cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exposure to particles stimulates superoxide production by human THP-1 macrophages and avian HD-11EM osteoclasts activated by tumor necrosis factor-α and PMA

Wear of orthopaedic implants generates particles capable of inducing bone resorption and aseptic loosening of the implant. The present study shows the combined effect of particles and cell activation on macrophage (THP-1) and oste- oclast (HD-11EM) release of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, providing insight into mechanisms that can lead to osteolysis. In the absence of cell activation, exposure of either cell type to submicron zirconia or latex particles did not elicit an increase in reactive oxygen and nitrogen species production. Suboptimal stimulation with 4-phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) plus particles resulted in a syner- gistic release of superoxide (O2 ), however, and a low-level production of nitric oxide by THP-1 macrophages. Similarly, particle stimulation of tumor necrosis factor--activated THP-1 cells increased O2 release. Our findings show the syner- gistic effect of cell activation and wear particles on O2 production by activated macrophages and osteoclasts, suggesting O2 involvement in mediating osteolysis.
Soluble and particulate Co-Cr-Mo alloy implant metals activate the inflammasome danger signaling pathway in human macrophages: a novel mechanism for implant debris reactivity.

Immune reactivity to soluble and particulate implant debris remains the primary cause of aseptic inflammation and implant loosening. However, the intracellular mechanisms that trigger immune cells to sense and respond to exogenous nonbiological agents such as metal particles or metal ions released from orthopedic implants remain unknown. Recent studies in immunology have outlined the importance of the intracellular inflammasome complex of proteins in sensing danger/stress signals triggered by nonbiological agents in the cytosol of macrophages. We hypothesized that metal implant debris can activate the inflammasome pathway in macrophages that causes caspase-1-induced cleavage of intracellular pro-IL-1β into its mature form, resulting in IL-1β secretion and induction of a broader proinflammatory response. We tested this hypothesis by examining whether soluble cobalt, chromium, molybdenum, and nickel ions and Co-Cr-Mo alloy particles induce inflammasome- mediated macrophage reactivity. Our results demonstrate that these agents stimulate IL-1β secretion in human macrophages that is inflammasome mediated (i.e., NADPH-, caspase-1-, Nalp3-, and ASC-dependent). Thus, metal ion- and particle-induced activation of the inflammasome in human macrophages provides evidence of a novel pathway of implant debris-induced inflammation, where contact with implant debris is sensed and transduced by macrophages into a proinflammatory response. © 2008 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 27: 847–854, 2009
X-Ray-Induced Transient Attenuation At Low Temperatures In Polymer Clad Silica (PCS) Fibers

A set of eight polymer clad silica (PCS) fibers from Quartz & Silice with varying water content, cladding thickness, and cladding material type have been exposed to 50 nsec wide X-ray pulses at different temperatures (-45°C, -25°C, 0°C, +25°C) in order to study the effect of fiber parameters and temperature on the extent of X-ray induced transient attenuation at typical LED wavelengths (820 nm, 900 nm, 940 nm, 1060 nm). Our results indicate that, relative to other fiber parameters, the presence of water suppresses the transient attenuation in these fibers especially at the longer wavelengths and lower temperatures. Both the peak transient attenuation, ap, and the normalized transient attenuation, α (t)/αρ, increased with decreasing temperature as one might expect for thermally-limited recovery processes. The peak trans-ient attenuation also increased with decreasing wavelength, with the wavelength dependence being stronger in the wet fibers. Within the limits of this experiment, the cladding characteristics had no effect on the fiber response to irradiation. Thus, in spite of the fact that the presence of water leads to greater intrinsic fiber attenuation between 900 nm and 1000 nm, its presence is beneficial to low temperature fiber behavior in an ionizing environment.© (1982) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
A multistep genomic screen identifies new genes required for repair of DNA double-strand breaks in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Efficient mechanisms for rejoining of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are vital because misrepair of such lesions leads to mutation, aneuploidy and loss of cell viability. DSB repair is mediated by proteins acting in two major pathways, called homologous recombination and nonhomologous end-joining. Repair efficiency is also modulated by other processes such as sister chromatid cohesion, nucleosome remodeling and DNA damage checkpoints. The total number of genes influencing DSB repair efficiency is unknown. To identify new yeast genes affecting DSB repair, genes linked to gamma radiation resistance in previous genome-wide surveys were tested for their impact on repair of site-specific DSBs generated by in vivo expression of EcoRI endonuclease. Eight members of the RAD52 group of DNA repair genes (RAD50, RAD51, RAD52, RAD54, RAD55, RAD57, MRE11 and XRS2) and 73 additional genes were found to be required for efficient repair of EcoRI-induced DSBs in screens utilizing both MATa and MATα deletion strain libraries. Most mutants were also sensitive to the clastogenic chemicals MMS and bleomycin. Several of the non-RAD52 group genes have previously been linked to DNA repair and over half of the genes affect nuclear processes. Many proteins encoded by the protective genes have previously been shown to associate physically with each other and with known DNA repair proteins in high-throughput proteomics studies. A majority of the proteins (64%) share sequence similarity with human proteins, suggesting that they serve similar functions. We have used a genetic screening approach to detect new genes required for efficient repair of DSBs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The findings have spotlighted new genes that are critical for maintenance of genome integrity and are therefore of greatest concern for their potential impact when the corresponding gene orthologs and homologs are inactivated or polymorphic in human cells.
Adsorption properties of porous silicon characterized by optically enhanced 129Xe NMR spectroscopy

Abstract Highly spin polarized xenon is used to study the adsorption properties of porous silicon surfaces by 129Xe NMR spectroscopy. The sensitivity enhancement through optical pumping allows the NMR characterization of small amounts of physisorbed xenon in a pressure regime typical for adsorption isotherms. Fully hydrogen terminated porous silicon, porous silicon with an increased number of dangling bonds and porous silicon after methanol adsorption are characterized by the adsorbed 129Xe NMR lineshape, chemical shift and relaxation behavior.
Greek exchange rate behaviour following German and US monetary policy shifts

The paper examines the stochastic behaviour and the volatility patterns of the Greek drachma against the German mark and the US dollar in response to shifts in the monetary stances of Germany and the US. The methodological design is the GARCH specification. The results strongly suggest that switches in the targets of the monetary authorities in Germany, before and after its unification, have exerted a significant impact on the conditional variance of the drachma/mark exchange rate, whereas a change in the US's monetary policy had, initially, an important but a gradually declining effect on the drachma/dollar rate. Moreover, after Germany's reunification, there was a noticeable influence on the exchange rate, a result consistent with the period during which Greece implemented drastic changes in its financial markets as it prepared for full induction in the European Monetary Union.
China's urban housing market development: Problems and prospects

This study analyzes the predicaments and prospects of China's urban housing market development. To this end, it examines the pre‐reform housing system in China's urban sector, presents major reform efforts, and investigates most recent reform designs and price subsidy schemes. The author maintains that China's housing market can be expected to develop vigorously as both fundamental factors and policy directives favor such a development.
Relaxing pre-selector filter selectivity requirements using cognitive RF front-end control

This paper proposes the use of a cognitive engine to control the local oscillator and sampling frequencies in a flexible receiver RF front-end. The analysis in this paper shows that this cognitive engine has the potential to relax selectivity requirement of the pre-selector filter in receiver RF front-end. The cognitive engine is designed by modeling the RF front-end in channelized spectrum domain. The paper also develops a new spectrum occupancy model to evaluate the performance of the approach. Theoretical analysis and simulations are also carried out using the developed model. The results show that the designed cognitive engine can enable a poorly selective receiver to behave similar to highly selective receiver. Furthermore, this paper analyzes the computational complexity of the designed cognitive engine.
Comparison of models for the absorption coefficient of liquids

Abstract Bandshape expressions for the condensed phase absorption coefficient and dielectric constant which incorporate the Lorentz and Onsager-Bottcher local field models are presented and compared with experiment for four liquid-phase infrared bands. The principal difference between the two models is the predicted value for the integrated absorptivity. While this quantity varies by up to 10% between the two models, differences of the same magnitude occur within each model when fit to both the real and imaginary components of the dielectric constant.
Current filament movement and silicon melting in an ESD-robust DENMOS transistor

HBM and TLP results for an 80 V DENMOS transistor are analyzed and simulated. The current is found to initially crowd into a small filament (to achieve its 2D 18.5 mA/mum snapback current density) which moves to cooler regions during the extent of the pulse. The mechanism and controlling factors for this filament movement, including lateral base-pumping, are investigated and quantified for general transistors. For the particular transistor, silicon melting (or some high-temperature electrical property change) is thereby deemed likely. A 3x improvement in the TLP damage current by adding parallel capacitance is also explained.
Structured linux kernel projects for teaching operating systems concepts

Linux has emerged as a widely-used platform for enabling hands-on kernel programming experience to learn about operating system concepts. However, developing pedagogically-effective programming projects in the context of a complex, production operating system can be a challenge. We present a structured series of five Linux kernel programming projects suitable for a one semester introductory operating systems course to address this issue. Each assignment introduces students to a core topic and major component of an operating system while implicitly teaching them about various aspects of a real-world operating system. Projects are of modest coding complexity, but require students to understand and leverage core components of the Linux operating system. The learning benefits for students from this approach include learning from real-world operating system code examples by expert kernel designers and gaining software engineering experience managing production code complexity. We have successfully used these structured Linux kernel projects to teach over a thousand students in the introductory operating systems course at Columbia University.
Dipyridamole-thallium/sestamibi before vascular surgery: a prospective blinded study in moderate-risk patients.

Abstract Purpose: This study assessed in a prospective, blinded fashion whether a reversible defect on dipyridamole-thallium (DTHAL)/sestamibi (DMIBI) can predict adverse cardiac events after elective vascular surgery in patients with one or more clinical risk factors. Methods: Consecutive patients with one or more clinical risk factors underwent a preoperative blinded DTHAL/DMIBI. Patients with recent congestive heart failure (CHF) or myocardial infarction (MI) or severe or unstable angina were excluded. Results: Eighty patients (78% men; mean age, 65 years) completed the study. Diabetes mellitus was the most frequent clinical risk factor (73%), followed by age older than 70 years (41%), angina (29%), Q wave on electrocardiogram (26%), history of CHF (7%), and ventricular ectopy (3%). The results of DTHAL/DMIBI were normal in 36 patients (45%); a reversible plus or minus fixed defect was demonstrated in 28 patients (36%), and a fixed defect alone was demonstrated in 15 patients (19%). Nine adverse cardiac events (11%) occurred, including three cases of CHF, and one case each of unstable angina, Q wave MI, non-Q wave MI, and cardiac arrest (successfully resuscitated). Two cardiac deaths occurred (2% overall mortality), one after a Q wave MI and one after CHF and a non-Q wave MI. The cardiac event rate was 14% for reversible defect and 9.8% without reversible defect ( P =.71). The cardiac event rate was 12.5% (one of eight cases) for two or more reversible defects, versus 11.1% (eight of 72 cases) for fewer than two reversible defects ( P = 1.0). The sensitivity rate of two or more areas of redistribution was 11% (95% CI, 0.3%-48%), the specificity rate was 90%, and the positive and negative predictive values were 12.5% and 89%, respectively. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated no association between reversible defects on DTHAL/DMIBI and adverse cardiac events in moderate-risk patients undergoing elective vascular surgery. (J Vasc Surg 2000;32:77-89.)
Circuits analysis of inductive heating-device with half-bridge resonated inverter

Since Farady's Low of Electrolysis was presented in 1831 in which magnetic inductive phenomenon was implemented in heating facilities, the inductive heating technique has been studied popularly by many scholars all over the world. Today the inductive heating facilities have been applied in many manufacturing tools of many fields in Taiwan, and this promoted research in this field directing to higher power, higher frequency, and higher efficiency as well. This study was pilot study for practical design of resonated heating circuit with half-bridge resonated inverter, especially some critical factors when considering the loading features including its primary theory, skin effects, permeance, conductance, and loading features. Finally, in this study, we made a completed analysis about current flowed in resonated inverter circuits at every key step when IGBT switching to get most efficient power. With this pilot-study, we would implement it into our further advanced research in high-power heating facilities with Half-Bridge Resonated Inverter.
High Resolution Forward And Inverse Earthquake Modeling on Terascale Computers

For earthquake simulations to play an important role in the reduction of seismic risk, they must be capable of high resolution and high fidelity. We have developed algorithms and tools for earthquake simulation based on multiresolution hexahedral meshes. We have used this capability to carry out 1 Hz simulations of the 1994 Northridge earthquake in the LA Basin using 100 million grid points. Our wave propagation solver sustains 1.21 teraflop/s for 4 hours on 3000 AlphaServer processors at 80% parallel efficiency. Because of uncertainties in characterizing earthquake source and basin material properties, a critical remaining challenge is to invert for source and material parameter fields for complex 3D basins from records of past earthquakes. Towards this end, we present results for material and source inversion of high-resolution models of basins undergoing antiplane motion using parallel scalable inversion algorithms that overcome many of the difficulties particular to inverse heterogeneous wave propagation problems.
Multimodal Congestion Control for Low Stable-State Queuing

To discover an efficient fair sending rate for a flow, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) saturates the bottleneck link and its buffer until the router discards a packet. Such TCP-caused queuing is detrimental for interactive and other delay-sensitive applications. In this paper, we present Multimodal Control Protocol (MCP) which strives to maintain low queues and avoid congestion losses at network links. The multimodal MCP engages routers and hosts in limited explicit communication. A distinguishing property of MCP is stable transmission after converging to efficient fair states. To ensure convergence to fairness, MCP incorporates an innovative mechanism that enables a flow to urge all flows sharing its bottleneck links to operate in a fairing mode, dedicated to fairness improvement. To make the stable fair rates independent of round-trip times and packet sizes, MCP employs rate-based control and uniform timing of adjustments.
Passive hierarchical model order reduction and realization of RLCM circuits

This paper presents a novel compact passive modeling technique for high-performance RF passives and interconnects modeled as high-order RLCM circuits. The new method is based on a recently proposed general s-domain hierarchical modeling and analysis method. In this work, we first apply a state-space based optimization technique to enforce passivity on the hierarchical model order reduced admittance matrix. To realize the passivity-enforced admittance, we propose a general multiport network realization method based on relaxed one-port network synthesis technique based on Foster's canonical form. The resulting modeling algorithm leads to general SPICE-in and SPICE-out multi-port passive realization of any linear passive networks with easily controlled model accuracy and complexity. The experimental results on a number of PEEC modeled bus line circuits demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Protein kinase C regulates bombesin-induced rapid VEGF secretion in neuroblastoma cells.

Background: Intracellular signaling responsible for gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) receptor-mediated neovascularization is not clearly understood. We sought to determine the cellular mechanisms involved in the GRP receptor regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) release in neuroblastoma cells. Materials and Methods: BE(2)-C cells were treated with bombesin (BBS), the amphibian equivalent of GRP, Phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) a PKC agonist, or GF109293X (GFX), and analyses were performed for VEGF secretion, phosphorylated protein kinase B (AKT), extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) and protein kinase D (PKD) expression. Results: BBS rapidly increased VEGF secretion at 30 min. Pre-treatment with PMA alone produced similar results; this effect was synergistic with the addition of GRP. Conversely, GFX blocked PMA-stimulated increase in VEGF secretion. Immunofluorescent staining for VEGF correlated to BBS, PMA and GFX. Conclusion: PKC is critically responsible for rapid VEGF secretion by GRP receptor signaling in neuroblastoma cells. Inhibition of VEGF significantly reduced GRP-mediated cell proliferation, suggesting its crucial role in neuroblastoma tumorigenesis. Neuroblastoma is the most common extra-cranial solid tumor of infants and children, and accounts for 15% of all pediatric cancer-related deaths (1-3). Despite recent advances in multi- modality treatment protocols for patients with neuroblastoma, the overall five-year survival rate for 'high- risk' neuroblastoma remains less than 40%. Angiogenesis has been implicated in aggressive tumor behavior for neuroblastoma and antiangiogenic therapies have been tested in laboratories with variable antitumor effects. Thus, a better understanding of the signaling cascades involved in angiogenesis in more aggressive forms of neuroblastoma is necessary for improving approaches to identify and to treat the 'high-risk' category of patients with neuroblastoma. Gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) is a known mitogen for various types of cancer, including breast, lung and prostate
Development of a Neutron Scatter Camera for Fission Neutrons

Special nuclear material (SNM) emits high energy radiation during active and passive interrogation. This radiation can be imaged thus allowing visualization of shielded and/or smuggled SNM. Although gamma-ray imaging is appropriate for many cases, neutrons are much more penetrating through hi-Z materials, and are thus preferred in certain scenarios (e.g. weapons grade Pu or HEU smuggled inside a lead pig several inches thick). Techniques for thermal neutron imaging have already been developed, but these approaches only image the moderating material, not the true SNM source. Traditional neutron detectors such as He3 tubes and scintillators simply count neutrons. We are developing an instrument that will directly image the fast fission neutrons from an SNM source using a neutron scatter camera. This technique has been shown to be 10 times more sensitive for solar neutrons over traditional neutron counting techniques. In addition to being a 4pi neutron imager, this instrument will also be an excellent neutron spectrometer, and will be able to differentiate between different types of neutron sources (e.g. fission, gamma-n, cosmic ray, and dd or dt fusion). Our instrument will be able to pinpoint the source location. We will present results from a prototype detector and discuss key parameters that determine detector performance.
Functional analyses of natural variation in Sp1 binding sites of a TATA-less promoter.

Within the lactate dehydrogenase-B (LdhB) proximal promoter is a region with multiple in vivo foot- printed sites that resembles the binding site for the tran- scription factor SP1. Like many sequences that regulate transcription rate, these Sp1 binding sites are well con- served among species of the teleost fish Fundulus. The only exception is in the northern population of F. het- eroclitus, where there are many changes in the Sp1 bind- ing sites. These changes affect footprinting patterns, measures of promoter strength, and are associated with the adaptive increase in Ldh-B transcription rates. Re- ported here is data that demonstrates that Fundulus he- patocyctes have an SP1-like protein; in comparison to human SP1 protein, it has similar specificity and size and a greater affinity for the consensus Sp1 site. This Fun- dulus hepatocyte SP1-like protein as well as the human SP1 protein binds the Ldh-B Sp1 sites. Sequence varia- tion in the northern Sp1 region eliminates the "preferred" Sp1 binding site, yet these northern Sp1 sites have sig- nificantly greater affinity for the SP1 protein than either the Sp1 sites from southern F. heteroclitus (~ 1.6-fold) or the consensus Sp1 site (GGGCGG; ~ 1.8-fold). Further- more, the Ldh-B Sp1 sites also bind non-SP1 proteins, and the extent of binding is affected by the sequence variation in the proximal promoter. These data suggest that natural variation in Sp1 sites affect binding of tran-
A Didactic Course for Family Therapy Trainees

This paper describes the rationale, procedures, and reading materials used in a didactic course included in a training program for family therapists.
Regulation of VASP phosphorylation in cardiac myocytes: differential regulation by cyclic nucleotides and modulation of protein expression in diabetic and hypertrophic heart

Vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) is a major substrate for cyclic nucleotide-dependent kinases that has been implicated in cardiac pathology, yet many aspects of VASP's molecular regulation in cardiomyocytes are incompletely understood. In these studies, we explored the role of VASP, both in signaling pathways in isolated murine myocytes, as well as in a model of cardiac hypertrophy in VASP(null) mice. We found that the beta-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol promotes the rapid and reversible phosphorylation of VASP at Ser157 and Ser239. Forskolin and the cAMP analog 8-(4-chlorophenylthio)-cAMP promote a similar pattern of VASP phosphorylation at both sites. The effects of isoproterenol are blocked by atenolol and by compound H-89, an inhibitor of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase. By contrast, phosphorylation of VASP only at Ser239 is seen following activation of particulate guanylate cyclase by atrial natriuretic peptide, or following activation of soluble guanylate cyclase by sodium nitroprusside, or following treatment of myocytes with cGMP analog. We found that basal and isoproterenol-induced VASP phosphorylation is entirely unchanged in cardiomyocytes isolated from either endothelial or neuronal nitric oxide synthase knockout mice. In cardiomyocytes isolated from diabetic mice, only basal VASP phosphorylation is increased, whereas, in cells isolated from mice subjected to ascending aortic constriction (AAC), we found a significant increase in basal VASP expression, along with an increase in VASP phosphorylation, compared with cardiac myocytes isolated from sham-operated mice. Moreover, there is further increase in VASP phosphorylation in cells isolated from hypertrophic hearts following isoproterenol treatment. Finally, we found that VASP(null) mice subjected to transverse aortic constriction develop cardiac hypertrophy with a pattern similar to VASP(+/+) mice. Our findings establish differential receptor-modulated regulation of VASP phosphorylation in cardiomyocytes by cyclic nucleotides. Furthermore, these studies demonstrate for the first time that VASP expression is upregulated in hypertrophied heart.
Sound velocities of ferropericlase in the Earth's lower mantle

Sound velocity measurements on candidate mantle minerals at relevant mantle conditions are needed to interpret Earth's seismic structure in terms of model abundances, variable composition, and other potentially influential parameters such as electronic spin-pairing transitions. Here the sound velocities of the lower-mantle ferropericlase have been measured by nuclear resonant inelastic X-ray scattering to 110 GPa. Compressional and shear wave velocities and their pressure derivatives rise dramatically across the spin-pairing transition of iron in (Mg_(0.75)Fe_(0.25))O above 50 GPa. Effects of the transition on the sound velocities of (Mg, Fe)O at lower-mantle pressures yield values that are much greater than what is predicted by studying pure MgO and high-spin ferropericlase. Our results indicate that sound velocities of the low-spin ferropericlase need to be considered in future geophysical and geochemical models, which could offset the effect of the addition of iron in the lower-mantle minerals and affect the evaluation of the lower-mantle heterogeneities.
Assessing tobacco regulation: moving beyond economists

US presidents since Ronald Reagan have required regulatory agencies to conduct cost-benefit analyses of proposed regulations,1 currently governed by Office of Management and Budget Circular A-4.2 On its surface, requiring such analyses makes sense; after all, why burden businesses with costly regulations if there is little benefit to the public? There are, however, several problems with cost-benefit analysis, including the facts that the costs are often borne by different people than receive the benefits, the tendency of cost-benefit analysis to overstate costs and understate benefits and the pro-business bias within the economics profession.3 The net effect of requiring cost-benefit analyses is to make it more difficult to develop, implement and defend regulations to protect public health and the environment. These problems are clearly manifest in the cost-benefit analyses done for the proposed tobacco product regulations by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), first as part of its unsuccessful 2011 attempt to require graphic warning labels on cigarette packages4 and its 2013 proposal to assert jurisdiction over non-cigarette tobacco products.5 In both cases, the FDA grossly underestimated benefits and overstated costs. We6 criticised the cost-benefit analysis of the warning label rule4 on the grounds that it discounted any health benefits by 50% to account for the lost ‘consumer surplus’ that would result from smokers being denied the pleasure of smoking. …
The dark pastoral: Goethe and Atwood

ABSTRACTThe Anthropocene challenges the humanities to find means of representing and analysing our fossil-fueled practices that have spread industrial particulates over the entire globe, changed the climate, and reshaped landscapes into a “new nature.” In this essay, I propose the “dark pastoral” as an analytical trope, examining two framing texts from the Anthropocene: Goethe’s landmark 1797 pastoral German epic, Hermann and Dorothea, and Margaret Atwood’s 2003 postapocalyptic novel Oryx and Crake, the first installment of her MaddAddam trilogy which ends with a surprisingly pastoral flourish. At the early phases of the Anthropocene (as it is defined by Paul Crutzen, at least), Goethe creates an epic pastoral whose materiality points darkly towards the impending modernity of capitalism. Atwood’s, postapocalyptic versions of a damaged yet rejuvenating Earth directly dramatise the Anthropocene’s destruction while ending with a “new” pastoral that relies on an almost total obliteration of humanity: these ar...
An Introduction to Shared Secret and/or Shared Control Schemes and Their ApplicationThis work was performed at Sandia National Laboratories and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under contract number DEAC0476DPOO789.

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction The General Model(s) Constructing Concurrence Schemes The Geometry of Shared Secret Schemes Setting Up Shared Secret Schemes Key Distribution via Shared Secret Schemes Conclusions This chapter contains sections titled: References Bibliography (Shared Secret Schemes)
Regression Discontinuity Design with Endogenous Covariates

Empirical researchers often include observed covariates in theWaldtype implementation of Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) estimators. When those...
Knockdown of Ron kinase inhibits activation of mutant PI3 kinase and reduces metastasis in an orthotopic model of human colon carcinoma cells

C33 Abnormal accumulation and activation of receptor tyrosine kinase Ron (recepteur d’origine nantais) has been demonstrated in a variety of primary human cancers. We show that RNA interference (RNAi) mediated knockdown of Ron kinase in a highly tumorigenic colon cancer cell line HCT116 led to reduced proliferation as compared to the control cells. Decreased Ron expression sensitized HCT116 cells to growth factor deprivation stress (GFDS) induced apoptosis as reflected by increased DNA fragmentation and caspase 3 activation. In addition, cell motility was decreased in Ron knockdown cells as measured by wound healing assays and transwell assays. HCT116 cells are heterozygous for gain of function mutant PIK3CA H1047R. Analyzing signaling proteins that are affected by Ron knockdown revealed that PI3 kinase activity of the mutant PI3K as well as AKT phosphorylation was substantially reduced in the Ron knockdown cells compared to the control cells. Moreover, we demonstrated in vivo that knockdown of Ron expression significantly reduced lung metastasis as compared to the control cells in the orthotopic models. In summary, our results demonstrate that Ron plays an essential role in maintaining malignant phenotypes of colon cancer cells through regulating mutant PI3K activity. Therefore, targeting Ron kinase could be a potential strategy for colon cancer treatment, especially in patients bearing gain of function mutant PI3K activity.
An Easily Adopted Markup Discipline for Annotating Electronic Medical Records with Ontological and Epistemological Qualification: Toward Disciplined Asterisks, Parentheticals, Marginalia, Footnotes, and Hashtags

Structured data and controlled vocabularies in medical records are common goals, but widespread and eager clinical adoption might require more modest, incremental change. One small step along the path to structured data is a voluntary discipline of annotation, supported by simple, user-friendly, dynamic text affordances. A second step is to discipline the metavocabulary rather than the clinical vocabulary: one can target the epistemological attitudes (probability, degree of uncertainty, pedigree of claims) and ontological criteria (fuzziness or vagueness, version of definition, reporting standard) for optional mark up, and even plain text can support disciplined annotation. The methods seem especially useful for summary views of patient records that have multiple authors, contributing at different times, using various criteria. The methods may also support more nuanced outcomes research and reporting, and aid transitions between policies, regulations, and billing codes. It may be too difficult to impose ontologies on so many different participants in medical record-keeping, all at once, with little room for customization. A more organic, evolutionary path to the same end starts with the smaller step of asking medical records keepers to settle on the common annotations. Even as a crowd-sourced meta-language takes shape, the freedom to use epistemic and ontological qualifiers makes controlled terminologies and vocabularies, with discrete and structured data, easier to live with.
Abstract 2131: Functional assays to define agonists and antagonists of sigma-2 receptors.

Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC The sigma receptor was originally defined pharmacologically as the specific binding site for a group of compounds named as sigma ligands. The sigma-2 receptor has been identified as a biomarker in proliferating tumors. It regulates cell growth and is an emerging target for cancer diagnosis and therapeutics. Up to date numerous sigma-2 selective ligands have been developed. However, there is no well-established functional assay for defining agonist/antagonist for sigma-2 receptors. Many sigma-2 ligands with diverse structures have been shown to induce cytotoxicity in a variety of cancer cells by triggering caspase-independent and caspase-dependent apoptosis. Therefore, in the current study, we propose to use cell viability and caspase 3 activity, a hallmark of apoptosis, as functional assays to define agonist/antagonist for sigma-2 receptors. Three classes of sigma-2 ligands developed in our laboratory were tested in these two assays in two tumor cell lines: mouse breast cancer cell line EMT6 and human melanoma cell line MDA-MB435. Based on the ratios of the EC50 values of our sigma-2 ligands to the EC50 of siramesine, we categorized the azabicyclononane analogs as agonists (e.g. SV 119) or partial agonists (e.g. WC 26 and SV 95), and benzamide analogs as non-canonical antagonists (e.g. RHM-1) since they do not trigger cell death, and they do not block sigma-2 agonist-induced cell death. SV 95 partially blocked SV 119-induced cytotoxicity. The establishment of functional assays for defining agonist/antagonist will facilitate functional characterization of sigma-2 ligands and sigma-2 receptors. Citation Format: Robert H. Mach, Chenbo Zeng, Justin M. Rothfuss, Jun Zhang, Suwanna Vangveravong, Wenhua Chu, Zhude Tu, Shihong Li. Functional assays to define agonists and antagonists of sigma-2 receptors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2131. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-2131
A Dual-Responsive Bola-Type Supra-amphiphile Constructed from a Water-Soluble Calix[4]pyrrole and a Tetraphenylethene-Containing Pyridine Bis-N-oxide.

Complexation between a water-soluble calix[4]pyrrole and a ditopic pyridine N-oxide derivative in aqueous media produces a bola-type supra-amphiphile that self-assembles to produce higher order morphologies, including multilamellar vesicles and micelles depending on the pH. The present bola-type supra-amphiphile exhibits strong fluorescence due to structural changes and aggregation induced by host–guest complexation. The resulting structures may be used to recognize, encapsulate, and release non-fluorescent, water-soluble small molecules.
Application of Neighbor Boiler Impulse Starting Technology in Reheat Unit Started by IP Cylinder Impulse

For large-scale thermal power unit,adoption of neighbor boiler impulse start has the characters of less fuel oil consump- tion and auxiliary power in the process of starting.Especially in the process of start after overhaul,there are many tests,long idle running duration and more boiler fuel oil consumption under unit system operation,its advantage is more obvious.Therefore,by adding neighbor boiler impulse start system,the consumption is reduced and duration is shortened in the process of start after over- haul,accordingly achieve better economic benefit.The retrofitting has been conducted on unit1,2 of Huadian Pucheng Power Plant with capacity of 330MW under the co-operation of Shaanxi Electric Power Research Institute and above-mentioned plant.
Principle on using carbon iron composite as blast furnace burden

The developing directions of blast furnace ironmaking are high yield,low pollution and low energy consumption. In order to achieve this goal,some innovative ironmaking technologies have been proposed or even applied including carbon iron composite used as blast furnace burden. As a new kind of ironmaking raw material,iron coke and carbon composite iron hot briquette were produced by mixing coal and iron ore. The research results indicated that,compared with conventional burden(sinter and pellets),carbon iron composite has many advantages such as good high temperature strength,great reduction performance and strong adaptability to raw materials and so on. Illuminates the basic principle of blast furnace charging carbon iron composite and introduces the production process and application of iron coke and then focuses on the production process of carbon composite iron hot briquette,its cold metallurgical properties, high-temperature metallurgical properties and the application of carbon composite iron hot briquette to traditional blast furnace ironmaking. Finally,multi-fluid model was used to simulate blast furnace operation with charging carbon composite iron hot briquette. The results show,with charging a certain amount of carbon iron composite into blast furnace,the temperature of thermal reserve zone and the coke rate will be reduced,the yields and heat utilization efficiency will be increased obviously,and the operation performance of blast furnace can be improved effectively.
The legitimacy of international courts: Victims’ evaluations of the ICTY and local courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This paper presents the results of a 2007 survey of victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity from Bosnia and Herzegovina. We study the level of diffuse and specific support for the Interna...
Perceived control alters the effect of acute stress on persistence

We often encounter setbacks while pursuing our goals. Success requires that we cope with these negative outcomes and choose to persist in spite of them. For example, learners may be more likely to continue a course after failing an assessment if they control their emotional reactions to the setback and study harder. However, the ability to effectively cope with the negative emotion inherent in such setbacks can be compromised by acute stress present in daily life (e.g., struggles in the household), which can subsequently lead to problems with persisting with a goal. The present study examined whether increasing the perception of control over setbacks (e.g., belief that a setback was caused by a correctable mistake rather than uncontrollable factors) can guard against the influence of a prior acute stressor on reactions to setbacks. Participants underwent a socially evaluated cold water stress or a nonstress control procedure. Afterward, they performed a behavioral task designed to measure persistence through controllable and uncontrollable setbacks. We observed that exposure to an acute stressor led to a detrimental effect on decision making by decreasing persistence behavior. Importantly, we also observed that the perception of control protected against the effect of preexisting stress and helped promote persistence. That is, stress impaired persistence through uncontrollable setbacks, but the impairment was alleviated by presenting setbacks as controllable. The findings demonstrate a potential avenue for improving the maintenance of goals aimed at behavior change, which can be susceptible to effects of stress.
Simultaneous mobilization of Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18) and formyl peptide chemoattractant receptors in human neutrophils [published erratum appears in Blood 1993 Mar 15;81(6):1668]

Mobilization of a distinct subset of specific granules provides a physiologically important mechanism to recruit Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18) from an intracellular pool to the external surface of the neutrophil plasma membrane, where the functionally active heterodimer mediates several adherence-dependent processes that are crucial for adequate host defense and cellular inflammatory responses. We observed similar characteristics for translocation of Mac-1 and neutrophil formyl peptide receptors (FPR) and hypothesize that the readily accessible pools of both Mac-1 and FPR are colocalized within this specific granule subset. Plasma membrane levels of both FPR (assessed with 3H- FMLP) and Mac-1 (assessed by fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis of fluorescein isothiocyanate [FITC]-Mo-1-labeled cells) were markedly downregulated in cells prepared at low temperature from blood cooled to 4 degrees C immediately after removal from the circulation. Levels of both FPR and Mac-1 remained low on cells held at 4 degrees C. Upon warming, spontaneous upregulation of Mac-1 and FPR occurred with similar kinetics and temperature dependency. Translocation of both Mac- 1 and FPR was markedly potentiated by exposure of cells to either fluoride ion (which has been shown by others to specifically elicit exocytosis of gelatinase-rich and vitamin B-12 binding protein-poor granules) or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), a cytokine that markedly potentiates the neutrophils9 host defense capabilities. Levels of both FPR and Mac-1 on F-- or GM-CSF-treated neutrophils exceeded those present on cells incubated at 37 degrees C for extended time intervals, indicating that stimulated translocation may involve mobilization of an additional granule subset. Scatchard analysis showed that only low-affinity FPR were translocated during spontaneous and stimulus-dependent upregulation. To directly compare FPR levels on the surface of cells displaying varying levels of Mac-1 within a single cell suspension, cells were labeled with FITC-Mo-1 and sorted into subpopulations based on fluorescence intensity. After sorting, the individual populations were held at 4 degrees C to prevent further spontaneous upregulation, concentrated by centrifugation, and assayed for FPR levels. Under a variety of conditions, FPR levels correlated with Mac-1 (CD11b) expression on cell populations selected on the basis of CD11b fluorescence intensity. Analysis of subcellular fractions obtained from disrupted neutrophils before and after upregulation provided additional support for the hypothesis that Mac-1 and FPR are colocalized within a readily accessible subset of neutrophil granules.
Antibodies to Protease-Activated Receptor 3 Inhibit Activation of Mouse Platelets by Thrombin

Recent studies of mice deficient in the thrombin receptor, protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1), provided definitive evidence for the existence of a second thrombin receptor in mouse platelets. We recently identified a new thrombin receptor designated protease-activated receptor 3 (PAR3). The mRNA encoding a mouse homologue of PAR3 was highly expressed in mouse splenic megakaryocytes, making it a good candidate for the missing mouse platelet thrombin receptor. We now report that PAR3 protein is expressed on the surface of mouse platelets and that PAR3 antibodies partially inhibit activation of mouse platelets by thrombin but not U46619, a thromboxane receptor agonist. These observations suggest that PAR3 contributes to mouse platelet activation by thrombin.
Motor Dysfunction in Children with ADHD

The performance of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the Movement Assessment Battery for Children test was evaluated at the Motorik Lab, Department of Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Institute, Sweden.
Performance analysis of frame reservation multiple access

In packet reservation multiple access (PRMA), the base station broadcasts an acknowledgment message after every slot. The terminals listen to this acknowledgment and immediately learn the result of their transmission (if any) and the status (available/reserved) of that slot. This requires all terminals to listen to acknowledgments in all slots. The authors consider a variant of this scheme, frame reservation multiple access (FRMA), where the base station broadcasts the acknowledgments for all the slots in a frame at the end of the frame. This results in reduced receiver activity, something that is commonly achieved in TDMA. This system has been modeled as a Markov chain and a precise analysis of its performance, in terms of packet dropping, is presented. Along with analysis of the fixed permission probability scheme, where all the terminals use a fixed value for the permission probability, the authors propose an adaptive permission probability scheme where the permission probability is chosen depending on the number of reserved slots at the beginning of a frame. The permission probabilities that minimize packet dropping have also been computed by solving a nonlinear programming problem. >
Designing affordances for navigating information spaces in code editors

Navigating information spaces is a fundamental yet challenging task for software developers. For example, one study found that programmers spend 35% of their time on the mechanics of navigating [7]. In another study, programmers spent 38–71% of their time foraging for information during debugging tasks [9]. This is further complicated by programmers' rapidly changing information goals [9] and mental models of the information as they navigate [6].
Bronchopleural Fistula Resolution with Endobronchial Valve Placement and Liberation from Mechanical Ventilation in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: A Case Series

Patients who have acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with persistent air leaks have worse outcomes. Endobronchial valves (EBV) are frequently deployed after pulmonary resection in noncritically ill patients to reduce and eliminate bronchopleural fistulas (BPFs) with persistent air leak (PAL). Information regarding EBV placement in mechanically ventilated patients with ARDS and high volume persistent air leaks is rare and limited to case reports. We describe three cases where EBV placement facilitated endotracheal extubation in patients with severe respiratory failure on prolonged mechanical ventilation with BPFs. In each case, EBV placement led to immediate resolution of PAL. We believe endobronchial valve placement is a safe method treating persistent air leak with severe respiratory failure and may reduce days on mechanical ventilation.
High-temperature oxidation of advanced FeCrNi alloy in steam environments

Abstract Alloys of iron-chromium-nickel are being explored as alternative cladding materials to improve safety margins under severe accident conditions. Our research focuses on non-destructively investigating the oxidation behavior of the FeCrNi alloy “Alloy 33” using synchrotron-based methods. The evolution and structure of oxide layer formed in steam environments were characterized using X-ray diffraction, hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence methods and scanning electron microscopy. Our results demonstrate that a compact and continuous oxide scale was formed consisting of two layers, chromium oxide and spinel phase (FeCr2O4) oxides, wherein the concentration of the FeCr2O4 phase decreased from the surface to the bulk-oxide interface.