for processing, this is problematic for bandwidth constrained applications. Fog and edge computing (processing data near where it is gathered, and sending only results to the cloud) has become more popular, as it lowers network overhead and latency. Edge computing often uses devices with low computational capacity, therefore service frameworks and middleware are needed to efficiently compose services. While many frameworks use a top-down perspective, quality of service is an emergent property of the entire system and often requires a bottom up approach. We define services as multi-modal, allowing resource and performance tradeoffs. Different modes can be composed to meet an application's high level goal, which is modeled as a function. We examine a case study for counting vehicle traffic through intersections in Nashville. We apply object detection and tracking to video of the intersection, which must be performed at the edge due to privacy and bandwidth constraints. We explore the hardware and software architectures, and identify the various modes. This paper lays the foundation to formulate the online optimization problem presented by the system which makes tradeoffs between the quantity of services and their quality constrained by available resources.
RNA-binding proteins Musashi and tau soluble aggregates initiate nuclear dysfunction.

Oligomeric assemblies of tau and the RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) Musashi (MSI) are reported in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the role of MSI and tau interaction in their aggregation process and its effects are nor clearly known in neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we investigated the expression and cellular localization of MSI1 and MSI2 in the brains tissues of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) as well as in the wild-type mice and tau knock-out and P301L tau mouse models. We observed that formation of pathologically relevant protein inclusions was driven by the aberrant interactions between MSI and tau in the nuclei associated with age-dependent extracellular depositions of tau/MSI complexes. Furthermore, tau and MSI interactions induced impairment of nuclear/cytoplasm transport, chromatin remodeling and nuclear lamina formation. Our findings provide mechanistic insight for pathological accumulation of MSI/tau aggregates providing a potential basis for therapeutic interventions in neurodegenerative proteinopathies. The Musashi family of RNA binding proteins are found in an oligomeric state in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Here the authors show that Mushashi1 and Musashi2 interact with tau protein in patient tissue and in models of tauopathy.
Encouraging Living Shorelines over Shoreline Armoring: Insights from Property Owners Choices in the Chesapeake Bay

This study uses data from shoreline modification permit applications in Gloucester County, Virginia to provide insights into how coastal managers can encourage the use of living shorelines over sho...
Rigorous Policy Pilots the USPTO Could Try

Original article is available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3312696 Academics and others may get greater uptake of their policy ideas if framed not only as policies to enact but experiments to try and to learn from. A companion article, Rigorous Policy Pilots, lays out a framework, “MATTER” for proposing policy experiments, shorthand for specifying questions that matter, relevant authority, the underlying theory of change, testing protocol, evidence and resources. Applying it to the US Patent and Trademark Office, which has shown a willingness to experiment with new approaches before adopting them, this essay proposes several rigorous pilots for addressing some the patent system's most enduring challenges: ensuring that the patents granted by the Office are of high quality, and ensuring the full participation of US innovators in inventing (“inclusive innovation”). To overcome challenges in measuring the effectiveness of agency action, the essay proposes taking advantage of natural experiments, natural yardsticks, and independent or synthetic assessments. A "search first" pilot would give applicants the option of requesting that all of the relevant prior art in their case be provided "up front," through the examiner's initial searching of the entire specification rather than just the claims, following the approach of jurisdictions that bifurcate search and examination. The early certainty would help applicants make early determinations about whether or not the patent was worth pursuing. Quality pilots, in general, could also more explicitly measure the robustness of prior art vetting as a quality metric, given the "prior art gap" between US examiners and others reviewing a patent. Piloting development of "error detection technology" for vetting compliance with the Patent Act's Section 112 disclosure requirements, following previous examples of agencies adopting outside technology, could also help close the applicant readiness gap that this essay documents between smaller and larger inventors, enhancing both inclusion and patent quality. Finally, the essay proposes a pilot for testing for the presence of implicit gender bias in the award of patents to help get at the root causes of the 7-21% difference in patent grant rate between male and female-led inventions.
Deep neural networks trained for segmentation are sensitive to brightness changes: preliminary results

Medical images of a patient may have a significantly different appearance depending on imaging modality (e.g. MRI vs. CT), sequence type (e.g., T1-weighted MRI vs. T2-weighted MRI), and even manufacturer/model of equipment used for the same modality and sequence type (e.g. SIEMENS vs GE). Since in the context of deep learning training and test data often come from different institutions, it is important to determine how well neural networks generalize when image appearance varies. There is currently no systematic answer to this question. In this study, we investigate how deep neural networks trained for segmentation generalize. Our analysis is based on synthesizing a series of datasets of images with the target object of the same shape but with varying pixel intensity of the foreground object and the background. This simulates basic effects of changing equipment models and sequence types. We also consider scenarios when datasets with different image properties are combined to determine whether generalizability of the network to other scenarios is improved. We found that the generalizability of segmentation networks to changing intensities is poor. We also found that the generalizability is somewhat improved when different datasets are combined but that generalizability is typically limited to data similar to the two types of datasets included in training and not to datasets with different image intensities.
Harmonizing longitudinal and survival data using a joint-modeling framework: An efficient approach to assessing social interventions

AbstractObjective: This article is an exposition of the joint-modeling approach to testing intervention effects through the harmonization of longitudinal and time-to-event data. We demonstrate the ...
Small-scale utilitarianism: High acceptance of utilitarian solutions to Trolley Problems among a horticultural population in Nicaragua.

Researchers often use moral dilemmas to investigate the specific factors that influence participants’ judgments of the appropriateness of different actions. A common construction of such a dilemma is the Trolley Problem, which pits an obvious utilitarian solution against a common deontological dictum to not do harm to others. Cross-cultural studies have validated the robustness of numerous contextual biases, such as judging utilitarian decisions more negatively if they require contact with other individuals (contact bias), they force others to serve as a means to an end (means bias), and if they require direct action rather than inaction (omission bias). However, such cross-cultural research is largely limited to studies of industrialized, nation-state populations. Previous research has suggested that the more intimate community relationships that characterize small-scale populations might lead to important differences, such as an absence of an omission bias. Here we contribute to this literature by investigating perceptions of Trolley Problem solutions among a Mayangna/Miskito community, a small-scale indigenous population in Nicaragua. Compared to previously sampled populations, the Mayangna/Miskito participants report higher levels of acceptance of utilitarian solutions and do not exhibit an omission bias. We also examine the justifications participants offered to explore how Mayangna/Miskito culture might influence moral judgments.
Acceptability of the Cognition Test Battery in Astronaut and Astronaut-Surrogate Populations.

Abstract Background Sustained high levels of astronaut cognitive performance are a prerequisite for mission success. A neuropsychological battery of 10 brief cognitive tests (Cognition) covering a range of cognitive domains was specifically developed for high performing astronauts to objectively assess cognitive performance. Extended mission durations require repeated cognitive testing and thus high acceptability of the Cognition software to the astronaut population. The aim of this qualitative study was to evaluate acceptability of Cognition to astronauts and astronaut surrogate populations. Methods Cognition was administered repeatedly to N = 87 subjects (mean age ± SD 35.1 ± 8.7 years, 52.8% male) on a laptop or iPad across five individual studies on the International Space Station or in space analog environments on Earth. Following completion of each study, participants were interviewed regarding their experience using Cognition in a semi-structured debrief. Participant comments were analyzed using a qualitative conventional content analysis approach. Results The majority of participants’ comments (86.1%) were coded as positive or neutral in valence, with most positive comments relating to software usability, engagement, and overall design. Among the 10 Cognition tests, subjects liked the Visual Object Learning Test most (28 likes, 32.2% of participants), while the Emotion Recognition Test was liked least (44 dislikes, 50.6% of participants). Some subjects (36.8%) were frustrated with the level of difficulty of some of the 10 Cognition tests, especially during early administrations, which was by design to avoid ceiling effects in repeated administrations of high-performers. Technical difficulties were rare (20.7% of participants), and most often observed in environments with restricted internet access. Most participants (82.3% of those who commented) liked the feedback provided by Cognition after each test, which includes a graph showing performance history. Conclusion Cognition was found to be acceptable to astronaut and astronaut-surrogate populations across a variety of settings and mission durations. Participant feedback provided was used to further improve Cognition and increase its acceptability during sustained space missions.
Feral hogs control brackish marsh plant communities over time

Feral hogs modify ecosystems by consuming native species and altering habitat structure. These invasions can generate fundamentally different post-invasion habitats when disturbance changes community structure, ecosystem function, or recovery dynamics. Here, we use multiple three-year exclusion experiments to describe how feral hogs affect hyper-productive brackish marshes over time. We find that infrequent yet consistent hog foraging and trampling suppresses dominant plants by generating a perpetually disturbed habitat that favors competitively inferior species and disallows full vegetative recovery over time. Along borders between plant monocultures, trampling destroys dominant graminoids responsible for most aboveground marsh biomass while competitively inferior plants increase fivefold. Hog activities shift the brackish marsh disturbance regime from pulse to press, which changes the plant community: competitively inferior plants increase coverage, species diversity is doubled, and live cover is lowered by 30% as large plants are unable to take hold in hog-disturbed areas. Release from disturbance does not result in complete recovery (i.e., dominant plant monocultures) because hog consumer control is a combination of both top-down control and broader engineering effects. These results highlight how habitats are susceptible to invasive effects outside of structural destruction alone, especially if large consumers are pervasive over time and change the dynamics that sustain recovery.
Caspar, Donald L D

1927–American biophysicist who helped determine the structure of Tobacco mosaic virus. Keywords: Tobacco mosaic virus; TMV; polyomavirus; Tomato bushy stunt virus; quasi-equivalence
A functional description of ATIS/CVO systems to accommodate driver needs and limits

This paper takes an analytic approach to examining the functionality of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS)/Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO) systems and their implications for driver performance and acceptance. It presents a functional description of ATIS/CVO that examines the range of ATIS/CVO functionality, potential human factors concerns, and the interactions among the functions.
The Impact of Price-Induced Hedging Behavior on Commodity Market Volatility

The utility maximization problem of a grain producer is formulated and solved numerically under prospect theory as an alternative to expected utility theory. Conventional theory posits that the optimal hedging position of a producer is not affected solely due to changes in the level of futures prices. However, a strong degree of positive correlation is apparent in the data. Our results show that with prospect theory serving as the underlying behavioral framework, the optimal hedge of a producer is affected by changes in futures price levels. The implications of this price-induced hedging behavior on spot prices and volatility are subsequently considered.
Nutrient uptake by the hindlimb of growing pigs treated with porcine somatotropin and insulin

The shift in nutrient partitioning induced by porcine somatotropin (pST) is accompanied by a decrease in insulin sensitivity for whole-body glucose uptake. The relative contribution of metabolic changes in the hindlimb was investigated in eight pigs (55 kg) that had received recombinant pST (120 micrograms/kg) or excipient (control) for 7 d. Uptake of metabolites by the hindlimb was measured under basal conditions and during hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps at low [14 ng/(kg.min)] and high [360 ng/(kg.min)] insulin infusion rates. Dextrose infusion rate required to maintain euglycemia was used as an index of whole-body glucose uptake in response to exogenous insulin. Effects of pST on hindlimb and whole-body glucose uptake were evident only at physiological levels of insulin (basal and low insulin infusion rate). During the low rate of insulin infusion, dextrose infusion rate was 79% lower for pST-treated pigs and glucose uptake by the hindlimb was 59% lower compared with control pigs. The decrease in glucose uptake by the hindlimb was entirely accounted for by the estimated reduction in glucose utilization by adipose tissue of the hindlimb. Glucose:oxygen quotients were reduced during basal (57%) and low insulin infusion (63%) with pST treatment, indicating a change in the pattern of substrate utilization. This is consistent with the concept that pST directs nutrients away from adipose and towards muscle growth by altering the response of tissues to homeostatic signals such as insulin.
Neurotransmitter release in the enteric nervous system

The sections in this article are: 1 Neurotransmitter Versus Neuromodulator 2 Mechanism of Release 2.1 Vesicular Release Mechanism 2.2 Nonvesicular Hypothesis 2.3 Nonsynaptic Transmitter Release 3 Modulation of Transmitter Release 3.1 Presynaptic Modulation 3.2 Activation of Intracellular Control Systems 4 Enteric Cholinergic System 4.1 Factors Regulating Acetylcholine Release 5 Neuro Active Peptides and their Modulation of Acetylcholine Release 5.1 Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide 5.2 Substance P 5.3 Somatostatin 5.4 Cholecystokinin 5.5 Dynorphins and Enkephalins 5.6 Other Neuropeptides 6 General Neuropeptide-Degrading Enzymes 6.1 Endopeptidase 6.2 Peptidyl Dipeptidase A 6.3 Aminopeptidase 6.4 Dipeptidyl Peptidase IV 6.5 Acetylcholinesterase 7 Adrenergic System 7.1 Factors Regulating Norepinephrine Release 8 Enteric Synaptosomes 8.1 Release of Acetylcholine 8.2 Serotonergic Synaptosomes 8.3 Noradrenergic Synaptosomes 8.4 Release of ATP 8.5 Neuropeptide Synaptic Vesicles
Ultrafast Photoinduced Charge Separation in Wide‐Band‐Capturing Self‐Assembled Supramolecular Bis(donor styryl)BODIPY–Fullerene Conjugates

A new series of self-assembled supramolecular donor-acceptor conjugates capable of wide-band capture, and exhibiting photoinduced charge separation have been designed, synthesized and characterized using various techniques as artificial photosynthetic mimics. The donor host systems comprise of a 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (BODIPY) containing a crown ether entity at the meso-position and two styryl entities on the pyrrole rings. The styryl end groups also carried additional donor (triphenylamine or phenothiazine) entities. The acceptor host system was a fulleropyrrolidine comprised of an ethylammonium cation. Owing to the presence of extended conjugation and multiple chromophore entities, the BODIPY host revealed absorbance and emission well into the near-IR region covering the 300-850 nm spectral range. The donor-acceptor conjugates formed by crown ether-alkyl ammonium cation binding of the host-guest system was characterized by optical absorbance and emission, computational, and electrochemical techniques. Experimentally determined binding constants were in the range of 1-2×10(5) M(-1) . An energy-level diagram to visualize different photochemical events was established using redox, computational, absorbance, and emission data. Spectral evidence for the occurrence of photoinduced charge separation in these conjugates was established from femtosecond transient absorption studies. The measured rates indicated ultrafast charge separation and relatively slow charge recombination revealing their usefulness in light-energy harvesting and optoelectronic device applications. The bis(donor styryl)BODIPY-derived conjugates populated their triplet excited states during charge recombination.
Corporal Punishment and Child Behavioural and Cognitive Outcomes through 5 Years of Age: Evidence from a Contemporary Urban Birth Cohort Study

This study examined the prevalence and determinants of spanking of children at 3 years-of-age, and the associations between spanking and externalizing behavior and receptive verbal ability at age 5. Overall, we find maternal spanking rates of 55.2% and paternal rates of 43.2% at age 3. Mothers facing greater stress and those who spanked earlier are more likely to spank at age 3, whereas those who report a supportive partner during pregnancy and those who were not U.S. born were less likely to spank. Mothers and fathers in communities where spanking was more normative were more likely to spank. Fathers were less likely to spank daughters at age 3. Frequent maternal spanking at age 3 was associated with externalizing behavior and receptive vocabulary at age 5, controlling for an array of ecological risks, earlier behavior, and verbal capacity. Taking advantage of the large and diverse sample we explored potential interactions and found no evidence that race, parental warmth, normativeness, or child gender moderated the association between spanking and externalizing or receptive vocabulary. These findings add to the literature on negative consequences associated with a widely endorsed parenting practice, and highlight the need for research that explores alternative effective discipline practices and addresses parent questions of what else they could, or even should, be doing.
Selective Visualization of Cyclooxygenase-2 in Inflammation and Cancer by Targeted Fluorescent Imaging Agents

Effective diagnosis of inflammation and cancer by molecular imaging is challenging because of interference from nonselective accumulation of the contrast agents in normal tissues. Here, we report a series of novel fluorescence imaging agents that efficiently target cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), which is normally absent from cells, but is found at high levels in inflammatory lesions and in many premalignant and malignant tumors. After either i.p. or i.v. injection, these reagents become highly enriched in inflamed or tumor tissue compared with normal tissue and this accumulation provides sufficient signal for in vivo fluorescence imaging. Further, we show that only the intact parent compound is found in the region of interest. COX-2-specific delivery was unambiguously confirmed using animals bearing targeted deletions of COX-2 and by blocking the COX-2 active site with high-affinity inhibitors in both in vitro and in vivo models. Because of their high specificity, contrast, and detectability, these fluorocoxibs are ideal candidates for detection of inflammatory lesions or early-stage COX-2-expressing human cancers, such as those in the esophagus, oropharynx, and colon.
Mass spectrometric evidence for long-lived protein adducts of 4-oxo-2-nonenal

Substantial work has been carried out to elucidate the nature of protein modification by 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) and its relatives. Its keto cousin, 4-oxo-2-nonenal (ONE), which arises from linoleic acid oxidation independently of HNE, was previously reported to form Michael adducts with His and Cys that can subsequently, in part, condense with Lys residues to give imidazolylpyrrole cross-links. Despite mass spectrometric evidence also for ONE-Lys Michael adducts, the latter do not accumulate in solution. A long-lived adduct that has the same mass as the ONE Lys Michael adduct is suggested instead to be the isomeric 4-ketoamide that arises, along with other adducts, from the reversibly-formed ONE Lys Schiff base. The Lys-ketoamide and His-Lys imidazolylpyrrole cross-links appear to be unusually prominent markers of stable protein modification by ONE.
Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy and Gemcitabine for Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer

Purpose Patients with nonmetastatic locally advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer have a dismal prognosis. Conventional concurrent chemoradiotherapy requires 6 weeks of daily treatment and can be arduous. We explored the safety and effectiveness of a 3-day course of hypofractionated stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) followed by gemcitabine in this population. Patients and Methods A total of 36 patients with nonmetastatic, locally advanced, unresectable pancreatic cancer with ≥12 months of follow-up were included. They received three fractions of 8, 10, or 12 Gy (total dose, 24–36 Gy) of SBRT according to the tumor location in relation to the stomach and duodenum, using fiducial-based respiratory motion tracking on a robotic radiosurgery system. The patients were then offered gemcitabine for 6 months or until tolerance or disease progression. Results With an overall median follow-up of 24 months (range, 12–33), the local control rate was 78%, the median overall survival time was 14.3 months, the median carbohydrate antigen 19-9–determined progression-free survival time was 7.9 months, and the median computed tomography-determined progression-free survival time was 9.6 months. Of the 36 patients, 28 (78%) eventually developed distant metastases. Six patients (17%) were free of progression at the last follow-up visit (range, 13–30 months) as determined by normalized tumor markers with stable computed tomography findings. Nine Grade 2 (25%) and five Grade 3 (14%) toxicities attributable to SBRT occurred. Conclusion Hypofractionated SBRT can be delivered quickly and effectively in patients with nonmetastatic, locally advanced, unresectable pancreatic cancer with acceptable side effects and minimal interference with gemcitabine chemotherapy.
Reduced intensity versus myeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome and acute lymphoid leukemia.

Purpose of review Use of a reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) regimen has now become standard practice among older or more infirmed stem cell transplantation candidates. Encouraging outcome in this population has led to the question of whether RIC should replace standard myeloablative conditioning (MAC) regimens. This review will summarize the available outcomes data comparing RIC and MAC approaches to stem cell transplantation in adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute lymphoid leukemia. Recent findings There are currently no completed prospective randomized controlled studies comparing outcomes of RIC to MAC. The best insight into differences in outcome comes from large registry-based retrospective studies. These studies demonstrate that the use of RIC is associated with a reduction in transplant-related mortality but an increased risk of disease relapse. As a result, for patients undergoing stem cell transplantation in remission, disease free and overall survival are similar. Summary The current retrospective data provide justification for the use of RIC regimens in all adult stem cell transplant candidates with acute leukemia in remission and MDS. More definitive conclusions regarding differences between the MAC and RIC approach to stem cell transplantation await results of ongoing prospective randomized trials.
Release of fuel-bound nitrogen during biomass gasification

Gasification of four biomass feedstocks (leucaena, sawdust, bagasse, and banagrass) with significantly different fuel-bound nitrogen (FBN) content was investigated to determine the effects of operational parameters and nitrogen content of biomass on the partitioning of FBN among nitrogenous gas species. Experiments were performed using a bench-scale, indirectly heated, fluidized-bed gasifier. Data were obtained over a range of temperatures and equivalence ratios representative of commercial biomass gasification processes. An assay of all major nitrogenous components in the gasification products was performed for the first time, providing a clear accounting of the evolution of FBN. Important findings of this research include the following: (1) NH3 and N2 are the dominant species evolved from fuel nitrogen during biomass gasification; >90% of FBN in feedstock is converted to NH3 and N2; (2) relative levels of NH3 and N2 are determined by thermochemical reactions in the gasifier; these reactions are affecte...