cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Environmental Impact of Micro/Nanomachines: A Review

Environmental sustainability represents a major challenge facing our world. Recent advances in synthetic micro/nanomachines have opened new horizons for addressing environmental problems. This review article highlights the opportunities and challenges in translating the remarkable progresses in nanomotor technology toward practical environmental applications. It covers various environmental areas that would benefit from these developments, including nanomachine-enabled degradation and removal of major contaminants or nanomotor-based water quality monitoring. Future operations of autonomous intelligent multifunctional nanomachines, monitoring and responding to hazardous chemicals (in a “sense and destroy” mode) and using bioinspired chemotactic search strategies to trace chemical plumes to their source, are discussed, along with the challenges of moving these exciting research efforts to larger-scale pilot studies and eventually to field applications. With continuous innovations, we expect that man-made na...
A confirmation of the quench-cryoannealing relaxation protocol for identifying reduction states of freeze-trapped nitrogenase intermediates.

We have advanced a mechanism for nitrogenase catalysis that rests on the identification of a low-spin EPR signal (S = 1/2) trapped during turnover of a MoFe protein as the E4 state, which has accumulated four reducing equivalents as two [Fe–H–Fe] bridging hydrides. Because electrons are delivered to the MoFe protein one at a time, with the rate-limiting step being the off-rate of oxidized Fe protein, it is difficult to directly control, or know, the degree of reduction, n, of a trapped intermediate, denoted En, n = 1–8. To overcome this previously intractable problem, we introduced a quench-cryoannealing relaxation protocol for determining n of an EPR-active trapped En turnover state. The trapped “hydride” state was allowed to relax to the resting E0 state in frozen medium, which prevents additional accumulation of reducing equivalents; binding of reduced Fe protein and release of oxidized protein from the MoFe protein both are abolished in a frozen solid. Relaxation of En was monitored by periodic EPR an...
Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7 Inactivation, Color, and Bioactive Compounds Enhancement on Raspberries during Frozen Storage after Decontamination Using New Formula Sanitizer Washing or Pulsed Light.

ABSTRACT Berries are normally washed before they are frozen. Washing with sanitizer and treatment with pulsed light (PL) were studied for their effectiveness to inactivate foodborne pathogens on raspberries during frozen storage, while maintaining or enhancing major quality parameters. Raspberries were inoculated with Salmonella or Escherichia coli O157:H7 and then underwent a washing treatment with citric acid plus sodium dodecyl sulfate (CA+SDS) or citric acid plus thymol (CA+THY) or treatment with PL (dry PL, water-assisted [wet] PL, and PL-SDS). Pathogen survival was determined immediately after treatments and during frozen storage at −20°C for 3 months. Washing with CA+SDS or CA+THY significantly reduced Salmonella (by 3.6 and 3.2 log CFU/g, respectively) and E. coli O157:H7 (by 4.1 and 3.7 log CFU/g, respectively). At the end of storage, washing with CA+SDS reduced Salmonella to 0.6 log CFU/g and E. coli O157:H7 to 0.5 log CFU/g; washing with CA+THY reduced Salmonella to 0.9 log CFU/g and E. coli O1...
Wear Rates in Automotive Engines by Liquid Scintillation Counting of Fe55

A new radiotracer technique for determining wear rates of selected automotive engine parts is described and demonstrated for piston rings. The technique uses Fe55 instead of Fe59 as the radiotracer...
Carbohydrate distribution in a sweet maize with the sugar enhanced endosperm genotype

Knowing how sugar content changes in the whole plant could be useful for predicting sugar content in sweet maize (Zea mays L.) kernels at fresh-market maturity. Levels of fructose, glucose, sucrose, and their total were determined in various tissues over time in the sweet maize cv. Summer Flavor #72Y (su1se1 endosperm). From the 12-leaf to fresh-market maturity stages, Internode 9 that is generally formed below the first ear, was sampled. Entire developing ears were sampled when tassels were extended but unfolded, and at silking. Kernel and cob tissues were sampled separately at blister and fresh-market maturity stages. Patterns of correlations indicated that levels of sugars in vegetative tissues at various developmental stages are interdependent with levels of sugars in kernels. Factors affecting development of plants prior to anthesis may affect sugar levels in kernels at fresh-market maturity.
Abstract B132: Importance and mechanism of poly(A) tail length-mediated translational control in different immune cells

Translational control is an essential regulatory mechanism in immune cells. Although it has been suggested that poly(A) tail length-mediated translational control plays important roles in regulating select cytokine production in memory T cells and macrophages, whether this is a transcriptome-wide regulatory principle in all immune cells remains unknown. We set out to perform RNA-seq, ribosome-footprint profiling and poly(A) tail length profiling across major types of immune cells to examine the relationship between poly(A) tail length and translational efficiency in these systems. We also plan to delineate the transcriptome-wide landscape of poly(A) tail length before and after immune activation, and investigate if the coupling of poly(A) tail length and translational efficiency plays a regulatory role in this process. Meanwhile, to understand the general mechanistic details of how poly(A) tail length affects translational efficiency in a cell context-dependent manner, we carried out RNA pull-down experiments and isolated proteins from known coupled (Xenopus oocytes) and uncoupled (rabbit reticulocyte lysates) systems. By quantitative mass spectrometry analysis, we identified key factors that are responsible for coupling translational efficiency to poly(A) tail length. Among these candidates, poly(A) binding protein (PABPC1) plays an essential role. Overexpression of PABPC1 in Xenopus oocytes renders the translation of reporter RNAs with either a short poly(A) tail or a long poly(A) tail equally well, turning a coupled system into an uncoupled system. We have also generated an effective degron-induced PABPC1-knockdown cell line and are performing analysis to see if the coupling can be established in a normally uncoupled system. Our results suggest that cells can modify the expression of PABPC1 to help determine if poly(A) tail length regulates translational efficiency. Citation Format: Kehui Xiang, David Bartel. Importance and mechanism of poly(A) tail length-mediated translational control in different immune cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Second CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; 2016 Sept 25-28; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2016;4(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B132.
Association of polymorphisms in the aldosterone-regulated sodium reabsorption pathway with blood pressure among Hispanics

Whereas genome-wide association study (GWAS) has proven to be an important tool for discovery of variants influencing many human diseases and traits, unfortunately its performance has not been much of all-around success for some complex conditions, for example, hypertension. Because some of the existing effective pharmacotherapeutic agents act by targeting known biological pathways, pathway-based analytical approaches could lead to more success in discovery of disease-associated variants. The objective of the present study was to identify functional variants associated with blood pressure in the aldosterone-regulated sodium reabsorption pathway using the simulated and real blood pressure phenotypes provided for Genetic Analysis Workshop 19. The present analysis included 1942 samples with exome sequencing data and for whom blood pressure phenotypes were available. Because only odd-numbered autosomes were available, we restricted analysis to 127 quality-controlled single-nucleotide polymorphisms from the aldosterone-regulated sodium reabsorption pathway. We performed pathway-based association analysis using appropriate regression models for single variant, haplotype and epistasis association analyses. To account for multiple comparisons, statistical significance was empirically derived by permutation procedure and Bonferroni correction. The topmost pathway-based association signals were observed in PRKCA gene for diastolic blood pressure (DBP), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) in both real and simulated data. The associations remained significant (P <0.05) after multiple testing corrections for the number of genes. Similarly, the pathway-based 2-locus epistasis analysis indicated significant interactions between INSR and PRKCG for SBP and MAP; INS and PIK3R2 for DBP; PIK3CD and ATP1B2 for hypertension in the real data set. We also observed significant within-gene interactions in INSR for SBP, DBP, and hypertension in the simulated data set. The findings from this study show that pathway-based analytical approach targeting known biological pathways can be useful in identification of disease-associated variants that are otherwise undetectable by GWAS. The approach takes advantage of the assumption of nonindependence of variants within and across pathway genes which leads to reduced penalty of multiple testing and thus less-stringent statistical significance threshold.
A robotic model of human reference resolution

Evidence from psychology suggests that humans process definite descriptions that refer to objects present in a visual scene incrementally upon hearing them, rather than constructing explicit parse trees after the whole sentence was said, which are then used to determine the referents. In this paper, we describe a real-time distributed robotic architectures for human reference resolution that demonstrates various interactions of auditory, visual, and semantic processing components hypothesized to underlie human processes.
STAT5-Interacting Proteins: A Synopsis of Proteins that Regulate STAT5 Activity

Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (STATs) are key components of the JAK/STAT pathway. Of the seven STATs, STAT5A and STAT5B are of particular interest for their critical roles in cellular differentiation, adipogenesis, oncogenesis, and immune function. The interactions of STAT5A and STAT5B with cytokine/hormone receptors, nuclear receptors, transcriptional regulators, proto-oncogenes, kinases, and phosphatases all contribute to modulating STAT5 activity. Among these STAT5 interacting proteins, some serve as coactivators or corepressors to regulate STAT5 transcriptional activity and some proteins can interact with STAT5 to enhance or repress STAT5 signaling. In addition, a few STAT5 interacting proteins have been identified as positive regulators of STAT5 that alter serine and tyrosine phosphorylation of STAT5 while other proteins have been identified as negative regulators of STAT5 via dephosphorylation. This review article will discuss how STAT5 activity is modulated by proteins that physically interact with STAT5.
Review of medical radiography and tomography with proton beams

The use of hadron beams, especially proton beams, in cancer radiotherapy has expanded rapidly in the past two decades. To fully realize the advantages of hadron therapy over traditional x-ray and gamma-ray therapy requires accurate positioning of the Bragg peak throughout the tumor being treated. A half century ago, suggestions had already been made to use protons themselves to develop images of tumors and surrounding tissue, to be used for treatment planning. The recent global expansion of hadron therapy, coupled with modern advances in computation and particle detection, has led several collaborations around the world to develop prototype detector systems and associated reconstruction codes for proton computed tomography (pCT), as well as more simple proton radiography, with the ultimate intent to use such systems in clinical treatment planning and verification. Recent imaging results of phantoms in hospital proton beams are encouraging, but many technical and programmatic challenges remain to be overcome before pCT scanners will be introduced into clinics. This review introduces hadron therapy and the perceived advantages of pCT and proton radiography for treatment planning, reviews its historical development, and discusses the physics related to proton imaging, the associated experimental and computation issues, the technologies used to attack the problem, contemporary efforts in detector and computational development, and the current status and outlook.
Mediated approaches to Photosystem I-based biophotovoltaics

Summary The abundant photosynthetic protein Photosystem I (PSI) achieves 1.1 V charge separation with nearly perfect quantum yield. Researchers from around the world have extracted PSI from photosynthetic organisms for use in biohybrid photoelectrochemical systems. To this end, PSI has been paired with a host of conductive matrices for progressively more effective energy conversion based on mediated approaches to protein–electrode charge exchange. In this review, we highlight the use of films containing PSI for direct solar energy conversion in electrochemical and solid-state arrangements. We emphasize recent advances in pairing PSI proteins with both ion- and electron-conducting polymer scaffolds.
Case report of capecitabine toxicity and use of uridine triacetate.

Fluorouracil and capecitabine are fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy agents that are commonly used for various cancers. These agents are generally well tolerated at standard doses; however, it has been ...
COMPARISON BETWEEN THREE-DIMENSIONAL ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY AND COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY FOR TRICUSPID ANNULUS SIZING: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE GRADING OF TRICUSPID REGURGITATION USING THE QUANTITATIVE DOPPLER METHOD

With the emergence of transcatheter treatments of severe symptomatic tricuspid regurgitation (TR), accurate grading of TR severity is needed. Due to the inaccuracy of the proximal isovelocity surface area method, quantitative Doppler has been proposed as an alternative. However, the best imaging
When food isn't medicine - A challenge for physicians and health systems

Food can be powerful medicine. Good nutrition helps promote health and prevent and treat disease. Yet nutrition is not often part of a physician's training or clinical practice. Food might not be medicine when it's importance is under-recognized and healthful eating is under-prescribed. Moreover, food cannot be medicine when it is not available to patients (or when available only in the form of unhealthful fare). This paper considers evolving thinking about when food isn't medicine by chronicling the experience of one physician-from college coursework to providing patient care and conducting research. The paper is framed around the experience of a representative patient struggling with diet-related chronic conditions, and describes some community-focused initiatives to help address issues related to food access in challenged communities. A principal focus is the over-abundance of foods from 'plants' (the industrial processing kind) and the low availability of food from 'plants' (the living botanical kind). Physicians and health systems can support access to healthier food and healthier eating, and the idea of food as medicine, through a variety of approaches that extend beyond hospital and clinic walls. Examples of such physician and health-system approaches are provided.
Heart Failure: Clinical Problem and Management Issues

Heart failure (HF) often presents as dyspnea either with exertion and/or recumbency. Patients also experience dependent swelling and fatigue. Measurement of the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) identifies HF patients who may respond to pharmacologic therapy and/or electrophysiologic device implantation. Angiotension converting enzyme inhibitors, beta blockers, and aldosterone inhibitors can significantly lower the mortality and morbidity of HF in patients with an LVEF less than 35%. Cardiac defibrillators and biventricular pacemakers can also improve outcomes in selected patients with a decreased LVEF. The authors provide a guide for therapeutic decisions based on the inclusion criteria of the major clinical trials.
THE CHALLENGE TO KEYNESIAN ECONOMICS

This chapter discusses the challenge to Keynesian Economics. Keynesian theory says that the economy finds a macroequilibrium but that equilibrium is not always desirable. Either monetary or fiscal policy can shift aggregate demand and fight inflation or unemployment. Fiscal policy works directly on aggregate demand; monetary policy works through the interest rate–investment spending link. The monetarists see the economy as money supply and money demand. The economy finds its own macroequilibrium, but only monetary policy is able to shift aggregate demand. Monetary policy shifts aggregate demand directly and not through interest rate effects. Monetarists believe in the natural unemployment rate hypothesis. Economic policies cannot do much to change unemployment in the long run. Disequilibrium macro theory is at the opposite end of the economic spectrum. Disequilibrium theorists suggest that many markets fail to clear because of high adjustment costs, monopoly pricing strategies, traditional business practices, and government policies.
Cancer and Caregiving: Changed Lives and the Future of Cancer Care

Cancer is the plague of our generation. The leading cause of death worldwide, cancer accounted for 7.6 million deaths or 13% of all deaths in 2008 (World Health Organization (WHO), Cancer (fact sheet #297), Geneva: Author). Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and accounted for 7.6 million deaths (around 13% of all deaths). In 2012, 577,190 U.S. citizens or 23.3% of all deaths in the United States were attributed to this deadly, invasive disease (American Cancer Society (ACS), Cancer fact and figures, Atlanta: Author; National Center on Health Statistics, U.S. mortality 2007, Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In their 2010 report, ACS projected that 1,529,560 new cancer cases would be diagnosed that year. For each of those numbers, a team of professional caregivers (physicians, nurses, hospice workers, aides, technicians, etc.) and from one to dozens of family caregivers provides life-sustaining support to the individual with cancer (Nijboer et al., Cancer and caregiving: The impact on the caregiver’s health, Psycho-Oncology 7(1), 3–13; Nijboer et al., Determinants of caregiving experiences and mental health of partners of cancer patients, Cancer 86(4), 577–588). With this domino effect, the numbers of patients and family caregivers, plus the numbers of impacted professional caregivers could be added to determine the pervasive impact of cancer on the states and the world.
Ischemic Evaluation in Patients Presenting with Hypertensive Emergency / Urgency and Acute Systolic Heart Failure: Is Coronary Angiography Required for all?

Abstract Background Patients presenting with hypertensive urgency / emergency (HUE) often have systolic heart failure(SHF). Coronary angiography is routinely done for these patients to rule out obstructive coronary artery disease (Obs-CAD). We performed a retrospective study to investigate predictors of ObsCAD in this population. Methods Patients who underwent angiography to investigate SHF and had hospital admission(s) for HUE in the preceding 6 months were included in the study. Chart review was performed to obtain demographic, clinical and imaging / angiographic data. A risk score was formulated based on multivariable logistic regression analysis. Results 205 patients [age 58.9 ± 14.4 years; 62.4% male; 39.5% diabetic; median EF 25% (Inter Quartile Range: 11)] were included in the study. 33.1% patients (n = 68) had obs-CAD. Patients with obs-CAD were older, diabetic, more likely to have a history of stroke, echocardiographic regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA) while African Americans were less likely to have obs-CAD. On multivariable analysis, only non-African American race (OR: 2.18; CI: 1.08–4.4) and RWMA (OR: 5.62; CI: 2.47–12.81) remained significant predictors of obs-CAD. A risk score (RANDS) from 0 to 9 was formulated which had a c-statistic of 0.75 with a sensitivity and specificity of 84% and 53% for predicting obsCAD respectively. Conclusion Our results suggest that only a minority of patients with HUE and SHF have obs-CAD. A simple risk score may be used to stratify this population and lower risk individuals may be screened with non-invasive testing instead of invasive catheterization. These results should be validated in large registry populations.
Experimental and Computational Study of the Gas-Phase Acidities of Acidic Di- and Tripeptides.

Gas-phase acidities (GA or ΔGacid) of acidic di- and tripeptides are determined for the first time. The peptides studied are composed of inert alanine (A) residues and one X residue of either aspartic acid (D) or glutamic acid (E): AX, XA, AAX, AXA, and XAA. Experimental GAs were measured by the thermokinetic method of deprotonation ion/molecule reactions in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer. Calculated GAs were obtained by composite correlated molecular orbital theory at the G3(MP2) level for deprotonation of carboxylic acid groups both at the C-terminus and at the side chain. Excellent agreement was found between experimental and calculated GA values. There is a slight preference for peptides with D being more acidic than analogous peptides with E, which agrees with the GAs of the corresponding amino acids. Experiments showed that peptides are more acidic (lower numerical GA values) when the acidic residue is located at the C-terminus (i.e., AX or AAX). The lowest energy form...
Light-Gated Synthetic Protocells for Plasmon-Enhanced Chemiosmotic Gradient Generation and ATP Synthesis

Herein, we present a light-gated protocell model made of plasmonic colloidal capsules (CCs) assembled with bacteriorhodopsin for converting solar energy into electrochemical gradients to drive the synthesis of energy-storage molecules. This synthetic protocell incorporated an important intrinsic property of noble metal colloidal particles, namely, plasmonic resonance. In particular, the near-field coupling between adjacent metal nanoparticles gave rise to strongly localized electric fields and resulted in a broad absorption in the whole visible spectra, which in turn promoted the flux of photons to bacteriorhodopsin and accelerated the proton pumping kinetics. The cell-like potential of this design was further demonstrated by leveraging the outward pumped protons as "chemical signals" for triggering ATP biosynthesis in a coexistent synthetic protocell population. Hereby, we lay the ground work for the engineering of colloidal supraparticle-based synthetic protocells with higher-order functionalities.
Quantifying the Benefit Offered by Transcript Assembly on Single-Molecule Long Reads

Abstract Third-generation sequencing technologies benefit transcriptome analysis by generating longer sequencing reads. However, not all single-molecule long reads represent full transcripts due to incomplete cDNA synthesis and the sequencing length limit of the platform. This drives a need for long read transcript assembly. We quantify the benefit that can be achieved by using a transcript assembler on long reads. Adding long-read-specific algorithms, we evolved Scallop to make Scallop-LR, a long-read transcript assembler, to handle the computational challenges arising from long read lengths and high error rates. Analyzing 26 SRA PacBio datasets using Scallop-LR, Iso-Seq Analysis, and StringTie, we quantified the amount by which assembly improved Iso-Seq results. Through combined evaluation methods, we found that Scallop-LR identifies 2100–4000 more (for 18 human datasets) or 1100–2200 more (for eight mouse datasets) known transcripts than Iso-Seq Analysis, which does not do assembly. Further, Scallop-LR finds 2.4–4.4 times more potentially novel isoforms than Iso-Seq Analysis for the human and mouse datasets. StringTie also identifies more transcripts than Iso-Seq Analysis. Adding long-read-specific optimizations in Scallop-LR increases the numbers of predicted known transcripts and potentially novel isoforms for the human transcriptome compared to several recent short-read assemblers (e.g. StringTie). Our findings indicate that transcript assembly by Scallop-LR can reveal a more complete human transcriptome.
Boosting Supervision with Self-Supervision for Few-shot Learning.

We present a technique to improve the transferability of deep representations learned on small labeled datasets by introducing self-supervised tasks as auxiliary loss functions. While recent approaches for self-supervised learning have shown the benefits of training on large unlabeled datasets, we find improvements in generalization even on small datasets and when combined with strong supervision. Learning representations with self-supervised losses reduces the relative error rate of a state-of-the-art meta-learner by 5-25% on several few-shot learning benchmarks, as well as off-the-shelf deep networks on standard classification tasks when training from scratch. We find the benefits of self-supervision increase with the difficulty of the task. Our approach utilizes the images within the dataset to construct self-supervised losses and hence is an effective way of learning transferable representations without relying on any external training data.
Cardiovascular Imaging Techniques to Assess Microvascular Dysfunction

The understanding of microvascular dysfunction without evidence of epicardial coronary artery disease pales in comparison with that of obstructive epicardial coronary artery disease. A primary limitation in the past had been the lack of development of noninvasive methods of detecting and quantifying microvascular dysfunction. This limitation has particularly affected the ability to study the pathophysiology, morbidity, and treatment of this disease. More recently, almost all of the noninvasive cardiac imaging modalities have been used to quantify blood flow and advance understanding of microvascular dysfunction.
Becoming American: Ethnic Others as Crimefighting Heroes

Chapter 6 analyzes the ethnic Other, still acutely underrepresented in Hollywood. A brief look at the legacy of Asian American and Jewish cops, including John Munch from Homicide: Life on the Street, along with the alternative policing style of a young Navajo cop. The most egregious absence involves Latinos, who dominate portraits of gang members but rarely portray lead crimefighters. The exception is Jennifer Lopez, who has portrayed a plethora of cops and federal agents, with the chapter including a profile of her recent TV series, Shades of Blue, in which she is part of an effective but rogue unit that is eventually brought to justice. The series also includes two notable African American male detectives who try to reconcile being both black and blue.
Chapter 31 – Chronic Granulomatous Disease

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a primary immunodeficiency caused by defects in the structural subunits of the NADPH oxidase. Impaired NADPH oxidase function leads to a narrow spectrum of bacterial and fungal infections. In addition to infection susceptibility, hyperinflammatory disorders such as chronic colitis are a major source of morbidity in CGD patients. Treatment includes antimicrobial prophylaxis and aggressive treatment of infections. Curative therapy is with hematopoietic stem cell transplant.
Targeting Pyruvate Kinase PEPs Up Insulin Secretion and Improves Glucose Homeostasis.

The consensus model of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) holds that ATP generation by oxidative phosphorylation directly regulates KATP channel activity and thus insulin granule release, a concept inconsistent with bioenergetic principles. Here, Lewandowski et al. (2020) and Abulizi et al. (2020) report that regulation of GSIS is much more complex as different sources of ATP generation are essential to control this process, which can be targeted in vivo and additionally modulate hepatic glucose production. These findings establish an important new conceptual framework of GSIS and in vivo glucose homeostasis.
Prochlorococcus exudate stimulates heterotrophic bacterial competition with rival phytoplankton for available nitrogen

The marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus numerically dominates the phytoplankton community of the nutrient-limited open ocean, establishing itself as the most abundant photosynthetic organism on Earth. This ecological success has been attributed to lower cell quotas for limiting nutrients, superior resource acquisition, and other advantages associated with cell size reduction and genome streamlining. In this study we tested the prediction that Prochlorococcus outcompetes its rivals for scarce nutrients, and that this advantage leads to its numerical success in nutrient-limited waters. Strains of Prochlorococcus and its sister genus Synechococcus grew well in both mono- and co-culture when nutrients were replete. However, in nitrogen-limited medium Prochlorococcus outgrew Synechococcus, but only when heterotrophic bacteria were also present. In the nitrogen-limited medium, the heterotroph Alteromonas macleodii outcompeted Synechococcus for nitrogen, but only if stimulated by exudate released by Prochlorococcus, or if a proxy organic carbon source was provided. Analysis of a nitrate reductase mutant Alteromonas suggested that Alteromonas outcompetes Synechococcus for nitrate, during which co-cultured Prochlorococcus grows on ammonia or other available nitrogen species. We propose that Prochlorococcus can stimulate antagonism between heterotrophic bacteria and potential phytoplankton competitors through a metabolic cross-feeding interaction, and this stimulation could contribute to the numerical success of Prochlorococcus in the nutrient-limited regions of the ocean. Significance StatementIn nutrient-poor habitats, the competition for limited resources is thought to select for organisms with enhanced ability to scavenge nutrients and utilize them efficiently. Such adaptations characterize the cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus, the most abundant photosynthetic organism in the nutrient-limited open ocean. In this study the competitive superiority of Prochlorococcus over a rival cyanobacterium, Synechococcus, was captured in laboratory culture. Critically, this outcome was achieved only when key aspects of the open ocean were simulated: a limited supply of nitrogen, and the presence of heterotrophic bacteria. Results indicate that Prochlorococcus promotes its numerical dominance over Synechococcus by energizing the heterotrophs ability to outcompete Synechococcus for available nitrogen. This study demonstrates how interactions between trophic groups can influence interactions within trophic groups.
Analysis Of Stochastic Partial Differential Equations

The general area of stochastic PDEs is interesting to mathematicians because it contains an enormous number of challenging open problems. There is also a great deal of interest in this topic because it has deep applications in disciplines that range from applied mathematics, statistical mechanics, and theoretical physics, to theoretical neuroscience, theory of complex chemical reactions [including polymer science], fluid dynamics, and mathematical finance. The stochastic PDEs that are studied in this book are similar to the familiar PDE for heat in a thin rod, but with the additional restriction that the external forcing density is a two-parameter stochastic process, or what is more commonly the case, the forcing is a ``random noise,'' also known as a ``generalized random field.'' At several points in the lectures, there are examples that highlight the phenomenon that stochastic PDEs are not a subset of PDEs. In fact, the introduction of noise in some partial differential equations can bring about not a small perturbation, but truly fundamental changes to the system that the underlying PDE is attempting to describe. The topics covered include a brief introduction to the stochastic heat equation, structure theory for the linear stochastic heat equation, and an in-depth look at intermittency properties of the solution to semilinear stochastic heat equations. Specific topics include stochastic integrals a la Norbert Wiener, an infinite-dimensional Ito-type stochastic integral, an example of a parabolic Anderson model, and intermittency fronts. There are many possible approaches to stochastic PDEs. The selection of topics and techniques presented here are informed by the guiding example of the stochastic heat equation.
Maintenance, Reliability, Availability

Availability of a device or system is generally used as a measure to judge its effective operation. However, there are many factors that cause nonoperation of solar systems, such as low insolation level and high wind velocity, in addition to equipment failure. Therefore it is desirable to find the usage factor, defined as the ratio of the collector field working hours to the possible hours of operable radiation level, and corrected by the equipment availability to account for partial operation of the collector field.
mGluR1-β-arrestin 2 Signaling Mediates Induction of Excitatory Synaptic Plasticity

A subset of seven-transmembrane receptors (7TMRs) couple to both G protein- and β-arrestin (βarr)-mediated signaling pathways. Our objective is to determine if group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR1 and mGluR5) engage βarr signaling during the induction of synaptic plasticity in the CNS. In these experiments we tested the role of βarr-Src-MAPK signaling in the induction of plasticity at the hippocampal mossy fiber-CA3 synapse. We compared mGluR1-dependent synaptic plasticity in patch clamp recordings from CA3 pyramidal neurons in hippocampal slices prepared from wildtype, βarr 1 and βarr 2 knockout mice. Potentiation of EPSCs induced by low frequency, paired stimulation of mossy fiber inputs to CA3 pyramidal neurons was absent in mice lacking βarr 2 (91 ± 7% n=9 for βarr 2-/-, 125 ± 9% n=18 for wildtype, p=0.01) but intact in mice lacking βarr 1 (128 ± 11% n=8 for βarr 1-/-, 122 ± 13% n=17 for wildtype, p=0.74). In contrast, high-frequency stimulation that induced long-term potentiation was unaf...
TH-CD-201-02: Networks, Connectivity, and Interoperability

Radiation Oncology is a data intensive discipline. Data moves among various systems (imaging, treatment planning, image guidance and delivery) and the development of troubleshooting methods and appropriate QA and QC measures strongly depends on the medical physicists’ understanding of fundamental information technology concepts. This session will cover the concepts involved in networking, data transfer, DICOM and HL7 connectivity, database operations and QA for IT. Databases are at the heart of all modern radiotherapy clinics and are used for planning as well as treatment delivery, and they also drive the observed state of the data at various clients. Querying and reporting from the database is an important skill that medical physicists need to learn. Interactions between clients and databases need to be well understood to ensure that correct, synchronized, and up-to-date information is properly communicated amongst all stakeholders involved in the treatment management process. Entrance into the database via DICOM, HL7 and other proprietary transfer mechanisms must also be tested for accuracy of information storage and presentation. Issues with inter-operability between systems must also be well understood during acceptance testing and commissioning activities. The ongoing efforts of IHE-RO will be explained in the context of the need for increased engagement on the part of medical physicists. Learning Objectives: 1. Understand the basic IT infrastructure required to run a radiotherapy department 2. Become familiar with database concepts to improve troubleshooting skills 3. Learn the principles of designing a QA program tailored to one’s specific clinical IT environment. Curan: Funding from AAPM for travel and expenses DICOM and Funding from ASTRO for travel and expenses IHE RO
Triphosphoinositide phosphomonoesterase in rat kidney cortex: I. General properties and subcellular localization

Abstract Rat kidney cortex has been shown to contain triphosphoinositide phosphomonoesterase activity when suitable preparations were incubated with triphosphoinositide resulting in the liberation of orthophosphate. The same or a similar enzymatic activity was also present in other tissues of the rat, including liver, brain, spleen, lung, and heart. Triphosphoinositide phosphomonoesterase activity was found to be predominantly localized in the microsomal fraction. The enzyme was activated by Mg2+ and inhibited by Ca2+. It had a pH optimum at 8.0 and an apparent Michaelis constant of 1.8 × 10−4 m . It could be stored in the frozen state for extended periods of time without loss of enzymatic activity.
Food irradiation-physiology of fruits as related to feasibility of the technology.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the physiology of fruits as it may affect their response to irradiation and indicate methods for valid research on the irradiation of fruits and other perishable products. It evaluates the effects of irradiation on the quality attributes of fruits and evaluates the prospects for a commercial technology. Fruits are classified into two categories with regard to their respiratory behavior during ripening. The first, known as the climacteric class, exhibits a rate of CO 2 evolution and oxygen consumption that slowly declines to a minimum just prior to the onset of ripening. The second, known as non-climacteric class, exhibits a slowly declining rate of respiration after harvest. The effects of irradiation on the texture of fruits are considered from two points of view: the direct effect on the firmness of the tissues and a delayed, secondary effect on ripening of the fruits. The effects of ionizing radiation on cellulose, pectins, and starch were described with reference to the role of these compounds in the textural quality of irradiated fruits. The chapter evaluates the effect of ionizing radiation on the destruction of vitamins in fresh fruits. It discusses the general applicability of irradiation to fresh fruits and vegetables. A practical irradiation technology is most likely with fruits that have a relatively short post-harvest life; some of the reasons are (1) these fruits are the most susceptible to decay and thus suffer the greatest losses in marketing, and (2) they are fully ripe or nearly so at harvest-so radiation-induced anomalies in ripening are not a factor.
The Application of Ethnobotanical Research to Working Forests in the Tropics

In this special issue of Ethnobotany Research and Applications, members and affiliates of the National Science Foundation funded Working Forest in the Tropics Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (hereafter WFT-IGERT present case studies from research in Mesoamerica, lowland and montane Amazonia, the Andean Sierra, and Sub-Saharan Africa. In the spirit of actively engaging graduate students in publications and professional activities, the guest editorship was led by a recent PhD graduate of the Working Forests in the Tropics IGERT (Luzar) with the assistance of a University of Florida associate professor and one of the co-principal investigators on the grant (Stepp).
High-sensitivity, broadband-decoupled (13) C MR spectroscopy in humans at 7T using two-dimensional heteronuclear single-quantum coherence.

Purpose Carbon-13 (13C) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) has an intrinsically low NMR sensitivity that often leads to large acquisition volumes or long scan times. While the use of higher magnetic fields can overcome the sensitivity limitations, high radiofrequency (RF) power deposition associated with proton-decoupling limits the achievable gain. Two-dimensional (2D) heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) MRS is a method that uses the high chemical specificity of 13C MRS while retaining the high sensitivity of 1H detection. Due to the 2D nature of the method, proton-decoupled 13C MR spectra can be obtained without the use of high-powered decoupling pulses. Methods A novel three-dimensional (3D) localized 2D HSQC method based on 3D STEAM localization is presented and implemented at 7T. The low RF power deposition of the method allows TR variation along the indirect dimension which, in combination with controlled aliasing, leads to an acceleration of 11.8 relative to a standard 2D NMR acquisition. Results Artifact-free, high-quality and high-sensitivity 2D HSQC spectra were obtained for all subjects in 19 min from a small (9 mL) volume placed in the leg adipose tissue. Complete proton decoupling was achieved along the indirect 13C dimension despite the absence of broadband proton-decoupling pulses. The high chemical specificity along the indirect 13C dimension allowed the detection of 19 unique resonances from which the lipids could be characterized in terms of saturation and omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio. Conclusion It has been demonstrated that high-quality 2D HSQC NMR spectra can be acquired from human adipose tissue at 7T. The HSQC method is methodologically simple and robust and is flexible regarding trade-offs between temporal and spectral resolution. 2D HSQC has a strong potential to become a default method in natural-abundance or 13C-enriched studies of human metabolism in vivo. Magn Reson Med 74:903–914, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF BENIGN PROSTATIC HYPERPLASIA AMONG VOLUNTEERS IN THE NORMATIVE AGING STUDY

This study describes the development of benign prostatic hyperplasia among 2,036 volunteers in the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study, a longitudinal study of human aging situated in Boston. Men were followed from enrollment in the study (between 1961 and 1970) until their last examination prior to May 15, 1982. Two indications of benign prostatic hyperplasia were considered: 1) a clinical diagnosis made at a uniform physical examination, and 2) surgical treatment. Incidence rates for both a clinical diagnosis and surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia increased through the eighth decade. Life table analysis estimated the lifetime probability of surgical treatment to be 0.29. Known risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes as well as marital and socioeconomic status, religion, cigarette smoking and alcohol and coffee consumption were evaluated as risk factors. Controlling for age in proportional hazards models, statistically significant predictors of surgery were prior clinical diagnosis, lower socioeconomic status, Jewish religion, and not currently smoking cigarettes; whereas only body mass index was a significant predictor of a clinical diagnosis. Although a prior clinical diagnosis was an important predictor of surgery (adjusted odds ratio 3.52, 95% confidence interval = 1.93-6.42), this diagnosis is neither sensitive nor specific in its association with surgery.
Cyclic voltammetry applied to an oxygen-ion-conducting solid electrolyte as an active electrocatalytic gas sensor

Cyclic voltammetry was applied to a thick-film electrochemical cell having an oxygen-ion-conducting solid electrolyte. Features of the voltammograms appear to depend uniquely on the type of gas exposed to the cell surface. Temperature dependence was studied.
NONLINEAR MODELS FOR IN VITROKILL KINETICS OF ANTIBIOTICS

In this study, we developed nonlinear regression models to analyze the data generated from an in vitrocontinuous culture system to assess the kinetics of metronidazole and trovafloxacin in inhibiting the growth of Bacteroides fragilis. The model includes parameters describing the initial shock effect of an antibiotic pulse, the overall antibiotic wash-out rate from the system, and the long-term toxicity of the antibiotic in the environment after one pulse and before the next pulse.
Quine, Davidson, and the Naturalization of Metaethics

Author Posting. (c) Wiley-Blackwell, 2001. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the publisher for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version of this article is published in: Dialectica, v.55, no.2 (2001), pp. 145-166
The relationships among virtual enterprise, information technology, and business performance in agile manufacturing: An industry perspective

Agile Manufacturing (AM) is a manufacturing paradigm that focuses on smaller scale, modular production facilities, and agile operations capable of dealing with turbulent and changing environments. From several enablers of AM, Virtual Enterprise (VE) and Information Technology (IT) were chosen. This empirical study explored the impact of the alignment between VE and IT on business performance in an AM setting for five different industries. Extensive data collection strategy and several tests were used to establish the reliability and validity of the data collected. Extensive analyses of the data using Structural Equation Modeling were performed for five hypotheses across five different industries. The results indicate that both VE and IT had positive influences on business performance for all industries. It was also established that the alignment between VE and IT had a positive impact on business performance for all industries. Further, it was shown that the impact of the alignment between VE and IT on business performance was more significant than the impact of VE and IT on business performance individually for all industries. The statistical analyses and results showed that there were no significant differences among the industries surveyed. At the bivariate level of analysis, some minor differences for one industry were highlighted. In conclusion, the assessment of the results along with future research directions is provided.
Design and Implementation of a Nonlinear Axial Force Controller for Friction Stir Welding Processes

In Friction Stir Welding (FSW) processes the axial force provides a forging action that affects the part's micro structure and, hence, its mechanical properties. Controlling this force provides good, consistent welding quality. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic method to design and implement axial force controllers for FSW processes. The axial force is modeled as a nonlinear function of the measured FSW process parameters (i.e., plunge depth, traverse rate, and rotation speed) and the equipment is modeled as a pure delay from the commanded to the measured process parameters. Based on these dynamic models, a nonlinear feedback controller for the axial force is designed using Polynomial Pole Placement. This controller is implemented in a Smith Predictor-Corrector structure to compensate for the inherent equipment delay and the controller parameters are tuned to achieve the best closed-loop response given the equipment limitations. Experimental implementations verify the controller is able to maintain a constant axial force, even when gaps are encountered during the welding process.