cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Calculation of Moment of Inertia for Turbine Rotors Based on FCB Tests

The moment of inertia of turbine rotor is mainly measured and obtained from the computing of load-rejection tests.Now that the fast cut back(FCB) tests are carried out in many power plants which can also be applied for the assessment of the dynamic characteristics of steam turbine control systems,most of the plants would like to do the FCB test only while the objective of load-rejection tests reached as well due to the harmful effect of destructive FCB tests or regular load-rejection tests on the steam turbine rotors.So far,there has been no method proposed for calculating the rotor moment of inertia by FCB tests.In this paper,the regular method to calculate the moment of inertia based on load-rejection tests is explained and then the new method based on FCB tests is proposed.The comparisons between the two methods are conducted afterwards,which indicates that the difference between the two computing results is as low as 1.29%.In conclusion,the method based on FCB tests is qualified substitute for load-rejection tests.
NMR Experiments on Wild-Type and Mutant Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor Kinases Reveal Conformational Dynamics Associated with Enzyme Activation

The kinase domain of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) is responsible for phosphorylating intracellular substrates upon hormone binding to the extracellular ectodomain. The resulting signal cascade is essential for several biological processes in human biology, including development and metabolism. Mutations in the kinase domain of RTKs can enhance the intrinsic activity of the enzyme and over-stimulate the resulting signal cascade leading to a wide variety of cancers and growth defects. Although a plethora of kinase crystal structures have been resolved, the dynamics associated with pathogenic mutations remain poorly understood. Here we analyzed the dynamics of pathogenic mutations within the fibroblast growth factor receptor kinase domain (FGFRK) as probed using Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) relaxation dispersion experiments. Previous work showed that mutations at a conserved lysine residue in the activation loop bypassed the need for activation loop phosphorylation by shifting the population of the kinase from an autoinhibited state toward an active conformation. Interestingly, the degree of active state directly correlated with the kinase activity both in vitro and in human disease. The most prominent gain-of-function mutant was a lysine to glutamic acid substitution, which was found to stabilize the active conformation of the activation loop without the need for tyrosine phosphorylation (i.e., normal activation). The observed dispersions acquired on these pathogenic kinases using the CPMG experiments reveal conformational dynamics of the kinase in switching between active and inactive conformations and thus enabled us along with kinase crystal structures to identify an allosteric pathway spanning from the activation loop to the kinase hinge. These data agree well with the structural differences observed between kinases harboring different activating mutations, thus explaining how intrinsically activating mutations propagate their effects through the kinase.
THE SITING PROBLEM

In future, hundreds of corporations, utilities, and government agencies will construct a large number of major energy facilities. These include power plants, dams, refineries, import terminals, storage facilities, waste disposal facilities, mines, pipelines, and transmission lines, all of which are strategic to the nation and critical to our way of life. Each case poses a complex siting problem worthy of careful examination. Appropriate sites must be found for these facilities. This chapter discusses the siting problem by identifying features that it is not meant to include. It highlights the target audience or groups for which the present analysis of siting problems is done. The decision makers are the individuals or groups whose siting problem is being analyzed in the chapter. It also discusses the five general concerns that delineate the categories of impact relevant to evaluating energy sites. They provide a basis for identifying the objectives of any particular siting study. The chapter also discusses the features that create the complexity of siting problems. A formal analysis of such problems is necessary to make responsible decisions and justify them when required or desirable.
The Control Paradox, Trust, and Leadership

Any fool can make a rule. And every fool will mind it . – Henry David Thoreau (Thoreau and Shepard, 1927, 327) RULES FOR FOOLS On July 10, 2014, the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services held hearings on H.R. 5018, the Federal Reserve Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014, a bill sponsored by Representative Bill Huizenga (R-MI) to amend the Federal Reserve Act to establish requirements for policy rules and blackout periods of the Federal Open Market Committee, to establish requirements for certain activities of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and for other purposes . Dr. John B. Taylor, noted Stanford economist, was the first witness – and for good reason. Taylor was famous for his advocacy of the so-called Taylor rule, which holds that central banks should tune the nominal interest rate according to a reaction function (a rule expressed as an equation) that depends on important economic conditions such as inflation. In a series of papers starting in 1993, Taylor had argued that a policy rule could be devised that allowed the federal funds rate to move as inflation increased above its target or real GDP increased above its trend. He noted, “Although there is not consensus about the size of the coefficients of policy rules, it is useful to see what a representative policy rule might look like” (J. B. Taylor, 1993, 202). He went on to show that a simple rule was a nice approximation of actual policy performance. Since then, economists have done more than treat this rule as an academic exercise, writing hundreds of papers that have sought to elaborate what should go into such a rule, the coefficients or weights for those items, the general value of such a rule, and other important matters. Of course, some economists viewed divining such a descriptive model of the Fed's actions as a way to predict its actions in the future, and so to take market positions that account for that foresight. But for many, taking market positions was not the end-all of the research agenda Taylor started when he tried to describe this “representative rule.” For a number of academic economists and many political interests, the goal was a normative model of Fed behavior – a policy rule that would determine the actions the Fed should take (given the data) that would optimize national economic performance.
The phylogeny of marine sculpins of the genus Icelinus with comments on the evolution and biogeography of the Pseudoblenninae.

The marine sculpins (Psychrolutidae) are a diverse percomorph family with notable morphological variation and repeated biogeographic patterns within the group. The psychrolutid genus Icelinus is unusual because it is one of the few near-shore members of the family that exhibits a trans-Pacific distribution; it has two species in the western Pacific and nine species in the eastern Pacific. Furthermore, the placement of Icelinus has been more inconsistent across molecular and morphological analyses than many genera. Previous phylogenetic studies have hypothesized sister taxa to Icelinus ranging from Antipodocottus, Chitonotus , and Stlengis, to a mixed clade of psychrolutids. The varied placements across these studies may be due to limited taxon sampling within Icelinus , and previous authors have never included western Pacific species of Icelinus in their analyses. This study tests the monophyly of the genus, examines the relationships between eastern and western Pacific species of Icelinus, and explores the relationships of Icelinus within Psychrolutidae. Our results show that the traditional grouping of Icelinus is polyphyletic . The eastern Pacific species of Icelinus are restricted to a clade sister to Furcina and Antipodocottus . The western Pacific species of Icelinus are recovered sister to the genus Stlengis . Given the polyphyly of Icelinus , the sister-group pairing of western Pacific species of Icelinus and Stlengis , as well as morphological similarity between the two groups, we recommend treating the western Pacific species of Icelinus as members of the genus Stlengis. With this taxonomic change, species in the genus Icelinus are now limited to the eastern Pacific, ranging from Alaska to Mexico.
Neuropsychological functioning in preschool-aged children undergoing evaluation for organ transplant.

AbstractObjective: The purpose of this study was to review the current literature on neuropsychological functioning in two groups of children requiring organ transplants (liver or heart) and present recent clinical data collected through the liver and cardiac transplantation programs at a large pediatric academic medical center. Method: Data included in this study came from 18 patients who completed evaluations for heart transplant (n = 8) or liver transplant (n = 10) between the ages of 2 and 6 years (inclusive). Measures examining neurocognitive, emotional-behavioral, and adaptive functioning were collected as part of standard pre-transplant clinical neuropsychological evaluations. Within each organ group, mean scores were calculated and compared with normative population mean scores using one sample t-tests. In addition, non-parametric binomial tests were calculated to examine whether the proportion of individuals falling more than one standard deviation below the population mean was significantly grea...
Assessment practices for students with learning disabilities in Lebanese private schools: A national survey

Education is intended to provide diverse students with the skills and competencies needed to enhance their lives. This includes assessment practices that enable teachers to identify students’ curre...
Immersion in altered experience: An investigation of the relationship between absorption and psychopathology

Understanding alterations in perceptual experiences as a component of the basic symptom structure of psychosis may improve early detection and the identification of subtle shifts that can precede symptom onset or exacerbation. We explored the phenomenological construct of absorption and psychotic experiences in both clinical (bipolar psychosis and schizophrenia spectrum) and non-clinical participants. Participants with psychosis endorsed significantly higher absorption compared to the non-clinical group. Absorption was positively correlated with all types of hallucinations and multiple types of delusions. The analysis yielded two distinct cluster groups that demarcated a distinction along the continuum of self-disturbance: on characterized by attenuated ego boundaries and the other stable ego boundaries. The study suggests that absorption is a potentially important but under-researched component of psychosis that overlaps with, but is not identical to the more heavily theorized constructs of aberrant salience and hyperreflexivity.
Rethinking the masters of comparative law

Part 1 Founding moments: Montesquieu - the specter of despotism and the origins of comparative law, Robert Launay Max Weber and the uncertainties of categorical comparative law, Ahmed A. White. Part 2 The critique of classicism: rethinking Hermann Kantorowicz - free law, American legal realism and the legacy of anti-formalism, Vivian Grosswald Curran encountering amateurism - John Henry Wigmore and the uses of American formalism, Annelise Riles. Part 3 The science of modernization: Nobushige Hozumi - a skillful transplanter of Western legal thought into Japanese soil, Hitoshi Aoki Sanhuri, and the historical origins of comparative law in the Arab world (or how sometimes losing your "Asalah" can be good for you), Amr Shalakany sculpting the agenda of comparative law - Ernst Rabel and the fa?ade of language, David J. Gerber. Part 4 Mid-century pragmatism: Rene David - at the head of the legal family, Jorge L. Esquirol the comparative jurisprudence of Schlesinger and Sacco - a study in legal influence, Ugo Mattei.
Aliphatic flexible spacer length controls photomechanical response in compact, ordered liquid crystalline polymer networks

Abstract The aliphatic spacer length connected to the rigid mesogenic cores is shown to control the structural organization and mechanical actuation in response to light-stimulus in azobenzene-functionalized liquid crystalline polymers networks. The spacer lengths in the mesogenic host (non-photochromic) and in the photo-active azobenzene-functionalized cross linker are parametrically varied to create monodomain liquid crystalline samples. A suite of thermomechanical, photomechanical and structural characterization is used to characterize the binary co-polymers. The photomechanical responses are compared by calculating a figure-of-merit – Photocompliance (Cp). This parameter, Cp, which characterizes the incremental strain generated in response to unit intensity of irradiation (W/cm2), is found to correlate strongly with the Sxray order parameter and the D-spacings. We show that compact (smaller D) and higher ordering of the mesogens that result in copolymers with longer flexible spacers manifest greater photomechanical activity.
Functional Assessment of Problem Behavior: Dispelling Myths, Overcoming Implementation Obstacles, and Developing New Lore

Hundreds of studies have shown the efficacy of treatments for problem behavior based on an understanding of its function. Assertions regarding the legitimacy of different types of functional assessment vary substantially across published articles, and best practices regarding the functional assessment process are sometimes difficult to cull from the empirical literature or from published discussions of the behavioral assessment process. A number of myths regarding the functional assessment process, which appear to be pervasive within different behavior-analytic research and practice communities, will be reviewed in the context of an attempt to develop new lore regarding the functional assessment process. Frequently described obstacles to implementing a critical aspect of the functional assessment process, the functional analysis, will be reviewed in the context of solutions for overcoming them. Finally, the aspects of the functional assessment process that should be exported to others versus those features that should remain the sole technological property of behavior analysts will be discussed.
White Supremacist Activity and Crossburnings in North Carolina

This study examines whether the incidence of crossburnings rises in areas where white supremacist organizations, such as the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, have held rallies or demonstrations. Using data from two public interest groups, Klanwatch and North Carolinians Against Racial and Religious Violence, we track crossburnings and white supremacist activities in 100 North Carolina counties annually for the period 1987–1993. Various statistical models, including an event count analysis that allows each county to have its own level or reporting bias, indicate that the base rate at which crossburnings occur rises sharply in counties where a demonstration has taken place. Since none of the suspected crossburners has apparent ties to white supremacist groups, it may be that white supremacist rallies encourage fellow travelers to engage in this form of racial intimidation.
A systematic meta-analysis of oxygen-to-glucose and oxygen-to-carbohydrate ratios in the resting human brain.

Glucose is the predominant fuel supporting brain function. If the brain’s entire glucose supply is consumed by oxidative phosphorylation, the molar ratio of oxygen to glucose consumption (OGI) is equal to 6. An OGI of less than 6 is evidence of non-oxidative glucose metabolism. Several studies have reported that the OGI in the resting human brain is less than 6.0, but the exact value remains uncertain. Additionally, it is not clear if lactate efflux accounts for the difference between OGI and its theoretical value of 6.0. To address these issues, we conducted a meta-analysis of OGI and oxygen-to-carbohydrate (glucose + 0.5*lactate; OCI) ratios in healthy young and middle-aged adults. We identified 47 studies that measured at least one of these ratios using arterio-venous differences of glucose, lactate, and oxygen. Using a Bayesian random effects model, the population median OGI was 5.46 95% credible interval (5.25–5.66), indicating that approximately 9% of the brain’s glucose metabolism is non-oxidative. The population median OCI was 5.60 (5.36–5.84), suggesting that lactate efflux does not account for all non-oxidative glucose consumption. Significant heterogeneity across studies was observed, which implies that further work is needed to characterize how demographic and methodological factors influence measured cerebral metabolic ratios.
Marriage, Divorce, and Domicile

After Obergefell, issues involving marriage, divorce, and domicile are receiving less attention. Nonetheless, the role played by the domicile in the alteration of marital status continues to be misunderstood. This article discusses the traditional approach to marriage and divorce recognition, as well as the limitations imposed by federal law on those recognition practices, concluding that state limitations are neither as weak nor as strong as many believe—those limitations balance the interests of individuals and domiciles, and privilege the law of the parties’ domicile at the time of the change in marital status over the laws of other states.
A Gantzer muscle arising from the brachialis and flexor digitorum superficialis: embryological considerations and implications for median nerve entrapment

Gantzer muscles are variant muscles in the anterior forearm inserting into the flexor pollicis longus or, less often, the flexor digitorum profundus. The presence of Gantzer muscles can cause a compressive neuropathy affecting the anterior interosseous nerve (Kiloh-Nevin syndrome). These muscles must also be considered when anterior forearm fasciotomies are performed for the management of acute compartment syndrome. In this case report, a novel Gantzer muscle originated from the flexor digitorum superficialis as well as the investing fascia of the brachialis muscle; the latter site is a novel proximal attachment not previously reported. In addition, the Gantzer muscle possessed rare characteristics because it (1) possessed a split tendinous distal insertion into both the flexor pollicis longus and flexor digitorum profundus, (2) exhibited a triangular morphology, and (3) was innervated by the median nerve. Most importantly, the dual origin of this Gantzer muscle formed a tunnel containing branches of the median nerve; therefore, this report documents a unique anatomical scenario in which the Gantzer muscle may compress and cause entrapment of aspects of the median nerve.
Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale in Oncology With Examination of Invariance Between Younger and Older Patients

Abstract. Accurate measurement of depressive symptoms in the cancer setting is critical for ensuring optimal quality of life and patient outcomes. The present study compared the one-factor, correla...
Transgender Youth's Disclosure of Gender Identity to Providers Outside of Specialized Gender Centers.

Abstract Purpose Transgender youth face significant health disparities and multiple barriers to receiving quality health care. Gender identity disclosure to health care providers (HCPs) is an important step in creating affirming relationships for transgender youth. The objectives of this study were to (1) determine the prevalence of voluntary disclosure and intentional avoidance to HCPs outside of gender clinics, (2) identify factors associated with voluntary disclosure and intentional avoidance, and (3) elucidate strategies to increase comfort with disclosure. Methods A cross-sectional survey was administered to transgender youth aged 12–26 years. Bivariate analyses were conducted using χ2 or Fisher's exact tests. Two logistic regression models for each outcome variable were used to examine factors associated with voluntary disclosure and intentional avoidance. Results Two thirds (65%) of youth (N = 153) identified as transmasculine, and 57% were under 18 years. Three-quarters (78%) had voluntarily disclosed their gender identity to an HCP outside of gender clinic, whereas 46% had intentionally avoided disclosure. Odds ratios (ORs) of ever having disclosed were lower for participants ≥18 years (OR = .33; 95% confidence interval [CI]: .11–.98), those out to fewer people (OR = .12; 95% CI: .02–.81) and out for Conclusion A majority of transgender youth reported having voluntarily disclosed their gender identity to an HCP outside of gender clinic, but almost half reported having intentionally avoided disclosure when they felt it was important. Parental support may play a protective role in mitigating avoidance.
Comparing breast cancer treatments using automatically detected surrogate and clinically relevant outcomes entities from text.

Abstract Population, intervention, comparison and outcome (PICO) facets of clinical studies are required both for physicians in a clinical setting and for reviewers as they compare the effectiveness of different treatment strategies. Automated methods developed for the first three of these facets identify entities, but outcome detection has been limited to identifying the entire sentence. We frame outcome detection as a noun phrase prediction task and use semi-supervised learning to detect new outcomes (aka endpoints) from the method section of 88 K MEDLINE abstracts. A manual analysis showed that 96.7% of all outcomes can be captured using a noun phrase representation. With respect to the machine learning classifiers, the Support Vector Machine produced higher precision, F1-score, and accuracy than the General Linear Model when evaluated with respect to the initial gold standard of survivorship seed terms and a manual gold standard that considered all outcomes. However, the best model does not employ machine learning, but rather leverages list structure and resulted in 90.14 precision, 60.69 recall, 75.41 F1-score, and 92.60 accuracy with respect to the manual gold standard of all outcomes. Finally we developed a silver standard with a precision of 89.28 and recall of 86.77 compared to the manual gold standard and used the silver standard to identify all outcomes reported for five breast cancer treatments. The increased precision afforded by this approach reveals that in contrast to chemotherapy and targeted therapy, the surrogate outcome disease free survival (DFS) is reported more frequently than the clinically relevant outcome overall survival (OS) for hormone therapies, which is consistent with findings that DFS translates into firm OS improvements in a hormone therapy setting.
WatchTower: Fast, Secure Mobile Page Loads Using Remote Dependency Resolution

Remote dependency resolution (RDR) is a proxy-driven scheme for reducing mobile page load times; a proxy loads a requested page using a local browser, fetching the page's resources over fast proxy-origin links instead of a client's slow last-mile links. In this paper, we describe two fundamental challenges to efficient RDR proxying: the increasing popularity of encrypted HTTPS content, and the fact that, due to time-dependent network conditions and page properties, RDR proxying can actually increase load times. We solve these problems by introducing a new, secure proxying scheme for HTTPS traffic, and by implementing WatchTower, a selective proxying system that uses dynamic models of network conditions and page structures to only enable RDR when it is predicted to help. WatchTower loads pages 21.2%-41.3% faster than state-of-the-art proxies and server push systems, while preserving end-to-end HTTPS security.
Total Charged-Particle Emission Cross Sections for 9.4- and 11-MeV Neutron Bombardment of Type 316 Stainless Steel

Total cross sections for the emission of protons and alpha particles have been measured for 9.4- and 11-MeV neutrons incident on a 4.11 mg/cmS thick Type 316 stainless steel target. A newly developed charged-particle time-of-flight spectrometer was used to obtain (n, xp) and (n, x ) cross-section data. The measured gas-production cross sections have been compared with the values predicted on the basis of measured or calculated cross sections of the constituent materials.
Arousal from Anesthesia: Failure to Emerge

Prolonged emergence after a neurological procedure is a very disconcerting problem for both the surgeon and anesthesiologist. Residual anesthesia may give the impression of a neurologic deficit or prevent the diagnosis of a developing intracranial problem. Not only will the patient be at a higher risk of airway obstruction, hypoxemia, hypercarbia, and aspiration, but prolonged emergence will also affect expenditure of medical resources, lengthening the time the patient spends in the PACU and increasing staff costs. It may also lead to expensive neuroradiologic testing such as emergency computerized tomography or cerebral angiogram that would otherwise not be done. Failure to emerge from anesthesia after a neurological procedure may be multifactorial in nature and may be affected by the type of anesthesia used, the area of the brain traumatized by surgery, the size of the tumor, and medications administered to the patient prior to surgery. Though no universally accepted criteria for prolonged emergence exist, generally difficulty with arousal beyond 15 min after cessation of anesthesia is considered prolonged. Certain conditions may predispose to slow awakening. These include a depressed preoperative mental state such as in patients with cerebral palsy or previous strokes. Psychiatric disease, extensive surgical dissection, occurrence of brainstem ischemia, postoperative pneumocephalus, seizure, and frontal lobe pathology all could prolong emergence after intracranial surgery.
Induction of an anti-angiogenesis factor, Thrombospondin 1 (TSP-1), by a novel histone deacetylase inhibitor, MGCD0103, in human cancer cells in vitro and in vivo

739 MGCD0103 is a novel non-hydroxamate histone deacetylase inhibitor which specifically targets HDAC1, 2, 3 and 11. Previously, we have shown that MGCD0103 has broad-spectrum antitumor activities in preclinical animal models and its preliminary clinical activity has been shown in multiple Phase II trials in patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin’s lymphoma or Non-Hodgkin lymphoma , high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myologenous leukemia (AML). To further understand the mechanism of action of MGCD0103, we investigated the anti-angiogenesis activity and specific components of the angiogenesis pathways that were modulated by MGCD0103. We found MGCD0103 significantly inhibits tubule growth of cultured human endothelial cells in a dose-dependent manner in vitro. In addition, MGCD0103 can induce transcription of an anti-angiogenesis factor, thrombospondin 1 (TSP-1), in human cancer cells in vitro independent of their tissue origins. Synergistic induction of TSP-1 was observed in human cancer cells treated with MGCD0103 in combination of a DNA demethylation agent in vitro. Microarray analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells or bone marrow mononuclear cells from five AML patients, who were treated with MGCD0103 either alone or in combination with Vidaza, revealed that the upregulation of expression of TSP-1 in patients with clinical response (n=2) but not in those without response (n=3). Using real time RT-PCR analysis on more clinical samples from patients treated with a combination of Vidaza and MGCD0103 , we further observed induction of TSP-1 transcription in the AML patients with clinical response but not in those without response. The utility of TSP-1 expression as a potential biomarker of MGCD0103 in clinical trials will be discussed.
The Impact of the Support, Educate, Empower Personalized Glaucoma Coaching Pilot Study on Glaucoma Medication Adherence.

Purpose To assess the efficacy of the Support, Educate, Empower (SEE) glaucoma coaching program on medication adherence among glaucoma patients with low adherence. Design Uncontrolled intervention study with a pre–post design. Participants Glaucoma patients ≥ age 40, taking ≥1 medication, who self-reported poor adherence were recruited from the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. Adherence was monitored electronically for a 3-month baseline period; participants with median adherence of ≤80% were enrolled in the SEE program. Methods Participants' adherence was monitored electronically (AdhereTech, New York, NY) during the 7-month program. Adherence was calculated as the percentage of doses taken on time of those prescribed. The SEE program included (1) automated medication reminders, (2) 3 in-person counseling sessions with a glaucoma coach who had training in motivational interviewing (MI), and (3) 5 phone calls with the same coach for between-session support. The coach used a web-based tool to generate an education plan tailored to the patient's glaucoma diagnosis, test results, and ophthalmologist's recommendations (www.glaucomaeyeguide.org). The tool guided an MI-based conversation between coach and patient to identify barriers to adherence and possible solutions. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize baseline patient characteristics, and differences between those who did and did not complete the SEE program were tested with 2-sample t tests, chi-square tests, and Fisher exact tests. Adherence was compared before and after the SEE program with paired t tests. Main Outcome Measure Change in electronically monitored medication adherence. Results A total of 48 participants were enrolled. The participants were 54% male, 46% white, and on average 64 years of age (standard deviation [SD], 10.8 years), with an average worse-eye mean deviation (MD) of –7.9 dB (SD, 8.8 dB). Those completing the SEE program (n = 39) did not differ significantly from those who dropped out (n = 9) on gender, race, age, MD, or baseline adherence. Medication adherence improved from 59.9% at baseline to 81.3% (P 80% on completing the SEE program. Conclusions The SEE program participants showed clinically meaningful, statistically significant improvement in glaucoma medication adherence.
Laser shocking of nanocrystalline materials: Revealing the extreme pressure effects on the microstructural stability and deformation response

We present the first results of laser-driven flyer plate experiments on a nanocrystalline copper-tantalum (NC–Cu–Ta) alloy. A pulsed Nd:YAG laser (1.2 J/pulse, 10 ns) is used to accelerate an Al foil disk (25 μm × ∼800 μm) off a glass substrate at velocities of 0.8 and 2.4 km/s through a small air gap and impact the NC–Cu–Ta target. The flyer velocities were determined from a high-speed video and extensive post-impact analyses were conducted using advanced electron microscopy revealing the formation of a band structure leading to a non-trivial upper bound for the breakdown of an extremely stable NC-microstructure and physical-properties.
A Neonatal Imaging Model of Gram-Negative Bacterial Sepsis

Neonates are at an increased risk of bacterial sepsis due to the unique immune profile they display in the first months of life. We have established a protocol for studying the pathogenesis of E. coli O1:K1:H7, a serotype responsible for high mortality rates in neonates. Our method utilizes intravital imaging of neonatal pups at different time points during the progression of infection. This imaging, paralleled by measurement of bacteria in the blood, inflammatory profiling, and tissue histopathology, signifies a rigorous approach to understanding infection dynamics during sepsis. In the current report, we model two infectious inoculums for comparison of bacterial burdens and severity of disease. We find that subscapular infection leads to disseminated infection by 10 h post-infection. By 24 h, infection of luminescent E. coli was abundant in the blood, lungs, and other peripheral tissues. Expression of inflammatory cytokines in the lungs is significant at 24 h, and this is followed by cellular infiltration and evidence of tissue damage that increases with infectious dose. Intravital imaging does have some limitations. This includes a luminescent signal threshold and some complications that can arise with neonates during anesthesia. Despite some limitations, we find that our infection model offers an insight for understanding longitudinal infection dynamics during neonatal murine sepsis, that has not been thoroughly examined to date. We expect this model can also be adapted to study other critical bacterial infections during early life.
Abstract 2626: Exosomes derived from the BT-20 human breast cancer cell line express E-selectin ligands

Exosomes are small extracellular vesicles (40-150 nm in diameter) secreted by cells and initially proposed as a mechanism to eliminate cellular waste. More recently, exosomes have been reported to participate in cancer metastasis because of their ability to mediate local and distant cell-to-cell communication. Furthermore, exosomes create cancer-favored microenvironments, potentially enhancing cancer metastasis. However, it is unknown whether exosomes interact with E-selectin, an adhesion molecule expressed by vascular endothelium and shown to be involved in metastasis. Our lab has previously shown that BT-20 human breast cancer cells adhesively interact with endothelial E-selectin via several E-selectin ligands such as sialofucosylated CD44 variants, Mac-2BP, and gangliosides. Therefore, we hypothesize that exosomes secreted by the BT-20 human breast cancer cell line interact with E-selectin. To investigate this hypothesis, exosomes were generated by culturing cells in serum-depleted media and isolated by a series of ultracentrifugation steps. Molecular size analysis using dynamic light scattering revealed that the size range of the isolated particles was similar to the expected size of exosomes. To detect CD9 (an exosome marker) and E-selectin ligands, both breast cancer whole cell lysate and exosome lysate were tested by Western blot. The higher expression of CD9 in isolated particles than the whole cell lysates confirmed that the isolated particles were exosomes. When Western blots were labeled with recombinant E-selectin/Fc chimera with Ca2+, bands were detected at approximately 130 kDa, indicating the presence of E-selectin ligands. As a negative control, the divalent cation chelator EDTA was added to the primary labeling incubation. Bands were not detected in these negative control experiments, indicating no E-selectin interactions in the absence of Ca2+. Human IgG (hIgG) was also used as a negative control in Western blots and showed no signal with exosome lysates, as expected. In comparison, experiments were also performed with Hs578T breast cancer cells, a cell line that our lab has shown does not express E-selectin ligands. Exosomes isolated from Hs578T cells did not express E-selectin ligands, consistent with whole cells. Altogether, these results suggest that BT-20 human breast cancer exosomes express E-selectin ligands. Future work will focus on identifying and characterizing the exosome E-selectin ligands, as well as investigating other cancer cells that express E-selectin ligands. Ultimately, understanding the interaction between exosomes and E-selectin can lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for cancer metastasis. Citation Format: Yinan Huang, Christian A. Showalter, Monica M. Burdick. Exosomes derived from the BT-20 human breast cancer cell line express E-selectin ligands [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 2626.
The Mediterranean diet between traditional foods and human health through culinary examples

Abstract It is well known that the adoption of the Mediterranean diet (MD) can reduce the risk of some diseases, such as cardiovascular ones, thanks to its distinctive nutrients intake that includes carbohydrates at low glycemic index, large amount of dietary fiber, and unsaturated fatty acids, as well as antioxidants and antiinflammatory compounds. At the same time, the MD can be considered much more than a simple “diet” since it can be considered as a dynamic lifestyle with all its diversity, which translates in “several” diets, just as there are several traditional cuisines in the Mediterranean Basin. The MD also represents an important legacy that should be safeguarded not only for its health effects but also for the importance as a cultural heritage. This chapter aims to describe history and background of the MD, its nutritional traits and effects on human health as well as its link with sustainability and agrobiodiversity through culinary examples of the several Mediterranean regions. By combining agrobiodiversity and innovations in both gastronomy and agri-food sector, it can aspire to a “next generation” of food products that promote the MD by linking sustainability and high-quality production. Finally, it is possible to hypothesize a “culinary fusion” of both traditions and ingredients coming from different Mediterranean regions.
Development of an Algorithm for the Automation of the Modelling Process of Power Converters

By the time goes by, the energetic efficiency gains more and more importance inside the strategic plans of companies that are focused on energy storage and conversion. For this reason, these same companies seek the necessity of developing algorithms capable of modelling and simulating the behaviour of power converters. Indeed, by modelling, it is possible to foresee converters' response to different input signals and comprehend better their behaviour without building a prototype. However, the process of obtaining the mathematical representation of a converter is high time consuming and, in case several topologies need to be compared, it can result in a laborious procedure. For this reason, this project has focused on the idea of developing a tool that could automatize the modelling process of a given converter. The presented algorithm is based on GSSAM and, in order to see its flexibility and precision, the results are compared to a switched model, validating the algorithm.
Can scavengers save zebras from anthrax? A modeling study.

Abstract Namibia’s Etosha National Park (ENP) is home to many different animals such as lions, jackals, hyenas, zebras, elephants, etc. Each year, grazing animals are infected and die from anthrax caused by the bacteria Bacillus anthracis. This increases the number of carcasses in the park, which serve as food for scavengers such as jackals. This study investigates the interplay between anthrax transmission in zebras and the scavenging of zebra carcasses in ENP, using a deterministic mathematical model to describe the population dynamics. We strive to answer the following research questions: Under what conditions can the presence of scavengers control anthrax outbreaks in zebra populations? Does carcass production by anthrax help or hurt scavengers in the long term? Standard qualitative analysis techniques distinguished outcomes (stable equilibria) using reproduction numbers as threshold quantities. We found that, when scavengers feed on anthrax-laden carcasses, the scavengers help the zebras, by eliminating potential infection zones for the zebras. In this way they reduce anthrax’s spread by orders of magnitude. We also identify conditions under which the presence of anthrax benefits the scavengers, in terms of death-to-birth ratios for zebras, scavengers and anthrax.
Epidemiological characteristics of pneumoconiosis in Gansu Province from 2010 to 2018

Objective: The epidemiological characteristics of occupational pneumoconiosis in Gansu Province from 2010 to 2018 were analyzed to provide a theoretical basis for the development of prevention and control strategies for pneumoconiosis in Gansu Province. Methods: In March 2019, the data of newly diagnosed occupational pneumoconiosis in 2010-2018 and the data of occupational pneumoconiosis as of December 31, 2018 in Gansu Province were collected by the Occupational Disease and Occupational Health Information Monitoring System. The stage, type of disease, time, enterprise information of newly diagnosed pneumoconiosis and the region, type of disease, enterprise information of existed pneumoconiosis were analyzed. Results: From 2010 to 2018, a total of 1269 new cases of occupational pneumoconiosis were reported in Gansu Province, including 818 cases (64.46%) of stage I pneumoconiosis, 284 cases (22.38%) of stage II pneumoconiosis, 167 cases (13.16%) of stage III pneumoconiosis. Silicosis, coal worker's pneumoconiosis and cement pneumoconiosis ranks the top 3, accounting for 55.71% (707/1269) , 37.67% (478/1269) and 3.78% (48/1269) of the total number, respectively. The new cases of stage III pneumoconiosis were mainly distributed in private economy (58.09%, 79/136) and small-sized (59.88%, 97/162) enterprises. As of December 31, 2018, Gansu Province had reported a total of 12211 cases of occupational pneumoconiosis, of which 58.16% (7102/12211) were coal worker's pneumoconiosis and 28.15% (3438/12211) were silicosis. Mainly distributed in Baiyin city (21.63%, 2641/12211) , Lanzhou city (17.79%, 2172/12211) and Wuwei city (13.73%, 1676/12211) . The existed cases of pneumoconiosis are mainly distributed in state-owned economy (76.95%, 9396/12211) and large-sized (54.23%, 6622/12211) enterprises. Conclusion: Silicosis and coal worker's pneumoconiosis are the main type of pneumoconiosis in Gansu Province. And the number of silicosis reported is on the rise, which should be taken seriously. Pneumoconiosis in Gansu Province is mainly distributed in state-owned economy and large-sized enterprises. However, pneumoconiosis patients in private economy and small-sized enterprise is generally serious, so it should be the focus of supervision.
Esophageal Gland RNA-Seq Resource of a Virulent and Avirulent Population of the Soybean Cyst Nematode Heterodera glycines.

The soybean cyst nematode Heterodera glycines is the most economically devastating pathogen of soybean in the United States and threatens to become even more damaging through the selection of virul...
Can near-infrared autofluorescence imaging be used for intraoperative confirmation of parathyroid tissue?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Whether ex vivo autofluorescence (AF) imaging findings could be quantified to intraoperatively differentiate parathyroid tissue has not been reported. Our aim was to assess the ability of AF imaging to confirm parathyroid tissue during thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy procedures. METHODS This was a retrospective Institutional Review Board-approved study. AF signals of specimens imaged ex vivo before submission to pathology during thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy procedures were quantified. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, optimal values for sensitivity/specificity to differentiate parathyroid tissue were calculated. RESULTS 166 parathyroid and 217 non-parathyroid specimens were analyzed. With surgical drapes as background, the optimal normalized AF intensity threshold to predict parathyroid tissue on ROC curve analysis was 1.72 (86.1% sensitivity, 84.8% specificity, and area under the curve [AUC]: 0.919). The cutoff for 97% sensitivity was 1.31 and for 99.1% specificity was 3.16. With Telfa as background, the optimal threshold to predict parathyroid tissue was 1.46 (88.4% sensitivity, 76.8% specificity, and AUC: 0.896). The threshold for 96.8% sensitivity was 1.18 and for 98.8% specificity was 2.44. If thresholds for highest specificity were used, 40% of frozen sections to confirm parathyroid tissue could have been avoided. CONCLUSION Quantified brightness analysis of ex vivo AF signals may have utility in intraoperative differentiation of parathyroid tissue for 40% of surgical specimens.
How Green are Green Debt Issuers

Green debt markets are rapidly growing while product design and standards are evolving. Many policymakers and investors view green debt as an important component in the policy mix to achieve the transition to a low carbon economy and ensure the pricing of climate risks. Our analysis contributes to the nascent literature on the environmental impact of green debt by documenting the CO2 emission intensity of corporate green debt issuers. We find lower emission intensities for green bond issuers relative to other firms, but no difference for green loan and sustainability-linked loan borrowers. Green bond, green loan, and sustainability-linked loan borrowers lower their emission intensity over time at a faster rate than other firms.
Human induced pluripotent stem cell derived kidney organoids as a model system for studying cryopreservation

The ability to cryopreserve organs would have an enormous impact in transplantation medicine. To investigate organ cryopreservation strategies, experiments are typically done on whole organs, or on cells in 2D culture. Whole organs are not amenable to high throughput investigation, while conventional 2D culture is limited to a single cell type and lacks the complexity of the whole organ. In this study, we examine kidney organoids as a model system for studying cryopreservation. Consistent with previous studies, we show that kidney organoids comprised of multiple cell types can be generated in 96-well plates, with an average of about 8 organoids per well. We present a live/dead staining and image analysis method for quantifying organoid viability and show that this method can be used for assessing cryoprotectant toxicity. Our results highlight the potential for using organoids for high throughput investigation of cryopreservation approaches.