cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 1987: Recurrent chromosomal translocations mediate reprogramming of Myb dependent regulatory networks in adenoid cystic carcinoma

Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (ACC), the second most common malignancy of salivary glands, is a rare tumor with bleak prognosis for which therapeutic targets are unavailable. Recently, we used RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) to analyze low-quality RNA from archival, formaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples (1). In addition to detecting the most common ACC translocation, t(6;9) fusing the MYB proto-oncogene to NFIB, we also detected previously unknown t(8;9) and t(8;14) translocations fusing the MYBL1 gene to the NFIB and RAD51B genes, respectively. Mutated versions of c-Myb are potent oncoproteins, and Myb proteins are over- or highly-expressed in a wide variety of human tumors. Interestingly, ACC tumors with MYB and MYBL1 translocations displayed similar gene expression profiles, and the combined MYB and MYBL1 expression correlated with outcome, suggesting that the related Myb proteins are interchangeable oncogenic drivers in ACC. While RNA-Seq provides information about gene fusions, alternative RNA splicing and gene expression signatures, this type of data does not address how translocations alter transcription factor function. Previous studies in our lab, and others, have demonstrated that Myb proteins contain C-terminal regulatory domains and are known to interact with several proteins via C-terminal motifs (2). These regulatory and interaction sites are lost upon chromosomal translocation in ACC; however, the downstream affect of this loss is not understood. Do the translocations merely relieve Myb transcription factors of repressive regulatory signals, thereby globally increasing Myb-dependent gene expression or, does the altered protein allow novel protein-protein interactions which re-target Myb transcription factors? Furthermore, the most frequent translocations involve the relocation of a large enhancer regions. What role does the recruitment of novel enhancer regions play in up-regulating Myb protein expression? Using a combination of ChIP-Seq and digital genomic footprinting, we are attempting to understand the mechanism of regulatory rewiring observed in ACC tumors. References 1. Brayer et al. Recurrent Fusions in MYB and MYBL1 Define a Common, Transcription Factor-Driven Oncogenic Pathway in Salivary Gland Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma. Cancer Discovery. In press. 2. George and Ness (2014) Situational Awareness: Regulation of the Myb Transcription Factor in Differentiation, the Cell Cycle and Oncogenesis. Cancers: 6, 2049-2071. Citation Format: Kathryn Brayer, Scott A. Ness. Recurrent chromosomal translocations mediate reprogramming of Myb dependent regulatory networks in adenoid cystic carcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 1987.
Inhibitors of Aromatic Acid Biosynthesis

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a brief overview of the toxicity of a broad-spectrum, postemergent systemic herbicide known as glyphosate. It is typically referred to as the technical grade material and has the empirical formula C3H8NO5P. It is a white, odorless, crystalline powder with a melting point of 184.5 °C, a molecular weight of 169.1, and a specific gravity of 1.704. The initial uses for glyphosate were for preplanting or preemergence applications and resulted in negligible residues in the crops. Later uses have included applications when the crops are present, either using directed spray techniques, applications close to harvest, or herbicide-tolerant crops. Due to low solubility in water, glyphosate is typically formulated into commercial products in the form of a salt. It is poorly absorbed both dermally and via oral exposure and it is not biotransformed. In repeated dose studies in laboratory animals, treatment-related effects included reduced body weight gain, increased liver weights, degenerative ocular lens changes, and microscopic liver changes but only at very high dose levels. Large amounts of glyphosate-based herbicides are occasionally deliberately ingested to attempt suicide and may result in serious gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and renal effects and possibly death. Accidental exposures to small volumes of glyphosate have not produced serious effects. In spite of this experience, it has been stated that glyphosate is a leading cause of pesticide poisoning in California.
Solid-liquid density and spin crossovers in (Mg, Fe)O system at deep mantle conditions.

The low/ultralow-velocity zones in the Earth’s mantle can be explained by the presence of partial melting, critically depending on density contrast between the melt and surrounding solid mantle. Here, first-principles molecular dynamics simulations of (Mg, Fe) O ferropericlase in the solid and liquid states show that their densities increasingly approach each other as pressure increases. The isochemical density difference between them diminishes from 0.78 (±0.7) g/cm3 at zero pressure (3000 K) to 0.16 (±0.04) g/cm3 at 135 GPa (4000 K) for pure and alloyed compositions containing up to 25% iron. The simulations also predict a high-spin to low-spin transition of iron in the liquid ferropericlase gradually occurring over a pressure interval centered at 55 GPa (4000 K) accompanied by a density increase of 0.14 (±0.02) g/cm3. Temperature tends to widen the transition to higher pressure. The estimated iron partition coefficient between the solid and liquid ferropericlase varies from 0.3 to 0.6 over the pressure range of 23 to 135 GPa. Based on these results, an excess of as low as 5% iron dissolved in the liquid could cause the solid-liquid density crossover at conditions of the lowermost mantle.
Effective nested array design for fourth-order cumulant-based DOA estimation

In this paper, we propose a novel sparse array design for direction-of-arrival estimation based on the fourth-order statistics of the received signals. The utilization of fourth-order statistics provides a higher number of degrees of freedom and flexibility as compared to the commonly used covariance-based methods. The proposed sparse array design scheme yields the fourth-order difference co-array which offers a significant increment in the number of consecutive lags as compared to the existing sparse array structures used by fourth-order cumulant-based direction-of-arrival estimation methods. Moreover, the proposed array is designed in such a way that the resulting difference co-array does not contain any holes. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed array structure.
Postoperative Outcomes among Pediatric and Adolescent Patients Undergoing Minilaparotomy vs Laparoscopy in the Management of Adnexal Lesions

Abstract Study Objective To compare institutional experience in postoperative recovery in children and adolescents who undergo laparoscopy vs minilaparotomy in the management of benign adnexal cystic lesions. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Tertiary care children's hospital. Participants Patients ages 6-21 years who underwent surgical management for benign adnexal lesions. Interventions and Main Outcome Measures Comparison of surgery times, size of lesions, pain scores, and patient length of stay after minilaparotomy vs laparoscopy. Results Forty-four patients were identified. Of those, 59% (n = 26) had a laparoscopic procedure and 41% (n = 18) underwent minilaparotomy. Patients who underwent minilaparotomy were more likely to have a larger adnexal mass than those in the laparoscopy group with a median size of 15.5 cm vs 6.0 cm, respectively (P Conclusion Minilaparotomy offers a minimally invasive option for the management of benign adnexal lesions in the pediatric and adolescent age group with recovery comparable to that of laparoscopy. The minilaparotomy approach should be considered when laparoscopy is limited.
AAC Supporting Literacy Instruction for Individuals With Deafblindness

This paper aims to provide an overview of literacy as it relates to children with deafblindness, including information on literacy instruction and specific examples of activities that support literacy development for this population. It will also explain how augmentative and alternative communication supports, including the use of technology, can be integrated into literacy instruction for individuals with deafblindness.
Reply: Staging, Restaging, and Treatment Response Assessment in Lymphomas: What We Should Know.

REPLY: We appreciate the letter to the editor written by Kanoun et al. from France. They address 2 important issues related to 18F-FDG PET/CT in lymphoma, one is initial staging and the other is interim 18F-FDG PET/CT for early evaluation of response to therapy. Regarding the first point, our review
Comparison of Short-Term and Long-Term Creep Experiments in Shales and Carbonates from Unconventional Gas Reservoirs

We carried out a series of long-term creep experiments on clay- and carbonate-rich shale samples from unconventional gas reservoirs to investigate creep over both relatively short-term (4-h) and long-term (4-week) periods. Results from each set of experiments were compared to evaluate the ability to predict the long-term behavior of reservoir rocks using relatively short-term creep experiments. The triaxial deformation experiments were performed in a time-cycling pattern, which included a series of four stages of loading, creep, unloading and recovery experiments conducted over different time spans. The loading conditions (tens of MPa) reflect current reservoir conditions and were far below the strength of the samples. Experiments were conducted on both horizontal and vertical shale samples to address anisotropy introduced by the bedding. A power-law model was fitted to the creep data to predict the long-term behavior of shale samples. Regardless of the applied loading history, results of the experiments show that the shale samples follow a single trend representing their creep behavior through time. We show that the simple power-law model is capable of describing creep over multiple time periods. Additionally, the value of the creep compliance factor is consistent over different creep testing periods and it is possible to characterize the behavior of these samples from relatively short-term (1 day) creep experiments.
Clinical outcome: acute symptoms and sleeping hazards

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most common, potentially disabling, perinatal infectious disease and most common viral cause of congenital infections, present in high- as well as low-resource countries. If primary infection occurs in the developing foetus or neonate, the consequences can be severe. As an important contributor to serious neurodevelopmental sequelae in children, CMV infection affects about 1 % of all live births [1]. Therefore, it is a major public health concern worldwide, since CMV infection causes mental retardation, cerebral palsy, sensorineural hearing loss and blindness. Even with antiviral therapy, the infectious sequelae are often irreversible.
An Empirical Study of Cointegration and Causality in the Asia-Pacific Stock Markets

The primary aim of this study is to examine both the integration hypothesis and the short- and long-term dynamic causal linkage in the Asia-Pacific region. Employing recently advanced unit root and cointegration techniques that accommodate structural breaks and GARCH effects, this analysis will provide not only an indication of the direction of interaction but a quantitative assessment of the degree of interdependence among specific markets, in particular the intra-regional impact in Asia-Pacific. Our empirical results suggest that Asia-Pacific stock market indices are highly integrated, and the stock market crash in 1987, as well as the Asian financial crises had a statistically significant impact on the long-term relations among Asian emerging stock markets.
REFLECTIONS ON THE RELEVANCE OF BIOCHEMISTRY FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF LIVING SYSTEMS

Publisher Summary This chapter presents reflections on the relevance of biochemistry for the understanding of living systems. Between 1933 and 1963, the biochemical landscape was radically changed by two waves of discoveries of new biochemical phenomena and elaboration of new concepts. These developments represent a scientific revolution in biology insofar as they show that catabolic and anabolic processes in living systems and even their fully developed structural characteristics can be understood, at least potentially, in chemical and physical terms. This was achieved by isolating and studying in vitro chemical processes of the cellular metabolism and establishing certain principles of the organization of these processes in living cells. In 1936, H. Theorell demonstrated in the case of one of the yellow enzymes that it consists of a specific protein bound in a reversible way to an active group, namely, riboflavin. The role of these coenzymes as H donors and acceptors was elucidated. This development led to the concept of an enzyme as a specific protein carrier for the active group that catalyzes the specific enzyme reaction.
Physician advice about smoking and drinking: are U.S. adults being informed?

Abstract Background Population-based estimates for the prevalence of smokers receiving advice from a health professional to quit smoking and the prevalence of binge drinkers being talked to about alcohol use are lacking for U.S. adults. This information is useful for clinicians and public health professionals. Methods Data are from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a continuous random-digit-dial telephone survey of U.S. adults. In 1997, 10 states collected data on these health interventions for tobacco and alcohol use. The prevalence of professional advice to quit smoking and about alcohol use was calculated and examined by demographic characteristics. The number of at-risk adults who had a routine checkup in the last year and had not received these interventions was also estimated. Results By self-report, 70% of smokers were advised to quit, and 23% of binge drinkers were talked to about their alcohol use. Using multivariate logistic regression analyses, we found among smokers that women and older persons were more likely to receive advice; among binge drinkers, health intervention was more likely to occur for men and non-Hispanic blacks. Across the 10 states, approximately 2 million smokers and 2 million binge drinkers with a routine checkup in the past 12 months were not advised to quit smoking or talked to about their alcohol use. Conclusions Many opportunities to intervene with smokers and binge drinkers are lost. Efforts to increase physician education and to identify and reduce other barriers may help.
The binding of Chlamydia trachomatis and zinc to McCoy cells (mouse fibroblasts).

Zinc was found to have profoundly different effects upon the infection of McCoy cells (mouse fibroblasts) by two strains ofChlamydia trachomatis dependent upon the time and concentration of zinc exposure. Radiolabeled zinc-65 became McCoy cell-associated in a manner independent of incubation temperature, but highly dependent on incubation time and zinc concentration. This effect was maximal after 30 to 60 minutes of incubation. Correspondingly, incubation of a chlamydia inoculant with McCoy cells and supplemental zinc (10−5 to 10−4M) for 1 h was associated with significantly (approximately twofold) more binding of the chlamydia to the McCoy cells compared with control media (8×10−6M Zn). More prolonged incubation of the chlamydia and McCoy cells with supplemental zinc was associated with significantly fewer chlamydia inclusions. Concentrations of 5×10−4M zinc or higher were also found to be toxic to the McCoy cells after 48 h of incubation. Brief exposure to supplemental zinc may augment infection of cells by chlamydia: however, more prolonged exposure to the same concentrations of zinc lessens cellular infection by chlamydia.
A New Resonance Region Evaluation of Neutron Cross Sections for 235U

A new evaluation of the resolved resonance range for the neutron cross sections of {sup 235}U is described. Up to 110 eV, the evaluation is based on an R-matrix analysis of several fission, capture, and transmission measurements. Levels above 110 eV are no longer resolved so that many resonances are missed; from 110 to 500 eV, most of the important resonances can be identified and analyzed so that the cross section and transmission data are well represented by the proposed parameters. From 500 to 2250 eV, fictitious parameters are provided that describe fairly well the results of thick sample transmission measurements and recent fission cross-section data. Such a parameterization is likely to yield a better approximation of resonance self-shielding than the current ENDF/B-V unresolved resonance treatment.
Systemic Immune Responses after Ocular Antigenic Encounter

The eye has been considered an immunologically “privileged” site for over three decades. Corneal and anterior chamber (AC) immunologic privilege concepts are particularly well entrenched in traditional teaching, since the pioneering work of Medawar (1) and of Woodruff (2) demonstrated prolonged survival of allogenic transplants in these sites. In order to explain this relative unresponsiveness to antigen in these ocular sites, the notion of afferent arc blockade developed, and many scientists accepted this concept of antigen “invisibility” from the recipient immune system. Indeed, this concept has been employed as the explanation for the relatively low incidence of corneal allograft rejections.
Ovarian Cancer Progenitor/Stem Cells: Therapeutic Potential

A number of studies provide evidence for the existence of ovarian cancer stem cells, defined by functional attributes, foremost the ability to reconstruct the heterogeneity of the original tumor in immunocompromised mice through asymmetric cell division. As satisfying as the concept of an ovarian cancer stem cell is to explain the origins of ovarian cancer, can this concept be applied universally to explain the diversity in the histologic types of epithelial ovarian cancer? Can the unique features of an ovarian cancer stem cell population be exploited to therapeutically disarm these cells? Herein we explore these questions, beginning with a brief description of cancer stem cells in general and then turning more specifically to what is known about ovarian cancer stem cells. We then explore the potential for therapeutic targeting of these cells, and what the future holds for implementation of such approaches toward improving survival of women with ovarian cancer.
Representation and depiction of 2d shapes using parts

We describe a 2D shape abstraction system that aims to clarify the structure without loss of the expressiveness of the original shape. To do this, traditional approaches in computer graphics typically use simplification techniques based on local adjustments of vertices, edges and faces. However, this thesis argues that an effective depiction can benefit from a computational representation compatible with a human’s understanding of the shape. To support this argument, we first present a system that parses a 2D planar shape into a part-based structure that approximately respects the structural organization in human perception. Then we show that simplifications of this representation align with the common artistic practices in shape abstraction, in which only prominent parts are preserved and the visual structures are more clarified than using traditional simplification methods based on local adaptation of geometric details. To compute the part structure of a given shape, we first propose that a part connects to the rest of the shape via its transition. Then we use a simple but general model to mathematically locate and describe this transition. We show that our model generalizes previously discovered theories on how the human visual system parses a shape into parts. It also provides a plausible way of explanatory shape analysis that requires clean pruning of parts without leaving attachment traces. Following insights from cognitive science, we have designed a set of heuristics to resolve ambiguities in the representation of the shape. A set of stroke-based tools is designed so that the user can interact with the system to guide the shape analysis as well as to evaluate and optimize the performance of the parser. Geometric thresholds and part selection tools are provided for the user to specify a subset of the part structure computed from the above step. The abstraction is done by simply reconstructing the shape from this subset. The reconstruction respects the geometric properties of the original part attachment and allows topological alternations of the structure resulting from elimination of less salient parts, which greatly improves the flexibility in the reconstruction. The perceptual study we have conducted confirms that human subjects indeed prefer our abstractions over the traditional 2D shape simplifications by Douglas-Peucker or Progressive Meshes, both of which try to approximate certain geometric properties during the simplifications.
Characterizations of aged Glass/Ethylene Vinyl Acetate/Glass using fluorescence spectroscopy and instrumented indentation

Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) is widely used as an encapsulant in photovoltaic devices, which are exposed to simultaneous UV irradiation, thermal, and humidity conditions. Aging behaviors of the EVA were characterized using confocal fluorescence spectroscopy with submicron scale resolutions of cross-sections of aged EVA samples. Additionally, mechanical properties of fluorescing regions in the aged EVAs where fluorescence emission was measured were investigated using a nanoindentation technique. In this study, we characterized two different formulations of EVA in glass/EVA/glass specimens after UV irradiation at 40 °C, 60 °C and 80 °C with 50 % relative humidity for 180 days. The fluorescence intensities on the UV irradiated sides of EVA samples were higher than those for the unexposed sides over wavelengths from 400 nm to 800 nm, and intensity differences between the two sides became more pronounced when the specimens were aged at higher temperatures. Elastic moduli of UV irradiated side for samples measured by instrumented indentation decreased, compared to unaged EVA samples, while fluorescent intensity increased with increasing the aging temperature.
Coronary CTA reduced risk for coronary events at 5 years in patients with stable chest pain.

Source Citation SCOT-HEART Investigators; Newby DE, Adamson PD, Berry C, et al. Coronary CT angiography and 5-year risk of myocardial infarction. N Engl J Med. 2018;379:924-33. 30145934
Cell-Surface Receptors: Structure, Activation, and Signaling†

Introduction Structure of Cell-Surface Receptors Growth Factor Tyrosine Kinase Receptors Cytokine Receptors Heptahelical G Protein Coupled Receptors Receptor Activation Activation of Tyrosine Kinase and Cytokine Receptors Activation of Heptahelical Receptors Second Messengers and Effectors Protein:Protein Interacting Domains Ras/MAP Kinase Cascade STAT Pathway Phosphatidylinositide Signaling Heterotrimeric G Protein Signaling Summary and Prospectus Bibliography Keywords: physiology; gene expression; cell metabolism control
Advanced Kidney Disease Limits LVAD Survival

Background Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy has dramatically improved survival for patients with end-stage heart failure (HF). Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common in these patients yet how CKD impacts LVAD outcomes is unclear. Methods Using the Interagency Registry for Mechanical Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) from 2010-2014, patients with CKD were identified in the following ways: a) Cr>3 b) any dialysis within 48 hours of implant c) destination therapy patients for whom CKD was listed as a contraindication to transplant. Survival for these patients were then compared to those patients without CKD adjusting for age, gender, and INTERMACS profile. Results A total of 5581 patients were included for analysis during this time period. Of these, 124 (2.2%) patients had a Cr of >3, 88 (1.6%) patients had dialysis within 48 hours of implant and 565 (10.1%) patients were designated DT for CKD. There was overlap between these 3 groups with 40 patients having both a Cr of >3 and designated DT for CKD, 28 patients with both a Cr of >3 and who had dialysis within 48 hours of implant, 31 patients both designated DT for CKD and who had dialysis within 48 hours of implant, and 12 patients shared across all three groups. When defining CKD by Cr > 3, patient survival at 1 year was 65.4% compared to 79.8% for those with Cr of 3 or less (Panel A). If defined by undergoing dialysis, 1 - year survival was 56.7% compared to 79.9% for patients not on dialysis (Panel B). For the 565 patients recorded as not eligible for transplant due to CKD, survival was 71.1% compared to 80.5% in the rest of the population (Panel C). Conclusion Regardless of how significant CKD was defined, survival was lower than those patients without significant CKD after adjusting for age, sex, INTERMACs profile. Significant renal disease limits survival with LVAD therapy.
Fluorescence monitoring of rare circulating tumor cell and cluster dissemination in a multiple myeloma xenograft model in vivo.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are of great interest in cancer research because of their crucial role in hematogenous metastasis. We recently developed “diffuse in vivo flow cytometry” (DiFC), a preclinical research tool for enumerating extremely rare fluorescently labeled CTCs directly in vivo . In this work, we developed a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-compatible version of DiFC and used it to noninvasively monitor tumor cell numbers in circulation in a multiple myeloma (MM) disseminated xenograft mouse model. We show that DiFC allowed enumeration of CTCs in individual mice overtime during MM growth, with sensitivity below 1 CTC mL − 1 of peripheral blood. DiFC also revealed the presence of CTC clusters (CTCCs) in circulation to our knowledge for the first time in this model and allowed us to calculate CTCC size, frequency, and kinetics of shedding. We anticipate that the unique capabilities of DiFC will have many uses in preclinical study of metastasis, in particular, with a large number of GFP-expressing xenograft and transgenic mouse models.
Insights into the Role of MicroRNAs in the Onset and Development of Diabetic Neuropathy

Diabetic neuropathy is a serious complication of chronic hyperglycemia in diabetes patients. This complication can involve both peripheral sensorimotor and autonomic nervous system. The precise nature of injury to the peripheral nerves mediated by chronic hyperglycemia is unknown; however, several mechanisms have been proposed including polyol pathway activation, enhanced glycation of proteins and lipids, increased oxidative stress, and cytokine release in the site of injury. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that mediate RNA interference by post-transcriptionally modulating gene expression and protein synthesis. Therefore, they have been implicated in several developmental, physiological, and pathophysiological processes where they modulate the expression of different proteins. Recently, miRNAs gained an increasing attention also for their role as diagnostic test in many diseases due to their stability in serum and their easy detection. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that miRNAs may be involved in diabetic neuropathy although their role in the onset and the development of this complication is not fully understood. In this review, we discuss the most recent literature providing evidence for miRNAs role in diabetic neuropathy opening new pathways to improve both early diagnosis and treatment of this complication.
Effect of hold time on high temperature creep-fatigue behavior of Fe–25Ni–20Cr (wt.%) austenitic stainless steel (Alloy 709)

Abstract To understand high temperature creep-fatigue interaction of the Alloy 709, strain-controlled low-cycle fatigue (LCF) tests were performed at strain ranges varying from 0.3% to 1.2% with fully reversible cycle of triangular waveform at 750 °C. In addition, different hold times of 60, 600, 1800 and 3600 s were introduced at the maximum tensile strain to investigate the effect of creep damage on the fatigue-life at strain range of 1% at 750 °C. The creep-fatigue life and the number of cycles to macro-crack initiation and failure are found to decrease with increasing hold time indicating higher crack initiation and growth rates. Creep-fatigue life is evaluated by a linear summation of fractions of cyclic and creep damages according to ASME code. The fractographs of the samples deformed at 1% strain range indicated that fatigue might have been the dominant mode of deformation whereas, for the samples deformed at the same strain range with different hold times, both fatigue and creep have contributed to the overall deformation and fracture of the alloy.
Thyroid Disorders: A Webliography

AbstractHealth problems arise when the thyroid gland, part of the endocrine system, generates hormone levels that are either too high or too low, affecting the body’s ability to regulate metabolism...
Subtitling speed in Media Accessibility research: some methodological considerations

Media Accessibility researchers who analyze existing subtitled materials or who create them in the lab for experimental purposes often report on the average subtitling speed of their samples as a m...
Assessing the potential for spectrally based remote sensing of salmon spawning locations

Remote sensing tools are increasingly used for quantitative mapping of fluvial habitats, yet few techniques exist for continuous sampling of aquatic organisms, such as spawning salmonids. This study assessed the potential for spectrally based remote sensing of salmon spawning locations (i.e., redds) using data acquired from unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) along a large, gravel‐bed river. We developed a novel, semi‐automated approach for detecting salmon redds by applying machine learning classification and object detection techniques to UAS‐based imagery. We found that both true colour (RGB) and hyperspectral imagery could be used to identify salmon redds, though with varying degrees of accuracy. Redds were mapped with accuracies of ~0.75 from RGB imagery using logistic regression and support vector machines (SVM) classification algorithms, but this type of data could not be used to identify redds using Object‐based Image Analysis (OBIA). The hyperspectral imagery was more useful for mapping salmon redds, with accuracies greater than 0.9 for both logistic regression and SVM classifiers; OBIA of the hyperspectral data resulted in redd detection accuracies up to 0.86. The hyperspectral imagery also yielded complementary physical habitat information including water depth and substrate composition, which we quantified on the basis of a spectrally based chlorophyll absorption ratio. Overall, the hyperspectral imagery more effectively identified salmon spawning locations than RGB images and was more conducive to the classification approaches we evaluated. Each type of remotely sensed data had advantages and limitations, which are important for potential users to understand when incorporating UAS‐based data collection into river ecosystem studies.
A review: additive manufacturing of flexure mechanism for nanopositioning system

A comprehensive review relevant to the design and fabrication of nanopositioning stages based on additive manufacturing (AM) technology has been for the first time introduced in the academic society. With the development of AM technology, AM has been applied in many engineering design areas such as aerospace, automotive, consumer electronics, and so on. Due to current limitations of AM tolerance (surface quality, form error), process obscurity (melting pool, layer adhesion), and cost (especially for metals or composites), there are only a small number of AM-applied devices that are currently available either in the market or in many industry sectors above. The flexure mechanisms that are typically employed in nanopositioning applications can provide a sub-nanometer resolution motion; however, their current manufacturing methods (milling, electric discharge machining, water jet machining) not only limit complicated flexure mechanisms in 3D geometries but also prevent designers from challenging novel topology optimizations. AM can overcome those limitations of fabrication and material distribution. Furthermore, it can allow new design approaches to topology optimizations. This review presents current and future AM-based precision motion device applications. Here, both design and fabrication of flexure mechanisms applied with current AM technology and the potential of further developments were discussed.
The Relevance of Inflation and Exchange Rate Risk for Monetary Convergence to the Eurozone

This study places a strong emphasis on the ability of Central European countries to lower inflation and exchange rate risk premiums on their path of monetary convergence to the eurozone. A model of the nexus between both risk premiums is presented along with the recent evidence supporting well-coordinated interactions between these risk premiums for Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The analysis implies that monetary policies based on direct inflation targeting are likely to contain these risk premiums in the candidate countries and can be effectively used during the remaining period of their preparations for entering the euro area.
Placement in Integrated Circuits using Cyclic Reinforcement Learning and Simulated Annealing.

Physical design and production of Integrated Circuits (IC) is becoming increasingly more challenging as the sophistication in IC technology is steadily increasing. Placement has been one of the most critical steps in IC physical design. Through decades of research, partition-based, analytical-based and annealing-based placers have been enriching the placement solution toolbox. However, open challenges including long run time and lack of ability to generalize continue to restrict wider applications of existing placement tools. We devise a learning-based placement tool based on cyclic application of Reinforcement Learning (RL) and Simulated Annealing (SA) by leveraging the advancement of RL. Results show that the RL module is able to provide a better initialization for SA and thus leads to a better final placement design. Compared to other recent learning-based placers, our method is majorly different with its combination of RL and SA. It leverages the RL model's ability to quickly get a good rough solution after training and the heuristic's ability to realize greedy improvements in the solution.
A Framework for Auditing Data Center Energy Usage and Mitigating Environmental Footprint.

As the Data Science field continues to mature, and we collect more data, the demand to store and analyze them will continue to increase. This increase in data availability and demand for analytics will put a strain on data centers and compute clusters-with implications for both energy costs and emissions. As the world battles a climate crisis, it is prudent for organizations with data centers to have a framework for combating increasing energy costs and emissions to meet demand for analytics work. In this paper, I present a generalized framework for organizations to audit data centers energy efficiency to understand the resources required to operate a given data center and effective steps organizations can take to improve data center efficiency and lower the environmental impact.
Peripheral or Marginal Participation? University-Based Intensive English Programs as an Entryway to U.S. Academia

For academically bound international students, university-based Intensive English Programs (IEPs) frequently function as an avenue to American undergraduate or graduate degree programs. This qualitative study examined how one university-based IEP was preparing its academically bound international students and facilitating their transitions to matriculated study. Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of Situated Learning was utilized to explore international students’ participation in the IEP as a community of practice and the IEP’s own marginality within the university structure. We found that university-based IEPs can play a critical role in helping international students gain the competence and knowledge necessary to begin legitimate peripheral participation in degree programs. However, the extent to which IEP students were able to participate in the larger university community was limited by the IEP’s own marginality in the university community and the fact that the IEP is ultimately not a discipline-specific community of practice.
Demonstration of In-Flight Docking Between Quadcopters and Fixed-Wing UAV

Drones are being used increasingly as innovative tools in the medical field. RED (Rescue-Delivery) system is a project designed to help emergency situations by utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to deliver medical supplies. Although multiple air-based delivery methods are currently available, they all have certain limitations. Dropping a package from a fixed wing aircraft using a parachute is limited by its accuracy, while using a multirotor drone on its own to deliver a package is limited by its low endurance, range, and efficiency. Thus, a need exists for an aerial delivery system which is both accurate and quick to deliver a payload at a distant location. By using a combination of a fixed-wing mothership and a multirotor drone, the RED system will be able to conduct a fast, accurate and autonomous delivery of a payload from a base to the rescue location, and then return to the starting position. The compact design of the multirotor allows for precise maneuverability even in urbanized areas. The mothership is first loaded with the payload and the coordinates of the delivery location. Upon reaching the pre-selected area, the multirotor and payload detach from the mothership. The multirotor quickly reaches the coordinates and delivers the payload. Once the delivery is accomplished, the multirotor rendezvous and docks with the mothership. Both drones then return to the base with complete autonomy. A companion computer in each UAV is used to imitate each stage of the mission and ensure communication among each interface of the system. The communication between mothership and multirotor is accomplished through a high-speed cellular network system. The rendezvous begins with the multirotor following GPS coordinates of the mothership to align with its flightpath. Once within proximity, the final docking maneuver is initiated by the image tracking system which captures real-time video and processes it frame by frame. By using an open source python library, each video frame's data can be captured and manipulated to achieve the desired results using OpenCV. It will also present test results of the flight tests of the docking system.
Clogging, dynamics, and reentrant fluid for active matter on periodic substrates

We examine the collective states of run-and-tumble active matter disks driven over a periodic obstacle array. When the drive is applied along a symmetry direction of the array, we find a clog-free uniform liquid state for low activity, while at higher activity, the density becomes increasingly heterogeneous and an active clogged state emerges in which the mobility is strongly reduced. For driving along nonsymmetry or incommensurate directions, there are two different clogging behaviors consisting of a drive-dependent clogged state in the low activity thermal limit and a drive-independent clogged state at high activity. These regimes are separated by a uniform flowing liquid at intermediate activity. There is a critical activity level above which the thermal clogged state does not occur, as well as an optimal activity level that maximizes the disk mobility. Thermal clogged states are dependent on the driving direction while active clogged states are not. In the low activity regime, diluting the obstacles produces a monotonic increase in the mobility; however, for large activities, the mobility is more robust against obstacle dilution. We also examine the velocity-force curves for driving along nonsymmetry directions and find that they are linear when the activity is low or intermediate but become nonlinear at high activity and show behavior similar to that found for the plastic depinning of solids. At higher drives, the active clustering is lost. For low activity, we also find a reentrant fluid phase, where the system transitions from a high mobility fluid at low drives to a clogged state at higher drives and then back into another fluid phase at very high drives. We map the regions in which the thermally clogged, partially clogged, active uniform fluid, clustered fluid, active clogged, and directionally locked states occur as a function of disk density, drift force, and activity.
Trapezoidal grid fingers to reduce shadowing loss and improve short circuit current

Abstract Traditional metallic contacts on solar cells can cover a substantial portion of the device area, resulting in shadowing of light that diminishes the amount of current collected. In this paper, we developed trapezoidal electron-beam evaporated Ti/Al front grid fingers on GaAs single-junction solar cells to decrease the optical shadowing and increase the photogenerated current. We observe a high fill factor of 87% at 1-Sun light intensity and we observe no degradation on the open-circuit voltage. The short-circuit current density is found to increase by 0.4 mA/cm2 when compared to previously demonstrated electroplated Ni/Au front grid fingers, resulting in an efficiency improvement of ~0.8% absolute.
To Recommend or Not? A Model-Based Comparison of Item-Matching Processes.

Recommender systems are central to modern online platforms, but a popular concern is that they may be pulling society in dangerous directions (e.g., towards filter bubbles). However, a challenge with measuring the effects of recommender systems is how to compare user outcomes under these systems to outcomes under a credible counterfactual world without such systems. We take a model-based approach to this challenge, introducing a dichotomy of process models that we can compare: (1) a "recommender" model describing a generic item-matching process under a personalized recommender system and (2) an "organic" model describing a baseline counterfactual where users search for items without the mediation of any system. Our key finding is that the recommender and organic models result in dramatically different outcomes at both the individual and societal level, as supported by theorems and simulation experiments with real data. The two process models also induce different trade-offs during inference, where standard performance-improving techniques such as regularization/shrinkage have divergent effects. Shrinkage improves the mean squared error of matches in both settings, as expected, but at the cost of less diverse (less radical) items chosen in the recommender model but more diverse (more radical) items chosen in the organic model. These findings provide a formal language for how recommender systems may be fundamentally altering how we search for and interact with content, in a world increasingly mediated by such systems.
Evaluation of a multi-camera visual-tracking system for detecting and correcting body motion in cardiac SPECT

413 Objectives Body motion of ~13 mm is sufficient to cause minor to moderate defects in Cardiac SPECT. We designed a clinical motion-monitoring system using multiple near-infrared cameras from Vicon to stereo-image small retro-reflective markers on strechy bands wrapped about the chest and abdomen. The goal was to evaluate in patients the accuracy with which the motion can be corrected when incorporated in iterative reconstruction with attenuation and detector response compensation. Methods Twelve patients (8 men, 4 women thus far) undergoing Tl-201 stress-rest cardiac perfusion imaging were ask to move a small amount during a second rest acquisition directly after a first rest with Beacon (Philips Medical, Milpitas, CA) transmission. The visual tracking system (VTS) contineously monitored patients during the entire study. The first rest served as baseline for comparison, while the second was reconstructed with a) no motion correction, b) VTS determined motion correction, and c) the standard motion correction software in our clinic. Indenpendent polar-map quantification using a site-specific normal database was used for evaluation. Results The VTS corrected slices compared more favorably with the first rest study in 11 of the 12 patients than slices corected using the clinical software. Also, in the majority of cases the diagnosis (as given by polar-map quantifiction) were not significntly altered with VTS determined motion correction while the clinical software was wrong in 50%. Currently, 3DOF compensation is more robust than 6DOF compensation. Conclusions We were able to show that VTS motion detection and correction is possible in a routine clinical setting. Research Support NIH R01 EB001457, R01 HL091017, and Philips Medical Systems
Cholinergic Regulation of REM Sleep: Basic Mechanisms and Clinical Implications for Affective Illness and Narcolepsy

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep was first discovered with the observation of a wake-like EEG associated with bursts of rapid eye movements during behavioral sleep in man. When subjects were awakened from this state, they were likely to report dreaming. Since then REM sleep has been discovered in virtually all mammals, some birds and, perhaps, in reptiles.
Liquidity Trading in Market Microstructure Theory

Liquidity trading is an important component of market microstructure models. In most cases, its role is primarily to ensure existence of equilibrium and therefore that trading occurs among asymmetrically informed agents. While most market microstructure models allege that agents trade based upon rational expectations, the rationality of the type of liquidity trading assumed in these models remains to be verified. Specifically, liquidity traders are often assumed to submit price-inelastic orders for reasons exogenous to the model at hand. But whether price-inelastic trading is consistent with rational utility maximizing behavior remains to be shown.
Post-infection activities of fungicides against Cercospora arachidicola of peanut (Arachis hypogaea).

BACKGROUND Despite strong indirect evidence of post-infection activity by a selection of systemic fungicides against Cercospora arachidicola, the causal organism of early leaf spot of peanut, direct post-infection activities in this pathosystem have yet to be reported in detail. This study was conducted to describe the activities of pyraclostrobin, penthiopyrad and prothioconazole on early leaf spot when each fungicide was applied after pathogen penetration began and throughout the incubation period. RESULTS Most C. arachidicola penetration events occurred between 3 and 5 days after inoculation (dai), and the mean incubation period was 11.8 dai. Post-infection activities of the systemic fungicides were similar for all dependent variables measured. Systemic fungicides reduced lesion density compared with the non-treated control when applied at 3, 5 and 7 dai, and disease severity was >60% less for leaves treated with a systemic fungicide at all application dates (3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 dai). CONCLUSIONS Pyraclostrobin, penthiopyrad and prothioconazole showed similar systemic mobility within peanut leaves and activities against C. arachidicola, and appear to completely arrest the development of the pathogen at least 2 days post penetration, and limit pathogen colonization even when applications occur after symptom onset. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry