cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Design fixation: Classifications and modern methods of prevention

The term design fixation is often used interchangeably to refer to situations where designers limit their creative output because of an overreliance on features of preexisting designs, or more generally, an overreliance on a specific body of knowledge directly associated with a problem. In this paper, we argue that interdisciplinary interest in design fixation has led to increasingly broad definitions of the phenomenon that may be undermining empirical research efforts, educational efforts to minimize fixation, and the acquisition and dissemination of transdisciplinary knowledge about fixation effects. To address these issues, we recommend that researchers consider categorizing fixation phenomena into one of three classifications: unconscious adherence to the influence of prior designs, conscious blocks to change, and intentional resistance to new ideas. Next, we distinguish between concept-based design fixation, fixation to a specific class of known design concepts, and knowledge-based design fixation, fixation to a problem-specific knowledge base. With these distinctions in place, we propose a system of orders of design fixation, recommend methods for reducing fixation in inventive design, and recommend areas that are in need of further research within the field of design science.
Multiuser bit loading for multicarrier systems

A multiuser bit-loading problem is investigated in multicarrier communication systems. Assuming knowledge of all the channel gains, we propose a multiuser bit-loading algorithm that attempts to minimize the total power to transmit a target rate-sum of all users. It is shown that this algorithm is optimal when the interference among users is nonexistent or strong. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm finds a near-optimal solution for very-high-speed digital subscriber line systems
Effects of Novel Angiogenesis Inhibitors for the Treatment of Cancer on the Cardiovascular System Focus on Hypertension

A 60 year-old man with a history of prostate cancer who underwent radical prostatectomy is currently being treated with androgen-deprivation therapy and is on a clinical trial with bevacizumab (Avastin, an antiangiogenic and anti–vascular endothelia growth factor [VEGF] chemotherapy) for an elevated prostate-specific antigen. At clinic visits after starting bevacizumab, he was noted to have new hypertension, with blood pressure as high as 178/98 mm Hg. After his second cycle of bevacizumab, he had sudden onset of palpitations, with workup revealing atrial fibrillation. He spontaneously cardioverted back to sinus rhythm but was referred to our institution's cardiology clinic for oncology patients (Cardio-Oncology Clinic) for management of hypertension and atrial fibrillation in the setting of bevacizumab therapy. Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from preexisting ones, is required for the growth and metastases of solid tumors.1 Angiogenesis is mediated by the stabilization of the master transcription factor (hypoxia-inducible factor-α), leading to transcription of a number of protumorigenic factors, including VEGF. Inhibiting this pathway has served as a target for antineoplastic treatment, and over the last 5 years, VEGF signaling pathway (VSP) inhibitors have been approved for the treatment of a broad spectrum of malignancies (the Figure). With increased clinical use, these agents have been shown to have cardiovascular side effects, most commonly hypertension, but also arterial or venous thrombotic events and heart failure. This review outlines the presentation, pathophysiology, and our approach to the diagnosis and treatment of VSP inhibitor–induced hypertension, and briefly highlights other cardiac complications that may occur in patients receiving these agents. Figure. Schematic of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway and sites of action of VEGF signaling pathway inhibitors (modified from templates provided by www.proteinlounge.com). VEGFR indicates VEGF receptor; HIF, hypoxia-inducible factor; PDGF, platelet-derived growth factor; PDGFR, PDGF receptor; and TKI, tyrosine kinase inhibitor. The VEGF …
Infectious diseases of the thyroid gland.

than has been previously reported. Gummatous and fungal infections of the thyroid are generally diagnosed only at biopsy or necropsy. Frequent thyroidal involvement in disseminated aspergillosis warrants careful investigation of the gland in patients with this infection. Echinococcosis of the thyroid is a chronic process that is generally diagnosed only following excision. Infectious diseases of the thyroid gland are rare but potentially life-threatening. Indeed, Williams' textbook of endocrinology devotes a single paragraph to the subject [1], while no discussion is given in Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases [2]. The local symptoms and signs of infectious thyroiditis may mimic those of a variety of noninfectious inflammatory conditions. Since prognosis may depend on prompt recognition and
Correlation of Electric Power Steering Vibration to Subjective Ratings

A study was conducted to investigate the subjective responses to steering wheel vibration caused by the electric power steering. The objective was to correlate the subjective responses to a measurable parameter that can be used to assess various design alternatives. Evaluations of six steering wheel vibration levels were performed in a stationary vehicle. Two rating methods were used. Results showed a wide range of acceptability of steering wheel vibration over the conditions evaluated. Root-mean-square (RMS) angular acceleration and peak to peak torque at the steering wheel shaft correlated best with subjective ratings. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E206480.
Evidence for a Frontoparietal Control System Revealed by Intrinsic Functional Connectivity

Two functionally distinct, and potentially competing, brain networks have been recently identified that can be broadly distinguished by their contrasting roles in attention to the external world versus internally directed mentation involving long-term memory. At the core of these two networks are the dorsal attention system and the hippocampal-cortical memory system, a component of the brain's default network. Here spontaneous blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signal correlations were used in three separate functional magnetic resonance imaging data sets (n = 105) to define a third system, the frontoparietal control system, which is spatially interposed between these two previously defined systems. The frontoparietal control system includes many regions identified as supporting cognitive control and decision-making processes including lateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and inferior parietal lobule. Detailed analysis of frontal and parietal cortex, including use of high-resolution data, revealed clear evidence for contiguous but distinct regions: in general, the regions associated with the frontoparietal control system are situated between components of the dorsal attention and hippocampal-cortical memory systems. The frontoparietal control system is therefore anatomically positioned to integrate information from these two opposing brain systems.
Proviral Organization and Sequence Analysis of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus Isolated from a Pallas' Cat☆

The nucleotide sequence and genomic organization have been determined for a highly cytopathic feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) isolated from a Pallas' cat. The 9747-bp provirus of this virus, FIV-Oma, has typical lentivirus organization with LTRs, gag, pol, and env open reading frames (ORFs), putative vif and rev ORFs, and an ORF similar to ORF2/ORFA of domestic cat FIV isolates. Although the FIV-Oma provirus is 300 to 600 bp longer than other FIV proviruses, these additional bases are distributed throughout the genome. Phylogenetic analysis of a conserved region of the pol gene suggests that FIV-Oma is more closely related to some of the puma and lion lentiviruses than it is to domestic cat FIV isolates; however, many regions of the genome exhibit extensive nucleotide sequence divergence. None of the eight molecular proviral clones isolated from a genomic library are infectious, but we have constructed an infectious, cytopathic clone of FIV-Oma from subcloned and PCR-amplified fragments of these proviral clones. This clone will be useful for identifying the genetic determinants of FIV-Oma's biological activities.
A 200 mJ unstable resonator Nd:YAG oscillator

Abstract We have designed and operated a positive branch 6.3 mm diameter rod Nd:YAG unstable resonator oscillator with a 12 nsec, 200 mJ Q -switched output at 10 Hz repetition rate. When followed by a single 9 mm diameter Nd:YAG amplifier output energies up to 750 mJ were obtained with a divergence less than 0.5 mrad.
Modulators of cigarette smoke-induced pulmonary emphysema in A/J mice.

Mice develop pulmonary emphysema after chronic exposure to cigarette smoke (CS). In this study, the influence of gender, exposure duration, and concentration of CS on emphysema, pulmonary function, inflammation, markers of toxicity, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity was examined in A/J mice. Mice were exposed to CS at either 100 or 250 mg total particulate material/m 3 (CS-100 or CS-250, respectively) for 10, 16, or 22 weeks. Evidence of emphysema was first seen in female mice after 10 weeks of exposure to CS-250, while male mice did not develop emphysema until 16 weeks. Female mice exposed to CS-100 did not have emphysema until 16 weeks, suggesting that disease development depends on the concentration and duration of exposure. Airflow obstruction and increased pulmonary compliance were observed in mice exposed to CS-250 for 22 weeks. Decreased elasticity was likely the major contributor to airflow obstruction because substantial remodeling of the conducting airways, beyond mild mucous cell hyperplasia, was lacking. Exposure to CS increased the number of macrophages, neutrophils, lymphocytes(Bcellsandactivated CD4- andCD8-positiveTcells), and activity of MMP-2 and -9 in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Treatment with antioxidants N-acetylcysteine or epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) did not decrease emphysema severity, but EGCG slightly decreased BALF inflammatory cell numbers and lactate dehydrogenase activity. Inflammation and emphysema persisted after a 17-week recovery period following exposure to CS-250 for 22 weeks. The similarities of this model to the human disease make it promising for studying disease pathogenesis and assessing new therapeutic interventions.
Development of Performance Assessments in Science: Conceptual, Practical, and Logistical Issues

What are practical and logistical constraints in developing science performance assessments (SPAs)? What are key components in a framework for conceptualizing the process? What are the major steps in SPA development?
Can Musicians Track Two Different Beats Simultaneously

The simultaneous presence of different meters is not uncommon in Western art music and the music of various non-Western cultures. However, it is unclear how listeners and performers deal with this situation, and whether it is possible to cognitively establish and maintain different beats simultaneously without integrating them into a single metric framework. The present study is an attempt to address this issue empirically. Two rhythms, distinguished by pitch register and representing different meters (2/4 and 6/8), were presented simultaneously in various phase relationships, and participants (who were classically trained musicians) had to judge whether a probe fell on the beat in one or both rhythms. In a selective attention condition, they had to attend to one rhythm and to ignore the other, whereas in a divided attention condition, they had to attend to both. In Experiment 1, participants performed significantly better in the divided attention condition than predicted if they had been able to attend to only one rhythm at a time. In Experiments 2 and 3, however, which used more complex combinations of rhythms, performance did not differ significantly from chance. These results suggest that in Experiment 1 participants relied on the composite beat pattern (i.e., a nonisochronous sequence corresponding to the serial ordering of the two underlying beats) rather than tracking the two beats independently, while in Experiments 2 and 3, the level of complexity of the composite beat pattern may have prevented participants from tracking both beats simultaneously.
Effect of Sodium on the Transport and Utilization of Citric Acid by Aerobacter (Enterobacter) aerogenes

Sodium inhibited citrate uptake by two of the four strains of Aerobacter (Enterobacter) aerogenes used in these studies, had no effect on one strain, and stimulated citrate uptake by one strain. Two of the four strains grew well anaerobically on citrate in the presence of Na+, one grew poorly, and one grew not at all either in the presence or absence of Na+. Na+ stimulated the aerobic growth of one strain on citrate, increased the total growth but not the rate of growth of one strain, and prolonged the lag phase but not the rate of growth or total growth of two strains. The experimental data reported herein, therefore, indicate that there are appreciable physiological differences among strains of A. aerogenes.
Brief Report: Family-Based Group Intervention for Young Siblings of Children with Chronic Illness and Developmental Disability

Objective To evaluate the impact of a family-based group intervention for young siblings of children with chronic illness and developmental disability (CI/DD). Methods Forty-three healthy siblings (ages 4–7 years) of children with CI/DD and their parents participated in an intervention designed to address sibling challenges that cut across types of diagnostic conditions. The intervention consisted of six sessions of collateral and integrated sibling-parent groups. Measures of sibling knowledge, sibling sense of connectedness with other children in similar family circumstances, and sibling global functioning were collected before and after intervention. A subsample of 17 families completed a 3-month follow-up. Results Siblings’ knowledge of the child’s disorder and sibling connectedness increased significantly from pre- to posttreatment for both boys and girls, regardless of the nature of the brother or sister’s condition. Sibling perceptions of self-competence increased from pre- to posttreatment, whereas parent reports of sibling behavioral functioning remained within the normal range. Improvements in sibling knowledge and connectedness maintained at follow-up. Parent satisfaction with the program was high. Conclusions Results support more controlled evaluations of family-based intervention to improve young sibling adaptation to CI/DD.
Prenatal stress reduces the effectiveness of the neurosteroid 3α,5α‐THP to block kainic‐acid‐induced seizures

The effects of prenatal stress on the ability of the 5 alpha-reduced progesterone metabolite and neurosteroid 5 alpha-pregnan-3 alpha-ol-20-one (3 alpha,5 alpha-THP) to prevent seizures was examined. On gestational Day 18, pregnant rats were exposed to 20 min of restraint stress (prenatal stress condition) or no such stress (control condition). The adult, gonadectomized offspring exposed to the prenatal stress or control condition were administered 0.0, 4.0, or 8.0 mg/kg 3 alpha,5 alpha-THP 1 hr prior to testing for kainic-acid-induced (32 mg/kg SC) ictal activity. The rats exposed to prenatal stress tended to have more partial seizures and significantly more tonic clonic seizures that were of longer duration than the no prenatal stress rats. Four mg/kg 3 alpha,5 alpha-THP was sufficient to significantly reduce seizure duration of no prenatal stress females, compared to the 0.0 mg/kg dosage of 3 alpha,5 alpha-THP. Seizure duration was reduced in no prenatal stress females by a dose of 4 mg/kg 3 alpha,5 alpha-THP, whereas a dose of 8 mg/kg was required to obtain comparable seizure reduction in prenatally stressed females and males in both groups. There was attrition following kainic-acid testing; of the 18 animals in each group originally, 9 prenatally stressed males, 6 prenatally stressed females, 6 nonprenatally stressed males and 5 nonprenatally stressed females were able to be tested in the water maze and perfused. One week after seizures, there were no differences in the water maze performance of the remaining animals. There were fewer cresyl violet-stained neurons in the CA3 region of the hippocampus of prenatally stressed rats compared to the nonprenatally stressed rats. Basal plasma corticosterone was greater in prenatally stressed animals, but this was due to increases in females rather than males. Plasma 3 alpha,5 alpha-THP was not significantly different in prenatally stressed males and females compared to their no prenatal stress counterparts. These data suggest that the sensitivity to, or responsiveness of, 3 alpha,5 alpha-THP to prevent seizures is decreased after prenatal stress, particularly in females.
Detection of Inducible Clindamycin Resistance of Staphylococci in Conjunction with Performance of Automated Broth Susceptibility Testing

This study has shown that inducible clindamycin resistance in staphylococci can be detected by disk testing on sheep blood agar inoculum purity plates used with the bioMerieux VITEK 2. Tests of 150 erythromycin-resistant isolates correlated with standard D-zone tests on Mueller-Hinton agar and with PCR for erm(A), erm(C), and msr(A).
U.N. Security Council Permanent Membership: A New Proposal for a Twenty-First Century Council

The permanent membership of the U.N. Security Council has been static since its creation - the victorious Allied Powers from the Second World War (U.S., Britain, France, Russia) plus China. The Chinese and Russian seats have changed governments, but no new states have been added to the Council, which is unrepresentative of the world today ethnically, religiously, geographically, or along any other categorical line. This paper proposes altering the make-up of the Security Council's permanent membership by adding major states from Latin America, Asia and Africa, as well as Germany and Japan in a scheme of seat rotation that would assure meaningful membership and representative capacity when coupled with a new form of veto power known as the procedural veto.
Evolutionary Phonology: What is Evolutionary Phonology?

In language, as in nature in general, everything moves, everything is alive and changing. Baudouin de Courtenay (1897/1972) Relating sound patterns to sound change The field of modern linguistics is conventionally divided into distinct subfields, defined by the questions they address and analytical methods they use to answer these questions. Establishing a clear separation between the components of a synchronic description has proved particularly useful in investigating the distinctive properties of sound systems (phonology), words (morphology), and phrases (syntax). Yet the strict segregation of synchronic and historical description has a rather different character, as it is very often the case that these subfields overlap in their coverage. The post-Saussurean tradition has tended to dismiss historical explanations as entirely irrelevant to the task of synchronic description, on the grounds that the speaker of a language cannot be expected to know the history of that language and “a segment does not know where it came from” (Lass 1984: 178). This essentially ahistorical perspective leads to considerable redundancy, as numerous commentators have observed, since many patterns with a well-understood historical basis or origin must be reencoded in synchronic accounts. The fact that such patterns typically lack system-internal motivation within the synchronic grammar has likewise expanded the inventory of “universals” that must be attributed to a linguistic system because they cannot in any way be deduced or inferred from other properties.
Affective Sexuality Education in Graduate Nurse Practitioner Programs in the United States

A national survey of nurse practitioner graduate schools was conducted in order to determine the extent of affective education being taught in these programs. All 129 nurse practitioner graduate schools that were listed in the 1994 National Directory of Nurse Practitioner Facilities and that offered master's degrees in nursing were telephoned. Seventy-three (57%) schools responded to inquiries about the presence or absence of a course concerning human sexuality. Nine (12%) schools had such a course and the instructors of these courses were invited to participate in a 30-minute telephone interview; five (56%) consented. Results showed that instructors spent an average of 15% of class time on personal attitudes of students. Although all agreed that negative attitudes of nursing students must be changed, and most agreed that students' personal sexual attitudes are important, only two of the five instructors included affective objectives in their course syllabi. It was concluded that specific courses in human...
Review of activities in USA on HTS materials

Rapid progress in attaining practical applications of High Temperature Superconductors(HTS) has been made since the discovery of these new materials. Many critical parameters influencing HTS powder synthesis and wire processing have been identified through a combination of fundamental exploration and applied research. The complexity of these novel materials with regard to phase behavior and physical properties has become evident as a result of these careful studies. Achieving optimal mechanical and superconducting properties in wires and tapes will require further understanding and synergy among several different technical disciplines. Highlights of efforts towards producing practical superconductors for electric power applications based on rare earth-, bismuth-, and thallium-based systems are reviewed.
Continuity of Care, Caregiver-Child Interactions, and Toddler Social Competence and Problem Behaviors.

ABSTRACTResearch Findings: Continuity of care is a recommended practice in child care intended to promote secure and supportive relationships between infants and toddlers and their caregivers. Toddlers (N = 115) between 12 and 24 months were observed in 30 continuity and 29 noncontinuity classrooms. The average duration of care for toddlers with caregivers was 14 months in the continuity rooms and 5 months in noncontinuity rooms. Toddlers observed in continuity rooms experienced higher levels of interactive involvement with their caregivers and were rated by their caregivers as having fewer problem behaviors compared with the toddlers in noncontinuity rooms. Toddlers in rooms with higher staff–child ratios also experienced more involved caregiving. We did not find evidence that the level of involved caregiving mediated the association between continuity of care and toddlers’ social competence or problem behaviors. Practice or Policy: Continuity of care may be a promising practice for programs that strive ...
Pulse buckling of composite plates

The elastic dynamic buckling of geometrically imperfect rectangular composite plates under longitudinal compressive pulse is investigated. Specifically, effects of fiber orientations of angle-ply laminated panels are studied. Geometric nonlinearities due to large deflections, as well as wave propagation effects due to in-plane inertia terms, are included in the analysis. The loads are force or displacement pulses. A numerical solution, through an explicit finite-difference integration scheme, is then developed. Appropriate dynamic buckling criteria are defined for both loading types, and buckling loads are determined for various loading durations and layup configurations. It is found that the dynamic buckling loads are not always higher than the static ones; there is a range of loading frequencies near the fundamental frequency of the plate where dynamic buckling occurs for lower loads. Buckling under displacement pulses occurs at loads higher than those for force pulses of similar durations. Also, the critical axial displacements are not sensitive to the material configuration. Comparisons with results obtained through a finite-element analysis support the conclusions of the present analysis.
Abstract 5438: Gene expression profiles resulting from stable and transient loss of p53 mirrors its role in tissue differentiation.

Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC The tumor repressor gene, p53, is involved in a variety of cellular activities ranging from stress, differentiation and cell cycle regulation. In our previous studies we have shown p53’s transcription activating role to be important in osteoblast differentiation. There is still a debate in the literature as to whether p53 inhibits or promotes differentiation. We have found p53 heterozygous mice to show a p53 dependency on some bone marker gene expression while the same is absent in p53 null mice. This deficiency of p53 has also been shown to produce more osteosarcomas than a complete loss of p53. This suggests that the presence of p53 is able to modify the environment within pre osteoblasts based on its ability to regulate key bone specific genes. In the present study we compared changes in gene expression resulting after either a transient or stable reduction in p53. Accordingly we reduced p53 levels in C2C12 cells capable of both myoblast and osteoblast differentiation transiently, and compared the changes in gene expression of candidate genes to cells with stable p53 knockdown. Using a PCR array to assay p53 target genes, we have found differential expression profiles when comparing stable versus transient knockdown. As expected several of genes that were profoundly affected after transient p53 loss were related to apoptosis and cell cycle regulation. Stable p53 loss produced a greater change in MyoD and other transcription factors with tissue specific roles suggesting that long term effect of p53 loss affects tissue homeostasis to a greater degree than changes resulting from acute loss of p53. These differences in gene expression were also validated by measuring promoter activities of different pathway specific genes involved in differentiation. These studies suggest that an important role for p53 is context dependent, with a stable reduction in p53 expression profoundly affecting normal tissue physiology than its acute loss. Citation Format: Oliver Couture, Eric Lombardi, Kendra Davis, Emily Hays, Nalini Chandar. Gene expression profiles resulting from stable and transient loss of p53 mirrors its role in tissue differentiation. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5438. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-5438
Properties of Non-ionic Surfactant-methanol Mixed System without Alkali

The interfacial activity,anti-dilution property,anti-salt property and stability of non-ionic surfactant-methanol mixed system have been studied. The research results have shown that the mixed system can produce ultra low interfacial tensions(10 -3 mN/m order) with Daqing crude oil within a wider range of surfactant and methanol concentration, not adding any alkali to the system, but depending on synergism of methanol; it can produce ultra low interfacial tensions with Daqing crude oil after it is diluted to reach 30% of initial concentration; it can retain ultra low interfacial tensions with Daqing crude oil during 28 days when it is placed at simulated conditions of formation, and it can produce ultra low interfacial tensions with Daqing crude oil within salinity range from 2 000 mg/L to 10 000 mg/L,optimum salinity is 5 000 mg/L.
Does Neurology Inform Psychoanalysis? A Case Report

In these days of malpractice suits it has become increasingly important that the psychoanalyst make correct diagnoses and institute appropriate treatment. The significance of this statement is enhanced by the fact that the opinion is being increasingly enunciated that there is no such disorder as conversion hysteria. Accordingly the psychoanalyst needs to keep up to date about relevant neurological matters. The present article reports a case of a young women who had been treated psychoanalytically for many years without the organic nature of her disorder being grasped. Appropriate pharmacological therapy produced prolonged remission of her symptoms.
MUSCULOSKELETAL SYNDROMES IN PARASITIC DISEASES

Parasitic infestation can induce a variety of rheumatic syndromes as a result of infiltration of musculoskeletal structures by parasites or an immune mediated mechanism. Parasite-induced symptoms should be considered when arthritis, enthesitis, myositis, or vasculitis develop in patients residing in endemic areas and in certain subsets of the population of developed countries, for example, migrants, travelers, and immunocompromised individuals. Diagnosis is based on the demonstration of infection with a pathogenic parasite, lack of response to anti-inflammatory agents, and improvement following antiparasitic therapy. Treatment consists of erradication of the parasite.
Extension of the Shell Model for Heavy Spherical Nuclei

The Bardeen-Bogoliubov-Belyaev treatment of the pairing correlations is applied to spherical nuclei with a general nuclear force. The interaction between quasi-particles is treated by the method of linearized equations of motion. An advantage of this treatment is that the same equations describe single-particle excitations and collective excitations, so that the former are orthogonal to the latter and the total number of states is correct. Another advantage is that the spurious states due to the fluctuations in the number of particles are automatically eliminated. The equations to be solved resemble those for a two-body shell model calculation. Simple estimates, based on delta-function or quadrupole forces, are made for the vibrational frequencies in various modes and transition matrix elements. It is concluded that the method is as powerful as other known methods for dealing with collective states by the shell model, and that the same order of magnitude for the effective nuclear force seems capable of fitting all the data.
Compatibility of Common Instructional Models With the DACUM Process

Practitioners use an expansive array of instructional design models. Although many of these models acknowledge the need for analyzing occupational roles, they do not define steps for conducting the...
Application of Compressive Sensing to Gravitational Microlensing Experiments

Compressive Sensing is an emerging technology for data compression and simultaneous data acquisition. This is an enabling technique for significant reduction in data bandwidth, and transmission power and hence, can greatly benefit spaceflight instruments. We apply this process to detect exoplanets via gravitational microlensing. We experiment with various impact parameters that describe microlensing curves to determine the effectiveness and uncertainty caused by Compressive Sensing. Finally, we describe implications for spaceflight missions.
Perceptual restoration of masked speech in human cortex

Humans are adept at understanding speech despite the fact that our natural listening environment is often filled with interference. An example of this capacity is phoneme restoration, in which part of a word is completely replaced by noise, yet listeners report hearing the whole word. The neurological basis for this unconscious fill-in phenomenon is unknown, despite being a fundamental characteristic of human hearing. Here, using direct cortical recordings in humans, we demonstrate that missing speech is restored at the acoustic-phonetic level in bilateral auditory cortex, in real-time. This restoration is preceded by specific neural activity patterns in a separate language area, left frontal cortex, which predicts the word that participants later report hearing. These results demonstrate that during speech perception, missing acoustic content is synthesized online from the integration of incoming sensory cues and the internal neural dynamics that bias word-level expectation and prediction.
SDN data path confidence analysis

The unauthorized access or theft of sensitive, personal information is becoming a weekly news item. The illegal dissemination of proprietary information to media outlets or competitors costs industry untold millions in remediation costs and losses every year. The 2013 data breach at Target, Inc. that impacted 70 million customers is estimated to cost upwards of 1 billion dollars. Stolen information is also being used to damage political figures and adversely influence foreign and domestic policy. In this paper, we offer some techniques for better understanding the health and security of our networks. This understanding will help professionals to identify network behavior, anomalies and other latent, systematic issues in their networks. Software-Defined Networks (SDN) enable the collection of network operation and configuration metrics that are not readily available, if available at all, in traditional networks. SDN also enables the development of software protocols and tools that increases visibility into the network. By accumulating and analyzing a time series data repository (TSDR) of SDN and traditional metrics along with data gathered from our tools we can establish behavior and security patterns for SDN and SDN hybrid networks. Our research helps provide a framework for a range of techniques for administrators and automated system protection services that give insight into the health and security of the network. To narrow the scope of our research, this paper focuses on a subset of those techniques as they apply to the confidence analysis of a specific network path at the time of use or inspection. This confidence analysis allows users, administrators and autonomous systems to decide whether a network path is secure enough for sending their sensitive information. Our testing shows that malicious activity can be identified quickly as a single metric indicator and consistently within a multi-factor indicator analysis. Our research includes the implementation of these techniques in a network path confidence analysis service, called Confidence Assessment as a Service. Using our behavior and security patterns, this service evaluates a specific network path and provides a confidence score for that path before, during and after the transmission of sensitive data. Our research and tools give administrators and autonomous systems a much better understanding of the internal operation and configuration of their networks. Our framework will also provide other services that will focus on detecting latent, systemic network problems. By providing a better understanding of network configuration and operation our research enables a more secure and dependable network and helps prevent the theft of information by malicious actors.
Semi-automated, machine vision based maize kernel counting on the ear

In synchrony with the overall trend toward automation in plant phenotyping, two semi-automatic machine vision methods were devised targeted at counting maize kernels directly on de-husked ears. The ears represented row morphologies ranging from straight to curved, they featured missing kernels, underdeveloped kernels, and broken kernels, but displayed no disease or mould. The first method mimicked a common manual field method of estimating the total ear kernel count, based on counting the number of rows and multiplication by the number of kernels per row. Similarly, in this paper, the operator manually counted the number of rows, and also manually counted the number of kernels in a row image within an (operator determined) quasi-cylindrical mid-section of the ear. The total ear kernel count was then estimated by multiplying the number of rows by the number of kernels per row, yielding full ear extrapolation by multiplication by the ratio between the total ear length and the length of the quasi-cylindrical mid-section. This full ear image based approach achieved a kernel counting error ranging from −7.67% (under-count) to +8.60% (multi-count) among 23 maize ears. The second method only observed a fixed quasi-cylindrical mid-section of the ear. Image frames were acquired of each individual row of kernels located in the quasi-cylindrical mid-section, yielding kernel maps. Among 12 maize ears, the kernel missing error ranged from 0 to 4.24% and the multi-count error ranged from 0 to 1.92%. In total, 41 existing kernels were missed and 25 kernels were multi-counted among 2713 kernels counted.
Evaluation of six indices for monitoring agricultural drought in the south-central United States

Abstract Drought indices are widely used for drought monitoring. This study evaluates the performance of six indices (Palmer’s Drought Severity Index (PDSI), Palmer’s Z-index, precipitation percent normal, precipitation percentiles, Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI)) to determine which are most appropriate for monitoring agricultural drought in the south-central United States. Soil moisture and crop yield data for winter wheat, corn and cotton are used to assess the performance of drought indices. The results indicate that SPEI is the most representative of soil moisture conditions. The best drought index for crop yield varies depending on crop type and growth stage. Z-index and SPEI have relatively higher correlations with all the crop yields. However, when only considering years with weather and yield conditions that are substantially above or below normal, all of the drought indices are highly correlated with crop yield. Our results demonstrate that no single drought index can capture all aspects of agricultural drought in the south-central United States. Therefore, it is important to quantitatively evaluate multiple drought indices to determine which is most appropriate for the location and crop of interest.
A Computational Study of the Ionic Liquid-Induced Destabilization of the Miniprotein Trp-Cage

Fundamental understanding of protein stability away from physiological conditions is important due to its evolutionary implications and relevance to industrial processing and storage of biological materials. The molecular mechanisms of stabilization/destabilization by environmental perturbations are incompletely understood. We use replica-exchange molecular dynamics simulations and thermodynamic analysis to investigate the effects of ionic liquid-induced perturbations on the folding/unfolding thermodynamics of the Trp-cage miniprotein. We find that ionic liquid-induced denaturation resembles cold unfolding, where the unfolded states are populated by compact, partially folded structures in which elements of the secondary structure are conserved, while the tertiary structure is disrupted. Our simulations show that the intrusion of ions and water into Trp-cage’s hydrophobic core is facilitated by the disruption of its salt bridge and 310-helix by specific ion–residue interactions. Despite the swelling and wi...
Image-Guided Cardiac Electrophysiology Procedures Focusing on MRI Guidance

Cardiac electrophysiology (EP) is a rapidly growing field, a result of the large and growing number of patients suffering from atrial fibrillation (AF) and ventricular tachycardia (VT). The success rate of ablation in patients with paroxysmal and persistent AF is approximately 70 % and 50 %, respectively; while in those with scar-related ventricular tachycardia, the success rate is approximately 50 %. As a result, there is a need for improved procedural techniques and a deeper understanding of recurrences in failed procedures. The field of EP has generated considerable industrial interest, so that the field is highly advanced technologically and uses tools that are not frequently seen in other surgical or interventional fields.
A Cognitive Perspective on How Experts Develop Conceptual Models in Complex Domains

Conceptual models are important in understanding the domain which is to be reflected in the information systems. Development of such models involves experts in conceptual modeling techniques (ISDK experts) and experts in the domain application (ISAK experts). This paper focuses on understanding how these two types of experts interact and develop conceptual models jointly. Using an exploratory study, it was identified that in the early phase of development of conceptual models, the experts focus on understanding concepts of the domains that they are not familiar with. Later, when the experts had shared information on the concepts of the domains then they focus on developing the conceptual model. The study also indicates that the groups of experts that have high shared information are most likely to create high quality conceptual models.
Technological advances in integrating multi-kilobase DNA sequences into genomes

Abstract Genetic engineering, enabled by rapid advances in programmable nucleases, is rapidly transforming science and society. Notably, despite remarkable progress developing more effective and specific technologies for introducing double strand-breaks in genomic DNA, a large number of potential applications require DNA integration rather than introduction of stochastic mutations. Integration of heterologous DNA has been traditionally accomplished through manipulation of DNA repair mechanisms to favor homologous recombination. However, gene editing applications that rely on homologous recombination are limited by its ineffectiveness for integrating large segments of DNA. Recent advances in genetic engineering have improved the efficiency of homologous recombination and also have identified alternative DNA repair pathways that can be hijacked to accomplish targeted DNA integration. These methods have been utilized to integrate DNA in excess of 200 Kb in size, which marks the dawn of a new era in gene therapy, humanization of animal models, and even re-writing human genomes.
Sequence analysis of place-travel fragmentation in California

Abstract Sequence analysis is used in this chapter to measure fragmentation in activity participation and travel. We apply this method to a sample of residents in the Central Coast of California that participated in the California Household Travel Survey in 2012–13. This method employs techniques from the sequencing of events in the life course of individuals to explore sequences of daily activity at places such as home, work, and school and travel. Studying sequences of daily episodes (each activity at a place and each trip) is preferable over other techniques of studying activity-travel behavior because sequences include the entire trajectory of a person's activity during a day while jointly considering the number of activities performed, order of activities in a day, and activity durations. We first identify places visited and duration at each place on a minute-by-minute basis, then we derive representative daily behavior patterns using hierarchical clustering. We study membership to these clusters and find that the usual activity-based models miss important place-travel daily patterns. We also find systematically higher fragmentation in households that have children; furthermore, as expected, day of the week plays a major role in daily activity-travel patterns. Access to opportunities also influences daily patterns.
Thawing cryopreserved apheresis products: comparison of barkey plasmatherm dry heating device and 37oC water bath

Background & Aim The Barkey Plasmatherm (Barkey GmbH & Co. KG) dry heating device (BPDHD) is designed to thaw frozen products intended for infusion. This study compared cryopreserved apheresis hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (HS/PC) product CD34 + cell dose recovery, viability and sterility using the BPDHD and a traditional 37°C water bath (Isotemp; Fisher Scientific). Methods, Results & Conclusion METHODS Cryopreserved HS/PC apheresis products were used to assess CD34 recovery, viability and sterility. We selected two products from a single processing and freezing from three independent collections. A paired bag from each of the three collections and freezing procedures was thawed using either the BPDRD or Isotemp water bath. Each thawed product was tested for CD34+ cell dose recovery, CD34+ cell 7AAD viability, sterility by bacterial culture, and colony forming unit (CFU) growth (Stem Cell Technologies). We also performed an independent 3-month post-transplant follow up to compare the time to neutrophil and platelet engraftment in patients who received products thawed using the BPDHD vs products thawed using the Isotemp water bath RESULTS Three products were thawed using BPDHD and 3 products were thawed using a water bath for a total of 6 products thawed and tested. Table 1 summarizes the post-thaw testing performed on each product. All post-thaw testing met our established release criteria (Table 2). We compared the engraftment outcomes for the first 15 patients who received products thawed with the BPDHD to transplant recipients who received products thawed in the Isotemp water bath. We evaluated days to > 500 neutrophils/uL for three consecutive days, and days to platelet count > 20 × 109/L without platelet transfusion support for 7 days. We found no difference between the two thawing methods (Table 3.) CONCLUSION A 37oC water bath is the most commonly used device to thaw cellular therapy products in the United States. This method requires manually submerging the product directly into temperature-controlled water and massaging the bag to ensure a complete thaw, and the water must be changed after each use. The BPDHD is a dry heating system with water-filled cushions and the water is changed annually. Moreover, the water never touches the product, which in principle will reduce the possibility of contamination. The BPDHD takes away the manual manipulation of the product making thawing more standardized, which may translate into improved laboratory efficiency.
Low-Dose CDK4/6 Inhibitors Induce Presentation of Pathway Specific MHC ligands as Targets for Cancer Immunotherapy

Purpose: Cyclin dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) lead to cell-cycle arrest but also demonstrate antineoplastic activity through triggering T cell-mediated immunity. One of the potential mechanisms responsible for this immunological effect might be qualitative and quantitative changes in human leukocyte antigen (HLA) ligands on the cell surface after treatment with CDK4/6i. These changes may increase the immunogenicity of breast cancer cells offering potential synergies for combinations with cancer immunotherapies. Experimental Design: We investigated the ability of two CDK4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i), Abemaciclib and Palbociclib, to alter the immunopeptidome at subclinical, non-toxic, levels in different breast cancer cell lines. Biochemical isolation of HLA ligands, identification by mass spectrometry and subsequent network analysis after drug treatment were used to characterize the changes in the immunopeptidome. The mechanisms for altered CDK4/6 presentation were explored. Results: Low-dose treatment with 100nM of Abemaciclib and Palbociclib led to upregulation of cell surface HLA levels and induced hundreds of HLA ligands in breast cancer cell lines. These new ligands were significantly and most strongly enriched for peptides derived from proteins involved in the G1/S phase transition of cell cycle pathway and included among others, HLA ligands from CDK4, CDK6, Cyclin D1 and Cyclin E1. An increase in transcript, protein, and subsequent ubiquitination for Cyclin D1, which could lead to enhanced degradation of the target protein, was identified as a potential mechanism for the altered presentation of peptides. Conclusions: CDK4/6i treatment gave rise to drug-induced antigens through cell cycle disruption and increased antigen presentation. Interestingly, these induced HLA ligands are often sourced from the proteins of the CDK4/CDK6/CCND1 complex or more downstream interaction partners, providing evidence that inhibition of a distinct cellular pathway leads to increased presentation of the proteins involved. These findings suggested CDK4/6i provided a tool for highly selective induction of HLA ligands that may be targeted by T cell-based immunotherapeutics.