cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Water for agriculture and the environment: the ultimate trade-off

Global population is projected to increase over year 2000 levels by 30% in 2025 and by 50% in 2050. Producing sufficient food to feed a more populous Earth will be a challenge requiring additional developed water supplies. Existing supplies are unevenly distributed around the planet. Some developing countries lack sufficient water to grow the food necessary to feed the growing population. With time, more countries will join that group. The strategies available to produce more food depend upon which sources are available. Two options open to all countries are improving the productivity of water in agriculture and importing virtual water in food. For some, the additional options of bringing more land into production or harvesting rainwater may also be available. All these measures reallocate water to agricultural uses from environmental uses. Such reallocations may impose potentially large losses in the form of environmental services and environmental amenities. Difficult water allocation decisions with enormous values at stake confront humanity. These decisions are confounded because they entail the protection of the global commons for which there is no successful experience to draw on.
Adaptation of Human Parainfluenza Virus to Airway Epithelium Reveals Fusion Properties Required for Growth in Host Tissue

ABSTRACT Paramyxoviruses, a family of RNA enveloped viruses that includes human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV3), cause the majority of childhood croup, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia worldwide. Infection starts with host cell receptor binding and fusion of the viral envelope with the cell membrane at the cell surface. The fusion process requires interaction of the two viral surface glycoproteins, the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and the fusion protein (F). We have previously shown that viruses with an HN/F pair that is highly fusogenic in monolayers of immortalized cells due to mutations in HN’s secondary sialic acid binding site are growth impaired in differentiated human airway epithelium (HAE) cultures and in vivo . Here we have shown that adaptation of HPIV3 to growth in the lung is determined by specific features of HN and F that are different from those required for growth in cultured immortalized cells. An HPIV3 virus bearing a mutated HN (H552Q), which is fit and fusogenic in immortalized cells but unfit for growth in the lung, evolved into a less-fusogenic but viable virus in differentiated human airway epithelium. Stepwise evolution led to a progressive decrease in efficiency of fusion activation by the HN/F pair, with a mutation in F first decreasing the activation of F by HN and a mutation in HN’s secondary sialic acid binding site decreasing fusion activation further and producing a stable virus. Adaptation of HPIV3 to successful growth in HAE is determined by specific features of HN and F that lead to a less easily activated fusion mechanism. IMPORTANCE Human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs) are paramyxoviruses that cause the majority of childhood cases of croup, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia worldwide, but there are currently no vaccines or antivirals available for treatment. Enveloped viruses must fuse their membrane with the target cell membrane in order to initiate infection. Parainfluenza virus fusion proceeds via a multistep reaction orchestrated by the two glycoproteins that make up its fusion machine. The receptor-binding hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN), upon receptor engagement, activates the fusion protein (F) to penetrate the target cell and mediate viral entry. In this study, we show that the precise balance of fusion activation properties of these two glycoproteins during entry is key for infection. In clinically relevant tissues, viruses evolve to acquire a set of fusion features that provide key clues about requirements for infection in human beings.
ATLANTIC TROPICAL SYSTEMS OF 1970

Abstract The history of all tropical systems that formed over the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico during the 1970 hurricane season has been documented. There were a total of 87 systems from which 26 depressions and seven named storms evolved.
Methamphetamine use patterns among urban Black men who have sex with men.

The present study investigates patterns of methamphetamine, contexts of use and sources for purchasing methamphetamine in a sample of gay, bisexual and heterosexually identified Black men who have sex with men living in New York City. Participants reported using multiple substances and used, on average, nine days within the last 30 days. They spent an average of US$159 per month on methamphetamine and a median of US$398 on all substances. Frequency of monthly methamphetamine use was related to the use of powdered cocaine and alcohol use, but not to the use of other substances. Black men who have sex with men primarily used in private venues, such as at home or in the homes of friends, and reported obtaining methamphetamine from multiple sources. Men who reported exchanging sex for methamphetamine reported greater use in public venues, such as sex clubs, sex parties and circuit parties. Findings from the present study may be critical in establishing culturally‐appropriate treatment modalities for Black men...
New evidence for the genomic tag hypothesis: archaeal CCA-adding enzymes and tDNA substrates.

The CCA-adding enzyme [ATP(CTP):tRNA nucleotidyl transferase] catalyzes the addition and regeneration of the 3’ terminal CCA sequence of tRNAs. The enzyme adds the sequence CCA one nucleotide at a time to the 3’-terminus of tRNA, using CTP and ATP as precursors, and can utilize tRNA substrates lacking one, two, or all three terminal nucleotides. The 3’ terminal CCA is encoded in all tRNA genes of some eubacteria (Escherichia coli, Mycoplasma genitalium), in about half the tRNA genes of other eubacteria (Bacillus subtilis) and Archaea (l-3), but only very rarely in eukaryotes (4). The CCA-adding enzyme thus functions mainly as a “repair” enzyme in a subset of eubacteria, but as an essential biosynthetic enzyme in most eubacteria, as well as in all known Archaea and eukaryotes. As expected, the enzyme is essential for viability in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae where CCA is not encoded (5), but it is partially dispensable in E. coli where CCA is encoded (6). We have argued that molecular structure and function can provide compelling evidence for descent from a common ancestor, and that careful inspection of the structure and function of contemporary biological molecules can yield highly informative, intellectually rigorous, functional phylogenies despite the absence of conventionally quantifiable traits. Based on the many different roles that tRNA is known to play in RNA and DNA replication, we have presented one such functional phylogeny showing how these diverse roles of tRNA in replication are likely to have evolved from an RNA to the DNA world (7-10; and see Weiner and
Promoter Clearance by RNA Polymerase II Is an Extended, Multistep Process Strongly Affected by Sequence

We have characterized RNA polymerase II complexes halted from +16 to +49 on two templates which differ in the initial 20 nucleotides (nt) of the transcribed region. On a template with a purine-rich initial transcript, most complexes halted between +20 and +32 become arrested and cannot resume RNA synthesis without the SII elongation factor. These arrested complexes all translocate upstream to the same location, such that about 12 to 13 bases of RNA remain in each of the complexes after SII-mediated transcript cleavage. Much less arrest is observed over this same region with a second template in which the initially transcribed region is pyrimidine rich, but those complexes which do arrest on the second template also translocate upstream to the same location observed with the first template. Complexes stalled at +16 to +18 on either template do not become arrested. Complexes stalled at several locations downstream of +35 become partially arrested, but these more promoter-distal arrested complexes translocate upstream by less than 10 nt; that is, they do not translocate to a common, far-upstream location. Kinetic studies with nonlimiting levels of nucleoside triphosphates reveal strong pausing between +20 and +30 on both templates. These results indicate that promoter clearance by RNA polymerase II is at least a two-step process: a preclearance escape phase extending up to about +18 followed by an unstable clearance phase which extends over the formation of 9 to 17 more bonds. Polymerases halted during the clearance phase translocate upstream to the preclearance location and arrest in at least one sequence context.
Mobilization of protein kinase C in macrophages induced by Listeria monocytogenes affects its internalization and escape from the phagosome

Listeriolysin O (LLO) and a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) are known virulence factors of Listeria monocytogenes in both tissue cultures and the murine model of infection. LLO is a member of a family of pore-forming cholesterol-dependent cytotoxins and is known to play an essential role in escape from the primary phagocytic vacuole of macrophages. PI-PLC plays an accessory role, in that PI-PLC mutants are partially defective in escape. We have shown that both of these molecules are essential for initiating rapid increases in the calcium level in the J774 murine macrophage cell line (S. J. Wadsworth and H. Goldfine, Infect. Immun. 67:1770-1778, 1999). Here we show that both LLO and PI-PLC are required for translocation of protein kinase C delta (PKC delta) to the periphery of J774 cells and for translocation of PKC beta II to early endosomes beginning within the first minute after addition of bacteria to the culture medium. Treatment with the calcium channel blocker SK&F 96365 inhibited translocation of PKC beta II but not PKC delta. Our findings lead us to propose a host signaling pathway requiring LLO and the formation of diacylglycerol by PI-PLC in which calcium-independent PKC delta is responsible for the initial calcium signal and the subsequent PKC beta II translocation. LLO-dependent translocation of PKC beta I to early endosomes also occurs between 1 and 4 min after infection, but this occurs in the absence of PI-PLC. All of these signals were observed in cells that had not internalized bacteria. Blocking PKC beta translocation with hispidin resulted in more rapid uptake of wild-type bacteria and greatly reduced escape from the primary phagocytic vacuoles of J774 cells.
Combination of blocking agents and suppressing agents in cancer prevention

The design of the present study was based on the premise that if blocking agents and suppressing agents are targeted at different phases of chemical carcinogenesis, a greater chemopreventive effect would be achieved by using the combination treatment compared to the single-agent treatment. The dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary tumor model in rats was used to test this hypothesis, with the blocking agent given before DMBA only and the blocking agent given after DMBA until the end of the experiment. A total of three sets of combination treatment were carried out; diallyl sulfide/Se-methylselenocysteine, ellagic acid/selenomethionine, and diallyl sulfide/quercetin. In all three cases, the combination regimen was much more effective than the single-agent treatment in tumor suppression. It should be noted that only naturally occurring inhibitors were selected for these experiments. The impact of minor dietary anutrients in cancer chemoprevention is also discussed.
NON-EFFECT OF HYSTERECTOMY UPON THE MAMMARY GLAND OF THE MONKEY

NUMEROUS CLAIMS have appeared in the literature, from time to time, for an endocrine function of the mammalian uterus. Although a functional relation-ship between the breast and uterus has long been recognized, based on the well known clinical observation that suckling stimulates rhythmical contractions and involution of the puerperal uterus, less convincing has been the evidence of a converse effect of the uterus upon the mammary gland. Foges (I) observed that hysterectomy in young rabbits had no effect on mammary development. Hammond and Marshall (2) have likewise found the uterus unessential for development of the glands, for they observed that mammary hypertrophy could take place in rabbits from which the uterus had been removed while the animals were still immature. In this species the uterus has been found unnecessary, too, for the mammary response to hypophyseal extracts (3). Human cases have also been observed in which good mammary develop-ment occurred despite congenital absence of the uterus (4).
Extracting and Displaying Temporal and Geospatial Entities from Articles on Historical Events

This paper discusses a system that extracts and displays temporal and geospatial entities in text. The first task involves identification of all events in a document followed by identification of important events using a classifier. The second task involves identifying named entities associated with the document. In particular, we extract geospatial named entities. We disambiguate the set of geospatial named entities and geocode them to determine the correct coordinates for each place name, often called grounding. We resolve ambiguity based on sentence and article context. Finally, we present a user with the key events and their associated people, places and organizations within a document in terms of a timeline and a map. For purposes of testing, we use Wikipedia articles about historical events, such as those describing wars, battles and invasions. We focus on extracting major events from the articles, although our ideas and tools can be easily used with articles from other sources such as news articles. We use several existing tools such as Evita, Google Maps, publicly available implementationsofSupportVectorMachines,HiddenMarkovModelandConditionalRandomField, and the MIT SIMILE Timeline.
Crofelemer, a Novel Agent for Treatment of Secretory Diarrhea

OBJECTIVE:To review the chemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, efficacy, and safety of crofelemer.DATA SOURCES:A literature search using the terms SP-303, Provir, and crofelemer was performed with PubMed (up to April 2010), Google Scholar, and selected Ovid bibliography searches. Additional references from the bibliographies of articles included in the search, as well as company and Food and Drug Administration Web sites, were also assessed.DATA EXTRACTION:English-language in vitro and clinical studies associated with the safety and efficacy of crofelemer were included.DATA SYNTHESIS:Crofelemer is a first-in-class agent that may be useful for different types of secretory diarrhea, since it prevents chloride and fluid secretion into the bowel by directly inhibiting 2 distinct intestinal chloride channels. Crofelemer significantly brought about faster symptom resolution in patients with traveler's diarrhea, along with lower rates of treatment failure compared to placebo-treated patients. In a post hoc a...
Medicare's Choice explosion? Implications for beneficiaries

Medicare+Choice was established under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to expand the range of health plan options available to beneficiaries and to encourage plans to compete on the basis of price and quality, with potential savings to beneficiaries and the program. However, it is unclear whether the envisioned positive outcomes will occur. This paper reviews the rationale for expanding choices under Medicare. It considers how the rapidly changing health insurance market poses uncertainties for beneficiaries and concludes with a discussion of safeguards that may be necessary to assure that the program continues to work well for beneficiaries with diverse needs and circumstances.
Fluoroelastomer Compatibility with Bioalcohol Fuels

Global acceptance and use of biofuels is growing rapidly in the transportation sector. Diminishing reserves of limited and costly fossil fuel resources and a growing realization that world peak oil production will most likely occur within the next decade is driving significant investment in sustainable biofuels. Legislative, regulatory and market forces are driving developments which seek to reduce vehicle emissions, improve fuel efficiency, lower environmental greenhouse gases and strengthen the economy. The use of alternate, sustainable, renewable fuels, preferably of domestic origin, is fostering considerable investment in new technologies. One promising technology is the addition of aliphatic alcohols to gasoline and diesel fuels. The compatibility of seal and hose materials commonly used in automotive fuel systems with conventional hydrocarbon fuels is well known. Over the past forty-five years fluorohydrocarbon elastomers have been successfully used in passenger car and truck and offhighway gasoline and petrodiesel fuel delivery and metering systems. More recently, biofuels such as ethanol have become technically and economically attractive blending constituents for gasoline and diesel fuels. These biomass fuels present their own set of material compatibility challenges to automotive fuel storage, delivery, and metering system component hardware.
Distributed Karhunen-Loève Transform with nested subspaces

A network in which sensors observe a common Gaussian source is analyzed. Using a fixed linear transform, each sensor compresses its high-dimensional observation into a low-dimensional representation. The latter is provided to a central decoder that reconstructs the source according to a mean squared error (MSE) distortion metric. The Distributed Karhunen-Loeve Transform (d-KLT) has been shown to provide a (locally) optimal linear solution for compression at each sensor. While the d-KLT achieves the lowest distortion linear reconstruction known, it does not maintain a nested subspace structure. In the case of ideal links to the decoder, this paper presents transforms that maintain nested subspaces, allowing the decoder to approximate a delay-limited source in an online fashion according to a desired sensor schedule. A distortion envelope for one distributed transform with nested subspace properties (d-nested-KLT) is provided. In the case of i.i.d. noise to the decoder, under assumptions of power allocation over subspaces, it is also possible to achieve nested subspaces utilizing correlations between sensors' observations. Results are applicable for data access over networks, and online information processing in sensor networks.
Evaluation of an Objective Striatal Analysis Program for Determining Laterality in Uptake of 123I-Ioflupane SPECT Images: Comparison to Clinical Symptoms and to Visual Reads

An automated objective striatal analysis (OSA) software program was applied to dopamine transporter 123I-ioflupane images acquired on subjects with varying severities of parkinsonism. The striatal binding ratios (SBR) of the left and right putamina (relative to the occipital lobe) were computed, and the laterality of that measure was compared with clinical symptoms and visual reads. The objective over-read of OSA was evaluated as an aid in confirming the laterality of disease onset. Methods: One hundred one 123I-ioflupane scans were acquired on clinically referred subjects. SPECT images were analyzed using the OSA software, which locates the slices containing the striatal and background (occipital) structures, positions regions over the left and right caudate nuclei and putamina, and calculates the background-subtracted SBR. Seven images were uninterpretable because of patient motion or lack of visualization of the striatum. The remaining 94 scans were analyzed with OSA. Differences between left and right putaminal SBR ranged from 0% to 36.6%, with a mean of 11.4%. When the difference between the SBR of the left and right putamina was greater than 6%, the lower side was taken as the side of onset. Left-to-right differences less than 6% were considered to be nonlateralizing (symmetric). The 94 scans were reviewed independently by 3 masked expert readers. By majority consensus, abnormal findings were seen on 67 of the 94 scans, of which 46 had available clinical findings. Results: Clinically, 34 subjects presented with lateralized tremors and 12 with symmetric or no tremors. Of the 34 cases of clinically lateralized tremors, 26 (76%) were concordant with the OSA findings, 5 were disparate with OSA (15%), and in 3 the OSA results were symmetric (9%). For the same 34 patients, the visual reads were concurrent with clinical tremor findings in 24 cases (71%), 1 was disparate (3%), and 9 visual reads were symmetric (26%). Of the 9 scans deemed symmetric by readers, 4 were correctly lateralized by OSA, and of the 3 symmetric OSA results, 2 were correctly lateralized visually. Conclusion: The OSA program may be a helpful aid in the interpretation of 123I-ioflupane SPECT images for determining laterality representing the asymmetric loss of dopamine transporters in the striata. OSA offers an objective, reproducible over-read evaluation for the laterality of onset in Parkinson disease.
microRNAs in Vertebrate Physiology and Human Disease

Over the past five years, the importance of a diverse class of 18–24 nucleotide RNA molecules, known as microRNAs (miRNAs) has increasingly been recognized. These highly conserved RNAs regulate the stability and translational efficiency of complementary target messenger RNAs. The human genome is now predicted to encode nearly 1,000 miRNAs that likely regulate at least one third of all human transcripts. Despite rapid progress in miRNA discovery, the physiologic functions of only a small number have been definitively established. In this review, we discuss the principles of miRNA function that have emerged from the studies performed thus far in vertebrates. We also discuss known and potential roles for miRNAs in human disease states and discuss the influence of human genetic variation on miRNA-mediated regulation.
Immunotoxicity of Nitrobenzene in Female B6C3F1 Mice

ABSTRACTNitrobenzene (NBZ) is primarily employed as an oxidizing agent in the synthesis of analine and benzene compounds. It produces myelotoxic effects and effects on erythrocytes in both animal models and man. Reported hepatosplenomegaly and effects on the bone marrow are indicators that NBZ may be immunotoxic. In these studies, female B6C3F1 mice were exposed to 30, 100 and 300 mg/kg of NBZ in corn oil by gavage for 14 consecutive days. To assess the immunotoxic potential of NBZ, body and organ weights were determined and selected immunologic and host resistance responses were studied. In these studies, the liver and spleen appeared to be the primary target organs. Both liver and spleen weights were dose dependently increased. Gross histopathologic examinations revealed significant changes in the spleen, consisting of severe congestion of the red pulp areas with erythrocytes and reticulocytes. Serum chemistry profiles showed increases in alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activitie...
Service quality and prospects for benchmarking: Evidence from the Peru water sector

Abstract Service quality is a very important aspect of the water and sewerage industry. Empirical studies have tended to focus on production costs, without explicitly introducing key dimensions of quality. Using data from the Peruvian water sector (1996–2001), this study examines how the introduction of quality variables affects performance comparisons across utilities. The research presents different specifications of stochastic cost frontier models to illustrate how quality can be incorporated into benchmarking studies.
The MASC/BGMP architecture for inter-domain multicast routing

Multicast routing enables efficient data distribution to multiple recipients. However, existing work has concentrated on extending single-domain techniques to wide-area networks, rather than providing mechanisms to realize inter-domain multicast on a global scale in the Internet.We describe an architecture for inter-domain multicast routing that consists of two complementary protocols. The Multicast Address-Set Claim (MASC) protocol forms the basis for a hierarchical address allocation architecture. It dynamically allocates to domains multicast address ranges from which groups initiated in the domain get their multicast addresses. The Border-Gateway Multicast Protocol (BGMP), run by the border routers of a domain, constructs inter-domain bidirectional shared trees, while allowing any existing multicast routing protocol to be used within individual domains. The resulting shared tree for a group is rooted at the domain whose address range covers the group's address; this domain is typically the group initiator's domain. We demonstrate the feasibility and performance of these complementary protocols through simulation.This architecture, together with existing protocols operating within each domain, is intended as a framework in which to solve the problems facing the current multicast addressing and routing infrastructure.
New Algorithms for Planning Bulk Transfer via Internet and Shipping Networks

Cloud computing is enabling groups of academic collaborators, groups of business partners, etc., to come together in an ad-hoc manner. This paper focuses on the group-based data transfer problem in such settings. Each participant source site in such a group has a large dataset, which may range in size from gigabytes to terabytes. This data needs to be transferred to a single sink site (e.g., AWS, Google datacenters, etc.) in a manner that reduces both total dollar costs incurred by the group as well as the total transfer latency of the collective dataset. This paper is the first to explore the problem of planning a group-based deadline-oriented data transfer in a scenario where data can be sent over both: (1) the internet, and (2) by shipping storage devices (e.g., external or hot-plug drives, or SSDs) via companies such as Fedex, UPS, USPS, etc. We first formalize the problem and prove its NP-Hardness. Then, we propose novel algorithms and use them to build a planning system called Pandora (People and Networks Moving Data Around). Pandora uses new concepts of time-expanded networks and delta-time-expanded networks, combining them with integer programming techniques and optimizations for both shipping and internet edges. Our experimental evaluation using real data from Fedex and from PlanetLab indicate the Pandora planner manages to satisfy deadlines and reduce costs significantly.
Ethical Decision Making: More Needed Than Good Intentions

The flourishing field of behavioral finance indicates that people often do not engage in optimal decision making when investing. The same cognitive biases and mental heuristics that cause suboptimal investing may also cause people to make unethical decisions. For that reason, good intentions are necessary, but they are not sufficient for finance professionals who desire to act ethically. Insights presented in this article can assist the well-intentioned to do the right thing in difficult circumstances.
Exploring the design space of cooperative streaming multicast

Video streaming over the Internet is rapidly rising in popularity, but the availability and quality of video content is currently limited by the high bandwidth costs and infrastructure needs of server-based solutions. Recently, however, cooperative end-system multicast (CEM) has emerged as a promising paradigm for content distribution in the Internet, because the bandwidth overhead of disseminating content is shared among the participants of the CEM overlay network. In this thesis, we identify the dimensions in the design space of CEMs, explore the design space, and seek to understand the inherent tradeoffs of different design choices. In the first part of the thesis, we study the control mechanisms for CEM overlay maintenance. We demonstrate that the control task of neighbor acquisition in CEMs can be factored out into a separate control overlay that provides a single primitive: a configurable anycast for peer selection. The separation of control from data overlay avoids the efficiency tradeoffs that afflict some of the current systems. The anycast primitive can be used to build and maintain different data overlay organizations like single-tree, multi-tree, mesh-based, and hybrids, by expressing appropriate policies. We built SAAR, a reusable, shared control overlay for CEMs, that efficiently implements this anycast primitive, and thereby, efficiently serves the control needs for CEMs. In the second part of the thesis, we focus on techniques for data dissemination. We built a common framework in which different CEM data delivery techniques can be faithfully compared. A systematic empirical comparison of CEM design choices demonstrates that there is no single approach that is best in all scenarios. In fact, our results suggest that every CEM protocol is inherently limited in certain aspects of its performance. We distill our observations into a novel model that explains the inherent tradeoffs of CEM design choices and provides bounds on the practical performance limits of any future CEM protocol. In particular, the model asserts that no CEM design can simultaneously achieve all three of low overhead, low lag, and high streaming quality.
Effect of Blending and the Simultaneous Ingestion of a Probiotic Containing Oxalate-Degrading Bacteria on Oxalate Absorption

Both a high dietary oxalate intake and increased gastrointestinal absorption can lead to elevated urinary oxalate, a risk factor for kidney stone formation. Numerous studies have assessed whether daily ingestion of a probiotic containing oxalate-degrading bacteria can reduce urinary oxalate/oxalate absorption, but it appears only one previous study assessed whether the simultaneous ingestion of oxalate-degrading probiotic bacteria consumed with an oxalate load can exert this effect. This was assessed in the present study in a population of 11 healthy non-stone formers (6 males, 5 females), aged 21 – 37 y, using the probiotic VSL#3®. A spinach-sweet potato mixture provided an oxalate dose of 534 mg and urine samples were collected for a 22 h period post-oxalate ingestion. An additional objective was to assess the effect of blending oxalate-containing foods on oxalate absorption. The overall results suggested that the spinach and sweet potato provided oxalate of low bioavailability. Changing the texture of these foods by blending did not have an effect on oxalate absorption nor was VSL#3® effective in reducing urinary oxalate levels. VSL#3® may have been more effective if the oxalate dose had been provided in a more bioavailable form leading to a higher initial oxalate absorption/urinary oxalate excretion.
Impurity and Defect Levels (Experimental) in Gallium Arsenide

Publisher Summary It is noted that Gallium arsenide (GaAs) specimens are generally grown by various techniques such as LEC, Bridgman, VPE, MOVPE, LPE, and MBE. These specimens exhibit different properties in terms of energy levels within the band gap due to differences in defect levels, and trace impurities or impurity complexes. This chapter illustrates many defects and complexes that can be expected to exist in GaAs. It describes many energy levels obtained by deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), and related methods for determining trap and recombination levels in GaAs. The energy levels produced by high-energy irradiation are also presented. Furthermore, the chapter discusses the effects of Cr in GaAs to produce semi-insulating GaAs along with the possible role of oxygen or other levels in the same context. The effects of Group I-VI impurities are also presented. The chapter concludes with the discussion of recombination and generation, minority-carrier lifetime, and diffusion-length effects.
Tunnel Asset Management (TAM) Program Application for High Risk Structural Components

Tunnel is a constructed structure providing longitudinal space in underground. Main purposes of tunnel are for various utilities and transportation corridors. Engineering of modern tunnel structure emphasizes on sustainability aspects including safety, efficiency, environmental stewardess,social responsibility, resiliency and economy. However, enhancement of sustainability in existing tunnel systems is also imminent through remaining life cycle. Many existing tunnel systems are currently approaching or already exceeding their design life. Invisibility and limited access of many structural components make tunnel inspection problematic and forgotten.Eventually public safety becomes uncertain. Application of tunnel asset management program is the first step to enhance public safety of existing tunnel system. This paper describes a conceptual frameworkdevelopment and application plan for a tunnel asset management program focusing on high risk structural components inspection and condition inspection technologies.
An analysis of knee anatomic imaging factors associated with primary lateral patellar dislocations.

Various knee anatomic imaging factors have been historically associated with lateral patellar dislocation. The characterization of these anatomic factors in a primary lateral patellar dislocation population has not been well described. Our purpose was to characterize the spectrum of anatomic factors from slice imaging measurements specific to a population of primary lateral patellar dislocation. A secondary purpose was to stratify these data by sex/skeletal maturity to better detail potential dimorphic characteristics. Patients with a history of primary lateral patellar dislocation between 2008 and 2012 were prospectively identified. Ten MRI measurements were analysed with results stratified by sex/skeletal maturity. A ‘4-factor’ analysis was performed to detail the number of ‘excessive’ anatomic factors within a single individual. This study involved 157 knees (79 M/78 F), and 107 patients were skeletally mature. The measurements demonstrate more anatomic risk factors in this population than historical controls. Patella height and trochlear measurements are the most common ‘dysplastic’ anatomic factors in this population. There were differences based on sex for some patellar height measurements and for TT-TG; there were no differences based on skeletal maturity. Primary lateral patellar dislocation patients have MRI measurements of knee anatomic factors that are generally more dysplastic than the normal population; however, there is a broad spectrum of anatomic features with no pattern predominating. Characterizing knee anatomic imaging factors in the patient with a primary lateral patellar dislocation is a necessary first step in characterizing the (potential) differences between the primary and recurrent patellar dislocation patient. IV.
Multimedia application and reform of the teaching of British and American Literature

according to the British and American literature teaching characteristics of traditional mainly teachers monotonous dictation mode,the core of teaching reform with the learners as the teaching method of core and the teacher as the leading as the guiding thought,and with the modern computer multimedia technology is widely used in the improvement of English literature teaching reform mode,and the teaching reform the above idea,put forward practical strategies,provide a reference for the further reform of British and American literature course.
Determination of lower alcohol and ester in Miaofu rice wine by GC-MS

A technique for the analysis of lower alcohol and ester in Miaofu rice wine employing GC-MS was desccibed,diethyl ether was used as extractant,the result showed that:12 kinds of flavor components were detected in the extractant,which were mainly esters and alcohols,including ethanol,propanol,β-phenethanol,2-methyl propanol,butanol,3-methyl propanol,2,3-butanediol,ethyl lactate,ethyl acetate,2-ethyl hexenoicate.The method developed by this study may provide a reference of esters and alcohols in Miaofu rice wine.
An Analysis about the Difference between China and World Manufacture Center

With that Chinese manufacture industry in world market becomes important day by day, it cause lots of concern whether China can become world manufacture center. This essay first defines world manufacture center and the measure standard, then analyzes factual condition the Chinese according to these standards, and points out there is a long distance to go from China to real world manufacture center. However the development of Chinese manufacture industry has advantage, and can become world production center.
The Purification of Mouse Hematopoietic Stem Cells at Sequential Stages of Maturation

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are rare, self-renewing progenitors that give rise to all lineages of blood cells. HSCs can be found in all hematopoietic organs, from the para-aortic mesoderm (1),(2) and yolk sac (3),(4) in fetuses to the bone marrow (reviewed in ref. 5), blood and spleens of adults.
Liberal imperialism and the dilemma of development

Interrogating the tension in liberal thought between norms of equal respect and theories of sociocultural development is critical to understanding the relations of modern Europe to the rest of the world. From the settlement of the Americas and the formation of the East India and Royal African Companies in the seventeenth century to present-day neoimperialism, European (and later, American) dominion over non-Europeans has repeatedly been justified with conceptions of development, enlightenment, civilization and progress, which were deployed to reduce the cognitive dissonance between liberal universalism and liberal imperialism. At the same time, as we have been made increasingly aware by postcolonial scholarship, many of the classical liberal theorists were deeply involved with colonial affairs and constructed their political philosophies with a view to them. In what follows, after (I) assembling a few scattered reminders of this involvement and briefly recalling the systematic formulation of the dilemma of development by Kant, I shall (II) examine the form that dilemma assumed in the detranscendentalized atmosphere of Mill's utilitarianism and basically retained thereafter. Two contrasting ways of dissolving the dilemma will be reviewed and rejected in sections III and IV, leading to the conclusion that it cannot be theoretically eliminated but may, perhaps, be politically displaced to a predicament with which we have to come to terms. Section V will consider some conditions for doing so.
Revisiting the Will to Power: Active Nihilism and the Project of Trans-human Philosophy

This chapter undertakes an investigation of the productive possibilities engendered by nihilism for the experimental project of ‘trans-human’ philosophy. While viewed by some critics as an event of strictly negative and stultifying consequence, the advent of European nihilism may actually furnish an interpretive context within which philosophers might finally ‘let drop’ their nagging anthropocentric prejudices. Against the blighted backdrop of European nihilism, that is, philosophers might progress significantly toward (and eventually complete?) the untimely agenda set for them by Friedrich Nietzsche: ‘to translate man back into Nature’ (Nietzsche 1989, 230), and thus behold the world in its sheer, amoral immanence.
SPF 5: From the Inside

Li & Fung is one of those companies with its hand in so many businesses that assigning it to a single specific industry is difficult. But most of what the firm does falls into the wholesaler/distributor SIC categories around SIC 56, typically including both higher KM retailers and lower KM wholesalers. Li & Fung is principally part of the latter group.
Perceptions of Adults Adopted as Children: Implications for Family Counselors

This qualitative phenomenological study investigated the experiences of adults adopted as children. Individual and follow-up interviews were conducted with four participants. We identified six primary themes related to family experience and a better understanding of adopted children, adults as well as special issues that might be considered in family counseling. Implications for counselors are discussed in this article.
Hash Functions for Episodic Recognition and Retrieval

Episodic memory systems for artificially intelligent agents must copewith an ever-growing episodic memory store. This paper presents an approach for minimizing the size of the store by using specialized hash functions to convert each memory into a relatively short binary code. A set of desiderata for such hash functions are presented including locale sensitivity and reversibility. The paper then introduces multiple approaches for such functions and compares their effectiveness.
Local versus volume-integrated turbulence and mixing in breaking internal waves on slopes

Using direct numerical simulations (DNS), we explore local and volume-integrated measures of turbulence and mixing in breaking internal waves on slopes. We consider eight breaking wave cases with a range of normalized pycnocline thicknesses , where is the horizontal wavenumber and is the pycnocline thickness, but with similar incoming wave properties. The energetics of wave breaking is quantified in terms of local turbulent dissipation and irreversible mixing using the method of Scotti & White (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 740, 2014, pp. 114–135). Local turbulent mixing efficiencies are calculated using the irreversible flux Richardson number and are found to be a function of the turbulent Froude number . Volume-integrated measures of the turbulent mixing efficiency during wave breaking are also made, and are found to be functions of . The bulk turbulent mixing efficiency ranges from 0.25 to 0.37 and is maximized when . In order to connect local and bulk mixing efficiency measures, the variation in the bulk turbulent mixing efficiency with is related to the turbulent Froude number at which the maximum total mixing occurs over the course of the breaking event, . We find that physically, is controlled by the vertical length scale of billows at the interface during wave breaking.
Radiological protection for pregnant women at a large academic medical Cancer Center.

Abstract Purpose Most radiation protection programs, regulations and guidance apply specific restrictions to the occupational exposure of pregnant workers. The aim of this study was to compile data from the declared pregnant woman (DPW) radiation protection program over more than 5 years at a large, high-volume, comprehensive oncology academic/medical institution and to evaluate for effectiveness against existing regulations and guidance. Methods A retrospective review was performed of the data collected as part of the DPW radiation protection program from January 2010 through May 2016, including the number of declared pregnancies, worker category, personal and fetal dosimetry monitoring measurements, workplace modifications, as well as the monthly and total recorded badge results during the entire pregnancy. Results 245 pregnancies were declared. The mean monthly fetal radiation dosimetry result was 0.009 mSv with a median of 0.005 mSv and a maximum of 0.39 mSv. The mean total dose over the entire pregnancy was estimated to be 0.08 mSv with a median of 0.05 mSv and a maximum of 0.89 mSv. Only 8 (3.2%) of the 245 declared pregnancies required that workplace modifications be implemented for the worker. Conclusions The implementation of a declared pregnancy and fetal assessment program, careful planning, an understanding of the risks, and minimization of radiation dose by employing appropriate radiation safety measures as needed, can allow medical staff to perform procedures and normal activities without incurring significant risks to the conceptus, or significant interruptions of job activities for most medical workers.
Temporal cascade of inflammatory cytokines and cell-type populations in monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1)-mediated aneurysm healing.

Background We have previously shown that monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) promotes aneurysm healing. Objective To determine the temporal cascade and durability of aneurysm healing. Methods Murine carotid aneurysms were treated with MCP-1-releasing or poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA)-only coils. Aneurysm healing was assessed by quantitative measurements of intraluminal tissue ingrowth on 5 μm sections by blinded observers. Results Aneurysm healing occurred in stages characteristic of normal wound healing. The 1st stage (day 3) was characterized by a spike in neutrophils and T cells. The 2nd stage (week 1) was characterized by an influx of macrophages and CD45+ cells significantly greater with MCP-1 than with PLGA (p Conclusions The sequential cascade is consistent with an inflammatory model of injury, repair, and remodeling.
Abstract LB-320: Reconstituting B55/protein phosphatase 2A activity in B55/PP2A-defective prostate cancer cells suppresses proliferation and tumorigenicity through pleiotropic mechanisms

Prostate cancer accounts for close to 30,000 deaths annually in the United States. The most frequent alteration in the prostate oncogenome landscape is loss of chromosome 8p, which is also observed in other epithelial tumors. This region harbors NKX3.1, a prostate specific tumor suppressor, but 8p copy number loss does not correlate with its mRNA expression. The PPP2R2A gene, which encodes a regulatory subunit of protein phosphatase 2 (PP2A) designated B55, is located in 8p21.2 and is hemizygously lost in more that 50% of prostate adenocarcinomas. TCGA data analysis shows that hemizygous loss of PPP2R2A correlates with its reduced expression, poorer prognosis and that loss of PPP2R2A increases with metastasis to more than 80%. Of note, while homozygous loss is less common (4-10%), deletion of other subunits of the B55, but not other PP2A regulatory families, increases dramatically with metastasis despite their independent chromosomal locations. However, functional evidence that PPP2R2A acts as an haploinsufficient tumor suppressor and the potential mechanisms implicated are lacking. We have identified prostate cancer (PrCa) cell lines with reduced expression of B55 and shown that reconstitution of B55 expression reduces proliferation and induces senescence and loss of viability. B55 reconstitution in PC3 cells, an AR-negative model of human castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), also blocks transformation in vitro and tumorigenicity in SCID mice. Reconstitution of B55 in PCa cells with reduced expression (PC3 and DU145 cells) induces cell cycle defects in G1, G2/M and mitosis diminishing and delaying phosphorylation of pRB pocket proteins and mitotic substrates and altering associated kinase networks. Mitogenic signaling is also attenuated. Importantly, the effects of B55 reconstitution are at least partially mimicked via treatment of these cells with PP2A activating drugs, which have anti-tumorigenic activity, indicating that development of specific B55/PP2A activating drugs targeting the unaltered B55 alleles remaining in PCa cells may have therapeutic potential for a high proportion of prostate tumors and perhaps other epithelial tumors such as luminal B breast and ovarian cancers which share this alteration. Citation Format: Ziran Zhao, Alison Kurimchak, Petr Makhov, Katherine Johnson, Vladimir Kolenko, James Duncan, Xavier Grana. Reconstituting B55/protein phosphatase 2A activity in B55/PP2A-defective prostate cancer cells suppresses proliferation and tumorigenicity through pleiotropic mechanisms [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 LB-320. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-LB-320