cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The effect of progesterone analogues, naturally occurring steroids, and contraceptive progestins on hypothalamic and anterior pituitary Δ4-steroid (progesterone) 5α-reductase

The effects of a number of steroids on the conversion of progesterone to 5α-dihydroprogesterone by hypothalamic and pituitary progesterone 5α-reductase have been investigated. Using enzyme preparations from female rats and 3H-progesterone as substrate, 5α-reduced products (5α-dihydroprogesterone and 3α-hydroxy-5α-pregnan-20-one) were analyzed by reverse isotopic dilution analysis. The amount of total 5α-reduced products formed was compared in the presence and absence of the test steroid. Derivatives lacking the Δ4 and/or the 3-keto moiety were without effect. Corticosterone had no effect. 16β-Methylprogesterone inhibited progesterone 5α-reduction in both tissues by at least 65%, while the 2α-, 6α-, and 7α-methylated derivatives had lesser effects. 3-Oxo-4-pregnene-20β-carboxaldehyde and 21-fluoroprogesterone were potent inhibitors. 17-Hydroxyprogesterone was a competitive inhibitor (substrate) with Ki's of 0.27 μM (pituitary) and 0.29 μM (hypothalamus). Medroxyprogesterone exerted little inhibitory effect. Of the 19-norsteroids examined, only norethindrone appreciably inhibited the 5α-reduction. These results suggest that some natural Δ4-3-ketosteroids can modify enzymatic activity. Also, inhibitory analogues may be useful for studies on the role of this 5α-reduction of progesterone.
The Wealth Effects of Portfolio Rebalancing in Emerging Equity Markets

Abstract This paper analyzes the wealth effects of alternative portfolio rebalancing strategies for equity investments in nine emerging markets for the period from 1976 to 1998. The choice of rebalancing intervals has a large effect on wealth accumulation and the geometric mean return. The difference between no rebalancing and semi-annual rebalancing is 5.87 percentage points per year. Surprisingly, semi-annual rebalancing, which was optimal for this data set, was also 2.62 percentage points per year better than monthly rebalancing. Positive first- and second-degree autocorrelation among the monthly returns appears to account for the decrease in returns for rebalancing more frequently than semi-annually.
Transcriptional profiling of in vitro smooth muscle cell differentiation identifies specific patterns of gene and pathway activation

Mesodermal and epidermal precursor cells undergo phenotypic changes during differentiation to the smooth muscle cell (SMC) lineage that are relevant to pathophysiological processes in the adult. Molecular mechanisms that underlie lineage determination and terminal differentiation of this cell type have received much attention, but the genetic program that regulates these processes has not been fully defined. Study of SMC differentiation has been facilitated by development of the P19-derived A404 embryonal cell line, which differentiates toward this lineage in the presence of retinoic acid and allows selection for cells adopting a SMC fate through a differentiation-specific drug marker. We sought to define global alterations in gene expression by studying A404 cells during SMC differentiation with oligonucleotide microarray transcriptional profiling. Using an in situ 60-mer array platform with more than 20,000 mouse genes derived from the National Institute on Aging clone set, we identified 2,739 genes that were significantly upregulated after differentiation was completed (false-detection ratio <1). These genes encode numerous markers known to characterize differentiated SMC, as well as many unknown factors. We further characterized the sequential patterns of gene expression during the differentiation time course, particularly for known transcription factor families, providing new insights into the regulation of the differentiation process. Changes in genes associated with specific biological ontology-based pathways were evaluated, and temporal trends were identified for functional pathways. In addition to confirming the utility of the A404 model, our data provide a large-scale perspective of gene regulation during SMC differentiation.
MEMS composite structures for tunable capacitors and IC-package nano interconnects

This paper presents novel low-temperature processes that combine high-aspect-ratio polymer structures with electroless copper plating to create laterally compliant MEMS structures. This low-cost processing was developed for two applications: 1) low-voltage comb-drive actuators for tunable capacitors to reduce the tuning voltage in MEMS structures to less than 5 V and simultaneously increase the capacitance in between the electrode fingers; 2) compliant IC-package interconnects for reliable, low-cost and high-performance nano wafer-level packaging. In both situations, metallic structures show limited electrical performance and create severe reliability issues. Analytical modeling was used to show the advantages of novel composite structures. High-aspect ratio structures were fabricated from lithography and plasma etching. Processing of metal-coated polymers is limited by side-wall adhesion of metal to the polymer and polymer adhesion to underlying substrates. While photodefinable polymers can simplify the processing cost, a dry plasma etching process can give more flexibility in the selection of polymers.
Blood pressure monitoring: Sharing common elements, problems

EDITOR'S NOTE: We asked Dr. Gardner to write about a topic that he has been studying for much of his career. The article that follows is tutorial in nature but for good purpose. While all biomedical engineers are aware of the damping characteristics of catheter-manometer systems, fat more often than we'd care to recount, in actual practice highly distorted and often misleading waveforms are present in the critical care unit. Dr. Gardner's summary of the factors affecting the system should help clinically-associated people tend to these corrections.
Auxin and cytokinin act during gynoecial patterning and the development of ovules from the meristematic medial domain

The gynoecium is the female reproductive structure of flowering plants, and is the site of ovule and seed development. The gynoecium is critical for reproductive competence and for agricultural productivity in many crop plants. In this review we focus on molecular aspects of the development of the Arabidopsis thaliana gynoecium. We briefly introduce gynoecium structure and development and then focus on important research advances published within the last year. We highlight what has been learned recently with respect to: (1) the role of auxin in the differential development of the medial and lateral domains of the Arabidopsis gynoecium; (2) the interaction between cytokinin and auxin during gynoecial development; (3) the role of auxin in the termination of the floral meristem and in the transition of floral meristem to gynoecium; and (4) recent studies that suggest a degree of evolutionary conservation of auxin mechanisms during gynoecial development in other eudicots.
Evidence-based Management of Resident-performed Cataract Surgery: An Investigation of Compliance with a Preferred Practice Pattern

Purpose To evaluate compliance with the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) Cataract in the Adult Eye Preferred Practice Pattern (PPP) in a resident ophthalmology clinic. Design Retrospective chart review. Participants All patients undergoing first-eye cataract surgery by ophthalmology residents with attending supervision at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center between January 1, 2006, and July 31, 2007. Methods Electronic medical records (EMRs) were reviewed for compliance with the AAO Cataract in the Adult Eye PPP. Main Outcome Measures Frequency of resident compliance with all 39 elements of the AAO Cataract in the Adult Eye PPP. Results A total of 129 patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean compliance with the PPP was 81%, with 62% of the elements having 90% or greater compliance. Compliance was below the mean for those PPP elements requiring patient input or assessment, including 0% for considering patient preference in the determination of anesthesia management, 73% for patient assessment of preoperative functional status, and 66% for patient assessment of postoperative vision. Conclusions Compliance with the AAO Cataract in the Adult Eye PPP in this resident ophthalmology clinic can be improved by increasing the documentation of patient input about their visual function both preoperatively and postoperatively. Further study of compliance with evidence-based guidelines is needed in ophthalmology, particularly in teaching hospitals where new providers are developing their approach to care. Financial Disclosure(s) The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
Unsupervised Image Segmentation and Annotation for Content-Based Image Retrieval

We propose an unsupervised approach to segment color images and annotate its regions. The annotation process uses a multi-modal thesaurus that is built from a large collection of training images by learning associations between low-level visual features and keywords. Association rules are learned through fuzzy clustering and unsupervised feature selection. We assume that a collection of images is available and that each image is globally annotated. The objective is to extract representative visual profiles that correspond to frequent homogeneous regions, and to associate them with keywords. Our approach has three main steps. First, each image is coarsely segmented into regions, and visual features are extracted from each region. Second, the regions are categorized using a fuzzy algorithm that performs clustering and feature weighting simultaneously. As a result, we obtain clusters of regions that share subsets of relevant features. Representatives from each cluster and their relevant visual and textual features would be used to build a thesaurus. Third, fuzzy membership functions are used to label new regions based on their proximity to the thesaurus entries. The proposed approach is trained with a collection of 2,695 images and tested with several different images.
Decomposition of atmospheric aerosol phase function by particle size and asphericity from measurements of single particle optical scattering patterns

Abstract We demonstrate an experimental approach that provides insight into how particle size and shape affect the scattering phase function of atmospheric aerosol particles. Central to our approach is the design of an apparatus that measures the forward and backward scattering hemispheres (scattering patterns) of individual atmospheric aerosol particles in the coarse mode range. We captured over 30 000 scattering patterns during winter (January 2007) at an urban site in Las Cruces, NM. The size and shape of each particle is discerned from the corresponding scattering pattern. In particular, autocorrelation analysis is used to differentiate between spherical and non-spherical particles, the calculated asphericity factor is used to characterize the morphology of non-spherical particles, and the integrated irradiance is used for particle sizing. We found that the fraction of spherical particles decays exponentially with particle size, decreasing from 11% for particles on the order of 1 μm to less than 1% for particles over 5 μm. The average phase functions of subpopulations of particles, grouped by size and morphology, are determined by averaging their corresponding scattering patterns. The phase functions of spherical and non-spherical atmospheric particles are shown to diverge with increasing size. In addition, the phase function of non-spherical particles is found to vary little as a function of the asphericity factor. Our results support the current remote sensing practice of characterizing atmospheric aerosol particles as a composition of spherical and non-spherical particles with less concern about the diversity of morphology within non-spherical particles. In addition, our results suggest that assuming a constant spherical fraction independent of particle size may not accurately reflect the real morphological distribution of atmospheric aerosol particles.
The centrosome orientation checkpoint is germline stem cell specific and operates prior to the spindle assembly checkpoint in Drosophila testis

Asymmetric cell division is utilized by a broad range of cell types to generate two daughter cells with distinct cell fates. In stem cell populations asymmetric cell division is believed to be crucial for maintaining tissue homeostasis, failure of which can lead to tissue degeneration or hyperplasia/tumorigenesis. Asymmetric cell divisions also underlie cell fate diversification during development. Accordingly, the mechanisms by which asymmetric cell division is achieved have been extensively studied, although the check points that are in place to protect against potential perturbation of the process are poorly understood. Drosophila melanogaster male germline stem cells (GSCs) possess a checkpoint, termed the centrosome orientation checkpoint (COC), that monitors correct centrosome orientation with respect to the component cells of the niche to ensure asymmetric stem cell division. To our knowledge, the COC is the only checkpoint mechanism identified to date that specializes in monitoring the orientation of cell division in multicellular organisms. Here, by establishing colcemid-induced microtubule depolymerization as a sensitive assay, we examined the characteristics of COC activity and find that it functions uniquely in GSCs but not in their differentiating progeny. We show that the COC operates in the G2 phase of the cell cycle, independently of the spindle assembly checkpoint. This study may provide a framework for identifying and understanding similar mechanisms that might be in place in other asymmetrically dividing cell types.
Episodic hypoxia induces long-term facilitation of neural drive to tongue protrudor and retractor muscles.

Hypoxic episodes can evoke a prolonged augmentation of inspiratory motor output called long-term facilitation (LTF). Hypoglossal (XII) LTF has been assumed to represent increased tongue protrudor m...
High-power terahertz generation due to dipole radiation within InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells

We have generated broadband THz pulses within eight periods of InGaN/GaN quantum wells due to dipole radiation following generation of spatially-separated electrons and holes. Output powers as high as 1 μW have been obtained.
Spacecraft observations of man‐made whistler‐mode signals near the electron gyrofrequency

The reported investigation extends the range of whistler-mode wave observations to a wave frequency/electron gyrofrequency ratio of about 0.9, where an abrupt cutoff is observed. This cutoff can be explained entirely in terms of accessibility and hence, if there is damping, it must be limited to normalized frequencies above 0.9. In connection with a study of the behavior of the signal intensity, ray tracings were carried out at 80 kHz. The ray-tracing calculations were carried out with the aid of a computer program written by Walter (1969) and modified by Angerami (1970).
A fast-track standards process

The IEEE Portable Application Standards Committee (PASC), in cooperation with the IEEE Standards Department, will be trying a new fast-track process that would let us adopt a new standard in as little as six months. Normally, it takes IEEE standards committees from two to 10 years to adopt a standard. If the fast-track process trial is successful, other IEEE standards committees could adopt the procedure. The fast-track process includes all of the procedures used in the normal IEEE standards-adoption process, with two small exceptions. The fast-track method saves time by allowing some of the adoption procedure's steps to be undertaken at the same time, rather than in sequence, and by simplifying the procedure used for votes on proposed standards. The process would let us adopt standards more quickly, which would let vendors, users, and others reap the benefits of these standards sooner. The fast-track process is not suitable for many proposed standards. For example, it won't work for standards that are very complex or controversial, because they need more time for study and discussion. The process is best suited for small, stand-alone standards and amendments to standards. PASC wants to use the process for proposals that are backed by vendors, users, and others who would be affected. PASC would not sponsor a ballot for a standard when a competing version is being developed by another group.
Management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by pharmacists in an internal medicine department.

Pharmacist involvement in the management of chronic diseases has been shown to produce beneficial outcomes, such as cost savings, and it has also been shown to improve therapy and patient outcomes.[1][1] The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) and the American Thoracic
"Beautiful You": Creating Contexts for Students to Become Agents of Social Change.

ABSTRACTThe authors argue for creating a context within education where teachers can utilize critical pedagogical practices to explicate the hidden curriculum, explore students’ sense of self and embodied identities, and engage students to empower themselves to speak up and take action about issues of embodiment and their understanding of social inequalities within schools. They specifically explore how high school girls’ mediated and embodied identities were translated, particularly as they engaged in participatory activist research by becoming co–meaning makers and co-interpreters during the research process. During the first phase of the study, data were collected from focus group interviews and descriptive field notes from observations. In the second phase, participants created their own activist-based project. Participants shed light on the social issues they encountered in high school and how these experiences influenced their embodied identities, which led them to develop Beautiful You and thus bec...
Open Issues and Opportunities in Web Services Modeling, Development, and Management

Despite the great interest and the enormous potential, Web services, and more in general service-oriented architectures (SOAs), are still in their infancy. The speed at which software vendors have released middleware and development tools for Web services is unprecedented, but their level of maturity is still far from their counterparts in conventional middleware. This is only natural and common to any novel technology, and will be corrected over time, as more users adopt this technology and provide feedback on what the actual needs are.
La cuantificación de la rebaja del precio en la acción quanti minoris

Entre los multiples problemas teoricos y practicos que genera la proteccion juridica al comprador insatisfecho, el alcance de las acciones edilicias continua ocupando a buena parte de la doctrina, muchos de los cuales aluden a la accion quanti minoris, de rebaja o reduccion del precio. En efecto, la accion quanti minoris ha generado profundos debates entre los autores extranjeros; desde la determinacion de su naturaleza, pasando por las relaciones que se producen entre ella con las demas acciones contractuales a fin de resolver si existe o no un orden de prelacion; o la discusion en torno a si la accion de rebaja del precio es susceptible de ser aplicada en todo contrato y no solo en aquellos en que se encuentra expresamente regulada; hasta la forma de calculo aplicable en la rebaja, han sido cuestiones frecuentemente discutidas; cuestiones, sin embargo, que no han concitado el mismo interes en el derecho nacional. Por ello, es que este trabajo tiene por finalidad referir a uno de aquellos aspectos: los parametros o factores que pueden ser aplicados al momento de llevarse a cabo la rebaja o reduccion del precio en nuestro derecho. De paso, haremos referencia a la naturaleza de la accion quanti minoris, puesto que incide en la identificacion de tales parametros.
Preventing cryptographic key leakage in cloud virtual machines

In a typical infrastructure-as-a-service cloud setting, different clients harness the cloud provider's services by executing virtual machines (VM). However, recent studies have shown that the cryptographic keys, the most crucial component in many of our daily used cryptographic protocols (e.g., SSL/TLS), can be extracted using cross-VM side-channel attacks. To defeat such a threat, this paper introduces HERMES, a new system that aims to protect the cryptographic keys in the cloud against any kind of cross-VM side-channel attacks by simply partitioning the cryptographic keys into random shares, and storing each share in a different VM. Moreover, it also periodically re-shares the cryptographic keys, thereby invalidating the potentially extracted partial ones. We have implemented HERMES as a library extension that is transparent to the application software, and performed deep case studies with a web and a mail server on Amazon EC2 cloud. Our experimental results show that the runtime overhead of the proposed system can be as low as 1%.
The Gothic Chapbook and the Urban Reader

Gothic bluebooks and chapbooks have been something of the stepchild of gothic scholarship, most frequently ignored because of their derivative nature, as well as their lack of artistic sophistication, depth, or significance.1 Montague Summers claims that they were the reading material of “schoolboys, prentices, servant-girls, by the whole of that vast population which longed to be in the fashion, to steep themselves in the Gothic Romance.” They are, in fact, commonly referred to as “the remainder trade” or “the trade Gothic” (84–85). More recently, William St Clair has claimed that, in fact, the chapbooks were read by adults in the country areas, and young people in both the town and the country. It would be a mistake, therefore, to regard the ancient popular print as confined to those whose education fitted them for nothing longer or textually more difficult. Many readers, whether adults or children, lived at the boundary between the reading and the non-reading nations. They were the marginal reading constituency whose numbers fell when prices rose and rose when prices fell. (343–44)
New or Noteworthy Geoglossaceae

Since the.publication of the writer's monograph of the Geoglossaceae of North America, in I908, numerous specimens have been collected, or have been received from correspondents in various parts of the country, which have thrown additional light on certain little known forms. Authentic specimens of several species previously known only by description have also become available, which have, in one or two instances, materially modified the views expressed in the monograph, or have cleared up certain points at that time doubtful. The most valuable collection examined is one of 45 numbers, made by Mr. W. H. Long, in Maryland and Virginia, in I9IO.
Cytokine Pathways in Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriatic disease is a systemic autoimmune disease mostly associated with skin and joint involvement (psoriatic arthritis). Strong evidences from clinical studies and experimental models suggest that both innate and adaptive immune responses are involved in its pathogenesis. Psoriatic disease used to be regarded as a Th1-driven disease, now there are substantial evidences to suggest regulatory role of Th17 cells as well in the pathogenesis of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Cytokines play a critical role; besides IFN-γ and TNFα, IL-23/Th17 pathway plays a dominant role in the inflammatory and proliferative cascades of both the skin and joint tissues. Recently in a series of elegant experiments using mouse models and human tissues it has been demonstrated that IL-23 induced Th17 cytokines (IL-17 and IL-22) can contribute to all four pathologic events in a psoriatic disease: development of psoriatic plaque, pannus formation in the joint, joint erosion and new bone formation.
Workflow Technologies Meet the Internet

Workflow systems are increasingly used in large enterprises for automating complex business processes, where demands are placed on high performance, continuous availability, and end-user mobility. Furthermore, the ubiquitous Internet and Intranets are rapidly becoming the distributed infrastructure over which enterprises want to deploy such services. In this paper, we discuss the opportunities provided by Internet/Intranet technologies to enhance the capabilities of a workflow system. The use of Web browser-based open clients allows users to interact with a workflow system from virtually any computer. Advanced features such as applets allow the end user to dynamically acquire workflow applications and tools. In contrast to existing workflow systems, which have monolithic “workflow engines” and system specific server/client connections, we propose an architecture consisting of distributed, dynamically configurable server components, interacting with one other through messages. Redundant workflow servers can be easily added to meet load demand and to provide high availability. Finally, for inter-enterprise processes (such as those arising in electronic commerce), we describe techniques that facilitate cooperation and synchronization across process boundaries without compromising security or autonomy.
Role of Geomechanics in Assessing the Feasibility of CO 2 Sequestration in Depleted Hydrocarbon Sandstone Reservoirs

Carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration in depleted sandstone hydrocarbon reservoirs could be complicated by a number of geomechanical problems associated with well drilling, completions, and CO2 injection. The initial production of hydrocarbons (gas or oil) and the resulting pressure depletion as well as associated reduction in horizontal stresses (e.g., fracture gradient) narrow the operational drilling mud weight window, which could exacerbate wellbore instabilities while infill drilling. Well completions (casing, liners, etc.) may experience solids flowback to the injector wells when injection is interrupted due to CO2 supply or during required system maintenance. CO2 injection alters the pressure and temperature in the near wellbore region, which could cause fault reactivation or thermal fracturing. In addition, the injection pressure may exceed the maximum sustainable storage pressure, and cause fracturing and fault reactivation within the reservoirs or bounding formations. A systematic approach has been developed for geomechanical assessments for CO2 storage in depleted reservoirs. The approach requires a robust field geomechanical model with its components derived from drilling and production data as well as from wireline logs of historical wells. This approach is described in detail in this paper together with a recent study on a depleted gas field in the North Sea considered for CO2 sequestration. The particular case study shows that there is a limitation on maximum allowable well inclinations, 45° if aligning with the maximum horizontal stress direction and 65° if aligning with the minimum horizontal stress direction, beyond which wellbore failure would become critical while drilling. Evaluation of sanding risks indicates no sand control installations would be needed for injector wells. Fracturing and faulting assessments confirm that the fracturing pressure of caprock is significantly higher than the planned CO2 injection and storage pressures for an ideal case, in which the total field horizontal stresses increase with the reservoir re-pressurization in a manner opposite to their reduction with the reservoir depletion. However, as the most pessimistic case of assuming the total horizontal stresses staying the same over the CO2 injection, faulting could be reactivated on a fault with the least favorable geometry once the reservoir pressure reaches approximately 7.7 MPa. In addition, the initial CO2 injection could lead to a high risk that a fault with a cohesion of less than 5.1 MPa could be activated due to the significant effect of reduced temperature on the field stresses around the injection site.
Cost varies with procedure type in pediatric GI foreign bodies.

Abstract Background/purpose In pediatric cases of ingested foreign bodies, gastrointestinal foreign bodies (GIFB) have distinct factors contributing to longer and more costly hospitalizations. Methods Patients admitted with ingested foreign bodies were identified in the Kids' Inpatient Database (1997–2009). Results Overall, 7480 cases were identified. Patients were most commonly p p Conclusions Surgical or endoscopic procedures are performed in approximately one third of GIFB cases. Associated psychiatric disorder or self-inflicted injury is seen in more than 20% of GIFB patients. Resource utilization is determined heavily by associated diagnoses and treatment procedures.
Positron emission tomography-CT surveillance versus neck dissection in advanced head and neck cancer: Time for a paradigm shift in management

Prior to the introduction of the positron emission tomography-CT (PET-CT), the role of planned neck dissection before or following definitive chemoradiation (CRT) was controversial. Most patients who presented with N3 disease would undergo routine post-CRT neck dissection, and practitioners struggled to determine whether the post-treatment neck with N2a/N2b disease was completely treated (1). This is particularly true when post-treatment neck dissection specimens contained disease, but the viability of the disease remained in question (2). Improvements in both structural and functional imaging have gradually allowed head and neck oncologists to consider radiographic resolution of disease as sufficient for surveillance. Over the past decade there has been an ongoing shift to relying on PET-CT/MRI as an indicator of response to treatment, particularly at academic centers in the United States. PET-CT/PET-MRI provides precise anatomical correlation to the FDG-glucose avidity and is especially useful since the physical exam has limitations after CRT secondary to lymphedema and fibrosis. Until now, however, there has been no level I evidence on the efficacy of PET-CT for post-treatment surveillance when compared to planned neck dissection.
ROC curve analysis for validating objective image fusion metrics

Image fusion is a process that allows for the synthesis of information from multiple source images into a single image. There are many applications for image fusion including night vision, medical imaging, and remote sensing. Over the many applications, numerous image fusion algorithms have been explored from averaging pixel intensities to fusion through multi-resolution decomposition transforms such as the wavelet or contourlet. Objective evaluation of a given image fusion method is still a major challenge especially when there exists no reference image. Existing no-reference objective fusion metrics include information theory based metrics, image feature based metrics, and structural similarity metrics. However there has been very little work done in validating which objective metric best evaluates a given image fusion algorithm. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the area under the curve (AUC) provide a viable validation method for metric selection. This study focuses on validating objective fusion metrics over mutual information, spatial frequency, and structural similarity Index Measure (SSIM) used to evaluate fusion algorithms for denoising applications.
Uterine Microbiota and Immune Parameters Associated with Fever in Dairy Cows with Metritis

Objective This study aimed to evaluate bacterial and host factors causing a fever in cows with metritis. For that, we investigated uterine microbiota using a metagenomic sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene (Study 1), and immune response parameters (Study 2) in metritic cows with and without a fever. Principal Findings (Study1) Bacterial communities were similar between the MNoFever and MFever groups based on distance metrics of relative abundance of bacteria. Metritic cows showed a greater prevalence of Bacteroidetes, and Bacteroides and Porphyromonas were the largest contributors to that difference. A comparison of relative abundance at the species level pointed to Bacteroides pyogenes as a fever-related species which was significantly abundant in the MFever than the MNoFever and Healthy groups; however, absolute abundance of Bacteroides pyogenes determined by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) was similar between MFever and MNoFever groups, but higher than the Healthy group. The same trend was observed in the total number of bacteria. Principal Findings (Study2) The activity of polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) and the production of TNFα, PGE2 metabolite, and PGE2 were evaluated in serum, before disease onset, at 0 and 3 DPP. Cows in the MNoFever had decreased proportion of PMN undergoing phagocytosis and oxidative burst compared with the MFever. The low PMN activity in the MNoFever was coupled with the low production of TNFα, but similar PGE2 metabolite and circulating PGE2. Conclusion/Significance Our study is the first to show a similar microbiome between metritic cows with and without a fever, which indicates that the host response may be more important for fever development than the microbiome. Bacteroides pyogenes was identified as an important pathogen for the development of metritis but not fever. The decreased inflammatory response may explain the lack of a febrile response in the MNoFever group.
The value of aggregation under minimax pricing scheme in the electricity retail market

The electric grid's capital and operational expenses are significantly affected by the peak power demands. In an effort to reduce peak electricity demands, electricity market analysts and researchers have designed different pricing schemes that provide a certain incentive to end-users to reduce their usage during what is considered as peak hours. Among those schemes, Time of Use (ToU) and Real Time Pricing (RTP) have been well researched and implemented. However, it became noteworthy that the incentive provided by both schemes to customers is weak. In addition, it has been reported that they can even lead to peak migration instead of reduction. Recently, we introduced a new incentive-driven scheme named Minimax with the aim to incentivize customers to flatten their daily load profiles and help lower the aggregate peak power demands. Simulation studies showed that customers can save 13-17% of their electricity bills if the Minimax scheme is used but only 2-3% if RTP or ToU scheme is used. In addition, Minimax can save 10% of the generation cost. The benefit of Minimax is threefold: consumer bill reduction, peak power reduction, and generation cost reduction. In our previous work related to Minimax, we used aggregated household energy data. In this paper, we are interested in exploring the value of aggregation under the Minimax pricing mechanism. We evaluate the impact of aggregation on energy bill reduction, power factor, voltage profile and generation cost reduction using the IEEE 33-bus distribution system. Our studies based on piecewise linear generation cost function show that, for the same total load, larger aggregate groups achieve lower energy bill, lower generation cost, lower aggregate peak demand and better voltage profile. Aggregation results in 40% peak power reduction, 6% consumers' bill reduction, 13% supply cost reduction and no voltage bound violation.
Novel RpoS-Dependent Mechanisms Strengthen the Envelope Permeability Barrier during Stationary Phase.

Gram-negative bacteria have effective methods of excluding toxic compounds, including a largely impermeable outer membrane (OM) and a range of efflux pumps. Furthermore, when cells become nutrient limited, RpoS enacts a global expression change providing cross-protection against many stresses. Here, we utilized sensitivity to an anionic detergent (sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS]) to probe changes occurring to the cell's permeability barrier during nutrient limitation. Escherichia coli is resistant to SDS whether cells are actively growing, carbon limited, or nitrogen limited. In actively growing cells, this resistance depends on the AcrAB-TolC efflux pump; however, this pump is not necessary for protection under either carbon-limiting or nitrogen-limiting conditions, suggesting an alternative mechanism(s) of SDS resistance. In carbon-limited cells, RpoS-dependent pathways lessen the permeability of the OM, preventing the necessity for efflux. In nitrogen-limited but not carbon-limited cells, the loss of rpoS can be completely compensated for by the AcrAB-TolC efflux pump. We suggest that this difference simply reflects the fact that nitrogen-limited cells have access to a metabolizable energy (carbon) source that can efficiently power the efflux pump. Using a transposon mutant pool sequencing (Tn-Seq) approach, we identified three genes, sanA, dacA, and yhdP, that are necessary for RpoS-dependent SDS resistance in carbon-limited stationary phase. Using genetic analysis, we determined that these genes are involved in two different envelope-strengthening pathways. These genes have not previously been implicated in stationary-phase stress responses. A third novel RpoS-dependent pathway appears to strengthen the cell's permeability barrier in nitrogen-limited cells. Thus, though cells remain phenotypically SDS resistant, SDS resistance mechanisms differ significantly between growth states. IMPORTANCE Gram-negative bacteria are intrinsically resistant to detergents and many antibiotics due to synergistic activities of a strong outer membrane (OM) permeability barrier and efflux pumps that capture and expel toxic molecules eluding the barrier. When the bacteria are depleted of an essential nutrient, a program of gene expression providing cross-protection against many stresses is induced. Whether this program alters the OM to further strengthen the barrier is unknown. Here, we identify novel pathways dependent on the master regulator of stationary phase that further strengthen the OM permeability barrier during nutrient limitation, circumventing the need for efflux pumps. Decreased permeability of nutrient-limited cells to toxic compounds has important implications for designing new antibiotics capable of targeting Gram-negative bacteria that may be in a growth-limited state.
Causal Explanation and the Meaning of Human Action

The standard scientific psychological account of social psychological science is inadequate because it is a direct mapping of an inadequate scientific empiricist account onto the social psychological domain. The critical arguments of the hermeneutical psychologist are vitiated because they are based not upon real contrasts with causal explanations in natural science, but upon contrasts between explanations of human action and scientific empiricist accounts of causal explanation in science. Some of these arguments were noted in Chapter 4. The absence of empirical invariance and the limits on prediction cast no more doubt upon the adequacy of causal explanations in social psychological science than they do upon the adequacy of causal explanations in natural science. According to a realist account, empirical invariance and predictability are not criteria for the adequacy of a causal explanation.
Stochastic resonance energy harvesting from general rotating shaft vibrations

Many vibration energy harvesters have been developed in the past to harvest energy from rotating systems. Yet most of these harvesters are linear resonance-based harvesters whose output power drops dramatically under random excitation. This poses a serious problem because a lot of vibrations of rotating systems are stochastic. In this paper, an advanced energy harvesting mechanism is proposed to magnify power output when the excitation is random. Large power output can be produced with stochastic resonance by inputting weak periodic signal and noise excitation into a bistable system. Stick-slip and whirling vibrations which are inherently existing in various rotating shaft systems, are used to make periodic signal and noise excitation. Energy harvester with external magnet was used to compensate biased periodic force from rotating shaft. The proposed energy harvesting approach is particularly useful for high friction and low speed application such as oil drilling. Detailed analysis is conducted to prove the effectiveness of the proposed energy harvesting concept. In addition, experiments were performed to verify the feasibility of this energy harvesting strategy.
Can Empowerment and Organizational Support for Development Stem Turnover? It Depends on Power Distance:

Research on the effects of psychological empowerment and organizational support for development (OSD) on turnover reveals mixed findings. Based on attraction–selection–attrition theory, we developed a model that examines individual-level power distance as a moderator of the relationships between psychological empowerment and turnover and OSD and turnover. Using a sample of 240 employees of a US software development company in India, we found that psychological empowerment was associated with higher turnover for high power distance employees and lower turnover for low power distance employees. Additionally, OSD was associated with higher turnover for high power distance individuals.
Transoral Robotic Surgery for Tonsillar Cancer

The introduction of robotic-assisted surgery in tonsillar cancer has allowed more advanced and extensive tumors to be treated with surgery. The transoral approach avoids the morbidity of an open procedure while still achieving complete oncologic resection, including margins. The magnified three-dimensional view along with the use of angled endoscopic cameras with 360° radius provides visualization beyond the tonsillar fossa to the great vessels laterally, the palate and nasopharynx superiorly, and the tongue base inferiorly, which could not be achieved using traditional transoral headlight or operative microscope alone.
Stalk-length-dependence of the contractility of Vorticella convallaria

Vorticella convallaria is a sessile protozoan of which the spasmoneme contracts on a millisecond timescale. Because this contraction is induced and powered by the binding of calcium ions (Ca2+), the spasmoneme showcases Ca2+-powered cellular motility. Because the isometric tension of V. convallaria increases linearly with its stalk length, it is hypothesized that the contractility of V. convallaria during unhindered contraction depends on the stalk length. In this study, the contractile force and energetics of V. convallaria cells of different stalk lengths were evaluated using a fluid dynamic drag model which accounts for the unsteadiness and finite Reynolds number of the water flow caused by contracting V. convallaria and the wall effect of the no-slip substrate. It was found that the contraction displacement, peak contraction speed, peak contractile force, total mechanical work, and peak power depended on the stalk length. The observed stalk-length-dependencies were simulated using a damped spring model, and the model estimated that the average spring constant of the contracting stalk was 1.34 nN µm-1. These observed length-dependencies of Vorticella's key contractility parameters reflect the biophysical mechanism of the spasmonemal contraction, and thus they should be considered in developing a theoretical model of the Vorticella spasmoneme.
Hyperspectral image segmentation with low-rank representation and spectral clustering

Hyperspectral image segmentation is considered in this paper. A low-rank representation method is applied first to extract major data information, followed by a spectral clustering method based on data graph. Segmentation accuracy can be further improved by a post-processing step using non-local majority voting. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can improve segmentation accuracy for complicated image scenes.
Gradient boosting machine for modeling the energy consumption of commercial buildings

Abstract Accurate savings estimations are important to promote energy efficiency projects and demonstrate their cost-effectiveness. The increasing presence of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) in commercial buildings has resulted in a rising availability of high frequency interval data. These data can be used for a variety of energy efficiency applications such as demand response, fault detection and diagnosis, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) optimization. This large amount of data has also opened the door to the use of advanced statistical learning models, which hold promise for providing accurate building baseline energy consumption predictions, and thus accurate saving estimations. The gradient boosting machine is a powerful machine learning algorithm that is gaining considerable traction in a wide range of data driven applications, such as ecology, computer vision, and biology. In the present work an energy consumption baseline modeling method based on a gradient boosting machine was proposed. To assess the performance of this method, a recently published testing procedure was used on a large dataset of 410 commercial buildings. The model training periods were varied and several prediction accuracy metrics were used to evaluate the model’s performance. The results show that using the gradient boosting machine model improved the R‐squared prediction accuracy and the CV(RMSE) in more than 80 percent of the cases, when compared to an industry best practice model that is based on piecewise linear regression, and to a random forest algorithm.
New Methods of Petroleum Sludge Disposal and Utilization

Disposal of the oil sludge is one of the fundamental problems of petroleum production. Increasingly stringent environmental control regulations, lack of final disposal sites, and high costs involved in disposal have resulted in limitations of oil sludge disposal options. The oil sludge is the primary unwanted by-product generated in the production of oil. All types of this by-product contain some sediments and water with different ratios of oil, solids and water in various states of emulsification. In some cases excessive levels of the by-product yield a product that is unsellable and untreatable.
Understanding Types of Cyberbullying in an Anonymous Messaging Application

The possibility of anonymity and lack of effective ways to identify inappropriate messages have resulted in a significant amount of online interaction data that attempt to harass, bully, or offend the recipient. In this work, we perform a preliminary linguistic study on messages exchanged using one such popular web/smartphone application---Sarahah, that allows friends to exchange messages anonymously. Since messages exchanged via Sarahah are private, we collect them when the recipient shares it on Twitter. We then perform an analysis of the different kinds of messages exchanged through this application. Our linguistic analysis reveals that a significant number of these messages (~20%) include inappropriate, hurtful, or profane language intended to embarrass, offend, or bully the recipient. Our analysis helps in understanding the different ways in which anonymous message exchange platforms are used and the different types of bullying present in such exchanges.