cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quantitative analysis of [99mTc]C2A-GST distribution in the area at risk after myocardial ischemia and reperfusion using a compartmental model.

Abstract Objective It was recently demonstrated that the radiolabeled C2A domain of synaptotagmin I accumulates avidly in the area at risk after ischemia and reperfusion. The objective was to quantitatively characterize the dynamic uptake of radiolabeled C2A in normal and ischemically injured myocardia using a compartmental model. Methods To induce acute myocardial infarction, the left descending coronary artery was ligated for 18 min, followed by reperfusion. [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST or its inactivated form, [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST-NHS, was injected intravenously at 2 h after reperfusion. A group of four rats was sacrificed at 10, 30, 60 and 180 after injection. Uptake of [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST and [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST-NHS in the area at risk and in the normal myocardium were determined by gamma counting. A compartmental model was developed to quantitatively interpret myocardial uptake kinetic data. The model consists of two physical spaces (vascular space and tissue space), with plasma activity as input. The model allows for [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST and [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST-NHS diffusion between vascular and tissue spaces, as well as for [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST sequestration in vascular and tissue spaces via specific binding. Results [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST uptake in the area at risk was significantly higher than that for [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST-NHS at all time points. The compartmental model separated [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST uptake in the area at risk due to passive retention from that due to specific binding. The maximum amount of [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST that could be sequestered in the area at risk due to specific binding was estimated at a total of 0.048 nmol/g tissue. The rate of [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST sequestration within the tissue space of the area at risk was 0.012 ml/min. Modeling results also revealed that the diffusion rate of radiotracer between vascular and tissue spaces is the limiting factor of [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST sequestration within the tissue space of the area at risk. Conclusion [ 99m Tc]C2A-GST is sequestered in the ischemically injured myocardium in a well-defined dynamic profile. Model parameters will be valuable indicators for gauging and guiding the development of future-generation molecular probes.
Fresnel diffraction supercontinuum generation

White supercontinuum (SC) produced from Fresnel diffraction was demonstrated in BK7 glasses using femtosecond laser pulses. For input pulse energy below the threshold for the onset of self-focusing and SC generation, an aperture was placed into the beam before the BK7 glass to redistribute the intensity by diffraction along the propagation axis to produce a stable SC. The SC occurred at various distances from the aperture containing odd number of Fresnel zones, mainly the first. This result plays an important role in studying the properties of SC sources as well as the diffraction field distribution. A distinct and stable interference ring pattern inside the conical four-photon emission is observed and attributed to the spatial arrangement of small-scale filaments at different distances in the glass.
Off-line general handwritten word recognition using an approximate BEAM matching algorithm

A recognition system for general isolated off-line handwritten words using an approximate segment-string matching algorithm is described. The fundamental paradigm employed is a character-based segment-then-recognize/match strategy. An additional user supplied contextual information in the form of a lexicon guides a graph search to estimate the most likely word image identity. This system is designed to operate robustly in the presence of document noise, poor handwriting, and lexicon errors. A pre-processing step is initially applied to the image to remove noise artifacts and normalize the handwriting. An oversegmentation approach is used to improve the likelihood of capturing the individual characters embedded in the word. A directed graph is constructed that contains many possible interpretations of the word image, many implausible. The most likely graph path and associated confidence is computed for each lexicon word to produce a final lexicon ranking. Experiments highlighting the characteristics of this algorithm are given.
Report on acceleration comparison SIM.AUV.V-K1

The first regional key comparison in vibration conducted under the auspices of the Inter American System of Metrology (SIM) was begun in 1996. The comparison was registered with the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) through the Consultative Committee for Acoustics, Ultrasound and Vibration (CCAUV) under the key comparison designation of SIM.AUV.V K1. The national measurement institutes (NMIs) of five countries participating in SIM performed and reported calibrations of one back-to-back and two single-ended accelerometers for this comparison during the time period of 1997 to 1999. The participants in the comparison were: Argentina (INTI), Brazil (INMETRO), Canada (NRC), Mexico (CENAM) and the United States (NIST). Reference Values (RVs) were established for the SIM.AUV.V-K1 comparison using maximum likelihood consensus estimation applied to the summary values of charge sensitivity with the nominal numbers of repeat measurements reported by the participating NMIs. Degrees of equivalence between the results reported by the NMIs and the RVs as well as pairwise degrees of equivalence between the results reported by the NMIs were computed using the uncertainties associated with the results reported by the NMIs and those of the RVs as appropriate. Transformation values were found in order to link the results of SIM.AUV.V-K1 with those of the first international key comparison in vibration conducted under the auspices of the CCAUV during 1999 to 2001 (CCAUV.V-K1). The degrees of equivalence between the NMIs participating in SIM.AUV.V-K1 and those participating in CCAUV.V-K1 were established using linkage values computed from the transformation values. Main text. To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database kcdb.bipm.org/. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCAUV, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA).
Variola Virus E3L Zα Domain, but Not Its Z-DNA Binding Activity, Is Required for PKR Inhibition

Responding to viral infection, the interferon-induced, double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-activated protein kinase PKR phosphorylates translation initiation factor eIF2α to inhibit cellular and viral protein synthesis. To overcome this host defense mechanism, many poxviruses express the protein E3L, containing an N-terminal Z-DNA binding (Zα) domain and a C-terminal dsRNA-binding domain (dsRBD). While E3L is thought to inhibit PKR activation by sequestering dsRNA activators and by directly binding the kinase, the role of the Zα domain in PKR inhibition remains unclear. Here, we show that the E3L Zα domain is required to suppress the growth-inhibitory properties associated with expression of human PKR in yeast, to inhibit PKR kinase activity in vitro, and to reverse the inhibitory effects of PKR on reporter gene expression in mammalian cells treated with dsRNA. Whereas previous studies revealed that the Z-DNA binding activity of E3L is critical for viral pathogenesis, we identified point mutations in E3L that functionally uncouple Z-DNA binding and PKR inhibition. Thus, our studies reveal a molecular distinction between the nucleic acid binding and PKR inhibitory functions of the E3L Zα domain, and they support the notion that E3L contributes to viral pathogenesis by targeting PKR and other components of the cellular anti-viral defense pathway.
Time-Keeping in the Transcriptional Cascades of the Developing C. elegans Embryo

Cell differentiation and cell proliferation are coordinated during animal development by mechanisms that remain largely unknown. We use the fact that the timespan of development in C. elegans can be varied significantly by changes in temperature and mutations to discern the nature of the coordination mechanism at play in this organism. We have measured time profiles of gene expression in key organogenesis pathways of C. elegans embryos that have grown under conditions and genetic backgrounds that significantly change the overall rate of development. We used the single molecule RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization technique recently developed by our group to obtain absolute RNA transcript numbers with single molecule sensitivity. The data allow us to determine the extent to which RNA dynamics remain locked to the cell cycle as lifespan is varied and infer the existence of coordinator processes from changes of apparent induction thresholds in transcriptional cascades.
A tale of two valves

We present two cases involving elevated gradients across mechanical cardiac valves. Provided images show decreased disc mobility and eventual operative findings. A brief discussion underlines the importance of recognizing pannus as a common aetiology for valve dysfunction.
A note on radiation in a gyro-electric-magnetic medium--An extension of bunkin's calculation

Some fundamental results on radiation in anisotropic media have been worked out by F. V. Bunkin for the case of a gyro-electric (or plasma) medium using the technique of tensorial Green's function. He obtained asymptotic expressions for the far-zone radiation fields in a gyro-electric medium and therefore demonstrated actually the validity of Sommerfield's radiation condition for a gyro-electric medium. The present paper extends Bunkin s calculation to a case of a gyro-electric-magnetic medium and thus justifies the validity of Sommerfeld's radiation condition in a gyro-electric-magnetic medium.
Modification of fluorescence decay times in composite materials based on Nd:YAG nanoparticles

We observed a bi-exponential fluorescence decay in various liquid suspensions of Nd:YAG nanoparticles, and experimentally investigated it for different particle sizes and pump wavelengths.
Circuit partitioning for pseudo-exhaustive test

Pseudo-exhaustive testing is not suitable to total dependency circuits in which at least one output is functionally dependent on all the inputs. Even for a partial dependency circuit, the size of a pseudo-exhaustive test set may still be too large to be applicable in practice. In such cases, pseudo-exhaustive test can be achieved by partitioning techniques. The principle is to partition the circuit into subcircuits such that the output of each subcircuit is functionally dependent on only a small number of inputs. Then the subcircuits are pseudo-exhaustively tested. Moreover, since the time complexity of test generation and fault simulation grows faster than a linear function of circuit size, it is cost-effective to partition large circuits to reduce these costs. A circuit partitioning tool, Autonomous, is presented to partition digital combinational portions of the circuit into different structural subcircuits so that each subcircuit can be pseudo-exhaustively tested. The effectiveness of partitioning method is shown by applying the method to different examples and practical VLSI designs. >
Concordance between thyroid nodule sizes measured by ultrasound and gross pathology examination: effect on patient management.

Ultrasound examination (US) is an essential tool in the evaluation of thyroid nodules. The size determined by US is used to distinguish between clinical vs. nonclinical thyroid nodules i.e. greater than or equal to or less than 1 cm. In this study, we evaluated the concordance between the sizes of thyroid nodules measured by US and by gross examination after thyroidectomy. This study included 664 nodules that underwent fine-needle aspiration (FNA) and subsequent excision in 621 patients; 580 had single and 41 patients had multiple (39 with 2, and 2 with 3 nodules) nodules. Both US and gross pathology measurements were taken in three dimensions. The nodule sizes as measured by US were stratified into five groups: A: or=5.1 cm. FNA diagnoses were categorized into: Benign (n = 59), Neoplastic / Indeterminate (n = 342), Suspicious (n = 123), Malignant (n = 106), and nondiagnostic (n = 34). Upon excision 278 (42%) nodules were classified as malignant and 386 (58%) as benign. In group A the concordance between US and excisional size was 78.5%, group B 56%, group C 34.5%, group D 40% and group E 52.5%. Only 14 (14/664 2%) nodules measured <or=1.0 cm by US, however, after thyroidectomy 105 (105/664 15.5%) measured <or=1.0 cm in size. Histological diagnoses of this group were benign 62 (58%), papillary microcarcinoma 39 (37%), medullary microcarcinoma 3 (3%) and follicular/Hurthle cell carcinoma 2 (2%) cases. In this study the concordance in benign or malignant nodules measured by US and surgical pathology examination is <or=50%, except in the <or=1.0 cm size range (78.5%). This may lead to an increase in the number of patients undergoing FNA and subsequent surgical excision.
Biomechanical Evaluation of Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repairs: Double-Row Compared with Single-Row Fixation

Background: Recent studies have shown that arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs can have higher rates of failure than do open repairs. Current methods of rotator cuff repair have been limited to single-row fixation of simple and horizontal stitches, which is very different from open repairs. The objective of this study was to compare the initial cyclic loading and load-to-failure properties of double-row fixation with those of three commonly used single-row techniques. Methods: Ten paired human supraspinatus tendons were split in half, yielding four tendons per cadaver. The bone mineral content at the greater tuberosity was assessed. Four stitch configurations (two-simple, massive cuff, arthroscopic Mason-Allen, and double-row fixation) were randomized and tested on each set of tendons. Specimens were cyclically loaded between 5 and 100 N at 0.25 Hz for fifty cycles and then loaded to failure under displacement control at 1 mm/sec. Conditioning elongation, peak-to-peak elongation, ultimate tensile load, and stiffness were measured with use of a three-dimensional tracking system and compared, and the failure type (suture or anchor pull-out) was recorded. Results: No significant differences were found among the stitches with respect to conditioning elongation. The mean peak-to-peak elongation (and standard error of the mean) was significantly lower for the massive cuff (1.1 ± 0.1 mm) and double-row stitches (1.1 ± 0.1 mm) than for the arthroscopic Mason-Allen stitch (1.5 ± 0.2 mm) (p < 0.05). The ultimate tensile load was significantly higher for double-row fixation (287 ± 24 N) than for all of the single-row fixations (p < 0.05). Additionally, the massive cuff stitch (250 ± 21 N) was found to have a significantly higher ultimate tensile load than the two-simple (191 ± 18 N) and arthroscopic Mason-Allen (212 ± 21 N) stitches (p < 0.05). No significant differences in stiffness were found among the stitches. Failure mechanisms were similar for all stitches. Rotator cuff repairs in the anterior half of the greater tuberosity had a significantly lower peak-to-peak elongation and higher ultimate tensile strength than did repairs on the posterior half. Conclusions: In this in vitro cadaver study, double-row fixation had a significantly higher ultimate tensile load than the three types of single-row fixation stitches. Of the single-row fixations, the massive cuff stitch had cyclic and load-to-failure characteristics similar to the double-row fixation. Anterior repairs of the supraspinatus tendon had significantly stronger biomechanical behavior than posterior repairs. Clinical Relevance: The results of this study support the concept that double-row fixation can improve the initial fixation strength of arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs.
Glaucoma and quality of life: the Salisbury Eye Evaluation.

Purpose To examine whether glaucoma status or measures of visual function affected by glaucoma are associated with self-reported difficulty with vision-intensive tasks in a population-based study. Design Cross-sectional study. Participants One thousand one hundred sixty individuals who participated in the fourth round of the Salisbury Eye Evaluation study and who did not have visual acuity worse than 20/40 due to a primary cause other than glaucoma. Methods Glaucoma was assessed using optic nerve head appearance, visual field (VF) testing, gonioscopy, and physician opinion. Vision-related quality of life was assessed using the Activities of Daily Vision Scale (ADVS), whose scores were trichotomized into the following categories: the least difficulty with visual tasks, some difficulty, and the most difficulty. Data on confounders were collected by questionnaire and clinical examination. Multinomial logistic regression was used to adjust for demographic and health factors. Main Outcome Measure Reported difficulty on the ADVS. Results Individuals with bilateral glaucoma were more likely to report the most difficulty on the ADVS than those without glaucoma (odds ratio [OR], 3.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.56–6.76), whereas those with unilateral glaucoma were not more likely to report the most difficulty (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.38–2.91). Worse binocular VF scores were associated with increased odds of the most difficulty on the ADVS after adjusting for acuity and contrast sensitivity (OR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.29–1.85). Conclusions Individuals with bilateral glaucoma reported more difficulty on the ADVS than those without glaucoma. This finding, in conjunction with findings demonstrating decreased mobility in patients with bilateral glaucoma, points to the fact that glaucoma affects the report of difficulty with a variety of visual tasks.
Forgivingness, Vengeful Rumination, and Affective Traits

Trait forgivingness is the disposition to forgive interpersonal transgressions over time and across situations. We define forgiveness as the replacement of negative unforgiving emotions with positive, other-oriented emotions. Rumination has been suggested as a mediator between forgivingness and emotional outcomes; however, we suggest that different content of rumination leads to different outcomes after transgressions. In four studies of 179, 233, 80, and 66 undergraduate students, trait forgivingness was negatively correlated with trait anger, hostility, neuroticism, fear, and vengeful rumination and was positively correlated with agreeableness, extraversion, and trait empathy. The disposition to ruminate vengefully mediated the relationship between trait forgivingness and (1) anger-related traits and (2) both revenge motivations and state anger following a specific recent transgression, but it did not mediate between forgivingness and (1) fearfulness and (2) avoidance motivations following a specific transgression. Self-hate statements, a proxy for depressive rumination, mediated the relationship between forgivingness and both depression and fearfulness but not the relationship between forgivingness and trait anger. Future research should distinguish the contents of mental rumination following interpersonal transgressions.
Ligand-induced Trafficking of the Sphingosine-1- phosphate Receptor EDG-1

The endothelial-derived G-protein–coupled receptor EDG-1 is a high-affinity receptor for the bioactive lipid mediator sphingosine-1-phosphate (SPP). In the present study, we constructed the EDG-1–g...
An assessment, of fixed-capacity models of visual working memory

Visual working memory is often modeled as having a fixed number of slots. We test this model by assessing the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) of participants in a visual-working-memory change-detection task. ROC plots yielded straight lines with a slope of 1.0, a tell-tale characteristic of all-or-none mnemonic representations. Formal model assessment yielded evidence highly consistent with a discrete fixed-capacity model of working memory for this task.
At the Crossroads: Racial and Womanist Identity Development in Black and White Women

This study explored the hypothesis that womanist identity and racial identity development are related. The racial identiy and womanist identity attitudes of 214 women were measured using the Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale, the White Racial Identity Attitude Scales (WRIAS), and the Womanist Identity Attitude Scale. Canonical correlation analysis was used to determine the nature of relationships among racial identity and womanist identity attitudes. Results showed that for Black women there was a significant relation between racial identity and womanist identity attitudes. Specifically, Internalization attitudes on the WRIAS were positively related to Level II (Encounter) and Level IV (Internalization) attitudes on the Womanist Identity Attitude Scale. Despite a larger number of White participants, no such relationship emerged for White women. Implications for theory, research, and counseling are discussed.
No association between genetic polymorphisms in insulin and insulin receptor substrate-1 and prostate cancer.

High levels of insulin and insulin-like growth factors have been associated with increased risk of prostate cancer ([1][1], [2][2]). Insulin regulates and stimulates cell growth, and inhibits apoptosis in cellular models, although mitogenicity seems to occur at supraphysiologic levels. Insulin also
Perspective click-and-drag area selections in pictures

Pictures of man-made environments often exhibit many perspectively slanted planar parts like buildings, road or shop signages. In this paper, we present a novel user interface for area selections in pictures using perspective click and drag operations. At preprocessing stage, our system first recognizes convex quads from multi-scale segmentations that it interprets as perspective rectangles. It then builds a nested quad hierarchy labeled with quad-to-square homographies and inverse transformations. During the interactive session, whenever a user selects an area by first clicking a corner and then dragging the diagonally opposite corner, the system proposes a perspective sub-rectangle matching the dragged diagonal defined according to the homographies of the selected quad of the hierarchy. We illustrate the perspective click’n’drag prototype with common image editing operations.
Liberia: The Meaning of “Dual Citizenship”

(1973). Liberia: The Meaning of “Dual Citizenship”. The Black Scholar: Vol. 4, The Pan-African Debate, pp. 16-19.
Towards a Model for Resource Allocation in API Value Networks

REST APIs have brought the power of reuse within reach of individuals and enterprises at Internet-scale through extreme consumability. An effective API strategy must consider not just how the API will be built, but how it will be sold and offered in the Cloud environments. Traditional models of software marketing omit the complexity associated with the multiple parties involved in the API value chain. New models are needed to help platform providers allocate resources for optimum return. This paper extends traditional software marketing models to include this multi-party complexity, and contrasts optimal strategies over a variety of possible model parameters. Our results show that system models can be used to differentiate platform marketing strategies. We expect that there is a wide range of application once such models are parameterized with measured platform adoption and marketing data.
Swapping Print: The Impact of Immigration and the Internet on International Newspaper Trade

Why is there international trade in newspapers? Why do even very small countries both import from and export to large nations? New trade models founded on transport costs and increasing returns fail to explain the high degree of bilateral trade in cultural goods like newspapers and periodicals. I argue that immigration is complementary to newspaper trade, with small cosmopolitan countries having the largest trade as a percentage of GDP. These predictions are empirically confirmed, with a 10% increase in bilateral immigration inducing a 4.4% increase in newspaper trade between nations. While increased immigration has lead to greater trade, this effect is decreasing in internet usage. The trade-immigration elasticity is 8.5% smaller for high-internet usage countries, reflecting the fact that immigrants increasingly get their foreign news fix online. These results suggest that cultural goods need not be protected from trade as a country's economic presence on the global stage creates a market for its products.
Heavy metals and adenosine cyclic 3',5'-monophosphate metabolism: possible relevance to heavy metal toxicity.

Adenylate cyclase activity in homogenates and particulate fractions of rat cerebellum, cerebral cortex, salivary gland, heart, and liver was inhibited by very low concentrations of lead ions (I50
Translational and Rotational Head Kinematics in Side Impact

Regulatory tests use translational head accelerations and its derived variable HIC (head injury criterion) as the criteria for automotive vehicle crashworthiness evaluation. The FMVSS standard sets HIC36 of 1000 as the threshold for frontal impact protection. On the other hand, rotational head kinematics, such as rotational accelerations and velocities, has been attributed to brain injury in the motor vehicle environment for more than six decades [1–5]. As documented in recent real-world case studies, severe brain injuries without skull fracture, such as diffuse axonal injury, can result from rotational head motions in side impacts even at low change in impact velocity [6, 7]. Because the HIC only accounts for the translational head accelerations, there is no clear evidence showing there is a direct correlation between translational and rotational head acceleration. Therefore, it is important to quantify the correlation between head translational and rotational accelerations and HIC, in side impacts. Consequently, the current research was designed with this purpose.© 2009 ASME
Direct Observations on the Mechanism of Pain in Duodenal Ulcer

An extensive literature has developed with respect to the mechanism of pain in gastric and duodenal ulcer. For this reason, in this brief report, we shall make no reference to previous studies but merely describe some observations made during the course of an operation under local anesthesia upon a patient with a duodenal ulcer.The patient, a well developed white male 37 years of age, first experienced epigastric distress of the ulcer type in 1920. A diet of bland food together with the daily ingestion of powders (presumably alkalies) afforded some relief, but in April, 1922, his distress became so marked that an operation was advised and performed elsewhere. At operation a duodenal ulcer was found and a posterior gastro-enterostomy done. This gave more or less complete relief until 1924, at which time epigastric pain returned more severe than before and persisted intermittently until we first saw the patient in March, 1928. The symptoms and findings at this time were those of a gastro-jejunal ulcer. In A...
WHAT CAN AUSCULTATION OF THE HEART TELL US ABOUT DIAGNOSIS, PROGNOSIS AND THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS?

Auscultation of the heart has become increasingly important with the success of cardiac operations and our increased knowledge of mechanisms of producing sound. A comparison of heart sounds with the electrocardiographically timed record of high-frequency and low-frequency sounds increases the accuracy of bedside or office diagnoses.The discrete heart sounds rather than murmurs are now emphasized. Auscultation can establish the nature of an arrhythmia before electrocardiograms are made, aid in evaluating myocardial and pericardial disease and valvular lesions, and help in determining the effectiveness of therapy.
Comparative responses to various nitrates in the treatment of angina pectoris.

Three long-acting nitrates, namely, pentaerythritol tetranitrate, erythrol tetranitrate and isosorbide dinitrate, are available for reducing the severity and frequency of attacks of angina pectoris. The time of onset of the action of these drugs is an important consideration. The duration of the action of these drugs also must be considered in planning frequency of their administration in relation to the symptoms in each case.
Research on Teaching Reformation of Management Information System of Industry and Commerce Administration of Undergraduate

Analyzes the teaching problems existed in Management Information System of the undergraduate specialty of business administration and presents the teaching target and teaching reformation proposals.Based on the problems,puts forward some measures of reformation,for example,the construction of teaching book and the design of teaching content again,carrying out the development of teaching case and teaching with the case,the construction of laboratory and teaching with experiment.
Mechanical Properties of Glassy Polyethylene Nanofibers via Molecular Dynamics Simulations

The extent to which the intrinsic mechanical properties of polymer fibers depend on physical size has been a matter of dispute that is relevant to most nanofiber applications. Here, we report the elastic and plastic properties determined from molecular dynamics simulations of amorphous, glassy polymer nanofibers with diameter ranging from 3.7 to 17.7 nm. We find that, for a given temperature, the Young’s elastic modulus E decreases with fiber radius and can be as much as 52% lower than that of the corresponding bulk material. Poisson’s ratio ν of the polymer comprising these nanofibers was found to decrease from a value of 0.3 to 0.1 with decreasing fiber radius. Our findings also indicate that a small but finite stress exists on the simulated nanofibers prior to elongation, attributable to surface tension. When strained uniaxially up to a tensile strain of e = 0.2 over the range of strain rates and temperatures considered, the nanofibers exhibit a yield stress σy between 40 and 72 MPa, which is not stron...
Can expired proprietary maize (Zea mays L.) industry lines be useful for short-season breeding programs? I. grain quality and nutritional traits

Protection expired (ex-PVP) and off-patent maize (Zea mays L.) inbred lines are publicly available to utilize, after being restricted through the U.S. Patent and/or Plant Variety Protection Act for 20 years. The purpose of this study was to assess the grain quality properties of ex-PVP maize short-season inbred lines. Three sets of North Carolina Mating Design II crosses were made with 12 NDSU lines, 24 ex-PVP lines, and seven current industry testers in the 2010 and 2010–2011 seasons. Hybrids and checks were arranged in partially balanced lattice trials across six ND environments in 2011 and 2012. Both general combining ability and specific combining ability were important for regulating most grain quality traits with the preponderance of additive genetic variance. However, there is still lack of interest for developing inbred lines and hybrids with top grain quality traits. If ex-PVP inbred lines do not have the potential to compete with current lines, still, those with good combining ability for grain quality could complement other germplasm sources when the market is ready to pay premiums for a better maize quality. Public breeding programs have the opportunity to increase the value of this particular commodity and complement industry efforts for a better and more profitable crop for U.S. farmers.
Quantitative Metabolic Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Sodium, Oxygen, Phosphorus and Potassium in the Human Brain: A Rationale for Bioscales in Clinical Applications

Conventional clinical magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is the modality of choice when examining the human central nervous system. Exquisite anatomical images are readily derived from the MR signal of the hydrogen nuclei of water molecules. However, although biology is critically dependent on an aqueous milieu, the complex interactions of metabolism that constitute life processes involve many molecules containing other elements such as carbon, phosphorus, oxygen, nitrogen, sodium, and potassium, all of which have MR signals. The slow development of clinical applications exploiting these other nuclei reflects the lower MR sensitivity and greater MR complexity of these elements and the lower concentrations of the metabolites made up from these elements compared to water protons. The high clinical relevance of the information that can be derived from these nuclei continues to drive the development of ultrahigh magnetic field scanners for human studies and acquisition strategies that can provide the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for quantification of pertinent parametric maps that have been termed bioscales. This chapter will describe the methodology that can be used to meet the clinical potential of bioscales developed for sodium (23Na) and oxygen (17O). The SNR challenge for quantification of phosphorus (31P) and potassium (39K) imaging has yet to be met, even at 9.4 T, in acceptable acquisition times and at spatial resolutions pertinent to the human brain.
Crossing the threshold: reflective practice in information literacy development

Do we think enough about what we are doing as information literacy practitioners? The relationship between reflection and information literacy development is well documented in academic and professional literature, particularly in the context of teaching librarians using reflective activities to enable learners to think critically about their information literacy abilities. Parallel literature from education and other fields has promoted the concept of the reflective or thinking practitioner. Drawing on literature and theory from various domains, we review the concepts of reflection and reflective practice, and discuss their application and take-up in library and information work, with particular reference to the teaching role of librarians in the context of developments in critical information literacy. Our review suggests that reflective practice is generally recognised as an important dimension of library and information work, but is currently underdeveloped in comparsion with other professions. Using terminology and theory from the pedagogical arena, we contend that critical reflection needs to be elevated to the special status of a threshold competence for library and information professionals generally and for information literacy practitioners in particular. We also argue that our profession needs purpose-designed domain-specific advice and guidance on reflective practice, to support initial and continuing education of library and information workers, and we conclude by identifying areas where further research is required to clarify the role of reflection in library and information research and evaluation, to explore existing approaches to reflection in professional education programs, and test the transferability of reflective methods used in other professional domains.
Last Man Standing

The United States has millions of homes in foreclosure, high unemployment rates, a failing General Motors, numerous insolvent banks, and unprecedented deficits. It is possibly on the brink of a second Great Depression. Yet the U.S. dollar has experienced one of its most rapid appreciations in history. Last summer, when it took about $1.66 to buy a euro, American tourists in Paris gasped at the price of a Coke. Now, a stronger dollar means that a euro can be had for something like $1.26. What's up? America's relative decline in global affairs has been foretold many times, but it never quite seems to happen. Today, the rest of the world is looking to the United States to pull it out of a recession (or depression), even though many countries also blame us for having started it. The truth is this: The worse things go for the world as a whole, the more the United States gains in relative power and influence. Maybe that sounds counterintuitive, but it has happened before. After the first and second world wars left many other parts of the world in devastation, the United States rose in relative stature. It fell in standing, at least arguably, during the years between 1989 and 2007, when the world as a whole was enjoying unprecedented prosperity and liberty.
Introduction: Why Study Globalization and Culture through English-Language Learning and Teaching in China?

China Southern University (CSU) Vice-Chancellor Tsing, who had previously worked as an administrator in the USA and had come to CSU in 2002 to oversee teaching reforms and the implementation of the English Language Center (ELC), often recounted a story about her first weeks on campus and her amazement at seeing all of the desks in the classrooms bolted to the floor and lined up in rows facing the teaching lectern. In her desire to institute student-centered teaching reforms and her belief that Chinese education was becoming more Western through the influence of the many foreign teachers on university campuses across China, Vice-Chancellor Tsing felt that the rows of desks had to be unbolted in order to allow students to work in groups with desks facing each other instead of the teacher. After much debate with administrators and staff, she threatened to go through each room with a wrench and unbolt each desk herself. She eventually convinced the university to buy new desks without bolts for most classrooms, and she often remarked that the unbolting of the desks illustrated the perseverance needed to reform Chinese education and change traditional ways of teaching and learning in China. In this way Vice-Chancellor Tsing argued that China and the global West were moving towards a shared educational culture.
Sense of community through supportive housing among formerly homeless individuals with serious mental illness

ABSTRACTMuch research documents the correlation between homelessness and mental illness. Often, existing research focuses on deficits that live at the intersection of these phenomena. The present study utilizes a sense of community (SOC) framework to interrogate the ways in which formerly homeless individuals with serious mental illness perceive and experience community in supportive housing. Through focus groups with 18 consumers, this study contextualizes dimensions of SOC (membership, emotional connection, needs fulfillment, and influence) for the aforementioned population. Analysis of focus group data produced 16 themes and subthemes that support and extend our understanding of SOC for a population often conceptualized as isolated and alone. Implications for policy and practice emphasize: (1) the importance of supportive housing communities and the call for policymakers to increase funding for such programing; and, (2) that practitioners facilitate housing members’ voices to effectuate change in suppo...
On the Integration of Big Data and Cloud Computing Topics (Abstract Only)

Big data and cloud computing (BDCloud) collectively offer a paradigm shift in the way businesses are now acquiring, using and managing information technology. With the fast growth of this paradigm, we argue that each and every CS and IT students should be equipped with foundation knowledge in this collective paradigm and should possess hand-on-experiences in managing big data applications in clouds to acquire skills that are necessary to meet current and future industry demands. This poster presents our research that proposes gradual and systematic integration of big data and cloud computing related topics into multiple core (required) courses of CS/IT curriculum. The poster, supported by a NSF grant, will be useful for CS/IT students and their instructors as it identifies big data and cloud computing related topics that are important to cover, finds a sequence of the prescribed topics that can be incorporated into existing core courses most effectively, and suggests specific core courses in which their coverage might find an appropriate context. The poster further identifies the major challenges this proposed intervention may encounter and provides a deeper analysis of them. Finally, the poster describes our experience of implementing one such course with proposed interventions during Fall of 2016 semester. The pre- post- test results that measure student opinion and understanding of big data and cloud computing topics are presented in the poster and demonstrate improved student interest and learning.
Sparse diploid spatial biosignal recovery for genomic variation detection

Structural variants (SVs) - such as duplications, deletions and inversions - are rearrangements of an individual's genome relative to a given reference. The common method for detection of SVs is to sequence fragments from an individual's genome, map them to the appropriate reference and, by identifying discordant mappings, predict the locations and type of SV. However, errors in both the sequencing and mapping process will result in signals that look like SVs, resulting in inaccurate predictions. In addition, because of variation in sequencing coverage even when the evidence of an SV is present, determining if an individual has the SV present on one or both of their chromosomes is challenging. In our work, we seek to improve upon standard methods for SV detection in three ways. First, to reduce false-positive predictions, we simultaneously predict SVs in a parent and child using properties of inheritance to constrain the space of possible SVs. Second, we predict if a variant is homozygous (SV is on two chromosomes) or heterozygous (SV is on one chromosome). Third, we utilize a gradient-based optimization approach and constrain our solution with a sparsity-promoting l 1 penalty (since SV instances should be rare). We demonstrate the improved performance of our computational approach on both simulated genomes as well as a parent-child trio from the 1000 Genomes Project.
Contemporary Treatment Strategies for Rare Epithelial Ovarian Cancers

Epithelial ovarian carcinoma consists of not one but five distinct histologic subtypes which include high-grade and low-grade serous carcinomas, clear cell, endometrioid, and mucinous carcinoma. Until recently, women with all histologic subtypes have been “grouped together” in cooperative group trials and treated in a similar fashion. Recent advances have demonstrated that each subtype differs in molecular and genetic differentiation, pathogenesis, clinical behavior, and response to treatments. Since the establishment of the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) Rare Tumor Committee in 2005, there has been increasing emphasis placed upon novel treatment strategies for these low incidence malignancies. There has been mounting evidence to suggest that a “one-size-fits-all” treatment approach is not appropriate—especially for low-grade serous, clear cell, endometrioid, and mucinous carcinomas as they all tend to be relatively chemoresistant to typical platinum/taxane-based chemotherapy regimens utilized for high-grade serous carcinomas. We present a review of the rare epithelial ovarian cancer subtypes, including current best clinical practices for the management of each tumor type.
Noninvasive in vivo optical characterization of blood flow and oxygen consumption in the superficial plexus of skin

Assessing the metabolic activity of a tissue, whether normal, damaged, aged, or pathologic, is useful for diagnosis and evaluating the effects of drugs. This report describes a handheld optical fiber probe that contacts the skin, applies pressure to blanch the superficial vascular plexus of the skin, then releases the pressure to allow refill of the plexus. The optical probe uses white light spectroscopy to record the time dynamics of blanching and refilling. The magnitude and dynamics of changes in blood content and hemoglobin oxygen saturation yield an estimate of the oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in units of attomoles per cell per second. The average value of OCR on nine forearm sites on five subjects was 10±5 (amol/cell/s). This low-cost, portable, rapid, noninvasive optical probe can characterize the OCR of a skin site to assess the metabolic activity of the epidermis or a superficial lesion.
TRANSPORT AND BINDING IN VIVO OF 3H-NALOXONE IN BRAINS OF MORPHINE DEPENDENT AND WITHDRAWN MICE

When naloxone (NLX) contents in the cerebellum and residual brain were assayed 20 min after i.v. injection as non-specific and total binding, respectively, Scatchard plot of specific binding showed two binding sites in 4 experimental groups. Morphine dependent mice did not show any marked changes, although morphine pelleted mice decreased Ka and Bmax of low affinity site.
Black Lives Matter and Political Rap

Drawing attention to the interface between social activism and rap music over the last few years, Oware explores the embrace of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement among some in the rap community. The high-profile deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Sandra Bland sparked the BLM movement. In this chapter, Oware recounts the circumstances surrounding their deaths and then analyzes how several artists; for example, Killer Mike and Tef Poe, pay homage to these individuals through their music. Additionally, their passing inspires rappers not only to address racist vigilantism and police brutality but also to articulate larger critiques of systemic and institutional racism. Oware contends that the BLM movement, along with high profile black killings, provide a heightened sense of awareness among some current artists.
The State Action Doctrine, the Public- Private Distinction, and the Independence of Constitutional Law

Part of the Symposium on the State Action Doctrine. Presented to the Section on Constitutional Law at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools in San Francisco in January, 1993.
The Aesthetics of Planting Design

‘The Aesthetics of Planting Design’, a two-day symposium sponsored by Berkeley’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning and organized by Marc Treib, assembled an impressive...
Soft Error Trends in Advanced Silicon Technology Nodes

Soft errors for planar and FinFET nodes have shown different trends for various designer-controlled parameters. This paper examines effects of some of these parameters for the 20-nm Planar and the 16-nm FinFET technology nodes. Latchup vulnerability of FinFET node is also investigated through simulations.
From Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity to Carbon Climate Response

A testable implication of the theory of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is the Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS), the coefficient of proportionality between the logarithm of atmospheric CO2 and surface temperature. This line of research has been retarded by large uncertainties in empirical estimates of the ECS. An alternative to the ECS that offers a more stable metric for AGW is the Carbon Climate Response or Transient Climate Response to Cumulative Emissions (CCR/TCRE). It is computed as the coefficient of proportionality between cumulative fossil fuel emissions and temperature. The CCR/TCRE metric provides a direct connection from emissions to temperature without the intervening step of atmospheric accumulation. We show here that though the CCR/TCRE is stable, it has no interpretation in terms of AGW because the proportionality it describes is spurious and specious.
Exercise preserves muscle mass and force in a prostate cancer mouse model.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of exercise in modulating biomarkers of sarcopenia in a treatment naive transgenic adenocardinoma of the mouse prostate (TRAMP) model. Thirty TRAMP mice were randomized to either exercise (voluntary wheel running) or no-treatment control group for a period of 20 weeks. During necropsy, gastrocnemius muscles and prostate tumors were harvested and weighed. Gastrocnemius concentrations of myostatin, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were quantified. Exercise mice had greater muscle mass than controls (p=0.04). Myostatin was significantly lower in the exercise group compared to controls (p=0.01). Exercise mice maintained forelimb grip force while control mice had a significaint decrease (p=0.01). No significant difference was observed in pre-post all limb grip strength. Further, forelimb and all limb grip strength was negatively associated with tumor mass (p<0.01).