cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The spine as a point of reference for duodenal displacement by an enlarged liver in the sagittal projection

Normally, in the sagittal projection, the descending duodenum is situated to the right of the spine. There is a great range of variation in its position, so that a slight medial displacement by an enlarged liver or a mass adjacent to the latter cannot be diagnosed unless either an extrinsic pressure effect is demonstrated or a previous study is available for comparison. On a single study, displacement of the duodenum by an enlarged liver is suspected whenever the descending duodenum overlies the spine. This position is more indicative of displacement in sthenic than in asthenic individuals.
Stereotyping among Hispanics and Anglos: The Uniformity, Intensity, Direction, and Quality of Auto- and Heterostereotypes

U.S. Navy recruits (Hispanics and Anglos) provided autostereotypes and heterostereotypes of blacks, whites, and several Hispanic ethnic groups, by judging on a ten-point scale how likely it was for each of fifteen traits to be a characteristic of a given stimulus group. All autostereotypes were favorable. The Anglos had a more uniform, though not especially intensive, autostereotype than the Hispanics. The Anglo heterostereotype of Hispanics was generally positive but not uniform. The Hispanic heterostereotype of Anglos was positive and uniform. All groups were ethnocentric, in that they assigned more positive attributes to the auto- than the heterostereotype. On several traits there was convergence of the auto- and heterostereotypes. The data are consistent with the theoretical argument of Campbell (1967) and Triandis and Vassiliou (1967) concerning the way stereotypes emerge.
Semiparametric inference on a class of Wiener processes

. This article studies the estimation of a nonhomogeneous Wiener process model for degradation data. A pseudo-likelihood method is proposed to estimate the unknown parameters. An attractive algorithm is established to compute the estimator under this pseudo-likelihood formulation. We establish the asymptotic properties of the estimator, including consistency, convergence rate and asymptotic distribution. Random effects can be incorporated into the model to represent the heterogeneity of degradation paths by letting the mean function be random. The Wiener process model is extended naturally to a normal inverse Gaussian process model and similar pseudo-likelihood inference is developed. A score test is used to test the presence of the random effects. Simulation studies are conducted to validate the method and we apply our method to a real data set in the area of health structure monitoring.
The Distribution of Extremity Blood Flow before and after Vagectomy in a Patient with Hypertrophic Pulmonary Osteoarthropathy

A patient with hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy associated with adenocarcinoma of the left upper lobe was studied before and after suprahilar vagectomy by arm and lung scans following left brachial artery injection of labelled albumin microspheres, digital plethysmography and forearm arteriovenous oxygen differences. Preoperatively, the distribution of microspheres to the extremity beyond the level of the skeletal proliferative changes was decreased and a large portion of the microspheres bypassed the microcirculation of the extremity and appeared on the lung scan. After vagectomy, the distribution of microspheres to the hand was improved and few microspheres reached the lungs. In addition, the forearm arteriovenous oxygen difference increased following vagectomy without significant changes in digital flow. These studies suggest that the increased blood flow in extremities with hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy results from the development of arteriovenous shunts and that these shunts close following vagectomy.
High efficiency S-band class AB push-pull power amplifier with wideband harmonic suppression

A high-efficiency class-AB push-pull power amplifier is designed utilizing a novel photonic band-gap (PBG) ground plane. This design allows simultaneous tuning of both the second and the third harmonics, thus resulting in a high efficiency power amplifier design. The measured PAE is 63.8% at an output power of 28.2 dBm. In addition, the measured IP3 is 45 dBm, about 17 dB above the P/sub 1dB/ point.
Abstract 20459: Epigenetic Activation of Phosphodiesterase Subtypes Lead to Compromised Beta-Adrenergic Signaling in Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes From Dilated Cardiomyopathy Patients

Introduction: Familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) has been modeled by human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs). However, the mechanisms of compromised signaling transduction and contractile function in DCM iPSC-CMs are still not well understood. Methods and Results: Beating iPSC-CMs were generated from healthy individuals and DCM patients. RNA-seq and real-time PCR showed strict regulation of the main beta-adrenergic signaling proteins in iPSC-CMs during maturation. Confocal imaging of spontaneous calcium activity and hydrogel-based traction force microscopy (TFM) technology demonstrated beta-adrenergic stimulation induced both inotropic and chronotropic regulation in the contractility of iPSC-CMs. Following extended in vitro maturation of iPSC-CMs, we observed a transition in the beta-adrenergic receptor (beta-AR) subtype dependence from beta-2 AR dominance at early stage (day 30) to beta-1/2 AR co-existence at late stage (day 60). Comparison of the beta-adrenergic responsiveness between iPSC-CMs from DCM patients and their familial controls showed compromised beta-adrenergic signaling in DCM cells. Microarray data and expression profiling indicated up-regulated phosphodiesterases (PDE) 2A, 3A and 5A in DCM iPSC-CMs, which impaired cAMP generation and blunted the beta-adrenergic response. By blocking PDE2A, 3A or 5A, beta-adrenergic signaling reactivity and contractile function in DCM iPSC-CMs were both greatly improved. To further elucidate underlying mechanism of PDE regulation, we conducted chromatin immunoprecipitation (CHIP) assays, which showed significant up-regulation of activation histone marker and down-regulation of repressive histone marker in the PDE promoters during maturation process of DCM iPSC-CMs, which closely recapitulated the epigenetic modulation in the ventricle tissues harvested from DCM patients. Conclusions: Patient-specific DCM iPSC-CMs recapitulated impaired beta-adrenergic responsiveness and contractility in diseased heart. Studies on iPSC-CM model revealed a novel epigenetic mechanism that underlies PDE subtype specific regulation and signaling deficiency in DCM pathogenesis, which may serve as a new therapeutic target in the future.
Response to prednisolone of cultured immunoglobulin-producing human lymphoid cells.

The survival of asynchronously growing lymphoid cells (T1 cells) in vitro decreased to 50% viability after 1 hr treatment with concentrations of prednisolone above 10 µg/ml. Treatment with prednisolone for 24 hr produced a decrease in cell survival to a plateau of 30% viability for concentrations above 10 µg/ml. After 48 hr treatment, 10 µ/ml prednisolone reduced viability to 12%. Synchronously growing T1 cells were least sensitive to prednisolone treatment (50 µg/ml) during S phase (DNA synthesis period) and most sensitive during G1 (pre-DNA-synthesis period). This cell cycle specificity is postulated to be an explanation for the presence of prednisolone-resistant cells in asynchronously growing populations. Immunofluorescence studies on the effect of prednisolone (100 µg/ml) on immunoglobulin production indicated there was no correlation between the length of drug treatment and reduction in the percentage of immunoglobulin-producing cells. These results suggest that the mechanism of prednisolone-induced immunosuppression in lymphoid cells is primarily lymphopenia.
Mothers' Stories of the School-Age Child's Experience with the Mother's Breast Cancer

Abstract Semislructured interviews were conducted with 26 mothers who had one or more children(N = 36) aged 8 to 12 years when they were diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. Formal methods were used to analyze the content of the data inductively. Mothers identified times during their diagnosis and treatment that were most difficult for their children, behaviors they observed indicating that the child was having a difficult time, and factors that prevented them from helping the child during those difficult times. The data provide a partial basis for developing materials, programs, and services designed to minimize the children's distress and to enhance the effectiveness of' parenting when a mother has early stage breast cancer.
A novel toolpath force prediction algorithm using CAM volumetric data for optimizing robotic arthroplasty

Robotic total hip arthroplasty is a procedure in which milling operations are performed on the femur to remove material for the insertion of a prosthetic implant. The robot performs the milling operation by following a sequential list of tool motions, also known as a toolpath, generated by a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software. The purpose of this paper is to explain a new toolpath force prediction algorithm that predicts cutting forces, which results in improving the quality and safety of surgical systems. With a custom macro developed in the CAM system’s native application programming interface, cutting contact patch volume was extracted from CAM simulations. A time domain cutting force model was then developed through the use of a cutting force prediction algorithm. The second portion validated the algorithm by machining a hip canal in simulated bone using a CNC machine. Average cutting forces were measured during machining using a dynamometer and compared to the values predicted from CAM simulation data using the proposed method. The results showed the predicted forces matched the measured forces in both magnitude and overall pattern shape. However, due to inconsistent motion control, the time duration of the forces was slightly distorted. Nevertheless, the algorithm effectively predicted the forces throughout an entire hip canal procedure. This method provides a fast and easy technique for predicting cutting forces during orthopedic milling by utilizing data within a CAM software.
Effective stress, friction, and deep crustal faulting

Author(s): Beeler, NM; Hirth, G; Thomas, A; Burgmann, R | Abstract: Studies of crustal faulting and rock friction invariably assume the effective normal stress that determines fault shear resistance during frictional sliding is the applied normal stress minus the pore pressure. Here we propose an expression for the effective stress coefficient αf at temperatures and stresses near the brittle-ductile transition (BDT) that depends on the percentage of solid-solid contact area across the fault. αf varies with depth and is only near 1 when the yield strength of asperity contacts greatly exceeds the applied normal stress. For a vertical strike-slip quartz fault zone at hydrostatic pore pressure and assuming 1 mm and 1 km shear zone widths for friction and ductile shear, respectively, the BDT is at ~13 km. αf near 1 is restricted to depths where the shear zone is narrow. Below the BDT αf = 0 is due to a dramatically decreased strain rate. Under these circumstances friction cannot be reactivated below the BDT by increasing the pore pressure alone and requires localization. If pore pressure increases and the fault localizes back to 1 mm, then brittle behavior can occur to a depth of around 35 km. The interdependencies among effective stress, contact-scale strain rate, and pore pressure allow estimates of the conditions necessary for deep low-frequency seismicity seen on the San Andreas near Parkfield and in some subduction zones. Among the implications are that shear in the region separating shallow earthquakes and deep low-frequency seismicity is distributed and that the deeper zone involves both elevated pore fluid pressure and localization.
Cooper-Harper Evaluation of Small UAS

Handling qualities are used as a standard element of the design process to ensure that the aircraft dynamics will be acceptable to the pilot. Cooper-Harper evaluations are used in simulations and flight tests as a means to quantify the acceptablility of the handling qualities of the aircraft. Small UAS were designed to have Level 1 handling qualities is cruise flight. The small UAS were constructed, ground and flight tested. A group of five pilots of varying degrees of ability and experience flew the aircraft through a series of maneuvers. At the completion of the maneuver the pilots were asked a series of questions to which their answers resulted in the assignment of Cooper-Harper Ratings for the small UAS.
Alternative foods of a diet specialist, the Snail Kite

Although Snail Kites (Rostrhamus sociabilis) in Florida and Venezuela fed mostly on Pomacea snails, I documented three alternative foods. In Florida, kites fed on five species of small turtles, but especially on Sternotherus odoratus and Kinosternon bauri. During the height of a drought, one kite in Florida fed on a small aquatic snail (Viviparus georgianus) for 5 weeks.- In Venezuela, freshwater crabs (Dilocarcinus dentatus) made up on average 10% of the Snail Kite's diet, but more than 25% during September and October. Kites consumed alternative foods with techniques that resemble snail-eating behavior, such as entering a turtle's body cavity by piercing the only leg shaped like a snail operculum. Handling times for turtles (76 min) and crabs (5.4 min) were much longer than for Pomacea snails (1.5 min). Viviparus snails required approximately one-third less handling time but contained one-fifth less body mass than Pomacea snails. Handling time (30 s) for V. georgianus did not differ between the Snail Kite and the Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major), a diet generalist. These findings are related to the factors that reinforce diet specialization and the ecological conditions that promote diet diversification in specialists. Like Pomacea snails, alternative foods have shells or carapaces and move relatively slowly. Alternative foods are probably less profitable than Pomacea snails, except for large crabs. Although crabs were regularly eaten by kites in Venezuela, turtles and Viviparus snails were eaten in Florida only during times of food scarcity. Received 9 June 1989, accepted 6 November 1989. DEPENDENCE on a single prey type is unusual among vertebrates, but may be more common in invertebrates (Bristow 1988). A notable ex- ception, the Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis), feeds almost exclusively on one genus of fresh- water snails (Pomacea). In Florida the kite eats only Pomacea paludosa (Howell 1932, Snyder and Snyder 1969, Sykes 1987), while in Central and South America several Pomacea species are eaten (Haverschmidt 1962, 1970; Beissinger 1983; Snyder and Kale 1983; Bourne 1985). Alterna- tive foods are taken on rare occasions. These include turtles (Sykes and Kale 1974, Woodin and Woodin 1981, Takekawa and Beissinger 1989) and a small mammal (Sykes and Kale 1974). Other less carefully documented observations of nonsnail foods include a "small yellowish serpent" (Slud 1980), a ring-necked snake (Dia- dophis punctatus), and a dead American Coot (Fu- lica americana) (Sykes 1987). In Venezuela and Colombia, kites fed on freshwater crabs and
Innovation and a Return to the Status Quo: A Mixed-Methods Study of School Reconstitution

School reconstitution, a turnaround strategy that prescribes massive staffing turnover, is expected to result in more committed and capable school staff and innovative practices. However, little ev...
Perspectives on Character Virtue Development

For more than 2,000 years philosophers have been captivated by the nature of an individual’s character (Aristotle, 350 BC/1999). How is character defined? What attributes or dispositions constitute a person’s character? Is character stable over time or is it subject to change? As philosophers toiled over these questions, the field of psychology remained silent on the subject until the 20th century. Since the early 1900s, however, and especially in the past two decades, there has been a renewed interest in the conceptualization, measurement, and translation into educational programs of research on character from a psychological perspective.
Determination of Lead in Distilled Liquor With FI-HG-AAS

Objective To study the best conditions for determining lead with FI-HG-AAS (flow injection-hydride generation-atomic absorption spectrometry).Methods After liquor lead is oxided with potassium ferrocyanide and deoxidized with potassium borohydride into lead of hydrogen,then detected by atomic spectrophotometer.Results This experiment was done under the flow rate of carrier gas: 150 mL/min,KBH4 concentration of 1.5%,medium 0.3% NaOH,oxidation time for the 25 ℃,20 min (the time could be shortened to 10 min in summer),0.5 % hydrochloric acid as samples and the standard solution acidity of diluting medium. The method of detection limit: 0.20μg/L,the relative standard deviation : 3.0% to 6.1 %,percent recovery: 103.8 % to 96.2 %,and the average recovery :100.1 %. Conclusion The method is simple,reproducible,high accuracy,sensitivity,and satisfied with national standards.
Learning convolutional action primitives for fine-grained action recognition

Fine-grained action recognition is important for many applications of human-robot interaction, automated skill assessment, and surveillance. The goal is to segment and classify all actions occurring in a time series sequence. While recent recognition methods have shown strong performance in robotics applications, they often require hand-crafted features, use large amounts of domain knowledge, or employ overly simplistic representations of how objects change throughout an action. In this paper we present the Latent Convolutional Skip Chain Conditional Random Field (LC-SC-CRF). This time series model learns a set of interpretable and composable action primitives from sensor data. We apply our model to cooking tasks using accelerometer data from the University of Dundee 50 Salads dataset and to robotic surgery training tasks using robot kinematic data from the JHU-ISI Gesture and Skill Assessment Working Set (JIGSAWS). Our performance on 50 Salads and JIGSAWS are 18.0% and 5.3% higher than the state of the art, respectively. This model performs well without requiring hand-crafted features or intricate domain knowledge. The code and features have been made public.
Naked-Eye Detection of Reversible Protein Folding and Unfolding in Aqueous Solution

Students learning general chemistry and biochemistry often have difficulties understanding that proteins routinely exist in both folded and unfolded states, and that protein unfolding is not equivalent to irreversible denaturation or aggregation. To overcome the above misconceptions, we developed a novel demonstration that provides a simple and visually engaging illustration of the reversible interconversion between folded and unfolded protein states. Bovine serum albumin (BSA), a commercially available and inexpensive protein, binds to 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonate (ANS) when folded in solution, and the system fluoresces brightly. Conversely, unfolded BSA (in the presence of ANS) and ANS alone do not fluoresce. Variations in pH and temperature, and addition of destabilizing and stabilizing cosolutes, lead to clear and visually appealing changes in fluorescence, illustrating BSA folding and unfolding. Overall, this novel lecture demonstration aims at overcoming common conceptual challenges, and it demy...
Some people move it, move it… for pressure injury prevention.

Objective: To describe differences in in-seat behavior observed between individuals with a spinal cord injury (SCI) with and without a history of recurrent pressure injuries.Design: Cross-sectional cohort study.Setting: General community.Participants: Twenty-nine adults more than 2 years post SCI, who used a wheelchair as their primary mobility device and had the ability to independently perform weight shift maneuvers. Participants were grouped according to whether or not they had a history of recurrent pressure injuries (PrIs), with 12 subjects having had two or more pressure injuries in the pelvic area (PrI Group).Interventions: Not applicable.Main Outcome Measures: Daily time in wheelchair, number of transfers, and frequency of pressure reliefs (full unloading), weight shifts (30% load reduction), and in-seat movements (transient center of pressure movements or unloading).Results: The median participant spent 10.3 hours in his wheelchair and performed 16 transfers to or from the wheelchair daily. Press...
Changes in Patterns of 99mTc-Macroaggregated Albumin Use Between 2000 and 2015

Since the early 2000s, the method of evaluating pulmonary embolism has shifted from 99mTc-macroaggregated albumin (MAA) perfusion lung scans to CT angiography. 99mTc-MAA continues to be applied for patients with contraindications to CT angiography and for other uses. A reduced number of 99mTc-MAA particles is administered to patients with pulmonary hypertension or other risk factors. This study assessed the changing patterns of 99mTc-MAA use between 2000 and 2015 at a single institution by comparing snapshots of the procedures performed in those two years. Methods: Records for all patients receiving 99mTc-MAA in 2000 and 2015 were reviewed, making note of the type of imaging procedure, whether there was any contraindication to CT angiography, and whether a reduced number of 99mTc-MAA particles was administered. Results: In 2000, 99mTc-MAA was used for 489 lung scans for pulmonary embolism, 2 for peritoneovenous shunts, and 1 for a cardiac shunt. Of the lung scan patients, 46 (9%) had pulmonary hypertension. A reduced number of particles was administered to the pulmonary hypertension and cardiac shunt patients (47/492, or 9%). In 2015, 99mTc-MAA was used for 263 lung scans for pulmonary embolism, 33 for presurgical planning, 33 for patients with a lung transplant, 16 for pulmonary artery stenosis, 5 to determine hepatic artery microsphere eligibility, and 1 for a peritoneovenous shunt. Of the lung scans for pulmonary embolism, 256 of the 263 patients (97%) had a contraindication to CT angiography or a nondiagnostic CT angiogram, including 99 (38%) with pulmonary hypertension. A reduced number of particles was administered to the pulmonary hypertension patients, presurgical patients, and lung-transplant patients (165/351, or 47%). Conclusion: Comparing 2015 with 2000, lung scans for pulmonary embolism decreased 46%, from 489 to 263, apparently because of a shift to CT angiography, whereas other uses rose from 3 to 88. Administration of a reduced number of particles rose significantly from 9% to 47% of 99mTc-MAA doses. Although the total number of 99mTc-MAA doses dropped 29%, from 492 to 351, 99mTc-MAA remains an important radiopharmaceutical for both pulmonary embolism and other uses.
When Machines Learn to Collude: Lessons from a Recent Research Study on Artificial Intelligence

From Professors Maurice Stucke and Ariel Ezrachi’s Virtual Competition published a year ago, to speeches by the Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Terrell McSweeny and Acting Chair Maureen K. Ohlhausen, to an entire issue of a recent CPI Antitrust Chronicles, and a conference hosted by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in June this year, there has been an active and ongoing discussion in the antitrust community about computer algorithms. In this note, I briefly summarize the current views and concerns in the antitrust and artificial intelligence (AAI) literature pertaining to algorithmic collusion and then discuss the insights and lessons we could learn from a recent AI research study. As I argue in the article, not all assumptions in the antitrust scholarship have empirical support at this point.
Clinical Research Strategies in Oculoplastic Surgery

This chapter is intended to provide the oculoplastic surgeon with a concise, high-yield guide to asking a clinically relevant diagnostic or therapeutic question and answering it through clinical research. The goal may be met by doing the research yourself or by critically evaluating the available literature. In either case, it is important to understand some basic principles about study questions, study design, data analysis, bias and confounding, and levels of evidence and to consider these factors before undertaking your study and as you read a publication.
The Taiwanese livestock and feedgrain markets and policies

Government intervention in livestock markets has become a controversial issue in Taiwan. Opponents charge that the policy of restricting pork export whenever the government deems the action necessary has led to a drop in pork prices on Taiwan over time, benefitting pork consumers but cutting deeply into the profitability of hog production. Consequently, there is growing pressure to liberalize pork exports. Similarly, opponents contend that the large imports of frozen beef, subsidized by the Australian government, that have been dumped in Taiwan since 1975, have led to a sharp decline in the domestic price of beef and in cattle inventories. Taiwanese cattle producers have requested that the government impose restrictions on beef imports such as a quota or an import surcharge;The main objective of this study is a qualitative and quantitative analysis of Taiwanese livestock and feedgrain markets and an evaluation of the likely effects of current and alternative policies on the Taiwanese livestock and feedgrain markets. A description of the structure and characteristics of the Taiwanese livestock industry and related government policies is first presented. Then a general model of the industry which integrates the cattle and beef, hog and pork, chicken and chicken meat, corn, and soybean sectors is developed and estimated using the Wallis-like two step estimator;Dynamic policy simulation analysis provides strong evidence of a significant impact of pork export restrictions on the Taiwanese livestock and feedgrain markets over the long run. The study suggests that a pork export embargo would force a drop in the domestic retail price of pork and, consequently, a decline in domestic pork production. The simulation results also indicate that an increase in the import prices of corn or soybeans as a result of a drought in the U.S., for example, would widely affect the Taiwanese livestock and feedgrain markets. The higher prices of corn or soybeans would push up feeding costs in the livestock industries in Taiwan and, consequently, decrease the production of meat. Alternative policies intended to support the domestic beef industry such as a restrictive beef import quota and the import tariff currently provided to U.S. beef have limited effects on the Taiwanese livestock and feedgrain markets.
Irradiation Damage to Aluminum Oxide Exposed to 5 × 1021 Fast Neutrons/CM2

The effects of neutron irradiation on poly crystalline α-alumina were investigated. The specimens were translucent solid cylinders of 99.8% of theoretical density with an average grain size of 25 μ...
Conformal MgO film grown at high rate at low temperature by forward-directed chemical vapor deposition

MgO thin films are deposited by chemical vapor deposition from the precursor magnesium N,N-dimethylaminodiboranate, Mg(H3BNMe2BH3)2, and water at a substrate temperature of 270–350 °C. Highly conformal coatings with 98% step coverage in trenches of aspect ratio 9 are obtained at a substrate temperature of 270 °C and a growth rate of 7.5 nm/min, most notably through the use of a forward-directed flux, in which some of the precursor molecules travel ballistically down the recessed feature, strike the bottom, and are scattered there to create a virtual source. The deposition conditions can also be adjusted to afford a growth rate up to 200 nm/min with reduced conformality. Most of the films have a dense and column-free microstructure with low surface roughness; the film density, measured by a combination of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy, is 82%–86% of bulk. Films grown on Si substrates have good adhesion and a low coefficient of friction (∼0.1) in nanoscratch measurements. The refractive index of the films is slightly lower than that of bulk MgO, consistent with the reduced physical densities. Depending on the growth conditions, the C content in the films varies between 0.7 and 6 at. %, and the B content ranges from 1 to 16 at. %. B in the film is present in the B2O3 chemical state; after subtracting the O content in B2O3, the O/Mg ratio = 1.02 in the MgO matrix. A film grown at a temperature of 270 °C and a growth rate of 6 nm/min has a dielectric constant of 9.5 and a breakdown strength of 6 MV/cm.
Patterns of sediment-associated fecal indicator bacteria in an urban estuary: Benthic-pelagic coupling and implications for shoreline water quality.

Abstract Estuarine and coastal waterways are commonly monitored for fecal and sewage contamination to protect recreator health and ecosystem functions. Such monitoring programs commonly rely on cultivation-based counts of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in water column samples. Recent studies demonstrate that sediments and beach sands can be heavily colonized by FIB, and that settling and resuspension of colonized particles may significantly influence the distribution of FIB in the water column. However, measurements of sediment FIB are rarely incorporated into monitoring programs, and geographic surveys of sediment FIB are uncommon. In this study, the distribution of FIB and the extent of benthic-pelagic FIB coupling were examined in the urbanized, lower Hudson River Estuary. Using cultivation-based enumeration, two commonly-measured FIB, enterococci and Escherichia coli, were widely distributed in both sediment and water, and were positively correlated with each other. The taxonomic identity of FIB isolates from water and sediment was confirmed by DNA sequencing. The geometric mean of FIB concentration in sediment was correlated with both the geometric mean of FIB in water samples from the same locations and with sediment organic carbon. These two positive associations likely reflect water as the FIB source for underlying sediments, and longer FIB persistence in the sediments compared to the water, respectively. The relative representation of other fecal associated bacterial genera in sediment, determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, increased with the sequence representation of the two FIB, supporting the value of these FIB for assessing sediment contamination. Experimental resuspension of sediment increased shoreline water column FIB concentrations, which may explain why shoreline water samples had higher average FIB concentrations than samples collected nearby but further from shore. In combination, these results demonstrate extensive benthic-pelagic coupling of FIB in an urbanized estuary and highlight the importance of sediment FIB distribution and ecology when interpreting water quality monitoring data.
Erythropoietin Protects Cardiomyocytes Not Only during Hypoxic Injury but Also Against Doxorubicin-Induced Apoptosis: A Novel Effect Mediated by Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase Pathway.

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a tissue-protective cytokine that exerts cytoprotective effects against various types of injury in non-hematopoietic tissues. Our previous work using Langendorff-perfused adult rat hearts demonstrated that EPO improves left ventricular function and reduces infarct size during ischemia-reperfusion injury. Recent studies of EPO variants that retain tissue-protective properties of EPO in non-hematopoietic tissues without stimulating erythropoiesis suggested fundamental differences between EPO-mediated cellular signaling in hematopoietic versus non-hematopoietic cells as well as novel clinical applications for recombinant EPO and its derivatives in disorders other than anemia. In this study, we characterized the activation of EPO-mediated intracellular signal transduction in primary cardiac myocytes and determined the specific pathways required for protection of cardiomyocytes against hypoxic injury. We also investigated the ability of EPO to protect against cell death induced by doxorubicin (DOX), a chemotherapeutic agent associated with well-established cardiotoxic effects. We hypothesized that protective effects of EPO during hypoxic or DOX-mediated cardiomyocyte injury may be inhibited by specific kinase inhibitors targeting pathways activated by EPO. Primary cardiac myocytes were isolated from neonatal rat ventricles (NRVM) establishing cultures containing >97% cardiac myocytes as determined by immunostaining of cells with anti-cardiac muscle sarcomeric actinin. We found that EPO induces the rapid phosphorylation of PI3K substrate Akt and p44/42 MAP kinases Erk 1/2 in a time-dependent fashion. Constitutive tyrosine phosphorylation of Jak2 was observed that did not increase following EPO treatment of cardiomyocytes. Pre-incubation of cells with PI3K inhibitor LY294002 or MEK inhibitor U0126 prior to EPO treatment inhibited the increased phosphorylation of Akt and Erk1/2, respectively. EPO treatment of NRVMs significantly reduced hypoxia-induced apoptosis by 44% assessed by immunoflurescence microscopy of cardiomyocytes double-labeled with TUNEL and DAPI to quantify apoptotic nuclei (P
On-Demand Customization and Channel Strategies

In this chapter, we study the impact of two major technological advances in demand fulfillment—the emergence of dual channels in retail (i.e., online and in-store) and the adoption of on-demand customization technology (such as additive manufacturing or 3D printing). Our analysis shows that such technology adoption can have differential impacts to the two channels. The technology leads to increased product variety offered online, as well as allows the firm to charge a price premium for online customers. Yet it also induces the firm to offer a smaller product variety and a reduced price in-store. Moreover, the online demand increases (decreases) if the customer online wait cost is low (high). The firm’s profitability with the new technology is driven by the production setup cost of the traditional production technology it replaces and also by how much customers care about the product’s custom fit.
Use of Research in Mental Health Practice and Policy

The view that research can be used to improve the human condition is widely held in American society. This view is compatible with the empirically minded spirit in which the nation was founded (Lynn, 1978), with the American tendency to resist making decisions based on authority as opposed to fact, and with the technological orientation of contemporary American society.
Integrated Robust Control of Individual Scalar Variables in Tokamaks

Tokamaks are devices with a toroidal shape in which a high-temperature ionized gas (plasma) is confined by means of helical magnetic fields. The final goal of these devices is to obtain energy from thermonuclear fusion reactions within this plasma. A multitude of coupled control problems arise in tokamak-plasma research that need to be solved simultaneously. For tokamaks to be able to operate safely while maximizing plasma performance, integrated control schemes that can handle different aspects of the plasma dynamics must be developed. Moreover, due to the inherent uncertainty that exists in the plasma modeling process, such controllers must be robust against unknown variations of the plasma behavior. In this work, a nonlinear, robust controller is designed for simultaneous regulation of magnetic and kinetic scalar variables, namely the central safety factor, q 0 , the edge safety factor, q edge , the total stored energy, W, and the global toroidal rotation, Ω ϕ . The controller is synthesized from physics-based, zero-dimensional (0D) models of the individual scalars’ dynamics. One-dimensional (1D) simulations using the COTSIM (Control-Oriented Transport Simulator) code are employed to test the proposed controller in a DIII-D scenario.
Evaluating free and simple remote sensing methods for mapping Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) invasions in hardwood forests

Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) is a common invasive shrub in hardwood forests of the southeastern US and has been shown to negatively affect native herbaceous and woody plants. The ability to map the distribution of L. sinense on a property could help land managers plan and budget for control operations. We evaluated whether freely available moderate resolution multispectral imageries (Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2) and open-source GIS software (QGIS with the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin) could be effective tools for this application. These tools are widely used by remote sensing and mapping professionals; however their adoption by field-level land managers appears limited, and their utility for mapping L. sinense invasions is untested. We evaluated how satellite type, image acquisition date, classification algorithm, and L. sinense cover affected detection accuracy. We found that Sentinel 2 imagery from March tended to produce good results, especially when analyzed using the maximum likelihood algorithm. Our best classifier obtained an overall accuracy of 92.3% for areas with ≥ 40% L. sinense cover. We recommend that land managers interested in applying this tool use an adaptive process for developing training polygons and test multiple images and classification algorithms in order to achieve optimal results.
Chapter 103 – Yersinia pestis

Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of bubonic plague, has three remarkable attributes. First, it causes the most severe of all human bacterial infections as judged by historical records. Second, the emergence of Y. pestis occurred no later than 10 000 years ago and its dramatic evolution from an enteropathogen to agent of acute disease may still be in progress. Third, survival and multiplication of Y. pestis within the host and flea vector are largely mediated by laterally transferred DNA and removal of this imported information converts the formidable plague bacillus into an innocuous entity capable of only transient survival in its mammalian host, flea vector, or natural environments. The purpose of this chapter is to integrate these features and to outline the physiological and molecular mechanisms that enable Y. pestis to promote uncompromisingly destructive pathology.
STRING FIELD ACTIONS FROM W

Starting from W∞ as a fundamental symmetry and using the coadjoint orbit method, we derive an action for one-dimensional strings. It is shown that on the simplest non-trivial orbit this gives the single scalar collective field theory. On higher orbits one finds generalized KdV type field theories with increasing number of components.
Interseeding alfalfa into corn silage increases corn N fertilizer demand and increases system yield

Interseeding alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) into corn (Zea mays L.) harvested as silage can increase rotation productivity and reduce negative environmental impacts, but the importance of N fertilizer management for successful implementation of the interseeding system remains unexplored. Nitrogen fertilizer enhanced leaf chlorophyll content, corn silage yield, and total N content of corn with interseeded alfalfa and conventional solo-seeded corn at two locations in southern Wisconsin. However, greater N rates (additional 83 kg N ha−1 at one location; could not be estimated at second location) were needed to maximize corn silage yield when alfalfa was interseeded, suggesting that alfalfa effectively competed with corn for N. Maximum corn silage yields were depressed by 7–16% when alfalfa was interseeded, but interseeded alfalfa yields in the subsequent year were 40–160% greater than spring-seeded alfalfa, resulting in greater total forage yield over the 2-year study period. Alfalfa plant density after corn silage harvest was greatest at low N rates, but all N rates resulted in acceptable stands with good yields in the second year of the studies. This is the first demonstration that application of additional N fertilizer can ensure high interseeded corn silage yields without causing major issues with alfalfa establishment. Additionally, split N application where half of the N rate was broadcast at planting and the balance banded along the corn row as a side-dressing did not influence most corn or alfalfa N responses compared to a single broadcast application at planting. Results of this work and previous studies suggest near maximal yields of corn silage can be obtained in this interseeding system if N is applied at 224 kg ha−1, but further refinement of fertilizer and other crop management practices is, however, needed to maximize the forage production and environmental stewardship potential of this system.
Gestão e formação cultural no ensino superior: a criação da galeria virtual no contexto da pandemia covid-19

Este artigo tem como objetivo relatar a experiencia da criacao e da gestao da Galeria de Arte Virtual La Salle, que integra a Galeria de Arte La Salle, espaco cultural do Unilasalle-RJ, localizada no municipio de Niteroi, no Rio de Janeiro. Durante a pandemia da COVID-19, buscou-se compreender limites e possibilidades deste espaco virtual como espaco promotor de cultura, arte e conhecimento. Por meio de estudo de caso, buscou-se entender as reacoes ao processo de acao-reflexao-acao e como isso favoreceu a aproximacao e a integracao dos alunos participantes a arte e a cultura. Como resultados, indica-se que a criacao e gestao do espaco, apesar das dificuldades iniciais, pode ser explorada como uma ferramenta para a promocao da arte, cultura e conhecimento durante o periodo da pandemia da COVID-19 e para alem de periodos de isolamento social.
Thioesterase Superfamily Member 2 (Them2) Channels Fatty Acids to Glycerol-3-Phosphate Acyltransferase-1 (GPAT1): Role in Hepatic Insulin Resistance

Them2 is a mitochondria-associated acyl-CoA thioesterase, which promotes fatty acid oxidation within hepatocytes apparently by generating free fatty acids that are re-esterified to CoA by long chai...
Abstract 17748: Are Noninvasive Methods for Pasp Measurement Accurate When Compared to Invasive Pasp Measurements?

Background: The American Society of Echocardiography guidelines suggest utilizing agitated saline contrast or echocardiographic contrast agents if the TR (tricuspid regurgitation) signal is weak to assess pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP). There have been limited studies looking at accuracy between simultaneous Doppler derived PASP and invasive hemodynamic assessment. We aim to determine whether noninvasive PASP measurements at rest, utilizing agitated saline or the contrast agent Optison would give a more accurate assessment of PASP when compared to simultaneous invasive PASP assessment. Methods: We prospectively enrolled 67 patients who underwent right heart catheterization and obtained simultaneous echocardiograms (8 patients were excluded due to inability to measure TR velocity). Invasive PASP values were compared with PASP obtained on echocardiogram at baseline, after agitated saline, and Optison in a sequential manner. Exclusion criteria included PASP > 60 mm Hg, history of intracardiac shunts, and congential heart disease. Results: The mean age was 53 ±13 y, 63% male, 88% heart transplant recipients, average systolic blood pressure 131 ± 15 mm Hg, mean invasive PASP was 29 ±10 mmHg, and mean right atrial pressure was 8±5 mm Hg. Echocardiographic PASP with agitated saline showed the best correlation with invasive measurements. Echocardiographic PASP measurements made without the aid of agitated saline or Optison did not correlate well with invasive PASP measurements as well (Figure). Conclusion: The use of agitated saline or Optison improved the correlation with invasive PASP measurements. Routine echocardiographic PASP measurements did not show a strong correlation with invasive PASP measurement. Larger scale studies need to be performed to assess whether agitated saline or echo contrast such as Optison has a better correlation with invasive PASP measurement.
Lymphosarcoma of the intestinal tract

Abstract A case of lymphosarcoma of the small intestine is reported with an apparent five-year cure. Treatment consisted of radical surgical removal of the involved intestine and its mesentery.
Mechanism for Binding Site Diversity on Ankyrin: COMPARISON OF BINDING SITES ON ANKYRIN FOR NEUROFASCIN AND THE Cl/HCO3 ANION EXCHANGER

Ankyrins are a family of spectrin-binding proteins that associate with at least seven distinct membrane proteins, including ion transporters and cell adhesion molecules. The membrane-binding domain of ankyrin is comprised of a tandem array of 24 ANK repeats organized into four 6-repeat folding domains. Tandem arrays of ANK repeats have been proposed to mediate protein interactions in a variety of proteins including factors involved in the regulation of transcription and the cell cycle. This report provides several new insights into the versatility of ANK repeats of ankyrin in protein recognition, using neurofascin and the Cl−/HCO3− anion exchanger as model ligands and ankyrinr as the prototypic ankyrin. Different combinations of ANK repeat domains from this ankyrin form two distinct, high affinity binding sites for neurofascin. One site requires both repeat domains 3 and 4. The other site involves both repeat domains 2 and 3, although domain 2 has significant activity alone. The sites appear to be independent with Kd values of 3 and 14 nM, respectively. Both the Cl−/HCO3− anion exchanger and neurofascin can interact simultaneously with repeat domains 3 and 4, because neurofascin is unable to displace binding of the anion exchanger cytoplasmic domain to domains 3 and 4, despite having a 3-5-fold higher affinity. These results demonstrate two levels of diversity in the binding sites on ankyrin: one resulting from different combinations of ANK repeat domains and another from different determinants within the same combination of repeat domains. One consequence of this diversity is that ankyrin can accommodate two neurofascin molecules as well as the anion exchanger through interactions mediated by ANK repeats. The ability of ankyrin to simultaneously associate with multiple types of membrane proteins is an unanticipated finding with implications for the assembly of integral membrane proteins into specialized regions of the plasma membrane.
Communication support for reliable distributed computing

We describe a collection of communication primitives integrated with a mechanism for handling process failure and recovery. These primitives facilitate the implementation of fault-tolerant process groups, which can be used to provide distributed services in an environment subject to non-malicious crash failures.
Legislation for personal privacy: its impact on transborder data flow

The recent proliferation of privacy protection laws has had a significant impact on transborder data flows, frequently inhibiting the free flow of information across national borders. Such legislation appears to have been enacted in order to protect the privacy interests of individuals; however, it has had the effect of weakening international trade and strengthening the enacting governments against influence from other nations. No government has explicitly stated that it intends its privacy legislation to have this effect; however, it is clear that many nations have been motivated by more than a desire to protect their citizens' privacy. The privacy legislation of several developed nations is discussed, together with its impact on international trade and national sovereignty.
An Active Suspension System using Fuzzy Logic Control

In this paper, a feasibility study is shown for controlling an active automobile suspension system using Fuzzy Logic Control. First, a fuzzy logic algorithm for an active ride comfort control for a quarter car model was formulated. Among many combinations, velocity and acceleration of the sprung mass proved to be most suitable states to formulate the fuzzy algorithm. Secondly, robustness of the algorithm is tested by examining the system performance under the mass and stiffness variations. Simulated results show that the fuzzy logic control if very robust. Lastly, the fuzzy control scheme is compared to an LQ optimal control scheme and the passive case, and the advantages and limitations of the scheme is discussed.