cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Parallel computing with generalized cellular automata

Cellular automata (CA) are fundamental computational models of spatial phenomena, in which space is represented by a discrete lattice of cells. Each cell concurrently interacts with its neighborhood which, in traditional CA, is limited to the cell's nearest neighbors. In this paper we discuss generalized cellular automata (GCA), an important but unexplored class of CA, in which the cell's interaction domain extends beyond the nearest neighbors. The computational power necessary to run large scale CA (and GCA) models has only recently been available thanks to parallel processing. This paper focuses on implementation and performance of GCA in biological modeling. In particular, we present results of simulating the spread of epidemics and the creation of spatial infection patterns that are important for disease control. The simulation system is implemented on three different platforms: the MasPar MP-1 SIMD computer, the IBM SP-2 MIMD machine and a network of workstations (NOW) that consists of Sun SPARCstation 5 and UltraSPARC 2's connected via Ethernet. The system presented in this paper has been specialized for simulating a four species spatially explicit model, however, the implementation may be readily modified to represent other models. Simulation results are presented for simple epidemics and vector-borne diseases spread by parasites.
Full p53 transcriptional activation potential is dispensable for tumor suppression in diverse lineages

Over half of all human cancers, of a wide variety of types, sustain mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene. Although p53 limits tumorigenesis through the induction of apoptosis or cell cycle arrest, its molecular mechanism of action in tumor suppression has been elusive. The best-characterized p53 activity in vitro is as a transcriptional activator, but the identification of numerous additional p53 biochemical activities in vitro has made it unclear which mechanism accounts for tumor suppression. Here, we assess the importance of transcriptional activation for p53 tumor suppression function in vivo in several tissues, using a knock-in mouse strain expressing a p53 mutant compromised for transcriptional activation, p5325,26. p5325,26 is severely impaired for the transactivation of numerous classical p53 target genes, including p21, Noxa, and Puma, but it retains the ability to activate a small subset of p53 target genes, including Bax. Surprisingly, p5325,26 can nonetheless suppress tumor growth in cancers derived from the epithelial, mesenchymal, central nervous system, and lymphoid lineages. Therefore, full transactivation of most p53 target genes is dispensable for p53 tumor suppressor function in a range of tissue types. In contrast, a transcriptional activation mutant that is completely defective for transactivation, p5325,26,53,54, fails to suppress tumor development. These findings demonstrate that transcriptional activation is indeed broadly critical for p53 tumor suppressor function, although this requirement reflects the limited transcriptional activity observed with p5325,26 rather than robust transactivation of a full complement of p53 target genes.
Positron emitting 18F-2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose: potential 'hot' new therapy

Preclinical studies suggest that 18F-2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose (18F-FDG) kills breast cancer cells without significant marrow toxicity or parenchymal toxicity. Radiation dose calculations estimated from fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography images in women with metastatic disease indicate that 18F-FDG should be a feasible and safe option in humans. Because the available radiotherapeutic agents, strontium 89 and samarium 153 provide palliation to a limited population of women with bony metastases, new radiopharmaceutical agents with broader applicability are needed. The development of 18F-FDG as the first positron-emitting radiotherapeutic has the potential to be an innovative treatment, not only in osteoblastic disease, but also in osteolytic disease and in soft tissue metastases.
Yoga and distractibility

Summary Performers have used many approaches to regulate arousal levels. Yoga claims to regulate arousal; however the claim has not been evaluated. This study investigated non-directive somatic arousal, utilizing heart-rate data, of trained and novice yoga practitioners before, during and following an auditory distraction in savasana. No difference was noted between trained and novice yoga practitioners.
Synthetic traces for trace-driven simulation of cache memories

Two techniques for producing synthetic address traces that produce good emulations of the locality of reference of real programs are presented. The first algorithm generates synthetic addresses by simulating a random walk in an infinite address-space with references governed by a hyperbolic probability law. The second algorithm is a refinement of the first in which the address space has a given finite size. The basic model for the random walk has two parameters that correspond to the working set size and the locality of reference. By comparing synthetic traces with real traces of identical locality parameters, it is demonstrated that synthetic traces exhibit miss ratios and lifetime functions that compare well with those of the real traces they mimic, both in fully associative and in set-associative memories. >
Nuclear Import of Plant Proteins

The study of protein import in plants is beginning to yield insight into not only the similarities with other kingdoms, but also the interesting differences that we have described throughout this Chapter. Plants are essential to all life on our planet and are the foundation for our food chain. Protein import processes and their role in development and environmental responses are essential to our understanding of plant biology, an important goal in itself. As our knowledge increases about nuclear protein import in plants, contributions to our general understanding of these processes in all organisms will increase.
Far-from-Constant Mean Curvature Solutions of Einstein’s Constraint Equations with Positive Yamabe Metrics

We establish new existence results for the Einstein constraint equations for mean extrinsic curvature arbitrarily far from constant. The results hold for rescaled background metric in the positive Yamabe class, with freely specifiable parts of the data sufficiently small, and with matter energy density not identically zero. Two technical advances make these results possible: A new topological fixed-point argument without smallness conditions on spatial derivatives of the mean extrinsic curvature, and a new global supersolution construction for the Hamiltonian constraint that is similarly free of such conditions. The results are presented for strong solutions on closed manifolds, but also hold for weak solutions and for compact manifolds with boundary. These results are apparently the first that do not require smallness conditions on spatial derivatives of the mean extrinsic curvature.
Investor Sentiment And Close-End Country Funds?

An innovative method to estimate the duration of investor sentiment is applied to closed-end country fund returns and it finds that U.S. investor sentiment has a short life. The effects of sentiment on closed-end country fund returns are largely consistent with existing literature however, it is only apparent in daily time-series regressions. Sentiment rapidly fades at a weekly frequency and virtually disappears using monthly return observations. These results suggest that the kind of investor sentiment for country fund prices does not have a persistent component.
Archaeologies of the African Diaspora: Brazil, Cuba, and the United States

African Diaspora refers to the worldwide dispersal of African peoples and their descendants as a consequence of slavery and other migrations out of Africa. The termdiaspora, the breaking up and scattering of a people, is often used to describe any dispersion of a people from their original homeland.Diasporas, however, can be distinguished from other types of migrations as they are usually characterized by some or all of the following criteria: (1) forced or induced migration; (2) an enduring presence of the group in new settings as a distinct cultural/ethnic, racial, or religious group; (3) collective consciousness or memory plays a role in the production of cultural heritage; (4) the group experiences some form of alienation in the receiving or host society; (5) the existence of some kind of exchange or relationship between or among spatially separated populations making up the diaspora, and/or with the homeland (Chaliand and Rageau, 1995; Safran, 1991). The conceptualization of African forced migration as a diaspora formally emerged during Pan-African and Black consciousness movements of the twentieth century. By the mid-1970s, scholars increasingly used the term diaspora to designate the worldwide dispersion of Africans (Bryce-Laporte, 1976; Drake, 1975). Since that time, the African Diaspora has become a well-established research interest pursued in numerous disciplines and subdisciplines of the humanities and social sciences. Archaeologists have been slow to adopt the concept of African Diaspora for archaeological examinations of people of African descent. The term has been usedwith greater frequency since the 1990s, (Franklin, 2001; Franklin and McKee, 2004; Havsier and MacDonald, 2006; Orser, 1998; Singleton and Bograd, 1995), but the archaeological study of a particular diaspora community is usually designated as African American, Afro-Caribbean, or Afro-Latin American. The adoption of the term ‘‘diaspora’’ in archaeology, however, has not yet produced studies in which the concept forms an analytical framework within which experiences of displacement, comparative linkages with other groups of the African Diaspora (e.g., Harrison, 1988), or diaspora theories and discourses (Clifford, 1997; Gilroy, 1993) are examined. Such shortcomings in the use of diaspora as a heuristic tool in archaeological studies, however, do not diminish the role archaeology plays in African Diaspora studies. Archaeology contributes to our understanding of the historical experiences of the people of the African Diaspora as these experiences were lived. In this chapter, we briefly review some of the archaeological evidence that provides insights into historical experiences of the African Diaspora, as seen from theAmericas. AfricanDiasporas were also established in Europe and Asia, but little archaeological work on this subject has been undertaken on these continents. Charles Orser (1998:64) has
Processing Contaminants: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

The exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from food sources is ubiquitous. The occurrence of PAHs in food is due to either food preparation or processing techniques or entry into the food chain when either crops or plants are grown in contaminated soil or marine life or fish live in contaminated water. Analysis of PAHs in food is conducted using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet–visible or fluorescence detection, or by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. PAH metabolites or PAH–deoxyribonucleic acid adducts are generally detected by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry or diverse immunoassays. Cancer risk has been widely accepted as the most significant health concern associated with PAH-contaminated food. Toxicological studies show that certain PAHs can also produce mutagenic/genotoxic, reproductive and developmental, immunotoxic, cardiovascular, and neurologic effects. It is hard to effectively reduce the levels of PAHs in food and their associated health risks due to their ubiquitous nature. Measures such as instruction and education of manufacturers and consumers, continuous control of PAHs emissions into the environment, and enforcement of safe-limits of PAHs in foods can minimize their intake and health risk.
Energy efficient pre-fetching---models to implementation

With the rapid growth of the production and storage of large scale data sets it is important to investigate methods to drive the cost of storage systems down. We are currently in the midst of an information explosion and large scale storage centers are increasingly used to help store generated data. There are several methods to bring the cost of large scale storage centers down and we investigate a technique that focuses on transitioning storage disks into lower power states. To achieve this goal this dissertation introduces a model of disk systems that leverages disk access patterns to prefetch popular sets of data to produce energy saving opportunities. Using our model, we have developed a simulator that allows us to quickly change various parameters to investigate the relationship that file access patterns, disk energy parameters, and simulation parameters have on the overall energy efficiency of disk systems. To help improve the validity of our simulation results we leveraged the validated disk simulator, DiskSim, and added disk power models to DiskSim. This allowed us to test our energy efficient strategies with a validated storage system simulator. The last part of this dissertation focuses on implementing a large scale storage system virtual file system. We introduce the Energy Efficient Virtual File System, or EEVFS, to manage the data placement and disk states in a cluster storage system. Our modeling and simulation results indicated that large data sizes and knowledge about the disk access pattern are valuable for storage system energy savings techniques. Storage servers that support applications that stream media is one key area that would benefit from our strategies. The last chapter of the dissertation introduces the concept of parallel striping groups, which attempt to improve the performance of EEVFS while maintaining energy savings.
Effect of cation ordering on oxygen vacancy diffusion pathways in double perovskites

Perovskite structured oxides (ABO3) are attractive for a number of technological applications, including as superionics because of the high oxygen conductivities they exhibit. Double perovskites (AA′BB′O6) provide even more flexibility for tailoring properties. Using accelerated molecular dynamics, we examine the role of cation ordering on oxygen vacancy mobility in one model double perovskite SrLaTiAlO6. We find that the mobility of the vacancy is very sensitive to the cation ordering, with a migration energy that varies from 0.6 to 2.7 eV. In the extreme cases, the mobility is both higher and lower than either of the two end member single perovskites. Further, the nature of oxygen vacancy diffusion, whether one-dimensional, two-dimensional, or three-dimensional, also varies with cation ordering. We correlate the dependence of oxygen mobility on cation structure to the distribution of Ti4+ cations, which provide unfavorable environments for the positively charged oxygen vacancy. Our results demonstrate t...
Assessment of undiscovered petroleum resources of the north and east margins of the Siberian craton north of the Arctic Circle

Abstract The Siberian craton consists of crystalline rocks and superimposed Precambrian sedimentary rocks deposited in rift basins. Palaeozoic rocks, mainly carbonates, were deposited along the margins of the craton to form an outwardly younger concentric pattern that underlies an outward-thickening Mesozoic sedimentary section. The north and east margins of the Siberian craton subsequently became foreland basins created by compressional deformation during collision with other tectonic plates. The Tunguska Basin developed as a Palaeozoic rift/sag basin over Proterozoic rifts. The geological provinces along the north and east margins of the Siberian craton are immature with respect to exploration, so exploration-history analysis alone cannot be used for assessing undiscovered petroleum resources. Therefore, other areas from around the world having greater petroleum exploration maturity and similar geological characteristics, and which have been previously assessed, were used as analogues to aid in this assessment. The analogues included those of foreland basins and rift/sag basins that were later subjected to compression. The US Geological Survey estimated the mean undiscovered, technically recoverable conventional petroleum resources to be c. 28 billion barrels of oil equivalent, including c. 8 billion barrels of crude oil, 103 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 3 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.
The White-Fir Needle Miner, Epinotia meritana, in Utah

Epinotia meritana Heinrich infests white fir stands of southern Utah. The larvae overwinter as first and second instars within partially mined needles. Larvae mature in late May and June and pupate in June and July. Adults emerge from June through July; mating and oviposition occur in July and August. Eggs hatch in August and larvae bore into needles and start mining. In Utah there is 1 generation annually. A variety of species of parasites were reared from larvae and pupae. Successive years of feeding cause limb mortality in trees of all age classes and mortality of codominant, intermediate, and suppressed trees.
Seasonal abundance and within-plant distribution of aphids (Homoptera: Aphididae) on flue-cured tobacco

The seasonal abundance and within-plant distribution of Mysus nicotianae Blackman, an aphid closely related to Myzus persicae (Sulzer), was examined in field-grown flue-cured tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum L., from 1982 to 1984. Population density remained very low for 6-7 wk after transplant, then began a rapid growth phase. Densities dropped dramatically following the side-dress application of diphenamid (an amide herbicide), then began the rapid growth phase again. The maximum density of aphids per plant occurred in early July and varied from 300 to 2,300 per plant. Aphid densities dropped rapidly after topping plants and with initiation of sucker control chemical applications (fatty alcohols and maleic hydrazide). Within-plant distribution of aphids was not uniform. Aphids were most abundant in the middle one-third of the plant; however, aphid densities (aphids per cm2) were highest on the leaves in the upper one-third of the plant.
THE HIGH COST OF CONTRAST-INDUCED ACUTE KIDNEY INJURY IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY INTERVENTIONS

While contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) in the setting of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) is known to be associated with increased morbidity and mortality, the financial cost of this complication is unknown. Risk and price-adjusted 90-day episode costs from the Michigan Value
Preliminary Design Drag Calculation Using Advanced Paneling Schemes

An advanced, modular paneling scheme has been developed for atmospheric flight vehicles with an aim of predicting the drag during subsonic flight. A generic, three-dimensional grid generation algorithm has been developed for this effort that allows the construction of detailed aircraft geometries using the concept of geometric overlap in three-dimensional spaces. An automated grid refinement system has been developed that is fully autonomous in operation and converts the user defined grid into the refined grid by trimming the geometrical internal overlaps and generation of high fidelity surface grids over the exposed outer surfaces of the design airframe. A group of aerodynamic predictive code based on modified potential theory and semiempirical models has been created to determine the aerodynamic loads on the three dimensional airframe. The use of three-dimensional source distributions under the exposed surfaces of the fuselage structures and the use of vortex ring elements placed over quadrilateral panels deployed on the mean lifting surfaces provide the detailed distributions of pressure and velocity over the airframe surfaces. The use of relaxed wake methods has been used to investigate the development of fully defined wakes behind complex aircraft geometries and their effects on the fuselage is available for user investigation. Models have also been added for the determination of skin friction over the exposed surfaces using panel interaction schemes. The results for this preliminary design level drag prediction code have been found to be extremely encouraging in their compatibility to the experimental and flight test data.
Building Conservation-conscious Society And Cultivating Citizen's Saving-Consciousness

Building conservation-conscious society,pursuing the strategy of sustainable development are an important strategy that was put forward in the situation of our country.In terms of society conception and consciousness,citizen should persue civilization-ideal about taking saving as glory and carry out their liability in order to build economical society.
Alternative treatment of a young boy with a traumatic psychosis: the rediscovery and reconstitution of the self.

Autistic and psychotic disorders in young children are considered to be deep-seated disturbances very possibly involving organic abnormality. The present case of a psychosis of sudden traumatic onset at 28 months of age responded to psychoanalytic treatment, and is reported here.
Nonoperative management of acoustic neuroma in geriatric patients: a National Cancer Database analysis

The in-hospital mortality rate of surgery for acoustic neuroma (AN) is 0.5% and increases exponentially with age. There have been no studies examining the nationwide distribution of nonoperative management (radiation or observation) in the geriatric (≥ age 65) AN population. The National Cancer Database (NCDB) from 2004 to 2013 identified geriatric AN patients. Multivariable logistic regression adjusted for patient age, race, sex, income, geographic region, primary payer for care, tumor size, and comorbidities. Of the 11,614 AN patients, 1725 (14.9%) were geriatric; median tumor size was 2.1 cm. Solitary treatment was administered as radiation (13%), observation (8.5%), and surgery (74.5%). Men (OR = 1.3, p = 0.03) and comprehensive cancer center (CCC) treatment (OR = 1.4, p = 0.02) were more likely to receive radiation. African-American race (OR = 1.5, p = 0.03) was associated with increased observation, while comorbidities (OR = 0.7, p = 0.03) were associated with decreased observation. Fifteen percent of the AN population is ≥ age 65, with surgery the most commonly used treatment modality. Male gender and CCC treatment independently predict receipt of radiation, while African-American race independently predicts receipt of observation. Given the proven impact of radiation on local control in AN, there is fertile ground for dissemination of radiation treatment for geriatric AN patients.
Delivery Outcomes of Patients with Acute Migraine in Pregnancy: A Retrospective Study

Objective To describe labor and delivery outcomes in pregnant patients presenting to the hospital setting with an acute severe migraine headache attack earlier in the same gestation. Methods We retrospectively reviewed pregnancy and delivery records from a database of consecutive inpatient neurology consultations for acute headache in pregnant women over a 5 year period. Results We identified 86 pregnant women with acute migraine. The mean age was 29.3 (±6.4) years. Nearly half had migraine with aura (35/86 [40.7%]), 12.8% (12/86) had chronic migraine, and 31.4% (27/86) presented in status migrainosus. Complication rates included 54.7%([41/75], 95% CI 29.87, 52.13) for at least one adverse outcome, 28.0% ([21/75], 95% CI 11.78, 30.22) for preterm delivery, 21.3% ([16/75], 95% CI 7.7, 24.3) for preeclampsia, 30.6% ([23/75] 95% CI 13.48, 32.52) for cesarean delivery, and 18.7% ([14/75] 95% CI 6.15, 21.85) for low birthweight. Conclusions Pregnant women seeking treatment for acute migraine headache experienced a higher rate of preterm delivery, preeclampsia, and low birthweight but a lower rate of cesarean delivery than the local and general populations. More than half (54.7% [41/75] 95% CI 29.87, 52.13) of the study patients experienced some type of adverse birth outcome, suggesting that pregnancies in migraine patients presenting to an acute care setting may benefit from more intense surveillance.
Spatial indices of repolarization correlate with non-ST elevation myocardial ischemia in patients with chest pain

Mild-to-moderate ischemia does not result in ST segment elevation on the electrocardiogram (ECG), but rather non-specific changes in the T wave, which are frequently labeled as non-diagnostic for ischemia. Robust methods to quantify such T wave heterogeneity can have immediate clinical applications. We sought to evaluate the effects of spontaneous ischemia on the evolution of spatial T wave changes, based on the eigenvalues of the spatial correlation matrix of the ECG, in patients undergoing nuclear cardiac imaging for evaluating intermittent chest pain. We computed T wave complexity (TWC), the ratio of the second to the first eigenvalue of repolarization, from 5-min baseline and 5-min peak-stress Holter ECG recordings. Our sample included 30 males and 20 females aged 63 ± 11 years. Compared to baseline, significant changes in TWC were only seen in patients with ischemia (n = 10) during stress testing, but not among others. The absolute changes in TWC were significantly larger in the ischemia group compared to others, with a pattern that seemed to depend on the severity or anatomic distribution of ischemia. Our results demonstrate that ischemia-induced changes in T wave morphology can be meaningfully quantified from the surface 12-lead ECG, suggesting an important opportunity for improving diagnostics in patients with chest pain.
The Comic Counterfactual: Laughter, Affect, and Civic Alternatives

This project contributes the comic counterfactual to the critical lexicon of rhetorical studies. Using a range of examples from political comedy, this paper offers six distinguishing features and s...
Structural Dynamics of Strongly Segregated Block Copolymer Electrolytes

Polymer electrolytes are promising materials for high energy density rechargeable batteries. However, they have low ion transport rates and gradually lose electrode adhesion during cycling. These effects are dependent on polymer structure and dynamics. This motivates an investigation of diblock copolymer electrolyte dynamics. Structural and stress relaxations have been measured with X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) and rheology, respectively, as a function of salt concentration and temperature. The polymer electrolyte studied in this work is a mixture of poly(styrene-b-ethylene oxide), SEO, and lithium bistrifluoromethanesulfonimide (LiTFSI). Results from XPCS experiments showed hyperdiffusive motion for various lithium salt concentrations and at varying temperatures, which is indicative of soft glassy materials. This behavior is attributed to cooperative dynamics. The decay time was a weak, nonmonotonic function of salt concentration and decreased with increasing temperature, in an Arrhenius ...
Non-Steroidal Biphenyl Gelators: Correlation of Xerogel Structure with Solid-State Structure and Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy

Because the factors favoring the formation of well-formed single crystals are dissimilar to those conducive to gel formation, few examples of single-crystal structural characterizations of organogelators are found in the literature. A series of biphenyl methyl and ethyl diester derivatives of varying chain length were synthesized and their gelation abilities explored. X-ray diffraction of single crystals of one of the gelators reveals a columnar extended structure. Based on XRD results for xerogels obtained from the reported organogelators, the members of the series are isostructural and so also adopt a columnar superstructure. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used for the investigation of the morphology of the xerogels, which display either platelet-like morphologies or more typical entangled twisted ribbon-like aggregates. The gels exhibit chirality, which depends on the sol-gel transition history, as observed by induced circular dichroism (ICD) spectroscopy.
Effect of overdrying on toughness of yellow-popular veneer

The mechanical integrity of wood contributes to adhesive bond integrity. Toughness is the mechanical property most sensitive to thermal treatment. In this study, the toughness of yellow-poplar veneer was measured on specimens overdried at 170°C, 195°C, and 220°C. Heating at 170°C for as long as 224 min decreased toughness slightly; higher temperatures had a greater effect. In comparing toughness values to values of other properties obtained previously, there were moderate correlations to post-treatment equilibrium moisture content, light reflectance, and loss of wood mass.
Biological production of alcohols from coal through indirect liquefaction

A bacterial culture has been isolated from animal waste that is capable of converting CO in synthesis gas to ethanol and acetate. The culture requires a yeast extract level of approximately.01 g/L, and the conversion is enhanced by agitation. The culture produces a higher yield of ethanol and ratio of ethanol to acetate when BESA and excess yeast extract are removed from the media. An ethanol concentration of 4.3 g/L has been obtained in batch screening experiments. The culture has been purified by successive dilution and tentatively identified as a member of theClostridium species. Further experimentation is required for positive identification.
Spatial Analysis of Census Mail Response Rates: 1990–2010

Census mail response rates (MRRs) constitute one implementation aspect of collecting census data. Low MRRs across geographic space inevitably lead to increased costs in collecting such data. MRRs that have been tabulated for multiple censuses over time allow an assessment of methods utilized to model space-time aspects of these data. This paper summarizes an analysis of the MRRs for three decennial United States censuses – 1990, 2000, and 2010 – in terms of time lags, eigenvector spatial filtering, eigenvector space-time filtering, and a random effects model specification framework. In doing so, this paper implements an extension of the eigenvector spatial filtering principal to eigenvector space-time filtering in order to describe space-time structure latent in the MRRs. Results of these analyses provide insights into census data collection issues, insights anticipated to be beneficial to the formulation of a strategic plan for subsequent census data collection.
Wood Devolat1lization - Sensitivity to Feed Properties and Process Variables

Though it is generally acknowledged that biomass feed properties such as moisture content, density, thermal properties, and particle size alter its devolatilization products, the magnitudes of the effects are not well known. Such knowledge is needed for the successful development of biomass thermal conversion processes since feed properties such as particle size and moisture content should be chosen, or perhaps altered by pretreatment, to optimize the products formed during initial heating. To aid in determining optimum feed properties, expecially in combination with given process conditions, a detailed simulation of wood devolatilization has been developed, validated by comparison to experiments performed under a wide variety of conditions of industrial importance, and predictions are presented here. Also, the sensitivity of pyrolysis yields to such quantities as the uncertainty in kinetic parameters for the decomposition mechanism or thermal property variations are presented.
Immune function in Trachemys scripta following exposure to a predominant brevetoxin congener, PbTx-3, as a model for potential health impacts for sea turtles naturally exposed to brevetoxins

Many species of marine life in southwestern Florida, including sea turtles, are impacted by blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis. Sublethal exposure to toxins produced by K. brevis has been shown to impact sea turtle health. Since all sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico have protected status, a freshwater turtle, Trachemys scripta, was used as a model for immune system effects following experimental exposure to a predominant brevetoxin congener in K. brevis blooms, PbTx-3. Exposure to PbTx-3 was oral or intratracheal and health effects were assessed using a suite of immune function parameters: innate immune function (phagocytosis, plasma lysozyme activity), adaptive immune function (lymphocyte proliferation), and measures of oxidative stress (superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity in plasma). Inflammation was also measured using plasma protein electrophoresis. In addition, differential expression of genes in peripheral blood leukocytes was determined using suppression subtractive hybridization followed by real-time PCR of specific genes. The primary immune effects of sublethal brevetoxin exposure in T. scripta following PbTx-3 administration, appear to be an increase in oxidative stress, a decrease in lysozyme activity, and modulation of immune function through lymphocyte proliferation responses. Plasma protein electrophoresis showed a decreased A:G ratio which may indicate potential inflammation. Genes coding for oxidative stress, such as thioredoxin and GST, were upregulated in exposed animals. That sublethal brevetoxin exposures impact immune function components suggests potential health implications for sea turtles naturally exposed to toxins. Knowledge of physiological stressors induced by brevetoxins may contribute to the ultimate goal of developing directed treatment strategies in exposed animals for reduced mortality resulting from red tide toxin exposure in sea turtles.
Evaluation of Electromagnetic Time Reversal Spatial Focusing (EMTR-SF)

In this paper, we present two evaluation approaches of the electromagnetic time reversal technique spatial focusing (EMTR-SF). The first approach is based on measuring the spatial correlation function. This yields the diameter of the circle the power is focused on. Our experiments for a given reverberation chamber result in a 0.75λ focusing diameter. The second approach is based on the energy enhancement ratio (EER). This gives a physical insight into the amount of energy enhancement offered by EMTR. It also helps to determine the optimum pulse width for EMTR in a given environment. A maximum EER of 2.5× is measured for an optimum pulse width of 2 ns. Both evaluation approaches should be considered in order to properly asses and establish an efficient EMTR scheme.
Submillisecond Freezing Permits Cryoprotectant-Free EPR Double Electron-Electron Resonance Spectroscopy.

Double electron-electron resonance (DEER) EPR spectroscopy is a powerful method for obtaining distance distributions between pairs of engineered nitroxide spin-labels in proteins and other biological macromolecules. These measurements require the use of cryogenic temperatures (77 K or less) to prolong the phase memory relaxation time (Tm ) sufficiently to enable detection of a DEER echo curve. Generally, a cryoprotectant such as glycerol is added to protein samples to facilitate glass formation and avoid protein clustering (which can result in a large decrease in Tm ) during relatively slow flash freezing in liquid N2 . However, cryoprotectants are osmolytes and can influence protein folding/unfolding equilibria, as well as species populations in weak multimeric systems. Here we show that submillisecond rapid freezing, achieved by high velocity spraying of the sample onto a rapidly spinning, liquid nitrogen cooled copper disc obviates the requirement for cryoprotectants and permits high quality DEER data to be obtained in absence of glycerol. We demonstrate this approach on five different protein systems: protein A, the metastable drkN SH3 domain, urea-unfolded drkN SH3, HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, and the transmembrane domain of HIV-1 gp41 in lipid bicelles.
Goblet Cell Adenocarcinoma With Heterotopic Ossification: A Rare Case Report and Review of Literature.

Heterotopic bone formation is a rare phenomenon when associated with gastrointestinal neoplasms. Here we present a rare case of heterotopic ossification associated with goblet cell adenocarcinoma of the appendix, and a literature review of such cases associated with neoplasms within and out of the gastrointestinal tracts. We reviewed the clinical data and when available, immunohistochemical markers of osteoblastic differentiation. Our review shows similar findings to prior reports of apparent high association of heterotopic bone formation with neoplasms with mucinous features. Two, previously proposed main hypotheses of the mechanisms are reviewed. The unique feature about this case is that goblet cell adenocarcinoma was not reported previously in the setting of bone formation.
CD40 Receptor Knockout Protects against Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) Prolongation and Exacerbation of Dextran Sulfate Sodium (DSS)-Induced Colitis.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is one of the most common gastrointestinal (GI) disorders around the world, and includes diagnoses such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The etiology of IBD is influenced by genetic and environmental factors. One environmental perturbagen that is not well studied within the intestines is microcystin-leucine arginine (MC-LR), which is a toxin produced by cyanobacteria in freshwater environments around the world. We recently reported that MC-LR has limited effects within the intestines of healthy mice, yet interestingly has significant toxicity within the intestines of mice with pre-existing colitis induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). MC-LR was found to prolong DSS-induced weight loss, prolong DSS-induced bloody stools, exacerbate DSS-induced colonic shortening, exacerbate DSS-induced colonic ulceration, and exacerbate DSS-induced inflammatory cytokine upregulation. In addition, we previously reported a significant increase in expression of the pro-inflammatory receptor CD40 in the colons of these mice, along with downstream products of CD40 activation, including plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). In the current study, we demonstrate that knocking out CD40 attenuates the effects of MC-LR in mice with pre-existing colitis by decreasing the severity of weight loss, allowing a full recovery in bloody stools, preventing the exacerbation of colonic shortening, preventing the exacerbation of colonic ulceration, and preventing the upregulation of the pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic cytokines IL-1β, MCP-1, and PAI-1. We also demonstrate the promising efficacy of a CD40 receptor blocking peptide to ameliorate the effects of MC-LR exposure in a proof-of-concept study. Our findings suggest for the first time that MC-LR acts through a CD40-dependent mechanism to exacerbate colitis.
Closing the Loop with Liquid-Metal Sensing Skin for Autonomous Soft Robot Gripping

Soft robots are often limited in high-level decision making and feedback control due to a lack of multimodal sensing capabilities and material architectures that tightly integrate sensing and actuation. However, the recent development of elastic multimodal sensing skins has created the opportunity for closing the loop in soft robotic systems. In this work, we present a sensor-based finite state machine for a soft sensorized gripper mounted to a 4-degree-of-freedom robot arm. The soft gripper actuates between binary open and close states by activating shape-memory alloy springs, and contains proximity, pressure, and orientation sensors. The closed-loop control is demonstrated through scanning, grasping, and sorting tasks driven by sensor feedback. Using a time-of-flight distance sensor, the system can calculate the length, width, height, and center of mass of an object within a 60 mm x 25 mm workspace. With the time-of-flight distance sensor, pressure sensors, and inertial measurement unit, the system can detect and respond to external perturbations that interfere with the grasp, release, and transport of the object. The control strategy demonstrated in this paper can be expanded in the future to integrate basic autonomy in other soft robot systems.
On the Lyapunov Foster criterion and Poincare inequality for Reversible Markov Chains

This paper presents an elementary proof of stochastic stability of a discrete-time reversible Markov chain starting from a Foster-Lyapunov drift condition. Besides its relative simplicity, there are two salient features of the proof: (i) it relies entirely on functional-analytic non-probabilistic arguments; and (ii) it makes explicit the connection between a Foster-Lyapunov function and Poincare inequality. The proof is used to derive an explicit bound for the spectral gap. An extension to the non-reversible case is also presented.
Coronary Calcium Scanning and Cardiovascular Risk Assessment Among Firefighters.

Introduction Sudden cardiac death is the main cause of death among firefighters. The goal of this study is to identify firefighters at risk for cardiovascular disease using coronary artery calcium screening. Methods Asymptomatic firefighters aged ≥40 years without known cardiovascular disease or diabetes (N=487) were recruited from fire departments in 3 Maryland counties from 2016 to 2018, with data analysis from 2018 to 2019. The cardiovascular disease prevention program included an evaluation of blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI, fasting glucose, medications, and a coronary calcium scan. A subset (n=100) was evaluated in more detail, including family history, metabolic syndrome, diet, exercise, smoking, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk score. Results Results indicated that 191 (39%) firefighters had a coronary artery calcium score >0, of which 91% were above the average for age, sex, and ethnicity. On univariable logistic regression, older age, male sex, hypertension, BMI, and glucose were significantly (p 70 mg/dL. In the detailed subset, 30 (30%) had coronary artery calcium. Among these, 28 (93%) had an atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk score Conclusions A coronary artery calcium scan may identify the firefighters at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. A comprehensive cardiovascular disease prevention program implemented early in a firefighter's career may help reduce cardiovascular disease risk and thus death and disability in this high-risk population.
A direct product construction for high-rate self-synchronizing codes

In this paper we give a simple combinatorial method for reducing the redundancy of self-synchronizing codes obtained from difference systems of sets. Our method gives infinitely many asymptotically optimal systems with low redundancy rates that generate self-synchronizing codes of very low redundancy and high information rate.
Fine temporal resolution of analytic phase reveals episodic synchronization by state transitions in gamma EEGs.

The analytic signal given by the Hilbert transform applied to an electroencephalographic (EEG) trace is a vector of instantaneous amplitude and phase at the temporal resolution of the digitizing in...
Plasma dopamine-β-hydroxylase activity and norepinephrine levels during the human menstrual cycle

Abstract Plasma samples obtained throughout the normal menstrual cycles of six women were analyzed for dopamine-β-hydroxylase activity (DBH), norepinephrine (NE), follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and prolactin. Neither DBH activity nor NE concentrations paralleled changes in plasma gonadotropins and prolactin. No consistent pattern of either plasma DBH activity or NE concentrations during the normal menstrual cycle was noted. Thus, an association between peripheral sympathetic nervous system activity and the midcycle surge in plasma gonadotropins reported by others was not reproducible in our study of normally menstruating women.
Bounds on the Distinguishing Chromatic Number

Collins and Trenk define the distinguishing chromatic number $\chi_D(G)$ of a graph $G$ to be the minimum number of colors needed to properly color the vertices of $G$ so that the only automorphism of $G$ that preserves colors is the identity. They prove results about $\chi_D(G)$ based on the underlying graph $G$. In this paper we prove results that relate $\chi_D(G)$ to the automorphism group of $G$. We prove two upper bounds for $\chi_D(G)$ in terms of the chromatic number $\chi(G)$ and show that each result is tight: (1) if Aut$(G)$ is any finite group of order $p_1^{i_1} p_2^{i_2} \cdots p_k^{i_k}$ then $\chi_D(G) \le \chi(G) + i_1 + i_2 \cdots + i_k$, and (2) if Aut$(G)$ is a finite and abelian group written Aut$(G) = {\Bbb Z}_{p_{1}^{i_{1}}}\times \cdots \times {\Bbb Z}_{p_{k}^{i_{k}}}$ then we get the improved bound $\chi_D(G) \le \chi(G) + k$. In addition, we characterize automorphism groups of graphs with $\chi_D(G) = 2$ and discuss similar results for graphs with $\chi_D(G)=3$.
Structure-activity of Sansalvamide A Derivatives and their Apoptotic Activity in the Pancreatic Cancer Cell Line PL-45

Resumen en: We report the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of forty Sansalvamide A (San A) derivatives against human pancreatic ductal adenicarcinoma cell line ...
The BBN Butterfly Family: An Overview

Parallel architecture has become an important nay of providing high performance computation to users. For the last few years many high performance computers have been built The BBN Butterfly family of multiprocessor systems is one example of such systems. This family supports both shared memory and message-passing models of computation. This paper reviews two BBN Butterfly systems; the BPP and the GP1000. The review highlights the architecture, the operating system, and the programming environment supported by each machine. Some applications that has been conducted on these two machines are also mentioned.
SCHWANN CELLS PROLIFERATE AT RAT NEUROMUSCULAR JUNCTIONS DURING DEVELOPMENT AND REGENERATION

Terminal Schwann cells (TSCs) cover neuromuscular junctions and are important in the repair and maintenance of these synapses. We have examined how these cells are generated at developing junctions and how their number is regulated during repair of nerve injury. At birth, approximately half of the junctions in rat soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles have one TSC soma. Somata are absent from the remainder, although Schwann cell (SC) processes arising from somata along the preterminal axon cover almost all of these synapses. By 2 months of age, junctions have gained an additional two to three TSCs. Most of this gain occurs during the first 2 postnatal weeks and largely precedes the expansion of endplate size. Although the initial addition is caused by cell migration, mitotic labeling shows extensive division of TSCs at junctions. A slower addition of TSCs occurs in adult muscles, and TSC number in the adult is correlated with endplate size. During repair of nerve injury, TSC number is regulated by a combination of signals from motor neurons and denervated tissue. As shown previously (Connor et al., 1987), denervation of adult muscles did not, in itself, cause TSC mitosis. However, TSCs became mitotic during reinnervation. Partial denervation induced division of TSCs at innervated but not denervated endplates. A disproportionate number of these mitotic cells were found at endplates contacted by TSC processes extended from nearby denervated endplates, contacts known to promote nerve sprouting. These results show an association between TSC mitotic activity and alterations in synaptic structure during development, sprouting, and reinnervation.