cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lateral Transport in the Ocean Interior

Abstract The dominant processes leading to lateral transport by the general ocean circulation are reviewed. The general circulation is distinguished from a theoretical steady flow by the effects of mesoscale eddies. The general circulation flow may be averaged over the scale of the eddies, but averaging does not eliminate correlations among eddy variables. The present state of understanding of the transport by these eddy correlations, and how they are parameterized in models, is discussed in some detail. Satellite, drifter, and model estimates of eddy statistics are compared. Particular emphasis is placed on the direction, heterogeneity, and anisotropy of eddy-induced diffusion, advection, and transport.
Self-other conflict

I am now ready to deal with the difficult question of Self-other decisions. I shall base this discussion on the case of social dilemmas, situations in which each of several people face decisions that place their own utility in conflict with the total utility of all. For example, each farmer stands to gain from letting the family cows graze on the commons, the common pasture for the town, but if everyone did this the pasture would disappear (Hardin, 1968). The action that is best for all is called cooperation; the action best for the self is called defection. It is best for all (cooperative) not to overgraze the common pasture but best for each to do so.
Specifically Impermeable Precipitate Membranes

When two ionic species that can form a precipitate are brought together by diffusion and are allowed to interact inside the pores of gels, membranes, or other porous structures, precipitate membranes are formed that have a number of unusual properties. The first such membranes have been described by Pfeffer(1); they were formed by allowing an aqueous solution of a cupric salt on one side of a porous ceramic wall to diffuse toward and interact with a potassium ferrocyanide solution placed on the other side of the ceramic wall. Inside that wall (generally a ceramic jar) an apparently continuous semipermeable membrane of cupric ferrocyanide, or “pfefferian jar,” was created, endowed with pores of a very small size. Beutner studied the electrical properties of cupric ferrocyanide membranes formed in 10% gelatin containing 0.025M K4Fe(CN)6 in the gel, in contact with a 0.05M CuSo4 solution, which yielded a potential difference of ≈ 115 mV; he demonstrated that this system behaves like a reversible potassium electrode.(2,3) With cupric ferrocyanide membranes formed in parchment, Donnan measured membrane potentials(4) and ultimately developed his theory on membrane equilibria.(5)
Political Science: Overview

Political Science is the study of human behavior relating primarily to the operations of government, the state, and in principle other outcomes deemed important by actors. Its most ancient roots are in Greek philosophy and it borrows extensively from other disciplines—notably Psychology, Sociology and Economics—to explain the course and effects of political events, the work of political institutions, and the attitudes and choices of individuals engaged in political activity from voting to national and international policy-making. It emerged as an autonomous academic discipline out of legal and moral philosophy and history at the end of the nineteenth century with particular vigor in North America.
DDX41 recognizes bacterial secondary messengers cyclic di-GMP and cyclic di-AMP to activate a type I interferon immune response (P1375)

Cytosolic detection of bacterially derived secondary messengers cyclic-di-GMP (c-di-GMP) or cyclic -di-AMP (c-di-AMP) by the host immune system activates an innate immune response characterized by the induction of type I interferons (IFNs). Induction of IFN by c-di-GMP or c-di-AMP has been shown to be dependent on a stimulator of IFN genes-TANK binding kinase 1-IFN regulatory factor 3 (STING-TBK1-IRF3) signaling axis. Although STING has been shown to interact with c-di-GMP, an upstream sensor of these cyclic dinucleotides is unknown. Here we identify the helicase, DEAD (Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp) box polypeptide 41 (DDX41) as the pattern recognition receptor (PRR) that senses both c-di-GMP and c-di-AMP. DDX41 specifically and directly interacts with c-di-GMP. Knockdown of DDX41 via shRNA in murine or human immune cells inhibits the induction of innate immune genes and results in defective STING, TBK1 and IRF3 activation in response to c-di-GMP or c-di-AMP. Our findings suggest a mechanism whereby c-di-GMP and c-di-AMP molecules are detected by the DDX41 PRR, which complexes with the STING adaptor to signal to TBK1-IRF3 and activate the IFN response.
The psychometric function and reaction times of automated perimetry in normal and abnormal areas of the visual field in patients with glaucoma.

Purpose. To study the relationship of reaction time to the psychometric function in normal subjects, normal sensitivity test locations in patients with glaucoma, and test locations with 10 to 20 dB loss in patients with glaucoma. Methods. The authors tested 10 patients with glaucoma and 10 age-matched normal volunteers with the Humphrey perimeter, first with program 24-2 and then with the method of constant stimuli to generate frequency of seeing curves. At two widely separated visual field locations on the program 24-2 grid, they presented stimuli in 2-dB intervals, 10 dB either side of the program 24-2 threshold, at 0 dB and 60 dB (15 repetitions per intensity). For the patients with glaucoma, they chose a visual field location with normal sensitivity and a location in an area of 10 to 20 dB loss. Results. Analysis of variance with post hoc t-tests showed that reaction time (RT) at the 0-dB intensity was prolonged by approximately 90 msec in the abnormal sensitivity test location of patients with glaucoma compared to the control and the glaucoma normal sensitivity groups (P < 0.0001). However, this difference was accounted for by only 4 of the 10 patients with glaucoma, reaching 100% of stimuli seen with the brightest stimulus at the moderately damaged test location. Reaction time at the frequency of seeing 50% estimated threshold showed no significant differences among the groups. Prolongation of RT from the 0-dB value was analyzed as a function of increasing attenuation of stimulus intensity. The results fit the equation RT = a + b(Intensity) 3 for all groups. Conclusions. There is no significant difference in RT between normal subjects and patients with glaucoma either at threshold or to suprathreshold stimuli. Reaction time increases after a power function with increasing attenuation of stimulus intensity up to the threshold.
Obesity-Associated Heart Failure as a Theoretical Target for Treatment With Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists.

Importance Despite their clinical benefits, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists are greatly underprescribed by most practitioners who treat patients with chronic heart failure. A novel approach to encouraging the use of these drugs is to enhance awareness about the intimate link between aldosterone and obesity. Observations There is a strong association between abdominal obesity and circulating levels of aldosterone, and markers of abdominal obesity identify patients most likely to benefit from mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism. In a trial of patients with heart failure and a reduced ejection fraction, patients with an increased waist circumference exhibited an approximately 50% reduction in the risk of a primary end point. The magnitude of benefit was more than twice as great in patients with abdominal obesity than in those with a normal waist circumference, and patients with abdominal obesity tolerated treatment better than nonobese patients. Similarly, in a trial of patients with heart failure and a preserved ejection fraction, those who were most likely to have abdominal obesity (identified by their level of natriuretic peptides) were most likely to demonstrate a benefit of treatment with spironolactone, exhibiting an approximately 80% reduction in the risk of a primary end point (based on a small number of events). Conclusions and Relevance Although these analyses are post hoc, their concordance and strong biological foundation suggests that abdominal obesity may identify patients who respond most favorably to mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism. Given the easy availability of its measurement, targeting patients with an increased waist circumference could enhance the adoption of these important drugs for the treatment of chronic heart failure in clinical practice.
Traffic Management System Using IoT Technology - A Comparative Review

With an ever-increasing population growth in cities around the world, continuous production of all kinds vehicles by manufacturers, and the number of vehicles on the roads will only continue to rise. This naturally leads to increased traffic congestion, especially in large metropolitan areas and even more so during peak rush hour time. This phenomenon constantly puts pressure on researchers, city officials, and urban planners to continue to improve traffic management systems in ways that are safer and economically more efficient. In order to address this evolving problem, a number of studies have been conducted that have resulted in some notable improvements such as designated lanes for emergency vehicles in urban areas. However, even with these lanes, often the ideal target-times for emergency vehicles to reach their destinations is hard to achieve. A new method which seeks to address this issue is called Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). This method can help solve the problem by integrating existing technology with the current infrastructure. In this paper, our goal is to compare different methods for managing traffics, namely Traffic Light Systems (TLS): Static and Dynamic TLS, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), and Internet of Things (IoT). In the latter method, traffic data are quickly acquired and sent to Big Data for processing and mobile applications AKA User Interface (UI) to estimate traffic density in various areas in order to suggest alternative ways to alleviate traffic.
Proteomic approaches for cancer epigenetics research

Introduction: Epigenetic dysregulation drives or supports numerous human cancers. The chromatin landscape in cancer cells is often marked by abnormal histone post-translational modification (PTM) patterns and by aberrant assembly and recruitment of protein complexes to specific genomic loci. Mass spectrometry-based proteomic analyses can support the discovery and characterization of both phenomena. Areas covered: We broadly divide this literature into two parts: 'modification-centric' analyses that link histone PTMs to cancer biology; and 'complex-centric' analyses that examine protein-protein interactions that occur de novo as a result of oncogenic mutations. We also discuss proteomic studies of oncohistones. We highlight relevant examples, discuss limitations, and speculate about forthcoming innovations regarding each application. Expert commentary: 'Modification-centric' analyses have been used to further understanding of cancer's histone code and to identify associated therapeutic vulnerabilities. 'Complex-centric' analyses have likewise revealed insights into mechanisms of oncogenesis and suggested potential therapeutic targets, particularly in MLL-associated leukemia. Proteomic experiments have also supported some of the pioneering studies of oncohistone-mediated tumorigenesis. Additional applications of proteomics that may benefit cancer epigenetics research include middle-down and top-down histone PTM analysis, chromatin reader profiling, and genomic locus-specific protein identification. In the coming years, proteomic approaches will remain powerful ways to interrogate the biology of cancer.
Soybean iron deficiency chlorosis high throughput phenotyping using an unmanned aircraft system

Iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) is an abiotic stress in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] that causes significant yield reductions. Symptoms of IDC include interveinal chlorosis and stunting of the plant. While there are management practices that can overcome these drastic yield losses, the preferred way to manage IDC is growing tolerant soybean varieties. To develop varieties tolerant to IDC, breeders may easily phenotype up to thousands of candidate soybean lines every year for severity of symptoms related to IDC, a task traditionally done with a 1–5 visual rating scale. The visual rating scale is subjective and, because it is time consuming and laborious, can typically only be accomplished once or twice during a growing season. The goal of this study was to use an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to improve field screening for tolerance to soybean IDC. During the summer of 2017, 3386 plots were visually scored for IDC stress on two different dates. In addition, images were captured with a DJI Inspire 1 platform equipped with a modified dual camera system which simultaneously captures digital red, green, blue images as well as red, green, near infrared (NIR) images. A pipeline was created for image capture, orthomosaic generation, processing, and analysis. Plant and soil classification was achieved using unsupervised classification resulting in 95% overall classification accuracy. Within the plant classified canopy, the green, yellow, and brown plant pixels were classified and used as features for random forest and neural network models. Overall, the random forest and neural network models achieved similar misclassification rates and classification accuracy, which ranged from 68 to 77% across rating dates. All 36 trials in the field were analyzed using a linear model for both visual score and UAS image-based scores on both dates. In 32 of the 36 tests on date 1 and 33 of 36 trials on date 2, the LSD associated with UAS image-based scores was lower than the LSD associated with visual scores, indicating the image-based scores provided more precise measurements of IDC severity. Overall, the UAS was able to capture differences in IDC stress and may be used for evaluations of candidate breeding lines in a soybean breeding program. This system was both more efficient and precise than traditional scoring methods.
RHYTHM DISTURBANCES IN PATIENTS WITH HEART FAILURE AND PRESERVED EJECTION FRACTION

Sudden death is the most common mode of exodus in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. Ventricular arrhythmias have been suspected as the etiology but the supporting evidence in patients with HFpEF is scarce. A retrospective
Lactobacillus Discitis/Osteomyelitis in an Intravenous Drug Abuser.

Vertebral osteomyelitis is usually secondary to hematogenous seeding from direct inoculation during spinal surgery or from adjacent soft tissue infection; the most common organism being Staphylococcus aureus. We present a case of a 31-year-old male who was found to have vertebral osteomyelitis secondary to Lactobacillus species. The patient with a past medical history significant for hepatitis C, intravenous (IV) drug use, and nicotine dependence presented with severe back pain that started one month ago. His pain was located in the middle and lower back, radiating to his abdomen, and both lower extremities. The patient admitted to abusing IV heroin daily and sharing needles with his fiancee. CT of the abdomen and pelvis with contrast revealed marked irregularity of the endplates at the L3-L4 level and mild irregularity of the endplates at the L4-L5 level suggestive of osteomyelitis/discitis with no evidence of a paraspinal fluid collection. Core biopsy of the superior endplate of L4 and adjacent disc material was done and sent for microbiology and pathology review. His bone culture came back positive for Lactobacillus species; however, blood cultures remained negative. Clinical improvement was noted after starting antibiotics, and the patient was discharged on six weeks of oral clindamycin. When thinking of Lactobacillus, a simple probiotic comes to mind, clinicians need to be more vigilant in recognizing its different strains as possible infectious microorganisms. As described in our case, and other cases of bacteremia secondary to Lactobacillus, Lactobacillus should no longer be regarded as merely a contaminant.
Examining a Change Process from a Systems Thinking Perspective: a Case Study from One Academic Department

In today’s rapidly changing world, higher education is faced with challenges stemming from globalization versus localization, corporatization versus liberal arts values, and public versus private good. These challenges require creative approaches and innovations to develop new solutions. Additionally, tensions also exist within institutional sub-units such as academic departments. In response to similar pressures and declining enrollment, one university academic department held a day-long retreat to reexamine its programs and discuss curriculum and program modifications to better meet student needs. This paper used a systems thinking approach to unpack the creative tensions that arose at the individual faculty, department, and institutional levels during the implementation of the retreat and described their implications. Based on the findings, we recommend four strategies for administrators and faculty members to facilitate change efforts within their system: to motivate faculty, to mobilize diverse stakeholders, to creatively push boundaries, and to implement transparency to promote collaboration.
Numerical ellipsometry: A method for selecting a near-minimal infrared measurement set for β-gallium oxide

The objective of this work is to develop a method for defining, a priori, a set of minimum ellipsometry measurements that provide for a near-minimal data set (measurement set) sufficient for an analysis of optically anisotropic crystals with monoclinic symmetry with minimal prior knowledge. Example measurements are obtained by reflection from two differently oriented smooth, flat, anisotropic, monoclinic β-Ga2O3 crystals. A measurement may consist of any set of common type ellipsometry data such as selected sets of normalized Jones matrix elements or selected sets of normalized Mueller matrix elements measured at selected angles of incidence and/or rotation of the sample, also know as table rotation. The only prior knowledge used here is the crystallographic surface orientation. The four complex-valued permittivity parameters of the monoclinic symmetry crystal are then the object of interest and the only remaining unknown parameters. The motif for our investigation is the desire to better understand how to reduce measurement time for the otherwise extensive data acquisition considered necessary thus far to fully characterize low-symmetry anisotropic materials in substrates and semiconductor heterostructures. The near-minimal measurement set introduced here is then obtained by selection from a prior, larger data set. The larger data set thus far largely overdetermines the amount of necessary information. The first criterion is that there be sufficient intensity of the reflected light considering the p and s polarized reflections produced by p and s polarized incident light. The second criterion for inclusion is that the permittivity tensor is sensitive to measurement, that is, a significant change in a measurement set results in a significant change in the solution for permittivity. Finally, the near-minimal measurement set must result in solvable sets of equations. This is examined by computing the Jacobian of the system of equations for various sets of measurements in order to only keep measurements for which the condition of the Jacobian falls below the threshold for usability. We find that sets containing four measurements of on-diagonal Jones matrix elements alone, obtained across a wide spread of table rotations, provide most sensitive and intrinsically sufficient information to solve for the permittivity values. In summary, the scheme consists of determining the following measurement conditions: (1) reflections of high intensity to enable accurate measurements. (2) sensitivity to the unknown parameters, and (3) a solvable set of equations.
Due Process and the Future of Class Actions

ly one states the already-protected right, the more likely it becomes that the claimed right will fall within its protection.”). 15. These tactics have come up explicitly in the substantive due process context. In Michael H. v. Gerald D., 491 U.S. 110 (1989), the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a California statute that created a presumption that a child born within a marriage was the biological child of the husband violated a putative father’s procedural and substantive due process rights. Justice Scalia explained that to determine the relevant tradition the courts must “refer to the most specific level at which a relevant tradition protecting, or denying protection to, the asserted right can be identified.” Id. at 127 n.6. 16. For example, in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 (2004), the Supreme Court controversially applied the Mathews due process factors to the detention of an American citizen. The more traditional view in that case, articulated by Justice Scalia in dissent, was more rights protective than the process that the due process calculus would require. See id. at 555, 575–76 (explaining the constitutional tradition of trial for treason and writing that, with respect to the Mathews test, “Whatever the merits of this technique when newly recognized property rights are at issue (and even there they are questionable), it has no place where the Constitution and the common law already supply an answer”). 17. 341 U.S. 123, 162–63 (1951) (Frankfurter, J., concurring).
A Simple Network Architecture Accounts for Diverse Reward Time Responses in Primary Visual Cortex.

Many actions performed by animals and humans depend on an ability to learn, estimate, and produce temporal intervals of behavioral relevance. Exemplifying such learning of cued expectancies is the observation of reward-timing activity in the primary visual cortex (V1) of rodents, wherein neural responses to visual cues come to predict the time of future reward as behaviorally experienced in the past. These reward-timing responses exhibit significant heterogeneity in at least three qualitatively distinct classes: sustained increase or sustained decrease in firing rate until the time of expected reward, and a class of cells that reach a peak in firing at the expected delay. We elaborate upon our existing model by including inhibitory and excitatory units while imposing simple connectivity rules to demonstrate what role these inhibitory elements and the simple architectures play in sculpting the response dynamics of the network. We find that simply adding inhibition is not sufficient for obtaining the different distinct response classes, and that a broad distribution of inhibitory projections is necessary for obtaining peak-type responses. Furthermore, although changes in connection strength that modulate the effects of inhibition onto excitatory units have a strong impact on the firing rate profile of these peaked responses, the network exhibits robustness in its overall ability to predict the expected time of reward. Finally, we demonstrate how the magnitude of expected reward can be encoded at the expected delay in the network and how peaked responses express this reward expectancy. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Heterogeneity in single-neuron responses is a common feature of neuronal systems, although sometimes, in theoretical approaches, it is treated as a nuisance and seldom considered as conveying a different aspect of a signal. In this study, we focus on the heterogeneous responses in the primary visual cortex of rodents trained with a predictable delayed reward time. We describe under what conditions this heterogeneity can arise by self-organization, and what information it can convey. This study, while focusing on a specific system, provides insight onto how heterogeneity can arise in general while also shedding light onto mechanisms of reinforcement learning using realistic biological assumptions.
STATIC AND DYNAMIC OFFTRACKING OF ARTICULATED VEHICLES

Offtracking has been considered a low speed phenomenon, amenable to analysis via small mechanical models or straightforward calculations. This paper views offtracking from a high speed as well as a low speed vantage point. A mathematical model with one degree of freedom is used to show that there is a speed, well within the routine driving range and independent of radius, at which there will be no offtracking in a steady turn. At higher speeds the trailer will track outside the steady turn circle, and at lower speeds the trailer will track inside the steady turn circle.
Receiver design for MIMO-OFDM transmission over time variant channels

The paper considers a receiver design for space-time block coded MIMO-OFDM transmission over frequency selective time-variant channels. The receiver employs the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm for joint channel and data recovery. It makes collective use of the data and channel constraints that characterize the communication problem. The data constraints include pilots, the finite alphabet constraint, and space-time block coding. The channel constraints include the finite delay spread and frequency and time correlation. The receiver employs an EM-based Kalman filter for channel estimation. The receiver is able to recover the channel (which varies from one space-time block to the next) and the data with no latency and to reduce the number of pilots needed. Simulations show that the receiver outperforms other least-squares based iterative receivers.
Against Accuracy (as a Measure of Judicial Performance)

This Essay - a contribution to a symposium reacting to Judge William Young and Professor Jordan Singer's article "Bench Presence: Toward a More Complete Model of Federal District Court Productivity," 118 PENN. ST. L. REV. 55 (2013) - advances the following thesis: Attempting to assess the accuracy of judicial decisions in any scalable way is either impossible or imprudent. Accuracy, in cases where it counts, depends on too many assessments that are too contestable or indeterminable in too many respects. Indeed, our system recognizes this. The familiar concerns of judicial ethics belie any systemic belief in the determinacy of outcomes in close cases. Put simply, if we believed that it is easy to determine whether (some significant subset of) judicial decisions is right or wrong we would not care about such things as whether judges own trivial amounts of stock in corporate parties that appear before them. Because of this, the most we are able to say in many cases is that an accurate judicial decision is one rendered in accordance with applicable procedural safeguards. As a result, the assessment of judicial performance, much like the regulation of judicial ethics, may best entail a focus solely on process.
Heme oxygenase-2 gene deletion attenuates oxidative stress in neurons exposed to extracellular hemin.

Background: Hemin, the oxidized form of heme, accumulates in intracranial hematomas and is a potent oxidant. Growing evidence suggests that it contributes to delayed injury to surrounding tissue, and that this process is affected by the heme oxygenase enzymes. In a prior study, heme oxygenase-2 gene deletion increased the vulnerability of cultured cortical astrocytes to hemin. The present study tested the effect of HO-2 gene deletion on protein oxidation, reactive oxygen species formation, and cell viability after mixed cortical neuron/astrocyte cultures were incubated with neurotoxic concentrations of hemin. Results: Continuous exposure of wild-type cultures to 1–10 µM hemin for 14 h produced concentration-dependent neuronal death, as detected by both LDH release and fluorescence intensity after propidium iodide staining, with an EC 50 of 1–2 µM; astrocytes were not injured by these low hemin concentrations. Cell death was consistently reduced by at least 60% in knockout cultures. Exposure to hemin for 4 hours, a time point that preceded cell lysis, increased protein oxidation in wild-type cultures, as detected by staining of immunoblots for protein carbonyl groups. At 10 µM hemin, carbonylation was increased 2.3-fold compared with control sister cultures subjected to medium exchanges only; this effect was reduced by about two-thirds in knockout cultures. Cellular reactive oxygen species, detected by fluorescence intensity after dihydrorhodamine 123 (DHR) staining, was markedly increased by hemin in wild-type cultures and was localized to neuronal cell bodies and processes. In contrast, DHR fluorescence intensity in knockout cultures did not differ from that of sham-washed controls. Neuronal death in wild-type cultures was almost completely prevented by the lipid-soluble iron chelator phenanthroline; deferoxamine had a weaker but significant effect. Conclusions: These results suggest that HO-2 gene deletion protects neurons in mixed neuronastrocyte cultures from heme-mediated oxidative injury. Selective inhibition of neuronal HO-2 may have a beneficial effect after CNS hemorrhage.
HEMO: a sustainable multi-objective evolutionary optimization framework

The capability of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) to handle premature convergence is critically important when applied to real-world problems. Their highly multi-modal and discrete search space often makes the required performance out of reach to current MOEAs. Examining the fundamental cause of premature convergence in evolutionary search has led to proposing of a generic framework, named Hierarchical Fair Competition (HFC)[9], for robust and sustainable evolutionary search. Here an HFC-based Hierarchical Evolutionary Multi-objective Optimization framework (HEMO) is proposed, which is characterized by its simultaneous maintenance of individuals of all degrees of evolution in hierarchically organized repositories, by its continuous inflow of random individuals at the base repository, by its intrinsic hierarchical elitism and hyper-grid-based density estimation. Two experiments demonstrate its search robustness and its capability to provide sustainable evolutionary search for difficult multi-modal problems. HEMO makes it possible to do reliable multi-objective search without risk of premature convergence. The paradigmatic transition of HEMO to handle premature convergence is that instead of trying to escape local optima from converged high fitness populations, it tries to maintain the opportunity for new optima to emerge from the bottom up as enabled by its hierarchical organization of individuals of different fitnesses.
Combined penetrating keratoplasty and trabeculectomy with mitomycin C.

Abstract Objective To evaluate corneal graft survival and intraocular pressure control in eyes that have undergone combined penetrating keratoplasty and trabeculectomy with mitomycin C (MMC). Design Retrospective noncomparative case series. Intervention Penetrating keratoplasty combined with trabeculectomy with MMC and other surgical procedures. Participants Twenty-four eyes of 22 patients undergoing combined penetrating keratoplasty and trabeculectomy with mitomycin C. Main outcome measures Corneal graft clarity and intraocular pressure control. Results The cumulative probability of corneal graft survival was 85% at 1 year and 60% at 2 years. The cumulative probability of adequate pressure control was 67% at 3 months, 55% at 12 months, and 50% at 24 months. The incidence of bleb failure was higher in cases involving additional concomitant procedures, such as anterior vitrectomy, lens implantation or exchange, and drainage tube implantation. Conclusions Combined penetrating keratoplasty and trabeculectomy with mitomycin C is associated with good corneal graft survival but also a risk of early failure of intraocular pressure control. Other concomitant procedures during the combined penetrating keratoplasty/trabeculectomy may increase the risk of early bleb failure.
Ideals contracted from 1-dimensional overrings with an application to the primary decomposition of ideals

We prove that each ideal of a locally formally equidimensional analytically unramified Noetherian integral domain is the contraction of an ideal of a one-dimensional semilocal birational extension domain. We give an application to a problem concerning the primary decomposition of powers of ideals in Noetherian rings. It is shown in an earlier paper by the second author that for each ideal I in a Noetherian commutative ring R there exists a positive integer k such that, for all n > 1, there exists a primary decomposition In = Qi n ... Q, where each Qi contains the nk-th power of its radical. We give an alternate proof of this result in the special case where R is locally at each prime ideal formally equidimensional and analytically unramified. In this paper we prove that every ideal in a locally formally equidimensional analytically unramified Noetherian ring R is the contraction of an ideal of a onedimensional semilocal extension which is essentially of finite type over R. If R is a domain, the extension may be taken to be birational, i.e., with the same field of fractions as R. By passing to the extended Rees ring R[It, t-1] of an ideal I of R, these contraction properties give a type of uniform primary decomposition for the powers of I. This is based on the fact that the primary decomposition of a height-one ideal in a one-dimensional semilocal ring is unique, and the primary decomposition for powers of a fixed ideal in such a ring is obtained from just taking the powers of the primary components of the fixed ideal. Furthermore, contracting primary decompositions from an overring gives a primary decomposition for the contracted ideal. Our interest in establishing this result was motivated by a question, recently answered in [S2], concerning the primary decompositions of powers of an ideal. All rings we consider are commutative and our notation is as in [AM] and [M]. 1. POWERS OF IDEALS AND PRIMARY DECOMPOSITIONS Let I be a proper ideal of a commutative Noetherian ring R. It is known that only finitely many prime ideals of R are associated primes of a power of I [Rat], and that all suitably large powers of I have the same associated primes [B]. In considering primary decompositions of the powers of I, it is natural to ask about the growth of the exponents of primary components of In, where the exponent of Received by the editors September 6, 1995. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 13C05, 13E05, 13H99. The authors thank Craig Huneke for helpful suggestions concerning this paper. (?)1997 American Mathematical Society
Activation Approaches on Delivery of Imaging and Therapeutic Agents

Successful treatment for a disease relies upon the effective delivery of a therapeutic agent to the target site. An approach to enhance the therapeutic efficacy and to minimize unwanted side effects is to formulate a drug carrier for active and passive targeting. Alternatively, activatable agents have been designed to release active pharmaceutical moieties in response to internal (pH and enzyme) or external (heat, light, and magnetic field) stimuli. Often, the drug releases from these agents are self-regulatory or are remotely controlled in a spatial and/or temporal manner. A site-specific drug release can also improve the therapeutic efficacy, decrease the side effect, and reduce dosage regimen. Complementary to nanotechnology, activatable agents with various built-in sophisticated mechanisms have recently been engineered. Some of them have been used for the development of contrast agents to reduce the imaging background. This chapter provides an update review of activatable agents, with specific examples being highlighted to illustrate their mechanisms and potential applications for imaging and the treatment for diseases, such as cancer.
The Treatment of VIP Patients in Academic Teaching Settings: Applying the "Difficult Patient Framework" to Guide Therapeutic Response.

Every day, thousands of resident physicians across the nation go to work in academic teaching settings where they are asked to provide sound clinical care to their patients while maintaining rigorous ethical standards. Although academic teaching hospitals may deliver psychiatric care to largely underserved patient populations, the treatment of very important persons (VIPs), or so-called VIP patients, is a quiet reality of medical treatment in general and occurs in academic training settings as well. In fact, academic teaching hospitals, which often carry prestigious reputations of employing the top physicians and offering cuttingedge medical care, may be particular sites of attraction for VIP patients who are seeking “the best” medical treatment. It is difficult to find a commonly agreed upon definition for VIP patients as the concept has minimal representation in the medical and psychiatric literature. For the purposes of this paper, VIP patients will refer to patients with perceived or legitimate power derived from various sources including higher social status, wealth, government or political rank, and/or beauty. Several VIP patients commonly encountered in medical settings include celebrities, political figures, prominent members of the community, or other physicians. The care of VIP patients in academic teaching settings is complex as it invites significant clinical and ethical problems for both patients and medical trainees. Unfortunately, there is little to no formalized teaching or standardized protocols to guide resident physicians in their treatment of VIP patients. Here, we suggest that the “difficult patient framework” as described by Roberts and Dyer [1] may be utilized in order to help conceptualize VIP patients and subsequently guide the therapeutic response. Furthermore, we encourage explicit discussion with medical trainees about the rationale for this treatment approach to avoid sending unintended though ethically problematic messages.
Effects of Electrolyte and Potential on the in Situ Structure of Alkanethiol Self-Assembled Monolayers on Silver

Surface Raman spectroscopy using an emersion approach has been utilized to study the effects of electrolyte and applied potential on the in situ structure and conformational order of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) formed from n-alkanethiols on smooth Ag surfaces. Vibrational information in the ν(C−S), ν(C−C), δ(C−H), and ν(C−H) regions is particularly useful in elucidating the degree of order and presence of defects in the monolayer before and after exposure of the SAM to electrolyte and potential. Spectral results from these studies suggest that aqueous 0.1 M electrolytes (NaF, NaCl, NaSCN, NaOH, H2SO4) and potential have different effects on the order of the SAMs studied. The order of short chain alkanethiol SAMs is more easily affected by electrolyte and potential than that of the longer chain SAMs.
The chemistry of vicinal tricarbonyls use of vinyl tricarbonyl esters in the formation of 3-hydroxypyrole-2-carboxylates

Abstract The reaction of primary amines with the vinyl tricarbonyl reagent 1 forms the basis of a general synthesis of N-substituted 3-hydroxypyrrole-2-carboxylates.
A Spacer between the Head and Neck Coil of Kinesin-1 Relieves Inhibition Due to Crosslinking of the Heads

Kinesin-1 is autoinhibited through crosslinking of its two motor domains (heads) by a tail domain (Kaan, et al., Science 333, 883 (2011)), in addition to crosslinking of the heads by attachment to the neck coil (NC). This 'double lockdown' would prevent undocking of the neck linker (NL) and inhibit ADP release. Inhibition by double lockdown was supported the ability of a disulfide crosslink in a S181C mutant to mimic inhibition in the absence of tails. Insertion of a flexible spacer at the junction of the NL and NC could potentially provide enough 'slack' for NL undocking and ADP release. To test this mechanism, a five amino acid spacer was introduced into the S181C mutant (a total of ten additional amino acids in the dimeric construct). At 2 μM MTs, the rate of ADP release was 0.65 s−1 and <0.01 s−1 for the crosslinked forms with or without the spacer, versus 4.5 s−1 when uncrosslinked. Thus ten amino acids of slack per dimer greatly accelerates ADP release, albeit not fully up to the uncrosslinked level. That this spacer is sufficient to largely relieve the inhibition suggests that the inability to undock the NL is the principal cause of the inhibition produced by double lockdown. Studies with longer and shorter spacers will better define the dependence of the ADP release rate on the amount of slack.The assistance of James Hopkins in cloning and protein isolation is acknowledged. Supported by NIH Grant NS058848.
In Situ Evaluation of Hen Mortality Meal as a Protein Supplement for Dairy Cows

A study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional composition and in situ degradation of hen mortality meals. There were four treatments: control autoclaved hen meal (C-HM), enzyme-treated, fermented, autoclaved hen meal (E-HM), NaOH-treated, fermented, autoclaved hen meal (NaOH-HM), and soybean meal (SBM). For the E-HM or NaOH-HM, hen mortality was treated with a feather digesting enzyme or NaOH to improve digestibility of feathers on the carcass. After the enzyme or NaOH treatment, treated hen mortality was preserved by a fermentation procedure. The crude protein levels of the C-HM and SBM were higher than the E-HM and NaOH-HM, and the concentration of fat in the C-HM was higher than the other treatments. Levels of Lys, Thr, Arg, Ile, Leu, Val, and Phe for the C-HM and SBM were higher than in the E-HM and NaOH-HM. The Met, Cys, and Gly levels in the C-HM were higher than the soybean meal. In situ ruminal degradation data showed that the C-HM had lower dry matter and crude protein degradation than the other treatments, whereas the E-HM or NaOH-HM was more susceptible to ruminal degradation. These results indicate that the C-HM has higher levels of crude protein, amino acids, and resistance to ruminal degradation, whereas the E-HM or NaOH-HM was more digestible to ruminal microorganisms.
An application of the propagator matrix of dynamic ray tracing: The focusing and defocusing of body waves by three-dimensional velocity structure in the source region

Summary. Since the dynamic ray tracing system can be written in the linear form dW/ds=SW, it permits the definition of fundamental matrix and propagator matrix solutions. The propagator matrix can be exploited to connect complex 3-D and 2-D regions to 1-D regions of a model. For example, if the three-dimensional variations of a model are confined only to the portion of the ray path between O’ and Oo, numerical integration of the linear system need only be performed between O’ and Oo to construct the propagator π(Oo, O'). Along the segment of the ray path between O’ and Os, traversing a 1-D or homogeneous portion of the model, analytic solutions exist for π(O', Os). Thus π(Oo, Os) can be simply obtained by multiplying the analytic and numerically obtained π matrices. With this procedure, quantities are calculated that are needed for the synthesis of teleseismic P waves by superposition of Gaussian beams. These synthetics are used to investigate the focusing and defocusing of teleseismic P-waves by 3-D structure in the vicinity of the source. A source region, having a fluctuation in velocity of 4 per cent over a characteristic scale length of 50 to 100 km, produces factors of two fluctuations in amplitude and several tenths of a second in travel time at teleseismic range in experiments in which either source location is varied at constant azimuth or in which azimuth is varied at constant source location. A model having a maximum fluctuation as small as 0.8 per cent is capable of producing caustics and multipaths at teleseismic range, depending on its distribution of scale lengths and its ratio of vertical with respect to horizontal scale length. The multipaths and caustics of such a model, however, occur over too small an area and are too closely spaced in arrival time to be resolved with seismograph systems in the 0.01 to 4 Hz band.
Statistical analysis of empirical magnitude and phase response estimates with applications to power system identification

This paper discusses the analysis of power system probing data with a nonparametric system identification method called Empirical Transfer Function Estimate (ETFE). ETFE is the ratio of the Discrete Fourier Transforms (DFT) of the output and the input signals. Expressions for statistical moments of the magnitude and phase response estimates for ETFE are derived and estimated. A simple method for estimation of noise spectrum is also discussed. The paper discusses the application of these results to low level probing tests of the western North American power system (wNAPS). The results from simulation data and measured PMU data are reported.
Fiber laser front ends for high-energy short pulse lasers

We are developing an all fiber laser system optimized for providing input pulses for short pulse (1-10ps), high energy (~1kJ) glass laser systems. Fiber lasers are ideal solutions for these systems as they are highly reliable and once constructed they can be operated with ease. Furthermore, they offer an additional benefit of significantly reduced footprint. In most labs containing equivalent bulk laser systems, the system occupies two 4’x8’ tables and would consist of 10's if not a 100 of optics which would need to be individually aligned and maintained. The design requirements for this application are very different those commonly seen in fiber lasers. High energy lasers often have low repetition rates (as low as one pulse every few hours) and thus high average power and efficiency are of little practical value. What is of high value is pulse energy, high signal to noise ratio (expressed as pre-pulse contrast), good beam quality, consistent output parameters and timing. Our system focuses on maximizing these parameters sometimes at the expense of efficient operation or average power. Our prototype system consists of a mode-locked fiber laser, a compressed pulse fiber amplifier, a “pulse cleaner”, a chirped fiber Bragg grating, pulse selectors, a transport fiber system and a large flattened mode fiber amplifier. In our talk we will review the system in detail and present theoretical and experimental studies of critical components. We will also present experimental results from the integrated system.
The 3′–5′ exonuclease of human DNA polymerase δ (pol δ) is regulated by pol δ accessory factors and deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates

Human DNA polymerase delta (pol delta) is required for the synthesis of leading strand of simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA replication in vitro. Pol delta requires the accessory factors, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), activator 1 (A1; also known as replication factor C [RF-C]), human single-stranded DNA binding protein (HSSB; also known as replication protein A [RP-A]) for the elongation of primed template DNA. Since pol delta has an associated 3'-5' exonuclease activity, the effect of pol delta accessory factors on the exonuclease activity was examined. The 3'-5' exonuclease activity was stimulated 8-10 fold by the addition of HSSB, and this stimulatory effect was preferential to HSSB since other SSBs from E. coli, T4 or adenovirus, had a little or no effect. The stimulatory effect of HSSB was markedly inhibited by the combined action of A1 and PCNA. Furthermore, the addition of deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) completely abolished the effect of HSSB on the 3'-5' exonuclease activity even in the absence of pol delta accessory factors. These results suggest that accessory factors and dNTPs regulate both the polymerase and the 3'-5' exonuclease activities.