cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Analysis of range expansion in two species undergoing character displacement: why might invaders generally 'win' during character displacement?

Ecological character displacement occurs when interacting species diverge in resource use and associated traits in response to selection to minimize resource competition between them. Yet, when resource quality is asymmetric, the species that monopolizes the more profitable resource following character displacement may have higher fitness and therefore be deemed the ‘winner’. Here, we ask: does the winner tend to be the resident species (i.e. the earlier inhabitant of the geographic region where character displacement occurred) or the invader (i.e. the subsequent inhabitant of the region)? We focus on two spadefoot toad species that have undergone character displacement. Previous studies revealed that Spea bombifrons gains the higher quality resource following character displacement; consequently, Spea multiplicata must use the lower quality resource, and as a result, experiences negative fitness consequences. Where the two species have undergone character displacement, three lines of evidence implicate S. bombifrons as the invader: S. bombifrons possess lower haplotype and nucleotide diversity; they do not exhibit isolation by distance (in contrast to S. multiplicata); and they display much higher population growth rates. We hypothesize that historical patterns of selection in its ancestral range pre-adapted S. bombifrons to evolve phenotypes capable of monopolizing the superior resource. Generally, because superior competitive abilities may facilitate successful invasions, invaders may be well positioned to win during character displacement.
Failure of front-line autologous transplant in anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Failure of front-line autologous transplant in anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
The effects of demand, competitive, and technological uncertainty on board monitoring and institutional ownership of IPO firms

This paper considers industry-specific contingencies that may account for some of the inter-firm heterogeneity in the deployment of specific corporate governance mechanisms in IPO firms. We examine how differences in demand, competitive, and technological uncertainty in the industry influence the levels of IPO firm monitoring by board outsiders and institutional investors. We test our theory using a sample of U.S. firms that completed an IPO in 24 manufacturing industries. The results indicate that industry uncertainty is, indeed, significantly related to the use of corporate governance mechanisms. In particular, the empirical results indicate that industry effects on IPO firm board monitoring and institutional investor ownership are the strongest and most consistent for demand uncertainty and competitive uncertainty.
Carrier-confined vertical-cavity semiconductor optical amplifiers for higher gain and efficiency

Vertical-cavity semiconductor optical amplifiers (VCSOAs) are interesting devices because of their small form factor, potential low manufacturing cost, high coupling efficiency to optical fiber, and polarization-independent gain. In this paper, we present an overview of the properties of VCSOAs, as well as emerging applications for this new class of devices. We present general design rules and analyze how the mirror reflectivity affects the properties of the VCSOA. Experimental results of carrier-confined, optically pumped VCSOAs operating at 1.3-/spl mu/m wavelength are presented. The devices were fabricated by wafer bonding high-quality AlGaAs distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) to an InGaAsP/InP active region. A carrier-confining structure was formed on the active region before the top mirror was bonded to the sample. These VCSOAs show the highest fiber-to-fiber gain (17 dB) and the lowest noise figure (6.1 dB) of any long-wavelength VCSOAs to date. VCSOAs should find applications as low-cost, single-channel amplifiers, amplifying filters, amplifying switches or modulators, as well as in two-dimensional array applications such as optical interconnects. We demonstrate the use of VCSOAs for optical preamplification at 10 Gb/s. Using an 11-dB gain VCSOA, the sensitivity of a regular p-i-n detector was increased by 7 dB resulting in a receiver sensitivity of -26.2 dBm.
DNS of flow past a stationary and oscillating cylinder at Re=10000

Abstract Results of direct numerical simulations (DNS) are presented for turbulent flows past a stationary circular cylinder and past a rigid cylinder undergoing forced harmonic oscillations at Reynolds number Re = 10 000 . This significant increase in Reynolds number (compared to previous DNS) is accomplished by employing a multilevel-type parallel algorithm within the spectral element framework. Comparisons with the available experimental data show that the simulation has captured the flow physical quantities and the statistics of the cylinder wake correctly.
Adjunctive rapamycin and CsA treatment inhibits monocyte/macrophage associated cytokines/chemokines in sensitized cardiac graft recipients.

BACKGROUND Although treatment of LEW rats with Rapamycin (RPM) prolongs the survival of LBNF1 cardiac allografts to ca. 50 days, it fails to prevent late activation of macrophage/monocyte-associated chemokines. METHODS A 7-day course with RPM or CsA was introduced at 1-week posttransplant in RPM-pretreated hosts. At day 35, intragraft mRNA expression of IL-2, IFN-gamma, TGF-beta, IL-12 (p40), MCP-1, and RANTES was evaluated. RESULTS RPM as a sequential treatment markedly inhibited mRNA levels coding for IL-2/IFN-gamma, and MCP-1. However, RPM monotherapy failed to prevent the expression of IL-12 (p40) and RANTES. Adjunctive treatment with CsA markedly depressed IL-12 (p40) and RANTES, and to a lesser extent MCP-1 mRNA, as compared with RPM-treated groups. Significant increase of TGF-beta mRNA expression was revealed after sequential RPM and adjunctive CsA treatment. CONCLUSIONS A combination of RPM and CsA is more effective in restraining mRNA expression than RPM alone; however, either therapy is associated with TGF-beta hyperexpression.
Molecular Biology of the LysR Family of Transcriptional Regulators

The LysR family is composed of > 50 similar-sized, autoregulatory transcriptional regulators (LTTRs) that apparently evolved from a distant ancestor into subfamilies found in diverse prokaryotic genera. In response to different coinducers, LTTRs activate divergent transcription of linked target genes or unlinked regulons encoding extremely diverse functions. Mutational studies and amino acid sequence similarities of LTTRs identify: (a) a DNA-binding domain employing a helix-turn-helix motif (residues 1-65), (b) domains involved in coinducer recognition and/or response (residues 100-173 and 196-206), (c) a domain required for both DNA binding and coinducer response (residues 227-253). DNA footprinting studies suggest that in the absence of coinducer many LTTRs bind to regulated promoters via a 15-bp dyadic sequence with a common structure and position (near -65). Coinducer causes additional interactions of LTTRs with sequences near the -35 RNA polymerase binding site and/or DNA bending that results in transcription activation.
Many Challenges to Classifying Microbial Species

Nature walks aside, studying the natural history of microorganisms is uniquely challenging for a host of reasons, one of which is that there are many different microbial species—or at least groupings that look and act like species. The author saw metagenomic data in the form of genes taken from seawater to identify marine bacteria and was fascinated to discover that although similar genes clustered to form groups, no two were identical. Bacterial and archaeal cells do not pair, recombine gametes, and undergo meiosis. Among others, two observations are critical to understanding the arguments about microbial speciation. The first is the importance of the vast size of microbial populations in nature, and the second is the subtler concept of neutral variation and sequence space. Microbes are the frontier beneath our feet, yet it has taken a long time for Charles Darwin’s ideas to approach their full potential for interpreting microbial diversity. The natural selection is probably very efficient at improving microorganisms to make them nearly ideal machines for reproducing in natural environments, but at the same time the age and size of these populations, the constantly changing environments they must adapt to, and their varied repertoires of DNA acquisition mechanisms make them extraordinarily diverse.
Understanding Corporate Law (Third Edition)

The third edition of Understanding Corporate Law has just been published by Lexis-Nexis. The book is designed to offer a clear and comprehensive treatment of key concepts in corporate law. Significant business, economic, and policy issues are highlighted in connection with a thorough analysis of the important cases and statutory provisions used in the study of corporations. It includes the major theoretical approaches used in current corporate law literature. In each chapter, the authors identify important policies and discuss the relationship of the law as it has developed to those policies. Statutory issues are covered under both the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware and the Revised Model Business Corporation Act. The Third Edition of Understanding Corporate Law discusses developing case law since the Second Edition including the Delaware courts’ use of good faith in fiduciary duty cases. The book also reflects the corporate governance issues raised by the corporate scandals and the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. A section of Chapter 5 deals generally with that Act, but its impact is also covered in relevant sections throughout the book. The book has been popular with students and others studying corporate law.
ANALYTIC ENRICHMENT OF FINITE ELEMENT FORMULATIONS FOR CAPTURING BOUNDARY LAYER BEHAVIOR

The following work presents an analytically enriched finite element formulation capable of capturing steep gradients on a coarse mesh. This work has applications in capturing shocks and boundary layer effects that are not easily represented by standard Galerkin formulations. The proposed formulation may be considered an extension of generalized finite elements for flow problems and is based on the partition of unity framework. This study also investigates the computational performance of analytic enrichment. The main contributions include the application of the proposed method to complex engineering problems, a comparison to other state-of-the-art methods, and an evaluation of the accuracy of the proposed method.
Asymmetric Total Synthesis of (−)-Amphidinolide V through Effective Combinations of Catalytic Transformations

An asymmetric total synthesis of (−)-amphidinolide V was accomplished. The synthesis features a base-catalyzed alkynyl silane alcoholysis/ring-closing enyne metathesis sequence for facile construction of a 1,3-diene motif. A diene RCM followed by a ring-contractive allylic transposition of cyclic silyl ethers was incorporated for the stereoselective installation of a functionalized 1,5-diene subunit. An efficient proline-mediated direct cross-aldol condensation of two advanced aldehyde intermediates was utilized for the construction of a key α,β-unsaturated epoxyaldehyde. This total synthesis demonstrates the prowess of metal-catalyzed transformations in complex molecule synthesis.
First record of Hesperopetes Emry and Korth, 2007 (Rodentia, Sciuridae), from the Orellan (early Oligocene)

Citation for this article: Korth, W. W. 2017. First record of Hesperopetes Emry and Korth, 2007 (Rodentia, Sciuridae), from the Orellan (early Oligocene). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2017.1318890.
Design Guidelines for The User-System Interface of On-Line Computer Systems: A Survey Report

From a survey of 77 people involved in information system development, it is estimated that on average more than 30 percent of operational software is devoted to the user-system interface (USI). Improvements are needed in early requirements definition, guidance and documentation of USI design.
Comments on the Fuel-Coolant Premixing Debate

(1989). Comments on the Fuel-Coolant Premixing Debate. Nuclear Science and Engineering: Vol. 103, No. 1, pp. 106-107.
Toward integrating citizen science and radar data for migrant bird conservation

Migrating birds face an array of challenging conditions and hazards during their annual movements, including novel threats of mortality from anthropogenic structures, such as wind energy turbines and buildings. There is a need for new data sources that can be used to create risk assessments across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, and weather radar data have shown promise in this regard. A primary limitation on the use of weather radar data in macroscale ecology has been the difficulty in data access and processing to make real-time assessments, and the lack of species-level information. We compared two weather radar products, Level II and UNQC-CREF that differ in several aspects. We found the 2D UNQC-CREF product provides similar information to Level II data regarding spatial and temporal patterns of bioscatter, although not without caveats. Due to its rapid availability and ease of use, we combined UNQC-CREF data with eBird daily species counts to quantify autumnal migration along one of North America's major migratory routes. During their autumn migration southward, we predicted birds would use prevailing winds and favorable atmospheric conditions to time their migratory movements. Wind direction and ordinal date were strong predictors as were variables associated with inclement weather, including barometric pressure and ambient temperature. These patterns suggest that at a coarse scale, migratory birds avoid headwinds during their southerly movements during autumn, and more broadly indicate that local weather conditions can be used to predict pulses of migratory activity in the aerosphere. Our results suggest that similar methods could be used to measure the temporal and spatial components of avian migration at greater spatial scales – providing crucial information for conservation and management for migratory faunas. Specifically, future algorithms should focus on real-time implementation for bird strike mitigation, by altering wind energy facility operation on nights of peak migratory flow, in addition to timing “lights-out” events to minimize collisions with existing infrastructure such as buildings.
G0S2 represses PI3K/mTOR signaling and increases sensitivity to PI3K/mTOR pathway inhibitors in breast cancer

G0/G1 switch gene 2 (G0S2) is a direct retinoic acid target implicated in cancer biology and therapy based on frequent methylation-mediated silencing in diverse solid tumors. We recently reported that low G0S2 expression in breast cancer, particularly estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, correlates with increased rates of recurrence, indicating that G0S2 plays a role in breast cancer progression. However, the function(s) and mechanism(s) of G0S2 tumor suppression remain unclear. In order to determine potential mechanisms of G0S2 anti-oncogenic activity, we performed genome-wide expression analysis that revealed an enrichment of gene signatures related to PI3K/mTOR pathway activation in G0S2 null cells as compared to G0S2 wild-type cells. G0S2 null cells also exhibited a dramatic decreased sensitivity to PI3K/mTOR pathway inhibitors. Conversely, restoring G0S2 expression in human ER+ breast cancer cells decreased basal mTOR signaling and sensitized the cells to pharmacologic mTOR pathway inhibitors. Notably, we provide evidence here that the increase in recurrence seen with low G0S2 expression is especially prominent in patients who have undergone antiestrogen therapy. Further, ER+ breast cancer cells with restored G0S2 expression had a relative increased sensitivity to tamoxifen. These findings reveal that in breast cancer G0S2 functions as a tumor suppressor in part by repressing PI3K/mTOR activity, and that G0S2 enhances therapeutic responses to PI3K/mTOR inhibitors. Recent studies implicate hyperactivation of PI3K/mTOR signaling as promoting resistance to antiestrogen therapies in ER+ breast cancer. Our data establishes G0S2 as opposing this form of antiestrogen resistance. This promotes further investigation of the role of G0S2 as an antineoplastic breast cancer target and a biomarker for recurrence and therapy response.
Sclerostin influences body composition by regulating catabolic and anabolic metabolism in adipocytes

Sclerostin has traditionally been thought of as a local inhibitor of bone acquisition that antagonizes the profound osteoanabolic capacity of activated Wnt/β-catenin signaling, but serum sclerostin levels in humans exhibit a correlation with impairments in several metabolic parameters. These data, together with the increased production of sclerostin in mouse models of type 2 diabetes, suggest an endocrine function. To determine whether sclerostin contributes to the coordination of whole-body metabolism, we examined body composition, glucose homeostasis, and fatty acid metabolism in Sost-/- mice as well as mice that overproduce sclerostin as a result of adeno-associated virus expression from the liver. Here, we show that in addition to dramatic increases in bone volume, Sost-/- mice exhibit a reduction in adipose tissue accumulation in association with increased insulin sensitivity. Sclerostin overproduction results in the opposite metabolic phenotype due to adipocyte hypertrophy. Additionally, Sost-/- mice and those administered a sclerostin-neutralizing antibody are resistant to obesogenic diet-induced disturbances in metabolism. This effect appears to be the result of sclerostin's effects on Wnt signaling and metabolism in white adipose tissue. Since adipocytes do not produce sclerostin, these findings suggest an unexplored endocrine function for sclerostin that facilitates communication between the skeleton and adipose tissue.
Talking with a robot in English

This paper gives an overview of the present status and future plans of a research project aimed at communicating in natural language with an intelligent automaton. The automaton in question is a computer-controlled mobile robot capable of autonomously acquiring information about its environment and performing tasks normally requiring human supervision. By natural language communication is meant the ability of a human to successfully engage the robot in a dialog using simple English declarative, interrogative, and imperative sentences. Communication is accomplished by means of a natural language interpretive question-answering system (ENGROB) consisting of six distinct components: a syntax analyser, a semantic interpreter, a model of the robot's environment, a deductive, automatic theorem proving system, an English output generator, and a repertoire of basic robot capabilities for sensing and manipulating the environment. An example is given that illustrates the type of processing done by each component, and the nature of component interactions.
Corneal Imaging: Clinical

This article explores the current applications of confocal microscopy and anterior segment optical coherence tomography as noninvasive technologies that allow examination of normal and diseased corneas.
MAPK Signaling in Human Diseases

Conserved signaling pathways that activate the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are involved in a vast array of biological processes, including cell proliferation, differentiation, motility, and survival. Three subfamilies of MAPK have been extensively studied: extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK), p38-MAPK, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). The ERKs play roles in cell proliferation, survival, and motility, and inhibitors of this pathway are currently being tested as potential anticancer agents. The p38-MAPKs are involved in the immune response and the response to stress, and have been suggested to contribute to diseases such as asthma and autoimmunity. The JNKs are critical regulators of transcription and apoptosis, and JNK pathway inhibitors are currently being tested for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and neurodegenerative diseases. This chapter reviews the biological functions of the MAPKs with an emphasis on the regulation of cell survival and proliferation by these enzymes, and will also discuss the development of MAPK pathway inhibitors for the treatment of human diseases.
Correlation between clinical and electrophysiological findings of carpal tunnel syndrome

Objective: correlate between clinical and electrophysiological findings of carpal tunnel syndrome Methods: cross sectional study at outpatient setting.109 patients (83females, 26males) with clinical manifestations of carpal tunnel syndrome participated in the study. All the patients had the following: Medical history and neurological examination including Tinel’s sign and Phalen test and nerve conduction studies including median-ulnar, median -radial comparative studies and electromyography of both upper extremities. Results: mean age 57.71±13.4. pain was mild in 9.2%, moderate in 25.7% and severe in 56% of patients. Numbness was present in 87.2%. Impaired sensory exam in 43.1% Impaired motor exam in 8.3%. Positive Tinel’s sign unilateral (38.5%) and bilateral (47.7%). Positive Phalen test unilateral (30.3%) and bilateral (34.9%). Unilateral thenar Muscle wasting in 4.6% and bilateral in 1.8%. Pure sensory median neuropathy was found in 65 patients (59.6%), sensory motor median neuropathy in 44 patients (40.37%). Demyelinating neuropathy in 91.7% and demyelinating-axonal neuropathy in 8.3% of patients. Abnormal distal motor latency was significantly correlated with severity of pain p=0.0025, impaired sensory exam p=0.0001, impaired motor exam p=0.0001, positive Tinel’s sign of both hands p=0.0001, positive Phalen test of both hands p=0.0001. as well as with unilateral or bilateral muscle wasting p=0.001. Prolonged peak median sensory latency was significantly correlated with numbness p=0.0001, severity of pain p=0.001, Impaired sensory exam p=0.005, positive Tinel’s sign for either one or both hands p=0.0001, positive Phalen test of one or both hands p=0.0001 Conclusion: Highly significant correlation was found between subjective and objective sensory manifestation and peak median sensory latency. While distal motor latency were significantly correlated with severe pain, only bilateral positive Tinel’s sign and Bilateral Phalen test and the objective sensory and motor deficit.
Energy Storage for Lunar Surface Exploration

This paper presents the updated results of a previous NASA study funded under the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Modular Power Systems (AMPS) project. This work focuses on generating high-level system sizing relationships for two lunar surface locations that serve as bounding conditions for most other locations. Four critical parameters are considered to provide sizing data: specific energy, energy density, specific power, and power density. Given the energy storage requirements or customer power demand for a lunar mission location, the data presented in this paper provides a method to determine the critical parameter values of a Regenerative Fuel Cell (RFC) system in order to perform high-level mission architecture trades.
Indexing databases for our users, not ourselves

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder – and the usefulness of an index is decided by the user. Valerie Nesset argues that indexers of online databases will produce a more acceptable product if the...
Borderline personality disorder and religiosity: Exploring the relationship.

The negative effects of borderline personality disorder (BPD) are widely documented. And while religiosity has been found to be generally beneficial for individuals with clinical disorders, little is known about the relationship of religiosity and personality disorders, including BPD. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional study was to examine the relationship between BPD and two important components of religiosity. The first was termed religious quest and was defined in the study as the level of one’s internal openness to faith and spirituality. The other was defined as religious engagement and was defined in the study as the external, behavioral marks of religious faith such as prayer and attendance at religious events. A survey comprised of several validated measures was administered to undergraduate students within a large public university in the Midwest (N = 466).
Unfathomed Voyager: The Design of Real-Life Cooperation Game.

Unfathomed Voyager is a real-life cooperation game. Three guests are in a group, and each guest has a control panel with different functions. Unlike most collaboration games appearing on the AppStore, Steam, or other platforms in which players get the same information from an instruction and try to solve the problem together, our guests will receive different instructions that may or may not belong to their own control panel from their monitors, so they need to share the instructions they have with their teammates rapidly in an intense game environment. Information exchange is the key point in this game. There is also some physical cooperation in the game, such as switching stations. By doing it, they can complete the mission and find the blobfish in the deep ocean.
Mixed Acinar-Endocrine Carcinoma (MAEC) Arising in Duodenal Pancreatic Heterotopia

Mixed acinar-endocrine carcinoma (MAEC) of the pancreas is a rare neoplasm, consisting of at least 25%-30% of acinar and neuroendocrine populations. Patients are often middle-aged and present with nonspecific symptoms. Imaging typically reveals a solid lesion in the pancreatic head. Management involves surgical resection and the overall prognosis is variable. Here, we present a case of a 48-year-old male who presented with a MAEC arising from duodenal pancreatic heterotopia. This is the one of the first cases, with histologic evidence, of MAEC arising from pancreatic heterotopia.
Impact of Obesity and Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Lateral Skull Base Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak Repair.

Objective To investigate the prevalence and impact of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and obesity in lateral skull base cerebrospinal fluid leak repair (LSBR) of various etiologies. Methods Retrospective case review at a tertiary skull base center was conducted of consecutive adults undergoing LSBR via transmastoid, middle cranial fossa, or combined approach between 2013-2018. The following data were collected: demographics, comorbidities, radiology and intraoperative findings, and surgical outcomes including complications and need for revision surgery or shunt placement. Patients with incomplete data or leaks following skull base surgery, trauma or chronic ear disease were excluded. Results Ninety-four patients (67.4% female, mean age 53.5 ± 12.9 years) underwent repair for spontaneous (sCSFL, 44%) and other etiology (nsCSFL) leaks. nsCSFL served as a comparison group consisting of leaks status-post lateral skull base surgery, temporal bone fractures, and chronic ear disease. Class III obesity (P = .02), OSA (P = .03), and imaging findings of empty sella (OR = 3.32, P = .02), and skull base thinning including contralateral tegmen thinning (31%, OR = 4.3, P = .02), arachnoid granulations (26%, OR = 4.35, P = .02), and superior canal dehiscence (15.8%, OR = 8.57, P = .04) were more common in sCSFL. Four patients (4.2%) required surgical revision for recurrence, and another four (4.2%) resolved with shunting. Evidence of elevated intracranial hypertension was present in nine patients with sCSF leaks and was predictive of need for revision or shunt procedures (P Conclusion Obesity, OSA, and imaging consistent with elevated intracranial pressures were more common among patients with sCSFL. Elevated intracranial pressure predicted outcomes following multilayer repair of spontaneous CSF leaks LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4 Laryngoscope, 130:2234-2240, 2020.
Data Parallel C++: Enhancing SYCL Through Extensions for Productivity and Performance

SYCL™ is a heterogeneous programming framework built on top of modern C++. Data Parallel C++, recently introduced as part of Intel's oneAPI project, is an implementation of SYCL. Data Parallel C++ (DPC++) is being developed as an open-source project on top of Clang and LLVM. It combines C++, SYCL, and new extensions to improve programmer productivity when writing highly performant code for heterogeneous architectures.This technical presentation will describe several extensions that DPC++ has proposed and implemented on top of SYCL. While many of the extensions can help to improve application performance, all of them work to improve programmer productivity by integrating easily into existing C++ applications, and by simplifying common patterns found in SYCL and C++. DPC++ is a proving ground where the value of extensions can be demonstrated before being proposed for inclusion in future versions of the SYCL specification.
Accelerating Hyperdimensional Computing on FPGAs by Exploiting Computational Reuse

Brain-inspired hyperdimensional (HD) computing emulates cognition by computing with long-size vectors. HD computing consists of two main modules: encoder and associative search. The encoder module maps inputs into high dimensional vectors, called hypervectors. The associative search finds the closest match between the trained model (set of hypervectors) and a query hypervector by calculating a similarity metric. To perform the reasoning task for practical classification problems, HD needs to store a non-binary model and uses costly similarity metrics as cosine . In this article we propose an FPGA-based acceleration of HD exploiting Co mputational Re use ( $\mathtt {HD}$ HD - $\mathtt {Core}$ Core ) which significantly improves the computation efficiency of both encoding and associative search modules. $\mathtt {HD}$ HD - $\mathtt {Core}$ Core enables computation reuse in both encoding and associative search modules. We observed that consecutive inputs have high similarity which can be used to reduce the complexity of the encoding step. The previously encoded hypervector is reused to eliminate the redundant operations in encoding the current input. $\mathtt {HD}$ HD - $\mathtt {Core}$ Core , additionally eliminates the majority of multiplication operations by clustering the class hypervector values, and sharing the values among all the class hypervectors. Our evaluations on several classification problems show that $\mathtt {HD}$ HD - $\mathtt {Core}$ Core can provide $4.4\times$ 4 . 4 × energy efficiency improvement and $4.8\times$ 4 . 8 × speedup over the optimized GPU implementation while ensuring the same quality of classification. $\mathtt {HD}$ HD - $\mathtt {Core}$ Core provides $2.4\times$ 2 . 4 × more throughput than the state-of-the-art FPGA implementation; on average, 40 percent of this improvement comes directly from enabling computation reuse in the encoding module and the rest comes from the computation reuse in the associative search module.
The obstetrical research landscape: a cross-sectional analysis of clinical trials from 2007-2020.

Background Obstetrical complications affect more than a third of women globally, but are underrepresented in clinical research. Little is known about the comprehensive obstetrical clinical trial landscape, how it compares with other fields, or factors associated with the successful completion of obstetrical trials. Objective This study aimed to characterize obstetrical clinical trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov with the primary objective of identifying features associated with early discontinuation and results reporting. Study Design This is a cross-sectional study with descriptive, logistic regression and Cox regression analyses of clinical trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov . Our primary exposure variables were trial focus (obstetrical or nonobstetrical) and trial funding (industry, United States government, or academic). We conducted additional exploratory analyses of other trial features including design, enrollment, and therapeutic focus. We examined the associations of exposure variables and other trial features with 2 primary outcomes: early discontinuation and results reporting. Results We downloaded data for all studies (N=332,417) registered on ClinicalTrials.gov from October 1, 2007, to March 9, 2020, from the Aggregate Analysis of ClinicalTrials.gov database. We excluded studies with a noninterventional design (n=63,697) and those registered before October 1, 2007 (n=45,209). A total of 4276 obstetrical trials (1.9%) (ie, interventional studies) and 219,235 nonobstetric trials (98.1%) were compared. Among all trials, 2.8% of academic-funded trials, 1.9% of United States government–funded trials, and 0.4% of industry-funded trials focused on obstetrics. The quantity of obstetrical trials increased over time (10.8% annual growth rate). Compared with nonobstetrical trials, obstetrical trials had a greater risk of early discontinuation (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.40; 95% confidence interval, 1.21–1.62; P Conclusion Obstetrical trials represent only 1.9% of all clinical trials in ClinicalTrials.gov and have comparatively poor completion. All stakeholders should commit to increasing the number of obstetrical trials and improving their completion and dissemination to ensure clinical research reflects the obstetrical burden of disease and advances maternal health.
Applying Radiolabeled Transferrin to Quantify Therapeutic Response of Triple Negative Breast Cancer to Bromodomain Inhibitors

1150 Objectives Bromodomain and extra terminal (BET) inhibitors (e.g. JQ1 and OTX015) are transcriptional regulators that impede the proliferation of MYC-overexpressing cancers of diverse tissue origins including prostate, glioblastoma, and lymphoma. It has been well established that MYC overexpression has been found to be a key driver in multiple cancer types, and increased surface expression of transferrin receptor (TfR) is a downstream event of MYC upregulation. Transferrin labeled with 89Zr has been validated to detect MYC status in these cancer types preclinically, has recently been shown to predict treatment response from BET inhibitors in lymphoma, and is to be translated into prostate cancer patients this year. We hypothesize that 89Zr-transferrin PET will detect overexpression of MYC and TfR, predict treatment response from BET inhibitors, and improve upon the current standard of 18F-FDG PET for MYC-overexpressing triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). In this research, 89Zr-transferrin and 131I-transferrin were used to monitor treatment response to BET inhibitors and to target TNBC. Methods TNBC cell lines (MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-157, and Hs578T) were treated with JQ1 and OTX015 (500-1000 nM). Anti-proliferative effects via JQ1 and OTX015 in TNBC were assessed using viability assays measuring ATP synthesis. Analysis of cellular arrest was performed using flow cytometry with EdU incorporation and DAPI. Relative gene expression (MYC and TfR) was detected using quantitative RT-PCR. Western blot was used to validate MYC and TfR expression in TNBC cells and relative protein levels was quantitated post drug treatment using MYC and TfR ELISA. PET imaging studies in orthotopic MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-157 xenografts with 89Zr-transferrin are in progress to monitor tumoral uptake and response to drug treatment. Results TNBC cells show a response to JQ1 and OTX015 at a nanomolar range through a variety of in vitro methods. Anti-proliferative effects and cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase were observed, consistent with the mechanism of action of these agents. A drug-dependent decrease in MYC and TfR gene expression was observed via quantitative RT-PCR. Radiolabeled (131I) transferrin showed a 5-10% decrease in internalization post-drug treatment when compared with vehicle-treated TNBC cells. Time-course internalization of 89Zr-transferrin (at 37 °C vs. 4 °C) confirmed receptor-mediated endocytosis via TfR. Conclusions Establishing biomarkers within heterogeneous cancers such as TNBC fulfills a clinical unmet need to reliably annotate tumor uptake and/or treatment response. 89Zr-transferrin is a useful tool to interrogate MYC status via TfR. Preclinical studies are warranted to further these in vitro observations, explore the mechanism of tumor response via BET inhibitors, and compare uptake of 89Zr-transferrin with 18F-FDG in TNBC tumor models. Research Support This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (1R01CA17661-01).
Applying an Energy-Aware Security Mechanism in Healthcare Internet of Things

The security risks associated with healthcare Internet of things (HIoT) devices and medical devices includes patient privacy, data confidentiality, and data security. Insecure medical devices allow hackers to infiltrate systems and control medical devices to potentially harm patients and hospitals. HIoT devices have computational and memory limitations, energy limitations, mobility and scalability limitations. Therefore, securing HIoT devices is immensely aggravated due to their resource constrained. Finding a security solution that minimizes resource consumption and thus maximizes security performance is a challenging task in HIoT. This paper proposes adaptive security mechanism that is considering energy level of HIoT devices. This energy-efficient security mechanism considers the residual energy to apply security mechanism and improve lifetime of HIoT devices.
Automation: What It Means to Us Around the World

The meaning of the term automation is reviewed through its definition and related definitions, historical evolution, technological progress, benefits and risks, and domains and levels of applications. A survey of 331 people around the world adds insights to the current meaning of automation to people, with regard to: What is your definition of automation? Where did you encounter automation first in your life? and What is the most important contribution of automation to society? The survey respondents include 12 main aspects of the definition in their responses; 62 main types of first automation encounter; and 37 types of impacts, mostly benefits but also two benefit–risks combinations: replacing humans, and humansʼ inability to complete tasks by themselves. The most exciting contribution of automation found in the survey was to encourage/inspire creative work; inspire newer solutions. Minor variations were found in different regions of the world. Responses about the first automation encounter are somewhat related to the age of the respondent, e.g., pneumatic versus digital control, and to urban versus farming childhood environment. The chapter concludes with several emerging trends in bioinspired automation, collaborative control and automation, and risks to anticipate and eliminate.
Accuracy of the F-18 calibration setting with a Capintec dose calibrator

2238 Objectives: Significant differences in activity readouts for F-18 have been observed when using dose calibrators from different manufacturers. Our laboratory evaluated the accuracy of a Capintec CRC-15 dose calibrator in measuring F-18 activity and experimentally determined a revised, more accurate F-18 setting. Methods: A NIST traceable 2.7 mCi Ge-68/Ga-68 standard (Isotope Products) was calibrated with the Capintec CRC-15 Ge-68 dial setting of 416. This setting was then manually adjusted in order to provide a more accurate reading (460). From photon response curves, energies, and experimental determinations, a F-18/Ge-68 ratio of 1.05 was obtained and applied to the Capintec CRC-15 Ge-68 setting (460) to obtain a F-18 setting of 485. Ten F-18-FDG doses, ranging from 17 mCi to 140 mCi, were measured using both the Capintec CRC15 F-18 setting (439) and the corrected F-18 setting (485). Results: With the traceable 2.7 mCi Ge-68/Ga-68 standard, the Capintec CRC-15 dose calibrator reading was 3.0 mCi, an 11.1% overestimation. Applying the F-18/Ge-68 ratio to the corrected Ge-68 setting resulted in a corrected F-18 setting of 485. Assessing multiple F-18 FDG doses at both F-18 settings indicated that the manufacturer’s F-18 setting overestimated the F-18 activities by an average of 8.6%. Thus, a F-18-FDG dose measured at 15.0 mCi on a Capintec CRC-15 dose calibrator (439) would contain 13.8 mCi of F-18 FDG (485). Conclusions: The calibration setting for F-18 in a Capintec CRC-15 dose calibrator overestimates (8.6%) F-18 activity based on a NIST traceable Ge-68/Ga-68 standard. Reevaluation of the F-18 calibration setting should be considered.
[39] DNA synthesis initiated at oriC:In Vitro replication reactions

Publisher Summary In vitro replication initiated at the Escherichia coli chromosomal origin (oriC) can occur in a precisely prepared cell extract or it can be reconstituted with purified proteins. The development of these systems was possible following the identification of oriC and the construction of oriC-containing plasmids. In vivo , these plasmids act as minichromosomes in that their replication is initiated synchronously with that of the cell chromosome and with similar requirements. Behaving as such, these plasmids can serve as templates in vitro to study replication at oriC. Another major advance in the development of systems to replicate oriC in vitro is the preparation of an extract containing all of the required factors and lacking inhibitors. Combined with knowledge gained from studying replication in other systems such as bacteriophage φX174, replication in the crude extract permitted the identification, isolation, and characterization of the numerous components necessary to reconstitute oriC DNA replication. Replication in cell extracts and in systems of defined components has many physiological features. It requires the addition of template DNA, which contains the oriC sequence, and replication is initiated at or near oriC. It is dependent on certain replication proteins that are identified as important for chromosomal replication in vivo . Included in these is DnaA, a protein that is implicated genetically as playing a central role in initiating replication at oriC.
Lifestyle physical activity behavior of Korean American dry cleaner couples.

Objective: The purposes of this study were to: (1) describe and compare lifestyle physical activity (leisure-time physical activity [LTPA], household physical activity [HPA], and occupational physical activity [OPA]), using both self-report and an objective measure of step counts, in self-employed Korean American married couples working together at dry cleaners, and (2) examine the relationship between self-report and objective measures of physical activity. Design and Sample: 70 couples participated in this cross-sectional, descriptive, face-to-face interview survey. Measures: 2 self-reports (28-item Community Healthy Activities Model Program for Seniors Physical Activity Questionnaire and Tecumseh Occupational Physical Activity Questionnaire) and 1 objective measure (New Lifestyles-800 pedometer) were used. Results: The husbands spent significantly more time than their wives in moderate- to vigorous-intensity LTPA (207 vs. 122 min/week) and OPA (2,585 vs. 1,065 min/week). Most couples (91%) met recommended levels of physical activity based on their OPA. Pedometer steps correlated significantly only with LTPA. Conclusions: Study findings suggest that to increase physical activity in Korean American couples who work in a small business, moderate-intensity lifestyle physical activity interventions across LTPA, HPA, and OPA will be more successful than traditional leisure-time interventions. In addition, results suggest that there is a need for interventions that target both members of the married couple.
Particle-in-cell simulations of species separation in the plasma opening switch

Summary form only given. The plasma opening switch (POS) is a pulsed-power switching technology that has been developed for inductive-energy-storage applications.[1] During the conduction phase of the POS, the discharge current initially flows in a plasma that is injected between the anode and cathode prior to the arrival of the main pulse. Lorentz forces act on the current-carrying plasma to distort the plasma distribution eventually leading to a disruption of the current channel on a fast timescale, producing a rapid transfer of magnetic energy to the load. The fast opening of the POS is crucial to the overall operation of the switch because it allows for a sharpening of the pulse rise-time and inductive voltage multiplication.
Properties of piezoelectric single crystals Ca 3 TaGa 3 Si 2 O 14 at high temperature and high vacuum conditions

In this paper, a kind of fully ordered langasite family crystals Ca3TaGa3Si2O14 (CTGS) were grown by the Czochralski pulling method and cut into lateral mode. The dielectric, elastic and piezoelectric properties of them were investigated as functions of temperature (up to 1073.15 K) and pressure (up to E-7 torr). It was found that all the crystals exhibited pressure stability properties and temperature dependent characteristics. According to the calculation, the dielectric permittivity, elastic coefficient and piezoelectric coefficient were about 17.66, 9.06 pm2/N and 3.77 pC/N, respectively. The good properties make CTGS promising candidates for sensing applications at high temperature and high vacuum conditions.
Conditional Fault Diameter of Star Graph Networks

It is well known that star graphs are strongly resilient like thencubes in the sense that they are optimally fault tolerant and the fault diameter is increased only by one in the presence of maximum number of allowable faults. We investigate star graphs under the conditions offorbidden faulty sets, where all the neighbors of any node cannot be faulty simultaneously; we show that under these conditions star graphs can tolerate upto (2n? 5) faulty nodes and the fault diameter is increased only by 2 in the worst case in presence of maximum number of faults. Thus, star graphs enjoy the similar property of strong resilience under forbidden faulty sets like then-cubes. We have developed algorithms to trace the vertex disjoint paths under different conditions.
Effects of wall shear stress and fluid recirculation on the localization of circulating monocytes in a three-dimensional flow model

There is a correlation between the location of early atherosclerotic lesions and the hemodynamic characteristics at those sites. Circulating monocytes are key cells in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic plaques and localize at sites of atherogenesis. The hypothesis that the distribution of monocyte adhesion to the vascular wall is determined in part by hemodynamic factors was addressed by studying monocyte adhesion in an in vitro flow model in the absence of any biological activity in the model wall. Suspensions of U937 cells were perfused (Re = 200) through an axisymmetric silicone flow model with a stenosis followed by a reverse step. The model provided spatially varying wall shear stress, flow separation and reattachment, and a three-dimensional flow pattern. The cell rolling velocity and adhesion rates were determined by analysis of videomicrographs. Wall shear stress was obtained by numerical solution of the equations of fluid motion. Cell adhesion patterns were also studied in the presence of chemotactic peptide gradients. The cell rolling velocity varied linearly with wall shear stress. The adhesion rate tended to decrease with increasing local wall shear stress, but was also affected by the radial component of velocity and the dynamics of the recirculation region and flow reattachment. Adhesion was increased in the vicinity of chemotactic peptide sources downstream of the expansion site. Results with human monocytes were qualitatively similar to the U937 experiments. Differences in the adhesion rates of U937 cells occurring solely as a function of the fluid dynamic properties of the flow field were clearly demonstrated in the absence of any biological activity in the model wall.