cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Detecting a nearshore fish parade using the adaptive resolution imaging sonar (ARIS): An automated procedure for data analysis

Abstract Recent developments in sonar imaging provide an efficient way of obtaining near video quality of free-swimming fish in hard to reach areas, e.g., permanent structures like docks and piers, and hard to see environments, e.g., highly turbid waters. However, processing large volumes of data output by sonar imaging systems remains a major challenge. In the present study, we developed an automated image processing procedure to process footage recorded for 59 consecutive hours using an Adaptive Resolution Imaging Sonar, ARIS Explorer 3000 (Sound Metrics INC) deployed at a fixed location. Our approach successfully counted large free swimming fish at a precision rate >94% and estimated sample volume with manual and automatic calculations being highly correlated (r = 0.96). An auto-regressive time series model (of the sixth or higher order) with a zero-inflated Poisson distribution was used to estimate local abundance. Fish counts were low to zero during the first 31 h of sampling, and a major influx of fish occurred in the last 28 h. The observed pattern was co-incidental with local weather patterns: intermittent thunderstorms in the first 32 h and relatively calm weather in the last 24 h. Though thunderstorms limited our conclusions on fish-pier usage with tidal and diurnal cycles, it is apparent that weather conditions play a role in pier usage by large fish. Overall, the ARIS3000 deployment, automated data processing and statistical analyses used in this study proved successful in studying fish affiliations with piers in shallow habitats.
A comparison of methods for navigation and wayfinding in large virtual environments using walking

Interesting virtual environments that permit free exploration are rarely small. A number of techniques have been developed to allow people to walk in larger virtual spaces than permitted by physical extent of the virtual reality hardware, and in this paper we compare three such methods in terms of how they affect presence and spatial awareness. In our first psychophysical study, we compared two methods of reorientation and one method of redirected walking on subjects' presence and spatial memory while navigating a pre-specified path. We further compared the two reorientation methods in a second psychophysical study involving free exploration and navigation in a large virtual environment. Our results provide criteria by which the choice of a locomotion method for navigating large virtual environments may be selected.
Consolidative Radiotherapy in Metastatic Urothelial Cancer.

Abstract Background We report outcomes of a retrospective, single-institution experience with consolidative radiation after chemotherapy in metastatic urothelial cancer (MUC). Patients and Methods From our single-institution database of 2597 patients with urothelial carcinoma treated since 1997, we identified 22 patients with MUC who underwent consolidative radiotherapy after a partial response to chemotherapy with the intent of rendering them disease-free. All patients had undergone primary surgical therapy with either cystectomy or nephroureterectomy. Progression-free survival (PFS) was defined as time from completion of radiation therapy to relapse or last follow-up. Overall survival (OS) was defined as time from start of chemotherapy to death or last follow-up. Results In the selected group of patients with MUC, the median age was 67 years; 59% had received previous cisplatin-based chemotherapy. The most common sites radiated were the regional lymph nodes (64%). Other radiated sites included the lung, adrenal glands, and omental metastases. Median survival from diagnosis to cystectomy was 48 months. Median PFS was 13 months and median OS was 29 months. Eight patients (36%) were alive and disease-free 6 years after radiation therapy. Patients who were rendered disease-free were those with nodal metastases and delivery of radiation to a single site of metastasis. Conclusion In this highly selective cohort of patients with MUC treated with consolidative radiation after chemotherapy, 36% were rendered disease-free. This suggests that radiation is feasible and might contribute to long-term disease control. Further prospective studies are needed to better characterize the benefit of combined modality treatment.
Characterization of DNA Binding by the Isolated N-Terminal Domain of Vaccinia Virus DNA Topoisomerase IB.

Vaccinia TopIB (vTopIB), a 314-amino acid eukaryal-type IB topoisomerase, recognizes and transesterifies at the DNA sequence 5′-(T/C)CCTT↓, leading to the formation of a covalent DNA–(3′-phosphotyrosyl274)–enzyme intermediate in the supercoil relaxation reaction. The C-terminal segment of vTopIB (amino acids 81–314), which engages the DNA minor groove at the scissile phosphodiester, comprises an autonomous catalytic domain that retains cleavage specificity, albeit with a cleavage site affinity lower than that of the full-length enzyme. The N-terminal domain (amino acids 1–80) engages the major groove on the DNA face opposite the scissile phosphodiester. Whereas DNA contacts of the N-terminal domain have been implicated in the DNA site affinity of vTopIB, it was not known whether the N-terminal domain per se could bind DNA. Here, using isothermal titration calorimetry, we demonstrate the ability of the isolated N-terminal domain to bind a CCCTT-containing 24-mer duplex with an apparent affinity that is ∼2....
Comparison of Geometric Integrators for Rigid Body Simulation

Geometric integrators are numerical timestepping schemes which preserve invariant structures associated to physical dynamical systems. For example, a symplectic integrator is one which preserves a strong differential invariant of the flows of Hamiltonian systems (the 2-form dq ^ dp associated to canonical variables q,p). For constrained systems such as the rigid body, preservation of geometric phase-flow structure is complicated by the choice of coordinates and the need for efficiency. Nowhere are these issues more critical than in the simulation of rigid body systems. In recent work, several alternative geometric approaches to rigid body systems integrators have been proposed and applied in molecular simulation. In this article, these methods are introduced and compared with a simple model problem.
Investing in Distant Rewards

Would you spend money today to make the world a substantially better place for your children and grandchildren? Most of us would. But what if the benefit would accrue only to your great-great-great-great-grandchildren, not born until the 22nd century? That's an awfully distant time horizon for most people. Many would probably spend today's resources on more immediate concerns.
The Ambiguity of American Power: Drugs, Crime, and Violence in Latin America

This essay reviews the following works: Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime, and Violence in the Americas Today. Edited by Bruce M. Bagley and Jonathan D. Rosen. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2015. Pp. ix + 431. $84.95 cloth. ISBN: 9780813060682. The Politics of Crime in Mexico: Democratic Governance in a Security Trap. By John Bailey. Boulder, CO: Lynn Rienner Publishers, 2014. Pp. ix + 225. $65.00 cloth. ISBN: 9781935049890. Women Drug Traffickers: Mules, Bosses, and Organized Crime. By Elaine Carey. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2014. Pp. vii + 281. $29.95 paper. ISBN: 9780826351982. Linking Political Violence and Crime in Latin America: Myths, Realities, and Complexities. Edited by Kirsten Howarth and Jenny H. Peterson. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016. Pp. vii + 143. $80.00 cloth. ISBN: 9781498507196. Drugs, Thugs, and Diplomats: U.S. Policymaking in Colombia. By Winifred Tate. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2015. Pp. xi + 275. $29.95 paper. ISBN: 9780804795661.
Transhumeral loading during advanced upper extremity activities of daily living

Percutaneous osseointegrated (OI) implants for direct skeletal attachment of upper extremity prosthetics represent an alternative to traditional socket suspension that may yield improved patient function and satisfaction. This is especially true in high-level, transhumeral amputees where prosthetic fitting is challenging and abandonment rates remain high. However, maintaining mechanical integrity of the bone-implant interface is crucial for safe clinical introduction of this technology. The collection of population data on the transhumeral loading environment will aid in the design of compliance and overload protection devices that mitigate the risk of periprosthetic fracture. We collected marker-based upper extremity kinematic data from non-amputee volunteers during advanced activities of daily living (AADLs) that applied dynamic loading to the humerus. Inverse dynamic analysis was applied to calculate the axial force, bending and torsional moments at three virtual amputation levels representing 25, 50, and 75% residual humeral length. The influences of amputation level, elbow flexion constraint, gender and anthropometric scaling were assessed. Results indicate that the proximal (25%) amputation level experienced significantly higher axial forces and bending moments across all subjects when compared to distal amputation levels (p≤0.030). Constraining elbow flexion had a limited influence on peak transhumeral loads. Male subjects experienced higher axial forces during all evaluated activities (p≤0.023). Peak axial force for all activities occurred during jumping jacks (174.5N). Peak bending (57.6Nm) and torsional (57.2Nm) moments occurred during jumping jacks and rapid internal humeral rotation, respectively. Calculated loads fall within the range of implant fixation failure loads reported in cadaveric investigations of humeral stem fixation; indicating that periprosthetic fracture may occur during non-contact AADLs. These kinematic data, collected over a range of AADLs, will aid in the development of overload protection devices and appropriate post-operative rehabilitation protocols that balance return to an active lifestyle with patient safety.
Haberman Star Teacher Interview as a predictor of success in urban teacher preparation

In urban schools, along with skills for effective teaching, successful teachers must also possess values and belief systems conducive to teaching effectively in diverse settings (Becker, Kennedy, & Hundersmarck, 2003; Haberman, 2008; Metzgar & Wu, 2008). As demonstrated in CAEP standard 3, there is a critical need for EPPs to admit candidates who have both the dispositions to be effective teachers in urban schools and the propensity for success within the preparation program. The Haberman Star Teacher Interview is a commercial teacher selection instrument designed for use in selecting teachers for urban schools. This study examines the validity of the instrument as a selection instrument for teacher preparation programs. The selection instrument was administered to 109 students before entry into an urban teacher preparation program at an urban university in the U.S. Midwest. Inter-rater agreement and principle components analysis provided evidence of reliability and structural validity of the multi-part Haberman scores. Logistic regression analyses supported the validity of using the Haberman scores to predict later program attrition, but not in the manner recommended by its developers. Within this paper, the authors recommend the cautious use of the instrument in urban teacher preparation. Application of scoring and program implications are discussed.
The Dynamics of Cavitation Bubbles

Three regimes of liquid flow over a body are defined, namely: (a) noncavitating flow; (b) cavitating flow with a relatively small number of cavitation bubbles in the field of flow; and (c) cavitating flow with a single large cavity about the body. The assumption is made that, for the second regime of flow, the pressure coefficient in the flow field is no different from that in the noncavitating flow. On this basis, the equation of motion for the growth and collapse of a cavitation bubble containing vapor is derived and applied to experimental observations on such bubbles. The limitations of this equation of motion are pointed out, and include the effect of the finite rate of evaporation and condensation, and compressibility of vapor and liquid. A brief discussion of the role of "nuclei" in the liquid in the rate of formation of cavitation bubbles is also given.
Critical Dynamics in Simple Ising-Like Systems

There has been a surprising amount of theoretical and experimental interest recently in one of the simplest problems in the area of critical dynamics. The systems under scrutiny are two-dimensional Ising-like systems with a nonconserved order parameter. I have chosen to focus on this problem in these lectures for three reasons: (i) These systems appear superficially to be very simple. There is only one dynamical process that is important for long times and we understand the equilibrium properties in considerable detail. (ii) There exist natural examples of such systems (usually two-dimensional Ising antiferromagnets) and there are some interesting recent experiments on such systems which have been somewhat provocative. (iii) Essentially every known calculational method for critical dynamics has been applied to this problem. Thus we can use this system to review conveniently and compare these various methods.
The Logic of Relations and the Theory of the Syllogism

Writers on De Morgan have often distinguished between the two most important facets of his work: his theory of the syllogism and his logic of relations. The former looks to the past; the latter, to the future.
Quantifying static and dynamic stiffness anisotropy and nonlinearity in finely laminated shales: Experimental measurement and modeling

ABSTRACTSedimentary rocks contain layers and a wide range of microstructures that may produce mechanical complexities including dynamic and quasistatic stiffness anisotropy and nonlinearity. Howeve...
Optimal subsampling for softmax regression

To meet the challenge of massive data, Wang et al. (J Am Stat Assoc 113(522):829–844, 2018b) developed an optimal subsampling method for logistic regression. The purpose of this paper is to extend their method to softmax regression, which is also called multinomial logistic regression and is commonly used to model data with multiple categorical responses. We first derive the asymptotic distribution of the general subsampling estimator, and then derive optimal subsampling probabilities under the A-optimality criterion and the L-optimality criterion with a specific L matrix. Since the optimal subsampling probabilities depend on the unknowns, we adopt a two-stage adaptive procedure to address this issue and use numerical simulations to demonstrate its performance.
Some Air Transportation Concepts for the Future

Throughout his career, Lanchester’s phenomenal engineering output was directed mainly towards the automobile which proved in his day to be a more suitable vehicle than the aeroplane for the practical application of the products of his genius. Aeronautics remained always a compelling avocation “wholly individual … never backed by funds from external sources”, to quote his own words. During the First World War he did contribute to the practical solution of a serious tail flutter problem on Handley Page and de Havilland aircraft, making him probably one of the first applied aeroelasticians. However, his major contributions, cited in the 1931 award of the Guggenheim medal, were to the fundamental theory of aerodynamics. The full extent of these contributions is still being explored as Dr. J. P. Jones in the Thirteenth Lanchester Lecture points out. His contributions to automotive engineering, on the other hand, were immediately reduced to practice and it therefore seems appropriate in this Fourteenth Lanchester Lecture which it is my great privilege to present, to examine whether, as we continue the full exploitation of his discoveries in aeronautics, the aeroplane will ever be able to complement, possibly even replace to a degree, the ubiquitous automobile to whose practical realisation as a safe, comfortable and reliable transport medium he contributed so much.
An Empirical Analysis of College Admissions with Endogenous Entrance Exam Scores

This paper develops a method for identifying and estimating student preferences in centralized matching mechanisms when students are ranked by exam scores. In these mechanisms, exam scores contain important information for inferring students' heterogeneous preferences because students have incentives to adjust their effort level to obtain a score that maximizes their total gain in the admission process. I show that ignoring the information embedded in exam scores causes biased estimates in Turkey, where there is empirical evidence that students respond to the preparation incentives. I discuss the objectives of these mechanisms and suggest relevant policies to increase students' welfare.
Hip-Hop and Haring: Pop Culture and Interdisciplinary Learning for the General Music Classroom:

Teachers are searching for accessible, relevant, and engaging lessons for students as elementary classrooms grow more diverse and high-stakes testing constrict curricula and recess time. General mu...
A Comparison of Gait Measurement Methods

In this document, we present a comparison of two methods for measuring gait characteristics. The first method uses motion capture data from a professional-grade motion capture system. The second method uses an experimenter with a stopwatch to manually record data. We found that the manual method, though susceptible to experimenter error, does not substantially differ from the measurements acquired from the motion capture data. Since these methods are very similar, the results from studies with limited tracking capabilities are likely to be comparable to those using more sophisticated equipment.
Simple Iterative Algorithms for Approximate And Bounded Parameter Orthonormality

Orthonormality constraints, in which parameter sets are constrained to be perpendicular to each other and of unit length, are important for many estimation, detection, and classification tasks. Such constraints are not appropriate in all practical scenarios, however. In this paper, we describe simple adaptive algorithms that adjust a matrix so that its rows are close to orthonormality after adaptation, as specified by user-selectable bounds on pairwise inner products and squared vector lengths. The algorithms have rapid convergence. Applications to independent component analysis and deep learning system training show the benefits of the approach.
The Microarchitectural Stage-Management of Baptism from Lateran IV to the Counter-Reformation

Although not liturgically mandated, the ostentatious microarchitectural font cover became one of the most significant ecclesiastical furnishings of the later Middle Ages. In fact, as a church fixture it survived well into the seventeenth century, not only in Catholic but also in Protestant regions, even though its eye-catching forms represented an obvious target for radical reformers and iconoclasts. Despite their enduring presence and their obvious importance to the communities that erected them, font covers remain little researched and understood. Revolving around a discussion of their intensely visual nature, this article is an attempt at a first outline of a history of this fascinating genre of church furnishing.
An Integrative Approach to Professional Development to Support College- and Career- Readiness Standards.

Though scholars agree that professional development (PD) is a key mechanism for implementing education policies that call for teacher change, and that PD generally needs to be content-focused, active, collaborative, coherent, and sustained, the application of this framework has yielded mixed results. In this qualitative study, we employed structured interviewing methods to explore how district leaders across five states are implementing college- and career- readiness (CCR) standards across the United States by creatively adapting and integrating the features of this PD framework in order to meet the demands of this mandated educational policy. We illustrate a revised model for how 70 district officials are conceptualizing these features of PD to support CCR standards-based learning.
Affine Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series: type

We define a multiple Dirichlet series whose group of functional equations is the Weyl group of the affine Kac–Moody root system , generalizing the theory of multiple Dirichlet series for finite Weyl groups. The construction is over the rational function field , and is based upon four natural axioms from algebraic geometry. We prove that the four axioms yield a unique series with meromorphic continuation to the largest possible domain and the desired infinite group of symmetries.
Simulated Encounters of the Parker Solar Probe with a Coronal-hole Jet

Solar coronal jets are small, transient, collimated ejections most easily observed in coronal holes (CHs). The upcoming Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission provides the first opportunity to encounter CH jets in situ near the Sun and examine their internal structure and dynamics. Using projected mission orbital parameters, we have simulated PSP encounters with a fully three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model of a CH jet. We find that three internal jet regions, featuring different wave modes and levels of compressibility, have distinct identifying signatures detectable by PSP. The leading AlfvA©n wave front and its immediate wake are characterized by transAlfvA©nic plasma flows with mild density enhancements. This front exhibits characteristics of a fast switch-on MHD shock, whose arrival is signaled by the sudden onset of large-amplitude transverse velocity and magnetic-field oscillations highly correlated in space and time. The trailing portion is characterized by supersonic but subAlfvA©nicout flows of dense plasma with uncorrelated velocity and magnetic-field oscillations. This compressible region contains most of the jet's mass. The volume between the immediate wake and dense jet, the remote wake,mixes and transitions the characteristics of the two other regions. In addition to probing each region separately, we also simulate a corotational PSP-jet encounter. In this scenario, the simulated spacecraft hovers over the jet producing CH, as may occur during the mission's corotational phases, sampling each jet region in turn. We estimate that PSP will encounter numerous CH jets over the lifetime of the mission.
Germline Variants Predictive of Tumor Mutational Burden and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Efficacy

Summary High tumor mutational burden (TMB) is associated with response to checkpoint blockade in several cancers. We identify pathogenic germline variants associated with increased TMB (GVITMB). GVITMB were found in 7 genes using a pan-cancer approach (APC, FANCL, SLC25A13, ERCC3, MSH6, PMS2, and TP53) and 38 gene sets (e.g., those involved in DNA repair and programmed cell death). GVITMB were also associated with mutational signatures related to the dysfunction of the gene carrying the variant, somatic mutations that further affect the gene or pathway with the variant, or transcriptomic changes concordant with the expected effect of the variant. In a validation cohort of 140 patients with cutaneous melanoma, we found that patients with GVITMB had prolonged progression-free survival (p = 0.0349, hazard ratio = 0.688) and responded favorably (p = 0.0341, odds = 1.842) when treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Our results suggest that germline variants can influence the molecular phenotypes of tumors and predict the response to immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Alcohol consumption preferentially activates a subset of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) producing neurons targeting the amygdala.

Abstract Background Alcohol abuse is a worldwide public health concern and leads to an estimated 90,000 alcohol-related deaths in the United States annually. Alcohol may promote its euphoric and motivational effects, in part, by activating the endogenous opioid system. Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) producing neurons located within the arcuate nucleus (ArcN) of the hypothalamus make up one circuit of the endogenous opioid system, and heavily projects to reward-related brain areas such as the amygdala, nucleus accumbens (NAc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA). POMC producing neurons release β-endorphin and other peptides that target opioid receptors within reward areas to elicit their associated rewarding effects. Here we explore ArcN POMC neuronal activation, as assessed via FosB expression, following alcohol consumption to determine whether activation varied within subsets of ArcN POMC projection neurons targeting different reward-related areas. Methods Fluorescent retrobeads were used to label ArcN POMC projection neurons targeting the NAc, amygdala and VTA in POMC-cre mice expressing the reporter tdTomato. Animals (n = 57) were then allowed to voluntarily consume alcohol or water using the drinking-in-the-dark (DID) paradigm, and sacrificed for immunohistochemistry to examine FosB expression within ArcN POMC neurons. Results Female mice displayed escalation of alcohol intake across DID sessions, whereas males did not. A greater percent of ArcN POMC neurons target the amygdala over the NAc and VTA, and alcohol consumption preferentially activated ArcN POMC neurons targeting the amygdala over other areas. Conclusion These findings highlight a novel aspect alcohol-induced activation of the endogenous opioid system, whereby alcohol activates a specific subpopulation of ArcN POMC producing neurons that project primarily to the amygdala.
Robust passivation of CdSeTe based solar cells using reactively sputtered magnesium zinc oxide

Abstract Magnesium zinc oxide (MZO, MgxZn1-xO) is a leading emitter for CdTe-based solar cells due to its transparency and the ability to tune its conduction band offset with the absorber. Devices employing alloyed cadmium selenide telluride (CST, CdSeyTe1-y) absorbers achieved high efficiency (>19%) using MZO deposited by reactive sputtering over a broad composition range (3.68–3.92 eV, x: 0.20–0.35). Minimal differences in implied and measured open circuit voltage indicate that the contacts are well passivated and highly selective across the spectrum of MZO employed. Device performance insensitivity to MZO composition, which is not observed in CdTe devices, is attributed to the formation of an oxygenated interface layer. Se volatility creates a group VI deficiency at the interface that drives O migration from the MZO into the absorber. This introduces conductivity in the emitter not present in its as-deposited state, contributing to the exceptional performance observed. It is shown that the quality of device passivation depends on the oxidation state of the as-deposited MZO such that intelligent control and management of the reactive sputtering process is required.
Transfer reinforcement learning for fault-tolerant control by re-using optimal policies

This paper develops a transfer-learning approach in a reinforcement learning framework for fault-tolerant control of a class of dynamical systems. Our approach combines policy-reuse and consolidation algorithms to achieve learning speed improvement when new faults occur in the system. Our policy-reuse strategy finds a policy parameter initialization that leverages previous knowledge in the form of learned policies for past fault occurrences. We present the conditions under which our approach becomes effective and empirically demonstrate our approach on a test-bed of a 6-tank fuel transfer system of an aircraft.
A low-cost, accessible, and high-performing Arduino-based seawater pH control system for biological applications

Abstract In the last two decades, the need for seawater pH control methodologies paralleled the rise in attention to the biological impacts of ocean acidification. Many effective and high-performing systems have been created, but they are often expensive, complex, and difficult to establish. We developed a system that is similarly high performing, but at a low cost and with a simple and accessible design. This system is controlled by an Arduino Nano, an open-source electronics platform, which regulates the flow of CO2 gas through electric solenoid valves. The Arduino and other inexpensive materials total ∼$150 (plus CO2 gas and regulator), and a new treatment can be added for less than $35. Easy-to-learn code and simple wire-to-connect hardware make the design extremely accessible, requiring little time and expertise to establish. The system functions with a variety of pH probes and can be adapted to fit a variety of experimental designs and organisms. Using this set up, we were able to constrain seawater pH within a range of 0.07 pH units. Our system thus maintains the performance and adaptability of existing systems but expands their accessibility by reducing cost and complexity.
Chapter 10 A Practical Guide to X‐Ray Crystallography of β‐barrel Membrane Proteins: Expression, Purification, Detergent Selection, and Crystallization

Publisher Summary The outer membranes of prokaryotes, cellular organelles, and chloroplasts contain many proteins that form β -barrels. The determination of the structural details of the β -barrel outer membrane proteins (OMPs) can contribute to a detailed understanding of their mechanism of function. In the case of OMPs from pathogens, structural studies provide an atomic view of emerging targets to be used for vaccine development. Through a comprehensive survey of current literature, a general procedure specific for the crystallization of β -barrel OMPs has been developed. The procedure begins with overproduction of the target protein in Escherichia coli , which will lead to expression of properly folded protein into the membrane or require refolding of protein from inclusion bodies. It then outlines techniques to help identify the optimal detergent for extraction from the membrane, refolding from inclusion bodies, and crystallization. A comparison of crystallization conditions from the literature allows the proposal of a new sparse-matrix screen specifically developed to improve the probability of growing diffraction-quality crystals of β -barrel OMPs.
Chapter 34. The Use of Substituent Constants in Drug Design

Publisher Summary The physical–chemical reference systems can be used to serve as scales with which the relation between biological activity and chemical structure can be discussed in quantitative terms. It is observed, almost entirely in aliphatic systems, that as the chain length in a homologous series is increased a regular increase in a standard biological response occurs. Linear relations between a standard response and the number of carbon atoms in the chain, water solubility, surface tension lowering ability, vapor pressure, and oil-water partition coefficients are often found in many different tests. These ideas have provided in sight into nonspecific biological inhibitions; however, this knowledge has not been of too much help in the design and modification of drugs of high specificity. Two approaches have been emerging in recent years to supplement the medicinal chemists' intuition on the effect of substituent variation on drug activity. In the first approach de novo substituent constants have been derived by simply finding the best numbers to go with given substituents on a particular drug acting in a standard test. The second approach has used substituent constants derived from model nonbiological systems.
Micromanipulators actuated by micromotors

The paper studied micromanipulators actuated by permanent-magnet stepper micromotors. Design concepts to synthesize the bounded control algorithms for micromotors in order to attain the desired performance level (accuracy, robustness, settling time, etc.) are introduced. These brushless micromotors are uniquely suited to be used as servo-actuators in robots due to high torque density, high performance, reliability, cost, etc. Open-loop servos with stepper motors cannot satisfy the requirements imposed on high-performance micromanipulators due to the steps missing feature in the presence of disturbances which results to low accuracy and inability to attenuate disturbances. Therefore, the design of closed-loop systems is an important problem to guarantee the spectrum of the specifications imposed on tracking accuracy, disturbance attenuation, stability in the full operating envelope, robustness to parameter variations, steady-state and dynamic performance, etc. To implement the control algorithms, the angular velocity and rotor displacement must be measured or estimated. The key feature is that robots and actuators are nonlinear dynamic systems. In order to derive the lumped parameter model of manipulators with actuators, the Lagrange equations of motion are used. Using a nonlinear manipulator dynamics, control algorithms are synthesized. This paper outlines a new control a procedure. Using the Lyapunov second method, it is shown that bounded robust controllers can be synthesized using the criteria imposed on the Lyapunov pair. Nonquadratic Lyapunov functions are applied, and nonlinear controllers with nonlinear error and feedback maps are designed. The design technique proposed is feasible and straightforward. An illustrative example is examined in detail to demonstrate the efficiency of the control procedure and effectiveness of the control algorithm designed.
EFFECT OF PHARMACOLOGIC AGENTS ON HUMAN KERATINOCYTE MITOSIS IN VITRO

Keratinocytes from normal human skin were propagated in vitro. Histamine at 2 × 10 -6 M inhibited mitosis 68%. The side-chain methylated analogs, n -methylhistamine and n,n - dimethylhistamine, produced an inhibitory response of 53 and 60%, respectively, at 1 × 10 -6 M. The side-chain acetylated analog, n -acetylhistamine, did not elicit an inhibitory response in concentrations as high as 1 × 10 -4 M. The ring-methylated analogs, 1-methylhistamine and 4-methylhistamine, produced some degree of mitotic inhibition at 1 × 10 -4 M. When the H 1 -blocking agent, pyrilamine, or the H 2 -blocking agent, metiamide, was added in conjunction with histamine, the histamine-induced mitotic inhibition was abolished. These data indicate that human keratinocytes may possess receptors for histamine which could play a role in the regulation of human keratinocyte proliferation in vivo.
DEPRESSION AS SICKNESS BEHAVIOR? A TEST OF THE HOST DEFENSE HYPOTHESIS IN A HIGH PATHOGEN POPULATION

Sadness is an emotion universally recognized across cultures, suggesting it plays an important functional role in regulating human behavior. Numerous adaptive explanations of persistent sadness interfering with daily functioning (hereafter "depression") have been proposed, but most do not explain frequent bidirectional associations between depression and greater immune activation. Here we test several predictions of the host defense hypothesis, which posits that depression is part of a broader coordinated evolved response to infection or tissue injury (i.e. "sickness behavior") that promotes energy conservation and reallocation to facilitate immune activation. In a high pathogen population of lean and relatively egalitarian Bolivian forager-horticulturalists, we test whether depression and its symptoms are associated with greater baseline concentration of immune biomarkers reliably associated with depression in Western populations (i.e. tumor necrosis factor alpha [TNF-α], interleukin-1 beta [IL-1β], interleukin-6 [IL-6], and C-reactive protein [CRP]). We also test whether greater pro-inflammatory cytokine responses to ex vivo antigen stimulation are associated with depression and its symptoms, which is expected if depression facilitates immune activation. These predictions are largely supported in a sample of older adult Tsimane (mean±SD age=53.2±11.0, range=34-85, n=649) after adjusting for potential confounders. Emotional, cognitive and somatic symptoms of depression are each associated with greater immune activation, both at baseline and in response to ex vivo stimulation. The association between depression and greater immune activation is therefore not unique to Western populations. While our findings are not predicted by other adaptive hypotheses of depression, they are not incompatible with those hypotheses and future research is necessary to isolate and test competing predictions.
A reliability and mass perspective of SP-100 Stirling cycle lunar-base powerplant designs

The purpose was to obtain reliability and mass perspectives on selection of space power system conceptual designs based on SP-100 reactor and Stirling cycle power-generation subsystems. The approach taken was to: (1) develop a criterion for an acceptable overall reliability risk as a function of the expected range of emerging technology subsystem unit reliabilities; (2) conduct reliability and mass analyses for a diverse matrix of 800-kWe lunar-base design configurations employing single and multiple powerplants with both full and partial subsystem redundancy combinations; and (3) derive reliability and mass perspectives on selection of conceptual design configurations that meet an acceptable reliability criterion with the minimum system mass increase relative to reference powerplant design. The developed perspectives provided valuable insight into the considerations required to identify and characterize high-reliability and low-mass lunar-base powerplant conceptual design.
Abstract 1768: A novel PDE10 inhibitor suppresses tumor growth in an orthotopic mouse model of lung cancer

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA Background: Conventional chemotherapy and radiation cannot distinguish between cancer and normal cells resulting in dose-limiting toxicity. Molecular targeted drugs hold greater promise, but few targets are unique to cancer cells and drugable. Our laboratory discovered that the cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase, PDE10, is elevated in human lung tumor cells and essential for their growth. A novel PDE10 inhibitor, MCI-020 was designed to achieve high lung concentrations and found to selectively inhibit the growth of human lung tumor cells in vitro. Objective: Evaluate pharmacokinetics, tissue distribution and antitumor efficacy of MCI-020 in mice. Material and Methods: MCI-020 (100 mg/kg) was formulated as a suspension and administrated orally to C57BL/6 female mice. Free levels of MCI-020 were quantified in plasma and tissues by reverse-phase chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry detection. For efficacy evaluation, athymic nude-Foxn1nu female mice were treated with MCI-020 (150 mg/kg bid) for 5 days before inoculation with 1x106 A549 cells/mouse into the left lung. After inoculation, MCI-020 treatment continued for 4 weeks. Anti-tumor efficacy of MCI-020 was evaluated by gross and histological grading of the lungs. Results: MCI-020 displayed attractive oral bioavailability and reached appreciably higher concentrations in lungs compared with plasma. MCI-020 treatment showed strong anti-tumor efficacy in the orthotopic mouse model of lung cancer and was well tolerated. Compared with the vehicle group in which 85% of the mice formed lung tumors, only 25% of the mice in the treatment group developed tumors. Histological grading of the extent of tumor formation revealed a score of 0.83 ± 0.3 (low involvement) for the treatment group, compared with 2.6 ± 0.4 (high involvement) for the vehicle group. Conclusions: These observations support a critical role of PDE10 in lung tumor growth and suggest that PDE10 inhibitors will be useful for the prevention or treatment of lung cancer. This project is supported by NIH grant 1R01CA148817. Citation Format: Veronica Ramirez-Alcantara, Michele A. Schuler, Bing Zhu, Nan Li, Evrim Gurpinar, Joshua Canzoneri, Adam Keeton, Bernard Gary, Suzanne Russo, Lori Coward, Gregory S. Gorman, William Grizzle, Xi Chen, Gary A. Piazza. A novel PDE10 inhibitor suppresses tumor growth in an orthotopic mouse model of lung cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1768. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1768
Enzyme-catalyzed free radical reactions with nicotinamide adenine nucleotides. II. Lactate dehydrogenase-catalyzed oxidation of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide by superoxide radicals generated by xanthine oxidase.

Abstract The superoxide radical produced by xanthine oxidase can be coupled to oxidation of NADH in the presence of lactate dehydrogenase. The oxidized product has been identified as the enzymatically active NAD+. If the superoxide radical is determined quantitatively by its interaction with ferricytochrome c under similar conditions, it can be estimated that for each superoxide radical produced in the xanthine oxidase system an average of 6.2 molecules of NADH can be oxidized, which indicates a chain reaction in the oxidation process. The lactate dehydrogenase-catalyzed oxidation activity can be inhibited by either superoxide dismutase or oxamate.
The IEEE P1149.5 MTM-Bus, a backplane test and initialization interface

The proposed standard IEEE P1149.5 Module Test & Maintenance (MTM) Bus defines a backplane test and initialization interface combining a predefined set of module level functions, multidrop architecture, error handling, interrupt capability, and an interface port to IEEE Std 1149.1.
Engineering Enhancement of Immune Responses to DNA-based Vaccines in a Prostate Cancer Model in Rhesus Macaques through the Use of Cytokine Gene Adjuvants

DNA immunization is an important vaccination technique that is being explored as an immunotherapeutic strategy against a variety of infectious diseases as well as cancer. We have been investigating the utility of DNA-based vaccine strategy against prostate cancer. We have developed a DNA vaccine construct that encodes for the human prostate specific antigen (PSA) gene. PSA expression is limited to prostate cells, and the level of PSA expression is substantially increased in prostate cancer cells. This tissue specificity makes PSA a potential target for the development of immunotherapies against prostate cancer. A DNA-based PSA vaccine was used to elicit PSA-specific host immune responses in rodent and nonhuman primate models. In an effort to enhance the clinical utility of the DNA-based PSA vaccine, we also examined the use of cytokine gene adjuvants to modulate vaccine-induced immune responses in these animal models. We observed that pCPSA vaccine-induced humoral and cellular immune responses can be modulated through the coimmunization with cytokine genes in mice, and these enhancement effects on the PSA-specific cellular responses were extended in macaques. More specifically, coimmunization with interleukin (IL)-2 cDNA construct resulted in a significant enhancement of PSA-specific antibody responses in both mice and macaque models. In contrast, coinjection of IL-12 resulted in reduction of antibody responses in both models. In mice, the groups coimmunized with IL-2, IL-12, or IL-18 showed a dramatic increase in T helper cell proliferation over the results with pCPSA alone. These results support that further evaluation of this vaccination strategy to treat prostate cancer is warranted.
Preparation Of Future School Leaders

An Educational Leadership program in the Mississippi Delta region has been recognized as one of the top eight programs in the country by an exhaustive national research study conducted by Stanford University.
Dominant Positions: John Coltrane, Michel Foucault, and the Politics of Representation

In a 1979 essay on the principles of a contemporary movement in literature, ecriture, Michel Foucault quotes approvingly a rhetorical question posed by minimalist author Samuel Beckett: “what does it matter who is speaking?” (“What Is an Author?” 205). My purpose in this paper is to argue that endorsing such critical-theoretical inattention to speakers’ identities actually promotes some of the abuses of power that Foucault and the theorists he has inspired most object to. Notably, inattention to identity forecloses analysis of the speaker’s position within the discourse and, in so doing, permits both the continued dominance of socially-legitimated points of view and continued marginalization of social commentaries and critiques that oppose themselves to these dominant threads of discourse. My critique of this curious blind-spot in Foucault’s theorizing is worked out through an analysis of critical attention to John Coltrane’s ‘free jazz’ experimentations of the 1960s. One of the central points I am concerned to make in discussing Coltrane is that how artistic projects are represented depends at least in part upon the willingness of critics to take notice of issues of identity and social positioning (both their own, and that of the artists they evaluate). I choose to engage with evaluations of Coltrane, specifically, because there are certain features of his relation to his audience and his critics that demand of us an especially nuanced and complex analysis of the power jazz journalism can exert.
Evidence-based resources simplified.

Clinical librarians ensure access to the best evidence-based resources for the clinicians and allied health professionals in their hospitals. Their directive is to support the clinical decision-making process. Because of the variety of resources available, it is difficult for clinicians to find
Deep Learning-Based Feature Representation for AD/MCI Classification

In recent years, there has been a great interest in computer-aided diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and its prodromal stage, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Unlike the previous methods that consider simple low-level features such as gray matter tissue volumes from MRI, mean signal intensities from PET, in this paper, we propose a deep learning-based feature representation with a stacked auto-encoder. We believe that there exist latent complicated patterns, e.g., non-linear relations, inherent in the low-level features. Combining latent information with the original low-level features helps build a robust model for AD/MCI classification with high diagnostic accuracy. Using the ADNI dataset, we conducted experiments showing that the proposed method is 95.9%, 85.0%, and 75.8% accurate for AD, MCI, and MCI-converter diagnosis, respectively.
Hadamard difference sets in groups of order 64

On determine les groupes G d'ordre 64 qui contiennent 4 sous-groupes d'ordre 8 deux a deux disjoints. On montre que G est soit abelien elementaire soit isomorphe a un graphe G 0 de classe de nilpotence 2
FcγRIIB as a potential molecular target for intravenous gamma globulin therapy

The ability of the immune system to respond appropriately to foreign antigen is dependent on a delicate balance of activating and inhibitory signals. Recently, the role of cell surface inhibitory receptors in attenuating immune responses, thereby preventing pathologic conditions including autoimmunity and atopy, has been recognized. It is postulated that the beneficial effects of intravenous gamma globulin in the treatment of immune disorders may be attributable, at least in part, to engagement of Fc gamma RIIB, a member of the recently described family of immune inhibitory receptors. Recent genetic and biochemical studies have identified the SH2 domain-containing inositol 5-phosphatase (SHIP) as a critical effector in Fc gamma RIIB inhibitory signaling. This review summarizes recent work from our laboratory and others aimed to define the mechanism(s) by which Fc gamma RIIB and its effector, SHIP, inhibit immune responses. Elucidation of these mechanisms may lead to the development of therapeutic strategies for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory pathologies that specifically target Fc gamma RIIB or its effector(s).