cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
CRISPR Immunity Drives Rapid Phage Genome Evolution in Streptococcus thermophilus

Many bacteria rely on CRISPR-Cas systems to provide adaptive immunity against phages, predation by which can shape the ecology and functioning of microbial communities. To characterize the impact of CRISPR immunization on phage genome evolution, we performed long-term bacterium-phage (Streptococcus thermophilus-phage 2972) coevolution experi- ments. We found that in this species, CRISPR immunity drivesfixation of single nucleotide polymorphisms that accumulate exclusively in phage genome regions targeted by CRISPR. Mutation rates in phage genomes highly exceed those of the host. The presence of multiple phages increased phage persistence by enabling recombination-based formation of chimeric phage ge- nomes in which sequences heavily targeted by CRISPR were replaced. Collectively, our results establish CRISPR-Cas adaptive immunity as a key driver of phage genome evolution under the conditions studied and highlight the importance of multiple co- existing phages for persistence in natural systems. IMPORTANCE Phages remain an enigmatic part of the biosphere. As predators, they challenge the survival of host bacteria and archaea and set off an "arms race" involving host immunization countered by phage mutation. The CRISPR-Cas system is adap- tive: by capturing fragments of a phage genome upon exposure, the host is positioned to counteract future infections. To investi- gate this process, we initiated massive deep-sequencing experiments with a host and infective phage and tracked the coevolution of both populations over hundreds of days. In the present study, we found that CRISPR immunity drives the accumulation of phage genome rearrangements (which enable longer phage survival) and escape mutations, establishing CRISPR as one of the fundamental drivers of phage evolution.
A Campus-Wide Study of STEM Courses: New Perspectives on Teaching Practices and Perceptions

At the University of Maine, middle and high school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers observed 51 STEM courses across 13 different departments and collected information on the active-engagement nature of instruction. The results of these observations show that faculty members teaching STEM courses cannot simply be classified into two groups, traditional lecturers or instructors who teach in a highly interactive manner, but instead exhibit a continuum of instructional behaviors between these two classifications. In addition, the observation data reveal that student behavior differs greatly in classes with varied levels of lecture. Although faculty members who teach large-enrollment courses are more likely to lecture, we also identified instructors of several large courses using interactive teaching methods. Observed faculty members were also asked to complete a survey about how often they use specific teaching practices, and we find that faculty members are generally self-aware of their own practices. Taken together, these findings provide comprehensive information about the range of STEM teaching practices at a campus-wide level and how such information can be used to design targeted professional development for faculty.
Microtubule-mediated Transport of Incoming Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Capsids to the Nucleus

Herpes simplex virus 1 fuses with the plasma membrane of a host cell, and the incoming capsids are efficiently and rapidly transported across the cytosol to the nuclear pore complexes, where the viral DNA genomes are released into the nucleoplasm. Using biochemical assays, immunofluorescence, and immunoelectron microscopy in the presence and absence of microtubule depolymerizing agents, it was shown that the cytosolic capsid transport in Vero cells was mediated by microtubules. Antibody labeling revealed the attachment of dynein, a minus end–directed, microtubule-dependent motor, to the viral capsids. We propose that the incoming capsids bind to microtubules and use dynein to propel them from the cell periphery to the nucleus.
Introduction of an agent-based multi-scale modular architecture for dynamic knowledge representation of acute inflammation

One of the greatest challenges facing biomedical research is the integration and sharing of vast amounts of information, not only for individual researchers, but also for the community at large. Agent Based Modeling (ABM) can provide a means of addressing this challenge via a unifying translational architecture for dynamic knowledge representation. This paper presents a series of linked ABMs representing multiple levels of biological organization. They are intended to translate the knowledge derived from in vitro models of acute inflammation to clinically relevant phenomenon such as multiple organ failure. ABM development followed a sequence starting with relatively direct translation from in-vitro derived rules into a cell-as-agent level ABM, leading on to concatenated ABMs into multi-tissue models, eventually resulting in topologically linked aggregate multi-tissue ABMs modeling organ-organ crosstalk. As an underlying design principle organs were considered to be functionally composed of an epithelial surface, which determined organ integrity, and an endothelial/blood interface, representing the reaction surface for the initiation and propagation of inflammation. The development of the epithelial ABM derived from an in-vitro model of gut epithelial permeability is described. Next, the epithelial ABM was concatenated with the endothelial/inflammatory cell ABM to produce an organ model of the gut. This model was validated against in-vivo models of the inflammatory response of the gut to ischemia. Finally, the gut ABM was linked to a similarly constructed pulmonary ABM to simulate the gut-pulmonary axis in the pathogenesis of multiple organ failure. The behavior of this model was validated against in-vivo and clinical observations on the cross-talk between these two organ systems A series of ABMs are presented extending from the level of intracellular mechanism to clinically observed behavior in the intensive care setting. The ABMs all utilize cell-level agents that encapsulate specific mechanistic knowledge extracted from in vitro experiments. The execution of the ABMs results in a dynamic representation of the multi-scale conceptual models derived from those experiments. These models represent a qualitative means of integrating basic scientific information on acute inflammation in a multi-scale, modular architecture as a means of conceptual model verification that can potentially be used to concatenate, communicate and advance community-wide knowledge.
A visual language for a sketch-based UI prototyping tool

We describe the design of the visual language for SILK 2.0, a sketch-based tool for prototyping user interfaces. The new SILK visual language has been designed to allow user interface designers to quickly prototype the behavior of a user interface. This includes behavior that depends on the state of certain UI elements and the ability to create "sketchy" components to be reused in other sketches.
Potential of decaying wood to restore root- available base cations in depleted forest soils

The depletion of root-available Ca in northern forest soils exposed to decades of increased acid deposition ad- versely affects forest health and productivity. Laboratory studies indicated the potential of wood-decay fungi to restore lost Ca. This study presents changes in concentration of Ca, Mg, and K in sapwood of red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.), red ma- ple (Acer rubrum L.), eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriere), and paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marshall) dur- ing the decay process at two experimental forests for 12 years and to compare concentrations of exchangeable Ca, Mg, and Al in decayed wood residues at 10 and 12 years with those in the forest floor. Significant loss of mass indicated by decreas- ing wood density occurred after 2-8 years in conifers and after only 2 years in hardwoods. A significant gain in wood K was observed at 2 years followed by a significant loss at 8 years. A negligible gain in Ca concentration occurred at 2 years and a substantial gain at 8 years. Observed changes in Mg concentration were variable. No significant difference in ex- changeable Ca concentration was observed between decayed wood residue of spruce and maple and the forest floor. How- ever, decayed wood residue had a much lower Al concentration and molar Al/Ca ratio, a condition characteristic of sites with high root-available Ca.
The mobile patient: wireless distributed sensor networks for patient monitoring and care

The concept of a three layer distributed sensor network for patient monitoring and care is introduced. The envisioned network has a leaf node layer (consisting of patient sensors), an intermediate node layer (consisting of the supervisory processor residing with each patient) and the root node processor (residing at a central monitoring facility). The paradigm has the capability of dealing with the bandwidth bottleneck at the wireless patient-root node link and the processing bottleneck at the central processor or root node of the network.
Extraction of Energy Information From Analog Meters Using Image Processing

There has been an ongoing effort to increase the number of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) devices to improve system observability. When deployed across distribution secondary networks, AMI provides building-level load and consumption information, which can be used to improve grid management strategies. A barrier to implementation is the significant upgrade costs associated with retrofitting existing meters with network-capable sensing. One economic way is to use image processing methods to extract usage information from images of the existing meters. This paper presents a solution that uses online data exchange of power consumption information to a cloud server without modifying the existing electromechanical analog meters. In this framework, a systematic approach to extract energy data from images is applied to replace the manual reading process. A case study is presented where the digital imaging approach is compared to the averages determined by visual readings over a one-month period.
Parametric beam-steering technique for acoustic waves with applications to signal processing

It is predicted that two acoustic waves crossing at right angles in a suitably dispersive nonlinear medium will generate a sum-frequency beam in a direction determined by the ratio of their frequencies. This phenomenon makes possible new switching, variable-delay, filtering and correlation devices.
Simple formulas for the resonant frequencies of microstrip patches

A study is made of the resonant frequencies of rectangular and circular microstrip patches to develop their design formulas. The resonant frequency problem of rectangular microstrip patches is formulated using vector Hankel transforms. Both formulations result in integral equations for which Galerkin's method is used to ascertain the resonant frequencies. The results agree with experiments and asymptotically agree with the perturbation approach. Based on these solutions, the design formulas for the microstrip patches are developed using least-square fits. >
Evidence for centers in the central nervous system that regulate fat mobilization in dogs.

Infusions of 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) into intact, adrenalectomized, and adrenalectomized-hypophysectomized dogs caused increases in plasma free fatty acid (FFA) levels which could be reversed by infusing hexamethonium, or pre- vented by epidural anesthesia or destruction of the thoracic spinal cord. Similar infusions of 2-DG were given to adrenalec- tomized dogs after transection of the spinal cord. Lesions be- tween C 4 and T 7 prevented the increase in FFA while lesions at T 8 or C 2-3 did not. These results indicate that inhibition of glucose metabolism by 2-DG causes an increase in plasma FFA by a pathway in- volving the sympathetic nervous system and that there are centers regulating this activity in the cervical portion of the spinal cord.
Generating News Headlines with Recurrent Neural Networks

We describe an application of an encoder-decoder recurrent neural network with LSTM units and attention to generating headlines from the text of news articles. We find that the model is quite effective at concisely paraphrasing news articles. Furthermore, we study how the neural network decides which input words to pay attention to, and specifically we identify the function of the different neurons in a simplified attention mechanism. Interestingly, our simplified attention mechanism performs better that the more complex attention mechanism on a held out set of articles.
β-Catenin signaling regulates temporally discrete phases of anterior taste bud development

The sense of taste is mediated by multicellular taste buds located within taste papillae on the tongue. In mice, individual taste buds reside in fungiform papillae, which develop at mid-gestation as epithelial placodes in the anterior tongue. Taste placodes comprise taste bud precursor cells, which express the secreted factor sonic hedgehog (Shh) and give rise to taste bud cells that differentiate around birth. We showed previously that epithelial activation of β-catenin is the primary inductive signal for taste placode formation, followed by taste papilla morphogenesis and taste bud differentiation, but the degree to which these later elements were direct or indirect consequences of β-catenin signaling was not explored. Here, we define discrete spatiotemporal functions of β-catenin in fungiform taste bud development. Specifically, we show that early epithelial activation of β-catenin, before taste placodes form, diverts lingual epithelial cells from a taste bud fate. By contrast, β-catenin activation a day later within Shh(+) placodes, expands taste bud precursors directly, but enlarges papillae indirectly. Further, placodal activation of β-catenin drives precocious differentiation of Type I glial-like taste cells, but not other taste cell types. Later activation of β-catenin within Shh(+) precursors during papilla morphogenesis also expands taste bud precursors and accelerates Type I cell differentiation, but papilla size is no longer enhanced. Finally, although Shh regulates taste placode patterning, we find that it is dispensable for the accelerated Type I cell differentiation induced by β-catenin.
Alternative constructions of crossing-symmetric amplitudes with regge behavior

A representation for the scattering amplitude that contains Regge behavior, crossing symmetry, and analyticity is discussed. It is shown that it provides a different ghost-eliminating mechanism (the Mandelstam-Wang one) from that given by Veneziano's proposal. Furthermore, it does not restrict the external masses, but reduces to Veneziano's formula when $\ensuremath{\alpha}(s)+\ensuremath{\alpha}(t)+\ensuremath{\alpha}(u)$ equals a particular integer that depends on the reaction. Several examples are discussed. The behavior of the Regge residue ${\ensuremath{\beta}}_{\ensuremath{\rho}\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\pi}}(t)$ at ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{\ensuremath{\rho}}(t)=0$ is proposed as a test that distinguishes the two representations.
STAT Signaling in Cancer Prevention

Members of the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) family of transcription factors are potential targets for the treatment and prevention of cancers. STAT proteins can be phosphorylated and activated by diverse upstream kinases including cytokine receptors and tyrosine kinases. STATs have been associated with inflammation, cellular transformation, survival, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis of cancer. Various types of carcinogens, growth factors, oncogenes, radiation, viruses, and inflammatory cytokines have been found to activate STATs. Most STATs are constitutively active in cancer cells but not in normal cells. Phosphorylation of STATs causes dimerization, nuclear translocation, DNA binding, and gene transcription. STATs regulate the expression of genes that mediate cell survival, proliferation, invasion, and angiogenesis. STATs activation has also been associated with both radioresistance and chemoresistance. Furthermore, STATs have been shown to interact, directly or indirectly, with other transcription factors such as hypoxia-inducible factor-1, nuclear factor-kappa B, and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-gamma. Several small molecule inhibitors, peptides and natural products are being developed for the prevention and treatment of cancer. Some chemopreventive agents have been shown to inhibit the IL6R-JAK/STAT pathway that is crucial for cell proliferation, survival, and inflammation. This suggests that chemopreventive agents might be candidates for cancer prevention because they reduce inflammation and prevent tumor growth, metastasis and angiogenesis. This review discusses the roles of various STATs in cancer prevention.
Ukraine’s Economic Reforms: What has been Done and will it Succeed?

This article attempts to offer a picture of the state of the economic reform in Ukraine in the summer of 2015, assessing what has been done. It offers a periodisation of Ukraine’s economic policy since its independence in 1991, suggesting that Ukraine has seen three periods of significant reform and this is by far the most important. The main cause of Ukraine’s current economic decline is Russian warfare. The present situation differs greatly from that after the Orange Revolution in late 2004. These reform efforts are more far-reaching than earlier attempts, especially in the energy and banking sectors. Finally, four risks to the present reform wave are discussed. The four big risks to this reform wave lie in Russian warfare, insufficient international funding, lagging reforms in the judicial sector, and the wearing out of the coalition because of economic hardship.
Water imagery and the power and presence of God in the Gospel of John

This article explores the role of symbolism in the gospel narrative in general and the suggestion that symbolism lies at the core of the theology of the Gospel of John. In particular, the Fourth Ev...
Trapping technique for male face flies.

An effective method of trapping male Musca autumnalis De Geer was developed by using 18 cm diam screen discs stapled to the tops of fence posts and sprayed with Tanglefoot®. Hourly counts of trapped flies were made from sunrise to sunset once weekly between May 27 and Sept. 2, 1976. Diurnal activity was unimodal with a peak 3 h after sunrise. Color preference was assessed by using discs painted white, yellow, green, black, or red. White screens trapped 37.6% of the male face flies collected, followed by yellow (23.0), green (17.1), black (11.5), and red (10.8).
Chemoselective Zinc/HCl Reduction of Halogenated β-Nitrostyrenes: Synthesis of Halogenated Dopamine Analogues

A detailed account regarding the synthesis of 2- and 5-halogenated dopamine is given. The key step is a chemoselective reduction of a nitrostyrene by Zn/HCl at 0 °C. These conditions represent a simple, low-cost alternative to reduction by water-sensitive hydride donors and two-step procedures. Under these conditions, aryl fluoride, chloride, and bromide groups are stable. However, ­iodine undergoes significant reductive dehalogenation.
Postpneumonectomy empyema due to Neisseria mucosa.

N. mucosa , a normal inhabitant of the oropharynx, rarely causes serious infection. We report a case of empyema caused by N. mucosa which was diagnosed a year after pneumonectomy.
A Multiwavelet Treatment of the Quantum Subsystem in Quantum Wavepacket Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics through an Hierarchical Partitioning of Momentum Space.

We present an hierarchical scheme where the propagator in quantum dynamics is represented using a multiwavelet basis. The approach allows for a recursive refinement methodology, where the representation in momentum space can be adaptively improved through additional, decoupled layers of basis functions. The method is developed within the constructs of quantum-wavepacket ab initio molecular dynamics (QWAIMD), which is a quantum-classical method and involves the synergy between a time-dependent quantum wavepacket description and ab initio molecular dynamics. Specifically, the current development is embedded within an “on-the-fly” multireference electronic structural generalization of QWAIMD. The multiwavelet treatment is used to study the dynamics and spectroscopy in a small hydrogen bonded cluster. The results are in agreement with previous calculations and with experiment. The studies also allow an interpretation of the shared proton dynamics as one that can be modeled through the dynamics of dressed states.
Didelphiidae from the Lance Beds of Wyoming

NIKOLSKY, A. M. 1889. Survey of Saghalien and its Fauna. Vertebrate animals. St. Petersburg. (Not seen.) OGNEV, S. I. 1925. A Systematical Review of the Russian Sables. Journ. Mammalogy, vol. 6, pp. 276-280, pl. 26. 1927. A Synopsis of the Russian Bats. Journ. Mammalogy, vol. 8, pp. 140-157. SCHRENCK, L. VON. 1859. Reisen und Forschungen im Amur-Lande. I. Erste Lieferung. Einleitung, Saugethiere des Amur-Landes. THOMAS, 0. 1907. The Duke of Bedford's Zoological Exploration in Eastern Asia. IV. List of small Mammals from the Islands of Saghalien and Hokkaido. Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1907, pp. 404-414.
Reprogramming nurse-like cells with Interferon-γ to interrupt chronic lymphocytic leukemia cell survival

Nurse-like cells (NLCs) play a central role in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) because they promote the survival and proliferation of CLL cells. NLCs are derived from the monocyte lineage and are driven toward their phenotype via contact-dependent and -independent signals from CLL cells. Because of the central role of NLCs in promoting disease, new strategies to eliminate or reprogram them are needed. Successful reprogramming may be of extra benefit because NLCs express Fcγ receptors (FcγRs) and thus could act as effector cells within the context of antibody therapy. IFNγ is known to promote the polarization of macrophages toward an M1-like state that is no longer tumor-supportive. In an effort to reprogram the phenotype of NLCs, we found that IFNγ up-regulated the M1-related markers CD86 and HLA-DR as well as FcγRIa. This corresponded to enhanced FcγR-mediated cytokine production as well as rituximab-mediated phagocytosis of CLL cells. In addition, IFNγ down-regulated the expression of CD31, resulting in withdrawal of the survival advantage on CLL cells. These results suggest that IFNγ can re-educate NLCs and shift them toward an effector-like state and that therapies promoting local IFNγ production may be effective adjuvants for antibody therapy in CLL.
Induction of enzyme activity in cell culture: a rapid screen for detection of planar polychlorinated organic compounds.

Induction of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) activity in rat hepatoma cell line serves as a simple and rapid method to detect minute (pg) amounts of certain classes of compounds, e.g., dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans, and biphenyls. This method may provide a quick screen for such substances in extracts from foods prior to chemical identification. AHH activity is measured by conversion of benzo[a]pyrene (BP) to 3-hydroxy BP in homogenized cell extracts from control and treated cultures and is reported as pmol product formed/mg protein/min. Substances screened by this method include polyhalogenated analogs of dibenzo-p-dioxin (24 compounds), dibenzofuran (11 compounds), biphenyl (7 compounds), and extracts from several food sources. Response of the most reactive compound, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) was used to prepare a standard curve, and the AHH activity induced by mole doses of test substance is reported as an ED50 response (the estimated dose needed to produce 50% maximum enzyme induction). The AHH activity induced by food extracts is equated to the standard curve and reported as TCDD equivalents. A potent ED50 response in cell culture appears to correlate well with known toxic responses in other mammalian and avian systems for certain test substances. This correlation suggests that the cell culture enzyme induction method is a useful model for screening food extracts that are suspected to be contaminated with polychlorinated planar substances. A collaborative study would demonstrate the reproducibility of the method.
Population Dynamics of Earthworms in Organic Farming Systems

Earthworm population dynamics and diversity were evaluated in long-term farming systems experiments at the West Virginia University Organic Research Farm from 2000 to 2007. Farming systems included vegetable and field crop rotations, with versus without annual compost amendments. Field crop rotations with livestock included 3 years of clover grassland. Earthworms were monitored by hand-sorting soil samples. Aporrectodea caliginosa and Lumbricus rubellus were the most common species observed. Cultivation adversely affected earthworm populations in all systems, while compost amendments either had no effect or increased earthworm populations. The population structure shifted toward younger age classes and lower biomass. Inclusion of clover grassland in the rotation for pasture and hay production for sheep had no significant effects on populations in the field crop systems.
Ferguson–Sethuraman Processes

The Ferguson–Sethuraman countable mixture representation of the Dirichlet process has emerged recently as a dominant source of developing several new processes by tweaking its atoms and/or weights attached to them, to address certain practical problems and as demonstrated in this chapter, it has had tremendous impact on modeling large scale and complex data. The chapter begins with the introduction of a class of random probability measures (RPMs), called stick-breaking priors, which are constructed using a sequence of independent beta random variables, and includes beside the Dirichlet process, two-parameter beta process, two-parameter Poisson–Dirichlet process, and the finite dimensional Dirichlet process. Following this, we introduce the dependent nonparametric processes which provide a convenient technique to model a collection of probability measures which are assumed to be mutually dependent but not necessarily identically distributed. They are developed by replacing the locations of atoms of individual measures by independent realizations of stochastic processes and/or replacing the weights by modifying their stick-breaking construction to accommodate predictor variables as well as to model spatial and time-series data. The advantage of treating such measures collectively is clearly demonstrated in the development of several offshoots of the Dirichlet process, such as ANOVA dependent Dirichlet process, spatial and local Dirichlet processes, latent stick-breaking process, and time-varying Dirichlet process, which are discussed next and computational procedures needed in their implementation are indicated.Subsequently, two special distributions are introduced. The one-parameter Poisson–Dirichlet process represents the distribution of an infinite sequence of probabilities that are in decreasing order and adding to one. These probabilities are shown to be related to the weights in Ferguson and Sethuraman representations of the Dirichlet process. The second one is a two-parameter Poisson–Dirichlet process which is a generalization of the first one and is also shown to generalize the Dirichlet process by introducing additionally discount and concentration parameters. Its characterization in terms of a generalized Polya urn scheme is indicated. Lastly, the chapter includes a section on species sampling models useful in ecology and population genetics, in which we discuss the role of predictive rules generating species sampling sequences and the condition under which they characterize the underlying RPMs. Its relation to the exchangeable sequence of random variables and the generalized Polya urn scheme is also indicated.
Serum Fatty Acids and Hyperactivity

Serum essential fatty acids (EFA) levels were measured in 44 hyperactive children and 45 age-and-sex-matched controls at the Dept.
Visual Standards for Southern California Tsunami Evacuation Information: Applications of Information Design in Disaster Risk Management

Community participation and reaction during evacuation is rarely an individual and isolated process and the outcomes are systemic. Ineffective evacuation information can easily attribute to delayed evacuation response. Delays increase demands on already extended emergency personal, increase the likelihood of traffic congestion, and can cause harm to self and property. From an information design perspective, addressing issues in cognitive recall and emergency psychology, this project examines evacuation messaging including written, audio, and visual presentation of information, and demonstrates application of design principles and the role of visual communication for Southern California tsunami evacuation outreach. The niche of this project is the inclusion of cognitive recall of visual presentations of information based on quantitative data of a 4-year cognitive recall study that included over 300 participants as the driving influence in how the messaging was developed, distributed to the community, and formal design decisions were made. The outcome of this work feeds into a current project, Visual Standards for Tsunami Evacuation Information, an open-source tool for communities to create and self-sustain tsunami evacuation information specific to location. The project will act as a hub that provides a “starter kit” for community decision-makers and emergency management that are hoping to create cohesive and branded tsunami evacuation information in place for their city and counties.
Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Expressing Interferon α Limit the Development of Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Inducing Apoptosis In Vitro and In Vivo

Introduction The 5-year survival for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has stagnated for over two decades at about 60% for children, 40% for young adults, and Methods Bone marrow MSCs from C57BL/6 mouse were isolated and transduced with a lentiviral vector expressing murine IFNα (IFNα-MSCs) and/or GFP (GFP MSCs). After measuring IFNα secretion by ELISA and confirming activity by the induction of the MHC I expression on the transduced cells, the anti-AML activity of these transduced MSCs was assessed by co-culture with the C57BL/6 AML cell line c1498 which expresses DsRed and firefly luciferase (FFluc). Apoptotic cell frequencies and cell cycle phase distributions of leukemia cells with or without MSCs were assessed by flow cytometry. The in vivo validation has been performed by subcutaneous injection of c1498 cells (chloroma) with or without GFP MSCs or IFNα MSCs in C57BL/6 mice. Tumor growth was monitored by bioluminescence imaging every 3 or 4 days. Results Flow cytometric analysis and ELISA confirmed the secretion of bio-active of IFNα by transduced MSCs (41.5 ng/1E06 MSCs/24h). In co-cultures, the presence of IFNα MSCs at the ratio 100:1 (c1498: MSC) significantly decreased the population of c1498 cells mainly by inducing apoptosis compared to MSC-free or GFP MSC co-cultures while no effect was observed on cell cycle distribution. The pro-apoptotic effect of IFNα MSCs was then investigated in vivo by subcutaneous injection of c1498 cells with or without MSCs (ratio 10:1) in C57BL/6 mice.The presence of IFNα MSCs significantly decreased leukemic cell mass as shown by the bioluminescence of the DsRed+ FFLuc+ c1498 cells. This result was confirmed by flow cytometric analysis of the percentage of DsRed + cells in the chloroma. Conclusions This study shows that IFNα MSCs present a strong anti-leukemic effect in vitro and in vivo promoting apoptosis and thus decreasing the leukemic burden. Further experiments will focus on a potential synergetic effect with Cytarabine treatment and a preclinical study using human IFNα MSCs in a xenograft murine model. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Information-seeking on the Web: Effects of user and task variables

Abstract This study investigates how cognitive style (field dependence vs. field independence), online database search experience (novice vs. experienced searchers), and task type (known-item vs. subject search tasks) influence users’ search behavior on the Web. Forty-eight undergraduate students participated in this study. The participants were divided into four groups according to cognitive style and online database search experience. Each participant searched for information on a university Web site to complete two differing search tasks. The time spent and the number of nodes visited in retrieving information were used to measure users' search performance. The choice of navigation tools was examined to determine users' search and navigational style. It was found that online search experience and cognitive style interacted and influenced search performance, as well as navigational style. Online search experience also interacted with task type to influence navigational style and the number of nodes visited. The article concludes with suggestions for improving Web interfaces and Web-user training programs.
Enric Miralles: espaciar el habitar. Multiplicación, fragmentación y diversificación del espacio medido a partir del ámbito

The essay proposed means to me the opportunity to think about the dwelling space understood as the housing design technique through the representation of physical and existential elements. I have done it by connecting my reflections on the site and the results of my professional experience in designing elaborated housings with Enric Miralles (6 housings in Amsterdam 1996/1998), and the results from another experience which took place during my academic experience celebrated both at the ESARQ-UIC, Barcelona, NIROX Foundation of Johannesburg and at ASU Design School, Tempe (desde 2008 hasta la fecha). These reflections make evident the importance in Miralles’ architecture of dialectic in between design and drawing — between internal-external architecture (physical) and the interior and exterior of each of us (existential).
The Effects of Stimulus Rate on ABR Morphology and its Relationship to P1 CAEP Responses and Auditory Speech Perception Outcomes in Children with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from Case Reports.

Objective: Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) affects approximately 5–15% of children with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). ANSD is characterized by the presence of otoacoustic emission...
Preoperative Assessment of Risk

Preoperative risk assessment for geriatric patients must include an acknowledgment of the hazards of iatrogenic events associated with hospitalization of elderly persons. These include adverse drug events, bowel and bladder dysfunction, delirium, falls, malnutrition, nosocomial infections, and pressure sores. Evaluation includes individual assessment of risk for each adverse outcome and strategies for avoiding each.
Conspicuous consumption and distinction, history of

The concept of ‘conspicuous consumption’ is the idea that consumers make explicit comparisons to others when consuming in an effort to portray actual and aspirational statuses. The concept of ‘distinction’ reduces the emphasis on explicit comparisons; consumer choices are seen as predicated on taken-for-granted, internalized norms of appropriate taste. These taken-for-granted ways of perceiving the world and consuming are means of marking the social boundaries of class. While status models of consumption were once dominant in the social sciences, these concepts have undergone considerable critique, particularly when applied outside the contexts in which they were initially developed.
Compile-Time Library Call Detection Using CAASCADE and XALT

CAASCADE — Compiler-Assisted Application Source Code Analysis and DatabasE—is a tool that summarizes the use of parallel programming language features in application source code using compiler technology. This paper discusses the library detection capability within CAASCADE to find information about the usage of scientific libraries within the source code. The information that CAASCADE collects provides insights into the usage of library calls in an applications. CAASCADE can classify the APIs by scientific libraries (e.g. LAPACK, BLAS, FFTW, etc). It can also detect the context in which a library API is being invoked, for example within a serial or multi-threaded region. To collect this information, CAASCADE uses compiler plugins that summarize procedural information and uses Apache Spark to do inter-procedural analysis to reconstruct call chains. In addition to this, we also integrated CAASCADE to work with XALT to collect library information based on linkage and modules installed on a system.
Pre-Silicon DFT Verification on SOC Slim Model

Pre-Silicon verification test run times in SOC models are long. Pre-Silicon DFT verification tests are especially longer. A slim model was developed which had selected RTL components and the rest substituted by Bus Functional Models (BFM) to help reduce simulation runtime. Connectivity of DFT network in this slim model with stubbed out components wasn't complete. We connected the DFT signals through forces, which formed a continuous chain from the top level ring, down to each of the child rings and back to the top level ring. This model helped us to validate most of the DFT features so that only critical features were left to be validated in the full model. Build and runtimes were shorter for this model compared to the full model. We wrote directed tests to validate the RTL components present in the slim model and were able to run/debug issues faster. This model was widely used by the DFT team for multiple project milestones providing us huge savings in the simulation runtime and debug time.
Library Employee Views of Disability and Accessibility

This study sought to explore library employee attitudes toward people with disabilities and accessibility. It also aimed to determine the training needs of current library employees. A survey with ...
Isolated DHEAS production by an adrenal neoplasm: Clinical, biochemical and pathologic characteristics

Androgen-secreting adrenal neoplasms have a low incidence, usually secrete multiple hormones, and may present with hirsutism, acne, and alopecia. We report an exceedingly rare case of a purely dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S) secreting adrenal neoplasm found incidentally on cross sectional imaging. The clinical, biochemical, and pathologic findings of this neoplasm are described.
A graph deep learning model for the classification of groups with different IQ using resting state fMRI

Functional connectivity (FC) analysis, which measures the connection between different brain regions, has been widely used to study brain function and development. However, FC-based analysis breaks the local structure in MRI images, resulting in a challenge for applying advanced deep learning models, e.g., convolutional neural networks (CNN). To fit the data in a non-Euclidean domain, graph convolutional neural network (GCN) was proposed, which can work on graphs rather than raw images, making it a suitable model for brain FC study. The small sample size is another challenge. Compared with natural images, medical images are usually limited in data sample size. Moreover, labeling medical images requires laborious annotation and is time-consuming. These limitations result in low accuracy and overfitting problem when training a conventional deep learning model on medical images. To address this problem, we employed a semi-supervised GCN with a Laplacian regularization term. By exploiting the between-sample information, semi-supervised GCN can achieve better performance on data with limited sample size. We applied the semi-supervised GCN model to a brain imaging cohort to classify the groups with different Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) scores. Experimental results showed semi-supervised GCN can improve classification accuracy, demonstrating the superior power of semi-supervised GCN on small datasets.
Modeling and Simulation of Thin Layered Composites under Non-mechanical Stimuli

This study presents a nonlinear deformation analysis of a thin composite plate undergoing shape reconfigurations triggered by electric field inputs. The composite plate consists of electro-active and inactive (substrate) layers. Prescribing electric field inputs to the electro-active layer induces large curvatures in the composites, while the in-plane stretch is relatively small. This has a consequence that only shapes with zero (or nearly zero) Gaussian curvature can be attained by prescribing the electric field, which leads to snap-through shape reconfigurations in order to achieve developable surfaces. When the substrate is made of an elastic layer, the shape returns to its original planar configuration upon removal of the electric field. In order to fully or partially retain the reconfigured shape upon removing the electric field input, a substrate layer made of a shape memory polymer is considered. Shape reconfigurations and retentions of the composites having elastic substrate and shape memory substrate are simulated.
Recent advances in lifetime and reliability models: by Gauss M. Corderiro, Rodrigo B. Silva and Abraao D. C. Nascimento, 2010, Bentham Sciences Publishers, Sharjah, UAE, $66.45 (Paperback), pp. 235 + viii, ISBN: 978-1-68108-346-9

This well written book offers many advanced statistical methods and their illustration of Lifetime and Reliability Modelling. The readers ought to have sufficient knowledge in statistical theory an...
The Traverse Ridge Paleoseismic Site and Ruptures Crossing the Boundary Between the Provo and Salt Lake City Segments of the Wasatch Fault Zone, Utah, United States

How segment boundaries modulate earthquake behavior is an important scientific and societal question, especially for the Wasatch fault zone (WFZ) where urban areas lie along multiple fault segments. The extent to which segment boundaries arrest ruptures, host moderate magnitude earthquakes, or transmit ruptures to adjacent fault segments is critical for understanding seismic hazard. To help address this outstanding issue, we conducted a paleoseismic investigation at the Traverse Ridge paleoseismic site (TR site) along the ~7-km-long Fort Canyon segment boundary, which links the Provo (59 km) and Salt Lake City (40 km) segments of the WFZ. At the TR site, we logged two trenches which were cut across sub-parallel traces of the fault, separated by ~175 m. Evidence from these exposures leads us to infer that at least 3–4 earthquakes have ruptured the segment boundary in the Holocene. Radiocarbon dating of soil material below and above fault scarp colluvial packages and within a fissure constrains the age of the events. The most recent event ruptured the southern fault trace between 0.2 and 0.4 ka, the penultimate event ruptured the northern fault trace between 0.6 and 3.4 ka, and two prior events occurred between 1.4 and 6.2 ka and 7.2 and 8.1 ka. Colluvial wedge heights of these events ranged from 0.7 to 1.2 m, indicating the segment boundary experiences surface ruptures with more than 1 m of vertical displacement. Given these estimates, we infer that these events were greater than Mw 6.7, with rupture extending across the entire segment boundary and portions of one or both adjacent fault segments. The Holocene recurrence of events at the TR site lower than the closest paleoseismic sites at the adjacent fault segment endpoints. The contrasts in recurrence rates observed within 15 km of the Fort Canyon fault segment boundary may be explained conceptually by a leaky segment boundary model which permits spillover events, ruptures centered on the segment boundary, and segmented ruptures. The TR site demonstrates the utility of paleoseismology within segment boundaries which, through corroboration of displacement data, can demonstrate rupture connectivity between fault segments and test the validity of rupture models.
Obesity-induced taste dysfunction, and its implications for dietary intake

The incidence of obesity has dramatically increased in recent years, and poses a public health challenge for which an effective and scalable intervention strategy is yet to be found. Our food choices are one of the primary drivers of obesity, where the overconsumption of energy from foods high in fat and sugar can be particularly problematic. Unfortunately, these same foods also tend to be highly palatable. We select foods more on their sensory properties than on any other factor, such as price, convenience, or healthfulness. Previous evidence from human sensory studies has suggested a depressed sense of taste in panelists with obesity. Evidence from animal models also demonstrates a clear deficiency in taste buds occurring with obesity, suggesting that damage to the taste system may result from an obese state. In this review only taste, as opposed to smell, will be examined. Here we seek to bring together evidence from a diverse array of human and animal studies into taste response, dietary intake, and physiology, to better understand changes in taste with obesity, with the goal of understanding whether taste may provide a novel target for intervention in the treatment of obesity.
Simulation of the Schiaparelli Entry and Comparison to Aerosciences Flight Data

The European Space Agency flew an entry, descent, and landing demonstrator module called Schiaparelli that entered the atmosphere of Mars on 19 October 2016. The entry and descent instrumentation s...
A Modified T-stage Classification for Gastric Neuroendocrine Tumors.

ABSTRACT Background The eighth edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging manual's TNM staging classification for gastric neuroendocrine tumors has been shown to have poor prognostic discriminability. The aim of present study was to propose a modified T-stage classification, and externally validate its performance in a separate population data registry. Methods A modified T-stage classification with tumor size and extent of tumor invasion was generated from the National Cancer Database between 2004 and 2014 (n = 1249). External validation was performed using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry between 1973 and 2013 (n = 539). Results In the National Cancer Database population, using the AJCC T-stage classification, the 5-y survival rates were 85.7%, 80.8%, 64.5%, and 46.1% in T1, T2, T3, and T4 patients respectively (P 0.05). The same analyses were performed using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data, and all the observed results were validated. Conclusion The current AJCC T stage classification categorizes patients into groups with heterogenous prognosis, thus failing to serve as an effective staging tool. A modified T-stage classification demonstrated significantly improved stratification for patients with gastric neuroendocrine tumors.
Using Markov Chains to Analyze Volleyball Matches

In this study we examine how to model a volleyball match with the use of Markov chains and a computer program. We then use this model to examine the importance of different aspects of the game.
Teaching a course in the ethics of human communication

Changing accreditation standards (among other things) have fostered increased emphasis on communication skills in engineering education. This new awareness primarily focuses on skills attainment. But what are responsible ways to use communication skills? Are principles of ethics developed in philosophy isolated from the real world, or are they reflected in the values that guide communication among people in the workplace?.