cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Unsaturated fatty acid‐induced non‐canonical autophagy: unusual? or unappreciated?

The breakdown of cellular components via autophagy is crucial for cellular homeostasis.In this issue of The EMBO Journal,Niso-Santano et al (2015) report the important observation that feeding cells with saturated or unsaturated fatty acids triggers mechanistically distinct autophagic responses. Feeding cells saturated fatty acid induced the canonical, BECN1/PI3K dependent autophagy pathway. Conversely,the unsaturated fatty acid oleate triggered autophagic responses that were independent of the BECN1/PI3K complex, but that required a functional Golgi system.
Coxsackievirus B4-induced development of antibodies to 64,000-Mr islet autoantigen and hyperglycemia in mice

Diabetogenic Coxsackievirus B4 infection produces a diabetes syndrome in susceptible mice resembling insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. We reported a two- to threefold increased expression of a 64,000-Mr (64 K) islet autoantigen in the infected mice preceding the development of hyperglycemia, suggesting a possible role of the virus in autoimmunity. To assess if the virus could be a trigger of autoimmunity, 64 K autoantibody development was correlated with hyperglycemia and virus replication in islets during early and late infection. Additionally, the effects of blood removal from these mice on the incidence of hyperglycemia and antibody production were evaluated. Noninfected control mice were essentially 64 K antibody negative, the infected consistently positive. Approximately 30% of the animals developed antibodies by 72 h postinfection (pi.) and 90% by 4-6 wk p.i. Virus-induced hyperglycemia appeared bimodal: hyperglycemia in 50% of the mice by 1 wk p.i. which decreased to 30% by 3 wk and then increas...
Beaver herbivory and its effect on cottonwood trees: influence of flooding along matched regulated and unregulated rivers

We compared beaver (Castor canadensis) foraging patterns on Fremont cottonwood (Populus deltoides subsp. wislizenii) saplings and the probability of saplings being cut on a 10 km reach of the flow-regulated Green River and a 8.6 km reach of the free-flowing Yampa River in northwestern Colorado. We measured the abundance and density of cottonwood on each reach and followed the fates of individually marked saplings in three patches of cottonwood on the Yampa River and two patches on the Green River. Two natural floods on the Yampa River and one controlled flood on the Green River between May 1998 and November 1999 allowed us to assess the effect of flooding on beaver herbivory. Independent of beaver herbivory, flow regulation on the Green River has caused a decrease in number of cottonwood patches per kilometre of river, area of patches per kilometre, and average stem density within cottonwood patches. The number of saplings cut per beaver colony was three times lower on the Green River than on the Yampa River but the probability of a sapling being cut by a beaver was still higher on the Green River because of lower sapling density there. Controlled flooding appeared to increase the rate of foraging on the Green River by inundating patches of cottonwood, which enhanced access by beaver. Our results suggest regulation can magnify the impact of beaver on cottonwood through interrelated effects on plant spatial distribution and cottonwood density, with the result that beaver herbivory will need to be considered in plans to enhance cottonwood populations along regulated rivers. Published in 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Boron uptake by peach leaf slices

Abstract The objective of this study was to determine if plasma‐lemma transport is a limiting step for boron (B) uptake by peach leaf. Only about 0.3% of the B applied could be absorbed by peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch) leaves when enriched 10B‐boric acid was used as a tracer. Boron uptake increased proportionally to the external B concentration in the range of 1 mM to 20 mM. The highest B content was found in the 20 mM treatment. Boron uptake was rapid for the initial 6 to 8 hours, but it then slowed down steadily until the end of the experiment. A linear correlation between the external B concentration and leaf B content was obtained (y =‐8.98 + 46.1×, R2 = 0.999). pH had a profound effect on B uptake by peach leaf slices with pH 7 and 8 had the highest B absorption. Boron uptake was strongly dependent on temperature over the 2°C to 40°C range. Peach leaf slices had the highest B absorption at 40°C. B uptake decreased sharply when the temperature dropped to 2°C. Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) increased ...
Turbulent momentum transfer in two‐phase cylindrical Couette flow

Torque measurements were made in experiments carried out using a cylindrical Couette apparatus with the inner cylinder rotating and the outer one stationary. The fluid systems employed consisted of distilled water, 50% distilled-water glycerine solutions, and these with several concentrations of suspended polystyrene spheres (through 40 on 70 mesh). The parameters employed by Bjorklund and Kays were found to correlate the data successfully when suspension viscosities were used for the two-phase systems.
Research Constituents and Authorship Patterns in the Production and Operations Management Journal

The Production and Operations Management Society is the largest professional society dedicated to creating and disseminating knowledge in product and process design, operations, and supply chains for the management of manufacturing and services. Its research journal, Production and Operations Management (POM), covers all topics in the discipline and all research paradigms to serve the entire community. Since its inception in 1992, POM has become recognized as a top tier outlet for operations management research. We identify research institutions in the operations management community that have played major roles in developing the journal based on the research of their faculty members and doctoral graduates. Our findings show that the constituency of the journal reflects the constituency of the society.
General study of ground states in gauged N = 2 supergravity theories with symmetric scalar manifolds in 5 dimensions

After reviewing the existing results we give an extensive analysis of the critical points of the potentials of the gauged N=2 Yang-Mills/Einstein supergravity theories coupled to tensor multiplets and hypermultiplets. Our analysis includes all the possible gaugings of all N=2 Maxwell-Einstein supergravity theories whose scalar manifolds are symmetric spaces. In general, the scalar potential gets contributions from R-symmetry gauging, tensor couplings, and hypercouplings. We show that the coupling of a hypermultiplet into a theory whose potential has a nonzero value at its critical point, and gauging a compact subgroup of the hyperscalar isometry group will only rescale the value of the potential at the critical point by a positive factor, and therefore will not change the nature of an existing critical point. However this is not the case for noncompact SO(1,1) gaugings. An SO(1,1) gauging of the hyperisometry will generally lead to de Sitter vacua, which is analogous to the ground states found by simultaneously gauging SO(1,1) symmetry of the real scalar manifold with U(1){sub R} in earlier literature. SO(m,1) gaugings with m>1, which give contributions to the scalar potential only in the magical Jordan family theories, on the other hand, do not lead to de Sitter vacua. Anti-de Sitter more » vacua are generically obtained when the U(1){sub R} symmetry is gauged. We also show that it is possible to embed certain generic Jordan family theories into the magical Jordan family preserving the nature of the ground states. However the magical Jordan family theories have additional ground states which are not found in the generic Jordan family theories. « less
Vacuum chamber thermal protection for the APS

The authors summarize the results of a task group that studied the vacuum-chamber thermal protection problem for the Advanced Photon Source (APS). It is pointed out that the high-power-density photon beams in the proposed next generation of synchrotron light sources introduce new risks to the integrity of the ring vacuum chambers. In these machines, power densities are such that vacuum chamber cooling is unable to reduce the risk of rapid penetration of the chamber. Two general methods have been studied for providing passive protection of the vacuum chamber. These include limiting of the power supplies that could missteer the beam and insertion of limiting apertures using beam scrapers that prevent the photon beam from illuminating the vacuum chamber. The APS uses the former during construction and will be able to implement the latter at a future time if the potential risk to the chamber warrants additional protection. >
Channel Modeling for Vehicle-To-Vehicle Communications

Physical layer channel modeling is critical for design and performance evaluation at multiple layers of the communications protocol stack. In this article we describe and provide results for modeling vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) wireless channels. V2V settings produce some unique conditions, and due to these conditions, V2V channels often exhibit greater dynamics than many conventional channels and, in addition, can also exhibit more severe fading. Thus, new channel models are needed to characterize this setting in order to evaluate contending transmission schemes and aid in V2V communication system design. A brief review of key statistical channel parameters is provided. Then both analytical and experimental V2V channel results are presented from the existing literature, and from our own measurement and modeling campaigns for the 5 GHz band. We also show the effects of these V2V channels on two types of transmission schemes.
Use of Liposomal Gentamicin for Treatment of 5 Foals with Experimentally Induced Rhodococcus equi Pneumonia

Background Adverse effects of, and bacterial resistance to, macrolides used to treat Rhodococcus equi infections have prompted search for clinically effective alternative antimicrobials. Liposomal gentamicin (LG) is effective against R. equi in vitro and decreases tissue concentrations of R. equi in experimentally infected mice. Effectiveness of LG treatment of foals with R. equi pneumonia, however, has not been described. Hypothesis Liposomal gentamicin is safe and effective for treating foals with R. equi pneumonia. Animals Ten foals with experimentally induced R. equi pneumonia. Methods Pilot treatment trial. Foals with pneumonia induced by intrabronchial instillation of R. equi were randomly allocated to receive either clarithromycin combined with rifampin (CLR + RIF) PO or LG IV, and followed by daily physical examinations and weekly thoracic ultrasonography and serum creatinine concentration determinations until the resolution of clinical signs. Treatment success was defined as the resolution of clinical signs and ultrasonographically identified pulmonary abscesses. Results All 10 foals were successfully treated. Two of 5 foals treated with LG developed azotemia within 1 week; LG was discontinued and treatment switched to CLR + RIF for these foals. None of the CLR + RIF treated foals developed azotemia. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Liposomal gentamicin IV can be effective for treatment of R. equi pneumonia, but nephrotoxicity indicates that an alternative dosing interval or route (such as nebulization) will be needed before LG is adequately safe for clinical use. Larger comparative trials will be needed to evaluate the relative efficacy of a safer LG dosage regimen.
Nutrition-related backgrounds and counseling practices of doctors of chiropractic

A questionnaire was designed and mailed to the entire membership (no. = 438) of the San Francisco Bay Area Chiropractic Society to determine their nutrition education backgrounds and counseling practices and the relationship of backgrounds and counseling practices and the relationship of backgrounds and information resources to counseling practices. Results, based on the 23% response rate, indicated that the hours of formal nutrition education in chiropractic college varied widely in the five categories of responses from zero to more than 120, with the median respondent falling in the median category (81 to 100 hours). Sixty percent of the respondents indicated that they provided nutrition information to their patients on a routine basis, and 38% provided information on request only. The major forms of nutrition information dissemination were counseling (87%) and written materials (74%). The majority of respondents reported that they diagnose osteoporosis, arthritis, and allergies and use nutrition treatments for those disorders as a part of overall therapy. Chiropractic journals and texts were the most frequently used sources of nutrition information. Awareness of the educational backgrounds of registered dietitians correlated positively with the use of dietitians as a resource for nutrition information (p less than .005). The survey results suggest a need for dietitians to become involved in the nutrition-related practices of chiropractors as sources for information and referral.
Epilepsy in Angelman’s Syndrome

The natural history and response to treatment of epilepsy in a large population of Angelman syndrome (AS) patients were studied by detailed electronic survey conducted through the AS Foundation by pediatric neurologists at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Texas Southwestern Medical Center; and Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, CA.
An Empirical Analysis of Indoor Tanners: Implications for Audience Segmentation in Campaigns

Tanning bed use before age 35 has been strongly associated with several types of skin cancer. The current study sought to advance an understanding of audience segmentation for indoor tanning among young women. Panhellenic sorority systems at two universities in the Southeastern United States participated in this study. A total of 1,481 young women took the survey; 421 (28%) had tanned indoors in the previous 12 months and were the focus of the analyses reported in this article. Results suggested two distinct tanner types: regular (n = 60) and irregular (n = 353) tanners. Regular tanners tanned more frequently (M = 36.2 vs. 8.6 times per year) and reported significantly higher positive outcome expectations (p < .001) and lower negative outcome expectations (p < .01) than irregular tanners, among other significant differences. Hierarchical logistic regression analysis revealed several significant (p < .001) predictors of regular tanning type, with tanning dependence emerging as the strongest predictor of this classification (OR = 2.25). Implications for developing anti-tanning messages directed at regular and irregular tanners are discussed.
Where are we with pancreas transplantation

The question still remains: What is best for the patient? It appears that whole organ or segmental pancreas transplantation can be carried out, giving anywhere from a 46% to an 84% 1-year pancreas survival rate. At the moment there is no clear-cut evidence that patient survival--at least in the short term--is any better after a combined pancreas-kidney graft than after a kidney graft alone, and there are more complications from the combined procedure. It appears once again that patient survival is a function of control of ketoacidosis and its complications--whether by a pancreas graft or by better insulin delivery. Nevertheless, several things have been learned: (1) Patients who receive a pancreas-kidney graft simultaneously have the best pancreas 1-year survival. (2) A pancreatic graft without a simultaneous kidney graft does poorly. (3) A pancreas graft carried out after a kidney graft will not do as well. (4) A kidney transplanted to a diabetic patient may become nephropathic unless supported by a pancreatic graft. (5) Retinopathy is not improved by pancreatic transplantation. (6) Neuropathy is improved or stabilized by pancreatic transplantation. (7) Nephropathy is improved by pancreatic grafting. (8) There is no clear-cut difference in pancreatic graft survival, whether segmental or whole organ grafts are used. (9) Bladder-drained grafts appear to have slightly better survival at 1 year than enteric-drained or polymer-injected grafts. (10) Human islet cell homotransplantation is not yet an accomplished fact. As Barker has pointed out, the potential benefits of pancreatic grafting are for those who are prone to complications and who do not have irreversible diabetic complications. Predicting those in whom significant complications will develop is not easy, and a large percentage of the grafts done to date have been done for patients with end stage renal disease. It has been suggested that transplants are best used for those with early renal disease and for those with pre-proliferative retinopathy and for those that are metabolically difficult to handle with insulin and for those at high risk for complications with diabetes: namely, those with high levels of inactive renin that are associated with microvascular complications and high levels of insulin-like growth factor. These complications seem to be associated with accelerated progression of retinopathy. Diabetic children whose disease is associated with major neurovascular disease and children with impaired counter regulatory mechanisms may also be candidates for grafting.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Methodological Issues and Problems of Estimating Costs and Benefits for the FTC Unavailability Rule

This paper examines the methodological problems and issues of the cost/benefit analysis which was structured by the FTC for purpose of evaluating the Unavailability Rule and the current proposed amendments to the Rule. The discussion is organized along key items in a cost/benefit analysis: objectives, assumptions, alternatives, costs, benefits, and impact.
HST and Keck Observations of High Redshift Radio Galaxies

Together with several of my colleagues I have embarked on a comprehensive program to study the radio—aligned restframe UV structures in high redshift radio galaxies (HzRGs) using some of the world’s premier optical telescopes: the Hubble Space Telescope for high spatial resolution imaging, and the Keck 10m telescope for high S/N spectropolarimetry. I will discuss some of our latest results from these observations which elucidate, and at the same time obscure, our evolving understanding of HzRGs.
Use of a single xenon flash lamp for photoacoustic computed tomography of multiple-centimeter-thick biological tissue ex vivo and a whole mouse body in vivo.

While lasers have been commonly used as illumination sources in photoacoustic (PA) imaging, their high purchase and maintenance costs, as well as their bulkiness, have hindered the rapid clinical dissemination of PA imaging. With this in mind, we explore an alternative illumination source for PA tomography—a xenon flash lamp with high pulse energy and a microsecond pulse width. We demonstrate that, by using a single xenon flash lamp, we can image both a black latex cord placed in chicken breast tissue at a depth of up to 3.5 cm ex vivo and an entire mouse body in vivo. Our findings indicate that the xenon flash lamp, producing optical illumination that is safe for humans, can be potentially applied to human tissue imaging. © 2016 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation
Overcoming Immunologic Barriers to Kidney Transplantation: Desensitization and Paired Donation

Renal transplantation offers a significant survival benefit over dialysis for patients with end-stage renal disease. Furthermore, transplantation with a living donor kidney offers superior survival when compared to a deceased donor. However, supply of transplantable kidneys continues to fall short of demand; living donation offers a solution to help decrease this disparity. For those patients who have willing donors, many will be incompatible secondary to blood group or tissue mismatches. In this setting, a crucial decision must be made—pursue living donor transplantation by overcoming the incompatibility through desensitization or kidney paired donation, or wait on the deceased donor transplant list for a compatible kidney to become available. This review explores the regimens for desensitization, clinical outcomes, and potential adverse sequelae for both tissue incompatibility [that is, patients with anti-human leukocyte antigen (anti-HLA) antibodies] and blood group (ABO) incompatibility. This review also summarizes the different strategies involved in kidney paired donation (KPD) and addresses challenges unique to this model of transplantation. The decision to utilize desensitization versus KPD is an individualized one, guided by donor and recipient characteristics and preferences.
Optical switching without mirrors

Optical bistability is a switch-like property of certain materials and devices that has many potential applications in nonlinear optical devices, such as fast optical switches and digital optical memories. Until recently the phenomenon has only been observed in devices that included a feedback mechanism, usually based on mirrors.
Volatility Models of the Yield Curve

Models of forward interest rates often use high-dimensional Brownian motions to capture imperfect correlations between near term and long term rates. Several statistical analyses suggest the practicality of using a simpler model. Principal component analyses reveal a pattern of correlations which can be essentially explained with a properly chosen three-dimensional Brownian motion. We describe the well known mathematical di! culties in implementing this approach, and we provide a substantial resolution of these obstacles. By focussing on no-arbitrage models using a long bond as a numeraire, we avoid problems with infinities which appeared in conventional risk-neutral models.
Multinuclear NMR investigation of temperature effects on structural reactions involving non-bridging oxygens in multicomponent oxide glasses

Abstract The energetics of structural mechanisms involving inter-conversions among oxygen species dictate structure and properties of oxide glasses. We explored the change in boron coordination as a function of fictive temperature in glasses containing Zr and/or Na. There was lower boron coordination in the Zr-containing glass, and there was less decrease in boron coordination with temperature. We relate this difference to changes in the energetics of Zr-O-Si and Na-O-Si linkages. Furthermore, we varied fictive temperature to explore the distribution of non-bridging oxygens (NBO) on Al and Si in a Ca aluminosilicate and a Y aluminosilicate. As temperature increased, Al-NBO% increased. We attribute this change with temperature to differences in the energetics of Si-NBO and Al-NBO, which result in a strong preference for Si-NBO that is predicted to persist over a wide temperature range.
Kinetic Alfvén Turbulence: Electron and Ion Heating by Particle-in-cell Simulations

Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of the forward cascade of decaying kinetic Alfven turbulence have been carried out as an initial-value problem on a collisionless, homogeneous, magnetized, electron–ion plasma model with and m i/m e = 100, where subscripts e and i represent electrons and ions, respectively. Initial anisotropic narrowband spectra of relatively long-wavelength modes with approximately gyrotropic distributions in undergo a forward cascade to broadband spectra of magnetic fluctuations at shorter wavelengths. Maximum electron and ion heating rates are computed as functions of the initial fluctuating magnetic field energy density on the range . In contrast to dissipation by whistler turbulence, the maximum ion heating rate due to kinetic Alfven turbulence is substantially greater than the maximum electron heating rate. Furthermore, ion heating as well as electron heating due to kinetic Alfven turbulence scale approximately with e o. Finally, electron heating leads to anisotropies of the type , where the parallel and perpendicular symbols refer to directions parallel and perpendicular, respectively, to the background magnetic field, whereas the heated ions remain relatively isotropic. This implies that, for the range of e o values considered, the Landau wave–particle resonance is a likely heating mechanism for the electrons and may also contribute to ion heating.
The impact of sold-out information on tourist choice decisions

Travelers encounter sold-out situations when purchasing a vacation package during peak season. However, the influence of sold-out information has drawn little attention in tourism research. This st...
Recipient characteristics and morbidity and mortality after liver transplantation

Background and Aims Over the last decade, liver transplantation of sicker, older non-hepatitis C cirrhotics with multiple co-morbidities has increased in the United States. We sought to identify an easily applicable set of recipient factors among HCV negative adult transplant recipients associated with significant morbidity and mortality within five years after liver transplantation. Methods We collected national (n = 31,829, 2002–2015) and center-specific data. Coefficients of relevant recipient factors were converted to weighted points and scaled from 0–5. Recipient factors associated with graft failure included: ventilator support (five patients; hazard ratio [HR] 1.59; 95% CI 1.48–1.72); recipient age >60 years (three patients; HR 1.29; 95% CI 1.23–1.36); hemodialysis (three patients; HR 1.26; 95% CI 1.16–1.37); diabetes (two patients; HR 1.20; 95% CI 1.14–1.27); or serum creatinine ≥1.5 mg/dl without hemodialysis (two patients; HR 1.15; 95% CI 1.09–1.22). Results Graft survival within five years based on points (any combination) was 77.2% (0–4), 69.1% (5–8) and 57.9% (>8). In recipients with >8 points, graft survival was 42% (model for end-stage liver disease [MELD] score 1.7. In center-specific data within the first year, subjects with ≥5 points ( vs. 0–4) had longer hospitalization (11 vs. 8 days, p vs. 2.7%, p vs. 5.3%, p vs. 39.5%, p = 0.03) within five years. Conclusion The impact of co-morbidities in an MELD-based organ allocation system need to be reassessed. The proposed clinical tool may be helpful for center-specific assessment of risk of graft failure in non-HCV patients and for discussion regarding relevant morbidity in selected subsets. Lay summary Over the last decade, liver transplantation of sicker, older patient with multiple co-morbidities has increased. In this study, we show that a set of recipient factors (recipient age >60 years, ventilator status, diabetes, hemodialysis and creatinine >1.5 mg/dl) can help identify patients that may not do well after transplant. Transplanting sicker organs in patients with certain combinations of these characteristics leads to lower survival.
The Late Quaternary History of Vegetation and Climate at Porcupine Mountain and Clearwater Bog, Manitoba

Radiocarbon-dated pollen diagrams from two sites in the southern Boreal forest of Canada have reflected aspects of the local and regional environments since 6,700 and 1,000 BP, respectively. Spruce...
scQuery: a web server for comparative analysis of single-cell RNA-seq data

Single cell RNA-Seq (scRNA-seq) studies often profile upward of thousands of cells in heterogeneous environments. Current methods for characterizing cells perform unsupervised analysis followed by assignment using a small set of known marker genes. Such approaches are limited to a few, well characterized cell types. To enable large scale supervised characterization we developed an automated pipeline to download, process, and annotate publicly available scRNA-seq datasets. We extended supervised neural networks to obtain efficient and accurate representations for scRNA-seq data. We applied our pipeline to analyze data from over 500 different studies with over 300 unique cell types and show that supervised methods greatly outperform unsupervised methods for cell type identification. A case study of neural degeneration data highlights the ability of these methods to identify differences between cell type distributions in healthy and diseased mice. We implemented a web server that compares new datasets to collected data employing fast matching methods in order to determine cell types, key genes, similar prior studies, and more.
Expecting the unexpected: detecting and reacting to unplanned-for world states

Developing autonomous systems is challenging because complete and correct models do not exist for complex domains such as aircraft flight. Realistic systems bound the state set expanded during planning and compensate for unexpected situations with reactive mechanisms. This abstract describes a method by which a system can determine if it is unprepared for the current world state and a means to successfully respond to such an unhandled state.
Ice-thickness Patterns and the Dynamics of the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica *

As part of the Ross Ice Shelf Geophysical and Glaciological Survey, a detailed map of ice thickness has been produced from airborne radar measurements closely tied to the network of survey stations on the ice-shelf surface. The map, drawn with a 20 m contour interval, reveals a highly complex pattern of thickness variations reflecting presumably, at least in part, complex ice-shelf dynamics. Many features of the thickness variation pattern appear to be associated with zones of grounded ice, but not all. Features of interest include many ice thickness minima, with closures up to 120m; a narrow, greatly elongated ridge-trough system 450 km or more in length; a few ice thickness maxima; steep regional gradients of 10 m/km in freely floating ice; highly contorted contours suggesting a large-scale “turbulence”; and at least two remarkable step-like changes in ice thickness. The irregularity of many of these features suggests dynamic non-equilibrium, i.e. the existence of transients in the dynamic system, so that the ice shelf as a whole suggests a state of rather rapid change. Flow-bands constructed on the basis of the strengths of the echo from the ice-water interface clearly delineate the outflow from the main East Antarctic outlet glaciers in the grid eastern part of the shelf. A discontinuous flow band originating in a small mountain glacier (Robb Glacier) suggests a variable mesoclimate in the vicinity of the glacier within the last thousand years. Strong reflections near the ice front suggest bottom melting of saline ice previously frozen on to the underside of the ice. Several rifts or incipient rifts in the ice shelf characteristically show two lateral bands of strong reflections with a non-reflecting zone in between.
Summary Talk: Theoretical

It was with considerable trepidation, and no little hesitancy, that I accepted Professor Greiner’s invitation to give this summary talk. The subject of the conference—quantum mechanics of strong fields—runs the gamut of physics: from high precision QED, quarks and pion condensation to radiating black holes. Only a very brave, very foolish, or very unwary person would accept this responsibility—and I leave it to you to decide which fits best.
A route-based network simulation framework for airport ground system disruptions

Abstract Every year, delayed, cancelled, or diverted flights cost airports significant man-hours and millions of dollars all over the world. The Airlines for America reported that the total direct aircraft operating cost per block minute was $62.55 in 2016, and at this rate, delay minutes cost more than $7 billion in aircraft operations for scheduled US passenger airlines only. Keeping flights on schedule only becomes more difficult with today’s ever increasing demand for air transportation and disruptive events including natural and human-caused hazards. In this study, we analyze the adversarial impact of such disruptive events on an airport ground system using a route-based network simulation framework (RuNSim). Aiming to increase an airport’s ability to take quick, responsive actions against disruptions leading to flight delays and cancellations, RuNSim is comprised of four modules: (1) pre-processing, (2) runway simulation, (3) route-based taxiway simulation, and (4) apron simulation. Our proposed framework incorporates technical as well as regulatory constraints for safety and system uncertainties. The capabilities of the proposed approach are demonstrated through two different case studies based on real data obtained from the LaGuardia Airport ground system. In these case studies, two disruptive events, namely taxiway pavement network damage and runway closure, are investigated in terms of their impact on taxi-in and taxi-out times. Conclusions are drawn on the adverse impacts of these events on the airport ground network along with available actions to minimize such flight delays under these events.
From benzene to naphthalene: direct measurement of reactions and intermediates of phenyl radicals and acetylene.

Hydrogen-abstraction–C2H2-addition (HACA) is one of the most important pathways leading to the formation of naphthalene, the simplest two-ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). The major reaction channels for naphthalene formation have previously been calculated by Mebel et al., but few experiments exist to validate the theoretical predictions. In this work, time-resolved molecular beam mass spectrometry (MBMS) was used to investigate the time-dependent product formation in the reaction of a phenyl radical with C2H2 for the first time, at temperatures of 600 and 700 K and pressures of 10 and 50 Torr. A pressure-dependent model was developed with rate parameters derived from Mebel et al.'s calculations and from newly calculated pathways on the C8H7 PES at the G3(MP2,CC)//B3LYP/6-311G** level of theory. The model prediction is consistent with the MBMS product profiles at a mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) of 102 (corresponding to the H-loss product from C8H7, phenylacetylene), 103 (the initial C8H7 adduct and its isomers plus the 13C isotopologue of phenylacetylene), 128 (naphthalene), and 129 (C10H9 isomers plus the 13C isotopologue of naphthalene). An additional C8H7 isomer, bicyclo[4.2.0]octa-1,3,5-trien-7-yl, not considered by Mebel et al.'s calculations, contributes significantly to the signal at m/z 103 due to its stable energy and low reactivity. At high C2H2 concentrations, bimolecular reactions dominated the observed chemistry, and the m/z 128 and m/z 102 MBMS signal ratio was measured to directly determine the product branching ratio. At 600 K and 10 Torr, branching to the H-loss product (phenylacetylene) on the C8H7 PES accounted for 7.9% of phenyl radical consumption, increasing to 15.9% at 700 K and 10 Torr. At 50 Torr, the branching was measured to be 2.8% at 600 K and 6.2% at 700 K. Adduct stabilization is favored at higher pressure and lower temperature, which hinders the formation of the H-loss product. The pressure-dependent model predicted the observed branching ratios within the experimental uncertainty, indicating that the rate parameters reported here can be used in combustion mechanisms to provide insights into phenyl HACA reactions and PAH formation.
Cellular metabolism and IL-6 concentrations during stimulated inflammation in small and large dog breeds’ primary fibroblasts cells, as they age

The immune system undergoes marked changes during aging characterized by a state of chronic, low-grade inflammation, so called inflammaging. Domestic dogs are the most morphological and physiological diverse group of mammals, with the widest range in body masses for a single species. Additionally, smaller dogs tend to live significantly longer than larger dogs across all breeds. Body mass is intricately linked to mass-specific metabolism and aging rates, thus, dogs are exemplary for studies in inflammaging. Dermal fibroblasts cells play an important role in skin inflammation, and as such, are a good cell type to determine inflammatory patterns in dogs. Here, we examine aerobic and glycolytic cellular metabolism, and IL-6 concentrations in primary fibroblast cells isolated from small and large, young and old dogs when treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Escherichia coli to stimulate an inflammatory phenotype. We found no differences in cellular metabolism of any group when treated with LPS. Unlike mice and humans, there was a less drastic amplification of IL-6 concentration after LPS treatment in the geriatric population of dogs compared with puppies. We also found evidence that large breed puppies have significantly less background or control IL-6 concentrations compared with small breed puppies. This implies that the patterns of inflammaging in dogs may be distinct and different from other mammals commonly studied.
Has the Threshold for Epiphysiodesis Versus Lengthening Changed in the Era of Magnetically Controlled Nails

INTRODUCTION Limb length discrepancy (LLD) is common in both the pediatric and adult population. Length inequalities can be due to a multitude of etiologies including congenital, developmental, and acquired causes. There has been little consensus on the morbidity of LLD and, as a result, the threshold necessary for treatment of LLD to prevent morbidity. Advances in magnetically controlled lengthening devices achieve greater accuracy and patient satisfaction and create an opportunity to lower the threshold for limb lengthening. DISCUSSION Asymptomatic LLD is relatively common in both pediatric and adult populations. Only ~10% of the population has equal leg length. LLD of 5 cm. The assumption is that there are no long-term consequences of mild LLD. However, data in recent literature show that small discrepancies may contribute to pathologic changes such as pain, gait abnormalities, and osteoarthritis. Major advances have been made in limb lengthening over the past 40 years. The increased accuracy and superior patient satisfaction of the magnetically controlled lengthening nail versus external fixation methods argue for including lengthening for LLD of <5 cm. CONCLUSION If mild LLD can cause long-term pathology, it is important to counsel families on the full range of options for limb equalization no matter the size of the discrepancy. The evolution in technology and understanding of limb lengthening has provided additional safe surgical options. Therefore, the historic treatment protocol for addressing limb differences may need to include lengthening for smaller discrepancies even <2 cm.
Efficacy of combinational therapy using blue light and benzoyl peroxide in reducing Cutibacterium acnes bioburden at the deltopectoral interval: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of blue light therapy (BLT) and 5% topical benzoyl peroxide (BPO) gel in combination with standard chlorhexidine (CHX) preparation in eradicating Cutibacterium acnes at the deltopectoral interval measured by positive, quantitative culture findings. METHODS Adult male volunteers were randomized to 1 of 3 treatment groups: BPO, BLT, and BPO followed by BLT. Contralateral shoulders served as matched controls. Volunteers randomized to BPO applied the gel for a total of 5 treatments. In the BLT group, a single 23-minute treatment was administered at an estimated irradiance of 40 mW/cm2 (radiant exposure, 55.2 J/cm2). In the BPO-BLT group, volunteers received both treatments as described earlier. After treatment with either BPO, BLT, or both, a single swab culture was taken from the treatment shoulder. Next, control and treatment shoulders were prepared with CHX, and cultures were taken from each shoulder. Cultures were sent for anaerobic quantitative growth analysis with both polymerase chain reaction and Sanger sequencing confirmation of presumptive C acnes colonies. RESULTS This study enrolled 60 male volunteers, 20 per group, with no loss to follow-up. After treatment but prior to CHX administration, all culture samples in the BPO group and BLT group grew C acnes. Prior to CHX, 16 samples (80%) in the BPO-BLT group grew C acnes. On quantitative analysis, the BPO group and BPO-BLT group had significantly less growth of C acnes compared with the BLT group after treatment but prior to CHX (P < .05 for each). Following CHX administration, the BPO and BPO-BLT groups had significantly fewer positive culture findings (odds ratios of 0.03 and 0.29, respectively) and less quantity of growth compared with their control arms (P < .05). This was not seen in the BLT group. For quantitative between-group analysis, no significant synergistic effects were seen with BPO-BLT compared with BPO alone (P = .688). There was no difference in side effects between groups. CONCLUSION The combination of topical BPO and CHX was effective at eliminating C acnes in most cases. BLT alone did not demonstrate effective antimicrobial properties against C acnes at the radiant exposure administered in this study. Combining BPO and BLT did not lead to significant synergistic antimicrobial effects. Both BPO and BLT are safe with few, transient side effects reported. More work is needed to determine whether BLT at higher radiant exposures or serial treatment results in bactericidal effects against C acnes in vivo.
Thermohydraulic and thermodynamics performance of hybrid nanofluids based parabolic trough solar collector equipped with wavy promoters

Abstract This article presents a numerical analysis on the thermohydraulic and thermodynamic performance of a parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) receiver's tube equipped with wavy promoters. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with the aid of finite volume method (FVM) is adopted to examine the flow and thermal features of the PTSC's tube receiver. The Reynolds number in the range of 5000–100000 with four fluid inlet temperatures in the range of 400–650 K are utilised. Three different advanced hybrid nanofluids (Fe2O3-GO, Fe2O3–SiC and Fe2O3–TiO2) dispersed in Syltherm oil 800 are employed inside the PTSC's receiver tube. The numerical outcomes are verified with the available correlations and with other numerical and experimental data available in the open literature. The numerical results reveal that the utilisation of wavy promoters inside the PTSC's receiver tube can significantly augment the thermal performance, where the average Nusselt number is improved by 150.4% when utilising Fe2O3-GO/Syltherm oil hybrid nanofluids at 2.0% concentration instead of Syltherm oil. Furthermore, the maximum reduction in the absorber's average outlet temperature is in the range of 7–31 °C. The overall thermal evaluation criterion (PEC) is found to be in the range of 1.24–2.46 using bricks-shaped nanoparticles. The results show that the thermal efficiency increased by 18.51% and the exergetic efficiency increased by 16.21%. The maximum reduction in the entropy generation rate and the entropy generation ratio are about 48.27% and 52.6% respectively. New correlations for Nusselt number, friction factor and thermal efficiency for PTSC tube having wavy promoters using hybrid nanofluids are developed.
Deformation Structures in Polycrystalline CaO

Polycrystalline CaO was deformed in compression using constant strain-rate tests at temperatures from 1323 to 1523K. The as-deformed surface morphology was examined and the dislocation structures analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. Subgrain dislocation structures reminiscent of the cell structures observed in creep of MgO are present in CaO and support a proposed recovery controlled dislocation creep model for CaO. In addition, a void growth contribution to the total strain at higher temperatures was suggested to be the result of viscous sliding by an intergranular glassy phase.
Unbiased Closed-Form Solutions for Center of Rotation

We present a fast closed form solution for estimating the exact joint locations inside the human body from motion capture data. The closed-form solution is robust, fast and unbiased. For example, the formulae are as much as 100 times faster than the traditional non-linear Maximum Likelihood Estimator and about 10 times faster than linear least squares methods. The methods are proven to be statistically efficient when measurement error is smaller than the joint-marker distance. Unbiased Generalized Delogne-Kasa (UGDK), multiple radii solution (MGDK), and incrementally improved GDK (IGDK) are important contributions of our research providing closed form fast solutions for skeleton extraction from motion capture data. Skeletal animation sequences are generated using the CMU Graphics Lab motion capture database.
Target ranging and identification using timing modulation of a mode-locked laser

The U.S. Air Force has an ongoing interest in improved techniques for ranging and high-resolution depth profiling of ground and air targets. We have investigated the feasibility of a target ID system based on a mode-locked laser and a high-speed detection system. Mode-locked lasers easily produce multi-Watt output with pulsewidths in the tens of ps for excellent resolution, and repetition rates in the tens of MHz allowing signal averaging over multiple pulse trains to improve sensitivity. While peak powers may be high, average powers are well below the damage thresholds of typical optics. One drawback inherent in this approach is aliasing caused by the high repetition rate. This is easily remedied by modulation of the laser output with a pseudo-random pattern.
Assessment of in vivo laser ablation using MR elastography with an inertial driver

As a nonsurgical treatment for malignant hepatic tumors, percutaneous tumor thermal ablation requires accurate monitor and evaluation of cell death during and after the treatment, because if sufficient ablation is not achieved on tumors, then they can progress after treatment. Currently there is not a single effective way available to accurately monitor cell death during and after in vivo thermal ablation. For the first time, we used MR elastography with a new inertial driver to repeatedly measure tissue stiffness during and after in vivo laser ablation on porcine livers. During 2-minute ablations using 4.5-, 7.5- and 15-W laser power, the stiffness of the lesion underwent very complicated changes indicative of the dynamic protein folding and unfolding that occurred under the different levels of heating. After laser ablations of a lethal dose (2 min, 15 W), lesion stiffnesses were significantly greater than the baseline values (p < 0.007) and became stiffer over time; also, the mean [95% CI] stiffness increments from baseline were significantly greater than those after lower dose (2 min, 7.5-W) laser ablations (64.4% [32.8%, 96.0%] vs 22.5% [16.3%, 28.6%], p = 0.009), which reflected the irreversible cell denaturation during the laser ablation with the lethal dose.
Recent Advances in Utilization of the R-Matrix Parameters for Reactor Applications

A simplified version of the rigorous pole representation of cross sections has been developed to facilitate utilization of the newly released ENDF/B VI resonance data based on the Reich-Moore parameters for reactor applications. The procedure is equivalent to the extraction of the Humblet-Rosenfeld-type parameters and the associated ‘background’ term explicitly from the rigorous pole and residue parameters which, in turn, are converted from a given set of the Reich-Moore parameters. The computational efficiency and its amenability to the existing reactor codes are significantly enhanced by the introduction of the pertinent analytic continuation in place of the smooth ‘background’ term via the non-linear least square fitting. The method has been successfully applied to all major nuclides examined and the results are presented.
RECOGNITION AND REPAIR OF URETHRAL DIVERTICULA: A REPORT OF 60 CASES.

Abstract 1. 1. Sixty cases of urethral diverticulum in the female diagnosed and operated upon between July 1956, and January 1964, are presented. 2. 2. The most important diagnostic symptom was postmicturition dribbling. A urethrogram employing the Davis catheter was the best confirmatory test. 3. 3. The method of treatment was complete excision of the sac and closure of all openings into the urethra, with indicated vaginal surgery performed at the same time.