cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Identification of druggable targets for radiation mitigation using a small interfering RNA screening assay.

Currently, there is a serious absence of pharmaceutically attractive small molecules that mitigate the lethal effects of an accidental or intentional public exposure to toxic doses of ionizing radiation. Moreover, cellular systems that emulate the radiobiologically relevant cell populations and that are suitable for high-throughput screening have not been established. Therefore, we examined two human pluripotent embryonal carcinoma cell lines for use in an unbiased phenotypic small interfering RNA (siRNA) assay to identify proteins with the potential of being drug targets for the protection of human cell populations against clinically relevant ionizing radiation doses that cause acute radiation syndrome. Of the two human cell lines tested, NCCIT cells had optimal growth characteristics in a 384 well format, exhibited radiation sensitivity (D0 = 1.3 ± 0.1 Gy and n = 2.0 ± 0.6) comparable to the radiosensitivity of stem cell populations associated with human death within 30 days after total-body irradiation. Moreover, they internalized siRNA after 4 Gy irradiation enabling siRNA library screening. Therefore, we used the human NCCIT cell line for the radiation mitigation study with a siRNA library that silenced 5,520 genes known or hypothesized to be potential therapeutic targets. Exploiting computational methodologies, we identified 113 siRNAs with potential radiomitigative properties, which were further refined to 29 siRNAs with phosphoinositide-3-kinase regulatory subunit 1 (p85α) being among the highest confidence candidate gene products. Colony formation assays revealed radiation mitigation when the phosphoinositide-3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 was given after irradiation of 32D cl 3 cells (D0 = 1.3 ± 0.1 Gy and n = 2.3 ± 0.3 for the vehicle control treated cells compared to D0 = 1.2 ± 0.1 Gy and n = 6.0 ± 0.8 for the LY294002 treated cells, P = 0.0004). LY294002 and two other PI3K inhibitors, PI 828 and GSK 1059615, also mitigated radiation-induced apoptosis in NCCIT cells. Treatment of mice with a single intraperitoneal LY294002 dose of 30 mg/kg at 10 min, 4, or 24 h after LD50/30 whole-body dose of irradiation (9.25 Gy) enhanced survival. This study documents that an unbiased siRNA assay can identify new genes, signaling pathways, and chemotypes as radiation mitigators and implicate the PI3K pathway in the human radiation response.
Quantum Propensities and the Brain-Mind Connection

Two important problems in science treated by Karl Popper are the interpretation of quantum theory1 and the connection of conscious process to brain process.2 The thesis of the present work is that these two problems must be solved together, and that a rationally coherent combined solution follows naturally from the propensity interpretation of Popper and others.
Sensitization in Aplysia: restoration of transmission in synapses inactivated by long-term habituation

Long-term habituation of a simple withdrawal reflex in Aplysia leads to an inactivation of synaptic transmission between identified sensory and gill motor neurons that persists for more than 3 weeks. A single sensitizing stimulus rapidly reactivates both the depressed behavioral response and the inactivated synaptic transmission. Thus sensitization, a simple competitive form of learning, provides a mechanism whereby changing environmental demands can rapidly override the long-term memory of habituation.
Greed in a “Tribal” Economy? Acquisitiveness and Reciprocity in Lisu Society

Comparing the Lisu economy of the late 1960s to that of the early 1990s highlights not only the transformations in village economic adaptations, but also the cultural politics of incorporation into the Thai state. The earlier Lisu economy relied on income from opium to make up for shortfalls in rice production and household acquisitiveness made reciprocity with other households possible. In the 1990s, villagers scrambled to find economic strategies to adapt to life in the post-opium economy. In the previous economy, there were checks on overproduction to ensure relatively equal wealth among households in an egalitarian political system. The post-opium economy included new forms of commodified agriculture such as cattle herding, contractual planting of cash crops, buying of land, and investment in trucks and motorbikes to transport produce to market, as well as participation in wage labor in urban lowland markets. Survival required capital accumulation. Is acquisitiveness greed? Not in a reciprocity economy with inherent limits to accumulation of wealth, where the standards were set by the poor families in the village. But in today's economy, acquisitiveness for accumulation and investment rather than reciprocity has given rise to accusations of stinginess among villagers and greed by Thai officials.
Continuum Modeling of Phase Transitions in Solids

In this paper, we describe a simple phenomenological thermoelastic model for stress-induced solid-solid phase transitions in a tensile bar. In this model, the bar is treated as a one-dimensional continuum, and the phase transition is assumed to take place quasi-statically and isothermally at a temperature θ. By accounting for temperature effects solely in the kinetics of the phase transition, we show that some of the qualitative features of the experimental observations in [1] can be predicted, even though the effects of temperature on the nucleation of the transition and on the stress-strain relation have been neglected. A purely mechanical counterpart of the theory described here has been given in [2]; the latter work, as well as a mechanical theory of fast phase transitions in solids, is reviewed in [3].
Arthur Kelman: Tribute and Remembrance

With the death of Professor Arthur Kelman at age 90, the plant sciences, and particularly the field of plant pathology, lost one of its most influential and effective leaders. His long career involved important positions in the Departments of Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University (1949-1965) and the University of Wisconsin (1965-1989). Recognized not only for his achievements in research and his charismatic influence on his numerous students, Arthur was, most of all, an extraordinary teacher. He and his students made significant contributions in the fields of virulence, ecology, and control of bacterial plant pathogens. In addition, he was extremely active in service to professional societies, including the American Phytopathological Society, and a major force in the development of the International Society for Plant Pathology. In addition, he was an influential member of the Council of the National Academy of Sciences, and, after retirement from the University of Wisconsin, he served for two years as Chief Scientist of the Competitive Grants Program of the US Department of Agriculture. He received numerous awards as a teacher and researcher, and felt an intense sense of duty to his profession. He was one of the most influential plant pathologists of the twentieth century and will be remembered for his great intellect and his humanity.
A novel multiple-address digital communication system using chaotic signals

The authors focus on the investigation of a new class of signals for digital radio communication. In arriving at these new signals, the theory of chaos has been studied and applied to the area of communications. A new multiple-address communication system based on a chaotic signal set is described. The random-like nature of these deterministic signals makes them suitable for LPI (low probability of intercept) communication. >
Audio Vision: Using Audio-Visual Synchrony to Locate Sounds

Psychophysical and physiological evidence shows that sound localization of acoustic signals is strongly influenced by their synchrony with visual signals. This effect, known as ventriloquism, is at work when sound coming from the side of a TV set feels as if it were coming from the mouth of the actors. The ventriloquism effect suggests that there is important information about sound location encoded in the synchrony between the audio and video signals. In spite of this evidence, audiovisual synchrony is rarely used as a source of information in computer vision tasks. In this paper we explore the use of audio visual synchrony to locate sound sources. We developed a system that searches for regions of the visual landscape that correlate highly with the acoustic signals and tags them as likely to contain an acoustic source. We discuss our experience implementing the system, present results on a speaker localization task and discuss potential applications of the approach.
Measurements of Liquid Silicon Resistivity on Silicon Microwires

Nanocrystalline silicon microwires are self-heated through microsecond voltage pulses. Nonlinear changes in current level are observed during the voltage pulse, which end with melting of the microwires. Liquid silicon resistivity is extracted as 65.9 ±6.1 µΩ.cm from the minimum resistance of the wire during the voltage pulse. The extracted resistivity is in good agreement with previously reported values.
Visual Navigation Patterns and Cognitive Load

Eye tracking technology is a prospective tool for augmenting cognition in real-time in response to screen navigation and other eye movements that can be monitored. This paper examines eye movements associated with differences in problem complexity. The experiment utilized constraint satisfaction problems of differing difficulty measured by the number of steps necessary to complete and the relative time required to solve it. Participants were observed and tested through an eye-tracking experiment to see if correlations between visual navigation and problem complexity were present. Eye movement patterns, in particular pupil size, have been used to measure cognitive load in other contexts [6-9]. The results showed overall increases in fixations and pupil size that corresponded to increases in problem complexity.
Casein kinase II is a selective target of HIV-1 transcriptional inhibitors

The identification of cellular factors that are required to complete various steps of the HIV-1 life cycle may lead to the development of new therapeutics. One key step, transcription from the integrated provirus, is inhibited by members of two distinct classes of compounds, the flavonoids and the benzothiophenes, via an unknown mechanism, possibly involving a cellular factor. A marked specificity toward inhibiting HIV-1 transcription is evidenced by the ability of drug-treated cells to retain their proliferative and differentiation capabilities. In addition, the compounds do not impede the activation and function of the transcriptional factor NF-κB. Here we report on the identification of several cellular proteins that mediate the HIV-1 transcriptional inhibitory property of the flavonoid chrysin. Chemical and immunologic analyses identified these cellular proteins as the individual subunits of casein kinase II (CKII). Though structurally unrelated to chrysin, an HIV-1 inhibitory benzothiophene also bound selectively to CKII. Both chrysin and the benzothiophenes inhibited human recombinant CKII enzymatic activity and showed competitive kinetics with respect to ATP, analogous to the classic CKII inhibitor 5,6-dichloro-1-β-d-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole (DRB). Moreover, DRB potently inhibited HIV-1 expression in chronically infected cells. CKII may regulate HIV-1 transcription by phosphorylating cellular proteins involved in HIV-1 transactivation that contain multiple CKII phosphorylation consensus sequences.
NK CELL RECOGNITION

The integrated processing of signals transduced by activating and inhibitory cell surface receptors regulates NK cell effector functions. Here, I review the structure, function, and ligand specificity of the receptors responsible for NK cell recognition.
Letter to the Glyco-Forum

Thank you for asking me to comment on the article by Schnaar and Freeze entitled “A ‘Glyconutrient Sham’,” which addresses a serious matter affecting the field of glycobiology. I will not reiterate most of the major issues, as they have been thoroughly documented in the article. Rather, I will focus on the overarching moral imperative that trumps all the others. Regardless of who is right or wrong about any of the issues, it appears that many desperately ill patients and parents of children with serious chronic disorders are being misled. A recent related news article in Science (Kaiser, 2007) focused on the conflict, but did not emphasize what might be the motivation of scientists who have taken such a stand against commercial interests. The answer lies not just in the lack of evidence for definite health benefits of a mixture of apparently indigestible plant polysaccharides that are not derived from any known traditional medicines. The predominant reason is the many contacts that academic glycobiologists like myself have had from desperate patients and their families and friends, regarding extravagant claims for therapeutic efficacy made by sales associates. Like others, I have spent time responding to such queries, some of which seem to involve patients denying themselves known effective and standardized therapies for serious diseases. Together with false hopes given to families of other patients with incurable chronic diseases, the situation impels taxpayer-funded scientists like myself to speak out. As Kaiser concludes in her Science article, “health claims must be based on solid science.”
The Transmission of Digenetic Trematodes: Style, Elegance, Complexity

Traditionally, the field of parasitology has dealt with eukaryotic animals, to the exclusion of viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc., which is the way it will be approached here. The focus of the present paper will be on certain ecological aspects of the life cycles and life-history strategies employed by the Digenea, a diverse group of platyhelminths that includes some 25,000 species. More specifically, the review will consider the nature of host/parasite interactions within molluscan intermediate hosts and the manner in which these interactions, or lack thereof, function in structuring trematode infracommunities within these molluscan intermediate hosts. Literature in this area suggests that predation/competition may be a significant structuring force for infracommunities in certain marine prosobranchs, but not others, and that temporal/spatial factors may be involved as structuring mechanisms in at least some freshwater pulmonates.
Early exposure to phosphorylcholine-bearing microbes dampens the development of house dust mite allergy during adult life (HYP7P.263)

A suggested mechanism to explain the dramatic rise in the incidence of allergic disease among individuals living in developed countries has been an imbalance in the TH1/TH2 subsets; however, a majority of neonatal pathogens evoke potent B cell responses. These B cell clones, with shared specificity for allergens, can be protective against the development of allergic disease. Streptococcus pneumoniae and house dust mite (HDM) bear similar phosphorylcholine epitopes. Therefore, we hypothesized that B cell clones generated as a result of early pneumococcal exposure would dampen the development of HDM allergy during adult life. To test our hypothesis, we immunized neonatal mice with PC-deficient or PC-bearing pneumococcus and then challenged these mice with HDM as adults. Mice receiving the PC-bearing pneumococcus had a large frequency of PC-specific B cells that resided in their spleen and continually secreted antibodies. Upon pulmonary exposure to PC-bearing HDM, these B cells migrated to the lung and secreted antibody locally into the pulmonary space. As a result, mice immunized with PC-bearing pneumococcus, presented with dampened production of serum IgE and TH2-associated cytokines, development of airway hyperreactivity, and infiltration of allergic mediators into the lung as compared to mice exposed to PC-devoid pneumococcus as neonates. We further demonstrated that neonatal exposure to bacteria was not sufficient enough to disrupt the balance in the TH1/TH2 subsets.
Defensive Behaviour of Africanized and European Honeybees at two Elevations in Colombia

The defensive behaviour of Africanized (10) and European (8) honeybee colonies was compared at 520 and 2450 m above sea level (34° and 17°C, respectively) by measuring the time to the first sting o...
The Para-O-Methylation of Apigenin to Acacetin by Cell-Free Extracts of Robinia pseudoacacia L.

Crude extracts from young Robinia pseudoacacia seedlings, shoots, and callus tissue catalyze the para-O-methylation of apigenin to acacetin using S-adenosyl-ʟ-methionine as methyl donor. Optimum activity was exhibited at pH 9.0, and Mg²⁺ was not required for maximum activity. EDTA (10 mᴍ) did not affect the reaction rate, but 47% inhibition was observed with SAH (100 μᴍ). β-Mercaptoethanol (5 mᴍ) was required in the homogenization medium for optimum O-methyltransferase activity. Apigenin (Kₘ, 50 μᴍ) was the best substrate, but significant activity was shown towards caffeic acid, 5-hydroxyferulic acid, naringenin, and quercetin. Paracoumaric, ferulic, and sinapic acids were not methylated. The Kₘ for S-adenosyl-ʟ-methionine was 31 μᴍ. Our demonstration of a para-O-methyltransferase activity methylating apigenin, but not para-coumaric acid, strongly supports the conclusion that the B-ring methylation pattern of acacetin is determined at the C₁₅-level in Robinia pseudoacacia.
Inverted Gas Turbine Design and Analysis

Typical turbine engine technology has followed what is known as the Brayton Cycle (BC) since its conception in the 1920s. These engines have grown to be more powerful and more efficient, as well as smaller and more readily accessible for multiple applications. Currently, there is a demand for turbine engines for micro turbine technology for unmanned aerial vehicles and micro air vehicles, as both a source of propulsion and a source of power. Efficiencies of these micro components at high pressures is reduced from larger engine components, creating wasted energy, due mainly to tip clearances and tolerances on components such as the compressor and turbine. One proposed solution to this is the use of the Inverted Brayton Cycle (IBC). Instead of the typical compressor-combustor-turbine setup, the incoming air is mixed with fuel at atmospheric conditions upstream of the turbine. The heated flow is expanded and cooled through the turbine to sub atmospheric pressures. The flow is then compressed by the compressor to atmospheric pressure before exiting the engine. The advantage to this cycle comes from the increased component size as compared to the mass flow though the engine. This enables lower losses within the rotating components such as the compressor and turbine, and thus reduces the inefficiencies inherent in very small turbine engines. Experimental test data on a small turbine engine was taken in a standard BC configuration as a baseline and compared to published data to determine accuracy. The combustor, compressor, and turbine from the same engine were then used to create an IBC engine. An analytical model of the BC and IBC were done to predict expected performance of the IBC engine. Based on these results, the IBC configuration shows potential for increasing efficiency in micro turbines by operating at low pressures in the turbine. This allows for reduced losses throughout the hot section, especially in the turbine, where large tip clearances (with respect to overall vane height) are undesirable.
War Zone Stress Interacts With the 5-HTTLPR Polymorphism to Predict the Development of Sustained Attention for Negative Emotion Stimuli in Soldiers Returning From Iraq:

Biased attention toward negative stimuli is a known vulnerability for affective psychopathology. However, factors that contribute to the development of this cognitive bias are largely unknown. Variation within the serotonin transporter gene (i.e., 5-HTTLPR) is associated with increased susceptibility to environmental influence and biased processing of negative stimuli. Using a passive viewing eye-tracking paradigm, this study examined gaze fixation for emotion stimuli in 91 U.S. Army soldiers before and after deployment to Iraq. In addition, participants underwent genetic assay and provided in situ measures of war zone stress exposure. 5-HTTLPR short allele homozygotes were more likely than other genotype groups to develop a gaze bias toward negative stimuli as a function of increasing war zone stress, even when controlling for postdeployment posttraumatic stress disorder and depression severity. Short allele homozygotes appear especially sensitive to environmental influence, which likely contributes to t...
“Unceasing Pressure for Penetration”: Gender, Pathology, and Emotion in George Kennan's Formation of the Cold War

In the New York Times Book Review of April 7, 1996, Fareed Zakaria, managing editor of Foreign Affairs, reviewed the latest book by George E Kennan, the ninetytwo-year-old former diplomat and author of the containment doctrine. Zakaria began his review by praising the "clarity" and the "gripping, declarative prose" of Kennan's "famous long telegram from Moscow in 1946."1 In that 5,540-word telegram, Kennan laid out the argument for deemphasizing negotiations with Moscow on issues arising from World War II and for instead emphasizing the containment of the Soviet Union. Ever since Kennan's cable reached the State Department a half century ago, officials and scholars have been pointing to Kennan's prose-without, however, examining why his language appeared so clear and so gripping or how his emotions and rhetorical strategies infused his writings, particularly the long telegram (LT), with such persuasive force. A close reading of Kennan's writings demonstrates that the language is neither transparent nor value-free, and that Kennan's figures of speech-which scholars have quoted as "colorful language" but have not fully analyzed emotionalize and condition the interpretation of his ostensibly realistic prose.
Wind Powering America Anemometer Loan Program: A Retrospective

This white paper details the history, mechanics, status, and impact of the Native American Anemometer Loan Program (ALP) conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Powering America (WPA) initiative. Originally conceived in 2000 and terminated (as a WPA activity) at the end of FY 2011, the ALP has resulted in the installation of anemometers at 90 locations. In addition, the ALP provided support for the installation of anemometers at 38 additional locations under a related ALP administered by the Western Area Power Administration.
Regulation Effect of Pumped Storage Generator Units on Grid Voltage under Different Operation Mode

Issues that may appeared in the regulation of grid voltage by pumped storage generator units are discussed.Tests on such regulation of grid voltage are also carried out. Based on the test data,the regulation effect of pumped storage generator units on grid voltage under different operation mode is compared.
Vesicoureteral reflux and staghorn calculi.

AbstractWe herein present 2 retrospective reviews on the concurrence of vesicoureteral reflux and staghorn renal calculi. The discrepancy in findings is discussed. Voiding cystourethrography, while advisable in children, is not recommended as a routine procedure in the clinical evaluation of adults with staghorn calculi.
Airway and Aerodigestive Tract

“Pediatric airway” is a general term that encompasses a significant amount of territory and pathology. We have organized the pediatric airway by anatomic subsite—supraglottis, glottis, subglottis, trachea, hypopharynx, and pathologies that may affect multiple airway and aerodigestive sites.
The Shape of the New System

Following the 2004 national elections and the provincial and regional elections held from 2005 to 2008, the shape of the new political system became fairly clear. It was modified somewhat by legislation put in place for subsequent elections but, for the most part, not in fundamental ways, although some electoral-law changes enacted in 2012 could have a significant impact. The contours of the system can be appraised by examining the presidency, the role of parties in the national legislature, their role in regional elections and regional legislatures, the allegiances of voters, and the evolving party configuration in national elections. The presidency became a strong office, which all the large parties aspired to occupy, but it was not a wholly unified office. We have observed that the need for a coalition ticket crossing lines between ethnic and religious streams made the vice president a potential rival to the president. This became a millstone that Yudhoyono, the incumbent president, was able to cast off in 2009. Within the DPR, we have also noted, the president, as head of a weak party from 2004 to 2009, was dependent for legislative support on other parties, most notably Golkar, the party of his vice president. But the legislature continued to hover somewhere between a model of entirely fluid coalitions, on the one hand, and government and opposition, on the other, but certainly closer to the former.
Incorporating Uncertainty into Backward Erosion Piping Risk Assessments

Backward erosion piping (BEP) is a type of internal erosion that typically involves the erosion of foundation materials beneath an embankment. BEP has been shown, historically, to be the cause of approximately one third of all internal erosion related failures. As such, the probability of BEP is commonly evaluated as part of routine risk assessments for dams and levees in the United States. Currently, average gradient methods are predominantly used to perform these assessments, supported by mean trends of critical gradient observed in laboratory flume tests. Significant uncertainty exists surrounding the mean trends of critical gradient used in practice. To quantify this uncertainty, over 100 laboratory-piping tests were compiled and analysed to assess the variability of laboratory measurements of horizontal critical gradient. Results of these analyses indicate a large amount of uncertainty surrounding critical gradient measurements for all soils, with increasing uncertainty as soils become less uniform.
Stochastic Lagrangian Traffic flow modeling and real-time traffic prediction

Lagrangian Traffic model which follows a platoon of vehicle has the benefit of convenient utilization of individual vehicle data and easy distribution of traffic information to the drivers. The objective of this paper is to develop a stochastic Lagrangian traffic flow model which uses probe vehicle data to predict traffic status. The proposed probing method tracks vehicles in pairs to collect speed and spacing between vehicles. The traffic flow model utilizes unscented Kalman filter (UKF) with dual estimation to update model parameters and estimated current traffic in real-time. The proposed model was validated by empirical highway traffic data, and the result showed that the stochastic model has an overall 20% improvement in estimating current traffic state comparing to the estimation from deterministic model. The predictive ability of the model with an average of 15% error for 3-sec prediction can be used to compensate for the latency of data processing in real-time application. This paper also demonstrated a new method to predict the unexpected jam traffic phase using estimated model parameter with an average lead time of 6.76 sec, which allows drivers to be prepared for potential stop-and-go traffic.
Rac GTPases Regulate Erythropoiesis Both in the Early Steps of Differentiation and in Enucleation.

Abstract Rac GTPases (i.e. Rac1, Rac2 and Rac3), a subfamily of Rho GTPases, control actin organization and have overlapping as well as distinct roles in cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation in various hematopoietic cell lineages (Gu et al, Science 2003, Cancelas et al, Nature Med 2005). Using conditional gene-targeting in mice, we have previously demonstrated that Rac1 and Rac2 deficiency causes anemia with abnormal erythrocyte cytoskeleton and decreased deformability (Kalfa et al, Blood 2006). In the present studies, we found by colony assays that although bone marrow (BM) BFU-E activity was unaltered from that of the wild type (WT) mice, Rac1−/−;Rac2−/− erythroid bursts had a strikingly different morphology appearing as round, small, dense colonies, likely a manifestation of motility defects associated with Rac GTPase deficiency. Total CFU-Es recovered from Rac1−/−;Rac2−/− BM were as low as 25% of that in WT mice (p NSC23766 , to the WT or the Rac1−/−;Rac2−/− erythroid cultures during the enucleation phase resulted in an inhibition of enucleation up to 80% dose-dependently (figure 1). Rac1 and Rac2 deficiency led to a compensatory elevation of Rac3 activity that was effectively suppressed by NSC23766 , as demonstrated by immunoblotting in the Rac1−/−;Rac2−/− erythroblasts and effector-domain pull-down studies. Moreover, NSC23766 inhibited Rac1, Rac2, and Rac3 activities as well as actin polymerization of the erythroblasts. Thus, Rac1, Rac2, and Rac3 have redundant but essential roles in supporting actin dynamics necessary for the nucleus extrusion during the enucleation process. Download : Download high-res image (111KB) Download : Download full-size image Figure
Racial Disparities in Medical Student Membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society

Importance Previous studies have found racial and ethnic inequities in the receipt of academic awards, such as promotions and National Institutes of Health research funding, among academic medical center faculty. Few data exist about similar racial/ethnic disparities at the level of undergraduate medical education. Objective To examine the association between medical student race/ethnicity and induction into the Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA) honor society. Design, Setting, and Participants This study analyzed data from the Electronic Residency Application Service, the official service used by US medical students to apply to residency programs. A total of 4655 US medical students from 123 allopathic US medical schools who applied to 12 distinct residency programs associated with one academic health center in the 2014 to 2015 academic year were studied. Main Outcomes and Measures Membership in the AΩA society among black, white, Hispanic, and Asian medical students. Results A total of 4655 unique applications were analyzed in the study (median age, 26 years; 2133 women [45.8%]). Overall, self-reported race/ethnicity in our sample was 2605 (56.0%) white (691 [71.5%] of AΩA applicants were white), 276 (5.9%) black (7 [0.7%] AΩA), 186 (4.0%) Hispanic (27 [2.8%] AΩA), and 1170 (25.1%) Asian (168 [17.4%] AΩA). After controlling for US Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 scores, research productivity, community service, leadership activity, and Gold Humanism membership, the study found that black (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.16; 95% CI, 0.07-0.37) and Asian (aOR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.42-0.65) medical students remained less likely to be AΩA members than white medical students. No statistically significant difference was found in AΩA membership between white and Hispanic medical students (aOR, 0.79; 99% CI, 0.45-1.37) in the adjusted model. Conclusions and Relevance Black and Asian medical students were less likely than their white counterparts to be members of AΩA, which may reflect bias in selection. In turn, AΩA membership selection may affect future opportunities for minority medical students.
Metamaterial line element on a thin substrate for magnetic resonance imaging RF coils

An optimized Metamaterial line resonator element for a Metamaterial imaging RF coil is developed for the ultrahigh field MRI systems. The coil element performance is compared to that of the transmission line (microstrip) [1] and the dipole [2,5] coil elements for the 10.5T MRI with a Larmor frequency of 447 MHz. Good penetration into the test phantom is observed for the Metamaterial element with negligible change in the resonance condition and the Q-factor (∼70) after loading. Images of a cylindrical phantom are obtained in the 10.5T Siemens MRI system with proposed metamaterial line element and the dipole element [4] are compared to validate the performance. A 48-cm metamaterial line is simulated to show the extendibility of the line beyond half a wavelength while maintaining the homogeneous field distribution.
Aneuploidy as a cause of impaired chromatin silencing and mating-type specification in budding yeast

Aneuploidy and epigenetic alterations have long been associated with carcinogenesis, but it was unknown whether aneuploidy could disrupt the epigenetic states required for cellular differentiation. In this study, we found that ~3% of random aneuploid karyotypes in yeast disrupt the stable inheritance of silenced chromatin during cell proliferation. Karyotype analysis revealed that this phenotype was significantly correlated with gains of chromosomes III and X. Chromosome X disomy alone was sufficient to disrupt chromatin silencing and yeast mating-type identity as indicated by a lack of growth response to pheromone. The silencing defect was not limited to cryptic mating type loci and was associated with broad changes in histone modifications and chromatin localization of Sir2 histone deacetylase. The chromatin-silencing defect of disome X can be partially recapitulated by an extra copy of several genes on chromosome X. These results suggest that aneuploidy can directly cause epigenetic instability and disrupt cellular differentiation.
Long-term changes in river system hydrology in Texas

Abstract. Climate change and human actives are recognized as a topical issue that change long-term water budget, flow-frequency, and storage-frequency characteristics of different river systems. Texas is characterized by extreme hydrologic variability both spatially and temporally. Meanwhile, population and economic growth and accompanying water resources development projects have greatly impacted river flows throughout Texas. The relative effects of climate change, water resources development, water use, and other factors on long-term changes in river flow, reservoir storage, evaporation, water use, and other components of the water budgets of different river basins of Texas have been simulated in this research using the monthly version of the Water Rights Analysis Package (WRAP) modelling system with input databases sets from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). The results show that long-term changes are minimal from analysis monthly precipitation depths. Evaporation rates vary greatly seasonally and for much of the state appear to have a gradually upward trend. River/reservoir system water budgets and river flow characteristics have changed significantly during the past 75 years in response to water resources development and use.
Effects of Aliasing Errors on Microlithographic Image Computations

Recent advances in computational microelectronics have made it possible to compute the images of very large masks. Images of entire masks require many gigabytes of storage. It is therefore desirable to make storage requirements as small as possible. In this paper, we investigate the effects of reducing resolution to the point where some aliasing error enters the final answer. Due to the accuracy requirements of the microelectronics industry, we conclude that reducing resolution to improve storage requirements is not feasible.
Bioinspired passive variable recruitment of fluidic artificial muscles

This article presents a novel, passive approach to creating variable actuator recruitment in bundles of fluidic artificial muscles. The passive recruitment control approach is inspired by the funct...
Effects of multiple scattering encountered for various small-angle scattering model functions

In small-angle scattering theory and data modeling, it is generally assumed that each scattered ray – photon or neutron – is only scattered once on its path through the sample. This assumption greatly simplifies the interpretation of the data and is valid in many cases. However, it breaks down under conditions of high scattering power, increasing with sample concentration, scattering contrast, sample path length and ray wavelength. For samples with a significant scattering power, disregarding multiple scattering effects can lead to erroneous conclusions on the structure of the investigated sample. In this paper, the impact of multiple scattering effects on different types of scattering pattern are determined, and methods for assessing and addressing them are discussed, including the general implementation of multiple scattering effects in structural model fits. The modification of scattering patterns by multiple scattering is determined for the sphere scattering function and the Gaussian function, as well as for different Sabine-type functions, including the Debye–Andersen–Brumberger (DAB) model and the Lorentzian scattering function. The calculations are performed using the semi-analytical convolution method developed by Schelten & Schmatz [J. Appl. Cryst. (1980). 13, 385–390], facilitated by analytical expressions for intermediate functions, and checked with Monte Carlo simulations. The results show how a difference in the shape of the scattering function plotted versus momentum transfer q results in different multiple scattering effects at low q, where information on the particle mass and radius of gyration is contained.
Follow Our Dreams to Distant Stars

The White House decided to make “the second great goal” to be outlined in Reagan’s January 25, 1984, State of the Union speech developing “our next frontier: space.” Announcing his approval of the space station was central to this portion of Reagan’s address. In the run up to the speech, there was a last-minute decision to add an invitation to U.S. international allies to participate in the station program. There was even a brief thought of inviting the Soviet Union to participate, but that idea went nowhere. In his speech, Reagan said, “I am directing NASA to develop a permanently manned space station and to do it within a decade.”
Spatial Ability in Military Human-Robot Interaction: A State-of-the-Art Assessment

In the dismounted military field, robots and unmanned vehicles are increasingly used as force multipliers and teammates. As such, a fluent human-robot interaction (HRI) becomes vital and is stimulated by fitting the robot and its interface to the human teammate’s capabilities. This is where individual differences of the human needs to be considered, such as those found in spatial ability. In HRI, information presented to the human teammate requires mental manipulation and interpretation to inform subsequent human actions, which relies on spatial ability. In order to generalize findings to the armed forces and to inform future design requirements, factors pertaining to construct operationalization, measurement, and task type need to be examined. The aim of the present literature review is to investigate spatial ability findings in military HRI.
Separating β relaxation from α relaxation in fragile metallic glasses based on ultrafast flash differential scanning calorimetry

Despite numerous studies on the glass transition and the related relaxation dynamics, the physical mechanism of activation of multiscale relaxation events under various external stimuli in amorphous materials is still unclear. In this study, by combining traditional differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Flash DSC with heating rates spanning over five orders of magnitude, the thermodynamic responses have been systematically studied for several fragile and strong metallic glasses (MGs). A common endothermic event, before the glass transition, is detected when the heating rate increases above a critical value for fragile MGs. This endothermic event is verified to represent the activation of secondary $\ensuremath{\beta}$ relaxation (Johari-Goldstein relaxation), which is commonly found in amorphous materials. For fragile MGs, with an increase in fragility, the critical heating rate to separate $\ensuremath{\beta}$ relaxation from $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ relaxation decreases. In contrast, the $\ensuremath{\beta}$ relaxation does not appear within the current experimental heating rate limit for strong glass systems. Finally, based on the potential energy landscape model and the flow unit model of the heterogeneous structure for MGs, a pathway is proposed for the fragile and strong MGs to understand the physical mechanism for the separation of $\ensuremath{\beta}$ relaxation from $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ relaxation via ultrafast heating. This study clearly demonstrates that the Flash DSC with a wide heating rate range is an effective tool to study the relaxation dynamics in amorphous materials.
Association of Employee Engagement Factors and Turnover Intention Among the 2015 U.S. Federal Government Workforce

Employee turnover is a major challenge facing the federal workforce, which has lost more employees to voluntary turnover than any other form of turnover. This study determined the associations betw...
Book review: Probabilistic Similarity Networks By David E. Heckerman (The MIT Press, 1991)

This is a book about normative expert systems, that is, systems which treat uncertainty using the normative framework of probability theory. The gauntlet of probabilistic reasoning in expert systems was thrown down by the developers of MYCIN when they originated certainty factors. It has been picked up by quite a few, and serious battles have been joined. Now one of the owners of the glove has admitted a success by a probabilist.
Smart routing of electric vehicles for load balancing in smart grids

Abstract Electric vehicles (EVs) are expected to be a major component of the smart grid. The rapid proliferation of EVs will introduce an unprecedented load on the existing electric grid due to the charging/discharging behavior of the EVs, thus motivating the need for novel approaches for routing EVs across the grid. In this paper, a novel distributed control framework based on noncooperative game theory for routing of EVs within the smart grid is proposed. The goal of this framework is to control and balance the electricity load in a distributed manner across the grid while taking into account the traffic congestion and the waiting time at charging stations. The EV routing problem is formulated as a repeated game, and it is shown that the selfish behavior of EVs will result in a pure-strategy Nash equilibrium with the price of anarchy upper bounded by the ratio of the variance of the ground load to the total number of EVs in the grid. In particular, it is shown that any achieved Nash equilibrium substantially improves the load balance across the grid. Moreover, the results are extended to capture the stochastic nature of induced ground load as well as the subjective behavior of the EV owners using the behavioral framework of prospect theory. Simulation results provide new insights on efficient energy pricing at charging stations and under realistic grid conditions.
Assessing the Efficacy of Integrating Computer Science, Math, and Science in a Middle School Sphero Robotics Summer Program

There have been many discussions on the significant lack of representation of minorities in computing. Research suggests that an attributing factor to this deficit is a lack of exposure to computing, computing careers, and underrepresented role models. Introducing underrepresented minority students to hands-on computer science activities at an early age is believed to improve students' attitudes in computing. Increasing students' computing attitudes may help encourage participation and minimize deficiencies in retaining underrepresented minority computing students. An interactive summer program was implemented to teach computing to middle-school-aged underrepresented minority students through a unique curriculum using Sphero robotic balls and math and science concepts. Students were assessed to determine the programs' effectiveness in increasing computing attitudes and academic performance of math and science. Results showed that the intervention significantly improved students' academic performances and their confidence in deciding a future career path. Further evaluation is needed to explore longitudinal effects of the varying levels of math, science, and computing rigor used within this intervention. Findings from this study provide recommendations for how to implement computing practices within the existing math and science curriculum in prospective initiatives.
Representing rape culture on teen television

Increasing cultural attention to sexual assault in the U.S. has raised questions about consent, leading some states to implement “yes means yes” laws. In order to provide insight into how mainstrea...
Abstract P799: Nicotine Along With Oral Contraceptive Exposure Alters Brain Lipid Metabolism and Exacerbates Ischemic Injury in Female Rats

Background: Smoking-derived nicotine (N) and oral contraceptives (OC) synergistically exacerbate both global and focal ischemic brain damage in females. While the underlying mechanisms remain elusi...
Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus

Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a treatable cause of dementia that has a characteristic clinical presentation. PET/MR imaging plays a role in confirming the diagnosis with the primary MRI feature being ventricular enlargement. The simultaneous determination of preserved metabolic activity in the cortex helps confirm NPH and exclude other neurodegenerative disorders.
Linking adhesion GPCRs to glial cell development and function

Abstract The adhesion class of G protein–coupled receptors (aGPCRs) are a family that consists of 33 members in humans. Prior literature has demonstrated the importance of various aGPCRs in a diverse set of diseases, underscoring the importance of these receptors in human health. Although many aGPCRs are orphan receptors, recent work has demonstrated that these receptors contribute heavily to many important processes during development of the nervous system such as myelination and cortical patterning. This chapter focuses on the role of aGPCRs specifically in glial cells, highlighting the untapped potential of aGPCRs as novel therapeutics in neurodegenerative diseases.
TU-G-213-00: The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC): What Is It and Why Should Medical Physicists Care?

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) writes standards that manufacturers of electrical equipment must comply with. Medical electrical equipment, such as medical imaging, radiation therapy, and radiation dosimetry devices, fall under Technical Committee 62. Of particular interest to medical physicists are the standards developed within Subcommittees (SC) 62B, which addresses diagnostic radiological imaging equipment, and 62C, which addresses equipment for radiation therapy, nuclear medicine and dosimetry. For example, a Working Group of SC 62B is responsible for safety and quality assurance standards for CT scanners and a Working Group of SC 62C is responsible for standards that set requirements for dosimetric safety and accuracy of linacs and proton accelerators. IEC standards thus have an impact on every aspect of a medical physicist’s job, including equipment testing, shielding design, room layout, and workflow. Consequently, it is imperative that US medical physicists know about existing standards, as well as have input on those under development or undergoing revision. The structure of the IEC and current standards development work will be described in detail. The presentation will explain how US medical physicists can learn about IEC standards and contribute to their development. Learning Objectives: 1. Learn about the structure of the IEC and the influence that IEC standards have on the design of equipment for radiology and radiation therapy. 2. Learn about the mechanisms by which the US participates in the development and revision of standards. 3. Understand the specific requirements of several standards having direct relevance to diagnostic and radiation therapy physicists.