cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comprehensive RNP profiling in cells identifies U1 snRNP complexes with cleavage and polyadenylation factors active in telescripting.

Abstract Full-length transcription in the majority of protein-coding and other genes transcribed by RNA polymerase II in complex eukaryotes requires U1 snRNP (U1) to co-transcriptionally suppress transcription-terminating premature 3′-end cleavage and polyadenylation (PCPA) from cryptic polyadenylation signals (PASs). This U1 activity, termed telescripting, requires U1 to base-pair with the nascent RNA and inhibit usage of a downstream PAS. Here we describe experimental methods to determine the mechanism of U1 telescripting, involving mapping of U1 and CPA factors (CPAFs) binding locations in relation to PCPA sites, and identify U1 and CPAFs interactomes. The methods which utilizes rapid reversible protein-RNA and protein-protein chemical crosslinking, immunoprecipitations (XLIPs) of components of interest, and RNA-seq and quantitative proteomic mass spectrometry, captured U1–CPAFs complexes in cells, providing important insights into telescripting mechanism. XLIP profiling can be used for comprehensive molecular definition of diverse RNPs.
A Practitioner's Guide and MATLAB Toolbox for Mixed Frequency State Space Models

The use of mixed frequency data is now common in many applications, ranging from the analysis of high frequency financial time series to large cross-sections of macroeconomic time series. In this article, we show how state space methods can easily facilitate both estimation and inference in these settings. After presenting a unified treatment of the state space approach to mixed frequency data modeling, we provide a series of applications to demonstrate how our MATLAB toolbox can make the estimation and post-processing of these models straightforward.
Detecting and Localizing Objects on an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Integrated with a Mobile Device

There is a strong need for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) that can navigate autonomously using visual information for GPS denied and other degraded environments. In this paper, a system architecture is proposed that utilizes visual-inertial odometry (VIO) and object recognition and localization for a quadrotor UAS. It also incorporates communication with an Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK) device, allowing users to share situational awareness of the UAS in real-time. The system architecture is validated through experiments in which a human is detected and localized as the object of interest.
Submicrometer perovskite plasmonic lasers at room temperature

Plasmonic lasers attracted interest for their ability to generate coherent light in mode volume smaller than the diffraction limit of photonic lasers. While nanoscale devices in one or two dimensions were demonstrated, it has been difficult to achieve plasmonic lasing with submicrometer cavities in all three dimensions. Here, we demonstrate submicrometer-sized, plasmonic lasers using cesium-lead-bromide perovskite (CsPbBr3) crystals, as small as 0.58 μm by 0.56 μm by 0.32 μm (cuboid) and 0.79 μm by 0.66 μm by 0.18 μm (plate), on polymer-coated gold substrates at room temperature. Our experimental and simulation data obtained from more than 100 plasmonic and photonic devices showed that enhanced optical gain by the Purcell effect, large spontaneous emission factor, and high group index are key elements to efficient plasmonic lasing. The results shed light on the three-dimensional miniaturization of plasmonic lasers.
#UroStream101: Social Media as a Medium for Mentorship in Urology.

ABSTRACT Objective Show feasibility of and develop a program to provide mentorship for applicants to urology residency during COVID-19 using a virtual program, #UroStream101. Methods Urology resident volunteers were paired with fourth year medical students based on shared areas of urologic interest and geographic location. A mentorship guide was provided. Mentees were offered an opportunity to design a twitter based educational resource, tweetorial, with mentor supervision. Program success was assessed by participation and with MEMeQ, a validated mentorship assessment survey. Results A total of 111 students and 93 urology residents enlisted in #Urostream101. All AUA sections were represented. At time of enrollment, 19% (n = 21) of medical students lacked affiliation with urology department, 24% (n = 27) lacked urology mentors, and 32% (n = 36) had no formal clinical exposure to urology. Many students joined twitter during the application cycle (45% within 1 month of enrollment, n = 50) for solely professional reasons (71% of participants, n = 79). When asked their top priority in participating in #UroStream101, most students answered resident mentorship (61%, n = 68) followed by exposure to a geographically distant urology program (32%, n = 36). Twenty tweetorials were created spanning the breadth of urology. A total of 29 students (26%) completed the full MEMeQ evaluation survey, assessing a student's goals and satisfaction with mentor. Overall program satisfaction was 6.1/7 on Likert scale, “very satisfied.” Students identified program selection and ERAS application assistance as their main goals. Conclusion #UroStream101 was a successful mentorship program for students interested in urology. This was desperately needed during an atypical application cycle and provides invaluable insight into further development of formal mentorship programs.
Knock Behavior of a Lean-Burn, H2 and CO Enhanced, SI Gasoline Engine Concept

Experiments were performed to identify the knock trends of lean hydrocarbon-air mixtures, and such mixtures enhanced with hydrogen (H 2 ) and carbon monoxide (CO). These enhanced mixtures simulated 15% and 30% of the engine's gasoline being reformed in a plasmatron fuel reformer [1]. Knock trends were determined by measuring the octane number (ON) of the primary reference fuel (mixture of isooctane and n-heptane) supplied to the engine that just produced audible knock. Experimental results show that leaner operation does not decrease the knock tendency of an engine under conditions where a fixed output torque is maintained; rather it slightly increases the octane requirement. The knock tendency does decrease with lean operation when the intake pressure is held constant, but engine torque is then reduced. When H 2 and CO are added to the mixture, the knock susceptibility is reduced, as illustrated by a decrease in the measured octane number of the primary reference fuel resulting in knock. Experiments conducted with the addition of H 2 and CO separately show similar trends, but to a lesser degree; therefore, both H 2 and CO act as octane enhancers when added to a hydrocarbon-air mixture. The extent to which H 2 and CO improve the knock resistance of a mixture can be estimated by finding the bond-weighted octane numbers for these non-traditional blends of fuels. To understand these results better, a reduced chemical kinetic model was also used to predict autoignition of the end-gas for various conditions and fuel-air mixtures. Predicted model trends of knock onset of primary reference fuels agree with experimental observations. A comprehensive isooctane chemistry mechanism was used to demonstrate that H 2 and CO are effective in lengthening the ignition delay, thereby reducing knock tendency.
Deployment of Advanced Telecommunications Infrastructure in Rural America: Measuring the Digital Divide

guishing features of the new economy. Telecommunications companies currently offer a wide range of products from caller ID and call forwarding, to video teleconferencing and high-speed Internet access. The number of telephone access lines in the United States, deployed by major carriers that report annually to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), increased by 32% between 1990 and 2000, from 119.8 million to 157.6 million lines. Over the same period, the number of these lines equipped to provide ISDN-a highspeed, digital communications technology-increased from 13.6 million to 129.6 million, which represents a jump of 850% (Federal Communications Commission). ISDN, or Integrated Services Digital Network, is defined by the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee as a network "that provides end-to-end digital connectivity to support a wide range of services, including voice and nonvoice services" (Kessler, p. 2). ISDN technologies, applied to copper or fiber optic phone lines, allow for the transmission of multiple channels of information (e.g., voice, fax, data, and video) over a single wire. Depending on the specifics of the ISDN technology (e.g., type of phone line, characteristics of the central office switch, etc.), lines that are upgraded to offer ISDN can transmit information at speeds ranging from 128 kilobits per second to over 150 megabits per second. Benefits of ISDN include highspeed data transmission, videoconferencing, enhanced ability to multi-task, and greater clarity in voice calls. Motivated by the increasingly important role that advanced (digital) telecommunications services play in the new economy, this paper investigates the investments in ISDN infrastructure made by major telecommunications carriers in rural areas across the United States. Specifically, we examine the recent (1999) status of ISDN investments in nonmetropolitan areas of the United States, and we measure the "digital divide" in ISDN deployment between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas for each year between 1996 and 2000. Although, at the present time, other technologies are beginning to replace ISDN as the digital technology of choice, ISDN played an "important role" in bringing digital technology to telephone networks during the time period analyzed in the study (Greenstein and Spiller, 1996; Malecki and Boush). We believe that the patterns of ISDN investment and the digital divide uncovered in the study may apply to other forms of telecommunications infrastructure available today and in the future.
Biophysical Basis of Airway Smooth Muscle Contraction and Hyperresponsiveness in Asthma

It is self-evident that acute narrowing of the asthmatic airways and shortening of the airway smooth muscle are inextricably linked. Nonetheless, it was many years ago that research on the asthmatic airways and research on the biophysics of airway smooth muscle had a parting of the ways (Seow and Fredberg, 2001). The study of smooth muscle biophysics took on a life of its own and pursued a deeply reductionist agenda, one that became focused to a large extent on myosin II and regulation of the actomyosin cycling rate. The study of airway biology pursued a reductionist agenda as well, but one that became focused less and less on contractile functions of muscle and instead emphasized immune responses, inflammatory cells and mediators, and, to the extent that smooth muscle remained
Inclusion and Students with Mental Retardation

Summary The present article examines the implications of inclusion for students with mental retardation. An overview of inclusion terminology and recent changes in the definition and classification of individuals with mental retardation are presented. The academic and social outcomes of students with mental retardation in inclusive settings are examined by employing tolerance theory, a joint model of outcome production, and a model of differentiated expectations. The analyses examine how inclusion interacts with the unique learning needs and characteristics of students with mild and severe mental retardation. The authors recommend implementing partial, not full, inclusion for most students with mental retardation; to consider the interaction of severity of disability and student variance in making inclusive placements to maximize social outcomes; and to continue to conduct theory-based research in an effort to provide the most appropriate education to students with mental retardation.
Storage Resource Manager

Storage Resource Managers (SRMs) are middleware components whose function is to provide dynamic space allocation and file management on shared storage components on the Grid[1,2]. SRMs support protocol negotiation and reliable replication mechanism. The SRM standard supports independent SRM implementations, allowing for a uniform access to heterogeneous storage elements. SRMs allow site-specific policies at each location. Resource Reservations made through SRMs have limited lifetimes and allow for automatic collection of unused resources thus preventing clogging of storage systems with ''orphan'' files. At Fermilab, data handling systems use the SRM management interface to the dCache Distributed Disk Cache [5,6] and the Enstore Tape Storage System [15] as key components to satisfy current and future user requests [4]. The SAM project offers the SRM interface for its internal caches as well.
Mechanical Properties of Biological Tissues

The material response discussed in the previous chapters was limited to the response of elastic materials, in particular to linearly elastic materials. Most metals, for example, exhibit linearly elastic behavior when they are subjected to relatively low stresses at room temperature. They undergo plastic deformations at high stress levels. For an elastic material, the relationship between stress and strain can be expressed in the following general form: $$ \sigma =\sigma \left(\epsilon \right). $$ Equation (15.1) states that the normal stress σ is a function of normal strain ϵ only. The relationship between the shear stress τ and shear strain γ can be expressed in a similar manner. For a linearly elastic material, stress is linearly proportional to strain, and in the case of normal stress and strain, the constant of proportionality is the elastic modulus E of the material (Fig. 15.1): $$ \sigma =E\epsilon . $$
Ultracold Fermionic Feshbach Molecules of Na 23 K 40

We report on the formation of ultracold weakly bound Feshbach molecules of $^{23}\mathrm{Na}^{40}\mathrm{K}$, the first fermionic molecule that is chemically stable in its absolute ground state. The lifetime of the nearly degenerate molecular gas exceeds 100 ms in the vicinity of the Feshbach resonance. The measured dependence of the molecular binding energy on the magnetic field demonstrates the open-channel character of the molecules over a wide field range and implies significant singlet admixture. This will enable efficient transfer into the singlet vibrational ground state, resulting in a stable molecular Fermi gas with strong dipolar interactions.
An engineering work analysis applied to patient falls in the nursing domain.

Patient falls in hospitals result in negative outcomes such as prolonged lengths of stay, various injuries, and even death. Nurses are responsible for identifying patients at risk for falls and implementing preventative measures. The focus of this research is to apply a systems engineering approach, Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) to the nursing domain. Our interdisciplinary effort has begun to identify areas of risk and preventative measures. Language: en
On the Generation of Magnetohydrodynamic Waves in a Stratified and Magnetized Fluid. I. Vertical Propagation

The generation of MHD waves by turbulent motions in a stratified medium with an embedded uniform magnetic field, a topic which is relevant to the study of the solar atmosphere, is considered. Both compressible and incompressible MHD waves are treated in a one-dimensional approach; however, the direction of the background magnetic field is permitted to vary in an arbitrary direction. Theoretical expressions for MHD energy fluxes are obtained as a function of wave frequency and multipole coefficients. It is shown that monopole, dipole, and quadrupole emissions are responsible for the generation of the compressible components of the fast and slow modes. However, the incompressible components and the Alfven modes can be generated by the dipole emission only. Specific results obtained for special magnetic field geometries are discussed for the fast and slow modes.
The configuration of the human gastroduodenal junction in the separate emptying of liquids and solids

Abstract Background: The stomach separately empties liquids and large particulate solids. The present study aimed to better define the mechanisms responsible for this separate emptying in humans. Methods: Real-time ultrasound Images of the gastroduodenal junction were tape-recorded in normal volunteers after they ingested a test meal consisting of beans and chicken broth. Results: During early emptying, beans were retained along the gastric greater curve as it bulged caudally. When the pylorus was open, liquids flowed over the beans into the duodenum. Emptying of the occasional bean that appeared in the antrum was blocked by closure of the pylorus. Later, the antrum was tubular in shape with reduced area of cross section, yet the percent narrowing of the lumen with each contraction remained constant. Beans were now in close contact with the contracting antral wall and were transformed into small particles. Only in this state were solids allowed through the pylorus. Conclusions: Mechanisms by which the human stomach "sieves" liquids from solids include (1) sedimentation of solids in the dependent portion of the stomach, while liquids are "decanted" into the duodenum in early emptying; (2) blockade of large particles from entering the duodenum by closure of the pylorus; and (3) grinding of large particles by the gastric antrum in late emptying.
Increasing the Usefulness of Acute Toxicity Tests

The conceptually and practically simple acute toxicity test provides information that is useful in the protection of aquatic life from pollution. Standardization increases the usefulness of routine acute tests by increasing their quality and comparability and allowing the study of various aspects of acute toxicity. For example, available data show that for certain materials some species of aquatic animals are at least 5000 times more acutely sensitive than other species, whereas for other materials the range of acute sensitivity is less than a factor of 50. Various theoretical interpretations of the relationship of toxicity to time within a test have been proposed to improve the usefulness of the acute test, but such theories have not been supported by adequate pertinent data. The usefulness of routine acute toxicity tests can be increased, however, by basing the results not on one effect or another but on a combination of all severe adverse effects, such as death, immobilization, and loss of equilibrium.
A Vanguarda Conservadora

Cet article aborde la question de la supposee condition avant-gardiste des arts au XXIeme siecle, notamment en ce qui concerne les arts du spectacle et les arts performatifs; autrement dit, il s’interroge sur la situation actuelle de ces formes d’expression. Le texte propose donc une reflexion autour des concepts d’avant-garde, de niche-garde et de conservatisme, afin de montrer le statut conservateur des avant-gardes dans l’ensemble des expressions artistiques mentionnees auparavant, lesquelles repetent davantage de faits passes qu’elles ne proposent effectivement des formes de transgression et d’interruption de l’ordre courant, y compris celui qui regit le systeme meme des arts. Cette reflexion s’appuie sur le presuppose que l’avant-garde existe simultanement sous trois formes – en tant que tradition vive, comme une marque et, enfin, comme l’echo ou le fantasme de la provocation qu’elle a ete un jour.
Biopolymers, Analytical Techniques

Analytical techniques that utilize biopolymers, ie, natural macromolecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, and polysaccharides that compose living substances, represent a rapidly expanding field. The number of applications is large, eg, chiral chromatography, immunology, and biosensors, among others. Direct chiral resolution by liquid chromatography (lc) involves diastereomeric interactions between the chiral solute and the chiral stationary phase. Because biopolymers are chiral molecules and can form diastereomeric interactions with chiral solutes, they are ideal for use as chiral stationary phases. This property has led to a rapid growth of chromatographic stationary phases utilizing biopolymers to separate chiral molecules. Biopolymers are employed in many immunological techniques, including the analysis of food, clinical samples, pesticides, and in other areas of analytical chemistry. Immunoassays are specific, sensitive, relatively easy to perform, and usually inexpensive. One condition that must be met for the application of an immunochemical method is the stimulating of an immune response leading to the formation of antibodies in the immunized animal. These antibodies can then be isolated and used as highly specific analytical reagents (immunoassays). Analytes that can combine with the corresponding antibodies are called antigens. In general, large, rigid, chemically complex molecules make good antigens. Antibodies are proteins, found in many body fluids such as tears, saliva, and urine, that are present in highest concentrations in blood serum. The particular proteins which exhibit antibody activity are the immunoglobulins (Ig). Biologically derived polymers can be used as highly selective immobilized reagents in analytical applications. The immobilized enzyme electrode is the most common immobilized biopolymer sensor, consisting of a thin layer of enzyme immobilized on the surface of an electrochemical sensor. The advantages of immobilized enzyme electrodes include minimal pretreatment of the sample matrix, small sample volume, and the recovery of the enzyme for repeated use. Enzyme immunosensors are enzyme immunoassays coupled with electrochemical sensors. Enantiomeric separations are expected to continue to have a considerable economic impact on the development of new drugs and therapy in the biomedical field. The importance of immunoassays for food monitoring and in the detection of diseases is expected to continue to grow. The development of biosensors is expected to benefit monitoring therapeutic drug levels, office testing, and implantable devices because of the advantages of cost-saving automation and improved data handling. Keywords: Biopolymers; Chiral chromatography; Analytical techniques; Cyclodextrin; Bovine serum albumin; Cellulose and derivatives; Antigens; Antibodies; Immunoassays; Biosensors; Enzymes
Effects of simulated altitude on O2 transport in dogs

The effects of exposure to simulated altitude on skeletal muscle and on the cardiocirculatory system rhave been studied on awake, conscious, dogs (16-39 kg) at rest and during moderate treadmill exercise at 15% incline. Measurements were obtained in Denver at a PB of 635 mm Hg and after 3 weeks of continuous exposure to a PB of 435 mm Hg using a hypobaric chamber. At both levels of PB the dogs showed marked panting, associated with pulmonary hyperventilation and low PaCO2's (28 mm Hg at 635 and 17 mm Hg at 435 mm Hg). Resting VO2's were high (12.4 and 11.4 ml/min-kg) reflecting the high respiratory outputs. [Hb] and Hct increased significantly after 3 weeks at 435 mm Hg with a 4 mm Hg decrease in P50. Q, HR, SV and systemic blood pressures were normal in both normoxic and hypoxic animals, at rest as well as during exercise. Arterial and mixed venous PO2's decreased in the hypoxic dogs (82 to 56 and 42 to 36 mm Hg, respectively) but arterial O2 content, arterial-venous O2 content difference and systemic O2 transport remained unchanged. Capillary density in the sternothyroid muscle doubled (617 to 1245 cap/mm2) after 3 weeks at a PB of 435, whereas the average muscle fiber diameter decreased about 30%. Calculations indicate that the PO2 in the 'lethal corner' of the muscle fiber is relatively higher in the hypoxic animal because of the decrease in fiber size and intercapillary distances.
Nonlinear frequency response of moving gratings in BSO

Abstract The nonlinear frequency response of moving gratings in the photorefractive (PR) material BSO is studied by numerically solving the Kukhtarev equations for arbitrarily large values of the modulation index m . The effect of an applied electric field is included by solving the Poisson equation across a BSO crystal with appropriate boundary conditions. We have found a superlinear response with respect to the variation in m when the grating detuning frequency f is less than a critical frequency f l determined by the material properties and the applied electric field. When f = f l , the PR response is perfectly linear over the entire range of m , namely, 0⩽ m ⩽1; this linear response is given by the linear theory based on the assumption of small m . When f > f l , the PR response becomes sublinear. The superlinear response for f f l consist of two different linear responses, one valid for small m as determined by the linear theory and the other valid for large m ⩾0.6 with a larger slope. Likewise the sublinear response for f > f l consist of two different linear responses. However, in this case the large- m -linear (LML) response has a smaller slope than that for the small- m -linear response. The LML responses are obviously nonlinear effects, and they occur for all spatial harmonics including the fundamental. At f = f l , the sublinearity of the fundamental spatial harmonic is closely compensated by the higher harmonics to yield a linear response of the composite space–charge electric field.
A cooperatively controlled robot for ultrasound monitoring of radiation therapy

Image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) involves two main procedures, performed in different rooms on different days: (1) treatment planning in the simulator room on the first day, and (2) radiotherapy in the linear accelerator room over multiple subsequent days. Both the simulator and the linear accelerator include CT imaging capabilities, which enables both treatment planning and reproducible patient setup, but does not provide good soft tissue contrast or allow monitoring of the target during treatment. We propose a cooperatively-controlled robot to reproducibly position an ultrasound (US) probe on the patient during simulation and treatment, thereby improving soft tissue visualization and allowing real-time monitoring of the target. A key goal of the robotic system is to produce consistent tissue deformations for both CT and US imaging, which simplifies registration of these two modalities. This paper presents the robotic system design and describes a novel control algorithm that employs virtual springs to implement guidance virtual fixtures during “hands on” cooperative control.
Incidence of dye coupling among magnocellular paraventricular nucleus neurons in male rats is testosterone dependent.

Abstract Recently published work in the rat has shown that: (a) the incidence of electrical coupling, as measured by dye coupling, is decreased from control levels by 8 days of drinking hypertonic saline; (b) an index of circulating testosterone, seminal vesicle weight, is also decreased by 8 days of saline drinking; and (c) both plasma and urinary vasopressin levels are reduced in castrated males, but can be returned to normal with testosterone replacement. These findings have led to the hypothesis that dye coupling, particularly that involving vasopressinergic cells, may be affected by gonadal steroids. We have investigated the effects of castration and testosterone replacement on the incidence of dye coupling among the neurons of the predominantly vasopressinergic magnocellular lateral paraventricular nucleus in slices of male rat hypothalamus. Incidence of dye coupling in this nucleus of castrated rats was found to be decreased by 67% from sham castrated control levels. Testosterone-filled Silastic capsules (but not empty capsules) implanted subcutaneously at the time of castration abolished the effect of castration on dye coupling. We conclude that testosterone has a powerful influence upon coupling among PVN vasopressinergic neurons and may participate in the control of vasopressin release in intact animals.
Spin-Polarized Nitroxide Radicals in Organic Glasses†

Nonequilibrium spin polarization formed in a stable nitroxide radical, 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (Tempo) due to the occurrence of Chemically Induced Dynamic Electron Polarization (CIDEP) in photoexcited molecular complexes of this radical with 1,4-benzoquinone, 1,4-naphthaquinone, 9,10-anthraquinone, and their derivatives is observed. These complexes occur spontaneously in low-temperature organic glasses (20−70 K) upon freezing the concentrated liquid solutions. The emissive net polarization in the nitroxide radical is observed 0.1−10 μs after the photoexcitation of the p-quinone moiety. No degradation of the polarized magnetic resonance signal from Tempo after >104 excitation cycles was observed. This spin polarization is shown to be mainly due to a polarization transfer from the lowest triplet state of the p-quinone. This transfer is driven by the electron spin exchange interaction between the nitroxide radical and the triplet p-quinone; it occurs simultaneously with a spin-selective electron...
Minimal Representation of Convex Regions Defined by Analytic Functions

In this paper we are concerned with characterizing minimal representation of feasible regions defined by both linear and convex analytic constraints. We say that a representation is minimal if every other representation has either more analytic (nonlinear) constraints, or has the same number of analytic constraints and at least as many linear constraints. We prove necessary and sufficient conditions for the representation to be minimal. These are expressed in terms of the redundant constraints, pseudo-analytic constraints, and implicit equality constraints. In order to prove the minimal representation theorem, we present results on the facets of the convex regions defined by analytic constraints. Finally, we outline the steps of the procedure that could be used to determine a minimal representation.
Five‐year survival for cisplatin‐based chemotherapy versus single‐agent melphalan in patients with advanced ovarian cancer and optimal debulking surgery

The purpose of this study was to evaluate 5-year survival and 5-year progression-free survival in previously untreated patients with advanced ovarian cancer treated with single-agent melphalan in which very few patients underwent optimal debulking surgery (less than 2 cm residual) as compared with the patients treated with Cisplatin-based chemotherapy in which most patients underwent optimal debulking surgery. Significant increases in 5-year survival and 5-year progression-free survival were noted as we changed from the melphalan trial, in which only 14% underwent optimal debulking surgery, to PAC-H, in which 57% and the PAC trial in which 90%, respectively, underwent optimal debulking surgery. However, for those patients whose tumors were optimally debulked in the three trials, there were no statistically significant differences in median survival, median progression-free survival, 5-year survival, or 5-year progression-free survival in those patients treated with melphalan, PAC-H, or PAC. Without optimal debulking surgery, Cisplatin-based multiagent chemotherapy offered a small survival advantage. These results are similar to that reported by Gruppo Interregionale Cooperativo Oncologico Ginecologia, in which survival curves were identical for all the subgroups of chemotherapy regimens for those patients with residual disease less than 2 cm at the onset of chemotherapy whether they received (1) cyclophosphamide; (2) cyclophosphamide and Adriamycin; (3) cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin, and Cisplatin; (4) cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin, and hexamethylmelamine; (5) Cisplatin and cyclophosphamide; (6) low-dose Cisplatin; (7) high-dose Cisplatin; or (8) carboplatin.
Evaluation of Permanent Lung Brachytherapy Implants Dose Distributions and Tissue Heterogeneities Using 103Pd, 125I, and 131Cs

Conclusions: Doses to all of the evaluated regions are overestimated by TG43 formalism, which is in direct contrast to previously published data by the authors. This may be due to the fact that patient specific CT scans were used and the cavities were often filled with seroma rather than being completely empty (filled with air). This emphasizes the need for patient specific dose calculation as class solutions may not be appropriate for all patients. The lower dose in skin, although not statistically significant, indicates the potential of allowing for potential manipulating of the source dwell position and dwell time to achieve better conformal dose coverage in target volume. Acuros allows patient specific dose calculations that are accurate and achievable within a short amount of calculation time.
Channel morphometry, sediment transport, and implications for tectonic activity and surficial ages of Titan basins

Abstract Fluvial features on Titan and drainage basins on Earth are remarkably similar despite differences in gravity and surface composition. We determined network bifurcation (Rb) ratios for five Titan and three terrestrial analog basins. Tectonically-modified Earth basins have Rb values greater than the expected range (3.0–5.0) for dendritic networks; comparisons with Rb values determined for Titan basins, in conjunction with similarities in network patterns, suggest that portions of Titan’s north polar region are modified by tectonic forces. Sufficient elevation data existed to calculate bed slope and potential fluvial sediment transport rates in at least one Titan basin, indicating that 75 mm water ice grains (observed at the Huygens landing site) should be readily entrained given sufficient flow depths of liquid hydrocarbons. Volumetric sediment transport estimates suggest that ∼6700–10,000 Titan years (∼2.0–3.0 × 105 Earth years) are required to erode this basin to its minimum relief (assuming constant 1 m and 1.5 m flows); these lowering rates increase to ∼27,000–41,000 Titan years (∼8.0–12.0 × 105 Earth years) when flows in the north polar region are restricted to summer months.
Disruption of emotion and conflict processing in HIV infection with and without alcoholism comorbidity.

Alcoholism and HIV-1 infection each affect components of selective attention and cognitive control that may contribute to deficits in emotion processing based on closely interacting fronto-parietal attention and frontal-subcortical emotion systems. Here, we investigated whether patients with alcoholism, HIV-1 infection, or both diseases have greater difficulty than healthy controls in resolving conflict from emotional words with different valences. Accordingly, patients with alcoholism (ALC, n = 20), HIV-1 infection (HIV, n = 20), ALC + HIV comorbidity (n = 22), and controls (CTL, n = 16) performed an emotional Stroop Match-to-Sample task, which assessed the contribution of emotion (happy, angry) to cognitive control (Stroop conflict processing). ALC + HIV showed greater Stroop effects than HIV, ALC, or CTL for negative (ANGRY) but not for positive (HAPPY) words, and also when the cue color did not match the Stroop stimulus color; the comorbid group performed similarly to the others when cue and word colors matched. Furthermore, emotionally salient face cues prolonged color-matching responses in all groups. HIV alone, compared with the other three groups, showed disproportionately slowed color-matching time when trials featured angry faces. The enhanced Stroop effects prominent in ALC + HIV suggest difficulty in exercising attentional top-down control on processes that consume attentional capacity, especially when cognitive effort is required to ignore negative emotions. (JINS, 2011, 17, 537–550)
Mammalian taste perception

Before swallowing, everything a mammal samples orally will undergo a chemical analysis provided in large part by the gustatory system. What an animal ingests both in the short-term and over a lifetime has undeniable consequences on survival. So critical are taste sensations to the recognition and enjoyment of foods, and the appropriate digestion and utilization of nutrients, that humans who acutely lose their sense of taste, such as following radiotherapy, for example, often will not eat. Thus, while we may tend to take the sense of taste for granted relative to our other sensory modalities, its significance for health and quality of life should not be trivialized.“What is it like to lose your sense of taste? To know that the most luscious fruit is a cinder, and its juice flavored with copper and bicarbonate, or that a Whitstable oyster is no more appetizing than a slug? If, by a might of effort, these ‘cinders’ are forced down with copius fluid, the consequences are acute indigestion and vomiting. The patient is not hungry anyway, and it is easier to starve.”E.M. MacCarthy-Leventhal, The Lancet (1959), 1138-1139.
Six-Month-Olds' Detection of Clauses Embedded in Continuous Speech: Effects of Prosodic Well-Formedness.

Three experiments investigated the role of prosodic structure for infants' recognition of embedded word sequences. Six-month-olds were familiarized with 2 versions of the same sequence, 1 corresponding to a well-formed prosodic unit and the other to a prosodically ill-formed sequence (although a successive word series). Next, infants heard 2 test passages. One included the well-formed unit, and the other included the ill-formed sequence. In Experiment 1, infants listened longer to the passage containing the well-formed unit, suggesting that such units, even when they are embedded, are better recognized. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that this better recognition does not depend on an acoustic match between the familiarized sequences and their later embeddings. This suggests that the advantage of the well-formed unit is at least partially due to infants' use of prosody to parse continuous speech.
Identification of Cryptosporidium parvum Oocysts by an Artificial Neural Network Approach

Microscopic detection of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts is time-consuming, requires trained analysts, and is frequently subject to significant human errors. Artificial neural networks (ANN) were developed to help identify immunofluorescently labeled C. parvum oocysts. A total of 525 digitized images of immunofluorescently labeled oocysts, fluorescent microspheres, and other miscellaneous nonoocyst images were employed in the training of the ANN. The images were cropped to a 36- by 36-pixel image, and the cropped images were placed into two categories, oocyst and nonoocyst images. The images were converted to grayscale and processed into a histogram of gray color pixel intensity. Commercially available software was used to develop and train the ANN. The networks were optimized by varying the number of training images, number of hidden neurons, and a combination of these two parameters. The network performance was then evaluated using a set of 362 unique testing images which the network had never “seen” before. Under optimized conditions, the correct identification of authentic oocyst images ranged from 81 to 97%, and the correct identification of nonoocyst images ranged from 78 to 82%, depending on the type of fluorescent antibody that was employed. The results indicate that the ANN developed were able to generalize the training images and subsequently discern previously unseen oocyst images efficiently and reproducibly. Thus, ANN can be used to reduce human errors associated with the microscopic detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts.
A combined inductive learning and experimental design approach to manufacturing operation planning

Abstract Knowledge for manufacturing operation planning is automatically acquired through a combined learning/statistical approach based on mechanistic simulations of machining operations. The mechanistic simulator is used as a computer-based training example generator for artificial intelligence-(AI) based inductive learning programs to induce domain knowledge. The ‘design for experiment’ concept is employed to aid the effective selection of training examples. The structural characteristics of the simulator used in this approach are discussed. The advantages of including statistical experimental design techniques in machine learning and simulation are likewise explained. Instead of relying on machining handbooks or data retrieval types of systems, a planner can now acquire knowledge directly from physical models of the operations. The inclusion of mechanistic simulations and statistical techniques to aid training example generation is a promising approach in machine learning. The work presented in this paper offers contributions to both manufacturing operation planning and artificial intelligence.
Conditions for strict autotrophic culture of tobacco callus.

Organic gelling agents such as agar and agarose provide a heterotrophic substrate for growth of illuminated tobacco callus. When green cells are incubated in CO2-free air on a medium lacking sucrose but solidified with 1% agar, an increase in relative dry weight is sustained through two passages. Similar results with different inoculum sources, and with three brands of agar and two forms of agarose, suggest this is a general phenomenon. A fully autotrophic culture system was developed employing polyurethane pads to support cells in a liquid medium lacking sucrose. Growth was negligible in two passages in CO2-free air, and increased with each added increment in CO2 concentration.
Suppression of Menstrual Distress Symptoms: A Study of Type A Behavior

The present study examined Type A and Type B women's reporting of chronic recurring symptoms of menstrual distress, which are culturally defined as interfering with daily activities. Based on previous laboratory experiments, it was expected that Type A women would be motivated to ignore symptoms during menstruation in order to carry on daily activities. Consequently, they would report less intense symptoms during menstruation relative to the intensity of the same symptoms reported when Type As would not be motivated to ignore symptoms. This hypothesis was supported and subsidiary analyses showed that both positive and negative sensations associated with menstruation were relatively underreported by Type As. Thus, it appears that Type As' suppression of acute symptoms during performance of specific tasks extends to suppression of menstrual distress.
Synthesis and characterization of gold nanoparticle aggregates as novel substrates for surface-enhanced Raman scattering

ABSTRACT Novel gold nanoparticle aggregates have been synthesized using simple colloidal chemistry techniques. The electronicabsorption spectra of the aggregates can be manipulated by controlling the synthetic conditions. The aggregates havebeen demonstrated for the first time to exhibit strong activity for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). SERSstudies were performed using rhodamin e 6G (R6G), a molecule which norma lly does not show SERS enhancement ongold surfaces, showed an enhancement factor on the order of 10 9 , which is similar to or better than most ensembleaveraged SERS enhancement factors reported to date. The results demonstrate that these gold nanoparticle aggregatesare promising for SERS applications in detection and analysis of molecules.Keywords: Gold nanoparticle aggregates, surface enhanced Raman scattering, SERS, rhodamine 6G 1. INTRODUCTION Raman spectroscopy is a powerful optical technique for detecting and analyzing molecules by their specificvibrational signature. It s key advantage is molecular specificity while its main limitation is its extremely small Ramanscattering cross section
Patient positioning using implanted gold markers with the Novalis Body system in the thoracic spine.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of implanted gold marker registration compared with bony fusion alignment for patient positioning using the Novalis Body system. METHODS Eighteen treatment fractions of stereotactic spinal radiotherapy were analyzed for three patients who each had three implanted gold seeds placed near their spinal lesions before radiotherapy. At each treatment session, the registration was first performed using bony fusion and then verified by another bony fusion, followed by registration with implanted markers. The software reported the calculated shifts for both methods. In addition, the actual three-dimensional coordinate positions of the markers were read using PTDReader software. Implanted marker positions were analyzed for variations in individual maker coordinate displacement, interseed distances, and area transcribed by them. Measured positional differences between the two fusion methods were applied to actual treatment plans to assess the resulting dosimetric differences in the treatment plans. RESULTS Both fusion algorithms were shown to localize the patient well, within 1.5 mm, but the implanted marker fusion consistently related less deviation from the planned isocenter, by approximately 0.5 mm, than did the bony fusion. Exceptions to this localization occurred when the average interseed distances were less than 3.0 cm and resulted in the two registration methods being equivalent. Implanted spine markers were also shown to have less than 0.7 mm deviation from the planned marker coordinates, indicating no migration of the seeds. Dose distributions were found to be highly dependant on differences in fusion method, with spinal cord doses up to 350% greater with bony fusion than with implanted markers. CONCLUSION Implanted markers used with the Novalis Body system have been shown to be more effective in patient positioning than the bony fusion method in the thoracic spine.
NASA’s planetary protection program as an astrobiology teaching module

We are currently developing a teaching module on the NASA's Planetary Protection Program for UW-Parkside SENCER courses. SENCER stands for Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibility. It is a national initiative of the National Science Foundation (NSF), now in its fifth year, to improve science education by teaching basic sciences through the complex public issues of the 21 st century. The Planetary Protection Program is one such complex public issue. Teaching astrobiology and the NASA's goals via the Planetary Protection module within the SENCER courses seems to be a good formula to reach large number of students in an interesting and innovative way. We shall describe the module that we are developing. It will be launched on our web site titled "Astrobiology at Parkside" (http://oldweb.uwp.edu/academic/chemistry/kolb/organic_chemistry/, or go to Google and then to Vera Kolb Home Page), and thus will be available for teaching to all interested parties.
A spatially structured metapopulation model with patch dynamics.

Metapopulation models that incorporate both spatial and temporal structure are studied in this paper. The existence and stability of equilibria are provided, and an extinction threshold condition is derived which depends on patch dynamics (patch destruction and creation) and metapopulation dynamics (patch colonization and extinction). These results refine threshold conditions given by previous metapopulation models. By comparing landscapes with different spatial heterogeneities with respect to weighted long-term patch occupancies, we conclude that the pattern of a landscape is of overwhelming importance in determining metapopulation persistence and patch occupancy. We show that the same conclusion holds when a rescue effect is considered. We also derive a stochastic differential equations (SDE) model of the Ito type based on our deterministic model. Our simulations reveal good agreement between the deterministic model and the SDE model.