cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Biochemistry and reproductive endocrinology of estrogen sulfotransferase.

: Estrogen sulfotransferase is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the sulfoconjugation and inactivation of estrogens. Significant progress has been made in the last few years regarding the structure, substrate specificity, tissue expression, and regulation of mammalian estrogen sulfotransferases. The enzyme has high affinity for estrogens and is expressed in a number of estrogen target tissues, including the male and female reproductive systems. Expression of the enzyme in the testis has been particularly well characterized. In the testis, estrogen sulfotransferase is localized selectively to Leydig cells and its expression in these cells is dependent on LH and androgen. It was concluded, from both in vitro and in vivo studies, that estrogen sulfotransferase can function as an effective modulator of local estrogen activity in target tissues. The finding that certain hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls are potent inhibitors of the human estrogen sulfotransferase enzyme raises the possibility that environmental chemicals can cause endocrine disruption by enhancing endogenous estrogen activity through inhibition of steroid transformation enzymes such as estrogen sulfotransferase. This provides a new paradigm in explaining the endocrine disrupting potential of environmental chemicals that have low or no binding affinities for steroid hormone receptors.
Impaired Platelet Production of Nitric Oxide Predicts Presence of Acute Coronary Syndromes

Background—Thrombus formation within a coronary vessel is the acute precipitating event in most acute coronary syndromes. Recently, constitutive nitric oxide synthase (cNOS) has been identified in human platelets, and platelet-derived nitric oxide has been shown to inhibit platelet recruitment after aggregation. However, its role in regulating platelet responses under normal or pathologic conditions has not yet been elucidated. Methods and Results—We examined nitric oxide (NO) production by platelets isolated from 87 patients undergoing coronary angiography, 37 with stable angina and 50 with unstable angina or a myocardial infarction within 2 weeks. After stimulation with 5 μmol/L ADP, platelet aggregation and NO production were simultaneously measured with an NO-selective microelectrode adapted for use in a standard platelet aggregometer. Mean (±SEM) platelet-derived NO production was 1.78±0.36 pmol/108 and 0.26±0.05 pmol/108 platelets in coronary patients with stable angina and acute coronary syndromes,...
Chaos in a fractional order Chua's system

This brief studies the effects of fractional dynamics in chaotic systems. In particular, Chua's system is modified to include fractional order elements. By varying the total system order incrementally from 3.6 to 3.7, it is demonstrated that systems of "order" less than three can exhibit chaos as well as other nonlinear behavior. This effectively forces a clarification of the definition of order which can no longer be considered only by the total number of differentiations or by the highest power of the Laplace variable. >
The Expectations Gap Thesis: Public Attitudes toward an Incumbent President

In a recent article, Kimball and Patterson (1997, 722) found that citizens appear to make a comparison between what they expect of their representatives in Congress and what they perceive congressional behavior to actually be like-what they call the "expectations-perceptions differential" and what presidential scholars call the "expectations gap." In this article, we replicate and expand Kimball and Patterson's study and relate it to the presidency. Through an analysis of survey data collected at the beginning and the end of the 1996 presidential election campaign, and by using four separate measures of the expectations gap, we demonstrate that public expectations exert a significant impact on evaluations of an incumbent president. They also have a direct impact on vote preference.
Learning‐teaching‐assessment paradigms and the on‐line classroom

Professors can make informed choices about teaching in on-line classrooms by basing their instructional endeavors on pedagogical theory and evaluating two learning-teaching-assessment paradigms.
Building domain specific software architectures from software architectural design patterns

Software design patterns are best practice solutions to common software problems. However, applying design patterns in practice can be difficult since design pattern descriptions are general and can be applied at multiple levels of abstraction. In order to address the aforementioned issue, this research focuses on creating a systematic approach to designing domain specific distributed, real-time and embedded (DRE) software from software architectural design patterns. To address variability across a DRE domain, software product line concepts are used to categorize and organize the features and design patterns. The software architectures produced are also validated through design time simulation. This research is applied and validated using the space flight software (FSW) domain.
TMS320C40 Processor in a BDFA Multiprocessor System

A special-purpose processor can he used as a node processor in a processor array for a BDFA multiprocessor system designed to achieve real-time digital signal processing for a specific application. In this paper, I discuss the use of the Texas Instrument TMS320C40 processor as a node processor. My goal is to obtain a system design which can accommodate up to 1000 processors. The design criteria is linear speed-up as additional processors are added until real-time processing is reached for a particular application.
From macro- to microscale poroelastic characterization of polymeric hydrogels via indentation

Recent advances in contact mechanics have formalized approaches to distinguish between poroelastic and viscoelastic deformation regimes via load relaxation experiments, and to simultaneously extract the mechanical and transport properties of gels at the macroscale. As poroelastic relaxation times scale quadratically with contact diameter, contact radii and depths on the mm scale can require hours for a single load relaxation experiment to complete. For degradable materials such as biodegradable hydrogels and soft biological tissues, it is necessary to minimize the required experimental time. Here, we investigated the applicability of these methods at smaller (μm) length scales to shorten relaxation times. We conducted load relaxation experiments on hydrated polyacrylamide (PAAm) gels at the microscale via atomic force microscopy (AFM)-enabled indentation, as well as at the macroscale via instrumented indentation. We confirmed the approach as a reliable means to distinguish between viscoelastic and poroelastic relaxation regimes at the microscale: shear modulus G, drained Poisson's ratio νs, diffusivity D, and intrinsic permeability κ of the gels agreed well at the micro- and macroscale levels. Importantly, these properties were accessed accurately within seconds at the microscale, rather than within hours at the macroscale. Our results demonstrate the promise of contact-based load relaxation analysis toward rapid, robust characterization of mechanical and transport properties for poroelastic gels and tissues.
Further Technical Results on Jordan Algebras

In this chapter we fill in details of some of the proofs given in Chapter 2. Also, new results are presented about subspaces and ideals in Jordan algebras that should help further the application of Jordan algebras in statistical problems generally. To assist in this latter task, our treatment of the material is designed to make the chapter largely self-contained, hence many of the definitions and first appearing in Chapter 2 are re-introduced, though more compactly. This chapter is unabashedly much more mathematical than any of the others, and unavoidably so, since the complete proofs of many of the results (previously just stated) are comparatively non-trivial. Many, but not all, of the results appearing here first appeared in Malley [1987].
A NEW ALGORITHM FOR COMPUTING VISIBILITY GRAPHS OF POLYGONAL OBSTACLES IN THE PLANE

Given a set of $h$ pairwise disjoint polygonal obstacles with a total of $n$ vertices in the plane, the vertex-vertex visibility graph is an undirected graph whose nodes are vertices of the obstacles and whose edges are pairs of visible vertices. The vertex-edge and edge-edge visibility graphs are defined similarly. Ghosh and Mount gave a well-known output-sensitive $O(n\log n+k)$ time algorithm for computing these visibility graphs, where $k$ is the size of the corresponding graph. By developing new techniques based on an extended corridor structure, we augment Ghosh and Mount’s algorithm to build these visibility graphs in $O(n+h\log h+k)$ time, after the free space is triangulated. The new algorithm improves Ghosh and Mount’s algorithm by reducing its additive $O(n\log n)$ time factor to $O(n + h\log h)$. Like Ghosh and Mount’s algorithm, our algorithm can also compute several important structures such as the funnel structure and the enhanced visibility graph, which may have other applications.
ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS OF MOLECULES THERMALLY DESORBED FROM A SURFACE

Considerable interest has recently been focused on the question of energy distributions of molecules interacting with a surface. The classical techniques of molecular beam scattering give information about velocity and angular distributions of the molecules.1 Only with the advent of sensitive laser spectroscopic methods such as laser-induced fluorescence and resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization has it become possible to examine the energy distributions among internal states of the molecules as well. Laser detection techniques have been applied to investigate the scattering of molecules from surfaces, both specularly and diffusely, as well as to probe molecules formed in associative desorption.2
Pathophysiology of celiac disease

Celiac disease results from the interplay of genetic, environmental, and immunologic factors. An understanding of the pathophysiology of celiac disease, in which the trigger (wheat, rye, and barley) is known, will undoubtedly reveal basic mechanisms that underlie other autoimmune diseases (eg, type 1 diabetes) that share many common pathogenic perturbations. This review describes seminal findings in each of the 3 domains of the pathogenesis of celiac disease, namely genetics, environmental triggers, and immune dysregulation, with a focus on newer areas of investigation such as non-HLA genetic variants, the intestinal microbiome, and the role of the innate immune system.
Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis of Prairie Cordgrass Lignin and Quantification of Products by Pyrolysis–Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

Organosolv lignin extracted from prairie cordgrass (PCG) was pyrolyzed in the presence of HZSM-5 and analyzed using pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (Py–GC/MS). The pyrolysis products detected are primarily aromatic hydrocarbons and phenolic compounds. The effects of the HZSM-5 catalyst and pyroprobe temperature on the production of aromatic hydrocarbons and phenolic compounds were assessed quantitatively. HZSM-5 mixed with PCG lignin at a ratio of 5:1 and a pyroprobe temperature of 650 °C maximized the production of the detected aromatic hydrocarbons, resulting in about a 13 wt % yield of PCG lignin. At these conditions, the products detected are estimated to have a total oxygen content of about 1.4% and a higher heating value of 49 MJ/kg, although the detected compounds may constitute less than a quarter of the volatiles released during the pyrolysis of PCG lignin. Toluene and p-xylene were the two most abundant hydrocarbons formed in the presence of HZSM-5, with yields of 3.6 and 3.2% of ...
SiGe Nanomembrane Active Materials for Far-Infrared Intersubband Devices

SiGe quantum-well nanomembranes are developed where the internal stress due to lattice mismatch is relaxed via elastic strain sharing without plastic deformation. Record narrow far-infrared intersubband absorption spectra are measured.
LOCAL SMOOTHING ESTIMATES RELATED TO THE CIRCULAR MAXIMAL THEOREM

is bounded on L(R) if p > n/(n − 1). He also showed that no such result can hold for p ≤ n/(n − 1) if n ≥ 2. Thus, the 2-dimensional case is more complicated since the circular maximal operator corresponding to n = 2 is not bounded on L. Some 10 years passed before Bourgain [2] finally showed that the circular maximal function is bounded on L(R) for every 2 p depending on p > 2. In either case, though, it seems certain that the techniques in [2] or [9] will not give sharp estimates of this type. Recently, though, Schlag [11] obtained bounds which are of the best possible nature. Specifically, if we set
Contractile Proteins in Normal and Failing Myocardium

In recent years, research has expanded the list of the contractile proteins to at least four: two, actin and myosin, whose interaction is primary, and two, tropomyosin and the troponin complex, whose action is modulatory, serving to inhibit the primary actomyosin interaction. As the contractile proteins have become better understood, so too has the role of calcium ion, which can now be construed as the inactivator of the inhibitor molecules.
Ruptured anterior spinal artery aneurysm from a herniated cervical disc. A case report and review of the literature

Background Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) caused by a ruptured cervical anterior spinal artery aneurysm is extremely rare and in the setting of cervical spondylosis. This case presentation reviews the diagnosis, management, and treatment of such aneurysms. Case presentation An 88-year-old female presented with the worst headache of her life without focal deficits. She was found to have diffuse SAH in the basal cisterns extending inferiorly down the spinal canal. Review of the neurodiagnostic images revealed an anterior spinal artery aneurysm in the setting of cervical spondylosis. Conclusions Clinicians should be suspicious of cervical spondylosis as a rare etiology for an SAH when cerebral angiograms prove negative for intracranial aneurysms.
Heterogeneity of variances for carcass traits by percentage Brahman inheritance.

Heterogeneity of carcass trait variances due to level of Brahman inheritance was investigated using records from straightbred and crossbred steers produced from 1970 to 1988 (n = 1,530). Angus, Brahman, Charolais, and Hereford sires were mated to straightbred and crossbred cows to produce straightbred, F 1 , back-cross, three-breed cross, and two-, three-, and four-breed rotational crossbred steers in four non-overlapping generations. At weaning (mean age = 220 d), steers were randomly assigned within breed group directly to the feedlot for 200 d, or to a backgrounding and stocker phase before feeding. Stocker steers were fed from 70 to 100 d in generations 1 and 2 and from 60 to 120 d in generations 3 and 4. Carcass traits included hot carcass weight, subcutaneous fat thickness and longissimus muscle area at the 12-13th rib interface, carcass weight-adjusted longissimus muscle area, USDA yield grade, estimated total lean yield, marbling score, and Warner-Bratzler shear force. Steers were classified as either high Brahman (50 to 100% Brahman), moderate Brahman (25 to 49% Brahman), or low Brahman (0 to 24% Brahman) inheritance. Two types of animal models were fit with regard to level of Brahman inheritance. One model assumed similar variances between pairs of Brahman inheritance groups, and the second model assumed different variances between pairs of Brahman inheritance groups. Fixed sources of variation in both models included direct and maternal additive and nonadditive breed effects, year of birth, and slaughter age. Variances were estimated using derivative free REML procedures. Likelihood ratio tests were used to compare models. The model accounting for heterogenous variances had a greater likelihood (P <.001) than the model assuming homogeneous variances for hot carcass weight, longissimus muscle area, weight-adjusted longissimus muscle area, total lean yield, and Warner-Bratzler shear force, indicating improved fit with percentage Brahman inheritance considered as a source of heterogeneity of variance. Genetic covariances estimated from the model accounting for heterogeneous variances resulted in genetic correlations of or near unity. These results suggest that different genetic values be considered for genetic evaluation of carcass yield and shear force traits from steers with different degrees of Brahman inheritance.
Plasma kinetics of a nanosecond pulsed humid atmospheric pressure plasma jet

This work presents the results of an investigation of an atmospheric plasma jet, ignited in argon containing 0.26% of water. The jet operates in an atmospheric pressure air surrounding but is shielded with a coaxial argon flow. The plasma jet is excited by a 200 ns pulsed voltages at voltage of 4.7 kV at a frequency of 5 kHz. The jet is impinging on a metal plate electrode connected to ground through a ballast resistor of 50 kΩ to reduce the intensity of the discharge.
In-Plant Evaluation of a Prototype Carcass Cleaning and Sanitizing Unit

An experimental cleaning and sanitizing unit was used in cleaning and sanitizing (3.0% acetic acid) beef carcasses. It cleaned the carcasses sufficiently that they would pass the Acceptable Quality Level test of the Food Safety and Quality Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. The sanitizing unit reduced the microbial population on the surface of the meat by an initial 1.49 logs; the difference between washed and washed and sanitized carcasses after 1 week (168 h) was 0.92 log. A slight gray cast developed within the top 1 mm of fat almost immediately after the acid was applied. Sensory panel members detected no adverse effects on the lean portion of steaks from sanitized carcasses. However, they detected a slight off-flavor in treated fat.
Determinants of Healthcare Utilization Among Veterans with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Identifying patient-level and disease-specific predictors of healthcare utilization in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may allow targeted interventions to reduce costs and improve outcomes. To identify demographic and clinical predictors of healthcare utilization among veterans with IBD. We conducted a single-center cross-sectional study of veterans with IBD from 1998 to 2010. Demographics and disease characteristics were abstracted by manual chart review. Annual number of IBD-related visits was estimated by dividing total number of IBD-related inpatient and outpatient encounters by duration of IBD care. Associations between predictors of utilization were determined using stepwise multivariable linear regression. Overall, 676 patients (56% ulcerative colitis (UC), 42% Crohn’s disease (CD), and 2% IBD unclassified (IBDU)) had mean 3.08 IBD-related encounters annually. CD patients had 3.59 encounters compared to 2.73 in UC (p 65 (3.84 vs. 1.75, p = 0.04). UC pancolitis was associated with more visits than proctitis (3.47 vs. 2.15, p = 0.04). CD penetrating phenotype was associated with more encounters than inflammatory type (4.68 vs. 4.15, p = 0.04). We found that current tobacco use, age <40 at first IBD visit, UC pancolitis, and CD fistuilizing phenotype in addition to Caucasian and African-American race were independent predictors of increased healthcare utilization. Interventions should be targeted at these groups to decrease healthcare utilization and costs.
Transient Blockade of ICOS Co-Stimulatory Pathways Induces Long-Term Tolerance to Factor VIII Following Nonviral Gene Transfer of Factor VIII Plasmid into Hemophilia A Mice.

Formation of inhibitory antibodies is a significant problem encountered in the treatment of hemophilia by replacement therapy. Nonviral gene transfer of a factor VIII plasmid into hemophilia mice induced strong humoral responses through predominantly TH2 signals. The plasmid-treated mice produced persistent, high-level inhibitory antibody specifically against FVIII, representing a unique and useful model for testing various immunomodulation strategies. It was previously demonstrated by our group that transient immunosuppression by CTLA4-Ig and anti-CD40L (MR1) can prevent inhibitory antibody formation following nonviral gene transfer of FVIII plasmid into hemophilia A mice. In this study, we tested if blockade of inducible costimulator (ICOS)-ICOS ligand (ICOSL) pathway in combination with or without agents blocking other co-stimulatory pathways can modulate the immune response following gene therapy treatment. Three groups of mice (n=5/group) were subjected to administration of FVIII plasmid via hydrodynamics-based tail-vein injection, and transient immunosuppressive regimens including anti-ICOS (8 treatment in 2 week period), combination of anti-ICOS (same dose) and CTLA4-Ig (2 treatment at day 0 and 2), and combination of anti-ICOS (same dose) and MR1 (5 treatment in 2 week period). 2 mice from anti-ICOS only group, 3 mice from combination treatment of anti-ICOS and CTLA4-Ig group, and 2 mice from combination treatment of anti-ICOS and MR1 group developed inhibitors at 2 weeks post treatment. The rest of the mice did not develop inhibitors. These results imply that neither synergistic nor additional modulation was achieved by combining CTLA4-Ig or MR1 with anti-ICOS compared to anti-ICOS alone. Subsequently a more frequent and longer anti-ICOS treatment (16 treatment in 4 week period) was administered in two separate groups of FVIII plasmid-treated mice (n=5 and 11 per group, respectively). All the treated mice did not produce inhibitory antibodies against FVIII and produced persistent, high-level (100–300 μg/ml) FVIII gene expression for at least 150 days (experimental period). The CD4+ T cells isolated from the spleen of tolerized mice did not proliferate in response to FVIII stimulation in vitro. Furthermore, higher population of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells were detected in peripheral blood in the tolerized mice compared to untreated and plasmid-treated mice. Adoptive transfer of CD4+ T cells isolated from tolerized mice is performed to test if these cells can protect the recipient mice from developing inhibitory antibodies against FVIII. Anti-ICOS treatment has the potential for a new immunomodulatory strategy for preventing the formation of inhibitory antibodies against FVIII following gene therapy.
Survivin as a Therapeutic Target in Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Survivin is a universal tumor marker that belongs to inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family. It is involved in the control of cell cycle and inhibition of apoptosis. As like other cancers, most of the SCCs also overexpress survivin gene. Tumors overexpressing survivin generally bear a poor prognosis and are associated with resistance to therapy. The differential expression of survivin in cancer versus normal tissues makes it a useful tool in cancer diagnosis and a promising therapeutic target. Disruption of the survivin induction pathway has resulted in an increase in apoptosis and inhibition of tumor growth. In this chapter, we will discuss recent advances in cancer therapeutics targeting survivin gene.
De Novo Assembly And Annotation Of The Eastern Fence Lizard ( Sceloporus undulatus ) Transcriptome

The eastern fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus) has been a model species for ecological and evolutionary research. Genomic and transcriptomic resources for this species would promote investigation of genetic mechanisms that underpin plastic responses to environmental stress, such as climate warming. Moreover, such resources would aid comparative studies of complex traits at the molecular level, such as the transition from oviparous to viviparous reproduction, which happened at least four times within Sceloporus. A de novo transcriptome assembly for Sceloporus undulatus, Sund_v1.0, was generated using over 179 million Illumina reads obtained from three tissues (whole brain, skeletal muscle, and embryo) as well as previously reported liver sequences. The Sund_v1.0 assembly had an average contig length of 782 nucleotides and an E90N50 statistic of 2,550 nucleotides. Comparing S. undulatus transcripts with the benchmarking universal single-copy orthologs (BUSCO) for tetrapod species yielded 97.2% gene representation. A total of 13,422 protein-coding orthologs were identified in comparison to the genome of the green anole lizard, Anolis carolinensis, which is the closest related species with genomic data available. The multi-tissue transcriptome of S. undulatus is the first for a member of the family Phrynosomatidae, offering an important resource to advance studies of adaptation in this species and genomic research in reptiles.
Investigations of medium-temperature heat treatments to achieve low outgassing rates in stainless steel ultrahigh vacuum chambers.

The authors investigated the outgassing rates and fluxes of vacuum chambers constructed from common 304L stainless steel vacuum components and subjected to heat treatments. Our goal was to obtain H2 outgassing flux on the order of 10−11 Pa l s−1 cm−2 or better from standard stainless steel vacuum components readily available from a variety of manufacturers. The authors found that a medium-temperature bake in the range of 400 to 450 °C, performed with the interior of the chamber under vacuum, was sufficient to produce the desired outgassing flux. The authors also found that identical vacuum components baked in air at the same temperature for the same amount of time did not produce the same low outgassing flux. In that case, the H2 outgassing flux was lower than that of a stainless-steel chamber with no heat treatment, but was still approximately 1 order of magnitude higher than that of the medium-temperature vacuum-bake. Additionally, the authors took the chamber that was subjected to the medium-temperatur...
Power and politics in research design and practice: Opening up space for social equity in interdisciplinary, multi-jurisdictional and community-based research

Working collaboratively with communities is commonly considered a cornerstone of good practice in research involving social-ecological concerns. Increasingly, funding agencies also recognise that such collaborations are most productive when community partners have some influence on the design and implementation of the projects that benefit from their participation. However, researchers engaged with this work often struggle to actively engage community members in this way and, in particular, Indigenous peoples. In this article, we argue that useful strategies for facilitating such engagement are to leave space in the research plan for questions of interest to community partners and to encourage equitable interactions between all participants through the use of forums in which power dynamics are intentionally flattened. We demonstrate the use of this technique in an interdisciplinary, multi-jurisdictional research study involving the fate and transport of toxic compounds that lead to fish consumption advisories throughout the world. In this project, the use of participatory forums resulted in community partners in Michigan’s Keweenaw Bay area of Lake Superior shaping a key aspect of the research by raising the simple but significant question: ‘When can we eat the fish?’. Their interest in this question also helped to ensure that they would remain meaningful partners throughout the duration of the project. The conclusion emphasises that further integration of Indigenous and community-based research methods has the potential to significantly enhance the process and value of university-community research engagement in the future.
Towards a Systematic Combination of Dimension Reduction and Clustering in Visual Analytics

Dimension reduction algorithms and clustering algorithms are both frequently used techniques in visual analytics. Both families of algorithms assist analysts in performing related tasks regarding the similarity of observations and finding groups in datasets. Though initially used independently, recent works have incorporated algorithms from each family into the same visualization systems. However, these algorithmic combinations are often ad hoc or disconnected, working independently and in parallel rather than integrating some degree of interdependence. A number of design decisions must be addressed when employing dimension reduction and clustering algorithms concurrently in a visualization system, including the selection of each algorithm, the order in which they are processed, and how to present and interact with the resulting projection. This paper contributes an overview of combining dimension reduction and clustering into a visualization system, discussing the challenges inherent in developing a visualization system that makes use of both families of algorithms.
Enter Similarity-Creating Metaphors

As I mentioned in the prologue, the interaction theory of metaphor has been proposed primarily to account for the creation of similarity that, it is claimed, accompanies certain metaphors. The proponents of this theory however — almost all of them philosophers — take the phenomenon of creation of similarity more or less for granted. That is, while they use this phenomenon to discredit the comparison theories of metaphor, and articulate their version of the interaction theory to account for it, the fact that certain metaphors can, indeed, create similarities is itself not established in any reasonable fashion, beyond occasionally mentioning a fleeting example.
A dataset generator for next generation system call host intrusion detection systems

Over the years, system calls (syscalls) have become an increasingly popular data source for host intrusion detection systems (HIDS). This is partly due to their strong security semantic implications. As syscalls conform to a program's control-flow graph, a deviation in a syscall sequence may imply a deviation in a program's control-flow graph. This is useful for detecting the control-flow hijacking class of attacks. Additionally, malware must utilize syscalls in order to provide any utility to the attacker, with the exception of some denial-of-service attacks. Because all syscalls are observable from the kernel, this makes evasion difficult for attackers under syscall HIDS. Given their suitability for HIDS, many approaches based on syscalls have been proposed. However, the syscall datasets available are not always the most suitable for these and emerging techniques in analytics, as they may need additional structural or contextual information about syscalls in their decision engine. Furthermore, this flatness of previous datasets often pigeonholes solutions into those which are limited by that data view. It is also burdensome on the researcher to generate his own custom dataset. In this work, we propose an extensible syscall dataset generator which includes structural and limited contextual information regarding syscalls, yet allows for researchers to easily add their own features to more quickly develop and evaluate their systems. Our dataset generator can aid researchers in widening the solution space for syscall HIDS.
Stumbling towards Empire: The Shanghai Local Post Office, the Transnational British Community and Informal Empire in China, 1863–97

ABSTRACTIn the second half of nineteenth century, a small transnational British and foreign community grew up in the treaty ports scattered along China’s coast, a community literally caught between the great inner Asian empire of the Manchu Qing and British-dominated informal empire in Asia. Although scholars often contend that few major developments occurred in the foreign sector of the treaty port world until the very end of the nineteenth century, this article joins recent revisionist scholarship seeking to better understand the growth of this transnational treaty port community through a study of the Shanghai Municipal Council’s local post office in the context of informal empire prior to the rise of muscular Chinese nationalism in the early twentieth century.As an institutional history of the virtually unknown local post office, this article is a study of the decades-long process by which the foreign settler community of Shanghai slowly built up the administrative capacity, trading networks and commu...
Dual Insect specific virus infection limits Arbovirus replication in Aedes mosquito cells

Aedes mosquitoes are vectors for many pathogenic viruses. Cell culture systems facilitate the investigation of virus growth in the mosquito vector. We found Zika virus (ZIKV) growth to be consistent in A. albopictus cells but hypervariable in A. aegypti cell lines. As a potential explanation of this variability, we tested the hypothesis that our cells harbored opportunistic viruses. We screened Aedes cell lines for the presence of insect specific viruses (ISVs), Cell-fusing agent virus (CFAV) and Phasi charoen-like virus (PCLV). PCLV was present in the ZIKV-growth-variable A. aegypti cell lines but absent in A. albopictus lines, suggesting that these ISVs may interfere with ZIKV growth. In support of this hypothesis, PCLV infection of CFAV-positive A. albopictus cells inhibited the growth of ZIKV, dengue virus and La Crosse virus. These data suggest ISV infection of cell lines can impact arbovirus growth leading to significant changes in cell permissivity to arbovirus infection.
Practices that Support Mathematics Learning in a Play-Based Classroom

This chapter reports on the opportunities to learn mathematics in a public, play-based preK classroom. In response to an education climate that encourages increasingly academic practices in early childhood classrooms, the case study presented here provides an example of how teachers’ purposeful practices can provide children with rich opportunities to learn powerful mathematics. I propose an interpretation of ‘focused’ instruction that minimizes teacher-centered practices and privileges play in which a teacher (a) plans and prepares for mathematics learning; (b) builds on children’s understanding, interests and cultural practices; and (c) recognizes and responds to mathematics that emerges in play.
Extended Pareto Optimality in Multiobjective Problems

This chapter largely discusses some major notions of optimal/efficient solutions in multiobjective optimization and studies general necessary conditions for minimal points of sets and for minimizers of constrained set-valued optimization problems with respect to extended Pareto preference relations.
Moderating effect of social interaction on enjoyment and perception of physical activity in young adults with autism spectrum disorders.

Background: Young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at increased risk for a sedentary lifestyle and its associated health problems. In neurotypical (NT) individuals, social participati...
Factors in the Development of Measurement Techniques for Transcutaneous Studies of Ureter Function

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the factors in the development of measurement techniques for transcutaneous studies of ureter function. A very important factor influencing the use of transcutaneous measurements stems from a difference in viewpoint between the medically trained and the engineering trained. Ultrasound as a fundamental energy form has the greatest potential for detecting variables transcutaneously. The methods used have generally evolved from pulsed echo ranging techniques for mapping the geometry of various tissue structures. In recent times, Doppler techniques have been introduced with the capability of sensing the dynamics or time-dependent variables in a biological system. Pulse Doppler flow detection techniques could be used to map the position of the lower abdominal aorta, the inferior vena cava, and the branches thereof. However, it should be remembered that a rigorous description of ureter function involves a multivariable system functioning in three-dimensional space and having both static and time-dependent components. Therefore, any system capable of deriving this information must have comparable degrees of freedom or measurement capability.
War and Peace: A Diachronic Social Biogeography of Life History Strategy and Between-Group Relations in Two Western European Populations

We report successful diachronic replication of two major sets of prior findings in the social biogeography of human life history (LH) strategy: (1) the constructive replication of the diachronic changes in the latent hierarchical structure of intelligence in Britannic populations, but as presently applied to the latent hierarchical structure of human LH strategy, now cross-validated in both Britannic and Gallic populations; and (2) the diachronic replication in both Britannic and Gallic populations of the structural relations found synchronically among human LH strategy, between-group competition, and economic productivity in cross-sectional data on contemporary samples of both national and subnational polities. In addition, a supplementary methodological objective was: (3) the convergent validation of diachronic lexicographic measures of LH strategy with respect to more traditional non-lexicographic indicators of LH strategy, such as infant mortality rates, total fertility rates, and life expectancies. We obtained complete configural invariance across Britannic and Gallic biocultural groups, meaning that the same model predictors were statistically significant, but incomplete metric invariance, meaning that most but not all model parameter estimates were statistically equivalent in magnitude and direction. All new results obtained from diachronic data in Britannic populations were replicated almost perfectly in Gallic populations.
Additive Manufacturing of Two-Phase Lightweight, Stiff and High Damping Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Microlattices

Abstract Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite is known for its high stiffness-to-weight ratio and hence is of great interest in several engineering fields such as aerospace, automotive, defense, etc. However, such a composite is not suitable for energy dissipation as failure occurs with very little or no plastic deformation. Herein, we present an extendable multi-material projection microstereolithography process capable of producing carbon-fiber-reinforced cellular materials that achieve simultaneously high specific stiffness and damping coefficient. Inspired by the upper bounds of stiffness-loss coefficient in a two-phase composite, we designed and additively manufactured CFRP microlattices with soft phases architected into selected stiff-phase struts. Our results, confirmed by experimental and analytical calculations, revealed that the damping performance can be significantly enhanced by the addition of only a small fraction of the soft phase. The presented design and additive manufacturing strategy allow for optimizing mutually exclusive properties. As a result, these CFRP microlattices achieved high specific stiffness comparable to commercial CFRP, technical ceramics, and composites, while being dissipative like elastomers.
Epigenetic Alterations Are Associated With Gastric Emptying Disturbances in Diabetes Mellitus.

INTRODUCTION Epigenetic modifications have been implicated to mediate several complications of diabetes mellitus (DM), especially nephropathy and retinopathy. Our aim was to ascertain whether epigenetic alterations in whole blood discriminate among patients with DM with normal, delayed, and rapid gastric emptying (GE). METHODS Using the ChIP-seq (chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with next-generation sequencing) assays, we compared the genome-wide enrichment of 3 histone modifications (i.e., H3K4me3, H3K9ac, and H3K27ac) in buffy coats from 20 diabetic patients with gastrointestinal symptoms and normal (n = 6), delayed (n = 8), or rapid (n = 6) GE. RESULTS Between patients with DM with delayed vs normal GE, there were 108 and 54 genes that were differentially bound (false discovery rate < 0.05) with H3K27ac and H3K9ac, respectively; 100 genes were differentially bound with H3K9ac in patients with rapid vs normal GE. The differentially bound genes with H3K27ac were functionally linked to the type 2 immune response, particularly Th2 cell activation and function (e.g., CCR3, CRLF2, CXCR4, IL5RA, and IL1RL1) and glucose homeostasis (FBP-1, PDE4A, and CMKLR1). For H3K9ac, the differentially occupied genes were related to T-cell development and function (e.g., ICOS and CCR3) and innate immunity (RELB, CD300LB, and CLEC2D). Compared with normal GE, rapid GE had differential H3K9ac peaks at the promoter site of diverse immunity-related genes (e.g., TNFRSF25 and CXCR4) and genes related to insulin resistance and glucose metabolism. Motif analysis disclosed enrichment of binding sites for transcription factors relevant to the pathogenesis and complications of DM. DISCUSSION GE disturbances in DM are associated with epigenetic alterations that pertain to dysimmunity, glucose metabolism, and other complications of DM.
Submission of Spencer Weber Waller to House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Investigation of Digital Platforms

In the course of its investigation of digital platforms the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee invited submissions on 1) the adequacy of existing laws that prohibit monopolization and monopolistic conduct; 2) the adequacy of existing laws that prohibit anticompetitive transactions; and 3) whether the institutional structure of antitrust enforcement is adequate to robustly enforce the antitrust laws. My submitted comments are limited to questions one and three. I do not believe that existing U.S. monopolization law is adequate to address potentially anti-competitive conduct by digital platforms or other dominant firms. I also do not believe that the U.S. institutional structures are sufficient to robustly enforce the antitrust laws. I do believe that the United States can benefit from learning from the evolving international consensus on these issues as outlined below. As I discuss in my forthcoming article, The Omega Man or The Isolation of U.S. Antitrust Law, 52 Conn. L. Rev. (2020), the United States is an outlier in the world competition law community in its approach to the behavior of dominant firms. We currently have different, and often more limited, definitions of dominance, causes of actions, remedies, market study capabilities, and other necessary aspects of competition policy that are common in the European Union and much of the rest of the world competition community. I summarize these differences in my written submission. The full text of my article is available upon request and is also available in draft form online at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3295988.
Applying Lessons Learned From Low-Resource Settings to Prioritize Cancer Care in a Pandemic.

Importance The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has forced oncology clinicians and administrators in the United States to set priorities for cancer care owing to resource constraints. As oncology practices adapt to a contracted health care system, expertise gained from partnerships in low-resource settings can be used for guidance. This article provides a primer on priority setting in oncology and ethical guidance based on lessons learned from experience with cancer care priority setting in low-resource settings. Observations Lessons learned from real-world experiences are myriad. First, in the setting of limited resources, a utilitarian approach to maximizing survival benefit should guide decision-making. Second, conflicting principles will often arise among stakeholders and decision makers. Third, fair decision-making procedures should be established to ensure moral legitimacy and accountability. Fourth, proactive safeguards must be implemented to protect vulnerable individuals, or disparities in cancer treatment and outcomes will only widen further. Fifth, communication with patients and families about priority setting decisions should be intentional and standardized. Sixth, moral distress among clinicians must be addressed to avoid burnout during a time when resilience is critical. Conclusions and Relevance Although the need to triage cancer care may be new to those who underwent training and now practice oncology in high-resource settings, it is familiar for those who practice in low- and middle-income countries. Oncologists in the United States facing unprecedented decisions about prioritization can draw on ethical frameworks and lessons learned from real-world cancer care priority setting in resource-constrained environments.
Initial clinical experience with rapid high definition Na18F digital photon counting PET/CT imaging for whole-body osteoblastic disease assessment

1387 Objectives: In patients undergoing routine oncologic or non-oncologic bone imaging evaluation, sodium fluoride-18 (Na18F) PET/CT is clinically useful for the detection and assessment of osteoblastic lesions. An existing clinical challenge for whole-body Na18F PET imaging are the longer than desired PET image acquisition times (60 - 120 s/bed) especially for patients with symptomatic osseous disease. New clinical PET/CT systems with digital photon counting PET (dPET) detector technology enable novel PET imaging approaches with higher definition PET images, shorter PET image acquisition times, and/or PET imaging at lower radiotracer doses. The objective is to develop and assess a high-definition whole-body Na18F dPET imaging approach with a substantially faster dPET acquisition time. Methods: In this Phase I intra-individual comparison trial, whole-body Na18F dPET/CT imaging (Vereos, Philips Healthcare) was performed in 16 oncologic patients using a target Na18F dose of 185 MBq. At 75 min post injection, investigational whole-body dPET acquisitions were performed using a faster 30 s/bed (1/3 of the standard PET acquisition time). At 90 min post injection, whole-body dPET acquisitions were performed using the standard 90 s/bed. High-definition dPET image data sets (voxel volume = 2x2x2 mm3) were reconstructed using Time-of-Flight and evaluated by matched pair comparison for overall image quality, background quality and lesion detectability by a blinded reader panel using an Intellispace Portal workstation. Results: All 32 data sets were rated as evaluable for qualitative assessment of 18F biodistribution and osteoblastic activity. Visually, there was no significant loss of 18F-avidity in either normal bone or osteoblastic lesions with faster dPET acquisitions at 30 s/bed when compared to the standard 90 s/bed. There was no impact on the detectability of 18F-avid osteoblastic lesions between the 30 s/bed and 90 s/bed acquisitions and no discordant 18F-avid osteoblastic lesions were identified. The average SUVmean values were comparable for 30 s/bed and 90 s/bed acquisitions in terms of background skeletal muscle (0.8 ± 0.1 and 0.7 ± 0.1, respectively) and normal vertebral bone (6.9 ± 1.7 and 7.4 ± 1.9, respectively). The average SUVmax values of 18F-avid osteoblastic lesions were also comparable for 30 s/bed and 90 s/bed acquisitions (31.5 ± 26.4 and 34.4 ± 29.1, respectively). There was likely physiologic clearance of 18F activity from skeletal muscles and continued 18F uptake in normal bone/osteoblastic lesions between the initial 30 s/bed and subsequent 90 s/bed acquisitions. No statistically significant differences in the average SUVmean or SUVmax values were noted between the 30 s/bed and 90 s/bed acquisitions. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that next-generation dPET detector technology enables 3x faster Na18F PET imaging without loss of image quality, osteoblastic lesion detectability or quantitative accuracy. Ultra-fast whole-body Na18F dPET imaging at
Is U.S. Multinational Dividend Repatriation Policy Influenced byReporting Incentives

This study finds evidence that public-company reporting by U.S. multinational corporations (MNCs) creates disincentives to repatriate foreign earnings to the U.S. and contributes to the accumulation of cash abroad. MNCs operate under U.S. international tax laws and financial reporting rules and face two potential consequences when they repatriate foreign earnings: a cash payment for repatriation taxes and a reduction in reported accounting earnings. Using a confidential dataset of financial and operating characteristics of foreign affiliates of MNCs combined with public-company data, we examine how repatriation amounts vary across firms that face relatively strong reporting incentives to defer an accounting expense. Our results suggest that reporting incentives reduce repatriations by about 17 to 21 percent annually.