cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparative wellbore integrity evaluation across a complex of oil and gas fields within the Michigan Basin and implications for CO2 storage

Wellbore integrity is a fundamental aspect of site characterization and selection for storage in areas with existing or abandoned oil and gas wells. The condition of well cement, installed casing strings, and plugs determine if a well can sustain optimal hydrostatic pressures and prevent fluid migration. This is a necessary but underappreciated aspect of assessing potential storage sites when optimal and sustainable pressure conditions are critical for success. To apply the systematic wellbore integrity evaluation to realistic CO 2 storage conditions, seven fields in the Michigan Basin were selected which were actively being used for CO 2 injection for enhanced oil recovery. Data on wellbore construction were collected for wells on and surrounding the reefs and were evaluated to determine the overall condition of boreholes in the study area using EPA guidelines and industry standards. Available cement bond logs were also reviewed to assess the quantity and quality of cement in the wells. The majority of the wells in the study area were shallow and did not penetrate the confining layers, thus, posing little to no risk. Most of the deep wells demonstrated sufficient plugs and cement quality that meet the desired standards. Some wells have missing or incomplete records and inadequate cement and/or plugs making them candidates for further evaluation, should large‐scale CO 2 storage be considered in the area. The results of the study show that readily available well records and cement bond logs can be used to efficiently evaluate and characterize CO 2 storage study sites for overall wellbore integrity. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Make Us Whole!: Deconstructing Gender Narratives to Build Solidarity

In the “post-feminist” era many popular gender narratives reinforce essentialist and biological understandings of gender difference, pit the genders against one another in a zero-sum game of social power, and posit that men have become the real victims of gender discrimination. The currency of these narratives presents both a challenge and a pedagogical opportunity in the classroom. Focusing on deconstructing the narrative of male victimhood offers an opportunity to engage male students by considering the ways that men suffer from patriarchy without abandoning a consideration of the power dynamics that provide the context for that suffering. An approach is presented in which students are encouraged to build empathy and solidarity through a process in which they identify dichotomous gender constructions, link them to the gendered distribution of power represented by patriarchy, discuss the harm such constructions pose to both men and women, and use these discoveries to rewrite gender narratives that re-interpret the subjective experiences underlying the male victimhood narrative.
Pancreatic involvement by metastasizing neoplasms as determined by endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration: A clinicopathologic characterization.

Background Pancreatic tumors often represent primary neoplasms, however organ involvement with metastatic disease can occur. The use of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) to determine the underlying pathology provides guidance of clinical management. Methods 25 cases were identified in a retrospective review of our institution's records from 2006 to 2016. Clinical parameters and prognosis are described. Results Metastatic lesions to the pancreas diagnosed by EUS-FNA accounted for 4.2% of all pancreatic neoplastic diagnoses, each lesion had a median greatest dimension of 1.5 cm, were most often located in the head of the pancreas, and by EUS were typically hypoechoic masses with variably defined borders. Patients were of a median age of 64 years old at diagnosis of the metastatic lesion(s) and the mean interval from primary diagnosis to the diagnosis of metastasis to the pancreas was 58.7 months (95% confidence interval, CI, 35.4 to 82.0 months). The rates of 24-month overall survival after diagnoses of metastatic renal cell carcinoma or all other neoplasms to the pancreas were 90% and 7% respectively. The origin of the neoplasms included the kidney (n = 10), colon (n = 4), ovary (n = 3), lung (n = 2), et al. Smear-based cytomorphology, and a combination of histomorphology and immunohistochemical studies from cell block preparations showed features consistent with the neoplasm of derivation. Conclusion Metastases to the pancreas can be diagnosed via EUS-FNA, with enough specimen to conduct immunohistochemical studies if necessary to delineate origin. The determination of metastatic disease to the pancreas alters management and prognosis of the patient. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2017;45:418–425. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Chapter 13 Thinking Inside the Box. Designing, Implementing, and Interpreting Thermodynamic Cycles to Dissect Cooperativity in RNA and DNA Folding

Double and triple mutant thermodynamic cycles provide a means to dissect the cooperativity of RNA and DNA folding at both the secondary and tertiary structural levels through use of the thermodynamic box or cube. In this article, we describe three steps for applying thermodynamic cycles to nucleic acid folding, with considerations of both conceptual and experimental features. The first step is design of an appropriate system and development of hypotheses regarding which residues might interact. Next is implementing this design in terms of a tractable experimental strategy, with an emphasis on UV melting. The final step, and the one we emphasize the most, is interpreting mutant cycles in terms of coupling between specific residues in the RNA or DNA. Coupling free energy in the absence and presence of changes elsewhere in the molecule is discussed in terms of specific folding models, including stepwise folding and concerted changes. Last, we provide a practical section on the use of commercially available software (KaleidaGraph) to fit melting data, along with a consideration of error propagation. Along the way, specific examples are chosen from the literature to illustrate the methods. This article is intended to be accessible to the biochemist or biologist without extensive thermodynamics background.
Modeling and Control of Wet Etching

Abstract Etching is one of the critical steps in the fabrication of microelectronic devices. Tighter process control is required to improve product yields. An on-line optimal controller is proposed together with a novel optimal design principle that is capable of both bottom linewidth and sidewall curvature control. Experimental results were used to derive a regression model for the wet etching of aluminum oxide. An augmented Kalman filter is incorporated into the optimal controller to identify and track critical process parameters, so that adaptivity is achieved. The feasibility and effectiveness of this technique are illustrated via simulation studies. This design and control philosophy can also be applied to other microelectronic manufacturing processes.
Evolving Models of Heterochromatin: From Foci to Liquid Droplets

Two recent papers (Larson et al., 2017; Strom et al., 2017) in Nature propose that heterochromatic domains are organized into phase-separated liquid compartments. Here we highlight the main findings that support the liquid-like nature of HP1 domains and discuss their functional implications in gene silencing and genome organization.
Touchscreen Sustained Attention Task (SAT) for Rats

Sustained attention is the ability to monitor intermittent and unpredictable events over a prolonged period of time. This attentional process subserves other aspects of cognition and is disrupted in certain neurodevelopmental, neuropsychiatric, and neurodegenerative disorders. Thus, it is clinically important to identify mechanisms that impair and improve sustained attention. Such mechanisms are often first discovered using rodent models. Therefore, several behavior procedures for testing aspects of sustained attention have been developed for rodents. One, first described by McGaughy and Sarter (1995), called the sustained attention task (SAT), trains rats to distinguish between signal (i.e., brief light presentation) and non-signal trials. The signals are short and thus require careful attention to be perceived. Attentional demands can be increased further by introducing a distractor (e.g., flashing houselight). We have modified this task for touchscreen operant chambers, which are configured with a touchscreen on one wall that can present stimuli and record responses. Here we detail our protocol for SAT in touchscreen chambers. Additionally, we present standard measures of performance in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. Comparable performance on this task in both sexes highlights its use for attention studies, especially as more researchers are including female rodents in their experimental design. Moreover, the easy implementation of SAT for the increasingly popular touchscreen chambers increases its utility.
Kant after Kant: The Indispensable Philosopher

Vater explores three themes that, taken together, secure Kant’s continuing relevance for both Anglo-American and European traditions of philosophy. First, Kant continues to be relevant in the history of philosophy because he invented the genre. Second, in the wake of Kant’s dawning realization that the space of reasons is social or multi-centric, contemporary explorations of cognition, affect, and communication underscore the social nature of intelligence even as they illustrate its biological history and neurological complexity. Third, Kant was an eager participant in a broader Enlightenment conversation that included scientists, writers, and public intellectuals.
SimpleHealth — A mobile cloud platform to support lightweight mobile health applications for low-end cellphones

Mobile medical applications are increasingly being used by patients and consumers. However, due to their complexity, these applications are normally only accessible to smartphone users. People using low-end cellphones cannot benefit from this new technology. The goal of this paper is to expand health service platform to lower-end cellphones, so that people in underdeveloped regions can benefit from it. In particular, we propose a scalable platform for lightweight health applications with novel and proactive client communication. Through the effective support of a multi-layered cloud platform, we assure the scalability, elasticity and reliability of the server side. With simple Short Messaging Service (SMS) channels, health workers and patients can access complex healthcare services with low-end cellphones. The multi-layered architecture provides separation of concerns and decoupling of communication and business logic. Furthermore, our proposed plug-in model can expand and customize functionalities. Extensive experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed platform.
Privacy-Preserving Time-Sharing Services for Autonomous Vehicles

Sharing the Autonomous Vehicles (AV) has the potential to be the ultimate solution for overcoming the cost problem of these type of vehicles to fundamentally change the transportation systems. AVs enable the time sharing services where AV owners share their AVs at the times they don't need them. Such sharing could reduce the cost by enabling the owner to share the cost of the vehicle with other users. However, these services raise a severe privacy concern as the shared location and route data of the users are considered highly private and sensitive. In this paper we propose a privacy- preserving time-sharing scheme for AVs. Our approach enables the owner and the requester to perform a privacy-preserving matching on their transportation needs over the server without disclosing their routes to the server. To do so we use a set of Points of Interest (POI) locations as intermediate destinations in travel paths. Only if the matching is conflict-free and efficient, the owner and the requester share the details of the routes. We also show the accuracy of the proposed approach through extensive simulations on real data. It is shown that our enhanced POI selection scheme, with consideration of the traffic information and patterns in the area, outperforms the baseline scheme where the POIs are chosen randomly. Furthermore, it shows that our scheme achieves high accuracy in terms of resulting in false negatives compared to the ground truth.
The Incompatibility of STR and the Tensed Theory of Time

Many philosophers think that the Special Theory of Relativity is compatible with the tensed or A-theory of time (“mind-independent temporal becoming”). They have argued that the future can be indeterminate or future relative to a reference frame. However, “relative futurity” is not a tensed or A-determination, but a relation that obtains in a B-series in a universe in which the tenseless theory of time (temporal features consist only of earlier than, later than and simultaneity) is true. I shall argue this point in this paper.
MAPK- and glycogen synthase kinase 3-mediated phosphorylation regulates the DEAD-box protein modulator Gle1 for control of stress granule dynamics

Rapid expression of critical stress response factors is a key survival strategy for diseased or stressed cells. During cell stress, translation is inhibited, and a pre-existing pool of cytoplasmic mRNA–protein complexes reversibly assembles into cytoplasmic stress granules (SGs). Gle1 is a conserved modulator of RNA-dependent DEAD-box proteins required for mRNA export, translation, and stress responses. Proper Gle1 function is critical as reflected by some human diseases such as developmental and neurodegenerative disorders and some cancers linked to gle1 mutations. However, the mechanism by which Gle1 controls SG formation is incompletely understood. Here, we show that human Gle1 is regulated by phosphorylation during heat shock stress. In HeLa cells, stress-induced Gle1 hyperphosphorylation was dynamic, primarily in the cytoplasmic pool, and followed changes in translation factors. MS analysis identified 14 phosphorylation sites in the Gle1A isoform, six of which clustered in an intrinsically disordered, low-complexity N-terminal region flanking the coil-coiled self-association domain. Of note, two mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), phosphorylated the Gle1A N-terminal domain, priming it for phosphorylation by glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3). A phosphomimetic gle1A6D variant (in which six putative Ser/Thr phosphorylation sites were substituted with Asp) perturbed self-association and inhibited DEAD-box helicase 3 (X-linked) (DDX3) ATPase activity. Expression of alanine-substituted, phosphodeficient GFP-gle1A6A promoted SG assembly, whereas GFP-gle1A6D enhanced SG disassembly. We propose that MAPKs and GSK3 phosphorylate Gle1A and thereby coordinate SG dynamics by altering DDX3 function.
Imaging evaluation of polyethylene liner dissociation in total hip arthroplasty.

To describe the imaging findings of polyethylene liner dissociation in total hip arthroplasty. Retrospective search of our institution’s radiology database identified 12 patients with polyethylene liner dissociation of a total hip arthroplasty. Clinical and operative notes were reviewed. All radiological studies were reviewed independently by two radiologists. Among 12 patients (seven females/five males; mean age: 67 years; median interval after surgery at diagnosis: 8.5 months) with polyethylene liner dissociation, 11 had radiographs, six had CT, seven had MRI, and two had arthrography. “Bubble sign” and “crescent sign” on radiography were insensitive, seen only in three patients, but all showed abrupt eccentric positioning of the femoral head. CT identified the dislocated liner in five of six patients but failed to identify one liner, which was partially associated with the acetabular cup. MRI identified the dislocated liner in all seven patients, with the MAVRIC (multiacquisition variable resonance image combination) sequences either increasing the diagnostic confidence relative to the routine pulse sequences or being the sole sequences in which the liner can be identified if the liner remained partially associated with the acetabular cup. Arthrography identified the dislocated liner in one of two patients. Previously described radiographic signs of polyethylene liner dissociation are insensitive, but abrupt eccentric positioning of the femoral head in the correct clinical context is highly suggestive of the diagnosis. MRI and CT can accurately localize the displaced liner. MAVRIC is particularly helpful if the dislocated liner remains partially associated with the acetabular cup.
Overcoming terms of service: a proposal for ethical distributed research

The last two years has marked a turning point in access to large-scale social media data for many researchers, as platforms hobbled their APIs and made recording, archiving, and analyzing social li...
Using Level-1 Homomorphic Encryption to Improve Threshold DSA Signatures for Bitcoin Wallet Security

Recently Gennaro et al. (ACNS ’16) presented a threshold-optimal signature algorithm for DSA. Threshold-optimality means that if security is set so that it is required to have \(t+1\) servers to cooperate to sign, then it is sufficient to have \(n=t+1\) honest servers in the network. Obviously threshold optimality compromises robustness since if \(n=t+1\), a single corrupted player can prevent the group from signing. Still, in their protocol, up to t corrupted players cannot produce valid signatures. Their protocol requires six rounds which is already an improvement over the eight rounds of the classic threshold DSA of Gennaro et al. (Eurocrypt ’99) (which is not threshold optimal since \(n \ge 3t+1\) if robust and \(n \ge 2t+1\) if not).
Flipping Molecules over on TiO2 Surfaces with Light and Electric Fields.

Light excitation of the sensitizer [Ru(NH3)5(eina)](PF6)2, where eina is ethyl isonicotinate, anchored to anatase TiO2 nanocrystallites interconnected in a mesoporous thin film and immersed in CH3C...
Reduced Contact Resistance in GaN Using Selective Area Si Ion Implantation

We report selective area n-type doping using ion implantation of Si into semi-insulating, C-doped GaN samples activated using both conventional rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and 30 atm N2 overpressure annealing. Implanted regions were tested for Si activation using Circular Transmission Line Measurements (CTLM), while linear and circular photoconductive switches (PCSS) in the unimplanted regions were used as a test vehicle to separate implanted Si dopant activation from leakage paths generated by N vacancy formation due to damage and decomposition during annealing. We observed that at an optimal temperature around 1060 °C, a low contact resistivity of $1\times 10^{-6}\,\,\Omega $ -cm2 was obtained while preserving the breakdown of the unimplanted regions.
Enhancing Staffing In Rural Community Health Centers Can Help Improve Behavioral Health Care

Community health centers are a vital part of the primary and behavioral health care systems in rural areas. We compared behavioral health care staffing and services in rural and urban centers. In t...
Dietary intake and biomarkers of linoleic acid and mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies

Background Current evidence on associations between intakes of linoleic acid (LA), the predominant n-6 (ω-6) fatty acid, and mortality is inconsistent and has not been summarized by a systematic review and meta-analysis. Objective The aim was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies to examine associations between LA intake and mortality. Methods We conducted a comprehensive search of MEDLINE and EMBASE databases through 31 July 2019 for prospective cohort studies reporting associations of LA (assessed by dietary surveys and/or LA concentrations in adipose tissue or blood compartments) with mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer. Multivariable-adjusted RRs were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. Results Thirty-eight studies reporting 44 prospective cohorts were identified; these included 811,069 participants with dietary intake assessment (170,076 all-cause, 50,786 CVD, and 59,684 cancer deaths) and 65,411 participants with biomarker measurements (9758 all-cause, 6492 CVD, and 1719 cancer deaths). Pooled RRs comparing extreme categories of dietary LA intake (high vs low) were 0.87 (95% CI: 0.81, 0.94; I2 = 67.9%) for total mortality, 0.87 (95% CI: 0.82, 0.92; I2 = 3.7%) for CVD mortality, and 0.89 (95% CI: 0.85, 0.93; I2 = 0%) for cancer mortality. Pooled RRs for each SD increment in LA concentrations in adipose tissue/blood compartments were 0.91 (95% CI: 0.87, 0.95; I2 = 64.1%) for total mortality, 0.89 (95% CI: 0.85, 0.94; I2 = 28.9%) for CVD mortality, and 0.91 (95% CI: 0.84, 0.98; I2 = 26.3%) for cancer mortality. Meta-regressions suggested baseline age and dietary assessment methods as potential sources of heterogeneity for the association between LA and total mortality. Conclusions In prospective cohort studies, higher LA intake, assessed by dietary surveys or biomarkers, was associated with a modestly lower risk of mortality from all causes, CVD, and cancer. These data support the potential long-term benefits of PUFA intake in lowering the risk of CVD and premature death.
Enzymatic glucosylation of dithiothreitol by uridine diphosphate D-glucose and particulate preparations from germinating seeds of Phaseolusaureus and Pisumsativum☆

Abstract A glucoside has been synthesized in vitro from UDP- D -glucose and dithiothreitol in the presence of particulate preparations from mung bean and pea seeds. This glucoside is produced only when dithiothreitol is included in the incubation mixtures. Acid and enzymatic hydrolysis of the purified glucoside produces D -glucose and dithiothreitol. The glucoside is completely hydrolysed by β-glucosidase but not by mercuric chloride. Therefore, the glucosidic linkage appears to occur through a hydroxyl group of dithiothreitol rather than through a sulfhydryl group. The data suggests that the product is dithiothreityl-2- O -β- D -glucoside.
Effect of whole body vibration on cervical (neck) proprioception in young, healthy individuals serving as their own control: a pilot study.

Objective The objective of this pilot study is to determine the effects of whole body vibration on head repositioning accuracy. Methods Twenty-one participants had a bicycle helmet with an attached laser pointer placed on their heads while standing on a vibration platform. After aligning the laser beam to their determined neutral position on wall-mounted chart paper, they were instructed to close their eyes, flex their neck maximally then return to their perceived neutral position. The point where the laser beam stopped as close to the neutral position as possible was marked on the chart and the sequence was repeated for extension, left and right rotation and left and right lateral flexion. The vibration platform was then activated and the process was repeated for the same six neck movements. Results T-tests showed significant differences (p < 0.01) for head repositioning errors between normal and vibration data for all neck movements (in mm), except flexion, with vibration trials exhibiting greater re-positioning errors. Data tabulated from the four Cartesian quadrants demonstrated a preponderance of overshoot re-positioning errors in which the laser stopped in individual Cartesian quadrants for each movement and each subject. Conclusions Whole body vibration contributes to greater head repositioning errors in young, healthy, asymptomatic individuals. Larger scale trials should establish a normal data base for head re-positioning with vibration. Future studies might investigate the relationship between whole body vibration on neck proprioception as an indicator of therapeutic efficacy in neck disorders.
netAE: semi-supervised dimensionality reduction of single-cell RNA sequencing to facilitate cell labeling

Motivation Single-cell RNA sequencing allows us to study cell heterogeneity at an unprecedented cell-level resolution and identify known and new cell populations. Current cell labeling pipeline uses unsupervised clustering and assigns labels to clusters by manual inspection. However, this pipeline does not utilize available gold-standard labels because there are usually too few of them to be useful to most computational methods. This article aims to facilitate cell labeling with a semi-supervised method in an alternative pipeline, in which a few gold-standard labels are first identified and then extended to the rest of the cells computationally. Results We built a semi-supervised dimensionality reduction method, a network-enhanced autoencoder (netAE). Tested on three public datasets, netAE outperforms various dimensionality reduction baselines and achieves satisfactory classification accuracy even when the labeled set is very small, without disrupting the similarity structure of the original space. Availability and implementation The code of netAE is available on GitHub: https://github.com/LeoZDong/netAE. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
A Blueprint for Organizational Strategies To Promote the Well-being of Health Care Professionals

Although there is growing recognition of the need to address clinician burnout and cultivate work–life integration as well as the well-being of clinicians, organizational efforts have been limited ...
The Relationship between Adult Height and Blood Pressure.

Background Identification and modification of cardiovascular risk factors is paramount to reducing cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality. Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but its association with height remains largely underrecognized. Objectives The objective of this manuscript is to review the evidence examining the association between blood pressure and human stature and to summarize the plausible pathophysiological mechanisms behind such an association. Methods A systematic review of adult human height and its association with hypertension and coronary artery disease was undertaken. The literature evidence is summarized and tabulated, and an overview of the pathophysiological basis for this association is presented. Results Shorter arterial lengths found in shorter individuals may predispose to hypertension in a complex hemodynamic interplay, which is explained predominantly by summated arterial wave reflections and an elevated augmentation index. Our systemic review suggests that an inverse relationship between adult height and blood pressure exists. However, differences in the studied populations and heterogeneity in the methods applied across the various studies limit the generalizability of these findings and their clinical application. Conclusion Physiological studies and epidemiological data suggest a potential inverse association between adult height and blood pressure. Further research is required to define the relationship more clearly between adult height and blood pressure and to assess whether antihypertensive therapeutic approaches and goals should be modified according to patients' heights.
Janus Emulsion Biosensors for Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike Antibody

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world has revealed that it is urgently important to develop rapid and inexpensive assays for antibodies in general and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody (anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein S1 antibody) in particular. Herein we report a method to detect the anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody level by using Janus emulsions or Janus particles as biosensors. Janus emulsions are composed of two immiscible hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon oils. The hydrocarbon/water interfaces are functionalized with a secondary antibody of IgG protein and SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor binding domain (RBD), to produce two different Janus emulsions. Mixtures of these Janus droplets enable the detection of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike IgG antibody in an agglutination assay caused by the antibody's binding to both the secondary antibody of IgG antibody and SARS-CoV-2 spike protein RBD. Both qualitative optical images and quantitative fluorescence spectra are able to detect the level of anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike antibody at concentrations as low as 0.2 μg/mL in 2 h. The detection results of clinical human serum samples using this agglutination assay confirm that this method is applicable to clinical samples with good sensitivity and specificity. The reported method is generalizable and can be used to detect other analytes by attaching different biomolecular recognition elements to the surface of the Janus droplets.
Question Answering: CNLP at the TREC-2002 Question Answering Track

This paper describes the retrieval experiments for the main task and list task of the TREC-10 question-answering track. The question answering system described automatically finds answers to questions in a large document collection. The system uses a two-stage retrieval approach to answer finding based on matching of named entities, linguistic patter key word. In answering a question, the system carries out a detailed query analysis that produces a logical query representation, an indication of the question focus, and answer clue words.
Multiphase flow in polymer processing

Two types of multiphase flow may be distinguished on the basis of their degree of phase separation. One type is dispersed multiphase flow, in which one or more components exist as discrete phase, dispersed in another component forming the continuous phase. The other type is stratified multiphase flow, in which two or more components form continuous phases separated from each other by continuous boundaries.
Lipid composition and (Na+ + K+)-ATPase activity in rat lens during triparanol-induced cataract formation

Abstract The development of triparanol cataracts in rats is accompanied by the loss of lens ( Na + + K + )- ATPase activity and by the alterations in the lens content and composition of phospholipids, sterols and phospholipid acyl groups. The lipid changes occur along the same time course as the loss of ( Na + + K + )- ATPase activity. Triparanol feeding produces a decrease in lens phospholipid content. The percentage contents of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylserine decrease while the content of sphingomyelin substantially increases. The amounts of oleic acid in lens phospholipids decrease while stearic and palmitic acids increase; however, these changes are relatively small. Sterol content is also decreased while the percentage content of desmosterol increases markedly. Feeding of the cataractogenic agents galactose and diazacholesterol also alters the lens lipid compositions and ( Na + + K + )- ATPase activity A loss of phosphatidylserine is the only change in lipid properties which always accompanies a loss of the enzyme activity. The possible relationships between the lens content of phosphatidylserine, ( Na + + K + )- ATPase activity and the mechanism of triparanol-induced cataract formation are discussed.
Degenerative Disk Disease Studied by MRI

The sections in this article are 1 Introduction 2 Morphology 3 Sequelae of Disk Degeneration 4 Bulge 5 Lumbar Disk Herniations 6 Spinal Stenosis 7 Facet Joints 8 Biographical Sketch Related Articles
A Statistical Method For Post-Detection Compensation For Atmospheric Distortions Of Images Of Faint Scenes

A new method for post-detection compensation of atmospheric distortions of images of faint scenes has been outlined and initially tested. A sequence of short exposure (0.01 to 0.1 sec) visible light images is processed in terms of the statistics of the Fourier transform amplitudes. A "master image" is derived that is iteratively compared with each image (in Fourier space) so as to align the set of images on the basis of features in the scene. Aperture synthesis can be used to decrease aperture redundancy since the alignment uses only Fourier amplitudes that are prominent in the joint set of master image and the raw image sequence. The master image has an effective point spread function (PSF) comparable to the best PSF in the sequence but the phases are strongly quieted by the statistics of large numbers if 30 or more images are spread over a time interval of 15 or more sec. Thus spatial frequencies in excess of 1 cycle per arcsec may yield reliable photometry after correction for contrast loss and telescope aberrations. The degree of enhancement may be optimized, based on a separation of signal and noise in the data so that noise may be estimated. At faint levels quantum noise is severe. Since that noise is correlated with signal, the noise spectrum is not white but falls with increasing spatial frequency.© (1976) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Animal models of tinnitus

Tinnitus is a complex phenomenon that is poorly understood. A significant tool for studying the pathophysiology of tinnitus and exploring potential treatments is an animal model. This article discusses the general techniques for evaluating psychophysical phenomenon in nonhuman subjects. An overview of a model of chronic tinnitus in rats and chinchillas is presented.
Visual Displays of Information: A Conceptual Taxonomy

This paper creates a taxonomic model for visual information displays looking at three levels: information design (based on Edward Tufte's work), information architecture, and information spaces. Special attention is paid to the use of spatial and navigational metaphors in visual systems as they affect the user's experience. Especially interesting is how a user creates an information space - a mental model of what he has seen, how she keeps track of where she is within a system, and how these activities fit together with the data that is being sought. Mathematics is one area that holds promise for better understanding how people visualise information spaces. Vague terms like space, shape, and distance (all implied by the navigation metaphor) have far more refined conceptualisations within mathematics. By harnessing the descriptive powers of mathematics, we can more aptly describe and understand the process of metaphor creation. Secondly, studying comic books and how they are read (McCloud 1993) holds much promise for understanding how people navigate electronic systems. Comics are 2-D sequentially arranged (or at least juxtaposed) combinations of images and text, much like computer screens. People used to reading such visual constructions are better able to navigate through complex information systems. Finally, the use of spatial or navigational metaphors necessarily implies a temporal dimension as well, which leads to certain subtle, but important differences when comparing navigation through electronic environments as opposed to real world ones.
Dynamic randomization and domain knowledge in Monte-Carlo Tree Search for Go knowledge-based systems

This paper is an extension of the article [13] presented at IWCG of TAAI 2010. It proposes two dynamic randomization techniques for Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) in Go. First, during the in-tree phase of a simulation game, the parameters are randomized in selected ranges before each simulation move. Second, during the play-out phase, the priority orders of the simulation move-generators are hierarchically randomized before each play-out move. Essential domain knowledge used in MCTS for Go is discussed. Both dynamic randomization techniques increase diversity while keeping the sanity of the simulation games. Experimental testing has been completely re-conducted more extensively with the latest version of GoIntellect (GI) on all three Go categories of 19x19, 13x13, and 9x9 boards. The results show that dynamic randomization increases the playing strength of GI significantly with 128K simulations per move, the improvement is about seven percentage points in the winning rate against GnuGo on 19x19 Go over the version of GI without dynamic randomization, about three percentage points on 13x13 Go, and four percentage points on 9x9 Go.
Reputation and Uncertainty in Online Markets: An Experimental Study

This paper employs a modified investment game to study how online reputation ratings are assigned, and thus how electronic reputations are formed in transactions where buyers and sellers interact anonymously. Of particular interest are the important questions of how online reputations evolve and how specific reputation information is interpreted by market participants. We vary the level of uncertainty in the transaction environment, and measure the effects of this manipulation on buyers' trust and their subsequent rating behaviors. We distinguish between a reputation mechanism and specific reputation information, finding the former has an association with the overall decision of whether to transact in the marketplace, while the latter shows significance in purchase decisions regarding specific sellers. We also find that aggregate reputation information is weighted differently than singular reputation information. Finally, we show that when reputations are increasingly noisy, buyers are less likely to react negatively to poor ratings and are more likely to give sellers the benefit of the doubt when seemingly uncooperative outcomes occur.
Properties of zirconium doped Sr-Bi-Ta-O thin films

Abstract Strontium bismuth tantalate (SrBi2.2Ta2O9, SBT) thin films with 1, 3, and 8% zirconium content were prepared on Pt/SiO2/Si substrates by chemical solution deposition using a butoxyethanol/ethylhexanoate chemistry. SIMS analysis revealed a uniform distribution of zirconium throughout the doped films. The X-ray diffraction patterns and scanning electron images indicated that the films were polycrystalline and phase pure, except for the 8% Zr composition. An additional diffraction peak, attributed to zirconium oxide, was observed in the 8% Zr thin film. In this composition, the capacitors exhibited low resistance and an absence of ferroelectricity. The measured 2Pr values at 3 V were 11.2, 3.2, and 1.7 μC/cm2for the 0, 1, and 3% Zr SBT thin films, respectively. The physical and electrical characterization data indicated that zirconium is incorporated in the SBT lattice at amounts up to 3%, but less than 8%.
Efficient progressive JPEG decoder using JPEG baseline hardware

The Widespread usage of social media for picture sharing led resulting popularity of JPEG progressive format due to refinement of image over time on slow internet connection. Typically, these pictures are decoded by means of software and takes large decoding time as resolution in terms of Mpixels increase. In case of embedded devices, typically have Baseline JPEG hardware support due to traditional camera capture and local playback. The paper proposes a novel decoding of Progressive JPEG images using existing hardware solution which natively supports Baseline JPEG. The solution used enhancing native baseline JPEG hardware by means of local CPU to enable Huffman decoding for Progressive format. The second part of part proposed memory optimization for Progressive JPEG to reduce DDR storage requirement for low cost embedded system. This uses concept of sign and zero map with non-bit exact decoding without visual quality impact. The solution runs faster by large factor (factor of HW and CPU speed) with 88% lesser memory storage for any resolution.
Novel functions of orexigenic hypothalamic peptides: From genes to behavior

The regulation of energy balance depends on the precise co-ordination of multiple peripheral and central systems. Much recent research has highlighted the importance of behavioral mechanisms is this control and suggested that the regulation of body weight shares central nervous system pathways in common with other complex behaviors, including learning and drug addiction. We present a brief review of some of this work and highlight the novel functions for central orexigenic neuropeptides. We review evidence that organisms engage in critical regulatory behaviors before and after ingestion has occurred. Additional evidence supports the idea that appetitive mechanisms are engaged that are critical for the regulation of intake during the act of ingestion. We briefly discuss the recent work on the potential role for central nervous system reward centers, how those might be critically linked to the central regulation of food intake, and how they may be dysregulated by the abundance of highly palatable, energy-dense foods.
Towards widespread SDN adoption: Need for synergy between photonics and SDN within the data center

This paper looks at the use of photonics in future data center networks and stresses the need for SDN Controller and concepts - programmability, virtualization and end-to-end optimization - to control, manage and automate these elements to enable an optimized, elastic and agile data center.
A boundary perturbation analysis for elastic inclusions and interfaces

Abstract A first-order boundary perturbation method based on Muskhelishvilli's complex variable representations is formulated for the two-dimensional elasticity problem of a nearly-circular inclusion embedded in an infinite dissimilar material. Universal relations which are independent of loading conditions are established among the solutions for a homogeneous infinite plane, a perfectly-circular inclusion and a slightly-perturbed non-circular inclusion. It is shown that the solution to a circular inclusion can be constructed algebraically from that of an infinite homogeneous plane while the stress distribution along the interface circle leads to the perturbation solutions for a nearly-circular inclusion. Explicit results arc given for inclusions with smooth polygon shapes by considering cosine wavy perturbations along a reference circle. A similar analysts is carried out for a bimaterial interface whose shape deviates slightly from a straight line. Our perturbation results can be used to study elastically-induced morphological perturbations of surfaces, interfaces, voids, precipitates and inclusions in a stressed solid. As an example, we demonstrate that, under sufficiently large stresses, material surfaces become unstable against a range of diffusional perturbations bounded by two critical wavelengths. Also, as suggested from our perturbation analysis and verified by a finite element calculation, even slight surface undulation caused by an unstable morphological perturbation can result in substantial stress concentration along the surface, which may cause plastic deformation or brittle fracture before the bulk stress reaches a critical level.
SELECTION FOR VIRULENCE IN THE FISH PATHOGEN AEROMONAS SALMONICIDA, USING COOMASSIE BRILLIANT BLUE AGAR

Coomassie Brilliant Blue Agar was used to quantify the frequency of the A-layer phenotype in different isolates of Aeromonas salmonicida. Hydrophilic, non-clumping isolates of A. salmonicida consisted predominantly of the A-layer minus phenotype. These bacteria were avirulent by intraperitoneal injection into susceptible brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and could not be reisolated from infected fish. By contrast, hydrophobic, clumping isolates were predominantly of the A-layer positive phenotype, highly virulent in brook trout, and easily recovered from dead or moribund fish. A-layer positive and negative clones of A. salmonicida were derived by plating bacteria on Coomassie Blue Agar. The plating showed clearly that Coomassie Blue Agar could be used as a highly selective in vitro screening method to reclaim the virulence of certain isolates of A. salmonicida having a relatively low percentage of A-layer positive phenotypes.
Purine-binding factor (nm23) gene expression in pituitary tumors: marker of adenoma invasiveness.

To determine the molecular distinction between invasive and non-invasive pituitary adenomas, we evaluated expression of the metastasizing suppressor gene, nm23, in tumors of varying stages. The nm23 gene was recently identified on the basis of reduced expression in highly metastic cancer compared with its expression in low metastatic potential tumors. Twenty-two pituitary tumors (10 nonfunctioning, 9 acromegaly, 2 prolactinomas, and 1 Cushing) were studied. H1 and H2 isoform expression of nm23 was investigated using a ribonuclease protection assay. nm23 H2 messenger ribonucleic acid expression was significantly reduced in invasive tumors and correlated highly (P = 0.0016) with cavernous sinus invasion. In these invasive tumors, sequencing of the nm23 gene did not reveal a mutation. Invasive tumors also demonstrated markedly reduced immunostaining for nm23 H2. These results show the relevance of nm23 gene expression to behavior of these benign tumors. High expression of nm23 H2 is associated with noninvasi...
Pollen tube targeting and axon guidance: parallels in tip growth mechanisms

The growth of pollen tubes to plant egg cells and the guidance of axons to neural synapses are classic examples of targeted cell growth. Despite the evolutionary time that separates animals and plants, axon and pollen tube guidance share remarkable mechanistic similarities. In both instances, extracellular cues are transduced by intracellular signal-transduction pathways that culminate in directed tip growth. Do the mechanistic similarities extend to the molecular level? Here, we address this question by a comprehensive review of the molecules and pathways involved in pollen tube targeting and axon guidance. The emerging scenario is that similar intracellular molecules are recruited to control tip growth, while different extracellular molecules mediate guidance through the distinct plant and animal extracellular matrices.
C-Src kinase inhibition reduces arrhythmia inducibility and connexin43 dysregulation after myocardial infarction

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of tyrosine kinase cellular-Src (c-Src) inhibition on connexin43 (Cx43) regulation in a mouse model of myocardial infarction (MI). Background MI is associated with decreased expression of Cx43, the principal gap junction protein responsible for propagating current in ventricles. Activated c-Src has been linked to Cx43 dysregulation. Methods MI was induced in 12-week-old mice by coronary artery occlusion. MI mice were treated with c-Src inhibitors (PP1 or AZD0530), PP3 (an inactive analogue of PP1), or saline. Treated hearts were compared to sham mice by echocardiography, optical mapping, telemetry electrocardiographic monitoring, and inducibility studies. Tissues were collected for immunoblotting, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemistry. Results Active c-Src was elevated in PP3-treated MI mice compared to sham at the scar border (280%, p = 0.003) and distal ventricle (346%, p = 0.013). PP1 treatment restored active c-Src to sham levels at the scar border (86%, p = 0.95) and distal ventricle (94%, p = 1.0). PP1 raised Cx43 expression by 69% in the scar border (p = 0.048) and by 73% in the distal ventricle (p = 0.043) compared with PP3 mice. PP1-treated mice had restored conduction velocity at the scar border (PP3: 32 cm/s, PP1: 41 cm/s, p Conclusions c-Src inhibition improved Cx43 levels and conduction velocity and lowered arrhythmia inducibility after MI, suggesting a new approach for arrhythmia reduction following MI.
E-Government Utilization: Understanding the Impact of Reputation and Risk

The implementation of Information and Communication Technologies ICT in the public sector has numerous benefits. Government administrators are aggressively seeking ways to enhance the development and implementation of more effective and efficient government services. One electronic government initiative that is growing in importance and popularity is electronic tax filing. This study explores the factors that contribute to e-file utilization. To test the proposed model a survey is administered to 152 taxpayers in the United States. Results of structural equation modeling indicate that performance expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, optimism bias, perceived reputation and risk all have a significant impact on e-government usage. Implications for research and practice are discussed.