cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Use of Hi-Fidelity Mannequin for Status Epilepticus Simulation to Enhance Medical Student's Performance (P04.252)

OBJECTIVE: Status Epilepticus (SE) is one of commonly occurring neurological emergencies and there are about 200,000 episodes of SE in the US with a high mortality risk of around 22%. SE requires rapid effective treatment for optimal response to therapy and outcome and is a frightening experience for untrained physicians. Most of the physician should be comfortable with the management of SE due to its high prevalence and associated mortality and morbidity. BACKGROUND: Using a Hi-Fidelity Mannequin for simulation of SE ensures no harm to the real patients but definitely help improving the skills of the trainees which we wanted to show with our two year data collection and analysis. DESIGN/METHODS: 137 Medical Students in the Neurology clerkship participated in AY 2011 and 2012. Phase 1: Self reading of an Article on SE. Phase 2: Students worked in groups of 3-4 for the management a 35 yr old continuously seizing patient for 3 hrs. Phase 3: Post-Simulation questionnaire and Debriefing by clerkship director along with a survey for feedback. RESULTS: The students performed remarkably well with scoring above 90% in management of SE. About 95% of the students agreed that the simulation will help manage real life patients better; also this way of learning appeared better than the regular didactic session and they will remember the management protocol better. CONCLUSIONS: Hi-fidelity Mannequin simulation enables students to learn, practice, and repeat simulations for complex medical problems as often as necessary in order to correct mistakes, fine-tune skills, and optimize clinical outcomes without jeopardizing patient safety. This way of learning will eventually improve patient care. Disclosure: Dr. Uppal has nothing to disclose. Dr. Nimmana has nothing to disclose. Dr. Lanigar has nothing to disclose. Dr. Lardizabal has received personal compensation for the speakers bureau for UCB pharmaceutical and Cyberonics, Inc. Dr. Sahota has nothing to disclose.
HOG feature human detection system

Human detection systems are becoming more important as more automatic and robotic systems are being used in the world. RGB, depth, and thermal images can be used together to produce a better detection system that works in situations where one of the sensors might not produce valuable data. HOG features can provide valuable information for detecting humans in an image and that data can be used to train individual classifiers to detect humans in a scene. The combination of sensor modalities in conjunction with individual classifiers can create a human detection system that can detect partially obscured humans. The multi-layer classifier that was created provided a high level of accuracy when tested against untrained data. The multi-layer classifier performed better than eleven of the twelve individual classifiers, but did not overcome the SVM thermal HOG classifier. The multi-layer classifier had a much tighter standard deviation and fell within the band of the SVM thermal classifier.
Alteration of Tumor Microenvironmental Redox State Inhibits Prostate Cancer Metastasis

Cancer cells exhibit a plasticity of redox state so that the conversion between redox status in tumor microenvironment (TME) can be accomplished rapidly, thus, extracellular redox-related proteins may be a new potential therapeutic targets for metastasis. Cysteine(CyS)/glutamate transporter(xCT) and extracellular superoxide dismutase (ECSOD) are mainly TME-redox state hemeostasis regulator, one control redox coupling ratio CyS/Cystine(CySS), the latter control prooxidants level. Herein, we demonstrated xCT protein expression is significantly increased and correlated with high Gleason score PCa tissues. In contrast, ECSOD protein expression is significantly decreased in high Gleason score PCa tissues. A decrease in ECSOD may result in elevation of extracellular prooxidant levels due to the increase in O2●– and OONO●, while overexpression of xCT may result in imbalance of extracellular thiol couples. These changes in the extracellular redox state are likely to have a profound effect on activation of invasion-related proteins. Inhibition of extracellular O2●– by overexpression of ECSOD using adenovirus SOD3 transduction or altering extracellular Cys/CySS levels by knock-downed xCT protein expression using siRNA xCT resulted in inhibition of PCa cell invasion and decreased activity of MMP2. Simultaneously overexpressed ECSOD and knock-downed xCT inhibited PCa cell invasion greater than overexpressed ECSOD or knock-downed xCT alone (~70%, 50%, and 30%, respectively). In the co-culturing system, overexpressed ECSOD and knock-downed xCT in both PC3 and stromal cells (WPMY-1) decreased PCa cell invasion greater than overexpressed ECSOD and knock-downed xCT in only PC3 cells or stromal cells. In conclusion, our data indicated that synergic modulation of ECSOD and xCT expression would elevate the success of site- specific redox based therapies at TME. Since, paracrine signaling from stromal cells induce PCa cells to grow and metastatic, targeting ECSOD and xCT in both cancer and stromal cells would provide a greater inhibition of PCa metastasis.
Quantitative analysis of opioids and cannabinoids in wastewater samples

Wastewater-based epidemiology is an innovative approach that uses the analysis of human excretion products in wastewater to obtain information about exposure to drugs in defined population groups. We developed and validated an analytical method for the simultaneous determination of opioids (morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, oxymorphone and hydromorphone), and cannabinoids (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, 11-nor-9-carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (THCCOOH) and THCCOOH-glucuronide) in raw-influent wastewater samples by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Method validation included linearity (5-1 000 ng/L for opioids, 10-1 000 ng/L for cannabinoids), imprecision (<21.2%), accuracy (83%-131%), matrix effect (from -35.1% to -14.7%) and extraction efficiency (25%-84%), limit of detection (1-5 ng/L) and quantification (5-10 ng/L) and auto-sampler stability (no loss detected). River and wastewater samples were collected in triplicate from different locations in New York City and stored at -20 °C until analysis. Water from sewage overflow location tested positive for morphine (10.7 ng/L), oxycodone (4.2-23.5 ng/L), oxymorphone (4.8 ng/L) and hydromorphone (4.2 ng/L). Raw influent wastewater samples tested positive for morphine (133.0-258.3 ng/L), oxycodone (31.1-63.6 ng/L), oxymorphone (16.0-56.8 ng/L), hydromorphone (6.8-18.0 ng/L), hydrocodone (4.0-12.8 ng/L) and THCCOOH (168.2-772.0 ng/L). This method is sensitive and specific for opioids and marijuana determination in wastewater samples.
Evaluations of Insecticides and Fungicides for Reducing Attack Rates of a new invasive ambrosia beetle (Euwallacea Sp., Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) in Infested Landscape Trees in California.

A recently discovered ambrosia beetle with the proposed common name of polyphagous shot hole borer (Euwallacea sp., Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), is reported to attack >200 host tree species in southern California, including many important native and urban landscape trees. This invasive beetle, along with its associated fungi, causes branch dieback and tree mortality in a large variety of tree species including sycamore (Platanus racemosa Nutt.). Due to the severity of the impact of this Euwallacea sp., short-term management tools must include chemical control options for the arboriculture industry and private landowners to protect trees. We examined the effectiveness of insecticides, fungicides, and insecticide-fungicide combinations for controlling continued Euwallacea sp. attacks on previously infested sycamore trees which were monitored for 6 mo after treatment. Pesticide combinations were generally more effective than single pesticide treatments. The combination of a systemic insecticide (emamectin benzoate), a contact insecticide (bifenthrin), and a fungicide (metconazole) provided some level of control when applied on moderate and heavily infested trees. The biological fungicide Bacillus subtilis provided short-term control. There was no difference in the performance of the three triazole fungicides (propiconazole, tebuconazole, and metconazole) included in this study. Although no pesticide combination provided substantial control over time, pesticide treatments may be more effective when trees are treated during early stages of attack by this ambrosia beetle.
Environmental advocacy: insights from East Asia

Environmental advocacy in East Asia takes place in a context where there are few well-funded professional advocacy organizations, no viable green parties, and governments that are highly pro-busine...
Single-Grain Optically Stimulated Luminescence Ages of Brownware Pottery in the Central Rocky Mountains and the Spread of Numic Ceramic Technology

This study presents the results of a single-grain optically stimulated luminescence (SG-OSL) analysis of brownware pottery from four Late Prehistoric-period sites in the Middle Rocky Mountains, Wyoming, USA. SG-OSL of quartz ceramic temper provides improved age control for sites where radiocarbon dating has proven problematic due to old wood, recent wildfires, and calibration uncertainties. SG-OSL results are compared to fine-grain infrared stimulated luminescence (FG-IRSL) results from the same sherds and associated radiocarbon ages. We find that the single-grain technique applied to quartz sand temper provides improved accuracy and precision over both FG-IRSL and radiocarbon. We compare our results to directly dated brownwares from the southern and eastern Great Basin based largely on thermoluminescence analysis. While brownware ceramics appear earliest in the southwestern Great Basin, our data show that the technology spread quickly to the northeastern margin of the Numic homelands. We suggest that knowledge of ceramic technology in Formative (i.e., Ancestral Pueblo and Fremont) societies was important in the adoption of pottery by Numic hunter-gatherers and that, like in the southwestern Great Basin, this technological adaptation in the Middle Rocky Mountains may have occurred within a context of resource intensification during the last 800 years.
Mexican Cohort Study Predates but Predicts the Type of Body Composition Changes Expected From the Mexican Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax

An introduction is presented for an article in the issue examining how taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages in Mexico impacted public health.
Determinant of receptor-preference switch in influenza hemagglutinin.

Abstract Influenza pandemic occurs when a new strain from other animal species overcomes the inter-species barriers and supports rapid human-to-human transmission. A critical prerequisite to this process is that hemagglutinin (HA) acquires a few key mutations to switch from avian receptors to human receptors. Previous studies suggest that H1 and H2/H3 HAs use different sets of mutations for the switch. This report shows that HA from the 1918 H1N1 pandemic virus (1918H1 HA) adopts the set of mutations used by H2/H3 HAs in receptor-preference switch when its 130-loop is made similar to those of H2/H3 HAs. Thus, the 130-loop appears to be the key determinant for the different mutations employed by pandemic H1 or H2/H3 HA. The correlation of the mutational routes and the 130-loop as unraveled in this study opens the door for efficient investigation of mutations required by other HA subtypes for inter-human airborne transmission.
The Accidental Nonprofiteer: Chance Events and the Selection of a Nonprofit Career

Research on nonprofit careers has typically focused on motivations and preferences of those already in the nonprofit workforce. But how do individuals initially learn about the nonprofit sector as a place of employment? In this research, I focus on the effect of chance events on nonprofit career selection and seek to develop a theoretical frame-work from which to examine nonprofit career decision making. Using a retrospective study ( n = 337), I found that the majority of respondents felt that an unplanned event affected their selection of a nonprofit career. Specifically, respondents noted that learn-ing experiences rooted in unplanned events often led to careers with specific organizations, or in the nonprofit sector more generally. Implications include the need for more deliberate connection between a desire to help others and seeking paid employment in the nonprofit workforce, and highlight the important role of nonprofit management degree programs in facilitating that connection. Subscribe to JNEL
A Prospective Blinded Study of Endoscopic Ultrasound Elastography in Liver Disease: Towards a Virtual Biopsy.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Liver biopsy has traditionally been used for determining the degree of fibrosis, however there are several limitations. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) real-time elastography (RTE) is a novel technology that uses image enhancement to display differences in tissue compressibility. We sought to assess whether liver fibrosis index (LFI) can distinguish normal, fatty, and cirrhotic liver tissue. METHODS A total of 50 patients undergoing EUS were prospectively enrolled. RTE of the liver was performed to synthesize the LFI in each patient. Univariate and multivariable analyses were performed. Chi-square and t-tests were performed for categorical and continuous variables, respectively. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS Abdominal imaging prior to endoscopic evaluation suggested normal tissue, fatty liver, and cirrhosis in 26, 16, and 8 patients, respectively. Patients with cirrhosis had significantly increased mean LFI compared to the fatty liver (3.2 vs. 1.7, p<0.001) and normal (3.2 vs. 0.8, p<0.001) groups. The fatty liver group showed significantly increased LFI compared to the normal group (3.8 vs. 1.4, p<0.001). Multivariable regression analysis suggested that LFI was an independent predictor of group features (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS LFI computed from RTE images significantly correlates with abdominal imaging and can distinguish normal, fatty, and cirrhotic-appearing livers; therefore, LFI may play an important role in patients with chronic liver disease.
Essentials and Future Directions of Robotic Rectal Surgery

Laparoscopic colon and rectal surgery is currently considered both from an oncologic and overall patient care standpoint (including costs) comparable or even superior to open procedures. For rectal cancer specifically, revised practice parameters published by the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons indicate that laparoscopic rectal resection can be performed “with equivalent oncological outcomes in comparison with open TME when performed by experienced laparoscopic surgeons.” The da Vinci robotic system can be described as an alternative platform for performing “laparoscopic” minimally invasive surgery, since it adopts most of the principles of laparoscopic surgery. Improved optics and wrist-function instruments have allowed it to emerge as an alternative to standard laparoscopy when operating in a confined space such as the pelvis, making it an attractive option for rectal resection and pelvic dissection. Even though increased cost associated to robotic surgery remains a problem for widespread adoption of this technology, published data as well as national database reviews suggest that robotic surgery has a lower conversion to open surgery when compared to laparoscopy in rectal cancer. Further studies are needed to asses if lower conversion rates and shorter postoperative recovery compared to open surgery could help offset overall procedural costs.
Comments On “Rent Seeking”

Professor Tullock has opened the subject of rent seeking for analysis as a general economic and political ailment, and he has provided memorable illustrations in his best style. It is now time for the taxonomists to refine the concept, classify the species, and label them.
News Release: Announcing Declaration on the Nuclear Arms Race

More than 12,000 scientists, engineers, and other professionals, many of them leaders in their fields, as well as more than 1000 other signatories, called on the United States to take the initiative in halting the nuclear arms race, “a grim feature of modern life.” In a Declaration on the Nuclear Arms Race, the many signers call the continuing competition “increasingly a mortal threat to all mankind.” They urged the administration to halt the testing and deployment of new nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons systems for a period of 2 to 3 years and challenged the Soviet Union to reciprocate. They called also for a rapid move toward a comprehensive nuclear test ban. The declaration emphasized that these bold steps would not jeopardize U.S. security owing to the immense destructive capacity of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. There is no defense against nuclear missiles.
The Permanent Function (PERMAN)

This chapter presents algorithm PERMAN for generating Permanent Function. For an n × n matrix A , the chapter discusses the difference between determinant of A and the permanent of A. The distinction lies solely in the omission of the ± sign of the permutation σ. This omission causes the permanent not to share many of the nice properties of determinants. However, the permanent is of considerable combinatorial importance. If A , for instance, is a matrix all of whose entries are +1, then per A = n ! is the number of permutations of n letters. An application of the permanent function, is Latin rectangle r × n , which is a rectangular array of r rows and n columns, whose entries are letters chosen from {1, 2, …, n } such that the entries in each row constitute a permutation of {1, 2, …, n } and the entries in each column are all different. The chapter also discusses the computation of the permanent function and presents sample output.
John E. Harris — IV. Departmental Chairman and Friend

My introduction to John Harris and research was in the Weeks Laboratory at the University of Oregon Medical School in 1955. His desk was located in the laboratory and he would periodically disappear to see patients but would return, whistling, to let us know of his approach. Later he moved to an office with a view of Mt. Hood and the lab was never quite the same. His crew was an assortment of graduate and medical students, student’s wives, and others. The hospitality of the Harris’ was well known and enjoyed. Dr. Harris was a master at barbecuing and Mrs. Harris provided delicious accompaniments without stealing his’ show’. I early found he had an utter disregard for time. (This eventually resulted in him receiving a gift of a watch without hands). It was not unusual to work until two or three in the morning or all weekend. However, our lab was in a core of basic science labs and people were always there too. Researchers just worked all hours in those days.
Health Care Seeking Behavior

Illness-related human experience has long been the subject of literary, philosophical, and religious discourse. During the later half of the 20th century, scientific interest in better characterizing specific elements of illness behavior and health-related actions has increased dramatically (Gochman, 1988; McHugh & Vallis, 1985). Spurred by advances in preventive and curative medical care and by the desire to help ensure that all members of society would make optimal use of health care, medical and public health researchers and behavioral and social scientists have been increasingly drawn to the study of human behavior and illness. Included in this growing body of literature are studies of health care seeking behavior (Ostrove & Baum, 1983). Based on different theoretical and methodological traditions, medical practitioners, epidemiologists, economists, psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists are studying the use of health care services, factors associated with utilization, and the ways in which people interpret health-related symptoms and take action to address these symptoms, including seeking help from a range of alternative sources to prevent, ameliorate, treat, or cope with the symptoms (Mechanic, 1985).
Adverse event (AE) attribution in symptom intervention and cancer prevention trials.

e18111Background: Assignment of AE attribution (as unrelated, unlikely, possibly, probably, and definitely related to the treatment) adds time and cost to the trial process. External factors have b...
Preparing new professionals for administrative leadership in higher education: identifying specific skills for training

Working as an administrator in higher education often requires a graduate degree in order to qualify for entry-level positions. Yet, graduate programmes in higher education are often criticised for...
An Investigation of a Mixer-Ejector Nozzle for Jet Noise Reduction

An experimental study is conducted assessing the performance of an ejector together with an 8:1 aspect ratio rectangular nozzle with the eventual goal of noise reduction for jet engines. Wall static pressure and Pitot probe surveys are conducted to evaluate the performance of the ejector, and sound pressure level measurements are made to assess the impact on noise radiation. It is found that addition of vortex generating tabs at the lip of the nozzle causes large increases in secondary flow entrainment. The baseline ejector (without tabs) often encounters flow resonance with accompanying tones. The tabs have the additional benefit of eliminating those tones. In most cases tried so far, pockets of high-speed fluid remain unmixed. Since jet noise scales as velocity to the eighth power, such ‘hot spots’ defeat the noise reduction goal. In some cases, there is a reduction in noise amplitudes in the mid-frequency range (5-30 kHz), however, an increase occurs on the low frequency end apparently due to flow unsteadiness. This together with a high frequency noise increase caused by the tabs results in minimal reductions in the overall sound pressure level. The focus of ongoing and future efforts is to achieve sufficient mixing and desirable noise reduction while keeping the hard-ware short and lightweight.
MULTIPLE MOLECULAR FORMS OF PNEUMOCOCCAL NEURAMINIDASE

ABSTRACT. The isozymes earlier described for neuraminidase from D. pneumoniae can be reduced in number by carrying out isolation procedures in the presence of 5.7 × 10 −4 M phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and by using cells rather than growth filtrates as the enzyme source. Although glycohydrolase activity has not been ruled out, the multiple molecular neuraminidase species appear in large measure to result from serine-esterase proteolysis. The molecular weight of the presumptive “parental” cell-bound enzyme is of the order of 90–95,000 daltons, in contrast to the 70,000 size reported for the numerous filtrate-derived multiple components. The larger enzyme species is a glycoprotein containing approximately 15 residues per mole of glucosamine but not galactosamine, and appears to lack cysteine residues. The latter finding accords with prior circumstantial evidence which indicated that the isozymes are single-chain proteins. Following a study of the effect of various synthetic inhibitors on neuraminidase activity, an alternative, rapid method employing affinity chromatography was devised for isozyme purification. The procedure involves recycling chromatography on a support of Sepharosyl-hexamethylene-amidobenzene-azo-p-g-hydroxyphenyl-a-mercap-toacrylic acid. This approach obviates the use of inhibitors during purification and provides enzyme with properties like those of cellular neuraminidase obtained by conventional procedures.
Oxidative Phosphorylation Promotes Primary Melanoma Invasion

Dermal invasion is a hallmark of malignant melanoma. Although the molecular alterations that drive the progression of primary melanoma to metastatic disease have been studied extensively, the early progression of noninvasive primary melanoma to an invasive state is poorly understood. To elucidate the mechanisms underlying the transition from radial to vertical growth, the first step in melanoma invasion, we developed a zebrafish melanoma model in which constitutive activation of ribosomal protein S6 kinase A1 drives tumor invasion. Transcriptomic analysis of ribosomal protein S6 kinase A1-activated tumors identified metabolic changes, including up-regulation of genes associated with oxidative phosphorylation. Vertical growth phase human melanoma cells show higher oxygen consumption and preferential utilization of glutamine compared to radial growth phase melanoma cells. Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ coactivator (PGC)-1α, has been proposed as a master regulator of tumor oxidative phosphorylation. In human primary melanoma specimens, PGC1α protein expression was found to be positively associated with increased tumor thickness and expression of the proliferative marker Ki-67 and the reactive oxygen species scavenger receptor class A member 3. PGC1α depletion modulated cellular processes associated with primary melanoma growth and invasion, including oxidative stress. These results support a role for PGC1α in mediating glutamine-driven oxidative phosphorylation to facilitate the invasive growth of primary melanoma.
Paravertebral block for radiologically inserted gastrostomy tube placement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

INTRODUCTION Radiologically inserted gastrostomy (RIG) placement in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) carries risks related to periprocedural sedation and analgesia. To minimize these risks, we used a paravertebral block (PVB) technique for RIG placement. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed patients with ALS undergoing RIG placement under PVB between 2013 and 2017. RESULTS Ninety-nine patients with ALS underwent RIG placement under PVB. Median (range) age was 66 (28 to 86) years, ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised score was 27 (6 to 45), and forced vital capacity was 47% (8%-79%) at time of RIG placement. Eighty-five (85.9%) patients underwent RIG placement as outpatients, with a mean postanesthesia care unit stay of 2.3 hours. The readmission rate was 4% at both 1 and 30 days postprocedure. DISCUSSION PVB for RIG placement has a low rate of adverse events and provides effective periprocedural analgesia in patients with ALS, the majority of whom can be treated as outpatients.
Flying by the seat of our pants: is low dose radiation therapy for COVID-19 an option?

The discovery of X-rays in 1895 had a dramatic impact on many aspects of society. One was the hope that it would be possible to treat some of the numerous infections and inflammatory conditions for...
Uncertainty and individual discretion in allocating research funds

There is a long-standing tradition in public research funding agencies of distributing funds via peer review, which aggregates evaluations of proposed research ideas from a group of external experts. Despite complaints that this process is biased against novel ideas, there is poor understanding of an alternative system that may overcome this bias: the use of individual discretion. Here, we conduct the first quantitative study of how individual discretion affects a research funding portfolio. Using internal project selection data from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), we describe how a portfolio of projects selected by individual discretion differs from a portfolio of projects selected by traditional peer review. We show that ARPA-E program directors prefer to fund proposals with greater disagreement among experts, especially if at least one reviewer thinks highly of the proposal. This preference leads ARPA-E to fund more uncertain and creative research ideas, which supports the agency’s mission of pursuing novel ideas for transformational energy technology.
Lung at a Glance: an integrative web toolset of lung ontology, imaging and single cell omics

ABSTRACT Recent advances in single-cell omics and high-resolution imaging have provided unanticipated data resources for the elucidation of genes underlying the complex biological processes critical for organ formation and function. However, processing and integrating large amounts of single-cell omics and imaging data presents a major challenge for most researchers. There is a critical need for ready-to-use computational tools for data/knowledge integration and visualization. Here we present “Lung-at-a-glance”, an easy-to-use web toolset for visualizing and interoperating complex omics and imaging data, providing an interactive web interface to bridge lung anatomic ontology classifications to lung histology and immunofluorescence confocal images, and cell-type-specific gene expression. “Lung-at-a-glance” contains three interactive components: 1) “Region at a glance”, 2) “Cell at a glance” and 3) “Gene at a glance”. “Lung-at-a-glance” and other newly developed web tools for lung-related data query, integration and visualization are publicly available on LGEA web portal v3 https://research.cchmc.org/pbge/lunggens/mainportal.html.
Effects of forest canopy gaps on the ground‐layer plant community depend on deer: Evidence from a controlled experiment

Questions: How do deer mediate the response of forest ground‐layer plant communities to canopy gap size? Location: Flambeau River State Forest in north central Wisconsin, USA (47°37.4ʹ N, 90°47.8ʹ W). Method: We examined responses of resources, growth forms and temporal guilds to factorial combinations of canopy gap treatments consisting of a range of gap sizes (80, 200 and 380 m²), and deer (Odocoileus virginianus) exclusion (0.64 ha fenced exclosures) 4 years following gap creation (3 years following deer exclusion). We contrasted responses in central and transition zones. Results: In the absence of deer, forb productivity increased from pre‐treatment levels, particularly where light transmittance and soil moisture were high. In contrast, forb productivity decreased in the presence of deer. These effects were stronger among forbs with early‐ and late‐summer leafing phenology than spring ephemeral, and evergreen species. In contrast, deer amplified increases in graminoid productivity, which were related primarily to light transmittance. Deer did not alter responses of ferns, shrubs, trees seedlings or vines. Canopy gaps increased community heterogeneity among gap sizes and zones, but only in the absence of deer. This was related to the effects of deer on the composition and diversity of gap specialists. Conclusions: The maintenance of biodiversity in northern temperate forest ground‐layer plant communities by canopy gap dynamics appears to hinge on deer herbivory, even at relatively modest populations of deer and a productive site. Conversely, increases in resource availability within gaps may function to mitigate some negative effects of deer on forb productivity. Effects may be transient, as species turnover to shrub‐ and sapling‐dominated communities and canopy closure may cause communities to converge in the future. However, populations of undefended gap specialists remain particularly sensitive.
Estimation and Control of Time‐Varying Systems

This chapter shows physiological examples of time‐varying or nonstationary behavior. For nonstationarities that occur slowly, relative to the dynamics of the system in question, the simplest approach is to model the process as piecewise stationary. In any case, if the blood pressure signal were to be the output of a Windkessel‐type model, the parameters of the model would likely have to be time‐varying in order to capture the nonstationary features. The chapter considers a biomedical example that illustrates how adaptive control theory can be implemented in practice. The basic features that distinguish adaptive control from simple feedback control are the addition of a parameter estimator to determine the changes in dynamics of the unknown plant and a control law that uses an optimization algorithm to select the control signal that is optimally adjusted for the altered plant dynamics. The chapter also shows the flowchart of the recursive least‐squares (RLS) estimation algorithm.
Lens-coupled MeV x-radiography and CT with transparent ceramic GLO scintillators

Lens-coupled X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) using a transparent scintillator imaged on a CCD camera obtains higher spatial resolution than the more commonly employed phosphor-enhanced amorphous silicon (A-Si) panels. A-Si panels are limited to resolution typically greater than ~200 microns, have a limited working life due to degradation with dose, and provide intrinsically low efficiency with thin (few hundred microns thick) phosphor coatings. Demanding applications such as imaging the interior of complex additively manufactured components require high throughput and high resolution, best achieved with a lens-coupled system. However, for large fields-of-view, very large area but thin transparent scintillators are required – a format difficult to fabricate with high light yield single crystals – therefore, glass scintillators with both modest X-ray interaction and light yield have been used for years. We have developed a new polycrystalline transparent ceramic scintillator, Gd0.3Lu1.6Eu0.1O3, or “GLO,” that offers excellent stopping power and light yield for improved contrast in sizes up to 14” x 14” plates, with thicknesses in the 2-10 mm range, and we are implementing it in systems to increase imaging throughput for 9 MeV Bremsstrahlung X-ray CT. CT imaging performance will be described.
Deep Listening as a Growth Habit for Library Leaders

As we become more and more comfortable in our positions as leaders and managers, we create expanding domains of expertise. The creation of these knowledge bases is a productive yet stressful proces...
Tetrahedron beam imaging with a multi-pixel thermionic emission X-ray source and a photon-counting detector: A benchtop experimental study.

PURPOSE A tetrahedron beam (TB) X-ray system with a linear X-ray source array and a linear detector array positioned orthogonal to each other may overcome the X-ray scattering problem of traditional cone-beam X-ray systems. We developed a TB imaging benchtop system using a linear array X-ray source to demonstrate the principle and benefits of TB imaging. METHODS A multi-pixel thermionic emission X-ray (MPTEX) source with 48 focal spots in 4-mm spacing was developed in-house. The X-ray beams are collimated to a stack of fan beams that are converged to a 6-mm wide multi-row photon-counting detector (PCD). The data collected with a sequential scan of the sources at a fixed view angle were synthesized to a 2D radiography image by a shift-and-add algorithm. The data collected with a full rotation of the system were reconstructed into 3D TB CT (TBCT) images using an Feldkamp, Davis, and Kress (FDK)-based computed tomography (CT) algorithm modified for the TB geometry. RESULTS With an 18.8-cm long source array and a 35-cm long detector array, the TB benchtop system provides a 25-cm cross-sectional and 8-cm axial field of view (FOV). The scatter-to-primary ratio (SPR) was approximately 17% for TB, as compared with 120% for cone beam geometry. The TBCT system enables reconstructions in two-dimensional radiography and three-dimensional volumetric CT. The TBCT images were free of "cupping" artifacts and have similar image quality as diagnostic helical CT. CONCLUSIONS A TB imaging benchtop imaging system was successfully developed with MPTEX source and PCD. Phantom and animal cadaver imaging demonstrated that the TB system can produce satisfactory radiographic X-ray images and 3D CT images with image quality comparable to diagnostic helical CTs.
Inscriptions of Resistance in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

The possibility of native resistance to colonial tyranny and the threat of the loss of colonial “order” is a continual, sustained anxiety throughout Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness . Critics have largely ignored or downplayed these inscriptions of resistance in Conrad’s text. Much of the criticism that surrounds this novella, according to Patrick Brantlinger, is focused on the European subjects of the text, and therefore renders Africa and its native peoples as a kind of backdrop. Literary critiques of Heart of Darkness that do discuss the African natives tend to portray them as victims rather than having any kind of agency. This latent fear of native resistance demonstrates the fantasy of stability and superiority endemic to imperialism: a narrative that the imperial administration must continually tell itself.
β-Amylase Thiol Groups POSSIBLE REGULATOR SITES

The kinetics of inactivation of β-amylase with iodoacetamide, N-ethylmaleimide, and 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) is investigated. Corroborating earlier work, N-ethylmaleimide and iodoacetamide alkylate 3 exposed sulfhydryl residues per 47,500 g atoms of protein, the monomer weight. To account for the depressing effects of iodoacetamide and N-ethylmaleimide on catalytic activity and the changes in the physical properties of the enzyme, it is proposed that modification of the protein results in a conformation change. Realignment of the active site is thought to be proportional to substituent size. Although the Michaelis constant and the inhibition constant are only slightly affected, the depression of the maximum velocity is very profound. It is speculated that the thiol sites are regulatory entities in vivo. This proposal is supported by a demonstration that β-amylase can be reversibly inactivated via disulfide interchanges.
Eddy Convection in Developing Heated Supersonic Jets

An experimental study of the spatial distribution of integral eddy speeds in heated, supersonic free jets is presented. The physics of such jets are of immediate interest to noise-reduction approaches for tactical aircraft jet noise. In these flows, the noise produced has a strong influence from eddy speeds, particularly for radiation in peak noise directions, due to Mach wave contributions. The measurements obtained using a time-resolved Doppler global velocimetry instrument experimentally indicate a key mechanism of the role of heating in jet noise reduction relative to the classical Lighthill U8 scaling. Measurements are presented in jets issuing from an axisymmetric biconic nozzle at two conditions: total temperatures of 1.6 and 2.0 times that of the ambient and both at approximately 106 diameter Reynolds number and pressure-matched exit conditions. For the higher total temperature case, the scaled streamwise eddy convective velocities within the shear layer were measurably reduced compared to the low...
Plant Iconography and Art: Source of Information on Horticultural Technology

Works of art from prehistory to the present constitute an alternate source of information on horticultural crops. Plant iconography becomes a valuable resource for investigations horticultural technological practices; crop history including evolution under domestication, crop dispersal, lost and new traits; and genetic and taxonomic information. Crop images are also one of the unequivocal tools for assessing the historical presence of botanical taxa in a particular region and are an especially valuable resource for determining morphological changes of crops from antiquity to the present. Early written descriptions are often ambiguous and the confusion of plant names in ancient documents makes the image essential to determine the precise species involved plus providing information on the presence of morphological characters that may be unclear from the text. A plethora of ancient plant images exists, but they are widely scattered among libraries and museums, and are often difficult to locate and to access. However, the digitization of information by some of the major world libraries has greatly facilitated the search for ancient illustrations, although they still remain expensive to publish.
Predatory Pricing and Bundled Rebates: The Ramifications of LePage's Inc. v. 3M for Consumers

Imagine two firms competing in the transparent tape market. Firm A is the dominant firm, with a ninety-percent market share. Firm A also manufactures a wide variety of other products, such as stationery and packaging products. Firm B has a smaller market share in the transparent tape market, but has found a successful niche selling private-label transparent tape. Firm A decides to enter the private-label transparent tape market in direct competition with Firm B. In hopes of gaining market share in the transparent tape market, Firm A offers distributors a rebate based on volume sales of all products which Firm A produces. Firm B sues Firm A claiming a violation of the antitrust laws. Firm B claims that the volume discounts, also known as bundled rebates, constitute exclusionary conduct. The court accepts this argument. As a result, antitrust liability is imposed on Firm A without showing that an equally efficient firm could match or beat Firm A’s rebates. The end result is that action which could be characterized as procompetitive is held to be exclusionary and anticompetitive. This hypothetical is reflective of the result the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reached in LePage’s Inc. v. 3M. In LePage’s, the Third
Non-Public Information and the Trading Activity of Hedge Funds

Informed trading reduces liquidity but speeds price discovery. I compare trading by shareholder activists with trading by the subset of hedge fund activists in lead-up periods before activists disclose adjustments in target firm ownership. Activist trading widens target bid-ask spreads and increases Amihud illiquidity (Amihud (2002)). These effects intensify as hedge funds trade physically closer to their targets. Close hedge fund trading before earnings surprises impounds the news into stock prices faster than other activists, reducing abnormal announcement return volatility by 29 percent. I conclude informed trading produces a trade-off between lower liquidity through adverse selection costs and more informative prices.
Incorporation of Oxygen from Water into Toluene and Benzene during Anaerobic Fermentative Transformation

Toluene and benzene were anaerobically transformed and eventually mineralized in mixed methanogenic cultures. However, the source of oxygen for the initial oxidation step had been unknown, owing to the presence of both methanol and water. No exogenous electron acceptors other than carbon dioxide, toluene, and benzene were present in the defined mineral medium. Through the use of 18O-labeled water, the oxygen incorporated into the monoaromatic compounds was shown to come from water. The cresol from the toluene and the phenol from the benzene contained up to 8% 18O label after incubation in 9% 18O-labeled medium. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to detect the 18O-labeled aromatic metabolites.
Development of a High‐Temperature Ceramic Braze: Analysis of Phase Equilibria in the Pd‐Ag‐CuOx System

This paper describes the effects of small palladium additions on the phase equilibria in the Ag-CuO x system. Below a concentration of 5 mol%, palladium was found to increase the temperature of the eutectic reaction present in the pseudobinary system, but have little effect on a higher temperature monotectic reaction. However once enough palladium was added to increase the pseudoternary solidus temperature to that of the lower boundary for this three-phase field (∼970°C), the lower boundary begins to increase in temperature as well. The addition of palladium also causes the original eutectic point to move to lower silver concentrations, which also causes a convergence of the two new three-phase fields. CuO x + L 1 + L 2 and CuO x + α + L 1 . This suggests that with higher palladium concentrations, a peritectic reaction, a + L 1 + L 2 → CuO x , may eventually be observed in the system.
Clay mineral weathering and contaminant dynamics in a caustic aqueous system: I. Wet chemistry and aging effects

Abstract Caustic high level radioactive waste induces mineral weathering reactions that can influence the fate of radionuclides released in the vicinity of leaking storage tanks. The uptake and release of CsI and SrII were studied in batch reactors of 2:1 layer-type silicates—illite (Il), vermiculite (Vm) and montmorillonite (Mt)—under geochemical conditions characteristic of leaking tank waste at the Hanford Site in WA (0.05 m AlT, 2 m Na+, 1 m NO3−, pH ∼14, Cs and Sr present as co-contaminants). Time series (0 to 369 d) experiments were conducted at 298 K, with initial [Cs]0 and [Sr]0 concentrations from 10−5 to 10−3 mol kg−1. Clay mineral type affected the rates of (i) hydroxide promoted dissolution of Si, Al and Fe, (ii) precipitation of secondary solids and (iii) uptake of Cs and Sr. Initial Si release to solution followed the order Mt > Vm > Il. An abrupt decrease in soluble Si and/or Al after 33 d for Mt and Vm systems, and after 190 d for Il suspensions was concurrent with accumulation of secondary aluminosilicate precipitates. Strontium uptake exceeded that of Cs in both rate and extent, although sorbed Cs was generally more recalcitrant to subsequent desorption and dissolution. After 369 d reaction time, reacted Il, Vm and Mt solids retained up to 17, 47 and 14 mmol kg−1 (0.18, 0.24 and 0.02 μmol m−2) of Cs, and 0, 27 and 22 mmol kg−1 (0, 0.14 and 0.03 μmol m−2) Sr, respectively, which were not removed in subsequent Mg exchange or oxalic acid dissolution reactions. Solubility of Al and Si decreased with initial Cs and Sr concentration in Mt and Il, but not in Vm. High co-contaminant sorption to the Vm clay, therefore, appears to diminish the influence of those ions on mineral transformation rates.
Good Lookin' Gal

Marlene Givans looked at herself in the mirror of her grandmother's three room house, and smiled. Yeah man, she was ready to shine at the Ecstasy Dance tonight! She'd just had her bob dyed jet black, with the bleached ends frosted a little more, so her hair looked like a black mushroom edged with gold. She knew some girls who had to put hair weaves in to achieve that look, and Marlene thought about Winsome. Winsome, tall, big an' fat, Winsome, who always gwaan like she nice . . . but Marlene didn't want to think about Winsome now?it was like the Deejays said?is you own fault if you mek a woman tek 'wey you man. She smirked as she eyed herself?she never had to work to keep men. Her hair was naturally thick and straight, thanks to her mother's coolie Indian heritage. Her skin was naturally brown and smooth? even when she didn't go into the sun. In fact, everything about her was natural?she didn't even have false nails or contacts. At nineteen, her face, and her body?her thin lithe body?was enough to cause men to say "pssst!" and call out "Hi sweetness" to her whenever she walked by. Marlene adjusted her white bustier to show even more of her breasts and put her hands on her hips to adjust the white meshed pants that clearly showed her underwear underneath. She imagined the looks on mens' faces when she arrived in this. Men were ready to offer her money, places to live, their life's savings when they saw her in outfits like these. But she had learnt to be choosy?the man who approached her had to have the "right" look?no picky-picky head men, coming barefoot with no shirt. No scruffy ragamuffins. And no married busi nessmen either. She'd heard about Ann Marie's Mr. Gaines. Them men were a waste of time, Marlene thought. Them will gwaan like them big and bad, but them really don't know how fe handle the ghetto. What she liked?Marlene thought, were Don Men. She liked men who had silk suits for every day of the week, with shoes to match. She liked men who had jewelry?rings on each finger and thick gold chains. She liked that they could come down to Ja maica, rent cars, and think nothing of the cost, who could pay CASH