cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development of Planetocentric Reference Frames to Model the Flyby Anomaly.

2Flybys have been utilized in interplanetary spaceflight since the 1970’s. However, despite the experience and expertise regarding their use, the source of anomalous tracking data for multiple spacecraft as they flew by the Earth in the 1990’s and 2000’s, known as the flyby anomaly, remains unknown. This paper proposes some foundational techniques of setting up planetocentric reference frames to analyze the relative orbital motion of celestial bodies and flyby maneuvers of spacecraft, which could better examine the source of the flyby anomaly. Beginning with a geometric description of two orbits in the barycentric (center of mass) reference frame of the solar system, we performed two transformations to create the planetocentric reference frame: translating the coordinate frame onto the planet in circular orbit and then setting the coordinate frame to rotate with the angular revolution of velocity of the planet about the center of mass. Gegenbauer polynomials along with Taylor series approximations were used extensively to simplify the equations and to reduce them to polar coordinates. To validate the approximations and assumptions, we used the resulting equations to calculate the position of Mars in the Earth’s polar coordinate planetocentric reference frame and compared it to that from the Jet Propulsion Lab’s (JPL) HORIZONS data, which is the same data used by the JPL for their own radar astronomy, mission planning, and spacecraft navigation. The results show that the approximations have sufficient accuracy to map circular and elliptical orbits in reference to a rotating coordinate frame centered on the orbiting body. These planetocentric equations form the foundation for future research to construct higher fidelity reference frames which would take corrections for relativistic effects into account. The higher fidelity reference frames will uncover whether matching the geocentric frame to the barycentric frame is sufficient to describe flyby trajectories. Furthermore, these equations would allow scientists to develop more practically-adequate approaches for calculations of the orbital motion of spacecraft.
Natural history of neuropsychiatric manifestations of HIV disease.

The neuropsychiatric manifestations of HIV disease include neurobiologic and psychobiologic phenomena. The former consist of primary CNS complications caused directly by HIV, and include cognitive disorders (mild neurocognitive disorder and HIV-associated dementia) and other CNS diseases such as myelopathy and the demyelinating neuropathies; and secondary disorders (principally deliria) occasioned by opportunistic infections, neoplasms, cerebrovascular events, and the effects of metabolic derangements and medications. The latter (psychobiologic) phenomena reflect efforts to cope with various nodal, or transition points, in HIV disease; such points of transition include time of serostatus determination, adaptation to asymptomatic seropositivity, response to early medical symptomatology, and later transition to frank AIDS. Anxiety symptoms and various efforts to cope with anxiety (e.g., denial, anger, withdrawal, hypochondriacal preoccupation) all can punctuate these transition points. Additionally, there may be reactivation of long-standing psychopathology (e.g., depression) in seropositive individuals who tend to belong to a group that has an elevated prevalence of pre-infection psychiatric disorder. These interacting neurobiologic and psychobiologic phenomena pose challenges to the psychiatrist who must develop a good understanding of the medical aspects of HIV infection, as well as the neuropsychiatry of AIDS. In this way psychiatric physicians can play an important role in early identification of neuropsychiatric complications, assist the medical team to anticipate emotional and behavioral disturbances, and develop treatment plans that maximize our ability to help those with HIV infection achieve the best possible quality of life.
Black and Blue in North Texas: The Long Neglected History of Anti-Black Police Violence in North Texas, 1880-1930

Recent anti-Black police violence in North Texas has been treated as an anomaly. In fact, as this article demonstrates, a long history of police brutality and wanton dereliction of duty has defined...
Underserved Does Not Mean Undeserved: Unfurling the HCV Care in the Safety Net.

The availability of the new generation of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapies for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has completely transformed the HCV therapeutic landscape. Current regimens provide pan-genotypic coverage that are of short duration, safer, and are highly effective than prior generations of HCV therapeutics. While data from clinical trials and real-world experience continue to demonstrate similar and high sustained virologic response (SVR) rates, the successful implementation of the HCV cascade-of-care including screening, confirmation of active infection, treatment initiation and successful completion of therapy among more challenging populations, such as the underserved populations who are also disproportionally affected by HCV, remains vital to HCV eradication efforts.
COMPARISON OF VIDEO-GUIDED, LIVE INSTRUCTED, AND SELF-GUIDED FOAM ROLL INTERVENTIONS ON KNEE JOINT RANGE OF MOTION AND PRESSURE PAIN THRESHOLD: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL.

BACKGROUND The use of foam rollers to provide tissue massage is a commonly used intervention by rehabilitation professionals for their patients and clients. Currently, there is no consensus on the optimal foam rolling treatment approach. Of particular interest are the effects of different instructional methods of foam rolling, as individuals ultimately perform these interventions independently outside of formal care. Finding the optimal instructional method may help improve the individual's understanding of the technique, allowing for a safe and effective intervention. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of video-guided, live instructed, and self-guided foam roll interventions on knee flexion Range of Motion (ROM) and pressure pain thresholds. METHODS Forty-five healthy adults were recruited and randomly allocated to one of three intervention groups: video-guided, live-instructed, and self-guided. Each foam roll intervention lasted a total of 2 minutes. Dependent variables included knee flexion ROM and pressure pain threshold of the left quadriceps. Statistical analysis included subject demographic calculations and appropriate parametric and non-parametric tests to measure changes within and between intervention groups. RESULTS Each intervention group showed significant gains in knee flexion ROM (p ≤ 0.003) and pressure pain thresholds (p < 0.001). An approximate 5 degree increase of knee flexion and a 150 kPa increase in pressure pain threshold was observed at the posttest measure for all groups. There was no significant difference (p=0.25) found between intervention groups. CONCLUSION All three foam roll interventions showed short-term increases in knee flexion ROM and pressure pain thresholds. The two instructional methods (video and live instruction) and the self-guided method produced similar outcomes and can be used interchangeably. Individuals can benefit from various types of instruction and in cases of limited resources video may offer an alternative or adjunct to live instruction or an existing self-guided program. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 2c.
Proceedings of the 4th Annual International Conference on Systems and Storage

It is our great pleasure to present the proceedings of SYSTOR 2011, the Fourth Annual International Systems and Storage Conference taking place at IBM Research, Haifa, Israel. SYSTOR has grown from a one day event to a three day international conference, attracting students, researchers and practitioners from Israel and overseas. We are confident that this year's conference continues to increase the reputation and influence of SYSTOR with a set of excellent papers covering a wide range of topics, from virtualization techniques and data centers, energy-management and reliability, to multi-core and distributed systems issues and, of course, storage. The SYSTOR 2011 call for papers attracted a total of 53 submissions, with 42 to the research track, 8 to the industrial track and 3 to the work in progress track. We were able to accept 14 research track papers and 2 industrial track papers in a competitive and rigorous review process, resulting in an overall acceptance rate of 30%. A best paper and best student paper were selected by the program committee and awards will be presented at the conference.
Bison’s Achilles’ Heel: Paleoindian Hunters and Bison Physiology

Folsom bison hunters on the North American Plains 12,500 calendar years ago killed large numbers of bison within natural arroyos. Research suggests that a link between animal physiology and hunter ...
Family matters? Exploring media coverage of presidential candidates’ families by gender and race

Researchers have only recently begun to explore the role of parenthood and family in politics. While some scholars focus on the political attitudes of parents, others examine the advantages and dis...
Catheter ablation of premature ventricular complexes with low intraprocedural burden guided exclusively by pace‐mapping

Background Catheter ablation (CA) of idiopathic premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) is typically guided by both activation and pace-mapping, with ablation ideally delivered at the site of the earliest local activation. However, activation mapping requires sufficient intraprocedural quantity of PVCs. This study aimed to investigate the outcome of CA of infrequent PVCs guided exclusively by pace-mapping. Methods We retrospectively analyzed all patients undergoing CA of idiopathic PVCs between 2014 and 2017. Results Among 327 patients, 24 (7.3%) had low intraprocedural PVC burden despite isoproterenol, including two patients with zero PVCs, rendering activation mapping impractical/impossible. All 24 had a history of symptomatic PVCs. During ablation, a median of 27 (17-55) pace-maps were performed, with best median PASO score of 97 (96-98)%. A median of 12 (8.75-18.75) radiofrequency (RF) lesions were delivered with 11.4 (8.5-17.6) minutes of total RF time. Clinical success, defined as more than 80% reduction in the burden of previously frequent PVCs and/or absence of symptoms as well as any documented clinical PVCs among those with infrequent or exercise-induced PVCs, was achieved in 19 (79%) patients over 9.2 (2.0-15.0) months of follow-up. Conclusions When activation mapping cannot be performed due to inadequate intraprocedural PVC burden, detailed pace-mapping can frequently identify the precise arrhythmia site of origin, thereby guiding successful CA.
Sequential Association Rule Mining for Autonomously Extracting Hierarchical Task Structures in Reinforcement Learning

Reinforcement learning (RL) techniques, while often powerful, can suffer from slow learning speeds, particularly in high dimensional spaces or in environments with sparse rewards. The decomposition of tasks into a hierarchical structure holds the potential to significantly speed up learning, generalization, and transfer learning. However, the current task decomposition techniques often cannot extract hierarchical task structures without relying on high-level knowledge provided by an expert (e.g., using dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs) in factored Markov decision processes), which is not necessarily available in autonomous systems. In this paper, we propose a novel method based on Sequential Association Rule Mining that can extract Hierarchical Structure of Tasks in Reinforcement Learning ( SARM-HSTRL ) in an autonomous manner for both Markov decision processes (MDPs) and factored MDPs. The proposed method leverages association rule mining to discover the causal and temporal relationships among states in different trajectories and extracts a task hierarchy that captures these relationships among sub-goals as termination conditions of different sub-tasks. We prove that the extracted hierarchical policy offers a hierarchically optimal policy in MDPs and factored MDPs. It should be noted that SARM-HSTRL extracts this hierarchical optimal policy without having dynamic Bayesian networks in scenarios with a single task trajectory and also with multiple tasks’ trajectories. Furthermore, we show theoretically and empirically that the extracted hierarchical task structure is consistent with trajectories and provides the most efficient, reliable, and compact structure under appropriate assumptions. The numerical results compare the performance of the proposed SARM-HSTRL method with conventional HRL algorithms in terms of the accuracy in detecting the sub-goals, the validity of the extracted hierarchies, and the speed of learning in several testbeds. The key capabilities of SARM-HSTRL including handling multiple tasks and autonomous hierarchical task extraction can lead to the application of this HRL method in reusing, transferring, and generalization of knowledge in different domains.
Comparing Relativistic and Newtonian Motion Under a Constant Force Using Dimensional Analysis and Calculus

Students have difficulty bridging the conceptual gap between Newtonian and relativistic physics, and, consequently, the teaching of special relativity has been discussed extensively in the literature. A comprehensive list of such references is too large to include, but a brief list is given. In this paper, the author presents several exercises, comparing Newtonian and relativistic solutions to one-dimensional motion of a mass M acted upon by a constant force F. Calculations include the speed, time, and distance of travel for which the Newtonian and relativistic predictions differ by a given percentage. Relativistic motion under a constant force has been discussed previously, but the present treatment has important differences, which will be described below.
Assessing the potential for greater solar development in West Texas, USA

Abstract As population and economies continue to grow on a global scale, so too does the demand for energy. To improve reliability and independence of energy supplies, the U.S. and many other countries are seeking internally-sourced renewable energy; solar is one such renewable-energy source that meets these criteria. However, all energy sources exert some environmental impacts. In the case of solar, direct impacts stem mostly from alteration of land needed to host infrastructure. Understanding the environmental upside and downside potential of solar energy systems allows a more comprehensive, side-by-side comparison with different energy sources. In this article, we focus on the solar energy potential of West Texas, USA, a large arid to semi-arid region with a rural population and favorable climatic conditions. Texas is an interesting and important region to study given its unregulated and independent grid operation and the additional (and substantial) sources of regionally produced energy. Herein, we assess the geographic and environmental attributes, constraints to (e.g., incoming solar radiation, slope, habitats, ecoregion, water availability, etc.), and the potential environmental impacts on land resources from utility-scale installations of different types of solar energy generation systems. Our assessment points to the balance needed to expand solar energy to gain flexibility in energy sourcing on the one hand, while carefully considering future locations and technology to avoid regional impacts to land and environmental resources.
Development of a Novel Mind-Body Activity and Pain Management Program for Older Adults With Cognitive Decline.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Chronic pain (CP) and cognitive decline (CD) often co-occur in older adults, which can reinforce a "disability spiral." Early interventions teaching pain coping skills and gradual increases in activity (walking) are needed to promote overall well-being and potentially delay further decline of cognition and daily functioning. The goal of this mixed-methods study was to guide the development of two mind-body activity programs for CP and CD which focus on increasing walking using time goals (Active Brains) or step count reinforced by a Fitbit (Active Brains-Fitbit). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Older adults with CP and CD (N = 23) participated in a one-time focus group (four total) and completed measures of physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning. Qualitative analyses identified population-specific needs, preferences, and perceptions of proposed program skills. Quantitative analysis compared clinical characteristics to population norms and explored intercorrelations among treatment targets. RESULTS Thematic analyses revealed six main themes: (1) challenges living with CP and (2) CD, (3) current walking, (4) technology (Fitbit) to increase walking, (5) perceptions of proposed program skills (e.g., mind-body, pain, and increased walking), and (6) program barriers and facilitators. Quantitative analyses showed that (a) participants had physical function below reference values and (b) higher self-efficacy correlated with higher cognitive, emotional, and physical functioning. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS Focus group participants were enthusiastic about the proposed program skills. Current work includes open pilot testing, qualitative interviews, and a small randomized controlled trial to optimize the programs and methodology in preparation for efficacy testing against an educational control.
Assessment of drivers' perceptions of connected vehicle-human machine interface for driving under adverse weather conditions: preliminary findings from wyoming

Connected Vehicle (CV) technology aims to improve drivers’ situational awareness through audible and visual warnings displayed on a Human-Machine Interface (HMI), thus reducing crashes caused by human error. This paper developed a driving simulator testbed to assess the readability and usefulness of the Wyoming CV applications. A total number of 26 professional drivers were recruited to participate in a driving simulator study. Prior to driving the simulator, the participants were trained on both the concept of CV technology and the developed CV applications as well as the operation of the driving simulator. Three driving simulation scenarios were designed. For each scenario, participants drove two times; one with the HMI turned-on and another one with the HMI turned-off. After driving the simulator, a comprehensive revealed-preference survey was employed to collect the participants’ perceptions of CV technology and Wyoming CV applications. Results showed that the Wyoming CV applications were most favored under poor-visibility driving conditions. Among the Wyoming CV applications, Forward Collision Warning (FCW) and Re-Routing applications were experienced as the most useful. Approximately 89 percent of the participants stated that the Wyoming CV applications provided them with improved road condition information and increased their experienced safety while driving; 65 percent of the participants stated the CV applications and the HMI did not introduce distraction from the primary task of driving. Finally, this paper concluded that the design of CV HMI needs to balance a tradeoff between the readability of the warnings and drivers’ capability to safely recognize and timely respond to the received warnings.
Better by Design?: Architecture, Urban Planning, and the Good City

The design professions—architecture, city planning, landscape architecture, and urban design—share a great deal in terms of intellectual antecedents, professional ideals, and praxis. In particular, they share a commitment to creating better cities—whether at the scale of buildings, neighborhoods, or city-regions. But who decides what constitutes a “good” city, and how should such an ideal be implemented? In Better by Design? Paul Knox explores the intellectual roots of the design professions, showing how architects, planners, and other designers have traditionally interpreted their roles and implemented their ideas in cities across North America and the UK. Drawing on his long record of research and award-winning publications on the social production of the built environment, Knox offers a critical appraisal of their ultimate effectiveness in achieving the goal of creating and sustaining good cities. The MARC records for VT Publishing books can be downloaded here .
State-Provided Defense as Non-Comprehensive Planning

State-provided defense is a form of non-comprehensive government planning subject to two inherent problems. The first is the “knowledge problem” of how to allocate scarce resources to their highest-valued uses. The second is the “power problem” due to the discretionary power granted to those in the managerial-administrative state to plan military-related policies and resource allocations. We discuss these dual problems in the context of the U.S. defense sector.
50 Years of Structural Immunology.

Fifty years ago, the first landmark structures of antibodies heralded the dawn of structural immunology. Momentum then started to build toward understanding how antibodies could recognize the vast universe of potential antigens and how antibody-combining sites could be tailored to engage antigens with high specificity and affinity through recombination of germline genes (V, D, J) and somatic mutation. Equivalent groundbreaking structures in the cellular immune system appeared some 15 to 20 years later and illustrated how processed protein antigens in the form of peptides are presented by MHC molecules to T cell receptors. Structures of antigen receptors in the innate immune system then explained their inherent specificity for particular microbial antigens including lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, small molecules, and specific proteins. These two sides of the immune system act immediately (innate) to particular microbial antigens or evolve (adaptive) to attain high specificity and affinity to a much wider range of antigens. We also include examples of other key receptors in the immune system (cytokine receptors) that regulate immunity and inflammation. Furthermore, these antigen receptors use a limited set of protein folds to accomplish their various immunological roles. The other main players are the antigens themselves. We focus on surface glycoproteins in enveloped viruses including SARS-CoV-2 that enable entry and egress into host cells and are targets for the antibody response. This review covers what we have learned over the past half century about the structural basis of the immune response to microbial pathogens and how that information can be utilized to design vaccines and therapeutics.
Borderline weak–type estimates for sparse bilinear forms involving A∞ maximal functions

Abstract For any operator T whose bilinear form can be dominated by a sparse bilinear form, we prove that T is bounded as a map from L 1 ( M ˜ w ) into weak– L 1 ( w ) . Our main innovation is that M ˜ is a maximal function defined by directly using the local A ∞ characteristic of the weight (rather than Orlicz norms). Prior results are due to Coifman&Fefferman, Perez, Hytonen&Perez, and Domingo-Salazar&Lacey&Rey.
Prion protein polymorphisms in Michigan white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a well-described transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of the Cervidae family, is associated with the aggregation of an abnormal isoform (PrPCWD) of the naturally o...
On the comparison of theoretical and empirical distribution functions

Publisher Summary This chapter defines general statistics based on the number of excesses of one distribution function over the other to test the hypotheses that the elements of a sample are drawn from the same continuous distribution or the elements of two independent samples are drawn from the same continuous distribution. The chapter determines the asymptotic distributions of these statistics when the sample sizes increase indefinitely, and then determines limit distributions of these statistics under suitable normalizations. The theorems proved in this paper contain the results of Kolmogorov and Smirnov as particular cases.
Is the Average Mutual Fund Better Than We Think? Analyzing Mutual Funds with a Bayesian Hierarchical Model

This paper utilizes a Bayesian hierarchical model to study the distribution of skill (alphas) among mutual funds. The hierarchical model specifies a probability distribution over all parameters and funds, making it possible to formally analyze the variability of alphas across funds. In addition, the hierarchical model allows one to explicitly model the variance-covariance structure of returns across funds and through time. Failure to correctly model this covariation leads to biased parameter estimates. In particular, standard 3- and 4-factor alphas are biased downward by 10 to 13 basis points per month. By expressing the model in a Bayesian framework and generating a posterior sample of model parameters, one can easily examine the statistical properties of many complex functions, yielding insights unavailable in a frequentist setting.
Productivity Growth in the Western Hemisphere (1978–94): The Caribbean in Perspective

Productivity growth, technical efficiency change, and technological change were measured for a sample of 30 countries in the Western Hemisphere for the 1978–1994 period using the Malmquist index. The Caribbean compared unfavorably with North America and the Latin American regions. Evidence indicated some support for the convergence hypothesis. Regression analysis indicated that productivity growth in the Caribbean was positively associated with civil, economic, and political liberty.
New formulas for integrals in semiemperical molecular orbital methods: Part 2. Coulomb integrals and their first and second Cartesian derivatives in the NDDO theory

Abstract Formulas for the two center coulomb integrals that occur in the Neglect of Diatomic Differential Overlap (NDDO) methods, together with their first and second analytical derivatives with respect to nuclear displacements are given. The formulas are derived using an operator representation of the charge distributions. The resulting formulas are expressed directly in the Cartesian coordinates of the two nuclei, thus avoiding the transformation from local diatomic to molecular coordinates.
Increased student participation in a discrete mathematics course

A new approach to structuring a Discrete Mathematics course is discussed. The approach centers on student presentations of homework problems during class. Students are encouraged to work collaboratively on homework, but to write up their solutions and/or proofs on their own. Individual students are required to present problems to the class regularly, and approximately 1/2 of each class session is spent going through the homework via student-led presentations. However, homework is weighted relatively low in the course grade, while exams are weighted more heavily. Therefore, the overall approach to the class is for the students to master the material in order to be successful on the individual exams, while encouraging collegial collaborative work inside and outside of class. The course in question was taught using this method five times over five years at a small liberal arts college. Advantages of the approach are discussed, including student engagement in the class, peer modeling of successful mastery of course material, and an improvement of communication skills.
Biomarkers and prognostic factors for mesothelioma.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) desperately needs non-invasive, accurate prognostication for many reasons: a median survival of 12 months with treatment with first line therapy (1); a median survival of 24 months at best when treated in a multimodal approach with either neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery with or without radiation therapy or postoperative chemotherapy (2); a staging system that is not ideal, considering the diffuse nature of the disease and its variable biology (3); difficult, non-R0 surgical cytoreductions that, even with specialized centers have times to progression ranging from 7-12 months, and operative mortalities of 5% (4). MPM patients tend to be older individuals who are frequently functionally impaired and may have difficulty with aggressive therapy; however, there are a cadre of MPM patients who, with favorable biology and a multimodal approach, benefit from intense therapy. Prognostication in MPM must be able to differentiate among patients, hopefully at the time of diagnosis, in whom it is justified to offer potentially hazardous standards of care or novel protocols. If such prognostication implies a short time to death, either palliative therapy or no therapy may be appropriate; however, if prognostic factors indicate that long term survival is possible, a more aggressive approach may be prescribed. Obviously, however, prognostication cannot work in a vacuum and with time prognostication must be closely linked with prediction of response to therapy, in that a patient with a poor prognostic, but predictably sensitive to therapy, tumor may actually benefit from such therapy. Prognostication in MPM has been approached by studying many variables, usually one at a time, at many centers, all with limited numbers of patients. Univariate and multivariate analyses are performed, yet the majority of the findings remain unvalidated in other MPM populations. The variables can be purely clinical, such as patient demographics, which are frequently combined with standard laboratory values including white blood cell count or platelet count. Other investigators have concentrated on radiologic parameters at presentation as determined by scrutiny of computerized tomograms (CT) or positron emission tomography (PET) alone or fused with CT. Finally, a molecular pathologic approach, using state of the art platforms such as genomics, microRNA, epigenetics, or proteomics is used in order to define single or combinations of candidate prognostic biomarkers from tissue or blood.
Körperbilder in der Traumfabrik der Medien

Filme produzieren Korperbilder, die einen erheblichen Einfluss auf Selbstbilder, Identitatskonstruktionen und Abgrenzungen von bestimmten Identifikationsmodellen besitzen. Im vorliegende Sammelband wird entsprechend das Medium Film auf seine inharente geschlechtliche Kodierung und die geschlechtliche Markierung seiner Materialitat befragt. Den Herausgeberinnen gelingt es zudem, die Filmanalyse mit den Queer Theory und weiteren intersektionalen Kategorien zu verknupfen. Dabei werden insbesondere die filmischen Protagonist/-innen, die Rollenkonstellationen sowie die Storylines auf ihre geschlechtsspezifischen Implikationen untersucht.
Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Phenethyl Isothiocyanate: Implications in Breast Cancer Prevention

Phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC)—a naturally occurring isothiocyanate in cruciferous vegetables—has been extensively studied as a chemopreventive agent in several preclinical species and in humans. Pharmacokinetic features of unchanged PEITC are (I) linear and first-order absorption, (II) high protein binding and capacity-limited tissue distribution, and (III) reversible metabolism and capacity-limited hepatic elimination. Membrane transport of PEITC is mediated by BCRP, multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) 1, and MRP2 transporters belonging to the ATP-binding-cassette (ABC) family. PEITC is metabolized by glutathione S-transferase (GST) in the liver, with the glutathione conjugate of PEITC undergoing further conversion to mercapturic acid by N-acetyl transferase in rats and humans. PEITC modulates the activity and expression of numerous phase I and phase II drug-metabolizing enzymes and can inhibit the metabolism of procarcinogens to form carcinogens and increase carcinogen elimination. In recent years, several in vitro and in vivo studies have elucidated molecular mechanisms underlying the pharmacodynamics of PEITC in breast cancer that include cancer cell apoptosis by upregulation of apoptotic genes, cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase by generation of reactive oxygen species and depletion of intracellular glutathione, downregulation of the estrogen receptor, decrease in sensitivity to estrogen, and inhibition of tumor metastasis. Inhibition of angiogenesis is one of the recently reported mechanisms of breast cancer prevention by PEITC. Complex pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of PEITC necessitate a systems-biology approach in parallel with PK/PD modeling to develop PEITC as a therapeutic agent for treating cancers.
PUNISHMENT: EFFECTS OF SHOCK INTENSITY ON RESPONSE SUPPRESSION.

Punishment ordinarily suppresses concurrently reinforced behavior. The amount of suppression is related to intensity of punishment by the exponential equation, RI = Rne−0.10I. This equation describes the behavior of both rats and pigeons under very different methods of shock administration. Its generality may, however, be limited by (1) order of shock presentation and (2) amount of exposure to punishment. Recovery characteristically occurs immediately following withdrawal of punishment and, in some cases, even when the contingency is still in effect (mild punishment). At extremely high intensities, however, when concomitant emotional reactions may have been induced, response suppression may be permanent.
A spectroscopic study of a copper surface under boundary lubrication: I. Chemisorbed stearic acid multilayers

The thickness of chemisorbed stearic acid films on copper surfaces was deduced by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The chemisorption was detected by FTIR from the carboxyl (COO) asymmetric stretching band at 1585 cm−1. Multilayer growth was observed by monitoring the intensity increase in the asymmetric CH2 stretching mode at 2915 cm−1. The growth of the chemisorbed layer was found to depend on the concentration of the stearic acid/hexadecane solution. The chemisorption kinetic profile had a step-function due to the change in the number of layers. High carbon concentration in Auger spectroscopic characterisation indicated that the surface was coated with a stearic acid film. AES depth profiling analysis supports this step-function model and agrees well with the FTIR results.
Proteomic analysis of signaling network regulation in renal cell carcinomas with differential hypoxia-inducible factor-2α expression

Background The loss of von Hippel–Lindau (VHL) protein function leads to highly vascular renal tumors characterized by an aggressive course of disease and refractoriness to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Loss of VHL in renal tumors also differs from tumors of other organs in that the oncogenic cascade is mediated by an increase in the levels of hypoxia-inducible factor-2α (HIF2α) instead of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF1α). Methods and Principal Findings We used renal carcinoma cell lines that recapitulate the differences between mutant VHL and wild-type VHL genotypes. Utilizing a method relying on extracted peptide intensities as a label-free approach for quantitation by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, our proteomics study revealed regulation of key proteins important for cancer cell survival, proliferation and stress-resistance, and implicated differential regulation of signaling networks in VHL-mutant renal cell carcinoma. We also observed upregulation of cellular energy pathway enzymes and the stress-responsive mitochondrial 60-kDa heat shock protein. Finding reliance on glutaminolysis in VHL-mutant renal cell carcinoma was of particular significance, given the generally predominant dependence of tumors on glycolysis. The data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD000335. Conclusions and Significance Pathway analyses provided corroborative evidence for differential regulation of molecular and cellular functions influencing cancer energetics, metabolism and cell proliferation in renal cell carcinoma with distinct VHL genotype. Collectively, the differentially regulated proteome characterized by this study can potentially guide translational research specifically aimed at effective clinical interventions for advanced VHL-mutant, HIF2α-over-expressing tumors.
Transmesenteric laparoscopic pyeloplasty.

Purpose: Traditionally transperitoneal laparoscopic access to ureteropelvic junction obstruction has been performed in retrocolic fashion. We assessed transmesenteric laparoscopic pyeloplasty to correct ureteropelvic junction obstruction and compared results to those in patients undergoing traditional retrocolic laparoscopic pyeloplasty.Materials and Methods: Between August 1999 and July 2005, 188 consecutive transperitoneal laparoscopic pyeloplasties were performed at our institution. A total of 18 patients underwent a transmesenteric approach and 170 underwent the classic retrocolic approach. Patient selection for the transmesenteric approach was at surgeon discretion with the inclusion criterion of recognition of the renal pelvis and/or ureter through the descending colonic mesentery.Results: Compared to patients undergoing traditional retrocolic procedure the transmesenteric approach was more commonly applied in younger individuals and males, and for pathological conditions on the left side and malrot...
Development of Zakah and Zakah coverage in monotheistic faiths

Purpose – The unity of Divine Law is reflected in monotheistic faiths having their origin with Prophet Abraham (pbuh), but later divided into three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. There is a unity of Divine practice in a variety of areas among these monotheistic faiths. One such area is Zakah, in Islamic tradition, and often characterized as “the poor due” in Christianity and Judaism. By whatever name, Zakah or “the poor due,” is an important Divine institution in all three monotheistic faiths. The purpose of this paper is to trace and examine the development of the Zakah institution and Zakah type coverage in those faiths.Design/methodology/approach – First, the paper provides a brief description of the meaning and objectives of Zakah (the poor due) and the group of people who have been described as worthy to receive Zakah. Additional sections trace the development of Zakat (the poor due) in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Finally, some conclusions are presented for the consideration...
Spatial summation in dark-adapted human infants.

Abstract Behavioral measures of spatial summation in 4- and 11-week old human infants were obtained using the forced-choice preferential looking technique. Infants exhibit complete spatial summation over large areas (4 weeks: 8.9 : 11 weeks: 5.5 ). much larger than those of adults tested in the same apparatus (2.62). Thus, infants' summation areas are larger than adults' by factors of 12 at 4 weeks and 4 at 11 weeks. It is argued that at most, one-half of this difference between the infant and adult data may be due to optical factors (e.g. defocus and small eye size). The remainder probably reflects differences in the neural organization of the immature and mature visual systems.
Improving responsiveness of a stripe-scheduled media server

Thrifty scheduling is an algorithm that improves the responsiveness of a stripe-scheduled multimedia server. It increases the determination of the data-distribution service, reduces the likelihood of high startup delays, and enables an increase in the rated load of the system. A stripe-scheduled media server is a distributed video-on- demand system that load-balances by striping video data across multiple computer nodes and cyclically scheduling the distribution of the data. The server displays highly variable startup delays in response to requests for data streams. These delays are due to clusters of allocated slots in the distribution schedule, which form naturally as the system load increases. Thrifty scheduling is a scalable algorithm that improves responsiveness by allocating streams to schedule slots in a way that reduces the clustering in the schedule. This algorithm has been incorporated into the Tiger video fileserver.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Infrared and Raman line shapes of dilute HOD in liquid H2O and D2O from 10 to 90 °C

A combined electronic structure/molecular dynamics approach was used to calculate infrared and isotropic Raman spectra for the OH or OD stretches of dilute HOD in D2O or H2O, respectively. The quantities needed to compute the infrared and Raman spectra were obtained from density functional theory calculations performed on clusters, generated from liquid-state configurations, containing an HOD molecule along with 4−9 solvent water molecules. The frequency, transition dipole, and isotropic transition polarizability were each empirically related to the electric field due to the solvent along the OH (or OD) bond, calculated on the H (or D) atom of interest. The frequency and transition dipole moment of the OH (or OD) stretch of the HOD molecule were found to be very sensitive to its instantaneous solvent environment, as opposed to the isotropic transition polarizability, which was found to be relatively insensitive to environment. Infrared and isotropic Raman spectra were computed within a molecular dynamics ...
Processing and storage effect on berry polyphenols: challenges and implications for bioactive properties.

Anthocyanins and tannins in blueberries, blackberries and black raspberries are susceptible to degradation during processing, with juices showing the greatest losses due to physical removal of skins and seeds. Anthocyanins and procyanidins are also degraded in processed products stored at ambient temperature with losses accompanied by increased polymeric pigments (PPs). Using chokeberry as a model, formation of PPs occurred in both pasteurized and aged juices and pasteurized juice contained a greater proportion of low molecular weight PPs than aged juice, while aged juice contained a greater proportion of higher molecular PPs. Formation of PP accounts for some of the losses of anthocyanins and procyanidins during processing and storage, but the complete fate of anthocyanins remains unclear. In this review we highlight the steps in processing where significant losses of polyphenols occur, and discuss potential mechanisms responsible for losses, methods to mitigate losses, and implications on bioactive prop...
Stability of systems with randomly time-varying parameters

The stability of a system which alternates between stable and unstable configurations at random times may be investigated conveniently using Kronecker products. The system is stable with probability one if, and only if, all the eigenvalues of a specified matrix lie within the unit circle. If stability in the presence of a parameter adjustment is to be investigated, a root-locus plot of the eigenvalues is convenient.
High yield olefination of a wide scope of aryl chlorides catalyzed by the phosphinito palladium PCP pincer complex: [PdCl{C6H3(OPPri2)2-2,6}]

[PdCl{C6H3(OPPri2 )2-2,6}] efficiently catalyzes the olefination of a broad scope of aryl chlorides; as a result of the high thermal stability of the catalyst, the coupled products are obtained in excellent and in many cases nearly quantitative yields.
Method for producing transgenic bovine embryos from in vitro matured and fertilized oocytes

Abstract Microinjection and in vitro culture procedures were developed to produce transgenic bovine embryos after in vitro fertilization of in vitro matured oocytes. In Experiment I, zygotes were subjected to pronuclear microinjection of DNA 18 or 24 h following addition of spermatozoa to oocytes. Microinjections were performed in either Hepes-buffered TCM-199 or modified Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline without glucose. Viability of embryos was similar at both injection times and for both media, as determined by morphological evaluation after culturing embryos in vitro for 10 d. In Experiment II, microinjected embryos were cultured 1) in rabbit oviducts, 2) in vitro in a 5% CO 2 in air, or 3) in a 5% CO 2 / 5% O 2 / 90% N 2 incubator. There were no significant differences between the 2 in vitro culture environments. The in vitro culture systems supported development of embryos significantly better than the rabbit oviducts; 33% of cleaved ova developed to blastocysts in vitro vs 10% in vivo; 98% of transferred ova were recovered from the rabbit oviducts. From both experiments, 6 of 92 blastocysts were positive for the microinjected DNA as determined by a polymerase chain reaction followed by gel electrophoresis.
Social utility and fashion behavior

This article reports the exploratory results of a computer-based behavioral simulation that examines the role of social utility in fashion behavior. Social utility is defined as those benefits of a product or service that satisfy interpersonal needs (e.g., conformity, individuality relative to others). These exploratory results suggest that social utility is a prime determinate of fashion behavior, and that selected personality traits moderate behavioral responses to social influence in the fashion domain.
An adjusted measure of achievement motivation for males and females and effects of future orientation on level of performance

Abstract An adjusted measure of achievement motivation was devised with the combined use of the Mehrabian Achievement Scale (Educational and Psychological Measurement, 1968 , 28, 493–502) and the Mandler and Sarason (Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1952 , 47, 166–173) Test Anxiety Questionnaire. Contingent instructions, in which Ss were told success on a test was necessary to qualify for opportunities to succeed on subsequent tests, were contrasted to performance in equivalent noncontingent situations and relative to adjusted achievement motivation for both male and female subjects. In noncontingent situations Ss were told performance on any one test did not affect their opportunity to take subsequent tests. Support was obtained for the use of the above mentioned scales as a predictor of performance for both sexes but not for the Mehrabian by itself. Both male and female Ss high in achievement motivation consistently scored significantly higher than Ss low in achievement motivation in all conditions. The expected interactions between treatments and motive groups were not found but t tests between extreme motive groups within conditions revealed significant differences in the expected directions. These results do not provide statistically reliable support to the elaborated theory of achievement motivation.