cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Comparative Study of Seismic Provisions between the International Building Code 2003 and Mexico's Manual of Civil Works 1993

This study focuses on the differences and similarities between the seismic provisions of the International Building Code 2003 (IBC 2003) and Mexico's Manual of Civil Works for Seismic Design (MOC-93). A six-story special reinforced concrete moment frame building was chosen to explore how the static force procedures of both codes differed. The sample location of this building was the San Diego/Tijuana border region. A total of four random soil shear wave velocities were chosen to identify the necessary IBC 2003 soil site classes and MOC-93 soil types. Inelastic design response spectra were established based on the 4 soil shear wave velocities. When the results were compared, several conclusions were evident. The IBC 2003 design response spectra may be more accurate for the studied region of San Diego, California, USA and Tijuana, Baja California, based on the probabilistic data of the region. The MOC-93 design response spectra, which include longer periods and higher seismic coefficients in most cases, are...
Id: a language with implicit parallelism

Publisher Summary This chapter describes Id as a parallel programming language developed in the Computation Structures Group at MITs Laboratory for Computer Science. There are three major goals in developing Id that is high level, general purpose, and high performance. High level is at least as expressive as modern functional languages and Lisp. Parallelism in Id is implicit—the user does not have to manage partitioning, scheduling, and synchronization. General purpose is suitable for both scientific and symbolic computation. Id has efficient arrays and floating-point operations, as well as recursive data structures in an automatically managed heap. High performance aim is for an Id program compiled for a dataflow machine to achieve at least as much absolute performance as its FORTRAN counterpart on a von Neumann machine built with comparable technology. Id is a layered language, with layer 0 representing the cleanest semantics and layer 2 representing the most expressive power. Layer 0 is purely functional, and is similar to other modern functional languages like Miranda and Haskell, that is, it has higher-order functions, non-strict semantics, polymorphic types with static type-checking by inference, algebraic types with pattern-matching, list comprehensions, and user-defined abstract data types. Id's array comprehensions are fairly unique.
Antialiased ray tracing by adaptive progressive refinement

We describe an antialiasing system for ray tracing based on adaptive progressive refinement. The goals of the system are to produce high quality antialiased images at a modest average sample rate, and to refine the image progressively so that the image is available in a usable form early and is refined gradually toward the final result.The method proceeds by adaptive stochastic sampling of the image plane, evaluation of the samples by ray tracing, and image reconstruction from the samples. Adaptive control of the sample generation process is driven by three basic goals: coverage of the image, location of features, and confidence in the values at a distinguished "pixel level" of resolution.A three-stage process of interpolation, filtering, and resampling is used to reconstruct a regular grid of display pixels. This reconstruction can be either batch or incremental.
Research Note---Impact of Customer Knowledge Heterogeneity on Bundling Strategy

We consider a marketer of components who can select one of three alternative pricing strategies: 1 a pure component strategy i.e., the customer can only buy the components individually, 2 a pure bundling strategy i.e., the components must be purchased together, or 3 a mixed bundling strategy i.e., the customer may buy a component individually, or buy the bundle. We consider a market where customer knowledge of components varies and propose that a high-knowledge customer can determine with greater certainty whether a given component is useful to her. Consequently, more knowledgeable customers have higher variability in their reservation price of a component. Using an analytical model, we identify the conditions under which each of the three pricing strategies maximizes profit and show that three factors determine the optimal strategy: marginal costs of components, distribution of knowledge over the customer population, and relative sizes of customer segments where each segment is interested in the same subset of components. Managerial implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Closest Friendships of Black College Students: Structural Characteristics

Studies which have been done in the area of friendship focus mainly on social variables significant in friendshipformation. The present research attempted to investigate the perceived structural characteristics of closest friendships of black college students. It analyzed friendship units of both sexes, the same sex, and the opposite sex. Results indicated there were differences in closest friendship structures between homosocial and heterosocialfriendship units. Heterosocial units tended to be smaller than homosocial, and the dyad and dyadic networks seemed to be the most predominate structures.
Built-In Self-Test of embedded memory cores in Virtex-5 Field Programmable Gate Arrays

This paper introduces and details a Built-In Self-Test (BIST) approach designed for the embedded Block Random Access Memories (BRAMs) found within Xilinx Virtex-5 Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The BIST is designed to test the BRAMs in all configurable modes of operation including single-port, dual-port, first-in first-out (FIFO), first-in first-out with error correcting code (FIFOECC), and error correcting code (ECC) modes. The BIST architecture and implementation in actual Virtex-5 FPGAs will be discussed along with fault detection and timing analysis data taken from those implementations.
Iron burden in sickle cell anemia

Total body iron burden was estimated by two indirect methods in 23 patients with sickle cell anemia. Concentrations of serum ferritin correlated directly and significantly with age of the patients. Eleven of 15 patients under 20 years of age had normal levels of serum ferritin. Deferoxamine-induced urinary excretion of iron was considerably less than that reported in patients with thalassemia major who were receiving regular blood transfusions. These data imply that patients with sickle cell anemia generally do not acquire excessive iron burdens during the first two decades of life. The risks of transfusional hemosiderosis in patients with sickle cell anemia who are included in hypertransfusion programs are discussed.
Belonging In a “Christian Nation”: The Explicit and Implicit Associations between Religion and National Group Membership

If many consider the United States to be a Christian nation, how does this affect individuals who are American citizens but not Christian? We test two major hypotheses: (1) Americans consider Christians to be more fully American than non-Christians. We examine whether Americans explicitly and implicitly connect being Christian with being a true American; and (2) Christian Americans are more likely to be patriotic and set exclusive boundaries on the national group than non-Christian Americans. Among non-Christians, however, those who want to be fully accepted as American will be more patriotic and set more exclusive boundaries to emulate prototypical Americans than non-Christians who place less emphasis on national group membership. We test these hypotheses using data from a survey and from an Implicit Association Test. We find that Americans in general associate being Christian with being a true American. For Christians, this is true both explicitly and implicitly. For non-Christians, only the implicit measure uncovers an association. We also found that non-Christians exhibit significantly more pro-national group behaviors when they desire being prototypical than when they do not.
Modulational Stability of Rotating-Disk Flow

The problem of modulational primary stability of rotating-disk boundary layer flow for stationary modes was studied by using the method of multiple scales. The system of equations for infinitesimal disturbances is solved by linear stability theory to determine the modulated solution which represents the time and azimuthal variations of the wave pattern. The solution for the amplitude of the most critical disturbance indicates that the disturbance spreads out as the slow time τ increases and at the center it grows exponentially; after an initial decrease due to a τ-1/2 factor.
In a solitary place: Raymond Roussel’s brain and the French cult of unreason

French surrealist author Raymond Roussel’s novel Locus solus depicted a brain-in-a-vat apparatus in which the head of the revolutionary orator Georges Danton was reanimated and made to speak. This scene of mechanically-produced language echoes Roussel’s own method of quasi-mechanical literary production as presented in How I wrote certain of my books. Roussel’s work participates in a wider fascination in modern French thought with the fragile connection, or violent disjuncture, between the body and mind. This paper discusses a number of instances in which bodiless and reanimated heads played a central role in reflections on knowledge, art, and individuality. Roussel’s works offer a sidelong commentary on the notion of explanation in the sciences and the cult of reason in a technocratic society. # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Regression-based control of thyristor-controlled series compensators for optimal usage of transmission capacity

Flexible AC transmission system devices provide the opportunity to improve the usage of the current transmission facilities by controlling network flows and nodal voltages. The optimal steady-state settings of these devices can be determined using optimal power flow calculations. However, this requires knowledge of the system parameters, generation settings and loads. A two-stage regression-based control scheme is proposed to determine the optimal settings of thyristor-controlled series compensators (TCSCs) with the objective to optimally utilise the current transmission system in the presence of renewable energy resources. A regression function describing the relationship between a set of key measurements and the optimal device settings is determined in the offline simulation. This function is then used to calculate the optimal device settings by only receiving the information from a limited number of key measurements without solving the OPF problem in the online operation. Studies are carried out with TCSCs in three-test systems, the IEEE 14-bus system, a 28-bus system and the IEEE 118-bus system. The simulation results with one, two and four TCSCs are presented, illustrating the performance of the proposed regression-based control scheme.
Optimization of methane production in anaerobic co-digestion of poultry litter and wheat straw at different percentages of total solid and volatile solid using a developed response surface model

Poultry litter (PL) can be good feedstock for biogas production using anaerobic digestion. In this study, methane production from batch co-digestion of PL and wheat straw (WS) was investigated for two factors, i.e., total solid (2%, 5%, and 10%) and volatile solid (0, 25, and 50% of WS), constituting a 3 × 3 experimental design. The results showed that the maximum specific methane volume [197 mL (g VS)(‑1)] was achieved at 50% VS from WS at 5% TS level. It was estimated that the inhibitory threshold of free ammonia was about 289 mg L(--1), beyond which reduction of methanogenic activity by at least 54% was observed. The specific methane volume and COD removal can be expressed using two response surface models (R(2) = 0.9570 and 0.9704, respectively). Analysis of variance of the experimental results indicated that the C/N ratio was the most significant factor influencing the specific methane volume and COD removal in the co-digestion of these two materials.
The role of Aedes albopictus as an arbovirus vector

The recent rapid spread of Aedes albopictus to many areas previously free of such infestations, including Albania and Italy, has heightened concern among public health and vector control officials. Ae. albopictus is a proven or potential vector of several arboviruses, including some that are, or have been, actively transmitted in southern Europe. These virus/vector relationships are reviewed with a view toward assessing the risk posed by the current presence of Ae. albopictus in the region.
The Chiwaukum Structural Low: Cenozoic shortening of the central Cascade Range, Washington State, USA: Comment

[Cheney and Hayman (2009)][1] bring welcome attention to a critical issue in the understanding of the Cenozoic history of the Pacific Northwest, namely the timing and kinematics of Eocene sedimentation and deformation. Their study provides valuable detailed geologic mapping, interpreted cross
Detection and localization of methionine sulfoxide residues of specific proteins in brain tissue

Methionine sulfoxide is a common posttranslational oxidative modification that can alter protein function. Vulnerability of specific proteins to methionine oxidation varies and depends on their structure. In the current study, detection of methionine sulfoxide in intact proteins is mediated by novel anti-methionine sulfoxide antibody that resulted in the identification of three major methionine sulfoxide-proteins in brain: bisphosphate aldolase A and C, α and β subunits of hemoglobin, and serum albumin. The locations of the methionine sulfoxide residues were determined by massspectrometry analyses. It is suggested that the in vivo methionine oxidation of these proteins represent early posttranslational oxidative modification of proteins in brain. Thus, elevated levels of methionine-sulfoxide in these proteins may serve as bio-markers for enhanced oxidative stress in brain, which may be associated with brain disorders and diseases.
Analysis of 22 547 serum specimen of HIV-1 antibody

Objective:To analyze the detection results of acquired immune deficiency syndrome(AIDS),and to provide scientific evidence for the prevention and control of the disease.Methods:PA was used for the detection of HIV-1 anti-body before 1999,ELISA was adopted since 1999,and West blot was used for the confirmatory test since 2008.Results:A total of 22 547 samples were detected,and 262 cases of anti-HIV positive were identified,with a positive rate of 1.16%.Fifty-seven of the 262 cases(21.76%) were registered residents of Bengbu district,and the other 205 cases(79.24%)were residents of other places.Conclusions:The infection rate of AIDS in Bengbu district is comparatively low,but tends to increase year by year.
Variation in the Response of N2-fixing RhizobiumLeguminosarum Isolates to the Application of NH4NO3

Selection of effective Rhizobium strains is generally carried out in N-free conditions, yet low levels of combined nitrogen are usually present in the field. The contribution of N2 fixation to plant nitrogen could be increased if the symbiotic system were more tolerant of combined nitrogen. There is some evidence that the rhizobial strain is a source of variation with respect to effectiveness in the presence of combined nitrogen. The present study was undertaken to determine whether R. leguminosarum isolates varied in their ability to fix N2 in the presence of NH4NO3. A second objective was to determine whether this variability in response to NH4NO3 was affected by time of application of NH4NO3, NH4NO3 concentration, and plant age.
Utility of Adenoviral Vectors in Animal Models of Human Disease I: Cancer

The testing of pharmacological strategies in disease-specific animal models is important in the discovery and development process of all therapeutics. These studies are often used as the foundation on which to design human clinical trials. This chapter will focus on the use of animal models in the process of evaluating adenoviral gene transfer strategies for the treatment of human cancer. The authors will compare and contrast the clinical and pathological features of human lung and prostate cancer with their respective murine models. The basic principles underlying these applications will have broader representation while providing the reader with an appreciation of the various subtypes of models available and highlighting drawbacks that are inherent to each subtype. These drawbacks need to be carefully considered when extrapolating results from animal studies for application in humans, making the choice of animal models for preclinical studies an important element in advancing molecular therapeutics.
Novel biomarkers of resistance of pancreatic cancer cells to oncolytic vesicular stomatitis virus

// Eric Hastie 1, * , Marcela Cataldi 1, * , Megan J. Moerdyk-Schauwecker 1, * , Sebastien A. Felt 1, * , Nury Steuerwald 2 , Valery Z. Grdzelishvili 1 1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA 2 Cannon Research Center, Carolinas Healthcare System, Charlotte, NC, USA * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Valery Z. Grdzelishvili, email: vzgrdzel@uncc.edu Keywords: pancreatic cancer, oncolytic virus, vesicular stomatitis virus, interferon-stimulated gene, biomarker of resistance Received: March 13, 2016 Accepted: July 27, 2016 Published: August 11, 2016 ABSTRACT Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) based recombinant viruses (such as VSV-ΔM51) are effective oncolytic viruses (OVs) against a majority of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cell lines. However, some PDAC cell lines are highly resistant to VSV-ΔM51. We recently showed that treatment of VSV-resistant PDAC cells with ruxolitinib (JAK1/2 inhibitor) or TPCA-1 (IKK-β inhibitor) breaks their resistance to VSV-ΔM51. Here we compared the global effect of ruxolitinib or TPCA-1 treatment on cellular gene expression in PDAC cell lines highly resistant to VSV-ΔM51. Our study identified a distinct subset of 22 interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) downregulated by both ruxolitinib and TPCA-1. Further RNA and protein analyses demonstrated that 4 of these genes (MX1, EPSTI1, XAF1, and GBP1) are constitutively co-expressed in VSV-resistant, but not in VSV-permissive PDACs, thus serving as potential biomarkers to predict OV therapy success. Moreover, shRNA-mediated knockdown of one of such ISG, MX1, showed a positive effect on VSV-ΔM51 replication in resistant PDAC cells, suggesting that at least some of the identified ISGs contribute to resistance of PDACs to VSV-ΔM51. As certain oncogene and tumor suppressor gene variants are often associated with increased tropism of OVs to cancer cells, we also analyzed genomic DNA in a set of PDAC cell lines for frequently occurring cancer associated mutations. While no clear correlation was found between such mutations and resistance of PDACs to VSV-ΔM51, the analysis generated valuable genotypic data for future studies.
Privacy as a coordination game

In Ghosh-Ligett 2013, we propose a simple model where individuals in a privacy-sensitive population with privacy requirements decide whether or not to participate in a pre-announced noisy computation by an analyst, so that the database itself is endogenously determined by individuals participation choices. The privacy an agent receives depends both on the announced noise level, as well as how many agents choose to participate in the database. Agents decide whether or not to participate based on how their privacy requirement compares against their expectation of the privacy they will receive. This gives rise to a game amongst the agents, where each individual's privacy if she participates, and therefore her participation choice, depends on the choices of the rest of the population. We investigate symmetric Bayes-Nash equilibria in this game which consist of threshold strategies, where all agents with requirements above a certain threshold participate and the remaining agents do not. We characterize these equilibria, which depend both on the noise announced by the analyst and the population size; present results on existence, uniqueness, and multiplicity; and discuss a number of surprising properties they display.
Tribology of Metal Matrix Composites

Metal matrix composites (MMCs) are an important class of engineering materials that are increasingly replacing a number of conventional materials in the automotive, aerospace, marine, and sports industries due to their lightweight and superior mechanical properties. In MMCs, nonmetallic materials are embedded into the metals or the alloys as reinforcements to obtain a novel material with attractive engineering properties, such as improved ultimate tensile strength, ductility, toughness, and tribological behavior. In this chapter, an attempt has been made to summarize the tribological performance of various MMCs as a function of several relevant parameters. These parameters include material parameters (size, shape, volume fraction, and type of the reinforcements), mechanical parameters (normal load and sliding speed), and physical parameters (temperature and the environment). In general, it was shown that the wear resistance and friction coefficient of MMCs are improved by increasing the volume fraction of the reinforcements. As the normal load and sliding speed increase, the wear rate of the composites increases and the friction coefficient of the composites decreases. The wear rate and friction coefficient decrease with increasing temperature up to a critical temperature, and thereafter both wear rate and friction coefficient increase with increasing temperature. The nano-composites showed best friction and wear performance when compared to micro-composites.
Variability in assigning pathogenicity to incidental findings: insights from LDLR sequence linked to the electronic health record in 1013 individuals.

Knowledge of variant pathogenicity is key to implementing genomic medicine. We describe variability between expert reviewers in assigning pathogenicity to sequence variants in LDLR, the causal gene in the majority of cases of familial hypercholesterolemia. LDLR was sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq platform (average read depth >200 × ) in 1013 Mayo Biobank participants recruited from 2012 to 2013. Variants with a minor allele frequency (MAF) 1 submitter showing inconsistency in classification and 26% (5/19) appearing with conflicting clinical actionability. The discordance rate (one-step level of disagreement out of five classes in variant interpretation) between the reviewers was 40% (10/25). Two LDLR variants were independently deemed clinically actionable and returnable. Interpretation of LDLR variants was often discordant among ClinVar submitters and between expert reviewers. A quantitative approach based on strength of each predefined criterion in the context of specific genes and phenotypes may yield greater consistency between different reviewers.
Reassessment of an Asthma Diagnosis.

The study by Dr Aaron and colleagues1 indicated that 33% of adults with physician-diagnosed asthma could no longer be diagnosed with this condition after reassessment. The authors inferred that their findings were explicable because of misdiagnosis or spontaneous remission. A third possibility seems tenable, that exposures to occupational or environmental bronchoconstrictors were responsible for the symptoms, signs, and physiological abnormalities on which the initial diagnoses were based. Removal or reduction of workplace, hobby, or community exposures,2 for example, could masquerade as spontaneous remissions, unless the role of the exposure was revealed by direct questioning. Such appeared to be true in 2 of 231 study participants interviewed by the study pulmonologist. However, medical records were unavailable from 24% of the community physicians who initially made the asthma diagnoses, making it difficult to determine the extent to which occupational asthma might have been identified. Estimates of the frequency with which occupational exposures are responsible for asthma range from 6% to 15%.3- 5 Although the study excluded tobacco smoking (in excess of 10 pack-years) as a confounding factor in asthma diagnoses, their report is silent as to possible workplace contributions.
Infotronics Technologies and Predictive Tools for Next-Generation Maintenance Systems

Abstract In today's competitive market, production costs, lead-time and optimal machine utilization are crucial values for companies. Since machine or process breakdowns severely limit their effectiveness, improved methods are needed to predict products' prediction expectancy. Furthenmre, continuous assessrrent and prediction of product's performance could also enable proactive maintenance to prevent machine from breakdowns. This paper first addresses the paradigm shift in modern maintenance systems. Then, emerging infotronics technologies and predictive tools to transform the maintenance from traditional "fail and fix" practices to "predict and prevent" methodologies will be presented. Finally, examples will be given to illustrate the lesson learned from the testbeds and implerrentations.
Blogs as Channels for Disseminating Health Technology Innovations.

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to describe the features of health informatics blogs on the Internet. METHODS A search was conducted in August, 2016 using the search engine, Google, and key words: 'mobile health blog,' 'telehealth/telemedicine blog,' 'Electronic Health Record blog,' 'personalized health record blog,' 'population health decision support system blog,' and 'public/population health dashboard blog.' The first 24 blogs resulting from each key word search were recorded, generating 144 blogs. A total of 109 unique blogs resulted after removing duplicates and non-functional sites. RESULTS Blogs with '.com' extensions were most prevalent (72%, n = 79). More than half of the blogs (79%, n = 86) were created by industries. Mobile health (88%, n = 96), telehealth (82%, n = 89), and health IT (78%, n = 85) were the predominant topics covered. Health providers (44%, n = 48), industries (33%, n = 36), patients/consumers (25%, n = 27) and payers/insurance providers (19%, n = 21) constituted the most common target audience. Blogs catering to payers commonly used '.org' extension (n = 10 out of 21), compared to '.com' (n = 7) or '.gov' (n = 2) (p < 0.0001). Significant differences were also observed by topics covered health IT (p = 0.007), subscription (p = 0.048) and LinkedIn social media (p = 0.019) across the website extensions. CONCLUSIONS Further research is needed to examine the use of blogs as channels of communication of best evidence in health informatics research among diverse stakeholders. The role of blogs as policy informatics tools need to be evaluated in order for stakeholders to collaborate, coordinate and share opportunities and challenges of various public health programs and policies.
Engaging African Americans in Research: The Recruiter’s Perspective

Purpose: To examine barriers recruiters encounter when enrolling African American study participants, identify motivating factors to increase research participation, and provide recommendations to facilitate successful minority recruitment. Background: Recruiters are often the first point of contact between the research study and potential African American participants. While challenges in enrolling African Americans into clinical and epidemiologic research has been reported in numerous studies the non-physician recruiter’s role as a determinant of overall participation rates has received minimal attention. Methods: We conducted four 90-minute teleconference focus groups with 18 recruiters experienced in enrolling African Americans for clinical and epidemiologic studies at five academic/medical institutions. Participants represented diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and were asked to reflect on barriers preventing African Americans from participating in research studies, factors that motivated participation, and recommendations to increase participation of African Americans in research. Multi-coder and thematic data analysis was implemented using the Braun and Clarke method. Results: Prominent concerns in recruitment of African Americans in research include fear and mistrust and inflexible research protocols. The participants suggest that improved recruitment could be achieved through cross-cultural and skillset building training opportunities for recruiters, greater community engagement among researchers, and better engagement with clinic staff and research teams. Ethn Dis. 2017;27(4):453- 462; doi:10.18865/ed.27.4.453.
MAP Training My Brain™: Meditation Plus Aerobic Exercise Lessens Trauma of Sexual Violence More Than Either Activity Alone

Sexual violence against women often leads to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental illness characterized by intrusive thoughts and memories about the traumatic event (1). These experiences may increase ruminations, which are the repeated rehearsal of thoughts, typically negative and about the self. These mental processes are obviously generated by the brain but often felt in the body. MAP Training My BrainTM is a novel clinical intervention that combines mental training of the brain with physical training of the body (2,3). Each training session begins with 20-min of sitting meditation, followed by 10-min of slow-walking meditation, and ending with 30-min of aerobic exercise at 60-80% of the maximum heart rate (see MAPTRAINMYBRAIN.com). In previous studies, the combination of mental and physical (MAP) training together significantly reduced symptoms of depression and ruminative thoughts, while reducing anxiety (2,4,5). We also documented positive changes in brain activity during cognitive control and whole-body oxygen consumption in various populations. In the present pilot study, we asked whether the combination of meditation and aerobic exercise during MAP Training would reduce trauma-related thoughts, ruminations and memories in women and if so, whether the combination would be more effective than either activity alone. To test this hypothesis, MAP Training was provided to a large group of women (n = 105), many of whom had a history of sexual violence (n = 32). Groups were trained with 1) MAP Training, 2) meditation alone, 3) aerobic exercise alone or 4) not trained. Individuals in training groups completed two sessions a week for at least 6 weeks. MAP Training My BrainTM significantly reduced posttraumatic cognitions and ruminative thoughts in women with a history of sexual violence, whereas meditation alone and exercise alone did not. MAP Training significantly enhanced a measure of self-worth, whereas meditation and exercise alone did not. Similar positive effects were observed for all participants, although meditation alone was also effective in reducing trauma-related thoughts. Overall, these data indicate the combination of meditation and exercise is synergistic. As a consequence, MAP Training is preferable and especially so for women who have experienced sexual violence in their past. Simply put,
Some experiments on the effect of isolated protuberances on flow through tubes

At various locations in the arterial system, plaques, or small relatively isolated protuberances, can develop on the inner wall of the vessel and project into the lumen. A number of investigators have suggested that the development and growth of these protuberances is related to the flow in the vicinity of the protuberance. In this study, the conditions under which the flow separates from an isolated protuberance located in a cylindrical tube were investigated. The critical Reynolds number at which separation first takes place for a given protuberance was determined. A series of tests was performed for steady flow of a Newtonian fluid through a rigid tube in which protuberances of various sizes were inserted. The results of the tests show the effect of the protuberance height and shape on the separation characteristics. In general, the results indicate that separation takes place at relatively small values of the Reynolds number; values that commonly occur in the arterial system, so that this phenomenon may be important in the study of the “coupling” between blood flow and arterial lesions.
Comment on Otmar Issing: Monetary Policy Strategy in the EMU

This is an interesting paper focusing on the advantages of monetary targeting. The main point of the paper is that the future European Central Bank (ECB) would do well to follow similar procedures of monetary targeting as those that exist in the Bundesbank.
Low-Affinity Heparin Stimulates the Inactivation of Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 by Thrombin

The influence of heparin on the reaction between thrombin and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) has been examined. With a 50- fold excess of PAI-1, the rate constant for the inhibition of thrombin was 458 mol/L-1s-1, which increased to 5,000 mol/L-1s-1 in the presence of 25 micrograms/mL unfractionated heparin or heparin with low affinity for antithrombin. The effect of low affinity heparin was then examined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, using close to equimolar concentrations of reactants. Thrombin and PAI-1 formed a stable stoichiometric complex in the absence of heparin, which did not dissociate after the addition of 25 micrograms/mL low-affinity heparin. In contrast, when low-affinity heparin was added at the beginning of the reaction, there was an initial increase in PAI-1- thrombin complex formation, but this was rapidly followed by substantial proteolytic cleavage of unreacted PAI-1 and of the thrombin- PAI-1 complex. The idea that the relative concentrations of thrombin and PAI-1, and the presence of low affinity heparin, could influence the products of the reaction was examined in detail. Quantitative zymographic analysis of tissue plasminogen activator and PAI-1 activities and chromogenic substrate assay of thrombin activity showed that low-affinity heparin stimulated the inactivation of PAI-1 by an equimolar amount of thrombin, but caused only a minimal stimulation of thrombin inhibition. It is concluded that low-affinity heparin stimulates thrombin inhibition when PAI-1 is in excess, but, unexpectedly, that low-affinity heparin enhances PAI-1 inactivation when thrombin is equimolar to PAI-1.
Determination of Resource Requirements

The previous two chapters discussed principal issues and methods for resource management, the functionality needed and which resources must be considered, the used model, how such a management system should be structured as well as the actual management of the buffer space and CPU resources. All of these mechanisms are based on the knowledge of resource requirements, i.e., how much of a particular resource will be needed during the execution of the operations on the continuous-media stream. This means that such information must be determined and given to the RMS.
Effect of Soy-Dairy Protein Blend Ingestion on Post-Exercise Muscle mTORC1 Signaling and Protein Synthesis in Older Adults

PurposeOur previous work demonstrated that a soy-dairy protein blend can prolong aminoacidemia and muscle protein synthesis in young adults following high intensity resistance exercise. The current...
Neural Network Aided Information Theoretic Exploration

We present a neural network aided exploration strategy with the goal of improving the performance of robot-only mapping and exploration by considering geometric and topological features around the exploration frontier. Using an information-theoretic exploration strategy, we introduce learning in the selection of next best candidate frontier locations for exploration. Geometric and topological knowledge of the space surrounding candidate locations provided by a domain expert is used to train a fully-connected neural network offline. The result is then applied by the robot in its exploration of new environments. Our results show that in addition to metric information about the environment, the robot can learn to apply domain knowledge in its selection of next best frontier locations. The result is an increase in the rate of acquisition of topological information for a given space.
Efavirenz and Efavirenz-like Compounds Activate Human, Murine, and Macaque Hepatic IRE1α-XBP1

Efavirenz (EFV), a widely used antiretroviral drug, is associated with idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity and dyslipidemia. Here we demonstrate that EFV stimulates the activation in primary hepatocytes of key cell stress regulators: inositol-requiring 1α (IRE1α) and X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1). Following EFV exposure, XBP1 splicing (indicating activation) was increased 35.7-fold in primary human hepatocytes. In parallel, XBP1 splicing and IRE1α phosphorylation (p-IRE1α, active IRE1α) were elevated 36.4-fold and 4.9-fold, respectively, in primary mouse hepatocytes. Of note, with EFV treatment, 47.2% of mouse hepatocytes were apoptotic; which was decreased to 23.9% in the presence of STF 083010, an inhibitor of XBP1 splicing. Experiments performed using pregnane X receptor (PXR)-null mouse hepatocytes revealed that EFV-mediated XBP1 splicing and hepatocyte death were not dependent on PXR, which is a nuclear receptor transcription factor that plays a crucial role in the cellular response to xenobiotics. Interestingly, incubation with the primary metabolite of EFV, 8-hydroxyefavirenz (8-OHEFV), only resulted in 10.3- and 2.9-fold increased XBP1 splicing in human and mouse hepatocytes and no change in levels of p-IRE1α in mouse hepatocytes. To further probe the structure-activity relationship of IRE1α-XBP1 activation by EFV, 16 EFV analogs were employed. Of these, an analog in which the EFV alkyne is replaced with an alkene and an analog in which the oxazinone oxygen is replaced by a carbon stimulated XBP1 splicing in human, mouse, and macaque hepatocytes. These data demonstrate that EFV and compounds sharing the EFV scaffold can activate IRE1α-XBP1 across human, mouse, and macaque species.
Morphology and Anatomy of the Inflorescence Axis and Flowers in Arenga Porphyrocarpa (Palmae)

Abstract. In Arenga Porphyrocarpa the vegetative axis is terminalised by the onset of the hapaxanthic flowering axis. This is accompanied by a reduction of leaf size. The part of the axis beyond the last node transforms into a female inflorescence which consists of a system of rachillae on which the individual flowers are attached. Male inflorescences develop afterwards on the remaining nodes but may also develop from the most distal node later on. Additional female inflorescence may develop at lower nodes. Monopodial branching is not confined to the reproductive axis only but occurs also in the branching system of the inflorescence. Although flowers occur solitary at the female rachilla or in pairs generally at the male rachilla, ontogenetic examination shows that the basic pattern is a flower cluster of three. At the female rachilla only the central latest developing flower matures while at the male rachilla only the two marginal flowers develop. Presumably the type of branching in a flower cluster follows a sympodial pattern. In the female flower, the stipitate gynoecium contains two ovules which not may be of the same size. The stigmatic region leads to a cleft like stylar canal. Three staminodia occur at the female flower. The male flower carries 19-20 stamens each one consisting of a short filament and a long latrorse anther. Ringkasan. Pada Arenga porphyrocarpa, sumbu vegetative berakhir dengan perkembangan sumbu reproduktif yang mengikuti cara berbunga hapaxanthic. Hal tersebut diiringi oleh reduksi gradual ukuran daun. Bagian sumbu di atas buku terakhir berkembang menjadi perbungaan betina yang terdiri atas sistim rachilla dengan kuntum-kuntum bunga. Perbungaan jantan berkembang sesudah itu pada buku-buku lain tetapi dapat pula berkembang pada buku paling distal. Demikian pula perbungaan betina lain kemudian dapat berkembang pada buku lebih rendah. Percabangan monopodial tidak hanya terdapat pada sumbu reproduktif melainkan juga pada sistim percabangan dalam perbungaan. Meskipun kuntum bunga terdapat sendiri-sendiri pada rachilla betina atau umumnya berpasangan pada rachilla jantan, namun pengamatan ontogeny menunjukkan bahwa pola dasar bagi pertumbuhan adalah kelompok yang terdiri atas tiga kuntum bunga. Pada rachilla betina hanyalah bunga tengah, yang berkembang paling akhir, tumbuh jadi dewasa. Pada rachilla jantan hanya kedua bunga tepi tumbuh sampai dewasa. Diduga bahwa percabangan dalam kelompok bunga mengikuti pola sympodial. Pada bunga betina gynoecium stipitate beris dua buah bakal biji yang tidak sama besar. Daerah stigma bersambung dengan saluran stylus berbentuk celah. Tiga helai staminodia berbentuk filament terdapat pada bunga betina. Bunga jantan memiliki 19-20 stamen yang masing-masing terdiri atas filamen pendek dan anther panjang dan latrors.
Patient-reported use of medical cannabis for pain, anxiety, and depression symptoms: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Rationale Certifications for medical cannabis are generally restricted to a small number of specific medical conditions, yet patients frequently report symptoms of pain, anxiety, and depression as reasons for use. This is a critical concern for researchers, healthcare providers, and policymakers, yet research in this area is currently obstructed by the lack of a focused review or empirical synthesis on patient-reported reasons for medical cannabis use. Objectives AND METHOD: The first aim of this project was to conduct the first systematic review and meta-analysis of empirical studies of patient-reported symptoms of pain, anxiety, and depression as reasons for medical cannabis use. The second aim was to conduct an empirical assessment of the methodological quality of extant research, test for publication bias, and test sex composition and quality scores of individual studies as possible sources of observed heterogeneity. Results Meta-analytic results indicated that pain (64%), anxiety (50%), and depression/mood (34%) were common reasons for medical cannabis use. No evidence for publication bias was detected, despite heterogeneity in prevalence rates. A comprehensive assessment of study quality identified a number of specific methodological limitations of the existing research, including challenges in patient recruitment, use of restrictive sampling frames, and a lack of randomized recruitment methods and validated assessment measures. Conclusion Findings are discussed with regard to possible explanations for current results, clinical considerations, and areas of future research that are needed to move the field forward.
Blackbox imager characterization, from measurements to modeling range performance

Typically, the modeling of linear and shift-invariant (LSI) imaging systems requires a complete description of each subcomponent in order to estimate the final system transfer function. To validate the modeled behavior, measurements are performed on each component. When dealing with packaged systems, there are many situations where some, if not all, data is unknown. For these cases, the system is considered a blackbox, and system level measurements are used to estimate the transfer characteristics in order to model performance. This correspondence outlines the blackbox measured system component in the Night Vision Integrated Performance Model (NV-IPM). We describe how estimates of performance can be achieved with complete or incomplete measurements and how assumptions affect the final range. The blackbox measured component is the final output of a measurement characterization and is used to validate performance of delivered and prototype systems.
Organizational Change and Proactive Personality: Effect on Job Performance and Job Satisfaction

In today’s borderless world characterized by acute competition, with change being the only constant, organizations need to work on building a workforce which can not only survive but also thrive in such a volatile environment. Proactive individuals actively create environmental change, while less proactive people take a more reactive approach toward their jobs. The present paper provides evidence for the significance of proactive personality (PAP) in the backdrop of an organizational change setting. We hypothesized a conceptual model and tested the effect of PAP on important job outcomes and found that it had a robust relationship with job performance and job satisfaction after controlling for affective commitment to change and intent to remain with the organization. Further, we tested the mechanism by which PAP was related to intent to remain and found that affective commitment to change and job satisfaction completely mediated the relationship between PAP/intent to remain with the organization.
Uncharted Waters: Treating Trauma Symptoms in the Context of Early Psychosis

Psychosis is conceptualized in a neurodevelopmental vulnerability-stress framework, and childhood trauma is one environmental factor that can lead to psychotic symptoms and the development of psychotic disorders. Higher rates of trauma are associated with higher psychosis risk and greater symptom frequency and severity, resulting in increased hospitalization rates and demand on outpatient primary care and mental health services. Despite an estimated 70% of individuals in the early stages of psychosis reporting a history of experiencing traumatic events, trauma effects (post-traumatic anxiety or depressive symptoms) are often overlooked in psychosis treatment and current interventions typically do not target commonly comorbid post-traumatic stress symptoms. We presented a protocol for Trauma-Integrated Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (TI-CBTp), an approach to treating post-traumatic stress symptoms in the context of early psychosis care. We provided a brief summary of TI-CBTp as implemented in the context of Coordinated Specialty Care and presented preliminary data supporting the use of TI-CBTp in early psychosis care. The preliminary results suggest that individuals with comorbid psychosis and post-traumatic stress symptoms can be appropriately and safely treated using TI-CBTp within Coordinated Specialty Care.
“Still good life”: On the value of reuse and distributive labor in “depleted” rural Maine

This article explores the production of wealth through distributive labor in Maine's secondhand economy. While reuse is often associated with economic disadvantage, our research complicates that perspective. The labor required to reclaim, repair, redistribute, and reuse secondhand goods provides much more than a means of living in places left behind by international capitalism, but the value generated by this work is persistently discounted by dominant economic logics. On the basis of semistructured interviews, participant observation, and statewide surveys with reuse market participants in Maine, we find that the relational value of reuse, produced through caring, flexible, distributive labor, is especially significant. We argue that paying attention to the practices, politics, and value of distribution is critical for understanding wealth in communities perceived to have been left behind by global capitalist systems, particularly as wage labor opportunities and natural resources grow increasingly scarce.