cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 1897: The role of nuclear deformation and rupture in breast cancer cell migration

Invasion of tumor cells into the surrounding tissue is a critical step in the metastatic cascade, which is responsible for the vast majority of cancer-related deaths. Recent findings have begun to demonstrate that the biophysical properties of the cell nucleus play a critical role in this process. During invasion, cancer cells must often pass through interstitial spaces much smaller than the cell nucleus. While the cell cytoplasm easily maneuvers through confined spaces, the deformability of the nucleus, which is the largest and stiffest organelle, ultimately determines how efficiently a cell can pass through a tight space. Furthermore, as the nucleus deforms to move through a confined space, it can exhibit transient loss of nuclear envelope (NE) integrity, where the nuclear membranes rupture and nuclear and cytoplasmic components interchange. We previously showed that chromatin is exposed to the cell cytoplasm during NE rupture, and cells can incur DNA damage. While this work revealed that cancer cell migration requires nuclear deformation and can involve NE rupture, it is currently unknown whether such events correlate with metastatic potential. We used a panel of human breast cancer cells lines, including claudin-low, basal-like, and lumen-like cells. Cells were stably labeled with a green fluorescent protein fused to a nuclear localization sequence (NLS-copGFP) to investigate whether some cell lines were particularly well suited to migrate through tight spaces, and if any were particularly prone to NE rupture. The cells were loaded into microfluidic devices that were designed to mimic interstitial in vivo spacing and monitored by time-lapse microscopy. Devices contained constrictions 5 µm tall and 1, 2, or 15 µm wide. We found that claudin-low cell lines such as BT-549 migrated through confined spaces (1+2 µm wide constrictions) significantly faster and more efficiently than basal-like HCC70 cancer cells. In contrast, the various cell lines displayed similar migration rates in the 15 µm wide constrictions, which do not require nuclear deformation. Thus, the differences observed between the cell lines reflect specific defects in migration through confined spaces, and not general migration defects. We are currently expanding our studies to a larger panel of cancer cell lines and to mouse breast cancer models. If confirmed, these results could indicate that highly invasive cancer cells may benefit from more deformable nuclei that facilitate movement through tight spaces encountered in the tissue microenvironment. Citation Format: Alexandra L. McGregor, Joshua J. Elacqua, Emily S. Bell, Jan Lammerding. The role of nuclear deformation and rupture in breast cancer cell migration [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1897. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-1897
Energy efficient framework for health monitoring using mobile systems

With the advancements of mobile phones and cellular devices, there has been a spur of various applications being used in daily life. Mobile phones in addition to being used as communication devices, also act as sensors gathering data that can be leveraged by different applications. Using the acquired data, a plethora of health monitoring applications have been designed using mobile systems. In this paper we focus on different health monitoring applications and the challenges in designing and using them. Since energy is a vital resource for operation of cellular devices, optimal utilization of it is required for sustainability of the applications executing on the device. Specifically, we introduce algorithms for using optimal energy to sense data and transmit gathered data for mobile phones. Our experimental results show that the proposed techniques can achieve an energy savings of almost 80% for data sensing applications with an average data loss of less than 5%; we also show energy savings of approximately 90% for data transmitting applications involving more than 8 sensors on a cellular device.
Neurologic and Cognitive Changes in the Elderly

Neurologic changes, particularly cognitive changes, are common disease-related conditions in older adults. Cognitive impairment, most often caused by Alzheimer’s disease, is easily overlooked. Patients typically look normal and may not recognize deficits. Families may attribute symptoms of dementia to normal aging. Such patients are at increased risk for peri-operative complications, specifically, delirium. Establishing a baseline, preoperative mental status is essential for managing the often difficult recovery from major surgery. Knowing that a patient is demented and at increased risk for delirium prepares the patient, family, and healthcare team, and may even provide a contraindication for surgery. Inquiring about changes typical of memory and cognitive disorders, such as repeating, misplacing, relying more on notes and calendars, forgetting names of familiar persons, forgetting medications, and getting lost driving may suggest an underlying dementia. Simple bedside testing focusing on the patient’s ability to learn and remember new information and to follow instructions is key to the mental status examination. Additional neurologic evaluation, including visual fields, extraocular movements, speech, facial symmetry, gait, and drift testing are simple, high yield, reproducible, and readily identify deficits, efficiently enhancing your neurologic assessment.
Comments on 'Rhetoric and Dialectic from the Standpoint of Normative Pragmatics'

When faced with a topic like ‘dialectic and rhetoric,’ the student of rhetoric is, I suppose, by trained incapacity disposed to view it as ‘dialectic versus rhetoric’ and to take up arms in defense of her much-maligned Dame. The pleasures and payoffs of zealous advocacy, after all, have not waned even through 2,500 years. Unfortunately, I find myself in the uncomfortable position of agreeing with my adversary’s proposal for union, or at least detente, between the dialectical and rhetorical inquiries into argumentation. I want to begin, therefore, by reiterating five theses Jacobs has nailed up for us, before closing with what I see as the major area of continued difference in viewpoints. Thesis 1. The common thrust of both rhetorical and dialectical inquiries into argumentation ‐ what provides discipline to the nondiscipline of argumentation studies ‐ is as Jacobs says our shared commitment ‘to come to grips with real messages in theoretically productive ways.’ Our work must be stubbornly loyal to the ‘real messages,’ always complex and situated; our work must also be ‘theoretically productive,’ aiming for precise and increasingly comprehensive conceptualizations. Thesis 2. Argument itself is however only one subset or aspect of the ‘real messages’ we ought to be examining. Since in Gricean terms all communication works by inducing the auditor to make specific inferences, it is tempting to reconstruct any communicative act as an argument with an inherent and (moreover) sound inferential structure. When, for example, Willard’s hotel doorman scowls at the bum who wants to enter, the bum is supposed to infer that he should get out of there; it is tempting to say that that’s the doorman’s ‘implicit’ and ‘nonverbal’ argument (1983, p. 53). But this temptation must be resisted. The doorman has not made an argument. ‘Arguments’ as Jacobs puts it, are only those ‘fundamentally linguistic entities that express in a special way propositions that stand in particular inferential relations to one another.’ So not all discourse is argument, much less good argument, nor should it be interpreted as argument. Thesis 3. Nevertheless, careful attention to nonargumentative aspects of discourse is vital for argumentation studies, because nonargumentative
Effect of Nonmetallic Inclusions on Solidification of Inoculated Spheroidal Graphite Iron

Inoculation treatment of spheroidal graphite cast iron (SGI) controls graphite nodule heterogeneous nucleation and is used for elimination of solidification microporosity and improvement in casting performance. In this study, thermodynamic simulations were performed to predict precipitates formed in the inoculated melt above a liquidus temperature (primary precipitates) and during solidification (secondary precipitates). The experimental inoculation treatments were designed targeting formation of primary precipitates (Ti and Zr additions) and secondary precipitates (S and N additions to inoculant). An automated SEM/EDX analysis was applied to analyze the graphite nodule distribution statistics and a family of nonmetallic inclusions in the experimental castings. In inoculated SGI, the observed bimodal distributions of graphite nodules were related to continuous nucleation with the second nucleation wave that occurred toward the solidification end. The measured microporosity in the castings was linked to graphite nucleation. The origin of the continuous graphite nodule nucleation and the possibility of engineering nonmetallic inclusions to control casting soundness are discussed.
Large Room Temperature Charge-to-Spin Conversion Efficiency in Topological Insulator/CoFeB bilayers

Heavy metals and topological insulators are promising materials for converting charge current into spin current for efficient manipulation of magnetization states in magnetic devices [1]–[5]. One of the most important parameters is the charge-to-spin conversion (CS) efficiency. Improving CS efficiency is critical for reducing write current of the emerging nonvolatile memory technology, spin-orbit torque MRAM (SOT-MRAM) [2], which provides comparable speed with SRAM but with a much higher memory capacity. Here, we measure CS efficiency in various topological insulators (TIs) using second-harmonic method (2eo-method) and obtain a record-high value 8.33±0.65 for insulating (BiSb)2 Te3 at room temperature. We first establish the consistency of CS efficiency obtained between spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR) and 2eo-method. Then, we systematically investigate the CS efficiency in a bilayer consisting of a metallic Bi2Se3 and a CoFeB thin film using 2eo-method. By tuning the Fermi level of TI layer into bulk band gap using (BiSb)2 Te3, we improve the CS efficiency by an order of magnitude.
On the Relationship Between Biculturalism and Cultural Intelligence

Drawing from identity theory (Stryker & Burke, 2000) and social identity theory (Hogg & Terry, 2001), we hypothesize that biculturalism is associated with individual bicultural identity, and in tur...
The futures of EAP genre studies: A personal viewpoint

Abstract This argumentative essay opens with the suggestion that EAP genre analysts and practitioners may legitimately differ with regard to the appropriate size and extent of genres. It then argues that certain recent popular topics in genre studies have been overdone, and then goes on to suggest and illustrate areas that could be more fruitfully investigated. It closes with a discussion of whether EAP studies remain ‘too textual’ and how greater attention to contextual factors and influences might be obtained.
RE: The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study (DEMS): A Nested Case-Control Study of Lung Cancer and Diesel Exhaust

Because our original publication (1) generated considerable interest over the past two years, we now provide additional data from our nested case-control study that are valuable in evaluating the relation between diesel exhaust exposure and lung cancer. Here we include results based on alternative exposure metrics (Table 1) and alternative approaches for adjusting for cigarette smoking as a confounder (Table 2), for comparison with results that appeared in Table 3 of Silverman et al. (1). Table 1. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for average and cumulative REC lagged 15 years based on alternative exposure metrics*, † Table 2. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for average and cumulative REC lagged 15 years with alternative approaches for smoking adjustment In Table 1, we estimate the lung cancer risk associated with average respirable elemental carbon (REC) intensity and cumulative REC, lagging exposure by 15 years, based on three alternative exposure metrics (2–6). The “.58” REC metrics assume that changes in REC over time are not directly proportional to changes in carbon monoxide (CO) over time, whereas the original REC metrics assumed direct proportionality (1). The “5-year mean” REC metrics use 5-year averages in CO between 1976 and the last year of the exposure assessment at each mine (1998–2001) and the ratio of horsepower over ventilation before 1976 (when CO measurements were unavailable) in the time trend models to predict historical REC levels. The “median” REC metrics were based on the median of the REC measurements instead of the mean of the REC measurements to derive the 1998–2001 reference values used in the original time trend models. Results based on these alternative exposure metrics closely reflect those originally reported in Table 3 (1), each with consistent positive trends in risk with increasing exposure. Trends tended to be highly statistically significant for cumulative REC and statistically significant or borderline significant for average REC intensity. In Table 2, we estimate the lung cancer risk associated with average REC intensity and cumulative REC, lagging 15 years, based on three approaches for smoking adjustment. We present odds ratios by increasing exposure levels adjusting for: 1) smoking status (never, former, current smoker) and duration smoked; 2) status and pack-years smoked; and 3) status and both duration and packs/day in the same model. Regardless of the approach for smoking adjustment, we observed consistent highly statistically significant trends for cumulative REC and borderline significant trends for average REC intensity. Results are strikingly consistent with the previously published odds ratios in Table 3 (1). In conclusion, these sensitivity analyses underscore the robustness of our original findings (1) and provide further evidence that diesel exhaust causes lung cancer in humans.
Hybridization of lithium-ion batteries and electrochemical capacitors: fabrication and challenges

Conventional electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) are well suited as power sources for devices that require large bursts of energy in short time periods. However, when compared to their battery counterparts, EDLCs suffer from low energy densities. The low energy density of EDLCs hinders their applications in devices that require a simultaneous supply of high power and high energy. In order to improve the energy density of EDLCs, the concept of hybridization of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and EDLCs has gathered much attention in past years. Such a hybrid is typically referred to as “lithium-ion capacitor” (LIC) or “lithium capacitor” and essentially utilizes a lithium intercalating anode (such as graphite or Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 ) and a fast charging-discharging EDLC electrode (such as activated carbon, carbon nanostructures) in a lithium-salt based electrolyte. Although such a system sounds quite ideal in theory, there are major challenges that need to be addressed in order to fully realize the benefits of LIB and EDLC electrodes in conjunction. Most of these challenges stem from the mismatch in capacity of the electrodes and also the charging-discharging times of the electrodes. For instance, the EDLC electrode acts as the limiting factor for the capacity of the system while the LIB electrode limits the power of the system. Here we have fabricated a hybrid capacitor that utilizes a Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 (LTO) based anode and an activated carbon (AC) composite based cathode. Half-cell testing for both LTO and AC have been shown along with full cell evaluation.
Data-Driven and Precursor-Group Uncertainty Propagation of Lattice Kinetic Parameters in UAM Benchmark

A new data-driven sampling-based framework was developed for uncertainty quantification (UQ) of the homogenized kinetic parameters calculated by lattice physics codes such as TRITON and Polaris. In this study, extension of the database for the delayed neutron data (DND) is performed by exploring more delayed neutron experiments and adding additional isotopes/actinides to the data libraries. Afterwards, the framework is utilized to obtain a deeper knowledge of the kinetic parameters’ sensitivity and uncertainty. The kinetic parameters include precursor-group-wise delayed neutron fraction (DNF) and decay constant. Input uncertainties include nuclear data (i.e., cross-sections) and DND (i.e., precursor group parameters and fractional delayed neutron yield). It is found that kinetic parameters, especially DNFs, have large uncertainties. The DNF uncertainty is driven by the cross-section uncertainties for LWR designs, while decay constant uncertainty is dominated by the DND uncertainties. The usage of correlated U-235 thermal DND in the UQ process significantly reduces the DND uncertainty contribution on the kinetic parameters. Large void fraction and presence of neutron absorber (e.g., control rod) increase the DNF uncertainty due to the hardening of neutron spectrum. High correlation between the DNF groups ( ) is observed, while the decay constant groups ( ) show weak correlation to each other and also to DNF groups. The DNF uncertainties of the dominant precursor group 4 for PWR, BWR, and VVER are about 7.5%, 9.4%, and 7.6%, respectively. The DNF uncertainty grows to larger values after fuel burnup. Kinetic parameters’ values and uncertainties provided here can be efficiently used in subsequent core calculations, point reactor kinetics, and other applications.
CRISPR/Cas9 gene drives in genetically variable and nonrandomly mating wild populations

Synthetic gene drives based on CRISPR/Cas9 have the potential to control, alter, or suppress populations of crop pests and disease vectors, but it is unclear how they will function in wild populations. Using genetic data from four populations of the flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, we show that most populations harbor genetic variants in Cas9 target sites, some of which would render them immune to drive (ITD). We show that even a rare ITD allele can reduce or eliminate the efficacy of a CRISPR/Cas9-based synthetic gene drive. This effect is equivalent to and accentuated by mild inbreeding, which is a characteristic of many disease-vectoring arthropods. We conclude that designing such drives will require characterization of genetic variability and the mating system within and among targeted populations.
Oligarchy as a phase transition: The effect of wealth-attained advantage in a Fokker–Planck description of asset exchange ☆

Abstract The “Yard-Sale Model” of asset exchange is known to result in complete inequality—all of the wealth in the hands of a single agent. It is also known that, when this model is modified by introducing a simple model of redistribution based on the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process, it admits a steady state exhibiting some features similar to the celebrated Pareto Law of wealth distribution. In the present work, we analyze the form of this steady-state distribution in much greater detail, using a combination of analytic and numerical techniques. We find that, while Pareto’s Law is approximately valid for low redistribution, it gives way to something more similar to Gibrat’s Law when redistribution is higher. Additionally, we prove in this work that, while this Pareto or Gibrat behavior may persist over many orders of magnitude, it ultimately gives way to gaussian decay at extremely large wealth. Also in this work, we introduce a bias in favor of the wealthier agent–what we call Wealth-Attained Advantage (WAA)–and show that this leads to the phenomenon of “wealth condensation” when the bias exceeds a certain critical value. In the wealth-condensed state, a finite fraction of the total wealth of the population “condenses” to the wealthiest agent. We examine this phenomenon in some detail, and derive the corresponding modification to the Fokker–Planck equation. We observe a second-order phase transition to a state of coexistence between an oligarch and a distribution of non-oligarchs. Finally, by studying the asymptotic behavior of the distribution in some detail, we show that the onset of wealth condensation has an abrupt reciprocal effect on the character of the non-oligarchical part of the distribution. Specifically, we show that the above-mentioned gaussian decay at extremely large wealth is valid both above and below criticality, but degenerates to exponential decay precisely at criticality.
Scalable lévy process priors for spectral kernel learning

Gaussian processes are rich distributions over functions, with generalization properties determined by a kernel function. When used for long-range extrapolation, predictions are particularly sensitive to the choice of kernel parameters. It is therefore critical to account for kernel uncertainty in our predictive distributions. We propose a distribution over kernels formed by modelling a spectral mixture density with a Levy process. The resulting distribution has support for all stationary covariances---including the popular RBF, periodic, and Matern kernels---combined with inductive biases which enable automatic and data efficient learning, long-range extrapolation, and state of the art predictive performance. The proposed model also presents an approach to spectral regularization, as the Levy process introduces a sparsity-inducing prior over mixture components, allowing automatic selection over model order and pruning of extraneous components. We exploit the algebraic structure of the proposed process for O(n) training and O(1) predictions. We perform extrapolations having reasonable uncertainty estimates on several benchmarks, show that the proposed model can recover flexible ground truth covariances and that it is robust to errors in initialization.
Minimally invasive gas embolization using acoustic droplet vaporization in a rodent model of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Many patients are not eligible for curative therapies, such as surgical resection of the tumor or a liver transplant. Transarterial embolization is one therapy clinically used in these cases; however, this requires a long procedure and careful placement of an intraarterial catheter. Gas embolization has been proposed as a fast, easily administered, more spatially selective, and less invasive alternative. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of using acoustic droplet vaporization to noninvasively generate gas emboli within vasculature. Intravital microscopy experiments were performed using the rat cremaster muscle to visually observe the formation of occlusions. Large gas emboli were produced within the vasculature in the rat cremaster, effectively occluding blood flow. Following these experiments, the therapeutic efficacy of gas embolization was investigated in an ectopic xenograft model of hepatocellular carcinoma in mice. The treatment group exhibited a significantly lower final tumor volume (ANOVA, p = 0.008) and growth rate than control groups – tumor growth was completely halted. Additionally, treated tumors exhibited significant necrosis as determined by histological analysis. To our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate the therapeutic efficacy of gas embolotherapy in a tumor model.
Geographic distribution of clinical trials for breast cancer across the United States, 2011-2015.

140Background: Access to clinical trials is paramount for delivery of high quality cancer care. We aim to study the geographical distribution of phase 3 & 4 clinical trials for females with breast ...
An acoustic comparison of isolated whispered and phonated vowel samples produced by adult male subjects

Abstract: This study was designed to investigate the formant frequencies and amplitudes of phonated and whispered productions of five test vowels (/i/, /u/, /ae/, /ɑ/, and /ʌ/). Each test vowel was sustained six times in isolation, three times in whisper and three times in phonation, by 15 adult male subjects. The phoneme represented by each recorded production was identified independently by 11 listeners. An acoustic spectrum of each sample was obtained through the use of a real-time narrow-band spectrum analyzer to permit formant measurements. This report presents the formant frequencies and amplitudes (F1 to F3) of the test productions as measured from the acoustic vowel spectra and the formant frequency and amplitude differences between the phonated and whispered productions. In general, the results showed a trend for whispered vowel formants to be higher in frequency than phonated vowel formants, but that trend was only strongly evident for F1.
Teaching parallel computing: new possibilities

Many universities and colleges offer a course on Parallel Computing, typically as an undergraduate elective. Given the "leading edge" nature of the topic, it is not unusual for the content of this course to change. But recent technological advances and market forces, such as advanced graphics chips and middleware platforms, have dramatically expanded the possibilities and paradigms available to instructors. These same market forces have greatly amplified the need for undergraduates to be exposed to parallel computing concepts. In this paper, we offer a curriculum framework to assist instructors in designing a course in Parallel Computing, or in introducing parallelism concepts into other courses in the curriculum.
Climate relationships with increasing wildfire in the southwestern US from 1984 to 2015

Abstract Over the last several decades in forest and woodland ecosystems of the southwestern United States, wildfire size and severity have increased, thereby increasing the vulnerability of these systems to type conversions, invasive species, and other disturbances. A combination of land use history and climate change is widely thought to be contributing to the changing fire regimes. We examined climate-fire relationships in forest and woodland ecosystems from 1984 to 2015 in Arizona and New Mexico using 1) an expanded satellite-derived burn severity dataset that incorporates over one million additional burned hectares when compared to MTBS data, and 2) climate variables including temperature, precipitation, and vapor pressure deficit (VPD). Regional climate-fire relationships were assessed by correlating annual area burned, area burned at high and low severity, and percent high severity with fire season (May-August) and water-year (October-September) climate variables. We also analyzed relationships between climate and high-severity fire at the scale of the individual fire using a hurdle model. We found that increasing temperature and VPD and decreasing precipitation were associated with increasing area burned regionally, and that area burned at high severity had the strongest relationships with climate metrics. The relationship between climate and fire activity in the Southwest appears to be strengthening since 2000. VPD-fire correlations were consistently as strong as, or stronger than, temperature or precipitation variables alone, both regionally and at the scale of the individual fire. Notably, at the scale of the individual fire, temperature and precipitation were not significant predictors of fire activity. Thus, our results support the use of VPD as a more integrative climate metric to forecast fire activity. We suggest that the strong relationship between VPD and fire activity may be useful to assess the likelihood of high-severity fire occurrence through continued development of the high-severity fire threshold model we present. The link between increasing aridity and increasing wildfire activity suggests a future with more fire in Southwest forests and woodlands with projected warming, underscoring the urgency of restoration in dry forests to reduce the likelihood of uncharacteristic, large high-severity fires.
Understanding solvent effects on adsorption and protonation in porous catalysts

Solvent selection is a pressing challenge in developing efficient and selective liquid phase catalytic processes, as predictive understanding of the solvent effect remains lacking. In this work, an attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy technique is developed to quantitatively measure adsorption isotherms on porous materials in solvent and decouple the thermodynamic contributions of van der Waals interactions within zeolite pore walls from those of pore-phase proton transfer. While both the pore diameter and the solvent identity dramatically impact the confinement (adsorption) step, the solvent identity plays a dominant role in proton-transfer. Combined computational and experimental investigations show increasingly favorable pore-phase proton transfer to pyridine in the order: water < acetonitrile < 1,4 – dioxane. Equilibrium methods unaffected by mass transfer limitations are outlined for quantitatively estimating fundamental thermodynamic values using statistical thermodynamics. Liquid phase reactions mediated by solid catalysts occur in the presence of solvents whose role needs to be understood. The authors use attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy to measure liquid-phase pyridine adsorption isotherms in zeolites, elucidating the effect of coadsorbed solvents on the interactions.
Characterization of Vittatidera zeaphila (Nematoda: Heteroderidae) from Indiana with molecular phylogenetic analysis of the genus.

In the summer of 2016, a field of corn (Zea mays) in Spencer County, Indiana was observed with heavily stunted plants, and from the affected roots a large number of cysts were recovered. Soil samples were submitted to one of us (JF), who extracted the nematode cysts and sent them to the USDA-ARS, Mycology and Nematology Genetic Diversity and Biology Laboratory (MNGDBL), Beltsville, MD for morphological and molecular identification. Cysts and the recovered second-stage juveniles (J2) that were examined morphologically conformed to the measurements of Vittatidera zeaphila, the goose cyst nematode originally described from Tennessee, USA in 2010. The molecular analysis of J2 showed the sample from Spencer County matched exactly with V. zeaphila according to ribosomal DNA markers ITS, 28S, and 18S, and with mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI). The nuclear marker heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) was also analyzed for the first time from the Indiana population of V. zeaphila. Similarities to existing cyst nematode sequences are reported herein. Geographically, although the county is across the Ohio River from Kentucky, the previously reported Hickman County, Kentucky location and Indiana detection are approximately 200 miles apart. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of V. zeaphila in Indiana. In the summer of 2016, a field of corn (Zea mays) in Spencer County, Indiana was observed with heavily stunted plants, and from the affected roots a large number of cysts were recovered. Soil samples were submitted to one of us (JF), who extracted the nematode cysts and sent them to the USDA-ARS, Mycology and Nematology Genetic Diversity and Biology Laboratory (MNGDBL), Beltsville, MD for morphological and molecular identification. Cysts and the recovered second-stage juveniles (J2) that were examined morphologically conformed to the measurements of Vittatidera zeaphila, the goose cyst nematode originally described from Tennessee, USA in 2010. The molecular analysis of J2 showed the sample from Spencer County matched exactly with V. zeaphila according to ribosomal DNA markers ITS, 28S, and 18S, and with mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI). The nuclear marker heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) was also analyzed for the first time from the Indiana population of V. zeaphila. Similarities to existing cyst nematode sequences are reported herein. Geographically, although the county is across the Ohio River from Kentucky, the previously reported Hickman County, Kentucky location and Indiana detection are approximately 200 miles apart. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of V. zeaphila in Indiana.
CHAPTER 3 – Phenolytic Oxygenases

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on phenolytic oxygenases. Oxygenases are found in all types of living organisms and perform a variety of functions. The insertion of molecular oxygen into organic substrates has been demonstrated in many enzymic systems involving a variety of molecular structures. Cleavage of aromatic rings is a function that depends on this type of enzyme. The degradations of the aromatic rings of tryptophan and tyrosine, in animal and in microbial systems, use molecular oxygen. The metabolism of many other aromatic compounds, including unnatural synthetic materials and substrates of biological origin, includes conversion to simple aromatic compounds that are opened in oxygenase reactions. Oxygen is used in reactions of aliphatic compounds. The reactions in which molecular oxygen is used to cleave aromatic rings have been shown to be the predominant mechanism in the biological degradation of aromatic compounds. In phenolytic oxygenation, the addition of oxygen does not result in a change of the positions of the atoms of the aromatic ring; this observation is consistent with the hypothesis that both atoms of oxygen are added to the substrate in the process of opening the ring.
Compact Adaptively Secure ABE from k-Lin: Beyond \(\mathsf {NC}^1\) and Towards \(\mathsf {NL}\)

We present a new general framework for constructing compact and adaptively secure attribute-based encryption (ABE) schemes from k-Lin in asymmetric bilinear pairing groups. Previously, the only construction [Kowalczyk and Wee, Eurocrypt ’19] that simultaneously achieves compactness and adaptive security from static assumptions supports policies represented by Boolean formulae. Our framework enables supporting more expressive policies represented by arithmetic branching programs.
Recovery on the Pitch: Street Football as a Means of Social Inclusion

The study contributes to the existing literature on the value of street football teams in recovery, by exploring how persons with mental health and/or substance abuse problems experience participation in street football teams. In total, 51 persons experiencing mental health and/or substance abuse challenges who played in street football teams, in Norway, participated in focus group interviews. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis, and resulted in three major themes: (1) The spirit of the football team, (2) More than just a pitch, and (3) The country’s best follow-up system. Overall, our findings highlighted the importance of community and communal efforts through acts of citizenship, in facilitating and promoting social inclusion for persons in challenging life situations. Street football is one measure than can be helpful in this context. Communities, policy makers and funders need to acknowledge and gain more insight and understanding of the value that street football teams represent. There is also a need for further studies exploring what contributes to community in our highly individualistic society.
The Silk Road: Traveled, Imagined, Transformed

Western artists, philosophers and politicians have inevitably viewed China and its actions through a distorting lens – often seeking to confirm assumptions rather than to gain new understanding. Th...
Inferring Task-Space Central Pattern Generator Parameters for Closed-loop Control of Underactuated Robots

The complexity associated with the control of highly-articulated legged robots scales quickly as the number of joints increases. Traditional approaches to the control of these robots are often impractical for many real-time applications. This work thus presents a novel sampling-based planning approach for highly-articulated robots that utilizes a probabilistic graphical model (PGM) to infer in real-time how to optimally modify goal-driven, locomotive behaviors for use in closed-loop control. Locomotive behaviors are quantified in terms of the parameters associated with a network of neural oscillators, or rather a central pattern generator (CPG). For the first time, we show that the PGM can be used to optimally modulate different behaviors in real-time (i.e., to select of optimal choice of parameter values across the CPG model) in response to changes both in the local environment and in the desired control signal. The PGM is trained offline using a library of optimal behaviors that are generated using a gradient-free optimization framework.
Future perspective of focal therapy for localized prostate cancer.

Objective To summarize the recent literature discussing focal therapy for localized prostate cancer. Methods A thorough literature review was performed using PubMed to identify recent studies involving focal therapy for the treatment of localized prostate cancer. Results In an effort to decrease the morbidity associated with prostate cancer treatment, many urologists are turning to focal therapy as an alternative treatment option. With this approach, the cancer bearing portion of the prostate is targeted while leaving the benign tissue untouched. Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging remains the gold standard for visualization during focal therapy, but new imaging modalities such as prostate specific membrane antigen/positron emission tomography and contrast enhanced ultrasound are being investigated. Furthermore, several biomarkers, such as prostate cancer antigen 3 and prostate health index, are used in conjunction with imaging to improve risk stratification prior to focal therapy. Lastly, there are several novel technologies such as nanoparticles and transurethral devices that are under investigation for use in focal therapy. Conclusion Focal therapy is proving to be a promising option for the treatment of localized prostate cancer. However, further study is needed to determine the true efficacy of these exciting new technologies.
An Introduction to Random Sets

GENERALITIES ON PROBABILITY Survey Sampling Revisited Mathematical Models for Random Phenomena Random Elements Distribution Functions of Random Variables Distribution Functions of Random Vectors Exercises SOME RANDOM SETS IN STATISTICS Probability Sampling Designs Confidence Regions Robust Bayesian Statistics Probability Density Estimation Coarse Data Analysis Perception-Based Information Stochastic Point Processes Exercises FINITE RANDOM SETS Random Sets and Their Distributions Set-Valued Observations Imprecise Probabilities Decision Making with Random Sets Exercises RANDOM SETS AND RELATED UNCERTAINTY MEASURES Some Set Functions Incidence Algebras Cores of Capacity Functionals Exercises RANDOM CLOSED SETS Introduction The Hit-or-Miss Topology Capacity Functionals Notes on the Choquet Theorem on Polish Spaces Exercises THE CHOQUET INTEGRAL Some Motivations The Choquet Integral Radon-Nikodym Derivatives Exercises CHOQUET WEAK CONVERGENCE Stochastic Convergence of Random Sets Convergence in Distribution Weak Convergence of Capacity Functionals Exercises SOME ASPECTS OF STATISTICAL INFERENCE WITH COARSE DATA Expectations and Limit Theorems A Statistical Inference Framework for Coarse Data A Related Statistical Setting A Variational Calculus of Set Functions Exercises APPENDIX: BASIC CONCEPTS AND RESULTS OF PROBABILITY THEORY References Index
A simple evacuation modeling and simulation tool for first responders

Although modeling and simulation of mass evacuations during a natural or man-made disaster is an on-going and vigorous area of study, tool adoption by front-line first responders is uneven. Some of the factors that account for this situation include cost and complexity of the software. For several years, Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been actively developing the free Incident Management Preparedness and Coordination Toolkit (IMPACT) to address these issues. One of the components of IMPACT is a multi-agent simulation module for area-based and path-based evacuations. The user interface is designed so that anyone familiar with typical computer drawing tools can quickly author a geospatially-correct evacuation visualization suitable for table-top exercises. Since IMPACT is designed for use in the field where network communications may not be available, quick on-site evacuation alternatives can be evaluated to keep pace with a fluid threat situation. Realism is enhanced by incorporating collision avoidance into the simulation. Statistics are gathered as the simulation unfolds, including most importantly time-to-evacuate, to help first responders choose the best course of action.
Human Enhancement and Experimental Research in the Military

For over a century the U.S. military has conducted and sponsored cutting-edge medical and technological research. While such projects have often resulted in transformative innovations, in a number of instances, researchers have deliberately violated legal requirements and/or ethical norms governing research with human subjects. This article explores these matters by discussing the history of misfeasance in military research and examining contemporary military endeavors that aim to exploit biomedical advancements.
Adolescents and the World of Work

Work And Adolescent Development Paid Work in Adolescence Four Views on Paid Work in Adolescence Career Development Future Research Conclusion Keywords: teenage employment; career development; precocious maturity; school-to-work transition; occupational values
Calcium Metabolism, Intestinal Calcium-binding Protein, and Bone Growth of Rats Fed High Protein Diets

The rat was used as a model for investigating the mechanism by which the consumption of high diets causes calciuria. Using a combined balance and kinetics study, calcium (Ca) metabolism was studied in 56-day old male rats which had been consuming a control (18% casein) or a high protein (36% casein) diet for 2, 14, or 28 days. Urine Ca was significantly increased to 1.7 mg/day and 1.1 mg/day in rats which consumed the high protein diet for 2 or 14 days respectively. After 29 days of consuming the high protein diet, urinary Ca excretion was 0.7 mg/day, the same as that of controls. No other criteria of calcium metabolism were significantly affected by the high protein intakes. Intestinal calcium-binding protein activity was not affected by consumption of the 36% casein diet for 7 days, nor was bone mineralization after consumption of this diet for 32 days. Since the rat excretes a low percentage of dietary Ca via the urinary route, it is not a useful model for studying Ca kinetics in protein-induced calciuria.
Stellar occultations by turbulent planetary atmospheres: A heuristic scattering model

Abstract A model of ray refraction by an isothermal atmosphere with a scattering screen at the center of bending is used to generate analytic results which simulate the effects of real atmospheric turbulence on occultations. Calculations are carried through for scattering which is constant with height and for exponential height dependence. The effect of the scattering is to bias the the mean intensity of the occulted source, and hence systematically to distort bending angles and height differences obtained from inversion of the intensity data. However, the effect is of order 〈 δϵ 2 〉/ ϵ 2 for either model, where 〈 δϵ 2 〉 is the mean square scattering angle and ϵ is the average bending angle. The effect turns out to be small for plausible turbulence, since 〈 δϵ 2 〉/ gfe 2 is of approximately the same order as the relative mean square density fluctuation. Thus the random effects of turbulence are unlikely to be a source of large systematic error in occultations, provided that the data can be meaningfully averaged either temporally or over a number of occultation events.
Two-dimensional Dirac fermions and quantum magnetoresistance in CaMnBi2

We report two-dimensional Dirac fermions and quantum magnetoresistance in single crystals of CaMnBi${}_{2}$. The nonzero Berry's phase, small cyclotron resonant mass, and first-principles band structure suggest the existence of the Dirac fermions in Bi square nets. The in-plane transverse magnetoresistance exhibits a crossover at a critical field ${B}^{*}$ from semiclassical weak-field ${B}^{2}$ dependence to the high-field unsaturated linear magnetoresistance ($\ensuremath{\sim}$$120%$ in 9 T at 2 K) due to the quantum limit of the Dirac fermions. The temperature dependence of ${B}^{*}$ satisfies quadratic behavior, which is attributed to the splitting of linear energy dispersion in high field. Our results demonstrate the existence of two-dimensional Dirac fermions in CaMnBi${}_{2}$ with Bi square nets.
IDENTIFYING PLACEBO REACTORS.

(1965). Identifying Placebo Reactors. The Journal of Psychology: Vol. 60, No. 2, pp. 205-212.
GaN FETs for microwave and high-temperature applications

Abstract The d.c., microwave, and high-temperature characteristics of Si-doped MESFETs with and without n+ ohmic contact layers, Si 3 N 4 GaN MISFETs, and AlN GaN HFETs are presented. The highest transconductance and microwave performance were observed for 1 μm gate-length HFETs. These HFETs have a transconductance of 45 mS/mm, an ƒ τ of 8 GHz, and an ƒ max of 22 GHz. The Si-doped MESFETs have good pinch-off characteristics at 400°C and are operational at 500°C. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
Modeling of Vertical Solute Dispersion in a Sediment Bed Enhanced by Wave-Induced Interstitial Flow

Mass (solute) transport in a stream or lake sediment bed has a significant effect on chemical mass balances and microbial activities in the sediment. A "1D vertical dispersion model" is a useful tool to analyze or model solute transfer between river or lake water and a sediment bed. Under a motionless water column, solute transfer into and within the sediment bed is by molecular diffusion. However, surface waves or bed forms create periodic pressure waves along the sediment/water interface, which in turn induce flows in the pores of the sediment bed. The enhancement of solute transport by these interstitial periodic flows in the pores has been incorporated in a 1D depth-dependent "enhanced dispersion coefficient (D E )." Typically, D E diminishes exponentially with depth in the sediment bed. Relationships have been developed to estimate D E as a function of the characteristics of sediment (particle size, hydraulic conductivity, and porosity) and pressure waves (wave length and height). In this paper, we outline and illustrate the calculation of D E as well as the penetration depth (d p ) of the flow effect. Sample applications to illustrate the computational procedure are provided for dissolved oxygen transfer into a stream gravel bed and release of phosphorus from a lake bed. The sensitivity of the results to input parameter values is illustrated, and compared with the errors obtained when interstitial flow is ignored. Maximum values of D E near the sediment surface can be on the order of 1 cm 2 /s in a stream gravel bed with standing waves, and 0.001 cm 2 /s in a fine sand lake bed under progressive surface waves, much larger than molecular diffusion coefficients.