cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nutritional Benefits of Cannibalism for the Lady Beetle Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) When Prey Quality is Poor

Abstract Cannibalism, a widespread phenomenon in nature, can both reduce competitors and introduce a high-quality food into the cannibal’s diet. We investigated the dietary benefits of cannibalism for larvae of the multicolored Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis (Pallas). Cannibalism might benefit the larvae by allowing cannibals to take advantage of prey-detoxification already completed by the victim or the different, and perhaps more diverse, feeding history of the victim. In two laboratory experiments we reared H. axyridis larvae with aphid prey, and with or without conspecifics to consume, and recorded larval development and survivorship. In the first experiment, we fed groups of H. axyridis larvae an aphid species of intermediate quality, Aphis nerii (Boyer deFonscolombe), and prevented or permitted consumption of conspecifics of varied quality—conspecific victims had either fed upon the same intermediate quality food as the focal individual or had fed upon a high quality food. Cannibalism increase...
Clinicopathological findings consistent with primary Sjögren's syndrome in a subset of patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome : Preliminary observations

OBJECTIVE: Some patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have symptoms commonly observed in Sjogren's syndrome (SS), particularly xerophthalmia and xerostomia, leading to speculation that some patients with CFS might have primary SS or that the 2 disorders share common pathophysiological features. We investigated the prevalence of symptoms of mucosal dryness, salivary gland pathology, lacrimal hyposecretion, and autoantibodies (antinuclear antibody, SSA/SSB) among patients diagnosed with CFS. METHODS: Twenty-five subjects with CFS and 18 healthy control subjects were interviewed and examined, had a Schirmer test and fluorescein tear dilution, and underwent minor salivary gland (MSG) biopsy. Antibody to nuclear antigen as well as anti-La (SSA) and anti-Ro (SSB) antibody were available for subjects with CFS. Pathologists unaware of the subject group assignment examined labial salivary gland biopsy specimens and calculated a standard MSG score for each specimen. RESULTS: Mucosal dryness was reported by 13/25 (52%) subjects with CFS, of which 8 (32%) also had MSG score, low Schirmer test value, and symptoms consistent with primary SS (p = 0.05). No control subject met diagnostic criteria for primary SS. MSG focus scores < or =1 were common among both groups (CFS 14/25; controls 15/18). MSG results without pathological alteration were rare, seen in only one control and no CFS patients. Low Schirmer values were found in 10/25 (40%) CFS patients and 1/18 (6%) control (p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: A subset of patients with CFS may have primary SS.
Effects of local steroids on follicular development and atresia in the rabbit.

A study was undertaken to investigate the effects of topically applied steroids on follicular atresia in the rabbit. Silastic implants containing the steroid were placed topically on the ovary or subcutaneously. 70 rabbits were used. Estradiol and progesterone were the steroids utilized. Implants remained in place for 10 days. The left ovarian implant was always used as a control. One half of the animals in each group received HCG to overcome the differences in hypothalamic-pituitary responses. Estradiol led to an increased percentage of active follicles affecting all stages of development. After HCG administration to estradiol-implanted animals an increase in percentage of early antral follicles a decrease in mature follicles and an increase in percentage of large atretic follicles were noted. No particular difference was observed between the effects of topical or systemic estradiol on follicular responses. Progesterone led to an increased percentage of active follicles a decrease in mature follicles and an increased number of ovulation points following HCG administration. Topical progesterone was associated with a marked increase in the proportion of active preantral follicles and seemed to prevent atresia of large follicles after HCG administration. Estradiol appears equally effective regardless of the route and affects ovarian follicles at all stages of development. Ovulation of the mature follicles seem to be fostered by progesterone whether local or systemic. The highest mean number of ovulation points was found in animals treated with progesterone.
Cigarette smoke promotes genomic evolution in the periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis.

P. gingivalis is an opportunistic, anaerobic, Gram-negative oral pathogen strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of periodontal diseases. Clinical isolates of P. gingivalis exhibit great genetic diversity. Tobacco smoking greatly increases the risk of P. gingivalis infection. Furthermore, cigarette smoke extract (CSE) is an environmental stressor for P. gingivalis, differentially regulating multiple genes including ones that encode proteins involved in DNA translocation, replication and repair. Therefore, we hypothesized that CSE exposure would promote genomic instability in this important periodontal and systemic pathogen, which may contribute to increased virulence. P. gingivalis W83 was passaged 50 times in CSE-conditioned medium after which, genomic DNA was extracted and whole-genome sequencing was employed to identify any chromosomal alterations induced by CSE compared to un-exposed controls. Whole genome sequencing identified 22 CSE-induced point mutations (p < 0.05), 17 or which were confirmed as well as significant allelic variance (p < 0.001) in CSE versus control samples. Our results indicate that CSE exposure promotes genetic diversity in a laboratory strain of P. gingivalis. Should this phenomenon occur in vivo, tobacco smoke could promote bacterial evolution and, thus, contribute to the emergence of more virulent strains in this key periodontal pathogen, which may infect smokers and non-smokers alike.
IT Control Weakness and Company Financial Health

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) brought the notion of information technology (IT) governance to the forefront of business executives and the investing community. Per Section 404 of the Act, SEC registrants and their auditors must assess and report on the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting, including IT controls. However, IT governance has been a mystery to the key decision makers of many companies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of weaknesses in IT related internal controls to companies' overall financial performance and health. The study examines four accounting measures: liquidity, solvency, profitability, and market value. During the four year period of 2004-2007 the authors identified companies that reported at least one material IT weakness and matched them with a similar set of companies with no reported material weaknesses. Additionally, for a subset of the companies in which a good match could be identified, a second data set was developed for comparison of companies reporting only material non-IT weaknesses. As expected, companies reporting IT weaknesses experienced less of an ability to pay short-term and long-term debts, earned lower profits, and possessed lower market value than companies with no weaknesses. Companies reporting IT weaknesses experienced worse financial performance and health than companies with non-IT weaknesses.
Investigation of Methods for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping Using Vision Sensors

Autonomous vehicles with the ability to simultaneously identify obstacles’ or targets’ position at the same time as estimating their own position have been long sought after. This paper investigates an approach to solving this problem also known as simultaneous localization and mapping or SLAM. Demonstration of the viability of the SLAM problem applied to the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using monocular vision sensors is taken in steps: estimating unknown targets with known vehicle states; estimating vehicle states with known targets; and finally estimating the vehicle’s states and the targets’ states simultaneously. The targets’ states included position, orientation, and area. The vehicle states included position, velocity, orientation, accelerometer biases, and gyroscope biases. Simulations showed that estimating the vehicle states using known targets was possible. Stable solutions to the complete SLAM problem were simulated proving it possible to solve the SLAM problem for a UAV using monocular vision sensors.
Integrating Care Across Disciplines

Interdisciplinary care teams are important in managing older patients. Geriatric patients with cardiovascular problems represent a unique paradigm for interdisciplinary teams, and patients benefit from the assistance of physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, and therapists collaborating on treatment plans. Teams work on the inpatient and outpatient sides and at patients' homes to maximize function and prevent readmissions to the hospital.
Cooperation and Development on Tropical Sightseeing Agriculture between Guangdong and Hainan Provinces to Promote New Urbanization

New urbanization has been a significant topic this year. Developing tropical sightseeing agriculture can provide industrial support and ecological benefit for new urbanization. Although urbanization of Guangdong and Hainan provinces has developed fast, some regions developed unbalancedly. It is necessary to innovate a competition mechanism to jointly promote new urbanization.Two provinces owning favorable conditions of developing tropic sightseeing agriculture are catering for the interests of both parties through research. Therefore, according to their actual situations, exploring Guangdong and Hainan competition mechanism of tropic sightseeing agriculture might be useful to develop two provinces' new urbanization.
Endovascular repair of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms: experience in a community hospital.

The endovascular technique has been recently used as an alternative procedure for selected patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (RAAA) as a result of the potential for decreasing morbidity, mortality, and recovery time. We examined our institution's results with endovascular repair of RAAA. Between July 2005 and April 2006, four patients underwent endovascular repair of infrarenal RAAA. We performed a retrospective analysis of our comorbidities, operation time, length of intensive care unit and hospital stay, morbidity and mortality, blood transfusions, and secondary interventions on these patients at our institution. The median age was 73.2 years (range, 66-82 years); 75 per cent were male and 25 per cent were female. Mean operating time was 90 minutes. We had no operative or postoperative mortalities. Five complications occurred in three patients. These included acute renal failure, common femoral artery intimal dissection, graft thrombosis of the iliac limb, ischemic colitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation. Endovascular repair of RAAA by an endovascular team is feasible in the community hospital setting. Our limited number of patients in this study does not allow us to compare it directly with results from the standard open procedure. A larger, multi-center study may eventually show this method to be helpful in patients who require repair of RAAA.
Using NOC outcome of risk control in prevention, early detection, and control of hypertension.

Hypertension is a major health problem addressed by nurses in all settings. This article reviews long-term hypertension outcomes and asserts the need to use intermediate outcomes focusing on prevention and early detection to effect change in the prevalence of hypertension and its complications. The Nursing Classification Outcome of Risk Control is presented as a framework to evaluate the state of the science and to develop a research agenda related to hypertension "Risk Control."
Eukaryote-specific rRNA expansion segments function in ribosome biogenesis

The secondary structure of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) is largely conserved across all kingdoms of life. However, eukaryotes have evolved extra blocks of rRNA sequences, relative to those of prokaryotes, called expansion segments (ES). A thorough characterization of the potential roles of ES remains to be done, possibly because of limitations in the availability of robust systems to study rRNA mutants. We sought to systematically investigate the potential functions, if any, of the ES in 25S rRNA of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by deletion mutagenesis. We deleted 14 of the 16 different eukaryote-specific ES in yeast 25S rRNA individually and assayed their phenotypes. Our results show that all but two of the ES tested are necessary for optimal growth and are required for production of 25S rRNA, suggesting that ES play roles in ribosome biogenesis. Further, we classified expansion segments into groups that participate in early nucleolar, middle, and late nucleoplasmic steps of ribosome biogenesis, by assaying their pre-rRNA processing phenotypes. This study is the first of its kind to systematically identify the functions of eukaryote-specific expansion segments by showing that they play roles in specific steps of ribosome biogenesis. The catalog of phenotypes we identified, combined with previous investigations of the roles ribosomal proteins in large subunit biogenesis, leads us to infer that assembling ribosomes are composed of distinct RNA and protein structural neighborhood clusters that participate in specific steps of ribosome biogenesis.
The importance of tropical public health to world peace.

The development of the natural resources of the tropics is progressing on an ever expanding scale. Concurrently, the native populations of these climates, usually disease-ridden and undernourished, are striving to improve their social and economic status. The continued availability of their resources, essential to our economy, calls for our cooperation. The improvement of health standards in the tropics will assist in the peaceful development of these areas.
Consumer Over-Engagement: A Foundational Investigation of Sport Consumption Addiction

Both science and society have affirmed that people can be addicted to gambling, video gaming, the Internet, texting, and even sex. It appears that exciting, fun, often risky, autotelic behaviors can turn into addictions. Thus, a curious question arises in the field of sport consumer behavior – Can certain people (i.e., avid fans) become “over-engaged” and addicted to sport consumption? The purpose of this research is to further advance the study of compulsive consumption by proposing and exploring the somewhat unusual notion of sport consumption addiction (SCA).
Cerebellar Neuronal Firing Patterns in the Intact and Unrestrained Cat During Walking

The cerebellum plays a major role in the coordination of motor behavior. When there is damage to this area of the brain, a subject is still capable of motor activity but the smooth coordinated aspect of the behavior is no longer present. The object of this study was to investigate the firing patterns of cerebellar neurons in the awake, intact and unrestrained cat during a coordinated motor activity, namely, peg walking. Previous studies on decerebrate cats employed electrical stimulation in the ‘loco-motor region’ of the mesencephalon to produce treadmill walking while cerebellar neuronal activity was recorded (Orlovsky, 1972a, b). These studies have indicated that the cerebellum plays a major role in locomotion and that Purkinje neurons and the nuclear cells modulate their activity during walking.
Role of a plausible nuisance contributor in the declining obesity-mortality risks over time.

Abstract Context Recent analyses of epidemiological data including the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) have suggested that the harmful effects of obesity may have decreased over calendar time. The shifting BMI distribution over time coupled with the application of fixed broad BMI categories in these analyses could be a plausible “nuisance contributor” to this observed change in the obesity-associated mortality over calendar time. Objective To evaluate the extent to which observed temporal changes in the obesity-mortality association may be due to a shifting population distribution for body mass index (BMI), coupled with analyses based on static, broad BMI categories. Design, setting, and participants Simulations were conducted using data from NHANES I and III linked with mortality data. Data from NHANES I were used to fit a “true” model treating BMI as a continuous variable. Coefficients estimated from this model were used to simulate mortality for participants in NHANES III. Hence, the population-level association between BMI and mortality in NHANES III was fixed to be identical to the association estimated in NHANES I. Hazard ratios (HRs) for obesity categories based on BMI for NHANES III with simulated mortality data were compared to the corresponding estimated HRs from NHANES I. Main outcome measures Change in hazard ratios for simulated data in NHANES III compared to observed estimates from NHANES I. Results On average, hazard ratios for NHANES III based on simulated mortality data were 29.3% lower than the estimates from NHANES I using observed mortality follow-up. This reduction accounted for roughly three-fourths of the apparent decrease in the obesity-mortality association observed in a previous analysis of these data. Conclusions Some of the apparent diminution of the association between obesity and mortality may be an artifact of treating BMI as a categorical variable.
Endorsement of Polyculturalism Predicts Increased Positive Intergroup Contact and Friendship across the Beginning of College

U.S. universities are increasingly racially/ethnically diverse, offering students opportunities for positive, proactive intergroup interactions. However, not all students take advantage of these opportunities, making it important to understand what factors contribute to intergroup contact and friendship. In the current longitudinal investigation with 329 undergraduates at a diverse, mid-sized, public university in the Northeastern U.S., we examined the role of polyculturalism, which is the belief that diverse racial/ethnic groups have throughout history interacted and exchanged with each other, thereby influencing each other's cultures over time. We found that greater endorsement of polyculturalism before the start of college prospectively predicted increases in intergroup contact and friendship from spring of first year to fall of second year, controlling for endorsement of multiculturalism, colorblindness, and egalitarianism before the start of college. Findings suggest polyculturalism deserves further attention in research and might be useful for interventions, programs, and policies aimed at fostering positive intergroup interactions.
Equal Interference Power Allocation for Efficient Shared Spectrum Resource Scheduling

Effective radio frequency spectrum sharing methods are crucial for sustaining growth and development in mobile wireless services. In this paper, we consider a real-world scenario involving spectrum sharing between mobile wireless and meteorological satellite services as motivation for examining the general problem of efficient resource scheduling in a shared spectrum environment. We formulate an optimization framework for maximizing network utility subject to stochastic interference protection constraints. We design and propose a novel solution inspired by analysis of the optimization problem, where the primary contribution is an efficient power allocation algorithm to manage interference between systems. Using theory and simulations, we show that our algorithm significantly outperforms alternative approaches by well approximating the optimal solution with low enough complexity for practical, real-time application to large networks.
A novel approach using actigraphy to quantify the level of disruption of sleep by in-home polysomnography: the MrOS Sleep Study: Sleep disruption by polysomnography

Abstract Background The "first-night effect" of polysomnography (PSG) has been previously studied; however, the ability to quantify the sleep disruption level has been confounded with the use of PSG on all nights. We used actigraphy to quantify disruption level and examined characteristics associated with disruption. Methods Totally, 778 older men (76.2 ± 5.4 years) from a population-based study at six US centers underwent one night of in-home PSG. Actigraphy was performed on the PSG night and three subsequent nights. Actigraphically measured total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE), wake after sleep onset (WASO), and sleep onset latency (SOL) from the PSG night and subsequent nights were compared. Linear regression models were used to examine the association of characteristics and sleep disruption. Results On average, sleep on the PSG night was worse than the following night ( p Conclusions Among older men, there was sleep disruption on the PSG night, which may lead to sleep time underestimation. The increase of sleep on the night after the PSG suggests that data from the second monitoring may overestimate sleep.
Fusion enhancement at near and sub-barrier energies in 19O + 12C

Abstract Measuring the fusion excitation function for an isotopic chain of projectile nuclei provides a stringent test of a microscopic description of fusion. We report the first measurement of the fusion excitation function at near-barrier energies for the 19 O + 12 C system. The measured excitation function is compared with the fusion excitation function of 18 O + 12 C. A significant enhancement in the fusion probability of 19 O ions with a 12 C target as compared to 18 O ions is observed. The experimental cross-sections observed at near-barrier energies are compared with a state-of-the-art microscopic model.
Second Opinions From Medical Oncologists for Early-Stage Breast Cancer: Prevalence, Correlates, and Consequences.

Importance Advances in the evaluation and treatment of breast cancer have made the clinical decision-making context much more complex. A second opinion from a medical oncologist may facilitate decision making for women with breast cancer, yet little is known about second opinion use. Objective To investigate the patterns and correlates of second opinion use and the effect on chemotherapy decisions. Design, Setting, and Participants A total of 1901 women newly diagnosed with stages 0 to II breast cancer between July 2013 and September 2014 (response rate, 71.0%) were accrued through 2 population-based Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registries (Georgia and Los Angeles County, California) and surveyed about their experiences with medical oncologists, decision making, and chemotherapy use. Main Outcomes and Measures Factors associated with second opinion use were evaluated using logistic regression. Also assessed was the association between second opinion and chemotherapy use, adjusting for chemotherapy indication and propensity for receiving a second opinion. Multiple imputation and weighting were used to account for missing data. Results A total of 1901 patients with stage I to II breast cancer (mean [SD] age, 61.6 [11.0] years; 1071 [56.3%] non-Hispanic white) saw any medical oncologist. Analysis of multiply imputed, weighted data (mean n = 1866) showed that 168 (9.8%) (SE, 0.74%) received a second opinion and 54 (3.2%) (SE, 0.47%) received chemotherapy from the second oncologist. Satisfaction with chemotherapy decisions was high and did not differ between those who did (mean [SD], 4.3 [0.08] on a 1- to 5-point scale) or did not (4.4 [0.03]) obtain a second opinion ( P = .29). Predictors of second opinion use included college education vs less education (odds ratio [OR], 1.85; 95% CI, 1.24-2.75), frequent use of internet-based support groups (OR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.12-4.11), an intermediate result on the 21-gene recurrence score assay (OR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.11-3.09), and a variant of uncertain significance on hereditary cancer genetic testing (OR, 3.24; 95% CI, 1.09-9.59). After controlling for patient and tumor characteristics, second opinion use was not associated with chemotherapy receipt (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.71-1.52). Conclusions and Relevance Second opinion use was low (
Video-based eye tracking for neuropsychiatric assessment

This paper presents a video-based eye-tracking method, ideally deployed via a mobile device or laptop-based webcam, as a tool for measuring brain function. Eye movements and pupillary motility are tightly regulated by brain circuits, are subtly perturbed by many disease states, and are measurable using video-based methods. Quantitative measurement of eye movement by readily available webcams may enable early detection and diagnosis, as well as remote/serial monitoring, of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. We successfully extracted computational and semantic features for 14 testing sessions, comprising 42 individual video blocks and approximately 17,000 image frames generated across several days of testing. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of collecting video-based eye-tracking data from a standard webcam in order to assess psychomotor function. Furthermore, we were able to demonstrate through systematic analysis of this data set that eye-tracking features (in particular, radial and tangential variance on a circular visual-tracking paradigm) predict performance on well-validated psychomotor tests.
What Constitutes Prudent Spending from Private College Endowments? Evidence from Underwater Funds

This study examines how private colleges and universities choose to spend versus reinvest resources in endowment funds that have suffered investment losses. The analysis takes advantage of a market...
Building Strong Family–School Partnerships: Transitioning from Basic Findings to Possible Practices

In the present article, we describe the translational process undergirding a particular aspect of family science: families working in partnership with schools to achieve mutual goals for children's optimal functioning. In doing so, we illustrate a translational cycle that began with identifying problems of practice and led to the development of a family–school intervention (i.e., conjoint behavioral consultation) in a way that embraced families as partners in goal-setting and problem-solving. We discuss the evolution of the intervention from development to efficacy trials and practice guidelines. Key decision points borne out of practical relevance, empirical investigations, tests of mechanisms and conditions, and efforts pertaining to implementation and dissemination are illustrated. Finally, we highlight key research needed to advance the translation of the science related to conjoint behavioral consultation into widespread practice.
A Unified View of Social and Temporal Modeling for B2B Marketing Campaign Recommendation

Business to Business (B2B) marketing aims at meeting the needs of other businesses instead of individual consumers, and thus entails management of more complex business needs than consumer marketing. The buying processes of the business customers involve series of different marketing campaigns providing multifaceted information about the products or services. While most existing studies focus on individual consumers, little has been done to guide business customers due to the dynamic and complex nature of these business buying processes. To this end, in this paper, we focus on providing a unified view of social and temporal modeling for B2B marketing campaign recommendation. Along this line, we first exploit the temporal behavior patterns in the B2B buying processes and develop a marketing campaign recommender system. Specifically, we start with constructing a temporal graph as the knowledge representation of the buying process of each business customer. Temporal graph can effectively extract and integrate the campaign order preferences of individual business customers. It is also worth noting that our system is backward compatible since the participating frequency used in conventional static recommender systems is naturally embedded in our temporal graph. The campaign recommender is then built in a low-rank graph reconstruction framework based on probabilistic graphical models. Our framework can identify the common graph patterns and predict missing edges in the temporal graphs. In addition, since business customers very often have different decision makers from the same company, we also incorporate social factors, such as community relationships of the business customers, for further improving overall performances of the missing edge prediction and recommendation. Finally, we have performed extensive empirical studies on real-world B2B marketing data sets and the results show that the proposed method can effectively improve the quality of the campaign recommendations for challenging B2B marketing tasks.
Immunotherapy in Lung Cancer and the Role of Imaging

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality and accounts for more deaths than breast, prostate, and colon cancers combined. Traditionally, treatment options have included surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Continual advances in the characterization of lung cancer have resulted in the development of effective immunotherapies. These agents help the immune system recognize tumors as foreign, stimulate the immune system, and relieve the inhibition that allows the growth and spread of cancer. Conventional response criteria such as the World Health Organization criteria and Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) have been used extensively in clinical trials; however, these guidelines have been optimized for use with traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy. Data from clinical trials employing immunotherapy has shown that unique responses may be seen with these agents that are not fully captured by conventional response criteria. In response to these observations, several modified criteria have been developed for use with immunotherapy, including immune-related response criteria, immune-related RECIST, and immune RECIST. As the use of immunotherapy continues to grow, there is increasing recognition of immune-related adverse events, which may manifest on imaging examinations.
Obtaining Multiple Coproducts from Red Grape Pomace via Anthocyanin Extraction and Biogas Production

Red grape pomace (RGP), a byproduct of red wine production, is an abundant food processing waste stream in California, rich in both anthocyanins, a class of red-blue pigments, and lignocellulose. Extraction of anthocyanins and biofuel production from RGP have been investigated independently, but no research has examined employing both strategies together for maximal valorization. In this study, anthocyanins were most effectively extracted from RGP at 80 °C. Convection- and vacuum-oven drying of the pomace were found to decrease anthocyanin yield, whereas lyophilization did not significantly affect yield. Fermentable sugars were successfully separated from the crude extract via solid-phase extraction. Ionic liquid pretreatment of RGP was determined to be a nonviable option for application to anaerobic digestion. Extraction reduced biomethane output, but supplementation with the aqueous fraction of the extract mitigated much of this difference, indicating sequential extraction and fractionation of anthocyanins from RGP can minimize the impact on biofuel yields.
The Influence of Static Preloading

So far, in discussing the behavior of suddenly loaded structures, it has been assumed that the system is free of loading and that a step load is suddently applied for a given time duration. The cases of finite duration T0, see Figure 3.1, as well as the extreme cases of ideal impulse (T0➙0) and constant load of infinite duration (T 0➙∞), have been presented in the previous chapters. Although one may find several systems that fall in the category of initially load-free structures, in the world of structural configurations it is easier and more realistic to deal with initially preloaded structures. This means that the structure is first loaded quasi-statically and then is subjected to a dynamic load. Consider, for example, a submarine resting at the bottom of the ocean, at a reasonable depth. Then the submarine is subjected to a sudden blast load. This additional loading is the dynamic load, which can be idealized as an ideal impulse or a sudden load of finite duration T0.
The 4d Transition Metals

Similarly to the 3d elements, the first two of the 4d series, i.e. Y and Zr, as well as the last one, Cd, crystallize in the hcp structure as shown in the total energy plots. Most of the elements in the 4d transition metal series have band structures that resemble those of the corresponding 3d elements of the same column and structure. Specifically, the energy bands and DOS of Y and Zr look very much like those of Sc and Ti; Nb and Mo look like V and Cr; Ag looks like Cu; and Cd like Zn. In a more quantitative sense the most important difference between 3d and 4d elements is in the d-band widths, which are larger for the 4d elements. It is also interesting to note that the Ag d bands are located much deeper than in either Pd or Cu. Another important difference is that in Cd the d bands are well separated from the s-like band, unlike the situation in Zn, for which the s band close to the center of the Brillouin zone overlaps with the d bands.
METABOLIC AND ENDOCRINE ALTERATIONS FOLLOWING ENDOTOXIN ADMINISTRATION IN NORMAL AND DIABETIC RATS

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the metabolic and endocrine alterations following endotoxin administration in normal and diabetic rats. Endotoxin administration evokes a biphasic blood glucose response—early hypoglycemia followed by a more prolonged hypoglycemia with a concomitant-increased peripheral glucose uptake and an unchanged or increased rate of gluconeogenesis. Peripheral glucose uptake is elevated even during hypoglycemia. The chapter presents a comparison of the baseline blood values and glycogen concentrations between control and diabetic animals. It presents a study involving normoglycemic and diabetic rats, who differed markedly with respect to their plasma substrate and hormone concentrations and liver glycogen content. Diabetic rats were hyperglycemic, hyperketonemic, and possessed a low liver glycogen along with elevated plasma corticosterone concentrations. Immunoassayable insulin was decreased to one-third of the values measured in the nondiabetic rats in the nonfasting state.
Federal Regulations and Risk Assessment of Organophosphate and Carbamate Pesticides

Publisher Summary The chapter provides an overview of the federal regulations governing pesticide chemicals in the United States, and the risk assessment practices and approaches used by the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs (EPA-OPP) to evaluate OP and N-methyl CM pesticides. The text focuses on aspects of OP and N-methyl CM risk assessments that provide the most robust overview, particularly noncancer effects related to the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE). This chapter highlights key milestones and accomplishments regarding risk assessments of OP and N-methyl CM pesticides, particularly after the passage of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996. This chapter reviews the toxicology of OPs and N-methyl CMs; thus, hazard assessment of OPs and N-methyl CMs is discussed in detail. There are many publicly available sources of information regarding exposure to OPs and N-methyl CMs, including the US Department of Agriculture's pesticide data program, the Food and Drug Administrations food monitoring program, US Geological Survey water monitoring programs, and the National Home and Garden Pesticide Use Survey. Specific exposure assessments for each pesticide can also be found at the EPA's website and/or at the EPA's e-docket. EPA is committed to incorporating the most robust and up-to-date scientific information in its risk assessments, and is actively pursuing improvements in risk assessment approaches and methods. Specifically, improved characterization of PK and PD factors that impact species differences, age-related sensitivities, and the understanding of mechanism of action are important scientific areas that will improve EPA's risk assessments.
Explicit modeling of double twinning in AZ31 using crystal plasticity finite elements for predicting the mechanical fields for twin variant selection and fracture analyses

Abstract A number of studies have found that the formation of double twins in low symmetry metals can lead to the onset of strain localizations, leading further to void nucleation and ultimately fracture. This work extends a recently developed three-dimensional crystal plasticity finite element framework [1] to explicitly model kinematics and kinetics of nucleation/formation, propagation, and thickening/growth of a discrete double twin lamella ( { 10 1 ¯ 1 } − { 10 1 ¯ 2 } ) in a magnesium alloy AZ31. With this approach, morphological and crystallographic reorientations as well as the shear transformation strains associated with strain accommodation by the double twinning sequence are modeled during simple compression and tension. The simulations predict that the distribution of local stress-strain fields during formation and growth of primary contraction twin creates the driving force for the formation of a secondary extension twin variant, which is consistent with experimental observations in both compression and tension. In particular, the contraction twin variant ( 0 1 ¯ 11 ) [ 0 1 ¯ 1 2 ¯ ] is predicted to form an internal extension twin variant ( 01 1 ¯ 2 ) [ 0 1 ¯ 11 ] . Furthermore, the prediction of the underlining crystallographic slip deformation mechanism reveals a substantial activity of basal slip within the contraction portion of the double twin, causing strain localization in its vicinity. Finally, the simulations reveal a gradient in the traction force field across twin-parent interface, suggesting that contraction twin-parent boundaries are weak links in the microstructure where voids can nucleate.
GPU Data Access on Complex Geometries for D3Q19 Lattice Boltzmann Method

GPU performance of the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) depends heavily on memory access patterns. When LBM is advanced with GPUs on complex computational domains, geometric data is typically accessed indirectly, and lattice data is typically accessed lexicographically in the Structure of Array (SoA) layout. Although there are a variety of existing access patterns beyond the typical choices, no study has yet examined the relative efficacy between them. Here, we compare a suite of memory access schemes via empirical testing and performance modeling. We find strong evidence that semi-direct addressing is the superior addressing scheme for the majority of cases examined: Semi-direct addressing increases computational speed and often reduces memory consumption. For lattice layout, we find that the Collected Structure of Arrays (CSoA) layout outperforms the SoA layout. When compared to state-of-the-art practices, our recommended addressing modifications lead to performance gains between 10-40% across different complex geometries, fluid volume fractions, and resolutions. The modifications also lead to a decrease in memory consumption by as much as 17%. Having discovered these improvements, we examine a highly resolved arterial geometry on a leadership class system. On this system we present the first near-optimal strong results for LBM with arterial geometries run on GPUs. We also demonstrate that the above recommendations remain valid for large scale, many device simulations, which leads to an increased computational speed and average memory usage reductions. To understand these observations, we employ performance modeling which reveals that semi-direct methods outperform indirect methods due to a reduced number of total loads/stores in memory, and that CSoA outperforms SoA and bundling due to improved caching behavior.
Effective early detection of oral cancer using a simple and inexpensive point of care device in oral rinses.

Introduction: Head and neck cancer remains a challenging disease that is increasing in incidence with the majority of patients diagnosed at an advanced stage where 5-year survival is approximately ...
Amino Acid PET Imaging of Glioma

Gliomas are among the most lethal malignancies in the world with dismal outcomes for high-grade tumors. These lesions are difficult to completely characterize with conventional magnetic resonance imaging and amino acid positron emission tomography is a rapidly progressing area of research with widespread clinical use. Amino acid positron emission tomography allows for more accurate glioma characterization compared to traditional imaging techniques including grading of disease, delineation of tumor spread, identification of recurrent disease, and prognosis. While the summarized radiotracers share some diagnostic properties, each also has its own weaknesses and strengths. This article summarizes recent developments and clinical applications of the most widely used amino acid radiotracers. While none of these agents are FDA approved in the United States, they are considered standard of care in Europe and other parts of the world with > 10,000 studies being performed in some centers (Langen et al. in J Neurooncol 120(3):665–666, 2014).
Junior High Intramurals: A Positive Approach

(1976). Junior High Intramurals: A Positive Approach. Journal of Physical Education and Recreation: Vol. 47, No. 7, pp. 38-38.
Time of day and network reprogramming during drought induced CAM photosynthesis in Sedum album

Plants with facultative crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) maximize performance through utilizing C3 or C4 photosynthesis under ideal conditions while temporally switching to CAM under water stress (drought). While genome-scale analyses of constitutive CAM plants suggest that time of day networks are shifted, or phased to the evening compared to C3, little is known for how the shift from C3 to CAM networks is modulated in drought induced CAM. Here we generate a draft genome for the drought-induced CAM-cycling species Sedum album. Through parallel sampling in well-watered (C3) and drought (CAM) conditions, we uncover a massive rewiring of time of day expression and a CAM and stress-specific network. The core circadian genes are expanded in S. album and under CAM induction, core clock genes either change phase or amplitude. While the core clock cis-elements are conserved in S. album, we uncover a set of novel CAM and stress specific cis-elements consistent with our finding of rewired co-expression networks. We identified shared elements between constitutive CAM and CAM-cycling species and expression patterns unique to CAM-cycling S. album. Together these results demonstrate that drought induced CAM-cycling photosynthesis evolved through the mobilization of a stress-specific, time of day network, and not solely the phasing of existing C3 networks. These results will inform efforts to engineer water use efficiency into crop plants for growth on marginal land.
Maturation of Corticospinal Tracts in Children With Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy Assessed by Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Aim: To assess changes in the developmental trajectory of corticospinal tracts (CST) maturation in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (HCP). Methods: Neuroimaging data were obtained from 36 children with HCP for both the more affected (MA) and less affected (LA) hemispheres, and, for purposes of direct comparison, between groups, 15 typically developing (TD) children. With diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we estimated the mean fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusivity (AD), mean diffusivity (MD), and radial diffusivity (RD) of the corticospinal tract, parameters indicative of factors including myelination and axon density. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was performed as a neurophysiologic measure of corticospinal tract integrity and organization. Resting motor threshold (rMT) was obtained per hemisphere, per patient. Results: We observed a significant AD and MD developmental trajectory, both of which were inversely related to age (decrease in AD and diffusivity corresponding to increased age) in both hemispheres of TD children (p < 0.001). This maturation process was absent in both MA and LA hemispheres of children with HCP. Additionally, the TMS-derived previously established rMT developmental trajectory was preserved in the LA hemisphere of children with HCP (n = 26; p < 0.0001) but this trajectory was absent in the MA hemisphere. Conclusions: Corticospinal tract maturation arrests in both hemispheres of children with HCP, possibly reflecting perinatal disruption of corticospinal tract myelination and axonal integrity.
Early Effects of Testosterone Initiation on Body Mass Index in Transmasculine Adolescents.

Abstract Purpose Increasing numbers of transgender youth are receiving hormone therapy in accordance with national and international guidelines. This study sought to determine the effect of testosterone on body mass index (BMI) z-score in transmasculine adolescents at 6 and 12 months after initiation. Methods A retrospective chart review collected anthropomorphic data on transmasculine adolescents, aged 13 to 19 years, before and during testosterone use. These measurements were used to create a linear mixed model to explore the change in BMI z-score after initiating testosterone. Results The increase in BMI z-score in transmasculine adolescents was significantly higher after six months of testosterone use, but there was no significant change between baseline and 12 months. Conclusions Additional study is needed to understand the full short- and long-term impact of testosterone use on BMI z-score in transmasculine adolescents to provide appropriate informed consent and develop interventions to improve health outcomes.
Hierarchical MPC for Robust Eco-Cooling of Connected and Automated Vehicles and Its Application to Electric Vehicle Battery Thermal Management

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) have situational awareness that can be exploited for optimal power and thermal management. In this article, we develop a hierarchical model predictive control (H-MPC) strategy for eco-cooling of CAVs, which reduces energy consumption through real-time prediction and multi-timescale and multi-layer optimization. The application of the proposed H-MPC is studied for battery thermal and energy management of an electric vehicle (EV). Our H-MPC approach addresses the uncertainty in the long-term preview of the vehicle speed through robust constraint handling to prevent constraint violation. The simulation results show that compared with a conventional battery thermal management (BTM) strategy, the proposed robust H-MPC saves the battery energy by up to 5.4% under the uncertainties in the long-term vehicle speed predictions in an urban CAV operation scenario.
Art, antiquities, and blockchain: new approaches to the restitution of cultural heritage

Objects of cultural heritage present a unique and important opportunity for the use of blockchain technology. Specifically, blockchain, a distributed ledger technology, can be used to disincentiviz...