cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Half-sibling loblolly pine clones exhibited intraspecific variation, a G × E interaction, and differences in stable isotope composition in response to soil moisture availability

Abstract We examined the response of three loblolly pine half-sibling clones (hereafter referred to as Clone 1, 2, and 3) to soil moisture availability in a greenhouse study. Three soil moisture treatments were imposed. Two were constant soil moisture treatments at either high (−0.3 MPa) or low (−1.5 MPa) soil water potential. The third was an alternating wet-dry treatment that alternated between one week at high (−0.3 MPa) and three weeks at low (−1.5 MPa) soil water potential, which simulated several natural wetting-drying cycles. At intervals throughout the experiment we measured biomass accumulation (via sequential harvesting), change in height, pre-dawn needle water potential, afternoon needle water potential, dark respiration, and morning and afternoon gas exchange (photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2, and transpiration). Carbon allocation to root and shoot biomass, stomatal density, and carbon isotope composition were measured at the end of the experiment. All clones accumulated more biomass in the high soil moisture treatment than in the low soil moisture treatment, but there was a genetic by environment (G × E) interaction: Clone 1 accumulated more biomass than the other clones in the low soil moisture treatment and less than the others in the high soil moisture treatment. Stable carbon isotope composition, which we interpreted as a time-integrated index of water use efficiency, was significantly higher (indicating greater water use efficiency) in Clone 2, compared to Clones 1 and 3 across all soil moisture treatments except in the wet-dry treatment, where Clone 1 and 3 were not significantly different. A strong negative correlation was found between stable carbon isotope composition and biomass accumulation. Gas exchange parameters and needle water potential were higher in the high soil moisture treatment compared to the other treatments across all clones. Morning measurements of gas exchange were higher in Clones 2 and 3 than in Clone 1 across all treatments. Stomatal density varied significantly among clones but not among treatments. These results demonstrated that closely related clones differed in their growth and physiological responses to moisture availability, suggesting that clonal variation could be used to breed for increased drought resistance or to identify drought resistant genotypes for selective deployment.
Improving Reliability in Collection Condition Surveys by Utilizing Training and Decision Guides

A training program was developed to increase the reliability of collection condition survey data. Nine students carried out a series of three one-hour-long sessions before taking part in an experiment to examine agreement between their responses. The training sessions developed familiarity with a decision guide, provided worked-through examples of assessment and feedback and also the opportunity to analyze small practice surveys for monitoring purposes. The decision guide was modified to express ‘condition’ with greater clarity, but the scoring was not adjusted to meet individual preferences. The initial levels of reliability were low among the students. This increased incrementally up to the post-training experiment which reached an acceptable, if not ideal, level of reliability from which it would be possible to make sound decisions. The program demonstrated that a semi-formal approach to condition assessment that utilized a dynamic combination of the conservator's judgment and a systematic framework co...
Modeling insider threat types in cyber organizations

Insider threats can cause immense damage to organizations of different types, including government, corporate, and non-profit organizations. Being an insider, however, does not necessarily equate to being a threat. Effectively identifying valid threats, and assessing the type of threat an insider presents, remain difficult challenges. In this work, we propose a novel breakdown of eight insider threat types, identified by using three insider traits: predictability, susceptibility, and awareness. In addition to presenting this framework for insider threat types, we implement a computational model to demonstrate the viability of our framework with synthetic scenarios devised after reviewing real world insider threat case studies. The results yield useful insights into how further investigation might proceed to reveal how best to gauge predictability, susceptibility, and awareness, and precisely how they relate to the eight insider types.
Abstract 157: Metabolomic Profiling of AMP-Signaling Stress: Effects of Metformin on Wild Type and Adenylate Kinase AK1-/- Transgenic Mice

Metabolic drugs frequently target mitochondrial functions and AMP signaling. Metformin, one of the most prescribed anti-diabetic medications, exerts its glucose lowering effect through mild interference with mitochondrial energy metabolism triggering homeostatic adenylate kinase (AK)-catalyzed AMP and downstream AMPK signaling. However, metabolomic signature of drug-induced “therapeutic mitochondrial toxicity" and energetic imbalance-induced AMP signaling are poorly understood. This work was aimed to determine metabolomic representation of metformin-induced mitochondrial and AMP signaling stress by comparing wild type and AK1-deficient mice with compromised AMP-signaling. Metabolomic profiling of plasma and urine samples from wild type mice treated with metformin revealed distinct metabolic signature suggesting altered energy, Krebs cycle, lipid and ketone body metabolism, with higher levels of creatinine, malate, α-ketoglutarate, FFA, glycerol, glycerol-3-phosphate, 3-hydroxybutyrate and hypoxanthine. Contrary to expectations glucose lowering effect of metformin was greater in energetically and AMP-signaling compromised AK1-/- mice. Metformin action on AK1 deficient mice was characterized by increased levels of creatinine, lactate, alanine, FFA, phosphoserine, acetoacetate, 3-hydroxybutyrate, malate and α-ketoglutarate indicating broader alterations in energy, glycolytic, Krebs cycle, ketone body, lipid and amino acid metabolism. At baseline, livers from AK1-/- mice had higher AMP/ADP and pAMPKα/AMPKα ratios compared to wild type. There were no significant sustained changes in global nucleotide ratios after metformin treatment. Overall metabolomic profile of AK1-/- mice indicate larger disturbances in energetic and substrate metabolic networks after metformin treatment compared to wild type. Thus, this study revealed specific metabolomic signatures of metformin therapeutic action and mitochondrial toxicity indicating that genetic and metabolic background modulate individual response to metformin treatment.
Validity of the Surface Electrocardiogram Criteria for Right Ventricular Hypertrophy: The MESA-RV Study (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis-Right Ventricle)

Objectives The study aimed to assess the diagnostic properties of electrocardiographic (ECG) criteria for right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) measured by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) in adults without clinical cardiovascular disease. Background Current ECG criteria for RVH were based on cadaveric dissection in small studies. Methods MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) performed cMRIs with complete right ventricle (RV) interpretation on 4,062 participants without clinical cardiovascular disease. Endocardial margins of the RV were manually contoured on diastolic and systolic images. The ECG screening criteria for RVH from the 2009 American Heart Association Recommendations for Standardization and Interpretation of the ECG were examined in participants with and without left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy or reduced ejection fraction. RVH was defined using sex-specific normative equations based on age, height, and weight. Results The study sample with normal LV morphology and function (n = 3,719) was age 61.3 ± 10.0 years, 53.5% female, 39.6% Caucasian, 25.5% African American, 21.9% Hispanic, and 13.0% Asian. The mean body mass index was 27.9 ± 5.0 kg/m 2 . A total of 6% had RVH, which was generally mild. Traditional ECG criteria were specific (many >95%) but had low sensitivity for RVH by cMRI. The positive predictive values were not sufficiently high as to be clinically useful (maximum 12%). The results did not differ based on age, sex, race, or smoking status, or with the inclusion of participants with abnormal LV mass or function. Classification and regression tree analysis revealed that no combination of ECG variables was better than the criteria used singly. Conclusions The recommended ECG screening criteria for RVH are not sufficiently sensitive or specific for screening for mild RVH in adults without clinical cardiovascular disease.
Chapter 2 – Proteins

In our journey into the cell, we will encounter membrane proteins. However, proteins are found throughout the cell, as well as outside the cell. Being such important constituents of the cell and biological processes, proteins are addressed as a stand-alone chapter. In fact, many of the signals delivered to cells are proteins, and many of the cellular products that a biotechnologist might want to harvest are proteins. In this chapter, we will learn about amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, and then discuss molecular structures of proteins starting at a rudimentary level and progressing in complexity to fully folded, multi-subunit structures. The chapter ends with a return to membrane structure and how proteins play a role in membranes.
Nitric Oxide Reduction By Ammonia on Copper Exchanged Hydrogen Mordenite

Abstract The catalytic activity of copper ion-exchanged hydrogen mordenite with various copper loadings for the SCR of NO by NH 3 has been examined in a packed bed flow reactor with actual flue gas. Two orders of magnitude increase in the reaction rate were achieved by the copper ion-exchange in the catalyst. The first order, irreversible kinetic model with respect to NO adequately fits all experimental data over the reaction temperature range covered (250 – 450° C), independent of the copper level and particle size of the catalysts. The optimum content of copper in the CuHM is about 2.3 wt%, which corresponds to exchanging about 30% of the initial hydrogen ions with copper ions.
The Federal Role

The history of agricultural R&D and related government policy in the United States is one of jointly evolving state and federal, public- and private-sector roles. The private role has always emphasized more-patentable inventions, or at least innovations from which the returns seem more appropriable by a variety of intellectual property rights or other means. In agriculture, in particular, however, it is difficult for individuals to fully appropriate the returns from their research investments, leading to a general consensus that some government action is warranted to ensure an adequate investment in R&D.
2107. Decision Trees vs. Neural Networks for Supervised Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Healthcare-Associated Urinary Tract Infections

Background Supervised machine learning (SML)-based methods could facilitate early prediction of healthcare-related adverse events. The role of SML in stratifying patient-risk of infectious events during hospitalization and their performance using limited subsets of standardized and widely available predictors is less known. Using a large cohort of adult inpatients, we use SML techniques to predict a diagnosis of urinary tract infection (UTI) during hospitalization.
Self-Adaptation Strategies to Maintain Security Assurance Cases

Information system security certification involves guaranteeing that mechanisms are deployed to comply with selected security controls, such as those in the NIST SP800-53, at acceptable levels of confidence and risk. When a system can self-adapt at runtime, it may alter its functional behavior to address a defect or anomaly. This functional change can impact associated security controls, potentially making the adapted system vulnerable to security threats. Performing security control assurance adaptation along with functional adaptation would allow both compliance confidence and risk analysis to accompany functional adaptation analysis. The need for this dual assessment implies security control compliance should be expressed such that an adaptation can be reflected as part of its compliance status. In this paper, we represent security controls and their deployed mechanisms in terms of security assurance cases. We define a template using Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) that follows the NIST SP800-53 control statement structure. We define three adaptation operators to dictate how and where a change impacts relevant assurance cases. The objective is to express and manage the controls and adaptation operators so that changes to a security assurance case can be embedded and traced within the executing system to make it security aware. We illustrate the approach using a small case study and a security control for systems and communications protection, taken from the NIST SP800-53.
Stochastic Subspace Identification Validation of PV Inverter Operation Improvement with Optimally–Tuned Controllers

Recent literature present enhanced operation of power electronics interfaces (PEI) through application of controller heuristic self-tuning techniques in the time-domain. For switch mode Photovoltaic (PV) inverters, this results in optimal adjustment of PEI controller gains, leading to transient energy reduction when PV system is subject to perturbations. In this study, with injecting active power measurements at point of common coupling and during large perturbations in irradiance, an empirical measurement based eigenvector estimation theory i.e. Stochastic Subspace Identification method (SSI) is used to analyze the SSI results in the frequency domain. The PV-VSIs in a grid-connected MW-scale PV plant are operational with manual- and heuristic-tuned controllers, implemented in both stationary and synchronous reference frames. The SSI results in frequency domain are compared with time-domain to conclude the effectuality of the SSI empirical approach in validating improvement in PV inverter operation with heuristic-tuned PV-VSI controllers’ parameters in time-domain.
Substance Use Disorder Treatment in the Reentry Environment: Service Receipt and Prisoner Community Reintegration:

Accessing substance use disorder (SUD) treatment after prison is a challenging process for released inmates. Pre-release behavioral health services appear to improve treatment access. However, a de...
Creating autistic space in ability-inclusive sensory theatre

Ability-Inclusive Sensory Theatre (AIST) is an emerging genre of Theatre for Young Audiences which serves young people with autism and other cognitive disabilities. Distinct from sensory friendly o...
Abstract 469: Genomic Context Predicts Dilated but Not Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Rationale: Cardiomyopathies are a major cause of heart failure and have a strong heritable component. Objective: Determine the role of both common and rare nonsynonymous genetic variation in hypert...
New York State dairy farmers' perceptions of antibiotic use and resistance: A qualitative interview study

Antibiotic resistance is a global problem affecting both human and animal health. Ensuring the strategic and effective use of antibiotics is paramount to combatting the emergence and spread of resistance. This study explored New York State (NYS) dairy farmers' perceptions regarding antibiotic use in dairy farming and antibiotic resistance. Dairy farmers' perceptions were assessed through semi-structured, in-person interviews. Twenty interviews with farm owners and/or managers of 15 conventional and five USDA certified organic dairy farms with 40 to 2,300 lactating cows were conducted. Thematic analysis was used to assess, compare and contrast transcripts for farmers' characterization of their beliefs, values, and concerns. Conventional dairy farmers had a low level of concern about the possible impacts of on-farm antibiotic resistance on human health and believed their antibiotic use was already judicious. Generally, they believed their cattle's health would suffer if antibiotic use were further curtailed. Conventional farmers expressed frustration over the possibility of more stringent governmental, milk cooperative, buyer, or marketer requirements for antibiotic use and associated animal welfare in the future. They attributed expanding regulations in part to misinformed consumer preferences, that farmers felt were influenced by the marketing of organic dairy products. Organic dairy farmers were generally more concerned about issues related to antibiotic resistance than conventional farmers. Both conventional and organic farmers placed emphasis on disease prevention through herd health management rather than treatment. In conclusion, the conventional NYS dairy farmers in this study were skeptical of the need for and benefits of reduced antibiotic use on their dairy farms. Interventions for farmers, delivered by a trusted source such as a veterinarian, that provide training about proper antibiotic use practices and information of possible financial benefits of refining antibiotic use may hold promise.
The molecularization of race in testosterone research

While feminist science studies scholars have documented the misleading and dangerous implications of reducing testosterone to a ‘sex hormone,’ few studies have explored how testosterone is used to racialize populations in and beyond scientific research. In this article, I conduct a content analysis of 149 studies that evaluate population differences in testosterone. Despite widespread claims that testosterone varies between racial groups, my analysis of this literature provides scant evidence to support these proclamations, undermining the notion that testosterone contributes to racial differences in biomedical and biosocial outcomes. To supplement these findings, I use network analysis to visualize study outcomes as a citation network and trace racial differences testing in testosterone research from early twentieth century eugenics research to the contemporary ‘gold-standards’ used by scientists today. Lastly, I propose three theoretical mechanisms—ambiguity, absence and data recycling—to help explain how the racialization of populations is perpetuated in this context. Together, these mechanisms provide a basis for STS scholars to better understand how researchers enact population differences across different scientific contexts.
Manifold Learning for Reducing the Design Complexity of Photonic Nanostructures

We present a new manifold-learning-based approach to reduce the geometric complexity of the inverse design of photonic nanostructures and show how this approach can provide valuable insight about the underlying physics of their operation.
Sphingolipid metabolism correlates with cerebrospinal fluid Beta amyloid levels in Alzheimer's disease.

Sphingolipids are important in many brain functions but their role in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is not completely defined. A major limit is availability of fresh brain tissue with defined AD pathology. The discovery that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) contains abundant nanoparticles that include synaptic vesicles and large dense core vesicles offer an accessible sample to study these organelles, while the supernatant fluid allows study of brain interstitial metabolism. Our objective was to characterize sphingolipids in nanoparticles representative of membrane vesicle metabolism, and in supernatant fluid representative of interstitial metabolism from study participants with varying levels of cognitive dysfunction. We recently described the recruitment, diagnosis, and CSF collection from cognitively normal or impaired study participants. Using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, we report that cognitively normal participants had measureable levels of sphingomyelin, ceramide, and dihydroceramide species, but that their distribution differed between nanoparticles and supernatant fluid, and further differed in those with cognitive impairment. In CSF from AD compared with cognitively normal participants: a) total sphingomyelin levels were lower in nanoparticles and supernatant fluid; b) levels of ceramide species were lower in nanoparticles and higher in supernatant fluid; c) three sphingomyelin species were reduced in the nanoparticle fraction. Moreover, three sphingomyelin species in the nanoparticle fraction were lower in mild cognitive impairment compared with cognitively normal participants. The activity of acid, but not neutral sphingomyelinase was significantly reduced in the CSF from AD participants. The reduction in acid sphingomylinase in CSF from AD participants was independent of depression and psychotropic medications. Acid sphingomyelinase activity positively correlated with amyloid β42 concentration in CSF from cognitively normal but not impaired participants. In dementia, altered sphingolipid metabolism, decreased acid sphingomyelinase activity and its lost association with CSF amyloid β42 concentration, underscores the potential of sphingolipids as disease biomarkers, and acid sphingomyelinase as a target for AD diagnosis and/or treatment.
Circulating human papillomavirus DNA as a marker for disease extent and recurrence among patients with oropharyngeal cancer

BACKGROUND Circulating Epstein-Barr virus DNA is a predictor of disease recurrence in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Circulating human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA has been detected in the sera of some patients with HPV-positive squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx (OPC). The goal of the current study was to determine whether pretreatment serum HPV DNA is a useful biomarker for disease recurrence in patients with HPV-positive OPC. METHODS The study included patients with newly diagnosed, previously untreated OPC. Tumor HPV status was determined by polymerase chain reaction; serum HPV DNA was detected using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Differences in clinical characteristics between patients who were positive and negative for pretreatment serum HPV DNA were described using standard descriptive statistical methods. Kaplan-Meier curves were generated and log-rank tests were used to detect statistically significant differences in progression-free survival (PFS). RESULTS A total of 262 patients were included. Patients with high N category and those with TNM stage IV disease were found to have higher rates of detectable pretreatment serum HPV DNA. Patients with HPV-positive tumors had better PFS than patients with HPV-negative tumors. Among patients with HPV-positive tumors, those who were negative for pretreatment serum HPV DNA had better PFS than those who were positive for pretreatment serum HPV DNA, but this result was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS Pretreatment serum HPV DNA was associated with higher N category and overall disease stage. However, pretreatment serum HPV DNA does not appear to have clinical usefulness as a marker for disease recurrence among patients with OPC. Cancer 2015;121:3435–43. © 2015 American Cancer Society.
Adaptive Content in an Online Lecture System

This paper discusses techniques for adapting the content in an online lecture system for a specific user. A two pass method is used: 1) determine the appropriate level of difficulty for the student and 2) consider the student's learning style preferences. A simple grading scheme is used to determine the student's knowledge and a Naive Bayes Classifier is used to reason about the student's preferences in terms of explanations, examples, and graphics. A technique for gathering and using population data is also discussed.
Implications for image watermarking of recent work in image analysis and representation

Perceptual based additive watermarking algorithms have good performance in literature, while the optimal detection of such watermarks under attacks remains a problem due to the inaccurate estimation of actual noise distribution. In this paper, a hybrid watermark with low density diversity is proposed. By accurately estimating the noise shape from diversity, the detector is noise adapted and optimal detection will be achieved. The trade-off caused by this diversity is negligible.
Cost-effectiveness of Babesia microti antibody and nucleic acid blood donation screening using results from prospective investigational studies.

BACKGROUND Babesia microti causes transfusion-transmitted babesiosis (TTB); currently, blood donor screening assays are unlicensed but used investigationally. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS We developed a decision tree model assessing the comparative- and cost-effectiveness of B. microti blood donation screening strategies in endemic areas compared to the status quo (question regarding a history of babesiosis), including testing by: 1) universal antibody (Ab), 2) universal polymerase chain reaction (PCR), 3) universal Ab/PCR, and 4) recipient risk–targeted Ab/PCR. The model predicted the number of TTB cases, complicated TTB cases, cases averted, and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Economic outcomes included each strategy's per-donation cost, waste (number of infection-free units incorrectly discarded), and waste index (number wasted units/number true positives). Sensitivity analyses examined uncertainty in transmission probabilities, prevalence rates, and other key model inputs. RESULTS Universal PCR in four endemic states would prevent 24 to 31 TTB cases/100,000 units transfused (pht) at an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $26,000 to $44,000/QALY (transmission probability dependent) and waste index of zero. Universal Ab/PCR would prevent 33 to 42 TTB cases pht at an ICER of $54,000 to $83,000/QALY and waste index of 0.05. The questionnaire is most wasteful (99.62 units wasted pht; 208.62 waste index), followed by the risk-targeted strategy (76.27 units wasted pht; 0.68 waste index). The model predicted zero cases of TTB or complicated TTB with universal Ab/PCR (versus [33, 42] and [13, 18] pht, respectively [no screening]). Results are highly sensitive to transmission probabilities. CONCLUSIONS Universal PCR in endemic states is an effective blood donation screening strategy at a threshold of $50,000/QALY. Using a higher cost-effectiveness ratio, universal Ab/PCR is the most effective strategy.
Predicting metapopulation responses of a tidal wetland annual to environmental stochasticity and water dispersal through an individual-based model

Freshwater tidal wetlands are a complex environment for annual plants. Seedling establishment and survival may be limited by a variety of factors, including competition with perennials and the twice-daily inundation of seeds and seedlings. Hence such species are often endemic and rare. Their observed population dynamics can be extraordinary, with individuals reappearing in certain patches where they had been absent for several seasons, and with total populations varying by orders of magnitude between years. Many interacting influences are thought to be at play here, including seed banks and water-based seed dispersal (hydrochory). So far it is not known (1) to what degree environmental stochasticity is likely to affect the population's survival in its natural habitat, (2) what role hydrochory plays in propagating and maintaining the species, and (3) how these two factors interact with one another. We therefore took the annual Aeschynomene virginica (Sensitive joint-vetch, SJV) as an example and developed an individual-based model in a geographically precise replica of its Holts Creek, Virginia, habitat. The model represents SJV's life cycle and is calibrated to data from a variety of empirical studies on the plant. Vital rates are partly calibrated from aerial imagery providing estimates of the biomass of specific patches. Simulated seeds enter the river network based on their proximity to the water's edge, and then travel upstream and downstream according to estimated flow rates, float times, and implantation probabilities. Additionally, random seasonal environmental conditions are imposed, depressing or inflating vital rates within prescribed ranges. We found that as environmental stochasticity increased to more than relatively modest levels, the long-term survival probability of the species precipitously declined. Hydrochory, though it may have played an important role in the past in allowing SJV to reach the regions in which it now thrives, had little impact on the plant's long-term likelihood of survival for our study population. Nevertheless, the model's performance indicates the existence of additional key factors at play in SJV's metapopulation dynamics that were not considered or quantified so far. These may include the varying elevation of habitat patches and the corresponding variability in submersion time, which should be taken into account in future modeling of annuals in freshwater tidal wetlands. We conclude that population models which include detailed representations of the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of environmental drivers can deliver important general insights even if they must be tied to specific study sites.
Imbalanced literacy? How a US national educational policy has affected English learners and their teachers

Learning and teaching are always affected by institutional contexts and their policies, ranging from the classroom policies that teachers establish or enact—tacitly or explicitly, to the larger rings of policy set by schools, organizations, districts, states, and/or country. How is policy enacted on a local level? How does such policy affect the needs and realities of students and teachers? How does listening to teacher concerns contribute to valid critiques of policy? This article addresses those questions as they pertain to the US education policy known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). It is told through the perspectives and experiences of six English language teachers in three public schools in one urban school district in the Northeastern United States. Although teachers’ concerns are often dismissed as anecdotal, they can offer valuable insights into the weaknesses of policiesand/or programs. In the often, dichotomous worlds of policy and practice, this story highlights the critical need to attend to both.
Can autonomy and equity coexist in the ICU

KIE: Cohen reviews two collections of essays on ethical issues in critical care medicine: Ethics and Critical Care Medicine, edited by John C. Moskop and Loretta Kopelman (D. Reidel; 1985), and "Ethical Moments in Critical Care Medicine," a symposium issue of Critical Care Clinics, edited by James P. Orlowski and George A. Kanoti (1986 Jan; 2(7): 189 p.). Some of the topics discussed by the contributors include physician beneficence vs. patient autonomy in critical care decision making; the pressures created by the "rescue ethos" of the critical care setting; the selection of patients for admission to intensive care; the equitable distribution of critical care resources; and the increasing need to factor costs into treatment decisions. E. Cassell, E.D. Pellegrino, J. Katz, D. Walton and N. Donen, J. Moskop, J. Perrin, H.T. Engelhardt, R. Veatch, J. Paris and F. Reardon, S. Youngner, and S. Imbus and B. Zawacki are among the essayists.
Duodenal volume and osmoreceptors in the stimulation of human pancreatic secretion

Abstract It is generally accepted that the intestinal phase of pancreatic secretion is initiated by the stimulation of chemoreceptors sensitive to fat and protein degradation products and hydrogen ions. The effect of the volume and osmolality of food emptied by the stomach into the duodenum has received less attention. We investigated the effects of these factors on the stimulation of pancreatic secretion by studying 8 healthy male volunteers (ages 23–69 yr), in random order on 3 separate days. On day 1, an amino acid mixture (l-phenylalanine, l-tryptophan) was infused intraduodenally at increasing rates, 0.2, 0.8, and 3.2 ml · min −1 . On day 2, normal saline was infused into the intestine at the same increasing rates. On day 3, mannitol solutions of increasing osmolality 370, 520, and 700 mosmol · kg −1 were infused into the duodenum at 0.2 ml · min −1 . Duodenal contents were continuously aspirated via a double-lumen tube and PEG 4000 was used as a recovery marker. All studies were repeated 90 min later during i.v. infusion of atropine (20 μg · kg −1 · h −1 ). Increasing volumes of amino acids significantly increase amylase and bicarbonate output (p −1 and no increase was seen thereafter. The responses seen with volume and osmolality were ~40% of that obtained with the amino acids. All responses were significantly reduced (p
A real-time digital signal processing system for bioelectric control of music

A new approach to creating music is described in which bioelectric signals detected by small disk electrodes placed on the skin are digitally processed and subsequently used to generate musical control sequences in the form of standard musical instrument digital interface, (MIDI) code. Several algorithms for the TMS320C25 are described in which signals from the muscles, the eyes, and the brain are processed and then used to control sound generation, localization, and timbre. Algorithm design focuses on extracting appropriate properties of the bioelectric signal to afford the user maximum control over the desired musical outcome. As a consequence, properties such as the long-term spectral content and the overall amplitude envelope of the signals are found to be more important than the stochastic short-term amplitude information. Applications of this device are discussed. >
Life-cycle of structural systems: recent achievements and future directions

Structural systems are under deterioration due to ageing, mechanical stressors, and harsh environment, among other threats. Corrosion and fatigue can cause gradual structural deterioration. Moreover, natural and man-made hazards may lead to a sudden drop in the structural performance. Inspection and maintenance actions are performed to monitor the structural safety and maintain the performance over certain thresholds. However, these actions must be effectively planned throughout the life-cycle of a system to ensure the optimum budget allocation and maximum possible service life without adverse effects on the structural system safety. Life-cycle engineering provides rational means to optimise life-cycle aspects, starting from the initial design and construction to dismantling and replacing the system at the end of its service life. This paper presents a brief overview of the recent research achievements in the field of life-cycle engineering for civil and marine structural systems and indicates future dire...
Unobtrusive, Continuous, In-Home Gait Measurement Using the Microsoft Kinect

A system for capturing habitual, in-home gait measurements using an environmentally mounted depth camera, the Microsoft Kinect, is presented. Previous work evaluating the use of the Kinect sensor for in-home gait measurement in a lab setting has shown the potential of this approach. In this paper, a single Kinect sensor and computer were deployed in the apartments of older adults in an independent living facility for the purpose of continuous, in-home gait measurement. In addition, a monthly fall risk assessment protocol was conducted for each resident by a clinician, which included traditional tools such as the timed up a go and habitual gait speed tests. A probabilistic methodology for generating automated gait estimates over time for the residents of the apartments from the Kinect data is described, along with results from the apartments as compared to two of the traditionally measured fall risk assessment tools. Potential applications and future work are discussed.
Decomposition of nucleoside hydroperoxide by metals and metalloproteins.

5-Hydroperoxymethyl-2′-deoxyuridine (HPMdU) is formed in DNA by ionizing radiation. Although relatively stable, HPMdU eventually decomposes to two products 5-hydroxymethyl-2′-deoxyuridine (HMdU) and 5-formyl-2′-deoxyuridine (FdU). We show that a number of transition metal ions and metalloproteins accelerate this process. Of the metal ions tested, Sn(II) and Fe(II) were the most active, with the former producing exclusively HMdU, and the latter, a mixture of both. Cu(I), Cu(II), Co(II), and Ni(II) induced a predominant generation of FdU, with copper ions being more effective than Co and Ni. FdU was also preferentially formed in the presence of the iron-containing proteins transferrin and ferritin, whereas HMdU was the major product in the presence of apotransferrin as well as in the presence of ceruloplasmin, a copper-containing protein.
Probing medium-induced energy loss with direct jet reconstruction in p+p and Cu+Cu collisions at PHENIX

Abstract We present the application of a new jet reconstruction algorithm that uses a Gaussian filter to locate and reconstruct the jet energy to p + p and heavy ion data from the PHENIX detector. This algorithm is combined with a fake jet rejection scheme that provides efficient jet reconstruction with an acceptable fake rate. We show our first results on the measured jet spectra, and on jet–jet angular correlation in p+p and Cu+Cu collisions.
Analysis Of Spectrally Selective Liquid Absorption Filters For Hybrid Solar Energy Conversion

Various techniques have been proposed to convert solar energy to both electric power and heat in hybrid systems. Many of these approaches are designed to utilize spectral selectivity to improve the overall conversion efficiency. Examples include spectrally selective beamsplitters and arrangements of long-wave or short-wave-pass glass filters that divide the spectrum so that photon energies are roughly matched to the energies corresponding to the solar-cell bandgaps or to efficient photothermal convertors. This paper describes the analysis of liquid optical filters that have high transmittance in the visible spectrum and high absorptance in the infrared. These qualities make it possible to capture that portion of the spectrum useful to a quantum convertor, such as a photovoltaic cell, while channeling the "excess heat" of the photons with energies below the bandgap to a thermal convertor, thereby enhancing the overall conversion efficiency of the system. The preliminary studies show that spectral responses of the tested solutions (salts in water) are primarily influenced by the cation component of the salt solution. By changing the solutions and concentrations, a variety of spectrally selective filters can be tailored to match system requirements.
Examining the CERAD Memory Performance Index in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer's Prevention

Shankle et al. (2009) developed the Memory Performance Index (MPI) from the Consortium for the Establishment of a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease (CERAD) word list to provide a sensitive indicator of amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) and dementia.1, 2 The MPI yields a score from 0-100 ( 70.
Implementing Adolescent Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) Education in a Pediatric Residency Curriculum.

ABSTRACTBackground: Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) is recommended as part of routine health care for adolescents as well as adults. In an effort to promote universal SBIRT, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded funding to residency programs to develop and implement SBIRT education and training. Our project focused on creating scientifically based, developmentally appropriate strategies and teaching materials for the adolescent age range. This paper describes curriculum development and implementation and presents evaluation data. Methods: Pediatric and child psychiatry residents were trained. The training consisted of 4 activities: (1) case-based teaching modules, (2) role-play of motivational interviewing and brief interventions, (3) mock interviews with trained adolescents, and (4) supervised “hands-on” screening and brief interventions. Main outcome measures included trainee satisfaction, and SBIRT knowledge, perceived self-efficacy, and ...
Putting Students First: Promoting Lives of Purpose and Meaning.

Institutions that successfully educate students to lead “the good life” attend to their campus's culture, curriculum, cocurriculum, and community.The authors of this article explore nuances of these four C's.
SYNTHESIS AND CATALYTIC APPLICATIONS OF IRON PINCER COMPLEXES

Transition metal complexes bearing pincer ligands have been extensively studied during the past decade. One of the less-explored or perhaps even neglected areas of pincer chemistry is on the reactivity of iron complexes that incorporate these enormously popular ligand sets. Meanwhile, recent emphasis on homogeneous catalysis has been placed on the developments of catalytic reactions promoted by inexpensive and environmentally benign metals, for which iron is particularly attractive. In that regard, investigating the reactivity patterns of well-defined iron pincer complexes can potentially provide valuable guidelines for the rational design of iron catalysis. This review analyzes the challenges and successes of synthesizing iron complexes with different pincer-type ligands, and discusses the established or potential utility of these complexes for catalytic reactions.
School Choice: Silver Bullet, Social Threat, or Sound Policy?:

When I wrote my first article about school choice in the fall of 1984, a sitting president was forcefully advocating tuition tax credits and vouchers, but the U.S. literature about the subject was sparse. The major reason was that little school choice was available in this country. A few New England states had long followed a practice called "tuitioning," which offered some choice to high school students; a number of cities had implemented magnet programs as an integration measure; and a limited voucher experiment had been conducted in California in the 1970s. However, most children in the United States attended the public school to which they had been zoned by their school board. As a result, the sparse literature on the subject was h avy on theory and light on empirical evidence, a weakness that can be illustrated
Influence of hepatocarcinogen feeding on the retention of cerium-144 by the liver.

Abstract Dietary administration of DAB, DAF, or ethionine to rats injected with 144 Ce caused an increased retention of the radionuclide by the liver. The 144 Ce content of spleen, kidney, and femur was little affected by the carcinogen feeding. The increased retention of 144 Ce by the liver was associated with decreased biliary and fecal levels.
Causing harm: Criminal law

This paper offers two related things. First, a theory of singular causal statements attributing causal responsibility for a particular harm to a particular agent based on the conjunction of a positive condition (necessitation) and a negative condition (avoidability) which captures the notions of sufficiency and necessity in intuitive ideas about agent causation better than traditional conditio sine qua non based theories. Second, a theory of representation of causal issues in the law. The conceptual framework is that of Game Trees and Games in Extensive Form. Causal conditions are defined set-theoretically over Game Trees; causal issues and fundamental distinctions (dependent versus independent intervening causes, foreseeability or not of harm etc.) arising in legal cases are accommodated by the device of a probability distribution over the game-tree representation of cases.
Caudate nucleus and memory for egocentric localization

A large body of evidence suggests that the caudate nucleus (CN) plays a critical role in the processing of spatial localization information. Furthermore, evidence has begun to accumulate that the CN is involved in the processing of a very specific class of spatial cues, namely, egocentric cues (localization with reference to the organism). This is in contrast to allocentric localization, where an organism localizes on the basis of cues external to the organism. One would then predict that lesions to the CN should disrupt performance on any tasks that depend chiefly on egocentric spatial cues, while leaving performance on allocentric tasks intact. To test this prediction, two groups of rats were trained on two different egocentric memory tasks and two different allocentric memory tasks. Specifically, one group of rats was trained on an adjacent-arm (egocentric) and an 8-arm radial maze task (allocentric). A second group of rats was trained on a right-left discrimination (egocentric) and a place-learning task (allocentric). After training, both groups received bilateral lesions of the CN. Results showed that CN-lesioned animals were profoundly impaired on retention of the egocentric tasks. In sharp contrast to this, the same animals were not or were only transiently impaired or transiently affected on allocentric tasks. Sham-operated controls were either unimpaired or transiently affected on all tasks. These findings further support the idea that the CN plays a critical modulatory role in the processing of egocentric spatial and not allocentric spatial cues.
Phosphorus heterocycle synthesis using phosphenium ions and 1,4-dienes

Abstract The stabilized phosphenium ion, [Pr i 2 NPCl] + , reacts readily with 1,4-dienes to afford high yields of bicyclic phosphonium salts, the structure of one of which has been determined by X-ray crystallography.
Symmetry in Nonlinear Hydrologic Dynamics under Uncertainty: Modeling Approach

Symmetry methods can be used to transform almost any kind of linear or nonlinear partial differential equation (PDE) that represents a hydrologic process in any dimension to an equivalent ordinary differential equation (ODE). Meanwhile, Kavvas recently shown in 2003 that the conservation equations of hydrologic processes under uncertainty, expressed as linear or nonlinear stochastic ODEs or PDEs, have a one-to-one correspondence to a mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian nonlocal form of the Fokker-Planck equation (FPE) when the underlying process has finite correlation lengths. Under such correspondence, it is possible to obtain a solution for the ensemble behavior of a particular hydrologic process in terms of the solution of its corresponding FPE for the probability distribution function (PDF) of its state variables under appropriate initial and boundary conditions. A major issue with the resulting FPE in the case of conservation equations in PDE form is that spatial gradients of the process state variables appear...
Inexact Newton methods and nondifferentiable operator equations on Banach spaces with a convergence structure

In this study, we use inexact newton methods to find solutions of nonlinear, nondifferentiable operator equations on Banach spaces with a convergence structure. This technique involves the introduction of a generalized norm as an operator from a linear space into a partially ordered Banach space. In this way the metric properties of the examined problem can be analyzed more precisely. Moreover, this approach allows us to derive from the same theorem, on the one hand, semi-local results of Kantorovich-type, and on the other hand, global results based on monotonicity considerations. Furthermore, we show that special cases of our results reduce to the corresponding ones already in the literature. Finally, our results are used to solve integral equations that cannot be solved with existing methods.