cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modeling as the practice of representation

One of the characteristics of being human is to model. In our history, we began with representations of animals made from natural materials, and painted on cave walls. We also made regular marks on animal bones. While the modern accounting of these products is art (animal representations) and mathematics (bone marks), a more comprehensive understanding points to modeling in both cases. We saw or imagined things, and then we made models of our experience. One could say to be human is to model. Since the inception of modeling, we created areas of knowledge and have divided things into many groups. These groups have sub-groups to where our knowledge resembles a large house with its artificial partitions. And yet, modeling is still pervasive although it differs slightly in form among these subdivisions that we now refer to as disciplines. Since modeling is ubiquitous, it serves as a basis to reframe our activities in the information age. We claim that models are natural transformers from human experience to information; to create information for object X, create a model of X. Even simplistic activities such as grabbing a drink from the refrigerator or taking a walk translate into information management and processing, made evident through modeling.
Quantitative Trait Loci for Heading Date and Their Relationship with Genetic Control of Yield Traits in Rice (Oryza sativa)

Grain yield and heading date are key factors determining the commercial potential of a rice variety. Mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) in rice has been advanced from primary mapping to gene cloning, and heading date and yield traits have always attracted the greatest attention. In this review, genomic distribution of QTLs for heading date detected in populations derived from intra-specific crosses of Asian cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) was summarized, and their relationship with the genetic control of yield traits was analyzed. The information could be useful in the identification of QTLs for heading date and yield traits that are promising for the improvement of rice varieties.
Normal lower limb alignment and joint orientation

To understand deformities of the lower extremity, it is important to first understand and establish the parame-ters and limits of normal alignment. The exact anatomy of the femur, tibia, hip, knee, and ankle is of great impor-tance to the clinician when examining the lower limb and to the surgeon when operating on the bones and joints. To better understand alignment and joint orientation, the complex three-dimensional shapes of bones and joints can be simplified to basic line drawings, similar to the stick figures a child uses to represent a person (►Fig.1-1).
Natural Language Processing – The Basics

Natural language processing (NLP) emerged in the 1900s to support the wartime efforts. It’s dubious performance, however, slowed research initiatives until the 1960s when advances in machine learning provided novel approaches to text analysis. Increased processing speed and widespread availability of digital text accelerated this trend in the late 1990s. At the present time, there are extensive efforts to use NLP on clinical text and to incorporate this technology into software applications that support clinical care. In this chapter, the first of two about NLP, we will present: basic principles of NLP, the lexical resources required to produce high quality output from clinical text, the process (called annotation) of creating and NLP gold standard, the statistical methods used to evaluate and the role of shared tasks for evaluating and facilitating standardization in the field. Subsequent chapters will discuss ongoing research dedicated improving the quality and utility of NLP in the clinical setting.
Empire Archaeologies: The Symbolic Interaction of Stereotype and New Self-Representation

Utilizing the intersection of Critical Race Theory and the de/re/constructive tenets of visual culture archaeology, this chapter proposes to explore the means by which the colonized reinterprets the colonizer through an examination of the intertextual subversions of African American artists ranging from Aaron Douglas to Kehinde Wiley. Visual culture archaeology recognizes the power-knowledge confluence that constitutes: (1) the social construction of modern Eurocentric institutions and identities; (2) the discursive matrices for the social construction of normativity; (3) socially transgressive interpretations of identity; and (4) the interrogation of visual culture as the arena wherein these contestations take place.
Extreme-Scale Dynamic Exploration of a Distributed Agent-Based Model With the EMEWS Framework

Agent-based models (ABMs) integrate the multiple scales of behavior and data to produce higher order dynamic phenomena and are increasingly used in the study of important social complex systems in biomedicine, socioeconomics, and ecology/resource management. However, the development, validation, and use of ABMs are hampered by the need to execute very large numbers of simulations in order to identify their behavioral properties, a challenge accentuated by the computational cost of running realistic, large-scale, potentially distributed ABM simulations. In this paper, we describe the Extreme-scale Model Exploration with Swift (EMEWS) framework that is capable of efficiently composing and executing large ensembles of simulations and other “black box” scientific applications while integrating model exploration (ME) algorithms developed with the use of widely available third-party libraries written in popular languages, such as R and Python. EMEWS combines novel stateful tasks with traditional run-to-completion many-task computing and solves many problems relevant to high-performance workflows, including scaling to very large numbers (millions) of tasks, maintaining state and locality information, and enabling effective multiple-language problem solving. We present the high-level programming model of the EMEWS framework and demonstrate how it is used to integrate an active learning ME algorithm to dynamically and efficiently characterize the parameter space of a large and complex, distributed message passing interface agent-based infectious disease model.
Utilization of MCNP®6 implicit-capture simulations for quantification of systematic uncertainties from experimental environments

Abstract The high statistical precision that can be achieved using modern data collection techniques implies that systematic uncertainties that were ignored or not considered for past experiments must now be explored. The folding of Monte Carlo simulations into experimental data analysis, which is becoming common practice, requires an estimate of the systematic uncertainty present in the experimental result from uncertainties in the library of cross sections used during the simulation, but this source of uncertainty is typically not quantified. Here we describe a method to estimate this systematic uncertainty by varying the cross sections used during simulation runtime. As opposed carrying out hundreds of sequential analog Monte Carlo simulations, this task was accomplished through a post-processing calculation of output from a single simulation that was run using the implicit-capture formalism available with MCNP®6.2 and the PTRAC output format. This variation procedure allows for the quantification of the spread in counts expected in each bin of a simulated data histogram as well as the correlations between all bins of the same histogram, both resulting from variations in the investigated cross section. This method is demonstrated using simulations of the Chi-Nu experiment through variations of the 6 Li( n , t ) α reaction in simulations involving Li-glass detectors. Although the cross-section sampling procedure can be carried out ignoring correlations between the values of the varied cross section at different energies, we also demonstrate the importance of including these correlations in this procedure by considering a full assessment of the systematic uncertainty present in simulated counts from the Chi-Nu experiment both with and without these correlations included. Despite the fact that the 6 Li( n , t ) α cross section is a standard below 1 MeV, a significant systematic uncertainty is obtained for counts from the simulations discussed in this work, though a nearly negligible uncertainty would have been determined if correlations in the assumed cross-section library were ignored.
Charter fishing in Hawaii: A multi-region analysis of the economic linkages and contributions within and outside Hawaii

Abstract This study develops several single- and multi-region input-output models in IMPLAN using the annual expenditure data from a 2012 survey of charter fishing operations in the state of Hawaii. The survey reached out to 207 charter vessel operators, with a response rate of 36%, and collected demographic, trip, catch, and economic information across islands and vessel sizes. Four separate county models are built to observe regional effects, and one state model to observe total state effects. The state model is linked to secondary regions (the mainland west coast made up of Oregon, California, and Washington, as well as the rest of the mainland U.S.) to observe the economic effects occurring outside the state of Hawaii. This is especially relevant to Hawaii because of its dependence on the mainland to supply many of its raw materials and finished products. The multi-region approach allows us to observe spillover effects (effects occurring in the secondary regions in response to a demand in the study region) and feedback effects (further effects that occur in the study region as a result of purchasing goods and services by the secondary regions). The results from this multi-region model method are more informative and broad reaching as they capture the spillover and feedback effects that would otherwise be lost as leakages.
A Consumer Protection Approach to Platform Content Moderation

Congress should consider legislation to regulate the content moderation practices of platforms. Failure to act will leave platform users unprotected and will allow other countries, notably the European Union and China, to seize global leadership in yet another area of tech policy. But a law requiring content rules against the most salient kinds of harmful platform content including hate speech, terrorist material and disinformation campaigns would not pass constitutional muster under the First Amendment. In contrast a consumer protection approach to content moderation might be effective and pass First Amendment scrutiny. The Federal Trade Commission, on its own or with authorization from Congress, could treat the failure to establish and maintain a procedurally adequate content moderation program as an unfair practice. This would effectively require platforms to have a content moderation program in place that contains content rules, enforcement procedures and due process protections including disclosure, mechanisms to ask for reinstatement and an internal appeals process, but it would not mandate the substance of the platform’s content rules. It would respond to strict First Amendment scrutiny as a narrowly crafted requirement that burdens speech no more than necessary to achieve the compelling government purpose of preventing an unfair trade practice. In addition, or alternatively, the FTC might be authorized to use its deception authority to require platforms to say what they do and do what they say in connection with content moderation programs. The FTC would treat failure to disclose key elements of a content moderation program as a material omission, and the failure to act in accordance with its program as a deceptive or misleading practice. Its First Amendment defense would rest on the compelling government interest in preventing consumer deception. The unfairness version would be more effective but less likely to survive a constitutional challenge. The pure disclosure version would be less effective, but more likely to be found consistent with current First Amendment jurisprudence. One additional advantage of this consumer protection approach is that it does not require controversial modification of Section 230 immunities for platforms.
AdaTiSS: A Novel Data-Adaptive Robust Method for Quantifying Tissue Specificity Scores

Abstract Motivation Accurately detecting tissue specificity (TS) in genes helps researchers understand tissue functions at the molecular level, and further identify disease mechanisms and discover tissue-specific therapeutic targets. The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project (Consortium, 2015), and the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) project (Uhlen, et al., 2015) are two publicly available data resources, providing large-scale gene expressions across multiple tissue types. Multiple tissue comparisons, technical background noise and unknown variation factors make it challenging to accurately identify tissue specific gene expressions. Several methods worked on measuring the overall TS in gene expressions and classifying genes into tissue-enrichment categories. There still lacks a robust method to provide quantitative TS scores for each tissue. Methods We recognized that the key to quantify tissue specific gene expressions is to properly define a concept of expression population. We considered that inside the population, the sample expressions from various tissues are more or less balanced, and the outlier expressions outside the population may indicate tissue specificity. We then formulated the question to robustly estimate the population distribution. In a linear regression problem, we developed a novel data-adaptive robust estimation based on density-power-weight under unknown outlier distribution and non-vanishing outlier proportion (Wang, et al., 2019). In the question of quantifying TS, we focused on the Gaussian-population mixture model. We took into account gene heterogeneities and applied the robust data-adaptive procedure to estimate the population. With the robustly estimated population parameters, we constructed the AdaTiSS algorithm to obtain data-adaptive quantitative TS scores. Results Our TS scores from the AdaTiSS algorithm achieve the goal that the TS scores are comparable across tissues and also across genes, which standardize gene expressions in terms of TS. Compared to the categorical TS method such as the HPA criterion, our method provides more information on the population fitting, and shows advantages in quantitatively analyzing tissue specific functions, making the biology functional analysis more precise. We also discuss some limitations and possible future work. Contact mpsnyder@stanford.edu
Promising Results from the Use of a Korean Drama to Address Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors on School Bullying and Mental Health among Asian American College-Aged Students.

The limited research on bullying, mental health (MH), and help-seeking for Asian American (ASA) college students is concerning due to the public health importance. Korean drama (K-Drama) television shows may be an innovative approach to improve knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors (KAB) on bullying. This study examined whether the KAB about school bullying improved after watching a K-Drama and asked participants about their perspectives of using a K-Drama as an intervention. A convenience sample of college students (n = 118) watched a K-Drama portraying school bullying and MH issues. Pre-/post-tests on KAB on bullying were conducted. Interviews (n = 16) were used to understand their experiences with K-Dramas. The mean age was 22.1 years (1.6 SD), 83.9% were female, and 77.1% were ASAs. Many reported experiences with anxiety (67.8%), depression (38.1%), and school bullying victim experience (40.8%). Post-test scores revealed significant differences in knowledge by most school bullying variables (e.g., victim; witness) and MH issues. There were varying significant findings in post-test scores in attitudes and behaviors by these variables. Participants reported that they “love” the drama, felt an emotional connection, and thought that K-Dramas can be an educational tool for ASAs. K-Dramas may be an effective population-level tool to improve health outcomes among ASAs.
Right and left-sided colon cancers - specificity of molecular mechanisms in tumorigenesis and progression

Given the differences in embryonic origin, vascular and nervous supplies, microbiotic burden, and main physiological functions of left and right colons, tumor location is increasingly suggested to dictate tumor behavior affecting pathology, progression and prognosis. Right-sided colon cancers arise in the cecum, ascending colon, hepatic flexure and/or transverse colon, while left-sided colon cancers arise in the splenic flexure, descending, and/or sigmoid colon. In contrast to prior reports, we attempt to delineate programs of tumorigenesis independently for each side. Four hundred and eleven samples were extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas-COAD cohort, based on a conservative sample inclusion criterion. Each side was independently analyzed with respect to their respective normal tissue, at the level of transcription, post-transcription, miRNA control and methylation in both a stage specific and stage-agnostic manner. Our results indicate a suppression of enzymes involved in various stages of carcinogen breakdown including CYP2C8, CYP4F12, GSTA1, and UGT1A within right colon tumors. This implies its reduced capacity to detoxify carcinogens, contributing to a genotoxic tumor environment, and subsequently a more aggressive phenotype. Additionally, we highlight a crucial nexus between calcium homeostasis (sensing, mobilization and absorption) and immune/GPCR signaling within left-sided tumors, possibly contributing to its reduced proliferative and metastatic potential. Interestingly, two genes SLC6A4 and HOXB13 show opposing regulatory trends within right and left tumors. Post-transcriptional regulation mediated by both RNA-binding proteins (e.g. NKRF (in left) and MSI2 (in right)) and miRNAs (e.g. miR-29a (in left); miR-155, miR181-d, miR-576 and miR23a (in right)) appear to exhibit side-specificity in control of their target transcripts and is pronounced in right colon tumors. Additionally, methylation results depict location-specific differences, with increased hypomethylation in open seas within left tumors, and increased hypermethylation of CpG islands within right tumors. Differences in molecular mechanisms captured here highlight distinctions in tumorigenesis and progression between left and right colon tumors, which will serve as the basis for future studies, influencing the efficacies of existing and future diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic interventions.
Urban Spatial Expansion, Urban Compactness, and Average Travel Demand in the US Urbanized Areas

This paper examines the impact of a wide variety of factors on spatial size, spatial compactness measured by population density, and average travel demand measured by daily vehicle miles traveled per capita. The simultaneous equation regression results indicate real average household income has a positive impact on spatial size and average travel demand while a negative impact on urban spatial compactness. Transportation cost measured by fuel cost per mile has a negative impact on spatial size while a positive impact on urban spatial compactness. Among the land use policy tools, urban growth boundary has a positive impact on urban compactness while minimum lot size has a positive impact on urban spatial size.
Impact of ICD10 and secular changes on electronic medical record rheumatoid arthritis algorithms.

Objective The objective of this study was to compare the performance of an RA algorithm developed and trained in 2010 utilizing natural language processing and machine learning, using updated data containing ICD10, new RA treatments, and a new electronic medical records (EMR) system. Methods We extracted data from subjects with ≥1 RA International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes from the EMR of two large academic centres to create a data mart. Gold standard RA cases were identified from reviewing a random 200 subjects from the data mart, and a random 100 subjects who only have RA ICD10 codes. We compared the performance of the following algorithms using the original 2010 data with updated data: (i) a published 2010 RA algorithm; (ii) updated algorithm, incorporating ICD10 RA codes and new DMARDs; and (iii) published algorithm using ICD codes only, ICD RA code ≥3. Results The gold standard RA cases had mean age 65.5 years, 78.7% female, 74.1% RF or antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) positive. The positive predictive value (PPV) for ≥3 RA ICD was 54%, compared with 56% in 2010. At a specificity of 95%, the PPV of the 2010 algorithm and the updated version were both 91%, compared with 94% (95% CI: 91, 96%) in 2010. In subjects with ICD10 data only, the PPV for the updated 2010 RA algorithm was 93%. Conclusion The 2010 RA algorithm validated with the updated data with similar performance characteristics as the 2010 data. While the 2010 algorithm continued to perform better than the rule-based approach, the PPV of the latter also remained stable over time.
Dual alternate access sites for the treatment of an ostial left common iliac artery chronic total occlusion.

Growing endovascular strategies with TASC D lesions in aortoiliac disease reflect increasing technical success with evidenced safety and efficacy. In cases of failed transfemoral access, revascular...
16 Possible Factors for Sweden’s High COVID Death Rate among the Nordics

What accounts for Sweden’s high COVID death rate among the Nordics? One factor could be Sweden’s lighter lockdown. But we suggest 15 other possible factors. Most significant are: (1) the “dry-tinder” situation in Sweden (we suggest that this factor alone accounts for 25 to 50% of Sweden's COVID death toll); (2) Stockholm’s larger population; (3) Sweden’s higher immigrant population; (4) in Sweden immigrants probably more often work in the elderly care system; (5) Sweden has a greater proportion of people in elderly care; (6) Stockholm’s “sport-break” was a week later than the other three capital cities; (7) Stockholm’s system of elderly care collects especially vulnerable people in nursing homes. Other possible factors are: (8) the Swedish elderly and health care system may have done less to try to cure elderly COVID patients; (9) Sweden may have been relatively understocked in protective equipment and sanitizers; (10) Sweden may have been slower to separate COVID patients in nursing homes; (11) Sweden may have been slower to implement staff testing and changes in protocols and equipage; (12) Sweden elderly care workers may have done more cross-facility work; (13) Sweden might have larger nursing homes; (14) Stockholmers might travel more to the Alpine regions; (15) Sweden might be quicker to count a death "a COVID death.” We give evidence for these other 15 possible factors. It is plausible that Sweden’s lighter lockdown accounts for but a small part of Sweden’s higher COVID death rate.
A Comparison Between the Pulsed and Duty Cycle Approaches Used to Capture the Thermal Response of Tissue During Electroporation-Based Therapies

Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a new minimally invasive non-thermal focal ablation technique that has been used for the treatment of spontaneous tumors in canine and human patients [1–4]. The procedure involves placing electrodes into or around a tumor and delivering a series of low energy electric pulses to kill tumor tissue with sub-millimeter resolution. The pulses generate an electric field that alters the resting transmembrane potential (TMP) of the cells [1]. Depending on the magnitude of the induced TMP, the electric pulses can have no effect, transiently increase membrane permeability, or cause cell death [1].Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Aerospace Mechanisms and Tribology Technology: Case Study

This paper focuses attention on tribology technology practice related to vacuum tribology. A case study describes an aspect of a real problem in sufficient detail for the engineer and scientist to understand the tribological situation and the failure. The nature of the problem is analyzed and the tribological properties are examined.
Conformational changes that occur during an RNA-editing adenosine deamination reaction.

ADARs are adenosine deaminases responsible for RNA-editing reactions that occur within duplex RNA. Currently little is known regarding the nature of the protein-RNA interactions that lead to site-selective adenosine deamination. We previously reported that ADAR2 induced changes in 2-aminopurine fluorescence of a modified substrate, consistent with a base-flipping mechanism. Additional data have been obtained using full-length ADAR2 and a protein comprising only the RNA binding domain (RBD) of ADAR2. The increase in 2-aminopurine fluorescence is specific to the editing site and dependent on the presence of the catalytic domain. Hydroxyl radical footprinting demonstrates that the RBD protects a region of the RNA duplex around the editing site, suggesting a significant role for the RBD in identifying potential ADAR2 editing sites. Nucleotides near the editing site on the non-edited strand become hypersensitive to hydrolytic cleavage upon binding of ADAR2 RBD. Therefore, the RBD may assist base flipping by increasing the conformational flexibility of nucleotides in the duplex adjacent to its binding site. In addition, an increase in tryptophan fluorescence is observed when ADAR2 binds duplex RNA, suggesting a conformational change in the catalytic domain of the enzyme. Furthermore, acrylamide quenching experiments indicate that RNA binding creates heterogeneity in the solvent accessibility of ADAR2 tryptophan residues, with one out of five tryptophans more solvent-accessible in the ADAR2·RNA complex.
Rain attenuation in EHF satellite communications

This paper utilizes four existing rain attenuation models for multiple regions in the Continental United States and elsewhere to calculate attenuation due to rain for frequencies in the 30 to 50 GHz range. Measured data are compared with the calculated results to determine the validity of the rain models for the frequencies of interest.
Why is there so much economic insecurity in Latin America

The view that pervasive economic insecurity threatens political support for the ongoing market-oriented reforms has become one of the most common refrains in current discussions on Latin American affairs. Dealing with economic insecurity would thus appear to be a key part of the unfinished agenda of Latin America's reforms. The author argues that economic insecurity in Latin America is multifaceted and has many sources that feed on each other. Some of the insecurity arises from the decline in employment protection and increased volatility of household outcomes. Some of it is the result of erratic capital flows and the systemic instability generated by a divorce between the instruments of stabilization and the real economy. Finally, an important component is the weakness of the institutions of voice and representation. Programmes aimed at social protection per se can be of partial help only. They will have to be complemented by applying macroeconomic policies, especially with regard to capital flows and the exchange rate, that are more conducive to the stability of the real economy and by loosening the control of financial markets over the instruments of macroeconomic policy. They will also require access to representative institutions -trade unions, political parties, and legislatures- with greater responsiveness and legitimacy than those that exist at present. But perhaps what Latin America needs most is a vision of how social cohesion can be maintained in the face of large inequalities and volatile outcomes, both of which are being aggravated by the growing reliance on market forces. The region will have to develop a vision that finds a way to ease the tension between market forces and the yearning for economic security.
The ISM From the Soft X-ray Background Perspective

In the past few years progress in understanding the local and Galactic ISM in terms of the diffuse X-ray background has been as much about what hasn’t been seen as it has been about detections. High resolution spectra of the local SXRB have been observed, but are inconsistent with current thermal emission models. An excess over the extrapolation of the high-energy (most clearly visible at E > 1.5 keV) extragalactic power law down to ¾ keV has been observed but only at the level consistent with cosmological models, implying the absence of at least a bright hot Galactic halo. A very recent FUSE result indicates that O VI emission from the Local Hot Bubble is insignificant, if it exists at all, a result which is also inconsistent with current thermal emission models. A (very) short review of the Galactic SXRB and ISM is presented.
Performance Considerations in Web Security

This paper discusses techniques for improving Web performance and how they are affected by security. While security is an essential component for many Web applications, it can negatively affect performance. Encryption results in significant overhead. A scalable Web site deploying SSL has special load balancing requirements in order to allow efficient use of the protocol. We discuss how fragment-based creation of Web content can allow partial caching of pages containing encrypted content. We also discuss performance issues related to security checks on mobile code.
In Utero Localized Diffusion MRI of the Embryonic Mouse Brain Microstructure and Injury

Purpose To develop an in vivo diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) technique to study embryonic mouse brain structure and injury. Materials and Methods Pregnant CD-1 mice were examined on embryonic day 17 on an 11.7T scanner. Spatially selective excitation pulses were used to achieve localized imaging of individual mouse brains, in combination with a 3D fast imaging sequence to acquire dMRI at 0.16–0.2 mm isotropic resolution. Subject motions were corrected by navigator echoes and image registration. Further acceleration was achieved by simultaneous imaging of two embryos in an interleaved fashion. We applied this technique to detect embryonic brain injury in a mouse model of intrauterine inflammation. Results With the localized imaging technique, we achieved in utero high-resolution T2-weighted and dMRI of the embryonic mouse brain for the first time. Early embryonic brain structures were delineated from diffusion tensor images, and major white matter tracts were reconstructed in 3D. Comparison with ex vivo data showed significant changes in the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), but mostly unchanged fractional anisotropy. In the inflammation-affected embryonic brains, ADC in the cortical regions was reduced at 6 hours after the injury, potentially caused by cellular edema. Conclusion The feasibility of in utero dMRI of embryonic mouse brains was demonstrated. The technique is important for noninvasive monitoring of embryonic mouse brain microstructure and injury. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2015;42:717–728.
Exploring the Impacts of Ordinary Laboratory Alterations During Forensic DNA Processing on Peak Height Variation, Thresholds, and Probability of Dropout,

Impacts of validation design on DNA signal were explored, and the level of variation introduced by injection, capillary changes, amplification, and kit lot was surveyed by examining a set of replicate samples ranging in mass from 0.25 to 0.008 ng. The variations in peak height, heterozygous balance, dropout probabilities, and baseline noise were compared using common statistical techniques. Data indicate that amplification is the source of the majority of the variation observed in the peak heights, followed by capillary lots. The use of different amplification kit lots did not introduce variability into the peak heights, heterozygous balance, dropout, or baseline. Thus, if data from case samples run over a significant time period are not available during validation, the validation must be designed to, at a minimum, include the amplification of multiple samples of varying quantity, with known genotype, amplified and run over an extended period of time using multiple pipettes and capillaries.
Chemical Analysis of Diesel Particulate Matter and an Evaluation of Artifact Formation

Methods for the sampling and analysis of diesel particulates have been evaluated. A number of different solvents were utilized for the extraction of diesel particulates. Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) standards spiked on glass-fiber or quartz-fiber filters were found to be oxidized during the sampling of ambient air or exhaust gases. Such degradation was largely reduced by using filters with more inert surfaces, such as Teflon membranes. The results suggest that sample degradation due to gas-BaP reactions requires the presence of a reactive or catalytic medium, such as the glass-fiber filter surface. Such reactions can be minimized with the proper choice of a more inert filter surface such as Teflon. Oxidation of BaP was also observed in diesel extracts during analytical procedures or prolonged storage for several weeks in the dark. The implication of the sampling and analytical artifact problem is a question not only of analytical recovery but also of whether significant biologically active conversion products are produced. Analytical methods to study the extraction efficiency for BaP from diesel particulates are presented. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) are being investigated for the identification and analysis of these species and preliminary results indicate the presence of a number of oxygenated polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds, which potentially could be produced by oxidation during sampling and analysis.
Examining the N400 semantic context effect item-by-item: relationship to corpus-based measures of word co-occurrence.

Abstract With increasing availability of digital text, there has been an explosion of computational methods designed to turn patterns of word co-occurrence in large text corpora into numerical scores expressing the “semantic distance” between any two words. The success of such methods is typically evaluated by how well they predict human judgments of similarity. Here, I examine how well corpus-based methods predict amplitude of the N400 component of the event-related potential (ERP), an online measure of lexical processing in brain electrical activity. ERPs elicited by the second words of 303 word pairs were analyzed at the level of individual items. Three corpus-based measures (mutual information, distributional similarity, and latent semantic analysis) were compared to a traditional measure of free association strength. In a regression analysis, corpus-based and free association measures each explained some of the variance in N400 amplitude, suggesting that these may tap distinct aspects of word relationships. Lexical factors of concreteness of word meaning, word frequency, number of semantic associates, and orthographic similarity also explained variance in N400 amplitude at the single-item level.
Activating Mutations of c-Kit at Codon 816 Confer Drug Resistance in Human Leukemia Cells

An improved understanding of how leukemia cells grow and become resistant to treatment remains critical for developing more effective therapies. We have identified activating mutations of c-kit at codon 816 (Asp(816) ) from a revertant of the cytokine-dependent acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell line, MO7e (D816H), and de novo childhood AML (D816N). Following transduction of the mutant c-kit cDNAs, MO7e cells acquire a growth advantage and resistance to apoptosis in response to chemotherapeutic drugs and ionizing radiation, in addition to cytokine-independent survival. Although stimulation of mutant c-kit-bearing MO7e cells with stem cell factor (SCF), a ligand for c-Kit, does not have a significant effect on cell proliferation, SCF further inhibits apoptosis induced by cytotoxic agents. These results suggest a potentially important role of Asp(816) mutations of c-kit in both malignant cell proliferation and resistance to therapy.
Uses of Negative-Pressure Wound Therapy in Orthopedic Trauma

Negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is a useful management tool in the field of orthopedic trauma. The indications of NPWT have expanded, allowing for its use in high-energy trauma, open fractures, traumatic soft tissue wounds, and infections. This chapter focuses on the clinical applications and indications of NPWT and offers recommendations on strategies that may help improve outcomes. Although NPWT facilitates wound management, future research is necessary to establish protocols and guidelines for its use in a variety of clinical scenarios.
Role of insulin-like growth factor-I in diagnosis and management of acromegaly.

ABSTRACT Objective: To highlight the use of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) measurements in the management of acromegaly. Methods: The physiologic and pathophysiologic regulation of growth hormone (GH) and IGF-I secretion and the role of measurements of these two variables for diagnosing and monitoring the acromegalic condition are discussed. Results: Chronic GH hypersecretion by pituitary tumors leads to the clinical condition of acromegaly, characterized by enlargement of membranous bones and soft tissue overgrowth. Because of the frequent delay in diagnosis of acromegaly, disease management often involves the use of multiple therapeutic modalities. Therefore, adequate patient management necessitates precise diagnostic tests to (1) establish that the acromegalic condition exists, (2) determine the degree of severity, and (3) assess the effectiveness of treatment in patients who have received therapy. Because the predicted mortality rate among patients who have achieved a biochemical remission is substantially improved in comparison with those who have biochemical indices that indicate residual disease activity after therapy, a biochemical test is required to determine the necessity of undertaking further treatment. The GH-dependent peptide IGF-I provides useful information for making this decision. In addition to providing data about the degree of GH hypersecretion, IGF-I concentrations reflect the severity of disease at the time of initial assessment and the degree of improvement in response to any therapeutic intervention. Direct measurement of GH after glucose suppression is the best indicator of residual tumor secretory activity. IGF-I measurements should be performed in a reference laboratory with adequate age- adjusted normative ranges and a high degree of precision, which allows serial determinations over time to reflect the degree of biochemical improvement. Measurement of IGF-I often correlates with the degree of persistent GH hypersecretory abnormality after therapy, although no precise correlation is found in some cases. Conclusion: Measurements of GH suppression after glucose administration and of IGF-I after treatment of patients with acromegaly provide useful complementary information. Every effort should be made to achieve normalization of these biochemical indices so that patients are offered the best therapeutic prognosis. (Endocr Pract. 2004;10:362-371)
Structure and phases of the Au(111) surface: X-ray-scattering measurements

The results of a comprehensive synchrotron x-ray-scattering study of the clean, reconstructed Au(111) surface between 300 and 1250 K are presented. Two surface phases are identified and characterized. For T865 K, the reconstruction consists of a series of discommensurations, separating surface regions with the correct face-centered-cubic (fcc) ABC stacking sequence from regions with a faulted ABA stacking sequence. A key feature of this phase is the existence of an equilibrium density of kinks between rotationally equivalent domains. At 865 K, the reconstruction starts to lose long-range order. The first-order transformation to a disordered phase is complete by 880 K. In this phase, the topmost layer has hexagonal symmetry and is on the average isotropically compressed compared with bulk (111) planes. Between 880 and 1250 K the translational correlation length and the average compression of the overlayer evolve only slightly. Interpretation of the x-ray reflectivity, both specular and nonspecular, establishes, however, that the occupation of fcc C sites and faulted A sites is approximately constant throughout the temperature range studied. In addition, the separation between the top two layers is expanded 3% relative to the bulk (111) interlayer spacing and the surface-normal vibrational amplitude in the surface layers is enhanced with respect to the bulk value.
Color duplex ultrasonography in detecting renal artery abnormalities in a patient with neurofibromatosis 1: a case report

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a rare disease; it involves not only the nervous system, but also both large and small arteries. Common vascular complications of NF1 include arterial stenosis, aneurysms, and arteriovenous fistulas involving the abdominal aorta and its branches. A coexisting left renal artery stenosis and aneurysm in a pediatric patient with NF1 was initially detected by color duplex ultrasonography in our institute.
Histological aspects of uterine involution in the post parturient, ovariectomised, embryo‐recipient mare: a model for the study of involution

Summary This paper compares uterine involution in intact and ovariectomised embryo recipient mares after foaling. There was no difference in the rate of uterine involution between the two groups and on Day 1 post partum intact and ovariectomised mares both have degenerating microcaruncles in the Stratum compactum. At this time the endometrial glands are tortuous and distended along their entire length. By Day 7 post partum the only remaining evidence of the microcaruncle is an area of condensed stroma containing siderophages and a few other mononuclear cells and covered by an intact epithelium. By Day 10 to 11 the cystic glandular distention has resolved.
Rhodium chemzymes: Michaelis-Menten kinetics in dirhodium(II) carboxylate-catalyzed carbenoid reactions.

Rhodium carboxylate-mediated reactions of diazoketones involving cyclopropanation, C−H insertion, and aromatic C−C double bond addition/electrocyclic ring opening obey saturation (Michaelis−Menten) kinetics. Axial ligands for rhodium, including aromatic hydrocarbons and Lewis bases such as nitriles, ethers, and ketones, inhibit these reactions by a mixed kinetic inhibition mechanism, meaning that they can bind both to the free catalyst and to the catalyst−substrate complex. Substrate inhibition can also be exhibited by diazocompounds bearing these groupings in addition to the diazo group. The analysis of inhibition shows that the active catalyst uses only one of its two coordination sites at a time for catalysis. Some ketones exhibit the interesting property that they selectively bind to the catalyst−substrate complex. The similarity of the kinetic constants from different types of reactions with similar diazoketones, regardless of the linking unit or the environment of the reacting alkene, suggests that ...
Hadronic dijet imbalance and transverse-momentum-dependent parton distributions

We compare several recent theoretical studies of the single transverse-spin asymmetry in dijet correlations at hadron colliders. We show that the results of these studies are all consistent. To establish this, we investigate, in particular, the two-gluon exchange contributions to the relevant initial and final-state interactions in the context of a simplifying model. Overall, the results confirm that the dijet imbalance obeys, at best, a nonstandard or ``generalized'' transverse-momentum-dependent factorization.
Unified Scaling for Flapping Fins

Conventional scaling for steady-fin or flapping-fin forces in a uniform flow is by definition incompatible with the scaling that has been developed for hovering flapping fins. Most flapping-fin-based vehicles will need to operate in all three operating regimes: fixed fin in cruise, flapping in cruise, and flapping in hover. A unified normalization scheme is proposed to enable smooth and optimal transition of the scaling rules between these regimes. A rigid flapping foil was experimentally tested in a towing tank. The generated side force was found to be a function only of the fin bias angle and the vector magnitude of the inflow and flapping speeds. The thrust was found to be a function of the ratio of fin flapping speed to total speed magnitude in addition to bias and speed magnitude. As an application of this scaling, an algorithm to synthesize the foil motion parameters for a desired thrust and side force regardless of vehicle speed was tested experimentally on a single foil in real time.
Effect of High Magnetic Field on Diffusion Behavior of Carbon in Pure Iron

The effect of magnetic field on diffusion behavior of carbon in pure iron was investigated. The results showed that the magnetic field can accelerate the carbon diffusion when the magnetic field direction is perpendicular to the carburized direction, and this effect increases with the enhancement of magnetic field intensity.
Note from the editors of the special issue of the best paper nominees from the 2011 International Symposium on Wearable Computers

The International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC) is the premier forum for wearable computing and issues related to on-body and worn mobile technologies. The conference’s first convocation was in 1997, making it the oldest peer-reviewed annual conference in the fields of wearable and ubiquitous computing. ISWC brings together researchers, product vendors, fashion designers, textile manufacturers, users, and related professionals to share information and advances in wearable computing. Contributions focused on mobile phones and mobile music players are encouraged, as these devices have become the most successful wearable computers to date. In recent years, the conference has co-located with Pervasive Computing, in an attempt to unify the growing ubiquitous computing community. For ISWC2011, the acceptance rate for full papers was 19.4%. Of all accepted submissions, 42% were from Europe, 35% from Asia, and 23% from the United States. We have chosen from these submissions the top five papers as judged by the program committee and requested that the authors expand their contributions by updating the work or providing more analysis and data as appropriate. The updated papers entered another review process with at least three additional reviewers to be considered for acceptance for this special issue of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. In the case of a conflict of interest, the reviews of the paper were handled by an impartial party. Upon acceptance, authors were given a final chance to revise their papers to address reviewers’ suggestions. We are excited to present the results in this volume and hope to see you at future ISWCs!