cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A demonstration of dose modeling at Yucca Mountain

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently revising the regulatory guidance for high-level nuclear waste disposal. In its draft form, the guidelines contain dose limits. Since this is likely to be the case in the final regulations, it is essential that the US Department of Energy be prepared to calculate site-specific doses for any potential repository location. This year, Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) has made a first attempt to estimate doses for the potential geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada as part of a preliminary total-systems performance assessment. A set of transport scenarios was defined to assess the cumulative release of radionuclides over 10,000 years under undisturbed and disturbed conditions at Yucca Mountain. Dose estimates were provided for several of the transport scenarios modeled. The exposure scenarios used to estimate dose in this total-systems exercise should not, however, be considered a definitive set of scenarios for determining the risk of the potential repository. Exposure scenarios were defined for waterborne and surface contamination that result from both undisturbed and disturbed performance of the potential repository. The exposure scenarios used for this analysis were designed for the Hanford Site in Washington. The undisturbed performance scenarios for which exposures were modeled aremore » gas-phase release of {sup 14}C to the surface and natural breakdown of the waste containers with waterborne release. The disturbed performance scenario for which doses were estimated is exploratory drilling. Both surface and waterborne contamination were considered for the drilling intrusion scenario.« less
Fugitive Interfacial Carbon Coatings for Oxide/Oxide Composites

The effectiveness of fugitive interfacial carbon coatings in Nextel™ 720-based composites was investigated. Dense (>90%) matrix (calcium aluminosilicate, 0° and ±45°) composites and porous matrix (mullite/alumina, eight-harness satin fabric) composites were fabricated and tensile tested in two control conditions (uncoated or carbon-coated) and with the carbon removed (fugitive interface). Results indicated that carbon removal in dense matrix composites did not significantly change unidirectional composite strength, even after long-term exposure at 1000°C. For porous matrix composites, composite strength was independent of the fiber/matrix interface, even after exposure at 1150°C for 500 h in air.
SAMQA: error classification and validation of high-throughput sequenced read data

Background The advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies and growth in data sizes has highlighted the need for scalable tools to perform quality assurance testing. These tests are necessary to ensure that data is of a minimum necessary standard for use in downstream analysis. In this paper we present the SAMQA tool to rapidly and robustly identify errors in population-scale sequence data.
Policy Makers, Practitioners, Citizens Perceptions of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is the most comprehensive legislation to date to address violence against women in the United States. Three theoretical perspectives, derived from Foucault, Habermas, and MacKinnon, were used to examine the legislation. These perspectives were the basis of questions that were asked of VAWA policy makers, local practitioners, citizens, and survivors and perpetrators of intimate violence. The results highlight divergent perceptions between these groups. The research implies that public administrators may need to redefine and communicate the problem to more effectively formulate policy because the state is limited in its response to social problems.
Synaptic development: insights from Drosophila.

In Drosophila, the larval neuromuscular junction is particularly tractable for studying how synapses develop and function. In contrast to vertebrate central synapses, each presynaptic motor neuron and postsynaptic muscle cell is unique and identifiable, and the wiring circuit is invariant. Thus, the full power of Drosophila genetics can be brought to bear on a single, reproducibly identifiable, synaptic terminal. Each individual neuromuscular junction encompasses hundreds of synaptic neurotransmitter release sites housed in a chain of synaptic boutons. Recent advances have increased our understanding of the mechanisms that shape the development of both individual synapses — that is, the transmitter release sites including active zones and their apposed glutamate receptor clusters — and the whole synaptic terminal that connects a pre- and post-synaptic cell.
Recent views on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with emphasis on electrophysiological studies

Peripheral electrophysiological studies are of particular value of elucidating the anatomy and pathophysiology of neuromuscular diseases, but they can also help in providing clues to the etiology of the disease. Recent studies of the motor units in chronic denervating conditions including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are reviewed. These indicate that reinnervation is a relatively active process which compensates for the progressive loss of motoneurons in ALS until more than 50% of the motoneurons have died. There seems to be no predilection for death of motoneurons of any particular size in ALS. Fasciculations may arise both proximally and distally. The dying-back change is not a major feature of ALS. These and other data cast doubt on the etiological theories that ALS arises from premature aging of motoneurons, deficiency of motoneuron trophic factors, or an inhibitor of a motoneuronal sprouting factor, and point to the need to study metabolic changes intrinsic to the motoneuron in ALS.
Transitioning to the cloud?: a model-driven analysis and automated deployment capability for cloud services

As cloud computing becomes increasingly popular and appealing, application and service providers increasingly face questions on whether moving to the cloud would be beneficial to their business, and how should the cloud deployment of their application be realized. Analysis techniques, such as simulations, hold promise in analyzing the benefits of moving to the cloud, and while generative mechanisms can automate the deployment of applications in the cloud. This paper describes how model-driven engineering (MDE) supports both these desired capabilities by providing intuitive and automated capabilities for driving simulations of cloud infrastructures and application services to analyze the benefits of moving the applications to the cloud, and automating the deployment of these applications in the cloud.
Kalman filtering in non-Gaussian environment using efficient score function approximation

The authors consider the problem of Kalman filtering in a non-Gaussian environment. It has been shown that a state estimate with a linear prediction corrected by a weighted score function can solve this problem, and the results are nearly optimal. However, the calculation of the score function requires a convolution of two density functions, which is difficult to implement except for simple cases. The authors propose an adaptive normal-expansion-based-distribution approximation for the efficient evaluation of the score function. It is shown that this method is simple and practically feasible. Simulations are also provided to demonstrate the success of the algorithm. >
Prognostic Value of IL-7 and SCF Levels on Thymic Reconstitution and Clinical Outcomes after Double Umbilical Cord Transplantation in Adults

CD3D30 284 376 277 16.5 <0.0001 D100 518 598.5 1159 125 <0.0001 1 year 669 744.5 690 244 0.13 CD4D30 100 111 129.5 4 <0.0001 D100 175 189 276 53 <0.0001 1 year 251 293 269 141 0.08 CD19D30 2 1 8 2 <0.0001 D100 41.5 24 73.5 273.5 0.03 1 year 184.5 204 96 925 0.01 T-reg D30 14 16 10.5 2 0.06 D100 18.5 20 29.1 5.5 0.13 1 year 22 21.5 38 12.5 0.14 NK-cellsD30 136 29 205 264 <0.0001 D100 150 110 201 269 0.001 1 year 143 132.5 148 166 0.53 IgAD30 59 46 147 54 <0.0001 D100 60.5 26 131 33.5 <0.0001 1 year 58 51 45 77.5 0.13 IgGD30 593 534 763 548 0.01 D100 612 494 656 592 0.45 1 year 760 784 742 878 0.46 IgMD30 29 23.1 58.6 28.1 0.01 D100 30.2 17.0 80.2 58.9 <0.0001 1 year 52.2 42.2 53.8 81.1 0.25 Abstracts / Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 21 (2015) S147eS170 S168
Wireless security techniques for coordinated manufacturing and on-line hardware trojan detection

This paper addresses the hardware Trojan (HT) attacks that impose severe threats to the security and integrity of wireless networks and systems. We first develop HT attack models by embedding a single HT gate in the target design that triggers advanced malicious attacks. We place the one-gate HT trigger in such a way that it exhibits rare switching activities, consumes ultra-low leakage power, and hides from delay characterizations. Therefore, the HT attack models are capable of bypassing the widely used side channel-based HT detection schemes. Furthermore, based on the HT attack models, we investigate the potential on-line threat models during the system operation and develop an in-field trusted HT detection approach using physical unclonable functions (PUFs). We evaluate the effectiveness of the HT attack and defense models on a set of ISCAS'85, ISCAS'89, and ITC'99 benchmarks.
Microphysical and radiative effects of aerosols on warm clouds during the Amazon biomass burning season as observed by MODIS: impacts of water vapor and land cover

Abstract. Aerosol, cloud, water vapor, and temperature profile data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are utilized to examine the impact of aerosols on clouds during the Amazonian biomass burning season in Rondonia, Brazil. It is found that increasing background column water vapor (CWV) throughout this transition season between the Amazon dry and wet seasons likely exerts a strong effect on cloud properties. As a result, proper analysis of aerosol-cloud relationships requires that data be stratified by CWV to account better for the influence of background meteorological variation. Many previous studies of aerosol-cloud interactions over Amazonia have ignored the systematic changes to meteorological factors during the transition season, leading to possible misinterpretation of their results. Cloud fraction (CF) is shown to increase or remain constant with aerosol optical depth (AOD), depending on the value of CWV, whereas the relationship between cloud optical depth (COD) and AOD is quite different. COD increases with AOD until AOD ~ 0.3, which is assumed to be due to the first indirect (microphysical) effect. At higher values of AOD, COD is found to decrease with increasing AOD, which may be due to: (1) the inhibition of cloud development by absorbing aerosols (radiative effect/semi-direct effect) and/or (2) a possible retrieval artifact in which the measured reflectance in the visible is less than expected from a cloud top either from the darkening of clouds through the addition of carbonaceous biomass burning aerosols within or above clouds or subpixel dark surface contamination in the measured cloud reflectance. If (1) is a contributing mechanism, as we suspect, then an empirically-derived increasing function between cloud drop number and aerosol concentration, assumed in a majority of global climate models, is inaccurate since these models do not include treatment of aerosol absorption in and around clouds. The relationship between aerosols and both CWV and clouds over varying land surface types is also analyzed. The study finds that the difference in CWV between forested and deforested land is not correlated with aerosol loading, supporting the assumption that temporal variation of CWV is primarily a function of the larger-scale meteorology. However, a difference in the response of CF to increasing AOD is observed between forested and deforested land. This suggests that dissimilarities between other meteorological factors, such as atmospheric stability, may have an impact on aerosol-cloud correlations between different land cover types.
Culturally Responsive Teaching Understanding Disability Culture

To be culturally responsive teachers, we must first have an understanding of other cultures and how students from these cultures differ from one another. As we consider the many cultures represented in our classrooms, we might also consider students with disabilities as a cultural group. Within any main culture are subgroups differentiated by status or factors that functionally unify the group. Culturally responsive teachers understand that students with disabilities may represent a subculture within the classroom—and consequently follow certain guidelines that facilitate their inclusion.
Atherosclerosis, dementia, and Alzheimer disease in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of aging cohort

Objective Although it is now accepted that asymptomatic cerebral infarcts are an important cause of dementia in the elderly, the relationship between atherosclerosis per se and dementia is controversial. Specifically, it is unclear whether atherosclerosis can cause the neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that define Alzheimer neuropathology and whether atherosclerosis, a potentially reversible risk factor, can influence cognition independent of brain infarcts. Methods We examined the relationship between systemic atherosclerosis, Alzheimer type pathology, and dementia in autopsies from 200 participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, a prospective study of the effect of aging on cognition, 175 of whom had complete body autopsies. Results Using a quantitative analysis of atherosclerosis in the aorta, heart, and intracranial vessels, we found no relationship between the degree of atherosclerosis in any of these systems and the degree of Alzheimer type brain pathology. However, we found that the presence of intracranial but not coronary or aortic atherosclerosis significantly increased the odds of dementia, independent of cerebral infarction. Given the large number of individuals with intracranial atherosclerosis in this cohort (136/200), the population attributable risk of dementia related to intracranial atherosclerosis (independent of infarction) is substantial and potentially reversible. Interpretation Atherosclerosis of the intracranial arteries is an independent and important risk factor for dementia, suggesting potentially reversible pathways unrelated to Alzheimer pathology and stroke through which vascular changes may influence dementia risk.
A real-time implementation of the efficient 2-D discrete cosine transform

The authors introduce a real-time implementation of the 2-D discrete cosine transform (DCT). The implementation, which is based on a state space model, uses both algorithm partitioning and data partitioning to achieve high efficiency. This implementation emphasizes the reduction of data transfers between the processors and requires all the data transfers to be local. The system accepts the input as a raster scan data stream, which reduces the hardware required for the input data control block. With proper ordering of computations, a matrix transposition between two matrix-by-matrix multiplications, which is required in many DCT systems, can also be removed. >
Environmental exposures and family history of asthma.

AbstractBackground: Asthma pathogenesis is a complex interaction of genetic, ethnic, environmental and social/life style risk factors. Aim: The goal of this study was to identify associations, if any, in children with asthma, between environmental risk factors (exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke (STS), pet ownership, race and a family history of asthma. Methods: After IRB approval, from June 2011 to December 2014, 823 children with asthma were enrolled in this prospective cross sectional study. At the initial visit, families completed a questionnaire with information on family history of asthma, having a pet at home and exposure to STS by parents at home. Chi square analyses were calculated, with alpha level of significance ≤0.05. Results: History of asthma in parents, siblings or grandparents was reported by 575 (69.8%) patients including father (n = 154, 17.8%) and mother (n = 235, 26.5%). Children with family history of asthma (n = 575) were significantly more likely to have a pet at home and exposu...
Radiation dosimetry of glass versus resin Y-90 microsphere radioembolization in patients with colorectal liver metastases

1203 Objectives The optimal targeting of radiation and minimizing delivery of activity to normal structures is considered an important goal during intra-arterial brachytherapy. This study was done to compare prescribed Y-90 activity in radioembolization with resin vs glass microspheres. Methods Patients included in this IRB- approved, retrospective study had liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma and received radioembolization with either glass or resin microspheres. Glass microsphere activity was calculated using manufacturer recommended formula, which uses lobar volumes and considers 120 Gy as the target dose to liver. Resin microsphere activity was calculated using the manufacturer recommended formula based on BSA and tumor volume. Each of these patients were evaluated with CT, PET-CT and/or MRI for contouring and calculation of tumor, lobar and total liver volumes prior to intra-arterial brachytherapy. Group I: 13 patients underwent 22 treatments with resin microspheres, and activity was calculated as if they were to undergo treatment with glass microspheres. Group II: 15 patients underwent 29 treatments with glass microspheres, and activity was calculated as if they were to undergo treatment with resin microspheres. Comparison of actual prescribed and projected activity was done in each group. Results In group I, if resin microsphere patients were treated with glass microspheres, the average activity prescribed would be higher by 137% (1.05 GBq to 2.48 GBq). In group II, if glass microsphere patients were treated with resin microspheres, the average activity prescribed would be lower by 53% (1.77 GBq to 0.84 GBq). Conclusions Assuming comparable outcomes in both these groups, prescribed resin microsphere activity is significantly less, on average less than half the prescribed glass microsphere activity. This raises the question whether radiation dosage to normal liver tissue can be minimized using resin microspheres in radioembolization of colorectal liver metastases. Research Support Sirte
Submission to House Ways & Means Committee in Connection with February 24, 2016, Hearings on Intl. Corp Tax Reform -- Taxation of Accumulated Deferred Foreign Income

The Committee’s planned international tax reform draft (Draft) will undoubtedly suggest some transition from the present deferral system to some other system. As an integral part of that transition, it is expected as well that the Draft will impose taxation on all “accumulated deferred foreign income” existing as of the transition date.This submission suggests two administratively workable mechanisms by which a favorable lower-then-35% tax rate can be appropriately applied to accumulated deferred foreign income that was earned through real business activities conducted outside the U.S., consistent with the Congressional intent of the current deferral tax system. On the other hand, any such accumulated deferred foreign income that has resulted from profit shifting activities should be taxed at the full 35%, including an interest charge.
Virtual Breast Quasi-Static Elastography (VBQE) A Case Study in Contrast Transfer Efficiency of Viscoelastic Imaging

Viscoelasticity Imaging (VEI) has been proposed to measure relaxation time constants for characterization of in vivo breast lesions. In this technique, an external compression force on the tissue being imaged is maintained for a fixed period of time to induce strain creep. A sequence of ultrasound echo signals is then utilized to generate time-resolved strain measurements. Relaxation time constants can be obtained by fitting local time-resolved strain measurements to a viscoelastic tissue model (e.g., a modified Kevin-Voigt model). In this study, our primary objective is to quantitatively evaluate the contrast transfer efficiency (CTE) of VEI, which contains useful information regarding image interpretations. Using an open-source simulator for virtual breast quasi-static elastography (VBQE), we conducted a case study of contrast transfer efficiency of VEI. In multiple three-dimensional (3D) numerical breast phantoms containing various degrees of heterogeneity, finite element (FE) simulations in conjunction with quasi-linear viscoelastic constitutive tissue models were performed to mimic data acquisition of VEI under freehand scanning. Our results suggested that there were losses in CTE, and the losses could be as high as -18 dB. FE results also qualitatively corroborated clinical observations, for example, artifacts around tissue interfaces.
Construction of Small RNA cDNA Libraries for Deep Sequencing

Since the phenomenon of small RNA-mediated gene silencing was first described over 15 years ago (Lee et al. Cell 75:843-854, 1993; Wightman et al. Cell 75:855-862, 1993), it has become evident that a variety of endogenous small RNAs play an important role in establishing and maintaining cell lineages. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), in particular, have been shown to exert regulatory control over the development and function of the many specialized cells that comprise the mammalian immune system (Baltimore et al. Nat Immunol 9:839-845, 2008; Kanellopoulous and Monticelli Semin Cancer Biol 18:79-88, 2008; Xiao and Rajewsky Cell 136:26-36, 2009). The advent of next generation sequencers provides an important tool for profiling the small RNA transcriptome of many diverse cell types. Compared to traditional Sanger sequencing, next generation sequencing machines can process millions of sequence reads in parallel, generating megabases of data within just a few days. The generation of small RNA libraries for sequencing is relatively straightforward and involves the ligation of platform-specific adapter sequences to small RNAs, followed by reverse transcription of the ligated species and PCR amplification. While other hybridization-based techniques are available for profiling well-characterized small RNAs, high-throughput sequencing remains the most powerful method for discovering novel small RNAs and posttranscriptional editing.
Nonlinear processing with Mth-order signals

The Mth-order signals allow an enhancement of a coherent part of a signal with respect to the background noise. Though it is a pre-processing of information, any classical method must be adapted to the Mth-order signals in order to recover the information of the original signal. The direction finding example shows how straightforward some applications can be.
Genus Flexamia : new species, phylogeny, and ecology

Eight new species of Flexamia DeLong are described, and two Mexican species previously synonymized are reinstated. Species are assigned to 13 species groups; keys are presented for the groups and for the 44 recognized species. Host data, in many cases with oligophagy coefficients, are presented for 37 of the species. Many species specialize on native, dominant, perennial, choridoid or panicoid grasses; some are monophagous. Seven sister species pairs specialize on the same (or a closely related) grass species; in addition, four closely related species appear to be restricted to Bouteloua curtipendula . Few if any specialists colonize their host throughout its entire range. Ecological factors such as phenology and/or host patchiness strongly influence geographic distribution. An intuitive phylogeny is proposed and is used as a basis for constructing 18 character transformations. The genus Flexamia probably originated in Mexico by division of an ancestral lineage from which the modern genus Spartopyge also diverged.
Ab Initio Surface Phase Diagrams for Coadsorption of Aromatics and Hydrogen on the Pt(111) Surface

Supported metal catalysts are commonly used for the hydrogenation and deoxygenation of biomass-derived aromatic compounds in catalytic fast pyrolysis. To date, the substrate–adsorbate interactions under reaction conditions crucial to these processes remain poorly understood, yet understanding this is critical to constructing detailed mechanistic models of the reactions important to catalytic fast pyrolysis. Density functional theory (DFT) has been used in identifying mechanistic details, but many of these works assume surface models that are not representative of realistic conditions, for example, under which the surface is covered with some concentration of hydrogen and aromatic compounds. In this study, we investigate hydrogen-guaiacol coadsorption on Pt(111) using van der Waals-corrected DFT and ab initio thermodynamics over a range of temperatures and pressures relevant to bio-oil upgrading. We find that relative coverage of hydrogen and guaiacol is strongly dependent on the temperature and pressure o...
Connecting enterovirus infection to dystrophin dysfunction in dilated cardiomyopathy.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the most common type of cardiomyopathy characterized by dilation of the left ventricle (1). DCM can be caused by various etiologies including genetic variants, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, drug and alcohol abuse, and infections. Progressive dilatation of the left ventricle can lead to heart failure and sudden arrhythmogenic cardiac death, both leading causes of cardiovascular mortality in the US and Europe (2).
Acute effects of snus in never-tobacco users: a pilot study.

ABSTRACTBackground: Snus tobacco characteristics may attract non-tobacco users, including relatively low, but pharmacologically active, doses of nicotine. Lower nicotine doses may limit adverse drug effects while also producing a physiologically active response. Objectives: This pilot study is the first to profile the acute effects of snus on physiological and subjective assessments in a sample of never-tobacco users. Methods: Eleven never-tobacco users (five women; <100 uses/lifetime) were recruited from the community via university-approved advertisements. Using a within-subject design, participants consumed six pouches in ascending dose order (0, 1.6, 3.2, 4.8, 6.4, and 8.0 mg nicotine) within one session. The start of each snus bout was separated by 45 minutes, and pre- and post-pouch assessments included ratings of drug effects and physiological response. Results: The average heart rate and systolic blood pressure increased significantly from pre- to post-pouch use as a function of dose, though these...
Refinements of Dade's Projective Conjecture for p-solvable groups

Dade's Projective Conjecture is known to be true for finite p-solvable groups thanks to work of G.R. Robinson, but remains open in general. Work of Isaacs and Navarro suggested to Uno and Boltje refinements of this conjecture. These refinements were studied for finite p-solvable groups by Glesser. In the present paper, inspired by earlier work of Turull, we propose further refinements of the conjecture that take into account the Schur indices and the elements of the Brauer group. We prove that all these refinements of Dade's Projective Conjecture hold for all finite p-solvable groups. In particular, we obtain that the version of Dade's Projective Conjecture which involves character degree residues modulo p, fields of definition and Schur indices, as well as the full strength of Boltje's Conjecture both hold for all finite p-solvable groups. The proof develops a Clifford theory for normalizers of chains of p-subgroups which allows one to reduce the calculation of the relevant sums to simpler groups.
The islet-resident macrophage is in an inflammatory state and senses microbial products in blood

We examined the transcriptional profiles of macrophages that reside in the islets of Langerhans of 3-wk-old non-obese diabetic (NOD), NOD.Rag1-/-, and B6.g7 mice. Islet macrophages expressed an activation signature with high expression of Tnf, Il1b, and MHC-II at both the transcript and protein levels. These features are common with barrier macrophages of the lung and gastrointestinal tract. Moreover, injection of lipopolysaccharide induced rapid inflammatory gene expression, indicating that blood stimulants are accessible to the macrophages and that these macrophages can sense them. In NOD mice, the autoimmune process imparted an increased inflammatory signature, including elevated expression of chemokines and chemokine receptors and an oxidative response. The elevated inflammatory signature indicates that the autoimmune program was active at the time of weaning. Thus, the macrophages of the islets of Langerhans are poised to mount an immune response even at steady state, while the presence of the adaptive immune system elevates their activation state.
Low levels of lead and glutathione markers of redox status in human blood

Exposure to lead (Pb) is implicated in a plethora of health threats in both adults and children. Increased exposure levels are associated with oxidative stress in the blood of workers exposed at occupational levels. However, it is not known whether lower Pb exposure levels are related to a shift toward a more oxidized state. To assess the association between blood lead level (BLL) and glutathione (GSH) redox biomarkers in a population of healthy adults, BLL and four GSH markers (GSH, GSSG, GSH/GSSG ratio and redox potential E h ) were measured in the blood of a cross-sectional cohort of 282 avid seafood-eating healthy adults living on Long Island (NY). Additionally, blood levels of two other metals known to affect GSH redox status, selenium (Se) and mercury (Hg), and omega-3 index were tested for effect modification. Regression models were further adjusted for demographic and smoking status. Increasing exposure to Pb, measured in blood, was not associated with GSSG, but was associated with lower levels of GSH/GSSG ratio and more positive GSH redox potential E h , driven by its association with GSH. No effect modification was observed in analyses stratified by Hg, Se, omega-3 index, sex, age, or smoking. Blood Pb is associated with lower levels of GSH and the GSH/GSSG ratio in this cross-sectional study of healthy adults.
HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein Trafficking through the Endosomal Recycling Compartment Is Required for Particle Incorporation

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoprotein (Env) encodes specific trafficking signals within its long cytoplasmic tail (CT) that regulate incorporation into HIV-1 particles. Rab11-family interacting protein 1C (FIP1C) and Rab14 are host trafficking factors required for Env particle incorporation, suggesting that Env undergoes sorting from the endosomal recycling compartment (ERC) to the site of particle assembly on the plasma membrane. We disrupted outward sorting from the ERC by expressing a C-terminal fragment of FIP1C (FIP1C560-649) and examined the consequences on Env trafficking and incorporation into particles. FIP1C560-649 reduced cell surface levels of Env and prevented its incorporation into HIV-1 particles. Remarkably, Env was trapped in an exaggerated perinuclear ERC in a CT-dependent manner. Mutation of either the Yxxϕ endocytic motif or the YW795 motif in the CT prevented Env trapping in the ERC and restored incorporation into particles. In contrast, simian immunodeficiency virus SIVmac239 Env was not retained in the ERC, while substitution of the HIV-1 CT for the SIV CT resulted in SIV Env retention in this compartment. These results provide the first direct evidence that Env traffics through the ERC and support a model whereby HIV-1 Env is specifically targeted to the ERC prior to FIP1C- and CT-dependent outward sorting to the particle assembly site on the plasma membrane.IMPORTANCE The HIV envelope protein is an essential component of the viral particle. While many aspects of envelope protein structure and function have been established, the pathway it follows in the cell prior to reaching the site of particle assembly is not well understood. The envelope protein has a very long cytoplasmic tail that interacts with the host cell trafficking machinery. Here, we utilized a truncated form of the trafficking adaptor FIP1C protein to arrest the intracellular transport of the envelope protein, demonstrating that it becomes trapped inside the cell within the endosomal recycling compartment. Intracellular trapping resulted in a loss of envelope protein on released particles and a corresponding loss of infectivity. Mutations of specific trafficking motifs in the envelope protein tail prevented its trapping in the recycling compartment. These results establish that trafficking to the endosomal recycling compartment is an essential step in HIV envelope protein particle incorporation.
Microinverter based on series connected submodular photovoltaic power cells

In recent years, the use of non-conventional renewable energies, particularly photovoltaic solar energy, has been growing steadily in the country and is currently a real alternative to collaborate in the production of energy required by the national industry. Motivated by the above is that the study and development of technology in Chile for this energy opportunity is fundamental at the present time. The present paper aims to improve the conversion of photovoltaic solar energy by improving the quality of energy and the efficiency of the conversion process by means of a sub-module microinverter where the junction box is eliminated, connecting to each sub-module a Flyback converter and then realizing the grid connection through cascaded H-bridges. The proposed solution shows it superiority compared with the classical microinverters, especially in case of long term partial shading such as dust or snow accumulation. In this job experimental results are shown to validate the proposed architecture, also an analysis of the power quality is presented to verify that the proposed system complies with the IEEE 1457 Std.
The effects of hotel attribute performance on electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) behaviors

Abstract We treated electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) behavior as a multidimensional construct and investigated the salient predictors for each individual eWOM behavior in this study, with an emphasis on hotel attribute performance. The results show that hotel attribute performance, previous eWOM experience, and platform convenience are the drivers of eWOM behaviors in general. Demographics and lodging preference do not affect eWOM behaviors. Economic incentives also have no effect on eWOM behaviors, which suggests that good reviews cannot be bought. The performance of core attributes can improve eWOM activities and eWOM praise, but the performance of facilitating attributes helps only with eWOM praise.
Ultrasonic Assessment of Microcrack Damage in Ceramics

The inherent brittleness of ceramics often results in catastrophic failure due to microcrack damage caused by thermal treatment or mechanical loading. Extensive theoretical and experimental studies have been performed to analyze microcrack damage in ceramics caused by thermal shock [1–7]. Hasselman [1,2] proposed a simple model describing the strength behavior of ceramic materials as a function of thermal shock temperature difference ΔT. The important characteristic parameter in this model is the critical temperature difference, ΔT c . For thermal shock temperature differences less than ΔT c (stage I, Fig. 1) ceramics retain their strength. Thermal shocks with temperature differences equal to ΔT c (stage II) are characterized by unstable crack propagation and instantaneous decreases in strength. Above ΔT c is a plateau of constant strength (stage III), where cracks are subcritical and gradual decrease in strength is observed at higher thermal shock temperatures (stage IV). As shown experimentally [3,6], the actual behavior depends on the composition and the microstructure of the material.
Selecting a Biometric

The choice of biometric is not just based on error rates. Many factors are involved in selecting a biometric, given some application. The cost, or added cost, and security of the installation, no doubt, depend on the choice of biometric; therefore, selecting the appropriate biometric for an application is of prime concern. Accuracy is an important factor in selecting a particular biometric, but by no means does it have to be the most important factor (see Figure 8.1).
PV Sustainable Practice

We are facing in serious changes of global climate. Because of using too much energy by fossil fuel combustion, we are destroying our planet by ourselves. As you have noticed recent abnormal climate, the global warming is coming here we live day by day. For example, an arctic glacier is now melting rapidly which causes flood. At the same time, we hit a snowstorm in US. Regardless this situation, some countries are still struggling and scrambling for oil and gas. On the other hand, many cash-poor countries are distress for lack of energy.
Diagnostic Tests for the Evaluation of Pituitary Tumors

Following the description of the technique of radioimmunoassay1 (RIA) and its application to the measurement of pituitary hormones, disorders of pituitary function could be diagnosed much more readily than before. The subsequent development of a specific RIA for human prolactin2 (PRL) has revolutionized our means of diagnosing pituitary tumors, for it has become clear that 50–80% of tumors that previously were categorized as inactive chromophobe adenomas actively secrete PRL.3
Application and Emissions of Fluorocarbon Gases

Dramatic changes have occurred in the quantities used and patterns of use of fluorocarbon gases over the 25 years since the publication of the ozone depletion hypothesis by Molina and Rowland in 1974. Originally driven by concerns over the potential for ozone depletion and more recently by concerns over global warming, the quantities have shrunk and the use pattern has shifted to be dominated by applications generally considered to be of higher societal value. In addition, emissions rates in applications where control is possible have been drastically reduced. The net result is that only about 20% as much HCFCs and HFCs are used today as replacements in developed countries compared to projected CFC and halon use on a business-as-usual basis. Reductions are even larger when the compounds are weighted by global warming potential (about 6% as large as projected CFC and halon amount) or ozone depleting potential (about 1% as large as projected CFC and halon amount). The trend indicates that the quantity of fluorocarbon gases used will decline even further as HCFCs are phased out under the Montreal Protocol. Atmospheric concentrations of the fluorocarbon gases estimated based on consumption and emission patterns generally agree with measured concentrations except for halon-1211, HCFC-141b and HCFC-142b where measured concentrations are higher than estimates.
Market approach to social ads: The MyLikes example and related problems

A potential way to advertise on social networks is to rely on word of mouth. What is a market approach to word of mouth social advertising? We describe an example: MyLikes, which is a new advertising platform. It lets anyone on a social network be a “publisher” of advertisements (ads). It provides a matching market so advertisers can find social publishers to advertise their products. Further, interestingly, it lets the social publishers modify the ad. As a result, a single base ad may be morphed into many. MyLikes lets publishers broadcast and communicate the ads to others in their social network. Finally, it provides a mechanism for advertisers to pay the publishers based on engagement of the social users with the ads. We describe research problems that emerge in such a marketplace for social ads.
Computational analysis of ligand-receptor interactions in wild-type and mutant erythropoietin complexes

Background Erythropoietin (EPO), a pleiotropic cytokine, binds to its receptor (EPOR) in bone marrow, activating a signaling cascade that results in red blood cell proliferation. A recently discovered naturally occurring EPO mutation (R150Q) at active site 1 (AS1) of the protein was shown to attenuate its canonical downstream signaling, eliminating its hematopoietic effects and causing a fatal anemia. The purpose of this work was to analyze the EPO-EPOR complex computationally to provide a structural explanation for this signaling change. Materials and methods Computational structural biology analyses and molecular dynamics simulations were used to determine key interaction differences between the R150Q mutant and the wild-type form of EPO. Both were compared to another variant mutated at the same position, R150E, which also lacks hematopoietic activity. Results The ligand-receptor interactions of the R150Q and R150E mutants showed significant variations in how they interacted with EPOR at AS1 of the EPO-EPOR complex. Both lost specific reported salt bridges previously associated with full complex activation. Conclusion This work describes how the ligand-receptor interactions at AS1 of the EPO- EPOR complex respond to mutations at the 150th position. The interactions at AS1 were used to propose a potential mechanism by which the binding of EPO to the extracellular domain of EPOR influences its cytosolic domain and the resulting signaling cascade.
Enhanced photocatalytic activity and photocurrent properties of plasma-synthesized indium-doped zinc oxide nanopowder

Abstract Zinc oxide and indium-doped zinc oxide (IZO) nanopowders (wurtzite crystal phase) were synthesized by plasma-assisted chemical vapor synthesis route. In this method, the injected precursors were vaporized in the plasma flame, followed by vapor-phase reaction and subsequent quenching of the vaporized materials, resulting in the formation of nanoparticles. The amount of indium nitrate was varied to obtain 4 at. % and 8 at. % indium incorporated in zinc oxide, designated as ‘IZO1’ and ‘IZO2’, respectively. UV–visible absorbance spectra of the product showed a redshift in the spectra with increasing doping amount of indium. Photocatalytic properties of ZnO and IZO nanoparticles were evaluated using the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under ultraviolet irradiation, and the kinetic analyses indicated that the photodegradation followed pseudo-first order kinetics. In addition, IZO1 nanoparticles exhibited superior photocatalytic activity to ZnO and IZO2 nanoparticles, and the enhancement was attributed to the low recombination rate of photogenerated charge carriers. The major role of defect concentrations (oxygen vacancies) toward MB degradation was also analyzed by Raman and XPS spectra. The effect of scavengers in the photodegradation process indicated that h+ and O2• - were the main oxidant species involved in the degradation process. A mechanism of photodegradation process in IZO was proposed based on Mulliken electronegativity approach. Enhanced photocurrent density was obtained in IZO1, and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results also pointed to an enhanced separation efficiency of electrons and holes at a lower indium doping amount as in IZO1.
Chapter 7 – Density Functional Theory

The chapter discusses the density functional theory (DFT) as applied to adsorption. DFT is a mechanical technique. DFT and the Monte Carlo techniques are methods for calculating the modeling of adsorption under certain given assumptions. These assumptions usually include site-wise attractions between the surface atoms and the adsorbate molecules and attractions between the adsorbate molecules. Interaction potentials and surface spacings are also assumed. The configuration of adsorbate molecules is adjusted to yield a minimum in the overall free energy of the system. In DFT, this adjustment in configuration is performed primarily by adjusting the number density as a function of distance from the surface. The chapter mainly outlines the definitions of functional derivatives, correlation functions, partition facts, and direct correlation functions. There are a large number of calculations, modifications, and explanations for non-local DFT (NLDFT) as applied to physisorption and porosity measurements. Some of these calculations, modifications, and explanations or NLDFT as applied to physisorption and porosity measurements are mentioned.
The Gendered Geography of Contributions to OpenStreetMap: Complexities in Self-Focus Bias

Millions of people worldwide contribute content to peer production repositories that serve human information needs and provide vital world knowledge to prominent artificial intelligence systems. Yet, extreme gender participation disparities exist in which men significantly outnumber women. A central concern has been that due to self-focus bias, these disparities can lead to corresponding gender content disparities, in which content of interest to men is better represented than content of interest to women. This paper investigates the relationship between participation and content disparities in OpenStreetMap. We replicate findings that women are dramatically under-represented as OSM contributors, and observe that men and women contribute different types of content and do so about different places. However, the character of these differences confound simple narratives about self-focus bias: we find that on a proportional basis, men produced a higher proportion of contributions in feminized spaces compared to women, while women produced a higher proportion of contributions in masculinized spaces compared to men.
Outcomes to first-line pembrolizumab in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer and very high PD-L1 expression.

Abstract Background In non-small-cell lung cancers with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression on ≥50% of tumor cells, first-line treatment with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab improves survival compared with platinum-doublet chemotherapy. Whether higher PD-L1 levels within the expression range of 50%–100% predict for even greater benefit to pembrolizumab is currently unknown. Patients and methods In this multicenter retrospective analysis, we analyzed the impact of PD-L1 expression levels on the overall response rate (ORR), median progression-free survival (mPFS), and median overall survival (mOS) in patients who received commercial pembrolizumab as first-line treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a PD-L1 expression of ≥50% and negative for genomic alterations in the EGFR and ALK genes. Results Among 187 patients included in this analysis, the ORR was 44.4% [95% confidence interval (CI) 37.1% to 51.8%], the mPFS was 6.5 months (95% CI 4.5–8.5), and the mOS was not reached. The median PD-L1 expression level among patients who experienced a response to pembrolizumab was significantly higher than among patients with stable or progressive disease (90% versus 75%, P Conclusion Among patients with NSCLC and PD-L1 expression of ≥50% treated with first-line pembrolizumab, clinical outcomes are significantly improved in NSCLCs with a PD-L1 expression of ≥90%. These findings have implications for treatment selection as well as for clinical trial interpretation and design.