cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Microresonator for Microwave Cancer Therapy

This paper presents a numerical analysis on metallic micro/nanoparticles as LC -circuit resonators at microwave frequencies and with strong absorption for cancer therapy. We pushed the LC -structure design to the limit to provide an optimized structure within desired size limits, which can achieve resonance at the frequencies commonly used in interstitial microwave thermal therapies. Moreover, we discovered that the limitation of the microresonator is not the low resonance frequency tradeoff with the small size, but the low Q -value due to insufficient conductivity of materials. This issue can be solved by using multiple-layer-inductor design of LC structures, which could increase the Q -value linearly with the number of inductor layers, but at the cost of fabrication process complexity.
Effects of Herbal Supplements on Clinical Laboratory Test Results

Abstract Herbal supplements can affect laboratory test results by several mechanisms. Many herbs cause organ damage resulting in abnormal liver function tests, kidney function tests, thyroid profiles, etc. For example, Kava-Kava, chaparral, germander, mistletoe and related herbs may cause significant liver damage as reflected by abnormal liver function tests. A drug-herb interaction may be reflected as an unexpected level of a therapeutic drug during routine monitoring. An herbal product may be contaminated with a Western drug resulting in an unexpected drug level for example, phenytoin in a patient that never took phenytoin but took a Chinese herb. Certain Chinese medicines and Indian Ayurvedic medicines are contaminated with heavy metals especially lead and taking such supplements may cause lead poisoning where there is no suspected source of lead. Falsely elevated or falsely lowered digoxin levels maybe encountered in a patient taking digoxin and certain Chinese medicine such as Chan Su or Lu-Shen-wan due to direct interference of a component of Chinese medicine with the antibody used in an immunoassay. Therefore, use of alternative medicines may significantly alter laboratory results and communication between pathologists, clinical laboratory scientists and physicians providing care to the patient is important to interpret these results.
EXTENSIONS OF THE SOR THEORY: STIELTJES MATRICES

It has been shown that if A is a positive definite consistently ordered matrix, then a substantial improvement can be obtained using successive overrelaxation (SOR) method, with a suitable relaxation factor, as compared with Gauss–Seidel method. This chapter discusses the relaxation of the conditions on A. There is a need for some restrictions on A so that the SOR theory will hold. This chapter presents examples involving a consistently ordered matrix, a positive definite matrix, and an L-matrix where the SOR theory does not hold even approximately. The chapter also shows that if A is a Stieltjes matrix, then the SOR theory does hold to a large extent. On the other hand, for a given value of the spectral radius of the matrix B corresponding to the Jacobi method the best convergence is attained if A is consistently ordered.
Practice Variation in Patients Eligible for Triple Therapy: Designing Systems to Assess Risk and Tailor Treatment

For at least the last half-century, providers have been challenged with providing the optimal oral outpatient antithrombotic strategy that reduces global ischemic risk while minimizing the likelihood of significant bleeding complications. Although therapeutic options had been previously limited, the
Development of Simple Devices for Control of Temperature above and below Ambient on Simple Pipetting Stations

Robotic pipetting stations are becoming increasingly popular to perform a variety of different laboratory analyses, including use of biochemical, chemical, and molecular biology reactions. As molec...
Real-time synthesis of compression algorithms for scientific data

Many scientific programs produce large amounts of floating-point data that are saved for later use. To minimize the storage requirement, it is worthwhile to compress such data as much as possible. However, existing algorithms tend to com-press floating-point data relatively poorly. As a remedy, we have developed FPcrush, a tool that automatically synthesizes an optimized compressor for each given input. The synthesized algorithms are lossless and parallelized using OpenMP. This paper describes how FPcrush is able to perform this synthesis in real-time, i.e., even when accounting for the synthesis overhead, it compresses the 16 tested real-world single- and double-precision data files more quickly than parallel bzip2. Decompression is an order of magnitude faster and exceeds the throughput of multi-core implementations of bzip2, gzip, and FPC. On all but two of the tested files, as well as on average, the customized algorithms deliver higher compression ratios than the other three tools.
WSN-EVP: A Novel Special Purpose Protocol for Emergency Vehicle Preemption Systems

Emergency Vehicle Preemption (EVP) systems play a key role in reprioritizing signalized traffic intersections. This role is important for safe and minimum travel delay of emergency vehicles (EV) passing through road intersections. Unfortunately, conventional systems that are currently in use on the roads have deficiencies in terms of cost, reliability, maintainability, and scalability. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed utilizing batteryless wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to overcome the above difficulties and improve the safety and mobility of emergency vehicles. A special purpose preemption protocol is designed based on the collection tree protocol (CTP) as a data collection service. The protocol is called WSN-EVP and is used to handle the EV preemption request in a multi-hop tree-based topology spread across the traffic intersection. The model functions according to predefined rules and optimized parameters to cope with the high topology changes and the fast response time requirement. A prototype implementation using TelosB motes programmed in nesC shows a performance of high preemption accuracy under high level of interference.
Morphophysiological seed dormancy in Heptacodium

Heptacodium miconiodes is an endangered, monotypic genus in the Caprifoliaceae endemic to China. Species within the Caprifoliaceae have been shown to have morphological or morphophysiological dormancy. Heptacodium seeds had an underdeveloped embryo at the time of fruit dispersal with an embryo that occupied approximately 12% of the seed length. Cold (8 weeks at 5°C) and warm (8 weeks at 20°C) stratification was effective for dormancy release, but embryo growth prior to germination only occurred at warm temperatures (20°C). Gibberellic acid treatment partially substituted for cold stratification. Final seed germination percentage was not different after warm or cold stratification; however, seeds initially exposed to cold stratification germinated faster and more uniformly. Cold stratified seeds reached 50% final germination approximately 55 days sooner than warm stratified seeds. Prior to radicle emergence, embryos grew to fill approximately 60% of the seed through an endosperm channel that occupied the centre portion of the endosperm. Cells in the endosperm channel had thinner cell walls and fewer storage vesicles compared with other endosperm cells. Channel cells formed a dissolution zone ahead of embryo elongation assumed to be involved with enzymatic hydrolysis of storage reserves. Based on these results, it was concluded that Heptacodium displays the characteristics of seeds with non-deep simple morphophysiological dormancy.
Crystalline defect formation on aluminum bond pads during CMOS wafer storage and process strategies for defect elimination

Crystalline aluminum fluoride defects were observed on aluminum bond pads of wafers from a complementary metal oxide semiconductor process in a wafer fab after less than a month of storage. These defects were formed by reaction of moisture in the front opening unified pod wafer storage container with residual bond pad sidewall fluorocarbon etch polymer releasing gaseous HF which further reacted with nucleation sites on the bond pad aluminum surface, resulting in crystalline aluminum fluoride defects. Elimination of the residual bond pad fluorocarbon polymer using a polymer free etch process or high-efficiency postetch polymer solvent strip resulted in a significant improvement in crystalline defect-free storage time (6 months). However, 12 month storage of sidewall polymer-free wafers showed reappearance of crystalline aluminum fluoride defects. The fluorine source contributing to the appearance of long-term aluminum fluoride crystalline defects was surface fluorine in the top 50 Ǻ of the aluminum bond pa...
POSTER: Deterring DDoS Attacks on Blockchain-based Cryptocurrencies through Mempool Optimization

In this paper, we highlight a new form of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that impacts the memory pools of cryptocurrency systems causing massive transaction backlog and higher mining fees. Towards that, we study such an attack on Bitcoin mempools and explore its effects on the mempool size and transaction fees paid by the legitimate users. We also propose countermeasures to contain such an attack. Our countermeasures include fee-based and age-based designs, which optimize the mempool size and help to counter the effects of DDoS attacks. We evaluate our designs using simulations in diverse attack conditions.
Quantum Physics and General Relativity; The Search for a Deeper Theory

Upon reading a collection of research papers on the Foundations of Quantum Theory, it becomes apparent that opinions differ as to the relative importance of the problems which are outstanding and upon the particular methods which may be employed in their solution. Indeed in certain cases the existence of problems proposed by some, is denied by others. This divergence of opinion reflects the attitudes which are held on the nature of scientific theory and investigation. It seems apposite in an article of this nature for the writer to outline the views which lead him to adopt a given line of scientific enquiry, particularly when this line represents a divergence from those generally adopted.
Development of germanium charge-coupled devices

Silicon charge-coupled devices (CCDs) are commonly utilized for scientific imaging in wavebands spanning the near infrared to soft X-ray. These devices offer numerous advantages including large format, excellent uniformity, low read noise, noiseless on-chip charge summation, and high energy resolution in the soft X-ray band. By building CCDs on bulk germanium, we can realize all of these advantages while covering an even broader spectral range, notably including the short-wave infrared (SWIR) and hard X-ray bands. Since germanium is available in wafer diameters up to 200 mm and can be processed in the same tools used to build silicon CCDs, large-format (>10 MPixel, >10 cm2 ) germanium imaging devices with narrow pixel pitch can be fabricated. Furthermore, devices fabricated on germanium have recently demonstrated the combination of low surface state density and high carrier lifetime required to achieve low dark current in a CCD. At MIT Lincoln Laboratory, we have been developing germanium imaging devices with the goal of fabricating large-format CCDs with SWIR or broadband X-ray sensitivity, and we recently realized our first front-illuminated CCDs built on bulk germanium. In this article, we describe design and fabrication of these arrays, analysis of read noise and dark current on these devices, and efforts to scale to larger device formats.
Entry of Alphaviruses

To replicate, viruses must deliver their genomes into the cytoplasm of a host cell, entailing the transport of large macromolecular assemblies through one or more membrane barriers. The problem is not a trivial one, in view of the large size and polar nature of the viral components to be delivered and the fact that both the cell and viral components must remain intact. It is not yet known how most viruses have solved this dilemma, but in the case of enveloped animal viruses, the overall pathway is becoming increasingly clear. The membranes of enveloped viruses serve as transport vesicles between infected cells and new host cells, and the process depends on well-regulated membrane fission and membrane fusion events. The membrane fission reaction occurs when the virus buds from a membrane of the infected host and the membrane fusion reaction when the virus interacts with a membrane of the recipient cell (Fig. 1). During the voyage between the two cells, the viral envelope serves to protect the nucleocapsid. As shown in Fig. 1, the fusion reaction responsible for releasing the genome into the host cell can occur either at the plasma membrane or in the organelles of the endocytotic pathway. The main advantage of this general mechanism seems to be that the genome and accessory proteins do not at any stage need to undergo a direct transfer through a bilayer membrane.
Abstract 5496: A predictive model for selective targeting of the Warburg effect through GAPDH inhibition with a natural product

Cancer cells undergo numerous adaptive processes to sustain growth and survival. One notable mechanism is by rewiring metabolism, most prominently through a phenomenon known as the Warburg effect (WE). The WE is defined by increased glucose consumption and lactate excretion in the presence or absence of oxygen. Although the WE has been extensively studied, efforts to develop successful glycolytic inhibitors have been largely unsuccessful. Targeting cancer metabolism has remained a challenge due to the lack of obvious metabolic biomarkers and difficulties achieving full enzyme inhibition without inducing toxicity in normal tissue. Although targeted cancer therapies that use genetics have been largely successful, principles for selectively targeting tumor metabolism that also depend on the environment remain unknown. In the present study, we employ metabolic control analysis to reveal that glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), the sixth enzyme in glycolysis, exhibits differential control properties during the WE and can be used to predict response to targeting glucose metabolism. Using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-HRMS), we conducted comparative metabolomics to establish a natural product produced by Trichoderma fungi, koningic acid (KA), as a selective inhibitor of GAPDH. We expressed a fungal-derived resistant-GAPDH allele in human cells to show that KA is highly specific for GAPDH. With machine learning, integrated pharmacogenomics, and metabolomics, we demonstrate that KA efficacy is not determined by the status of individual genes, but by the quantitative extent of the WE, leading to a therapeutic window in vivo. Thus, the basis of targeting the WE can be encoded by molecular principles that extend beyond genetic status. Current work focuses on elucidating acquired resistance mechanisms of KA in cancer cells undergoing the WE. Together, these data importantly demonstrate that a complete understanding of pharmacogenomics for cancer therapy likely requires information encoded at the metabolic level. Citation Format: Maria V. Liberti, Ziwei Dai, Suzanne E. Wardell, Joshua A. Baccile, Xiaojing Liu, Xia Gao, Robert Baldi, Mahya Mehrmohamadi, Marc O. Johnson, Neel S. Madhukar, Alexander Shestov, Iok I. C. Chio, Olivier Elemento, Jeffrey C. Rathmell, Frank C. Schroeder, Donald P. McDonnell, Jason W. Locasale. A predictive model for selective targeting of the Warburg effect through GAPDH inhibition with a natural product [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5496.
Pregnancy in Adults with Congenital Heart Disease

As a result of medical and surgical advances, there is an increasing number of women with congenital heart disease (CHD) surviving to childbearing age [1]. Maternal mortality is uncommon in patients with CHD, except in the setting of Eisenmenger syndrome, severe systemic cardiomyopathy, and Marfan syndrome with aortopathy. Maternal hypoxemia is associated with high incidence of fetal loss, even in the absence of Eisenmenger physiology. In a series of 90 patients, the rate of live births decreased to below 20% when maternal resting oxygen was <85% [2]. A multidisciplinary approach to the pregnant woman with CHD is essential for favorable maternal and fetal outcomes. In general, for women with CHD, cesarean delivery is only recommended for obstetric reasons and for women who are on full anticoagulation during delivery, due to the risk of fetal intracranial hemorrhage [3]. The recent American Heart Association (AHA) [4] and European Society of Cardiology [5] guidelines do not support the use of antibiotic prophylaxis during vaginal delivery, owing to the limited data. However, for those at highest risk of an adverse outcome, such as patients with Eisenmenger syndrome or cyanosis, it can be considered at the time of rupture of membranes [2].
Safety and Efficacy of Palbociclib and Radiation Therapy in Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer: Initial Results of a Novel Combination.

Abstract Purpose Palbociclib is a selective cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor approved for metastatic ER+/HER2- breast cancer. Preclinical evidence suggests a possible synergistic effect of palbociclib when combined with radiation therapy (RT); however, the toxicity of this pairing is unknown. We report preliminary results on the use of this combination. Methods and Materials Records of patients treated with palbociclib at our institution from 2015 to 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients who received RT for symptomatic metastases concurrently or within 14 days of palbociclib were included. Local treatment effect was assessed by clinical examination and subsequent computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging. Toxicity was graded based on Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0. Results A total of 16 women received palliative RT in close temporal proximity to palbociclib administration. Four patients received palbociclib before RT (25.0%), 5 concurrently (31.3%), and 7 after RT (43.8%). The median interval from closest palbociclib use to RT was 5 days (range, 0-14). The following sites were irradiated in decreasing order of frequency: bone (11 axial skeleton [9 vertebra and 2 other]; 4 pelvis; 3 extremity), brain (4: 3 whole brain RT and 1 stereotactic radiosurgery), and mediastinum (1). The median and mean follow-up time is 14.7 and 17.6 months (range, 1.7-38.2). Pain relief was achieved in all patients. No radiographic local failure was noted in the 13 patients with evaluable follow-up imaging. Leukopenia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia were seen in 4 (25.0%), 5 (31.3%), and 1 (6.3%) patient before RT. After RT, 5 (31.3%), 1 (6.3%), and 3 (18.8%) patients were leukopenic, neutropenic, and thrombocytopenic, respectively. All but 2 (grade 2) hematologic toxicities were grade 1. No acute or late grade 2+ cutaneous, neurologic, or gastrointestinal toxicities were noted. Toxicity results did not differ based on disease site, palbociclib-RT temporal association, or irradiated site. Conclusions The use of RT in patients receiving palbociclib resulted in minimal grade 2 and no grade 3+ toxicities. This preliminary work suggests that symptomatic patients receiving palbociclib may be safely irradiated.
Should I want to live to 100

Is it virtuous for someone to try to live to 100? Casting aside questions of intergenerational justice and internal obligations in families, what about the basic desire itself? Discussions of longevity and aging in bioethics are skewed to controversial end-of-life decisions, largely avoiding questions of how to age well before such decisions arise. Respected writers such as Atul Gawande, Daniel Callahan, and Ezekiel Emanuel champion accepting a natural life span and not trying to live beyond it. The Stoic Seneca says a desire to live to 100 is foolish because, however long people live, they waste most of their lives, so if they lived a thousand years, they would still waste most of it. Against Seneca and Emanuel, we argue that a functional, not a chronological, view of aging should guide us and that for some seniors, hoping to be centenarians may be neither foolish nor misguided. Using Cicero, we argue that the pleasures of seniors are not necessarily inferior to those of youth and may even surpass them. Finally, we agree with Emanuel that the "symptom burden" of some lives makes living to 100 unpalatable and with Seneca that, given life's vicissitudes, we should not plan on living to 100, but heeding his wisdom, try to make the most of the time given to us.
Physical and Molecular Landscapes of Mouse Glioma Extracellular Vesicles Define Heterogeneity.

Cancer extracellular vesicles (EVs) are highly heterogeneous, which impedes our understanding of their function as intercellular communication agents and biomarkers. To deconstruct this heterogeneity, we analyzed extracellular RNAs (exRNAs) and extracellular proteins (exPTNs) from size fractionation of large, medium, and small EVs and ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) from mouse glioblastoma cells by RNA sequencing and quantitative proteomics. mRNA from medium-sized EVs most closely reflects the cellular transcriptome, whereas small EV exRNA is enriched in small non-coding RNAs and RNPs contain precisely processed tRNA fragments. The exPTN composition of EVs and RNPs reveals that they are closely related by vesicle type, independent of their cellular origin, and single EV analysis reveals that small EVs are less heterogeneous in their protein content than larger ones. We provide a foundation for better understanding of segregation of macromolecules in glioma EVs through a catalog of diverse exRNAs and exPTNs.
Squeezing lipids: NMR characterization of lipoprotein particles under pressure.

Abstract Determining the particle size and number of lipoprotein components found in blood plasma (HDL, LDL and VLDL) has become an important clinical tool in diagnosing risk of cardiovascular disease. Proton (1H) NMR spectroscopy methods to quantify lipoprotein particle subclasses have been advancing since NMR lineshape analysis of plasma samples was first proposed in the 1990’s. NMR methods, including a more recent DOSY-based diffusion spectroscopy test, provide the foundation for the advanced lipoprotein tests, including Lipoprotein® and Liposcale® analyses available for clinical use to determine particle size and number. At the time of this submission, no NMR studies exist which explore physical parameters of individual lipoprotein fractions when they are deformed by pressure. This study reports 1H NMR frequency shifts and T2* measurements for the broad methyl peak attributed to terminal methyls (cholesteryl positions 26, 27 and terminal acyl methyl groups) in three primary lipoprotein fractions as a function of hydraulic pressure. This terminal CH3 resonance shifted linearly upfield as a function of pressure for HDL and VLDL (observed slopes of −0.014 Hz/bar). The LDL terminal CH3 resonance shows segmented behavior, with a shallow slope between 0–900 bar (−0.008 hz/bar) and a slope similar to HDL and VDL across the range from 1000 to 2400 bar (slope −0.016 Hz/bar). 1H T2* values measured for VLDL and HDL dropped linearly with increasing pressure. 1H T2* values for LDL demonstrated segmented behavior as a function of pressure. The unique behavior observed for LDL terminal CH3 frequency and 1H T2* trends suggests an approximate pressure at which phase transition occurs.
Culturally Humble or Bumbling Along? Measuring Effectiveness of Embedded Diversity Content in a BSW Curriculum.

ABSTRACTThis study explored whether the experience of completing a Bachelor of Social Work degree with embedded diversity education has an effect on a student’s cultural humility, specifically look...
Trigeminal Neuralgia Caused by Vascular Compression from the Petrous Carotid Artery with Bony Erosion and Meckel Cave Encephalocele: Clinical Imaging with Surgical Video

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is most commonly caused by neurovascular compression of the superior cerebellar artery. We present the first reported TN case where nerve compression was caused by the petrous internal carotid artery in the vicinity of a Meckel cave (MC) encephalocele. The patient underwent a pterional craniotomy for decompression of the gasserian ganglion and trigeminal nerve branches. All symptoms were resolved post surgery. We surmise that the principal cause of the TN was vascular compression from an exposed petrous internal carotid artery in the presence of an encephalocele. Causation was irrespective of whether the dehiscence in the petrous apex was a congenital defect or associated with destruction from the encephalocele. Based on this observation, we recommend that surgeons carefully consider all possible causes of patient symptoms as they prepare a meticulous dissection plan to avoid damage to surrounding neurovascular structures.
We Need Rules to Rein in Big Tech

What should the U.S. do about Big Tech? This essay proposes antitrust rule-making by the Federal Trade Commission. Case-by-case litigation is too slow and too piecemeal, and the Sherman Act jurisprudence is too conservative. Break-ups are unlikely to be ordered; even divestitures of anti-competitive acquisitions may prove difficult to implement where a platform has deeply integrated those acquisitions into its operations. Legislative restructuring and a required separation of functions raise the need for on-going supervision and the potential for regulatory capture. In comparison, the FTC is an established agency with competition as a core mission. It already has significant evidence of Big Tech's economic power and how they use it to stifle competition and take advantage of people as consumers, users, and budding competitors. The FTC uniquely has power over anti-competitive, unfair, and anti-consumer tactics, can address the problems holistically, and can best assure that Big Tech plays by the rules. With rule-making proceedings, the United States would finally join the international conversation over how to deal with the global challenge that Big Tech platforms present.
Business Restrictions and COVID-19 Fatalities

We collect a time-series database of business and related restrictions for every county in the United States from March through December 2020. We find strong evidence consistent with the idea that employee mask policies, mask mandates for the general population, restaurant and bar closures, gym closures, and high-risk business closures reduce future fatality growth. Other business restrictions, such as second-round closures of low- to medium-risk businesses and personal care/spa services, did not generate consistent evidence of lowered fatality growth and may have been counterproductive.
Theoretical modeling of heat transfer in a multilayer rectangular body with spatially-varying convective heat transfer boundary condition

Abstract Theoretical analysis of heat transfer in a multilayer body is relevant for several engineering applications where heat transfer occurs through a stack of thermally dis-similar materials. In most of such literature, a constant convective heat transfer coefficient is assumed as a boundary condition at one end of the body. In contrast, there is a lack of work to model a problem with spatial variation in the convective heat transfer coefficient. This paper presents an analytical solution for thermal conduction in a multilayer rectangular body with spatially varying convective heat transfer coefficient at one end. In addition, this solution also accounts for internal heat generation and inter-layer thermal contact resistance and spatially varying heat flux on the other end of the body. The solution is derived in a series form, and it is shown that the coefficients of the series can be determined by solving a well-defined set of linear algebraic equations. The analytical solution is verified by comparison with numerical simulations, as well as with standard solution for a simplified special case. The impact of spatially varying cooling provided by jet impingement is analyzed using the analytical solution. A resource optimization problem pertaining to the optimal use of jet cooling is solved. Results presented here may benefit thermal management analysis of a broad variety of engineering applications involving heat transfer in multi-layer bodies.
Monocytes and Macrophages in Kidney Transplantation and Insights from Single Cell RNA-Seq Studies

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is a powerful technology that allows for the identification of minority cell types in complex tissues, such as immune cells in the kidney. Previously, gene expression from infrequent cell types was missed using bulk RNA-sequencing methods due to an averaging effect. Additionally, single-cell RNA sequencing facilitates assignment of cell origin in a sample, a shortcoming of previous bulk sequencing technologies. Thus, scRNA-seq is ideal to study the immune cell landscape and the alloimmune response in the human kidney transplant. However, there are few studies published to date. Macrophages are known to play an important role in health and disease in the kidney. Furthermore, it is known that macrophages play key roles in rejection of the kidney transplant. The definition, ontogeny, and function of these cells is complex and nomenclature has evolved as new technologies have become available. In this review, an overview of monocyte and macrophage nomenclature, ontogeny, and function with a specific focus on kidney transplantation is provided with novel scRNA-seq findings included. Single-cell RNA sequencing offers an unbiased transcriptional approach to defining macrophages and provides insights into macrophage ontogeny and function not possible with contemporary methods.
Applying Machine Learning to Cropland Data Layer for Agro-Geoinformation Discovery

The Cropland Data Layer (CDL) is currently the only subfield level high resolution crop-specific land cover data product over the entire conterminous United States (CONUS). It has been widely used in agricultural industry, business decision support, research, and education worldwide. However, CDL data has its limitations. It is an end-of-season land cover map which is not available within growing season. Moreover, CDLs in early years have many misclassified pixels (rel-atively low accuracy) due to cloud cover and lack of satellite images. This paper will present the studies of using machine learning technique to address these issues in CDL data. Specifically, we will present the design and implementation of a machine learning model for agro-geoinformation discovery from CDL. Several application scenarios of the proposed model, including prediction of crop cover, crop acreage estimation’ in-season crop mapping, and refinement of the early-year CDL data, are demonstrated and discussed.
PubMedAlertMe-Standalone Windows-based PubMed SDI software application

PubMedAlertMe is a Windows-based software system for automatically receiving e-mail alert messages about recent publications listed on PubMed. The e-mail messages contain links to newly available abstracts listed on PubMed describing publications that were selectively returned from a specified list of queries. Links are also provided to directly export citations to EndNote, and links are provided to directly forward articles to colleagues. The program is standalone. Thus, it does not require a remote mail server or user registration. PubMedAlertMe is free software, and can be downloaded from: http://amp.pharm.mssm.edu/PubMedAlertMe/PubMedAlertMe_setup.zip.
Consciousness, Stream of

Except for time-gaps, when the stream comes to a stop and then starts again, a stream of consciousness is constituted, from the Jamesian perspective, of tightly adjacent states of consciousness occurring very briefly one at a time. Unless a second such stream flows in the individual simultaneously, his or her conscious mental life at any instant consists entirely of one integral state of consciousness that typically possesses many intrinsic features. Keywords: consciousness; stream of consciousness; state of consciousness; inner awareness; William James
Lifetime Income and Human Capital

In this paper we present a new accounting system for income, saving and wealth in the form of human capital for the United States. The most important innovations in our accounting system are these: first, our concept of human capital is based on lifetime labour incomes for all individuals in the US population. Second, we incorporate both market and non-market activities into our measures of labour incomes.1 This makes it possible to provide measures of lifetime labour incomes for individuals employed in the labour market and for individuals not involved in the labour market. Third, our measures of income, saving and wealth in the form of human capital are based on a system of demographic accounts. Fourth, we combine these accounts with economic accounts for the value of all available labour time to obtain measures of income, saving and wealth in the form of human capital for the US economy as a whole.
Non-parametric feature generation for RF-fingerprinting on ZigBee devices

As the Internet of Things becomes a reality, proliferation of wireless devices such as ZigBee nodes has accelerated. Their presence is now wide spread in sensitive areas such as home automation, industrial control systems, medical devices and security systems. As their popularity has increased, so has the urgency to protect and defend these networks. The decentralized nature of ZigBee ad-hoc networks creates unique security challenges for maintaining network security and intrusion detection. RF-fingerprinting provides a unique physical (PHY) layer defense against node counterfeiting by identifying rogue devices through their RF-emissions. In previous work, feature generation from received RF signals was accomplished with parametric variables such as standard deviation, variance, skewness, and kurtosis, all based on the assumption of a normal distribution of a particular region of interest. We show in this work that most collected signals are either multi-modal or non-parametric. Use of non-parametric methods for feature generation such as mean, median, mode, and trend represented by linear model coefficient estimates are shown to be much more applicable to the non-parametric distribution of the collected ZigBee preamble, resulting in improved classification performance of devices. Non-parametric classifier Random Forest is used with both parametric and non-parametric features to provide a classification performance comparison. Performance improvements of upto 9% in correct classification rates have been achieved and an effective gain of 4 dB SNR was realized.1
Type IIB mutation His-505-->Asp implicates a new segment in the control of von Willebrand factor binding to platelet glycoprotein Ib.

Type IIB von Willebrand disease is characterized by increased affinity of mutant von Willebrand factor (vWF) for platelet glycoprotein Ib. Eight different missense mutations that cause this phenotype have been reported within the disulfide loop defined by Cys-509 and Cys-695 of the mature vWF subunit; this disulfide loop is required for normal binding of vWF to platelet glycoprotein Ib. A new mutation was identified in a patient with type IIB von Willebrand disease (vWD) characterized by a lifelong bleeding disorder, mild thrombocytopenia, normal levels of factor VIII, vWF antigen, and ristocetin cofactor activity but increased ristocetin-induced platelet agglutination at low concentrations of ristocetin. Exon 28 of the patient's vWF gene was amplified, cloned, and sequenced. At nucleotide 3802 (numbering the cDNA from translation initiation), a C to G transversion was identified, which changes the encoded amino acid sequence from His-505 to Asp. The corresponding mutant recombinant vWF was expressed in transiently transfected COS cells. Relative to wild type vWF, the mutant vWF exhibited markedly increased binding to platelets at low concentrations of ristocetin, confirming the association between the His-505–>Asp substitution and the type IIB vWD phenotype. The His-505–>Asp mutation lies outside the disulfide loop affected by other type IIB vWD mutations and implicates a new segment of vWF in the regulation of platelet glycoprotein Ib binding.
Using the Mothra software testing environment to ensure software quality

The author discusses the use of Mothra, a software testing environment based on program mutation. Mutation analysis produces mutant programs by introducing likely errors into a program and then strives to construct a set of test data that distinguishes the output of the original program from that of all mutants. Mothra supports the planning, definition, preparation, execution, analysis, and mutation-based evaluation of tests of large software systems, and is designed to be used starting at the earliest stages of software development and continuing through the progressively later stages of system integration, operation and maintenance. The author discusses the application of Mothra to the problems of requirements analysis and unit, integration, and regression testing. >
IPM‐CPR for peaches: incorporating behaviorally‐based methods to manage Halyomorpha halys and key pests in peach

BACKGROUND The invasive brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stal) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), has emerged as a key pest in mid-Atlantic peach production. Current management of H. halys has disrupted IPM programs by relying exclusively on frequent, repeated, season-long insecticide applications. We developed a behaviorally-based tactic termed IPM-CPR (Crop Perimeter Restructuring) that utilizes border sprays for H. halys, groundcover management for Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois) (Hemiptera: Miridae) and mating disruption for Grapholita molesta (Busck) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). RESULTS IPM-CPR reduced insecticide usage by 25–61%. Generally there was less, and at times significantly less, catfacing injury (attributable to H. halys) in peaches in the IPM-CPR blocks relative to the standard, and minimal differences in injury due to G. molesta or L. lineolaris. These results suggest that perimeter applications of insecticides exploit the border-arrestment behavior of H. halys by controlling them at the orchard edge, reducing damage throughout the block. CONCLUSION IPM-CPR significantly reduces the area managed by growers for control of H. halys, while simultaneously managing key pests at levels equal to current grower standard practices. This approach brings IPM tactics back into the orchard system after disruption by the invasive H. halys and potentially supports beneficial insects. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry
Benchmarking Tax Administrations in Developing Countries: A Systemic Approach

Benchmarking as a way of establishing standards for evaluating the performance of tax administrations has become increasingly popular in recent years. Two common approaches to benchmarking are ‘benchmarking by numbers’ – the quantitative approach and ‘benchmarking by (presumed) good institutional practice’ – the qualitative approach. Both these approaches consider each component or aspect of the tax administration separately. This paper suggests a contrasting approach to benchmarking, the purpose of which is less to allow others to assess the performance of a tax administration than it is to permit an administration to understand and improve its own performance. This systemic approach is more conceptually and operationally difficult because it requires considering how all aspects of the administrative system function as a whole in the context of the environment within which that system is embedded and operates. On the other hand, it is also more directly aimed at understanding and improving the key operational strategies that define good, better and best tax administrations.
Applications of bacteriorhodopsin films for optical modulation and logic operations

Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is the photodynamic protein complex found in the purple membrane of the Halobacterium halobium . The conformational changes of the bR molecule are associated with a photocycle. The initial B state of bR has an absorption peak at 570 nm while the long lived M state has an absorption peak at 412 nm. As the initial state has a broad absorption band it can be excited by means of red, yellow or green light. The M state can revert to the initial state via a thermal process or by a photochemical process by excitation with blue light. The lifetime of the M state can be dramatically altered by chemical and bioengineering methods. Several applications have already been proposed for bR as a photonic material.
British Imperialism, the Indian Independence Movement, and the Racial Eligibility Provisions of the Naturalization Act: United States v. Thind Revisited

This article reexamines the United States Supreme Court’s opinion in United States v. Thind, which held that high caste Hindus were not “white persons” and were therefore racially ineligible for naturalized citizenship, through a rhetorical history of the briefs, judicial opinions, National Archives and Records Administration documents, and British intelligence documents related to the case. As the Court’s final statement on the racial eligibility provisions of the early Naturalization Act, Thind has been the subject of significant scholarly commentary regarding race and citizenship in the United States and heralded as a crucial Asian American civil rights case. The article begins by analyzing the case’s overruling of the majority of lower courts which had found high caste Hindus to be racially eligible for naturalization, two of which the Court had expressly approved of only three months earlier in Ozawa v. United States, a reversal of the Court’s own position not addressed in Thind or by prior studies of the case. In an effort to account for this reversal, the article considers Thind’s political activities in furtherance of Indian independence and the effort of British and American intelligence officials to oppose his naturalization on the basis of his political activities, the parties’ competing citations of British authorities on the significance of India’s caste system for the racial classification of Asian Indians, and how Justice Sutherland’s opinion both responds to and evades the arguments in the case in a manner that suggests a political decision. The article concludes by considering the rhetorical dimensions of race, citizenship, and law.
Vibration analysis of cable-driven parallel manipulators

A cable-driven parallel manipulator is a manipulator whose end-effector is driven by a number of parallel cables instead of rigid links. Since cables always have more flexibility than rigid links, a cable manipulator bears a concern of possible vibration. Thus, investigation of vibration of cable manipulators caused by cable flexibility is important for applications requiring high system stiffness or bandwidth. This paper provides a vibration analysis of general 6-DOF cable-driven parallel manipulators. Based on the analysis of the natural frequencies of the multibody system, the study demonstrates that a cable manipulator can be designed stiff enough for special applications like the cable-manipulator based hardware-in-the-loop simulation of contact dynamics. Moreover, under an excitation, a cable may vibrate not only in its axial direction, but also in its transversal direction. The paper also analyzes the vibration of cable manipulators caused by cable flexibilities in both axial and transversal directions. It is shown that the vibration of a cable manipulator due to the transversal vibration of cables can be ignored comparing to that due to the axial flexibility of cables.
Wrapping up in something long: Intimidation and violence by right‐wing groups in postwar Japan

Political organizations enjoy considerable legal protection under Japan's postwar constitution, and right‐wing organizations acquired additional political protection during four decades of uninterrupted rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party. These circumstances facilitated the development or re‐emergence of (1) complex links and overlapping memberships between right‐wing political groups, organized crime groups (yakuza), and professional corporate extortionists (sōkaiya); (2) tolerance and encouragement by state authorities of the use of violence by such groups as forms of private policing; and (3) the formation of bogus right‐wing groups to facilitate extortion, intimidation, and political corruption under cover of legal protections afforded to political organizations. This situation is reassessed in light of new legislation, current changes in the Japanese political situation and a recent influx of foreign workers.
Mobile Authoring and Sharing System for creating learning materials

Research indicates that the integration of computer technology in schools has increased significantly as educators see the benefits of learning with technology for widening students' skills in reasoning and problem solving. And, with the continuous integration of social networks and mobile devices (smartphone, tablet) into daily life, the classroom environment can benefit from an enriched curriculum. Students desire to have these new technologies incorporated in their classroom learning experiences. However, creating the new mobile software specifically for student needs is not an easy task. Development will require selecting a device, mobile operating system and a software development kit, a method for content to be created, displayed and reviewed, and a method to share this content. In this paper, the Educational Mobile Authoring and Sharing System aims to alleviate burdens from educators when making mobile content for their classroom. Teachers are not required to have prior experience in programming. Once the new content is completed, the mobile software can distribute this content to students immediately without delay by an app store review process. Using this system, students' work can be evaluated in real-time and results are encrypted and sent to instructors by email.
Femtosecond Real-Time Probing of Reactions. 23. Studies of Temporal, Velocity, Angular, and State Dynamics from Transition States to Final Products by Femtosecond-Resolved Mass Spectrometry

In this contribution, we give a full account of the approach of femtosecond, time-resolved mass spectrometry in molecular beams for the studies of the elementary steps of complex reactions and the application to different systems. The level of complexity varies from diatomics to polyatomics, from direct-mode to complex-mode, from one-center, to two-center, to four-center, and from uni- to bimolecular reactions. The systems studied are iodine, cyanogen iodide, methyl iodide, iodobenzene, 1,2-diiodotetrafluoroethane, mercury iodide, benzene· iodine complexes, and methyl iodide dimers. By resolving the femtosecond dynamics and simultaneously observing the evolution of velocity, angular, and state distribution(s) of the reaction, we are able to study multiple reaction paths, the nature of transition-state geometry and dynamics, coherent wave-packet motion, evolution of energy disposal, and the nonconcerted motion in multicenter reactions. These phenomena and concepts are elucidated in dissociation, elimination, and charge-transfer reactions and in the inelastic and reactive pathways of bimolecular reactions. Theoretical phenomenology, using frontier orbitals and molecular dynamics, are invoked to provide a relationship between the observed dynamics and molecular structures.