cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Patterns of multiallelic polymorphism maintained by migration and selection.

Evolution at a multiallelic locus under the joint action of migration and viability selection is investigated. Generations are discrete and nonoverlapping. The monoecious, diploid population is subdivided into finitely many panmictic colonies that exchange adult migrants independently of genotype. The forward migration matrix is arbitrary, but time independent and ergodic (i.e., irreducible and aperiodic). Several examples of globally attracting multiallelic equilibria are presented. Migration can cause global fixation even if, without migration, there is a globally attracting multiallelic equilibrium in every colony. Migration can also cause the global fixation of an allele that, without migration, is eliminated in every colony. Without dominance, generically, the number of alleles present at equilibrium cannot exceed the number of colonies. Some general properties and examples of the Levene model are studied in detail. If in each colony there is either no dominance or, without migration, a globally attracting internal equilibrium, then there exists a globally attracting equilibrium with migration. Therefore, if an internal equilibrium exists, it is the global attractor.
Development of an invasive species distribution model with fine-resolution remote sensing

Abstract Saltcedar ( Tamarix spp.) is recognized as one of the most aggressively invasive species throughout the Western United States. Mapping its suitable habitat is of paramount importance to effective management, and thus, becomes a high priority for conservation practitioners. In previous studies, species distribution models (SDMs) have been applied to predicting the suitable habitats of saltcedar at national scale, but at coarser spatial resolution (1 km). Although such studies achieved some success, they are lacking of capability to accommodate fine-scale resolution environmental variables, and therefore, fail to uncover detailed spatial pattern of habitats. The objective of this study was to develop a remote sensing driven SDM so as to characterize suitable habitats of saltcedar at very fine spatial scale (30 m). We exploited several fine-scale environmental predictors through remote sensing images, and utilized the logistic regression model to analyze the species–habitat relationship by identifying influential factors with subset selection criteria. We also incorporated the spatial autocorrelation with regression kriging method. Our results indicated that the model incorporating spatial autocorrelation achieved a higher accuracy than that of regression only model. Among 10 environmental variables, the distance to the river and the phenological attributes summarized by the harmonic analysis were regarded as the most significant in predicting the invasive potential of saltcedar. We conclude that remote sensing driven SDM has potential to identify the suitable habitat of saltcedar at a fine scale and locate appropriate areas at high risk of saltcedar infestation, which could benefit the early control and proactive management strategies to a large extent.
Amphibian Vitellogenin: Properties, Hormonal Regulation of Hepatic Synthesis and Ovarian Uptake, and Conversion to Yolk Proteins

Amphibian vitellogenin is a sex-limited protein found in the serum of normal females but not that of males. Its appearance can be induced in males, females, and hypophysectomized animals by estrogens, particularly estradiol-17rβ. The natural source of estradiol-17rβ is the ovary, and ovarian synthesis is markedly stimulated by gonadotropin(s). The pituitary is the natural source of gonadotropin(s), and hypophysectomy invariably leads to ovarian regression. Pituitary secretion in turn appears to depend primarily upon food supply rather than other environmental factors. The liver is the site of vitellogenin synthesis, and its induction by estrogen may involve both transcriptional and translational control mechanisms. Estrogen induction of unprimed liver (in which no vitellogenin synthesis occurs) may involve a cell differentiation or division phenomenon and has not yet been achieved in vitro. Estrogen induction of primed liver (in which a basal level of vitellogenin synthesis takes place) appears to be primarily a modulation phenomenon and can be duplicated to some extent in vitro. The secretion of vitellogenin by liver parenchymal cell is as yet poorly understood. Available evidence indicates that synthesis, phosphorylation, and lipid addition are closely linked events, and that approximately 2 hr are required for the newly synthesized peptide chain to be secreted from the liver. Serum vitellogenin is sequestered by the ovary, and specifically by the vitellogenic oocyte, by a micropinocytotic process. The uptake of vitellogenin is highly selective, is stimulated by gonadotropin(s), and may involve attachment to receptor sites on the oocyte membrane. Once incorporated into the oocyte, vitellogenin is converted within yolk platelets into the yolk proteins lipovitellin and phosvitin, for which it seems to be the sole source. The conversion process appears to involve a proteolytic cleavage of the vitellogenin peptides into those that make up lipovitellin and phosvitin.
Undergraduate Training of Dairy Technologists in Food Science Departments

Abstract The current status and the possible fate of undergraduate training in dairy technology at institutions with broad-based, food oriented departments are examined. It is proposed that dairy technology be covered in depth and dairy industry courses be required of all food technology students. Because of its complexity, milk is an excellent model on which to build further knowledge of foods. The subject may be taught in a manner which is both academically and professionally sound as a voluminous literature of technical and scientific information on milk and dairy products is available for teaching aids. This recommendation is not merely an effort to turn out more dairy technologists at the expense of food technologists but rather to strengthen the food technology programs by having them draw from a time tested, well-documented area of study. Additional suggestions are for types of courses and a cooperative industry work-study program.
The Analytical Determination of Friction for Flow Through Conical Converging Dies.

Abstract The effects of friction upon the intermediate and final distorted grids for wire drawing and/or extrusion were analytically studied for an assumed triangular velocity field. An upper-bound solution for the process was used. This solution predicted that the shape of the final and intermediate distorted grids were functions of the process geometry and of friction. Initially, combinations of reduction and semi-cone angle (α) were found for which the triangular velocity field was energetically preferred over an existing spherical velocity field. The analytical final distorted grids were then compared to experimentally obtained final distorted grids to determine the experimental friction. This was done by plotting calibration curves for distortion where friction served as the parameter and by comparing the actual distortion with the family of calibration curves.
Maintenance of the EHS sarcoma and Matrigel preparation

Matrigel is a reconstituted basement membrane extract which is rich in laminin, growth factors, entactin/nidogen, type IV collagen, and heparan sulfate proteoglycan (perlecan). This basement membrane extract can be used for promotion and maintenance of a differentiated phenotype in cell cultures, as well as for a variety of in vitro and in vivo uses. The Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm (EHS) sarcoma is a rich source of both individual basement membrane components and Matrigel. Maintenance of the EHS tumor in mice and its subsequent harvesting for the preparation of Matrigel are described.
FTIR Study of the Oxidation of Porous Silicon

The oxidation of hydrogen-terminated porous silicon surfaces produced by electrochemical etching has been studied using transmission FTIR spectroscopy. The surface is passivated to oxidation by surface hydrogen below about 523 K. Above this temperature as hydrogen depletion occurs by H2 evolution, Si surface dangling bond sites, capable of O2 dissociation, are involved in initiating the first stage of oxidation. Two reactions are observed. The first, O insertion into Si−Si back-bonds, leads to −OySiHx surface species which exhibit frequency shifts to the blue compared to parent SiHx stretching modes. In addition, Si−O−Si modes are also observed to form. The second reaction involves oxygen atom insertion into Si−H bonds to produce isolated Si−OH surface species.
Calculation of pressure profiles in accelerators using a matrix method

Abstract The pressure profile in a one-dimensional vacuum system can be calculated using a matrix calculus method. This method is very similar to that used to evaluate the transverse electron motion in accelerators. A computer program based on this method is presented and compared to the analytical calculation of some examples.
The immersed boundary method

This paper is concerned with the mathematical structure of the immersed boundary (IB) method, which is intended for the computer simulation of fluid–structure interaction, especially in biological fluid dynamics. The IB formulation of such problems, derived here from the principle of least action, involves both Eulerian and Lagrangian variables, linked by the Dirac delta function. Spatial discretization of the IB equations is based on a fixed Cartesian mesh for the Eulerian variables, and a moving curvilinear mesh for the Lagrangian variables. The two types of variables are linked by interaction equations that involve a smoothed approximation to the Dirac delta function. Eulerian/Lagrangian identities govern the transfer of data from one mesh to the other. Temporal discretization is by a second-order Runge–Kutta method. Current and future research directions are pointed out, and applications of the IB method are briefly discussed. Introduction The immersed boundary (IB) method was introduced to study flow patterns around heart valves and has evolved into a generally useful method for problems of fluid–structure interaction. The IB method is both a mathematical formulation and a numerical scheme. The mathematical formulation employs a mixture of Eulerian and Lagrangian variables. These are related by interaction equations in which the Dirac delta function plays a prominent role. In the numerical scheme motivated by the IB formulation, the Eulerian variables are defined on a fixed Cartesian mesh, and the Lagrangian variables are defined on a curvilinear mesh that moves freely through the fixed Cartesian mesh without being constrained to adapt to it in any way at all.
Distribution and dispersal of desert mistletoe is scale-dependent, hierarchically nested

Spatial patterns are important to many ecological processes, and scale is a critical component of both patterns and processes. I examined the pattern and scale of the spatial distribution of infection of host plants by the desert mistletoe, Phoradendron californicum, in a landscape that spans several square kilometers. I also studied the relationship between mistletoe infection and seed dispersal. I found elevated seed rain in areas with a high prevalence of mistletoes and I found that a greater proportion of trees receive seeds than are infected, suggesting that mistletoes will be aggregated in space. Using nested analysis of variance and variograms, I found that mistletoe infections were distributed in hierarchical patches. Mistletoes were aggregated within trees and mistletoe prevalence was correlated at scales of 4000 m. Patterns at the largest scales were correlated with elevation: sites'at higher elevations showed reduced mistletoe infection compared to those at lower elevations. I propose that at small scales, mistletoe distributions are primarily the result of aggregation of seed-dispersing birds, and that the elevational effect could reflect the recent colonization of higher elevations by the mistletoes' mesquite hosts or the limits of the mistletoes' physiological tolerance to freezing-induced cavitation.
Probabilistic analysis of transaction blocking under arbitrary data access distribution in database systems

Abstract Past analytic studies of concurrency control algorithms for database systems have assumed that data access distributions of transactions are uniformly distributed across the entire database. This assumption is largely forced by the fact that computation of the probability of transaction blocking due to conflicts in case of an arbitrary access distribution is impractical (due to combinatorial explosion), even for a database of small size. However, this assumption is unrealistic because in real-life databases, transactions exhibit locality of data reference [16, 21, 25]. Since the probability of conflicts among transactions is sensitive to the data access distribution of transactions, and since the performance of concurrency control algorithms is sensitive to the probability of conflicts, it is important that performance studies of concurrency control algorithms be carried out for arbitrary data access distribution. To assist the performance analysis of concurrency control algorithms under arbitrary data access distributions, in this paper we present an analysis of transaction blocking under arbitrary data access distribution. We present a polynomial time algorithm for computation of probability of conflicts among a set of transactions of given size for databases where data access distribution is arbitrary. Direct computation of this probability from the expression has exponential complexity, and complexity of computation of this probability under uniform data access case is constant. We illustrate the proposed technique by taking a numerical example, and show that the assumption of uniform data access distribution can introduce significant error.
Use of Community-Based Participatory Research Methods in Adults' Health Assessment

Since adults 18 to 64 years of age represent the fastest growing population, we conducted a community assessment to assess health status, chronic disease prevalence, health behaviors, utilization of health screenings, and access to health care. A total of 450 adults completed a 56-item assessment on quality of life. Prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes were higher than Healthy People 2010 targets. Respondents reported poor health behaviors, such as a lack of physical activity. Data from this community assessment will be used for program development and to obtain funding.
Optical Reflectance of Chromium-Rich Chromium—Nickel Alloys between 0.45 and 2.5 eV at Room Temperature

The optical reflectance of chromium—nickel alloys with up to 4 at% nickel was measured at room temperature for photon energies between 0.45 and 2.5 eV. The reflectance edge in this photon energy range was within experimental accuracy independent of nickel concentration. This was attributed to the formation of virtual energy states associated with nickel impurities.
Evaluation of Beauvericin Toxicity with the Bacterial Bioluminescence Assay and the Ames Mutagenicity Bioassay

The bacterial bioluminescence assay was used to determine the acute toxicity level of beauvericin, which was found to be moderate with an EC 5 0 of 94 ′ 9 μg/mL. The Ames test was used to evaluate mutagenicity of this mycoroxin. Assays were carried out on 5 Saimonella typhimurium standard tester strains. The spot test was performed on a single beauvericin concentration of 2 μg/plate. The plate incorporation test was done over a range of concentrations (0.2 to 500 μg/plate), both with and without S9. A negative control and 3 positive controls. 2-aminofluorene, sodium azide, and dexon, were included in the assays. Beauvericin was nonmutagenic to any of the standard tester strains used, either with or without metabolic activation.
Distributed Constraint Satisfaction as a Computational Model of Negotiation via Argumentation

Distributed and collaborative agents are promising to play an important role in largescale multi-agent applications where such collaborative agents may enter into conflicts over their shared resources. Negotiation via argumentation (NVA), where agents provide explicit arguments or justifications for their proposals for resolving conflicts, is a promising approach to collaborative conflict resolution[1]. While previous implemented argumentation systems have performed well in small-size applications, no systematic investigation in large scale has been done. Thus, several questions about computational performance of argumentation remain unaddressed; such as understanding if (and when) argumentation actually speeds up conflict resolution convergence and formulating different collaborative NVA strategies to understand their impact on convergence. Answering these questions requires an abstract, well-understood computational model of argumentation, suitable for large-scale experimental investigations.
PROSPECTIVE AND RETROSPECTIVE PERTURBATION ANALYSES: THEIR ROLES IN CONSERVATION BIOLOGY

Demographic perturbation analysis explores how population statistics (especially population growth rate λ) respond to changes in the vital rates (survival, growth, development, reproduction, and so on). Perturbation analysis is used in two logically distinct ways. Prospective analyses (sensitivity and elasticity) explore the functional dependence of λ on the vital rates. They predict the changes in λ that would result from any specified change in the vital rates and are independent of previous patterns of variability of the vital rates. Retrospective analyses (life table response experiment [LTRE] methods and other kinds of variance decomposition) express observed variation in λ as a function of observed (co)variation in the vital rates. Their results are specific to the observed pattern of variation. Sensitivity and elasticity analysis can be used to identify potential management targets because changes in vital rates with high sensitivity or elasticity will produce large changes in λ. Sometimes that potential may not be realized because it is difficult or impossible to change those vital rates. Retrospective analyses cannot identify potential management targets because they compare the contributions of past changes in vital rates, not the effects of future changes. Just as the results of heritability analysis say nothing about the efficacy of clinical treatments, so the results of retrospective analysis say nothing about the efficacy of potential management tactics. Perturbation analysis is a powerful tool with important implications for conservation. It is important that perturbation analyses be applied properly.
Effects of orthopedic polymer particles on chemotaxis of macrophages and mesenchymal stem cells

Wear particles generated from total joint arthroplasty (TJA) stimulate macrophages to release chemokines. The role of chemokines released from wear particle-stimulated macrophages on the migration of macrophages and osteoprogenitor cells in vitro has not been elucidated. In this study, we challenged murine macrophages (RAW 264.7) with clinically relevant polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA, 1-10 μm) and ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE, 2-3 μm) particles. The chemotactic effects of the conditioned media (CM) were tested in vitro using human macrophages (THP-1) and human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as the migrating cells. CM collected from both particle types had a chemotactic effect on human macrophages, which could be eliminated by monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) neutralizing antibody. Blocking the CCR1 receptor eliminated the chemotactic effect, while CCR2 antibody only partially decreased THP-1 cell migration. CM from PMMA but not UHMWPE-exposed macrophages led to chemotaxis of MSCs; this effect could be eliminated by macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha (MIP-1α) neutralizing antibody. Neither CCR1 nor CCR2 blocking antibodies showed an effect on the migration of MSCs. Chemokines released by macrophages stimulated by wear particles can have an effect on the migration of macrophages and MSCs. This effect seems to be dependent on the particle type, and may be modulated by MCP-1 and MIP-1α, however more than one chemokine may be necessary for chemotaxis.
A one‐step synthesis of [3‐2H]oxazepam

The proton at 3-position of oxazepam (7-chloro-1,3-dihydro-3-hydroxy-5-phenyl-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one) undergoes a deuterium exchange in deuterated alkaline methanol. A base-catalyzed keto-enol tautomerism is proposed to be responsible for the observed deuterium exchange. This simple method is a considerable improvement of the multi-step synthetic procedure reported in the literature.
Alternative approaches to the deep femoral, popliteal, and infrapopliteal arteries in the leg and foot: Part II

Use of the nonstandard, alternative approaches to infrainguinal arteries described in this article has made possible the salvage of many ischemie lower extremities that would otherwise be extremely difficult or impossible to revascularize. Most of these were in the increasing proportion of patients whose limb-threatening ischemia occurred after a primary arterial reconstruction had failed. In this setting the unusual alternative approaches facilitated secondary operations that could be performed without the need to redissect arteries through a scarred or infected wound. These approaches have also permitted shorter bypasses and thereby allowed us to use autogenous vein in patients who might otherwise have required a prosthetic graft. This is particularly important for bypass procedures that extend to infrapopliteal arteries, since vein graft patency is so much better in this location. Therefore these alternative approaches have assumed increasing importance and utility in our practice. We believe that they will be equally helpful to others as more vascular surgeons accept the premise that most limb-threatening lower extremity ischemia can and should be treated by arterial reconstruction rather than by amputation.
A modeling and aggregation approach for analyzing resilience of manufacturing enterprises

We consider modeling of manufacturing enterprises as networks which process, store, and transport materials between enterprise nodes in order to feed customer demand. Each node within the network is represented as a dynamic model with associated costs of production and inventory. Examples of disruptions for such an enterprise could be weather events, material shortages, equipment disasters, or labor events. Using the dynamic model, we consider major disruptions within this network. We present aggregation methods which can support the analysis to evaluate the impact of these disruptions, and develop control strategies that reduce the impact of the disruption.
Identification of Two Distinct Types of Flagellar Cap Proteins, FliD, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Binding of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PAK to mucin has been shown to be mediated by the flagellar cap protein, product of the fliD gene. Since the flagellar cap is very likely an exposed structure, the FliD polypeptide should be recognized by the host immune system, analogous to the recognition of dominant epitopes located in the exposed parts of the flagellin polypeptide within the assembled flagellum. In P. aeruginosa, a number of distinct flagellin variants are made, and these variable sequences presumably allow the newly infected P. aeruginosa to escape recognition by the antibody induced during a previous infection. Since similar mechanisms may direct the selection of FliD variants, we examined the extent of sequence heterogeneity among various FliD sequences among a selected group of P. aeruginosa. The results of PCR and nucleotide sequencing of the fliD region of eight different P. aeruginosa strains (laboratory strains PAK, PAO1, and PA103; clinical strains 1244, CS2, and CS32; cystic fibrosis strains CS29 and MDR) suggested that there were two distinct types of FliD in P. aeruginosa, which we named A type and B type. The results of Western blotting using the polyclonal antibodies raised against the purified FliD of A type (PAK) or B type (PAO1) further confirmed the existence of two distinct antigenic types of FliD proteins, with no cross-reactivity between the two serotypes. Further Western immunoblot analysis of the same strains using polyclonal FliC antibody showed that the strains with A-type FliD possessed a-type FliC and those with B-type FliD had b-type FliC. Similar Western blot analyses of 50 more P. aeruginosa strains obtained from varied sources revealed that all strains contained either A-type or B-type FliD, suggesting the existence of only two types of FliD in P. aeruginosa and indicating that fliC and fliD were coinherited. This limited diversity of FliC and FliD serotypes seems to be a unique feature of flagellar proteins. A chromosomal mutant having an insertion in the fliD gene of P. aeruginosa PAO1 was constructed. The motility defect of this mutant and a previously constructed PAK fliD mutant was better complemented with the fliD gene of the homologous types.
Political Matrix and Political Representation: Prolegomenon to a New Departure from an Old Problem

Scholars interested in theorizing about political representation in terms relevant to democratic governance in mid-twentieth century America find themselves in a quandary. We are surrounded by functioning representative institutions, or at least by institutions formally described as representative. Individuals who presumably "represent" other citizens govern some 90 thousand different political units-they sit on school and special district boards, on township and city councils, on county directorates, on state and national assemblies, and so forth. But the flourishing activity of representation has not yet been matched by a sustained effort to explain what makes the representational process tick. Despite the proliferation of representative governments over the past century, theory about representation has not moved much beyond the eighteenth-century formulation of Edmund Burke. Certainly most empirical research has been cast in the Burkean vocabulary.' But in order to think in novel ways about representative government in the twentieth-century, we may have to admit that present conceptions guiding empirical research are obsolete. This in turn means that the spell of Burke's vocabulary over scientific work on representation must be broken.2 To look afresh at representation, it is neces-
Modelling with Stochastic Petri Nets

Stochastic Petri nets (SPNs) are well suited to representing concurrency, synchronization, precedence, and priority. After presenting the basic SPN building blocks in Section 2.1, we give a series of examples in Section 2.2 that illustrates the use of SPNs for modelling discrete-event systems. We pay particular attention to complications that arise in the specification of new-marking probabilities. These probabilities determine the mechanism by which a transition removes tokens from a random subset of its normal input places and deposits tokens in a random subset of its output places when it fires. Consideration of a queueing system with batch arrivals shows that new-marking probabilities must be allowed to depend explicitly on the current marking; that is, the SPN formalism must include marking-dependent transitions. By means of an example, we show how new-marking probabilities for an SPN with marking-dependent transitions can be specified in a form suitable for processing by a computer program. Another complication arises when more than one transition can fire at a time point. In principle, new-marking probabilities must be defined for all possible sets of simultaneously firing transitions, and there can be an extremely large number of such sets. As shown in Section 2.3, concise specification of new-marking probabilities can be facilitated by assigning numerical “priorities” to transitions.
Identification of factors regulating MET receptor endocytosis by high-throughput siRNA screening

The tyrosine kinase MET, a receptor for hepatocyte growth factor, is a key regulator for normal development and organ renewal via stem cell maintenance. Dysregulated MET signaling contributes to tumor progression and metastasis and is considered a potent therapeutic target for a growing number of malignancies. Toward that goal it is critical to develop high-throughput assays to identify candidate regulators for the termination of MET signaling. We describe here a rapid and efficient method for identifying cellular factors required for MET ubiquitination, which utilizes high-throughput RNA interference screening (HT-siRNA) with a receptor internalization assay and an In-Cell ELISA in a 96-well format. The assay is amenable to a large array of cell surface proteins as well as genome-wide siRNA libraries, with high signal-to-background ratio and low well-to-well variability.
Nonlinear optical Stokes ellipsometric (NOSE) microscopy for imaging the nonlinear susceptibility tensors of collagen

Nonlinear optical Stokes ellipsometric (NOSE) microscopy was demonstrated for the analysis of collagen structure in a mouse tail section. NOSE is based on polarization-dependent second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging. The fast polarization-modulation was achieved using an electro-optic modulator (EOM), allowing for the potential of video-rate NOSE analysis. The signal to noise advantages associated with suppression of 1/f noise by rapid polarization modulation allowed reliable recovery of the local-frame tensor on a per-pixel basis. An iterative approach involving laboratory to local frame coordinate transformation was developed to recover the spatial distribution of local-frame nonlinear susceptibility tensor elements of collagen as well as the polar and azimuthal orientation angles of the collagen structure.
Health Issues of Gay and Lesbian Youth: Implications for Schools

Abstract Every day in public schools, young gay and lesbian youths must face discrimination manifested in acts of isolation, physical abuse, and denial of basic rights of speech, assembly, and association. This article describes specific concerns and health issues of gay and lesbian youths and the manner in which professionals in college and public school settings can address these issues through an integrated curricular effort. Guidelines for successful programs are suggested, and varied resources are provided.
Preoperative evaluation before noncardiac vascular surgery

How to assess a patient’s perioperative risk, deciding when clinical factors are sufficient to gauge risk and when pharmacologic stress testing is needed.
Effects of androgens on concentrations of LH and FSH in the male rat pituitary.

SummaryCastration of adult male rats resulted in a 5-fold increase in pituitary LH concentration, but no change in pituitary FSH concentration. Estrone, testosterone, δ 4 Androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone inhibited the post-castration increase in pituitary LH and there was a relationship between dose and degree of inhibition. Those steroids which exhibited an androgenic effect increased the pituitary FSH concentration in the castrate pituitary, but a dose-response relationship was not discernible.
Introduction: New England Law Review Symposium on ‚Convicting the Innocent‛

Examining what went wrong in the first 250 DNA exonerations was a sobering occupation, and I describe what I found in my book Convicting the Innocent, published by Harvard University Press in 2011. Still more haunting is the question of how many other wrongful convictions have not been uncovered and will never see the light of day. The New England Law Review has brought together a remarkable group of scholars who have each made leading contributions to the study of wrongful convictions from different disciplines and scholarly perspectives: Simon Cole, Deborah Davis, Gisli H. Gudjonsson, Richard Leo, and Elizabeth Loftus. Each has done ground-breaking work focusing on evidence in criminal investigations and prosecutions, looking beyond just what we know from the wrongful convictions that do come to light. This Symposium issue returns the focus to research that can tell us more about the causes of wrongful convictions, and in this introduction I try to do justice to their remarkable contributions.
The Simplified Decoding Algorithm Research of LLR-BP Algorithm

The LLR-BP algorithm based on Gallager-approach and its simplified decoding algorithm is studied. The performance of LLR-BP algorithm based on Gallager-approach and its three simplified decoding algorithm are simulated by Matlab.The simulation results indicated that.The BER performance of LLR-BP algorithm based on Gallager-approach,normalized BP algorithm and offset BP algorithm are very similar, and when the SNR is larger than 2 dB, the BER performance of Normalized BP algorithm and offset BP algorithm is slightly better than the BER performance of LLR-BP algorithm based on Gallager-approach. The BER performance of min-sum algorithm is relatively the worst.
Research in toughening modification of cyanate ester resin

In this article,the currently employed toughening methods for cyanate ester resins were reviewed with 36 refs,including copolymerization,blending with thermosetting resins(EP、BMI、BMI/EP/CE),thermoplastics(PSU、PEI),rubber elastomers,and combinations containing unsaturated double bondor and nano-meter particle.At the same time,the development tendency and the application prospect of cyanate ester resins were also discussed.
Abstract P6-02-01: Screening mammography in women over age 75: Is it beneficial?

Background: In 2015 the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) stated that there was insufficient evidence for the use of screening mammography in women aged 75 and older. This statement was based on the lack of randomized controlled trials demonstrating survival benefit in this population. As per the American College of Radiology, the acceptable cancer detection rate via screening mammography is at least 2.5 cases per 1000 examinations for an institution, with reported rates as high as 4.7 cases per 1000. Aim: In this study, we sought to examine our institution9s practice of screening mammography for women 75 years and older. We aimed to determine the incidence of cancer detection in this age group through screening mammography. Methods: A search was performed to identify women aged 75 and above who underwent screening mammography at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2014. Patients classified as BIRADS 0 on initial screening were reclassified based on their subsequent diagnostic imaging, if performed. A chart review was performed for those patients who underwent breast biopsies to obtain their pathology results. Results: In this two year period, 2057 patients aged 75 and older underwent screening mammography. The majority of women in this age group had non-actionable results of their screening mammography, and were classified as BIRADS 1 or 2 (96%). There were a total of 49 patients who had BIRADS 3 final results (2.4%). Twenty-two patients had screening mammograms that were classified as BIRADS 4 (1.1%). Biopsies revealed 6 invasive ductal carcinomas, 4 cases of in situ carcinoma, 2 cases of duct ectasia, 2 intraductal papillomas, 3 fibrocystic biopsies, and 3 fibroadenomas. In total, 10 of 2057 patients were diagnosed with breast cancer (0.5%). Conclusions: In our institution, 98.4% of women aged 75 and older had screening mammography with benign results. Ten women in this group were found to have breast cancer. The breast cancer detection rate in this cohort was 4.9 per 1000 screening examinations, which is nearly double the cited recommendation put forth by the American College of Radiology. These results are certainly relevant when considering appropriateness of annual screening mammography in this age group. Citation Format: Cate SP, Kohli MK, Gillego A, Chadha M, Fulop T, Boolbol SK. Screening mammography in women over age 75: Is it beneficial?. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Eighth Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2015 Dec 8-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-02-01.
Fresh frozen plasma as a source of cholesterol for newborn with Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome associated with defective cholesterol synthesis.

The Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome (SLOS) is an autosomal recessive condition that is character- ized by a mutation in the DHCR7 encoding the 7-dehydrocholesterol-∆7 reductase, the enzyme that cata- lyzes the last step in cholesterol biosynthesis. The syndrome occurs in 1:20,000 newborns with an estimated gene carrier frequency in US Caucasian population of 1 to 2%. The severe form of SLOS in newborns leads to multiple malformations and mental retardation. The malformations present were facial dysmorphisms, cleft palate, congenital heart disease, genitourinary abnormalities, and syndactyly of the toes. The identifi - cation of the biochemical basis of SLOS has led to the development of therapeutic regimes based on dietary cholesterol supplementation. In this case report, we present a case of SLOS that was treated by fresh frozen plasma to increase the level of serum Cholesterol since oral and rectal cholesterol replacement was not pos- sible in this instance.
The laparoscopic approach reduces the endocrine response to elective cholecystectomy.

The purpose of this study was to prospectively determine and compare the effect of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) versus open cholecystectomy (OC) on the neuroendocrine response to surgical trauma. Twenty-three evenly matched patients were assigned to either OC (11) or LC (12). Plasma concentrations of norepinephrine (NEPI), epinephrine (EPI), dopamine (DOPA), total catecholamine (TCAT), cortisol, and glucose were measured before and up to 9 hours after skin incision. Compared with preoperative values, significant (P<0.05) increases in the plasma concentrations of catecholamines, cortisol, and glucose occurred shortly after skin incision following both LC and OC. Compared to post-incision values for OC patients, the increases in NEPI (3-9 hrs), EPI (2-9 hrs), DOPA (1-9 hrs), cortisol (4-9 hrs) and glucose (4-9 hrs) were significantly (P<0.05) less following LC. Levels of these stress indicators returned to baseline by 4-5 hrs after LC but remained elevated for 9 hrs after OC. The laparoscopic approach results in a significantly reduced neuroendocrine response to surgical trauma following cholecystectomy. The laparoscopic technique may be the best surgical approach in critically ill patients requiring cholecystectomy or other intraabdominal procedures
Crystal structure of 2,6-di­chloro-4-nitro­pyridine N-oxide

In the title compound, C5H2Cl2N2O3, the nitro group is essentially coplanar with the aromatic ring, with a twist angle of 4.00 (6)° and a fold angle of 2.28 (17)°. The crystal structure exhibits a herringbone pattern with the zigzag running along the b axis. The herringbone layer-to-layer distance is 3.0075 (15) A, with a shift of 5.150 (4) A. Neighboring mol­ecules are tilted at a 57.83 (4)° (ring-to-ring) angle with each other. The nitro group on one mol­ecule points to the N-oxide group on the neighboring one, with an inter­molecular O⋯N(nitro) distance of 3.1725 (13) A.
Informal Fallacies as Abductive Inferences

All who teach logic are familiar with informal fallacies such as ad ignorantium (appeal to ignorance) and ad populum (appeal to popularity). While it is easy to give clear examples of poor reasoning of this sort, instructors are also cognizant of what might be called “exceptions”: when it is legitimate to appeal to popularity or to an absence of evidence. The view I defend here is that appeals to popularity and ignorance (and some other fallacies) should best be viewed as instances of abductive reasoning, or inferences to the best explanation. Thus, determinations of whether these types of arguments are good ones will rest on the criteria that determine good reasoning for abductive arguments generally.
Household Debt and the Housing Market’s Debacle

The portfolio of households which contains their wealth may include bonds, equities in residential property, and money in the bank — essentially in savings accounts and time deposits or some other instruments. But the piece de resistence of their wealth, and at the same time their castle, is their house. As the value of family holdings increases, it induces households to spend more. Curiously enough, a similar effect may be produced through easy-to-get household debt.1
Design and evaluation of a high-flowrate nanoparticle respiratory deposition (NRD) sampler

Abstract A high-flow (10 L/min) nanoparticle respiratory deposition (NRD) sampler was designed and evaluated to achieve reduced limits of quantification (LOQs) for metal nanoparticles. The high-flow NRD consists of an inlet, impactor stage, diffusion stage, and a final filter. An impactor stage with 12 nozzles was designed from theory to achieve a cut-off diameter of 300 nm at 50% particle collection efficiency (d50). Various depths of 37-mm-diameter polyurethane foam cylinders were tested for the diffusion stage to obtain a collection efficiency curve similar to the deposition of nanoparticles in the human respiratory tract, known as the nanoparticulate matter (NPM) criterion. The objective for the final filter was a collection efficiency of near 100% with minimal pressure drop. The collection efficiencies by size and pressure drops were measured for all NRD sampler components. The final design of the impactor stage nozzle achieved a d50 of 305 nm. The collection efficiency for the diffusion stage with a depth of 7 cm when adjusted for presence of the impactor was the closest to the NPM curve with a R2 value of 0.96 and d50 of 43 nm. Chemical analysis of the metal content for foam affirmed that the high-flow NRD sampler required less sampling time to meet metal LOQs than the 2.5 L/min NRD sampler. The final filter with a modified support pad had a collection efficiency near 100%. The overall pressure drop of the sampler of 8.5 kPa (34 in. H2O) could not be handled by commercial personal sampling pumps. Hence the high-flow NRD sampler can be used as an area sampler or without the final filter for collection of nanoparticles.
A NEW Definition of Creativity

In this chapter we provide a new definition of creativity and the creative process, and then utilize this definition to develop a rubric to evaluate creative output. First, we argue that creative products (be they artifacts or ideas) are not just new or interesting; they are also useful, and they have a certain aesthetic sensibility which is connected to and evaluated within specific contexts—the whole! Thus, creative artifacts are Novel, Effective, and Whole (NEW). We then utilize this NEW definition to describe the construction of a contextual, flexible rubric for evaluating creative products and provide examples of how it has been used to evaluate open-ended creative projects in an online course. We believe that this rubric can be of great use to educators as they seek to engage their students in creative, open-ended, projects and assignments.
Causes and Timing of Unplanned 90-day Readmissions Following Spine Surgery.

Study Design.Retrospective cohort study.Objective.The aim of this study was to evaluate the causes, timing, and factors associated with unplanned 90-day readmissions following elective spine surgery.Summary of Background Data.Unplanned readmissions after spine surgery are costly and an important det
Performance analysis of incorporating phase change materials in asphalt concrete pavements

Abstract The use of phase change materials (PCMs) in asphalt pavement mixtures has the potential to be an effective method of regulating extreme temperatures. In this article, the primary objective is to understand conditions for which PCMs mitigate extreme temperatures in a flexible pavement system. The volume-averaged energy equation with phase dependent thermal properties is used to analyze the heat transfer process in the integrated PCM pavement system. Our results show that (i) a pavement system consisting of a layer of PCM that is directly below the asphalt-concrete (ac)-layer yields higher surface temperatures than a system without the PCM layer and (ii) a pavement system in which PCM is embedded in the ac-layer with varying volume fraction has lower surface temperature values than that of the pavement without PCM when the PCM volume fraction is below a critical volume fraction, 60% for the conditions used; otherwise higher surface temperature values exist. Finally, we show the effective thermal conductivity has a strong effect on the temperature distribution throughout the surface layer of PCM-embedded pavement system.
Does the Medical Comorbidity Profile of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients Treated With Maxillomandibular Advancement Differ From That of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients Managed Nonsurgically

Purpose Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients with retrognathia and measurable anatomic airway determinants may represent a subset of OSA patients and have distinct comorbidity profiles. Our aim was to compare the medical comorbidities of OSA patients managed surgically with maxillomandibular advancement with those of nonsurgical patients. Patients and Methods In this cross-sectional retrospective study, patients for both cohorts were identified through the Massachusetts General Hospital oral and maxillofacial surgery data registry and the Massachusetts General Hospital Research Patient Data Registry. The inclusion criteria consisted of clinical records documenting body mass index (BMI), apnea-hypopnea index, respiratory disturbance index, and/or oxygen nadir. The primary predictor variable was the treatment modality chosen: surgical (maxillomandibular advancement) or nonsurgical. Demographic information and OSA parameters were evaluated. The primary outcome variable was the number of documented comorbidities in each group. Two-sample t tests were used for continuous variables, whereas χ2 or Fisher exact tests were used for categorical variables. Results The nonsurgical cohort consisted of 71 patients (67.6% men), and the surgical cohort consisted of 51 patients (84.3% men). Comparison of descriptive characteristics showed that the nonsurgical cohort had a higher average age (49 ± 9.4 years) than the surgical cohort (41 ± 10.7 years, P Conclusions The results of this study suggest that nonsurgically managed OSA patients tend to have more complex medical comorbidity profiles than those managed surgically. Obesity (BMI >30) was more prevalent in the nonsurgical cohort, which may be contributory. The additive contribution of OSA needs to be further elucidated.