cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 842: Proteomics-based comparative analysis of mitochondria isolated from human cisplatin-sensitive and resistant ovarian carcinoma cell lines

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the leading cause of death among women with gynecologic malignancies and the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women in the United States. Cisplatin is one of the most effective and active agents in the treatment of advanced EOC, however, development of chemoresistance is a major obstacle. A recurrent theme is emerging that mitochondria and mitochondrial dysfunction are centerpiece in contributing to an aggressive carcinogenic phenotype. Similarly, we hypothesized that changes in the mitochondrial proteome are required to support development of cisplatin resistance in human EOC. We applied an organellar proteomics approach to elucidate quantitative alterations in protein abundance in mitochondria enriched from an isogenic pair of cisplatin sensitive (A2780) and resistant (A2780-CP20) human EOC cells. Protein isolates from mitochondria were analyzed by high resolution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and quantitative determination of changes in the relative abundance level of identified proteins was accomplished by spectral counting. This analysis confirmed that there are substantial alterations in the mitochondrial proteomic composition in cisplatin resistant EOC cells. Differential proteins selected for western blot validation include hypoxia up-regulated protein 1 (HYOU1), activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM), isoform 1 of dynamin-like 120kDa protein (OPA1), A kinase anchoring protein 12 (AKAP12), and ferredoxin reductase (FDXR). Our proteomic analysis demonstrated overexpression of HYOU1, ALCAM, AKAP12, and OPA1 in the resistant EOC cells. This panel of protein candidates have been implicated in other tumor types and are involved in relevant cell mechanisms to include evasion of apoptosis, increased tumor invasiveness, tumor hypoxia, cellular respiration, and mitochondrial fragmentation. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 842. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-842
Congenital malformations resulting from zinc deficiency in rats.

SummaryA mild but specific zinc deficiency was produced in female rats by the use of a purified diet lacking the element and by stringent elimination of sources of zinc contamination from the environment. Almost all of the full-term fetuses produced under such conditions showed gross congenital malformations encompassing a wide variety of organ systems, including skeletal, brain, eye, heart, lung, and urogenital defects. The fetuses from zinc-deficient females contained less zinc than did their controls, suggesting that the congenital anomalies resulted from a direct effect of lack of zinc in the fetal tissues.
Asymptotic optimal quantizer design for distributed Bayesian estimation

In this paper, we address the optimal quantizer design problem for distributed Bayesian parameter estimation with one-bit quantization at local sensors. A performance limit obtained for any distributed parameter estimator with a known prior is adopted as a guidance for quantizer design. Aided by the performance limit, the optimal quantizer and a set of noisy observation models that achieve the performance limit are derived. Further, when the performance limit may not be achievable for some applications, we develop a near-optimal estimator which consists of a dithered noise and a single threshold quantizer. In the scenario where the parameter is Gaussian and signal-to-noise ratio is greater than −1.138 dB, we show that one can construct such an estimator that achieves approximately 99.65% of the performance limit.
Effects of histidine on vasopressin action: role of decreased prostaglandin production.

Addition of histidine to the serosal bath of the toad bladder increases the hydrosmotic response of vasopressin in this tissue. Because this represents primarily the effect of the imidazole ring of histidine, which is a known inhibitor of the production of prostaglandins, we evaluated whether histidine increases the response to vasopressin through decreased prostaglandin production. Histidine increases the response to vasopressin much more than 10(-5) M naproxen, even though the latter was equipotent to histidine in reducing prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production. Furthermore, histidine was additive to naproxen in increasing the hydrosmotic effect of vasopressin, without causing a further decrease in PGE2 production. These findings suggest that histidine has an effect over and above that due to inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis. Our results suggest that histidine enhances the permeability of the tissue beneath the luminal membrane, an effect not found with naproxen. We propose that histidine increases the...
The Hippocampal Slice

ABSTRACT.The in vitro hippocampal slice is a useful model system for study of single cell and simple neuronal network properties. It has the advantage of preserving much of the native brain circuitry, of obviating the blood brain barrier when testing drugs, and of facilitating intracellular recordings. Disadvantages include iatrogenic damage to tissue, ongoing regional hypoxia, and obliteration of connections with the rest of the brain.Insights into mechanisms of epileptiform pacemakers, neuronal plasticity, and neurotransmitter and drug actions can be obtained from slice experiments more readily than from experiments in vivo. Understanding so obtained can then be cross-checked against other more complex models of epilepsy, and ultimately against clinical experience.
Assessment of Delivery Accuracy in an Operational-Like Environment

In order to enable arrival management concepts and solutions in a Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) environment, ground-based sequencing and scheduling functions were developed to support metering operations in the National Airspace System. These sequencing and scheduling tools are designed to assist air traffic controllers in developing an overall arrival strategy, from enroute down to the terminal area boundary. NASA developed a ground system concept and protoype capability called Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSAS) to extend metering operations into the terminal area to the runway. To demonstrate the use of these scheduling and spacing tools in an operational-like environment, the FAA, NASA, and MITRE conducted an Operational Integration Assessment (OIA) of a prototype TSAS system at the FAA's William J. Hughes Technical Center (WJHTC). This paper presents an analysis of the arrival management strategies utilized and delivery accuracy achieved during the OIA. The analysis demonstrates how en route preconditioning, in various forms, and schedule disruptions impact delivery accuracy. As the simulation spanned both enroute and terminal airspace, the use of Ground Interval Management - Spacing (GIM-S) enroute speed advisories was investigated. Delivery accuracy was measured as the difference between the Scheduled Time of Arrival (STA) and the Actual Time of Arrival (ATA). The delivery accuracy was computed across all runs conducted during the OIA, which included deviations from nominal operations which are known to commonly occur in real operations, such as schedule changes and missed approaches. Overall, 83% of all flights were delivered into the terminal airspace within +/- 30 seconds of their STA and 94% of flights were delivered within +/- 60 seconds. The meter fix delivery accuracy standard deviation was found to be between 36 and 55 seconds across all arrival procedures. The data also showed when schedule disruptions were excluded, the percentage of aircraft delivered within +/- 30 seconds was between 85 and 90% across the various arrival procedures at the meter fix. This paper illustrates the ability to meet new delivery accuracy requirements in an operational-like environment using operational systems and NATCA controller participants, while also including common events that might cause disruptions to the schedule and overall system.
Association between inappropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy and hospital length of stay in Gram-negative bloodstream infections: stratification by prognosis

OBJECTIVES The potential benefit from appropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy in patients with favourable prognosis at initial presentation with Gram-negative bloodstream infection (BSI) remains unclear. This retrospective cohort study examined the impact of inappropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy on hospital length of stay (HLOS) following Gram-negative BSI after stratification by predicted prognosis using the BSI mortality risk score (BSIMRS). METHODS Hospitalized adults with first episodes of Gram-negative BSI from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2013 at Palmetto Health Hospitals in Columbia, SC, USA were identified. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine the association between inappropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy and HLOS overall and within each predefined BSIMRS category (<5 and ≥5). RESULTS Among 830 unique patients with Gram-negative BSI, 469 and 361 had BSIMRS <5 and ≥5, respectively. Overall, the median age was 65 years, 448 (54%) were women, Escherichia coli (444; 53%) was the most common bloodstream isolate and 444 (53%) had a urinary source of infection. After adjustments in the multivariate model, BSIMRS (HR = 1.14 per point, 95% CI = 1.11-1.17, P < 0.001) and inappropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy (HR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.07-1.91, P = 0.01) were independently associated with increased risk of remaining hospitalized following Gram-negative BSI. Median HLOS with appropriate and inappropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy was 7 and 10 days, respectively, in patients with BSIMRS <5 (P = 0.03) and 13 and 17 days, respectively, in those with BSIMRS ≥5 (P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS Inappropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy is associated with prolonged HLOS following Gram-negative BSI in patients with both good and guarded prognosis.
Design enhancement and non-dimensional analysis of magnetically-levitated nonlinear vibration energy harvesters:

Over the past decade, there has been special interest in developing nonlinear energy harvesters capable of operating over a wideband frequency spectrum. Chief among the nonlinear energy harvesting ...
Changes in Systolic and Diastolic Ventricular Function with Cold Cardioplegic Arrest in Man

INTRODUCTION Most of the cardiac surgery done today is performed with aortic cross-clamping and cardioplegic arrest. Despite improvements in cardioplegic techniques, ventricular dysfunction following cardioplegic arrest is a major cause of perioperative morbidity and mortality. This experiment will quantify the changes in left ventricular systolic function with cold cardioplegia. Four measures of cardiac function will be assessed with a volume conductance catheter. METHODS AND RESULTS Thirty patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery had volume conductance and micromanometer catheters placed in their left ventricles. Preload reduction was used to measure Ees (the slope of the end-systolic pressure-volume relationship), EdP/dtMax-EDV (slope of dP/dtMax end-diastolic volume relationship), EPLRSW (slope of stroke work end-diastolic volume relationship), Eed (slope of the end-diastolic pressure-volume relationship), and ENegdP/dtMax-EDV (slope of the negative dP/dtMax end-diastolic volume relationship). Ees decreased from 4.32 +/- 2.94 prebypass to 2.52 +/- 1.06 mmHg/mL postbypass. CONCLUSION Cold cardioplegic cardiac arrest is associated with postbypass systolic and diastolic ventricular dysfunction, which can be quantitated by volume conductance and micromanometer based measurements.
Where do you want to go today [in attribute space]?

Summary This paper proposes to conceptualize a geographic trajectory as an attribute-time path (ATP) traversing an n-dimensional attribute space. Geographic entities occupying a certain study area are conceptualized as discrete loci in that same n-dimensional space. Those entities undergo spatialization and the resulting point locations become vertices as the ATP is projected into lower dimensions to form a spatialized attribute-time path (SATP). Visual exploration of such a path supports novel perspectives on the nature of geographic space, including how it is traversed, transformed, and experienced by those that inhabit it. Examples based on two different data sets are presented, with population census data providing n-dimensional attributes of geographic entities in both cases. The first study illustrates how a transect of Vienna, Austria, reveals patterns of difference/similarity, once it is spatialized. The second set of examples is based on an extremely large neural network model derived from data for all 200,000+ U.S. census block groups. Commuter trajectories captured in New Orleans and San Diego are projected onto the spatialized block groups and the resulting SATPs interpreted.
Longitudinal Relationships between Habituation and Temperament in Infancy.

The long-term predictive validity of several measures of infant habituation and later aspects of temperament were examined. Both habituation rate (trials to criterion) and number of peak fixations were significantly associated with five of nine tem perament dimensions. As well, total looking time was related to several of the same temperament dimensions. Babies who habituated sooner (fewer trials to criterion) at 5 months of age and had fewer peak fixations during habituation were generally rated by their mothers as more active, more intense, and more negative in mood, and being less persistent and less adaptable at 13 and 20 months of age. In addi tion, age differences were found in temperament measures: Compared to ratings at 13 months, 20-month-olds were less active, more adaptable, and more persistent. Older infants also were more sensitive to environmental fluctuations and displayed more positive responsivity to new stimuli.
MR-guided delivery of AAV2-BDNF into the entorhinal cortex of non-human primates

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene delivery to the entorhinal cortex is a candidate for treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) to reduce neurodegeneration that is associated with memory loss. Accurate targeting of the entorhinal cortex in AD is complex due to the deep and atrophic state of this brain region. Using MRI-guided methods with convection-enhanced delivery, we were able to accurately and consistently target AAV2-BDNF delivery to the entorhinal cortex of non-human primates; 86 ± 3% of transduced cells in the targeted regions co-localized with the neuronal marker NeuN. The volume of AAV2-BDNF (3 × 108 vg/µl) infusion linearly correlated with the number of BDNF labeled cells and the volume (mm3) of BDNF immunoreactivity in the entorhinal cortex. BDNF is normally trafficked to the hippocampus from the entorhinal cortex; in these experiments, we also found that BDNF immunoreactivity was elevated in the hippocampus following therapeutic BDNF vector delivery to the entorhinal cortex, achieving growth factor distribution through key memory circuits. These findings indicate that MRI-guided infusion of AAV2-BDNF to the entorhinal cortex of the non-human primate results in safe and accurate targeting and distribution of BDNF to both the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus. These methods are adaptable to human clinical trials.
Skyway: Connecting Managed Heaps in Distributed Big Data Systems

Managed languages such as Java and Scala are prevalently used in development of large-scale distributed systems. Under the managed runtime, when performing data transfer across machines, a task frequently conducted in a Big Data system, the system needs to serialize a sea of objects into a byte sequence before sending them over the network. The remote node receiving the bytes then deserializes them back into objects. This process is both performance-inefficient and labor-intensive: (1) object serialization/deserialization makes heavy use of reflection, an expensive runtime operation and/or (2) serialization/deserialization functions need to be hand-written and are error-prone. This paper presents Skyway, a JVM-based technique that can directly connect managed heaps of different (local or remote) JVM processes. Under Skyway, objects in the source heap can be directly written into a remote heap without changing their formats. Skyway provides performance benefits to any JVM-based system by completely eliminating the need (1) of invoking serialization/deserialization functions, thus saving CPU time, and (2) of requiring developers to hand-write serialization functions.
Vibration of high speed helical geared shaft systems mounted on rigid bearings

Abstract Analytical model for linear vibration analysis of a pair of meshing helical gears mounted on compliant spinning parallel shafts is developed. The gears are modeled as rigid disks while the shafts are modeled as flexible rotating cantilever beams. The rotational speed is high such that the gyroscopic effect is non-negligible. Hamilton’s principle is used to obtain the non-dimensional governing equations. Longitudinal and rotational mesh stiffnesses and corresponding elastic energies are incorporated in the total strain energy formulation. Extended operator formulation is used to express the system equations in a consolidated form and later, discretized using Galerkin method. Gyroscopic system structure is apparent in the system equations. Natural frequency sensitivity to various system parameters such as the rotational speed and mesh stiffnesses is determined. Response to loaded static transmission error at the mesh is obtained by performing modal analysis after reducing the system to a first order form. The study shows that gyroscopic effect is present even for short lengths of the shafts. Natural frequency veering between flexural frequencies is present at low speeds and rare at high speeds. For coupled frequencies, response of the system is found to be approximated by modal superposition of smaller number of modes.
Engineering Optical Emission of Sub-diffraction Hyperbolic Metamaterial Resonators

We develop an electrodynamic model for sub-diffraction hyperbolic metamaterial resonators using the modified long wave approximation and verify it via experiment and simulations. We investigate engineering the resonator Q, photon loss and far-field pattern.
Changes in the swinging lifestyle: a US national and historical comparison

Although engaging in extramarital relationships with permission from spouses has been practised for generations, relatively little is known about those who participate and how they have changed over the years. This study expands on existing research by comparing the demographics and sexual practices of those in swinging and non-swinging communities from the 1980s to those in 2016. Data from the 1980s were collected through membership forms submitted to a swinger organisation and a national dataset conducted in the USA (i.e. The General Social Survey), while the recent dataset was collected through an online survey. Compared to the non-swinging population, swingers were more likely to be Caucasian, younger, educated, wealthy and more satisfied with their marriage and sex life. Demographic comparisons of swingers from 1982 to 2016 showed an increase in diversity, growing connection to the US Democratic Party and increased use of protection to avoid sexually transmitted diseases. Marital satisfaction remained the same regardless of year measured, but the amount of sex engaged in over a year decreased over time.
Predatory Kidnapping–Adult Victim

This chapter defines the meaning, characteristics, and implications for the prevention and investigation of a predatory kidnapping of an adult. The predatory kidnapping of an adult victim involves the sexually motivated abduction of individuals age 18 years and older. As per the case reviewed in the chapter, overwhelmingly the victims are females abducted by males and they have no prior relationship to their abductors. The vast majority of such abductions occur in places with unrestricted public access. Predatory adult kidnappers rarely commit their crimes with an accomplice. Instead, they adopt one of two methods to subdue their victims: physical force or persuasion or deception. Predatory kidnappers rarely abduct more than one victim at a time. The majority of adult predatory kidnappers transport their victims during the abduction and victims were generally held less than 24 hours. Despite the physical and sexual violence that was frequently present in adult predatory kidnappings, the majority of victims survived the abduction. The impossibility of predicting if one will be the victim of an adult predatory kidnapping or, if victimized, that the attacker will cease his attack if faced with resistance, necessitates the promotion of flexible coping strategies for potential victims. The most commonly cited model of coping can be divided into two components: problem solving coping and emotional-focused coping. Problem-solving coping is akin to situational awareness and defensive training. Emotional-focused coping involves regulating one of the greatest challenges to safety: the coping mechanism of denial.
Inclusion and control in resort family businesses: A developmental approach to conflict

This study investigated the relationship between inclusion tension and business and family conflict intensity for 183 couples in resort family businesses. Using path analysis, age, education, role, and decision involvement discrepancy predicted husbands' inclusion tension, and inclusion tension predicted their business and family conflict intensity. Age, locus of control, and gross sales predicted inclusion tension for wives; inclusion tension predicted wives' business and family conflict intensity. Age had an indirect effect for husbands on their inclusion tension and their business conflict intensity, whereas the role involvement discrepancy had an indirect effect on husbands' business conflict intensity. For wives, age had an indirect effect on their business conflict intensity, and locus of control had an indirect effect on wives' business as well as family conflict intensity.
Consequences of Gender Differences in Mathematical Reasoning Ability and Some Biological Linkages

Gender differences in cognitive abilities and achievement are not new. They have been reported for several decades. Yet what is new is that recent reports seem to indicate that these differences are steadily diminishing in normative samples. That is, males and females apparently are converging toward a common mean on a variety of abilities, including mathematics (Feingold, 1988; Hyde et al., 1990; Rosenthal and Rubin, 1982). Hyde et al. (1990), for example, in their meta-analytic review of 100 studies, reported that the average effect size for the gender difference in mathematics was only.14 for studies published in 1974 or later compared to.31 for studies published earlier. Feingold (1988) studied scores on two test batteries over a 30-year period and also concluded that females have been catching up with males. Such findings have led several individuals to conclude that research on gender differences is better referred to as research on sex similarities (Connell, 1987; Riger, 1992). Some investigators have been more flippant, asserting that gender differences in cognitive functioning are decreasing “faster than the gene can travel”.
Twisted light transfers OAM and SAM to electrons in a GaAs photocathode

Ultrafast complex light of twisted photons carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) with e = ±1 or +2 (generated using q-plates with q= ±½, +1), spin angular momentum (SAM) and total angular momentum (J=L+S) from a femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser (at select wavelengths between 690 nm and 810 nm) was used to excite a GaAs-based photocathode photonic device. The GaAs photocathode has two functions: detector and sample. Using the recorded signal intensity from the p-GaAs photocathode photonic device and lock-in amplifier, the degree of polarization (P) of the photogenerated electrons based on OAM (&#119875;&#119874;&#119860;&#119872;) and SAM (&#119875;&#119878;&#119860;&#119872;) beams was investigated. The percent P at 780 nm was approximately &#119875;&#119874;&#119860;&#119872; = −14.5% and &#119875;&#119878;&#119860;&#119872; = −0.52%.
VACCINE: Using Contextual Integrity For Data Leakage Detection

Modern enterprises rely on Data Leakage Prevention (DLP) systems to enforce privacy policies that prevent unintentional flow of sensitive information to unauthorized entities. However, these systems operate based on rule sets that are limited to syntactic analysis and therefore completely ignore the semantic relationships between participants involved in the information exchanges. For similar reasons, these systems cannot enforce complex privacy policies that require temporal reasoning about events that have previously occurred. To address these limitations, we advocate a new design methodology for DLP systems centered on the notion of Contextual Integrity (CI). We use the CI framework to abstract real-world communication exchanges into formally defined information flows where privacy policies describe sequences of admissible flows. CI allows us to decouple (1) the syntactic extraction of flows from information exchanges, and (2) the enforcement of privacy policies on these flows. We applied this approach to built VACCINE, a DLP auditing system for emails. VACCINE uses state-of-the-art techniques in natural language processing to extract flows from email text. It also provides a declarative language for describing privacy policies. These policies are automatically compiled to operational rules that the system uses for detecting data leakages. We evaluated VACCINE on the Enron email corpus and show that it improves over the state of the art both in terms of the expressivity of the policies that DLP systems can enforce as well as its precision in detecting data leakages.
Trends in emergency physician opioid prescribing practices during the United States opioid crisis.

Abstract Background Prescription opioid related deaths have increased dramatically over the past 17 years. Although emergency physicians (EPs) have not been the primary force behind this rise, previous literature have suggested that EPs could improve their opioid prescribing practices. We designed this study to evaluate the trend in emergency department (ED) opioid prescriptions over time during the US opioid epidemic. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2018, evaluating all adult patients who presented to two study EDs for a pain-related complaint and received an analgesic prescription upon ED discharge. We compared these data to trends in lay media and medical literature regarding the opioid epidemic. We also evaluated the incidence of repeat ED visits based on the type of analgesic prescriptions provided. Results Opioid prescriptions decreased from 37.76% to 13.29% over the six year study period. This coupled with an increase in non-opioid medications from 6.12% to 11.33% and an increase in “no prescription” from 56.12% to 75.37%. This corresponded with an increase in the number of publications on the opioid epidemic within the lay-public and medical literature. Additionally, those patients that received no opiates were less likely to require a repeat ED visit. Conclusions ED physicians are prescribing less opiates, while increasing the amount of non-narcotic analgesic prescriptions. This may be in response to the literature suggesting that prescription opioids play a large role in the opioids crisis. This decrease in opioid prescriptions did not increase the need for repeat ED visits.
Erratum to: HIV-1 Vpu and HIV-2 Env counteract BST-2/tetherin by sequestration in a perinuclear compartment

AbstractCorrection A confocal image in Figure 3B of Hauser et al. 2010, Retrovirology 2010, 7:51 ), showing TGN staining of Vphu-HcRed expressing cells (middle row), was incorrect. This image has now been replaced with the correct image.
Early Intervention of Palliative Care in the Emergency Department During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This case series examines the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients who received intervention by a novel coronavirus disease 2019 palliative care response team, focused on providing high-quality goals-of-care conversations in time-critical situations.
US INGOs Working in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Impacts Their Ability to Attract Private Donations?

International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) help scale up foreign aid efforts by mobilizing private donations that can be used to supplement official development assistance (ODA). While th...
Intersection of Diversity, Out-of-Class Engagement, and Engineer of 2020 Outcomes for Civil Engineering Students

AbstractThe accelerating pace of technological innovation, coupled with social, cultural, political, and economic forces, have rapidly transformed the practice of engineering with unique implicatio...
Electronic Wills and Digital Assets: Reassessing Formality in the Digital Age

The law of Wills, dating back to 1540, is one of the last holdouts against the digital revolution. In 2019, a will in most states cannot be an electronic document. The Wills Acts adopted by every state in America requires a testamentary will to be in writing, to be signed, and to be attested in the presence of at least two witnesses. States have interpreted the Wills Act, in most cases, to require a physical document printed and signed by hand by a testator and witnesses. For centuries, these pillars of the law of wills have remained resolute and uncompromised. Attempts have been made to lessen the strict requirements of testamentary formality, but only a handful of states have adopted legislation applying what is called the harmless error doctrine. The advent of digital asset succession, however, has taken a more immediate path to encourage chipping away at the formalities for a will. Almost all of the states have adopted digital asset legislation, which only requires a testamentary statement regarding these assets to be in writing in order to be valid. Digital asset legislation opens the door to an even more sweeping change — purely electronic wills. Adopting electronic wills would be a dramatic change to the Wills Act but would not dramatically change property transfers after death. More wealth transfers after death under a nonprobate instrument such as a trust or private contract between a decedent and a financial or insurance company. These testamentary transfers are already largely electronic. Technological changes and expectations in society have been challenging the Wills Act for years. Courts are beginning to broadly interpret the Wills Act to incorporate technological changes. A few states have begun experimenting with versions of electronic wills, and the Uniform Law Commission is proposing legislation to allow electronic wills in the upcoming year. The strict formalities of the Wills Act can still be met by allowing an electronic version of a will. Indeed, as this article argues, electronic wills can serve as reliable evidence of testamentary intent, protecting a testator’s interests, and fulfilling the purposes of succession law. State legislatures should adopt legislation allowing for electronic wills in order to bring a cost-effective and efficient way of transferring assets at death and to encourage more people to exercise their freedom of disposition.
Remedial Discretion in Constitutional Adjudication: A Codicil

This symposium paper elaborates on two questions raised by the author’s prior work, Remedial Discretion in Constitutional Adjudication. That paper disagreed with calls for a revival of non-retroactive judicial rulings to facilitate more constitutional innovation and argued that the Supreme Court’s practice of developing doctrines that withhold remedies for constitutional violations—e.g., qualified immunity, exceptions to the exclusionary rule, and harmless-error rules—is both sufficient to facilitate constitutional innovation and preferable to reviving non-retroactivity. Of necessity, the paper also developed a theory of when courts may withhold remedies for constitutional violations and when they may not: courts may withhold remedies responsive to claims for the sub-constitutional remedies that function as substitutes for constitutional interests irretrievably lost as a result of wholly-concluded rights violations, but must provide relief when faced with justiciable, properly raised, and meritorious claims for specific relief from ongoing violations. This follow-on paper addresses whether there is a correct way to define constitutional violations as “ongoing” or “wholly-concluded,” and whether the argument that remedies for ongoing violations are mandatory can be reconciled with cases where the Supreme Court did not provide the plaintiffs with immediate relief from systematic constitutional violations. It argues that while there is no ontological line between ongoing and wholly-concluded violations, it is reasonable to understand the doctrines mentioned above as rules that withhold substitutionary remedies for wholly-concluded constitutional wrongs, and that reasonable premises are all that is required for a descriptive theory to be persuasive. It further argues that there is a constitutionally significant difference between declaring unconstitutional a government policy or custom that is causing a claimant ongoing harm and the provision of relief designed to ameliorate the present and future effects of an invasion of rights. Only the former is constitutionally required; courts retain remedial discretion to engage in public-interest balancing with respect to the latter.
Is Driving Automation Used as Intended? Real-World Use of Partially Automated Driving Systems and their Safety Consequences:

Advanced driver assistance systems with SAE Level 2 automated capabilities have entered the vehicle marketplace. Such driving automation systems (DASs) have the potential to fundamentally change th...
Optimization of laser processing parameters through automated data acquisition and artificial neural networks

Finding the optimal parameters in laser processing applications can be time-consuming given the large parameter space and various sources of error. This problem is exacerbated by day-to-day variation in laser beam characteristics and a large variety of materials that need to be processed. The ideal laser processing system should be “smart,” meaning that it can sense changes in the environment, make proper adjustment, and predict parameters for new materials. As a step toward this goal, we propose a method to efficiently extract the areas of a large number of laser-induced damages in situ using an automated data acquisition system that can control laser parameters, motorized stage movement, image capturing/processing, and feature extraction. The damage areas are extracted and compared with direct measurements. Damage areas are fed into an artificial neural network (ANN) for prediction. Various ANN structures and training functions are tested to create the optimal ANN for prediction. ANN predictions were found to be capable enough to accurately model and optimize the laser processing parameters that were investigated. With the capability of collecting a large amount of usable data in a short period of time, this acquisition system can be used to train sophisticated ANNs for complicated tasks such as quality control and failure prediction.
Prevalence and correlates of phenazine resistance in culturable bacteria from a dryland wheat field

Phenazines are a class of bacterially-produced redox-active natural antibiotics that have demonstrated potential as a sustainable alternative to traditional pesticides for the biocontrol of fungal crop diseases. However, the prevalence of bacterial resistance to agriculturally-relevant phenazines is poorly understood, limiting both the understanding of how these molecules might shape rhizosphere bacterial communities and the ability to perform risk assessment for off-target effects. Here, we describe profiles of susceptibility to the antifungal agent phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA) across more than 100 bacterial strains isolated from a wheat field where PCA producers are indigenous and abundant. We find that Gram-positive bacteria are typically more sensitive to PCA than Gram-negative bacteria, but that there is also significant variability in susceptibility both within and across phyla. Phenazine-resistant strains are more likely to be isolated from the wheat rhizosphere, where PCA producers are also more abundant, compared to bulk soil. Furthermore, PCA toxicity is pH-dependent for most susceptible strains and broadly correlates with PCA reduction rates, suggesting that uptake and redox-cycling are important determinants of phenazine toxicity. Our results shed light on which classes of bacteria are most likely to be susceptible to phenazine toxicity in acidic or neutral soils. In addition, the taxonomic and phenotypic diversity of our strain collection represents a valuable resource for future studies on the role of natural antibiotics in shaping wheat rhizosphere communities.
The Material Mind

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses some general methodological questions about the nature of psychology as a science by assuming one know very much more than one do about the brain and the nervous system of man. Psychology is treated as a subject that deals with phenomena described by concepts that involve intention, belief, and conative attitudes like desire. Among these actions, decision, memory, perception, learning, wanting, attending, noticing, and many others is included. Attempts have been made, to show that psychology can do without some or all of these concepts, for example by trying to define concepts like belief or desire in terms of concepts more behavioral, or otherwise more like the concepts used in the physical sciences. The distinction between individual events and sorts, and the supervenience of the psychological on the physical, are related.
On dynamic bit-probe complexity

This paper presents several advances in the understanding of dynamic data structures in the bit-probe model: We improve the lower bound record for dynamic language membership problems to $\Omega((\frac{{\rm lg}\ n}{\rm lg \ lg \ {\it n}})^{2})$. Surpassing $\Omega({\rm lg} \ {\it n})$ was listed as the first open problem in a survey by Miltersen. We prove a bound of $\Omega(\frac{{\rm lg}\ n}{\rm lg \ lg \ lg \ {\it n}})$ for maintaining partial sums in ${\mathbb Z}/2{\mathbb Z}$. Previously, the known bounds were $\Omega(\frac{{\rm lg}\ n}{\rm lg \ lg \ {\it n}})$ and $O({\rm lg}\ n)$. We prove a surprising and tight upper bound of $O(\frac{{\rm lg} \ {\it n}}{\rm lg \ lg \ {\it n}})$ for predecessor problems. We use this to obtain the same upper bound for dynamic word and prefix problems in group-free monoids.
Effect of Ni on K-doped molybdenum-on-carbon catalysts: Temperature-programmed reduction and reactivity to higher-alcohol formation

Temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) runs were carried out on activated carbon, a series of Mo/C with different Mo loadings, Mo-K/C with different K/Mo ratios, and Mo-Ni-K/C with different preparations. The data, after accounting for the C support, could be deconvoluted to two low-temperature peaks and one high-temperature peak. Reducibility was quantified in terms of Mo valence. The materials were also used as catalysts for the conversion of synthesis gas to high-molecular-weight (“higher”) alcohols (HA). Calcination of the catalysts and the order of impregnation play a role in the Mo valence and in the performance of the catalysts. Lower values of Mo valence correspond to improved catalysts for HA synthesis.
Digital estimation of frequencies of sinusoids from wide-band under-sampled data

We present an novel method of fast and accurate estimation of the frequencies of sinusoids from short data records of wide-band under-sampled data. By introducing properly chosen delay lines, and by using sparse linear prediction, our proposed method provides unambiguous frequency estimates using low A/D conversion rates. It provides a new way to implement a digital microwave receiver under these conditions.
Abstract #5491: Determination of Escherichia coli single gene knockout strains hypersensitive to genotoxic agents

AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 18-22, 2009; Denver, CO Background. While chemotherapeutic regimens are widely used in the treatment of cancer, negative side effects, secondary mutagenesis, and incidences of drug resistance are often seen. One way to counteract these adverse effects is to discover improved chemotherapeutic regimens that would potentiate cancer-treatment drugs. Potential cellular targets for such drugs are proteins that provide intrinsic drug resistance. Because many agents used in chemotherapy also act as antibiotics, some bacterial proteins also provide intrinsic resistance to anticancer compounds, and suggest that their counterparts in human cells can be targets for drugs that potentiate these anticancer agents. Methods. We have tested a defined and virtually complete collection of close to 4,000 viable single gene knockouts in Escherichia coli to identify genes whose loss increases sensitivity to a set of 6 different chemotherapeutic agents and mutagens: Bleomycin (BLEO), Cisplatin (CPT), ICR-191 (ICR), 5-azacytidine (5AZ), Zebularine (ZEB), and 5-Bromouracil (5BU). We used high throughput screening of one or more sub-inhibitory concentrations of each agent. Results. We discovered a set of 211 strains that display significantly increased sensitivity to at least one of the agents tested. Combining the results generates a comprehensive sensitivity profile for genotoxic agents. This allows a rapid characterization of agents with respect to their mechanism of action based on a comparison with known profiles. The visualization of these results, with color-coding to indicate different cellular functions of the proteins involved, produces a set of striking figures. Conclusions. Although some of the gene knockout mutants are relatively specific to the type of agent tested, close to 40 others are hypersensitive to 3 or more agents. Collectively, these data provide targets for the design of co-drugs that can potentiate existing chemotherapeutic agents. Citation Information: In: Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res; 2009 Apr 18-22; Denver, CO. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; 2009. Abstract nr 5491.
9. Introduction to the elastic constants of gases

Summary A discussion of the elastic properties of gases quickly involves processes that store energy in the gas. These processes affect the dynamic elastic properties but have no noticeable effect on the static properties. Such behavior is also observed in solids but not to the extent of liquids. not mentioned in any of the above discussion are nonlinear effectsd. Gases do exhibit nonlinearity as do solids. In most cases the nonlinear behavior is straightforward and involves no new properties of the gas. For a good discussion of the nonlinear behavior of gases, see [60] .
Analysis of a 60 KW Photovoltaic Power Plant After the First Year of Operation

During the first year of operation, the 60 kW photovoltaic system at Mt Laguna Air Force Station met or exceeded nearly all of the technical requirements originally established. The system generated nearly 100,000 kWh, operating about 3400 hours. The downtime was extremely low. A 16% reduction in maximum available power of the array was experienced, which is attributed to module engineering problems.
Constant Tension: Regulating International Shipping

line, but ease that tension to prevent the very dangerous possibility of the line parting and to enable the controlled movement of the ship. Elizabeth DeSombre's Ragging Standards looks at a similar situation. It analyzes contemporary efforts to establish and maintain rigorous standards for the international shipping industry (tension on the line) without creating so much regulation, with its negative economic impact, that the system cannot operate (and the line parts from the stress). The book is a strong and insightful study of the world's second oldest profession, and in it DeSombre makes a relatively rare and quite valuable contribution both to the specialized literature on international shipping safety and to the broader literature on the formation and effectiveness of international regimes in an era of globalization. Both the most optimistic neoliberal institutionalists and those critics of international regimes who are least sanguine about the prospects for international cooperation will be equally disappointed in DeSombre's conclusion. In essence, she argues that--with respect to environmental, safety, and labor regulations in the shipping industry--the race is not to the top, or to the bottom, but to the middle. After exploring the roles of states, international organizations, industry groups, and international civil society actors, DeSombre unfolds what is, in her words, "a regulatory middle ground, where profit is still possible and a moderate level of protection achievable" (p. 229). As a contribution to the theoretical literatures on both international regimes and globalization, Flagging Standards usefully explores the efficacy of a host of interrelated efforts that are designed to improve the governance of international shipping. Given that international shipping is a critical global business in terms of the volume of goods involved, a greater understanding of efforts to make it a cleaner and safer industry is quite valuable. Her pursuit of that understanding leads DeSombre to the consideration of the roles played by states and numerous nonstate actors. Although states remain the dominant actors in the international shipping regime, efforts to raise environmental, safety, and labor standards have emerged from the interrelated efforts of several important "clubs." Each of these clubs, because of the exclusivity of their membership requirements, can compel actors who perform poorly to either come up to club standards, leave the market, or operate, often illegally, at the lowest end of the industry. In shipping terms, the last option involves moving the least profitable cargoes between ports that have the lowest standards because one's ship is effectively locked out of other opportunities. DeSombre very effectively develops the concept of exclusion as an incentive in an early chapter. Thereafter, she devotes individual chapters to the formation and performance of the state and nonstate clubs. Readers
Electron-impact ionization of atomic ions in the Sn and Xe isonuclear sequences

Abstract Electron-impact ionization cross-sections for all atomic ions in the Sn and Xe isonuclear sequences are calculated using a semi-relativistic configuration-average distorted-wave method. Contributions to the cross-sections are included from both direct ionization and indirect excitation-autoionization. Branching ratio calculations are carried out for Cu-like Sn21+and Xe25+ and Na-like Sn39+ and Xe43+ to determine when best to ignore indirect excitation-autoionization contributions due to radiation damping along the isonuclear sequences. Although experiments exist for Xe through to Xe6+, Xe8+, and Xe43+ the configuration-average distorted-wave results only agree well with the Xe8+ measurements, once metastable states are taken into account and with the Xe43+ measurements once radiation damping of the excitation-autoionization contribution is accounted for. Temperature-dependent rate coefficients are calculated for each Sn and Xe ionization stage and then put in a collisional-radiative format that should prove useful in modelling astrophysical and laboratory plasmas.