cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Available paralellism in video applications

Most recent research in instruction-level parallelism has focused on general-purpose applications such as the SPEC benchmarks. Many quantitative experiments have been performed over the years measuring the impact of different execution models and optimization techniques on these applications. Researchers have been developing various ILP architectures for media processors in order to exploit parallelism in audio, video, and graphics applications. It has been assumed that these applications contain far more potential parallelism than general-purpose code, but there have been few attempts to quantify the available parallelism. We present a linear complexity global scheduling algorithm that can process very long traces up to 1 billion operations. Therefore, traces of video applications such as MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4 and H.263 encoders and decoders can be analyzed. Using an idealized execution model, speedups of over 1000 have been found in some applications. The experiment shows that eliminating currently identifiable bottlenecks can allow the exploitation of huge amounts of ILP in audio and video applications.
Fast-Wave Resonances near the Ion Cyclotron Frequency

Wave damping has been observed for the fast (compressional) wave at frequencies that are about 10 percent above the second and third harmonics of the ion cyclotron frequency. Preliminary calculations indicate that this shift is the result of collisions. The waves were launched by a 1-turn loop around the cylindrical plasma column and damped in a magnetic beach. The highly ionized hydrogen or deuterium plasma had an average temperature of 2 eV and an average density of about 2.5 × 1020 m-3.
Empirical Evaluation of the Limits on Localization Using Signal Strength

This work investigates the lower bounds of wireless localization accuracy using signal strength on commodity hardware. Our work relies on trace-driven analysis using an extensive indoor experimental infrastructure. First, we report the best experimental accuracy, twice the best prior reported accuracy for any localization system. We experimentally show that adding more and more resources (e.g., training points or landmarks) beyond a certain limit, can degrade the localization performance for lateration-based algorithms, and that it could only be improved further by "cleaning" the data. However, matching algorithms are more robust to poor quality RSS measurements. We next compare with a theoretical lower bound using standard Cramer Rao Bound (CRB) analysis for unbiased estimators, which is frequently used to provide bounds on localization precision. Because many localization algorithms are based on different mathematical foundations, we apply a diverse set of existing algorithms to our packet traces and found that the variance of the localization errors from these algorithms are smaller than the variance bound established by the CRB. Finally, we found that there exists a wide discrepancy from what freespace models predict in the signal to distance function even in an environment with limited shadowing and multipath, thereby imposing a fundamental limit on the achievable localization accuracy indoors.
Temperature Effects on Phenological Development and Yield of Muskmelon

Our goal was to construct a simple muskmelon phenology model that could be run with easily obtainable weather station data and used by growers to quantify phenological development and aid in projecting harvest dates. A growth chamber experiment was conducted with two cultivars of muskmelon (‘Gold Rush’ and ‘Mission’) to determine how main vine leaf appearance rates responded to temperature. We identified three cardinal temperatures for leaf appearance rate: the base temperature (10 8C) at which leaf appearance ratewas zero; an optimum temperature (34 8C) at which the rate of leaf appearance was maximal; and an upper threshold temperature (45 8C) at which leaf appearance rate returned to zero. Using these three cardinal temperatures, we constructed a simplified thermal unit accumulator for hourly measurements of air temperature. Main vine plastochron interval (PI), thermal time to harvest, and final yield were determined for three cultivars of muskmelon (‘Explorer’, ‘Gold Rush’ and ‘Mission’) grown in the field at Overton, TX, USA, over six transplanting dates from March to June 1998. PI was calculated for each cultivar transplanting date combination as the reciprocal of the slope of main vine node number vs. accumulated hourly thermal units (STu). PI was significantly aAected by both cultivar and transplanting date. Final yield was sharply reduced in the last two planting dates, presumably due to high temperature stresses impairing reproductive development. As air temperatures increased during the field experiment, the time interval from transplanting to 10% final harvest was reduced by 21 to 28 d among the three cultivars and the first four transplanting dates. Main vine node number was a useful descriptor of vegetative development for muskmelon.
Multiple mechanisms of growth inhibition by cyclic AMP derivatives in rat GH1 pituitary cells: Isolation of an adenylate cyclase-deficient variant

GH pituitary cells have been widely utilized for studies of hormone response mechanisms. Studies reported here were motivated by the desirability of isolating characterized GH clones defective in cyclic AMP synthesis or action. Spontaneously occurring GH1 cell variants resistant to the growth-inhibitory effects of cyclic AMP analogs were isolated. Characterization of four variants showed that these were deficient in adenosine kinase and had acquired resistance to the cytotoxic effects of purine nucleoside derivatives formed in the culture medium. A second-stage selection was undertaken with mutagenized adenosine kinase-deficient cells. One 8 Br cAMP-resistant variant was found to have normal cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase activity but exhibited altered adenylate cyclase activity. Activation of cyclase activity by fluoride, guanyl nucleotides, cholera toxin, and hormone (VIP) was subnormal in the variant. Mn-dependent cyclase activity was also subnormal, suggesting that the 8 Br cAMP-resistant variant may have a deficiency in the catalytic moiety of adenylate cyclase. Surprisingly, adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate and 5'-monophosphate derivatives were found to be equally potent in growth-inhibiting adenosine kinase-deficient cells. Cross-resistance to 8 Br AMP was observed in the 8 Br cAMP-resistant variant. We conclude that cyclic AMP derivatives inhibit growth of GH cells by an unanticipated mechanism that is, nonetheless, related to endogenous cyclic AMP synthesis.
Challenges in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder With Psychotic Features

Psychotic depression is associated with significant morbidity and mortality but is underdiagnosed and undertreated. In recent years, there have been several studies that have increased our knowledge regarding the optimal treatment of patients with psychotic depression. The combination of an antidepressant and antipsychotic is significantly more effective than either antidepressant monotherapy or antipsychotic monotherapy for the acute treatment of psychotic depression. Most treatment guidelines recommend either the combination of an antidepressant with an antipsychotic or ECT for the treatment of an acute episode of unipolar psychotic depression. The optimal maintenance treatment after a person responds to either the antidepressant/antipsychotic combination or the ECT is unclear particularly as it pertains to length of time the patient needs to take the antipsychotic medication. Little is known regarding the optimal treatment of a patient with bipolar disorder who has an episode of psychotic depression or the clinical characteristics of responders to medication treatments vs ECT treatments.
Multiply Recurrent Episodes of Gastric Emphysema

Introduction. Gastric emphysema can present both a diagnostic challenge and a life-threatening condition for patients and has only once been reported as being recurrent. Background. A 64-year-old male presented with chronic abdominal pain and was found to have gastric pneumatosis on CT scan. The patient was successfully managed conservatively. The cause was attributed to aberrant arterial anatomy and atherosclerosis along with hypotension. The patient has since had 3 episodes of recurrent gastric emphysema, all managed nonoperatively. Discussion. To our knowledge, this is the first case of both serial episodes of gastric pneumatosis and gastric mucosal ischemia as a precipitating factor for the development of gastric emphysema.
Protein and DNA requirements of the bacteriophage HP1 recombination system: a model for intasome formation

A fundamental step in site-specific recombination reactions involves the formation of properly arranged protein–DNA structures termed intasomes. The contributions of various proteins and DNA binding sites in the intasome determine not only whether recombination can occur, but also in which direction the reaction is likely to proceed and how fast the reaction will go. By mutating individual DNA binding sites and observing the effects of various mixtures of recombination proteins on the mutated substrates, we have begun to categorize the requirements for intasome formation in the site-specific recombination system of bacteriophage HP1. These experiments define the binding site occupancies in both integrative and excisive recombination for the three recombination proteins: HP1 integrase, HP1 Cox and IHF. This data has allowed us to create a model which explains many of the biochemical features of HP1 recombination, demonstrates the importance of intasome components on the directionality of the reaction and predicts further ways in which the role of the intasome can be explored.
Imaging of nodal metastases in the head and neck

Therapeutic outcome of head and neck cancer is influenced strongly by the presence of nodal metastases. Sensitivity and specificity of the physical examination for the diagnosis of nodal metastasis is unsatisfactory, resulting in both false negatives and false positives of 25 to 40%. Preoperative detection of nodal metastases therefore becomes one of the important goals of imaging studies of patients with head and neck cancer. Despite several advanced techniques and the wide clinical use of MR, MR has surprisingly added little to the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced CT. Although CT and MR allow detection of abnormally enlarged nodes or necrotic nodes, neither borderline-sized nodes without necrosis nor extracapsular spread are reliably differentiated from reactive or normal nodes in patients with head and neck cancer. Lack of definitive diagnostic methods of metastatic lymph nodes is a serious shortcoming in the preoperative workup for patients with head and neck cancer. To avoid missing small metastatic nodes, a large number of patients clinically staged as N0 have undergone elective neck dissection to exclude metastases. With development of more tissue-specific imaging techniques, patients can be better characterized according to the status of nodal disease so that an appropriate therapeutic protocol can be designed for an individual case.
Using Field-Repairable Control Logic to Correct Design Errors in Microprocessors

Functional correctness is a vital attribute of any hardware design. Unfortunately, due to extremely complex architectures, widespread components, such as microprocessors, are often released with latent bugs. The inability of modern verification tools to handle the fast growth of design complexity exacerbates the problem even further. In this paper, we propose a novel hardware-patching mechanism, called the field-repairable control logic (FRCL), that is designed for in-the-field correction of errors in the design's control logic-the most common type of defects, as our analysis demonstrates. Our solution introduces an additional component in the processor's hardware, a state matcher, that can be programmed to identify erroneous configurations using signals in the critical control state of the processor. Once a flawed configuration is ldquomatched,rdquo the processor switches into a degraded mode, a mode of operation which excludes most features of the system and is simple enough to be formally verified, yet still capable to execute the full instruction-set architecture at one instruction at a time. Once the program segment exposing the design flaw has been executed in a degraded mode, we can switch the processor back to its full-performance mode. In this paper, we analyze a range of approaches to selecting signals comprising the processor's critical control state and evaluate their effectiveness in representing a variety of design errors. We also introduce a new metric (average specificity per signal) that encodes the bug-detection capability and amount of control state of a particular critical signal set. We demonstrate that the FRCL can support the detection and correction of multiple design errors with a performance impact of less than 5% as long as the incidence of the flawed configurations is below 1% of dynamic instructions. In addition, the area impact of our solution is less than 2% for the two microprocessor designs that we investigated in our experiments.
Logic optimization by output phase assignment in dynamic logic synthesis

Domino logic is one of the most popular dynamic circuit configurations for implementing high-performance logic designs. Since domino logic is inherently noninverting, it presents a fundamental constraint of implementing logic functions without any intermediate inversions. Removal of intermediate inverters requires logic duplication for generating both the negative and positive signal phases, which results in significant area overhead. This area overhead can be substantially reduced by selecting an optimal output phase assignment, which results in a minimum logic duplication penalty for obtaining inverter-free logic. In this paper, we present this previously unaddressed problem of output phase assignment for minimum area duplication in dynamic logic synthesis. We give both optimal and heuristic algorithms for minimizing logic duplication.
Beam Processing of Silicon With a Scanning CW Hg Lamp

A scanning arc lamp annealing system has been built using a 3” long mercury arc lamp with an elliptical reflector. The reflector focuses the light into a high intensity narrow line source. Silicon wafers implanted with 100 KeV 75AS+ to 1×1015 cm−2 have been uniformly annealed with a single scan, resulting in complete activation and negligible redistribution of the implanted species. Using a scan rate of 1cm/s, entire 3” wafers have been annealed in less than 10 seconds with this system. The system has also been used to recrystallize thin films of polysilicon deposited on thermally grown silicon dioxide. The recrystallized films contain grains that are typically 0.5–1 mm in width and several centimeters long. Surface texture measurements show the crystallites to be almost entirely (100) in the plane of the film with the orthogonal direction closely paralleling the scan direction. MOSFETs were fabricated in these films with surface mobilities 66% of ones fabricated in single crystal silicon. An epitaxial layer with the same crystallographic features as the recrystallized film was grown on the film itself.
Mustard biofumigation disrupts biological control by Steinernema spp. nematodes in the soil

Mustard green manures or seed meal high in glucosinolates, which produce a natural biofumigant upon incorporation into the soil, form an alternative to synthetic fumigants. However, the non-target impacts of these biofumigants in the field are unclear. We examined the effectiveness of soil incorporation of Brassica carinata seed meal both in controlling the plant-parasitic Columbia root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne chitwoodi), and on the biological control exerted by the entomopathogenic nematodes Steinernema feltiae and Steinernema riobrave on root-knot nematodes and the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata). Singly, both the seed meal and Steinernema spp. reduced root-knot nematode damage to potato tubers and increased marketable tuber yields. However, there was a negative interaction between the two bioagents such that their combination did not further improve suppression of plant-parasitic nematodes. Thus, mustard seed meal applications harmful to the target root-knot nematode also disrupted the ability of Steinernema spp. to act as biocontrol agents. Further, we observed modest disruption of the biological control of potato beetles following biofumigation. But, the potato beetles were less likely to lay eggs on potato plants grown in mustard-amended soil, suggesting a counteracting benefit of mustard application. Multiple, complementary controls must be integrated to replace the very effective pest suppression typical of synthetic soil fumigants. Our study suggests significant interference between biofumigation and biocontrol agents in the soil, presenting challenges in combining these two environmentally friendly approaches to managing plant-parasitic nematodes and other pests.
Preservation of Lower Urinary Tract Function in Posterior Urethral Stenosis: Selection of Appropriate Patients for Urethral Stents

Purpose: We describe our experience with urethral stents to manage iatrogenic posterior urethral stenosis.Materials and Methods: We surveyed our retrospective database for patients in whom we placed a urethral stent for posterior urethral stricture disease. We reviewed patient age, comorbidities, indications for stent placement, stricture length, postoperative complications and the repeat stenosis rate.Results: Overall we placed urethral stents in 13 patients, of whom 12 presented with posterior urethral stenosis and 1 presented with anterior and posterior stricture. The etiology of urethral stricture was prostate cancer therapy in 11 of 13 cases and simple prostatectomy in 2. Urethral stenting was chosen instead of urethral reconstruction largely due to prior radiation for prostate cancer and avoidance of the morbidity of surgery. Overall 6 of 13 patients required additional procedures for stricture recurrence, including 5 in previously irradiated patients. Two patients had stents removed due to migratio...
High-power VCSEL arrays for consumer electronics

Finisar has developed a line of high power, high efficiency VCSEL arrays. They are fabricated at 860nm as traditional P side up top emitting devices, leveraging Finisar’s existing VCSEL fab and test processes for low cost, high volume capability. A thermal camera is used to accurately measure temperature profiles across the arrays at a variety of operating conditions and further allowing development of a full reliability model. The arrays are shown to demonstrate wear out reliability suitable for a wide range of applications. Typical 1/e^2 beam divergence is near 16 degrees under CW operating conditions at peak wall plug efficiency, narrowing further under pulsed drive conditions.
Analog-to-digital conversion using custom CMOS analog memory for the EOS time projection chamber

A multiplexing scheme for custom CMOS analog memory integrated circuits having 16 channels *256 cells and acting as analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) to handle the 15360 signal channels of the Equation-Of-State Time Projection Chamber (EOS TPC) is described. The primary requirements of this system are high density, low power, and large dynamic range. The analog memory device multiplexing scheme was designed to digitize the information stored in the memory cells. The digitization time of the ADCs and the settling times for the memory unit were carefully interleaved to optimize the performance and timing during the multiplexing operation. This kept the total number of ADCs, a costly and power-consuming component, to an acceptable minimum. >
Temporal Dynamics of Early-Phase Transmission of Yersinia pestis by Unblocked Fleas: Secondary Infectious Feeds Prolong Efficient Transmission by Oropsylla montana (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae)

Abstract Plague, a flea-borne zoonotic disease, is characterized by rapidly spreading epizootics. Rate of infectious spread is thought to be related to daily biting rate of the vector, the extrinsic incubation period, vector efficiency, and the duration of infectivity. A recent study of Oropsylla montana (Baker) (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae), the primary vector of Yersinia pestis (Yersin) to humans in North America, revealed that this flea feeds readily on a daily basis, has a very short extrinsic incubation period, and efficiently transmits plague bacteria for at least 4 d postinfection (p.i.). Earlier studies based on fleas receiving a single infectious bloodmeal showed that transmission efficiency wanes after 4 d p.i. In our study, we simulate a naturally occurring scenario in which fleas are exposed repeatedly to septicemic hosts, and we evaluate vector efficiency of O. montana 6–9 d after the initial infectious bloodmeal for 1) fleas given a “booster” infectious bloodmeal 5 d after initial exposure...
Temporomandibular joint disc displacement: a re-evaluation of its significance

During the past two decades, disc position has been the focus of classification, diagnosis, and treatment of temporomandibular joint internal derangement. It was proposed that joint pain, mandibular dysfunction, osteoarthrosis, and growth disturbances were caused by disc displacement. Arthroscopic observation and treatment outcomes of arthroscopy and arthrocentesis have provided new insights into the pathology of temporomandibular joint internal derangements. Recent evidence indicates that the role of disc displacement as the primary pathologic factor may not be justified. Internal derangement is much more complicated than simply disc displacement.
The Use of the Gandolfi Camera as a Screening and Confirmation Tool in the Analysis of Explosive Residues

In the past, bombing cases were relatively uncommon and evidence from these cases seldom found its way into the forensic science laboratory. Therefore, only a limited amount of research in the area of explosive residue analysis has been carried out. Today, however, according to the current figures from the National Bomb Data Center the reported incidence rate is about 5.8 bombs per day [1]. As S. G. Styles [2] remarks: “Terrorism is a fact of life today in all parts of the free world. It grows up in a climate of political, religious or doctrinal tensions; it erupts with violence, death and destruction.” Rather than being a rarity, bomb residues are becoming a part of everyday forensic science laboratory analysis. Thus, the forensic science laboratory today is being frequently asked to determine if in fact a bombing has taken place or if some accident such as a natural gas leak caused gas to accumulate in the presence of an ignition source, resulting in an explosion. In addition, where the damage characteristic of a high explosive is noted, the capability of identifying the type of explosives used in a bombing would be helpful as an investigative aid in limiting the number of possible avenues to be pursued by investigators. It would be important to distinguish between explosions resulting from compounds such as picric acid or ammonium nitrate, which may have legitimate nonexplosive uses and may have been detonated accidentally in storage, and those substances such as military explosives whose presence at the origin of an explosion would imply a purposeful design. Further subdivision of this latter group by use of definitive chemical identification schemes could aid in determining the source of supply and possibly the perpetrator.
My bioethics journey.

The patient, an 89-year-old man—let’s call him Mr. Smith—had no known relatives, friends, or advance directives. He was a bright man and served as a scientist in the Reagan administration.
Fibrous heat-insulation materials use of the hot wire method to determine thermal conductivity of fibrous heat-insulation materials

It is desirable to determine the thermal conductivity of materials in the form of plates 30–40 mm thick or of a layer of wool of the same thickness by the hot wire method throughout their service temperature range, beginning at room temperature.
[Epidemiological status of human intestinal nematodiasis in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province].

OBJECTIVE To understand the current epidemiological status of human intestinal nematodiasis. METHODS Fresh feces of subjects were collected and the ova of intestinal nematodes were detected by Kato-Katz technique. Enterobius vermicularis was detected by the cellophane anal swab method. RESULTS A total of 21 persons were ova positive among the 5666 subjects with 0.37% infection rate, and 51 persons were Enterobius vermicularis positive among 13,713 subjects with 0.37% infection rate. It was deducted that there were about 20,000 people infected with intestinal nematodes in Yangzhou City. CONCLUSION There are some people infected with intestinal nematodes. Therefore, health education and surveillance of intestinal nematode infections still need to be strengthened
Delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity: epidemiologic factors affecting and usefulness in predicting diarrheal incidence in young Peruvian children.

Cell-mediated immunity, as assessed by delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity, can be diminished by malnutrition and viral infections. In turn, decreased immune functioning might lead to more frequent or more severe infectious diseases. Delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity was assessed in young Peruvian children by simultaneous application of seven standardized antigens and a negative control (Multitest CMI). Response to tuberculin was frequent and was higher in children vaccinated with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, response to tetanus or diphtheria toxoids was also good, especially in children who had received at least two doses of diphtheria-tetanus toxoids-pertussis vaccine. Two summary assessments, the number of positive responses and the sum of indurations of all positive responses provided useful measures of delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity. Responsiveness, as assessed by these summary measures, was inversely related to the incidence of diarrhea, identified by household surveillance for the 6 months after the skin test. Undernutrition, as assessed by weight for age or length for age, was also a significant determinant of the incidence of diarrhea, but not the duration of episodes, in this group of study children. Depressed cell-mediated immunity and malnutrition may be important risk factors for diarrhea in developing country children.
Using the Insight, Question, and Challenge (IQC) Framework to Improve Students’ Environmental Communication Skills

Environmental issues are complex because indeterminacy is part of the emergent character of many social and ecological systems. Decisions regarding environmental sustainability are increasingly negotiated through participatory, democratic deliberations, where scientific facts are considered alongside a plurality of normative opinions regarding acceptable trade-offs and quality-of-life standards. The skills needed to achieve democratic and sustainable solutions can be cultivated in the sustainability classroom through activities that allow students to practice and improve effective communication through structured dialogue. The goal of this learning activity is to help students critically and constructively read, reflect on, and discuss complex environmental and sustainability issues through practice. This is facilitated through the use of the insight, question, and challenge (IQC) framework, which helps students through an iterative process of careful reading, note-taking, and peer-to-peer interaction. For each reading, they will record their insights, questions, and challenges and use these to guide a dialogue with a classmate who will practice listening and taking notes. After completing this activity, students should be able to (1) critically challenge a given reading for its quality of information, regarding both facts and values; (2) reflect on environmental and sustainability issues to generate and communicate personal insights; (3) listen carefully and critically to, and record pertinent information about, a peer’s ideas on a shared reading; and (4) synthesize their own and a peer’s perspectives about a reading.
Decrease of Salmonella typhimurium in Skim Milk and Egg by Heat and Ultrasonic Wave Treatment.

Ultrasonic waves induce cavitation which is lethal for many bacteria. When Salmonella typhimurium was suspended in skim milk or brain heart infusion broth and placed in an ultrasonicating water bath, the number of bacteria decreased by 2 to 3 log CFU in a time dependent manner. The killing by ultrasonic waves was enhanced if the menstruum was simultaneously maintained at 50°C. Ultrasonic reduction in S. typhimurium numbers in liquid whole egg ranged from 1–3 log CFU at 50°C. The results indicate that indirect ultrasonic wave treatment is effective in killing Salmonella in some foods.
Abstract 4754: Development of fluorescent probes for detection of DNA base excision repair in human cancer cells

Many cancer chemotherapeutics target DNA, which makes them vulnerable to repair by innate mechanisms the cell has evolved to ward off endogenous and exogenous DNA damage. In the course of chemotherapy, these repair pathways lead to drug resistance and reduced efficacy of cancer treatment. To address these issues, our goal was to develop imaging agents to visualize and quantify DNA repair in cancer. Thus, we have developed small molecule, fluorescent probes that bind to the abasic (or AP for apurinic/apyrimidinic) site in DNA, a key intermediate in the base excision repair (BER) pathway. Taking advantage of the biochemistry of BER, we have developed an assay based on a fluorescently tagged DNA oligomer to evaluate the ability of these probes to bind to AP sites and stall further repair. This assay relies on blocking the DNA single strand breaking activity of the enzyme, AP endonuclease (APE), when its natural substrate, the AP site, is obstructed by probe binding. Using this assay, we have screened our novel probes for their AP site binding potential. Our cyanine-(Cy7) based probe outperformed other, commercially available AP site binding probes including methoxyamine (MX) and aldehyde reactive probe (ARP). In addition, we have developed a method for analyzing a genomic DNA sample that demonstrates the potential to evaluate physiologically relevant quantities of AP sites. 5-Fluoro-2′-deoxyuridine (FUDR) is indicated for treatment of many types of cancer; however, uracil DNA glycosylase (UDG) can repair the lesions in DNA introduced by FUDR. Therefore, we prepared a UDG knockdown of the DLD1 colon cancer cell line and treated both wild type and knockdown cells with FUDR for 24, 48, and 72 h. Following extraction of the DNA and in vitro treatment with purified UDG, we observed a nearly 9-fold increase in fluorescence in treated versus untreated cells. This confirmed that our probe could report of AP site quantity in cancer cells in vitro. Our cyanine-based probes have several benefits over existing probes including red and NIR fluorescence for application in animal imaging. Our studies indicate that these probes bind to AP sites more efficiently than existing probes. Further, these fluorescent AP site-binding agents could have application in drug development and discovery or be used in assays to monitor patient response to therapy. Citation Format: Allison G. Condie, Yan Yan, Stanton L. Gerson, Yanming Wang. Development of fluorescent probes for detection of DNA base excision repair in human cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4754. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4754
Parallel Multiview Video Coding Exploiting Group of Pictures Level Parallelism

This paper presents the use of a computer cluster with heterogeneous computing components to provide concurrency and multi-level parallelism at coarse grain and massive fine-grain for multiview video coding (MVC) applications. MVC involves coding of multiple video sequences that are taken from the same scene but different perspective. In addition to motion estimation (ME) used in conventional video coding for single view video for exploiting inter-frame temporal similarities, MVC adopts disparity estimation (DE) to further increase compression. To overcome the huge computational cost associated with ME and by extension with DE, attention has been mainly focused on developing fast ME/DE algorithms. Although fast ME/DE algorithms bring substantial speedup, to achieve realtime MVC encoding, it requires further acceleration of the coding process at higher levels. Towards this end, this paper proposes a multiple-view-parallel, multiple-interleaved group of pictures (multiple-IGOP) scheduling scheme for MVC. When evaluated over eight views, with no loss in rate distortion (RD) performance, the proposed scheme outperforms view-sequential coding by a factor of up to 12.4 and 12.3, respectively, for two popular prediction structures, IBP and IPP.
20 – Fibrin matrices in tissue engineering

Publisher Summary Tissue engineering scaffolds present structural and biological cues to guide cell attachment, differentiation and function. The microarchitecture of an ideal scaffold should facilitate transport of gases, nutrients, peptides and macromolecules needed for cellular activities and tissue development. Scaffold materials must be non-toxic and non-immunogenic; be mechanically compatible with the biological environment; and undergo biodegradation at the appropriate time. From a practical perspective, the materials should be readily available, easy to produce reliably and reproducibly, and well recognized by regulatory agencies due to extensive documentation in human use. Among the multitude of substances that are currently being used for scaffolds, fibrin appears to be a suitable scaffold material that satisfies many of the above criteria in a wide range of biological indications. Fibrin is nature's scaffold following tissue injury to initiate hemostasis, and provides the initial matrix into which cells invade to rebuild the damaged tissue. Fibrin facilitates cell adherence, migration and biochemical interactions. As cells invade and proliferate inside the fibrin scaffold, they secrete proteases that break down fibrin. These cells also secrete specific extracellular matrix molecules, such as collagen, to remodel the damaged tissues. The availability and relative ease of isolating and purifying fibrinogen and thrombin, the key coagulation factors that form the fibrin polyfibrils, make fibrin an attractive material for use in tissue engineering.
Population Demographics for the Federally Endangered Dwarf Wedgemussel

Abstract The dwarf wedgemussel Alasmidonta heterodon is a federally endangered freshwater mussel species inhabiting several Atlantic Slope rivers. Studies on population demographics of this species are necessary for status assessment and directing recovery efforts. We conducted qualitative and quantitative surveys for dwarf wedgemussel in the mainstem Delaware River and in four of its tributaries (Big Flat Brook, Little Flat Brook, Neversink River, and Paulinskill River). We quantified population range, relative abundance, size, size structure, and sex ratio within each river. We estimated total dwarf wedgemussel population size for the surveyed rivers in the Delaware Basin to be 14,432 individuals (90% confidence limits, 7,961–26,161). Our results suggest that the historically robust Neversink River population has declined, but that this population persists and substantial populations remain in other tributaries. Sex ratios were generally female-biased, and small individuals (<10 mm) found in all rivers ...
Encapsulation and backsheet adhesion metrology for photovoltaic modules

Photovoltaic modules are designed to operate for decades in terrestrial environments. However, mechanical stress, moisture, and ultraviolet radiation eventually degrade protective materials in modules, particularly their adhesion properties, eventually leading to reduced solar cell performance. Despite the significance of interfacial adhesion to module durability, currently there is no reliable technique for characterizing module adhesion properties. We present a simple and reproducible metrology for characterizing adhesion in photovoltaic modules that is grounded in fundamental concepts of beam and fracture mechanics. Using width-tapered cantilever beam fracture specimens, interfacial adhesion was evaluated on relevant interfaces of encapsulation and backsheet structures of new and 27-year-old historic modules. The adhesion energy, Gc [J/m2], was calculated from the critical value of the strain energy release rate, G, using G = βP2, where β (a mechanical and geometric parameter of the fracture specimen) and P (the experimentally measured critical load) are constants. Under some circumstances where testing may result in cracking of brittle layers in the test specimen, measurement of the delamination length in addition to the critical load was necessary to determine G. Relative to new module materials, backsheet adhesion was 95% and 98% lower for historic modules that were exposed (operated in the field) and unexposed (stored on-site, but out of direct sunlight), respectively. Encapsulation adhesion was 87–94% lower in the exposed modules and 31% lower in the unexposed module. The metrology presented here can be used to improve module materials and assess long-term reliability. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Operational consideration for use of GPS integrity information in the National Airspace System

The author discusses the integrity of the GPS (Global Positioning System) as applied to flight operations in the National Airspace System. A generic scenario for failure of navigation signals-in-space is defined. Concern is focused on the state of temporary navigation on notification of a failure, and subsequent recovery to continued radionavigation. Operational considerations are identified to reflect the impact on pilot and air traffic control. A comparison of receiver autonomous and GPS integrity channel monitoring is presented with regard to these considerations. General guidelines are suggested for assuring that GPS navigation equipment properly uses the integrity information to satisfy operational considerations of safety and workload. >
Cyp33 Immortalizes Mouse Bone Marrow Progenitor Cells.

MLL is a gene involved in translocations associated with leukemia. It encodes a protein with PHD fingers and SET domains that are conserved in the related Drosophila protein trithorax. Cyp33, a nuclear cyclophilin with an RNA binding domain, interacts with the MLL PHD finger domain. Overexpression of Cyp33 represses the Hoxc8 gene in human leukemia cells in an MLL dependent manner. This close relationship between Cyp33 and the genes involved in hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis inspires us to further clarify the function of Cyp33 in primary hematopoietic cells. Murine bone marrow progenitor cells (BMPC) were retrovirally transduced to express Cyp33 and their replicative potential was then investigated by repeatedly plating on methylcellulose medium supplemented with GM-CSF. Upon over-expression of Cyp33, p27 is down-regulated and the progenitor cells keep proliferating after the fourth plating while the control cells (infected with empty retroviral vector only) differentiate and stop forming colonies after the third plating. Furthermore, after the third plating, Cyp33 over-expressing cells exhibit primitive cell morphology after Wright staining, while the control cells show mature macrophage/granulocyte characteristics. We also generated a Cyp33-BMPC line by growing the Cyp33 over-expressing cells in liquid culture containing GM-CSF, after the fourth plating. Regardless of the presence of GM-CSF, the Cyp33-BMPC cell line cycles and grows exponentially maintaining stem cell surface markers: Sca-1 + , c-Kit + , CD34 + and Lin − (B220 − , CD3e − , Mac-1 − , Gr-1 − ). Morphologically, Cyp33-BMPCs are like immature progenitor cells. In addition, these cells can again form compact colonies on the same methylcellulose media as described before. These data suggest that Cyp33 may immortalize mouse bone marrow progenitor cells and arrest them at the primitive cell stage.
The Treatment of Wilson&’s Disease

Progress has been made over the last decade or so in the treatment and management of Wilson’s disease. This has come about in part through the increasing use of new drugs. Thus, zinc is now accepted as a standard therapy, and tetrathiomolybdate has been introduced, at least in an experimental setting, for the initial treatment of neurologic Wilson’s disease. But improved management has also come about through the increasing recognition of the risks of using penicillamine in the patient presenting with neurologic symptoms, and in the increasing awareness of the problems created by poor compliance.
Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation in patients with AML not achieving remission: potentially curative therapy

Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who fail to achieve complete remission (CR) have a dismal prognosis. Although data suggest that durable remissions can be achieved in approximately 30% of patients with refractory or relapsed AML after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), only a small fraction of those patients are offered this therapeutic option. Importantly, patients with primary refractory AML have distinctly better outcomes following allogeneic HCT than those with refractory relapse. Access to suitable donors could be one of the main barriers in these situations. However, with recent developments in the field of allogeneic HCT, such as alternative donor sources, high-resolution HLA-typing, reduced intensity conditioning regimens and improvements in supportive care, this approach has the potential to offer long-term survival for patients with refractory and relapsed AML and should be considered as early after diagnosis as possible. Incorporating novel agents into the conditioning regimen or as post-transplant maintenance therapy could further improve outcomes and render older or medically infirm patients with refractory or relapsed AML eligible for allogeneic HCT. In this review, we summarize existing data on allogeneic HCT in patients with refractory or relapsed AML and explore novel approaches with the potential to improve outcomes in this patient population.
Pump-probe microscopy of respiratory chain pigments: towards non-fluorescent label-free metabolic imaging

Current label-free metabolic microscopy techniques are limited to obtaining contrast from fluorescent molecules NAD(P)H and FAD+, and are unable to determine redox state along the mitochondrial respiratory chain itself. The respiratory chain electron carriers do not fluoresce, but some are heme proteins that have redox-dependent absorption spectra. The most prominent of these, cytochrome c, has been extensively characterized by transient absorption spectroscopy, which suggests that pump-probe measurements in the vicinity of 450 - 600 nm can provide strong contrast between its redox states. Motivated by the success of pump-probe microscopy targeting another heme protein, hemoglobin, we seek to extend the technique to the cytochromes, with the ultimate goal of dissecting respiratory chain function of individual cells in live tissue. To that end, we have developed a new optical system producing ultrafast, visible, independently-tunable pulse pairs via sum-frequency generation of nonlinearly broadened pulses in periodically-poled lithium niobate. The system is pumped by a homebuilt fiber-based oscillator/amplifier emitting 1060 nm pulses at 1.3 W (63 MHz repetition rate), and produces tunable pulses in the vicinity of 488 and 532 nm. Pump-probe spectroscopy of cytochrome c with this source reveals differences in excited-state absorption relaxation times between redox states. Though redox contrast is weak with this setup, we argue that this can be improved with a resonant galvo-scanning microscope. Moreover, pump-probe images were acquired of brown adipose tissue (which contains dense mitochondria), demonstrating label-free contrast from excited-state absorption in respiratory chain hemes.
Erving Goffman: a critical introduction to media and communication, volume 4 by Yves Winkin and Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz

Erving Goffman’s work is known in many academic disciplines, and his legacy continues to inspire scholars. This book gives historical and biographical context for the evolving work and life of Goff...
Transcatheter Intervention of Coronary Obstructions in Infants, Children, and Young Adults

This study assesses the characteristics of coronary obstructions that underwent transcatheter intervention in a pediatric catheterization laboratory, the procedural details, and patient outcomes. Acute cardiac failure due to coronary obstructions in children is rare. The role of catheter based intervention is largely unreported. Single center retrospective review between January 2000 and December 2016. Thirty-three patients (median age 2y/o [0–38], weighing 9.6 kg [2.2–91]) underwent 39 transcatheter interventions on 39 lesions, mainly left main coronary (16/39; 39%) and right coronary (9/39; 23%) arteries. Most patients had congenital heart disease (29/33; 88%). Cath indications included ventricular dysfunction (17), cardiac arrest (7), failure to wean from cardiopulmonary bypass (5), and other (4). Almost half (18/39; 46%) were performed on ECMO support. Obstructions were post-surgical (16; 4 with coronary manipulation), thrombotic (13; 5 < 30 days from cardiac surgery), and miscellaneous lesions (10). Interventions included 25 bare metal stents implanted in 22 lesions in 17 patients (mainly post-surgical lesions; 3 at Damus–Kaye–Stansel anastomosis), nine balloon angioplasty only, four lytic therapy ± mechanical disruption of thrombus, and four technical failures. There were no procedure-related deaths. Most patients survived to discharge or transplant (24/33; 73%). Six patients who received stents had follow-up catheterization (median 15.5 months [1–106]); all were without restenosis. Most coronary obstructions intervened upon in a pediatric cath lab were on young, critically ill patients with congenital heart disease secondary to surgical manipulation/injury or thrombosis. Transcatheter intervention should be considered a potential treatment strategy in this population.
Elastic Constants, Bulk Modulus, and Compressibility of H2O Ice Ih for the Temperature Range 50 K–273 K

Published elastic constant data for H2O ice in the Ih phase are compiled and evaluated. Fits of the five elastic constants for 50 ≤ T/K ≤ 273 are conducted to yield a reliable and convenient source for elastic constant values. Various elastic properties can be calculated from the elastic constants obtained herein. The elastic constants are used to determine the adiabatic bulk modulus BS for the same temperature range with an estimated uncertainty of less than 1.3%. Fitting those data yields an equation for BS that is extrapolated to provide values for 0 ≤ T/K < 50. The adiabatic compressibility KS, isothermal bulk modulus BT, and isothermal compressibility KT are calculated from BS. Comparisons are made to published data.Published elastic constant data for H2O ice in the Ih phase are compiled and evaluated. Fits of the five elastic constants for 50 ≤ T/K ≤ 273 are conducted to yield a reliable and convenient source for elastic constant values. Various elastic properties can be calculated from the elastic constants obtained herein. The elastic constants are used to determine the adiabatic bulk modulus BS for the same temperature range with an estimated uncertainty of less than 1.3%. Fitting those data yields an equation for BS that is extrapolated to provide values for 0 ≤ T/K < 50. The adiabatic compressibility KS, isothermal bulk modulus BT, and isothermal compressibility KT are calculated from BS. Comparisons are made to published data.