cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Keynote talk III: Trusted cloud: How to make the cloud more secure

Cloud computing is growing because of cost advantages and convenience it offers to customers. However, security and privacy continue to be major concerns. We wish to guard against a powerful adversary who can compromise the CloudOS, and uses all privileges of the CloudOS to compromise the integrity and confidentiality of user applications. Secure hardware and/or small trusted hypervisors are the main weapons in our arsenal to guard against such powerful adversaries. Secure hardware (such as Intel SGX) enables user mode applications to package code and data into regions that are isolated from all other software running on the machine. Isolated regions can also be implemented with a small trusted hypervisor. However, it is an open research question as to how entire cloud services can be built using trusted hardware as a primitive, while maintaining a small TCB, providing good performance and end-to-end security guarantees. The Trusted Cloud project at Microsoft Research explores ways to answer this question, and it builds on techniques spanning hardware, OS, compilers and verification tools. In this talk, I will describe our efforts on architecting trusted and more secure cloud services using these principles.
Reducing reports of illusory posttraumatic growth: A revised version of the Stress-Related Growth Scale (SRGS-R).

OBJECTIVE We evaluated a revised version of the Stress-Related Growth Scale (SRGS-R) against the original version (SRGS) and the most commonly used measure of posttraumatic growth, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). The SRGS-R differs from the SRGS in that (a) the wording of each item was modified from implying positive change to neutral wording and (b) the rating scale includes both positive and negative impacts, which we believe makes the SRGS-R less prone to reports of illusory growth. METHOD Participants (N = 615) completed either the SRGS-R, the SRGS, or the PTGI, along with convergent (e.g., meaning in life), outcome (depression, anxiety, global distress, well-being, PTSD symptoms, and quality of life), and coping measures. RESULTS The PTGI and the original SRGS yielded a similar pattern of results. We replicated past findings that the PTGI was unrelated to depression, anxiety, global distress, and quality of life, and positively related to PTSD symptoms. In stark contrast, the SRGS-R was significantly related to less depression, anxiety, global distress, and greater quality of life. Most notably, the SRGS-R was negatively related to PTSD symptoms. All 3 measures had acceptable associations with convergent measures and were related to use of emotion and problem-focused coping. However, the PTGI was positively related to venting and denial, whereas the SRGS-R was negatively associated with avoidance coping. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest the SRGS-R is less prone to reports of illusory growth. Improved measurement of posttraumatic growth is vital to our understanding of how individuals grow from traumatic or stressful experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record
Use of Rice Husk Ash (RHA) as a Sustainable Cementitious Material for Concrete Construction

Use of supplementary construction materials in concrete industries has become a great interest in recent years. Stringent guidelines of the Unites States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) influence the use of recycled materials in construction industry. Furthermore, there is an eminent shortage of the predominately used fly ashes from local sources generated by coal plant industries in Arkansas. On the other hand, rice husk ash (RHA), a by-product of the rice milling process, has high potential of being a supplementary cementing material. The RHA generated by Riceland Foods, the largest grain processing industry in the United States located in Arkansas, is treated as waste materials. It has become a financial burden to local famers due to its ever increasing handling, storage and disposal costs. The RHA consists of non-crystalline silica, which proves it as a very reactive pozzolanic material in mortar and concrete. To this end, laboratory-based experimental study investigated the performance of a locally available RHA as a supplement of Type-I Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). Properties of concrete with different percentages of RHA (10% and 20% by weight) were investigated in this study. Fresh concrete properties (slump, unit weight, air entrainment etc.) as well as mechanical properties (compressive, tensile, flexural strength) of hardened concrete were determined. Additionally, alkali-silica reaction (ASR) test was conducted on mortar bars to evaluate cracking and expansion of concrete while exposed to adverse weather. It was found that, RHA particles were 13 times coarser than the cement particles. Use of this bulk RHA yielded significant strength reduction of the RHA modified concrete compared to the control sample. The maximum compressive strength gained by 10% RHA-modified concrete was 56% of that of the control specimen. Tensile and flexural strengths achieved by 10% replacement level were 76% and 96%, respectively, of those of the control samples. Moreover, the ASR test revealed that the bulk RHA was very reactive. Local construction industries can use this RHA as flowable fill as an alternative of cement and fly ash.
Observations on the changes in the kinetics of red cell proliferation following irradiation and hypertransfusion

Data are presented on the changing pattern of the Fe59 uptake and emergence curve following irradiation and hypertransfusion. The data obtained appear to be inconsistent with the notion that population pressure influences the release of red cells from the marrow. The implications of these data on the understanding of the kinetics of red cell production are discussed.
To Hell with Narrative: Inferno and Irony in Pasolini’s Salò

This article examines Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salo o le 120 giornate di Sodoma. While the film has received copious critical attention, most interpretations either focus on the physical and sexual vi...
Interneuron diversity and function in the spinal motor system

Neural circuits in the spinal cord are the ultimate arbiters of movement, serving as the conduit through which the rest of the nervous system controls muscle contraction to implement behavior. Over the last two decades, the genetic identity of neurons in the spinal cord has come into view, revealing the richness of cellular diversity that underlies motor control. Despite this progress, our understanding of how discrete types of spinal interneurons contribute to motor output remains tenuous. Here, I review the landscape of interneuron diversity in the spinal motor system, and highlight key challenges and novel approaches to linking the molecular and genetic taxonomy of spinal interneurons to functional aspects of movement.
Evaluating the Use of Different Flux-Gradient Functions in NAVSLaM During Two Experiments

Experimental data from two field campaigns (RED 2001 and CASPER-East 2016) are used to compare and validate variants of the Navy Atmospheric Vertical Surface layer Model (NAVSLaM) using different Monin-Obukhov similarity theory dimensionless scalar profile functions. These comparisons show that using the “Kansas”-type scalar gradient functions of the form Φ = (1–23ξ)-1/2 within NAVSLaM results in the best agreement between modeled and measured propagation loss for both experiments.
Where Does Multinational Investment Go with Territorial Taxation? Evidence from the United Kingdom

In 2009, the United Kingdom changed from a worldwide to a territorial tax system, abolishing dividend taxes on foreign repatriation from many low-tax countries. This paper assesses the causal effect of territorial taxation on real investments, using a unique dataset for multinational affiliates in 27 European countries and employing the difference-in-differences approach. It finds that the territorial reform has increased the investment rate of UK multinationals by 16.7 percentage points in low-tax countries. In the absence of any significant investment reduction elsewhere, the findings represent a likely increase in total outbound investment by UK multinationals.
Recognition of physiological phosphorylation sites by p21-activated kinase 4

Abstract Many serine/threonine protein kinases discriminate between serine and threonine substrates as a filter to control signaling output. Among these, the p21-activated kinase (PAK) group strongly favors phosphorylation of Ser over Thr residues. PAK4, a group II PAK, almost exclusively phosphorylates its substrates on serine residues. The only well documented exception is LIM domain kinase 1 (LIMK1), which is phosphorylated on an activation loop threonine (Thr508) to promote its catalytic activity. To understand the molecular and kinetic basis for PAK4 substrate selectivity we compared its mode of recognition of LIMK1 (Thr508) with that of a known serine substrate, β-catenin (Ser675). We determined X-ray crystal structures of PAK4 in complex with synthetic peptides corresponding to its phosphorylation sites in LIMK1 and β-catenin to 1.9 A and 2.2 A resolution, respectively. We found that the PAK4 DFG + 1 residue, a key determinant of phosphoacceptor preference, adopts a sub-optimal orientation when bound to LIMK1 compared to β-catenin. In peptide kinase activity assays, we find that phosphoacceptor identity impacts catalytic efficiency but does not affect the Km value for both phosphorylation sites. Although catalytic efficiency of wild-type LIMK1 and β-catenin are equivalent, T508S mutation of LIMK1 creates a highly efficient substrate. These results suggest suboptimal phosphorylation of LIMK1 as a mechanism for controlling the dynamics of substrate phosphorylation by PAK4.
Kinetics and Specificity of HEK293T Extracellular Vesicle Uptake using Imaging Flow Cytometry

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanosized lipid bilayer-bound vesicles that are naturally secreted from most cell types as a communication mechanism to deliver proteins, lipids, and genetic material. Despite the therapeutic potential of EVs, there is limited information on EV uptake kinetics and specificity. Here, we optimized an imaging flow cytometry (IFC)-based platform to quantitatively assess dose, time, and recipient cell specificity effects on human embryonic kidney cell (HEK293T) EV internalization in a high-throughput manner. We found that HEK293T EV uptake is an active process that is dose and time dependent. Further, the selectivity of EV uptake was quantified in vitro, and we found that HEK293T EVs were internalized at higher quantities by cells of the same origin. Lastly, neural stem cells internalized significantly more HEK293T EVs relative to mature neurons, suggesting that stem cells or progenitors, which are more metabolically active than terminally differentiated cells, may have higher rates of active EV internalization. The characterization of EV uptake, notably specificity, dose and time dependence, and kinetic assays will help inform and develop targeted and efficient EV-based therapeutics.
Low power transient analysis of PWR reload core with fixed neutron source via 3-D nodal diffusion code RAST-K

Abstract The rod ejection accident (REA) is the most severe reactivity-initiated accident of the pressurized water reactors (PWRs). The three-dimensional (3-D) neutron kinetics method is widely applied to the REA analysis, where the fixed neutron source is usually ignored at the hot zero power (HZP) condition. This paper describes a new capability of the 3-D nodal diffusion code, RAST-K to consider the fixed source in the low power transient analysis of the PWR reload core. The RAST-K calculates the fixed source originated from the spontaneous fission and the (α,n) reaction, which is verified by the ORIGEN code. The new capability is applied to the REA analysis at the HZP condition for various initial core power levels and the results are compared with those of ignoring the fixed source. The numerical results show that the fixed source significantly suppresses the power pulse of the REA by imposing the initial negative reactivity.
Targeting Corticotroph HDAC and PI3-Kinase in Cushing Disease.

CONTEXT Cushing disease (CD) is a life-threatening disorder. Therapeutic goals include symptom relief, biochemical control, and tumor growth inhibition. Current medical therapies for CD by and large exert no action on tumor growth. OBJECTIVE To identify drugs that inhibit corticotroph tumor adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) secretion and growth. DESIGN High throughput screen employing a novel "gain of signal" ACTH AlphaLISA assay. SETTING Academic medical center. PATIENTS Corticotroph tumor tissues from patients with CD. INTERVENTIONS None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Potent inhibitors of corticotroph tumor ACTH secretion and growth. RESULTS From a kinase inhibitor library, we identified the dual PI3K/HDAC inhibitor CUDC-907 as a potent inhibitor of murine and human corticotroph tumor ACTH secretion (median effective concentration 1-5 nM), and cell proliferation (median inhibitory concentration 5 nM). In an in vivo murine corticotroph tumor xenograft model, orally administered CUDC-907 (300 mg/kg) reduced corticotroph tumor volume (TV [cm3], control 0.17 ± 0.05 vs CUDC-907 0.07 ± 0.02, P < .05) by 65% and suppressed plasma ACTH (ACTH [pg/mL] control 206 ± 27 vs CUDC-907 47 ± 7, P < .05) and corticosterone (corticosterone [ng/mL] control 180 ± 87 vs CUDC-907 27 ± 5, P < .05) levels by 77% and 85% respectively compared with controls. We also demonstrated that CUDC-907 acts through HDAC1/2 inhibition at the proopiomelanocortin transcriptional level combined with its PI3K-mediated inhibition of corticotroph cell viability to reduce ACTH secretion. CONCLUSIONS Given its potent efficacy in in vitro and in vivo models of CD, combined with proven safety and tolerance in clinical trials, we propose CUDC-907 may be a promising therapy for CD.
JGAN: A Joint Formulation of GAN for Synthesizing Images and Labels

Image generation with explicit condition or label generally works better than unconditional methods. In modern GAN frameworks, both generator and discriminator are formulated to model the conditional distribution of images given with labels. In this article, we provide an alternative formulation of GAN which models the joint distribution of images and labels. There are two advantages in this joint formulation over conditional approaches. The first advantage is that the joint formulation is more robust to label noises if it’s properly modeled. This alleviates the burden of making noise-free labels and allows the use of weakly-supervised labels in image generation. The second is that we can use any kinds of weak labels or image features that have correlations with the original image data to enhance unconditional image generation. We will show the effectiveness of our joint formulation on CIFAR10, CIFAR100, and STL dataset with the state-of-the-art GAN architecture.
The Decision to Privatize: Finance and Politics

We investigate the influence of political and financial factors on the decision to priva? tize government-owned firms. The results show that profitable firms and firms with a lower wage bill are likely to be privatized early. We find that the government delays privatization in regions where the governing party faces more competition from oppo? sition parties. The results also suggest that political patronage is important as no firm located in the home state of the minister in charge is ever privatized. Using political variables as an instrument for the privatization decision, we find that privatization has a positive impact on firm performance. The sale of government-owned firms to private owners has yielded more than $1 trillion in revenues for governments, improved the performance of government-owned firms, and facilitated the development of financial mar? kets.1 Yet, governments still own a substantial number of firms across the world (Megginson (2005)). Given the documented benefits from privatization, why are there widespread delays in the process, with governments worldwide choosing to sell some firms but not others to private owners? To answer this question, we investigate the role of firm-specific financial and political factors in the selection of firms for privatization. Following the literature on the decision to go public by private firms, we identify financial
Meta-Learning Dynamics Forecasting Using Task Inference.

Current deep learning models for dynamics forecasting struggle with generalization. They can only forecast in a specific domain and fail when applied to systems with different parameters, external forces, or boundary conditions. We propose a model-based meta-learning method called DyAd which can generalize across heterogeneous domains by partitioning them into different tasks. DyAd has two parts: an encoder which infers the time-invariant hidden features of the task with weak supervision, and a forecaster which learns the shared dynamics of the entire domain. The encoder adapts and controls the forecaster during inference using adaptive instance normalization and adaptive padding. Theoretically, we prove that the generalization error of such procedure is related to the task relatedness in the source domain, as well as the domain differences between source and target. Experimentally, we demonstrate that our model outperforms state-of-the-art approaches on both turbulent flow and real-world ocean data forecasting tasks.
Learning in Recurrent Finite Difference Networks

A recurrent learning algorithm based on a finite difference discretization of continuous equations for neural networks is derived. This algorithm has the simplicity of discrete algorithms while retaining some essential characteristics of the continuous equations. A problem arising from using a discrete algorithm to learn sine wave oscillations is described and shown to be solved by this algorithm. This example explains a limitation of the discrete algorithm when learning to approximate continuous behaviors.
Clinical Approach to Autoimmune and Inflammatory Ophthalmologic Disease

Affliction of the afferent visual system, in particular acute optic neuritis (AON), is commonly seen in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other inflammatory autoimmune conditions. AON is an inflammatory condition of the optic nerve. The clinical presentation of AON is variable, though most commonly involves pain and impairment or loss of vision in the affected eye. Severity, duration, and resolution of symptoms depend on underlying disease pathology. In the Western world, AON is most commonly seen in the setting of demyelinating conditions such as MS. The spectrum of conditions associated with AON, however, is broad and includes non-MS autoimmune and demyelinating diseases, infections, granulomatous disease, paraneoplastic processes, and rarely, hereditary diseases. Identifying potential “red-flags” or atypical features of AON is important in the consideration of alternative diagnoses to MS as the underlying mechanism. While diagnosis of AON is primarily clinical, utilization of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electrophysiological studies has historically aided AON diagnosis. Utilization of more advanced imaging techniques, such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), has allowed for more specific analyses and monitoring of axonal and neuronal degeneration following AON. The treatment of classic demyelinating, including idiopathic, forms of AON has primarily focused on the use of corticosteroids, although this approach may not actually be supported by evidence. Recovery from AON is largely dependent on the severity and underlying pathology of the AON. Potential neuroprotective and remyelinating strategies (in MS) are in development, and clinical trials are ongoing.
Components of Urban Growth for Large Urban Areas in the U.S., 1950-2010

Urban growth refers to both increases in the population and number of housing units in an urban area and the spatial expansion of the urban area. The growth of urban areas is frequently attributed to the development of new housing units in rural areas on the urban fringe, resulting in those areas being added to the urban area. The total increases in housing units in 57 large urban areas from 1950 to 2010 are divided into 4 components, the percentages of that growth that is new development in rural areas that become urban, housing units already present in those rural areas, areas added to the urban areas that were already urban but were not included previously because they were not contiguous to the urban area, and increases in housing units within the existing urban area. On average the development of new units in rural areas constituted only a small fraction of urban housing unit growth, with increases in the existing urban area accounting for on average over half of that growth.
Effects of age, physical and self-perceived balance abilities on lateral stepping adjustments during competing lateral balance tasks.

Abstract Background Daily walking paths exhibit varying environment features and require continuous adjustments to locomotor trajectories. Humans maintain lateral balance while navigating paths by modifying stepping in accordance with changing side-to-side path limitations (e.g. path width, lateral location). These processes are influenced by one’s actual physical ability to maintain balance, as well as their self-perceived balance ability. Older adults experience decreases in each of these abilities, which may alter their capacity to execute appropriate lateral stepping adaptations. Research Question How do age, physical and self-perceived balance abilities interact to influence lateral stepping adaptations of older adults walking in complex environments with dynamic lateral path features? Methods Twenty young (age mean ± SD: 21.7 ± 2.6) and 18 older adults (age mean ± SD: 71.6 ± 6.0) walked on an instrumented treadmill in a virtual-reality system. Participants adjusted lateral stepping during two competing lateral balance sub-tasks that manipulated either path width or location. Participants began walking on a gradually-narrowing path (sub-task A), then decided when/ how to laterally maneuver to an adjacent path (sub-task B). Recorded path characteristics were used to quantify spatial thresholds for stepping error onset and sub-task exchange. Results Older adults made sub-task A stepping errors on wider paths and exchanged sub-tasks earlier. These differences were not directly attributed to age. Statistical path analyses revealed that physical balance ability mediated age effects on stepping error onset, while self-perceived balance ability mediated age effects on sub-task exchange. Both age groups exchanged sub-tasks when stepping accuracy likelihoods were similar and high, ∼90 %. Significance This work demonstrates important mechanisms for how age, via degradation of physical and self-perceived balance abilities, indirectly and differentially influences navigation of competing lateral balance tasks. Mediating physical and perceptual factors are potential targets for improving older adults’ navigation of complex environments.
Applications of Second Log-Wake Law for Turbulent Velocity Distributions in Laboratory Flumes and Natural Rivers

AbstractNatural river velocity distributions are often studied by laboratory flume flows because of similarities of the bed shear stress effects between the two flows. Nevertheless, the velocity di...
Design of Pulse Coded Neural Processing Element Using Modified Neural Type Cells

This chapter presents the hardware realization of Neural Processing Element (NPE). The NPE executes the well-known nonlinear threshold function of the weighted summation, and behaves as an artificial neuron in an artificial neural network. The synaptic weighting and summing using pulse coded Modified Neural-Type Cells (MNTC) are presented. The basic information processing is in the form pulse duty cycle modulation. A prototype CMOS chip with 2µm minimum feature size was designed and measurements on the fabricated chip are included.
Occupational stereotypes: activation of male bias in a gender-neutral world

The goal of the present study was to determine whether gender-neutral language, used to replace male-biased language, carries an implicit male bias. Participants read passages in which a target occupation was introduced using either male-biased or gender-neutral nouns. A target sentence followed defining the gender of the occupational character. In Experiment 1, participants read target sentences defining the character as a woman more slowly following passages that contained male-biased nouns and gender-neutral nouns. In Experiment 2, an additional sentence was added that defined the occupational character as a woman. This information eliminated the reading disruption in Experiment 1 demonstrating that gender-neutral language can moderate against activation of gender stereotypes when combined with an explicit mention that the occupational character is female.
A compact subdivided microstrip square patch array with low mutual coupling

A linear compact subdivided microstrip square patch array for C-band applications is proposed. Each subdivided antenna element consists of four corner pads alternating with four high impedance strips attached to a central pad. The subdivided microstrip patch has a 61% reduction in surface area compared to a conventional square microstrip patch. Consequently, the proposed array has an 8 dB reduction in mutual coupling as compared to a conventional square patch array for identical element spacing. The four-element array shows a resonant frequency of 5.846 GHz and a -10 dB bandwidth of 44 MHz. The gain of the proposed array is 8.36 dBi.
Teaching ASMs, teaching with ASMs: opportunities in undergraduate education

Do people truly find ASMs easy to understand and use? As educators, we are particularly interested in how readily this new technology transfers to the classroom. Furthermore, we would like to take it beyond courses like software engineering, where formal methods are commonly encountered, and extend it to other areas. As many experts have pointed out, the only way in which advanced software engineering tools and methods can make headway into popular software design is if they are woven into the fabric of traditional computer science courses. We report on our current work in bringing ASMs to the classroom.
Cardiovascular exercise training extends influenza vaccine seroprotection in sedentary older adults: the immune function intervention trial.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether cardiovascular exercise training resulted in improved antibody responses to influenza vaccination in sedentary elderly people who exhibited poor vaccine responses. DESIGN: Single-site randomized parallel-arm 10-month controlled trial. SETTING: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred forty-four sedentary, healthy older (69.9 ± 0.4) adults. INTERVENTIONS: Moderate (60–70% maximal oxygen uptake) cardiovascular exercise was compared with flexibility and balance training. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was influenza vaccine response, as measured according to hemagglutination inhibition (HI) anti-influenza antibody titer and seroprotective responses (HI titer ≥40). Secondary measures included cardiovascular fitness and body composition. RESULTS: Of the 160 participants enrolled, 144 (90%) completed the 10-month intervention with excellent compliance (∼83%). Cardiovascular, but not flexibility, exercise intervention resulted in improvements in indices of cardiovascular fitness, including maximal oxygen uptake. Although not affecting peak (e.g., 3 and 6 weeks) postvaccine anti-influenza HI titers, cardiovascular exercise resulted in a significant increase in seroprotection 24 weeks after vaccination (30–100% dependent on vaccine variant), whereas flexibility training did not. CONCLUSION: Participants randomized to cardiovascular exercise experienced improvements in influenza seroprotection throughout the entire influenza season, whereas those in the balance and flexibility intervention did not. Although there were no differences in reported respiratory tract infections, the exercise group exhibited reduced overall illness severity and sleep disturbance. These data support the hypothesis that regular endurance exercise improves influenza vaccine responses.
Mitochondrial DAMPs stimulate TNF-alpha production by canine splenocytes in an in vitro model of SIRS inflammation (VET2P.1045)

The systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is a life-threatening condition that arises secondary to massive immune system activation or dysregulation. Damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) are endogenous danger signals released after trauma or sepsis that trigger these potent immune responses. DAMPS derived from mitochondrial fractions have been shown to be pro-inflammatory in mouse models and play a role in human disease. However, the role of mitochondrial DAMPs as a trigger of SIRS in dogs has not been explored. In this study we characterized the response of canine splenocytes to mitochondrial DAMPs and developed an in vitro model system to study SIRS-induced immune dysregulation in dogs. We demonstrated that splenocytes respond to crude fractionated mitochondrial and soluble protein fractions by upregulating TNF-alpha, a described biomarker for SIRS. We further studied the effects of these DAMPs on splenocyte myeloid cell subpopulations (i.e. dendritic cell and macrophage) and found similar upregulation of TNF-alpha. Our findings mimic studies in mouse splenocyte models where mitochondrial DAMPs were shown to promote TNF-alpha release, suggesting that the in vitro model employed here is useful to study the impact of mitochondrial DAMPs in dogs. Given that dogs are increasingly being used to model and optimize therapy for human disease, these results have direct applications in understanding the role of mitochondrial DAMPs in both canine and human SIRS.
Are you really just friends? Predicting the audience challenge in cross-sex friendships

Cross-sex friends experience a variety of challenges including the audience challenge: when cross-sex friends are mistaken for a romantic couple by other members of their social network. This research sought to explore the various factors that might influence cross-sex friends' experience of the audience challenge. Cross-sex friends who were strictly platonic were less likely to experience the audience challenge and less likely to be concerned about the audience challenge than individuals in mutual romance, desires romance, or reject romance friendships. Regression analyses indicated cross-sex friends tend to experience the audience challenge the least when their friendship network is supportive of cross-sex friends. The relation between network support and the audience challenge is moderated by romantic desire and sexual activity.
Evaluation of alternative methods to prepare porcine adipocytes for measurement with an electronic particle number and size determination apparatus.

Experimental investigations with mammalian adipose tissue require a determination of adipocyte number as a basis for expression of metabolic and growth data. Determination of cell size is also important in adipose tissue because the fivefold or greater variation in adipocyte diameter in most growing and adult mammals precludes simple determination of cell number to interpret the biological observations. There are two approaches to determine adipocyte size and number : microscopic methods and electronic particle counter methods. Microscopic methods use embedded sections, frozen sections, or isolated cells, whereas electronic particle number and size instrumental methods use adipocytes released from fixed tissue fragments or adipocytes fixed after isolation. The advantage of the electronic approach is that it evaluates thousands of particles, although the standard fixative, osmium, is quite toxic. Consequently, we evaluated a number of alternative fixation methods to prepare isolated porcine adipocytes for number and size determination by electronic instrumentation. Fixation in 3, 4, or 5% glutaraldehyde or in 4% formaldehyde were not acceptable procedures for porcine adipocytes. The 4% glutaraldehyde fixation procedure was acceptable for isolated rat adipocytes (Stewart and Kaplan, 1993) ; porcine adipocytes seem to be much more susceptible to breakage using these procedures than rat adipocytes. We also added urea or Triton X-100 to glutaraldehyde- and osmium-fixed cells to decrease clumping and adhesion of individual cells ; none of these additions was beneficial. Ability to store samples would improve the logistics for these time-consuming analyses. Samples of osmium-fixed adipocytes were stored in osmium, in.9% NaCl (saline) after removal of osmium, in 8 M urea after osmium removal with saline, or in.01% Triton X-100 after osmium removal with saline. Storage in urea or Triton was inappropriate because of irreversible clumping of individual cells. Storage in osmium was acceptable for at least 30 d, and storage in saline was marginally acceptable. The variability of the size determination process for osmium-fixed adipocytes was evaluated.
Envelope Tracking Techniques Applied to a Fully Monolithic Silicon‐Based RF Power Amplifier System

This article presents a detailed design example of applying envelope tracking (ET) techniques on a highly monolithic silicon-based radio-frequency (RF) power amplifier (PA) to form a high-efficiency and low-cost ET-PA system. An envelope-tracked SiGe cascode PA with an integrated complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) envelope modulator for mobile WiMAX and 3GPP long-term evolution (LTE) transmitters (TXs) is shown in this work. The entire ET-based RF PA system delivers the linear output power of 22.3/24.3 dBm with the overall power-added efficiency (PAE) of 33%/42% at 2.4 GHz for the WiMAX 64QAM and the 3GPP LTE 16QAM modulations, respectively. Additionally, it exhibits a highly efficient broadband characteristic for multiband applications. Compared with the conventional fixed-supply cascode PA, our ET-based cascode PA meets the WiMAX/LTE spectral mask and error vector magnitude (EVM) spec at close to its P1dB compression without the need for predistortion. The SiGe PA and the CMOS envelope modulator are both designed and fabricated in the TSMC 0.35-μm SiGe bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS) process on the same die. This work represents an essential integration step toward achieving a fully monolithic ET-based TX for wideband wireless applications. Keywords: cascode power amplifier (PA); differential power amplifier (PA); envelope tracking (ET); envelope-tracking power amplifier (ET-PA); envelope modulator; long-term evolution (LTE); silicon-based PA; SiGe bipolar complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (BiCMOS); WiMAX
Deoxyribonucleic Acid Relationships Among Marine Vibrios

The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) relationships of 80 strains identified either as Vibrio parahaemolyticus, V. alginolyticus, and V. anguillarum, or as allied marine vibrios were delineated by DNA-DNA competition experiments as well as by measuring the thermal stabilities of the DNA-DNA duplexes formed in direct binding studies. The tested strains included isolates from Japan, Europe, and the United States. The V. parahaemolyticus and V. alginolyticus groups showed an average of 67% homology to one another and 30% to strains of V. anguillarum. Significantly, a number of the isolates from the Pacific Northwest which had been previously identified as V. parahaemolyticus based on morphological, biochemical, and serological evidence were shown either to be strains of V. anguillarum or to belong to as yet unnamed groups. Most strains isolated from diseased salmon in the Pacific Northwest proved to be virtually identical with V. anguillarum type C by DNA homology experiments, thereby differentiating them from similar strains isolated from diseased herring and occasionally from salmon. The latter Pacific Northwest isolates fell into two distinct genotypic groups. A plot of the per cent homology by competition versus the difference in the thermal stabilities of heterologous and homologous duplexes (ΔTm,e) between the same DNA species shows a linear decline in homology of 4.25% per degree of ΔTm,e. The use of this relationship for estimating the percentage of the mispaired bases distinguishing DNA preparations directly from competition experiments is discussed.
Molecular Weight, Sulfhydryl Content, and Phosphorylation of a Homogeneous Mitochondrial Nucleoside Diphosphokinase

Abstract A highly purified nucleoside diphosphokinase from bovine liver mitochondria showed no signs of heterogeneity as judged by disc electrophoresis, sedimentation velocity, or gel filtration. The following physical constants of the enzyme were measured or calculated: Stokes' radius (a), 39.1 A, diffusion coefficient (D20,w), 5.49 x 10-7 cm2 sec-1, sedimentation coefficient (s20,w), 5.64 S, apparent partial specific volume (Vapp), 0.77 cm3 g-1, molecular weight, 109,000 g mole-1, and frictional ratio (f/f0), 1.22. When the purified enzyme was incubated in the presence of Mg++ and 32P-labeled ATP at pH 8.5, a stable phosphoenzyme intermediate was formed. After removing excess 32P-ATP by gel filtration, the radioactive phosphoenzyme was shown to transfer its label to ADP, a finding consistent with a "ping-pong" reaction mechanism previously deduced from kinetic studies. The native enzyme was found to react with 4.0 moles of p-chloromercuribenzoate per 105 g of protein, whereas the sodium lauryl sulfate-treated enzyme reacted with 7.9 moles of either p-chloromercuribenzoate or silver nitrate.
New Irritation Test Method: Behind the Knee and Mucosa

The epithelium of the lower genital tract, a highly sensitive sensory area where a host of sexual, reproductive and health functions are performed, is a unique anatomical site. It is very responsive to both internal and external stimuli, with a reactive area function of returning to an asymptomatic resting state. Commercial products intended for use in this area must be demonstrated to have minimal inflammatory responses. To determine this, the potential response of the lower genital tract epithelium to such products has to be evaluated. Direct assessment of the vagina is limited, because of its interior location. Behind-the-knee testing offers many advantages. The test products can be compared to commercial products approved by the Food and Drug Administration at the same time, and the use of cross-polarization light permits subsurface evaluation of the extent of inflammation, a more exact measure than surface recording alone.
Same-Sex Marriages in Bankruptcy: A Path Out of the Public Policy Quagmire

Up to this point the bankruptcy courts have had little difficulty balancing the interstitial nature of bankruptcy in the context of heterosexual unions. When it comes to the recognition of marriage and its attendant rights and obligations, bankruptcy courts have relied on the Supreme Court’s command in Butner v. United States and looked to state law to determine both the legality of the marriage as well as the existence of rights that arise as a result of the union. Rarely have the bankruptcy courts been asked or required to examine conflicting state domestic relations laws when ruling on the validity of a marriage. Can a bankruptcy court treat as a valid a marriage that the forum state’s law declares invalid? Can the court recognize the incidences of marriage if the forum state law either implicitly or explicitly prohibits such recognition? Is the court required to follow the public policy of the forum state or is the court free to ignore it? This article attempts to answer these questions by examining DOMA § 2 and the myriad state laws regarding same-sex relationships, The article places the marriage prohibition statutes in an historical context, describing the narrow construction state courts have traditionally given such statutes even during the miscegenation era. To the extent a conflict cannot be avoided, the article promotes a federal choice of law rule that focuses on underlying bankruptcy policies rather than state public policies regarding same-sex relationships.
GENETIC CHANGE OF RECOMBINATION VALUE IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER. II. SIMULATED NATURAL SELECTION

Selection of Gl-Sb coupling heterozygotes was carried out for more than one hundred generations commencing with six independent lines drawn from a common base population. Population sizes were eight, sixteen and forty-eight parents per generation. The effect of natural selection on recombination value was measured by sampling and testing females at varying intervals of time. There was a significant reduction in percentage recombination between Gl and Sb from fifteen to a level between five and ten in four out of six of the original lines. In most cases this reduction occurred rather rapidly after the initiation of the experiment. In the remaining two lines there was no significant decrease in recombination value; there was, however, a significant increase in at least one subline of this group. The rapid rate of change of recombination value is most readily explained by the presence of a recombination modifying gene which is linked to the modified region. Genetic random drift was again shown to have an important effect on changes in recombination value in small populations. High recombination was almost completely recessive to low recombination in the one case examined. Lethal genes were fixed in sheltered regions of unmarked third chromosomes in five lines or sublines. These results are discussed in relation to the mode of development of permanent heterozygosity in some species of plants.
An Integrated Multi-Robot Test Bed to Support Incremental Simulation-Based Design

Design of complex systems calls for systematic methods as well as supporting environments to experiment with, understand, and evaluate them. For robotics systems that include a large number of robots, an integrated simulation-based design environment will greatly simplify the transitions from robot model experiment to real robot deployment and execution. This paper presents the development of an integrated multi-robot test-bed to support an incremental simulation-based design methodology that includes conventional simulation, robot-in-the-loop simulation, and real robot experiment. We describe the hardware, software, and system architecture of this integrated test bed. and present a multi-robot dynamic team formation example to demonstrate the usage of this platform along the different stages of the design process.
Children With Disabilities and Their Parents' Views of Occupational Participation Needs

This study explored the views of six children with motor skill challenges and of their parents regarding occupational participation needs. Each participant completed the Child Occupational Self-Assessment (COSA) and then took part in separate focus groups for parents and children. Four themes emerged: issues related to academics, the child's future, support systems, and social participation. COSA results indicated discrepancies between parents' and children's views of occupational competency and value of occupations. Implications for occupational therapy intervention are discussed.
WE-E-18A-12: Sampling Correction of Parametric Imaging Maps Derived From Digital Subtraction Angiography in Vascular Phantoms

Purpose: To implement corrections for system sampling distortions in parametric imaging maps derived from digital subtraction angiography and test this approach in a controlled flow experiment using a neurovascular phantom. Methods: Depending on the exposure time and frame rate, imaging system sampling can cause distortion of the time density curves (TDC) used in parametric imaging. To solve this problem we implemented a distortion correction algorithm. A flow circuit set to physiologic conditions was created using an internal carotid artery phantom. Parametric imaging maps (PIM) were derived by measuring TDC's at each pixel location in the map. Each TDC was corrected by adding its numerical derivative multiplied by the sampling interval. PIM's were derived for two different contrast bolus injection volumes (5 and 10 ml), and four injection rates (5, 10, 15 and 20 ml/s). We derived PIM's for mean-transit-time (MTT), time-to-peak (TTP) and bolus-arrival-time (BAT). Colored maps were derived for each parameter; values were recorded at precise locations and compared between corrected and uncorrected cases for all injections techniques. Results: For corrected MTT's maps, the correlation with the injection techniques was still strong but the correction resulted in 10 to 30% smaller MTT's. At the inlet location, the corrected MTT's were between 2-0.25 seconds. For corrected BAT and TTP maps, the inlet values changed 20%. Conclusion: The experiment showed that the distorted PIM's for MTT are strongly correlated with the injection conditions and they agree with the expected theoretical values. Sampling correction reduces the BAT and TTP dependence on the injection technique which is expected since these particular parameters should be mostly related to the flow conditions rather than the injection technique. Supported by NIH Grant: 2R01EB002873 and equipment grant from Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation
Reflections on teaching "spirituality in the healthcare environment".

This article provides insight into the experience of teaching a course designed to promote understanding of how health care providers might deal with spiritual needs of persons experiencing health-related issues. The development and structure of the one-credit-hour course is described. Both students’ and instructor’s perceptions are addressed.
A stochastic modeling approach for characterizing the spatial structure of L band radiobrightness temperature imagery

[1] This study focuses on the statistical characterization of the spatial structure of L band microwave radiobrightness temperature fields retrieved during the Southern Great Plains hydrology experiment of 1997 (SGP97). It is found that the radiobrightness temperature observations of interest can be considered nonstationary scaling processes that exhibit persistence or long memory. This implies that the spatial dependence of observations decays very slowly at large separation distances such that models with exponentially decaying autocorrelation (e.g., autoregressive moving average models or exponential models commonly used in geostatistics) are not appropriate. It is further shown that the radiobrightness temperature fields retrieved during SGP97 exhibit distinct scaling behaviors along the horizontal (west to east) and vertical (south to north) directions. A two-dimensional implementation of the fractionally integrated moving average (FIMA) time series model is shown capable of capturing the spatial autocovariance structure of the observations. The results presented evince that the FIMA paradigm allows for robust estimation of distinct scaling exponents along the horizontal and vertical directions both in stationary and nonstationary situations. Comparisons to alternative heuristic methods for determining the scaling exponent(s) further demonstrate that FIMA models yield estimates with superior accuracy. Additionally, within the FIMA framework it is possible to jointly and accurately model the spatial dependence of radiobrightness temperature for observations separated by short and long distances.
Expanded Sodalite-Type Metal−Organic Frameworks: Increased Stability and H2 Adsorption through Ligand-Directed Catenation

The torsion between the central benzene ring and the outer aromatic rings in 1,3,5-tri-p-(tetrazol-5-yl)phenylbenzene (H3TPB-3tz) and the absence of such strain in 2,4,6-tri-p-(tetrazol-5-yl)phenyl-s-triazine (H3TPT-3tz) are shown to allow the selective synthesis of noncatenated and catenated versions of expanded sodalite-type metal−organic frameworks. The reaction of H3TPB-3tz with CuCl2·2H2O affords the noncatenated compound Cu3[(Cu4Cl)3(TPB-3tz)8]2·11CuCl2·8H2O·120DMF (2), while the reaction of H3TPT-3tz with MnCl2·4H2O or CuCl2·2H2O generates the catenated compounds Mn3[(Mn4Cl)3(TPT-3tz)8]2·25H2O·15CH3OH·95DMF (3) and Cu3[(Cu4Cl)3(TPT-3tz)8]2·xsolvent (4). Significantly, catenation helps to stabilize the framework toward collapse upon desolvation, leading to an increase in the surface area from 1120 to 1580 m2/g and an increase in the hydrogen storage capacity from 2.8 to 3.7 excess wt % at 77 K for 2 and 3, respectively. The total hydrogen uptake in desolvated 3 reaches 4.5 wt % and 37 g/L at 80 bar ...