cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
DNA flow cytometry measurements as surrogate endpoints in chemoprevention trials: clinical, biological, and quality control considerations.

DNA flow cytometric evaluation of S-phase fraction (SPF) is a strong and consistent predictor of replase-free survival in the node-negative breast cancer patient. As such, it can be implicated as a marker of tumor aggressiveness and has been shown to be an independent predictor of outcome in a multivariate setting. Measurement of ploidy status is less well-defined as a marker of prognosis, but may be an important marker of response to therapy. Estimation of DNA ploidy and proliferative capacity by flow cytometry can be obtained from virtually any type of specimen, including fine needle aspirates, fresh or frozen material, as well as formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded material, as long as there is a sufficient number of tumor nuclei for assay. Therefore, the assay has clinical relevance in predicting relapse, as well as providing flexibility for sample preparation. In addition, flow cytometric measurements are biologically relevant markers. In general, DNA index is a good estimate of total chromosome number. SPF, using sophisticated modeling algorithms, shows good correlation with thymidine labeling index and/or bromodeoxyuridine incorporation, two standard assays used to measure DNA synthesis in fresh tissue. Recently, preliminary data in locally advanced breast cancer have indicated that ploidy and/or S-phase may also be useful in predicting cellular response to chemotherapy. Although there is good justification for measuring these parameters, appropriate quality control and quality assurance measures must be incorporated into all aspects of the assay—from sample handling and preparation to interpretation of cell cycle and histogram data. Using commercially available software programs and recommended guidelines for standardization and interpretation, data obtained from this assay can be quality controlled and reproducible from lab to lab. In many laboratories, however, quality control issues are not always addressed. A sufficient framework exists to employ these guidelines to achieve better standardization provided they are monitored and regulated. The most difficult aspect of the assay, especially in a chemoprevention setting, is to ensure that sufficient representative nuclei are obtained for evaluation. CONCLUSION: DNA flow cytometry measurements show clinical and biological relevance in early stage breast cancer, and can be quality controlled to provide reliable data.
Work-home conflict among nurses and engineers: Mediating the impact of role stress on burnout and satisfaction at work

Using structural equation modeling, this paper compares a more traditional, unmediated model of work-based role stress and its consequences on job satisfaction and burnout to two models in which the role stress-affective work outcome relationship is mediated (partially and completely) by work-home conflict across two samples of public sector professionals: engineers and nurses. The findings indicate that a model in which role conflict and overload have both direct and indirect effects—via work-home conflict—on job burnout and satisfaction (‘Partial Mediation’ model) achieves a better overall ‘fit’ than two alternative models. Furthermore, the findings suggest that while the two groups perceive many aspects of the work-home relationship differently, for both groups, work-based role conflict is an important antecedent of work-home conflict, and increased burnout an important direct consequence of work-home conflict. Finally, on the basis of the findings, the authors conclude that perspectives which view the work and non-work realms as independent must be reconsidered, and that the nature of the work-home relationship may, to a great extent, be contingent upon the way different occupational groups perceive their work situations.
Conserved spatial organization of FG domains in the nuclear pore complex.

Selective transport through the nuclear pore complex (NPC) requires nucleoporins containing natively unfolded phenylalanine-glycine (FG) domains. Several differing models for their dynamics within the pore have been proposed. We characterize the behavior of the FG nucleoporins in vivo using polarized fluorescence microscopy. Using nucleoporins tagged with green fluorescent protein along their FG domains, we show that some of these proteins are ordered, indicating an overall orientational organization within the NPC. This orientational ordering of the FG domains depends on their specific context within the NPC, but is independent of active transport and cargo load. For most nups, behavior does not depend on the FG motifs. These data support a model whereby local geometry constrains the orientational organization of the FG nups. Intriguingly, homologous yeast and mammalian proteins show conserved behavior, suggesting functional relevance. Our findings have implications for mechanistic models of NPC transport.
Structural health monitoring and structural identification for long-span bridges

Structural Health Monitoring and Structural Identification are concepts that are more frequently being applied to improve the reliability and effectiveness of operational and maintenance management for constructed systems. This paper describes why the need for such paradigms continues to grow, and discusses many of the limitations associated with current approaches for assessing and evaluating the performance and condition of civil infrastructure. Several examples of full-scale testing programs applied to long-span bridges are presented to illustrate typical application scenarios and quantitative characterization methods that can be employed. These examples also describe possible sources of uncertainty that can be encountered when executing experimental characterization programs for long span bridges.
New Stable Iodide Glasses in the Cd-As-I and Cd-As-Ge-I Systems

Iodide glasses presently being investigated suffer from their poor glass forming abilities, thermal instabilities and general lack of chemical durability. Glasses in the Cd-As-I and Cd-As-Ge-I systems are investigated in this study for the purpose of developing water-resistant, thermally stable iodide glasses and optical fibers. Differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) showed that glasses in these systems have glass transition temperature(Tg) values above 300°C. Devitrification of glasses during cooling and reheating can be suppressed by incorporating small amount of Ge atoms into ternary Cd-As-I glasses. They are transparent up to 14μm in the infrared region with excellent durability against liquid water at 90°C.
Pomeron in the weak and strong coupling limits and kinematical constraints

We show that a resummation model for the evolution kernel at small $x$ creates a bridge between the weak and strong couplings. The resummation model embodies DGLAP and BFKL anomalous dimensions at leading logarithmic orders, as well as a kinematical constraint on the real emission part of the kernel. In the case of pure gluodynamics the strong coupling limit of the Pomeron intercept is consistent with the exchange of the spin-two, colorless particle.
Quaternion and Hopf map characterizations for the existence of rational rotation-minimizing frames on quintic space curves

Simple criteria for the existence of rational rotation-minimizing frames (RRMFs) on quintic space curves are determined, in terms of both the quaternion and Hopf map representations for Pythagorean-hodograph (PH) curves in ?3. In both cases, these criteria amount to satisfaction of three scalar constraints that are quadratic in the curve coefficients, and are thus much simpler than previous criteria. In quaternion form, RRMF quintics can be characterized by just a single quadratic (vector) constraint on the three quaternion coefficients. In the Hopf map form, the characterization is in terms of one real and one complex quadratic constraint on the six complex coefficients. The identification of these constraints is based on introducing a "canonical form" for spatial PH curves and judicious transformations between the quaternion and Hopf map descriptions. The simplicity of these new characterizations for the RRMF quintics should help facilitate the development of algorithms for their construction, analysis, and practical use in applications such as animation, spatial motion planning, and swept surface constructions.
2.19 eV InGaP solar cells on GaP substrates

We have grown, via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), the first metamorphic In0.26Ga0.74P solar cells with a 2.19 eV direct bandgap on GaP to serve as the top cell in a multi-junction device. Calculations show that the incorporation of a 2.0-2.2 eV top cell into future 4-6 junction cells could enable efficiencies as high as 60%. GaAsxP1-x graded buffers enabled a moderate threading dislocation density of 6×106 cm-2 in the In0.26Ga0.74P solar cells. Open circuit voltages (Voc) as high as 1.42 V were observed under approximate AM1.5G illumination. Little work has been reported on the MBE growth of such high-bandgap InyGa1-yP, and we believe that this Voc can be improved through systematic optimization of growth conditions. Although these devices were not optimized for current collection, we obtain an efficiency of 3.13%, surpassing that of the best GaP solar cells. Finally, as this composition is near the direct-indirect crossover point, we analyzed the low-energy cutoff of the external quantum efficiency spectrum and infer that our In0.26Ga0.74P cells are still in the direct regime.
92 GHz dual-polarized integrated horn antennas

A dual-polarized two-dimensional imaging array was designed for millimeter-wave applications. The dual-polarized design consists of two dipoles perpendicular to each other and suspended on the same membrane inside a pyramidal cavity etched in silicon. The dual-polarized antenna is fully monolithic with room available for processing electronics. The IF or video signals are taken out through a novel bias and feeding structure. The measured polarization isolation is better than 20 dB at 92 GHz, and the orthogonal channels show identical far-field patterns. The antenna is well suited for millimeter-wave polarimetric synthetic aperture radars (SARs) and high-efficiency balanced-mixer receivers. >
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS REGARDING ACTIONS TO TAKE WHEN ENDING SHELTER-IN-PLACE

Shelter-in-place has found increasing acceptance as an effective protective action option for communities participating in the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program. Studies have confirmed that it can provide optimum protection under certain accident conditions. However, emergency managers and planners, as well as the public, continue to be troubled by the need to end sheltering when the plume has passed in order to avoid sustained exposure to the small amount of agent that has penetrated the shelter. One of the concerns posed by this necessity is uncertainty regarding what hazards will then be faced in the environment outside the shelter and what actions can be taken to avoid those hazards. This report attempts to address those uncertainties. It recognizes that there is an extremely low probability that the environment outside the shelter will be contaminated with chemical agent residue. However, as people comply with an official recommendation to leave their shelters, they probably can't be certain that the environment is free from contamination. Therefore, this report identifies and explains specific and simple actions they can take to avoid the possibility of exposure to chemical agent hazards outside their shelters. It addresses such issues as the actions people should take upon ending more » shelter-in-place, what clothing they should wear, how they should handle animals, and what they should do about food in their homes and produce in their gardens. « less
An Examination of Lesbian/Queer Bathhouse Culture and the Social Organization of Im/Personal Sex

Physical features of space shape the sex and sexual interaction that occurs within bathhouses. Although there is scholarly interest in and documentation of male public sexual cultures, lesbian/queer public sexualities have been sorely neglected. In examining two Canadian lesbian/queer bathhouses— Pussy Palace in Toronto and SheDogs in Halifax—this article fills some of this gap. Utilizing ethnographic methods (in-depth interviews and participant observation), this article accomplishes two objectives: first, it describes the bathhouse setting and how modifications of space affect lesbian/queer sexualities; second, it compares these findings to what has been documented in the way of the gay male bath scene.
Phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase/Akt Signaling Pathway and Kidney Cancer, and the Therapeutic Potential of Phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase/Akt Inhibitors

Purpose: The PI3K/Akt signaling pathway is activated by many cellular stimuli. It regulates fundamental cellular functions, including transcription, translation, proliferation, growth and survival. It also closely interacts with many other key pathways such as mTOR and, thus, is linked to angiogenesis. Disturbed activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway is associated with many human malignancies. We reviewed the available literature on PI3K/Akt and PI3K/Akt targeting drugs for renal cell carcinoma.Materials and Methods: MEDLINE® and the proceedings of the main oncological meetings were extensively searched to identify the available literature on the role of this pathway in renal cell carcinoma pathogenesis, and on preclinical and clinical activity of compounds specifically targeting this pathway. Clinical data and perspectives on several compounds at different stages of development were also reviewed.Results: Cumulative evidence links PI3K/Akt alterations with renal cell carcinoma. Thus, renal cell carcinoma is ...
Remodeling of Nucleoprotein Complexes Is Independent of the Nucleotide State of a Mutant AAA+ Protein

DnaA protein, a member of the AAA+ (ATPase associated with various cellular activities) family, initiates DNA synthesis at the chromosomal origin of replication (oriC) and regulates the transcription of several genes, including its own. The assembly of DnaA complexes at chromosomal recognition sequences is affected by the tight binding of ATP or ADP by DnaA. DnaA with a point mutation in its membrane-binding amphipathic helix, DnaA(L366K), previously described for its ability to support growth in cells with altered phospholipid content, has biochemical characteristics similar to those of the wild-type protein. Yet DnaA(L366K) fails to initiate in vitro or in vivo replication from oriC. We found here, through in vitro dimethyl sulfate footprinting and gel mobility shift assays, that DnaA(L366K) in either nucleotide state was unable to assemble into productive prereplication complexes. In contrast, at the dnaA promoter, both the ATP and the ADP form of DnaA(L366K) generated active nucleoprotein complexes that efficiently repressed transcription in a manner similar to wild-type ATP-DnaA. Thus, it appears that unlike wild-type DnaA protein DnaA(L366K) can adopt architectures that are independent of its bound nucleotide, and instead the locus determines the functionality of the higher order DnaA(L366K)-DNA complexes.
InterestSpread: an efficient method for content transmission in mobile social networks

In Mobile Social Networks (MSNs), the single-path routing might not have enough of a chance to transmit content to the destination (i.e., low network throughput), due to limited contact opportunities. Meanwhile, the multiple-path routing improves the network throughput at the cost of higher system resource consumption (e.g., energy and storage). Therefore, there exists a trade-off between the network throughput and the system resource consumption. Moreover, we should consider user features in MSNs, i.e., some of the nodes would like to help the other nodes with the same social features (e.g., neighbors, classmates) during content transmission, regardless of their resource consumption. These nodes are called interested nodes. The remaining nodes, called uninterested nodes, will be reluctant to transmit contents to save their resources. To achieve high network throughput and control the system resource consumption of uninterested nodes, we propose a novel multiple-path two-stage routing algorithm, InterestSpread, to transmit contents in the MSNs as follows. (1) In the first stage, we limit the content transmission into a relay candidate set. The contact information, bandwidth information, and social features are leveraged together to select such a set. (2) In the second stage, a classical max-flow method is used to get maximum throughput in the relay candidate set. The simulation based on real human and synthetic traces indicate that our algorithm achieves a good trade-off between throughput and the system recourse consumption.
An autonomous underwater vehicle towed array for ocean acoustic measurements and inversions

A novel experimental method involving an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with a towed hydrophone array has been developed to measure the single path interaction from the surface, bottom and volume of the shallow water waveguide. The system is designed to operate from the low (/spl sim/100 Hz) to the mid frequencies (/spl les/10 kHz) with a directional source. The effects of surface, volume, and bottom scattering on the coherency of direct and direct-reflected signals are difficult to measure and a mobile directional receiver provides an adaptive capability. For example, the quantification of the role micro-bubble layers near the surface and in surface ship wakes plays on the coherency and scattering of sound could be measured with this device. In addition, an AUV with a hydrophone array can be easily and rapidly deployed and because of its mobility can provide area wide characterization. However, AUV radiated noise measurements indicated vehicle noise would limit the ability of hull-mounted or interior hydrophone arrays and thus suggested the use of a low noise towed array. The AUV discussed here is the Remus vehicle, a tested as well as a readily-available tow platform for a small low drag array. To demonstrate the ability of Remus to act as a low noise tow vehicle, radiated noise measurements were made on the vehicle at Dodge Pond acoustic test facility. The vehicle was rotated on a shaft at a depth of 8 meters and calibrated noise levels measured at 13 meters distance. At the maximum rpm of the AUV, the 1/3/sup rd/ octave noise level, when converted to source level by the calibrated transmission factor, was 130 dB re 1/spl mu/Pa at 1 m. This would represent the radiated noise source level for a vehicle moving at 3 knots. A small-diameter (2.8 cm O.D.) fluid-filled hydrophone array has been developed with 6 channels spaced evenly at 0.75 meters, each channel having a receiving sensitivity of -174 dB re 1/spl mu/Pa/V from 100 Hz to 10 kHz. The recording system consisted of three commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) battery powered mini-disc recorders with a 20 kHz band pass, sampling frequency of 44 kHz and a 16 bit analog to digital converter providing storage capability of 90 minutes of raw data. The prototype system was deployed in a "proof-of-concept" test at the Dodge Pond test facility. The vehicle was programmed to navigate along paths that provided straight courses as well as several turns to determine the operational characteristics of the system. Results on capabilities of the vehicle with the towed system are presented including vehicle and array noise, beamforming, and element localization.
The Relationship between Reaction Time and Psychometric Intelligence in a Rural Guatemalan Adolescent Population

In industrialized countries reaction time has been found to be related to measures of intelligence and cognitive abilities. Little, however, is known about the validity of using such tasks in nonindustrialized countries. The present research investigated the association between reaction time and psychometric intelligence in a rural Guatemalan adolescent population. Results indicated that speed and consistency of processing on reaction time tasks were related to psychometric intelligence. However, the magnitude of these relationships were considerably smaller than those reported in industrialized populations. Reaction time task performance accounted for less than 5% of the variance in psychometric intelligence. Findings suggest that although reaction time tasks are associated with intelligence, the predictive validity of such measures needs to be established before use in nontraditional populations. Dans les pays industrialises, le temps de reaction est relie aux mesures d'intelligence et aux habiletes cog...
Efficient Hybrid Web Recommendations Based on Markov Clickstream Models and Implicit Search

In this paper, we present novel methods that combine (1) Markov models and (2) Web page content search techniques to generate Web navigation recommendations. For click-stream modeling, both first-order and second-order Markov models were studied and a compact storage format for Markov transition matrices was used. For content-based search, a search engine was used to obtain similar-content pages for recommendation to compensate for the sparsity of the Markov model and thus improve coverage. Experiments were conducted on real Web clickstream logs, and confirmed the efficiency of the proposed methods.
THE INHERITANCE OF MODIFIERS CONFERRING SELF-FERTILITY IN THE PARTIALLY SELF-INCOMPATIBLE PERENNIAL,CAMPANULA RAPUNCULOIDES L. (CAMPANULACEAE)

The role of partial self-incompatibility in plant breeding system evolution has received little attention. Here, we examine the genetic basis of modifiers conferring self-fertility in the creeping bellflower, Campanula rapunculoides L. (Campanulaceae), a partially self-incompatible herb. A survey of 35 individuals from two natural populations indicates that 45% of them are strongly self-incompatible, 40% intermediately self-incompatible, and 15% weakly self-incompatible and that some plants show a strong breakdown in self-incompatibility over floral age. We generated 101 F1 families by random crossing among 31 parental plants and estimated the heritability of self-fertility in day 1 and day 4 female-phase flowers, the genetic correlation between day 1 and day 4 self-fertility, and the coefficient of additive genetic variance of self-fertility. We use linear regression and data from additional crosses to examine whether there are significant maternal effects in the expression of self-fertility. We use Fain's test to determine if a major gene influences self-fertility and, finding no evidence, use data from additional crosses on an F2 generation to estimate the mean number and dominance of genes conferring self-fertility. These analyses indicate that the heritability (h2) of self-fertility is 0.24 in day 1 female-phase flowers and 0.44 in day 4 flowers, self-fertility is primarily additive but shows some recessive effects, and self-fertility is estimated to be controlled by four genetic factors. In addition, we have evidence that there may be maternal effects for self-fertility, especially for weakly self-incompatible plants. The significance of these results in the context of mating system evolution is discussed.
Concepts of Genetic Disease

The Human Genome Project (HGP) has spawned a tremendous explosion in research in genetic science and medicine. A major impact of the HGP will be an evolution in the way we think about disease and normal physiology. What follows is an analysis of the concept of genetic disease, in light of the analysis that has taken place in this work, particularly in Chapters 3, 4, and 5. In this way, the analysis in this chapter carries out the lessons of this work by considering the nature of disease--in this case genetic disease--and how we know it, and how it reflects what and how we value. It illustrates how this work has application in current debates.
Cocoa butter biosynthesis: Effect of temperature on Theobroma cacao acyltransferases

Enzymes catalyzing the first and last steps in cocoa butter biosynthesis were studied in microsomal preparations from developing cocoa seeds. Both the acyl-CoA:sn-glycerol-3-phosphate 0-acyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.15) and the acyl-CoA:1,2-diacylglycerol 0-acyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.20) showed broad specificity for three fatty acid donors (palmitoyl-CoA, stearoyl-CoA and oleoyl-CoA), but the relative amounts of incorporation of these fatty acids into lysophosphatidic acid and triacylglycerol were influenced by temperature of incubation. The selectivities of the two acyltransferases for saturated vs unsaturated acyl-CoA’s also were investigated over a range of temperatures. The data indicate that, in general, the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids incorporated into glycerol esters increases with increasing temperature of incubation, consistent with the hypothesis that temperature effects on these enzymes contribute to the phenomenon of “soft” cocoa butter, i.e., that cocoa butter obtained from seeds grown in cooler climates has a lower melting point than that prepared from seeds grown in warmer climates.
The structure of complement clauses in Lunda

This paper provides a functional and descriptive study of complement clauses in Lunda, a language spoken in Zambia. While the structure of infinitival complement clauses is analogous to that found in many languages, other types of complement clauses present unique morpho-syntactic features. Some dependent constructions are introduced by complementizers which agree in person and number with the subject of the main clause. These complementizers derive from personal possessive pronouns rather than from the verb of saying, as is the case in some Bantu languages, and they have other functions besides introducing embedded clauses. Other clauses disallow complementizers and the verb shows no temporal reference, coding either the perfect or progressive aspect. The interpretation of time in such clauses is dependent on that of the main clause.
Feasibility of a Real-Time Method in Determine the Extent of Pad Break-In during Copper Chemical Mechanical Planarization

Material removal rate, shear force and variance of shear force during copper polishing are studied as a function of pad break-in time. Results show that copper removal rate and variance of shear force increase within 30 min of pad break-in. Spectral analysis of raw shear force data is employed to help elucidate the fundamental physical phenomena during copper chemical mechanical planarization. Fast Fourier transform is performed to convert the shear force data from time domain to frequency domain. The energy distribution of copper polishing is quantified which sheds light on the effect of pad break-in time. Spectral analysis indicates that as pad break-in progresses, newly formed pad asperities dominate the interaction with the wafer and therefore shifting the spectral amplitudes to the higher frequency peaks (i.e. 101–108 Hz). Further spectral analysis also confirms that such increases in the high-frequency range dominate the distribution of energies. This study shows that a combination of unique spectral fingerprinting and analysis of force variance can be used to monitor the progress of pad break-in in real-time. This work underscores the importance of real-time detection and non-destructive method in chemical mechanical planarization process to quantify the extent of pad break-in.
Failure to demonstrate schedule-induced polydipsia in the degu (Octodon degus).

When rats are food-deprived and placed on an intermittent focd reinforcement schedule, they develop a post-pellet pattern of drinking which is excessive in amount. This excessive drinking is called schedule-induced polydipsia ( 1 ) . One characteristic is the generalicy to a large number of different species (1, 2 ) . However, hamsters do not show schedule-induced polydipsia ( 4 ) . In the present study a South American rodent (found in Peru and Chile), the Degu (Octodon d e g w ) , was tested. Two male (208 and 298 gm) and two female (225 and 287 gm) Degu were fooddeprived and reduced to 80% body weight. Daily l-hr. test sessions were conducted in a srandard operant chamber with a food magazine and a water bottle (no lever was present). The operant chamber was housed in a sound-attenuated cubicle. Food pellets (45-mg Noyes Pellets) were delivered according to a fixed time 1-min. (FT l-min.) food reinforcement schedule, in which one pellet was delivered every minute independently of the animal's behavior. Test sessions were conducted for 14 days. All four animals were observed to eat the food pellets readily, with a fairly short latency after pellet delivery (never more than 10 sec.). However, none of the animals developed schedule-induced polydipsia. In fact, the animals never drank from the water bottle in the test chamber in any session. This contrasrs with the rypical patter0 for domesticated rats who usually make some contact with the water bottle during the very first session, and develop schedule-induced polydipsia within 5 ro 10 sessions ( 1 ) . The present data from the Degu and the data from hamsters ( 4 ) suggcsr that schedule-induced polydipsia may have some species limitations. Habitat variables must also be considered given that both the hamster and Degu appear to inhabit somewhat marginal, at least seasonally semi-arid biotopes ( 3 ) . Current explanations ( 1 ) must be revised to accounr for possible species limitations if future research supports these findings.
The Decay of Rh 106

Beta-rays with maximum energies of 3.53\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01, 3.1\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.1, 2.44\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.07, and 2.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.1 Mev and relative intensities of 68, 11, 12, and 3 percent, respectively, have been found with a lens spectrometer in the decay of ${\mathrm{Rh}}^{106}$. Internal conversion lines of 0.513 and 0.624 Mev transitions occur with intensities of 7.5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ and 2.3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ relative to total beta-emission. The first of these has a $\frac{K}{L}$ ratio of 7.8\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1, indicating an electric quadrupole radiation. Lens and scintillation spectrometer measurements show that the gamma-ray spectrum consists of lines at 0.511, 0.621, 0.87, 1.045, 1.55, and 2.41 Mev with relative intensities of 100:53:3:8:2.5:1, respectively. The results are consistent with beta-decay to states in ${\mathrm{Pd}}^{106}$ at 0, 0.513, 1.137, 1.55, and 2.42 Mev having even parities and spins of 0, 2, 0, 2, and 2, respectively. ${\mathrm{Rh}}^{106}$ is assigned spin 1 and even parity. The possibility of explaining the gamma-gamma angular correlation of ${\mathrm{Rh}}^{106}$ based on this decay scheme is mentioned.
Targeted Plant Genome Editing via the CRISPR/Cas9 Technology

Targeted modification of plant genome is key for elucidating and manipulating gene functions in basic and applied plant research. The CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) technology is emerging as a powerful genome editing tool in diverse organisms. This technology utilizes an easily reprogrammable guide RNA (gRNA) to guide Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 endonuclease to generate a DNA double-strand break (DSB) within an intended genomic sequence and subsequently stimulate chromosomal mutagenesis or homologous recombination near the DSB site through cellular DNA repair machineries. In this chapter, we describe the detailed procedure to design, construct, and evaluate dual gRNAs for plant codon-optimized Cas9 (pcoCas9)-mediated genome editing using Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana benthamiana protoplasts as model cellular systems. We also discuss strategies to apply the CRISPR/Cas9 system to generating targeted genome modifications in whole plants.
Speech activity detection on youtube using deep neural networks.

Speech activity detection (SAD) is an important first step in speech processing. Commonly used methods (e.g., frame-level classification using gaussian mixture models (GMMs)) work well under stationary noise conditions, but do not generalize well to domains such as YouTube, where videos may exhibit a diverse range of environmental conditions. One solution is to augment the conventional cepstral features with additional, hand-engineered features (e.g., spectral flux, spectral centroid, multiband spectral entropies) which are robust to changes in environment and recording condition. An alternative approach, explored here, is to learn robust features during the course of training using an appropriate architecture such as deep neural networks (DNNs). In this paper we demonstrate that a DNN with input consisting of multiple frames of mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) yields drastically lower frame-wise error rates (19.6%) on YouTube videos compared to a conventional GMM based system (40%).
Unprecedented Dual Light-Switching Response of a Metal Dipyridophenazine Complex toward Amyloid-β Aggregation.

Probes for monitoring protein aggregation with a variety of photophysical properties are of importance for the fundamental understanding of the aggregation process as well as for drug discovery. In this manuscript we report the photoluminescence response of the metal dipyridophenazine complex [Re(CO)3(dppz)(Py)]+ in the presence of aggregated Aβ. [Re(CO)3(dppz)(Py)]+ shows an instantaneous increase in photoluminescence with fibrillar Aβ (primary light-switching), and an unprecedented further increase in photoluminescence upon light irradiation at 362 nm (secondary light switching). The total increase in photoluminescence amounts to 105-fold, which we show can be used to monitor Aβ aggregation in real time.
Komplizierte Aufspaltungsbilder: magnetische Nichtäquivalenz

In Kap. 4 wurden die Aufspaltungen in den NMR-Spektren einiger Verbindungen in einfacher Weise entsprechend der (N + 1)-Regel gedeutet. Damals war aber festgestellt worden, das zwei Bedingungen erfullt sein mussen, damit die (N + 1)-Regel gilt. Erstens, alle Kopplungskonstanten zwischen den Mitgliedern von zwei Satzen magnetisch aktiver Kerne mit unterschiedlichen chemischen Verschiebungen mussen einander gleich sein. Zweitens, die einzige vorhandene Kopplungskonstante J mus klein sein im Vergleich mit der Differenz der chemischen Verschiebungen ∆δ fur die beiden Satze magnetisch aktivei Kerne. Im vorausgehenden Kapitel haben wir gesehen, das, wenn die zweite Bedingung nicht erfullt ist, das Aufspaltungsbild im allgemeinen mehr Linien aufweist, als die (N + 1)-Regel liefert, und das die relativen Linienintensitaten nicht in einfacher Weise miteinander verbunden sind. In dem vorliegenden Kapitel werden wir sehen, das bei Nichterfullung der ersten Bedingung komplizierte Aufspaltungen auch dann beobachtet werden, wenn die Unterschiede in den chemischen Verschiebungen gros sind.
Iodine Content in Milk Alternatives.

Background: Iodine is necessary for the production of thyroid hormones and is acquired through the diet. Cow's milk is a primary source of iodine in the U.S. diet. The objective of this study was to measure the iodine content in a variety of milk alternatives to determine whether milk alternatives contain iodine levels comparable to that of cow's milk. Methods: Iodine levels from 30 different brands of milk alternatives from 16 different companies were measured by the spectrophotometric method of the Sandell–Kolthoff reaction. Results: The 30 brands of milk alternatives contained an average of 3.1 ± 2.5 μg/250 mL (∼8 oz. or one cup, serving size) of iodine or 12.3 ± 10.1 μg/L (∼24 oz. or four cups, daily recommended serving for adequate calcium intake) of iodine. Conclusions: These results indicate that milk alternatives contain far less iodine than cow's milk. Individuals with restricted dairy product consumption are at risk for inadequate dietary iodine intake.
Preventing and correcting workplace harassment: Guidelines for employers

Abstract In recent years, the number of harassment claims filed with the EEOC has declined overall, but this fact masks a frightening reality: though claims involving some types of harassment have declined, claims for other types of harassment—especially nontraditional forms of harassment—have actually increased. Therefore it remains necessary for employers to maintain a current anti-harassment program, which should consist of the following elements: (1) a clear anti-harassment policy; (2) an explicit statement of prohibited behaviors that can be considered harassment; (3) a complaint procedure that encourages employees to come forward with harassment complaints; (4) protections for complainants and witnesses against retaliation; (5) an investigative strategy that protects privacy interests of both the alleged victim and the accused offender and ensures confidentiality to the extent possible; (6) periodic management training and employee awareness programs that continue to communicate the organization's position on this issue; and (7) measures and processes to ensure prompt corrective action to stop ongoing harassment, and appropriate remedial and disciplinary actions for offenders. In this article, we provide best practice recommendations concerning each of these elements.
Evaluation of Insecticides for Western Tarnished Plant Bug Management in Central Coast Strawberry, 2016

A trial comparing the efficacy of insecticide treatments against WTPB was conducted in a first-year planting of the strawberry variety ‘San Andreas’ in Watsonville, CA. Four replicates of each treatment were assigned to six 50-ft long 52-in. bed (with two plant rows per bed) according to a randomized completely block design. The details on insecticide products, rates, and application dates are shown in Table 1. First broadcast-spray of insecticide treatments was applied on 29 Jun 2016 followed by a second broadcast-spray application on 8 Jul 2016. The insecticides were applied using commercial tractor mounted sprayer. The water volume used for both the applications was 150 GPA and was applied at 140 psi. Dyne-Amic (surfactant) was added at 0.25% v/v to all treatments. View this table: Table 1. WTPB adults on strawberry treated with various treatments. Beat-trays were used to sample insect populations. Twenty strawberry plants were sampled between 11 AM and 2 PM from a plot and the sampling consists of five strikes per plant with the lid of a Rubbermaid container (14.9 × 12.2 × 6.7 in. [deep]). Sampling was done …
Scanning and updating failure

This case highlights how AT&T utilized political capabilities and a non-market strategy.The context for this case study is AT&Ts use of political capabilities to secure anti-trust approval in its horizontal acquisitions.Management at AT&T failed to incorporate a changing societal and political environment around 2009 and, therefore, the political capabilities turned into rigidities.By failing to incorporate this new information, AT&T pursued an acquisition of T-Mobile USA, which was subsequently blocked by federal regulators.AT&T took loses exceeding $6 Billion due to its failed takeover attempt.
Optimal reduction of numerical dispersion for wave propagation problems. Part 2: Application to 2-D isogeometric elements

Abstract Based on the optimal coefficients of the stencil equation, a numerical technique for the reduction of the numerical dispersion error has been suggested. New isogeometric elements with the reduced numerical dispersion error for wave propagation problems in the 2-D case have been developed with the suggested approach. By the minimization of the order of the dispersion error of the stencil equation, the order of the dispersion error is improved from order 2 p (the conventional isogeometric elements) to order 4 p (the isogeometric elements with reduced dispersion) where p is the order of the polynomial approximations. Because all coefficients of the stencil equation are obtained from the minimization procedure, the obtained accuracy is maximum possible. The corresponding elemental mass and stiffness matrices of the isogeometric elements with reduced dispersion are calculated with help of the optimal coefficients of the stencil equation. The analysis of the dispersion error of the isogeometric elements with the lumped mass matrix has also shown that independent of the procedures for the calculation of the lumped mass matrix, the second order of the dispersion error cannot be improved with the conventional stiffness matrix. However, the dispersion error with the lumped mass matrix can be improved from the second order to order 2 p by the modification of the stiffness matrix. The numerical examples confirm the computational efficiency of the isogeometric elements with reduced dispersion. The numerical results obtained by the new and conventional isogeometric elements may include spurious oscillations due to the dispersion error. These oscillations can be quantified and filtered by the two-stage time-integration technique developed recently. The approach developed in the paper can be directly applied to other space-discretization techniques with similar stencil equations.
New near-infrared dyes light up deep tissue imaging

A newly synthesized class of near-infrared dyes offers strong absorption and efficient fluorescent emission for deep-tissue molecular imaging applications.
TARGETED INCREASE IN PULMONARY BLOOD FLOW IN A BIDIRECTIONAL GLENN CIRCULATION

Background: Additional pulmonary blood flow (PBF) into a Glenn shunt improves oxygenation at the risk of veno-venous collaterals, effusions, and Superior Vena Cava (SVC) hypertension. In select patients with unilateral pulmonary vascular abnormalities, targeted supplemental PBF may improve antegrade
MRapid: An Efficient Short Job Optimizer on Hadoop

Data have been generated and collected at an accelerating pace. Hadoop has made analyzing large scale data much simpler to developers/analysts using commodity hardware. Interestingly, it has been shown that most Hadoop jobs have small input size and do not run for long time. For example, higher level query languages, such as Hive and Pig, would handle a complex query by breaking it into smaller adhoc ones. Although Hadoop is designed for handling complex queries with large data sets, we found that it is highly inefficient to operate at small scale data, despite a new Uber mode was introduced specifically to handle jobs with small input size. In this paper, we propose an optimized Hadoop extension called MRapid, which significantly speeds up the execution of short jobs. It is completely backward compatible to Hadoop, and imposes negligible overhead. Our experiments on Microsoft Azure public cloud show that MRapid can improve performance by up to 88% compared to the original Hadoop.
Carbapenemase detection among carbapenem-resistant glucose-nonfermenting Gram-negative bacilli

Accurate detection of carbapenemase-producing glucose-nonfermenting Gram-negative bacilli (CPNFs), including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii, is necessary to prevent their dissemination within health care settings. We performed a method comparison study of 11 phenotypic carbapenemase detection assays to evaluate their accuracy for the detection of CPNFs. A total of 96 carbapenem-resistant glucose-nonfermenting isolates were included, of which 29% produced carbapenemases. All CPNFs were molecularly characterized to identify β-lactamase genes. A total of 86% of the carbapenemase-producing P. aeruginosa isolates produced class B carbapenemases. Several assays performed with a sensitivity of >90% for the detection of carbapenemase-producing P. aeruginosa, including all rapid chromogenic assays and the modified carbapenem inactivation method. Most included assays, with the exception of the Manual Blue Carba assay, the Modified Carba NP assay, the boronic acid synergy test, and the metallo-β-lactamase Etest, had specificities of >90% for detecting carbapenemase-producing P. aeruginosa Class D carbapenemases were the most prevalent carbapenemases among the carbapenemase-producing A. baumannii strains, with 60% of the carbapenemase-producing A. baumannii isolates producing acquired OXA-type carbapenemases. Although several assays achieved >90% specificity in identifying carbapenemase-producing A. baumannii, no assays achieved a sensitivity of greater than 90%. Our findings suggest that the available phenotypic tests generally appear to have excellent sensitivity and specificity for detecting carbapenemase-producing P. aeruginosa isolates. However, further modifications to existing assays or novel assays may be necessary to accurately detect carbapenemase-producing A. baumannii.
Identification of interprofessional practice and application to achieve patient outcomes of health care providers in the acute care setting

Abstract Background Recent health care changes urge for the implementation of interprofessional practice to improve quality of patient care. Purpose The study sought to determine the current level of workforce readiness for the implementation of interprofessional practice (IPP) in the acute care setting at a health care institution. Method The researchers obtained descriptive data through the use of a survey instrument. Discussion Results demonstrated that the majority (86.67%) of surveyed health care providers had a "medium" or "high" understanding of IPP. However, results exhibited that current application of IPP was inadequate with only 54.17% (n = 65) of the health care professionals reporting "daily" implementation of IPP when providing direct or indirect patient care. Participants identified timing (67.50%) and scheduling conflicts (63.33%) as barriers to IPP, which may explain the exposed discrepancies. Conclusion Further research is needed to establish protocols for the implementation of IPP based on the current study's needs assessment results.
Direct shoot regeneration and genetic fidelity analysis in finger millet using ISSR markers

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.), an economically important food crop is cultivated widely in the arid and semi-arid tropics of Africa and Asia. In the present study, an efficient micropropagation protocol has been established for finger millet genotypes CO 9, CO (Ra) 14 and GPU 28 using shoot apical meristems (SAMs). Shoot proliferation medium (SPM) containing Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) medium amended with 3.0 mg/l 6-benzylaminopurine produced the highest shoot regeneration frequency (86.60%) with an average of 26.45 ± 0.34 shoots per explant and 6.26 ± 0.38 cm shoot length in CO 9. An increase in the number of shoots per explant was observed when SAMs were repeatedly sub-cultured in SPM at 2 weeks interval for 8 weeks. Rooting of the regenerated shoots was achieved in full-strength MS medium containing indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) or indole-3-butyric acid. Rooting medium containing 0.25 mg/l IAA exhibited highest rooting frequency (100%) with an average root length of 4.44 ± 0.15 cm. In vitro rooted shoots transferred to the field conditions resulted in 100% survivability.Genetic fidelity of 3-month old mother plant and micropropagated plantlets was confirmed using 3′-anchored dinucleotide inter simple sequence repeats. A total of 115 amplicons generated for CO 9, CO (Ra) 14 and GPU 28 were monomorphic, revealing no variation among mother plant and micropropagated plantlets. Thus, SAMs could serve as a suitable explant for the mass multiplication of true-to-type plants and genetic transformation in finger millet.
Thermal stitching: Combining the advantages of different quantum fermion solvers

For quantum fermion problems, many accurate solvers are limited by the temperature regime in which they can be usefully applied. The Mermin theorem implies the uniqueness of an effective potential from which both the exact density and free energy at a target temperature can be found, via a calculation at a different, reference temperature. We derive exact expressions for both the potential and the free energy in such a calculation and introduce three controllable approximations that reduce the cost of such calculations. We illustrate the effective potential and its free energy, and test the approximations, on the asymmetric two-site Hubbard model at finite temperature.