cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cellular function of elastase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: role in the cleavage of nucleoside diphosphate kinase and in alginate synthesis

Elastase is a major virulence factor in Pseudomonas aeruginosa that is believed to cause extensive tissue damage during infection in the human host. Elastase is secreted in non-mucoid P. aeruginosa. It is known that secretion of most virulence factors such as elastase, lipase, exotoxin A, etc., in P. aeruginosa is greatly reduced in alginate-secreting mucoid cells isolated from the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. We have previously reported that in mucoid P. aeruginosa, an intracellular protease cleaves the 16 kDa form of nucleoside diphosphate kinase (Ndk) to a truncated 12 kDa form. This smaller form is membrane associated and has been observed to form complexes with specific proteins to predominantly generate GTP, an important molecule in alginate synthesis. The main aim of this study was to purify and characterize this protease. The protease was purified by hydrophobic interaction chromatography of the crude extract of mucoid P. aeruginosa 8821, a CF isolate. Further analysis using a gelatin containing SDS-polyacrylamide gel detected the presence of a 103 kDa protease, which when boiled, migrated as a 33 kDa protein on a SDS-polyacrylamide gel. The first 10 amino acids from the N-terminus of the 33 kDa protease showed 100% identity to the mature form of elastase. An elastase-negative lasB::Cm knock-out mutant in the mucoid 8821 background was constructed, and it showed a non-mucoid phenotype. This mutant showed the presence of only the 16 kDa form of Ndk both in the cytoplasm and membrane fractions. We present evidence for the retention of active elastase in the periplasm of mucoid P. aeruginosa and its role in the generation of the 12 kDa form of Ndk. Finally, we demonstrate that elastase, when overproduced in both mucoid and non-mucoid cells, stimulates alginate synthesis. This suggests that the genetic rearrangements that trigger mucoidy in P. aeruginosa also allow retention of elastase in the periplasm in an active oligomeric form that facilitates cleavage of 16 kDa Ndk to its 12 kDa form for the generation of GTP, required for alginate synthesis.
Regulating the reapers: activating metacaspases for programmed cell death

Research during the past two decades has revealed that specialized cysteine proteases act as conserved initiators or executioners for programmed cell death (PCD) in eukaryotes. Caspases were first identified as common regulators of PCD in metazoans, whereas the role of metacaspases (MCs) as regulators of cellular suicide in plants has only been shown genetically in the past several years. Together with recent biochemical and molecular characterizations of some of the representative MCs from different model systems, multiple mechanisms that can mediate the post-translational regulation of these proteases are beginning to emerge. Further elucidation of these regulatory pathways and definition of the downstream degradomes targeted by MCs should lead to a better understanding of cell death control in plants, protozoans, and fungi.
Analytical solution of the contact problem of a rigid indenter and an anisotropic linear elastic layer

We use the Stroh formalism to study analytically generalized plane strain deformations of a linear elastic anisotropic layer bonded to a rigid substrate, and indented by a rigid cylindrical indenter. The mixed boundary-value problem is challenging since the a priori unknown deformed indented surface of the layer contacting the rigid cylinder is to be determined as a part of the solution of the problem. For a rigid parabolic prismatic indenter contacting either an isotropic layer or an orthotropic layer and a flat rigid punch indenting a half space, the computed solutions are found to agree well with those available in the literature. Parametric studies have been conducted to delimit the length and the thickness of the layer for which the derived relation between the axial load and the indentation depth caused by the rigid cylinder is valid. The indentation of a face centered cubic crystal with the plane of indentation oriented differently from the principal planes of symmetry has also been studied to illustrate the applicability of the technique to general layers made of anisotropic materials. Results presented herein can serve as benchmarks with which to compare solutions obtained by other methods.
Spatial distribution, fruit production and seed removal of a rare, dioecious canopy tree species (Aglaia aff. flavida Merr. et Perr.) in Papua New Guinea

All mature individuals of Aglaia aff. flavida (Meliaceae) were mapped in a 260 ha study area at the Crater Mountain Biological Research Station in Papua New Guinea. Sixty-foul reproductively mature trees were found in an aggregated distribution with a mean inter-tree distance of 88.9 m. Thc sample consisted of 35 femnale and 29 male trees with a mealn shortest distance between sexes of 232 m. Seed production and seed removal of 22 female trees was mon- itored throughout the 1992 fruiting season. Female trees withinl 200 m of male trees generally produced largc seeds crops (> 100 seeds) whereas trces farther than 200 m from the nearest male had small seed crops (< 100 sceds) regardless of female size (DBH). Most seeds (63.2%, n = 3312) produced in a sub-sample of 22 trees came fiom the five most fecund trees, which also produced 74.1% of the seeds that were removed by vertebrate dispersers. Where a minority of a population of r are tropical trees produce the majority of progeny, sustainable harvest practices would be most effective where highly fecund individuals are identificd and conserved.
An Investigation of the Spelling Skills of Braille Readers

This study compared the spelling skills of students who are braille readers to a normative sample. The Test of Written Spelling was administered to 23 students who are blind at various grade levels...
River-margin habitat of Ardipithecus ramidus at Aramis, Ethiopia 4.4 million years ago

The nature and type of landscape that hominins (early humans) frequented has been of considerable interest. The recent works on Ardipithecus ramidus, a 4.4 million years old hominin found at Middle Awash, Ethiopia, provided critical information about the early part of human evolution. However, habitat characterization of this basal hominin has been highly contested. Here we present new sedimentological and stable isotopic (carbon and oxygen) data from Aramis, where the in situ, partial skeleton of Ar. ramidus (nicknamed 'Ardi') was excavated. These data are interpreted to indicate the presence of major rivers and associated mixed vegetations (grasses and trees) in adjacent floodplains. Our finding suggests that, in contrast to a woodland habitat far from a river, Ar. ramidus lived in a river-margin forest in an otherwise savanna (wooded grassland) landscape at Aramis, Ethiopia. Correct interpretation of habitat of Ar. ramidus is crucial for proper assessment of causes and mechanisms of early hominin evolution, including the development of bipedalism.
A gradient inverse planning algorithm with dose-volume constraints

An inverse planning algorithm for determining the intensity-modulated beams that will most closely generate a desired dose distribution is presented. The algorithm is three-dimensional and does not explicitly depend on beam energies and modalities. It allows a single prescription dose or a window of acceptable doses to be specified for the target, with additional constraints to account for under- or over-dosing. For the protection of organs at risk, it provides maximum-dose and dose-volume constraints. The latter apply to the entire volume of the organ exposed to the corresponding dose levels. Several levels of each type of constraint, with varying penalty weights, may be specified for each organ. The objective function that serves as the measure of the goodness of the solution is of the least-squares type and is minimized using conjugate gradient methods. Typical clinical cases involving 40,000 points and 4000 rays to be determined require about 10 min of CPU time on a DEC AlphaStation. Results are presented for two clinical sites, prostate and lung. The optimization algorithm yielded plans that featured higher target dose homogeneity, compared with the human planner's plan, while selectively sparing more of the normal organs at the desired dose regions.
Directional Modulation using independent waveforms at each element of a phased array radar

This work demonstrates the utilization of digital at every element signal generation to show the effect of directional modulation for radar. For example, where the code modulation used for pulse compression can be changed as a function of angle, such that the code of interest is only generated at the direction of the beam with different codes appearing just off the beam axis, allowing for angular discrimination based on the transmit signal. Target returns from within the main lobe or a side-lobe can be discriminated by intelligently transmitting different waveforms on different antenna elements, where the desired waveform is only formed external to the antennas in the air through wave combination. Therefore the angular pattern of the coherent return of the pulse will be different than the power pattern typically associated with the transmission from the array. In this paper, methods for constructing the waveform for relatively small, simple four-element arrays as a demonstration of how the concept could scale to larger systems. The directional modulation capability is shown by looking at the correlation of the code at various locations from the antenna array. The capabilities of the directional modulation effect were demonstrated by measuring the incident signal at various target locations, which was passed through matched filter bank to make angular determinations based on the relative peak magnitudes of each matched filter.
Über die Spaltung der Doppelbindung im Neoergosterol

By a careful sidechain cleavage of neoergosteryl acetate, 3,β-hydroxy-ar, B-bisnorcholanaldehyde could be isolated as its crystalline dimethyl acetal (Va). Acetylation and bromination afforded 3β-acetoxy-20-bromo-ar, B-bisnorcholanaldehyde(VI), which was converted to the 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone of 3β-acetoxy-ar, B-Δ17:20-bisnorcholenaldehyde (VII).
Active or Passive? Reforming Employment Benefits in the OECD

The last three decades witnessed attempts to reduce employment benefits in many OECD countries. This study distinguishes between three types of benefits: employment protection legislation (EPL), active labour market policies (ALMPs), and unemployment compensation. Using structural equation modeling, the study systematically examines the determinants of these benefits in 23 countries (1985 to 2008). The analysis contributes to the welfare state literature in at least three ways. First, it goes beyond studies of individual programs or overall “welfare effort” by examining three programs simultaneously. Second, it uncovers both direct and indirect channels of support for these programs. Finally, the analysis reveals, contrary to previous findings, that strict employment protection is quite compatible with more spending on ALMPs and unemployment compensation in some countries.
Intellect as distinct from Openness: differences revealed by fMRI of working memory.

Relatively little is known about the neural bases of the Big Five personality trait Openness/Intellect. This trait is composed of two related but separable aspects, Openness to Experience and Intellect. On the basis of previous behavioral research (DeYoung, Peterson, & Higgins, 2005), we hypothesized that brain activity supporting working memory (WM) would be related to Intellect but not Openness. To test this hypothesis we used fMRI to scan a sample of 104 healthy adults, as they performed a difficult WM task. Intellect (and not Openness) was found to correlate with WM accuracy and with accuracy-related brain activity, in left lateral anterior prefrontal cortex and posterior medial frontal cortex. Neural activity in these regions mediated the association between Intellect and WM performance, implicating these regions in the neural substrate of Intellect. Intellect was also correlated significantly with scores on tests of intelligence and working memory capacity, but the association of Intellect with brain activity could not be entirely explained by cognitive ability.
Dexamethasone regulation of gastrin-releasing peptide receptor in human lung cells.

Abstract We investigated the effects of the glucocorticoid, dexamethasone (Dex), on expression of the gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) receptor by human small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) SHP77 cells. After 12h of 10nM Dex exposure, a six-fold increase in the peak of GRP receptor mRNA compared with untreated controls (10.5±4 versus 1.65±0.15attomols/μg total RNA, respectively, P P P
Lightweight adaptation in model-based reinforcement learning

Reinforcement learning algorithms can train an agent to operate successfully in a stationary environment. Most real-world environments, however, are subject to change over time. Research in the areas of transfer learning and lifelong learning addresses this problem by developing new algorithms that allow agents to adapt to environment change. Current trends in this area include model-free learning and data-driven adaptation methods. This paper explores in the opposite direction of those trends. Arguing that model-based algorithms may be better suited to the problem, it looks at adaptation in the context of model-based learning. Noting that standard algorithms themselves have some built-in capability for adaptation, it analyzes when and why a standard algorithm struggles to adapt to environment change. Then it experiments with lightweight and straightforward methods for adapting effectively.
The Tryptophan-Rich Sensory Protein (TSPO) is Involved in Stress-Related and Light-Dependent Processes in the Cyanobacterium Fremyella diplosiphon.

The tryptophan-rich sensory protein (TSPO) is a membrane protein, which is a member of the 18 kilodalton translocator protein/peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor (MBR) family of proteins that is present in most organisms and is also referred to as Translocator protein 18 kDa. Although TSPO is associated with stress- and disease-related processes in organisms from bacteria to mammals, full elucidation of the functional role of the TSPO protein is lacking for most organisms in which it is found. In this study, we describe the regulation and function of a TSPO homolog in the cyanobacterium Fremyella diplosiphon, designated FdTSPO. Accumulation of the FdTSPO transcript is upregulated by green light and in response to nutrient deficiency and stress. A F. diplosiphon TSPO deletion mutant (i.e., ΔFdTSPO) showed altered responses compared to the wild type strain under stress conditions, including salt treatment, osmotic stress and induced oxidative stress. Under salt stress, the FdTSPO transcript is upregulated and a ΔFdTSPO mutant accumulates lower levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and displays increased growth compared to WT. In response to osmotic stress, FdTSPO transcript levels are upregulated and ΔFdTSPO mutant cells exhibit impaired growth compared to the wild type. By comparison, methyl viologen-induced oxidative stress results in higher ROS levels in the ΔFdTSPO mutant compared to the wild type strain. Taken together, our results provide support for the involvement of membrane-localized FdTSPO in mediating cellular responses to stress in F. diplosiphon and represent detailed functional analysis of a cyanobacterial TSPO. This study advances our understanding of the functional roles of TSPO homologs in vivo.
Pharmacodynamic case study of sunitinib/SU11248 in a gastrointestinal stromal tumor patient: Evidence toward a mechanism of effect

9526 Background: Despite abundant pre-clinical data, the mechanisms of action in humans of multi-targeted small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors against sarcomas remain unclear. Herein, we sough...
Long-Term Durability of Pressure-Treated Wood in a Severe Test Site

Improved estimates of the long-term durability of treated wood products are needed to guide choices about construction materials and allow estimates of design life. This report summarizes the long-term decay and insect resistance of treated wood post and lumber specimens placed in ground contact at a test site of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Product Laboratory in southern Mississippi. Posts treated with relatively low levels of creosote had an estimated durability of 54 years, and slightly less durability was observed in creosote-treated lumber. Pentachlorophenol-treated posts exhibited durability in excess of 60 years, whereas lumber specimens treated to standard ground-contact retentions had no failures after 39 or 45 years. Posts treated with low retentions of copper naphthenate had an estimated 65-year longevity, but lumber specimens treated to higher retentions of copper napththenate had lower average lives of 27 to 30 years. Low-retention ammoniacal copper arsenate (ACA) posts had an estimated durability of 60 years, whereas stakes treated to retentions of 8 kg/m3 (0.5 lb/ft3) or greater with ammoniacal copper zinc arsenate (ACZA) or ACA have had no failures after 30 and 60 years, respectively. Posts treated with a range of retentions of chromated copper arsenate (CCA-C) have had no failures after 35 years, and stakes treated with CCA-A, CCA-B, or CCA-C to retentions above 7 0 kg/m3 (0.43 lb/ft3) have had no failures after 60, 61, and 40 years, respectively. As a whole, the post and lumber specimens indicate an expected durability of over 50 years for creosote-treated wood and over 60 years for wood treated with pentachlorophenol, copper naphthenate, ACZA, or CCA. Comparison of the results from this site to reports from other locations suggests that these results might underestimate the potential durability in more moderate exposures. In relating these findings to treated commodities, it should be noted that these test specimens have not been subjected to the same mechanical loads or wear and tear associated with in-service structures.
INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON THE FLORAL SEX RATIO OF MONOECIOUS PLANTS.

Both theoretical and empirical data suggest that sessile, simultaneous hermaphroditic individuals growing in patchy environments may experience unequal reproductive success via male and female gametes depending on whether they occupy favorable or marginal sites (Schaffner, 1935; Heslop-Harrison, 1972; Freeman et al., 1976, 1980; Charnov and Bull, 1977; Horovitz, 1978; Charnov, 1979a, 1979b; Willson, 1979). Under such conditions, differential tendencies toward maleness and femaleness should be selected for among individuals confined to favorable or unfavorable patches. Further, simultaneously hermaphroditic individuals should display large variations in the sex ratio of flowers on different individuals (Willson, 1979). Such variation might be expected to be controlled by both genetic and environmental cues, if the patches are small and/or the quality of any given patch varies significantly between breeding seasons (Heslop-Harrison, 1972; Freeman et al. 1976; Charnov and Bull, 1977; Frankel and Galun, 1977; Willson, 1979). In 1975, we began a series of studies to determine if the sex ratios of dioecious species differed on sites of differing water availability. We demonstrated that, in five dioecious species, males were proportionately more abundant on xeric sites than on mesic sites, while the females were over-represented on mesic sites (Freeman et al., 1976). Others have made similar observations (Pickett, 1915; Davey and Gibson, 1917; Schaffner, 1922; Lysova and Khizhnyak, 1975; Richards, 1975). We proposed that this pattern was due to disruptive selection acting on the differential success of male and female gametes on sites of differing quality. It seems likely that such forces may have been important in the evolution of the dioecious habit, at least in arid environments. Since disruptive selection appeared to alter the relative success of the male and female functions of dioecious species occupying a local array of sites that differed in the amount of available soil moisture during much of the growing season, it seemed likely that monoecious plants would also differentially emphasize maleness and femaleness on sites of unequal quality. In this note we examine the floral sex ratios of three monoecious species, and how these ratios differ on sites of differing water availability. Since our data (unpubl.) show that most temperate monoecious species are wind pollinated, we have restricted our studies to wind pollinated species.
Early Use of Indirect Immunofluorescence for the Detection of Respiratory Syncytial Virus in HEp-2 Cell Culture

Respiratory syncytial virus is detected in cell culture by the presence of cytopathic effect. To detect RSV before cytopathic effect is usually seen, slides were evaluated retrospectively from 482 HEp-2 cell cultures on days 2-4 after inoculation. Indirect immunofluorescent staining detected RSV in 57 of 94 cultures that eventually were found positive by cytopathic effect. In an additional 19 cases that ultimately showed no cytopathic effect, RSV also was detected. In 15 of the latter cases, the presence of RSV was confirmed in the original specimen. Use of indirect immunofluorescence can be used to augment the sensitivity of cell culture for the detection of RSV because cytopathic effect may not always be evident.
Research of ADOCE 3.0 Application in Embedded Field Information Collection System

Based on the requirements analysis for data management function of embedded field information collection system,this article introduces the structure of Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects for Windows CE(ADOCE),and provides the method for accessing Pocket Access database by using ADOCE in eMbedded Visual C++ 3.0 IDE.The embedded field information collection system proves that above method is success to manage GPS spatial position data and property data.
An approach to recurrent abdominal pain in children.

Chronic abdominal pain can be a symptom of organic illness in children or may indicate the presence of a psychosomatic illness. Helpful procedures and lines of questioning to differentiate between organic or psychosomatic illness are suggested. Once psychosomatic illness is diagnosed, certain principles of therapy should be followed by the family physician.
Hyperkinetic Movement Disorders

The term “hyperkinetic movement disorders” encompasses a wide variety of abnormal movements reflective of pathology at several different sites within the nervous system. Tremor is the most common of these movements, and is characterized by rhythmic oscillation of a body part. The two most common types of tremor are essential tremor and parkinsonian tremor, and these conditions can be distinguished by careful clinical examination. Myoclonus is a brief, shock-like movement of a joint or multiple joints, and is most easily diagnosed by examining for neighborhood signs of neurologic dysfunction. It has a multitude of causes ranging from benign and self-limited to life-threatening. Chorea is an irregular, purposeless, twisting or flowing movement that is usually accompanied by athetosis, a slow, purposeless, writhing movement. A limited number of conditions may cause choreoathetosis, the most important of which is the neurodegenerative disorder, Huntington disease. Dystonia is characterized by twisting, repetitive movements, and leads to torsion or fixation of a body part in a consistent direction. It may be focal or generalized. Myotonia is a disorder of impaired muscle relaxation. The most common causes of myotonia are the multisystem disorder myotonia dystrophy and the more limited myotonia congenita.
Evaluating the Effect of Law Clerk Gender on Voting at the United States Supreme Court

ABSTRACTScholars have analyzed how those with close ties to Supreme Court justices—including family, friends, and political and legal elites—influence judicial behavior, but there are still questions about how law clerks’ attributes affect their relationship to their justice. This is important because clerks’ genders may affect their credibility and their ability to influence their justice’s behavior when a case involves a clear gender dimension. Scholars have uncovered a great deal about the determinants and consequences of the credibility of a different set of attorneys—those who present at oral argument. I apply insights from the literature on attorney credibility to the context of law clerks and analyze whether women enjoy greater credibility and influence in cases involving sex discrimination and abortion. I find that women influence their justice’s vote on the merits, but this influence is conditional on the number of women a justice hires and the justice’s ideology. This finding is robust to accoun...
Mapping Spatial Uncertainty in Prediction

Past research in a range of domains has suggested that individuals tend to underestimate the contribution of random factors in predicting the future and therefore have difficulties understanding va...
The extraction-quench technique for determination of the thermodynamic properties of solute complexes; application to quartz solubility in fluid mixtures

Hydration state, charge and chemical stoichiometry, and Gibbs free energy of aqueous species.A hydrothermal apparatus, capable of obtaining the necessary solubility data in fluid mixtures, is described. Stoichiometry of the dominant aqueous silica species of Si(OH) 4 . 2H 2 O in the supercritical region of H 2 O. Prediction of silica concentrations in CO 2 -H 2 O mixtures in the system CaO-MgO-SiO 2 -HCl-CO 2 -H 2 O at 2 kbar and 450 degrees C.--Modified journal abstract.
Dispersive Stiffness of Dzyaloshinskii Domain Walls

It is well documented that subjecting perpendicular magnetic films that exhibit the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction to an in-plane magnetic field results in a domain wall (DW) energy σ, which is highly anisotropic with respect to the orientation of the DW in the film plane Θ. We demonstrate that this anisotropy has a profound impact on the elastic response of the DW as characterized by the surface stiffness σ[over ˜](Θ)=σ(Θ)+σ^{''}(Θ) and evaluate its dependence on the length scale of deformation. The influence of stiffness on DW mobility in the creep regime is assessed, with analytic and numerical calculations showing trends in σ[over ˜] that better represent experimental measurements of domain wall velocity in magnetic thin films compared to σ alone. Our treatment provides experimental support for theoretical models of the mobility of anisotropic elastic manifolds and makes progress toward a more complete understanding of magnetic domain wall creep.
Early conversion to belatacept after renal transplantation

Belatacept is a non-nephrotoxic immunosuppressive agent, which may make it the ideal agent for patients with delayed or slow graft function on calcineurin inhibitors. There are limited data on conversion of patients to belatacept within 6 months of transplantation. Between 1/2012 and 12/2015 sixteen patients were converted to belatacept for delayed or poor graft function (eGFR <30 ml/min/1.73m, MDRD); three were HIV+. Conversion protocols were analyzed in patients < 4 months and 4-6 months post transplantation. Mean serum creatinine levels after belatacept conversion were compared with pre-conversion levels. Patient survival was 100%, and graft survival was 88%. The mean creatinine fell from 3.9 ± 1.82 mg/dl pre belatacept conversion to 2.1 ±1.1 mg/dl at 6 months and 1.9 ± 0.47 mg/dl (median 1.8 mg/dl) at 12 months post conversion. There was no significant increased risk of rejection, infection or malignancy. HIV parameters remained largely stable. Early conversion to belatacept in patients with DGF or slow graft function is safe and efficacious, in a single center non randomized retrospective analysis. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Enhancing Learning, Changing the World: How Service-Learning Influences the Brain.

Service-learning helps students learn about course concepts through applying them in a setting outside the classroom. The experiences provided by service-learning create conditions that can lead to changes in the learner’s brain. In this paper, we provide support for this assertion from research in brain-based learning with suggestions of how to explicitly apply concepts from these areas of study to service-learning pedagogy so that we might increase learning.
QuASAR: Quality Assessment of Spatial Arrangement Reproducibility in Hi-C Data

Hi-C has revolutionized global interrogation of chromosome conformation, however there are few tools to assess the reliability of individual experiments. Here we present a new approach, QuASAR, for measuring quality within and between Hi-C samples. We show that QuASAR can detect even tiny fractions of noise and estimate both return on additional sequencing and quality upper bounds. We also demonstrate QuASAR9s utility in measuring replicate agreement across feature resolutions. Finally, QuASAR can estimate resolution limits based on both internal and replicate quality scores. QuASAR provides an objective means of Hi-C sample comparison while providing context and limits to these measures.
Decision Theory and the Small Businessman

This is a field study of decision making by small businessmen. Thirty-five owner-managers were studied, and it was found that they employed a multidimensional, stochastic, non-quantitative decision...
Temporomandibular disorders: A position paper of the International College of Cranio-Mandibular Orthopedics (ICCMO)

Purpose: Two principal schools of thought regarding the etiology and optimal treatment of temporomandibular disorders exist; one physical/functional, the other biopsychosocial. This position paper ...
Effect of leaf area on maize productivity.

Maize (Zea mays L) leaves provide energy for growth and development. Increases in plant densities the past 75 years have contributed to increased maize grain yields. No recorded change has been observed in leaf area per plant during this period, but some change may have occurred. Plant density increases are associated with in¬creases in leaf area per-unit of land mass. Grain yield increases resulted from hybrids with improved tolerance to higher plant densities. Recently developed maize hybrids have upright leaves and smaller tassels allowing more light to penetrate the leaf canopy. Tolerance to increased plant density is directly related to intra and inter-plant shading plus changes in leaf area per plant may change leaf canopy structure. To evaluate the concept, maize leaf area affects grain yield, we developed high- and low leaf area hybrids. Objectives were to evaluate productivity of high and low leaf area maize hybrids at three high plant densities for two years. Averaged over three plant densities low leaf area hybrids produced significantly more grain than high leaf area hybrids. Low leaf area hybrids tolerated higher plant density better than high leaf area hybrids. Results indicate low leaf area hybrids are superior in several maize productivity traits.
In/Appropriate Aggression in Presidential Debate: How Trump’s Nonverbal Displays Intensified Verbal Norm Violations in 2016

This chapter takes an integrative, multi-methodological approach to the analysis of political attacks during presidential debates. Using continuous response measures (CRM) recorded from viewers in real time during the third and final US presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016, we identify an equal number of Trump’s character and issue attacks on Clinton. We then analyze the mean differences in CRM response to these episodes and subject each segment to nonverbal coding to determine candidate display behavior at the time of the incident. Results indicate that viewers, regardless of political party affiliation, penalize Trump more for character attacks than issue attacks. Independents show the most aversion to attacks overall. Several instances of Trump standing behind and appearing to “hover over” Clinton from the second debate were then shown to focus groups to probe the boundaries of norm violations and discern how nonverbal displays exhibited by Trump intensified the perceived aggression of his verbal attacks.
Hippocampus activations reflect temporal contexts while medial prefrontal cortex activations reflect ordinal positions during sequence memory in humans

ABSTRACT Sequence memory is a core function of the hippocampus (HC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), but their distinct contributions remain unclear. One possibility is that HC and mPFC represent sequences with temporal contexts and ordinal representations, respectively. To test the unique contributions of the HC and mPFC to sequence memory, we used fMRI while participants performed a sequence memory task suited to investigate underlying representations. After studying sequences, participants indicated whether items were in sequence (InSeq) or out of sequence (OutSeq). In our task, temporal context memory (TCM) predicts graded behavioral performance as a function of temporal contiguity. Thus, we predicted graded impairments across lag distance for items that skipped ahead in the sequence (Skips, e.g., ABD), and that short lags would take the biggest hit. Consistent with TCM, subjects found it difficult to identify OutSeq items that skipped ahead short distances compared to longer distances. We found that the right anterior HC tracked forward lag distance, providing evidence that HC supports sequence memory with temporal contexts. To test ordinal representations, we used items that were transferred from one sequence to another, but retained their position (Ordinal Transfers; e.g., AB3). Ordinal Transfers proved to be more difficult than the other probe types but were detected above chance levels. We found mPFC activity was strongest when Ordinal Transfers were incorrectly identified as InSeq, suggesting mPFC concomitantly codes positions during sequence memory.
Tosio Kato’s work on non-relativistic quantum mechanics, Part 2

We review the work of Tosio Kato on the mathematics of non-relativistic quantum mechanics and some of the research that was motivated by this. Topics in this second part include absence of embedded eigenvalues, trace class scattering, Kato smoothness, the quantum adiabatic theorem and Kato’s ultimate Trotter Product Formula.
Tungiasis, a rare case of plantar inflammatory disease, a review of travelers skin lesions for emergency providers.

Abstract Parasitic infections while common in underdeveloped nations are rarely seen in developed urban centers. We report a case of a thirty-three-year-old male with no past medical history who presented to the emergency department with a chief complaint of “eggs coming out of my foot” after returning home from Brazil. Based on clinical presentation, travel history, and appearance of the lesion, diagnosis was most consistent with tungiasis infection which was confirmed by the pathology examination. It is important to make the appropriate diagnosis when skin lesions are found in returning travelers and emergency providers should take broad differential diagnosis into consideration.
Localization uncertainty-aware autonomous exploration and mapping with aerial robots using receding horizon path-planning

This work presents an uncertainty-aware path-planning strategy to achieve autonomous aerial robotic exploration of unknown environments while ensuring mapping consistency on-the-go. The planner follows a paradigm of hierarchically optimized objectives, which are executed in receding horizon fashion. Initially, a random tree over the known feasible configurations is used to derive a maximal-exploration path, and its first viewpoint is selected as the next waypoint. Subsequently, an uncertainty-optimization step takes place, constructing within a local volume region a second tree of admissible alternative trajectories that all arrive at the reference viewpoint. Belief propagation of the robot state and the tracked landmarks in the environment takes place over the branches of this tree, and the path that minimizes the expected localization and mapping uncertainty is selected. This path is followed by the robot, and the entire process is iteratively repeated. The algorithm’s computational complexity is analyzed and experimental results are used to evaluate its realtime execution efficiency onboard a micro aerial vehicle. The architecture of the complete pipeline is detailed, and an open-source implementation is provided. A complete aerial robot synthesis that enables high-fidelity autonomous reconstruction supported by the proposed planner is also elaborated. Comprehensive experimental evaluation studies that include mockup environments in ambient illumination and in challenging conditions such as clutter and darkness, as well as a field deployment in a railroad tunnel degraded visual environment are presented, with all data provided as openly available.
Subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease

Abstract A 65-year-old woman is referred to discuss deep brain stimulation surgery for Parkinson's disease (PD). She was diagnosed with PD at age 55, after presenting with dragging of the right side of her body. In retrospect, she reported some “slowness” of gait 2 years prior and had seen a number of physicians prior to the diagnosis being made. She does not report a history of tremor. After the diagnosis of PD was made, she was started on carbidopa-levodopa by her treating neurologist with excellent results for a number of years, but upon presentation, now her disease had progressed to the point where she was requiring dosing every 3 hours to maintain her best functional state. While at her best “on” condition, she reported that she felt “almost normal”dhowever, she reported inconsistency in medication effect, along with occasional dose failures and dyskinesias both at peak dose and end dose which could be quite violent.
Clinical Effectiveness of an Intensive Outpatient Program for Integrated Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are pervasive consequences of the post-9/11 conflicts. Treatment of PTSD and mTBI has historically occurred separately and sequentially, which does not reflect the overlapping etiology of symptoms and may attenuate or delay recovery. This paper describes an integrated 2-week treatment program using prolonged exposure and cognitive symptom management and rehabilitation therapy to comprehensively treat PTSD and cognitive complaints attributed to mTBI, regardless of etiology. To minimize potential iatrogenic effects of treating presumed mTBI-related symptoms, a central focus of the program was to instill expectations of full recovery. Thirty patients with full or subclinical PTSD and self-reported TBI history completed the PTSD+TBI treatment program. Results indicated that self-reported PTSD, depression, and neurobehavioral symptoms significantly decreased following treatment, while satisfaction with participation in social roles increased. These preliminary effectiveness data indicate that PTSD complicated by mTBI history can be effectively treated within a 2-week intensive outpatient program.
Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Protocol for Opioid Use Reduction in Ambulatory Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery

Abstract Introduction: The risk of long-term opioid use (90–180 days) in previously opioid-naive patients ranges from 5.9% to 6.5%.1,2 Recent studies conducted investigating whether implementing an...
Periodic Review Inventory Policies for Remanufacturing

This research is focused on production and inventory management in a remanufacturing facility. The remanufacturing facility receives a stream of returned products according to a Poisson process. Demand for serviceable products also follows a Poisson process. The decision problems for the remanufacturing facility are when to release returned products to remanufacturing and how many new products to purchase. In this paper, we study a "push" policy that combines these two decisions. We investigate the performance of the system as a function of problem parameters, and we develop two heuristics based on traditional inventory models. We also develop approximate lower and upper bounds on the optimal solution. The average error of the two heuristics, based on a test using a set of sample problems, is 2.78% and 4.78%, respectively. These results suggest that firms that manage a number of items can safely employ simple models in this complex environment.
Platforms, Political Advertising, and Attentional Choice

As political advertising moves from traditional media sources to online platforms, federal and state disclosure laws have failed to keep pace. Only a handful of states have adopted transparency regulations that cover online political advertising to date, and the task facing lawmakers just became even more challenging. In Washington Post v. McManus, the Fourth Circuit invalidated a Maryland law that created disclosure-and-recordkeeping duties for online political ads. According to the court, Maryland’s law violated the First Amendment because it placed these disclosure obligations on the platforms hosting the ads rather than the political actors buying the ads. This risked “manipulating the marketplace of ideas.” The McManus decision joins a long and unfortunate line of cases that rely upon a vague and functionally meaningless account of the “marketplace of ideas” to invalidate campaign finance regulations. These cases strike down laws for “interfering” with the marketplace of ideas without first explaining what the marketplace of ideas is or exploring how such a market might actually operate. In this Article, I evaluate online-platform disclosure laws under a thicker conception of the marketplace of ideas using the attentional-choice theory of competition. Contrary to the outcome in McManus, I conclude that platform disclosure laws are fully consistent with (and even supportive of) robust competition in the marketplace of ideas.
Thin Spectra and Singular Continuous Spectral Measures for Limit-Periodic Jacobi Matrices

This paper investigates the spectral properties of Jacobi matrices with limit-periodic coefficients. We show that for a residual set of such matrices, the spectrum is a Cantor set of zero Lebesgue measure, and the spectral measures are purely singular continuous. For a dense set of limit-periodic Jacobi matrices we can strengthen the result and show that the spectrum is a Cantor set of zero lower box counting dimension, and hence in particular of zero Hausdorff dimension, while still retaining the singular continuity of the spectral type. We also show how results of this nature can be established by fixing the off-diagonal coefficients and varying only the diagonal coefficients, and, in a more restricted version, by fixing the diagonal coefficients to be zero and varying only the off-diagonal coefficients. We apply these results to produce examples of weighted Laplacians on the multidimensional integer lattice having purely singular continuous spectral type and zero-dimensional spectrum.
CD8+ cells in human immunodeficiency virus type I pathogenesis: cytolytic and noncytolytic inhibition of viral replication.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the potential role of CD8 + lymphocytes in the immunopathogenesis of HIV-1 infection. The chapter describes both the cytolytic and noncytolytic activities of CD8 + cells from infected persons. The CD8 + cells from infected persons are able to suppress HIV-1 replication. Most related studies have been performed by coculturing CD8 + cells with infected CD4 + cells and monitoring the viral replication by supernatant reverse transcriptase (RT) activity or HIV-1 p24 antigen concentration. In the acutely infected individuals, the ability of CD8 + cells to mediate antiviral inhibition develops prior to the development of virus-specific neutralizing antibodies and is temporally correlated to the decline of viremia. The role of HIV-l-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in viral suppression has been defined in experiments analogous to the functional assays used to study the viral suppression by bulk CD8 + cells. The HIV-1 replication in CD4 + cells transfected with the appropriate restricting MHC class I molecule is heavily suppressed in the presence of virus-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs), whereas non-transfected CD4 + cells are not inhibited. Thus, human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-restricted and epitope-specific triggering of CTLs results in antiviral suppression by two mechanisms: cytolytic and noncytolytic.
Package-On-Package Mechanical Reliability Characterization

POP (package-on-package) integration is achieved by stacking laminate substrate packages in vertical direction and interconnecting them with solder balls. Some mechanical reliability issues were addressed through POP development. In particular, package warpage and Si delamination were dominate issue. Package warpage was characterized with FEM-modeling, Shadow Moire and viscoelastic property measurement. Substrate and mold compound optimization techniques are explained in this paper. Also, Si delamination was characterized with FEM-modeling, OMI strain tool (digital image analysis), scratch tester and stress senor TEG. Si surface strength was measured with scratch tester. Si stress and displacement in the package were measured with OMI strain and stress senor TEG. Design optimization for Si delamination is also explained in this paper. Board level drop test performance is also critical issue for POP. So, nano particles of a solder effects on drop test performance is described. Co, Ni, Pt , Al, P, Cu, Zn, Ge, Ag, In, Sb or Au inclusions in Sn-Ag based lead free solders were evaluated to study if these nano particles can improve drop test performance. It was found that some nano particles could improve the performance. This papers describes POP mechanical reliability characterization with some tools.
Optimum biorthogonal DMT systems for multi-service communication

This paper considers the design of biorthogonal DMT multicarrier transceiver systems supporting multiple services. The supported user services may have differing quality of service (QoS) requirements, quantified in this paper by bit rate and symbol error rate specifications. To reflect their service priorities, different users on the system can be potentially assigned different number of subchannels. Our goal is to minimize the transmitted power given the QoS specifications for the different users, subject to the knowledge of colored interference at the receiver input of the DMT system. In particular we find an optimum bit loading scheme that distributes the bit rate transmitted across the various subchannels belonging to the different users, and subject to this bit allocation, determine an optimum transceiver. This work differs from our prior work where the same number of subchannels were assigned to each user.
Leaching behavior of nuclear waste glass heterogeneities

Abstract The results of a six-month burial experiment in granite are discussed. An alkali borosilicate simulated nuclear waste glass was buried in 3 m boreholes at the 345 m level in the Stripa mine. Some glass specimens containing crystallites exhibit preferential attack of the interface between crystalline and glassy phases. The crystalline phase, identified as spinel solid solution, exhibits better chemical resistance than the glassy phase. Results obtained from homogeneous and heterogeneous glasses (i.e., those containing a crystalline phase) are compared.
Double small bowel intussusception complicating bilateral partial nephrectomies

An 11.5-month-old male, diagnosed with bilateral Wilms tumor at 10 months of age, received 6 weeks of chemotherapy and subsequently underwent bilateral partial nephrectomies. On postoperative day 5, he had crampy abdominal pain and bilious vomiting. Abdominal ultrasound confirmed the presence of an intussusception in the right lower quadrant. Laparotomy demonstrated two separate areas of small intestinal intussusception located at jejuno-jejunal and ileo-ileal locations. The patient was successfully treated with manual reduction. A high index of suspicion is necessary to diagnose and treat patients with two different points of intussusception.