cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 3473: Beta catenin inhibitor ICG-001 attenuates proliferation of hepatic tumor initiating cells in Pten deficient models

Progenitor or tumor initiating cells (TICs) are “altered” stem cells with the capacity to form solid tumors. Tumor suppressor PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome ten) is aberrantly expressed in liver cancers. Liver specific Pten (Pm) mice develop liver cancer following an extensive phase of chronic lipid accumulation and demonstrate escalating levels of hepatic injury markers from 6-12M, prior to hepatic progenitor cell proliferation. In addition, TUNEL analysis revealed that hepatocytes from Pm mice undergo extensive apoptosis relative to control mice. We hypothesize that hepatocyte cell death induced by hepatic injury presents an opportunity for TICs to proliferate and consequently form mixed lineage tumors. Attenuation of hepatic injury by Akt2 deletion reduces progenitor cell proliferation and delays tumor development. Our analyses also revealed that the Wnt/β-Catenin signaling pathway is the likely molecular mediator of TIC proliferation in our Pm model. Wnt ligands including 7a and 10a as well as Wnt signaling receptor Fzd 2 are induced. In this study, we investigate the role of the Wnt/β-Catenin pathway in the activation of hepatic progenitor cells in the Pten deletion liver cancer model using novel Wnt/β-catenin inhibitor ICG-001. ICG-001 is a small molecule which specifically inhibits β-Catenin/CBP interaction. Coactivator CBP/β-Catenin/T cell factor (TCF) mediated transcription has been reported as critical for stem cell/progenitor cell proliferation. Here we demonstrate that ICG-001 significantly attenuates proliferation of hepatic cancer stem cell line P0 in vitro and also inhibits hepatotoxin induced proliferation of hepatic TICs in vivo in liver Pten null mice. Our preliminary results indicate that targeting the cancer stem cell niche may prove to be a viable approach to inhibit liver tumorigenesis. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3473. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3473
Low-Power, High-Density Spintronic Programmable Logic With Voltage-Gated Spin Hall Effect in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

A non-volatile spintronic programmable logic (SPL), based on a 3-teriminal magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ), is presented and simulated using a compact device model. The SPL structure is compatible with CMOS technology and can be fabricated in the back end of line (BEOL). The proposed SPL exploits gate-voltage-modulated spin Hall effect (V-SHE) switching, which combines the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) effect and SHE, as a parallel configuration method. The VCMA modulates the coercivity of the MTJ, reducing the critical current for the SHE to change the state of the MTJs. This allows the SPL to achieve 100 times faster configuration speed due to the parallel configuration, and 32% area reduction because of minimized transistors in the write circuit, compared to programmable logic based on conventional spin-transfer torque memory (STT-RAM).
Natural Language Understanding Performance & Use Considerations in Virtual Medical Encounters.

A virtual standardized patient (VSP) prototype was tested for natural language understanding (NLU) performance. The conversational VSP was evaluated in a controlled 61 subject study over four repetitions of a patient case. The prototype achieved more than 92% appropriate response rate from naive users on their first attempt and results were stable by their fourth case repetition. This level of performance exceeds prior efforts and is at a level comparable of accuracy as seen in human conversational patient training, with caveats. This level of performance was possible due to the use of a unified medical taxonomy underpinning that allows virtual patient language training to be applied to all cases in our system as opposed to benefiting a single patient case.
Efficacy of unmanned helicopter in rainwater removal from cherry canopies

Developed was an in-field sensing system to monitor cherry canopy micro-climate.Unmanned helicopter was evaluated for canopy rainwater removal.Effect of flight altitude and payloads on rainwater removal was quantified. Rain-induced fruit cracking causes significant economic loss for fresh market sweet cherry growers annually. To prevent cherry cracking, timely removal of rainwater from fruit is the key. This study evaluated the efficacy of an unmanned middle-size helicopter to remove rainwater from Y-trellised cherry canopies. Helicopter downwash in hover at four altitudes, with and without a payload, was quantified with six anemometers deployed in tree canopies. Results showed that payload and altitude significantly affected hover downwash, which was greater at higher altitude of 7.6m above ground level (AGL) than lower altitude of 4.9m AGL with payload. In the absence of payload, hover downwash peaked at the altitude of 6.1m AGL. In the efficacy study, 5.0-mm rainwater was applied to cherry canopies by a rainfall simulation system, followed by the helicopter flying over canopies at three altitudes (4.9, 5.5 and 6.1m AGL), two travel speeds (1.3 and 2.7ms-1) and with or without payload. Rainwater removal at bottom (1.1m), middle (1.9m) and top (2.7m) of the canopies was calculated based on the change of leaf wetness of target canopies in 10min after rain. Overall, helicopter with payload flying 2.7ms-1 at 6.1m AGL removed significantly more rainwater (96.3%) from top section of canopies than groups without treatment (71.2%) and compared to other payload and travel speed conditions. Results also confirmed that the unmanned helicopter could provide sufficient downwash to remove rainwater effectively from bottom and middle canopy sections.
Research on the One-stage Desilication Process for the Mid-high Concentration of Sodium Aluminate Solution

The removal of silicon in the sodium aluminate solution is the most difficult among all the impurities.Alumina products will be lost if the content of silicon is too high.In this paper,the one-stage desilication optimal condition was obtained by changing the desilication temperature,desilication time,sodium aluminate solution concentration and calcium silicon slag content.The results showed when the desilication temperature is 100℃,the time is 100min,the dosage of the agent is 27g/L,the stirring speed is 300r/min and the concentration of the sodium aluminate solution is from 140g/L to 200 g/L,the desilication index is more than 1000.The first-stage desilication mechanism of sodium aluminate solution was obtained by measuring surface tension with desilication time,temperature;and by analyzing the XRD of calcium silicon slag.The sodium aluminate solution after the first-stage desilication can almost meet the requirement of the deep desilication process.
Psychiatric disorders increase complication rate after primary total knee arthroplasty.

Abstract Background Psychiatric disease is difficult to screen preoperatively and the incidence of mental health disorders in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) may be underappreciated. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the perioperative complication profile in patients with psychiatric disorders. Methods A search of the entire Medicare database from 2005 to 2011 was performed to identify patients who underwent primary TKA with bipolar disorder (20,972), depression (187,448), and schizophrenia (7607). A cohort of 1,271,464 patients as controls with minimum 2.5-year follow-up. Medial and surgical complications at 30-days, 90-days, and overall were compared between the two cohorts. Results Patients with any psychiatric disease were more likely to be younger (age Conclusions Patients with psychiatric disorders who undergo elective primary TKA have significantly increased medical and surgical complication rates in the global period and short term follow-up. An ideal screening tool is yet to be determined and these patients need to be counseled appropriately regarding the increased complication rates before proceeding with TKA.
Have we met? MDP based speaker ID for robot dialogue.

We present a novel approach to speaker identification in robot dialogue that allows a robot to recognize people during natural conversation and address them by name. Our STanford AI Robot (STAIR) dialogue system attempts to mirror the human speaker identification process. We model the robot dialogue problem as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) and apply a reinforcement learning algorithm to try to learn the optimal dialogue actions. The MDP model works in conjunction with a traditional statistical cluster based speaker identification subsystem. Our approach also addresses open-set speaker identification, dynamically adding new speaker profiles as well as continuously updating known profiles.
Compressive sensing for synthetic aperture radar in fast-time and slow-time domains

Compressive sensing (CS) is a new method to capture and represent compressible signals at a rate significantly below the Nyquist rate. To reduce the high data redundancy among different echoes in synthetic aperture radar (SAR), we apply compressive sensing to SAR in slow-time and fast-time domains. Based on the reflectivity kernel analysis of SAR echoes, We demonstrate that the SAR signals are very sparse, which means CS could be applied to SAR to tremendously reduce the sampling rate. We apply SVD-QR to select a subset of SAR echoes in slow-time domain to reduce the redundancy, and compressive sensing to the selected echoes in fast-time domain. Simulations are performed and our compression ratio could be 47∶1 overall.
Coagulopathy of Trauma

Coagulopathy is common after injury and develops independently from iatrogenic, hypothermic, and dilutional causes. Despite considerable research on the topic over the past decade, trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC) continues to portend poor outcomes, including decreased survival. We review the current evidence regarding the diagnosis and mechanisms underlying trauma induced coagulopathy and summarize the debates regarding optimal management strategy including product resuscitation, potential pharmacologic adjuncts, and targeted approaches to hemostasis. Throughout, we will identify areas of continued investigation and controversy in the understanding and management of TIC.
Evaluating Student and Instructor Use of Video Feedback in an Online Learning Environment

In an online learning environment where instructor-student interaction is limited video feedback may be an option to increase efficiency and value in the feedback process. Utilizing methods that decrease transactional distance for students in an online learning environment may also improve the overall learning experience. This proposal describes research intended to evaluate the experiences of both student and instructor with video feedback in order to determine the impact on transactional distance and self-directed learning. Aims also include identifying a sustainable workflow that optimizes the use of visual and verbal feedback. A multi-phase approach will be offered.
Theorizing the Self: Digital Storytelling, Applying Theory, and Multimodal Learning

ABSTRACTThis article discusses the use of digital storytelling, a pedagogical tool, to enhance student learning and meaning-making. During the process of creating and sharing their digital stories, students engaged in self-reflexivity and demonstrated the ability to apply theories of student development to their personal experiences. Findings have implications for educators concerned with assisting students in making meaning of abstract theories and in connecting theory to practice.
Use of PTEN protein dosage to predict for underlying germ-line PTEN mutations among patients presenting with thyroid cancer and Cowden-like phenotypes.

1508 Background: Thyroid cancer is a major component of Cowden Syndrome (CS), a heritable syndrome characterized also by breast, uterine and kidney cancers. CS patients with an underlying germline ...
Sensory-Based Failure Threshold Estimation for Remaining Useful Life Prediction

The rapid development of sensor and computing technology has created an unprecedented opportunity for condition monitoring and prognostic analysis in various manufacturing and healthcare industries. With the massive amount of sensor information available, important research efforts have been made in modeling the degradation signals of a unit and estimating its remaining useful life distribution. In particular, a unit is often considered to have failed when its degradation signal crosses a predefined failure threshold, which is assumed to be known a priori . Unfortunately, such a simplified assumption may not be valid in many applications given the stochastic nature of the underlying degradation mechanism. While there are some extended studies considering the variability in the estimated failure threshold via data-driven approaches, they focus on the failure threshold distribution of the population instead of that of an individual unit. Currently, the existing literature still lacks an effective approach to accurately estimate the failure threshold distribution of an operating unit based on its in-situ sensory data during condition monitoring. To fill this literature gap, this paper develops a convex quadratic formulation that combines the information from the degradation profiles of historical units and the in-situ sensory data from an operating unit to online estimate the failure threshold of this particular unit in the field. With a more accurate estimation of the failure threshold of the operating unit in real time, a better remaining useful life prediction is expected. Simulations as well as a case study involving a degradation dataset of aircraft turbine engines were used to numerically evaluate and compare the performance of the proposed methodology with the existing literature in the context of failure threshold estimation and remaining useful life prediction.
Work-in-Progress: Cross-Layer Real-Time Scheduling for Wireless Control System

Wireless control systems are gaining a lot of attention, due to its easy deployment comparing to wired control systems recently. Real-time wireless networks have been proposed to give preference to high-priority tasks and keep timeliness of packet delivery. In control systems, however, network delay influences significantly the control system performance, whose applications have dynamic characteristics. Motivated by the observation, we propose a dynamic network scheduling solution to minimize the error in control applications in a system, by considering the application behavior and changing its priority based on dynamic conditions. We plan to conduct a case study based on a nuclear power plant to analyze the interaction between cross-layer real-time network scheduling and control.
The ABCs of autologous blood collection for ex vivo organ preservation.

Abstract Ex vivo organ perfusion (EVOP) using autologous whole donor blood (AWDB) allows prolonged preservation and extracorporeal assessment of solid organs for transplant. We present a straightforward methodology for ADWB collection that may be incorporated into standard clinical procurement.
Methodological Principles of Uncertainty in Information Systems Modeling

System modeling permeates all disciplines of science, both natural and artificial. The general concepts of system modeling are presented in summary fashion. The key role of uncertainty in system modeling is discussed including the principles of maximum and minimum uncertainty. Recent results regarding conceptualization of uncertainty, which demonstrate that uncertainty is a multidimensional concept, are overviewed, and the implications for modeling in information and software engineering are discussed.
Photosynthetic responses of sugar beet and Nicotiana benthamiana Domin. infected with beet curly top virus

Abstract This study examined photosynthesis and assimilate partitioning in sugar beet ( Beta vulgaris L.) and Nicotiana benthamiana Domin. plants systemically infected with either the Logan or CFH strains of beet curly top virus (BCTV). Leaves of both susceptible (Z-10) and resistant (9BB6090) beet varieties exhibited an accumulation of sucrose, as much as 10-fold greater than controls, and 38-fold higher than that seen in infected N. benthamiana per dm 2 leaf area. [U- 14 C]-sucrose uptake experiments showed a decline in the export of this sugar, particularly from young leaves of the Z-10 variety. This directly confirms that BCTV impairs phloem transport in sugar beet leaves, and can cause excessive retention of sucrose. Starch levels were also elevated, but remained substantially lower than sucrose levels. Anatomical changes included increases in mesophyll cell size, indicating high cell turgor pressure due to the elevated sugar content. There was an associated 20–50% reduction in photosynthetic rates compared to mock-inoculated plants, and a decrease in ribulose 1,5 bisphosphate carboxylase activity and protein levels. Similar reductions in the activity of cytoplasmic and chloroplastic fructose 1,6, bisphosphatase were consistent with a possible down-regulation of genes encoding key photosynthetic enzymes initiated by the buildup of sugars. BCTV-infected plants may therefore constitute a useful naturally occurring system for investigating end-product control of carbon assimilation
EXAMINATION OF OLDER DRIVER STEERING ADAPTATION ON A HIGH PERFORMANCE DRIVING SIMULATOR

The objective of this study was to examine how long it takes for older drivers to adapt their steering control on a fixed-base driving simulator. The authors hypothesized that older drivers achieve maximum training benefit within the first few minutes of a driving simulation. Thirteen drivers over 65 years of age drove a four-channel, 150 deg forward field-of-view, 50 deg rear field-of-view, fixed-base driving simulator for 25 minutes. The authors used a six-degree steering wheel reversal criterion to evaluate drivers' adaptation to the simulator. Since drivers' adapt to a simulator over time, the authors examined the number of steering wheel reversals greater than six degrees that occurred per minute during each of three sections, the start, middle and end of the 25-minute drive. The results showed that older drivers needed about three minutes to adapt and get the "feel" of the simulator. Before this time driving behavior in the simulator may not be representative of actual driving performance. These results provide preliminary support for assuming that an adaptation period as short as five minutes may enable drivers to adapt to the driving simulator and drive normally.
Food-Acquisition Systems

All organisms are tied together in a number of ways, with energy acquisition being paramount. Some organisms are meat-eaters, or carnivores, that feed on plant-eaters, or herbivores. Most species, however, are omnivores, feeding on both animals and plants. Of the many foods available to a given animal, which are selected and which are not? Decisions may vary and be related to food availability, ease of capture, or nutritive value. Except when young (Yahner 1978c), an animal cannot spend considerable time sampling food; there are limits in time and energy involved with food capture, handling, and ingesting.
Cytotoxic effects of heated tobacco products (HTP) on human bronchial epithelial cells.

Background Heated tobacco product(s) (HTP), also called heat-not-burn products, are a re-emerging class of tobacco products that purport to reduce health risk compared with smoking combustible tobacco products. This study examined the potential toxic effects of inhaling emissions from an HTP in comparison with electronic and combustible tobacco cigarettes. Methods Inhalation toxicity of HTP (IQOS; tobacco flavour), e-cigarette (MarkTen; tobacco flavour) and tobacco cigarette (Marlboro Red) was examined in vitro using an air–liquid interface with human bronchial epithelial cells (H292). Cells were exposed directly to 55 puffs from the e-cigarette, 12 puffs from the HTP and 8 puffs from the tobacco cigarette to equilibrate nicotine delivery to the cells across products. Cytotoxicity was measured using neutral red uptake and trypan blue assays. Cytotoxic effects of each tested product (HTP, e-cigarette and tobacco cigarette) were compared with an air control. Release of inflammatory markers (cytokines) was measured using ELISA. Results The HTP showed higher cytotoxicity compared with the air controls using the neutral red assay. The HTP also showed higher cytotoxicity than the e-cigarette, but lower cytotoxicity than the combustible cigarettes using the same assay. A significant increase in cytokines levels, compared with air controls, was observed postexposure to tobacco smoke but not to emissions from HTP or e-cigarette aerosol. Discussion Using limited cytotoxic measures, the HTP showed reduced cytotoxicity relative to a combustible cigarette but higher toxicity than an e-cigarette. More comprehensive testing is needed to determine long-term effects of inhaling emissions from HTP.
Screening of microorganisms producing a novel protein-asparaginase and characterization of the enzyme derived from Luteimicrobium album

A screening system using enrichment culture has been established with the aim of obtaining a novel enzyme for protein modification that has not been previously reported. This enzyme catalyzes deamidation of the side-chain amide group of asparagine in proteins. Enrichment culture of 390 soil samples was carried out with Z-Asn-Gly as the sole source of nitrogen, and the reaction product, Z-Asp-Gly, was detected in the culture supernatant of 102 strains. Strains with particularly high activity were Leifsonia sp., Luteimicrobium sp., Microbacterium sp., and Agromyces sp., all belonging to the class Actinobacteria. Of these, a protein-asparaginase (PA) was obtained from the culture supernatant of Luteimicrobium album 333B-h1, and its reactivity with different substrates and its basic enzymatic characteristics were investigated. Addition of the enzyme solution resulted in specific deamidation of only the asparagine residue in insulin chain B. The enzyme showed no reactivity with free asparagine or asparagine in low molecular weight peptides. It was demonstrated that the enzyme reacts with various protein substrates. In particular, proteins that have open structures, such as casein or gelatin, were good substrates. The activity and stability of PA at different temperatures and pH values were investigated. It was found that a temperature of 37°C and a roughly neutral pH are optimal conditions for the enzyme.
Direct Measurement of Intracellular O2 Gradients; Role of Convection and Myoglobin

It is generally assumed that free and/or facilitated diffusion is solely responsibile for O2 transport from capillary to mitochondria (4, 8, 14, 15).
Transgressions in Toonland: Savita Bhabhi, Velamma and the Indian adult comic

While India is no stranger to titillating imagery, its pornographic circuits remain underground due to stringent laws. The emergence of Indian pornographic comics under the aegis of the adult enter...
Individual and situational factors related to undergraduate mathematics instruction

In the US, there is significant interest from policy boards and funding agencies to change students’ experiences in undergraduate mathematics classes. Even with these reform initiatives, researchers continue to document that lecture remains the dominant mode of instruction in US undergraduate mathematics courses. However, we have reason to believe there is variability in teaching practice, even among instructors who self describe their teaching practice as “lecture.” Thus, our research questions for this study are as follows: what instructional practices are undergraduate mathematics instructors currently employing and what are the factors influencing their use of non-lecture pedagogies? Here, we explore these questions by focusing on instruction in abstract algebra courses, an upper-division mathematics course that is particularly well positioned for instructional reform. We report the results of a survey of 219 abstract algebra instructors from US colleges and universities concerning their instructional practices. Organizing our respondents into three groups based on the proportion of class time spent lecturing, we were able to identify 14 instructional practices that were significantly different between at least two of the three groups. Attempting to account for these differences, we analyzed the individual and situational factors reported by the instructors. Results indicate that while significant differences in teaching practices exist, these differences are primarily associated with individual factors, such as personal beliefs. Situational characteristics, such as perceived departmental support and situation of abstract algebra in the broader mathematics curriculum, did not appear to be related to instructional differences. Our results suggest that personal bounds in general, and beliefs in particular, are strongly related to the decision to (not) lecture. However, many of the commonly cited reasons used to justify the use of extensive lecture were not significantly different across the three groups of instructors. This lack of differentiation suggests that there may be relevant institutional characteristics that have not yet been explored in the literature, and a transnational comparison might be useful in identifying them.
Facets of externalizing psychopathology in relation to inhibitory control and error processing.

Abstract A prominent characteristic of externalizing psychopathology is the inability to suppress or modulate behavioral responses and impulses. These tendencies have been associated with cognitive indicators of inhibitory control (P3) and error processing (error-related negativity [ERN] and positivity [Pe]). However, the extent to which these trait-like components are characteristic of specific manifestations, or externalizing proneness more generally, remains unclear. Our study aimed to further contextualize externalizing behaviors by examining associations between distinct facets of externalizing symptoms and relevant behavioral phenotypes (substance use, aggression, pathological personality and internalizing symptoms) as well as electrophysiological and behavioral indices of inhibitory control (congruence and no-go P3, flanker interference, commission errors) and error processing (ERN and Pe, post-error slowing). Using a sample of community and jail dwelling offenders (N = 497), we used Confirmatory Factor Analyses to estimate a general externalizing factor (EXT), representing shared variance, and latent factors representing symptoms related to callous-aggression (CAL; conduct disorder and antisocial personality disorder) and alcohol and drug dependence (AD and DD). Additionally, a subset of participants (N = 89) had their brain activity recorded during a flanker task. Factor analyses supported general EXT and CAL factors; however, unique AD/DD overlapped highly with shared EXT, suggesting that DSM substance use symptoms in our study reflect more general problems with disconstraint/impulsivity rather than variance specific to substances. The general EXT was marked by behavioral correlates of impulsivity and negative affect, and laboratory task deficits in error monitoring, but with greater differential processing of inhibitory cues. The CAL specific factor was associated with affective shallowness phenotype, and, interestingly, laboratory measures of enhanced processing of inhibitory cues and error adjustment. This research has implications for understanding neurocognitive processes associated with distinct manifestations of disordered behavioral inhibition.
Dimensional Reduction for 6D Vibrotactile Display

The human hand detects high-frequency vibrations in all directions but cannot distinguish the direction, which suggests a multi-dimensional vibrotactile stimulus is haptically equivalent to some one-dimensional (1D) stimulus. In this article, we explore how a 6D vibrotactile stimulus rendered at the haptic interaction point (HIP) of a kinesthetic haptic interface, with the stylus held in a precision pen-hold grasp, is mapped to an equivalent 1D stimulus normalized by the detection threshold. We gather a large human-subjects data set in which we determine detection thresholds for 45 distinct combinations of three orthogonal forces and three orthogonal torques rendered at the HIP, at a single frequency of 108 Hz corresponding to the peak sensitivity in our prior study. Using this data set, we find a general quadratic weighting function to predict the 1D normalized stimulus for a given 6D vibrotactile stimulus. We find that including just seven (out of a possible 21) independent parameters in the symmetric weighting matrix is sufficient to capture the non-obvious coupling between forces and torques rendered at the HIP for dimensional reduction from 6D to 1D.
An intervention to increase conversational turns between parents and young children

Behavioral and neural evidence indicates that young children who engage in more conversations with their parents have better later language skills such as vocabulary and academic language abilities. Previous studies find that the extent to which parents engage in conversational turn-taking with children varies considerably. How, then, can we promote extended conversations between parents and their children? Instead of asking parents to engage in longer turn-taking episodes, we provided parents with information on conversational content that we hypothesized would lead to increased episodes of longer, more sustained conversational turn-taking. Specifically, we found that boosting the frequency of parent-child talk about abstract, non-present concepts – decontextualized language – led to an increase in dyadic conversational turn-taking during home mealtimes several weeks later.
Modular transit: Using autonomy and modularity to improve performance in public transportation

Abstract In this paper we investigate a new form of automated public transportation, named ‘modular transit’, configured to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional bus, including the first- and last-mile problem, low occupancy, and low levels of comfort, accessibility, and flexibility. The modular transit system consists of a set of trailer modules who can travel locally to serve demand and connect travelers to main modules for long-distance trips. We mathematically model this system on a time-expanded network, thereby reducing the size of the optimization problem and rendering the problem amenable to being solved with commercial optimization engines. We conduct extensive numerical experiments and sensitivity analyses to study the performance of modular buses under various configurations. Finally, we compare the modular transit service with a door-to-door shuttle service as benchmark to showcase the benefits of modular transit.
Internet Connection: AI and Libraries: Supporting Machine Learning Work

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been in the news frequently in the past few years. It seems as though every new product has some kind of “AI” at its core. Even library conferences seem overtaken b...
Restricting the Marketplace

Many markets face some form of government intervention. This is sometimes due to the presence of market failure and sometimes out of equity concerns. In this chapter, we consider the many effects of market intervention by governments. Several examples of rent controls are discussed from the popular 1990s television sitcom Seinfeld. The chapter also considers minimum wage laws and laws against price gouging in the wake of a natural disaster. In each case, the benefits, costs, and legislative alternatives of each law are discussed and examined.
Chaperoning transmembrane helices in the lipid bilayer.

Elimination of membrane proteins often requires recognition of their transmembrane domains (TMDs) in the lipid bilayer. In this issue, Arines et al. (2020. J. Cell Biol.https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202001116) show that in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the vacuole-associated Rsp5 ubiquitin ligase uses a TMD in substrate adaptor Ssh4 to recognize membrane helices in Ypq1, which targets this lysine transporter for lysosomal degradation during lysine starvation.
Comparison of aggressiveness and fungicide sensitivity of four Pythium spp. that cause damping-off of soybean in the United States

Pythium spp. are the most common pathogens associated with soybean damping-off in the United States. The diversity of Pythium spp. recovered is extensive and the relative pathogenicity or aggressiv...
Phase Separation in Genome Organization across Evolution

Phase separation is emerging as a paradigm to explain the self-assembly and organization of membraneless bodies in the cell. Recent advances show that this principle also extends to nucleoprotein complexes, including DNA-based structures. We discuss here recent observations on the role of phase separation in genome organization across the evolutionary spectrum from bacteria to mammals. These findings suggest that molecular interactions amongst DNA-binding proteins evolved to form a variety of biomolecular condensates with distinct material properties that affect genome organization and function. We suggest that phase separation contributes to genome organization across evolution and that the resulting phase behavior of genomes may underlie regulatory mechanisms and disease.
Combining Discordant Serum IgE and Skin Testing Improves Diagnostic and Therapeutic Accuracy for Hymenoptera Venom Hypersensitivity Immunotherapy

Background Diagnosis of patients with hymenoptera venom hypersensitivity consists of elucidating clinical symptoms suggestive of systemic reaction (SR) and then confirmation of sensitization via intradermal skin testing (IDST) first and serum IgE assays such as ImmunoCAP (ICAP) as a complementary modality of diagnosis. Objective Determine the concordance between ICAP and IDST in patients with a clinical history suggestive of hymenoptera venom SR. Determine whether venom immunotherapy would change on the basis of IDST versus ICAP results. Methods A prospective diagnostic study was designed to test the concordance between IDST and ICAP venom testing in the diagnosis of hymenoptera venom hypersensitivity. This study entailed testing both IDST and ICAP for 5 hymenoptera venoms (honey bee, wasp, yellow jacket, yellow hornet, and white-faced hornet) in both a case group with SR to hymenoptera venom (N = 70) and a control group without SR (N = 51). Results Significant discordance was observed between positive IDST and ICAP results for any of the 5 hymenoptera venoms (McNemar test, P = .001). In the case group, there was significant discordance for wasp (P Conclusions Our study shows significant discordance between IDST and ICAP; however, they are complementary. On the basis of our data, we propose ICAP testing first followed by IDST for ICAP-negative venoms as an alternative and efficient diagnostic strategy.
Systems of Differential Equations

Chapters 1 and 2 presented a view of the environment as a series of fields distributed across space and evolving in time. While fields provide the ultimate description of the state of the environment, there are times when models can be simplified significantly by ignoring the spatial inhomogeneity of fields throughout a region of space. This simplification is completely valid when the field is homogeneous throughout that region, but it also may be at least partially valid if the effect ultimately of interest (e.g. human health) depends on some average property of the field, such as the mean, rather than on the variability in space.
How to help the working poor develop assets

L'A. s'efforce de comprendre l'incapacite des milieux defavorises a repondre a des difficultes financieres momentanees. Il estime que ce type de situation explique les phenomenes d'appauvrissement. Il montre que l'etat-providence offre la possibilite aux classes moyennes de maintenir et de developper leurs ressources par le biais des prestations sociales qu'il octroie. Il affirme que pour remedier aux phenomenes de pauvrete les politiques sociales doivent permettre aux milieux les plus defavorises d'epargner des revenus susceptibles de pallier ces difficultes financieres
A New Approach to 3D Sulcal Ribbon Finding from MR Images

Sulcal medial surfaces are 3D thin convoluted ribbons embedded in cortical sulci, and they provide distinctive anatomical features of the brain. Here we propose a new approach to automatic intrasulcal ribbon finding, following our work on cortex segmentation with coupled surfaces via level set methods, where the outer cortical surface is embedded as the zero level set of a high-dimensional distance function. Through the utilization of this distance function, we are able to formulate the sulcal ribbon finding problem as one of surface deformation, thus avoiding possible control problems in other work using sliding contour models. Using dynamic programming and deformable surface models, our method requires little manual intervention and results parameterized sulcal ribbon surfaces in nearly real-time. Though a natural follow up to our earlier segmentation work, we describe how it can be applied with general segmentation methods. We also present quantitative results on 15 MR brain images.
CPE run-to-run overlay control for High Volume Manufacturing

With the introduction of Nix process nodes, leading-edge factories are facing challenging demands in shrinking design margins. Previously uncorrected high-order signatures, and uncompensated temporal changes of high-order signatures, carry an important potential for improvement of on-product overlay (OPO). Until recently, static corrections per exposure (CPE), applied separately from the main APC correction, have been the industry's standard for critical layers [1], [2]. This static correction is setup once per device and layer and then updated periodically or when a machine change point generates a new overlay signature. This is a non-ideal setup for two reasons. First, any drift or sudden shift in tool signature between two CPE update periods can cause worse OPO and a higher rework rate, or, even worse, lead to yield loss at end of line. Second, these corrections are made from full map measurements that can be in excess of 1,000 measurements per wafer [3]. Advanced overlay control algorithms utilizing Run-to-Run (R2R) CPE can be used to reduce the overlay signatures on product in High Volume Manufacturing (HVM) environments. In this paper, we demonstrate the results of a R2R CPE control scheme in HVM. The authors show an improvement up to 20% OPO Mean+3Sigma values on several critical immersion layers at the 28nm and 14 nm technology nodes, and a reduction of out-of-spec residual points per wafer (validated on full map). These results are attained by closely tracking process tool signature changes by means of APC, and with an affordable metrology load which is significantly smaller than full wafer measurements.
Policing and Critical Incident Teams

Police calls for service occasionally require the police to resolve high-threat or special-threat situations such as barricaded suspects, hostage situations, drug raids, or warrant services. The need for police special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams to use special weapons and force tactics to handle these dangerous police callouts has become popular among American law enforcement agencies. This article discusses some common legal risks associated with deploying SWAT teams to handle particular police calls for service. The adequacy of a SWAT team and its training in particular uses of special weapons and tactics may give rise to a legal action when the team fails to train in the proper use of issued equipment and use of force tactics. When a SWAT team uses force, its choices must be “objectively reasonable.” In cases of alleged use of excessive force, criminal and civil liability can attach itself in the form of a team's wrongful actions under Titles 18 and 42 of the US Code, respectively. There are legal risks surrounding the intervention of a SWAT team to control and overcome hostage takers where the main concern is the protection of human life and the avoidance of hostage and bystander injuries. As when there is a need to determine “reasonableness” in other police use of force litigation, forensic experts, experienced law enforcement officers with leadership and experience credentials, are often needed to provide opinion testimony. Keywords: special weapons and tactics; SWAT; police use of force; policing; critical incident teams; police paramilitary units; special response units; hostages; no knock warrants; deadly force
Chapter 10 E-recursion

This chapter discusses E-recursion with Kleene's notion of recursion in objects of finite type in the so-called normal case. The objects of type 0 are the natural numbers. An object of type n + 1 is a set of objects of type n. Kleene defines {e} (x) for x an object of finite type by means of schemes. Normality allows each computation to invoke the appropriate equality predicate.
Syntax-pragmatics interface: Mandarin Chinese wh-the-hell and point-of-view operator

Based on previously unnoted data concerning wh-the-hell attitude-bearing questions in Mandarin Chinese, I argue that integrating the pragmatic notion ''point of view'' into the syntactic computation enables us to capture certain properties of wh-the-hell questions in Mandarin Chinese in a systematic and illuminating way. The two central phenomena analyzed are (1) causal zenme how come is not compatible with daodi the-hell in Chinese, and (2) in Chinese wh-the-hell questions, when daodi the-hell takes matrix scope while staying overtly in the embedded clause, the person feature of the matrix subject cannot be third person. I argue that explaining these phenomena depends on recognizing the logophoricity of the negative attitudes carried by daodi and causal zenme. The valuation relation that I postulate between the Point-of-View operator and an unvalued Point-of-View feature of daodi and causal zenme not only explains these data but also formally captures certain properties of the Chinese logophor ziji (cf. Huang & Liu 2001).
The Theory and Measurement of Tax Incidence

This chapter presents a discussion on the theory and measurement of tax incidence. When a tax is levied on an economic agent, the agent is said to bear the impact of the tax that equals to the amount of the tax payment. Economists distinguish the impact of a tax from the incidence or burden of a tax because the pattern of tax payments may not be a very good measure of the true economic burdens arising from a tax. The incidence or burden of a tax incorporates both the initial impact of the tax and the gains and losses associated with the general equilibrium market reactions to the tax. As such, the incidence and not the impact of a tax is the central concept of interest in either a normative or a positive distributional theory of taxation. The chapter focuses on the methodological differences in the measurement of tax incidence. Empirical studies of individual taxes are fraught with controversy because the empirical analysis of tax incidence is inherently difficult and there exist serious methodological differences among experts in the field on the appropriate theoretical approaches to the measurement of incidence. There are three distinct theoretical measures of incidence that commonly appear in the literature: incidence as impact, incidence as changes in certain relative prices, and incidence as changes in welfare.
XAFS study of the coordination and local relaxation around Co (super 2+) , Zn (super 2+) , Pb (super 2+) , and Ba (super 2+) trace elements in calcite

Analysis of divalent Co, Zn, Pb, and Ba XAFS spectra of synthetic and natural calcite samples containing trace concentrations of these heavy metals confirms their substitution in the unique Ca site in octahedral coordination with varying degrees of local distortion. The existence of each trace metal at the single site in the bulk crystal is significant in view of previous studies showing that these trace elements are incorporated differentially at multiple, structurally distinct surface sites occurring in nonequivalent growth steps on calcite surfaces. The octahedral coordination for Ba is particularly noteworthy because of its large size (35% larger than host Ca) and the fact that it rarely exists as a major constituent with such a low coordination number. Analysis of the local distortion and relaxation around the impurities shows a nearly complete contraction of the structure around Co{sup 2+} and Zn{sup 2+}. The Co-O and Zn-O first-shell distances are only slightly longer than in CoCO{sub 3} and ZnCO{sub 3}, with a site compliance of {approximately}80--90%. Displacements of higher shells relative to those in calcite decrease rapidly, but irregularly, over a short distance, and the relaxation may be largely confined within 6--7 {angstrom} of the impurity. The dilation around the largemore » Pb{sup 2+} and Ba{sup 2+} ions in calcite also shows a high degree of site compliance (85--90%). Relaxation around Pb and Ba also appears to be restricted, but extending further for Ba than for Pb. The limited observations suggest that compliance of the octahedral site in calcite is larger than for the cation site in the rocksalt structure. The high compliance for the metal site in calcite may reflect the corner-sharing topology of the structure and is also probably the reason that calcite shows such a wide range of isovalent substitutions in nature. The findings also provide a direct indication of the local strain associated with a dilute substitutional solid solution.« less
Helping Babies Breathe Around the World

Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) is an educational curriculum using the train-the-trainer model to teach neonatal resuscitation in resource limited areas. The purpose of this evidence-based program is to reduce global neonatal mortality by educating birth attendants to provide basic neonatal resuscitation. This program directly addresses the Millennium Developmental Goal #4 of reducing child mortality.
Whilst This Planet Has Gone Cycling On: What Role for Periodic Astronomical Phenomena in Large-Scale Patterns in the History of Life?

One of the longstanding debates in the history of paleontology focuses on the issue of whether or not there have been long-term cycles (operating over tens of millions of years) in biodiversity and extinction. Here we consider the history of this debate by connecting the skein from Grabau up to 2008. We focus on the evidence for periodicity that has emerged thus far, and conclude that there is indeed some evidence that periodicity may be real, though of course more work is needed. We also comment on possible causal mechanisms, focusing especially on the motion of our solar system in our galaxy. Moreover, we consider the reasons why some scientists have opposed periodicity over the years. Finally, we consider the significance of this for our understanding of evolution and the history of life.
Effects of cocaine on blood flow and prostaglandin metabolites in rat sciatic nerve.

To better understand the mechanisms of local anesthetic-reduced nerve blood flow and nerve blood flow regulation, the effects of cocaine on blood flow and vasoactive prostaglandins were tested in the sciatic nerve of anesthetized rats. After 30 min, nerve blood flow was significantly reduced from baseline by perineural injection of 160 mM cocaine [-29.4 +/- 4.0 (SD) laser-Doppler flow units (P < 0.001)] but not saline (1.6 +/- 11.3). These same nerves were removed and assayed for the stable metabolites 6-ketoprostaglandin F1 alpha and thromboxane B2 of the vasoactive eicosanoids prostacyclin and thromboxane A2, respectively. Both metabolites were reduced, but the ratio of thromboxane B2 to 6-ketoprostaglandin F1 alpha was greater (P < 0.05) in nerves pretreated with cocaine (6.1 +/- 3.2 vs. 2.4 +/- 1.1) and was inversely correlated (P < 0.01) with nerve blood flow. In a separate experiment, perineural injection of the prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor indomethacin (0.5 mg in 0.5 ml of either saline or 50%...