cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Set Predicates in SQL: Enabling Set-Level Comparisons for Dynamically Formed Groups

In data warehousing and OLAP applications, scalar-level predicates in SQL become increasingly inadequate to support a class of operations that require set-level comparison semantics, i.e., comparing a group of tuples with multiple values. Currently, complex SQL queries composed by scalar-level operations are often formed to obtain even very simple set-level semantics. Such queries are not only difficult to write but also challenging for a database engine to optimize, thus can result in costly evaluation. This paper proposes to augment SQL with set predicate, to bring out otherwise obscured set-level semantics. We studied two approaches to processing set predicates-an aggregate function-based approach and a bitmap index-based approach. Moreover, we designed a histogram-based probabilistic method of set predicate selectivity estimation, for optimizing queries with multiple predicates. The experiments verified its accuracy and effectiveness in optimizing queries.
High-level adaptive program optimization with ADAPT

Compile-time optimization is often limited by a lack of target machine and input data set knowledge. Without this information, compilers may be forced to make conservative assumptions to preserve correctness and to avoid performance degradation. In order to cope with this lack of information at compile-time, adaptive and dynamic systems can be used to perform optimization at runtime when complete knowledge of input and machine parameters is available. This paper presents a compiler-supported high-level adaptive optimization system. Users describe, in a domain specific language, optimizations performed by stand-alone optimization tools and backend compiler flags, as well as heuristics for applying these optimizations dynamically at runtime. The ADAPT compiler reads these descriptions and generates application-specific runtime systems to apply the heuristics. To facilitate the usage of existing tools and compilers, overheads are minimized by decoupling optimization from execution. Our system, ADAPT, supports a range of paradigms proposed recently, including dynamic compilation, parameterization and runtime sampling. We demonstrate our system by applying several optimization techniques to a suite of benchmarks on two target machines. ADAPT is shown to consistently outperform statically generated executables, improving performance by as much as 70%.
Advocacy and the children's crisis.

The Report of the Joint Commission on Mental Health of Children recommends establishment of a national advocacy system to push for changes in the socialization and care network for children. This paper examines the goals of the advocacy system and their implications, and offers a critical assessment of the effectiveness of the system as proposed by the Joint Commission.
Student Perceptions of Asynchronous Computer‐Mediated Communication in Face‐to‐Face Courses

While there are many distance education studies of student satisfaction or perceptions of CMC, studies on residential student perceptions of CMC are rare. A paper survey was administered to 105 residential graduate and undergraduate students at a midwestern U.S. university. Results indicated that the majority of students preferred face-to-face discussion over CMC for most tasks; however, CMC was preferred overall for simple learning tasks. Content analyses of student responses to open-ended questions revealed that some students perceived face-to-face discussion to be faster, easier, and more convenient, while others perceived that CMC saves time and is more convenient. A discriminant analysis revealed several important factors that predicted those who preferred CMC for discussion. Students further commented that they would learn better from CMC if their instructors were more involved with and enthusiastic about CMC. Speed and convenience appear to be more important to students than whether discussion is face-to-face or CMC.
Drug metabolism and transport during pregnancy: how does drug disposition change during pregnancy and what are the mechanisms that cause such changes?

There is increasing evidence that pregnancy alters the function of drug-metabolizing enzymes and drug transporters in a gestational-stage and tissue-specific manner. In vivo probe studies have shown that the activity of several hepatic cytochrome P450 enzymes, such as CYP2D6 and CYP3A4, is increased during pregnancy, whereas the activity of others, such as CYP1A2, is decreased. The activity of some renal transporters, including organic cation transporter and P-glycoprotein, also appears to be increased during pregnancy. Although much has been learned, significant gaps still exist in our understanding of the spectrum of drug metabolism and transport genes affected, gestational age–dependent changes in the activity of encoded drug metabolizing and transporting processes, and the mechanisms of pregnancy-induced alterations. In this issue of Drug Metabolism and Disposition, a series of articles is presented that address the predictability, mechanisms, and magnitude of changes in drug metabolism and transport processes during pregnancy. The articles highlight state-of-the-art approaches to studying mechanisms of changes in drug disposition during pregnancy, and illustrate the use and integration of data from in vitro models, animal studies, and human clinical studies. The findings presented show the complex inter-relationships between multiple regulators of drug metabolism and transport genes, such as estrogens, progesterone, and growth hormone, and their effects on enzyme and transporter expression in different tissues. The studies provide the impetus for a mechanism- and evidence-based approach to optimally managing drug therapies during pregnancy and improving treatment outcomes.
The Timing of Capacity Investment by Start-ups and Established Firms in New Markets

We analyze the competitive capacity investment timing decisions of both established …rms and start-ups entering new markets which are characterized by a high degree of demand uncer- tainty. Firms may invest in capacity early (when the market is highly uncertain) or late (when market uncertainty has been resolved), possibly at dierent costs. In our model, established …rms choose investment timing and capacity level to maximize expected pro…ts. Start-ups are prone to bankruptcy if pro…t turns out to be too low, and hence choose investment timing and capacity level to maximize the probability of survival. Surprisingly, we …nd that in monopoly situations, a start-up is more likely to prefer early investment than an established …rm, despite the presence of demand uncertainty. In duopoly situations with one start-up and one estab- lished …rm competing in the same market, we characterize the equilibria of a strategic capacity investment timing game in which …rms choose when to build capacity. We …nd that when demand uncertainty is high and costs do not decline too severely over time, the unique equilib- rium of this game is for the start-up to take a leadership role and invest …rst in capacity while the established …rm follows; by contrast, when two established …rms compete in an otherwise identical game, high demand uncertainty leads to both …rms investing late. Thus, the threat of bankruptcy leads to an increase in sequential investment outcomes in which the start-up leads, a result that we demonstrate persists even if the start-up is concerned with both pro…t and bankruptcy risk or pro…t above the bankruptcy threshold. We conclude that the threat of …rm failure signi…cantly impacts the dynamics of competition involving start-ups.
3C-2 Full-Wave Simulation of Finite-Amplitude Ultrasound in Heterogeneous Media

A full-wave equation that describes nonlinear propagation in a heterogeneous attenuating medium is solved numerically with finite differences in the time domain (FDTD). Three dimensional solutions of the equation are verified with water tank measurements of a commercial diagnostic ultrasound transducer and are shown to be in excellent agreement in terms of the fundamental and harmonic acoustic fields, and the power spectrum at the focus. The linear and nonlinear components of the algorithm are also verified independently. In the solutions match results from field II, a well established software package used in transducer modelling, to within 0.3 dB. Nonlinear plane wave propagation is shown to closely match results from the Galerkin method up to four times the fundamental frequency. In addition to thermoviscous attenuation we present a numerical solution of the relaxation attenuation laws that allows modelling of arbitrary frequency dependent attenuation, such as that observed in tissue. A perfectly matched layer (PML) is implemented at the boundaries with a novel numerical implemenation that allows the PML to be used with high order discretizations. A -78 dB reduction in the reflected amplitude is demonstrated. The numerical algorithm is used to simulate a diagnostic ultrasound pulse propagating through a histologically measured representation of human abdominal wall with spatial variation in the speed of sound, attenuation, nonlinearity, and density. An ultrasound image is created in silico using the same physical and algorithmic process used in an ultrasound scanner: a series of pulses are transmitted through heterogeneous scattering tissue and the received echoes are used in a delay-and-sum beamforming algorithm to generate a images. The resulting harmonic image exhibits characteristic improvement in lesion boundary definition and contrast when compared to the fundamental image. We demonstrate a mechanism of harmonic image quality improvement by showing that the harmonic point spread function is less sensitive to reverberation clutter.
Neuropsychological Impairment in Chronic Cocaine Abusers

Twenty chronic cocaine abusers were compared with age and education matched controls using standardized neuropsychological assessment procedures to determine whether the cocaine abusers were impaired. Fifty percent of the cocaine abusers in contrast to 15% of the controls scored in the impaired range on the summary index of the Neuropsychological Screening Exam. The cocaine abusers also performed more poorly on the Halstead Category Test, the Symbol Digit Modalities Test, the WAIS-R Arithmetic Test, and a test of verbal memory (forgetting). In the cocaine abuser sample, neuropsychological performance was related to the amount and recency of cocaine use, suggesting a direct role of cocaine on cognitive functioning.
A case study on evaluating the benefits of MPLS traffic engineering through constraint-based routing and network controls

In this paper, we attempt to understand the benefits of MPLS traffic engineering through a case study. Specifically, we do a comparative study of MPLS traffic engineering in the presence of dynamic constraint-based routing compared to destination-based routing. For this case study, we use a model derived from an actual service provider network. Different control schemes that can be deployable for MPLS traffic engineering are also considered. This case study shows that services can indeed obtain benefits from constraint-based routing and traffic engineering controls.
The shifting of P-E hysteresis loop by the asymmetric contacts on ferroelectric PZT thin films

Abstract Ferroelectric PZT thin films were fabricated by metal-organic decomposition (MOD) onto Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates. Different metals (i.e., noble metals: Pt, Ag, and non-noble metals: Al, Cr, In) were selected for top electrodes on PZT thin films. Capacitors with noble metals as top electrodes exhibited symmetric P-E hysteresis loops, whereas capacitors with non-noble metals as top electrodes exhibited asymmetric P-E hysteresis loops. Equivalent energy-band diagrams for these two different capacitor structures are proposed based on that noble metals form Schottky contacts and non-noble metals form ohmic contacts with ferroelectric PZT thin films. The internal field built up by the band bending in the bottom PZT/Pt Schottky contact results in the shifting of P-E hysteresis loop for capacitors with non-noble metals as top electrodes.
Combined multiresolution (wide-band/narrow-band) spectrogram

Existing speech spectrograms-the wideband spectrogram and the narrowband spectrogram-are either deficient in time or frequency resolution. The authors present a method to combine the two spectrograms by evaluating the geometric mean of the corresponding short-time Fourier transform magnitudes. The combined spectrogram preserves the desirable visual features of the originals. >
Aging and renal clearance of procainamide and acetylprocainamide

Thirty-two patients had blood and urine collected simultaneously for measurement of procainamide, acetylprocainamide, and creatinine. The ratios of drug clearance to creatinine clearance were calculated for each. The procainamide:creatinine clearance ratio averaged 2.9 +/- 1.6 (SD) and fell as age of the patients rose (r = 0.5, p < 0.01). The acetylprocainamide:creatinine clearance ratio averaged 1.7 +/- 0.8 and also fell with age. The combination of decline in overall renal function with age with this decrease in the rate of renal tubular secretion of these drugs led to a progressive age-related rise in the steady-state serum level of procainamide (r = 0.56, p < 0.01) and acetylprocainamide (r = 0.36, p < 0.1) achieved by any dose of procainamide. Thus, the dosage of procainamide must be individualized for both overall renal function (GFR) and the age-related variations in renal tubular secretion that are of most note in children and the elderly.
Angiotensin II regulates adipocyte apolipoprotein E expression.

Context: Obesity is increasing in prevalence and it is important to understand factors that regulate adipose tissue lipid metabolism. Recently, endogenous expression of apolipoprotein E (apoE) in adipose tissue has been shown to have important effects on adipocyte lipid flux and gene expression. Adipose tissue is also a physiological target of angiotensin II (AII). Objective: The aim of the current study was to evaluate a potential regulatory effect for AII on adipose tissue apoE expression. Results: Infusion of AII into mice for 3 d significantly reduced apoE expression in adipocytes from freshly isolated adipose tissue. ApoE expression was unchanged by the AII infusion in the stromovascular fraction. In isolated human adipocytes, treatment with AII significantly reduced cellular and secreted apoprotein E (by 20–60%). Suppression of apoE expression was observed in sc adipocytes obtained from nonobese (body mass index < 30 kg/m2) donors, and in sc and omental adipocytes obtained from obese (body mass inde...
Fertilization ecology of egg coats: physical versus chemical contributions to fertilization success of free-spawned eggs

Free-spawned eggs are typically enclosed within accessory structures that are shed early in development. Most research on the role of these structures in fertilization has focused on chemical constituents and their influence on sperm-egg interaction. Here I test an alternative hypothesis that accessory structures play an important physical role in fertilization by increasing the size and buoyancy of the egg, making it a better target for sperm. In the sand dollar Dendraster excentricus, the jelly coat increases egg target size sixfold. At nonsaturating sperm concentrations, fertilization declined consistently following jelly coat removal by two independent methods. Regression analysis using a standard fertilization kinetics model found that 54-73% of this decline on average was predicted by changes in the rate of sperm-egg collision, resulting from changes in egg target size and density. Sperm swimming speed, a key parameter in the model, did not vary as a function of sperm concentration or exposure to egg-water. The organic cost of jelly is a fraction of that of the ovum, providing an efficient means of extending target size beyond the ovum size that is optimal for larval or juvenile development. These results support the hypothesis that physical attributes of jelly coats can account for a significant portion of their contribution to fertilization, and may help to explain why coats and other accessory structures are often substantially larger than expected from the nature of chemical interactions between egg and sperm.
Control theory: A practical approach

Two actual case studies in which a Venable Systems 350 frequency response analyzer was used and that demonstrate a practical approach to stabilizing and enhancing a power supply's performance are described. The approach consists of the following: measuring the frequency response of a system; selecting a desired frequency response; designing and implementing an error amplifier and for other compensating amplifiers that fulfill the specifications; and verifying the results by measurement. The system and conventions and two power supplies with specific deficiencies are described. The first case study involves a power supply without a dominant pole output capacitor. The second case study involves a power supply driving a highly damped resonant load. The authors discuss measurement pitfalls. >
Telemedicine and the Diagnosis of Speech and Language Disorders

•Objective To summarize results of telemedicine evaluations of speech and language disorders in patients in a small, rural hospital and in large multidisciplinary medical practices. •Material and Methods Eight patients underwent assessment as part of experiments with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-launched Advanced Communications Technology Satellite. A second clinician was on-site with patients to assess the reliability of satellite observations. Twenty-four previously videotaped samples of speech disorders were also transmitted to assess agreement with original face-to-face clinical diagnoses. In addition, results of 150 telemedicine evaluations among Mayo Clinic practices in Minnesota, Arizona, and Florida were examined retrospectively. •Results Evaluations were reliable, and patient satisfaction was good. Diagnoses were consistent with lesion localization and medical diagnosis when they were known, and they frequently had implications for lesion localization and medical diagnosis and management when they were previously unknown. The frequency of uncertain diagnosis (13%) for evaluation among the Mayo practices was only slightly higher than that encountered in face-to-face practice. Faceto-face evaluations were considered necessary for only 6 of the 150 patients (4%). •Conclusion Telemedicine evaluations can be reliable, beneficial, and acceptable to patients with a variety of acquired speech and language disorders, both in rural settings and within large multidisciplinary medical settings.
Critical legal rhetorics: The theory and practice of law in a postmodern world

Traditional liberal theories of jurisprudence consider the “rule of law” as a collection of rules and principles created without the help of rhetoric. From this perspective the judicial system is ideally a neutral forum wherein experts interpret rather than create the law. This essay claims that this orthodox view of the relationship between law and rhetoric needs extensive revision, and argues the need for a critical legal rhetoric that examines the ways in which the law is constituted and enacted beyond the domain of Supreme Court decision making. By illustrating how the rights talk found in appellate decisions can serve as sword, shield, and menace, this essay invites critics to consider seriously the participatory role that ordinary citizens take in the creation of their own legal culture. The author contends that in the case of reproductive rights, extra‐judicial public arguments provided part of the fragmentary materials that called into question the rule of law which allowed for the compulsory ster...
Some comments on the origin of homonymy in the Slavic languages

In this paper we shall focus our attention. on several aspects of the ongm and nature of homonymy, drawing examples from Russian and Serbo-Croatian and other Slavic languages. We shall first view this from a diachronic perspective noting some of the reasons for the appearance of homonyms. Then we shall examine the phenomenon at the synchronic level employing a variant of Serbo-Croatian in which important phonetic changes now in pro­ cess have given rise to new homophones. We may begin by turning to the ancestor of both Russian and Serbo-Croatian, Common Slavic. Homonymy appears to be a linguistically universal phenomenon, and it is safe to assu­ me that there were homonyms in Common Slavic. One pair of such words was undoubtedly the infinitive pasti 'to graze' (pasq) and ' to fall' (padq) which has its reflexes in most of the modern Slavic languages, e. g. Serbo-Croatian pasti and pȁsti or Russian pasti and past' and Ukrainian pasty.
Intestinal absorption of water-soluble vitamins in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus).

The absorption of selected water-soluble vitamins was studied in isolated intestinal sleeves of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus). The uptakes of riboflavin and biotin were each inhibited by their nonlabeled form, indicating the presence of a saturable mechanism [riboflavin: Michaelis constant (Km), 4.84 +/- 1.23 microM; maximal velocity (Vmax), 0.59 +/- 0.07 pmol.mg-1.min-1 biotin: Km, 22.3 +/- 6.95 microM; Vmax, 0.67 +/- 0.10 pmol.mg-1.min-1]. In contrast, the uptakes of nicotinamide, folic acid, and its metabolic derivative 5-methyltetrahydrofolate were not significantly inhibited by their respective nonlabeled forms. Their uptakes were a linear function of concentration [dissociation constant, 0.173 +/- 0.006, 0.050 +/- 0.002, and 0.031 +/- 0.004 pmol.mg-1.min-1.microM-1, respectively]. Folic acid was absorbed more rapidly than 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, and neither vitamin inhibited the absorption of the other. Intestinal uptake of riboflavin and biotin is carrier mediated, whereas uptake of nicotinamide, folic acid, and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate occurs by simple diffusion. These mechanisms are similar to those found in mammals for the same vitamins, except for the hydrophobic folates, which are actively transported in mammals but where diffusion may suffice to fulfill metabolic requirements of catfish.
Kinetic Separability of Catalyst Poisoning

The influence of different levels of poisoning on the reaction rate correlation was investigated for benzene hydrogenation on Ni/kieselguhr poisoned by thiophene. The activation energy was unaffected; however, other kinetic parameters of the hydrogenation were changed indicating that the activity factor is not a simple multiplicative of the pre-exponential factor.
Effect of humid purge air on the performance of commercial activated carbons used for evaporative emission control

Utilization of the Cyclic Evaporative Loss Test Instrument Concept (CELTIC) to show the effect of humidity on ELCD canister performance
Numerical model for microwave induced thermoacoustic imaging

This paper presents a numerical model to simulate signal generation of near field microwave induced thermoacoustic imaging. The model simulates both of the electromagnetic interaction of microwaves with the imaged target, and the generation of acoustic signals and their propagation. The study investigates the effect of different design parameters on intensity and frequency of generated acoustic signals, focusing on the effect of target's electrical properties, microwave frequency, and microwave pulse width.
Anomalous preasymptotic colloid transport by hydrodynamic dispersion in microfluidic capillary flow.

The anomalous preasymptotic transport of colloids in a microfluidic capillary flow due to hydrodynamic dispersion is measured by noninvasive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The data indicate a reduced scaling of mean squared displacement with time from the ${\ensuremath{\langle}z{(t)}^{2}\ensuremath{\rangle}}_{c}\ensuremath{\sim}{t}^{3}$ behavior for the interaction of a normal diffusion process with a simple shear flow. This nonequilibrium steady-state system is shown to be modeled by a continuous time random walk (CTRW) on a moving fluid. The full propagator of the motion is measured by NMR, providing verification of the assumption of Gaussian jump length distributions in the CTRW model. The connection of the data to microrheology measurements by NMR, in which every particle in a suspension contributes information, is established.
Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Water Permeation across Nafion Membrane Interfaces

Permeation of water across the membrane/vapor and membrane/liquid-water interfaces of Nafion is studied using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations, providing direct calculations of mass-transfer resistance. Water mass transfer within one nanometer of the vapor interface is shown to be 2 orders of magnitude slower than at any other point within the membrane, in qualitative agreement with permeation experiments. This interfacial resistance is much stronger than the resistance suggested by prior simulation work calculating self-diffusivity near the interface. The key difference between the prior approach and the NEMD approach is that the NEMD approach implicitly incorporates changes in solubility in the direction normal to the interface. Water is shown to be very insoluble near the vapor interface, which is rich in hydrophobic perfluorocarbon chains, in agreement with advancing contact angle experiments. Hydrophilic side chains are buried beneath this hydrophobic layer and aligned toward the ...
Polymer Aukali-Metal Polyiodides with Variable Ionic and Electronic Conductivities

Alkali metal polyiodide complexes of polyethers, of the type (polymer)nMIx, [Polymer - poly(ethylene oxide), PEO; poly(propylene oxide), PPO; or poly-(bis(methoxyethoxyethoxy)phosphazene), MEEP, and M - Li or Na] have been prepared and characterized in order to elucidate the nature of the observed ionic and electronic conductivities. Raman spectra of the polyiodide complexes indicate that the relative concentrations of the polyiodide species (such as I3- and higher polyiodides) depend on the salt concentration in the polymer as well as on the iodine to cation ratio. The ionic conduction can best be described by a free volume (VTF) mechanism where both polymer motion and ion mobility are activated processes. The magnitude of the electronic and ionic conductivities are a function of polymer to salt ratio as well as iodine content.
Investor Cost Basis and Takeover Bids

This study examines how institutional investors’ cost bases impact takeover offer prices and the likelihood of deal success. We find evidence consistent with the ‘disposition effect’ - a reluctance to realize losses. After controlling for pre-bid prices, cost basis has a positive association with both offer prices and the likelihood of deal acceptance. We find that this behavior is mostly concentrated within short term focused, transient investors. We also use post-bid-rejection returns to provide evidence that the disposition effect, rather than private information, drives the rejection of bids with offer prices that fall short of the average cost basis.
Diagnostics: Filling in the missing pieces

For years, researchers have tried to find biomarkers that could aid the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome, and point to its underlying causes. But will one test ever be enough?
A Report of Three Cases

The authors report the pathologic features of three cases of amyloidosis associated with cystic fibrosis. Renal biopsy led to the diagnosis (case 1) or suspicion (case 2) of amyloidosis in patients who were 23 and 21 years old, respectively. The third patient died at age 22 years, and amyloidosis was not discovered until autopsy. Immunohistochemical staining and potassium-permanganate pretreatment of histologic sections in all three cases provided evidence that the amyloid seen in these patients is of the secondary (AA) type. Congo red staining in each case and electron microscopy in case 1 confirmed the initial diagnosis of amyloidosis. A markedly elevated serum amyloid A protein (160 micrograms/mL; normal less than 1 microgram/mL) in case 1 indicated the presence of large quantities of the precursor protein from which the AA fibrils of secondary amyloid are derived. The kidneys, spleen, and liver contained amyloid deposits in autopsy material from all three cases. Involvement of other organs by amyloid was variable. Review of autopsy material in Boston from 23 additional cystic fibrosis patients with long-term survival did not reveal any evidence of amyloidosis. It appears that secondary amyloidosis is emerging as a significant, although rare, complication of cystic fibrosis as greater numbers of these patients survive into adulthood.
Bright "IDEA" or Missing the Mark? The Third Circuit Restricts Reimbursement for Residential Placement Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

This Casebrief discusses the Third Circuit's preferred analysis of reimbursement requests for residential placements and serves as a guide to practitioners litigating reimbursement disputes.
Inhibition of Hamp1 Expression by TMPRSS6, GDF15, PIAS4 and SMAD6 Utilize Several Target Sites in the Hamp1 Promoter

Abstract Hepcidin, the key regulator of iron homeostasis, is up-regulated by iron excess, bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and inflammatory cytokines and down-regulated by hypoxia and anemia. Known positive regulators at the level of transcription factors include SMAD1/4, STAT3 and CEBPα. In this study, we focused on negative regulators of hepcidin regulation: Matriptase II/TMPRSS6 (Transmembrane serine protease 6, a recently identified negative regulator in which disruption leads to anemia in mice as well in humans); Protein inhibitor of activated STATs no. 4 (PIAS4); Growth and differentiation factor 15 (GDF15, a potential erythroid negative regulator); and SMAD6 (Mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 6, an inhibitory SMAD blocking the SMAD/BMP pathway). All tested inhibitors significantly decreased expression of the luciferase reporter under the control of 2.5 Kb murine Hamp1 promoter with GDF15 and PIAS4 Hamp1 specific since none of the inhibitors were able to reduce expression of the luciferase reporter under the control of the murine Hamp2 promoter. Inhibition of the luciferase reporter under the control of the 2.5 Kb murine Hamp1 promoter by SMAD6, unlike TMPRSS6, PIAS4 and GDF15, did not require liver specific transcription factors since the inhibition could also be observed in transfected HEK293T cells. GDF15, PIAS4, TMPRSS6 and SMAD6 all reduced basal level expression of the luciferase reporter under the control of the 2.5 Kb murine Hamp1 promoter as well as the total level of reporter expression induced by IL-6 and BMP-4. Nevertheless, GDF15 did not affect responsiveness (fold induction) to IL-6 and BMP-4. PIAS4 and TMPRSS6 inhibited responsiveness to IL-6 but had little effect on responsiveness to BMP-4. In contrast, SMAD6 did not affect responsiveness to IL-6 but reduced responsiveness to BMP-4. Deletion of the −140 bp −260 bp region of the murine Hamp1 or double deletion of the BMP-RE1 and BMP-RE2 motifs severely reduced the ability of all inhibitors to reduce reporter expression. Deletion of the STAT site abrogated PIAS4 inhibition while deletion of either BMP-RE1 or BMP-RE2 motifs alone partially reduced inhibition by TMPRSS6 and SMAD6. We conclude that there are several independent pathways that inhibit hepcidin expression.
Christodemocracy Does Not Recognize Rights That Contradict the Will of the Author of Rights

All democratic theories construe rights as contrasts to state actions. The ultimate source of rights is uncertain, making denial of rights contingent on recognition by the community. In Christodemocracy, the source of rights is the Christian God. Therefore, no state action can recognize rights that permit citizens to disobey the source of rights.
The Politics of Decline

The Soviet withdrawal from Germany was one of the most dramatic peacetime withdrawals in history. It was logistically on the same scale as the American deployment to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield. The withdrawal, as part of the general Soviet retreat from Eastern Europe, was largely the result of the USSR’s inability to maintain its European military alliance, the Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO). When Mikhail Gorbachev sought to increase the viability of the non-Soviet WTO states, he set into motion events that led to the Eastern European revolutions of 1989, which ended socialist rule in these countries.
Sponge Sampling with Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization as a Screening Tool for the Early Detection of Esophageal Cancer

Introduction Sponge cytology is a novel screening tool for esophageal cancer but has been unable to be validated for widespread use. Our aim was to apply fluorescent in situ hybridization to sponge cytology samples in order to evaluate the safety and efficacy of this modality in screening for esophageal cancer.
MEMOCODE 2016 design contest: k-means clustering

K-means is a clustering algorithm that aims to group data into k similar clusters. The objective of the 2016 MEMOCODE Design Contest is to implement a system to efficiently partition a large set of multidimensional data using k-means. Contestants were given one month to develop a system to perform this operation, aiming to maximize performance or cost-adjusted performance. Teams were encouraged to consider a variety of computational targets including CPUs, FPGAs, and GPGPUs. The winning team, which was invited to contribute a paper describing their techniques, combined careful algorithmic and implementation optimizations using CPUs and GPUs.
The Role of the Sensing Domain (S1-S4) in TRPM8 Temperature and Menthol Dependent Gating

The human transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (hTRPM8) ion channel is a primary sensor of environmental cold temperature. hTRPM8 is gated in a polymodal manner by voltage, lipids, modulatory proteins, and chemical ligands, including menthol and icilin. TRPM8 is also involved in human health and disease, playing roles in pathophysiologies including cancer, pain, obesity, and diabetes. A better understanding of the molecular mechanism of channel activation may prove useful in unlocking the TRPM8 therapeutic potential. Here, we analyze the sensing domain (transmembrane helices S1-S4) as a function of temperature and menthol with circular dichroism (CD), and compare it with the S1-S6 transmembrane domain and full-length hTRPM8. Additionally, planar bilayer electrophysiology measurements of the S1-S6 transmembrane domain in presence of PIP2 and menthol indicate similar thermosensitivity when compared to the full-length protein. The temperature and menthol dependent conformational change of the sensing domain was further investigated by solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Narrowing down from the full-length protein to the sensing domain, our data suggest that the S1-S4 sensing domain is important for both TRPM8 temperature- and menthol-dependent gating of the ion channel.
PRL3 Is a Mediator of IL6/STAT3 Signaling and Defines a Population of Multiple Myeloma Patients Distinct from Those That Activate NFkB.

Abstract Previous work in our laboratory has identified the importance of the NFB signaling pathway for plasma cell (PC) survival and accumulation in Multiple Myeloma (MM). Although up to 43% of patient PCs appear to have activated NFkB by gene expression profiling (GEP), the remainder must rely on an alternate signaling pathway for their survival. We examined our MM GEP datasets and supervised the clustering of patients according to an index of NFkB activity. The majority of patients not activating NFkB were associated with a high IL-6/Stat3 signature, which included the protein phosphatase of regenerating liver-3 (PRL-3). Interestingly, analysis of the PRL-3 promoter revealed competing binding sites for both NFkB and STAT3 within the first intron, suggesting that these play a role in the transcriptional regulation of this gene. PRL-3 has been previously demonstrated to be absent in most normal tissues while its expression in MM cells is quite elevated. As normal PCs have low levels of PRL-3 expression, we determined the upper limit of normal to be 3SD above the mean of these cells. Using this cutoff we report that elevated PRL-3 expression is observed in plasma cells from 1/15 normal individuals, 4/22 MGUS patients and 47/126 patients with either smoldering or overt MM (6.7%, 18.2% and 45.6% respectively). Less than 10% of patients were seen to have both an elevated NFkB index and high PRL-3 expression. Patients with higher expression of PRL-3 were found to have statistically significant higher mean values of creatinine, C-reactive protein, lower albumin levels and a lower overall survival in our Mayo Clinic MM dataset. To examine the role PRL-3 in MM biology we first stimulated MM cell lines with IL-6 and observed PRL-3 up-regulation in two cell lines (INA6, OPM1) but not in JK6L (an NFkB activated cell line). Using a luciferase reporter we have determined that STAT3 induction of PRL3 expression requires the first intron of the PRL3 gene which contains the putative STAT3 binding site. Finally we show that PRL-3 inhibition by shRNA leads to decreased cell growth and loss of IL-6 responsiveness in vitro in at least one cell line. Based on these results, we propose that the majority of MM patients depend on either the NFkB or STAT3 signaling pathways for their survival and that these are to a large degree mutually exclusive. Our experimental results suggest that PRL-3 plays a role in IL-6/STAT3 signaling and that it is a promising target for drug development.
Clinical registry of dental outcomes in head and neck cancer patients (OraRad): rationale, methods, and recruitment considerations.

Most head and neck (HN incidence of post-extraction complications; change in Decayed Missing and Filled Surfaces (DMFS); change in periodontal measures; change in stimulated whole salivary flow rates; change in mouth opening; topical fluoride utilization; chronic oral mucositis incidence; changes in RT-specific quality of life measures; and change in oral pain scores. This study will contribute to a better understanding of the dental complications experienced by these patients. It will also enable identification of risk factors associated with adverse outcomes such as tooth loss and osteoradionecrosis. These findings will support the development of evidence-based guidelines and inform the planning of future interventional studies, with the goal of advancing improvements in patient care and outcomes. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT02057510 , registered 5 February 2014.
Local Media and Individual Trading

Does local media affect how individual traders trade? The role of media on the stock market has only recently started receiving attention in the finance literature. This literature has mainly focused on single, nationwide press sources such as the Wall Street Journal and DJ Wire. As a consequence, the effect of local media on the markets has remained largely unexplored, in spite of the relatively large role of local media in informing households and the heterogeneity of local media across regions. This study investigates one facet of the relationship between local media and the markets: the incremental market influence of local media over other nationwide media. I find that local media predicts individual investors' trading patterns. In particular, I find that cities in which the local media mentions a particular stock see a substantial increase proportion of households that trade the stock over the subsequent periods. Using earnings announcement related news as a plausibly exogenous news shock, I also present evidence that this relation may be causal. Lastly, I present evidence that the local media effect may work through a salience channel.
Adaptive Polar Active Contour for Segmentation and Tracking in Ultrasound Videos

Detection of relative changes in circulating blood volume is important to guide resuscitation and manage a variety of medical conditions, including sepsis, trauma, dialysis, and congestive heart failure. Recent studies have shown that estimates of circulating blood volume can be obtained from the cross-sectional area of the internal jugular vein (IJV) from ultrasound images. However, accurate segmentation and tracking of the IJV in ultrasound imaging is a challenging task and is significantly influenced by a number of parameters, such as the image quality, shape, and temporal variation. In this paper, we propose a novel adaptive polar active contour (Ad-PAC) algorithm for the segmentation and tracking of the IJV in ultrasound videos. In the proposed algorithm, the parameters of the Ad-PAC algorithm are adapted based on the results of segmentation in previous frames. The Ad-PAC algorithm is applied to 65 ultrasound videos captured from 13 healthy subjects, with each video containing 450 frames. The results show that spatial and temporal adaptation of the energy function significantly improves segmentation performance when compared with the current state-of-the-art active contour algorithms.
Dynamic Security Games with Deception

In the previous two chapters, we have investigated dynamics security games with asymmetric information, in which the extra or the missing information is inherent to the underlying security problems. In this chapter, we switch the gear and further consider the possibility of proactively creating information asymmetry in security games for the defender’s benefit. Particularly, deception will be investigated as a concrete tool to achieve this objective. However, most existing deception techniques are designed for static scenarios. The objective of this chapter is to illustrate a foresighted deception framework that allows the defender to better align its deception strategy with its conventional defense strategy and the dynamics in the environment. In addition, a network protection game is taken as a concrete example to illustrate the advantage of the foresighted deception achieved by the SDG framework over the conventional myopic deception.
Catalytic iron-carbene intermediate revealed in a cytochrome c carbene transferase.

Recently, heme proteins have been discovered and engineered by directed evolution to catalyze chemical transformations that are biochemically unprecedented. Many of these nonnatural enzyme-catalyzed reactions are assumed to proceed through a catalytic iron porphyrin carbene (IPC) intermediate, although this intermediate has never been observed in a protein. Using crystallographic, spectroscopic, and computational methods, we have captured and studied a catalytic IPC intermediate in the active site of an enzyme derived from thermostable Rhodothermus marinus ( Rma ) cytochrome c . High-resolution crystal structures and computational methods reveal how directed evolution created an active site for carbene transfer in an electron transfer protein and how the laboratory-evolved enzyme achieves perfect carbene transfer stereoselectivity by holding the catalytic IPC in a single orientation. We also discovered that the IPC in Rma cytochrome c has a singlet ground electronic state and that the protein environment uses geometrical constraints and noncovalent interactions to influence different IPC electronic states. This information helps us to understand the impressive reactivity and selectivity of carbene transfer enzymes and offers insights that will guide and inspire future engineering efforts.
Phosphatidic Acid as Lipid Messenger and Growth Regulators in Plants

Phosphatidic acid (PA) has emerged as a class of important growth mediators involved in various cellular and physiological processes. The cellular level of PA is highly dynamic, increasing transiently in response to hormones, abiotic cues, and biotic challenges. Several families of enzymes can contribute to the production of PA, and phospholipase D and phospholipase C/diacylglycerol kinases play a major role in the stimulus-induced generation of signaling PA. The identification and analyses of PA-interacting proteins provide insights into the cellular and physiological processes in which PA is involved and the mechanism of PA action. The PA–protein interactions help tether proteins to membranes and/or modulate enzymatic activities. In addition, PA has been implicated in modulating proteolytic cleavage and inter-organelle translocation of target proteins. Manipulations of the reactions involved in PA production and removal have provided evidence for the involvement of PA in plant growth, development, and stress responses.
Fraud De-Anonymization for Fun and Profit

The persistence of search rank fraud in online, peer-opinion systems, made possible by crowdsourcing sites and specialized fraud workers, shows that the current approach of detecting and filtering fraud is inefficient. We introduce a fraud de-anonymization approach to disincentivize search rank fraud: attribute user accounts flagged by fraud detection algorithms in online peer-opinion systems, to the human workers in crowdsourcing sites, who control them. We model fraud de-anonymization as a maximum likelihood estimation problem, and introduce UODA, an unconstrained optimization solution. We develop a graph based deep learning approach to predict ownership of account pairs by the same fraudster and use it to build discriminative fraud de-anonymization (DDA) and pseudonymous fraudster discovery algorithms (PFD). To address the lack of ground truth fraud data and its pernicious impacts on online systems that employ fraud detection, we propose the first cheating-resistant fraud de-anonymization validation protocol, that transforms human fraud workers into ground truth, performance evaluation oracles. In a user study with 16 human fraud workers, UODA achieved a precision of 91%. On ground truth data that we collected starting from other 23 fraud workers, our co-ownership predictor significantly outperformed a state-of-the-art competitor, and enabled DDA and PFD to discover tens of new fraud workers, and attribute thousands of suspicious user accounts to existing and newly discovered fraudsters.
Imagining the Future Academic Library Collection

This special issue of Collection Management on “Imagining the Future Academic Library Collection” includes 23 articles representing a range of views about library collections trends. This introduct...
The City Doesn't Sleep: Community Perceptions of Sleep Deficits and Disparities

While sleep research has focused primarily on aspects of the immediate physical environment and behavioral factors, a growing body of evidence suggests that broader social determinants may play an important role in sleep insufficiency. Yet public health education efforts for sleep largely address “sleep hygiene”, with an emphasis on information for getting a good night’s rest. The Flint Sleep Project employed community-based-participatory research methods to try to understand more about the sleep experiences of residents of an urban community reporting sleep insufficiency. The academic and community partner developed recruitment materials with community residents. The focus group protocol also utilized community input. Seven focus groups, with a total of 70 participants, were conducted. When asked about their view of causes for poor sleep, participants identified a range of stressors reflective of social determinants. Economic, safety, and future insecurity were the dominant themes emerging across all seven discussions. Participants also expressed feeling a lack of control over important aspects of their lives. Interventions to improve sleep are more likely to be effective if they include the perspectives of the community. A community-based approach offers opportunities for community empowerment and engagement that can improve efforts at sleep health promotion.