cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Genetic analysis of lipid–protein interactions in Escherichia coli membranes

Abstract Phospholipids play essential roles in defining the membrane permeability barrier, in regulating cellular processes, in providing a support for organization of many membrane-associated processes, and in providing precursors for the synthesis of macromolecules. Although in vitro experiments have provided important information on the role of protein–lipid interactions in cell function, such approaches are limited by the lack of a direct measure for phospholipid function. Genetic approaches can provide direct evidence for a specific role for phospholipids in cell function provided cell viability or membrane structure is not compromised. This review will summarize recent genetic approaches that when coupled with biochemical studies have led to a better understanding of specific functions for phospholipids at the molecular level.
Inorganic Photochromic Systems

The excited states of many organic molecules are sufficiently long lived so that excitation gives rise to a change in the absorption spectrum that persists for seconds or even longer. The author is...
Examining the relation between the serotonin transporter 5-HTTPLR genotype x trauma exposure interaction on a contemporary phenotypic model of posttraumatic stress symptomatology: a pilot study.

Abstract Background Little is known about the specificity of the interaction of serotonin transporter 5-HTTLPR genotype x trauma exposure in relation to contemporary structural models of PTSD symptomatology, which suggest that 4- or 5-factor models provide a better representation of the phenotypic expression of this disorder. Methods One hundred forty-nine respondents of a representative sample of adults affected by Hurricane Ike were interviewed 2–5 months after this 2008 disaster. Results After adjustment for age, sex, and ancestral proportion scores, the interaction of 5-HTTPLR genotype x trauma exposure was significantly associated with both severity ( β =.40, p Wald =4.55, p =.033; odds ratio=3.81, 95% CI =1.11–13.03) of Ike-related PTSD. Respondents with the low-expression variant of the 5-HTTPLR polymorphism (S allele carriers) who were highly exposed to Hurricane Ike reported significantly greater severity of PTSD symptoms and were more likely to screen positive for PTSD than respondents homozygous for the L allele who were highly exposed to Hurricane Ike. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a 5-factor model of intercorrelated re-experiencing, avoidance, numbing, dysphoric arousal, and anxious arousal symptoms provided the best structural representation of PTSD symptomatology. The 5-HTTPLR genotype x exposure interaction was significant only for anxious arousal ( β =.44, p β =.35, p β s≤.20, all p s>.13). Limitations The small sample size and employment of self-report measures may limit generalizability of these findings. Conclusions Results of this pilot study suggest that the low-expression variant of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism modifies risk for PTSD, but that this effect may be specific to anxious arousal and re-experiencing symptoms.
Intracellular delivery of an antisense oligonucleotide via endocytosis of a G protein-coupled receptor

Gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR), a member of the G protein-coupled receptor superfamily, has been utilized for receptor-mediated targeting of imaging and therapeutic agents; here we extend its use to oligonucleotide delivery. A splice-shifting antisense oligonucleotide was conjugated to a bombesin (BBN) peptide, and its intracellular delivery was tested in GRPR expressing PC3 cells stably transfected with a luciferase gene interrupted by an abnormally spliced intron. The BBN-conjugate produced significantly higher luciferase expression compared to unmodified oligonucleotide, and this increase was reversed by excess BBN peptide. Kinetic studies revealed a combination of saturable, receptor-mediated endocytosis and non-saturable pinocytosis for uptake of the conjugate. The K(m) value for saturable uptake was similar to the EC(50) value for the pharmacological response, indicating that receptor-mediated endocytosis was a primary contributor to the response. Use of pharmacological and molecular inhibitors of endocytosis showed that the conjugate utilized a clathrin-, actin- and dynamin-dependent pathway to enter PC3 cells. The BBN-conjugate partially localized in endomembrane vesicles that were associated with Rab7 or Rab9, demonstrating that it was transported to late endosomes and the trans-golgi network. These observations suggest that the BBN-oligonucleotide conjugate enters cells via a process of GRPR mediated endocytosis followed by trafficking to deep endomembrane compartments.
May It Please the Court? The Solicitor General's Not‐So‐“Special” Relationship: Archibald Cox and the 1963–1964 Reapportionment Cases

Forty-two years ago, the Warren Court decided the jurisprudential progeny of Baker v. Carr.1 Six cases, headed by Reynolds v. Sims,2 continued to remake the legal landscape of legislative apportionment using the “one person, one vote” principle. For President John F. Kennedy's Solicitor General, Archibald Cox, the Reynolds decisions were dangerous. He feared they would precipitate a constitutional crisis that would underscore why Justice Felix Frankfurter, his mentor, had urged his judicial colleagues to avoid entangling their institution in the “political thicket” of legislative apportionment.
p38 Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Mediates the Transcriptional Induction of the Atrial Natriuretic Factor Gene through a Serum Response Element A POTENTIAL ROLE FOR THE TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR ATF6

In various cell types certain stresses can stimulate p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK), leading to the transcriptional activation of genes that contribute to appropriate compensatory responses. In this report the mechanism of p38-activated transcription was studied in cardiac myocytes where this MAPK is a key regulator of the cell growth and the cardiac-specific gene induction that occurs in response to potentially stressful stimuli. In the cardiac atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) gene, a promoter-proximal serum response element (SRE), which binds serum response factor (SRF), was shown to be critical for ANF induction in primary cardiac myocytes transfected with the selective p38 MAPK activator, MKK6 (Glu). This ANF SRE does not possess sequences typically required for the binding of the Ets-related ternary complex factors (TCFs), such as Elk-1, indicating that p38-mediated induction through this element may take place independently of such TCFs. Although p38 did not phosphorylate SRF in vitro, it efficiently phosphorylated ATF6, a newly discovered SRF-binding protein that is believed to serve as a co-activator of SRF-inducible transcription at SREs. Expression of an ATF6 antisense RNA blocked p38-mediated ANF induction through the ANF SRE. Moreover, when fused to the Gal4 DNA-binding domain, an N-terminal 273-amino acid fragment of ATF6 was sufficient to support trans-activation of Gal4/luciferase expression in response to p38 but not the other stress kinase, N-terminal Jun kinase (JNK); p38-activating cardiac growth promoters also stimulated ATF6 trans-activation. These results indicate that through ATF6, p38 can augment SRE-mediated transcription independently of Ets-related TCFs, representing a novel mechanism of SRF-dependent transcription by MAP kinases.
Securing Enterprise Data on Smartphones Using Run Time Information Flow Control

There is an increasing penetration of smart phones within enterprises. Most smart phone users now run both enterprise as well as personal applications simultaneously on their phones. However, most of the personal apps that are downloaded from public market places are hardly tested for enterprise grade security, and there have been instances of malware appearing in public markets that steal sensitive user information. Smart phone platforms such as Android require users to explicitly provide permissions to applications at install time, yet lack run time monitoring of permission usage by applications. In this paper, we present a framework for the run time enforcement of privacy policies on smart phones, in particular, protecting the privacy of enterprise data on smart phones. Our privacy policies are defined in terms of permissible information flows on the phone during different contexts. This arms users with finer grained control over information access by different applications. In our policy framework, an information flow is defined based on the entities involved in the corresponding inter-process communication(IPC) viz, the caller, callee and the associated IPC data. The information flow policy specifies the conditions under which an IPC flow may be permitted (or denied). Our system tracks information flows at run time and enforces that only flows satisfying all the current policies are permitted on the phone. We describe the design and implementation of our policy based framework in Android, and present performance evaluation results measuring the overhead imposed by our framework.
Clinical Sociology in the Criminal Justice System

Sociologists, particularly clinical sociologists, are implementing new models throughout the justice system as well as redesigning existing programs. They work in law enforcement, the judicial system, and corrections to develop and improve programs for use by all of the individuals and agencies affected by the criminal justice processes.
Models and metrics for energy-efficient computer systems

Energy efficiency is an important concern in computer systems from small handheld devices to large data centers and supercomputers. Improving energy efficiency requires metrics and models: metrics to assess designs and identify promising energy-efficient technologies, and models to understand the effects of resource utilization decisions on power consumption. To facilitate energy-efficiency improvements, this dissertation presents JouleSort, the first completely specified full-system energy-efficiency benchmark; and Mantis, a generic and portable approach to real-time, full-system power modeling. JouleSort was the first full-system energy-efficiency benchmark with fully specified workload, metric, and rules. This dissertation describes the benchmark design, highlighting the challenges and pitfalls of energy-efficiency benchmarking that distinguish it from benchmarking pure performance. It also describes the design of the machine with the highest known JouleSort score. This machine, consisting of a commodity mobile CPU and 13 laptop drives connected by server-style I/O interfaces, differs greatly from today's commercially available servers. Mantis generates full-system power models by correlating AC power measurements with software utilization metrics. This dissertation will evaluate several different families of Mantis-generated models on several computer systems with widely varying components and power footprints, identifying models that are both highly accurate and highly portable. This evaluation demonstrates the trade-off between simplicity and accuracy, and it also shows the limitations of previously proposed models based solely on OS-reported component utilization. The simplicity of this black-box approach makes it a useful tool for power-aware scheduling and analysis.
Promoting Job Safety for Workers with Intellectual Disabilities: The Staying Safe at Work Training Curriculum

In the United States, approximately 125,000 people with disabilities are employed through Community Rehabilitation Programs in manufacturing, assembly, and service jobs. These jobs have significant hazards and, consequently, the workers are at risk of injury. Training that empowers workers to participate in prevention efforts can help reduce work-related injuries. In general this kind of health and safety training in the United States is limited. It is even more so for workers with intellectual disabilities, in part because there have not been programs for teaching individuals with cognitive challenges health and safety skills, adapted to their learning needs. This paper describes the development and promotion of the Staying Safe at Work curriculum of UC Berkeley's Labor Occupational Health Program, which is designed for use by support agencies and employers of workers with intellectual disabilities. The goal of this program is to teach these workers essential occupational safety and health skills in a manner they can understand.
Age-specific modification of local cutaneous vasodilation by capsaicin-sensitive primary afferents.

Age-related changes in neurogenic vasodilation mediated by sensory nerves may alter local skin blood flow (SkBF) responses in older individuals. The purpose of this study was to determine the age-s...
Shared Transponder Performance with Selective Sub-channel Gain

A simplified expression is presented for finding end-to-end CNR of a signal relayed by a satellite with a wideband transponder, if the transponder bandwidth is separated into individual sub-channels, each of which may be independently amplified or attenuated before sub-channels are reassembled into a wideband downlink signal, amplified, and transmitted. This expression takes into account power sharing among multiple signals and transponder noise, finding CNR as a function of nominal link performance plus excess uplink loss and compensating sub-channel gain. Selection of sub-channel gain values is also discussed. It is shown that in some cases excess uplink loss may be entirely compensated for, and in other cases loss may be reduced but not eliminated.
Nitric oxide inhibits pulmonary artery catalase and H2O2-associated relaxation

Our previous studies on the mechanism of relaxation of calf pulmonary arteries to H2O2 detected a role for increased formation of guanosine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphate as a result of a catalase-elicited activation of soluble guanylate cyclase. We have also shown that lactate elicits relaxation through increasing H2O2 produced from NADH oxidase-derived superoxide anion (O2-.). Because nitric oxide (NO) is a potential inhibitor of catalase, we examined the effects of exposure of endothelium-denuded bovine calf pulmonary arteries to an elevated physiological level of NO on relaxation to H2O2 and lactate. Treatment of pulmonary arteries with approximately 50 nM of NO gas for 2 min caused a subsequent inhibition of relaxation to H2O2 (10(-6) to 10(-3)M) and lactate (1-10 mM), without markedly altering relaxation responses to S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (10(-9) to 10(-6) M) or isoproterenol (10(-9) to 10(-6) M). This NO exposure caused a 63 and 70% inhibition of the metabolism by smooth muscle catalase of both endogenously produced and exogenous (100 microM) H2O2, respectively, as measured by the H2O2-dependent cooxidation of methanol to formaldehyde. A similar treatment of purified catalase with NO caused subsequent inhibition of its ability to metabolize H2O2, associated with changes in the spectra of catalase (increases in the absorbance at 535 and 570 nm) to a species that resembled compound II, an inactive form of catalase. The exposure of pulmonary arteries to NO also resulted in the detection of H2O2 release (by catalase-inhibitable luminol/ peroxidase-chemiluminescence). Thus exposure of pulmonary arteries to increased physiological levels of NO may promote altered vasoactive responses involving H2O2 as a result of the inhibition of catalase.
Instrumentation for measurement of lingual strength.

A tongue pressure unit for measurement of lingual strength and patterns of tongue pressure is described. It consists of a force displacement transducer, a single channel, direct writing recording s...
Fast, high dynamic range light field processing for pattern recognition

We present a light field processing method to quickly produce an image for pattern recognition. Unlike processing for aesthetic purposes, our objective is not to produce the best-looking image, but to produce a recognizable image as fast as possible. By leveraging the recognition algorithm's dynamic range and robustness to optical defocus, we develop carefully-chosen tradeoffs to ensure recognition at a much lower level of computational complexity. Capitalizing on the algorithm's dynamic range yields large speedups by minimizing the number of light field views used in refocusing. Robustness to optical defocus allows us to quantize the refocus parameter and minimize the number of interpolations. The resulting joint optimization is performed via dynamic programming to choose the set of views which, when combined, produce a recognizable refocused image in the least possible computing time. We demonstrate the improved recognition dynamic range of barcode scanning using a Lytro camera, and dramatic reductions in computational complexity on a low-power embedded processor.
Actigraphy Measured Sleep Indices and Adiposity: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).

STUDY OBJECTIVES To investigate the cross-sectional relationship between objectively measured sleep characteristics and multiple indices of adiposity in racially/ethnically diverse older adults within the MESA Sleep study (n = 2,146). METHODS 7-day actigraphy was used to assess sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and night-to-night variability. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and total body fat were modeled continuously and according to obesity cut-points. Models were adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral variables. RESULTS Participants who slept less than 6 hours a night had significantly higher BMI, waist circumference, and body fat relative to those who slept 7-8 hours. Those who slept less than 5 hours had a 16% higher prevalence of general obesity (BMI ≥ 30 vs. < 25 kg/m(2)) (95% [CI]: 0.08-0.24) and a 9% higher prevalence of abdominal obesity (waist circumference: women ≥ 88 centimeters, men ≥ 102 centimeters; 95% CI: 0.03-0.16) compared to those who slept 7-8 hours. Results were similar for sleep efficiency and night-to-night sleep variability. CONCLUSIONS Among an older multi-ethnic cohort, we found robust associations across multiple indices of sleep and adiposity. Targeting sleep characteristics may be of benefit in obesity interventions, but more research is needed to rule out reverse causality.
Calculation of Acid Aerosol Dose

Polluted air at times contains a number of acidic compounds, most notably particulate acid in the form of partially neutralized sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and acidic vapor in the form of nitric acid (HNO3). This chapter discusses model estimates of the respiratory fate of acidic particles and gases with emphasis on the neutralization that occurs in the airways due to respiratory ammonia (NH3). Such models seek to estimate the actual exposure of the lung, rather than using the values measured at the airway entrance. This is useful in calculating conditions under which acid exposures of the lung actually occur in laboratory experiments and in integrating the results of laboratory studies with field measurements of acidic air pollution.
Collective motion: Disorder in the wild

Simple models have given us surprising insight into how animals flock, but most assume they do so through a homogeneous landscape. Colloidal experiments now suggest that a little disorder can have unexpected — and spectacular — effects.
Virtually Ready? Pre-service teachers' perceptions of a virtual internship experience

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the experiences of six secondary pre-service teachers that completed a semester long internship with a supervising mentor at a virtual school in the Southeastern United States. The secondary pre-service teachers in this study voluntarily chose a placement in the virtual school over a traditional classroom placement for completion of their initial licensure field experience. This study sought to examine why secondary pre-service teachers chose a virtual internship and what their experiences were like as online instructors. A total of six participants completed a sixty-minute semi-structured interview at the completion of the semester long virtual school internship. Results of the study indicated that secondary pre-service teachersâ€™ primary motivation for entering a virtual internship experience was â€œconvenience.â€ Additionally, participants felt prepared for future employment in virtual schools, but had some reservations about their prospects in a traditional classroom setting.
Inferring rankings under constrained sensing

Motivated by applications like elections, web-page ranking, revenue maximization etc., we consider the question of inferring popular rankings using constrained data. More specifically, we consider the problem of inferring a probability distribution over the group of permutations using its first order marginals. We first prove that it is not possible to recover more than O(n) permutations over n elements with the given information. We then provide a simple and novel algorithm that can recover up to O(n) permutations under a natural stochastic model; in this sense, the algorithm is optimal. In certain applications, the interest is in recovering only the most popular (or mode) ranking. As a second result, we provide an algorithm based on the Fourier Transform over the symmetric group to recover the mode under a natural majority condition; the algorithm turns out to be a maximum weight matching on an appropriately defined weighted bipartite graph. The questions considered are also thematically related to Fourier Transforms over the symmetric group and the currently popular topic of compressed sensing.
Effects of television on enjoyment of exercise in college students

Purpose: Determine the effects of television viewing on enjoyment of exercise in college students. Methods: Forty-three college students (Mean ± SD; age = 19 ± 2 y, body mass index (BMI) = 23.7 ± 3.2 kg/m2) completed two 30-minute cycling exercise sessions at a moderate exercise intensity (40% peak oxygen consumption), in randomised order. Experimental session required participants to view a nature series programme (TV), while in the control session they did not watch television (No-TV). Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and Feeling Scale (FS) were measured at 10, 20 and 30 minutes of exercise. The Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale was administered following each session. Enjoyment of exercise was analysed with a paired samples t-test. Additional analyses were conducted to assess the influence of potential physiological and psychological mediators of exercise enjoyment. Correlational analyses were conducted to determine the relationship between mean FS values and enjoyment of exercise for each visit. Rep...
A Researcher-oriented Automated Data Ingestion Tool for rapid data Processing, Visualization and Preservation

Abstract A select number of scientific communities have been quite successful in evolving the culture within their community to encourage publishing and to provide resources for re-using well-documented data. These data have great potential for analysis and knowledge generation beyond the purposes for which they were collected and intended. However, there are still barriers in this process. To explore this problem, we have developed a prototype tool: the Experiment Dashboard (ED), with the objective of demonstrating the ability and potential of enabling automated data ingestion from typical research laboratories. This innovative prototype was developed to create a novel system and artifact to explore the possibilities of allowing researchers in laboratories across the nation to link their data acquisition systems directly to structured data repositories for data and metadata ingestion. The prototype functions with commonly used data acquisition software at the data source and the HUBzero scientific gateway at the data sink. ED can be set up with minimal effort and expertise. In this paper, we describe the motivation and purposes for the prototype, the architecture we devised and functionality of this tool, and provide a demonstration of the tool for optical measurements in a structural engineering laboratory. The goal of this paper is to articulate and show through our prototype a vision for future cyberinfrastructure for empirical disciplines that rely on the rapid collection, analysis, and dissemination of valuable experimental data. We also discuss lessons learned that may be useful for others seeking to solve similar problems.
Feelings, Safe Space, and LGBTQ of Color Community Arts Organizing

ABSTRACTThis article examines safe space as a site of community practice. I focus specifically on safe space as it is used among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) of color community arts organizers. I argue that although safe space operates as a site of refuge against oppression, its implementation can also serve as a barrier for community arts workers who seek to engage with mainstream arts institutions. This limitation encourages community practitioners to recognize safe space as one kind of intervention that is most effectively used in tandem with other tools of community practice.
Design of a compact collimator and 3D imaging system for a scanning beam low-energy intraoperative radiation therapy system for pancreatic cancer

Intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) involves delivering high doses of radiation directly to tumors while sparing healthy tissues in a surgical setting. Current IORT systems are limited in their lack of image guidance and variable needs for shielded operating rooms. They also lack the capability to deliver non-uniform therapeutic radiation to irregular shaped clinical targets. We developed a scanning beam IORT system (SBIORT) to overcome these limitations. SBIORT consists of a low energy x-ray source, a custom compact dynamic x-ray collimator system, a robotic arm, and a 3D surface imaging module. Here we describe the design and validation of the compact dynamic x-ray collimator system and the 3D surface imaging module for use in SBIORT. The proposed collimator can achieve a leaf position accuracy of ± 0.25 mm (95% confidence interval). Phantom studies indicated the 3D surface-imaging module has an accuracy of 1.0 ± 0.6 mm with ability to obtain high resolution surface image within 5 seconds. SBIORT is a novel approach to deliver conformal intensity-modulated intraoperative radiation therapy.
Breastfeeding Duration and Adolescent Educational Outcomes: Longitudinal Evidence From India.

Objective:There is a significant evidence gap on the long-term educational benefits of longer breastfeeding in low- and middle-income countries. We estimated the association between duration of (any) breastfeeding and educational outcomes of Indian children.Methods:We used regression analysis to examine the association between the length of breastfeeding (in months) and future education outcomes on the basis of 2 data sets: (1) data from a follow-up survey known as the Andhra Pradesh Children and Parents Study (APCAPS, 2003-2005) of 1165 children aged 13 to 18 years from a controlled nutrition trial originally conducted in South India during the period of 1987 to 1990; and (2) nationally representative data from the India Human Development Survey (IHDS-2, 2011-2012) of 6121 children aged 6 to 12 years.Results:In APCAPS, children with >36 months of breastfeeding scored 0.28 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.00-0.56; P < .05) higher on tests than those with up to 12 months of breastfeeding. In the nation...
Discrimination toward Asian Job Applicants on the Basis of Their Accents

U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids employers from discriminating on the basis of accent unless they can prove that the accent will impair a speaker’s job ability. Unfortunately, employers have u...
Genetic and Epigenetic Culprits in the Pathogenesis of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) constitutes a wide spectrum of liver pathology with hepatic steatosis at the core of this pathogenesis. Variations of certain genetic components have demonstrated increased susceptibility for hepatic steatosis. Therefore, these inciting variants must be further characterized in order to ultimately provide effective, targeted therapies for NAFLD and will be the focus of this review. Several genetic variants revealed an association with NAFLD through Genome-wide Association Study, meta-analyses, and retrospective case–control studies. PNPLA3 rs738409 and TM6SF2 rs58542926 are the two genetic variants providing the strongest evidence for association with NAFLD. However, it remains to be determined if these genetic variants serve as the primary culprit which induces the pathogenesis of NAFLD. Prospective and intervention studies are urgently needed to firmly establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the presence of certain genetic variants and risk of NAFLD development and progression.
Micro friction stir welding of multilayer aluminum alloy sheets

Abstract The morphology of joint surface revealed that a narrow process window exists for acquiring multilayer defect-free joints with micro friction stir welding (μFSW). The optimal welding condition for realization of the maximum tensile load was predicted: a rotation rate of 20,000 rpm, welding speed of 3 mm/s, plunge depth of 0.85 mm, and use of a stepped pin. Significant grain refinements and material hardening in the weld zone were observed in multilayer defect-free joints, with a decrease in the bonding length between adjacent layers from the top layer to the bottom layer. A more distinct thermomechanically affected zone was found on the retreating side than on the advancing side. Peel tests revealed different maximum peel loads and fracture modes for different pairs of adjacent layers, indicating nonuniform bonding strengths in different layers; and the strengths were dependent on the tool geometry, layer position, and welding position (advancing or retreating side).
Allison, M. T., & Schneider, I. E. (Ed s.). (2000). Diversity and the Recreation Profession: Organizational Perspectives

(2001). Allison, M. T., & Schneider, I. E. (Ed s.). (2000). Diversity and the Recreation Profession: Organizational Perspectives. SCHOLE: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education: Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 138-140.
Models Like Jeffreys

The Maxwell models were generated by a spring and a dashpot in series. The system may be displaced by increasing the displacement to a constant value. Initially all the displacement is taken up by the spring. The element then relaxes with friction proportional to velocity ∂γ/∂t. Permanent deformation forces, as in fluids, are impossible. This system has instantaneous elasticity in that the initial resistance is due to the spring.
Coping with cold and other challenges of the boreal forest: An overview

Our objectives in this final chapter are to consolidate our observations on one major piece of unfinished business—cold adaptation—and to describe the pattern of general adaptation which we have observed in our studies in boreal anthropology.
Food Insecurity, Morbidities, and Substance Use in Adults on Probation in Rhode Island

When individuals are on probation, they face challenges with securing employment and safe housing due to their criminal records, which may make food access problematic. Food insecurity is a construct used as a marker for food access that considers financial constraints and has been associated with poorer health and substance use. There is limited research on the extent of food insecurity and associated morbidities and substance use among adults on probation. We conducted a cross-sectional study in 2016, surveying 304 probationers in Rhode Island to determine whether food insecurity is associated with obesity, high blood pressure, depression, and substance use. Separate logistic regression models were used to determine the associations between food insecurity and obesity, high blood pressure, depression, and substance use. Food insecurity was experienced by 70% of our study population. The estimated prevalence of high blood pressure was significantly higher in our study sample compared to the general US population. Food insecurity was not associated with obesity, high blood pressure, or current drug use in this study sample. Food insecurity was independently associated with more than three times greater odds of being depressed (AOR 3.33, 95%CI 1.89, 5.86) and a nearly twofold greater odds of self-reporting a lower health status (AOR 1.91, 95%CI 1.18, 3.10) after adjusting for gender, race/ethnicity, age, income categories, and being homeless. Probationers were found to have a higher estimated prevalence of high blood pressure and food insecurity compared to the general population, which highlights the health disparities faced by this population. Our findings have important implications for future research and interventions to decrease the health burden not only on the individuals but their families and communities.
Energetically efficient electrochemically tunable affinity separation using multicomponent polymeric nanostructures for water treatment

We describe a water treatment strategy, electrochemically tunable affinity separation (ETAS), which, unlike other previously developed electrochemical processes, targets uncharged organic pollutants in water. Key to achieving ETAS resides in the development of multicomponent polymeric nanostructures that simultaneously exhibit the following characteristics: an oxidation-state dependent affinity towards neutral organics, high porosity for sufficient adsorption capacity, and high conductivity to permit electrical manipulation. A prototype ETAS adsorbent composed of nanostructured binary polymeric surfaces that can undergo an electrically-induced hydrophilic–hydrophobic transition can provide programmable control of capture and release of neutral organics in a cyclic fashion. A quantitative energetic analysis of ETAS offers insights into the tradeoff between energy cost and separation extent through manipulation of electrical swing conditions. We also introduce a generalizable materials design approach to improve the separation degree and energetic efficiency simultaneously, and identify the critical factors responsible for such enhancement via redox electrode simulations and theoretical calculations of electron transfer kinetics. The effect of operation mode and multistage configuration on ETAS performance is examined, highlighting the practicality of ETAS and providing useful guidelines for its operation at large scale. The ETAS approach is energetically efficient, environmentally friendly, broadly applicable to a wide range of organic contaminants of various molecular structures, hydrophobicity and functionality, and opens up new avenues for addressing the urgent, global challenge of water purification and wastewater management.
A Preliminary Study On the Sustainability of Android Malware Detection

Machine learning-based malware detection dominates current security defense approaches for Android apps. However, due to the evolution of Android platforms and malware, existing such techniques are widely limited by their need for constant retraining that are costly, and reliance on new malware samples that may not be timely available. As a result, new and emerging malware slips through, as seen from the continued surging of malware in the wild. Thus, a more practical detector needs not only to be accurate but, more critically, to be able to sustain its capabilities over time without frequent retraining. In this paper, we study how Android apps evolve as a population over time, in terms of their behaviors related to accesses to sensitive information and operations. We first perform a longitudinal characterization of 6K benign and malicious apps developed across seven years, with focus on these sensitive accesses in app executions. Our study reveals, during the long evolution, a consistent, clear differentiation between malware and benign apps regarding such accesses, measured by relative statistics of relevant method calls. Following these findings, we developed DroidSpan, a novel classification system based on a new behavioral profile for Android apps. Through an extensive evaluation, we showed that DroidSpan can not only effectively detect malware but sustain high detection accuracy (93% F1 measure) for four years (with 81% F1 for five years). Through a dedicated study, we also showed its resiliency to sophisticated evasion schemes. By comparing to a state-of-the-art malware detector, we demonstrated the largely superior sustainability of our approach at reasonable costs.
Temporal Super-Resolution of Microwave Remote Sensing Images

We develop an approach for increasing the temporal resolution of a temporally blurred sequence of observations. Super-resolution is performed in time using a variational approach. By temporal super-resolution, we mean recovering rapidly evolving events that were corrupted by the induced blur of the sensor. A blurred sequence of observations is assumed to have been generated by convolution of a physical scene with a temporal rectangular convolution kernel whose support is the sensor exposure time. We solve the deconvolution problem using the Split-Bregman method. Such methodology is based on current research in sparse optimization and compressed sensing, which lead to unprecedented efficiencies for solving image reconstruction problems. We test our method using a simulated temporally blurred and noisy temporal precipitation sequence and show that our method significantly reduces the errors in the corrupted sequence.
Smad4 expression and chemosensitivity in non-small cell lung cancer.

e20550Background: Smad4 is a tumor suppressor that transduces transforming growth factor beta signaling and regulates genomic stability. We previously found that reduced Smad4 expression was associ...
Using Large Scale Synthetic Systems for Undergraduate Research in Electric Grid Islanding

Natural disasters have long posed a threat to electric grids. This paper considers how islanding can be used to improve electric grid resiliency to such events. Specifically the paper provides an example of undergraduate research applying the concept of islanding to a Texas-sized synthetic grid. The results show that islanding the synthetic grid successfully protects it from a complete blackout, and maintains full functionality for all portions of the electric grid in the absence of an event.
Angular evolution of thickness-related unidirectional magnetoresistance in Co/Pt multilayers

We report the magnetoresistance of Co/Pt superlattices having thickness gradients at different orientations relative to an applied current. We measure the magnetoresistance at a fixed field as a function of the out-of-plane field angle, and find a unidirectional magnetoresistance (UMR) in addition to the expected anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) and spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR). Specifically, the UMR signal is the difference in resistance between the (out-of-plane) +z and −z field orientation. The magnitude of UMR is minimized when the thickness gradient is parallel to the applied current and maximized when the gradient is nearly perpendicular to the current. The results imply the possibility of an alternative source of UMR in Co/Pt multilayers in addition to the previously considered anomalous Hall effect.
Formation and decay of auditory short-term memory in the macaque monkey.

This is the first detailed quantification of the rapid temporal dynamics of auditory short-term memory in the rhesus. Much of the auditory information in short-term memory is lost within the first ...
Imaging for Percutaneous Left Atrial Appendage Closure: A Contemporary Review

ABSTRACTEmbolic stroke is the most significant complication of atrial fibrillation (AF). Oral anticoagulation (OAC) agents have an established role to prevent stroke in patients with AF. However, i...
The Effect of Chitosan Derivatives on the Compaction and Tension Generation of the Fibroblast-populated Collagen Matrix.

Fibrotic diseases, such as Dupuytren’s contracture (DC), involve excess scar tissue formation. The differentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts is a significant mechanism in DC, as it generates tissue contraction in areas without wound openings, leading to the deposition of scar tissue, and eventually flexing one or more fingers in a restrictive fashion. Additionally, DC has a high recurrence rate. Previously, we showed that N-dihydrogalactochitosan (GC), an immunostimulant, inhibited myofibroblast differentiation in a DC fibroblast culture. Our goal of this study was to expand our previous study to include other DC and normal cell lines and other chitosan derivatives (GC and single-walled carbon nanotube-conjugated GC) to determine the specific mechanism of inhibition. Derivative-incorporated and vehicle control (water) anchored fibroblast-populated collagen matrices (aFPCM) were used to monitor compaction (anchored matrix height reduction) using microscopy and optical coherence tomography (OCT) for six days. Fibroblasts were unable to compact chitosan derivative aFPCM to the same extent as vehicle control aFPCM in repeated experiments. Similarly, chitosan derivative aFPCM contracted less than control aFPCM when released from anchorage. Proliferative myofibroblasts were identified by the presence of alpha smooth muscle actin via myofibroblast proliferative assay. In all tested conditions, a small percentage of myofibroblasts and proliferative cells were present. However, when aFPCM were treated with transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1), all tested samples demonstrated increased myofibroblasts, proliferation, compaction, and contraction. Although compaction and contraction were reduced, there was sufficient tension present in the chitosan derivative aFPCM to allow exogenous stimulation of the myofibroblast phenotype.
The Redoxomics of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a chronic inflammatory lung disease affecting all lung tissues, primarily in premature and very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants needing oxygen therapy. Despite many decades of therapeutic advances, BPD remains a major clinical and costly complication in premature infants. Oxidative stress, inflammation, and prematurity are major interrelated contributing factors to BPD. This chapter will focus on the systems medicine of BPD with particular emphasis on the application of redoxomics for obtaining biomarkers that could prove useful in predicting susceptibility and prognosis as well as helping to formulate personalized and precise treatment strategies. Molecular insights gained from a systems medicine/redoxomics approach could help in developing new treatment modalities. Redoxomics is a subset of “omics” focusing on the genomics, epigenomics, proteomics, and metabolomics of oxidative stress, reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RNS), and antioxidants. There is a considerable body of evidence connecting ROS and RNS to BPD risk within the framework of “oxidative damage.” Nevertheless, it is now recognized that ROS, RNS, and antioxidants can also modulate many signal transduction pathways. This chapter will also review the gaps and opportunities in the application of systems medicine to BPD as well as practical issues such as sample acquisition, optimal assays, cost, and availability of state-of-the-art data analysis software.
Antenna System Optimization for Active Metamaterial-enhanced Magnetic Induction Communications

Magnetic induction (MI) communication are widely used in applications in extreme environments, including environment surveillance, past disaster rescue, and resource detection since it does not suffer from high material absorption in lossy media. However, existing MI systems rely on high transmitting power and large antenna to reach practical communication range. Recently, metamaterial enhanced MI (M2I) communication was proposed, which can increase the signal strength of the original MI system to 30 dB in theory. However the latest practical implementation of M2I system only achieves an 8 dB gain due to the metamaterial loss. In this paper, the active meta-material unit is introduced to the current M2I communication system to close the performance gap between theoretical and practical results. The antenna system is optimized based on the rigorously model of circuit, coil array structure and channel. Through analytical deduction and COMSOL simulations, the proposed active M2I antenna system shows significant power gain and improvement in communication range compared with the passive M2I system and the original MI system.
Communication efficiency of color naming across languages provides a new framework for the evolution of color terms

Languages vary in their number of color terms. A widely accepted theory proposes that languages evolve, acquiring color terms in a stereotyped sequence. This theory, by Berlin and Kay (BK), is supported by analyzing best exemplars ("focal colors") of basic color terms in the World Color Survey (WCS) of 110 languages. But the instructions of the WCS were complex and the color chips confounded hue and saturation, which likely impacted focal-color selection. In addition, it is now known that even so-called early-stage languages nonetheless have a complete representation of color distributed across the population. These facts undermine the BK theory. Here we revisit the evolution of color terms using original color-naming data obtained with simple instructions in Tsimane', an Amazonian culture that has limited contact with industrialized society. We also collected data in Bolivian-Spanish speakers and English speakers. We discovered that information theory analysis of color-naming data was not influenced by color-chip saturation, which motivated a new analysis of the WCS data. Embedded within a universal pattern in which warm colors (reds, oranges) are always communicated more efficiently than cool colors (blues, greens), as languages increase in overall communicative efficiency about color, some colors undergo greater increases in communication efficiency compared to others. Communication efficiency increases first for yellow, then brown, then purple. The present analyses and results provide a new framework for understanding the evolution of color terms: what varies among cultures is not whether colors are seen differently, but the extent to which color is useful.
Interleukin-8-Induced Invasion Assay in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells

The pro-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic chemokine interleukin-8 (IL-8, CXCL8) induces proliferation and invasion of solid tumor cells. In many types of solid cancer, including triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the IL-8 expression is induced by proteasome inhibition. In this chapter, we describe a protocol for the analysis of TNBC cell invasion induced by IL-8 in response to proteasome inhibition by bortezomib (BZ). Using this approach, we show that BZ increases the invasion ability of TNBC cells, and that the BZ-increased TNBC cell invasion is suppressed by IκB kinase (IKK) inhibition, which also decreases the IL-8 expression. The experimental protocol includes the cell invasion assay, microscopic evaluation of the invading cells, and quantitative analysis of the obtained images. This protocol should be applicable also for measurement of chemokine-induced tumor cell invasion in other types of cancer cells.