cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Estimating ocean coherence time using dual-baseline interferometric synthetic aperture radar

A new technique for measuring the coherence time of the ocean surface at radar wavelengths has been developed and tested. This technique requires an interferometric synthetic aperture radar system with at least two unique baselines along the direction of platform motion. The coherence time of the surface may be presented as a high-resolution coherence time map. This technique was tested using the JPL AIRSAR along-track interferometer. Measurements of the ocean coherence at the L-band were made at high spatial resolution under a variety of conditions. A new operating technique that results in the required two baselines is described. Some parametric analysis is performed pertaining to the design of such a system. A representative interferometric data set acquired at the Strait of Messina in 1991 is presented to illustrate the technique. The interferometric phase data reveal and measure tidal currents flowing through the strait, while the coherence time image shows considerable structure not visible in the backscatter or phase image. Coherence times in and around the strait were measured to be of the order of 0.1 s at the L-band, which is in agreement with previous estimates and measurements. >
A Tree-Structure Based Logo Watermarking Scheme

A novel wavelet tree-structure based logo watermarking scheme for gray-scale image is proposed. Based on the same hierarchical idea in embedded zerotree wavelet (EZW) compression, a Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) decomposed host image can be viewed as a collection of coefficient trees whose parents are coefficients in the approximate subband (LL). The Human Vision System (HVS) characteristics of the meaningful logo image are exploited by the same level DWT to generate a similar tree structure. Each logo tree and its LL parent are embedded separately and repeatedly into the perceptually significant trees and LL coefficients of the host image with a well-known perceptual model. By grouping coefficient trees of the host image with different sizes, we introduce two embedding approaches under the same scheme, the pixel-wise approach and the block-wise approach. Aiming to feasible hardware implementation, experimental results using the integer-version of DWT are presented to verify the performance of the scheme and its robustness against many common attacks.
Redox regulation of ascorbic acid transport: Role of transporter and intracellular sulfhydryls

Ascorbic acid is one of the most sensitive cellular defenses against oxidant damage. However, it requires a sodium- and energy-dependent transporter to enter cells against a concentration gradient. To test the hypothesis that ascorbate transport is sensitive to redox stress, we studied changes in transport of the vitamin in response to sulfhydryl modification of the protein and to GSH depletion in cultured endothelial cells. Transport of ascorbic acid, measured as the uptake of radiolabeled ascorbate, was inhibited by the membrane-impermeant sulfhydryl reagents thorin, p-chloromercuribenzene sulfonic acid, and 5,5 � -dithiobis-(2- nitrobenzoic acid) in a dose-dependent manner without significant depletion of intracellular GSH. Sulfhydryl reagents capable of penetrating the plasma membrane, including phenylarsine oxide, p-chloromercuribenzoic acid, and N-ethylmaleimide, inhibited transport and lowered cellular GSH. Diamide, which induces disulfide formation, increased ascorbate transport over a narrow concentration range under conditions in which GSH was not depleted. On the other hand, specific depletion of intracellular GSH by several different mechanisms did inhibit transport. Together, these results suggest that the ascorbate transporter is sensitive to redox modulation. This relates in part to sulfhydryl groups exposed on the exofacial ascorbate transporter, and to sulfhydryl groups that are sensitive to changes in the redox state of intracellular GSH.
Regulating Healthcare: A Prescription for Improvement?

Kieran Walshe Open University Press, 2003; 0-33-521023-6; 192 pp; $112.95 Hb, $37.95 Pb The USA is as close to a market-based health care economy as you will find in any developed country. The UK is more or less as close to a wholly state-funded and -provided health care system as can be found in the developed world. Nevertheless, two observations apply across the two countries’ health care systems. Firstly, the systems are characterized by an extraordinary degree of regulation, and secondly, quality-of-care problems are quite prevalent in both countries. These two observations serve as the basis for a new book by Professor Kieran Walshe that addresses one of the fundamental questions facing the US and UK health care systems: does greater regulation improve the quality of care? This is not a straightforward question for several reasons. Firstly, health care regulations are quite diverse along several dimensions. Secondly, the underlying rationale for health care regulation is not always to improve performance, i.e. regulations may exist to serve the interests of the regulator or various provider groups. Thirdly, there is not a standard method for evaluating regulatory performance, especially in light of the disparate forms of regulation present in the health care sector. And finally, there is often very little empirical work linking the costs and benefits of regulation. Professor Walshe considers all of these issues in analyzing the …
ROLE OF COLOR IN PERCEPTION OF ATTRACTIVENESS

In this color study females reported a favorite color significantly more often than males. Males preferred bright colors significantly more than females, with a converse finding for preference for soft colors. The 276 subjects, when asked to evaluate the attractiveness of stimulus models in photographs, gave as the reason color significantly more often than style of clothing or facial expressions. Subjects significantly concurred with expert choices of recommended and nonrecommended colors in five of the six sets of photographs. This study lends credence that wearing recommended colors makes a difference in judgments of what looks best by subjects over the age of 12.
An industrial case study of structural testing applied to safety-critical embedded software

Effective testing of safety-critical real-time embedded software is difficult and expensive. Many companies are hesitant about the cost of formalized criteria-based testing and are not convinced of the benefits. This paper presents the results of an industrial case study that compared the normal testing at a company (manual functional testing) with testing based on the logic-based criterion of correlated active clause coverage (CACC). The evaluation was performed during the testing of embedded, real-time control software that has been deployed in a safety-critical application in the transportation industry. We found in our study that the test cases generated to satisfy the CACC criterion detected major safety-critical faults that were not detected by functional testing. We also found that the cost required for CACC testing was not necessarily higher than the cost of functional testing. There were also several faults that were found by the functional tests that were not found by CACC tests.
Profiling file repository access patterns for identifying data exfiltration activities

Studies show that a significant number of employees steal data when changing jobs. Insider attackers who have the authorization to access the best-kept secrets of organizations pose a great challenge for organizational security. Although increasing efforts have been spent on identifying insider attacks, little research concentrates on detecting data exfiltration activities. This paper proposes a model for identifying data exfiltration activities by insiders. It uses statistical methods to profile legitimate uses of file repositories by authorized users. By analyzing legitimate file repository access logs, user access profiles are created and can be employed to detect a large set of data exfiltration activities. The effectiveness of the proposed model was tested with file access histories from the subversion logs of the popular open source project KDE.
Time-dependent biaxial mechanical behavior of the aortic heart valve leaflet

Despite continued progress in the treatment of aortic valve (AV) disease, current treatments continue to be challenged to consistently restore AV function for extended durations. Improved approaches for AV repair and replacement rests upon our ability to more fully comprehend and simulate AV function. While the elastic behavior the AV leaflet (AVL) has been previously investigated, time-dependent behaviors under physiological biaxial loading states have yet to be quantified. In the current study, we performed strain rate, creep, and stress-relaxation experiments using porcine AVL under planar biaxial stretch and loaded to physiological levels (60 N/m equi-biaxial tension), with strain rates ranging from quasi-static to physiologic. The resulting stress-strain responses were found to be independent of strain rate, as was the observed low level of hysteresis ( approximately 17%). Stress relaxation and creep results indicated that while the AVL exhibited significant stress relaxation, it exhibited negligible creep over the 3h test duration. These results are all in accordance with our previous findings for the mitral valve anterior leaflet (MVAL) [Grashow, J.S., Sacks, M.S., Liao, J., Yoganathan, A.P., 2006a. Planar biaxial creep and stress relaxatin of the mitral valve anterior leaflet. Annals of Biomedical Engineering 34 (10), 1509-1518; Grashow, J.S., Yoganathan, A.P., Sacks, M.S., 2006b. Biaxial stress-stretch behavior of the mitral valve anterior leaflet at physiologic strain rates. Annals of Biomedical Engineering 34 (2), 315-325], and support our observations that valvular tissues are functionally anisotropic, quasi-elastic biological materials. These results appear to be unique to valvular tissues, and indicate an ability to withstand loading without time-dependent effects under physiologic loading conditions. Based on a recent study that suggested valvular collagen fibrils are not intrinsically viscoelastic [Liao, J., Yang, L., Grashow, J., Sacks, M.S., 2007. The relation between collagen fibril kinematics and mechanical properties in the mitral valve anterior leaflet. Journal of Biomechanical Engineering 129 (1), 78-87], we speculate that the mechanisms underlying this quasi-elastic behavior may be attributed to inter-fibrillar structures unique to valvular tissues. These mechanisms are an important functional aspect of native valvular tissues, and are likely critical to improve our understanding of valvular disease and help guide the development of valvular tissue engineering and surgical repair.
Endopeptidase Activities of Botulinum Neurotoxin Type B Complex, Holotoxin, and Light Chain

Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) serotype B (BoNT/B) is one of the serotypes of BoNT that causes deadly human botulism, though it is used clinically for treatment of many neuromuscular diseases. BoNT/B is produced by Clostridium botulinum, and it is secreted along with a group of neurotoxin-associated proteins (NAPs) in the form of a BoNT/B complex. The complex dissociates into a 150-kDa holotoxin and NAPs at alkaline pHs. The 150-kDa BoNT/B holotoxin can be nicked to produce a 50-kDa domain referred to as the light chain (LC) and a 100-kDa heavy chain, with the former possessing a unique endopeptidase activity. The two chains remain linked through a disulfide bond that can be reduced to separate the two chains. The endopeptidase activity is present in all three forms of the toxin (complex, purified BoNT/B holotoxin, and separated light chain), which are used by different researchers to develop detection methods and screen for inhibitors. In this research, the endopeptidase activities of the three forms, for the first time, were compared under the same conditions. The results show that enzyme activities of the three forms differ significantly and are largely dependent on nicking and disulfide reduction conditions. Under the conditions used, LC had the highest level of activity, and the complex had the lowest. The activity was enhanced by nicking of BoNT/B holotoxin and was enhanced even more by dithiothreitol (DTT) reduction after nicking. This information is useful for understanding the properties of BoNT endopeptidases and for comparing the efficacies of different inhibitors when they are tested with different forms of BoNT endopeptidase.
Cooperative phototaxis using networked mobile sensors and centroidal voronoi tessellations

The main objective for this research is to design an economical and robust swarm system to achieve phototaxis. The system combines swarm intelligence with centroidal Voronoi tessellations (CVT) to localize and track a dynamic moving light source. A small group of static mesh sensors is used to observe the environment while mobile actuators move according to their CVT. This paper also proposes a solution to decrease the number of sensors needed for CVT convergence with a light estimation algorithm. This new algorithm can find the approximate location of a light source by a general light distribution equation according to light sensor readings. Experiments are conducted both in simulation and on an actual mobile robot platform which show the flexible and robust nature of CVTs over other behavioral swarm algorithms. The complete phototaxis algorithm is presented in a specific swarm design procedure.
Newborn Screening for Krabbe Disease: the New York State Model

In this issue, Duffner et al. [1] introduce a clinical protocol developed in response to the implementation of Krabbe disease newborn screening in the state of New York in 2006. The authors are to be commended for creating a comprehensive and, in part, evidence-based newborn screening follow-up protocol. The article describes a standardized clinical evaluation protocol for newborns screening positive for Krabbe disease, criteria for transplantation for the early infantile phenotype, the creation of a clinical research database and registry, and a short-term research study of developmental and functional outcomes. The article serves as an up-to-date review of clinical and diagnostic features of a poorly understood condition for which a great deal of recent interest has been generated. The protocol for newborn screening follow-up for Krabbe disease will prove useful to those entrusted with caring for the children identified. No attempt will be made here to debate the merits of the specific recommendations for evaluation, because the protocol was developed by a multidisciplinary group of experts and there is essentially no evidence base available to justify changes. Fortunately, the protocol will undergo review and revision, as it will be used and re-evaluated regularly and undoubtedly modified as more is learned about Krabbe disease. The authors have responded admirably to the problem presented to them, namely mandated newborn screening for a potentially fatal disorder with a controversial treatment, extreme variability in disease expression with no foolproof way to predict phenotype, and a need for great haste in follow-up. Unfortunately, the article falls short in virtually ignoring the considerable challenges that have arisen with the Krabbe disease newborn screening program. A great deal has been learned about Krabbe disease recently, no doubt in part as a result of successful efforts to focus attention on the disorder by a very effective high-profile patient advocacy group. The Hunter’s Hope Foundation was established by Pro Football Hall of Fame member Jim
Rigorous location of phase transitions in hard optimization problems

It is widely believed that for many optimization problems, no algorithm is substantially more efficient than exhaustive search. This means that finding optimal solutions for many practical problems is completely beyond any current or projected computational capacity. To understand the origin of this extreme 'hardness', computer scientists, mathematicians and physicists have been investigating for two decades a connection between computational complexity and phase transitions in random instances of constraint satisfaction problems. Here we present a mathematically rigorous method for locating such phase transitions. Our method works by analysing the distribution of distances between pairs of solutions as constraints are added. By identifying critical behaviour in the evolution of this distribution, we can pinpoint the threshold location for a number of problems, including the two most-studied ones: random k-SAT and random graph colouring. Our results prove that the heuristic predictions of statistical physics in this context are essentially correct. Moreover, we establish that random instances of constraint satisfaction problems have solutions well beyond the reach of any analysed algorithm.
IR Detection of H2O2 at 80 K in Ion-Irradiated Laboratory Ices Relevant to Europa

Abstract We present the first in situ laboratory detection of H 2 O 2 in H + irradiated ices at temperatures relevant to the icy Galilean satellites. These experiments were motivated by the recent Galileo NIMS detection on Europa of a 3.5-μm band identified with H 2 O 2 (R. W. Carlson et al. 1999, Science 283 , 2062–2064). In our laboratory experiments, the IR signature of H 2 O 2 was easily observed after irradiation of pure H 2 O at 16 K, but it was not seen after irradiation at 80 K. Radiolysis of mixtures of H 2 O with O 2 or CO 2 at 80 K did produce H 2 O 2 . These results show that ices more complex than pure H 2 O are involved in the radiolysis pathway to form H 2 O 2 on Europa. We also report the intrinsic band strength and radiation yield of H 2 O 2 in ice mixtures, along with possible formation and destruction mechanisms. Sufficient concentrations of H 2 O 2 can be formed in H 2 O ices containing O 2 to explain the NIMS observation.
Advertising, ethics and the competitive practice of medicine: Charles Elton Blanchard MD

On 2 May 1902 Charles Elton Blanchard and 34 other students graduated from the medical school which is now called Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. The Dean said “The class of 1902 will be heard from”.1 Dr. Blanchard did his best to fulfil this prediction writing 20 books in his lifetime, mostly published by the press he owned. He was ultimately forgotten, thus failing to fulfil the Dean’s promise. It took Blanchard 6 years to complete medical school because he had no money. He had to work writing advertising copy and at other jobs. When he graduated he did not have enough money to rent office space and open a practice so he worked as a drug company sales representative to doctors, travelling the midwest, learning from practitioners, and saving his money. “It was a royal experience … my heart warms up to the American doctor”.1 He saved enough money to buy the Cleveland Emergency Hospital for $4000. He had $7.50 in cash, a friend loaned him $150, he put down $100, and promised to pay the rest at $200 a month. This is when the trouble started. With this hospital Blanchard bought what today would be called a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). About 5000 company workers and their families paid $2–5 each year in exchange for all the medical care they needed. This is called capitation. “It looked like a good scheme to me … and the amount I had paid for it was but a fraction of what the institution had cost. Besides it smacked of humanitarianism—it was a cooperative brotherhood hospital.” The problem was that then the American Medical Association’s code of ethics said that such capitation practices were unethical. Dr Blanchard’s application to become a member of the local medical society was …
Repression of Epstein-Barr Virus EBNA-1 Gene Transcription by pRb during Restricted Latency

During the restricted programs of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latency in EBV-associated tumors and a subpopulation of latently infected B cells in healthy EBV carriers, transcription of the EBV nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA-1) gene is mediated by the promoter Qp. Previously, two noncanonical E2F binding sites were identified within Qp. The role of E2F in the regulation of Qp, however, has been controversial and is undefined. Here we demonstrate that an E2F factor(s) within Burkitt lymphoma (BL) cells binds to a G/C-rich element [GGCG(C/G)] within the previously identified binding sites in Qp and prototypical E2F response elements. Furthermore, Qp-driven reporter gene expression could be efficiently repressed through either E2F binding site by the tumor suppressor pRb, a potent transcriptional repressor targeted to promoters during G(0) and the early G(1) phase of the cell cycle via its interaction with E2F; a mutant pRb (pRb(706)) lacking E2F binding capability was unable to repress Qp. However, we did not observe cell cycle variation in the expression of either EBNA-1 mRNA or protein in exponentially growing BL cells, consistent with previous predictions that Qp is constitutively active in these cells and with the extremely long t(1/2) of EBNA-1. By contrast, within G(0)/G(1) in growth-arrested BL cells, EBNA-1 mRNA levels were twofold lower than in S phase, similar to the two- to eightfold differences in cell cycle expression of some cyclin mRNAs. Thus, although regulation of Qp is coupled to the cell cycle, this clearly has no impact on the level of EBNA-1 expressed in proliferating cells. We conclude, therefore, that the most important contribution of E2F to the regulation of Qp is to direct the pRb-mediated suppression of EBNA-1 expression within resting B cells, the principal reservoir of latent EBV. This would provide a means to restrict unneeded and potentially deleterious expression of EBNA-1 in a nonproliferating cell and to coordinate the activation of EBNA-1 expression necessary for EBV genome replication and maintenance upon reentry of the cell cycle in response to proliferative signals.
Expanding Trace Buffer Observation Window for In-System Silicon Debug through Selective Capture

Trace buffers are commonly used to capture data during in-system silicon debug. This paper exploits the fact that it is not necessary to capture error-free data in the trace buffer since that information is obtainable from simulation. The trace buffer need only capture data during clock cycles in which errors are present. A three pass methodology is proposed. During the first pass, the rough error rate is measured, in the second pass, a set of suspect clock cycles where errors may be present is determined, and then in the third pass, the trace buffer captures only during the suspect clock cycles. In this manner, the effective observation window of the trace buffer can be expanded significantly, by up to orders of magnitude. This greatly increases the effectiveness of a given size trace buffer and can rapidly speed up the debug process. The suspect clock cycles are determined through a two dimensional (2-D) compaction technique using a combination of multiple-input signature register (MISR) signatures and cycling register signatures. By intersecting the signatures, the proposed 2-D compaction technique generates a small set of remaining suspect clock cycles for which the trace buffer needs to capture data. Experimental results indicate very significant increases in the effective observation window for a trace buffer can be obtained.
Toward a Physiology of Dual-Process Reasoning and Judgment: Lemonade, Willpower, and Expensive Rule-Based Analysis

This experiment used the attraction effect to test the hypothesis that ingestion of sugar can reduce reliance on intuitive, heuristic-based decision making. In the attraction effect, a difficult choice between two options is swayed by the presence of a seemingly irrelevant "decoy" option. We replicated this effect and the finding that the effect increases when people have depleted their mental resources performing a previous self-control task. Our hypothesis was based on the assumption that effortful processes require and consume relatively large amounts of glucose (brain fuel), and that this use of glucose is why people use heuristic strategies after exerting self-control. Before performing any tasks, some participants drank lemonade sweetened with sugar, which restores blood glucose, whereas others drank lemonade containing a sugar substitute. Only lemonade with sugar reduced the attraction effect. These results show one way in which the body (blood glucose) interacts with the mind (self-control and reliance on heuristics).
Building a hit list for the fight against metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer

Identification of genetic alterations in Metastatic Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC) may provide scientists and clinicians with a list of new targets for drug research and development. Recently published in Cell, Robinson et al. present the first look at genetic data from mCRPC lesions gathered over multiple years and from many institutions.
An Analysis of Performance Standards and Generation Conflict in Academia

The article reports the authors' opinions regarding aspects of the generation gap phenomenon that relate to business education in the U.S. The authors' focus on the different teaching and research ...
Plasmonic resonances in self-assembled reduced symmetry gold nanorod structures.

Self-assembled plasmonic Dolmen structures consisting of small gold nanorods (length = 50 nm and diameter = 20 nm) with a few nanometer gaps are observed to show coherent effects of super-radiance and characteristics of Fano resonance due to the significantly reduced symmetry of the structure. Relative to previous larger structures from top-down electron-beam lithography, the single crystallinity and atomically smooth surfaces of these self-assembled plasmonic structures result in 50% narrower resonances, and the small gaps with associated strong coupling enable observation of multiple dark and bright modes. By tilting the cap monomer with respect to the base dimer an order of magnitude increase in E-field enhancement at the Fano dip is obtained. In addition, a spectrally broad mode is observed indicating the strong impact of the geometry of the structure on the nature of coupled modes. The highly localized electric near-fields in the gaps will enable strong light matter interactions and the narrow resona...
A Revised Preparation of (4-Acetamido-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl and 4-Acetamido-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-oxopiperidinium Tetrafluoroborate: Reagents for Stoichiometric Oxidations of Alcohols

Revised preparations of (4-acetamido-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl and the corresponding oxoammonium salt, 4-acetamido-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-oxoammonium tetrafluoroborate are presented together with some of the important properties of these two oxidizing­ reagents.
Rank correlation analysis between fluoride in water and that in soil in the endemic fluorosis area in Jiangsu Province

Objective To study the relationship between fluoride content in water and that in soil in the endemic fluorosis area in Jiangsu Province.Methods Water samples collected from surface soil and deep soil in the endemic fluorosis area of Xuzhou and Lianyungang,and fluoride content was tested.Then the inter-relationships of fluoride content in water and that in surface soil and fluoride content in water and that in deep soil were analyzed as well.Results There is a weak relationship between fluoride content in water and that in surface soil(rs=0.07,P0.05).There is no relationship between fluoride content in water and that in deep soil(rs=-0.179,P0.05).Conclusions It is feasible for fluoride in surface soil to move into groundwater in the endemic fluorosis area in Jiangsu Province.
Lucky ranging with towed arrays in underwater environments subject to non-stationary spatial coherence loss

This paper presents our new results on lucky ranging utilizing a towed array in environments subject to unknown fluctuating spatial coherence losses. We derive a lucky maximum likelihood range estimator based on the probabilistic assumption that each collected data snapshot is either coherent or purely incoherent with some probability. Our lucky range estimator can be interpreted as first ranking the coherence quality of each data snapshot according to an array gain-like quantity during the parameter search, followed by accumulation of likelihood surfaces out of data snapshots of high spatial-coherence. This effectively avoids the wash-out or the smearing results encountered in the traditional processing procedures of utilizing a long integration time without a prior screening for the data spatial-coherence. An important advantage of the lucky approach is that it makes no prior assumptions about the signal spatial coherence loss model. This estimator has greatly improved robustness over the conventional estimator when coherence is low and time-varying.
Salting public traces with attack traffic to test flow classifiers

We consider the problem of using flow-level data for detection of botnet command and control (C&C) activity. We find that current approaches do not consider timing-based calibration of the C&C traffic traces prior to using this traffic to salt a background traffic trace. Thus, timing-based features of the C&C traffic may be artificially distinctive, potentially leading to (unrealistically) optimistic flow classification results. In this paper, we show that round-trip times (RTT) of the C&C traffic are significantly smaller than that of the background traffic. We present a method to calibrate the timing-based features of the simulated botnet traffic by estimating eligible RTT samples from the background traffic. We then salt C&C traffic, and design flow classifiers under four scenarios: with and without calibrating timing-based features of C&C traffic, without using timing-based features, and calibrating C&C traffic only in the test set. In the flow classifier, we strive to use features that are not readily susceptible to obfuscation or tampering such as port numbers or protocol-specific information in the payload header. We discuss the results for several supervised classifiers, evaluating botnet C&C traffic precision, recall, and overall classification accuracy. Our experiments reveal to what extent the presence of timing artifacts in botnet traces leads to changes in classifier results.
A study of the impact of polymer–surfactant in drug nanoparticle coated pharmatose composites on dissolution performance

Abstract Without a proper stabilizer formulation, drug nanoparticles can aggregate during the formation of nanosuspensions and their drying into composite powders, which in turn can cause inadequate bioavailability enhancement from nanoparticles and ensuing lack of therapeutic efficacy. In this study, formulations with various polymer concentrations–molecular weights in the presence/absence of a surfactant were explored to assess their impact on redispersibility and drug dissolution from the composites. Suspensions of griseofulvin (GF), a poorly water-soluble drug, were prepared by wet stirred media milling and subsequently dried via fluidized bed drying–coating onto Pharmatose® carrier particles. Hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), with various molecular weights, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and their combinations were used as stabilizers during the milling. The dried composites were redispersed in water and SDS solution to recover the GF nanoparticles. Particle sizing via laser diffraction, SEM imaging, and dissolution testing were performed to investigate the redispersion and dissolution performance. Results show that good physical stability of the milled suspension is necessary, but not sufficient to guarantee fast redispersion–drug dissolution. For best performance, presence of SDS is critical; a minimum concentration of the polymer, as a film former, is also required to prevent the formation of hard aggregates during drying.
Characterization of Chorioretinopathy Associated with Mitochondrial Trifunctional Protein Disorders: Long-Term Follow-up of 21 Cases.

Purpose To assess long-term effects of genotype on chorioretinopathy severity in patients with mitochondrial trifunctional protein (MTP) disorders. Design Retrospective case series. Participants Consecutive patients with MTP disorders evaluated at a single center from 1994 through 2015, including 18 patients with long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (LCHADD) and 3 patients with trifunctional protein deficiency (TFPD). Methods Local records from all visits were reviewed. Every participant underwent a complete ophthalmic examination and was evaluated by a metabolic physician and dietitian. Nine patients underwent ancillary funduscopic imaging including optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography. Main Outcome Measures The primary outcome measure was best-corrected visual acuity at the final visit. Secondary outcome measures included spherical equivalent refraction, visual fields, electroretinography B-wave amplitudes, and qualitative imaging findings. Results Participants were followed up for a median of 5.6 years (range 0.3–20.2 years). The median age of LCHADD participants at initial and final visits was 2.3 and 11.9 years, whereas that for TFPD participants at initial and final visits was 4.7 and 15.5 years, respectively. Four long-term survivors older than 16 years were included (3 with LCHADD and 1 with TFPD). The LCHADD participants demonstrated a steady decline in visual acuity from an average of 0.23 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR; Snellen equivalent, 20/34) at baseline to 0.42 logMAR (Snellen equivalent, 20/53) at the final visit, whereas TFPD patients maintained excellent acuity throughout follow-up. Participants with LCHADD, but not TFPD, showed an increasing myopia with a mean decrease in spherical equivalent refraction of 0.24 diopters per year. Visual fields showed sensitivity losses centrally associated with defects on OCT. Multimodal imaging demonstrated progressive atrophy of the outer retina in LCHADD, often preceded by the formation of outer retinal tubulations and choriocapillaris dropout. Electroretinography findings support the more severe clinical profile of LCHADD patients compared with TFPD patients; the function of both rods and cones are attenuated diffusely in LCHADD patients, but are within normal limits for TFPD patients. Conclusions Despite improved survival with early diagnosis, medical management, and dietary treatment, participants with the LCHADD subtype of MTP disorder continue to demonstrate visually disabling chorioretinopathy. Multimodal imaging is most consistent with choriocapillaris loss exceeding photoreceptor loss.
Reversal of Tetracycline Resistance in Escherichia coli by Noncytotoxic bis(Tryptophan)s

Nine bis(tryptophan) derivatives (BTs) and two control compounds were synthesized and tested for antimicrobial activity against two Escherichia coli strains and a Staphylococcus aureus strain. The effects of linker type, shape, and conformational rigidity were manifested in dramatic differences in altering tetracycline potency when coadministered with that antibiotic. A reversal of resistance was observed for an E. coli strain having a TetA efflux pump. Survival of mammalian cells was assayed with good result.
Evaluation of the Botulism Hazard from Nitrogen-Packed Sandwiches

Clostridium botulinum was inoculated into hamburger, sausage and turkey sandwiches, which were subsequently placed in a nitrogen atmosphere. Growth of the bacterium was studied to assess the botulism hazard. Hamburgers inoculated with C. botulinum types A and B and incubated at room temperature became toxic on day 4 while remaining fully acceptable organoleptically. Sausages became toxic on day 7 while appearing marginally acceptable. In air at room temperature, all sandwiches were obviously decomposed before toxin was produced. Refrigeration under nitrogen prevented toxin production by types A and B; however, hamburgers inoculated with type E were toxic at 12 C in 30 days while appearing fully acceptable. All refrigerated sandwiches were either fully or marginally acceptable organoleptically throughout the 60-day observation period; none were obviously decomposed. Turkey sandwiches did not become toxic at any temperature or incubation time studied.
Structural biology: Growth factor rattled out of its cage.

The growth factor TGF-s1 is located inside a protein cage, and is thought to be released by force applied through integrin proteins. A structure of TGF-s1 in complex with integrin αVs6 sheds light on the uncaging process. See Article p.55 Members of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) family have functions in development, wound healing, immune response and tumorigenesis. They occur in a latent form, and only specific stimuli—such as binding to the receptor integrin αVβ6—release TGF-β from the embrace of its prodomain, which keeps it inactive. By solving the co-crystal structure of the integrin αVβ6 head bound to intact pro-TGF-β1, and through modelling work, Timothy Springer and colleagues describe structural features of integrin binding to latent pro-TGF-β1. One of their findings is that force-dependent molecular changes in the latent complex result in activation of TGF-β1.
Relict chondrules in primitive achondrites: Remnants from their precursor parent bodies

Abstract We studied the petrography, analyzed the chemical compositions, constrained the closure temperatures (via geothermometry), and determined the oxidation states of relict chondrules in Campo del Cielo (IAB iron meteorite), Graves Nunataks (GRA) 98028 (acapulcoite), and Netschaevo (IIE iron meteorite) to constrain their formation conditions and investigate links to known meteorite groups. Despite having been thermally metamorphosed, mineral phases within relict chondrules retain information about their precursor compositions. The sizes and textures of relict chondrules, and silicate and chromite compositions indicate that Campo del Cielo, GRA 98028, and Netschaevo had distinct parent bodies that were similar to, but different from, known chondrite groups. To determine the utility of relict chondrule sizes in thermally metamorphosed meteorites, we determined the chondrule size distributions in the LL chondrites Semarkona (LL3.00), Soko-Banja (LL4), Siena (LL5), and Saint-Severin (LL6), and the H chondrites Clovis (No. 1) (H3.6), Kesen (H4), Arbol Solo (H5), and Estacado (H6). As expected, mean chondrule diameters increase with degree of thermal metamorphism. We find that Campo del Cielo and GRA 98028 were reduced during thermal metamorphism, consistent with previous studies, indicating that their precursors were initially more FeO-rich than their current compositions. In contrast to previous studies, we find no evidence for reduction of silicates in Netschaevo. Normal zoning of olivine in Netschaevo is consistent with crystallization and suggests its silicates are near their primary FeO-contents. The presence of elongated chromite grains along olivine grain boundaries in Netschaevo indicates formation during thermal metamorphism under oxidizing conditions. Due to the absence of reduction and the composition of chromite being distinct from that of metamorphosed H chondrites, we conclude that Netschaevo, and by extension the IIE iron meteorites, are not from the H chondrite parent body.
Entrepreneurs in rural Japan: gender, blockage, and the pursuit of existential meaning

This article explores return migration for the purpose of starting small businesses. I discuss the cases of three individuals who decided to leave their employment in urban areas to start businesses in a small town in Tōhoku. The key research question focuses on how gender influences the ability of people to start and maintain small business in rural areas and the extent to which expectations and assumptions associated with gender roles inhibits the ability of women to start and continue small businesses. My findings suggest that gender can be an important inhibitor for people running businesses in rural Japan, but that this is not necessarily associated with being a woman. Furthermore, blockage of achieving personal and business goals, which are associated more with finding existential meaning rather than economic wealth, were more directly associated with one’s role in the family than with expectations specifically linked to gender.
Guide to the 2015 IEEE Radiation Effects Data Workshop Record

The 2015 Workshop Record has been reviewed and a table prepared to facilitate the search for radiation response data by part number, type, or effect.
Network visualization and problem-solving support: A cognitive fit study

Abstract This study examines the relative effectiveness of four different social network representations for improving human problem-solving accuracy and speed: node-link diagrams, adjacency matrices, tables, and text. Results suggest that visual network representations improve problem-solving accuracy and speed, compared with text. Among the visual representations, tables produced superior problem-solving outcomes for symbolic tasks and link-node diagrams produced superior problem-solving outcomes for spatial tasks. These results partially support a cognitive fit model of problem-solving support. There is not “one best way” to represent network data. Instead, it is important to match network representations and problem-solving tasks.
Effect of Sex Ratio of the Birth Litter on Subsequent Reproductive Performance of Gilts

Records on age at puberty from 1,555 gilts and total number of pigs born in litters of 1,187 gilts from the Nebraska gene pool population were used to evaluate the effects of uterine environment on subsequent reproductive performance. Independent variables were line, year, line x year, proportion of males in the birth litter (sex ratio), number born in the birth litter (fraternity size) and sex ratio x fraternity size. Sex ratio, fraternity size and their interaction influenced age at puberty (P less than .01) but not number born (P greater than .2). Partial regression coefficients indicated that age at puberty tended to decrease as sex ratio increased, particularly in small litters. Although the regression coefficients were relatively large, sex ratio, fraternity size and their interaction accounted for only 1.3% of the variation in age at puberty within line x year subclass. These results offer little encouragement for the use of sex ratio as a phenotypic selection criterion for improvement of reproductive performance in gilts. Results suggest that female swine are similar to rodents in response to uterine environmental effects.
Siblings with Mental Retardation, Illness, or Disability

When a child in the family is afflicted with mental retardation, chronic illness, or disability, the normal course of development is altered. The question that, in one form or another, has stimulated research over the past three or four decades is: What is the effect on the siblings of the afflicted child?
Evolution of Knowledge Management Towards Enterprise Decision Support: The Case of KPMG

Realizing that knowledge and its proper management are essential for effective decision support, this chapter traces the evolution of knowledge management within a major professional services firm – KPMG. By supporting decision making, computer-based systems for managing knowledge can impact organizational performance and the very nature of the organization itself. Here, we examine a progression of knowledge management systems at KPMG, beginning with the 1997 condition of having disparate or no knowledge management systems and culminating with an enterprise-wide integrated system accommodating both locally and globally managed knowledge. This chapter investigates why KPMG pursued the development and implementation of a global knowledge management system. Strategically, knowledge-management advances were used to transform the firm from a confederation of local enterprises to a global enterprise. In addition, it summarizes some of the key capabilities and technologies of the resulting knowledge management system, K-World. This chapter also examines some key implementation issues. Finally, the chapter investigates two key problems emerging from the use of the system after its introduction: search and client confidentiality, plus some of the emerging extensions for K-World.
Learning a Joint Low-Rank and Gaussian Model in Matrix Completion with Spectral Regularization and Expectation Maximization Algorithm

Completing a partially-known matrix, is an important problem in the field of data science and useful for many related applications, e.g., collaborative filtering for recommendation systems, global positioning in large-scale sensor networks. Low-rank and Gaussian models are two popular classes of models used in matrix completion, both of which have proven success. In this paper, we introduce a single model that leverage the features of both low-rank and Gaussian models. We develop a novel method based on Expectation Maximization (EM) that involves spectral regularization (for low-rank part) as well as maximum likelihood maximization (for learning Gaussian parameters). We also test our framework on real-world movie rating data, and provide comparison results with some of the common methods used for matrix completion.
Unintended Consequences of California’s Cap-and-Trade: An Examination of Industrial Electricity Productivity since California Enacted Assembly Bill 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act

Greater American regulatory moving from federal to state governments has resulted in varying levels of environmental legislation and regulation. One example is the cap-and-trade system in California, which has been deemed a success in limiting greenhouse gas emissions as well as in earning revenue for the state. However, the coinciding production rates for polluting organizations has not been analyzed on a macro level. This study examined the air pollution and production rates of electricity organizations operating in California since cap-and-trade went into effect and found that since the legislation took effect, not only did production decreased slightly, but also, contrary to much analysis, the rates of air pollution from these organizations increased sharply.