cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
r-AnalytiCA: Requirements Analytics for Certification & Accreditation

Numerous interdependent quality requirements imposed by regulatory Certification and Accreditation (C&A) processes enable a rich context to gather compliance evidences for promoting software assurance. The goal of the r-AnalytiCA workbench is to make sense out of the large collection of available evidences for a complex software system though multidimensional requirements-driven problem domain analysis. The requirements analytics employed in the workbench support C&A activities by leveraging the expressiveness of ontologies used to model C&A requirements and their interdependencies.
Surgical treatment of right ventricular outflow tract obstruction after Tetralogy of Fallot {S,D,I} repair

Situs solitus of viscera and atria, D-looped ventricle with atrioventricular concordance, and inverted normally related great arteries with ventriculoarterial concordance characterize the segmental anatomy of an extremely rare {S,D,I} variant of Tetralogy of Fallot. The main pulmonary artery is rightward of the aorta and the right coronary artery crosses over the right ventricular outflow tract from left to right to reach the right atrioventricular groove. Our patient had undergone a neonatal repair due to persistent cyanosis with the implantation of a pericardial infundibular patch after the diagnosis of Tetralogy of Fallot {S,D,I}. He presented with an annular right ventricular outflow tract obstruction at 19 months of age. We describe the surgical approach employing a transannular patch implantation for the relief of the annular right ventricular outflow tract obstruction.
Associations of weight stigma with cortisol and oxidative stress independent of adiposity.

Objective: Weight discrimination is associated with increased risk of obesity. The mechanism of this relationship is unknown, but being overweight is a highly stigmatized condition and may be a source of chronic stress that contributes to the development and pathophysiology of obesity. The objective of this study was to test whether weight stigma is associated with physiological risk factors linked to stress and obesity, including hypercortisolism and oxidative stress, independent of
Technical Note-A Dominance Theorem for the Stochastic Queue Median Problem

In this note we prove a dominance property of the set of Hakimi medians for the Stochastic Queue Median SQM problem on a network. The SQM minimizes the average response time of a mobile server to a random request for service which occurs in accordance with independent Poisson processes from nodes of a network. We constructively find two strictly positive ranges of the Poisson arrival rate over which a subset of the Hakimi medians will dominate all other locations on the network. These ranges are at the extremes of the arrival rates in which the SQM problem is feasible. Specifically, these intervals are server utilization ranges covering zero and one, respectively.
ConceptGen: a gene set enrichment and gene set relation mapping tool

Motivation: The elucidation of biological concepts enriched with differentially expressed genes has become an integral part of the analysis and interpretation of genomic data. Of additional importance is the ability to explore networks of relationships among previously defined biological concepts from diverse information sources, and to explore results visually from multiple perspectives. Accomplishing these tasks requires a unified framework for agglomeration of data from various genomic resources, novel visualizations, and user functionality. Results: We have developed ConceptGen, a web-based gene set enrichment and gene set relation mapping tool that is streamlined and simple to use. ConceptGen offers over 20 000 concepts comprising 14 different types of biological knowledge, including data not currently available in any other gene set enrichment or gene set relation mapping tool. We demonstrate the functionalities of ConceptGen using gene expression data modeling TGF-beta-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metabolomics data comparing metastatic versus localized prostate cancers. Availability: ConceptGen is part of the NIH's National Center for Integrative Biomedical Informatics (NCIBI) and is freely available at http://conceptgen.ncibi.org. For terms of use, visit http://portal.ncibi.org/gateway/pdf/Terms%20of%20use-web.pdf Contact: ude.hcimu@negtpecnoc; ude.hcimu@amrotras Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Labeling image patches by boosting based median classifier

This paper presents a median based classifier which predicts the conditional median of the class label given the feature vector. The class label is defined through a hidden variable whose median is further modeled as an additive model of the feature vector. We propose to estimate the conditional median of the hidden variable given the feature vector in the framework of generic functional gradient algorithm [5]. An equivalent form of the definition of median is introduced, whose smoothed version is employed as the objective function. To fit the model for the conditional median, the proposed objective function is maximized by gradient ascent in functional space, updating the fitted model a small step in the gradient direction in each iteration. The resulting algorithm, Median Boost, is a boosting like procedure which obtains the informative features and the classifier at the same time. On the task of labeling building blocks in natural images, the comparison results show that Median Boost performs better than or similar to several alternatives.
Florentine Politics and the Diffusion of Heresy in the Trecento: A Socioeconomic Inquiry

THERE are numerous studies on the nature and influence of the teachings of the Spiritual Franciscans. Florence, in the second half of the Trecento, has been an area of special interest for those researchers who have concerned themselves with the implications of this problem.1 Art historians, as well as those who are interested in communal politics, have demonstrated that the rise of the Fraticelli and the attendant spread of their doctrines played a decisive role in bringing about significant historical changes.2 The purpose of the present inquiry is to examine the underlying political situation that enabled this sect to increase its influence during the decade of the 1340's and to sustain it throughout the third quarter of the fourteenth century. This will also involve an attempt to explain the reasons for its suppression at the end of the Trecento and to elaborate upon the important general discussions of these questions to be found in the works of Tocco and Rodolico.3 The problem pertaining to the spread of heretical ideas is intimately connected with the policies of the Florentine government during this era.4 The survival of
Impact of Regulatory Enforcement on Leakages Prior to Analyst Recommendations

The financial press suggests that information is commonly leaked prior to analyst recommendations. We examine the impact that three regulatory actions (Regulation Fair Disclosure, Global Analysts Research Settlement, and the legal case against Galleon Group) have on information leakage prior to analyst recommendations. We find that all three regulatory actions have significantly reduced the leakage of information prior to analyst recommendations, even after controlling for several characteristics that explain the variation in information leakage. Our results are robust when applying an alternative method of measuring information leakage, and when forming various samples of analyst recommendations based on different criteria.
To Work or Not to Work: Did Tax Reforms Affect Labor Force Participation of Married Couples?

During the period 1960-2000, the proportion of two-earner couples among married couples in the U.S. more than doubled, while tax laws underwent numerous changes, with major reforms taking place in the 1980's (flattening of the federal income tax schedule) and in the 1990's (major expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)). We investigate the impact of the actual tax reforms on married couples' participation through a model of heterogeneous households. Theoretically, we elucidate what aspects of the tax reforms are important for a family time allocation choice when the work choice is discrete. Quantitatively, we show that even in the 1980's, changes in tax laws account for only 8% of the increase in the proportion of two-earner couples, although this small average impact masks a much larger impact experienced by women with high earning husbands. Another important finding is that the Earned Income Tax Credit substantially discourages work participation among married couples with low-earning husbands. A notable contribution of this work is the accurate incorporation of the complex U.S. tax code into a model of heterogeneous households, which is done using TAXSIM, a tax calculator software.
Internal and External Developmental Assets Among African American Male Gang Members

The presence of individual and ecological assets for positive development was assessed through data derived from individual interviews with 45 African American adolescent male members of inner-city Detroit gangsand50 African American adolescent males living in the same communities but involved in community-based organizations (CBOs) aimed at promoting positive youth development.The CBO youth had higher levels of both domains of assets. However, all gang members possessed at least one asset, and 15.6% of the gang youth had a total mean asset score that was above the total mean asset score of the CBO youth. In turn, the asset scores for the former group were significantly more likely to be correlated than was the case for the later group. The implications of these findings are discussed in regard to the idea that all youth possess the potential for positive development and to the nature of policies and programs pertinent to enhancing the life chances of diverse youth.
Excitability of paraventricular nucleus neurones that project to the rostral ventrolateral medulla is regulated by small‐conductance Ca2+‐activated K+ channels

Whole cell patch-clamp recordings were performed in brain slices to investigate mechanisms regulating the excitability of paraventricular nucleus (PVN) neurones that project directly to the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) (PVN–RVLM neurones) of rats. In voltage-clamp recordings, step depolarization elicited a calcium-dependent outward tail current that reversed near EK. The current was nearly abolished by apamin and by UCL1684, suggesting mediation by small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (SK) channels. In current-clamp recordings, depolarizing step current injections evoked action potentials that underwent spike-frequency adaptation (SFA). SK channel blockade with apamin or UCL1684 increased the spike frequency without changing the rate of SFA. Upon termination of step current injection, a prominent medium after-hyperpolarization potential (mAHP) was observed. SK channel blockade abolished the mAHP and revealed an after-depolarization potential (ADP). In response to ramp current injections, the rate of sub-threshold depolarization was increased during SK channel blockade, indicating that depolarizing input resistance was increased. Miniature EPSC frequency, amplitude, and decay kinetics were unaltered by bath application of apamin, suggesting that SK channel blockade likely increased excitability by a postsynaptic action. We conclude that although SK channels play little role in generating SFA in PVN–RVLM neurones, their activation nevertheless does dampen excitability. The mechanism appears to involve activation of a mAHP that opposes a prominent ADP that would otherwise facilitate firing.
The yield of experimental yeast populations declines during selection

The trade-off between growth rate and yield can limit population productivity. Here we tested for this life-history trade-off in replicate haploid and diploid populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae propagated in glucose-limited medium in batch cultures for 5000 generations. The yield of single clones isolated from the haploid lineages, measured as both optical and population density at the end of a growth cycle, declined during selection and was negatively correlated with growth rate. Initially, diploid populations did not pay this cost of adaptation but haploidized after about 1000–3000 generations of selection, and this ploidy transition was associated with a decline in yield caused by reduced cell size. These results demonstrate the experimental evolution of a trade-off between growth rate and yield, caused by antagonistic pleiotropy, during adaptation in haploids and after an adaptive transition from diploidy to haploidy.
A 200-MHz all-digital QAM modulator and demodulator in 1.2- mu m CMOS for digital radio applications

A 200-MHz universal all-digital quadrature modulator and demodulator are presented for implementing the front-end signal processing functions for high-bit-rate digital radio applications. The modulator chip accepts a pair of 8-b in-phase and quadrature data streams and generates a band-limited IF digital output. The demodulator chip accepts a digitized IF input signal and generates a pair of filtered in-phase and quadrature baseband signals. The modulator and demodulator chips each incorporate matched 40-tap finite-impulse-response (FIR) square-root Nyquist filters and can accommodate symbol rates up to Mbd. The modulator chip can generate any arbitrary signal constellation within a rectangular grid of 256*256 points, thus resulting in a generic chip set suitable for a wide variety of high-bit-rate digital modem designs using various advanced multilevel modulation formats such as M-ary QAM. Both chips were fabricated in a 1.2- mu m CMOS process. >
The impact of UVB exposure and differentiation state of primary keratinocytes on their interaction with quantum dots

In this study we utilised an in vitro model system to gain insight into the potential cellular interactions that quantum dot (QD) nanoparticles may experience while transiting the viable skin epidermis, and we consider the effects of UVB exposure. UVB skin exposure is known to induce a skin barrier defect that facilitates QD stratum corneum penetration. Primary human keratinocytes were cultured in low and high calcium to induce basal and differentiated phenotypes, respectively. Results suggest that differentiation state plays a role in keratinocyte response to UVB exposure and exposure to negatively charged CdSe/ZnS core/shell QD. QD cell uptake increased with QD dose but association with differentiated cells was significantly lower than the basal keratinocyte phenotype. Differentiated keratinocytes were also less sensitive to the cytotoxic effects of UVB exposure. We did not observe an effect of UVB preexposure on QD cytotoxicity level despite the fact that fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry data suggest that UVB may slightly increase QD uptake in the basal cell phenotype. The implications of these findings for assessing potential risk of human skin exposure are discussed.
The positive Papanicolaou smear in pregnancy

Abstract Eighteen positive smears were found in 4,794 pregnant women during the years 1959 through 1962. Sixty-seven per cent of the positive smears were diagnosed as carcinoma of the cervix following biopsy antenatally. The postpartum biopsy showed persistent carcinoma in one third of the cases. Although major complications were encountered in pursuing the tissue diagnosis of the positive Papanicolaou smear in pregnancy, it is still felt that its routine use is advisable.
Deep venous thrombosis due to compression of external iliac vein by the penile prosthesis reservoir

Penile implant surgery has a high rate of success and a very high patient satisfaction rate. Compression of the external iliac vein by the reservoir of the penile implant is an extremely rare occurrence. We describe a case of deep vein thrombosis due to compression of the external iliac vein, which required replacement of the penile implant reservoir.
The Twilight of the Doxai: Or, How to Philosophize with a Whac-A-Mole™ Mallet

This article evaluates the hermeneutic value of the category of belief from the perspective of a broadly "continental" philosophy of religion. From Socrates's dismantling of his interlocutors' doxai to Pseudo-Dionysius's un-saying of the divine names to Kierkegaard's noetic divestment to Derrida's aporetic genealogies, it argues that "belief " is the target, rather than the telos, of philo- sophic scrutiny. For the authors engaged here, beliefs are phantasms—uninterrogated positions that uphold a kind of routine political, psychological, or theological order—whose unraveling opens the possibility of difference, and thus of thinking itself.
Looking through the magnifying glass: A duoethnographic approach to understanding the value and process of participatory action research with LGBTQ youth:

Participatory action research is a method intended to shift the power of the “researcher” and “researched.” This paper presents the results of a duoethnographic exploration and analysis of experien...
Abstract 11803: Factors Associated With Delayed Diagnosis of Critical Congenital Heart Defects in Texas

Purpose: Critical congenital heart defects (CCHD) require surgical and/or transcatheter intervention in infancy. They may or may not have ductal dependent circulation. Timely diagnosis before ductal closure is important to reduce morbidity and mortality. Our goal was to identify factors associated with delayed diagnosis of CCHD. Methods: This is a retrospective, population-based, observational study of liveborn infants in Texas born from 2000 - 2009 identified using the Texas Birth Defects Registry (TBDR). Inclusion required a definitive diagnosis of one of 13 selected CCHDs identified by diagnostic code and information on one of three “diagnostic” procedures: prenatal or postnatal echocardiogram or autopsy. Cases with aortic or pulmonary stenosis, coarctation of aorta, tricuspid stenosis or Ebsteins anomaly were included only if they underwent a cardiac surgical or catheterization procedure within 6 weeks of life. Stillborn infants or that died within three days of life (DOL) without evidence of an echoc...
Reliability and degradation modes of 280 nm deep UV LEDs on sapphire

In this paper, we report a study of the degradation of AlGaN-based 280 nm LEDs, which were grown on sapphire substrates using migration-enhanced metalorganic chemical vapor deposition process (MEMOCVD). Electroluminescence (EL), atomic force microscopy (AFM), cathodoluminescence (CL), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations showed that the degradation of deep UV LEDs generally fell into two categories: catastrophic degradation and gradual degradation. The catastrophic degradation was found to be mostly caused by the non-uniformity of surface morphology. The gradual power reduction had two characteristic time constants indicating two possible degradation mechanisms as found from temperature and bias dependent LED power degradation measurements. The faster time constant was bias dependent and virtually constant with temperature whereas the second time constant (slower) varied exponentially with junction temperature. For this temperature dependent part, the activation energies of degradation were determined to be 0.23 eV and 0.27 eV under injected current density of 100 A/cm2 and 200 A/cm2 respectively.
Impacts of silver nanoparticle coating on the nitrification potential of Nitrosomonas europaea.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are increasingly used as bacteriostatic agents to prevent microbial growth. AgNPs are manufactured with a variety of coatings, and their potential impacts on wastewater treatment in general are poorly understood. In the present study, Nitrosomonas europaea, a model ammonia oxidizing bacterium, was exposed to AgNPs with citrate, gum arabic (GA), and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). GA and citrate AgNPs inhibited nitrification most strongly (67.9 ± 3.6% and 91.4 ± 0.2%, respectively at 2 ppm). Our data indicate that Ag+ dissolution and colloid stability of AgNPs were the main factors in AgNP toxicity. In general, low amounts of dissolved Ag initially caused a post-transcriptional interruption of membrane-bound nitrifying enzyme function, reducing nitrification by 10% or more. A further increase in dissolved Ag resulted in heavy metal stress response (e.g., merA up-regulation) and ultimately led to membrane disruption. The highest effect on membrane disruption was observed for citrate...
Effect of Price Support Policies on Grain Production in China

This paper examines the effect of price support polices on grain production with samples of rice production areas through 2004-2006 based on Difference-in-difference Estimation.The findings show that there is no evidence of significant impact of price support policies on rice production land acreage with low cost effectiveness(more room for cost saving),that existing acreage of cultivated land,the proportion of effective irrigation and agricultural labor force affect rice production to some extent.We then propose to maintain steadfastly the acreage of cultivated land,to strengthen the construction of agricultural infrastructure,and to promote the division of labor in agriculture.
Human Thirst: The Controls of Water Intake in Healthy Men

The purpose of these experiments was to apply the knowledge gained from experiments in animals to understanding the controls of water intake in healthy men. The unique advantage of studying thirst in humans is that the measurement of physiological parameters can be combined with the simultaneous assessment of subjective sensations associated with thirst and fluid intake. In the series of experiments to be described, factors involved in the initiation and termination of drinking are considered as well as changes in thirst which are associated with aging.
CONCEPT OF THE NEUROCHEMICAL TRANSDUCER AS AN ORGANIZED MOLECULAR UNIT AT SYMPATHETIC NERVE ENDINGS.

Publisher Summary Endogenous norepinephrine (NE) in nerve tissue is present in a relatively inactive form. On energetic grounds, it may be presumed that NE is sequestered from inactivating enzymes by a membrane that also prevents free diffusion of the amine onto reactive sites. As NE is a highly polar compound, the barrier may be regarded as a lipoid layer. But a lipoid membrane by itself will not explain the storage of NE as the amine is held in nerve endings at a much higher level than in the extracellular fluid. This chapter develops a model of the neurochemical transducer in terms of what is known about NE in nerve endings. A provisional model of a neurochemical transducer has been formulated as an integrated biophysical unit, which in nerve endings controls synthesis, storage, release, and metabolism of NE. It is stressed that synthesis, storage, release, and metabolism of NE are not unrelated phenomena and must be considered together in interpreting drug action. The action of a number of drugs that act on sympathetic tone has been discussed in the chapter in relation to the neurochemical transducer.
Gastrointestinal Changes in the Malnourished Child

This presentation highlights the morphologic and functional changes that occur in the gastrointestinal tract in protein-calorie malnutrition, and treatment of the malnourished child.
ADJUVANT BRACHYTHERAPY FOR TREATMENT OF CHEST WALL SARCOMAS

Thirty patients treated with surgical resection and brachytherapy for chest wall sarcoma at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center from 1980 through 1987 were reviewed. Patients selected to receive adjuvant irradiation were those for whom there was doubt as to the completeness of surgical resection. Overall 5-year survival and locoregional control after brachytherapy were 65% and 54%, respectively. Locoregional control was similar for tumors treated at initial diagnosis (12 patients), at the time of recurrence (13 patients), or for tumors that were metastatic to the chest wall (five patients). Six patients with tumors larger than 10 cm in maximum dimension had a locoregional recurrence rate of 69% versus a recurrence rate of 39% for 18 patients with smaller tumors (p = 0.27). Fifty-four percent of high-grade tumors recurred locoregionally versus 28% of low-grade tumors (p = 0.37). Bone invasion or the presence of positive resection margins was not clearly associated with a higher locoregional failure rate. Only one patient (1/28; 7%) was known to have had recurrence within the irradiated area. Eight patients (8/28; 37%) had recurrence adjacent to the implanted area, and the precise failure site could not be determined for the remaining two patients. Because of the relatively high risk of regional versus in-field recurrence, patients with chest wall sarcoma who receive adjuvant treatment should be treated primarily with external-beam irradiation to allow more generous coverage of the tumor bed. Brachytherapy could be used as a tumor bed "boost" treatment. In patients undergoing resection of recurrent tumor in a previously irradiated site, adjuvant brachytherapy, without external-beam irradiation, should be considered to reduce the risk of extensive soft tissue necrosis.
Anti-angiogenic and anti-tumor activities of PPARα ligands

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 45, 2004 4784 Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) is a ligand-activated nuclear receptor that is critical in inflammation and lipid metabolism. It is the molecular target of the fibrate class of lipid-lowering drugs, such as fenofibrate, which are orally administered, FDA-approved drugs widely used for the treatment of hyperlipidemia with minimal side effects. In animal models, PPARα ligands have been reported to inhibit tumor growth, although the mechanism of action remains unclear. We hypothesized the following: 1) tumor endothelium is a potential target of PPARα ligands; 2) PPARα ligands inhibit both endothelial (angiogenesis) and tumor cell growth, and the observed anti-tumor effect results from a synergism of both activities. To test this hypothesis, we first analyzed the expression pattern of PPARα in the endothelium of various tumors by immunofluorescent double-staining for PPARα and the endothelium marker CD31. PPARα was expressed in tumor cells and the endothelium of all tumors studied, as well as in 19 tumor cell lines. To demonstrate the effects of endothelial PPARα activation on cell proliferation, we analyzed five different PPARα ligands at doses that specifically activate PPARα. The PPARα ligand, fenofibrate, exhibited the most inhibition of bFGF and VEGF-induced proliferation of endothelial cells. Moreover, fenofibrate inhibited VEGF-stimulated endothelial cell migration and capillary tube formation. In addition to these direct anti-angiogenic effects in vitro, PPARα ligands also had effects on tumor cells that suggest indirect anti-angiogenic activity. Fenofibrate suppressed bFGF and VEGF production and increased thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) levels in tumor cells. Fenofibrate also directly inhibited the proliferation of tumor cells. To study tumor cell invasion, we determined the effect of PPARα ligand treatment on MMP and TIMP activity; TIMP activity was increased in endothelial cells treated with PPARα ligands, while MMP levels were unaffected by the same treatment. In our in vivo studies, PPARα ligands suppressed angiogenesis by inhibiting corneal neovascularization induced by bFGF pellets. This effect was only observed in PPARα wildtype and not in PPARα null mice, demonstrating that the anti-angiogenic activity is mediated through PPARα. In addition, PPARα ligands inhibited VEGF-induced vascular permeability in vivo. Systemic oral administration with PPARα ligands inhibited primary tumor growth including experimental glioblastoma (U87) and fibrosarcoma (HT1080). Analysis of PPARα ligand-treated tumors revealed anti-angiogenic (decreased endothelial cell proliferation and increase in TSP-1), anti-inflammatory (decrease in leukocyte extravasation), and direct anti-tumor effects (decrease in tumor cell proliferation). Together, these results suggest that PPARα ligands may be useful in treating cancer by anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic effects.
Estimation of slowness-dependent source and receiver corrections for P-wave travel times

Abstract Tectonically regionalized tau estimates are used to obtain seismic P -wave travel-time corrections for lateral variations in the Earth9s crust and shallow-mantle velocity structure. The corrections, in the form of estimates of tau perturbations, are functions of slowness and are assessed for both the source and receiver regions. The functional form is derived analytically and allows interpretations of causative velocity anomalies. Corrections for both ray path endpoints constrain effects typically assigned solely to the receiver, thereby helping assess systematic errors in hypocentral parameters. Over 1.25 million ISC Bulletin P -wave ray paths are used to estimate tau perturbation functions for seven types of tectonic regions. Particular attention is given to the problem of uniformly sampling all tectonic regions at all propagation depths in the mantle. Estimates of source and receiver tau perturbations are consistently less than 1 sec and show a definite and systematic difference between the travel-time correction functions for oceans and continents. Source tau perturbations are indicative of negative velocity anomalies in the shallow mantle beneath oceanic regions and positive anomalies beneath continental regions and oceanic trenches. Heterogeneity confined to the upper 250 km of the mantle suggests velocity variations within ±5 per cent of the lateral mean over a depth interval of approximately 100 km. Differences between the receiver and source perturbations for a common tectonic region are attributed to variations in the characteristic crustal structure of the region, constrained by the receiver perturbation, and errors in origin time and/or focal depth, determined from the source perturbation. The estimates of perturbation functions therefore suggest systematic regional biases in crustal structure and hypocentral parameters. A less than average crustal thickness in oceanic regions and greater thickness in stable continental regions is indicated. Furthermore, it appears that the origin times of sources in oceanic regions are systematically determined too late and/or focal depths located too shallow, whereas origin times of sources in continental regions are systematically determined too early and/or focal depths located too deep.
The Relationship Between Extent of Hemoglobin Purification and the Performance Characteristics of a Blood-Based Flocculant

Whole blood is a highly complex substance. Hemoglobin, the most abundant blood protein, can function as a flocculant; most of the other blood components exhibit poor flocculant activity. For the purpose of processing raw whole blood into a flocculant product, the practical value of hemoglobin purification is uncertain.; Results: This study compares the flocculant performance of whole blood to that of three different semi-purified hemoglobin preparations. The whole blood is processed to remove the plasma proteins, the solid cell components, or both. The flocculant performance of whole blood and each hemoglobin preparation is compared over wide ranges of flocculant dose and suspension pH. The clarified liquids are examined for increases in chemical oxygen demand and Kjeldahl nitrogen. Hemoglobin preparations that excluded plasma gave peak flocculation performance at approximately 30 mg solids per gram of suspended kaolin, and gave greatly reduced performance at higher doses; preparations that included plasma gave very similar peak performance, but also maintained relatively high performance at doses up to at least 200 mg g-1 .; Conclusion: It is shown that removal of the plasma and the cell solids does not improve the flocculant performance or lessen the residual pollutants in the treated water. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.; Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Suicides Among Male Veterans and Civilians in Los Angeles County, 2010–2011

Male veterans are at increased risk for suicide. This study used data from the 2010–2011 California Electronic Violent Death Reporting System to examine precipitating circumstances associated with Los Angeles County suicide decedents by military status. Results from a logistic model indicated recent family death (having a family member pass away in the last 5 years prior to decedent's own death) and suicide ideation (distinct from disclosed intent) as circumstances that were more likely to be associated with suicide decedents who were veterans than civilians. Subsequently, chi-square analysis was used to identify points of intervention for younger and older veterans, respectively. Veterans younger than 45 were likely to experience alcohol and substance use (p = 0.003) problems, whereas those older than 45 were likely to have physical health problems (p < 0.001). These results suggest socioecological implications for understanding and preventing veteran suicides, such as the need for additional soc...
Workshop on Emerging Technology and Data Analytics for Behavioral Health

Wearable and portable digital devices can support self-monitoring for patients with chronic medical conditions, individuals seeking to reduce stress, and people seeking to modify health-related behaviors such as substance use or overeating. The resulting data may be used directly by a consumer, or shared with a clinician for treatment, a caregiver for assistance, or a health coach for support. The data can also be used by researchers to develop and evaluate just-in-time interventions that leverage mobile technology to help individuals manage their symptoms and behavior in real time and as needed. Such wearable systems have huge potential for promoting delivery of anywhere-anytime health care, improving public health, and enhancing the quality of life for many people. The Center for Technology and Behavioral Health at Dartmouth College, a P30 “Center of Excellence” supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, conducted a workshop in February 2017 on innovations in emerging technology, user-centered design, and data analytics for behavioral health, with presentations by a diverse range of experts in the field. The workshop focused on wearable and mobile technologies being used in clinical and research contexts, with an emphasis on applications in mental health, addiction, and health behavior change. In this paper, we summarize the workshop panels on mobile sensing, user experience design, statistics and machine learning, and privacy and security, and conclude with suggested research directions for this important and emerging field of applying digital approaches to behavioral health. Workshop insights yielded four key directions for future research: (1) a need for behavioral health researchers to work iteratively with experts in emerging technology and data analytics, (2) a need for research into optimal user-interface design for behavioral health technologies, (3) a need for privacy-oriented design from the beginning of a novel technology, and (4) the need to develop new analytical methods that can scale to thousands of individuals and billions of data points.
Role of biological membranes in slow-wave sleep

Two involvements of cellular membranes in slow-wave sleep (SWS) are discussed. In the first the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is focussed upon, and in the second, the plasmalemma, where specific binding sites (receptors?) for promoters of slow-wave sleep are believed to be located. The study concerning the ER focusses on an enzyme in the brain, glucose-6-phosphatase, which, although present at low levels, manifests greatly increased activity during SWS compared to the waking state. The work on the plasmalemma has to do with the specific binding of muramyl peptides, inducers of slow-wave sleep, to various cells, and membrane preparations of various sorts, including those from brain tissue. Such cells as macrophages from mice, B-lymphocytes from human blood, and cells from a cell line (C-6 glioma) have been examined in this context.
Sensitivity of Transient Stability Critical Clearing Time

Once the critical clearing time of a fault leading to transient instability has been computed, it is desirable to quantify its dependence on system parameters. We derive, for a general power system model a new and exact formula for the first-order sensitivity of the critical clearing time with respect to any system parameter. The formula is evaluated by integrating variational equations forward in time along the base case fault-on trajectory and integrating adjoint variational equations backward in time along the postfault trajectory. The computation avoids recomputing the critical clearing time for each parameter change and gives insight into how parameters influence power system transient stability. The computation of the sensitivity of the critical clearing time with respect to load impedances and generator inertias is illustrated on a 39-bus system.
Discussions on Two Multimedia R & D Projects: The Palenque Project and the Interactive Video Project of the Museum Education Consortium

This paper briefly describes two multimedia research and development projects with which I’ve been involved over the past six years: Bank Street College’s Palenque Project and Museum Education Consortium’s Interactive Video Project. These projects will be considered together in this paper, because the interactive multimedia prototypes developed for each share a pedagogical bias toward discovery-based learning, as well as a variety of other design characteristics, despite the fact that they were designed with different hardware systems, content areas, target audiences, and learning contexts in mind.
Modulation Bandwidth of Double Tunneling-Injection Quantum Dot Lasers: Effect of Out-Tunneling Leakage

The effect of out-tunneling leakage of carriers from quantum dots (QDs) on modulation bandwidth of semiconductor double tunneling-injection (DTI) QD lasers is studied. In this type of laser, as an alternative to conventional pumping, electrons and holes are injected into QDs by tunneling from two separate quantum wells (QWs) located on the opposite sides of the QD layer and separated from the latter by thin barrier layers. Fast tunneling-injection into QDs should be maintained to ensure the high modulation bandwidth. It may also seem that out-tunneling leakage from QDs (tunneling of electrons to the hole-injecting QW and holes to the electron-injecting QW), which is an undesirable process, should be kept as slow as possible (or even totally suppressed) to maximize the modulation bandwidth. However, it is shown in this paper that, due to zero-dimensional nature of QDs, the modulation bandwidth is practically unaffected by out-tunneling leakage from them—it depends only slightly on the out-tunneling time. Hence, concerning out-tunneling leakage, DTI QD lasers are robust—provided that tunneling-injection is fast, no significant effort should be necessary to suppress out-tunneling leakage in practical devices.
Cohesin and microtubule dependent mechanisms regulate sister centromere fusion during meiosis I

Abstract Sister centromere fusion is a process unique to meiosis that promotes co-orientation of the sister kinetochores, ensuring they attach to microtubules from the same pole. We have found that the kinetochore protein SPC105R/KNL1 and Protein Phosphatase 1 (PP1-87B) are required for this process. The analysis of these two proteins, however, has shown that two independent mechanisms maintain sister centromere fusion during meiosis I in Drosophila oocytes. Double depletion experiments demonstrated that the precocious separation of centromeres in Spc105R RNAi oocytes is Separase-dependent, suggesting cohesin proteins must be maintained at the core centromeres. In contrast, precocious sister centromere separation in Pp1-87B RNAi oocytes does not depend on Separase or Wapl. Further analysis with microtubule destabilizing drugs showed that PP1-87B maintains sister centromeres fusion by regulating microtubule dynamics. Additional double depletion experiments demonstrated that PP1-87B has this function by antagonizing Polo kinase and BubR1, two proteins known to promote kinetochore-microtubule (KT-MT) attachments. These results suggest that PP1-87B maintains sister centromere fusion by inhibiting stable KT-MT attachments. Surprisingly, we found that loss of C(3)G, the transverse element of the synaptonemal complex (SC), suppresses centromere separation in Pp1-87B RNAi oocytes. This is evidence for a functional role of centromeric SC in the meiotic divisions. We propose two mechanisms maintain co-orientation in Drosophila oocytes: one involves SPC105R to protect cohesins at sister centromeres and another involves PP1-87B to regulate spindle forces at end-on attachments. Author Summary Meiosis involves two cell divisions. In the first division, pairs of homologous chromosomes segregate, in the second division, the sister chromatids segregate. These patterns of division are mediated by regulating microtubule attachments to the kinetochores and stepwise release of cohesion between the sister chromatids. During meiosis I, cohesion fusing sister centromeres must be intact so they attach to microtubules from the same pole. At the same time, arm cohesion must be released for anaphase I. Upon entry into meiosis II, the sister centromeres must separate to allow attachment to opposite poles, while cohesion surrounding the centromeres must remain intact until anaphase II. How these different populations of cohesion are regulated is not understood. We identified two genes required for maintaining sister centromere cohesion, and surprisingly found they define two distinct mechanisms. The first is a kinetochore protein that maintains sister centromere fusion by recruiting proteins that protect cohesion. The second is a phosphatase that antagonizes proteins that stabilize microtubule attachments. We propose that entry into meiosis II coincides with stabilization of microtubule attachments, resulting in the separation of sister centromeres without disrupting cohesion in other regions, facilitating attachment of sister chromatids to opposite poles.
Evaluation of Aging's Effect on Temperature-Sensitive Electrical Parameters in SiC mosfets

The temperature-sensitive electrical parameters (TSEPs) have been used in silicon carbide (SiC) mosfets junction temperature measurement for over-temperature protection and condition monitoring. However, the device aging can affect the TSEPs and thus leads to false ${\boldsymbol{T}}_{\boldsymbol{j}}$ measurement. In this article, the aging's impacts on various TSEPs are comprehensively investigated. Specifically, utilizing the dc power cycling test, both the gate oxide instability and package degradation are considered. Then the commercial devices with different structures are aged, and their temperature-dependent static and switching characteristics are evaluated at different aging cycles. Both the positive gate bias-induced threshold voltage shift and package degradation are observed, and their impacts on each TSEP are evaluated independently. Based on the evaluation results at various operating conditions, the temperature measurement errors due to different aging mechanisms are well summarized for each TSEP. From the dc power cycling test result, the package degradation's impact on TSEPs is found to be more significant than the gate oxide instability. It is pointed out that the aging's effect on TSEPs is an important factor that needs to be considered for accurate ${\boldsymbol{T}}_{\boldsymbol{j}}$ measurement in SiC mosfets .
Functional mapping of torrefied product characteristics with index of torrefaction

Abstract Torrefaction converts raw biomass into a product with higher energy density, higher fixed carbon, better grindability, HHV and longer shelf life. The extent of improvement in these and other properties can be governed by appropriately regulating the reactor operating conditions for a specified biomass. The industrial applications ranging from biofuels to chemicals have different priorities for the specific characteristics of the torrefied biomass. Some of the earlier studies on torrefaction have quantified the overall process performance by defining a parameter or index for the degree or severity of torrefaction. However, very few attempts have been made to relate the torrefaction severity to the properties of the torrefied biomass. In this paper, we have simplified the reference condition for earlier proposed definition of index of torrefaction (Basu et al. [1]) and showed that there exists a quantifiable functional relationship between the defined index and the characteristics of the torrefied biomass. The mapping co-relations depend on the type of biomass feedstock, and the index informs the type of biomass appropriate for a specific application. While this paper focuses only on classical torrefaction characteristics such as energy density, proximate and elemental analyses, and batch and continuous grindability, this analysis can be generalized to quantify other non-classical characteristics such as densification, cooking fuel characteristics, and biochar-soil interactions.
A Best Practice of 5G Layer 2 Network on Intel Architecture

This paper investigates a 5G layer 2 network software architecture design on Intel architecture with best practice. We consider to utilize both CPU and hardware acceleration units to implement layer 2 protocols according to 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). By considering different split options in centralized unit and distributed unit, the proposed software architecture is proved to be able to suit for both scenarios, as well as small cell and macro cell deployment scenarios. Numerical results show that the proposed architecture can be realized on IntelÂ® XeonÂ® processors with pretty good performance, with high throughput, minimum latency and minimum CPU costs.
Chapter 18 – Wavefield Equations

Seismic wavefields represent one of the most important types of geophysical fields. These fields are widely used in seismology and in seismic exploration to gain important information about the internal structure of the earth and the location of mineral deposits. In this chapter, we discuss the general principles of acoustic and elastic wave propagation. We begin our study with the basic equations of the deformation of an elastic body, including the Hooke’s law, and derive dynamic equations of elasticity theory governing the elastic wave propagation. The properties of compressional and shear waves, as well as acoustic wave models, are discussed in details. The Green’s functions play an important role in the theory of the acoustic and elastic wave equations. These functions and their high frequency (WKBJ) approximations are used for constructing a family of Kirchhoff integral formulae and their analogs. In summary, this chapter provides a basis for integral representations of the seismic fields, which we will use in studying a seismic inverse problem.
A Density Functional Theory (DFT) Study on the Effect of Chlorine in the Magnesium Zinc Oxide (MZO) Front Interface for Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) Thin Film Solar Cells

Cadmium telluride photovoltaics has benefitted greatly from the cadmium chloride treatment which causes a remarkable improvement in cell efficiencies. This work investigates the effect of elemental chlorine at the interface between the magnesium zinc oxide front contact and the cadmium telluride absorber in such a device. Band alignment including band bending and interface states and its role in potential charge carrier transport is the key feature studied. It is seen that a small amount of chlorine is leads to a more desirable band alignment. Higher concentrations of chlorine result in unfavorable band characteristics.
Preoperative MRI and Intraoperative Arthroscopic Evaluation of Chondral Pathology at the Hip Chondrolabral Junction

Background:Previous literature has found that hip magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has lower accuracy and reliability in preoperative diagnosis of cartilage and labral pathology compared with knee ...