cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of media formats on emotions and impulse buying intent

One way of generating revenue from broadband media content rests upon the assumption that multi-media content may trigger a greater intent to buy products and services impulsively. An experiment was performed in order to explore the effects of media formats on the emotions and impulse buying intentions for music compact discs (CDs). Three distinct media formats of World Wide Web pages were set up: (1) the text of the lyrics, (2) still images from the song's music video and (3) the music video itself. Each had a varying degree of visual/verbal intensity while simultaneously playing the soundtrack in all three conditions. The results of this study indicate that displaying the text of the lyrics had a greater effect on the impulse buying intent than showing still images of the music video. In addition, different media formats caused emotional responses that can explain the participant's impulse buying intent to buy the CD. Unexpectedly, the still images and video did not necessarily generate more buying intention than combinations of the text and music. Therefore, it is recommended that electronic commerce and marketing managers explore innovative ways of integrating visual and verbal media formats for eliciting an effective consumer response.
CHARACTERIZATION OF ALVEOLAR EPITHELIAL CELLS CULTURED IN SEMIPERMEABLE HOLLOW FIBERS

Cell culture methods commonly used to represent alveolar epithelial cells in vivo have lacked airflow, a 3-dimensional air-liquid interface, and dynamic stretching characteristics of native lung tissue—physiological parameters critical for normal phenotypic gene expression and cellular function. Here the authors report the development of a selectively semipermeable hollow fiber culture system that more accurately mimics the in vivo microenvironment experienced by mammalian distal airway cells than in conventional or standard air-liquid interface culture. Murine lung epithelial cells (MLE-15) were cultured within semipermeable polyurethane hollow fibers and introduced to controlled airflow through the microfiber interior. Under these conditions, MLE-15 cells formed confluent monolayers, demonstrated a cuboidal morphology, formed tight junctions, and produced and secreted surfactant proteins. Numerous lamellar bodies and microvilli were present in MLE-15 cells grown in hollow fiber culture. Conversely, these alveolar type II cell characteristics were reduced in MLE-15 cells cultured in conventional 2D static culture systems. These data support the hypothesis that MLE-15 cells grown within our microfiber culture system in the presence of airflow maintain the phenotypic characteristics of type II cells to a higher degree than those grown in standard in vitro cell culture models. Application of our novel model system may prove advantageous for future studies of specific gene and protein expression involving alveolar epithelial or bronchiolar epithelial cells.
Clinical observations of Mexican-American, Caucasian, and black pregnant teenagers.

Few data are available on the prenatal health problems and postnatal outcomes of Mexican-American pregnant teenagers. Our study population consisted of 199 consecutive Caucasian, Mexican-American, or Black pregnant adolescents, ages 11–19 years, followed prospectively at the University of California San Diego Medical Center Teen Obstetric Clinic from 1978 to 1981. The patients included 79 Caucasians, 76 Mexican-Americans, and 44 Blacks. Mexican-American adolescents were shorter, less likely to be cigarette smokers, and delivered heavier babies than their non-Hispanic peers. More than 50% of the teenagers in all three groups gained more than the recommended upper limit of 12 kg during the pregnancy, but excessive gain was most pronounced in the Mexican-American group. Black pregnant adolescents were more likely to be anemic and had a higher frequency of goiter. It is recommended that data concerning Hispanic mothers and infants be analyzed separately from data of Caucasian and Black adolescents to more accurately define their pregnancy problems.
A diagnostic marker for childhood apraxia of speech: the coefficient of variation ratio

Terms such as isochrony, syllable segregation, scanning speech and staccato-like rhythmic quality have been used to characterize the temporal regularity that may be a core feature of apraxia of speech. The present report describes a procedure to quantify temporal regularity in children with suspected apraxia of speech (sAOS). Conversational speech samples from 15 such children, together with samples from 30 3-6-year-old children with normal speech acquisition and 30 3-6-year-old children with moderate to severe speech delay of unknown origin, were selected from an audio archive. Signal processing routines were developed to identify and measure the duration of speech and pause events in 24 utterances from the speech samples of each of the 75 speakers. A value termed the coefficient of variation expressed the normalized variability in the durations of each participant's speech events and pause events within each utterance. A metric termed the coefficient of variation ratio, derived by dividing the coefficient of variation for pause events by the coefficient of variation for speech events, expressed a speaker's relative temporal variation in the two domains. The 15 children with sAOS had higher coefficient of variation ratios than the 30 children in each of the two comparison groups, indicating that the children with sAOS had proportionally more variation in the duration of pause events and/or less variation in the duration of speech events. Findings are interpreted as supporting the view that a constraint in speech timing is a core feature of the praxis disorder that defines a developmental form of apraxia of speech.
A novel approach to model determination using the minimum model error estimation

The purpose of this paper is to present an algorithm for the combination of a proven nonlinear system identification technique, the minimum model error estimation algorithm (MME) with an analysis of variance (ANOVA) correlation routine where a forward stepwise procedure is implemented. The analysis of variance approach to model identification is well documented primarily in social science literature but has been sparsely written about for engineering applications. This paper shows a significant improvement in nonlinear model identification when used in conjunction with the MME algorithm.
Bidirectional discrimination with application to data visualization

Linear classifiers are very popular, but can have limitations when classes have distinct subpopulations. General nonlinear kernel classifiers are very flexible, but do not give clear interpretations and may not be efficient in high dimensions. We propose the bidirectional discrimination classification method, which generalizes linear classifiers to two or more hyperplanes. This new family of classification methods gives much of the flexibility of a general nonlinear classifier while maintaining the interpretability, and much of the parsimony, of linear classifiers. They provide a new visualization tool for high-dimensional, low-sample-size data. Although the idea is generally applicable, we focus on the generalization of the support vector machine and distance-weighted discrimination methods. The performance and usefulness of the proposed method are assessed using asymptotics and demonstrated through analysis of simulated and real data. Our method leads to better classification performance in high-dimensional situations where subclusters are present in the data.
Primary Cutaneous Ewing Sarcoma/Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor

Ewing sarcoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor (ES/PNET) is a family of very similar “small round blue cell” tumors that typically occur in the bone or soft tissue of children and young adults. Although historically these tumors were often subdivided into distinct diagnostic entities on the basis of clinical and histological variations, they are now all regarded as a single entity in light of molecular and immunohistochemical findings. ES/PNET occurring as a primary skin tumor is rare with fewer than 50 cases reported in the literature mainly as case reports and several small case series.
Interaction of sulbactam, clavulanic acid and tazobactam with penicillin-binding proteins of imipenem-resistant and -susceptible acinetobacter baumannii

We have encountered clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii which are resistant to all available antibiotics used in hospitals except for polymyxin B and the beta-lactamase inhibitor, sulbactam. To investigate the mechanisms of this unique activity, affinities of sulbactam and other beta-lactamase inhibitors for penicillin binding proteins were compared using imipenem-resistant and imipenem-sensitive isolates. The results of competition binding experiments indicate that all three beta-lactamase inhibitors bound to imipenem-susceptible Acinetobacter. Binding of sulbactam was greater than that of tazobactam and not detected with clavulanic acid to penicillin binding proteins of the imipenem-resistant strain of Acinetobacter.
Determination of precise position of a moving vehicle with GPS

Global Positioning System (GPS) phase data were collected from a receiver moving on a vehicle whose position and velocity were being monitored by another precise tracking system. Centimeter-level agreement was found between the two systems. Except for initial positioning or alignment biases of 2-3 cm, root-mean-square (RMS) values were often less than 1 cm. It is thus concluded that precise GPS measurements of carrier phase can be used to determine relative position even while in motion. >
SCALES OF TIME AND THE ANTICIPATION OF THE FUTURE: GIBBON, SMITH, PLAYFAIR

This essay shows how Adam Smith addressed concerns about economic decline not only by proposing quantifiable categories through which relative decline could be measured, but also by characterizing the century as the proper timescale in which such quantities could be observed. What sometimes appears up close to be a process of decline and fall, Smith suggested, could, with a shift to a more distant long view, be explained instead as part of a normal business cycle. William Playfair then used Smith's emphasis on quantification to develop elaborate graphic techniques—what we now call the time-series line graph and the pie chart—to visualize more easily the patterns Smith sought to identify. Collectively, the reordering of temporal scale by Smith and Playfair helps us to rethink not only discourses of decline, but also our understanding of the temporalities of political economy as a problem of historical distance that needs to be thought about beyond temporal terms.
Alcohol inhibits cell mitosis in G2-M phase in cell cycle in a human lymphocytes in vitro study

Alcohol abuse is associated with the loss of immunocompetence, which leads to decreasing resistance to infections. No single mechanism can be accountable for the detrimental effects of alcohol on the body's defense mechanism. We present data demonstrating that, in cultured lymphocytes, 10-40 mM alcohol in the media caused 18-90% decrease in cell mitosis (p < 0.001). There was a linear decrease in cell mitosis upto 40 mM alcohol; at 100 mM cell mitosis virtually ceased. This study aimed to determine in which phase of the cell cycle did alcohol mediate its effects. The results showed that DNA synthesis was not affected with up to 50 mM alcohol, suggesting that G1-S phase in the cell cycle remained unaffected. At 100 mM alcohol, DNA synthesis decreased significantly (p < 0.01). From the results of this study, we conclude that a subpharmacological dose level of alcohol (10 mM) significantly inhibited cell mitosis and the inhibitory effect of alcohol was mediated in the G2-M phase in the cell cycle. The G1-S phase was unaffected.
A barrage of relativistic solar particle events

During a 4-month period beginning July 25, 1989, the Sun released an unprecedented barrage of seven relativistic solar particle events detectable with ground-based instrumentation. These “ground level enhancements” (GLE) are the first to occur in the present sunspot cycle, and they include the largest event observed since 1956. The seven new events bring to 44 the number of GLE observed since systematic observations began 50 years ago. Several events are distinguished by unusual fine structure in their time profiles, and one event exhibits an extraordinary spike-like feature at event onset.
Tail-racket removal increases hematocrit in male Turquoise-browed Motmots ( Eumomota superciliosa )

Graduated avian tails with short outer tail feathers and longer central tail feathers are thought to handicap aerodynamic function. The Turquoise-browed Motmot (Eumomota superciliosa) has a highly graduated tail with a long racket-tip that may impose a substantial aerodynamic cost. Previous research on this species has demonstrated a moderate sexual dimorphism in the tail, and has provided evidence that the racketed tail functions as a sexually selected trait only in males. To explore whether costs are associated with the maintenance of the ornamental male tail, I tested whether tail-racket removal affected hematocrit, a measure of condition and metabolic activity. I removed tail rackets from a manipulated group of males and left the rackets intact among a control group. I then compared change in hematocrit between the two groups over the breeding season. Males with rackets removed experienced a greater increase in hematocrit than did control males. This result suggests that males either experienced an increase in condition after being emancipated from bearing a costly sexually selected ornament, or that a social cost was associated with the loss of an ornament used in communication. This work supports previous research showing that the male tail functions as a sexual signal.
Drug Extraction from the Web: Summarizing Drug Experiences with Multi-Dimensional Topic Models

Multi-dimensional latent text models, such as factorial LDA (f-LDA), capture multiple factors of corpora, creating structured output for researchers to better understand the contents of a corpus. We consider such models for clinical research of new recreational drugs and trends, an important application for mining current information for healthcare workers. We use a “three-dimensional” f-LDA variant to jointly model combinations of drug (marijuana, salvia, etc.), aspect (effects, chemistry, etc.) and route of administration (smoking, oral, etc.) Since a purely unsupervised topic model is unlikely to discover these specific factors of interest, we develop a novel method of incorporating prior knowledge by leveraging user generated tags as priors in our model. We demonstrate that this model can be used as an exploratory tool for learning about these drugs from the Web by applying it to the task of extractive summarization. In addition to providing useful output for this important public health task, our prior-enriched model provides a framework for the application of fLDA to other tasks.
[91WLRO001] Upstream Advocacy: Addressing Cancer Survivors’ Employment Problems through Medical-Legal Partnerships

Response to Ann C. Hodges, Working with Cancer: How the Law Can Help Survivors Maintain Employment, 90 WASH. L. REV. 1039, 1041–42.
Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1: Stifling the Potential of Grutter v. Bollinger

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor surprised many when she found compelling a vision of racial diversity if it is integrationist, forward-looking, optimistic, democracy-reinforcing, and non-remedial. Her opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger had transformative potential both for affirmative action law and for our society more generally. In Grutter, Justice O'Connor applied a deferential form of strict scrutiny review to the government's use of racial preferences which furthers the common good. This innovation immediately raised the following question: Could the diversity rationale articulated in Grutter (and the concomitant relaxed application of strict scrutiny review) be extrapolated to other contexts where the Court had traditionally been more skeptical of the use of racial preferences? If so, Grutter was, at the very least, in tension with two pillars of affirmative action doctrine: Richmond v. Croson and Adarand v. Pena. And some lower federal courts did interpret Grutter broadly, which allowed those courts to sustain the government's use of racial preferences where the application of a less deferential form of review would likely have led to their invalidation. This moment of expansive and unfettered possibility was not to last. Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 stifled Grutter's expansive potential. Grutter's potential was not entirely destroyed, however, because Justice Kennedy's concurring opinion moderated Parents Involved in important respects. Because of Justice Kennedy, Grutter's transformative potential - obscured but not extinguished - now waits for a more sympathetic Court to recognize it.
Mirtazapine for Symptomatic Relief on a Psychiatric Consultation Service: A Case Series.

Background With a complex pharmacologic profile, mirtazapine may promote sleep, stimulate appetite, improve nausea, and reduce pain. Some practitioners working on the Mayo Clinic inpatient psychiatric consultation/liaison service have recommended mirtazapine in medically ill patients with or without formal psychiatric comorbidity to target these symptoms. Objective To assess the success of this practice, we conducted a retrospective chart review covering a 4.5-year period. Methods For patients recommended to start mirtazapine, global improvement in specific symptoms and suspected side effects were recorded. Results During the study period, 528 medically ill patients started mirtazapine following a recommendation from the psychiatric consultation service. In total, 475 patients were provided mirtazapine to specifically target sleep, nausea, pain, or appetite. There was documented improvement in these symptoms for 37.7%, 37.0%, 36.4%, and 23.5% of the patients, respectively. These rates of improvement are conservative for the 229 patients without documented response, i.e., 48% of the patients who were given the medication for a somatic symptom were counted as having no improvement. Commonly documented adverse effects were daytime sedation (5.3%), worsening mental status (2.3%), and nightmares (1%). Conclusions Despite the limitations of this retrospective, qualitative study, these data confirm that mirtazapine is generally well tolerated and can provide at least short-term relief of certain symptoms in medically ill patients. Controlled trials are needed to assess these benefits more systematically, and it is not clear how long mirtazapine should be used for these symptoms.
More than Just Good Grades: Dialectical Tensions in Students’ Construction of a “Good Student” Identity

Student success in college is undoubtedly contingent on students effectively enacting their college student role, making it important for faculty to understand how students construct this role. This study explored the dialectical tensions that students grapple with as they construct and enact the roles of good and bad students. Three tensions emerged from students’ focus group discussions of construction and enactment of their student identities: (a) structure and agency, (b) individuation and solidarity, and (c) good-bad student and good-bad person. These tensions move beyond identifying successful good student strategies and focus on the contradictions negotiated by students as they (re)produce and share behaviors associated with good and bad student identities.
Allografting in Pediatric Subaxial Cervical Spine Fusions

The use of freeze-dried allograft as a bone graft substitute for pediatric spine surgery has been found to be safe and efficacious in the thoracic and lumbar spines in several conditions, namely idiopathic scoliosis. Large series of instrumented fusions for pediatric cervical spine in the literature confirm a high degree of fusion, although all include autogenous grafting, mostly from the iliac crest. The use of allograft for subaxial instrumented fusions in the cervical spine has …
Compliance with National Comprehensive Cancer Network anti-emesis guidelines in a Community Hospital Cancer Center

ObjectiveNausea and vomiting are common adverse events exhibited by patients receiving chemotherapy. Prophylactic use of anti-emetic agents has been shown to reduce chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Compliance with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network anti-emesis guidelines (Version 1.2013) by practitioners in a community out-patient hospital (Blount Memorial Hospital) has been reviewed and the results are presented herein.DesignRetrospective study of patients receiving their first cycle of chemotherapy.PatientsA total of 487 patients were reviewed from January 2005 to July 2012. In total, 70 patients were categorized in the high-risk category, 292 patients were categorized in the moderate-risk category, 60 patients were categorized in the low-risk category, and 65 patients were categorized in the minimal-risk category as per the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines. Included patients were being administered the first cycle of their first treatment at Blount Memorial Hospital.Data...
Photographic Representations of the Oba in the Contemporary Art of the Benin Kingdom

How did photography affect artistic creativity and representations of the Oba (king) in relation to brass casting in the Benin kingdom? One of the great artistic achievements of Africa, Benin kingd...
Design of Image Logging Interpreting Chart Database

As many geologic events may present different characteristics of electric and acoustic image, image interpretation has multisolutions and complexity. A typical knowledge database of image presentations of various geologic events is established systematically to share the typical image interpretation chart set, thus basis is laid up for improving the level of logging interpretation workers and making good use of logging data, method for building the database and software structure and function are briefly introduced.
Research on Coordination Scheme for Smart Household Appliances Participating Underfrequency Load Shedding

Dissemination and application of intelligent terminal equipments such as intelligent meters and smart household appliances at the consumer side under smart grid environment offer abundant dynamic response information for security and stability control of power grid. Combining smart demand response technology with underfrequency load shedding measures involved in the third line of defense specified in Technical Guide For Electric Power System Security And Stability Control, the coordinated control could be carried out by using quick response resources and the third line of defense, and a new underfrequency load shedding scheme considering the response of smart household appliances is proposed. In view of the feature that the two-way communication can be implemented between smart meters and power grid, the smart household appliances can be controlled to be actively responded to the control and regulation requirement of power grid in advance, and through coordinating with traditional underfrequency load shedding scheme the substantial drop of system frequency could be prevented and system frequency could be restored nearly to its rated value as quick as possible, thus the flexibility and reliability of power grid operation could be improved. Results of time-domain simulation show that the proposed scheme of underfrequency load shedding can adapt to complex operational environment of power grid and restrict the fault-caused frequency drop quickly, and effectively reduce the expense for load shedding as well.
Studies on the mutation and polymorphism of the TPMT gene in Chinese children with acute leukemia

Objective To investigate the allelic frequencies and distribution of single-nucleotide polymorphisms within the coding region (cSNPs) of thiopurine S-methyhransferase gene (TPMT) in Chinese children with acute leukemia (AL) and healthy controls, in order to provide genetic references for individual chemotherapy for AL patients by studying the relationship between the cSNP in human TPMT and chemotherapeutic effect of thiopurine drugs. Methods The bone marrow samples from 53 children with AL and peripheral blood samples from 115 healthy children were obtained to prepare complementary DNAs (cDNAs). The cDNAs were analyzed for the polymorphisms in the TPMT gene by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and DNA sequencing. The distribution of each genotype was evaluated. Results Two novel heterozygote mutations, 210C>T (CTOC,silent) and 622T>C (F208L), were identified in the coding region of the TPMT in a single sample, respectively. The mother of the child with mutation 622T>C was confirmed as the same genotype by DGGE and sequencing (NCBI_ss accession numbers 107796292 and 107795933). Two known polymorphisms, 474T>C (silent) and 719A>G (T240C), were identified. The alletic frequencies were 14.2%, 2.83% and 17.0%, 3. 04% in the AL children and control children respectively, with the total allelic frequencies of 16.2% (first reported in the Chinese Han population) and 2.99% respectively. No association with susceptibility to disease was observed. Conclusion Two novel mutations and two known polymorphisms were identified in Chinese children by RT-PCR-DGGE combined with DNA sequencing,which provides the first step to identify genetic markers for predicting variability in response to and toxicity of thiopurine drugs. Key words: thiopurine S-methyhransferase gene; mutation; coding single-nucleotide polymorphisms; denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis; acute leukemia
Further characterization of human red blood cell membrane cholinergic receptors.

Human red blood cells bind d,l-[3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate, a potent muscarinic cholinergic antagonist, with high affinity (apparent KD=0.26 nM) and low capacity as determined by equilibrium binding experiments. Nonspecific binding determined as binding in the presence of atropine is hyperbolic, and saturable within the same concentration range as total binding. The d-but not the l-isomer of benzetimide weakly inhibits ligand binding, which parallels the stereoselectivity but not the potency of drug antagonism to muscarinic receptors in other tissues. While treatment of brain homogenates with Triton X-100 (0.5%) destroys all d,l-[3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate binding to that tissue, similar detergent treatment of red blood cell membranes fails to greatly alter either total or certain drug-displaced ligand binding. These results show that the red blood cell membrane binding site for d,l-[3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate differs in some important aspects of its binding characteristics, pharmacology, and physical properties from muscarinic receptors similarly studied in other nervous and nonnervous tissue. Further characterization of the red blood cell cholinergic ligand binding site is necessary to establish its identity as either a different form of muscarinic receptor or as an acceptor site on other membrane cholinergic enzymes or carrier proteins.
Curcumin Sensitizes Silymarin to Exert Synergistic Anticancer Activity in Colon Cancer Cells

We studied combinatorial interactions of two phytochemicals, curcumin and silymarin, in their action against cancer cell proliferation. Curcumin is the major component of the spice turmeric. Silymarin is a bioactive component of milk thistle used as a protective supplement against liver disease. We studied antiproliferative effects of curcumin alone, silymarin alone and combinations of curcumin and silymarin using colon cancer cell lines (DLD-1, HCT116, LoVo). Curcumin inhibited colon cancer cell proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas silymarin showed significant inhibition only at the highest concentrations assessed. We found synergistic effects when colon cancer cells were treated with curcumin and silymarin together. The combination treatment led to inhibition of colon cancer cell proliferation and increased apoptosis compared to single compound treated cells. Combination treated cells exhibited marked cell rounding and membrane blebbing of apoptotic cells. Curcumin treated cells showed 3-fold more caspase3/7 activity whereas combination treated cells showed 5-fold more activity compared to control and silymarin treated cells. When DLD-1 cells were pre-exposed to curcumin, followed by treatment with silymarin, the cells underwent a high amount of cell death. The pre-exposure studies indicated curcumin sensitization of silymarin effect. Our results indicate that combinatorial treatments using phytochemicals are effective against colorectal cancer.
Associations among impulsivity, trauma history, and alcohol misuse within a young adult sample

Abstract Objective Young adult alcohol misuse is associated with numerous long-term adverse outcomes. Given the link between impulsivity and alcohol use, we examined whether three impulsivity-related traits differentially predicted number of drinks per drinking day (DDD). We also examined whether these effects varied for those with different trauma histories. Method The current study (n = 254) examined motor, non-planning, and attentional impulsivity as predictors of DDD. It also examined whether impulsivity was differentially predictive of DDD across individuals in: a control group (non-trauma exposed), a trauma exposed but non-PTSD group, and a PTSD group. Results Regardless of group, more motor impulsivity was associated with more DDD. The effect of non-planning impulsivity varied according to trauma history. Specifically, more non-planning impulsivity predicted more DDD for those without PTSD. Finally, attentional impulsivity was not predictive of DDD. Conclusions Young adults with high levels of motor impulsivity, regardless of trauma history, may be a particularly high-risk group in terms of propensity for alcohol use/misuse. Additionally, high levels of non-planning impulsivity may signify those at greater risk for alcohol misuse, among those without PTSD. Motor impulsivity and non-planning impulsivity may serve as useful intervention targets in alcohol misuse prevention efforts. Implications for future research in this area are discussed.
A novel operational paradigm for thermodynamically reversible logic: Adibatic transformation of chaotic nonlinear dynamical circuits

Continuing to improve computational energy efficiency will soon require developing and deploying new operational paradigms for computation that circumvent the fundamental thermodynamic limits that apply to conventionally-implemented Boolean logic circuits. In particular, Landauer's principle tells us that irreversible information erasure requires a minimum energy dissipation of kT ln 2 per bit erased, where k is Boltzmann's constant and T is the temperature of the available heat sink. However, correctly applying this principle requires carefully characterizing what actually constitutes “information erasure” within a given physical computing mechanism. In this paper, we show that abstract combinational logic networks can validly be considered to contain no information beyond that specified in their input, and that, because of this, appropriately-designed physical implementations of even multi-layer networks can in fact be updated in a single step while incurring no greater theoretical minimum energy dissipation than is required to update their inputs. Furthermore, this energy can approach zero if the network state is updated adiabatically via a reversible transition process. Our novel operational paradigm for updating logic networks suggests an entirely new class of hardware devices and circuits that can be used to reversibly implement Boolean logic with energy dissipation far below the Landauer limit.
Cellular damage in dried lactobacillus acidophilus.

Lactobacillus acidophilus cells surviving freeze drying and vacuum drying became sensitive to oxgall and lysozyme probably from damage to the cell wall. The dried cells also became sensitive to NaCl and permeable to orthonitrophenol β-galactoside from damage to the cytoplasmic membrane. Scanning electron microscopy indicated loss of some surface material from the damaged cells. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed partial loss of wall and membrane material, but these losses seemed to have resulted from the treatments given during fixation of cells for TEM and as a consequence of damage to the wall and membrane that occurred during drying. A surface protein of 46-kilodalton molecular weight, that is bound to the wall by hydrogen bonding, was also lost from the dried cells. It is postulated that drying adversely affects some weak bonds of the cellular macromolecules probably from the loss of bound water.
A needs-based curriculum for hematology/oncology mid-level providers.

121Background: Mid-level providers, both nurse practitioners and physician assistants have comprehensive clinical training, however, they do not undergo in depth sub-specialty training prior to working within a sub-specialty practice. In addition, at our institution, often they are not integrated into academic culture resulting in dissatisfaction with educational opportunities. As a result, we set out to develop a needs based curriculum in order to provide focused learning opportunities for our mid-level providers and improve their satisfaction with the educational environment. Methods: An initial survey was sent to all mid-level providers within the division of hematology and oncology at a single institution. The survey evaluated attendance to currently available lecture series, satisfaction with the educational environment, and an assessment on practitioner comfort level in managing 19 clinical conditions commonly seen in oncology patients. All responses were voluntary and anonymous. A lecture series wa...
The Fugitive Theater of Romeo Castellucci and Jan Lauwers after Nietzsche and with Guattari and Deleuze: Intermedial Operations, Animal Interventions, and Fractalactic Occurrences

It is transversality that assures the transmission of a ray, from one universe to another as different as astronomical worlds. (Deleuze, Proust and Signs, 1681)
User evaluation of a novel eye-based control modality for robot-assisted object retrieval

In recent years, great efforts have been put into the investigation of assistive robotics. However, rapid growth in robot functionality has caused control of these robots to become more complex. Na...
THE MILITARY AND INTERNAL SECURITY OPERATIONS IN LATIN AMERICA

La naturaleza de las amenazas del siglo 21 a la seguridad interna requiere, en determinadas situaciones, la introduccion de las fuerzas armadas. ?Se pueden utilizar los militares, con eficacia y en una manera que sea compatible con las normas de conducta humana, y que reducira al minimo los danos colaterales? Depende mucho de la naturaleza precisa de la operacion. Es importante saber si una operacion coincide con las habilidades y preferencias profesionales de un militar. La probabilidad de exito de las operaciones y proteccion civil se ve reforzada cuando la operacion es congruente con las capacidades militares, donde los soldados pueden limitarse a las operaciones militares y no estan involucrados en el trabajo policial.
Supply chain flexibility and operations optimisation under demand uncertainty: a case in disaster relief

After a disaster happens, emergency response operations are critical to save humans’ lives and properties. The limited resources and time requirements call for coordinated supply chain operations. This paper studies supply chain operations for rescue kits in disaster reliefs, motivated by a real-world application. The objective is to minimise the total tardiness and peak tardiness of product delivery over the multi-period planning horizon. One major challenge is the lack of reliable prediction of customer demand in disasters. In order to cope with demand uncertainty while maintaining the tractability of the optimisation model, we decompose the demand into two components: a relatively stable base demand predicted by historical data and unpredictable demand surges. For the base demand, an optimisation model is developed to optimise the production and distribution operations, as well as the inventory replenishment policy for manufacturers and distribution centres, so as to minimise the total tardiness. For t...
The Mediterranean Seametery and Cementery in Leïla Kilani’s and Tariq Teguia’s Filmic Works

This chapter proposes new perspectives on the Mediterranean by examining the sea and the cities bordering it through the angle of clandestine migration. While the premodern Mediterranean is often depicted as a crossroads, this chapter argues that today’s Mediterranean has become a dead end for migrants and refugees attempting northward sea crossings amidst heightened anti-immigration policies and prejudice. Through the concepts of the Seametery and cementery, the chapter contends that confinement practices have contributed to the transformation of the Mediterranean Sea into a sea-cemetery and African cities into city-cemeteries. A study of two Moroccan films demonstrates that forced immobility has placed death at the core of an increasing number of contemporary North African filmic narratives.
171 Yb:YVO for Nanoscale Quantum Interfaces

We report on the optical and spin coherence properties of171 Yb:YVO at cryogenic temperatures. Our results indicate this material is promising for nanoscale quantum memories, microwave-to-optical transduction, and optically addressable single ions.
Combined Bladder Neck Reconstruction and Continent Stoma Creation as a Suitable Alternative for Continence in Bladder Exstrophy: A Preliminary Report.

Objective To explore the use of concomitant bladder neck reconstruction (BNR) and creation of a continent stoma (CS) in patients who are not quite eligible for BNR but still strongly desire volitional voiding. Methods The authors retrospectively reviewed an institutional database of patients with exstrophy-epispadias complex who underwent BNR-CS between 2000 and 2015. Indications for a BNR-CS, perioperative outcomes, and continence status were evaluated. Method of voiding and continence status were analyzed for patients with greater than 6 months of follow-up after the BNR-CS. Results A total of 24 patients with exstrophy-epispadias complex (15 male and 9 female) underwent BNR-CS at a median age of 8.9 years (range 5.4-17.4). This included 18 patients with classic bladder exstrophy, 5 with epispadias, and 1 with a cloacal exstrophy variant. There were 5 surgical complications (20.1%) following the BNR-CS, including 3 febrile urinary tract infections, 1 superficial wound infection, and 1 urethrocutaneous fistula. The median follow-up time from the time of BNR-CS was 1.1 years (range 0.1-14.1). Seventeen of 24 patients (71%) had a follow-up greater than 6 months and were evaluated for continence. Twelve patients (71%) were completely dry for intervals greater than 3 hours following BNR-CS. Five (29%) did not achieve continence with BNR-CS. Of those 5 patients, 3 (60%) underwent subsequent bladder neck transection. Conclusion Combined BNR and CS is a suitable alternative to achieve urinary continence in patients who are not ideal candidates for BNR alone. This approach can offer a select group of patients the opportunity for volitional voiding.
Emigration and Immigration

Emigration/immigration and citizenship are discrete phenomena: entering or leaving a country need not affect the citizenship status of the migrant. Soviet law recognizes the dichotomy by serving notice that the residence of a citizen of the USSR abroad does not per se ensue in loss of the citizenship of the USSR (Art.5). In practice, however, movement across state frontiers frequently sets the stage for subsequent changes in the citizenship affiliation of the expatriate and so a common connection between the two experiences does exist. An individual settling in a new homeland generally seeks to convert to local citizenship. He may accomplish the transition smoothly by first formally renouncing his old nationality; or, he may neglect to take that precaution or not receive the proper permission from the authorities of his former country and then end up as a bipatride. Or, he might not wish to or not be able to acquire the citizenship of the state in which he now lives and yet refuse to maintain relations with his ex—country and thus turn into a de facto stateless person without technically terminating the juridical association with the country of origin. All these routine permutations apply to people who have gone to live in the USSR or left the USSR to live elsewhere. Of course, a state may also follow a policy of establishing a direct link between the two concepts, either on a special or on a permanent basis. The USSR falls into the category of those regimes which prefer to operate here in ad hoc fashion.
Normals in a Minkowski Plane

In this paper we will establish bounds on the average number of normals through a point in a convex body in a Minkowski plane for certain classes of convex bodies. Also, a related Euler relation is discussed.
Anaphase Aberrations: An in vivo Measure of Genotoxicity

A large number of short-term genotoxicity tests, ranging from microbial to eukaryotic cell assays, have been developed for use in toxicological investigations. Most of these have proven to be very useful for determining the genotoxic potential of pure compounds and complex mixtures (Landolt and Kocan, 1983; Schmid, 1982; Stetka and Wolff, 1976; Ames et al., 1973). One of the major controversies that surrounds the use of these tests is their significance as predictors of risk to whole- animal systems. The purpose of the investigation reported here was to address that question by comparing the results of one short-term in vivo assay with long-term biological effects.
Dealing with the Data Deluge. Visualization and Data Management

This paper describes solutions to some difficulties with handling, querying, browsing, accessing, and retrieving data and information from large distributed repositories of complex data and information. In one prototype, we integrated the capabilities of a geographic information system, statistical analysis, visualization, graphic user interface, a storage system, and a data base management system. In another system, relevant information in n dimensions could be aggregated and visualized enabling a more rapid understanding of the informational content when the representation is adapted to the particular problem or application. In an enhancement to NCSA Mosaic, the user can modify interactively the otherwise rigid structure of linking pieces of information (hyperlinks) and view the information space and its relationships visually.
Use of Cultured Osteoblastic Cells to Identify and Characterize Transcriptional Regulatory Complexes

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the uses of cultured osteoblastic cells to identify and characterize transcriptional regulatory complexes. Various cultured cell systems have been successfully used to study the role and regulation of osteoblast-specific elements in transfection assays. Three general classes of culture systems have been employed, which include osteoblastic osteosarcoma cell lines, spontaneously transformed and Papova virus antigen transformed cell lines, and primary cultures of osteoblastic cells derived from fetal rat calvaria or subperiosteal bovine fetal long bones. The most widely used system for studying transcription control in osteoblasfic cells is the ROS 17/2.8 osteoblasfic osteosarcoma. This mineralizing subclone obtained from a rat osteosarcoma constitutively expresses a number of mature osteoblasfic phenotypic markers, including alkaline phosphatase, PTH receptor, vitamin D receptor, osteopontin, BSP, OC, and lower levels of type I collagen. Similar to ROS 17/2.8 cells, the UMR-106 series of osteosarcomas expresses various aspects of the phenotypic characteristics of osteoblasts, including PTH responsiveness, BSP expression, and mineralization. For various reasons, the MC3T3-E1 cell line provides one of the most convenient and physiologically relevant culture systems for studies of transcription control in calvarial osteoblasts. The MC3T3-E1 cell line is a spontaneously immortalized (not transformed) cell line selected by the 3T3 passaging protocol. MC3T3-E1 cells behave as immature, committed osteoblast cells, which go on to differentiate in response to intracellular and extracellular cues. Upon reaching confluence, this clonal cell line differentiates along the osteoblast lineage, sequentially expressing characteristic osteoblast phenotypic markers.
Survey of Toxin⁻Antitoxin Systems in Erwinia amylovora Reveals Insights into Diversity and Functional Specificity.

Toxin–antitoxin (TA) systems are diverse genetic modules with demonstrated roles in plasmid stability, stress management, biofilm formation and antibiotic persistence. However, relatively little is known about their functional significance in plant pathogens. In this study we characterize type II and IV TA systems in the economically important plant pathogen Erwinia amylovora. Hidden Markov Model (HMM) and BLAST-based programs were used to predict the identity and distribution of putative TA systems among sequenced genomes of E. amylovora and other plant-associated Erwinia spp. Of six conserved TA systems tested for function from E. amylovora, three (CbtA/CbeA, ParE/RHH and Doc/PhD) were validated as functional. CbtA was toxic to E. amylovora, but not to Escherichia coli. While the E. coli homolog of CbtA elicits the formation of lemon-shaped cells upon overexpression and targets cytoskeletal proteins FtsZ and MreB, E. amylovora CbtA led to cell elongation and did not interact with these cytoskeletal proteins. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that E. amylovora CbtA belongs to a distinct clade from the CbtA of pathogenic E. coli. This study expands the repertoire of experimentally validated TA systems in plant pathogenic bacteria, and suggests that the E. amylovora homolog of CbtA is functionally distinct from that of E. coli.
Probing Ultrafast, Shock-Induced Chemistry Using Extremely Broad Band, Ultrashort Mid-Infrared Pulses

Using extremely broad-band mid-infrared pulses ($3-14\ \mu \text{m}$), and a single shot spectrometer, we probe ultrafast chemistry at high pressures (∼20 GPa) through changes in the vibrational spectrum. Here we present results on shocked benzene and nitromethane.
Immunophenotypic Heterogeneity of Polytypic Plasma Cells and the Impact on Myeloma Minimal Residual Disease Detection by Multiparameter Flow Cytometry

BACKGROUND Flow cytometry is widely used for minimal residual disease (MRD) detection in plasma cell myeloma (PCM). Recently, an increasing number of studies have demonstrated that polytypic plasma cells (PPCs) display greater immunophenotypic variation than previously appreciated. Our aim was to further characterize the immunophenotype of PPC in this setting. METHODS PPC in 102 bone marrow specimens (93 MRD-negative post-treatment PCM and 9 negative initial evaluations for plasma cell neoplasm) were evaluated by 10-color flow cytometry. Frequency of CD19, CD27, CD28, CD56, CD117, and CD138 expression was assessed. RESULTS All cases showed CD27 and CD19 positivity. CD117 was uniformly negative. Percentage of CD138 expression was variable with one negative case (<20% expression). Percentage of CD28 and CD56 expression was variable and included 11 CD28+ cases as well as 38 CD56+ cases. Forty-two percent (43 of 102) cases showed atypical expression of at least one marker with 36 cases (35%) showing atypical expression of a single marker and 7 cases (7%) showing dual atypical marker expression (CD56+/CD28+). CONCLUSIONS Considerable immunophenotypic variation exists in PPC. The assessment of cytoplasmic light chain distribution, in conjunction with surface marker expression, is recommended to avoid diagnostic inaccuracy in MRD evaluation. © 2019 International Clinical Cytometry Society.
Modeling of Ablatant Deposition from Electromagnetically Driven Radiative Pellets for Disruption Mitigation Studies

AbstractThe electromagnetic particle injector (EPI) concept is advanced through the simulation of ablatant deposition into ITER H-mode discharges with calculations showing penetration past the H-mo...