cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Large deformation rate-dependent stress–strain behavior of polyurea and polyurethanes

Abstract The thermoplastic elastomer polyurethane and the elastomeric thermoset polyurea are finding new applications in increasing the survivability of structures under impact loading, including those encountered in blast and ballistic events. However, the mechanical behavior of polyurea and polyurethane materials under these high rate conditions is relatively unknown. Here, the rate-dependent stress–strain behavior of one polyurea and three representative polyurethane materials is studied by dynamic mechanical analysis, quasi-static compression testing and split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) testing. The polyurethane chemistries were chosen to probe the influence of the hard segment content on the mechanical behavior, where the volume fraction and the amorphous vs. crystalline structure of the hard segment domains were varied. The large strain stress–strain behavior of polyurea and polyurethane shows strong hysteresis, cyclic softening, and strong rate-dependence. The polyurethane with a non-crystalline well-dispersed hard segment morphology did not exhibit cyclic softening. The materials are observed to transition from a rubbery-like behavior under low strain rate (∼10−3–100 s−1) loading conditions to either a leathery or glassy-like behavior under high strain rate (∼10−3 s−1) loading conditions.
End-to-side neurorrhaphy and lateral axonal sprouting in a long graft rat model.

Objective/Hypothesis: Controversy exists regarding collateral axonal sprouting across an end-to-side neurorrhaphy to provide functional motor reinnervation of a target organ without compromise of the donor nerve. Rat models may be limited in the study of end-to-side repair given potential contamination from the proximal nerve stump of the recipient distal nerve and the use of antagonistic muscle groups for donor and recipient. The current study attempts to address these issues by using a rat model in which an end-to-side coaptation is performed with a long graft interposed between the intact donor tibial nerve and the divided, distal contralateral tibial nerve. Materials and Methods: The graft used in proximal end-toside coaptation consisted of both sciatic nerves in a donor syngeneic animal. The distal repair to the contralateral tibial nerve was done immediately or in a delayed fashion to allow potential motor axons to transverse the graft before division of the recipient tibial nerve. Results: After 24 weeks, axons were noted to transverse the entire distance of the graft and into the contralateral distal posterior tibial nerve. A significant increase in axonal numbers was observed in the immediate repairs compared with the delayed. No animal recovered functional motor ability on the contralateral side as assessed by walking tracks. Conclusions: These findings suggest the importance of immediate distal neurotrophic factors in encouraging nerve regeneration even in a long graft end-to-side repair. Our model is successful in demonstrating innervation through an end-to-side coaptation but questions its use given the lack of motor recovery. Key Words: End-to-side neurorrhaphy, termino-lateral repair, axonal sprouting. Laryngoscope, 112:899–905, 2002
Effect of anthracene and solar ultraviolet radiation exposure on gill ATPase and selected hematologic measurements m the bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus)

Anthracene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, is acutely toxic to fish when they are exposed simultaneously to solar ultraviolet radiation (SUVR). However, the physiological mechanism of acute anthracene photo-induced toxicity is not known. The purpose of this study was to investigate possible modes of action associated with simultaneous anthracene and SUVR exposure using blood and gill biochemistry in bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus). Fish were exposed to anthracene (< 0.01 and 7.04 μg/l) and SUVR in a flow-through system. Following 96 h of anthracene and SUVR exposure, fish exhibited significant increases in hematocrit and significant decreases in whole blood hemoglobin content when compared to no-anthracene controls. Evidence of hemolysis was also observed in anthracene and SUVR exposed fish. Using in vitro enzyme analysis, both Na,K-ATPase and Mg-ATPase were signficantly inhibited in gill tissue homogenates exposed to anthracene and SUVR when compared to homogenates exposed to SUVR alone. These blood and gill measurements provide evidence of osmotic stress in exposed fish. Given the results presented in this and in previous studies, we conclude that there are numerous sites of acute toxic action with anthracene and SUVR exposure in fish and that this toxicity appears to be associated with a general disruption of cell membrane function.
A design methodology for expressing emotion on robot faces

We have developed a systematic methodology for designing emotional facial expressions for humanoid robots, especially those with limited degrees of freedom. The methodology is firmly grounded in the psychological literature on human static and dynamic emotional facial expressions. We demonstrate the methodology by applying it to a recent humanoid robot and evaluate the results, confirming that the observed confusion matrix agrees qualitatively with the predictions of the methodology. We also investigate how robot facial emotion recognition compares for dynamic versus static expressions.
The debt of gratitude: Dissociating gratitude and indebtedness

We investigated the relationship between the emotional states of gratitude and indebtedness in two studies. Although many have suggested that these affects are essentially equivalent, we submit that they are distinct emotional states. Following Heider (1958), we propose that with increasing expectations of return communicated with a gift by a benefactor, indebtedness should increase but gratitude should decrease. The results of two vignette studies supported this hypothesis, and patterns of thought/action tendencies showed these states to be distinct. In addition, we found that with increasing expectations communicated by a benefactor, beneficiaries reported that they would be less likely to help the benefactor in the future. Taken together, we argue that the debt of gratitude is internally generated, and is not analogous to an economic form of indebtedness.
Trace levels of mechanochemical effects in pulverized polyolefins

This research investigated the structural changes that occur on different polyethylene polymer systems as a result of a novel pulverization process called solid-state shear pulverization (S3P). High-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, and two forms of linear low-density polyethylene were run through a pulverizer under high shear conditions as well as low shear conditions. The physical properties were examined before and after the pulverization via melt index, melt rheology, GPC, and DSC, techniques. The low shear pulverization did not noticeably alter the physical properties of the polymers. In contrast, high shear pulverization did result in an increase in viscosity as observed by melt index and oscillatory shear experiments, although solid-state and bulk properties as observed by DSC and GPC were not affected. These results indicate that a small amount of mechanochemically induced changes occur as a result of the pulverization process, including incorporation of a small amount of long-chain branches randomly placed on a few of the polymer chains. No evidence of short-chain branching resulting from S3P processing was found in these systems. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 80: 671–679, 2001
Window Discrimination Using Integrated Circuits

A differential amplitude or window discriminator is described which employs inexpensive integrated circuits and performs over an extremely wide frequency range (5 Hz-100 kHz for a sine-wave input). The discriminator can be employed in neurological studies, such as the separation of action potentials obtained from microelectrode recordings. Accessory circuits are also described which allow pulse rate to voltage conversion, and simultaneous observation on a single-channel oscilloscope of threshold levels, input signal, and discriminator output.
Multiplication noise in the human visual system at threshold: 2. Probit estimation of parameters

A mathematical technique is described that relates detection model parameters to stimulus magnitude and experimental probability of detection. The normalizing transform is used to make the response statistics approximately Gaussian. Conventional probit analysis is then applied. From measurements at M stimulus levels, a system of M equations is solved and estimates of M unknown parameters of the detection model are obtained. The technique is applied to a threshold vision model based on additive and multiplicative Poisson noise. Results are obtained for the parameter estimates for individual subjects, and for the standard deviation of the estimates, for various values of the stimulus energy and number of trials. A frequency-of-seeing experiment is performed using a point-source stimulus that randomly assumes 3 energy levels with 200 trials per level. With a central efficiency of 50%, the estimated ocular quantum efficiency for our four subjects lies between 12% and 23%, the average dark count at the retina lies between 8 and 36 counts, and the threshold count for our (low falsereport rate) data lies between 11 and 32. The theoretical results reduce to those obtained by Barlow (J. Physiol. London 160, 155–168, 1962), in the absence of dark light and multiplication noise.
Telling Tales in School: Youth Culture and Conflict Narratives

This study departs from mainstream criminology to approach youth conflict and violence from a youth-centered perspective drawn from cultural studies of young people and sociolegal research. To access youth orientations, we analyze experiential stories of peer conflict written by students at a multiethnic, low-income high school situated in an urban core of the western United States. We argue that youth narratives of conflict offer glimpses into how young people make sense of conflict in their everyday lives, as well as insights as to how the images and decisional bases embedded in their storytelling connect to adult-centered discourses found in popular media and formal education. Our analyses identify a range of story types (tales), each marked by a different narrative style, that students fashion as they write about peer conflict: action tales, moral tales, expressive tales, and rational tales. In our study, students wrote a majority of stories in the action-tale narrative style. We propose three alternative explanations for this pattern using class code, moral development, and institutional resistance perspectives. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and policy implications of our work and raise questions for future research
Combined measurement of perfusion, venous oxygen saturation, and skeletal muscle T2* during reactive hyperemia in the leg

The function of the peripheral microvascular may be interrogated by measuring perfusion, tissue oxygen concentration, or venous oxygen saturation (SvO2) recovery dynamics following induced ischemia. The purpose of this work is to develop and evaluate a magnetic resonance (MR) technique for simultaneous measurement of perfusion, SvO2, and skeletal muscle T2*. Perfusion, Intravascular Venous Oxygen saturation, and T2* (PIVOT) is comprised of interleaved pulsed arterial spin labeling (PASL) and multi-echo gradient-recalled echo (GRE) sequences. During the PASL post-labeling delay, images are acquired with a multi-echo GRE to quantify SvO2 and T2* at a downstream slice location. Thus time-courses of perfusion, SvO2, and T2* are quantified simultaneously within a single scan. The new sequence was compared to separately measured PASL or multi-echo GRE data during reactive hyperemia in five young healthy subjects. To explore the impairment present in peripheral artery disease patients, five patients were evaluated with PIVOT. Comparison of PIVOT-derived data to the standard techniques shows that there was no significant bias in any of the time-course-derived metrics. Preliminary data show that PAD patients exhibited alterations in perfusion, SvO2, and T2* time-courses compared to young healthy subjects. Simultaneous quantification of perfusion, SvO2, and T2* is possible with PIVOT. Kinetics of perfusion, SvO2, and T2* during reactive hyperemia may help to provide insight into the function of the peripheral microvasculature in patients with PAD.
Software Engineering Education in Russia: A Comparative Study of People, Process and Technology a Four Year Perspective

The Master of Software Engineering Program at Carnegie Mellon University initiated in 2003 a software engineering education lecture series in Russia to introduce enduring principles and industry best practices for software development and software project management. Through a system of multi-day corporate/public workshops and a methodology for training local trainers to re-teach the material, the seminars have been successfully attended by practicing engineers from all over Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus. Our experiences of interacting with the Russian software industry provides an in-depth look at how software practitioners and executives in Russia approach issues of dealing with people, process and technology, and how the industry has changed from an educational perspective over the past four years since we had started.
Angiotensin II and pulmonary fibrosis, a new twist on an old story

pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating consequence of several distinct clinical and pathological pulmonary syndromes including the acute respiratory distress syndrome, connective tissue diseases, drug reactions, environmental and occupational exposures, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis ([14][1]). Much
A review of fish swimming mechanics and behaviour in altered flows

Fishes suspended in water are subject to the complex nature of three-dimensional flows. Often, these flows are the result of abiotic and biotic sources that alter otherwise uniform flows, which then have the potential to perturb the swimming motions of fishes. The goal of this review is to highlight key studies that have contributed to a mechanistic and behavioural understanding of how perturbing flows affect fish. Most of our understanding of fish behaviour in turbulence comes from observations of natural conditions in the field and laboratory studies employing controlled perturbations, such as vortices generated in the wake behind simple geometric objects. Laboratory studies have employed motion analysis, flow visualization, electromyography, respirometry and sensory deprecation techniques to evaluate the mechanisms and physiological costs of swimming in altered flows. Studies show that flows which display chaotic and wide fluctuations in velocity can repel fishes, while flows that have a component of predictability can attract fishes. The ability to maintain stability in three-dimensional flows, either actively with powered movements or passively using the posture and intrinsic compliance of the body and fins, plays a large role in whether fish seek out or avoid turbulence. Fish in schools or current-swept habitats can benefit from altered flows using two distinct though not mutually exclusive mechanisms: flow refuging (exploiting regions of reduced flow relative to the earth frame of reference) and vortex capture (harnessing the energy of environmental vortices). Integrating how the physical environment affects organismal biomechanics with the more complex issue of behavioural choice requires consideration beyond simple body motions or metabolic costs. A fundamental link between these two ways of thinking about animal behaviour is how organisms sense and process information from the environment, which determines when locomotor behaviour is initiated and modulated. New data are presented here which show that behaviour changes in altered flows when either the lateral line or vision is blocked, showing that fish rely on multi-modal sensory inputs to negotiate complex flow environments. Integrating biomechanics and sensory biology to understand how fish swim in turbulent flow at the organismal level is necessary to better address population-level questions in the fields of fisheries management and ecology.
Comparison and evaluation of boundary conditions for the absorption of guided waves in an FDTD simulation

Several absorbing boundary conditions suitable for terminating the finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) simulation of microstrip structures are compared via numerical experiments. Both a superabsorbing boundary and a modified form of Litva's dispersive boundary condition are found to produce significantly lower reflection than the traditional first-order Mur boundary. The sensitivity of these boundary conditions to the choice of the input parameters, particularly the effective dielectric constant epsilon /sub eff/, is investigated, and optimal choices of these parameters are given. >
Maintenance of response summation under conditions of minimum stimulus intensity

Four rats were conditioned on a multiple schedule, in which different composite stimuli were associated with extinction and a variable-interval reinforcement schedule. The composite extinction stimulus consisted of light plus tone. The composite stimuli associated with reinforcement were light plus silence and tone plus darkness. After response rate had stabilized, three test intervals were presented to a S in each session. During two of the test intervals the composite stimuli were the same as the stimuli associated with reinforcement. During the third test interval the composite stimulus was darkness plus silence. Response rate was highest during the third test interval, and this rate difference was maintained for 60 sessions.
Long-term consequences of burnout: An exploratory study

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between degree of burnout experienced during the first year of the career and career adaptation during the next decade. Subjects were 25 human service professionals originally working in the fields of public service law, public health nursing, high school teaching, or mental health. They were studied during the first year of their careers and again 12 years later. Early career burnout was assessed via ratings of interviews that were highly correlated with the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Career adaptation variables included career stability, work satisfaction, attitudes towards recipients, and flexibility as measured at the time of follow-up. Each of these variables was measured via interview ratings, a questionnaire, and ratings made hy confidants of the subjects. Results showed that subjects who were more burned-out early in their careers were less likely to change careers and more flexible in their approach to work as rated by confidants at the time of follow-up. The results suggest that early career burnout does not seem to lead to any significant, negative, long-term consequences. However, burnout occurring later in the career might have more serious long-term effects.
Risk aversion, learning spillovers, and path-dependent economic growth

Abstract Each agent j∈ 1,…, N receives an independent shock influencing her degree of risk aversion, then undertakes a risky or safe investment. Prior investment in ‘related’ industries reduces the uncertainty. The shock history and this intertemporal interaction determine the long-run growth rate.
Age, gender, biometry, refractive error, and the anterior chamber angle among Alaskan Eskimos

Background The prevalence of angle-closure glaucoma (ACG) is greater for Eskimos/Inuit than it is for any other ethnic group in the world. Although it has been suggested that this prevalence may be due to a population tendency toward shallower anterior chamber angles, available evidence for other populations such as Chinese with high rates of ACG has not consistently demonstrated such a tendency.
A technique for the compression and carriage of autogenous bone during bone grafting procedures

Several publications have identified a relationship between the cellular density of transplanted osteoprogenitor cells and the yield of bone in particulate cancellous bone grafts.1-3 In particular, increasing the numbers of endosteal osteoblasts and marrow mesenchymal osteoprogenitor cells has been shown to produce a greater bone yield in vitro.3 This principle has been applied clinically in facial bone reconstructions by meticulous bone condensation techniques in a variety of crib systems.4>5 We have developed a simple, inexpensive, and practical technique to enhance the cellular density of the bone graft material, that results in a transportable compacted graft of cellular cortico-cancellous bone.
Focusing supernova gamma rays

Despite their great intrinsic interest and extensive use as tools in other areas of astronomy, fundamental questions remain as to the nature of supernovae of all types. The radioactivity produced by nuclear fusion reactions in the explosions provides several excellent diagnostics, observable through gamma-ray emission. This great potential is largely unrealized because the fluxes from events at common distances are very small. Instrument sensitivity is paramount, and gamma-ray optics offer an excellent possibility for greatly increasing collecting area, without a large increase in background rates, and reaching the required sensitivities. Here we outline some of the major open questions about supernovae and discuss how gamma-ray spectroscopy can address them, including instrument requirements for a future focusing gamma-ray telescope.
G Protein Pathways

The heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (G proteins) are signal transducers that communicate signals from many hormones, neurotransmitters, chemokines, and autocrine and paracrine factors. The extracellular signals are received by members of a large superfamily of receptors with seven membrane-spanning regions that activate the G proteins, which route the signals to several distinct intracellular signaling pathways. These pathways interact with one another to form a network that regulates metabolic enzymes, ion channels, transporters, and other components of the cellular machinery controlling a broad range of cellular processes, including transcription, motility, contractility, and secretion. These cellular processes in turn regulate systemic functions such as embryonic development, gonadal development, learning and memory, and organismal homeostasis.
Methods of dose evaluation for incorporation of radionuclides: Applicability to environmental chemicals☆

Abstract The international organizations that have been pioneers in the dosimetry of environmental radioactivity are the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). The UNSCEAR has developed compartmental models for environmental transport of radionuclides from the point of release to the receptor. Not only the models but also some of the data are relevant to chemical pollutants. The kind of information reported by ICRP for the dosimetry of internal emitters in Reference Man is useful for many nonradioactive elements. This includes such quantitative metabolic information as: uptakes from the gastrointestinal tract and the lungs; retention in the body and excretion by different routes; distribution among tissues; masses of organs and tissues. One of the difficulties in calculating doses of chemical pollutants, not relevant to radiation dosimetry, is to know what units are most relevant to the toxicity of chemicals. For example, is the dose to be estimated tissue concentration or tissue concentration multiplied by time? It would be desirable to have, for toxic chemicals, risk estimates of the kind developed by UNSCEAR and ICRP for radiation, but these are rarely available. Calculations of the results of releasing radioactive strontium to the environment will be presented as an example.
Rubber a ‘Natural’ for V‐22 Osprey Tiltrotor Aircraft

The ability to rise like a helicopter, tilt its rotors forward and fly like an airplane puts unusual demands on tiltrotor bearings, links and springs. Add to this stringent requirements for high reliability and low maintenance and you've got one tought assignment. Innovative and sophisticated natural rubber products from Lord Corporation have met the challenge.
Susceptibility of lysosomes to rupture is a determinant for plasma membrane disruption in tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced cell death

Since a release of intracellular contents can induce local inflammatory responses, mechanisms that lead to loss of plasma membrane integrity in cell death are important to know. We showed previously that deficiency of the plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPase 4 (PMCA4) in L929 cells impaired tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha)-induced enlargement of lysosomes and reduced cell death. The lysosomal changes can be determined by measuring the total volume of intracellular acidic compartments per cell (VAC), and we show here that inhibition of the increase in VAC due to PMCA4 deficiency not only reduced cell death but also converted TNF-alpha-induced cell death from a process involving disruption of the plasma membrane to a cell demise with a nearly intact plasma membrane. The importance of the size of lysosomes in determining plasma membrane integrity during cell death was supported by the observations that chemical inhibitors that reduce VAC also reduced the plasma membrane disruption induced by TNF-alpha in wild-type L929 cells, while increases in VAC due to genetic mutation, senescence, cell culture conditions, and chemical inhibitors all changed the morphology of cell death from one with an originally nearly intact plasma membrane to one with membrane disruption in a number of different cells. Moreover, the ATP depletion-mediated change from apoptosis to necrosis is also associated with the increases of VAC. The increase in lysosomal size may due to intracellular self-digestion of dying cells. Big lysosomes are easy to rupture, and the release of hydrolytic enzymes from ruptured lysosomes can cause plasma membrane disruption.
A Beamlet-Based Graph Structure for Path Planning Using Multiscale Information

Path-planning problems are fundamental in many applications, such as transportation, artificial intelligence, control of autonomous vehicles, and many more. In this paper, we consider the deterministic path-planning problem, equivalently, the single-pair shortest path problem on a given grid-like graph structure. Current commonly used algorithms in this area include the A* algorithm, Dijkstra's algorithm, and their numerous variants. We propose an innovative beamlet-based graph structure for path planning that utilizes multiscale information of the environment. This information is collected via a bottom-up fusion algorithm. This new graph structure goes beyond “nearest-neighbor” connectivity, incorporating “long-distance” interactions between the nodes of the graph. Based on this new graph structure, we obtain a multiscale version of A* , which is advantageous when preprocessing is allowable and feasible. Compared to the benchmark A* algorithm, the use of multiscale information leads to an improvement in terms of computational complexity. Numerical experiments indicate an even more favorable behavior than the one predicted by the theoretical complexity analysis.
Cell surface conjugation of sialyl Lewis X induces a rolling response for mesenchymal stem cells

There has been significant interest in the clinical use of adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are connective tissue progenitor cells. One of the greatest challenges in traditional stem cell therapy is to deliver a large quantity of viable stem cells with high engraftment efficiency. MSCs home at a low efficiency due to the lack of relevant adhesion molecules on their surface. We have engineered the surface of the MSCs with the sialyl Lewisx (SLeX) moiety, found on the surfaces of leukocytes representing the active site of the P-selectin glycoprotein ligand (PSGL-1) for inducing rolling response as the first step in the homing process which involves reversible, adhesive interactions between glycoprotein receptors on specific circulating cells and ligands expressed on the surface of the vascular endothelium. MSCs were covalently modified SLeX through biotin-streptavidin linkage and the rolling response of the modified MSCs were examined on P-selectin surface. Modified MSCs exhibited velocities of 2µm/sec whereas the unmodified MSCs exhibited velocities of 65µm/sec at a wall shear stress of 0.366 dynes/cm2 on P-selectin surface in a parallel plate flow chamber assay. Most importantly, the MSCs' native phenotype including its ability to proliferate and differentiate into multi-lineages was retained after the modification. This platform strategy demonstrates the potential to target MSCs to specific tissues within the body by conjugation of specific targeting ligands.
Monitoring deployed software using software tomography

Software products are often released with missing functionality or errors that result in failures in the field. In previous work, we presented the Gamma technology, which facilitates remote monitoring of deployed software and allows for a prompt reaction to failures. In this paper, we investigate one of the principal technologies on which Gamma is based: software tomography. Software tomography splits monitoring tasks across many instances of the software, so that partial information can be (1) collected from users by means of light-weight instrumentation and (2) merged to gather the overall monitoring information. After describing the technology, we illustrate an instance of software tomography for a specific monitoring task. We also present two case studies that we performed to evaluate the presented technique on a real program. The results of the studies show that software tomography can be successfully applied to collect accurate monitoring information using only minimal instrumentation on each deployed program instance.
Misery, pain and death: tuberculosis in nineteenth century Buenos Aires.

Dijo anoche, su canto de muerte la Cancion de la tos en tu percho y, al mojarse en las notas rojizas mostro flores de sangre el panuelo. Pulmonary tuberculosis substantially influenced societal attitudes and Argentine life style in the nineteenth century. Because tuberculosis was socially defined, how Portenos viewed the tubercular depended on conceptions of the disease, as well as popular and medical views of contagion and cure. Illness did not isolate individuals from society or even from familiar faces and responsibilities. Class, gender, age, attitudes on contagion, and approaches to treatment influenced the choices available to men, women, and children.
Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders Among Children and Adolescents

DSM-5 introduced a clustering of disorders designated "trauma- and stressor-related disorders." These disorders are unique in that the etiology is specified as part of the diagnostic criteria. In this review, the authors consider how some of these disorders manifest for children and adolescents. In posttraumatic stress disorder and related disorders, the child is exposed to one or more frightening, traumatic events. In attachment disorders, the child experiences severe social neglect. With this framework in mind, the authors consider details of several prominent trauma- and stressor-related disorders that arise in response to either excessive, unwanted input or inadequate, necessary input among children and adolescents.
Location, interaction, and anticipation of aneurysm formation.

It is well established that family members of those individuals with intracranial aneurysm are at high risk of intracranial aneurysms. In the past several years, more information on the heritability of location, familial susceptibility to cigarette smoking, and whether “anticipation” of aneurysm formation has been published. We review these three topics in detail and summarize what we gathered from this information.
Increased activity and expression of Ca2+-dependent NOS in renal cortex of ANG II-infused hypertensive rats

We have previously demonstrated that nitric oxide (NO) exerts a greater modulatory influence on renal cortical blood flow in ANG II-infused hypertensive rats compared with normotensive rats. In the...
Characterization of Radiation Necrosis in Long-Term Survivors (LTS) of Primary Glioblastoma (P07.012)

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to identify and characterize the incidence of radiation necrosis in LTS of primary GBM after standard treatment with radiotherapy. BACKGROUND: Overall survival of primary GBM patients continues to be very poor, with less than 3% surviving at 5 years, regardless of recent therapeutic advances. Radiation necrosis often presents a diagnostic challenge in assessing treatment effects versus tumor progression. DESIGN/METHODS: In a single-center retrospective analysis, we identified primary GBM LTS as defined by survival ≥5 yrs from diagnosis. To qualify, subjects had to be seen at Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke from January 1, 1998 to August 31, 2011, have a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of glioblastoma, and be 18 to 70 years of age. Demographic data was obtained along with further analysis of available pathological specimens for radiation necrosis and possible treatment modalities. RESULTS: A total of 139 primary GBM subjects were identified as LTS. Their average age was 45.2 years (sd=11.9). In this population, 26 (18.7%) subjects had histologically proven radiation necrosis. The percent of female patients was 53.8% (n=14). The mean time from diagnosis of glioblastoma to diagnosis of radiation necrosis was 2.35 years (95% CI 1.5 to 3.2). Treatment was required in 13 patients (50%) and treatments included pentoxifylline with vitamin E, bevacizumab, and hyperbaric oxygen. For the other 50% of patients, treatment was not required but patients continue to have evaluations with serial magnetic resonance imaging. Despite the presentation of pathologically documented radiation necrosis and treatment response, 11 patients (42%) experienced recurrence of glioblastoma. CONCLUSIONS: This work represents the first documentation of the characterization and incidence of radiation necrosis in primary GBM LTS. Continued close monitoring with routine magnetic resonance imaging and close neurological examinations is warranted in this population, particularly when there can be late recurrence of primary GBM despite previously diagnosed radiation necrosis. Disclosure: Dr. Levacic has nothing to disclose. Dr. Peters has nothing to disclose.
The Let Down Effect Satisfaction, Motivation, and Credibility Assessments of Political Infotainment

Using experimental design, this study compares first-time voters’ gratifications and uses of a traditional News1 format with the increasingly popular fake news format. The data here found that while indeed young people may have initially assessed a greater level of gratification associated with the fake news genre, the group was significantly “let down” after exposure to such a program. Though first-time voters understand that traditional surveillance-type information-seeking activities are better associated with traditional News, they were ambivalent about approaching and avoiding both traditional News and fake news genres.
Heritabilities and Interrelationships of Live Measurements and Eviscerated Weight in Broilers

Abstract EVISCERATED yield, live body weight, and body conformation are important factors to broiler breeders and processors. Phenotypic correlations between the first 2 traits are important to the processor because eviscerated yield is a measure of processing efficiency and is an important factor in marketing cost. Breeders are interested in the heritabilities of these traits and in their genetic and phenotypic correlations. Of particular interest to breeders are the correlations of conformation and live weight with eviscerated weight, because information on the former 2 traits can be obtained without sacrificing the birds. Heritability estimates of body weight at various ages have been reported by numerous investigators. Goodman and Godfrey (1956) in a review of these studies reported a mean heritability estimate of about .3 for live body weight. Lerner et al. (1947) calculated a heritability estimate of .2 for breast angle in 12-week New Hampshires. Godfrey and Goodman (1956) computed mean …
Characterizing and controlling the high-frequency dynamics of haptic interfaces

Haptic interfaces attempt to recreate the feel of real objects for telerobotic or virtual interactions, allowing the user to touch distant or unreachable environments and computer-generated models through a lightweight robotic arm. Current haptic rendering techniques, which use position or force feedback, generally cannot convey a crisp contact with a hard object, nor can they convey the fine features of a textured surface; instead, portrayed objects feel overly soft and unnaturally smooth or oscillatory. This work has developed methods for stably endowing impedance-type haptic interfaces with the high-frequency (20 to 1000 hertz) feedback signals necessary to make virtual and remote objects feel nearly indistinguishable from their real counterparts. The fundamental insight for this undertaking is that haptic systems have internal electrical, mechanical, and biomechanical dynamics that strongly influence their performance. These dynamics can be modeled by careful application of developed identification techniques, including comprehensive evaluation and successive isolation, and the resulting models can be used to improve interaction realism in two main ways. First, the controller can precisely create high-frequency fingertip accelerations during contact with remote or virtual objects by inverting the interface's dynamics before playback. For teleoperation the target accelerations are measured in real time at the remote manipulator, and in virtual environments they are pre-recorded. High-frequency acceleration matching creates vibrations at the user's hand that closely correspond to the specified signals and that feel almost identical to the real object, as confirmed by a human subject study. Second, the dynamic relationship between haptic feedback command and measured device position can be estimated and canceled to improve the stability of the interface. A position-force teleoperation system that vibrates unnaturally during contact with hard objects behaves well if induced master motion is canceled from the remote robot's movement command, eliminating distracting signals and allowing the user to feel the remote environment more clearly. Application of both of these techniques to minimally invasive surgery and medical simulation is specifically promising, as it would allow physicians to feel the hardness and texture of the structures being manipulated, potentially facilitating new procedures and improving patient outcomes.
Who Were the Manchus? A Review Essay

Who were the Manchus? For years the field of Asian Studies has been content to answer that the Manchus were not Chinese. This is of course true, and presented a serviceable answer as long as the dominant feature of the Qing dynasty was seen either as its Indian-summer quality or its precipitous decline, read as the decline of traditional Chinese civilization. The minor embarrassment that the rulers of this last great dynasty were not Chinese could easily be managed by arguing that the Manchus had to become Chinese in order to rule for as long as they did. This traditional answer weakens, however, if one considers the Qing dynasty as one of the largest and longestlived multinational empires of the early modern world. For, to the extent that the Qing was more than a Chinese dynasty, or even that the success of the Qing was achieved by remedying the faults of traditional Chinese regimes, the Manchus made it so and the special characteristics and history they brought to the task become vitally relevant. As it turns out, however, establishing Manchu identity is quite complicated. First there is the challenge of the complex Manchu language, though contributions of linguists Jerry Norman, Giovanni Stary, and others have made this hurdle approachable (see especially Norman 1978). Interpreting existing sources on the Manchus has proved more difficult. There are seventeenth-century sources, but these often require a particular reading, addressed as they are to a discourse of conquest. Eighteenth-century sources address more directly the discourse of identity, but they constitute at best "translucent mirrors," to use Crossley's metaphor, glasses that reflect
Innovation Impetus and Constraints of Corporations in Clusters in Different Development Phases

Because the innovative ability and conditions of corporations in industrial cluster are different in different development phases,both the innovative decision-making and behavior of corporations are different.Therefore,the corporations of different development phases should make use of different innovative tactics.This paper studies and analyzes the behavior of corporations in industrial cluster in different development phases in a microeconomic view with economics study method.The study further educes whether corporations innovate or not under these environmental influence.In the end,suggestions are also made to governments about how to promote the innovative ability of corporations in industrial cluster.
Gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric confirmation of ten N-methylcarbamate insecticides in liver.

A gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric (GC/MS) confirmation procedure for 10 phenyl-N-methyl-carbamate insecticides in liver tissue was developed. The extract from liquid chromatography (LC) is purified with a C 18 solid-phase extraction cartridge and then derivatized with heptafluorobutyric anhydride; the derivative is injected for analysis by GC/MS with electron ionization and multiple ion monitoring. The identity of the derivative is confirmed by comparison of its retention time and relative intensity data with those of a standard. Liver extracts from the LC procedure containing carbamates at 10 ppb levels were successfully confirmed by this procedure
Performance of Etest for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Abiotrophia defectiva and Granulicatella Species.

ABSTRACT The Etest on chocolate Mueller-Hinton agar was compared to broth microdilution (BMD) for 125 isolates of nutritionally variant streptococci. Vancomycin Etests yielded 31.1% essential agreement (EA) and 20.0% categorical agreement (CA). Penicillin Etests yielded 86.0% EA and 85.6% CA, whereas ceftriaxone Etests yielded 73.6% EA and 68.0% CA.
Abstract CN01-01: Big challenges of big data: Biomedical science in the petabyte era

Next-generation sequencing technologies (NGS) have exploded in popularity in recent years thanks to their ability to produce an enormous volume of data quickly and at relatively low cost compared to traditional sequencing methods such as Sanger sequencing. The emergence of NGS has pushed forward the goal of personalized medicine, but looking at the entire scope of a study from experimental design to data analysis to the ultimate goal of dose selection based on a patient9s genome reveals many more challenges. Sample size for RNA-seq studies has been a persistent problem that has only recently received attention. Sequencing data analysis packages are numerous and constantly in development, but without a clear gold standard, they can be more overwhelming than helpful. Finally, this genomic information must be seamlessly integrated with clinical information for the knowledge to be useable by practitioners before the goal of personalized medicine can become a reality. Citation Format: Yu Shyr. Big challenges of big data: Biomedical science in the petabyte era. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2014 Sep 27-Oct 1; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2015;8(10 Suppl): Abstract nr CN01-01.
Multiresolution molecular mechanics

Atomistic/continuum coupling methods combine accurate atomistic methods and efficient continuum methods to simulate the behavior of highly ordered crystalline systems. Coupled methods utilize the advantages of both approaches to simulate systems at a lower computational cost, while retaining the accuracy associated with atomistic methods. Many concurrent atomistic/continuum coupling methods have been proposed in the past; however, their true computational efficiency has not been demonstrated. The present work presents an efficient implementation of a concurrent coupling method called the Multiresolution Molecular Mechanics (MMM) for serial, parallel, and adaptive analysis. First, we present the features of the software implemented along with the associated technologies. The scalability of the software implementation is demonstrated, and the competing effects of multiscale modeling and parallelization are discussed. Then, the algorithms contributing to the efficiency of the software are presented. These include algorithms for eliminating latent ghost atoms from calculations and measurement-based dynamic balancing of parallel workload. The efficiency improvements made by these algorithms are demonstrated by benchmark tests. The efficiency of the software is found to be on par with LAMMPS, a state-of-the-art Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation code, when performing full atomistic simulations. Speed-up of the MMM method is shown to be directly proportional to the reduction of the number of the atoms visited in force computation. Finally, an adaptive MMM analysis on a nanoindentation problem, containing over a million atoms, is performed, yielding an improvement of 6.3-8.5 times in efficiency, over the full atomistic MD method. For the first time, the efficiency of a concurrent atomistic/continuum coupling method is comprehensively investigated and demonstrated.
Quality of life, gender and schizophrenia: a cross-national survey in Canada, Cuba, and U.S.A.

Although gender differences in schizophrenic symptom expression have been widely established, no systematic studies have documented if these differences extend to the perception of quality of life. This survey gathered international data on the perception of quality of life among 102 outpatient men and women with schizophrenia from Canada, Cuba, and the United States. Using portions of Lehman's Quality of Life Interview, quality of life was assessed on the domains of social relationships, health, living situation, leisure, finances and general quality of life. Gender differences were tested with ANOVA where site was treated as a nested variable and separate t-tests comparing men and women within each country. Although no differences were found for the combined sample, differences were observed between men and women in Canada and Cuba on the social relationship domain. In Canada, women with schizophrenia reported a higher quality of life for social relationships. In contrast, Cuban men with schizophrenia reported higher quality of life for social relationships than Cuban women. Findings from the three sites show no differences for the other domains. With the possible exception of social relationships, these findings suggest no discernable differences in the perception of quality of life for men and women with schizophrenia. Overall, men and women with schizophrenia were only somewhat satisfied with some aspects of life. These findings have implications for developing comprehensive community care that includes quality of life promotion.