cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multi-level Bluetooth Intrusion Detection System

Large scale deployment of IoT devices has made Bluetooth Protocol (IEEE 802.15.1) the wireless protocol of choice for close-range communications. Devices such as keyboards, smartwatches, headphones, computer mouse, and various wearable connecting devices use Bluetooth network for communication. Moreover, Bluetooth networks are widely used in medical devices like heart monitors, blood glucose monitors, asthma inhalers, and pulse oximeters. Also, Bluetooth has replaced cables for wire-free equipment in a surgical environment. In hospitals, devices communicate with one another, sharing sensitive and critical information over Bluetooth scatter-networks. Thus, it is imperative to secure the Bluetooth networks against attacks like Man in the Middle attack (MITM), eavesdropping attacks, and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. This paper presents a Multi-Level Bluetooth Intrusion Detection System (ML-BIDS) to detect malicious attacks against Bluetooth devices. In the ML-IDS framework, we perform continuous device identification and authorization in Bluetooth networks following the zero-trust principle [ref]. The ML-BIDS framework includes an anomaly-based intrusion detection system (ABIDS) to detect attacks on the Bluetooth protocol. The ABIDS tracks the normal behavior of the Bluetooth protocol by comparing it with the Bluetooth protocol state machine. Bluetooth frame flows consisting of Bluetooth frames received over 10 seconds are split into n-grams to track the current state of the protocol in the state machine. We evaluated the performance of several machine learning algorithms like C4.5, Adaboost, SVM, Naive Bayes, Jrip, and Bagging to classify normal Bluetooth protocol flows from abnormal Bluetooth protocol flows. The ABIDS detects attacks on Bluetooth protocols with a precision of up to 99.6% and recall up to 99.6%. The ML-BIDS framework also performs whitelisting of the devices on the Bluetooth network to prevent unauthorized devices from connecting to the network. ML-BIDS uses a combination of the Bluetooth Address, mac address, and IP address to uniquely identify a Bluetooth device connecting to the network, and hence ensuring only authorized devices can connect to the Bluetooth network.
Birthright Citizenship, Slave Trade Legislation, and the Origins of Federal Immigration Regulation

In accord with the traditional restriction of citizenship of nonwhites, for decades some conservative lawmakers and scholars have urged Congress to deny citizenship to U.S.- born children of unauthorized migrants. For its part, the Trump Administration has promised to pursue birthright citizenship “reform.” The most prominent and compelling argument that Congress can deny citizenship by statute notwithstanding the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment comes from Citizenship Without Consent, a book authored by Yale Law Professor Peter Schuck and then-Yale Political Science Professor Rogers Smith. They argue that there was no federal exclusion or deportation in 1868 and thus the Fourteenth Amendment simply did not contemplate the citizenship of children of the then non-existent category of “illegal aliens.” Hundreds of law review articles, op-eds, white nationalist listservs, congressional hearings, and bills have embraced this argument, often citing Citizenship Without Consent. This article is the first to examine the law regulating, suppressing, and banning the African slave trade to demonstrate, contrary to Citizenship Without Consent, that throughout the period leading up the Civil War and the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, the United States had both immigration laws and unauthorized migrants in the modern sense. First, the slave trade laws used immigration regulation techniques, including interdiction, detention, and deportation. Second, they were designed to exclude undesirable migrants and shape the nation’s population. Persons trafficked illegally could be and were deported, but, as Congress well knew, some were successfully smuggled in the country and remained here. Because the children of unauthorized migrants born in the United States were unquestionably made citizens by the Fourteenth Amendment, any modern statute denying citizenship to the children of undocumented migrants would be unconstitutional. In addition, scholars must consider the slave trade laws as part of the origins of federal immigration regulation.
Risk Retention and Adverse Selection: New Evidence from Corporate CDOs

Recent regulatory policies require collateralized debt obligation (CDO) issuers to retain a portion of any securities they issue, but market participants argue this requirement unnecessarily restricts the flow of capital to firms. This paper tests whether removing these risk-retention requirements causes adverse selection in corporate CDO collateral pools. Using a natural experiment from a surprise 2018 legal ruling affecting a subset of the market, I find that bonds in CDOs with low "skin in the game" are riskier at issuance and become riskier after securitization, but find no evidence of increased at-issuance spreads. These results suggest that other safeguards in the corporate lending market are insufficient to prevent adverse selection in the absence of risk retention requirements.
Revisiting Black Panther movie to teach power bases to undergraduates in a HBCU

It is often a challenge for an instructor to get the students’ attention for interactive class learning. This paper focuses on the use of Black Panther movie characters to stimulate power bases dis...
Standard Model prediction of the Bc lifetime

Applying an operator product expansion approach we update the Standard Model prediction of the Bc lifetime from over 20 years ago. The non-perturbative velocity expansion is carried out up to third order in the relative velocity of the heavy quarks. The scheme dependence is studied using three different mass schemes for the $$ \overline{b} $$ and c quarks, resulting in three different values consistent with each other and with experiment. Special focus has been laid on renormalon cancellation in the computation. Uncertainties resulting from scale dependence, neglecting the strange quark mass, non-perturbative matrix elements and parametric uncertainties are discussed in detail. The resulting uncertainties are still rather large compared to the experimental ones, and therefore do not allow for clear-cut conclusions concerning New Physics effects in the Bc decay.
Three Shots at Prevention: The HPV Vaccine and the Politics of Medicine's Simple Solutions

In 2007, Texas governor Rick Perry issued an executive order requiring that all females entering sixth grade be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV), igniting national debate that echoed arguments heard across the globe over public policy, sexual health, and the politics of vaccination. Three Shots at Prevention explores the contentious disputes surrounding the controversial vaccine intended to protect against HPV, the most common sexually transmitted infection. When the HPV vaccine first came to the market in 2006, religious conservatives decried the government's approval of the vaccine as implicitly sanctioning teen sex and encouraging promiscuity while advocates applauded its potential to prevent 4,000 cervical cancer deaths in the United States each year. Families worried that laws requiring vaccination reached too far into their private lives. Public health officials wrestled with concerns over whether the drug was too new to be required and whether opposition to it could endanger support for other, widely accepted vaccinations. Many people questioned the aggressive marketing campaigns of the vaccine's creator, Merck & Co. And, since HPV causes cancers of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, and anus, why was the vaccine recommended only for females? What did this reveal about gender and sexual politics in the United States? With hundreds of thousands of HPV-related cancer deaths worldwide, how did similar national debates in Europe and the developing world shape the global possibilities of cancer prevention? This volume provides insight into the deep moral, ethical, and scientific questions that must be addressed when sexual and social politics confront public health initiatives in the United States and around the world.
The Chemical Coding Via the Cholinergic System: Its Organization and Behavioral Implications

The central cholinergic synapses which constitute the subject of this paper are those at which the transmission between the presynaptic and the postsynaptic neuron — or, more precisely, between the presynaptic nerve terminal and the postsynaptic membrane — is mediated by acetylcholine (ACh); a complication may arise from the fact that at certain, non-cholinergic synapses ACh may play a modulatory, facilitatory rather than transmissive role. In view of the wide occurrence (cf. below) of the cholinergic synapses or modulations, the cholinergic system must participate significantly in brain functions and behavioral processes* In fact, several participants of this Symposium discussed the cholinergic participation in the appetitive and thermal control (R.D. Myers), in conditioning and learning (H. Brust-Carmona), in aggression (D.J. Reis), and in certain phases of sleep (P. Morgane); related aspects of the cholinergic system were described by others (Domino, 1968; Domino et al., 1968; Bovet-Nitti, 1965; Aprison, 1965; Stein, 1968; Karczmar et al., 1972; Karczmar, 1971).
Management of an Adult Patient with Congenital Heart Disease: Implications for the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse

The health care environment in the United States heralds changing population demographics, presenting challenges for modern health care systems. The most remarkable impetus for prodigious medical luminary attention is the expanding growth of aging adults in the population. Individuals born with congenital heart disease (CHD) are a subset of this demographic evolution reflecting current health care trends. Where historically limited prognoses underscored the expansion and quality of life for individuals born with CHD, current technological advancements now pave the road to lengthy existence for these individuals, creating an aging population of patients with CHD needing access to health care. The advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) is called on to fill gaps in health care access issues and should be prepared to serve this population.
The Wasteful 'Money Creation' Aspect of Financial Intermediation

I present a general equilibrium model in which the financial sector employs too many productive inputs. Intermediation is similar, in some ways, to the creation of counterfeit money: a producer can increase the amount of money in his hands at some real cost, but this is socially wasteful as it only translates into higher nominal prices. In this model, producers can increase their funding by borrowing from depositors, who would otherwise be holding idle monetary reserves. This costly activity increases the money in circulation and raises the equilibrium price level, without any real return. In the simplest case, financial intermediation is a purely wasteful use of resources. However, in the presence of heterogeneous producers, the superior borrowing ability of productive agents may improve the allocation of inputs. In a dynamic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous productivities and increasing intermediation costs, I show that tight regulation of the financial system is optimal.
Spatial modelling of road network development, population pressure and biophysical properties of upland crop and forest conversions in Lop Buri province, Thailand, 1989–2006

Over the past few decades, land use and land cover change has become a global concern. In the Lop Buri province of Thailand, rapid land cover change, specifically conversion of forests to agriculture, has occurred. The purpose of the study is to identify the predictors of land cover change in Lop Buri province for land that has been converted to upland crops or has undergone deforestation between 1989 and 2006. Four logistic regression models were constructed using spatially explicit biophysical and geo-social data, to account for changes to upland crops and forest loss from1989–98 and 1998–2006. Across the four models, slope, distance to forest edge, distance to towns, distance to roads, population size, and population density in various stand-alone and interactive forms were found to be the most consistent predictors of land cover change.
Virtual conference room: a metaphor for multi-user real-time conferencing systems

We have implemented a real-time desktop conferencing system, where many users share applications along with voice data. One of its unique features is its user interface, named the virtual conference room. Each room, shown in a window on the PC monitor, represents a conference status, and each participant is represented as an animation character, called an agent. The conference management, such as floor passing, is executed through direct manipulation on agents. Voices are intermixed so that they reflect the positions and status of agents within the room. The virtual conference room has achieved features suitable for multi-user conferencing systems, such as visualization of the conference status, unified floor control and dynamic subgrouping of participants. >
Variables Affecting Physics Achievement.

Much research has focused on student views about physics concepts, with an emphasis on the identification of alternative conceptions, and how curricula and professional development may ameliorate the situation. However, there has been little work on determining the extent of, and in separating, the student and teacher/classroom level variables that may impact student physics achievement. This study examined the effect of different student and teacher/classroom level variables on student understanding of physics concepts using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), a regression based technique. The data were collected from 68 different teachers and 3,119 students who were using a reform curriculum, Active Physics. Teachers and students completed surveys asking about their beliefs, their classes and their personal characteristics. Students also completed a physics achievement test. The data show that students of teachers who used Active Physics for a greater portion of the year scored higher on the achievement test than did students of teachers who did not use the curriculum as much. Furthermore, the data show that the achievement gap was narrowed between boys and girls and between students with different attitudes toward physics. Additionally teachers who received inservice instruction on how to implement Active Physics narrowed the gap between students with different views of their classroom involvement. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 961–976, 2009
One calcitriol dose transiently increases Helios+FoxP3+ T cells and ameliorates autoimmune demyelinating disease

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an incurable inflammatory demyelinating disease. We investigated one calcitriol dose plus vitamin D3 (calcitriol/+D) as a demyelinating disease treatment in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Evidence that calcitriol-vitamin D receptor pathway deficits may promote MS, and data showing calcitriol enhancement of autoimmune T cell apoptosis provided the rationale. Whereas vitamin D3 alone was ineffective, calcitriol/+D transiently increased central nervous system (CNS) Helios(+)FoxP3(+) T cells and sustainably decreased CNS T cells, pathology, and neurological deficits in mice with EAE. Calcitriol/+D, which was more effective than methylprednisolone, has potential for reversing inflammatory demyelinating disease safely and cost-effectively.
Manic symptoms in a non-referred adolescent population

Abstract Using a structured interview with 150 randomly selected 14–16-year-olds and their parents, we found 20 who endorsed four or more manic symptoms of at least 2 days duration. Compared to the rest of the sample, these teenagers had significantly higher rates of attention deficit, conduct, and anxiety disorders and psychotic symptoms, and were seen as needing treatment by the interviewers. However, most of the pathology was endorsed by teenagers rather than parents. Other assessments confirmed this group as dysphoric, impulsive and emotionally labile. We discuss the normative and diagnostic implications of these findings though long-term follow-up is necessary to draw more certain conclusions.
Interpretation of nonelectrolyte partition coefficients between dimyristoyl lecithin and water.

Nonelectrolyte partition coefficients (K's) and free energies of solution (ΔF l 's) in dimyristoyl lecithin liposomes and in bulk nonpolar solvents were compared. Individual substituent groups tend to have consistent effects onK, permitting the extraction of incremental free energies (δΔF), enthalpies (δΔH), and entropies (δΔS) of partition and of solution. Values of the selectivity constants and of δΔF l for the −CH2−and −OH groups in lecithin suggest that partitioned solutes are mainly located in a region slightly less hydrophobic than octanol and similar to C5H11OH in its solvent properties. Lecithin discriminates against branched solutes more than does a bulk solvent with the sames value. Below the endothermic phase-transition temperature (i.e., when the hydrocarbon tails “freeze”), ΔS and ΔH of partition increase 10-fold,K jumps down slightly, ΔS and ΔH of solution reverse in sign from negative to positive, and the Barclay-Butler constants become more positive. Partition in lecithin and in erythrocytes is similar, except for the absence of surface charge effects in lecithin. Resistance to nonelectrolyte permeation is inhomogeneously distributed through the bilayer, and the region of maximum partition does not provide the rate-limiting barrier. An appendix derives a simple general expression for the nonelectrolyte permeability of a membrane that may be asymmetrical, may have position-dependent partition coefficients and diffusion coefficients, and may have significant interfacial resistances.
Percolation Theory for Flow in Porous Media, Second Edition

A. Hunt and R. Ewing. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg. 2009. 319 pp. US$99.00. ISBN 978-3-540-89789-7. The second edition of Percolation Theory for Flow in Porous Media , by Alan Hunt and Robert Ewing, begins with a nice foreword by Bob Horton contrasting traditional methods of porous media analysis
Vapor-phase vibrational spectrum of glycolic acid, CH2OHCOOH, in the region 2000-8500 cm-1

This work presents an analysis of the previously unobserved vapor-phase spectrum of glycolic acid in the IR/near-IR region (2000−8500 cm-1). The focus is on distinguishing between the O−H stretches of both the acid and alcohol functional groups by using intermediate resolution FTIR spectroscopy. Vibrational transitions due to combination bands and overtones were assigned and relative intensities were obtained. The contribution of a rotational isomer to the vibrational spectrum of CH2OHCOOH at 353 K is discussed. Theoretical calculations of harmonic frequencies and anharmonicities are reported on the two lowest energy conformers of glycolic acid and provide supporting evidence for the proposed assignments.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection and Bronchiolitis

1. Giovanni Piedimonte, MD*,† 2. Miriam K. Perez, MD*,‡ 1. *Cleveland Clinic Pediatric Institute, Cleveland, OH. 2. †Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital for Rehabilitation, The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH. 3. ‡Department of Community Pediatrics, Independence Family Health Center, Independence, OH. * Abbreviations: AAP: : American Academy of Pediatrics DBPC: : double-blind, placebo-controlled FDA: : Food and Drug Administration LRTI: : lower respiratory tract infection RSV: : respiratory syncytial virus 1. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common respiratory pathogen in infants and young children worldwide. Although the most effective management of this infection remains supportive care, many patients continue to be managed with therapies that lack the support of scientific evidence. 2. Although the quest for a safe and effective vaccine remains unsuccessful, the more vulnerable patients can be protected with passive prophylaxis. Because of limited clinical benefits and high costs, RSV prophylaxis should be limited to high-risk infants as directed by the most current evidence-based guidelines that, however, are not consistently followed. 3. The acute phase of this infection is often followed by episodes of wheezing that recur for months or years and usually lead to a physician diagnosis of asthma. The phenotype of post-RSV wheezing is different from atopic asthma, yet it is usually managed using the same pharmacologic therapy with often ineffective results. After reading this article, readers should be able to: 1. Understand the microbiology, epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical manifestations of RSV bronchiolitis in infants and children. 2. Know the scientific evidence relevant to prophylactic and therapeutic strategies currently available and recognize the lack of evidence concerning several pharmacologic agents commonly used in the management of bronchiolitis. 3. Be aware of alternative pharmacologic strategies currently being evaluated. 4. Learn the epidemiologic and experimental information suggesting the existence of a link between early-life infection with RSV and the subsequent development of recurrent wheezing and asthma in childhood and adolescence. Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a single-stranded RNA virus of the …
The use of bevacizumab in refractory ovarian granulosa-cell carcinoma with symptomatic relief of ascites: A case report

Abstract Background The potential role of bevacizumab in the treatment of ovarian granulosa-cell tumors has not been evaluated. Case An 82 year old woman with refractory ovarian granulosa-cell carcinoma was treated with bevacizumab with symptomatic relief of ascites. Conclusion Bevacizumab may have a role in the management of malignant ascites in the patient with refractory granulosa-cell carcinoma of the ovary which should be confirmed in a larger series of well selected patients.
Composition of proteoglycans synthesized by rabbit aortic explants in culture and the effect of experimental atherosclerosis.

Abstract The synthesis of proteoglycans by aorta explants from rabbits with diet-induced atherosclerosis and controls was studied by 35 S-incorporation. Proteoglycans were isolated under dissociative conditions from incubation medium and from arterial explants. Additionally, the tissue proteoglycans that were not extracted by 4 M guanidine-HCl were solubilized by digestion of the tissue by elastase in the presence of proteinase inhibitors. The residual tissue was hydrolyzed by papain and glycosaminoglycans were isolated. The atherosclerotic aorta tissue incoporated twice the amount of 35 S into proteoglycans than observed for controls; in both groups about 70% of the label incorporated into the tissue was noted in the proteoglycans extracted by guanidine-HCl, while about 30% of the total 35 S-labeled proteoglycans synthesized by the explants were found in the media. Atherosclerotic tissue incorporated 35 S predominantly into chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans when compared to control tissue. The chondroitinase ABC-digestable proteoglycans that were extracted by guanidine-HCl from atherosclerotic tissues were of larger molecular size than those from control tissue, but the core proteins from these preparations were similar. The heparan sulfate proteoglycan that was obtained by dissociative extraction from atherosclerotic tissue had greater amounts of N -acetyl and lesser amounts of N -sulfate ester groups than the preparation from control tissue. Digestion of the tissue by elastase yielded heparan sulfate proteoglycans as the major constituent in both groups, although atherosclerotic tissue contained relatively small amounts of this proteoglycan. The residual tissue from both groups contained chondroitin sulfate and heparan sulfate as the major glycosaminoglycans with the latter showing a decrease with atherosclerosis. Atherosclerotic tissue secreted into the medium about two-fold more 35 S-labeled proteoglycans with larger molecular size than control tissue; proteoglycans of the heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate types were the major constituents in the culture medium of both tissues. Thus, proteoglycans undergo both quantitative and qualitative changes in atherosclerosis, reflecting the enhanced smooth muscle cell activity. These changes are potentially important in modulating lipoprotein binding and hemostatic properties, as well as fibrillogenesis of the arterial wall.
How did divorced women fare in the 1990s?: Analysis of work and hourly earnings

Abstract This paper presents evidence of changes in employment and real wages in the population of divorced single women during the 1990s. Using data from the U.S. Current Population Survey (CPS) for 1989 and 1999, the paper estimates multivariate models of labor force participation and hourly wages for each year. Differences between years in employment and wages are decomposed into portions attributable to changes in measured characteristics and changes in coefficients of the models. Estimates indicate that full time employment remained virtually unchanged during the decade, and real wages increased by less than 2%. Decomposition of the regression models shows that measured characteristics in this population changed in a direction that would have lead to higher wage growth, but those changes were offset by changes in the model’s coefficients. The result is that earnings experienced only modest growth. In the labor force participation model, changes in measured characteristics worked in the direction of a modest decrease in full time employment, but again coefficient changes provided an offsetting effect.
The year in electrophysiology.

The advances in cardiac electrophysiology during 2003 will be divided into three basic categories: mechanisms , genetics , and therapy , the latter including ablation, devices, drugs, and a unique pacing application in heart failure. This brief summary is not a comprehensive review article, and
Hydromagnetic waves in the Earth's fluid core

Abstract Small amplitude oscillations of a uniformly rotating, density stratified, Boussinesq, electrically conducting, non-dissipative fluid are examined in the geometry of a spherical shell. The basic magnetic field is assumed to be toroidal and is allowed to be an arbitrary axisymmetrical function of space. The basic density distribution is allowed to be an arbitrary function of space, consistent with the gravitational potential and the toroidal magnetic field. Conserved energy integrals are constructed and these constraints are used to determine sufficient conditions for stability. The stable waves are, in general, spatially trapped. Explicit expressions are obtained for the “turning surfaces” that delineate the regions in which waves are trapped. These expressions are used to illustrate trapped hydromagnetic waves in the Earth's fluid core.
A method for coupling protein antigens to erythrocytes. I. Description of method.

A technique has been described whereby tuberculin PPD is coupled, via tetrazotized benzidne, onto the surfaces of formalinized red blood cells. A stable antigen preparation is thereby obtained, which may be stored at –40°C. The purpose of the present method is to facilitate the study of antibody to tuberculoprotein.
Intrinsic Electrical Conductivity in Silicon Carbide

The presence of impurities modifies this form somewhat. As the temperature is decreased, the number of carriers excited directly from the valence band to the conduction band becomes small compared with the number due to impurities. In this extrinsic range, the temperature dependence of the conductivity is determined by that of the carrier mobilities and by the rate at which the free carriers condense on the impurity centers. The impurity density and the activation energy of the impurity electrons determine this rate. At low temperatures, the activation energies of the lower-lying impurity levels become the dominant influences upon the temperature dependence of the conductivity. When the only important source of carriers is the excitation from the valence band to the conduction band, because of either low impurity concentrations or high temperatures, the semiconductor is said to be intrinsic. Measurements of the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity of silicon carbide that have been published to date have not detected this intrinsic behavior. The present work has extended the data into the intrinsic region.
Reducing injury through self-protection by elderly victims of violence: The interaction effects of gender of victim and the victim/offender relationship

ABSTRACT The purposes of this paper are twofold: (1) to provide an epidemiological assessment of the differential vulnerability that elders compared to younger victims have to injury as the result of a violent victimization perpetrated by both known and unknown offenders, and (2) to examine the factors most related to injurious outcomes for elderly victims of violence including self-protective behavior. Using robbery and physical assault data from the National Crime Victimization Survey for 1992 through 2000, this paper found that victims 65 years of age and older were much more likely to require medical care for their injuries compared to younger victims. When multivariate models were examined to predict injury, it was found the effects of verbal and/or other passive forms of self-protective behavior decreased the probability of injury for the elderly against both known and unknown offenders. When elders were attacked by strangers, the effects of physical resistance strategies also served to decrease the...
Dances for Children, with Children, and by Children: Looking at Recital Dance through a Lens of Children's Culture

ABSTRACT Researchers and cultural theorists Ronnberg and Mouritsen both describe three kinds of creative products in children's culture: (1) products created for children by adults, (2) with children and adults working together, and (3) by children working alone. Each kind of activity serves a different social function for children and creates a different psychological effect. This article examines children's dance through the lens of Ronnberg and Mouritsen's framework for understanding children's culture. It discusses how what we learn from this perspective relates to the structuring of dance pedagogy. Recommendations are explored that look at how dance-making activities can be most productive for social and emotional growth in children. The specific arena of studio recital and competition performances is addressed.
LBSN 2010 workshop report: The Second ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Location Based Social Networks (San Jose, California - November 2, 2010)

Social networking services have become very popular in recent years, especially among younger people. While many people still sit behind a desktop computer to upload photos, write blogs and communicate with friends in the virtual world, an increasing trend enabled by the development of wireless networks and location sensing technologies is to track and share personal location information on the fly with mobile devices. By adding a location dimension, social networking has now been brought from the virtual world back to real life and our real-life experiences can be shared in the virtual world in a convenient fashion. We define Location Based Social Networks (LBSN) as social networking services where people can track and share location-related information with each other, via either mobile or desktop computers. As location is one of the most important aspects in people's everyday lives, a lot of novel application scenarios can be supported by LBSN, e.g., trustworthy location recommendations can be collected and shared within LBSN and used to rank interesting locations, discover new places, people and activities.
Reduced Sodium Current in Purkinje Neurons from NaV1.1 Mutant Mice: Implications for Ataxia in Severe Myoclonic Epilepsy in Infancy

Loss-of-function mutations of Na(V)1.1 channels cause severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SMEI), which is accompanied by severe ataxia that contributes substantially to functional impairment and premature deaths. Mutant mice lacking Na(V)1.1 channels provide a genetic model for SMEI, exhibiting severe seizures and premature death on postnatal day 15. Behavioral assessment indicated severe motor deficits in mutant mice, including irregularity of stride length during locomotion, impaired motor reflexes in grasping, and mild tremor in limbs when immobile, consistent with cerebellar dysfunction. Immunohistochemical studies showed that Na(V)1.1 and Na(V)1.6 channels are the primary sodium channel isoforms expressed in cerebellar Purkinje neurons. The amplitudes of whole-cell peak, persistent, and resurgent sodium currents in Purkinje neurons were reduced by 58-69%, without detectable changes in the kinetics or voltage dependence of channel activation or inactivation. Nonlinear loss of sodium current in Purkinje neurons from heterozygous and homozygous mutant animals suggested partial compensatory upregulation of Na(V)1.6 channel activity. Current-clamp recordings revealed that the firing rates of Purkinje neurons from mutant mice were substantially reduced, with no effect on threshold for action potential generation. Our results show that Na(V)1.1 channels play a crucial role in the excitability of cerebellar Purkinje neurons, with major contributions to peak, persistent, and resurgent forms of sodium current and to sustained action potential firing. Loss of these channels in Purkinje neurons of mutant mice and SMEI patients may be sufficient to cause their ataxia and related functional deficits.
4-Oxo-(E)-2-hexenal produced by Heteroptera induces permanent locomotive impairment in crickets that correlates with free thiol depletion.

Heteropterans produce 2-alkenals and 4-keto-2-alkenals that function as defense substances or pheromones. However, in spite of advances in heteropteran chemistry, it is still unclear how these compounds affect insect physiology. We found that exposure to 4-oxo-(E)-2-hexenal (OHE) induced permanent paralysis and death in crickets, an experimental model. The depletion of free thiols in leg tissues of OHE-treated crickets and the in vitro adduct formation of OHE with a thiol compound suggest that covalent binding of OHE to biologically active thiols is a potential cause affecting crickets’ locomotion.
Recognizing and Treating Urogenital Atrophy in Postmenopausal Women

Abstract Urogenital atrophy resulting from postmenopausal estrogen deficiency has numerous clinical effects, including vaginal dryness, sexual dysfunction, urinary incontinence, and recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), all of which can cause significant distress and reduction in quality of life. Although nearly one third to one half of postmenopausal women experience these symptoms, they are often overlooked because patients may be reluctant to discuss them and clinicians fail to screen for them. As these symptoms are unlikely to resolve without treatment, the prompt diagnosis and treatment of urogenital atrophy is essential. Estrogen therapy, administered either locally or systemically, provides significant relief from symptoms related to urogenital atrophy. However, systemic estrogen therapy is contraindicated in some women and may not be accepted in women without other menopausal symptoms. Local low-dose vaginal estrogen therapy, in the form of vaginal estrogen tablets, creams, or rings, has been...
Course-based Undergraduate Research—It Can Be Accomplished!

This article describes a senior seminar course in the Health and Human Performance (HHP) Department at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls. All students in the HHP department are required to complete the course. The emphases within HHP include physical education, health education, and exercise and sport science. In this course students learn progressively more about the research process throughout the semester. It culminates in a group research project and presentation.
A computational technique for evaluating the effective thermal conductivity of isotropic porous materials

A computational technique based on Maxwell's methodology is presented for evaluating the effective thermal conductivity of isotropic materials with periodic or random arrangement of spherical pores. The basic idea of the approach is to construct an equivalent sphere in an infinite space whose effects on the temperature at distant points are the same as those of a finite cluster of spherical pores arranged in a pattern representative of the material in question. The thermal properties of the equivalent sphere then define the effective thermal properties of the material. This procedure is based on a semi-analytical solution of a problem of an infinite space containing a cluster of non-overlapping spherical pores under prescribed temperature gradient at infinity. The method works equally well for periodic and random arrays of spherical pores.
3D breath-held cardiac function with projection reconstruction in steady state free precession validated using 2D cine MRI.

Two-dimensional fourier transform (FT) (Cartesian) breath-held electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated cardiac function imaging with MRI is an accurate and reliable method for cardiac function evaluation (1,2). However, many breath holds are required to obtain multiple two-dimensional (2D) slices covering the entire apical–basal extent of the heart. Three-dimensional (3D) methods could improve patient examination by reducing the 10–12 breath holds required for complete assessment of cardiac function to a single breath hold, thereby decreasing exam time, improving patient tolerance, and simplifying the cardiac exam. Furthermore, slice-misregistration caused by variability in breath-holding may lead to errors in measurement of left ventricular (LV) volumes; this is not a concern for 3D breath-hold imaging. 3D multiphase imaging of the heart has recently been achieved using contrast agents (3,4). More recently, preliminary studies have investigated the use of 3D balanced steady state free precession (SSFP) imaging of LV function using short TRs (5), the variable sampling in time (VAST) technique (6), sensitivity encoding (SENSE) (7), broad-use linear acquisition speed-up technique (k-t BLAST) (8), and using our approach of undersampled projection reconstruction (PR) (radial imaging) (9). Due to the requirements of short scan times for breath-hold cardiac imaging, these techniques employed unique k-space acquisition strategies, provided low spatial and/or temporal resolution, and required long breath-holds, sometimes with limited slab coverage. For these reasons, and due to lack of validation studies, the methods are not yet routinely used for clinical cardiac MR exams. Undersampled PR is promising since it provides images with spatial resolution that is roughly independent of the number of projections (and therefore scan time), although streak artifacts appear when the number of projections is reduced (10). Approximately 32 to 64 projections are required for relatively artifact-free cardiac images (11-14). Using 3D PR with projections in the x-y plane and partitions in the z direction, breath-held, segmented, ECG-gated SSFP acquisitions can provide whole heart coverage in a feasible breath hold, good through-plane spatial resolution, a temporal resolution of 70–80 msec, and higher in-plane spatial resolution than has been achieved with other 3D single breath-hold approaches. The goal of this study was to validate the 3D PR single breath hold cardiac function technique as a suitable alternative to standard multi-breath hold 2D Fourier transform (FT) techniques for characterizing LV ejection fraction (LVEF), end diastolic volume (LVEDV), end systolic volume (LVESV), and myocardial mass (LVEDM).
Single-molecule-based super-resolution images in the presence of multiple fluorophores.

Several super-resolution techniques exist, yet most require multiple lasers, use either large or weakly emitting fluorophores, or involve chemical manipulation. Here we show a simple technique that exceeds the standard diffraction limit by 5–15× on fixed samples, yet allows the user to localize individual fluorophores from among groups of crowded fluorophores. It relies only on bright, organic fluorophores and a sensitive camera, both of which are commercially available. Super-resolution is achieved by subtracting sequential images to find the fluorophores that photobleach (temporarily or permanently), photoactivate, or bind to the structure of interest in transitioning from one frame to the next. These fluorophores can then be localized via Gaussian fitting with selective frame averaging to achieve accuracies much better than the diffraction limit. The signal-to-noise ratio decreases with the square root of the number of nearby fluorophores, producing average single-molecule localization errors that are ...
Conserved expression of the opioid growth factor, [Met5]enkephalin, and the zeta (ζ) opioid receptor in vertebrate cornea

In addition to neuromodulation, endogenous opioids serve as growth factors. The naturally occurring opioid peptide, [Met5]enkephalin, termed opioid growth factor (OGF), has been found to be a potent and tonic inhibitor of processes related to growth and renewal, particularly cell proliferation. OGF mediates its actions through the zeta (zeta) opioid receptor. In order to determine if OGF and/or the zeta receptor are present in human corneal epithelium, immunocytochemistry was utilized. Immunoreactivity with regard to OGF and to the zeta receptor could be detected in the cortical cytoplasm of both basal and suprabasal epithelial cells, but was not associated with the cell nucleus. Investigation of the ubiquity of OGF and zeta receptor in the vertebrate cornea showed that both elements are present in a wide variety of classes of the phylum Chordata, including mammalia, aves, reptilia, amphibia, and osteichthyes. These results suggest that an endogenous opioid system related to growth may have originated as early as 300 million years ago, and that the function of this system in cellular renewal and homeostasis is a requirement of the vertebrate corneal epithelium.
Safety, tolerability, and immunologic effects of a food allergy herbal formula in food allergic individuals: a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, dose escalation, phase 1 study.

Background Food allergy is a common and serious health problem. A new herbal product, called food allergy herbal formula 2 (FAHF-2), has been demonstrated to have a high safety profile and potent long-term efficacy in a murine model of peanut-induced anaphylaxis. Objective To evaluate the safety and tolerability of FAHF-2 in patients with food allergy. Methods In this randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, dose escalation, phase 1 trial, patients received 1 of 3 doses of FAHF-2 or placebo: 2.2 g (4 tablets), 3.3 g (6 tablets), or 6.6 g (12 tablets) 3 times a day for 7 days. Four active and 2 placebo patients were treated at each dose level. Vital signs, physical examination results, laboratory data, pulmonary function test results, and electrocardiogram data were monitored. Immunomodulatory studies were also performed. Results Nineteen food allergic participants were included in the study. Two patients (1 in the FAHF-2 group and 1 in the placebo group) reported mild gastrointestinal symptoms. One patient withdrew from the study because of an allergic reaction that was unlikely related to the study medication. No significant differences were found in vital signs, physical examination results, laboratory data, pulmonary function test results, and electrocardiogram data obtained before and after treatment visits. Significantly decreased interleukin (IL) 5 levels were found in the active treatment group after 7 days. In vitro studies of peripheral blood mononuclear cells cultured with FAHF-2 also demonstrated a significant decrease in IL-5 and an increase in culture supernatant interferon γ and IL-10 levels. Conclusions FAHF-2 appeared to be safe and well tolerated in patients with food allergy. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00602160 .
Design and characterization of protein films for modeling near-infrared spectra of human tissue

Near-infrared (near-IR) spectroscopy has been investigated for use in direct measurements of human tissue for the purpose of quantifying clinically relevant analytes such as glucose. Spectra collected by transmitting near-IR light through human tissue reveal the presence of both aqueous components and solid structures within the optical path of the measurement. Developing technology for use in making these measurements requires either the availability of human subjects or an in vitro experimental platform that can effectively simulate the spectroscopic properties of tissue. This paper describes the preparation and testing of films of collagen and keratin, the two proteins that comprise the bulk of the solid material in the human epidermis and dermis. By placing these films in the optical path of a near-IR spectrometer together with an aqueous sample cell, a phantom can be constructed that allows experiments to be performed that simulate noninvasive measurements of tissue. In this work, both constant and variable thickness films are prepared and evaluated by use of a regression fit to spectra of human tissue. The stability and spectral reproducibility of the prepared films are also assessed. The regression fits to the human subject spectra yield values of R2 ranging from 0.97 to 0.99 and the films are found to yield spectra that vary by less than a 2% relative standard deviation under three different reproducibility tests.
Porous media-induced aggregation of protein-stabilized gold nanoparticles.

Gold-nanoparticles (AuNPs) are employed for cancer treatment, drug delivery, chemical analyses, and many other uses. As AuNP manufacture increases, it is imperative that we understand the environmental fate of these nanomaterials. We investigated the transport and stability of AuNPs under simulated groundwater conditions. Batch experiments indicated that 16 nm AuNPs stabilized with bovine serum albumin (BSA-cit-AuNPs) was slightly more stable under high ionic strength conditions than citrate-functionalized AuNPs (cit-AuNPs) of the same core size. Both types of AuNPs were injected into glass bead-packed columns and subjected to transport with varying NaCl and CaCl2 concentrations. BSA-cit-AuNPs deposited less than cit-AuNPs in the presence of increasing concentrations of CaCl2, but the opposite trend was observed in the presence of increasing concentrations of NaCl. This finding differed from the results obtained in the batch studies. Calculated attachment efficiencies (α) failed to reflect the observed ex...
Hubble Space Telescope Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of NGC 1741: A Nearby Template for Distant Energetic Starbursts

We have obtained a Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet image and spectrum of the nearby Wolf-Rayet galaxy NGC 1741. The spatial morphology from the Faint Object Camera image is dominated by two main starburst centers, each being about 100 times as luminous as 30 Doradus. Both starburst centers are composed of several intense knots of recent star formation. A Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph spectrum of a portion of the southern starburst center is consistent with a population of young stars following a Salpeter IMF for masses above ~15 M☉ (lower mass stars may also be present) and extending up to ~100 M☉; about 104 O-type stars are inferred from the UV luminosity. Numerous strong interstellar lines are detected. Although not resolved, their strength suggests that they are formed in individual bubbles and shells with velocities up to a few hundred km s-1. The red wing of the Lyα absorption profile indicates the presence of several neutral hydrogen components, one in our own Galaxy and the others at or close to the distance of NGC 1741. Overall, the stellar and interstellar line spectrum, as well as the continuum shape of NGC 1741, strongly resembles star-forming galaxies recently discovered at high redshift.