cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Biodegradation of aged residues of atrazine and alachlor in a mix-load site soil

Abstract A selected microbial consortium (SMC) capable of degrading two specific herbicides, alachlor (2-chloro-2′,6′-diethyl-N-[methoxymethyl]-acetanilide; AL) and atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-S-triazine; AT) was isolated from a pesticide-contaminated mix-load site soil. Evaluation of bioaugmentation as a feasible bioremediation strategy for this mix-load site soil (Site 5A) was initiated in standard laboratory biometer flasks utilizing the isolated SMC. The biometer flasks were monitored for CO 2 evolution and pesticide degradation. The total amount of CO 2 evolved from the treated biometer flasks was significantly different from the control flasks. The rate of CO 2 evolution was 2.6 times faster in the treated soil (0.0123 mM CO 2 d −1 vs. 0.0048 mM CO 2 d −1 ). The total net CO 2 produced in the treated biometer flasks was 0.9481 mM, representing mineralization of approximately 10% of the AT and AL initially present. Forty-eight percent of AT and 70% of AL was degraded in the inoculated biometer flasks. The first-order rate constants were 0.0064 d −1 and 0.1331 d −1 for AT and AL, respectively. The calculated half-life of AT was 108 d while a 50% decrease in AL occurred by Day 5. In just 2 d, 20% of the AT was degraded while only 10% of the AL disappeared. The initial fast degradation rate of AT was followed by a much slower, more gradual degradation rate period that lasted about 35 d. Alternatively, the rate of AL degradation increased after the second day resulting in 60% of the AL being transformed by the end of the first week. Alachlor degradation appeared to be dependent upon AT degradation especially during the first several days of the incubation period. Complete disappearance of the herbicides over the study time was not achieved.
Sensory feedback modulates quipazine-induced stepping behavior in the newborn rat

Research has shown that sensory feedback modulates locomotor behavior in intact as well as spinal adult animals. Here we examined if locomotor activity (“stepping”) in newborn rats is influenced by cutaneous and proprioceptive feedback. One-day-old rats were treated with the serotonergic receptor agonist quipazine (3.0 mg/kg) to induce air-stepping behavior or with saline (vehicle control). During stepping, a substrate/floor (elastic, stiff, or none) was placed beneath their limbs so that the feet could make plantar surface contact with a substrate. Pups treated with quipazine showed significantly more alternated fore- and hindlimb steps and plantar paw contact with the substrate, compared to pups treated with saline. Pups also made proportionately less contact with the stiff substrate versus the elastic substrate during stepping. Different types of movements made on the substrate (paw pushes, taps, swipes, and stances) were also characterized. These results indicate that sensory feedback modulates locomotor mechanisms and behavior in perinatal rats.
Inflammatory events in cartilage in early stages of femoroacetabular impingement: Commentary on an article by Shingo Hashimoto, MD, PhD, et al.: "Molecular characterization of articular cartilage from young adults with femoroacetabular impingement".

Femoroacetabular impingement was recognized decades ago and has gained recognition as a distinct set of anatomic morphologies resulting in localized chronic damage to the hip joint. This abnormality typically manifests in younger patients and is thought to lead to secondary osteoarthritis1. The two most commonly described subcategories are the “cam” and “pincer” morphotypes. In the cam type, abnormalities in the proximal aspect of the femur such as an aspherical head or insufficient femoral head-neck offset result in impingement at the anterior rim of the acetabulum, especially in flexion and internal rotation. The pincer type is commonly the result of a deep or malrotated acetabulum, which increases the risk of femoroacetabular impingement in deep flexion. The two abnormalities can coexist, thus compounding the impingement and presenting with mixed pathology2. Chronic mechanical injury of articular cartilage and/or labral tissue has been shown to induce matrix damage, an inflammatory response, and even cell death. However, there is very little clinically relevant evidence of the cellular response during …
Probing the Electrode-Neuron Interface With Focused Cochlear Implant Stimulation

Cochlear implants are highly successful neural prostheses for persons with severe or profound hearing loss who gain little benefit from hearing aid amplification. Although implants are capable of providing important spectral and temporal cues for speech perception, performance on speech tests is variable across listeners. Psychophysical measures obtained from individual implant subjects can also be highly variable across implant channels. This review discusses evidence that such variability reflects deviations in the electrode-neuron interface, which refers to an implant channel's ability to effectively stimulate the auditory nerve. It is proposed that focused electrical stimulation is ideally suited to assess channel-to-channel irregularities in the electrode-neuron interface. In implant listeners, it is demonstrated that channels with relatively high thresholds, as measured with the tripolar configuration, exhibit broader psychophysical tuning curves and smaller dynamic ranges than channels with relatively low thresholds. Broader tuning implies that frequency-specific information intended for one population of neurons in the cochlea may activate more distant neurons, and a compressed dynamic range could make it more difficult to resolve intensity-based information, particularly in the presence of competing noise. Degradation of both types of cues would negatively affect speech perception.
Protein C deficiency in microvascular head and neck reconstruction.

Objective: To determine the incidence of perioperative protein C deficiency in patients undergoing free flap reconstruction of cancer-related defects in the head and neck. Study Design: Prospective case series. Intervention: Ten patients underwent microvascular reconstruction after surgical therapy of carcinomas of the oral cavity or oropharynx. Coagulation studies were determined in all patients 72 hours after surgery. Setting: Academic tertiary care medical center Results: Protein C deficiency was detected in 70% of patients. One free flap failure was attributed to protein C deficiency. Conclusions: Vitamin K-dependent clotting factors are frequently deficient during the postoperative period after major head and neck surgery, which may result in a state of hypercoagulability. Protein C deficiency should be considered as a possible cause of free flap thrombosis in patients who undergo microvascular head and neck reconstruction.
American Catholics and Same-Sex 'Marriage'

Although Catholic teaching opposes same-sex “marriage” (SSM), in America Catholics support SSM more strongly than do Protestants, and states with Catholic majorities are much more likely to regularize homosexual relations. Younger persons support SSM more strongly than do their elders, suggesting that support will continue to grow. The trends in American Catholic thought on this issue exemplify American exceptionalism, moralism, and growing secularism, and reflect catechetical ambiguity, equivocation among the U.S. bishops, elite dissent, and the lingering effects of the clergy sex abuse scandals and the birth control controversy.
Applying the systems methodology in the design of the West Point cogeneration power plant

The "intelligent power plant project" (IPPP) is an interdisciplinary capstone project consisting of systems engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science students from the United States Military Academy at West Point. In order to maximize power plant efficiency and ultimately reduce costs, we designed a computer system to acquire and process data in order to provide an optimal operating method for the West Point cogeneration power plant (WPCPP). Neural networks provided the framework for the intelligent power plant analysis tool (IPPAT). When coupled with a graphical user interface (GUI), IPPAT allows the plant operator to analyze the power plant, monitor predictions, control the plant in an optimal manner, and provide the supervisor with information assurance. The systems approach used to solve this problem and the subsequent challenges of managing an interdisciplinary capstone team will be discussed here.
Mobilizing Candidates: Political Actors Strategically Shape the Candidate Pool with Personal Appeals

Politicians' personal beliefs and backgrounds strongly influence politics and policy. But why do individuals with particular beliefs and backgrounds tend to run for office and become politicians? This paper argues that parties and interest groups strategically shape the candidate pool from which voters choose by mobilizing certain individuals to run for office, much like they strategically shape the electorate by mobilizing like-minded individuals to vote. Supporting this view, I first unearth decades of previously disparate evidence suggesting that candidate mobilization efforts are widespread. I then present results from an experiment embedded in an actual candidate mobilization effort that finds encouragement to run for office can meaningfully increase interest in candidacy. Implications and opportunities for further research are discussed.
Testing of neurosurgical needle steering via duty-cycled spinning in brain tissue in vitro

A technique for steering of flexible bevel-tipped needles through tissue, providing proportional control of trajectory curvature by means of duty-cycled rotation or spinning during insertion, has been presented previously, and tested in vitro in gelatin samples. The present paper presents the results of testing under more authentic conditions. Thirty-two needle insertions were performed in cadaver brain tissue. Needle insertion was controlled interactively by the surgeon, adjusting parameters intraoperatively as needed based on fluoroscope images acquired at intervals of 1–2 cm of insertion depth. The average target acquisition error was 1.80 ± 1.33 mm.
A Hybrid Framework for Radio Localization in Broadband Wireless Systems

This paper presents a framework of hybrid models based on multilateral radio localization estimators that use the received signal strength (RSS), the time of arrival (TOA), the time difference of arrival (TDOA) and the angle of arrival (AOA) measurements of signals traveling from a mobile station (MS) to a set of base stations (BSs) in broadband wireless systems. The accuracy of hybrid localization is analyzed based on the Cramer-Rao lower bound, the Taylor-series approximation and the multi-step least square estimator. Explicit formulas that provide the link among RSS, TOA, TDOA or AOA methods is analytically explained. Numerical simulations show that a simple and efficient hybrid estimation scheme combining RSS, TOA, TDOA and AOA data achieves higher positioning precision than that of the RSS-only, the TOA-only, the TDOA-only or AOA-only methods.
Low-temperature MEMS process using plasma activated Silicon-On-Silicon (SOS) bonding

This paper explores the use of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) surface activated low-temperature wafer bonding in MEMS device fabrication. Characterization of the DBD surface treatment process is included as well as analysis of the optimal bonding conditions. A new high aspect-ratio MEMS technology based on bonding two silicon wafers with an intermediate silicon dioxide layer at 400degC is presented. This silicon-on-silicon (SOS) process requires three masks and provides several advantages compared with silicon-on-glass (SOG) and silicon-on- insulator (SOI) processes, including better dimensional and etch profile control of narrow and slender MEMS structures. This is demonstrated by fabricating a 5 mum wide 30 mm long beam. Additionally, by patterning the intermediate SiO2 insulation layer before bonding, footing is reduced without any extra processing, as compared to both SOG and SOI. All SOS process steps are CMOS compatible.
Expression Microarray Meta-Analysis Identifies Genes Associated with Ras/MAPK and Related Pathways in Progression of Muscle-Invasive Bladder Transition Cell Carcinoma

The effective detection and management of muscle-invasive bladder Transition Cell Carcinoma (TCC) continues to be an urgent clinical challenge. While some differences of gene expression and function in papillary (Ta), superficial (T1) and muscle-invasive (≥T2) bladder cancers have been investigated, the understanding of mechanisms involved in the progression of bladder tumors remains incomplete. Statistical methods of pathway-enrichment, cluster analysis and text-mining can extract and help interpret functional information about gene expression patterns in large sets of genomic data. The public availability of patient-derived expression microarray data allows open access and analysis of large amounts of clinical data. Using these resources, we investigated gene expression differences associated with tumor progression and muscle-invasive TCC. Gene expression was calculated relative to Ta tumors to assess progression-associated differences, revealing a network of genes related to Ras/MAPK and PI3K signaling pathways with increased expression. Further, we identified genes within this network that are similarly expressed in superficial Ta and T1 stages but altered in muscle-invasive T2 tumors, finding 7 genes (COL3A1, COL5A1, COL11A1, FN1, ErbB3, MAPK10 and CDC25C) whose expression patterns in muscle-invasive tumors are consistent in 5 to 7 independent outside microarray studies. Further, we found increased expression of the fibrillar collagen proteins COL3A1 and COL5A1 in muscle-invasive tumor samples and metastatic T24 cells. Our results suggest that increased expression of genes involved in mitogenic signaling may support the progression of muscle-invasive bladder tumors that generally lack activating mutations in these pathways, while expression changes of fibrillar collagens, fibronectin and specific signaling proteins are associated with muscle-invasive disease. These results identify potential biomarkers and targets for TCC treatments, and provide an integrated systems-level perspective of TCC pathobiology to inform future studies.
Network Analysis and Visualization of the Complexity of an Individual Tax Return

ABSTRACT: Tax professionals who work with the Internal Revenue Code are well aware of its volume and complexity. They also have an abstract sense of the interrelatedness of its many provisions. However, the brain soon limits our ability to comprehend the relationships involved in a tax problem. Data visualization can present a coherent representation of the degree of difficulty of comprehending the Code. We graphically illustrate the morass of interconnected Code sections directly and indirectly required to complete a simple tax return. We conclude by suggesting how this technique may be useful in developing and analyzing future tax reform proposals.
Demonstration of baud-rate-variable and channel-spacing-tunable demultiplexing of 10-40-Gbaud OFDM Subcarriers using a multi-tap optical DFT

We experimentally demonstrate a tunable and reconfigurable optical DFT to demodulate 10-40-Gbuad OFDM with 2/3/4 subcarriers at 20/40GHz frequency spacing. Average power penalty of ∼7 dB at BER of 10−9 is achieved on the subchannels in the 4×20Gbit/s case, and ∼3 dB penalty is observed by using 50% guard time 4×10Gbit/s at 20G frequency spacing.
New Directions for the Population Movement

By the mid-1970s, the population movement had achieved worldwide momentum. As of 1973, 132 countries with 75 percent of the Third World’s population had adopted official policies to reduce birthrates; another 31, containing an additional 16 percent of the developing world’s people, officially supported family planning programs for nondemographic reasons, such as health of women and children.1 Industrial world governments, international agencies, and foundations were together spending about a quarter of a billion dollars a year on overseas population assistance.2 Third World countries themselves were spending twice that amount on family planning out of their own national budgets. University-based population studies programs in the United States and abroad enjoyed high levels of support. Nongovernmental agencies dedicated to population work abounded. Population bureaucracies flourished in developing countries and in donor agencies.
The Long Shadow of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. By Jared Peatman. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2013. 244 pp.

The Long Shadow of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. By Jared Peatman. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2013. 244 pp. The question of how audiences have responded to Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has been debated almost from the moment Lincoln sat down after uttering the words for which he would ultimately become best known. Indeed, the issue of how the attendees present at the address initially reacted has been contested by scholars of Lincoln, in general, and of the Gettysburg Address, in particular. In his new book, The Long Shadow of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Jared Peatman is less concerned with the immediate reaction to the address, though he considers that topic, than with how Lincoln's address has been interpreted and used (and abused) by later generations of Americans and by people throughout the world. In short, Peatman examines the Gettysburg Address as a study in historical memory, and, in doing so, he puts forward an argument--written in clear, jargon-free prose, and rooted in extensive primary source research and in the relevant secondary literature--that is ultimately convincing. Peatman argues that there were (and have always been) essentially two distinct concepts at the heart of the address: what Peatman refers to as "equality," as articulated in the words "all men are created equal" that Lincoln quoted from the Declaration of Independence in his opening sentence; and what he calls "democracy," as expressed in the famous peroration "government of the people, by the people, for the people." For the first hundred years after the address, speakers, writers, and audiences mostly fixated--though for various reasons, differing over time and place--on "democracy" while largely eschewing "equality," racial equality in particular, and its more radical connotations. Peatman maintains that Lincoln intended for these two concepts to be understood together, but later generations, armed with their own agenda, have instead chosen to focus on democracy, the safer of the two concepts. Not until the civil rights movement, particularly during the late 1950s and early 1960s, Peatman argues, did the equality component of the address, and its radical implications, come to be fully appreciated. Martin Luther King Jr., for example, effectively began his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 by paraphrasing Lincoln's own opening with the words "Five score years ago." Peatman shows that this process of rediscovery was also driven by the sesquicentennial of Lincoln's birth and the Civil War centennial, as well as by a recognition during the Cold War of the United States' abysmal racial history, which provided the Communist bloc with considerable political ammunition. …
Development of an Unmanned Combat Vehicle with its Training System

By using image processing and automatic control technologies, this study designs an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) that can be operated by various control devices, such as laptops and joysticks. A camera is set up on the UGV to capture the sight around it, and then can send the video to the back end system in a wireless manner. Besides, we design an attacking system that allows users to do the zeroing correction for shooting the target precisely. Moreover, a shooting training system is designed to improve the convenience for target practice. It not only can send the result to the back end system immediately but also can simulate the enemy movement to make the training more reality.
National Solidarity, Toxic Nationalism, European Inner Edges: Stendhal and Tolstoy in Malraux’s Les Noyers de l’Altenburg and Lampedusa’s Il Gattopardo

"In their distinctive ways...Lampedusa and Malraux confirm the dual attitude toward the nation articulated so forcefully on the eve of World War II in W.H. Auden’s elegy to William Butler Yeats, himself no stranger to the peaks and craters of national feeling: “And the living nations wait, / Each sequestered in its hate” (243). “Living” nationality can be a vital and healthy affirmation of human sociability; but “sequestered in...hate” it can cut people off from each other, even poison the very sources of fellow feeling. In the last analysis, however, even as Malraux’s and Lampedusa’s novels dramatize this sharp duality by highlighting special borderline situations in the European system of nation-states, they suggest affinities between these “inner edges” of Europe and its imperial “outer edge.” They thus serve to promote dialogue between comparative literature in a traditionally Eurocentric guise and the wider world of postcolonial studies."
Isolation and characterization of cardiac steroids from seeds of Elaeopendron glaucum Pers. Structures of elaeodendrosides A,D,E,H,I,J and elaeodendrogenin.

Six cardiac glycosides having a methylenedioxy group in the sugar moiety, elaeodendroside A, D, E, H, I and J, were isolated from seeds of Elaeodendron glaucum PERS. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of chemical correlation with elaeodendroside A, which was characterized by X-ray analysis. A new cradiac steroid named elaeodendrogenin was also isolated from the same plant materials and its structure was established by direct comparison with a synthetic sample obtained from digitoxigenin. The cardiac activities of these compounds were tested with Straub's preparation.
High Pressure Reforming and Hydrogen Purification for Military Fuel Cell Use

A high pressure water reforming (HPWR) reactor system was designed and constructed to operate at pressures up to 82,737kPa and temperatures up to 913K. Initial HPWR hydrogen production tests have been conducted with two feedstocks: an aromatics- and sulfur-free natural gas-derived fuel (S-8) and methanol. Feedstock and water were continuously pumped into a reactor vessel where they were catalytically reformed to a hydrogen-rich reformate product. Reactor temperature, pressure, and space velocity were varied to determine their effect on reformate hydrogen concentration. Online, Raman spectroscopy gas composition measurements were verified by gas chromatography. Experiments conducted to date have resulted in a S-8-derived 33,784kPa reformate containing 58 mol% hydrogen at 898K, and a methanol-derived 33,784kPa reformate containing 76 mol% hydrogen at 638K. To enable high-pressure purification of HPWR-generated reformate to proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell-quality hydrogen, EERC researchers have been working to tailor a low-pressure Oak Ridge National Laboratory-developed electrical swing adsorption (ESA) technology for high-pressure separation of hydrogen from other reformate constituents. Reformate purification experiments conducted to date have achieved quantitative separation of hydrogen from a bottled gas mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane at 1,379kPa. Near-term future experimental work will focus on 1) optimization of the HPWR process using sulfur- and aromatics-free jet fuel, and then JP-8 fuel, at pressures of up to 34,474kPa and 2) optimization of the ESA process for hydrogen purification at pressures of up to 34,474kPa. Results of these experiments will be presented.© 2008 ASME
University Engagement in Global Health

Students' passion for reducing health disparities and universities' efforts to become more global in a competitive marketplace have led to an unprecedented surge of global health as an academic field. But maintaining momentum requires confronting formidable challenges.
Aqueous Aggregation and Surface Deposition Processes of Engineered Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Environmental Applications

Engineered, superparamagnetic, iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) have significant potential as platform materials for environmental sensing, imaging and remediation due to their unique size, physicochemical and magnetic properties. To this end, controlling the size and surface chemistry of the materials is crucial for such applications in the aqueous phase, and in particular, for porous matrixes with particle-surface interaction considerations. In this study, superparamagnetic, highly monodispersed 8 nm IONPs were synthesized and transferred into water as stable suspensions (remaining monodispersed) by way of an interfacial oleic acid bilayer surface. Once stabilized and characterized, particle–particle and model surface interactions (deposition and release) were quantitatively investigated and described systematically as a function of ionic strength (IS) and type with time-resolved dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential, and real-time quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D)...
A Benchmark Test Set for Alchemical Free Energy Transformations and Its Use to Quantify Error in Common Free Energy Methods

There is a significant need for improved tools to validate thermophysical quantities computed via molecular simulation. In this paper we present the initial version of a benchmark set of testing methods for calculating free energies of molecular transformation in solution. This set is based on molecular changes common to many molecular design problems, such as insertion and deletion of atomic sites and changing atomic partial charges. We use this benchmark set to compare the statistical efficiency, reliability, and quality of uncertainty estimates for a number of published free energy methods, including thermodynamic integration, free energy perturbation, the Bennett acceptance ratio (BAR) and its multistate equivalent MBAR. We identify MBAR as the consistently best performing method, though other methods are frequently comparable in reliability and accuracy in many cases. We demonstrate that assumptions of Gaussian distributed errors in free energies are usually valid for most methods studied. We demonstrate that bootstrap error estimation is a robust and useful technique for estimating statistical variance for all free energy methods studied. This benchmark set is provided in a number of different file formats with the hope of becoming a useful and general tool for method comparisons.
A new Eocene genus of ant-like stone beetles sheds new light on the evolution of Mastigini

Abstract. Fossil Scydmaeninae beetles are exceptionally poorly known and those described usually lack important details to reliably analyze their phylogenetic relationships with extant taxa. Baltostigus n. gen. is the first extinct ant-like stone beetle taxon unambiguously assigned to the tribe Mastigini. It includes B. antennatus n. sp. (the type species of Baltostigus) and B. horribilis n. sp., from the lower to middle Eocene amber of Poland and Lithuania, respectively. Results of a phylogenetic analysis comprising morphological characters of all extant and extinct genera of the supertribe Mastigitae strongly support the placement of Baltostigus as a sister group to all remaining Mastigini. The new genus shows character states not known in any extant Mastigini: fully developed hind wings, prominent humeral calli, deep elytral punctures partly arranged in longitudinal rows and symmetrical aedeagal parameres. These features suggest that Mastigini might have evolved from forms morphologically similar to sm...
Analysis of scarlet fever monitoring in Xicheng district of Beijing in 2011 and 2012

Objective To study the morbidity characteristics and epidemiological and pathogenic characteristics to do a good job of scarlet fever prevention and control in Beijing city.Methods The clinical scarlet fever cases from 2011 to 2012 were re-examined by laboratory detection.Results One hundred and nine group A beta hemolytic streptococcus strains were detected from 501 throat swab specimens(21.76%),in which 34 strains were detected in 114 epidemic scarlet fever cases.Conclusion At present,there is no vaccine and specific measures of prevention and control,so more attention should be paid to scarlet fever etiology diagnosis,to improve the sensitivity and specificity of clinical diagnosis to ensure timely,standardized and scientific management of the scarlet fever epidemic,to prevent the spread of the epidemic.
Percutaneous gastrostomy as an urgent method of treatment of a neonate with esophageal and duodenal atresia

The objective of this article was to present possibilities of percutaneous gastrostomy for management of a newborn with esophageal and duodenal atresia. Percutaneous gastrostomy is the most commonly employed technique for providing long-term enteral nutrition. In adults, it is also method of choice for decompression of digestive tract in palliative treatment of malignant and non malignant diseases. This is a case report of two-day old newborn with esophageal atresia with distal tracheoesophageal fistula and duodenal atresia. Percutaneous decompressive gastrostomy was used as a temporary bridge to definite surgery for management of respiratory dysfunction of this newborn, caused by dilated stomach. Surgical management (esophageal and duodenal reconstructions) as well as intra- and postoperative period were without any complications. Three months after surgical management, the infant is well and without any difficulties.
Blood Lead Levels in Young Children: US, 2009-2015.

Objectives To evaluate trends in blood lead levels in children Study design This report describes the results from a 6-year retrospective study (May 2009-April 2015) based on >5 million blood lead level results (including >3.8 million venous results) from children Results Among children 5 (all P Conclusion Examination of more than 5 million venous blood lead level results in children younger than 6 years old allowed for a robust, detailed analysis of blood lead level group results by geography and other criteria that are prohibited with the narrower National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database. Progress in reducing the burden of lead toxicity is a public health success story that is incomplete with some identified factors posing larger, ongoing challenges.
RAPID AND MILD SYNTHESES OF RADIOIODINATED ESTROGEN DERIVATIVES VIA ORGANOBORANE TECHNOLOGY

Abstract Radioiodinated estrogen derivatives of potential use as receptor-binding agents have been synthesized via the reaction of organoboranes with 125 ICl, The utility of organoboranes as intermediates in radiopharmaceutical syntheses is discussed.
CHAPTER 50 – Ischemic Preconditioning: Description, Mechanism, and Significance

This chapter focuses on ischemic preconditioning, which demonstrates a saturating kinetic pattern. Preconditioning is a powerful force that is clearly present in experimental animals and which is also probably evident in humans, although available tools are not yet satisfactory to prove the latter. Preconditioning is a well-accepted laboratory phenomenon, and many of the steps in the signal transduction cascade have been established. Multiple agonists participate in preconditioning's protection, and presumably all receptor signals sum at the level of PKC. This redundancy is perhaps a built-in protective mechanism to ensure that a brief period of ischemia will always result in protection. The p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is important in preconditioning. There are three major MAPK cascades, which can be activated by receptor tyrosine kinases, PLC, G-protein-coupled receptors, and diverse cellular stresses, all of which have been identified in the heart. Hypoxic preconditioning can indeed protect isolated human ventricular cardiomyocytes and strips of atrial and ventricular myocardium. Perhaps the most popular method introduced to prove preconditioning exists in humans has been the documentation of changes in the ECG recorded by an intracoronary electrode during serial inflations of an angioplasty balloon. It has been observed repeatedly that the extent of S–T segment elevation during the second 2-min coronary occlusion is noticeably less than during the initial balloon inflation
Motions of Flexible Objects

We have a flexible object in space. The object may be intrinsically simple, but the placement (knotting) in space complex. We are given the position of the object at two different times, but not given the motion (isotopy) between these two positions. The problem is to describe a motion (any motion) which goes between these positions.
Data-driven modeling method for analyzing grade crossing safety

A grade crossing is defined as an intersection between a roadway and a railway at the same elevation or grade. Multiple new prevention measures have been implemented to reduce the number of train-vehicle collisions; however, crossing safety is still a major issue as accidents still frequently occur. The push for data-driven models to evaluate risks at grade crossings has also increased to keep up with the changing technologies. There are many different protection types (gates with bells, cross-buck, stop-sign, mirrors and etc.) that serve to warn or stop oncoming traffic. Many attributes have an inherent impact on accident frequency; including the protection type, train speed, traffic volume and e.t.c. To address which factors are most important, we propose a data-driven modeling method to effectively analyze the impact of multiple factors that affect crossing safety and subsequently provide scientific insight for key factors for enhancing crossing safety. In this work, the Canadian crossing accident database for the years of 2004 – 2013 was used with additional generated features to enhance the scope of the study. These include features that were computed using GIS and sightline measurements. Data-driven modeling using RandomForests were used to rank and analyze 21 attributes for each protection type. From the analysis results it is possible to identify which key factors have the highest influence on improving safety and collision prediction at grade crossings.
A measure of difference between discrete sample sets

The estimation of statistical distance between populations is a task of importance for many applications. Conventional methods often rely on the use of a maximum-likelihood (ML) estimator, usually due to its analytical and computational simplicity. However, the ML point estimate provides no information about the uncertainty in the parameters and distance estimated, which grows with lesser amounts of observed data. In this paper, a new measure is developed for statistical difference between finite sized sample sets of discrete observations. The measure is defined as the expected distance between probability mass functions (pmfs), with the expectation carried out over Dirichlet posteriors on the pmfs given the observed samples. In contrast to conventional ML estimates of distance, this approach by-design accounts for the uncertainty due to the finite size of the observation sets. In the limit of infinite number of observation samples, the expected distance simplifies to the ML estimate. For finite and small sized sample sets, the expected distance yields a more reliable measure of statistical difference.
Fatty acid-binding protein FABP4 mechanistically links obesity with aggressive AML by enhancing aberrant DNA methylation in AML cells

Obesity is becoming more prevalent worldwide and is a major risk factor for cancer development. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common acute leukemia in adults, remains a frequently fatal disease. Here we investigated the molecular mechanisms by which obesity favors AML growth and uncovered the fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) and DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) regulatory axis that mediates aggressive AML in obesity. We showed that leukemia burden was much higher in high-fat diet-induced obese mice, which had higher levels of FABP4 and interleukin (IL)-6 in the sera. Upregulation of environmental and cellular FABP4 accelerated AML cell growth in both a cell-autonomous and cell-non-autonomous manner. Genetic disruption of FABP4 in AML cells or in mice blocked cell proliferation in vitro and induced leukemia regression in vivo. Mechanistic investigations showed that FABP4 upregulation increased IL-6 expression and signal transducer and activator of transcription factor 3 phosphorylation leading to DNMT1 overexpression and further silencing of the p15INK4B tumor-suppressor gene in AML cells. Conversely, FABP4 ablation reduced DNMT1-dependent DNA methylation and restored p15INK4B expression, thus conferring substantial protection against AML growth. Our findings reveal the FABP4/DNMT1 axis in the control of AML cell fate in obesity and suggest that interference with the FABP4/DNMT1 axis might be a new strategy to treat leukemia.
An analysis of impostor based level of detail approximations for LIDAR data

LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) [1] is a remote sensing technology that is growing in popularity in varied and diverse disciplines. Modern LIDAR systems can produce substantial amounts of data in very brief amounts of time, so one of the greatest challenges facing researchers is processing and visualizing all of this information, particularly in real time. Ideally, a scientific visualization of a set of LIDAR data should provide an accurate view of all the available information; however, sometimes it is beneficial to exchange a small portion of that accuracy for the increased usability and flexibility of a real-time interactive display. The goal of this research is to characterize under what conditions the level-of-detail rendering technique known as impostors [2-4] can effectively optimize the inherent trade-offs between accuracy and interactivity in large-scale point cloud datasets.
Listening to Violence: Point-of-Audition Sound, Aural Interpellation, and the Rupture of Hearing

This chapter takes up the relation between sound design and subject positioning by exploring cinematic moments that dramatically stage point-of-audition sound, focusing on several films that ask audiences to listen to the sound of violence. In films such as Saving Private Ryan, Three Kings, The Pianist, There Will Be Blood, Children of Men, and Cop Land, point-of-audition sound is foregrounded through moments of trauma, when the sound of violence ruptures the hearing of characters, thereby testing the limits of aural interpellation. The chapter argues that listening to violence on screen may be heard most clearly, ironically, when hearing itself is endangered—both within the frame for characters suffering from their loss of hearing and beyond to an audience subjected to that very same loss.
Disrupted ER-to-Golgi trafficking underlies anti-HIV drugs and alcohol-induced cellular stress and hepatic injury

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and unfolded protein response (UPR) are involved in anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) drugs and alcohol-induced liver disease in a significant number of patients infected with HIV. However, the precise mechanism by which the drugs and alcohol cause ER stress remains elusive. We found that ritonavir-boosted lopinavir (RL) activated two canonical UPR branches without activation of the third canonical activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) branch in either HepG2 cells or primary mouse hepatocytes. In the RL-treated cells, ATF6 localization in the Golgi apparatus required for its activation was reduced; this was followed by Golgi fragmentation and dislocation/redistribution of Golgi-resident enzymes. Severities of Golgi fragmentation induced by other anti-HIV drugs varied and were correlated with the ER stress response. In the liver of mice fed RL, alcohol feeding deteriorated the Golgi fragmentation, which was correlated with ER stress, elevated alanine aminotransferase, and liver steatosis. The Golgi stress response (GSR) markers GCP60 and HSP47 were increased in RL-treated liver cells, and knockdown of transcription factor for immunoglobulin heavy-chain enhancer 3 of the GSR by small interfering RNA worsened RL-induced cell death. Cotreatment of pharmacological agent H89 with RL inhibited the RL-induced Golgi enzyme dislocation and ER stress. Moreover, the coat protein complex II (COPII) complexes that mediate ER-to-Golgi trafficking accumulated in the RL-treated liver cells; this was not due to interference of RL with the initial assembly of the COPII complexes. RL also inhibited Golgi fragmentation and reassembly induced by short treatment and removal of brefeldin A. Conclusion: Our study indicates that ER-to-Golgi trafficking is disrupted by anti-HIV drugs and/or alcohol, and this contributes to subsequent ER stress and hepatic injury. (Hepatology Communications 2017;1:122-139)
Superfluous Injury and Unnecessary Suffering: National Liberation and the Laws of War

Abstract During the four years of preliminary meetings that led to the 1977 Protocols Additional I and II governing internal armed conflict, the prohibitions against superfluous injury and unnecessary suffering – two concepts that gird the regulation and moderation of war and limit the use of certain means and methods of warfare – were invoked as a means of calling into account the actions of imperial states. These meetings took place in the context of the conflicts in Southeast Asia, following the wars of decolonization and national liberation in the 1950s and 1960s. The participants in these meetings were freedom fighters and liberation movements who used this forum, which was open to them for the first time, to push for a wider understanding of the concepts of superfluous injury and unnecessary suffering. Their intention was to hold imperialism and imperial states accountable for suffering and injury beyond that of physical death or wounding and to recognize the violence of colonization and the social and cultural devastation it brought. These interventions were a critical attempt to broaden and deepen the meaning of the laws of war, to make them responsive to more than established sovereign state violence, and to ensure that they reflected the experience of colonization/decolonization. This episode matters because the prohibitions against unnecessary suffering and superfluous injury are two elements that detail the general prohibition first codified in 1907 Hague Convention IV, Article 22, namely that the “the right of belligerents to adopt means of injuring the enemy is not unlimited.” However, the history and formulation of these two concepts has yet to be fully explored, the meaning of each is debated, and taken together the two are among “the most unclear and controversial rules of warfare.”
Self-regulation of the academic accounting literature: The case of James Hunton

Abstract In 2015, several journal publishers retracted more than 30 papers written by Dr. James E. Hunton (Dr. Hunton) and various other co-authors. Retractions in academic literatures are not entirely rare and they are best understood in terms of their ‘chain effect’ potential impact. There is a first-order effect, namely the findings in the retracted papers are no longer reliable. A second-order effect occurs through other papers that cited and relied upon certain findings in the retracted papers. This paper sets forth the recently retracted papers. It will also be useful in identifying second-order papers to assist editors, other reviewers, and researchers who otherwise may be unaware of retraction details as they are known at this time. This article sets forth Dr. Hunton's body of work with retractions noted. The article has several goals aimed at effective regulation of the accounting literature. First, it is a resource for researchers to determine whether a paper that they intend to cite has been retracted. Second, it encourages researchers to review and where feasible, replicate other papers authored by Dr. Hunton that have not been retracted to date in order to establish the legitimacy of those findings. Third, it encourages researchers to replicate or otherwise retest research questions in retracted papers so that reliable findings are made available to these questions. Fourth, at the second-order level, it encourages authors that have cited Dr. Hunton's papers to review their papers and where they deem it consistent with scholarly effort, restate their work. Similarly, editors of journals involved in the first- and second-order effects are encouraged to publish the additional analyses to reinforce the credibility of the literature. Fifth, an addition to the literature review process is suggested to assure that no papers in the chain of noted or cited work have been retracted. Finally and importantly, it reminds scholars of the importance of being diligent in their processes for producing, summarizing and retaining data and cross-reviewing data provided by and work completed by co-authors.
How birds cope physiologically and behaviourally with extreme climatic events.

As global climate change progresses, the occurrence of potentially disruptive climatic events such as storms are increasing in frequency, duration and intensity resulting in higher mortality and re...
Economic burden of hospitalizations of Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure.

Objective The objective of this study was to assess the costs associated with the hospitalization and the cumulative 30-, 60-, and 90-day readmission rates in a cohort of Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure (HF). Methods This was a retrospective, observational study based on data from the national 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries. Inpatient data were gathered for Medicare beneficiaries with at least one HF-related hospitalization between July 1, 2005, and December 31, 2011. The primary end point was the average per-patient cost of hospitalization for individuals with HF. Secondary end points included the cumulative rate of hospitalization, the average length of hospital stay, and the cumulative 30-, 60-, and 90-day readmission rates. Results Data from 63,678 patients with a mean age of 81.8 years were included in the analysis. All costs were inflated to $2,015 based on the medical care component of the Consumer Price Index. The mean per-patient cost of an HF-related hospitalization was $14,631. The mean per-patient cost of a cardiovascular (CV)-related or all-cause hospitalization was $16,000 and $15,924, respectively. The cumulative rate of all-cause hospitalization was 218.8 admissions per 100 person-years, and the median length of stay for HF-related, CV-related, and all-cause hospitalizations was 5 days. Also, 22.3% of patients were readmitted within 30 days, 33.3% were readmitted within 60 days, and 40.2% were readmitted within 90 days. Conclusion The costs associated with hospitalization for Medicare beneficiaries with HF are substantial and are compounded by a high rate of readmission.
Race talk in preschool classrooms: Academic readiness and participation during shared-book reading:

Reading literature to engage young children in critical discussions about race – and how it impacts their daily lives – is a promising practice. This study examined how two teachers and eight young...