cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Thermal Annealing on Organic Vapor Sorption and Transport in a Nematogenic Copolyester

ABSTRACT The sorption and transport of acetone in a glassy liquid crystalline random copolyester, composed of 40 mole percent p-hydroxybenzoic acid and 30 mole percent each of p-hydroquinone and isophthalic acid (HIQ-40), were characterized as a function of thermal treatment temperature. The solubility and diffusivity of acetone in solvent-cast amorphous HIQ-40 films are similar to the solubility and diffusivity of acetone observed in common amorphous, glassy barrier polymers. Controlled thermal annealing resulted in the systematic reduction of both the solubility and acetone diffusion coefficient by approximately an order of magnitude. These effects result, presumably, from the systematic development of nematic liquid crystalline order and a small amount of conventional three-dimensional crystallinity with controlled annealing. These results suggest that liquid crystalline order strongly precludes penetrant absorption and subsequent transport in HIQ-40, with penetrant solubility and transport limited to less ordered defect regions between liquid crystalline domains.
Prevention of Problem Drinking among Youth

The search for effective means of preventing problem drinking among young people is an extremely important endeavor. There are two major reasons why prevention is essential. First, a massive body of evidence in the public health field has shown that both physical and mental health problems are relatively difficult to control by treating problem cases after the problems have appeared and become established. Problem drinking and/or alcoholism cases are generally the most intractable of all clinical problems. Despite the fact that the prevalence of alcoholism among adults has not been stemmed by treatment, tremendous expenditures of public resources have been devoted to treatment efforts. In comparison with attempts to prevent the development of these problems, such treatment efforts have had a long and expensive history. Second, identifying effective prevention strategies is vitally important because drinking is a problem of progressively dismaying magnitude among the youth of this country. Some perspectives on the dimensions of this problem are afforded by recent reviews on the epidemiology and psychosocial correlates of teenage drinking (Braucht, 1980) and adolescent problem drinking (Braucht, 1981).
Discovering the Brain Substrates of Eyeblink Classical Conditioning

This chapter is of necessity a rather personal document. From the beginning of my scientific career I had a deep interest in the brain mechanisms of learning and memory, stemming in part from the writings of Pavlov, Lashley and Hebb. I had the good fortune to obtain a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin with W.J. Brogden, a pioneering figure in this field who discovered sensory preconditioning and did classic work with Gantt on the possible role of cerebellum in classical conditioning (Brogden & Gantt, 1942). My good fortune continued in a postdoctoral fellowship with Clinton Woolsey at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. Woolsey was an eminent neurophysiologist whose pioneering work first demonstrated the exquisitely detailed representations of sensory projections to the cerebral cortex and the organization of motor cortex, as well as the organization of sensory and motor cortical projections to the cerebellar cortex.
Engineering Laser Coherence for Imaging Applications

We develop lasers with low spatial coherence to achieve speckle-free full-field imaging. We also invent a fast and efficient method of switching the spatial coherence of a laser for multimodality microscopy.
The implications of sympathetic and parasympathetic regulatory coordination for understanding child adjustment.

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is comprised of sympathetic and parasympathetic branches that control core adaptive systems, including cardiac regulation, across periods of rest, reactivity, and recovery. Despite their heavily intertwined functions, research examining the coordination of parasympathetic and sympathetic ANS regulation is limited. This study examined the effects of 6-year-olds' (N = 198; 49.5% female; 46% Latinx) capacity for ANS reactivity and recovery in both sympathetic (i.e., pre-ejection period [PEP]) and parasympathetic (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) systems on their caregiver- and examiner-reported adaptability and attention problems at age 8. Results indicated that children's later adaptation was better accounted for by the coordination of their PEP and RSA activity than by either system in isolation. Children who evidenced optimal reactivity and recovery patterns, which entail reciprocal sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, evidenced more adaptability and fewer attention problems at age 8. In contrast, children who displayed discoordinated ANS reactivity patterns (e.g., high activation of both systems) or a total failure to recover (e.g., short PEP connoting high sympathetic activity and low RSA connoting low parasympathetic activity) evidenced poorer adjustment. These findings illustrate the incremental knowledge afforded by the joint consideration of both sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of ANS regulation in concert, as well as the importance of considering both ANS reactivity and recovery capacities for understanding adaptation.
Mitigation Process for DNS Flood Attacks

Domain Name System (DNS) is an important infrastructure of the Internet. However, DNS can be attacked by flooding DNS servers with tongs of DNS queries within a short time period. In this short paper, we analyze DNS attacks and propose a mitigation process.
Particle crushing in hydrate-bearing sands

Abstract The depressurization of natural hydrate deposits to produce methane gas can increase the effective stress in hydrate-bearing sediments, which may induce sand particle crushing. Sand crushing may become detrimental to gas production, because the breakage of sand particles can cause sediment contraction, reduction in permeability, and the generation of finer particles exacerbating solids migration and sand production. This study experimentally investigates particle crushing in tetrahydrofuran hydrate-bearing sands. Sandy specimens with various hydrate saturation are loaded to different stresses (up to 40 MPa) in an instrumented oedometer cell to induce sand crushing. The results show that the presence of hydrate crystals inhibits sand particle crushing. More pronounced sand crushing occurs in specimens with lower hydrate saturation and under higher maximum effective stress. Hydrate crystals can cement neighboring sand particles and constrain the particles from rotating and rearranging during loading. Relatively larger particles in hydrate-bearing sediments experience surface grinding with no significant decreases in particle sizes, and shear-off asperities of the larger particles contribute to an increase in the proportion of smaller particles. The total volumetric strain in hydrate-bearing sediments due to loading can be estimated using the known hydrate saturation and the volumetric strain of hydrate-free sediments subjected to an identical load. The changes in hydraulic conductivity due to sand particle crushing are correlated to the breakage index. The results highlight that gas production from hydrate deposits using depressurization increases the effective stress and the loss of hydrate crystals can exacerbate sand crushing.
South Asian American Writers: Geography and Memory.

(1996). South Asian American Writers: Geography and Memory. Amerasia Journal: Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 121-138.
A novel tilt sensor for studying ice deformation: application to streaming ice on Jarvis Glacier, Alaska

We developed a tilt sensor for studying ice deformation and installed our tilt sensor systems in two boreholes drilled close to the shear margin of Jarvis Glacier, Alaska to obtain kinematic measurements of streaming ice. We used the collected tilt data to calculate borehole deformation by tracking the orientation of the sensors over time. The sensors' tilts generally trended down-glacier, with an element of cross-glacier flow in the borehole closer to the shear margin. We also evaluated our results against flow dynamic parameters derived from Glen's exponential flow law and explored the parameter space of the stress exponent n and enhancement factor E. Comparison with values from ice deformation experiments shows that the ice on Jarvis is characterized by higher n values than that is expected in regions of low stress, particularly at the shear margin (~3.4). The higher n values could be attributed to the observed high total strains coupled with potential dynamic recrystallization, causing anisotropic development and consequently sped up ice flow. Jarvis' n values place the creep regime of the ice between basal slip and dislocation creep. Tuning E towards a theoretical upper limit of 10 for anisotropic ice with single-maximum fabric reduces the n values by 0.2.
Spatial heterogeneity of winds during Santa Ana and non-Santa Ana wildfires in Southern California with implications for fire risk modeling

Abstract In Southern California, the Santa Ana winds are famous for their role in spreading large wildfires during the fall/winter season. Combined with Southern California's complex topography, Santa Anas create challenges for modeling wind-fire relationships in this region. Here, we assess heterogeneity of winds during Santa Ana and non-Santa Ana days, on days with and without large-fire ignitions, across a modern high-density observational network of 30 meteorological stations. Wind speeds on Santa Ana days with a large fire ignition (mean windspeed = 5.19 m/s) are significantly higher than on Santa Ana days without large fire ignitions (3.96 m/s), while on non-Santa Ana days winds are generally weaker, during both fire (2.30 m/s) and non-fire (2.38 m/s) days. Hierarchical clustering of meteorological stations during both Santa Ana and non-Santa Ana days reveals groups of stations with consistently similar wind speed and directions. All stations clearly exhibit high wind speeds on Santa Ana days, and most record contrasting wind characteristics during Santa Ana versus non-Santa Ana ignitions. Additionally, our analysis revealed that key geographic siting traits are not represented in the network, including few stations with northwest aspect and upper slope in the southern mountains.
Rights Don't Stand Alone: Responsibility for Rights in a Pandemic.

In “Vexing, Veiled, and Inequitable” Amy Fairchild et al. (2020) analyze social distancing during the current pandemic through a rights framework. Fairchild et al. maintain that social distancing c...
State Regulation of Alcohol Distribution: The Effects of Post & Hold Laws on Output and Social Harms

The Twenty-first Amendment repealed prohibition, but granted the states broad power to regulate the distribution and sale of alcohol to consumers within their borders. Pursuant to this authority, states have established a complex web of regulations that limit the ability of beer, wine, and liquor producers to control the distribution of their product. From a consumer welfare perspective, one of the most potentially harmful state alcohol distribution regulations are “post and hold” laws (“PH laws”). PH laws require that alcohol distributors share future prices with rivals by “posting” them in advance, and then “hold” these prices for a specified period of time. Economic theory would suggest that PH laws reduce unilateral incentives for distributors to reduce prices and may facilitate tacit or explicit collusion, both to the detriment of consumers. Consistent with economic theory, we show that the PH laws reduce consumption by 2-8 percent. We also test whether PH laws provide offsetting benefits in the form of reducing a range of social harms associated with alcohol consumption. We find no evidence of such offsetting benefits. Taken together these results suggest that PH laws are socially harmful and result only in a wealth transfer from marginal alcohol consumers, who are unlikely to exert externalities on society, to wholesalers. These results also suggest a socially beneficial role for antitrust challenges to PH laws and similar anticompetitive state regulation. If states wish to reduce the social ills associated with drinking, our results suggest that increasing taxes and directly targeting social harms are superior policy instruments to PH laws.
Sensor-Based Transportation Mode Recognition Using Variational Autoencoder

We present a data augmentation technique that can improve the classification of transportation modes when the training data is insufficient. The proposed method uses a variational autoencoder (VAE) based synthetic data generation algorithm for smartphone data. Often the data collected by individuals for research is limited due to practical constraints. The algorithm discussed would aid in generating similar data from a handful of collected data to give a substantial dataset for any machine learning models. We propose a VAE, the decoder of which can help generate this synthetic data. We show that the synthetic data closely follows the pattern of the real data. We also show that classification accuracy is improved with the use of this type of data. Our method would also be a useful tool to boost the samples of an underrepresented class in a dataset. The detection of activity recognition using smartphone sensors could be applied to multiple aspects of vehicle to pedestrian P2V systems and smart mobility.
Vision Deterioration and Hydrocephalus: Rare Presentations of Vestibular Schwannoma and Evolution of Management

Introduction The incidence of vestibular schwannoma is reported as 12 to 54 new cases per million per year, increasing over time. These patients usually present with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, or vertigo. Rarely, these patients present with symptoms of hydrocephalus or vision changes. Objective The study aimed to evaluate the surgical management of vestibular schwannoma at a single institution and to identify factors that may contribute to hydrocephalus, papilledema, and the need for pre-resection diversion of cerebrospinal fluid. Patients and Methods A retrospective review examining the data of 203 patients with vestibular schwannoma managed with surgical resection from May 2008 to May 2020. We stratified patients into five different groups to analyze: tumors with a diameter of ≥40 mm, clinical evidence of hydrocephalus, and of papilledema, and patients who underwent pre-resection cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diversion. Results From May 2008 to May 2020, 203 patients were treated with surgical resection. Patients with tumors ≥40 mm were more likely to present with visual symptoms (p Conclusion This case series highlights the rare presentation of vision changes and hydrocephalus in patients with vestibular schwannoma. We recommend urgent CSF diversion for patients with visual symptoms and hydrocephalus, followed by definitive resection. Further, vision may still deteriorate even after CSF diversion and tumor resection.
Residual stress modeling considering microstructure evolution in metal additive manufacturing

Abstract Metal additive manufacturing (AM) process induces residual stress which can hinder the applicability of AM. Residual stress build-up causes part failure due to the crack initiation and growth, and also distortion during or after fabrication. Consequently, it is of great importance to accurately and rapidly predict residual stress within the AM parts. During the thermal loading, the grain size is altered at the subsurface through dynamic recrystallization (DRx) and subsequent recovery. The yield strength of the alloys is largely determined by the size of nucleated grains, and it has a substantial influence on residual stress build-up. In this work, a physics-based analytical model is proposed to predict the residual stress considering the microstructure of the additively manufactured part. The thermal signature of this process is predicted using a transient moving point heat source. Due to the high-temperature gradient innate in this process, material may experience high thermal stress which often exceeds the yield strength. The thermal stress is obtained from Green’s functions of stresses due to the point body load. The modified Johnson-Cook flow stress model is used to predict the yield surface. In this flow stress model, the yield strength parameter is modified to incorporate the effect of grain size using Hall-Petch equation. The dynamic recrystallization and the resultant grain size are predicted by utilizing the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov (JMAK) model for IN718 alloy. Moreover, a grain refinement model is used to include the effect of the rapid solidification on grain size. Then, as a result of the cyclic heating and cooling and the fact that the material is yielded, the residual stress build-up is precited from incremental plasticity and kinematic hardening behavior of the metal according to the property of volume invariance in plastic deformation in coupling with equilibrium and compatibility conditions. Results from the analytical residual stress model showed good agreement with X-ray diffraction measurements used to determine the residual stresses in the IN718 specimens. Moreover, the phases present in the IN178 samples built via direct metal disposition (DMD) are evaluated using X-ray diffraction.
Child Development and Well-Being

This chapter focuses on introducing information about normative physical, social-emotional, and cognitive development as well as how this development is interrupted and altered as a result of trauma associated with child maltreatment. The chapter outlines several domains of normative development and behavior as it relates to a child’s physical and social environment and key caregiver responsibilities and nurturing. The chapter describes the family life cycle, attachment and bonding, and relationships and describes the research regarding promoting child and adolescent well-being. The chapter also presents parenting styles, discipline, and what the research concludes about healthy and unhealthy parenting and its short-term and long-term implications.
Hybrid-ARQ Protocols Based on Tornado Codes for the Packet Erasure Channel

Lossless data transfer over communication networks has traditionally been achieved by means of ARQ protocols. However, the last ten years have seen an increasing interest in using erasure-correcting codes as an alternative, with the goal of reducing latency, feedback overhead, etc. Since these two approaches possess advantages as well as drawbacks, several hybrid ARQ schemes have also been proposed as good compromise solutions, in order to attain the “best of both worlds”. Extending this principle, this paper develops new classes of hybrid ARQ protocols for erasure channels that allow for flexible trade-offs between two important cost metrics, viz., the computational complexity of coding , and the amount of feedback needed. Our hybrid schemes make use of Tornado codes – a class of low-complexity capacity-achieving erasure codes – whose coding structure is well-suited for feedback-based communications. These schemes demonstrate significant cost reductions versus coding-only and feedback-only approaches over a wide region of interest. Moreover, these schemes are easily tuned to achieve different operating points on a trade-off curve. Finally, the proposed schemes showcase novel means of interweaving coding and feedback.
Learning to be Fair: A Consequentialist Approach to Equitable Decision-Making.

In the dominant paradigm for designing equitable machine learning systems, one works to ensure that model predictions satisfy various fairness criteria, such as parity in error rates across race, gender, and other legally protected traits. That approach, however, typically divorces predictions from the downstream outcomes they ultimately affect, and, as a result, can induce unexpected harms. Here we present an alternative framework for fairness that directly anticipates the consequences of actions. Stakeholders first specify preferences over the possible outcomes of an algorithmically informed decision-making process. For example, lenders may prefer extending credit to those most likely to repay a loan, while also preferring similar lending rates across neighborhoods. One then searches the space of decision policies to maximize the specified utility. We develop and describe a method for efficiently learning these optimal policies from data for a large family of expressive utility functions, facilitating a more holistic approach to equitable decision-making.
Bystander action in situations of dating and sexual aggression: a mixed methodological study of high school youth

Bystander action is a critical component of dating and sexual aggression prevention; however, little is known about barriers and facilitators of bystander action among high school youth and in what situations youth are willing to engage in bystander action. The current study examined bystander action in situations of dating and sexual aggression using a mixed methodological design. Participants included primarily Caucasian (83.0 %, n = 181) male (54.6 %, n = 119) and female (44.5 %, n = 97) high school youth (N = 218). Most (93.6 %) students had the opportunity to take action during the past year in situations of dating or sexual aggression; being female and histories of dating and sexual aggression related to bystander action. Thematic analysis of the focus group data identified barriers (e.g., the aggression not meeting a certain threshold, anticipated negative consequences) to bystander action, as well as insight on promising forms of action (e.g., verbally telling the perpetrator to stop, getting a teacher); problematic intervention methods (e.g., threatening or using physical violence to stop the perpetrator) were also noted. Implications for programming are discussed.
Molecular Design for Dual Modulation Effect of Amyloid Protein Aggregation

Modulation of protein self-assembly has been a powerful strategy for controlling and understanding amyloid protein aggregation. Most modulators of amyloid aggregation only involve simple inhibition or acceleration. Here we report a new multivalent molecular motif, the polyethylenimine-perphenazine (PEI-P) conjugate which has a dual "acceleration-inhibition" modulation effect on amyloid β (Aβ) aggregation. Dose dependent results from Thioflavin T fluorescence assays, circular dichroism, and atomic force microscopy show that PEI-P conjugates accelerate formation of Aβ prefibrillar intermediates and then inhibit Aβ fibrillation. Furthermore, compared to perphenazine alone, PEI-P conjugates exhibit an enhanced inhibitory effect due to multivalency. Cell viability assays indicate that the PEI-P conjugates reduce the cytotoxicity of Aβ aggregates in a dose-dependent manner. This new modulation strategy may shed light on controlling amyloid aggregation, which offers a general concept for designing new modulators.
The Rainbow Trout Pineal Organ: An Endocrine Photometer

Like the pineal organs of other vertebrates, those of teleost fish synthesize and secrete melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) (Fenwick, 1970; Gern et al., l978a,b; Falcon et al., 1989a; Kezuka et al., 1989; Zachmann et al., 1991). Unlike mammals, pineal organs in non-mammalian vertebrates are directly photoreceptive and these processes are involved in regulating melatonin synthesis. Pineal melatonin synthesis in chickens (Binkely et al., 1978; Kasal et al., 1979; Takahashi et al., 1980; Takahashi et al., 1989), anoline lizards (Menaker & Wisner, 1983) and probably many other nonmammalian vertebrates (Falcon et al., 1989b; Kezuka et al., 1989) is associated with an endogenous circadian clock. In mammals, experimental evidence does not indicate the presence of a clock within the pineal. Rather in mammals a clock, present in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, regulates pineal melatonin synthesis via neuronal connections from the SCN (Moore & Klein, 1974).
The RTSORAC Real-Time Object-Oriented Database Prototype

Applications that interact with their environments, such as automated vehicle control, manufacturing, and air-traffic control, have large volumes of time-constrained data on which time-constrained transactions may operate. Such applications can be supported by real-time database management systems [16]. Additionally, these applications often involve complex data types with complex associations among the data items. The vast majority of work on real-time databases to date has used the relational data model [16, 23], which has limitations for complex data [24].
The Boundless Self: Communication in Physical and Virtual Spaces Reviewed by Stuart Aitken

Paul C. Adams. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005. xvii and 252 pp., diagrams, photos, notes, appendixes, and index. $29.95 cloth (ISBN 0-8156-3056-5). The heart behind this book is laud...
Inventory Control with a Cash Register: Sales Recorded but Not Demand or Shrinkage

Inventory inaccuracy is common at retailers. At many retailers, a cash register records incoming orders and outgoing sales, but not the demand or the shrinkage. The shrinkage refers to spoilage or pilferage of inventory. The demand differs from the sales in the periodic-review lost-sales inventory model presented in this paper. When the inventory exceeds the demand, the remaining inventory is subject to a shrinkage unobserved by the inventory manager. Otherwise, the unmet demand is lost and unobserved. Our objective is to minimize the expected discounted cost over an infinite horizon. We use dynamic programming along with the concept of unnormalized probability, and prove the existence of an optimal feedback policy and that the value function is the solution of the dynamic programming equation. We obtain a theoretical lower bound for the cost via the formulation of a fictitious inventory problem. For discrete-valued inventories, we provide the analogous formulation, develop an iterative algorithm, and compare its solution to a myopic solution and a lower bound. We identify many cases of parameter values for which the solution of the iterative algorithm performs significantly better than the myopic solution. Moreover, the achieved cost is close to the lower bound.
Health, Political Economy of

The political economy of health is rooted in the development of the concept of political economy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It has, however, only emerged as a research program over the last few decades. Much of this research utilizes a Marxist, class-based approach to explain the quality of health both within countries as well as globally. It has tended to focus on political, economic, and psychosocial factors in explaining health outcomes. A key contribution of the political economy of health is its emphasis on how these factors affect health. This approach goes beyond biology and medicine in researching how national economic policies and public interventions by the state may impact and contribute to the quality of population health. Keywords: governance; income distribution; inequality; Marxism; welfare
An efficient method for improving the quality of per-test fault diagnosis

Per-test fault diagnosis methodology has been shown to be an effective one for the identification of complex defects. We improve a recent per-test technique by applying additional diagnosis on the outputs of the circuit. The new method brings in more evidence to support the true failures, hence improves the diagnostic quality. We show that this method can very well address several problems in previous work.
Fragmented Rights in the Commons and Anticommons: Externalities as a Function of Transaction Costs

Economists often envision commons and anticommons as occurring from either too few or too many rights-claimants over a good. While this perspective has an intuitive appeal, it obfuscates similarities between commons and anticommons, with significant impact on proposed policy solutions. This paper argues for a two-dimensional approach to commons and anticommons aimed at modeling the role of transaction costs. It is possible for rights to usage, rights to exclusion, or both types of rights to exhibit fragmentation of ownership. Fragmented rights along two different dimensions add to transaction costs multiplicatively. This perspective suggests that solving commons and anticommons requires more than just adding rights or taking them away. Instead, the ownership structure of rights can have as much importance as their allocation or specific content.
Abstract 88: The Nkx3.1 homeobox gene maintains prostatic identity while its loss leads to prostate cancer initiation

Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA Background Maintenance of epithelial cell identity is tightly coordinated by tissue-specific gene expression programs, which are often deregulated during tumorigenesis. The homeodomain-containing transcription factor, Nkx3.1, is a key regulator of normal prostatic development and is frequently lost at early stages of prostate cancer initiation. In this study, we aim to elucidate detailed mechanisms governing Nkx3.1-driven maintenance of prostate identity and how deregulation of such can lead to prostate tumorigenesis. Models and Methods We evaluated the consequences of Nkx3.1 loss or gain of function in vivo using genetically-engineered mouse models and cell-recombination assays. RNA sequencing was performed to generate gene expression profiles, which were analyzed using Gene Set Enrichment analysis (GSEA), and validated by quantitative real-time PCR. In parallel, protein expression was assessed by immunofluorescence and western blot. Immunoprecipitation (IP) and chromatin-immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays were performed using RWPE1 prostate epithelial cells. Results Here, we show that loss of function of Nkx3.1 leads to the progressive down-regulation of a prostate-specific gene expression program and to aberrant expression of genes that are not typically expressed in the prostate epithelium. Conversely, gain of function of Nkx3.1 in non-prostatic epithelium leads to the acquisition of a prostate-like morphology and expression of prostate-related genes. Our findings indicate that the underlying mechanism by which Nkx3.1 promotes prostatic identity is via epigenetic regulation of gene expression. In particular, we show that Nkx3.1 interacts with the histone methyl-transferase complex G9a/Glp. Finally, we demonstrate that this interaction is necessary for maintenance of prostate identity in vivo and that Nkx3.1 and G9a cooperate to control expression of genes that coordinate prostatic epithelial integrity. Conclusions Our results suggest that Nkx3.1 promotes prostatic identity by interacting with histone modifying enzymes to coordinate the expression of prostate-specific genes and that the loss of this function results in a failure to maintain prostate identity associated with early stages of prostate tumorigenesis. Citation Format: Clementine Le Magnen, Aditya Dutta, Cory Abate-Shen. The Nkx3.1 homeobox gene maintains prostatic identity while its loss leads to prostate cancer initiation. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 88. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-88
A new edge-grouping algorithm for multiple complex objects localization

We present a new algorithm that provides an efficient localization method of elliptic industrial objects. Our proposed feature extraction inherits edge grouping approaches. But instead of utilizing edge linkage to restore incomplete contours, we introduce criteria of feature's parameters and optimize the criteria using an extended Kalman filter. Through a new parameter estimation under a proper ellipse representation, our system successfully generates ellipse hypotheses by grouping the fragmental edges in the scene. An important advantage of using our Kalman filter approach is that a desired feature can be robustly extracted regardless of ill-condition of partial edges and outlier noises. The experiment results demonstrate a robust localization performance.
Reactivity of VP4-specific monoclonal antibodies to a serotype 4 porcine rotavirus with distinct serotypes of human (symptomatic and asymptomatic) and animal rotaviruses.

Thirteen hybridomas secreting VP4-specific monoclonal antibodies against the Gottfried strain of porcine rotavirus (serotype 4) were produced and characterized. Nine of the hybridomas secreted neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (N-MAbs) against Gottfried rotavirus. These N-MAbs were divided into five distinct groups (groups I to V) according to their patterns of reactivity with different serotypes of human and animal rotaviruses. Group I N-MAbs (n = 3) were cross-reactive with five different serotypes of human rotavirus examined by a plaque reduction virus neutralization test. Group II N-MAbs (n = 3) neutralized all symptomatic human rotavirus serotypes tested and asymptomatic human rotavirus serotype 4 to a low titer. The single group III N-MAb neutralized mainly symptomatic human rotavirus serotypes 2 and 9 and none of the asymptomatic human rotavirus serotypes. The one N-MAb in group IV reacted at low titers with only asymptomatic human rotavirus serotypes 1 through 4. A group V N-MAb recognized serotype 4 porcine rotaviruses (Gottfried and SB-2) but no other human or animal rotaviruses examined. None of the N-MAbs recognized any animal rotaviruses tested (SA-11, RRV, OSU, NCDV, and B223), except for the Gottfried and SB-2 rotaviruses. The failure of N-MAbs (groups I to IV) to react with any animal rotaviruses tested but their ability to react variably with all human rotaviruses tested suggest that neutralizing epitopes on the VP4 protein are highly conserved between the Gottfried porcine and human rotaviruses. The Gottfried rotavirus may possibly represent a naturally occurring reassortant between pig and human rotaviruses or a rotavirus which is human in origin but pathogenic for swine. Images
Adsorption and accommodation of Xe on Pt{111}

We have recorded real-space images of Xe atoms adsorbed in a 4-K Pt{111} surface. In the dilute coverage limit, we find nearly all the Xe atoms at step edges. From this observation we deduce a lower limit of hundreds of angstroms that Xe atoms scatter across the surface before becoming thermally accommodated. This result is in sharp contrast to previous studies of metal-atom adsorption on metal surfaces in which it is believed that a large fraction of the impinging atoms remain at their point of impact at low surface temperature. For Xe, once the step sites are nearly saturated, point defects on the Pt{111} surface nucleate the growth of compact, incommensurate, rotationally ordered Xe islands. Thus, we have imaged the initiation of the growth of a surface overlayer, and have identified the sites at which this growth begins.
Interviewer influence on durations of interviewee speech

Summary Two experiments are described in which the interviewer, using open-ended non-directive questions, controlled the durations of each of his own comments throughout an interview in order to study his influence on the durations of the interviewee's responses. Two durations of interviewer's utterance (5 sec versus 10 sec) were employed in counter-balanced designs. Although the interviews seemed to be typical non-directive ones, the results show the striking influence of changes in the interviewer's speaking durations on corresponding durations of speech of interviewees. For the two durations employed by E in the present study, a change in his own single units of speech from 5 sec to 10 sec was associated with a similar increase in the duration of single units of speech he elicited from S (i.e., a change from roughly 25 sec to 50 sec). Comparable changes were obtained in S's speech behavior when E changed his own interviewing style from 10-sec utterances to 5-sec utterances.
Conservative management of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws: Staging and treatment outcomes

Summary Objective Bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws is a well-established disorder in which patients treated with bisphosphonates develop exposed necrotic bone in the oral cavity. The objective of this study was to report staging and treatment outcomes in a large cohort of patients with bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws managed primarily with non-surgical measures. Patients and methods A retrospective medical record review was conducted from 1998 to 2010 of all patients referred for the management of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws. Clinical findings and staging were assessed at initial consultation and each follow-up visit. Management was provided to minimize symptoms and/or achieve resolution of lesions. Treatment responses were defined based on symptoms and/or change in staging. Results There were 120 records reviewed and 97 patients seen for follow-up (median 12 months); 90% were cancer patients. Bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws was managed with observation (16%), antibiotics (55%), non-surgical sequestrectomy ± antibiotics (14%), or surgery ± antibiotics (14%). There were 14 patients (12%) who presented with stage 0 disease; 41%, 43%, and 5% of patients presented at stages 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Greater than 70% of patients improved, remained asymptomatic, and/or showed complete re-epithelialization when evaluated at 0–3, 3–6, 6–9, 9–12, and/or >12 months. Seventeen patients developed non-infectious complications of BONJ including neuropathy ( N = 9), painful tongue ulcers ( N = 7), or pathologic fracture ( N = 1). Twelve patients with multiple myeloma underwent hematopoietic cell transplantation without infectious complications. Conclusions A primarily non-surgical approach appears to be a successful management strategy for bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws. Overall, 71–80% of patients improved or remained asymptomatic with a median follow-up of 12 months.
Surgery for coarctation of the aorta in infants weighing less than 2 kg

Abstract Background . Low- and very low-birth weight infants are now candidates for reparative cardiac surgery. Outcomes after coarctation repair have not been characterized in this patient population. Methods . We performed a retrospective review of 18 consecutive neonates less than 2 kg who underwent repair of aortic coarctation between August 1990 and December 1999. Results . Median weight was 1,330 g, and median gestational age was 31 weeks. A ventricular septal defect was present in 5 patients, and Shone's complex in 4. Sixteen patients had resection and end-to-end anastomosis, and 2 had resection and subclavian flap. Median clamp time was 15.5 minutes. One patient died during hospitalization. Two patients died late postoperatively (5-year estimated survival 80%). Mean follow-up was 28.5 months. Eight patients (44%) had a residual or recurrent coarctation, 5 underwent balloon dilation, and 3 underwent reoperation. Freedom from reintervention for recoarctation was 60% at 5 years. Shone's complex or a hypoplastic arch was an independent risk factor for decreased survival ( p p = 0.01). Conclusions . Coarctation repair in less than 2-kg premature non-Shone's infants can be performed with a low mortality. The rate of recoarctation is higher in the very low-birth weight infants, but can be managed with low risk.
Atrial tachycardia originating from the left coronary cusp near the aorto-mitral junction: anatomic considerations

Large atrial electrograms are routinely recorded when map-ping the NCC. Because atrial musculature has not beendemonstrated to extend into the NCC, the likely substratefor atrial arrhythmia ablation in this region may be theadjacent right atrial (RA) or left atrial (LA) myocardiumbehind the thin aortic wall at the level of the sinotubularjunction.Otomo et al
Influence of valve prosthesis type on the recovery of ventricular dysfunction and subendocardial ischaemia following valve replacement for aortic stenosis

Abstract Background Long-standing aortic stenosis (AS) causes significant progressive left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and may result in subendocardial ischaemia. Following aortic valve surgery, LV function may improve and this may be accompanied by reversal of ischaemia. There is debate about the differential effects of valve substitutes. Methods We studied 33 patients with significant AS and impaired LV systolic function. Patients underwent trans-thoracic Doppler echocardiography and 12-lead electrocardiography pre-operatively, prior to discharge from hospital and at 2.5 (range 1.5–3) years follow-up. Results Twenty patients received a stentless valve and 13 a stented valve. No patient had significant aortic regurgitation, other valvular disease or coronary artery disease. LV fractional shortening (FS) increased from 19±6% to 26±7% post-operatively and to 33±12% at follow-up in the stentless group ( p p p =0.01). LV free wall excursion increased from 0.8±0.3 to 1.1±0.4 cm ( p =0.05) and to 1.4±0.3 cm ( p =0.02 compared with pre-operative values) in the stentless group. In the stented group, values were 1.0±0.4, 1.0±0.3 and 1.3±0.2 cm ( p =0.05 compared with pre-operative) at the three time points, respectively. QRS duration fell from 113±36 ms pre-operatively to 99±12 ms at follow-up in the stentless group and from 117±28 to 99±19 ms in the stented group, p =0.01 for both comparisons. QT interval fell from 385±54 ms pre-operatively to 366±39 ms at follow-up ( p =0.04) in the stentless group with no significant change in the stented group (387±52 and 375±33 ms, p =0.24). There was reversal of LV strain pattern in 11 (55%) of the stentless group and 6 (46%) of the stented group and normalisation of the inverted U wave in two thirds of patients. Conclusion In patients with AS and severe LV dysfunction, there is a more rapid improvement in LV function following aortic valve replacement with a stentless prosthesis. Improvements in those receiving stented valves appear delayed, although there were no differences between the groups in LV function or mass at follow-up. Normalisation of LV free wall systolic behaviour, narrowing of the QRS complex and a reduction in the QT interval suggest that AS is associated with subendocardial ischaemia that reverses following valve replacement.
Political Restraint in the Socialization of Student Teachers.

Abstract Schools are political as well as educational institutions. Among their political activities is the control of knowledge. This can occur through the selection of what is taught, in what context, by whom and for what purposes. Studies of restraint in the schools show that topics considered controversial are often viewed outside the realm of teacher and student business. This study investigates perceptions concerning selected factors of political restraint of three successive graduating classes of pre-service teacher education students in the school in which the students had worked as student teachers.
3 Hypoxemia and Protein Clearance from the Pulmonary Vascular Bed of Pups

Clearances of plasma proteins from, the pulmonary circulation (Cl prot.) are 2–3 fold greater for 2–3 weekold pups than for adult dogs (J. Pediat. 69: 966, 1966). Those data probably indicate greater permeability of the pulmonary capillaries to plasma proteins (PCP) for pups than for adult dogs as transpulmonary artery wedge pressure and effective pulmonary blood flow were similar for pups and adult dogs. The effect of hypoxemia on Cl prot. has now been evaluated in five anesthetized, normothermic, artificially ventilated 2–3 week-old pups. Cl prot. was calculated from lung lymph and serum protein concentrations and lung lymph flow rate and expressed as μ1 plasma cleared/100 g lung/h. During 30 min ventilation with 10 % O2, mean PO2 dropped from 102 to 35 mm Hg, and mean Cl prot. increased 38 % (range 15 to 49 %) over control values. Cl prot. returned to control values on return to 21 % O2 ventilation in 3 pups, and remained elevated in 2. Arterial pH was maintained at normal levels throughout the experiments. Transpulmonary artery wedge pressure was similar during periods of ventilation with 21 % and 10% O2. Thus a hemodynamic basis for the increase in Cl prot. associated with hypoxemia is unlikely. These data indicate that PCP, which is already increased as a handicap of immaturity in pups, is further increased by severe hypoxemia. Similar studies are in progress on adult dogs. (SPR)
Participatory Budgeting in the United States: A Preliminary Analysis of Chicago's 49th Ward Experiment

This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the first participatory budgeting experiment in the United States, in Chicago's 49th Ward. There are two avenues of inquiry: First, does participatory budgeting result in different budgetary priorities than standard practices? Second, do projects meet normative social justice outcomes? It is clear that allowing citizens to determine municipal budget projects results in very different outcomes than standard procedures. Importantly, citizens in the 49th Ward consistently choose projects that the research literature classifies as low priority. The results are mixed, however, when it comes to social justice outcomes. While there is no clear pattern in which projects are located only in affluent sections of the ward, there is evidence of geographic clustering. Select areas are awarded projects like community gardens, dog parks, and playgrounds, while others are limited to street resurfacing, sidewalk repairs, bike racks, and bike lanes. Based on our findings, we of...
Imaging Acute Appendicitis

Acute appendicitis is the most common entity requiring emergent abdominal surgery. Early diagnosis is critical to proper management. Patients often present with a classic clinical picture and may not require imaging, although many patients have nonspecific signs and symptoms. It is in these cases that imaging plays a large role. Imaging options include computed tomography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance. The following discussion addresses the different imaging modality options with regard to diagnostic performance, indications, and interpretation in patients with suspected acute appendicitis.
Influence of experimental removal of large woody debris on spatial patterns of three-dimensional flow in a meander bend

This study reports the results of a large woody debris (LWD) removal experiment in a meander bend along a low-energy stream in the Midwestern United States. The LWD obstacle was located in the center of the channel at the bend exit and consisted of a mature tree with an intact soil-covered root wad and a large accumulation of logs, branches and pieces of lumber on top of and adjacent to the main tree. The results indicate that the LWD obstruction influenced 3D flow structure in this bend at all flow stages. The main effect of LWD is to dramatically decelerate flow throughout the majority of the bend, while locally accelerating flow where it passes through the narrow chute at the downstream end of the LWD obstruction. Results from the LWD removal experiment indicate that patterns of three-dimensional flow structure in meander bends are sensitive to complete removal of LWD. After the removal of LWD from the bend, both downstream and secondary velocities increased and, though still weak, secondary flow intensified. Large, relatively stable, obstructions that span a significant portion of the channel may act as natural dams, effectively ponding water upstream of the LWD, thereby producing substantial convective deceleration of the flow. This research is the first to document three-dimensional flow structure before and after a controlled removal of LWD from a meander bend. Studies of the type reported here represent a first step toward determining the ensemble of process interactions between LWD and bend dynamics. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.