cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mechanical Behavior of Energetic Materials at High Acceleration

We have been studying the mechanical behavior of energetic materials during high acceleration by using an ultracentrifuge.1-5 Energetic materials are of significant interest for scientific and practical reasons in the extraction (mining) industry, structure demolition, space propulsion, and ordnance. In these applications the materials can be subjected to high acceleration, fluctuating and/or sustained. The nature of the fracture process of such materials under high acceleration is of particular interest, especially in ordnance and propulsion applications. For example, explosives in projectiles are subjected to setback forces as high as 50,000 g during the gun launch. These high setback forces can cause fracture and premature ignition of explosives.
Non-resonant hyperlens in the visible range (Presentation Recording)

A metamaterial hyperlens offers a unique solution to overcome the diffraction limit by transforming evanescent waves responsible for imaging subwavelength features of an object into propagating waves. However, the first realizations of optical hyperlenses were limited by a narrow working bandwidth and significant resonance-induced loss. Here, we report the first experimental demonstration of a non-resonant waveguide-coupled hyperlens operating in the visible wavelength range that was fabricated using a combination of top-down and bottom-up fabrication approaches. A detailed investigation of various materials systems proves that a radial fan-shaped configuration is superior to the concentric layer-based configuration in that it relies on non-resonant negative dielectric response, and, as a result, enables broadband and low-loss performance in the visible range. While the majority of applications of a hyperlens is expected to be in optical frequency range, the challenge of fabricating non-resonant radial structures at optical frequencies has not been overcome until now.
Cancer – Proteases in the Progression and Metastasis

Proteases of five human clans have been shown to play causal roles in cancer. Proteases were originally implicated due to their ability to degrade extracellular matrices traversed by invading tumor cells. The literature documenting high levels and activities of proteases in cancers and causal roles for proteases in mouse models of cancer is extensive. Nonetheless, targeting proteases therapeutically has not been very effective. This may reflect in part the use of broad-spectrum protease inhibitors that targeted both pro-tumor and antitumor proteases. This may also reflect the complexity of the protease web and the connectivity among proteases and their endogenous inhibitors.
Ability-To-Pay and the Taxation of Virtual Income

Should virtual income be subject to real world taxes? For most people, intuition suggests that the answer to this question is no, at least if the income is left in-world. However, virtual income can have significant real-world value, making it difficult to square intuition with existing tax doctrine and policy. Those who have attempted to do so have justified exclusion by classifying virtual income as falling either outside the theoretical definition of income or into an existing tax category that is excluded from the real-world tax base. In this Article, I argue that the analysis to date and the proposals they produce are not fully satisfactory. Instead, I offer a new approach that focuses on virtual income's impact on a taxpayer's ability to pay real-world taxes. The ability to pay is a core tax concept, and using it yields results consistent with intuitions, existing doctrine and tax policy. Relying on ability to pay, I argue that the taxation of virtual income should be a function of a taxpayer's ability to cash out. Virtual income from worlds that preclude participants from cashing out should be excluded from the tax base, as the receipt of virtual income does not increase their ability to pay real-world taxes. Virtual income from worlds that permit participants to cash out should be taxed. However, practical concerns regarding tax evasion and costs may warrant overriding these initial conclusions. To account for these concerns, I propose that Congress empower the IRS to issue world-specific rulings on the taxability of virtual income and adopt a de minimis threshold based on the $600 reporting threshold found in the code. Taxpayers whose virtual income in a taxable world exceeds the threshold would owe tax on all their virtual income from that world.
Mitochondrial disease during infancy and childhood

Mitochondrial disease has only been genetically defined since the late 1980's, yet the pathophysiology of mitochon- drial function and genetics has altered the way we think of disease. Mitochondria have their own DNA and are independent replicating organelles that are bound to the energetic needs of cells. Diseases due to alteration in mitochondrial DNA are inher- ited exclusively via maternal inheritance. But disease can also be inherited in a Mendelian fashion. The cross-talk between genomes can create a wide variety of diseases by altering mitochondrial function and hence, diminishing the availability of energy for cellular metabolism. As one would expect, the developing infant and/or child would have the greatest dependency on the need for energy to ensure proper development. Indeed, defects in mitochondrial function produce the most common inborn error of metabolism leading to disease. This review will highlight the pathophysiology behind mitochondrial dysfunction as well as describe the most common of the group of mitochondrial diseases found in this age range.
Capital Structure and Value

This note presents a series of questions that leads students through the essential logic linking capital structure and firm value. It begins with a nontax benchmark, then proceeds through valuations with tax deductibility based on (1) a discount rate with tax effects built in (discount free cash flow at the WACC), (2) the valuation of specific claims (value equity cash flows and debt cash flows separately), and (3) the valuation of types of cash flow (value assets and interest tax shields separately). The note concludes by linking these concepts to stock price effects around recapitalizations. Financial risk (leverage effects on CAPM betas) is also introduced and illustrated.
Evolutionary Agents and Dynamic Analysis of Accident Law

We employ an agent-based computational model to gain insights regarding relationships in accident law that are often overlooked in neoclassical theorizing. We consider the situation faced by the inhabitants of Eggtopia, a fictitious society whose members search for and collect precious eggs. In the course of their productive efforts they occasionally experience destructive accidents with other individuals. The inhabitants face trade-offs in that engaging in behavior that increases their productivity may also increase the possibility of an accident. We demonstrate how the agent-based model developed in this paper can be used to answer the questions commonly addressed in the mainstream literature, while also opening up new avenues of investigation. While certain outcomes are consistent with neoclassical theory, we find that agents may elect to be careful even when the neoclassical theory predicts otherwise, and particular negligence rules tend to differ significantly in their ability to rid society of negligent behavior.
Using Provenance Patterns to Vet Sensitive Behaviors in Android Apps

We propose Dagger, a lightweight system to dynamically vet sensitive behaviors in Android apps. Dagger avoids costly instrumentation of virtual machines or modifications to the Android kernel. Instead, Dagger reconstructs the program semantics by tracking provenance relationships and observing apps’ runtime interactions with the phone platform. More specifically, Dagger uses three types of low-level execution information at runtime: system calls, Android Binder transactions, and app process details. System call collection is performed via Strace [7], a low-latency utility for Linux and other Unix-like systems. Binder transactions are recorded by accessing Binder module logs via sysfs [8]. App process details are extracted from the Android /proc file system [6]. A data provenance graph is then built to record the interactions between the app and the phone system based on these three types of information. Dagger identifies behaviors by matching the provenance graph with the behavior graph patterns that are previously extracted from the internal working logic of the Android framework. We evaluate Dagger on both a set of over 1200 known malicious Android apps, and a second set of 1000 apps randomly selected from a corpus of over 18,000 Google Play apps. Our evaluation shows that Dagger can effectively vet sensitive behaviors in apps, especially for those using complex obfuscation techniques. We measured the overhead based on a representative benchmark app, and found that both the memory and CPU overhead are less than 10%. The runtime overhead is less than 63%, which is significantly lower than that of existing approaches.
Design and Calibration of Heated Concentric Low Flow Thermal Velocimeter for the Measurement of Single-Phase Flow

A thermal velocimeter derives velocity information in a flow field by virtue of heat transfer between a hot fluid and a subcooled liquid. In the past several cold coaxial velocimeter’s were developed to measure saturated water temperature. This type of low-flow, cooled coaxial velocimeter deduces velocity information by having cold fluid flowing through concentric tubes and undergoing heat transfer in flow field of saturated water. Heated concentric low flow thermal velocimeter utilizes heat transfer from heated fluid to the subcooled liquid. Velocity information is deduced from four temperatures measured by thermocouples. The correlation gives relationship between subcooled liquid velocities at that point with temperature difference ratio. The correlation can be used to calculate velocity and flow rate of subcooled liquid. It has also been shown that the changes in heated fluid properties have little effect on the performance of the velocimeter. Single-phase testing was performed in a calibration loop of subcooled water and heated propylene glycol. Expressions for free stream velocity relating to the temperature is obtained. Analyses of heat transfer from heated fluid to the subcooled water was carried out from basic heat transfer theory of flow through pipes and flow over external surfaces. An expression relating the velocimeter’s response to the flow fluid parameters is derived. It is observed that calibrated experimental data and the theoretical response match very closely. Also, the heated fluid temperature remains virtually unchanged even though the flow rate and velocity of subcooled water changes.
Validity of the Emission Weighted Proximity Model in estimating air pollution exposure intensities in large geographic areas.

Abstract Background Accurate estimates of air pollution exposure intensities are important to support environmental epidemiology analyses that require data covering large geographic areas over multiple years. The Emission Weighted Proximity Model (EWPM) and the National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) are two viable approaches for obtaining estimate exposure intensities. The advantages of the EWPM include its simplicity and significantly lower costs of implementation. However, very limited data are available regarding the validity of the results from the EWPM and how these results would fare when compared with those from the NATA. Methods This study evaluates the validity of the estimated exposure intensities from the EWPM through a correlation analysis with ground monitoring data obtained by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The monitoring data used in the comparison included 27 non-criteria air pollutants at 48 monitoring sites in Texas in 2005. In addition, this study compares the results from the EWPM with those from NATA using the TCEQ data as a gold standard. Results Analysis results suggest that estimated exposure intensities from the EWPM and the NATA were comparable when the intensities from both approaches are used to categorize environmental exposure intensities into different levels in relative terms. Conclusion These findings suggest that the EWPM is a valid alternative approach to the NATA in situations where epidemiological analysis requires both environmental data and health outcome data that cover a large geographic area over multiple years.
THE VOLCANO LITHOLOGY CHARACTERISTIC AND FACES MODEL IN NORTH-WEST OF JUNGGER BASIN

On the base of deeply study the prime data, such as the core description,slice analysis, compounds,structure and fracture etc,the volcano lithology of Carboniferous was finished, and the sort plan of those rocks was established,served as three kinds with nine sub-kinds. According to projection method Fisher discriminate change the signature difference of multi-variance to few main discriminate functions with algorithm stable, accuracy(above 80%) and convenient application. Using that result recognized the lithology of 146 wells with regular logging data(GR RT DT CNL DEN).In pride of the single well lithology,seismic calibration with well, seismic faces graduation,the five kinds of faces and fourteen sub-faces were marked out,and the orderliness of forming mechanism, ways,kinds,structure and its distribution were payed more attention. Subsequently ,the faces model was set up.
Design and Realization of Remote Control Centre of Zipingpu Hydropower Station

This paper introduces the function design of the Chengdu remote control centre of the Zipingpu Hydropower Station,as well as the special operation mode and safety measures to ensure the safety and stability of the remote control centre.Through alteration of the communication system,two independent routes are gained to send information to the control centre.The remote control mode of the hydropower station is discussed.The remote control mode and centralized control mode are compared,and their application ranges are proposed.
Abstract P1-03-02: Estrogens contribute to cytokine upregulation and cancer stem cell recruitment upon breast cancer contact with mature human mammary adipocytes: Effects of estrogen type and adipocyte donor weight

Consequences of the obesity epidemic on cancer morbidity and mortality are not fully appreciated. While obesity confers increased cancer risk and worse outcome, mechanisms thereof are not fully known. We show prolonged co-culture of fat cells (human adipocyte stem cells, differentiated adipocytes or mature adipocytes) from breast tissue together with breast cancer lines or cultured primary dissociated human breast tumor cells increases secretion of six different pro-inflammatory cytokines, each of which contributes to tumor progression through cancer stem cell recruitment. Prolonged exposure to fat cells or to each cytokine increases the proportion of cells that form mammosphere and express ALDH1 activity in vitro and that can initiate primary orthotopic tumors and metastasis in vivo. Adipocyte and cytokine exposures activate Src, and Src family kinase activity leads to induction of embryonic transcription factors that upregulate miR302b. miR302b induction is Sox2-dependent, promotes cytokine-driven sphere formation, and in turn, stimulates cMYC and SOX2 expression. Src is not only activated by adipocyte or cytokine exposures, it is also required to sustain cytokine induction, since Src inhibitors decrease cytokine production after co-culture. Cytokine upregulation was much greater after co-culture of ER+ breast cancer cells with mature, aromatase positive, adipocytes than with adipocyte stem cells. Cytokine induction was estrogen regulated. The mechanisms of cytokine induction, ER-coactivation and effects of different estrogenic ligands will be presented. Present data illuminate the increased risk of breast cancer after menopause, particularly in obese women and the increased breast cancer mortality with obesity: cancer cell invasion into local fat, in the presence of high local aromatase and intracellular estrogen would establish feed-forward loops to activate Src, maintain pro-inflammatory cytokine production and increase tumor initiating cell abundance, tumor growth and metastasis. These data link obesity related pro-inflammatory cytokines to Src activation and cancer initiating cell abundance, and provide a novel rationale for Src inhibitors together with endocrine therapy for breast cancer. Citation Format: Slingerland J, Picon-Ruiz M, Jang K, Morata-Tarifa C, Pan C, Besser A, Kim M, Ince TA, Howard GA, El-Ashry D. Estrogens contribute to cytokine upregulation and cancer stem cell recruitment upon breast cancer contact with mature human mammary adipocytes: Effects of estrogen type and adipocyte donor weight. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-03-02.
Induction of chimerism in mice using human MHC class I-mismatched Hoechst 33342 side population donor stem cells.

A population of Hoechst 33342-stained cells, termed side population (SP) cells, can reconstitute the hematopoietic system of syngeneic mice. This study examined whether limiting numbers of SP cells can repopulate mice across a xenogeneic MHC class I barrier. SP cells were isolated from HLA.B7 and HLA.A2.1 transgenic mice by FACS and placed in colony assays or transplanted into irradiated C57BL/6 (B/6) recipients. SP cells contained few colony-forming cells when placed directly in culture. The number of GM-CFC and HPP-CFC increased up to 3000- and 300-fold, respectively, after 7 days in IL-3- and SCF-stimulated liquid culture. BMC-derived GM-CFC increased up to only 12-fold and HPP-CFC decreased after 7 days in culture. HLA-B7 SP cells (2500-5000) were transplanted into lethal-irradiated B/6 mice. Two-color flow analysis, 4-6 weeks after transplantation, showed that HLA-B7 expression in granulocyte-, macrophage-, and lymphocyte-specific lineages from reconstituted mice was similar to that in B7 transgenic mice. Secondary transplanted B/6 mice also showed a pattern of HLA-B7 expression similar to that in transgenic mice and were followed for longer than 16 weeks with stable chimerism. When HLA-A2.1 SP cells were transplanted into sublethally irradiated mice, 50% of the mice expressed HLA-A2 by PCR analysis in short-term repopulation studies. These data confirm that limiting numbers of SP cells can repopulate the major hematopoietic lineages in lethal and sublethally irradiated mice across a human MHC class I barrier. Therefore, SP cells may be useful for establishing mixed chimerism, which may induce immunologic nonresponsiveness to donor antigens in solid organ transplantation.
WE-DE-BRA-04: A Cost-Effective Pixelated EPID Scintillator for Enhanced Contrast and DQE

Purpose: Beams-eye-view imaging applications such as real-time soft-tissue motion estimation and MV-CBCT are hindered by the inherently low image contrast of electronic portal imaging devices (EPID) currently in clinical use. We investigate a cost effective scintillating glass that provides substantially increased detective quantum efficiency (DQE) and contrast to noise ratio (CNR). Methods: A pixelated scintillator prototype was built from LKH-5 glass. The array is 12mm thick; 42.4×42.4cm2 wide and features 1.51mm pixel pitch with 20µm separation (glue+septa). The LKH-5 array was mounted on the active matrix flat panel imager (AMPFI) of an AS-1200 (Varian) with the GdO2S2:Tb removed. A second AS-1200 was utilized as reference detector. The prototype EPID was characterized in terms of CNR, modulation transfer function (MTF) and DQE. Additionally, the visibility of various fiducial markers typically used in the clinic as well as a realistic 3D-printed lung tumor model was assessed. All items were placed in a 12cm thick solid water phantom. CNR is estimated using a Las Vegas contrast phantom, presampled MTF is estimated using a slanted slit technique and the DQE is calculated from measured normalized noise power spectra (NPS) and the MTF. Results: DQE(0) for the LKH-5 prototype increased by a factor of 8× to about 10%, compared to the AS-1200 equipped with its standard GdO2S2:Tb scintillator. CNR increased by a factor of 5.3×. Due to the pixel size the MTF50 decreased by about 55% to 0.23lp/mm. The visibility of all fiducial markers as well as the tumor model were however markedly improved in comparison to an acquisition with the same parameters using the GdO2S2:Tb scintillator. Conclusion: LKH-5 scintillating glasses allow the cost effective construction of thick pixelated scintillators for portal imaging which can yield a substantial increase in DQE and CNR. Soft tissue and fiducial marker visibility was found to be markedly improved. The project was supported in part by NIH grant R01CA188446-01 and a grant from Varian Medical Systems.
Device modeling challenges in the realm of overlapping physical scales: From atomistic to continuum, from coherent to diffusive transport

Device modeling has been essential in discovery of innovative concepts, assessing their value proposition and in guiding the process engineering of devices to continue Moore's Law performance scaling for Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect transistors (MOSFET) [1]. TCAD has traditionally relied on continuum model of transport by solving drift-diffusion (DD) equations and including bandstructures through effective mass descriptions. These approaches break in nanometer scale quantum devices. Higher level models of quantum transport atomistic nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) [2] and semiclassical Monte Carlo (MC) [3] simulations are used for assessing new materials and novel concept devices. NEGF device simulations typically do not include realistic structures and assume a simplified form of scattering. Monte-Carlo simulations account for quantum effects, for example, the source-drain tunneling, within effective quantum correction potential approaches. The corrections to the drift-diffusion model through ballistic mobility models [4] [5] and quantum corrections [6] have been used to extend TCAD simulations to scaled devices. In this talk we will use the tool box of these simulation methods to discuss various important aspects of physics in scaled devices and their impact on assessing new materials as alternative channels using TCAD modeling. We will discuss the distribution of resistance at low and high supply voltage in short devices which approach ballistic limit and discuss the implication it has on assessing advantage of Ge vs Si channel on-current performance of PMOSFET. Scaling device crossection size down to a few nanometers brings us to a modeling realm where we can count the number of atoms in a device. In this realm we typically rely on tight-binding atomistic models to capture effects of confinement in devices [2]. We will discuss the dependence of bandgaps on size of the nanowire and ultra-thin body in IIIV, Si and Ge materials. Tight-binding atomistic descriptions meet their set of challenges in modeling ultra-scaled devices where the effects of interfaces and imperfections become critical to account for. We will show that using known bulk tight-binding parameters for each material alone cannot in general describe even ideal interfaces between semiconductors. We will discuss this on the example of InAs hydrostatically strained to Si interface. This brings us to use more advanced Hamiltonians, such as, for example, Extended Huckel Theory (EHT) [7], and have a close coupling between tight-binding models and ab-initio Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods. We will apply the Extended Huckel theory to model the bandstructures of bulk semiconductors and nanowires. We will show that the Huckel method is predictive in modeling the effect of confinement in nanowires. We conclude with a discussion of challenges of bridging the gap between detailed material modeling and characterization and semi-classical device level modeling.
Testing Rapid-Assessment Models for the Conservation of Woodland Vernal Pools in South-Central Pennsylvania

Abstract The conservation of woodland vernal pools is a priority for land managers throughout the Northeast. They are a focus of conservation efforts because several amphibian species breed exclusively in these unique wetlands. Vernal-pool protection efforts could benefit from the development of rapid, cost-efficient, and accurate tools for assessing these temporally dynamic amphibian-communities. In this study, we evaluated a rapidassessment method comprised of 3 predictive equations that use measures of habitat quality as indicators of the diversity, richness, and abundance of amphibians in vernal pools in south-central Pennsylvania. To test the models, we implemented the suggested field protocol to acquire estimates of habitat quality. We entered these estimates into the predictive equations to provide projections of amphibian diversity, richness, and abundance. We then directly measured these amphibian-community metrics to compare them with the predicted values. We detected substantial disparity betwe...
Plume and surface feature structure and compositional effects on Europa's global exosphere: Preliminary Europa mission predictions

Abstract A Europa plume source, if present, may produce a global exosphere with complex spatial structure and temporal variability in its density and composition. To investigate this interaction we have integrated a water plume source containing multiple organic and nitrile species into a Europan Monte Carlo exosphere model, considering the effect of Europa's gravity in returning plume ejecta to the surface, and the subsequent spreading of adsorbed and exospheric material by thermal desorption and re-sputtering across the entire body. We consider sputtered, radiolytic and potential plume sources, together with surface adsorption, regolith diffusion, polar cold trapping, and re-sputtering of adsorbed materials, and examine the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of the exospheric density and composition. These models provide a predictive basis for telescopic observations (e.g. HST, JWST) and planned missions to the Jovian system by NASA and ESA. We apply spacecraft trajectories to our model to explore possible exospheric compositions which may be encountered along proposed flybys of Europa to inform the spatial and temporal relationship of spacecraft measurements to surface and plume source compositions. For the present preliminary study, we have considered four cases: Case A: an equatorial flyby through a sputtered only exosphere (no plumes), Case B: a flyby over a localized sputtered ‘macula’ terrain enriched in non-ice species, Case C: a south polar plume with an Enceladus-like composition, equatorial flyby, and Case D: a south polar plume, flyby directly through the plume.
Dielectric measurements by time domain reflectometry

Transient or “time domain” methods have become of considerable interest in the last few years because of the availability of fast pulse generators and sampling oscilloscopes permitting measurements in the range 10−11 to 10−7 seconds, corresponding to frequencies from a few megahertz to a few gigahertz. The voltage pulse reflected from a dielectric sample in a coaxial line after arrival of an incident pulse with short rise time (ca. 40 psec) resembles the dielectric current response to a step voltage, but is distorted by effects of finite amplitude of the reflected pulse, propagation in the sample, and the sample termination, all of which must be taken into account in a proper analysis.
Ensemble Classifier for Imbalanced Streaming Data Using Partial Labeling

The data streams in many applications are characterized by imbalanced class distribution. The pattern in data streams may also change over time and therefore, the classification model should be adjusted to maintain performance. Hence, a new set of labeled samples should be provided which is not an easy task, since labeling is expensive and time consuming. In this paper, we propose Reduced Labeled Samples-Ensemble (RLS-E) which is an ensemble based framework for classification of the imbalanced data stream. It uses partially labeled samples in building the model. The prediction of the labels is obtained in two different approaches: 1) from combined output of all the models in the ensemble 2) from each individual model in the ensemble. The more accurate prediction between 1 and 2 is selected as the final prediction. This method does not rely solely on the ensemble prediction as there could be one individual model in the ensemble which may produce a much higher prediction than the ensemble. Evaluation of RLS-E on real world data sets such as Adult, Ozone, CovType, and experimental comparison with other state of the art ensemble based techniques demonstrate that RLS-E optimizes the labels' prediction and produces better classification performance, requiring only 5-25% of samples to be labeled.
Disorders of the Salivary Glands in Children

Primary lesions arising from the salivary glands in children are rare. Salivary gland disorders in the pediatric age group can be divided into two general categories: (1) salivary gland masses and (2) sialorrhea in neurologically disabled children. Salivary gland masses in the pediatric age group are more likely to consist of vascular anomalies and infectious and inflammatory lesions than epithelial glandular tumors. When oral motor therapy either fails or is not feasible for neurologically devastated children with sialorrhea, management options include pharmacotherapy or surgery designed to either redirect the flow of saliva or to decrease saliva production.
Small mitochondrial Arf (smArf) protein corrects p53-independent developmental defects of Arf tumor suppressor-deficient mice.

The mouse p19Arf (human p14ARF) tumor suppressor protein, encoded in part from an alternative reading frame of the Ink4a (Cdkn2a) gene, inhibits the Mdm2 E3 ubiquitin ligase to activate p53. Arf is not expressed in most normal tissues of young mice but is induced by high thresholds of aberrant hyperproliferative signals, thereby activating p53 in incipient tumor cells that have experienced oncogene activation. The single Arf mRNA encodes two distinct polypeptides, including full-length p19Arf and N-terminally truncated and unstable p15smArf (“small mitochondrial Arf”) initiated from an internal in-frame AUG codon specifying methionine-45. Interactions of p19Arf with Mdm2, or separately with nucleophosmin (NPM, B23) that localizes and stabilizes p19Arf within the nucleolus, require p19Arf N-terminal amino acids that are not present within p15smArf. We have generated mice that produce either smARF alone or M45A-mutated (smArf-deficient) full-length p19Arf proteins. BCR-ABL–expressing pro/pre-B cells producing smArf alone are as oncogenic as their Arf-null counterparts in generating acute lymphoblastic leukemia when infused into unconditioned syngeneic mice. In contrast, smArf-deficient cells from mice of the ArfM45A strain are as resistant as wild-type Arf+/+ cells to comparable oncogenic challenge and do not produce tumors. Apart from being prone to tumor development, Arf-null mice are blind, and their male germ cells exhibit defects in meiotic maturation and sperm production. Although ArfM45A mice manifest the latter defects, smArf alone remarkably rescues both of these p53-independent developmental phenotypes.
Routine Activities and Criminal Victimization: The Significance of Gendered Spaces:

Gender is arguably the most prominent correlate of criminal victimization. Few studies, however, examine gender-specific dynamics that might help advance criminology’s understanding of the persiste...
Proton Diffusion through Bilayer Pores

The transport of protons through channels in complex environments is important in biology and materials science. In this work, we use multistate empirical valence bond simulations to study proton transport within a well-defined bilayer pore in a lamellar Lβ phase lyotropic liquid crystal (LLC). The LLC is formed from the self-assembly of dicarboxylate gemini surfactants in water, and a bilayer-spanning pore of radius of approximately 3–5 A results from the uneven partitioning of surfactants between the two leaflets of the lamella. Local proton diffusion within the pore is significantly faster than diffusion at the bilayer surface, which is due to the greater hydrophobicity of the surfactant/water interface within the pore. Proton diffusion proceeds by surface transport along exposed hydrophobic pockets at the surfactant/water interface and depends on the continuity of hydronium–water hydrogen bond networks. At the bilayer surface, there is a reduced fraction of the “Zundel” intermediates that are central ...
Abstract P345: Plasma Insulin Like Growth Factor Binding Protein-7 and Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-2 are Associated with Reduced Renal Blood Flow and Change in Kidney Function After Revascularization in Human Atherosclerotic Renovascular Disease RVD

Background: Insulin-like growth factor binding protein7 (IGFBP-7) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) reflect G1-cell cycle arrest and are used as biomarkers for AKI. Recent studies show that these biomarkers rise in ischemic conditions and suggest that they actually may limit the severity of AKI. We tested the hypothesis that renal vein [IGFBP-7]*[TIMP-2] correlate with reductions in renal blood flow (RBF) and post-stent single kidney (SK)-GFR changes in patients with RVD undergoing contrast-based imaging and stent revascularization Methods: Inpatient studies were performed during 150 mEq Na+ intake and ACE/ARB Rx in patients with hemodynamically severe RVD (n=29, Doppler velocity = 318 ± 100cm/sec, and eGFR= 34.7 ± 11.7 mL/ min) scheduled for renal artery stenting, and compared to essential hypertensive (EH) healthy controls (n=32). Cortical and medullary RBFs (by multidetector CT) and renal vein levels of IGFBP-7 and TIMP-2 were measured before renal artery stenting and 3 months later Results: Pre-stenting IGFBP-7 and TIMP-2 levels were elevated in RVD compared to EH (18.5±2. vs 15.7±1.5 and 97.4±23.1vs 62.7±9.2 ng/mL respectively, P Conclusion: IGFBP-7 and TIMP-2 levels are elevated in patients with chronic RVD as a function of the baseline reduction in RBF, and associate with subsequent improvement in SK-GFR 3 months after revascularization. These data are consistent with renovascular occlusion inducing cell-cycle arrest that serves to protect kidney function.
Unpacking Human Capital: Exploring the Role of Experience and Education in Shaping Access to Jobs

The structures of workers’ careers are heavily influenced by which jobs they are able to enter. The standard human capital variables of experience and education play a central role in regulating ac...
Lessons from 25 Years of Experimenting with Arabic Study Abroad: Programme Evaluation, Culture, Location, and Curriculum

This chapter documents the Brigham Young University Arabic study abroad (SA) programme in Amman, Jordan, focussing on principles of programme design that have proven beneficial over the course of its ongoing development. This four-month programme is designed to provide students an intensive learning experience with Arabic language and culture and build confidence and facility in speaking and reading. After summarising the history of the programme, the authors share insight regarding the programme’s central role in a degree programme, the value of a vibrant programme evaluation culture, the influence of SA location on programme design, and an intensive reading course focussed on Arabic news sources.
American alligators are predators of Paddlefish: An undocumented predator-prey linkage affecting Paddlefish population dynamics

Abstract It has been suggested that adult Paddlefish Polyodon spathula have no natural predators with the exception of humans and few heterospecific freshwater fishes which tend to target only early life stages (i.e., larvae, age-0 juveniles). However, we photographically documented another natural predator, the American alligator. The predation event took place in a small waterbody (0.8 ha) over a 45-minute period during which the alligator frequently transported the Paddlefish onto land, and retracted back into the water. This is the second event of its kind documented in this small river system. From a capture-recapture study, we have identified over 100 fish in the pool, 50 of which were surgically implanted with an acoustic transmitter for continuous monitoring of emigration. However, two have unexplainably disappeared, presumably from predation. Given the two known alligator mortality events, and two potential additional events suggested by transmitter disappearance, we presume adult Paddlefish predation may be more common than previously thought. Although adult Paddlefish were thought to have no natural predators, this newly documented predator-prey linkage provides support that alligator predation on Paddlefish may occur more frequently in southeastern waterbodies than previously believed, particularly when Paddlefish are in high abundance or in relatively small systems such as ours.
On the Interaction of Stress with the Martensitic Phase Transition in A15 Compounds

Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in the effect of the martensitic phase transition that occurs in many A15 compounds1 on superconductivity2 and on elastic and anelastic behavior.3 Since in many practical applications, A15 compounds are subject to considerable stress and strain, it is of interest to examine the interaction of stress with the martensitic transition; this paper is an examination of the effects of stress predicted by a simple Landau model, which successfully describes many features of the transition, and the related temperature dependence of the elastic modulus (d11 − c12)/2.1 Earlier, Pietrass4 discussed some of the effects of stress on the phase transition in the context of a Landau model, and the present paper is an extension and development of this theoretical approach. We focus on the effect of stress on the temperature ranges of stability and metastability of various types of martensitic domain and briefly discuss the non-linearity of the stress-strain relation in a polycrystalline A15.
MAFb protein confers intrinsic resistance to proteasome inhibitors in multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma (MM) patients with t(14;20) have a poor prognosis and their outcome has not improved following the introduction of bortezomib (Bzb). The mechanism underlying the resistance to proteasome inhibitors (PIs) for this subset of patients is unknown. IC50 of Bzb and carfilzomib (CFZ) in human myeloma cell lines (HMCLs) were established by MTT assay. Gene Expression profile (GEP) analysis was used to determine gene expression in primary myeloma cells. Immunoblotting analysis was performed for MAFb and caspase family proteins. Immunofluorescence staining was used to detect the location of MAFb protein in MM cells. Lentiviral infections were used to knock-down MAFb expression in two lines. Apoptosis detection by flow cytometry and western blot analysis was performed to determine the molecular mechanism MAFb confers resistance to proteasome inhibitors. We found high levels of MAFb protein in cell lines with t(14;20), in one line with t(6;20), in one with Igλ insertion into MAFb locus, and in primary plasma cells from MM patients with t(14;20). High MAFb protein levels correlated with higher IC50s of PIs in MM cells. Inhibition of GSK3β activity or treatment with Bzb or CFZ prevented MAFb protein degradation without affecting the corresponding mRNA level indicating a role for GSK3 and proteasome inhibitors in regulation of MAFb stability. Silencing MAFb restored sensitivity to Bzb and CFZ, and enhanced PIs-induced apoptosis and activation of caspase-3, − 8, − 9, PARP and lamin A/C suggesting that high expression of MAFb protein leads to insensitivity to proteasome inhibitors. These results highlight the role of post-translational modification of MAFb in maintaining its protein level, and identify a mechanism by which proteasome inhibitors induced stabilization of MAFb confers resistance to proteasome inhibitors, and provide a rationale for the development of targeted therapeutic strategies for this subset of patients.
Short-and medium-term associations of particle number concentration with cardiovascular markers in a Puerto Rican cohort

Air pollution has been linked to adverse cardiovascular outcomes; however, susceptibility may vary by population. Puerto Rican adults living in the US may be a susceptible group due to a high rate of adverse cardiovascular events. We evaluated the effect of changes in ambient particle number concentration (PNC, a measure of ultrafine particles) and effects on biomarkers of cardiovascular risk in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS), a longitudinal cohort (n = 1499). Ambient PNC was measured at a fixed site between 2004 and 2013 and daily mean concentrations were used to construct PNC metrics, including lags of 0, 1 and 2 days and moving averages (MAs) of 3, 7 and 28 days. We examined the association of each metric with C-reactive protein (CRP) and blood pressure. Each model included subject-specific random intercepts to account for multiple measurements. An interquartile range (IQR) increase in PNC was associated with CRP for all metrics, notably a 3-day increase in PNC was associated with a 7.1% (95% CI: 2.0%, 12.2%) increase in CRP. Significant associations with CRP were seen in women, but not men; with current and former (but not non-) smokers; participants younger (but not older) than 65 y; those without diabetes (but not with), and those with (but not without), hypertension. Our study extends knowledge about the health effects of air pollution to a vulnerable population that has been understudied.
Ten-year trends and differences in alcohol consumption among black and white female undergraduates

Background: Few studies have explored changing patterns of alcohol consumption among young females and differences based on race/ethnicity. Objective: This study examined differences in alcohol con...
Comparison of Peripheral Blast Clearance and Day 14 Bone Marrow Biopsy in Predicting Remission Status and Survival After 7+3 Induction in Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Abstract Introduction Induction chemotherapy with cytarabine and an anthracycline (7+3) remains the standard of care for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Patients and Methods We retrospectively analyzed 183 newly diagnosed AML patients to compare the utility of rapid peripheral blast clearance (PBC), day of peripheral blast disappearance, residual blasts, and cellularity at day 14 bone marrow biopsy (D14BM) in predicting clinical response to 7+3 induction, overall survival (OS), and relapse-free survival (RFS). Results In multivariable logistic regression analysis, day 2 PBC > 85% [P = .0016] was the only predictor of remission status, with sensitivity and specificity of 75%. Peripheral blast disappearance within 5 days after induction and 10% cellularity at D14BM was 60.6% [95% confidence interval (CI), 50.8%-72.2%] versus 32.5% [95% CI, 23.0%-45.8%], and 51.9% [95% CI, 41.9%-64.3%] versus 28.8% [95% CI, 19.1%-43.4%], respectively [P = .0003 for OS and .002 for RFS]. Conclusion Rapid PBC after 7+3 induction showed a significant improvement in specificity compared with D14BM, with similar sensitivity. Neither of these methods were reliably specific tools for the decision of early reinduction, despite their prognostic value. Our findings indicate that morphological cellularity in D14BM is an independent prognostic factor for OS and RFS, regardless of blast percentage, and that ≤ 10% cellularity defines D14BM hypoplasia.
Impact of Tobacco Smoke in HIV Progression: a Major Risk Factor for the Development of NeuroAIDS and Associated of CNS Disorders.

The advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) has substantially increased the life expectancy of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, this has brought into sharp contrast the incidence of several non-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (non-AIDS) diseases such as NeuroAIDS, which identifies a group of neurological disorders caused primarily by HIV-mediated damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems. Given the patients’ depleted immune condition, the use and abuse of drug and addictive substances such as tobacco smoking can further deteriorate their overall health and accelerate the progression and severity of the disease. In this review, we detail the pathogenesis, progression, and characteristics of HIV, and the impact of tobacco smoking as a risk factor for the progression of the disease to NeuroAIDS. This is a poorly understood aspect of HIV-related complications that needs to be addressed. Review of theoretical approaches and knowledge synthesis. Tobacco smoking is highly prevalent in HIV patients when compared to the general population. The oxidative damage and inflammatory stress caused by chronic smoking on the cerebrovascular system have been well established. Considering that HIV patients have an impaired immune system and smokers per se are more susceptible to viral and bacterial inflammatory neuropathologies than non-smokers, it is conceivable that tobacco smoking is a risk factor for the progression of HIV into NeuroAIDS and related neurological impairments. Tobacco smoke (TS) may bring about a synergistic effect in the context of persistent inflammatory state and cerebrovascular damage which facilitate HIV infection and progression to NeuroAIDS when compared to non-smokers.
Explicit Unconditionally Stable Symmetric Positive Semi-Definite FDTD Subgridding Algorithm with Analytical Removal of Unstable Modes

An explicit and symmetric positive semi-definite FDTD subgridding algorithm is made unconditionally stable for fast FDTD simulations. The root cause of instability in a subgridding algorithm is found to be the eigenmodes of the subgrid whose eigenvalues are too high to be accurately simulated by a given time step. These unstable modes are then identified analytically and removed from the numerical system based on prescribed accuracy. The resultant explicit subgridding algorithm not only permits a local time stepping in the base grid and the subgrid, but also is unconditionally stable regardless of space step in the fine subgrid. Numerical experiments have validated the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method.
Chapter 16 – The Role of the Immune System and Bone Cells in Acute and Chronic Osteomyelitis

Osteomyelitis continues to be a major challenge in orthopaedic surgery, and has become even more problematic with the emergence of highly virulent multidrug resistant strains of bacteria combined with the lack of new antibiotic therapy development. Thus, there has been a new wave of research to elucidate critical host-pathogen interactions and osteoimmunology during the establishment of chronic bone infections. Given the failures of various interventions to significantly impact osteomyelitis, recent studies have been aimed at questioning the importance of established paradigms, most notably the roles of soft tissue abscesses, necrotic bone, infected osteoblasts, and biofilm, as bacterial reservoirs in chronic infection. Here, we review the clinical problem of osteomyelitis and the osteoimmunology of acute and chronic bone infection by Staphylococcus aureus, which accounts for >80% of the disease in humans. We also describe the natural history of implant-associated osteomyelitis in mice, which highlights biofilm formation in necrotic bone and colonization of canaliculi as the dominant events in disease pathogenesis. Finally, we discuss progress on the S. aureus immune proteome, which has provided insights into immune susceptibility and resistance to infection that could prove valuable toward the development of novel vaccines and passive immunization.