cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract B13: Growth kinetics in glioblastome multiforme: Response to radiation and the quantification of treatment response

High-grade gliomas, commonly known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), exhibit linear radial expansion. In untreated patients, these growth kinetics are believed to be constant. Not much is known about the changes in growth kinetics that different treatment regimes induce. In this study we sought to compare pre-treatment growth kinetics to post-treatment growth kinetics; investigate correlations between pre-, during, and post-treatment growth kinetics survival, and time-to-progression; and elucidate measures of response to treatment that define post-treatment growth characteristics. Patient information and MRIs were obtained from 62 newly diagnosed patients with glioblastoma from Northwestern University, University of Washington, and University of California, Los Angeles who had at least 2 pre-treatment MRIs and 1 post-treatment MRI. The tumor growth kinetics were calculated by selecting 2 imaging events, separated by at least 5 days, and calculating the rate of growth according to: Velocity=(T1Gdradius2-T1Gdradius1)/(t2-t1) Velocities were compared with survival and time-to-progression using log-rank survival analysis in Prism 6.0 (Graphpad Software). There was no significant correlation between pre-treatment velocity and overall survival or time-to-progression (n=50). The velocity during radiation treatment was correlated with overall survival. A growth rate of less than 9.125 mm/year during the course of radiation portended greater overall survival (p-value Interestingly, the growth kinetics prior to treatment do not correlate with response metrics. Instead, the response to radiation stratifies patients into survival categories that allow providers to more accurately predict clinical progression. Rather than the current ‘wait-and-see’ scheme of clinical decision-making, metrics of GBM growth kinetics that are calculated off of standard-of-care MRIs could allow for implementation of salvage therapies and secondary options in patients with low treatment response. Citation Format: Corbin Rayfield, Russ Rockne, Andrea Hawkins-Daruud, Joshua Jacobs, Kristin R. Swanson. Growth kinetics in glioblastome multiforme: Response to radiation and the quantification of treatment response. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Advances in Brain Cancer Research; May 27-30, 2015; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(23 Suppl):Abstract nr B13.
Urologic considerations in geriatric erectile failure.

With aging, various pelvic disorders and their treatment may impair erections. Invasive prostatic or rectal carcinoma can directly impair penile innervation, and surgical resection of a treatable lesion may transect the pelvic nerves. Fortunately, better understanding of the anatomy and physiology of erection has led to the development of nerve-sparing techniques and a wide variety of treatment modalities. Through a careful approach to the management of erectile dysfunction, most patients can retain or regain adequate penile rigidity for sexual intercourse.
Prostate cancer cell adhesion to quiescent endothelial cells is not mediated by beta-1 integrin subunit.

Background Previous studies have reported that tumor cells' adhesion to quiescent endothelial cell is mediated by beta-1 integrins. The aim of this study was to determine the role beta-1 integrins play in prostate cancer cell adhesion to human bone marrow endothelial cells (HBME) and human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC). Materials and methods A well described blocking antibody to beta-1 integrin subunit was used in adhesion assays to determine the role of beta-1 integrin subunit in the adhesion of PC-3 cells to both HBME cells and HAEC. Results Antibody to the beta-1 integrin subunit failed to reduce PC-3 adhesion to HBME and HAEC, yet this same antibody significantly reduced adhesion of PC-3 cells to fibronectin coated wells. Conclusions The data suggest that metastasis of prostate cancer cells to bone may be mediated, in part, by preferential adhesion to HBME cells; but beta-1 integrins most likely are not involved in this interaction.
On the invariance of EEG-based signatures of individuality with application in biometric identification

One of the main challenges in EEG-based biometric systems is to extract reliable signatures of individuality from recorded EEG data that are also invariant against time. In this paper, we investigate the invariability of features that are extracted based on the spatial distribution of the spectral power of EEG data corresponding to 2-second eyes-closed resting-state (ECRS) recording, in different scenarios. Eyes-closed resting-state EEG signals in 4 healthy adults are recorded in two different sessions with an interval of at least one week between sessions. The performance in terms of correct recognition rate (CRR) is examined when the training and testing datasets are chosen from the same recording session, and when the training and testing datasets are chosen from different sessions. It is shown that an CRR of 92% can be achieved based on the proposed features when the training and testing datasets are taken from different sessions. To reduce the number of recording channels, principal component analysis (PCA) is also employed to identify channels that carry the most discriminatory information across individuals. High CRR is obtained based on the data from channels mostly covering the occipital region. The results suggest that features based on the spatial distribution of the spectral power of the short-time (e.g. 2 seconds) ECRS recordings can have great potentials in EEG-based biometric identification systems.
High rate of complete responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma previously exposed to epigenetic therapy.

Options for patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) after brentuximab vedotin (Bv) and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) are limited. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are active in this population but rarely induce complete response (CR). Ten patients with R/R cHL after ASCT and Bv received pembrolizumab (n = 8) or nivolumab (n = 2). Five had been previously exposed to 5-azacitidine on a phase 1 study. Among nine evaluable patients, seven (78%) achieved CR, one partial response, and one reduction of tumor burden. All five patients who had received 5-azacitidine prior to ICI achieved CR, while only two of four who did not receive prior 5-azacitidine achieved CR. At a median follow-up of 9.9 months [0.5–14.3], eight patients are alive and five are still receiving treatment. We documented an unprecedented CR rate after ICI in patients with R/R cHL. We hypothesize that hypomethylating agents might have an immune priming effect and enhance the efficacy of ICI.
Atomic orbital-based SOS-MP2 with tensor hypercontraction. II. Local tensor hypercontraction.

In the first paper of the series [Paper I, C. Song and T. J. Martinez, J. Chem. Phys. 144, 174111 (2016)], we showed how tensor-hypercontracted (THC) SOS-MP2 could be accelerated by exploiting sparsity in the atomic orbitals and using graphical processing units (GPUs). This reduced the formal scaling of the SOS-MP2 energy calculation to cubic with respect to system size. The computational bottleneck then becomes the THC metric matrix inversion, which scales cubically with a large prefactor. In this work, the local THC approximation is proposed to reduce the computational cost of inverting the THC metric matrix to linear scaling with respect to molecular size. By doing so, we have removed the primary bottleneck to THC-SOS-MP2 calculations on large molecules with O(1000) atoms. The errors introduced by the local THC approximation are less than 0.6 kcal/mol for molecules with up to 200 atoms and 3300 basis functions. Together with the graphical processing unit techniques and locality-exploiting approaches introduced in previous work, the scaled opposite spin MP2 (SOS-MP2) calculations exhibit O(N2.5) scaling in practice up to 10 000 basis functions. The new algorithms make it feasible to carry out SOS-MP2 calculations on small proteins like ubiquitin (1231 atoms/10 294 atomic basis functions) on a single node in less than a day.
Irrigation of Root Canals

Hundreds of bacterial species inhabit the mouth, because of bacterial interactions, nutrient availability and low oxygen potentials in root canals with necrotic pulp, the number of bacterial species present in endodontic infections are restricted. These selective conditions lead to the predominance of facultive and strictly anaerobic microorganisms that survive and multiply, causing infections that stimulate local bone resorption, and are more resistant to endodontic treatment. Instrumentation of the root canal alone is not sufficient to remove infected necrotic tissues. The root canal must never be instrumented dry, an irrigating solution is always needed to reduce the amount of friction between the instrument and dentin surface to prevent binding and sticking. An irrigating solution is also needed to improve the cutting effectiveness of the files and instruments, dissolve tissue, cool the file and tooth, wash debris from the root canal, and be bactericidal in areas of the canal which could not be instrumented. Sodium hypochlorite has been the most widely used root canal irrigating solution for several decades, because it is inexpensive, can quickly dissolve infected necrotic tissues and is bactericidal. Sodium hypochlorite is very toxic to tissues when undiluted and so accidental spillage is always a concern among dentists. A severe limitation of Sodium hypochlorite and most other irrigating solutions is that they are unable to dissolve the instrumentation debris on cut dentin surfaces, called smear layer. The smear layer is a 1 to 5 micron thick layer of cut debris created on the surface of instrumented dentin, composed of dentin, odontoblastic processes, non-specific inorganic contaminants and microorganisms. To remove smear layer a chelating agent must be used after the irrigating solution to help clean the instrumented root canal surfaces. The most widely used chelating agent inside the root canal is 17% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). A solution of 17% EDTA is a very reliable endodontic chelating agent when used fresh and at room temperature, but its chelating effects are time sensitive. Testing and clinical evidence has shown that 17% EDTA needs to be placed inside the root canal for 1 minute to effectively dissolve organic components and smear layer. The EDTA then needs to be suctioned, dried with paper points, and/or rinsed with Sodium hypochlorite to ensure it has been completely removed from the root canal after use. The process of canal preparation with files, instruments, and irrigating solutions is usually sufficient to remove most of the necrotic and infected tissues. Some recent articles suggest that the ultrasonic activation of irrigating solutions by using a high-speed vacuum; the EndoVac system, and that a laser using photon-induced photoacoustic streaming (PIPS) can improve the debridement of root canals.
Multidimensional OAM-Based Secure High-Speed Wireless Communications

To address key challenges for beyond 5G wireless technologies in a simultaneous manner, we propose an orbital angular momentum (OAM)-based, secure, energy-efficient multidimensional coded modulation. The key idea is to employ all available degrees of freedom (DOFs) to convey the information over the wireless links, including amplitude, phase, polarization state, and spatial-domain DOFs. In particular, the OAM is associated with the azimuthal phase dependence of the wavefront, and represents an underutilized DOF. Given that OAM eigenstates are orthogonal, an arbitrary number of bits per symbol can be transmitted. Here, we propose utilizing OAM DOF not only to improve spectral and energy efficiencies, but also to significantly improve the physical-layer security of future wireless networks. To implement the OAM multiplexer and demultiplexer in the RF domain, we propose using properly designed antenna arrays. We also propose employing the Slepian sequences as either basis functions in baseband or impulse responses of antenna arrays in passband to further increase the dimensionality of the wireless system and enable beyond 1-Tb/s wireless transmission. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate high tolerance to fading effects of LDPC-coded multidimensional signaling schemes compared with the conventional LDPC-coded QAM.
Identifiability of the Latent Attribute Space and Conditions of Q-Matrix Completeness for Attribute Hierarchy Models

Educational researchers have argued that a realistic view of the role of attributes in cognitively diagnostic modeling should account for the possibility that attributes are not isolated entities, but interdependent in their effect on test performance. Different approaches have been discussed in the literature; among them the proposition to impose a hierarchical structure so that mastery of one or more attributes is a prerequisite of mastering one or more other attributes. A hierarchical organization of attributes constrains the latent attribute space such that several proficiency classes, as they exist if attributes are not hierarchically organized, are no longer defined, because the corresponding attribute combinations cannot occur with the given attribute hierarchy. Hence, the identification of the latent attribute space is often difficult—especially, if the number of attributes is large. As an additional complication, constructing a complete Q-matrix may not at all be straightforward if the attributes underlying the test items are supposed to have a hierarchical structure. In this article, the conditions of identifiability of the latent space if attributes are hierarchically organized and the conditions of completeness of the Q-matrix are studied.
Target and filter concepts for accelerator-driven boron neutron capture therapy applications

Two new accelerator target and neutron filter concepts are proposed for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) to enable production efficiencies for epithermal neutrons (i.e., neutrons leaving the tr...
Thymosin and Other Thymic Hormones: Their Nature and Roles in the Thymic Dependency of Immunological Phenomena

The mechanisms by which the thymus affects immune processes are still not defined. The role played by putative hormones produced by the thymus is one of the outstanding questions, and the evidence for the existence of such hormones is the main theme of this chapter; different aspects of the same topic have already been discussed in Chapters 18 and 19.
A deeper look at plant uptake of environmental contaminants using intelligent approaches

Uptake of contaminants from the groundwater is one pathway of interest, and efforts have been made to relate root exposure to transloation throughout the plant, termed the transpiration stream concentration factor (TSCF). This work utilized machine learning techniques and statistcal analysis to improve the understanding of plant uptake and translocation of emerging contaminants. Neural network (NN) was used to develop a reliable model for predicting TSCF using physicochemical properties of compounds. Fuzzy logic was as a technique to examine the simultaneous impact of properties on TSCF, and interactions between compound properties. The significant and effective compound properties were determined using stepwise and forward regression as two widely used statiscal techniques. Clustering was used for detecting the hidden structures in the plant uptake data set. The NN predicted the TSCF with improved accuracy compared to mechanistic models. We also delivered new insight to compound properteis and their importance in transmembrane migration. The sensitivity analysis indicated that log Kow, molecular weight, hydrogen bond donor, and rotatable bonds are the most important properties. The results of fuzzy logic demonstrated that the relationship between molecular weight and log Kow with TSCF are both bell-shape and sigmoidal. The employed clustering algorithms all discovered two major distinct clusters in the data set.
Repeatability and reproducibility of variable flip angle T1 quantification in the prostate at 3 T.

BACKGROUND Variable flip angle (VFA) imaging is widely used for the estimation of T1 relaxation in the prostate, but may have limited repeatability and reproducibility due to its sensitivity to B1+ inhomogeneity. PURPOSE To assess the repeatability and reproducibility of prostate T1 estimation with and without compensating for B1+ variation. STUDY TYPE Prospective. POPULATION Twenty-one volunteers were prospectively recruited and scanned twice on two 3 T MRI scanners, resulting in 84 VFA T1 exams. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE 3 T/2D saturated turbo fast low angle shot (FLASH) and 3D dual-echo FLASH. ASSESSMENT Two B1+ mapping techniques, including reference region VFA (RR-VFA) and saturated turbo FLASH (satTFL), were used for B1+ correction, and T1 maps with and without B1+ correction were tested for intrascanner repeatability and interscanner reproducibility. Volumetric regions of interest (ROIs) were drawn on the transition zone, peripheral zone of the prostate, and the obturator internus left and right muscles in the corresponding slices. STATISTICAL TESTS The average T1 within each ROI for each scan was compared for both intra- and interscanner variability using concordance correlation coefficient and a Bland-Altman plot. RESULTS Both RR-VFA-corrected T1 and satTFL-corrected T1 showed higher intra- and interscanner correlation (0.89/0.87 and 0.87/0.84, respectively) than VFA T1 (0.84 and 0.74). Bland-Altman plots showed that VFA T1 had wider 95% limits of agreement and a larger range of T1 for each tissue compared with T1 with B1+ correction. DATA CONCLUSION The application of B1+ correction (both RR-VFA and satTFL) to VFA T1 results in more repeatable and reproducible T1 estimation than VFA T1 . This can potentially provide improved quantification of the prostate dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI parameters. Level of Evidence 1. Technical Efficacy Stage 1. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018.
Interventions for Increasing the Quality of Preventive Care at a Free Clinic.

A quality improvement committee targeted six clinically meaningful measures in order to determine which interventions improved preventative care in a free clinic as well as to qualify for certification as a Patient-Centered Medical Home. Four quality improvement interventions were designed and implemented. The outcomes of these interventions were compared with the national average performance and the Center for Disease Control's Healthy People 2020 goals. All outcomes measured exceeded the national averages, and five out of six outcomes were above the Healthy People 2020 goals. The approach outlined may be used by other free clinics aiming to provide quality preventive care for their patient population and to help obtain Patient-Centered Medical Home certifications.
Talker and Team Dependent Modeling Techniques for Intelligent Interruption Interfaces

The Collaborative Communication Interruption Management System or C-CIMS [1] uses machine learning techniques to build task boundary inference models to send interruptions at appropriate times within distributed multi-user, multitasking interactions. The primary objective of this work is to explore improving C-CIMS performance using speaker and team dependent machine learning techniques. This has the potential to optimize system performance for each talker or team engaged in the interaction. An analysis of variance illustrated that there is a significant difference in C-CIMS performance using the talker-dependent models compared to the team-dependent models. Additionally a subset of talker and teams significantly outperform the baseline model. These results motivate the continued exploration of additional techniques to maximize C-CIMS performance in making improved accurate decisions in disseminating interruptions.
Lifting the Curtain on Merge Conflict Resolution: A Sensemaking Perspective

Merge conflicts are an inevitable, but painful part of collaborative software development. Merge conflict resolution is nontrivial because it requires gathering information from disparate sources (e.g., a codebase, diffs between versions, history of changes, documentation etc.) and then piecing together not only this information, but the rationale and context behind the conflicting changes. Current tools offer inadequate support to developers trying to understand the context and impact of the conflicting changes. They also offer little support in evaluating potential resolutions. To improve conflict resolution tools, we first need to understand the information needs of conflict resolution and its underlying sensemaking process. In this paper, through in-situ observations of 10 conflict resolutions, we qualitatively investigate how developers collect and sensemake different conflict-related information and how they reach a resolution. We identified eight behaviour patterns that developers use. These patterns have implications for tool builders and developers alike. We identify specific areas that need improved tool support. We also highlight the sensemaking traps practitioners may fall into. Index Terms—Merge conflicts, software development practices, sensemaking
Automatic Generation of Customized Checklists for Digital Construction Inspection

Construction inspection plays a critical role to ensure the quality and long-term performance of infrastructure. The current construction inspection practice at state transportation agencies (STAs)...
The Blueprint for Dred Scott: United States v. Dow and the Multi-Racial Jurisprudence of White Supremacy

Chief Justice Taney’s 1857 opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford is justly infamous for its holdings that African Americans could never be citizens, that Congress was powerless to prohibit slavery in the territories, and for its proclamation that persons of African ancestry “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” For all of the interest in and attention to Dred Scott, however, no scholar has previously analyzed United States v. Dow, an 1840 decision of Chief Justice Taney in a Circuit Court trial which is apparently the first federal decision to articulate a broad theoretical basis for White supremacy. Dow identified Whites as the “master” race, and it explained that only those of European origin were either welcomed or allowed to be members of the political community in the colonies. Non-Whites such as members of Dow’s race, Taney explained, could be reduced to slavery, and therefore their rights continued to be subject to absolute legislative discretion. Dow, however, was not a person of African descent, he was Malay, from the Philippines. Chief Justice Taney’s employment in Dow of legal reasoning which he would later apply in Dred Scott suggests that Dred Scott should be regarded as pertinent to all people of color, not only African Americans. This understanding of Dred Scott helps explain the revival of Taney’s reputation during the Jim Crow era after Reconstruction. Courts declined to invalidate restrictions with respect to a broad range of civil rights on citizens and immigrants of African, Indian, Asian, and Mexican ancestry to which Whites were not subject. Indeed, Whites could not be subject to them, unless it is conceivable that under the U.S. Constitution, the law could provide, for example, that all races would be ineligible to testify or vote because of their race. Accordingly, even after Reconstruction, just as Dred Scott and Dow contemplated, the White race remained the master race, in the sense that they were the exclusive holder of truly inalienable rights.
Phosphoproteomic response of cardiac endothelial cells to ischemia and ultrasound.

Abstract Myocardial infarction and subsequent therapeutic interventions activate numerous intracellular cascades in every constituent cell type of the heart. Endothelial cells produce several protective compounds in response to therapeutic ultrasound, under both normoxic and ischemic conditions. How endothelial cells sense ultrasound and convert it to a beneficial biological response is not known. We adopted a global, unbiased phosphoproteomics approach aimed at understanding how endothelial cells respond to ultrasound. Here, we use primary cardiac endothelial cells to explore the cellular signaling events underlying the response to ischemia-like cellular injury and ultrasound exposure in vitro. Enriched phosphopeptides were analyzed with a high mass accuracy liquid chromatrography (LC) - tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) proteomic platform, yielding multiple alterations in both total protein levels and phosphorylation events in response to ischemic injury and ultrasound. Application of pathway algorithms reveals numerous protein networks recruited in response to ultrasound including those regulating RNA splicing, cell-cell interactions and cytoskeletal organization. Our dataset also permits the informatic prediction of potential kinases responsible for the modifications detected. Taken together, our findings begin to reveal the endothelial proteomic response to ultrasound and suggest potential targets for future studies of the protective effects of ultrasound in the ischemic heart.
Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Mortality Among Medicare Beneficiaries Hospitalized for Acute Myocardial Infarction, Heart Failure, and Pneumonia.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program uses 30-day mortality rates for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia to evaluate US hospitals, but does not account for neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage when comparing their performance. To determine if neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with worse 30-day mortality rates after a hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure (HF), or pneumonia in the USA, as well as within the subset of counties with a high proportion of Black individuals. This retrospective, population-based study included all Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 65 years or older hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, or pneumonia between 2012 and 2015. Residence in most socioeconomically disadvantaged vs. less socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods as measured by the area deprivation index (ADI). All-cause mortality within 30 days of admission. The study included 3,471,592 Medicare patients. Of these patients, 333,472 resided in most disadvantaged neighborhoods and 3,138,120 in less disadvantaged neighborhoods. Patients living in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods were younger (78.4 vs. 80.0 years) and more likely to be Black adults (24.6% vs. 7.5%) and dually enrolled in Medicaid (39.4% vs. 21.8%). After adjustment for demographics (age, sex, race/ethnicity), poverty, and clinical comorbidities, 30-day mortality was higher among beneficiaries residing in most disadvantaged neighborhoods for AMI (adjusted odds ratio 1.08, 95% CI 1.06–1.11) and pneumonia (aOR 1.05, 1.03–1.07), but not for HF (aOR 1.02, 1.00–1.04). These patterns were similar within the subset of US counties with a high proportion of Black adults (AMI, aOR 1.07, 1.03–1.11; HF 1.02, 0.99–1.05; pneumonia 1.03, 1.00–1.07). Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with higher 30-day mortality for some conditions targeted by value-based programs, even after accounting for individual-level demographics, clinical comorbidities, and poverty. These findings may have implications as policymakers weigh strategies to advance health equity under value-based programs.
The universal brain code a genetic mechanism for memory.

Abstract We do not have an understanding of the fundamental mechanism of how information is stored and retrieved by the brain. A Universal Brain Code utilized for these functions is proposed here. The basic tenent of the Code is that a memory engram is propagated and guided through the connectome by specific proteins/peptides embedded within the pre-synaptic neuronal membrane corresponding to information provided by afferent electrical currents to the pre-synaptic neuron. It is intended to provide a working approach to this central brain activity and begin the process of investigation based on these ideas which are new and unexplored.
Clustering of sperm whales recorded by a single hydrophone

Sperm whales (Physter macrocephalus) produce echolocation clicks composed of several pulses while searching for food when diving. The clicks are composed of segments three of which are: the p0 pulse (3 kHz to 15 kHz), the p1 pulse (3 kHz to 15 kHz), and the Low Frequency (LF) signal (<3 kHz) (Zimmer, 2005). The LF signal is omnidirectional in nature unlike the p1 pulse which is very directional. The power in the LF signal recorded by a single hydrophone is a function of the distance of the whale from the hydrophone and the source level of the whale. The power contained in the LF portion of the clicks can be used to assign clicking whales to groups with each group consisting of a least one individual. The inter-pulse interval (IPI) can then be used to determine the lengths of the whales in each cluster adding confidence to the estimated number of whales producing the clicks. Continuous Wavelet Transforms are used with underwater acoustic data recorded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2015 to determine the power of the LF signal, the length of the clicking whale and the alignment of the acoustical axis of the whale with the hydrophone.
WAVE PROPAGATION IN CONFINED CLAY

Specimens of Kaolin clay were confined by a column of segmented rings consisting of 1-in. long hollow aluminum sections, of about 3-in. ID with 1/8-in. foam rubber spacers on each end. The peak shock pressures, applied by use of a gas shock tube, were in the range of 400 to 1,000 psi. Embedded stress and strain gages were used to measure the stress-time and strain-time responses at various points along the length of the specimens. The recorded data provided information on the soil stress-strain characteristics during shock loading as well as wave propagation characteristics such as peak stress attenuation, velocities of propagation, and wave front development. The experimental results were evaluated by means of a general one-dimensoinal computer code and estimates of the accuracy of the experimental techniques were made.
Environmental Politics: Interest Groups, the Media, and the Making of Policy

At every stage, environmental policy is the result of the combat of stakeholders interested in, and affected by, the problem being addressed and the range of possible solutions. The combatants include any or all of the following: the federal government, environmental advocacy groups, and business, the media, the scientific community, think tanks, NGOs of every stripe, trade associations and professional organizations, and even state and local governments, each of whom have their own interests in the resulting policy. Environmental Politics: Interest Groups, the Media, and the Making of Policy discusses political battles over the environment from ground level - as they are fought in legislative chambers, the daily newspaper, on television, and, increasingly, on the Internet. The text explores environmental politics as a clash of interests, not ideologies, and environmental policy as a result of the reconciliation of those interests. The author covers not only the conventional aspects of the policymaking process but more recent and less recognized elements and developments such as:Proliferation of legislative riders and monument designations as major environmental strategiesEvolving role of the media, from science popularizer to agenda setterGrowing influence on both Congress and the public of conservative and libertarian foundations and think tanksDevolution of environmental power from the Federal to state governmentsMetamorphosis of EPA in a business-driven regulatory revolutionEffect of globalization on US environmental policyNewly emerging role of the precautionary principle in marrying science and politicsIncreasing role of the Internet in promoting populist issues and promoting the decentralization of the environmental power structureNo other book covers the politics of the environment the way this one does. Written by an expert with 25 years of experience in environmental policymaking, Environmental Politics: Interest Groups, the Media, and the Making of Policy gives you an insider's view of how policies are forged. By examining these issues through an interest group lens, this book not only accounts for what policies have been adopted but also shows how you can influence policy and effect change.
Chapter 3 Target cells for infection

Publisher Summary Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) was first identified in 1986 by S.Z. Salahuddin, D.V. Ablashi, and R.C. Gallo. This chapter discusses the critical indications about the pathogenic consequences of chronic HHV-6 infection as well as suggestions about the possible sites acting as reservoirs for the virus in vivo. HHV-6 is detected very frequently in peripheral blood of both normal and diseased individuals. Thus, HHV-6 induces a dramatic cytopathic effect, often leading to massive intercultural cell death. By inference from other herpes viral systems it is likely that after primary infection HHV-6 is not completely cleared by the immune system but may persist in a latent form in selected tissues. The chapter also presents the immunophenotypic characteristics of HHV-6 infected cells in human cord blood cultures.
High-power corrugates waveguide components for mm-wave fusion heating systems

Considerable progress has been made over the last year in the U.S., Japan, Russia, and Europe in developing high power long pulse gyrotrons for fusion plasma heating and current drive. These advanced gyrotrons typically operate at a frequency in the range 82 GHz to 170 GHz at nearly megawatt power levels for pulse lengths up to 5 s. To take advantage of these new microwave sources for fusion research, new and improved transmission line components are needed to reliably transmit microwave power to plasmas with minimal losses. Over the last year, General Atomics and collaborating companies (Spinner GmbH in Europe and Toshiba Corporation in Japan) have developed a wide variety of new components which meet the demanding power, pulse length, frequency, and vacuum requirements for effective utilization of the new generation of gyrotrons. These components include low-loss straight corrugated waveguides, miter bends, miter bend polarizers, power monitors, waveguide bellows, de breaks, waveguide switches, dummy loads, and distributed windows. These components have been developed with several different waveguide diameters (32, 64, and 89 mm) and frequency ranges (82 GHz to 170 GHz). This paper describes the design requirements of selected components and their calculated and measured performance characteristics.
13 - Doppler-Free Spectroscopy

This chapter discusses the rudimentary appreciation of the methods used to reveal Doppler-free spectra. But first this chapter begins with a brief discussion of motional effects that produce line broadening and shift. Spectroscopy is an important tool for investigating the structure of physical systems such as atoms or molecules. Thermal motion of free atoms and molecules gives rise to Doppler broadening of the characteristic spectral transitions, which often blurs important details of the spectra and prevents a deeper understanding of the underlying physics. Atoms or molecules in gases can be relatively free and undisturbed, but their spectral lines are spread out over a range of frequencies by the Doppler Effect because they are moving in all directions with high thermal velocities. Those particles moving toward an observer absorb light at lower frequencies than those at rest; those receding absorb at higher frequencies. The resulting Doppler broadening can often mask spectral fine and hyperfine structure, even though each individual absorber still retains its typically much narrower natural line width.
The whys and why nots of export taxation

The authors review the arguments for taxing imports, considering two cases: one in which a country has market power in the export commodity, and one in which it does not. They conclude that for countries having market share there are strong analytical and practical arguments for an export tax. While the optimal level of the export tax may depend on the strategic behavior of other exporting and importing countries, on such practical issues as long-run market power, on whether smuggling exists, or on general equilibrium effects, these factors do not reverse the desirability of export taxation for countries with market share. Neither do alternative instruments such as export quotas and cartels, which could potentially yield a better outcome, negate this conclusion. The authors also find that countries without market share are not similarly situated to those with it. To the contrary, for most small, open economies that do not have market power in export markets, taxing imports is harmful not only to imports but also to general economic welfare and growth. Export taxes generate serious economic distortions and disincentives and are a poor instrument for encouraging higher-value-added activities. And in revenue generation, they are likely to be dominated by other tax instruments, and should be viewed as a transitional measure at best, to be replaced as soon as tax administration improves.
The Carboxymethylation of Human Carbonic Anhydrase B II. THE AMINO ACID SEQUENCE AROUND A REACTIVE HISTIDINE RESIDUE

Abstract An investigation of radioactive peptides of human erythrocyte carbonic anhydrase B labeled with 14C-iodoacetate was undertaken in order to locate reactive residues near the active site. A labeled pentapeptide from a papain digest was purified chromatographically on Sephadex G-10 and on the cation exchange resin AG 50-X8. Its sequence, determined by the Edman method, was threonyl-3-carboxymethylhistidylprolylprolylleucine. Labeled peptides were also isolated from 14C-carboxymethyl enzyme digested with papain, leucine aminopeptidase, and papain in succession. The products were as follows: 73% of the label occurred in three chromatographically distinct peptides composed of 3-carboxymethylhistidine, two prolines, and a leucine; 7% appeared in a minor fraction; and 20% of the radioactivity was lost during the purification procedure. The data suggest that the histidine residue in the sequence cited above is the target for a minimum of 73% of the radioactivity. They do not rule out the possibility that the remainder of the label is located there as well.
Category identification of changed land-use polygons in an integrated image processing/geographic information system

A framework is proposed for analyzing ancillary data and developing procedures for incorporating ancillary data to aid interactive identification of land-use categories in land-use updates. The procedures were developed for use within an integrated image processsing/geographic information systems (GIS) that permits simultaneous display of digital image data with the vector land-use data to be updated. With such systems and procedures, automated techniques are integrated with visual-based manual interpretation to exploit the capabilities of both. The procedural framework developed was applied as part of a case study to update a portion of the land-use layer in a regional scale GIS. About 75 percent of the area in the study site that experienced a change in land use was correctly labeled into 19 categories using the combination of automated and visual interpretation procedures developed in the study.
Asymptotically Optimal and Private Statistical Estimation

Differential privacy is a definition of "privacy" for statistical databases. The definition is simple, yet it implies strong semantics even in the presence of an adversary with arbitrary auxiliary information about the database. In this talk, we discuss recent work on measuring the utility of differentially private analyses via the traditional yardsticks of statistical inference. Specifically, we discuss two differentially private estimators that, given i.i.d. samples from a probability distribution, converge to the correct answer at the same rate as the optimal nonprivate estimator.
APPLICATION OF A PLANT LOCATION MODEL TO AN AREA'S COTTON GINNING INDUSTRY

The conventional cotton marketing system includes characteristics that impair its efficiency. This paper reports on a study which examined the potential operational efficiency gains in that portion of the system which involved the flow of seed cotton from the field through the ginning process. Up to 70 percent of the annual production is harvested in three to four weeks; the rest is harvested and processed during the remaining 3 1/2 to 4 months of the ginning season.
Biochemical pharmacology, metabolism, and mechanism of action of L-alanosine, a novel, natural antitumor agent.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the biochemical pharmacology, metabolism, and mechanism of action of L-alanosine, a novel, natural antitumor agent. It must be admitted that the results so far obtained offer little encouragement that L-alanosine prove useful in the treatment of human cancer. Notwithstanding such presumptive inactivity, it does seem justified to capitalize on the leads offered by this unusual antibiotic in the design of second generation molecules with heightened potency, specificity, or even novel properties absent from the parent structure. Otherwise, the enormous investment of time and talent required to bring L-alanosine from culture medium to clinic might well be wasted. The most obvious such lead is chemical. Based on the studies with L-alanosine, the N-hydroxy-N-nitroso functionality is now established as a kind of surrogate carboxyl group, able to mimic its physiologic prototype with fidelity, both as to charge and geometry in space.
Favorable internal hernia rate achieved using retrocolic, retrogastric alimentary limb in laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Abstract Background The present study was performed at a tertiary care university hospital. The present study examined the incidence of internal hernia (IH) in our series of laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) with retrocolic, retrogastric routing of the alimentary limb accompanied by routine secure closure of all mesenteric defects. Methods During a 4-year period, 847 patients underwent LRYGB. Our operative technique included retrocolic, retrogastric placement of the alimentary limb. The enteroenterostomy mesenteric defect, mesocolic defect, and Petersen defect were routinely closed in running fashion with nonabsorbable suture. Results The study population had a mean age of 42.4 ± 9.3 years and a mean preoperative body mass index of 45.3 ± 5.6 kg/m 2 . The mean operative time was 154 ± 25 minutes. The mean excess body weight loss at 1 year was 70%. The incidence of IH among this large study population was 0%. A total of 11 patients (1.3%) presented with symptoms concerning for IH, most commonly nausea, vomiting, and crampy abdominal pain, from 1 month to 6 years after the initial surgery. On re-exploration, 4 patients had adhesive small bowel obstruction, 4 had adhesions without obstruction, 1 had small bowel intussusception, and 2 patients had negative findings. Conclusion IH is a serious complication of LRYGB that can lead to catastrophic morbidity and mortality. We advocate vigilant screening for this complication and laparoscopic exploration for patients with worrisome symptoms. Our data have indicated that a routine and consistent technique to securely close the mesenteric defects can significantly reduce the risk of IH associated with retrocolic, retrogastric placement of the alimentary limb during LRYGB.
Macroregenerative (Dysplastic) Nodules and Hepatocarcinogenesis: Theoretical and Clinical Considerations

Over the last decade or so, we have seen the development of an interesting new area of liver pathology, new because advanced imaging techniques coupled with careful screening of population at risk for HCC have focused attention on nodular hepatocellular lesions that have been previously ignored. Careful searching for these nodules has led to the acknowledgment that they are not restricted to the populations in which they were first identified and in which the association with HCC was first made, but are probably a universal phenomenon and one extremely important pathway for the development of HCC. Moving beyond these epidemiological associations, we see that careful consideration of the morphology of these lesions leads to insights into the early stages of human hepatocarcinogenesis, setting the stage for the development of a clinically useful system of nomenclature and, perhaps, new approaches to screening for early HCC. Additional important work lies ahead, as concepts from animal models of hepatocarcinogenesis are applied to these human lesions, molecular approaches to research and diagnostics are applied, and extensive prospective screening and clinicopathologic correlation studies are carried out.
TOPOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR FINITE INJURY

We formulate an abstract version of the finite injury method in the form of the Baire category theorem. The theorem has the following corollaries: The Friedberg-Muchnik pair of recursively enumerable degrees, the Sacks splitting theorem, the existence of a minimal degree below 0′ and the Shoenfield jump theorem.
A Michelson Interferometer/Polarimeter On The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR)

A multichannel interferometer/polarimeter for the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) has been developed in order to study the time dependent plasma current density (Jp) and electron density (ne) profile simultaneously. The goal of the TFTR is demonstration of breakeven via deuterium and tritium (DT) plasma. In order to be operated and maintained during DT operation phase, the system is designed based on the Michelson geometry which possesses intrinsic standing wave problems. So far, there has been no observable signals due to these standing waves. However, a standing wave resulted from the beam path design to achieve a optimum use of the laser power was found. This standing wave has not prevented initial 10 channel interferometer operation. However, a single channel polarimeter test indicated this standing wave was fatal for Faraday rotation measurements. Techniques employing 1/2 wave plates and polarizers have been applied to eliminate this standing wave problem. The completion of 10 channel Faraday rotation measurements may be feasible in the near future.
Estrogen regulates gonadotropin-releasing hormone in the nervus terminalis of Xenopus laevis.

The nervus terminalis or terminal nerve (TN) is a neuronal plexus found in the nasal cavity and rostral forebrain of most vertebrates. The hormone gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is found in a population of TN neurons as well as hypothalamic neurons which regulate pituitary secretion of the gonadotropins. The GnRH-containing neurons of the TN appear to represent a rostral continuation of the hypothalamic population since they both originate from the olfactory placode and are frequently anatomically continuous. Previous studies have shown that the hypothalamic GnRH neurons are regulated by circulating estrogen levels. Ovariectomy decreases while estrogen administration increases GnRH content in these neurons. It is not known whether the GnRH-containing TN neurons are also regulated in a similar manner. This study demonstrates that ovariectomy and estrogen readministration alters GnRH-immunoreactive (ir) levels in the TN of female Xenopus laevis in a manner similar to that seen in the hypothalamus. One week after ovariectomy, the density of TN GnRH-ir fibers in the olfactory bulb region (one site of TN termination) is significantly decreased. In contrast, a significant increase in GnRH-ir TN fiber density is observed following estrogen readministration to ovariectomized frogs. These findings demonstrate that estrogen regulates GnRH metabolism in neurons of the TN.