cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Testing the classroom citizenship behaviors scale: exploring the association of classroom citizenship behaviors and student traits

ABSTRACTThis study investigated the reliability and validity of Myers and colleagues’ Classroom Citizenship Behavior scale, as well as the relationship between student personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and communication apprehension) and CCBs. Two hundred and thirteen students completed questionnaires regarding the instructor of the class they attended prior to the one in which the study was administered. Reliabilities for the involvement and affiliation dimensions of the scale were acceptable; reliability for the courtesy dimension was less than researchers generally look for, consistent with Myers’ findings. Model fit for the scale as indicated by confirmatory factor analysis was acceptable. Relationships emerged between students’ self-reported CCBs and several personality traits. The largest correlation was a negative relationship between communication apprehension and the involvement dimension of classroom citizenship.
Spectrophotometry and Optical Biosensor

In the previous chapter we learned about optoelectronic light sensors, especially photodiode. Although many photodiodes are made to be specifically sensitive to a certain range of colors, e.g., UV-blue, red-IR, etc., they cannot tell the exact color or color combination of light signal. Photodiodes (and most other optoelectronic light sensors) simply inform us the intensity of light signals. Detailed information on color combination can be obtained by using a technique known as spectrophotometry, which involves an instrument spectrophotometer. Spectrophotometers are quite bulky and relatively expensive and have not been considered as a topic for sensors or biosensors. Recent years, however, very small spectrophotometers (a size comparable to a mobile phone) have become commercially available. In addition, spectrophotometers are becoming an integral part of many sensor and biosensor devices.
CARBOHYDRATE RECEPTORS IN NATURAL CELL-MEDIATED CYTOTOXICITY

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the role of carbohydrate receptors in natural cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Cytolysis of susceptible target cells mediated by natural killer cells can be divided into four discrete stages, which include the recognition of the target cell by the effector cell and the subsequent binding and the mechanisms of triggering and activation of the effector cell to elicit the third stage. Murine natural cell-mediated cytotoxicity can be inhibited by several sugars including d -mannose, d -galactose, and l -fucose; the recognition structure may be lectin-like in nature. Addition of Man-6-P to the effector cells prior to the addition of labeled target cells enhances the inhibitory activity slightly. Pretreatment of effector cells for one or two hours at 4° or 37° with either Man-6-P, Fru-l-P, or Fru-6-P followed by washing prior to the addition of target cells had no effect on the level of subsequent NCMC. These results demonstrate that Man-6-P is not directly toxic to effector cells. The addition of Man-6-P after the initiation of culture greatly decreases the efficacy, and the level of this decrease is proportional to the length of time between the initiation of culture and the addition of Man-6-P.
Staging of RF-accelerating Units in a MEMS-based Ion Accelerator

Abstract Multiple Electrostatic Quadrupole Array Linear Accelerators (MEQALACs) provide an opportunity to realize compact radio- frequency (RF) accelerator structures that can deliver very high beam currents. MEQALACs have been previously realized with acceleration gap distances and beam aperture sizes of the order of centimeters. Through advances in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) fabrication, MEQALACs can now be scaled down to the sub-millimeter regime and batch processed on wafer substrates. In this paper we show first results from using three RF stages in a compact MEMS-based ion accelerator. The results presented show proof-of-concept with accelerator structures formed from printed circuit boards using a 3 × 3 beamlet arrangement and noble gas ions at 10 keV. We present a simple model to describe the measured results. We also discuss some of the scaling behaviour of a compact MEQALAC. The MEMS-based approach enables a low-cost, highly versatile accelerator covering a wide range of currents (10 μA to 100 mA) and beam energies (100 keV to several MeV). Applications include ion-beam analysis, mass spectrometry, materials processing, and at very high beam powers, plasma heating.
Developmental Language Disorders

Developmental language disorders can present either as primary or as secondary disorders, depending on whether they occur alone or concurrent with other neurodevelopmental disorders. This chapter outlines classifications, definitions, and clinical features of primary and secondary neurodevelopmental language disorders and provides an overview of approaches to diagnosis and treatment.
From the ground up: building a system-wide professional development and support program for academic department chairs

ABSTRACTActions of academic chairs can dramatically affect a university's effectiveness and productivity, yet many department heads move into their roles without having experienced any training on many key aspects of the job. Within one multi-campus university system, it became evident that the system lacked a consistent tool, resource, or experience benefitting its 160+ department heads. Thus, the objectives of this study were to: (1) identify existing and needed training and support opportunities for academic chairs; (2) determine the content, commitment, and delivery preferences of the department heads for such a program; and (3) inform the design of a new initiative that addresses the department heads’ needs and preferences. Findings revealed a clear need for the development of interpersonal skills and departmental planning abilities, as well as a strong preference for informal, face-to-face programming.
Mechanisms and consequences of oxidative stress in lung disease: therapeutic implications for an aging populace.

The rapid expansion of the elderly population has led to the recent epidemic of age-related diseases, including increased incidence and mortality of chronic and acute lung diseases. Numerous studie...
A spike in mechanotransductive adenosine triphosphate release from red blood cells in microfluidic constrictions only occurs with rare donors.

OBJECTIVE Wan et al (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 105, 2008, 16432) demonstrated that RBCs rapidly and transiently release a spike of 300% more ATP shortly downstream from a short microfluidic constriction where the cells experience a sudden increase in shear stress. More recent work by Cinar et al (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 112, 2015, 11783), however, yielded no evidence for a similar spike in ATP release downstream of the constriction. Our aim was to determine whether a transient spike in mechanotransduction is the typical response of RBCs to the sudden onset of increased shear. METHODS We investigate ATP release downstream of a microfluidic constriction for 15 participants using a luciferase-based photoluminescent assay. RESULTS While we observe mechanotransductive ATP release from blood drawn from all donors, we find evidence of a spike in ATP concentration after the microfluidic constriction for only 2 of 15 participants. No clear trends in ATP release are found with respect to the magnitude of the applied shear stress, or to the gender, age, or physical activity (Baecke) index of the donor. CONCLUSIONS In aggregate, all data acquired to date suggest that a spike in mechanotransductive ATP due to a suddenly applied increase in shear stress occurs in blood drawn from only 14% of the population.
Some Aspects of Jewish-Christian Theological Interchanges in Holland and England 1640–1700

One of the most serious theological concerns in the 17th century was that of the conversion of the Jews. This event was seen by Millenarian thinkers as the crucial penultimate event before the commencement of the Thousand Year Reign of Christ on earth. The expectation that the Jews would convert just before the end of days was an age-old Christian hope. From early Christian times until the 17th century all sorts of activities were undertaken to bring this about. Jews were put under legal and financial disabilities; they were exiled if they refused to convert; they were forced to listen to sermons haranguing them to convert; they were given instruction in Christianity; they were forcibly baptized in Spain and Portugal; their children were taken from them so that at least the children would become Christians. An enormous amount of energy, physical, rhetorical and literary, went into these efforts over a millenium and a half, with little substantial result in turning the Jews into true and believing Christians.
Polymorphisms in the glutathione S-transferase class mu and theta genes interact and increase susceptibility to lung cancer in minority populations (Texas, United States)

The genes coding for separate isoforms of both the human glutathioneS-transferase class mu and class theta enzymes (GSTM1and GSTT1) arepolymorphic with a variable ethnic distribution. These enzymes detoxifyreactive epoxides, including carcinogens produced by tobacco smoke. Becauseof this, the null polymorphism in the GSTM1 gene (coding for the glutathioneS-transferase class mu enzyme) has been studied widely as a possible sourceof inherited susceptibility to smoking-related lung cancer. The more recentlydescribed null polymorphism in the GSTT1 gene also could contribute to anincreased risk of smoking-related lung cancer. As the incidence of lungcancer is known to differ by ethnicity, we have conducted a case-controlstudy in the United States of 108 African-Americans (Blacks) and 60Mexican-Americans (Hispanics) with lung cancer and 132 African-American(Black) and 146 Mexican-American (Hispanic) controls to investigate theassociation of the GSTT1 and GSTM1 polymorphi sms with lung cancer inminority populations. In the unadjusted data, there was a borderlinesignificant association of the GSTM1 null polymorphism with lung cancer inMexican-Americans (odds ratio [OR] = 1.8, 95 percent confidence interval [CI]= 1.0-3.3 ) that was not observed in African-Americans. The GSTT1 nullpolymorphism also had a higher prevalence in cases than controls in bothracial/ethnic groups, but this increase was not statistically significant.When the data were analyzed using logistic regression controlling for age,gender, race, and smoking, no significant association of either trait withlung cancer was observed, with ORs for both traits of approximately 1.3.However, when the prevalence of individuals who were null for bothpolymorphisms was compared by case status, a significant interaction wasobserved. Logistic regression models showed the OR for the association oflung cancer and the presence of both null polymorphisms compared with one(either GSTT1 or GSTM1) or no null genotype to be 2.9 (P < 0.04). Theseresults suggest that there may be carcinogenic intermediates in cigarettesmoke that are substrates for both the GSTT1 and GSTM1 enzymes, and that lungcancer risk is increased more than additively for individuals who have bothGSTT1 and GSTM1 null polymorphisms.
On-scene Mental Health Counseling Provided Through Police Departments

The expectation that police officers can address every need in every situation is daunting and unrealistic. Recognizing this, some police departments have instituted special training or used other resources to better serve the needs of citizens. One example is an on-scene crisis counseling unit comprised of volunteer mental health professionals who respond to calls with police officers. These counselors provide mental health services that police officers cannot. This article explains the usefulness of this type of program, and crisis counseling in general, for both officers and victims as they deal with crises like domestic violence, homicide, suicide, and sexual assault. The study examines survey results from victims and police officers about the impact of this intervention. The data support the helpfulness of the program. Implications and recommendations for further research are included.
Emerging System Level Applications for LED Technology

This chapter describes possible future system level applications of LED technology from the viewpoint of emerging trends in lighting related human health, communications, and display technologies. Currently, almost every aspect of LED technology from substrates to systems applications is undergoing rapid technical evolution, so projections about future system level applications are highly speculative, and this assessment presumes that solutions to long standing LED issues like droop and poor green/yellow performance will ultimately be found. Future system level applications will also be tightly convolved with the system level incorporation of new types of light sensors and embedded processing capabilities so that feedback loops between the light source, the environment and the control system can be closed. Future systems level applications will also be tightly convolved the development of new features and services needed to extend business revenue models of lighting companies as the progress in LED system reliability drives future applications in lighting to the point that bulb/socket commodity business models begin to fail, and business models based on the offering of new lighting features and services are developed.
A Composable Discrete-Time Cellular Automaton Formalism

Existing Cellular Automata formalisms do not consider heterogenous composition of models. Simulations that are grounded in a suitable modeling formalism offer unique benefits as compared with those that are developed using an adhoc combination of modeling concepts and implementation techniques. The emerging and extensive use of CA in simulating complex heterogeneous network systems heightens the importance of formal model specification. An extended discrete-time CA modeling formalism is developed in the context of hybrid modeling with support for external interactions.
Knowledge and Views of Psychological Tests Among Psychiatrists and Psychologists

Little is known about the comparative knowledge base and use of testing among psychiatrists and psychologists, although both groups are asked to make critical diagnostic decisions based on test res...
Introduction to the Special Section on the 2018 RFIC Symposium

This Special Section of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits covers expanded papers from the 2018 Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium (RFIC Symposium), which was held on June 10–12, 2018, in Philadelphia, PA, USA.
The Bounded and Pragmatic Consultant: Fiscal Impact Analysts as Rational Actors

ABSTRACTThis article examines how fiscal impact analysts retained by municipal governments across the United States approach their work. Consistent with theories of rationality found in the extant ...
Java Generics: An Order-Theoretic Approach (Detailed Outline)

Generics have been added to Java so as to increase the expressiveness of its type system. Generics in Java, however, include some features---such as Java wildcards, $F$-bounded generics, and Java erasure---that have been hard to analyze and reason about so far, reflecting the fact that the mathematical modeling of generics in Java and other similar nominally-typed object-oriented programming (OOP) languages is a challenge. As a result, the type systems of mainstream nominally-typed OOP languages, which are built based on current models of generics, are overly complex, which hinders the progress of these type systems. In this paper we present a detailed outline of a new approach to modeling Java generics that uses concepts and tools from order theory, and we report on our progress in developing this approach. Fundamentally, we use the nominal subclassing relation (as a partial order) together with some standard and novel order-theoretic tools to construct the generic nominal subtyping relation (as a partial order) and the containment relation between generic type arguments (a third partial order). We further analyze the relation between these three ordering relations---which lie at the heart of mainstream generic OO type systems---using order theoretic tools, and accordingly we explore extensions of OO type systems suggested by such analysis. In our approach we also make use of some concepts and tools from category theory. We believe a combined order-theoretic and category-theoretic approach to modeling generics holds the keys to overcoming much of the adversity found when analyzing features of generic OO type systems.
Coupling Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting and Targeted Analysis of Histone Modification Profiles in Primary Human Leukocytes

Histone posttranslational modifications (PTMs) are essential for regulating chromatin and maintaining gene expression throughout cell differentiation. Despite the deep level of understanding of immunophenotypic differentiation pathways in hematopoietic cells, few studies have investigated global levels of histone PTMs required for differentiation and maintenance of these distinct cell types. Here, we describe an approach to couple fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) with targeted mass spectrometry to define global “epi-proteomic” signatures for primary leukocytes. FACS was used to sort closely and distantly related leukocytes from normal human peripheral blood for quantitation of histone PTMs with a multiple reaction monitoring LC-MS/MS method measuring histone PTMs on histones H3 and H4. We validate cell sorting directly into H2SO4 for immediate histone extraction to decrease time and number of steps after FACS to analyze histone PTMs. Relative histone PTM levels vary in T cells across healthy donors, and the majority of PTMs remain stable up to 2 days following initial blood draw. Large differences in the levels of histone PTMs are observed across the mature lymphoid and myeloid lineages, as well as between different types within the same lineage, though no differences are observed in closely related T cell subtypes. The results show a streamlined approach for quantifying global changes in histone PTMs in cell types separated by FACS that is poised for clinical deployment.
Integration of Virtual Reality in Secondary STEM Education

While the next generation of educational technologies (ET), such as monitor-based (MB) and virtual reality (VR) applications, are still in their infancy, they do show promise for improving education. In this study, we compared MB and VR educational technologies as alternative supplemental learning environments to traditional classroom instruction using lectures, textbooks, and physical labs. We conducted the study in four high school chemistry classes, as chemistry education is well-suited for visually enhanced explanations for learning abstract concepts, and provides a solid testing situation for current and extended reality ET. Ultimately, this research project serves as a foundation to determine whether ETs have the potential to engage high school students in their STEM classes. Successful integration of ET into the public school system curricula may be a viable solution to engage students in STEM education.
Evaluation of an Infertile Transgenic Male Animal

Genetically modified animals are produced by random integration of a transgene into the genome or by targeted integration of a recombinant DNA sequence into a specific gene by homologous recombination. Fertility in transgenic male mice may be altered due to over-production or under-production of protein, synthesis of protein in the wrong cell type or at the wrong time, or disruption of the function of a gene by random integration or targeted disruption. Strategies are suggested for efficiently determining if these or other changes are responsible for the infertility and for determining the causes and new approaches for generating transgenic animals are described.
Targeting adenosinergic pathway and adenosine A2A receptor signaling for the treatment of COVID-19: A hypothesis

The most serious health issue today is the rapid outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). More than 6,973,427 confirmed cases were diagnosed in nearly 213 countries and territories around the world and two international conveyances, causing globally over 400,000 deaths. Epidemiology, risk factors, and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients have been identified, but the factors influencing the immune system against COVID-19 have not been well established. Upon infection or cell damage, high amounts of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) are released from damaged cells, which serve as mediators of inflammation through purinergic cell surface receptor signaling. As a protective mechanism to prevent excessive damage to host tissue, adenosine counteracts ATP's effects by adenosine receptor stimulation to suppress the pro-inflammatory response. Adenosine is seen as a major obstacle to the efficacy of immune therapies, and the adenosinergic axis components are critical therapeutic targets for cancer and microbial infections. Pharmacologic inhibitors or antibodies specific to adenosinergic pathway components or adenosine receptors in microbial and tumor therapy have shown efficacy in pre-clinical studies and are entering the clinical arena. In this review, we provide a novel hypothesis explaining the potential for improving the efficiency of innate and adaptive immune systems by targeting adenosinergic pathway components and adenosine A2A receptor signaling for the treatment of COVID-19.
SmartNIC Performance Isolation with FairNIC: Programmable Networking for the Cloud

Multiple vendors have recently released SmartNICs that provide both special-purpose accelerators and programmable processing cores that allow increasingly sophisticated packet processing tasks to be offloaded from general-purpose CPUs. Indeed, leading data-center operators have designed and deployed SmartNICs at scale to support both network virtualization and application-specific tasks. Unfortunately, cloud providers have not yet opened up the full power of these devices to tenants, as current runtimes do not provide adequate isolation between individual applications running on the SmartNICs themselves. We introduce FairNIC, a system to provide performance isolation between tenants utilizing the full capabilities of a commodity SoC SmartNIC. We implement FairNIC on Cavium LiquidIO 2360s and show that we are able to isolate not only typical packet processing, but also prevent MIPS-core cache pollution and fairly share access to fixed-function hardware accelerators. We use FairNIC to implement NIC-accelerated OVS and key/value store applications and show that they both can cohabitate on a single NIC using the same port, where the performance of each is unimpacted by other tenants. We argue that our results demonstrate the feasibility of sharing SmartNICs among virtual tenants, and motivate the development of appropriate security isolation mechanisms.
RUNX1 haploinsufficiency causes a marked deficiency of megakaryocyte-biased hematopoietic progenitor cells: Mechanistic studies and drug correction

Abstract Patients with familial platelet disorder with a predisposition to myeloid malignancy (FPDMM) harbor germline monoallelic mutations in a key hematopoietic transcription factor RUNX1. Previous studies of FPDMM have focused on megakaryocyte (Mk) differentiation, and platelet production and signaling. However, the effects of RUNX1 haploinsufficiency on hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) and subsequent megakaryopoiesis remains incomplete. To address this issue, we studied induced-pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived HPCs (iHPCs) and Mks (iMks) from both patient-derived lines and a wildtype line modified to be RUNX1 haploinsufficient (RUNX1+/−), each compared to their isogenic wildtype control. All RUNX1+/− lines showed decreased iMk yield and depletion of a Mk-biased iHPC subpopulation. To investigate global and local gene expression changes underlying this iHPC shift, single-cell RNA sequencing was performed on sorted FPDMM and control iHPCs. We defined several cell subpopulations in FPDMM Mk-biased iHPCs. Analyses of gene sets upregulated in FPDMM iHPCs indicated enrichment for response to stress, regulation of signal transduction and response to cytokine gene sets. Immunoblotting studies in FPDMM iMks were consistent with these findings, but also identified augmented baseline c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) phosphorylation, known to be activated by transforming growth factor β1 and cellular stressors. J-IN8 and RepSox, small drugs targeting these pathways, corrected quantitative defects in FPDMM iHPC production. These findings were confirmed in adult human CD34+-derived stem and progenitor cells transduced with lentiviral RUNX1 short-hairpin (sh) RNA to mimic RUNX1+/−. These mechanistic studies of the defect in megakaryopoiesis in FPDMM suggest druggable pathways for clinical management of thrombocytopenia in affected patients. Key points RUNX1 haploinsufficiency results in a deficiency of megakaryocyte-biased hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs). RUNX1 haploinsufficiency elevates druggable proinflammatory and TGFβR1-related pathways in HPCs.
Incomplete bioinformatic filtering and inadequate age and growth analysis lead to an incorrect inference of harvested-induced changes.

Understanding the evolutionary impacts of harvest on fish populations is important for informing fisheries management and conservation and has become a growing research topic over the last decade. However, the dynamics of fish populations are highly complex, and phenotypes can be influenced by many biotic and abiotic factors. Therefore, it is vital to collect robust data and explore multiple alternative hypotheses before concluding that fish populations are influenced by harvest. In their recently published manuscript, Bowles et al, Evolutionary Applications, 13(6):1128 conducted age/growth and genomic analysis of walleye (Sander vitreus) populations sampled 13-15 years (1-2.5 generations) apart and hypothesized that observed phenotypic and genomic changes in this time period were likely due to harvest. Specifically, Bowles et al. (2020) documented differential declines in size-at-age in three exploited walleye populations compared to a separate, but presumably less-exploited, reference population. Additionally, they documented population genetic differentiation in one population pair, homogenization in another, and outlier loci putatively under selection across time points. Based on their phenotypic and genetic results, they hypothesized that selective harvest had led to fisheries-induced evolution (referred to as nascent changes) in the exploited populations in as little as 1-2.5 generations. We re-analyzed their data and found that (a) sizes declined across both exploited and reference populations during the time period studied and (b) observed genomic differentiation in their study was the result of inadequate data filtering, including retaining individuals with high amounts of missing data and retaining potentially undersplit and oversplit loci that created false signals of differentiation between time points. This re-analysis did not provide evidence for phenotypic or genetic changes attributable to harvest in any of the study populations, contrasting the hypotheses presented by Bowles et al. (2020). Our comment highlights the potential pitfalls associated with conducting age/growth analyses with low sample sizes and inadequately filtering genomic datasets.
Diet, Microbiome, Inflammation, and Cancer

Interactions between host nutrition, microbiota, and inflammation is an area of intense and growing interest to prevent or halt cancer. In complement to recent reviews focusing on the experimental evidence and the potential mechanisms underlying these relationships, this book chapter focuses on human observational and interventional studies of the microbiome as it relates to dietary patterns and key dietary factors with established links to inflammation and inflammation-driven cancers. Toward establishing causality in humans and the development of broadly beneficial targets, human prospective and interventional data bolster experimental models demonstrating that dietary components or patterns, at least in part, shape the composition of the gut microbiome and that diet and the gut microbiome, independently and collectively, modulate localized and systemic inflammation, as well as other critical pathways to cancer initiation and progression. Thus, dietary interventions, if capable of achieving timely and sufficient long-term behavior change, could theoretically be used to “improve” microbiome community structure and function and/or displace or reduce bacteria that promote cancer. Research focused on various parameters of microbiome-based personalized nutrition in cancer prevention and treatment is likely to continue to inform important targets and interactions that will shape clinical and public health practice.
Navigating Leadership Challenges in a Polycentric World

Polycentric leadership is a growing issue in the global missions movement. The focus of this article is to help readers understand polycentrism broadly and examine what it means for those seeking t...
Critical Normativity

Skeptics argue that statements about right and wrong are merely expressions of preferences. They are mistaken; values are not the same as mere preferences. When we assert preferences that affect others, we justify our actions by giving reasons that we believe others should accept. When we evaluate those reasons, we typically reject certain preferences as illegitimate. Values are different from preferences because they entail demands we feel entitled to make of each other, after critical reflection. But this does not require us to become moral realists who base value judgments on the existence of moral facts. Critical normativity adopts the paradoxical stance that value judgments are based on human will but that they can be right or wrong. Human beings cannot live without strong normative claims but we are obligated to be careful about them. This article illustrates this stance by telling three parables of justice.
A Modified Lethal and Potentially Lethal Model With Explicit Oxygen Tension Dependence for FLASH RT.

Purpose/Objective(s) To modify Curtis Lethal and Potentially Lethal (LPL) model to extend it from conventional (CONV) to ultra-high dose rate (FLASH) Radiotherapy (RT) domain with explicit intracellular oxygen tension dependence. Materials/Methods After combining radiation-induced oxygen depletion, oxygen fixation hypothesis, and the Oxygen Enhancement Ratio (OER) concept, we incorporate intracellular oxygen tension dependence into the coefficients of the ordinary differential equations describing the original Curtis LPL model. Two biochemical pre-lesion states for the LPL lesions are amended into the model to explain the oxygen post-effect on the cell radiation survival fraction (SF). We perform analytical and numerical analyses for the solutions of the average numbers of LPL lesions. Using Poisson statistics, we can use the average number of LPL lesions to predict the cell SF for FLASH RT. Results Our modified LPL model maintains all original LPL model characteristics at fixed intracellular oxygen tension. For variable intracellular oxygen tensions, our new model extends prediction capabilities to FLASH RT. The comparisons of the two models are summarized below: Conclusion Our modified LPL model has the potential to explain the observed FLASH phenomena, i.e., FLASH RT provides better normal tissue sparing while maintaining similar tumor control compared with CONV RT. Future studies are necessary to quantitatively validate our model predictions in systematically conducted FLASH irradiation experiments.
Root Cause Analysis for the Phase Noise of the Clock Generator

The performance of the high-speed links in the electronic system is highly dependent on the quality of the clock signal, which can be quantified by phase noise. The phase noise represents the instabilities of the signal in the frequency domain by measuring the power at various offsets from the carrier frequency. The root cause for the phase noise of the clock output at the resonance frequency is analyzed and identified in this paper. The power supply, the heat sink, and the external crystal are the main sources of the phase noise. Spurious occurs at the frequency of the power rail in the measured phase noise. The heat sink over the chip induces the conductive coupling noise to the clock. The low-frequency bump in the phase noise plot turns out to be induced by the external crystal design of the clock. More attention should be paid to the ground routing of the external crystal to ensure the quality of the clock output.
Effects of Ethylene on the Development of Legume Seedlings

Ethylene (H2C=CH2) is now almost universally regarded as a plant hormone. Recognition of this relatively simple hydrocarbon as a hormone came about reluctantly on the part of many physiologists, however, even after the compound was recognized as a natural plant product which influences growth and development in numerous ways. The reason for the hesitation was that ethylene is unique among endogenous growth regulators in being a vapor at physiological temperatures. Thus the metabolism, transport and action of ethylene possess features and involve problems not commonly encountered in hormone biochemistry and physiology.
Chemical Data Assimilation with CMAQ: Continuous vs. Discrete Advection Adjoints

The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) system is the Environmental Protection Agency's main modeling tool for atmospheric pollution studies. CMAQ-ADJ, the adjoint model of CMAQ, offers new capabilities such as receptor-oriented sensitivity analysis and chemical data assimilation. This paper presents the construction of discrete advection adjoints in CMAQ. The new adjoints are thoroughly validated against finite differences. We assess the performance of discrete and continuous advection adjoints in CMAQ on sensitivity analysis and 4D-Var data assimilation applications. The results show that discrete adjoint sensitivities better agree with finite difference value than their continuous counterparts. However, continuous adjoints result in a faster convergence of the numerical optimization in 4D-Var data assimilation. Similar conclusions apply to modified discrete adjoints.
Abstract 15903: “Out-Of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Clinical Trials, Relationship Between Clinical Trial Sample Size and the Odds Ratio of Treatment Effect 1978 to the Present"

Introduction: Randomized clinical trials (RCT) have been conducted in out of hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA) since at least 19709s. Despite significant effort toward development of clinical trial expertise in resuscitation research, positive trials have been rare. It is well recognized that large treatment effects in early, relatively small clinical trials are often not replicated in later large Phase III trials. Hypothesis: There is a negative relationship between sample size (SS) and the odds ration (OR) of treatment effect in OOHCA randomized clinical trials (RCT’s). Methods: Comprehensive online search for RCTs in OOHCA with n > 100 (control group n>50), 1960 to present with extraction of demographic, clinical and outcome variable and regression analysis of SS and OR of treatment effect. Results: n=72 usable RCTS were identified, all since 1978. There was a significant negative relationship between OR and SS (p Limitations: Retrospective methodology and background regional differences limits significance and applicability, hypothesis generating only. Conclusion: Similar to other clinical entities, OOHCA RCT’s may have a relationship between the OR of treatment effect and the study SS. This effect should be considered in the evaluation and development of new therapies.
Chronic focal sclerosing osteomyelitis associated with a cracked tooth : report of a case

Chronic focal sclerosing osteomyelitis is a periapical lesion that involves reactive osteogenesis evoked by chronic inflammation of the dental pulp. In most cases, this lesion develops in the mandibular molar region in response to a low-grade infection of the pulp that results from a deep carious lesion. A case is presented in which incomplete tooth fracture was the apparent cause of this type of periapical pathosis.
Development and Integration of Hardware and Software for Active-Sensors in Structural Monitoring

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) promises to deliver great benefits to many industries. Primarily among them is a potential for large cost savings in maintenance of complex structures such as aircraft and civil infrastructure. However, several large obstacles remain before widespread use on structures can be accomplished. The development of three components would address many of these obstacles: a robust sensor validation procedure, a low-cost active-sensing hardware and an integrated software package for transition to field deployment. The research performed in this thesis directly addresses these three needs and facilitates the adoption of SHM on a larger scale, particularly in the realm of SHM based on piezoelectric (PZT) materials. The first obstacle addressed in this thesis is the validation of the SHM sensor network. PZT materials are used for sensor/actuators because of their unique properties, but their functionality also needs to be validated for meaningful measurements to be recorded. To allow for a robust sensor validation algorithm, the effect of temperature change on sensor diagnostics and the effect of sensor failure on SHM measurements were classified. This classification allowed for the development of a sensor diagnostic algorithm that is temperature invariant and can indicate the amount and type of sensor failure.more » Secondly, the absence of a suitable commercially-available active-sensing measurement node is addressed in this thesis. A node is a small compact measurement device used in a complete system. Many measurement nodes exist for conventional passive sensing, which does not actively excite the structure, but there are no measurement nodes available that both meet the active-sensing requirements and are useable outside the laboratory. This thesis develops hardware that is low-power, active-sensing and field-deployable. This node uses the impedance method for SHM measurements, and can run the sensor diagnostic algorithm also developed here. Finally, the need for an integrated system for SHM is of primary consideration in this thesis. Without such a system the widespread adoption of SHM will not take place, and this thesis addresses the issue by developing an integrated SHM solution. The solution incorporates active-sensing impedance-measurement based hardware and software with a combination of existing damage-detection algorithms. The result is an integrated system for in-field measurement, validation and analysis of structures. The system specifically incorporates the sensor validation procedure and sensor node also developed in this thesis. In conclusion, recommendations for the future direction of this research topic are made.« less
Locally Optimal Algorithms and Solutions for Distributed Constraint Optimization.

This paper summarizes the author’s recent work in distributed constraint optimization (DCOP). New local algorithms, as well as theoretical results about the types of solutions that these algorithms can reach, are discussed.
ARTS - automated radio tools server

There are two fundamental interfaces to the radio under test (RUT) in an automated test system (ATS) i.e. intrusive and non-intrusive, intrusive approach can be either software intrusive or hardware intrusive or both. Automated radio tools server, ARTS, is an initiative to develop a nonintrusive and non-product specific automated test tool for subscriber radios. ARTS aim to provide an abstraction of the functional interface with target RUT in ATS architecture. Through this level of abstraction, different ATS can be developed to utilize standard ARTS services to control the RLT. Three fundamental test services have been identified for the implementation in ARTS: keypress services, LCD display services and radio tone services. This paper attempts to present the motivation, design and describe the possible implementation of ARTS in several system-level ATS platform.
Application of Contact Mode AFM to Manufacturing Processes

A review of the application of contact mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) to manufacturing processes is presented. A brief introduction to common experimental techniques including hardness, scratch, and wear testing is presented, with a discussion of challenges in the extension of manufacturing scale investigations to the AFM. Differences between the macro- and nanoscales tests are discussed, including indentation size effects and their importance in the simulation of processes such as grinding. The basics of lubrication theory are presented and friction force microscopy is introduced as a method of investigating metal forming lubrication on the nano- and microscales that directly simulates tooling/workpiece asperity interactions. These concepts are followed by a discussion of their application to macroscale industrial manufacturing processes and direct correlations are made.
Exploring the Attitudinal Structure of Partisanship

This study examined the structure of attitudes toward the political party an individual primarily identifies with and attitudes toward the other party with an emphasis on differentiating between the cognitive and affective components. Participants responded to a telephone survey that included measures of party identification, partisan attitudes, political information involvement activities, and voting behavior. Results indicated attitudes toward the parties were a function of both cognitive and affective components, although strong partisans had an attitudinal structure characterized as having a stronger cognitive component. Strong partisans were more polarized in their attitudes across parties. In addition, individuals with more cognitive-affective ambivalence toward their own parties were less likely to vote, and their votes were less likely to be along party lines. jasp_657 2232..2266
Habitat use by fishes of Lake Superior. I. Diel patterns of habitat use in nearshore and offshore waters of the Apostle Islands region

Diel patterns of distribution of fishes in nearshore (15–80 m depth) and offshore (>80 m) waters of the Apostle Islands region of Lake Superior were described using bottom trawls, mid-water trawls, and acoustic gear during day and night sampling. These data revealed three types of diel migration: diel vertical migration (DVM), diel bank migration (DBM), and no migration. DVM was expressed by fishes migrating from benthopelagic to pelagic strata and DBM was expressed by fishes migrating horizontally from deeper waters in the day to shallower waters at night while remaining within the benthopelagic stratum. Most fishes that did not exhibit diel migration showed increased nighttime densities as a result of increased activity and movement from benthic to benthopelagic strata. Rainbow Smelt (Osmerus mordax), Cisco (Coregonus artedi), Bloater (C. hoyi), Kiyi (C. kiyi), juvenile Trout-Perch (Percopsis omiscomaycus), and adult siscowet (Salvelinus namaycush siscowet) exhibited DVM. Lake Whitefish (C. clupeaformis...
Fiber-Optic Sensor Principles

This article presents the fundamental principles common to all optical fiber sensors, as well as general issues concerning their application to structural health monitoring systems. More detailed descriptions of specific optical fiber sensors can be found in Intensity-, Interferometric-, and Scattering-based Optical-fiber Sensors and Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors. Lightwave propagation through an optical fiber is described with an emphasis on mode propagation constants and energy distributions. The four primary sensing mechanisms exploiting these parameters are presented: intensity, phase, spectrum, and polarization encoding. Common sensor uses for different optical fiber types are presented including single-mode, multimode, high-birefringence, and polymer optical fibers. Commonly applied laser sources are also described. Finally, the integration of optical fiber sensors into structural components is discussed including the strength and attenuation properties of the optical fibers themselves. Included are methods for embedment in composite laminates and concrete structures, the strain transfer between the host structure and the embedded sensor, and the integrity of composite structures with embedded optical fiber sensor networks. Keywords: optical fiber sensor; strain sensor; temperature sensor; pressure sensor; composite laminate; concrete infrastructure
Supplemented eggshell restores calcium transport in chorioallantoic membrane of cultured shell-less chick embryos

It was previously reported (Tuan, 1980 a ) that the development-specific expression of calcium transport and related functions in the chick embryonic chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) requires the continuous presence of the eggshell, the calcium source of the embryo. To further understand the mechanism of action of the eggshell on the CAM functions, this study reports the effects of eggshell supplementation on chick embryos maintained in shell-less cultures. The cultured embryos were able to accumulate and utilize the exogenous shell, calcium applied directly onto the CAM, for skeletal formation. In the region of the CAM directly adhering to the added shell, calcium transport activity, calcium-binding protein(CaBP) activity, and vitamin K-dependent γ-glutamyl carboxylase activity were significantly restored. These results strongly suggest that the proximity of shell calcium may regulate expression of calcium transport and related functions in the chick embryonic CAM.
Sum List Coloring Block Graphs

A graph is f-choosable if for every collection of lists with list sizes specified by f there is a proper coloring using colors from the lists. We characterize f-choosable functions for block graphs (graphs in which each block is a clique, including trees and line graphs of trees). The sum choice number is the minimum over all choosable functions f of the sum of the sizes in f. The sum choice number of any graph is at most the number of vertices plus the number of edges. We show that this bound is tight for block graphs.
Single-Molecule Optical-Tweezers Studies of Ribosome Translation and Unwinding of Messenger RNA

Ribosomes translate the genetic code in an mRNA into a protein; three nucleotides-one codon-code for one amino acid. Because natural mRNAs contain base-paired regions, the ribosome needs to unwind these structures into single-strands before the structured regions can be translated. Furthermore, mRNA secondary and tertiary structures are involved in translation regulation mechanisms, such as frame-shifting. Bulk studies have shown that mRNA structures slow down the translation rate and that the unwinding is inherent to the ribosome. But the unwinding mechanism is not well understood. We used optical tweezers to apply force to the ends of an mRNA hairpin being translated by a single ribosome. At constant force, the mRNA end-to-end distance increases as the ribosome translates the message and converts double-stranded RNA into single strand. This technique allows observation of codon-by-codon translation. The translation rate dependence on force provides information on the ribosome unwinding mechanism. We found that the translation rate increases quickly as force is increased within a narrow force range, but the rate plateaus below and above this force range. We also found that the translation rate on duplex mRNA (low force plateau) is ∼50% of the rate on single-stranded mRNA (high force plateau). The observed force dependence is inconsistent with a passive unwinding model, or the active unwinding models that have been applied to T7 and NS3 helicases. Instead, the data call for a different type of active unwinding mechanism. This result suggests that there might be fundamental differences in the unwinding mechanism of ribosomes and of other nucleic acid helicases. Our results show a tight coupling of the ribosome translation and unwinding activities, and should facilitate understanding of translation regulation mechanisms, such as frame-shifting.