cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Snow depth estimation accuracy using a dual-interface GPS-IR model with experimental results

Measuring snow depth using the GPS interferometric reflectometry is an active microwave remote sensing technique and an emerging approach because of its relatively large spatial coverage and high temporal sampling capability. The current geodetic GPS networks are capable of measuring snow depth in the vicinity of the antenna installation at no additional hardware cost. However, the performance is constrained by the geodetic GPS antenna which was originally designed to minimize the reception of the reflected signal. In our prior work, we proposed a horizontally polarized antenna which has equal gain for both direct and reflected signals and tested its performance for a single snow event. In order to comprehensively assess its performance, we set up a horizontally polarized snow monitor (HPSM) using the improved antenna at Marshall, Colorado, USA, over the 2013---2014 water year. The data from the HPSM clearly shows that the proposed design has high sensitivity to even very light snowfalls. However, some anomalies are observed from the HPSM measurements, which tend to either overestimate or underestimate the actual snow depth. We explain the observed measurement anomalies by replacing the traditional air---snow single-interface model with an air---snow---soil dual-interface model. The effectiveness of the new model is validated by comparing the simulated results to the HPSM measurements. Utilizing the dual-interface model, we simulate the error curve for snow depth estimation given various snow depths and snow permittivities. The error curve shows that the estimation biases can be observed only for shallow snow with a relatively small permittivity value.
Insect Sized Flapping Wing Vehicles Versus Rotorcrafts, A Comparative Study

Flapping wing vehicles have in recent years been of considerable interest to the microair-vehicle research eld. Their advantage over rotorcraft vehicles is frequently taken for granted by referencing the highly robust and maneuverable apping wing animals and insects in nature. However, there are no rotorcraft examples in nature which provide the same or similar capabilities as apping wing animals or insects. Bird size helicopters have been shown to be very capable ying machines. The question whether comparably sized apping wing vehicles have an intrinsic advantage over smaller rotorcrafts (insect or small bird sized) is an open one. Evidence has been presented which indicate that there are material reasons for apping wing vehicles being a superior development platform over rotorcraft but limited comparative research has been done to compare the two from an aerodynamic perspective. The simpli ed aerodynamic properties of insect sized apping wing micro-air-vehicles are compared to that of similarly sized rotorcrafts using simulation models. This work is a rudimentary step towards answering this question and helping advance the discussion about the pros and cons of micro-air-vehicle apping wing vehicles versus rotorcrafts.
Comparison of Collection Procedures for the Reinjection Ion Chromatography of Water

Comparaison de 4 protocoles de collecte pour l'analyse d'anions a l'etat de trace dans l'eau. Application a l'analyse de As(V) dans de l'eau potable
A Neopragmatist Approach to Administrative Authority

Public administration is challenged to provide a coherent model of authority. A warrant for authority is necessary for governance, yet it is also anathema to many of the tenets of liberal constitutionalism. From the postmodern perspective, a nondiscriminatory approach to governance requires new understandings of the source and purpose of administrative authority. This process involves deflating the metanarratives of governance and the foundational traditions that have informed administrative practices. This article offers neopragmatism, the upgrade of pragmatism's truth-utility function through contextual and linguistic considerations, as an approach to reframe authority. Social progress—defined by Richard Rorty as movement away from that which is unjust and cruel—is the justification for that authority.
Abrogation of p53 function by HPV16 E6 gene delays apoptosis and enhances mutagenesis but does not alter radiosensitivity in TK6 human lymphoblast cells

In order to gain a better understanding of the role of p53 in radiation-induced mitotic failure, apoptosis and mutagenesis, we introduced the HPV16 E6 gene via a retroviral vector into the TK6 human lymphoblast cell line which expresses wild type p53. Abrogation of p53 function by E6 resulted in a delayed and reduced apoptotic response and a moderate increase in the frequency of mutations at the thymidine kinase (tk) locus following gamma-irradiation, but failed to alter radiosensitivity. The apoptotic response of the E6-transduced line was intermediate between that of wild type TK6 and the WTK1 cell line. WTK1 is derived from the same parental cell line as TK6 but expresses mutant p53. The spontaneous and gamma-ray-induced mutation frequencies in E6-transduced TK6 cells, although higher than that of the parental TK6 cell line, were still much lower than that of the WTK1 line. No effect on apoptosis, radiosensitivity or mutability was observed when the HPV16 E6 gene was introduced into the WTK1 cells. These results indicate that p53 does not regulate the radiosensitivity of TK6 cells through the apoptotic pathway. Furthermore, the previously observed enhanced radioresistance and mutability in WTK1 cells must be attributed to a more complex mechanism than p53 status alone.
Bone Allografts for Tumors and Other Reconstructions in Children

Segmental bone loss due to tumor or other causes in pediatric patients presents reconstructive challenges similar to those in adults, but with added complexity. The primary concern in young people is obtaining a durable construct which has longevity. Other considerations include future growth of the limb and fit of the implant into a smaller skeleton (and joint) than that of the adult. Autografts are the time-honored method of restoring segmental bone loss [2,6,7,21–24], but limitations of size, availability, and the inability to restore joint structures are problems following tumor resections. Metallic implants [1,4,5, 15–19], although suitable for elderly patients, are of unproved benefit in children, and concerns relative to optimal fixation to the host, longevity of the implant, and possibly even carcinogenicity in a population with a potentially long life span have not been addressed. We have been employing fresh-frozen allogeneic bone to reconstruct tumor defects in tumor patients of all ages since 1972 [10–14]. This is a report of a cohort of patients 18 years or younger, to assess the merits of this reconstruction material in the pediatric age group.
A Potential Role for Regulatory T Cells in Apoptotic Cell Clearance by Macrophages in a Murine Model of Acute Lung Injury

A key step in inflammation resolution is the clearance of apoptotic cells, or efferocytosis. Murine models of acute lung injury (ALI) have revealed that efficient efferocytosis is required for lung...
Assessing the Reliability of a Nanosensor Network for Monitoring Human Lung Cells

Recent advances in Nano-Science and Technology have provided opportunity to develop sensor nodes below 100 nm using various types of novel materials. These nanosensors have great potential in practical applications, such as measuring chemical compounds in concentrations as low as one part per billion, drug delivery, and disease diagnostics. Much research is devoted to designing and fabricating these nanosensors. However, the question of reliability is often ignored during the design process. Our research focuses on the reliability of one particular wireless nanosensor network (WNSN) that is used for monitoring human lung cells. The WNSN is probabilistically modeled and its reliability is analyzed under different scenarios. The main challenge here is how to define the reliability function for this particular WNSN. We attempt to do it by introducing a flexible definition of reliability that makes sense intuitively and allows for assessing the reliability function. Although this paper is motivated by one particular WNSN, our method of assessing reliability can also be used for any nanosensor where our proposed definition of reliability is reasonable.
OPIOID-INDUCED CHANGES IN CELL SURFACE COMPOSITION OF NEUROTUMOR CELL LINES

Summary Two neurotumor cell lines, N4TG1 and NG108-15 possess specific opiate receptors. In both these cell lines, opiates and opioid peptides decrease cAMP concentrations and the incorporation of labelled precursors into complex gangliosides and glycoproteins. With increasing incubation time cells exhibit tolerance to these opiate agonist effects. Substances which raise cAMP concentrations such as cholera toxin or PGE1, increase ganglioside and glycoprotein synthesis. The relevance of these effects for the action of narcotic drugs is duscussed.
Predicting Transcriptional Regulatory Activities with Deep Convolutional Networks

Massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) are a method to probe the effects of short sequences on transcriptional regulation activity. In a MPRA, short sequences are extracted from suspected regulatory regions, inserted into reporter plasmids, transfected into cell-types of interest, and the transcriptional activity of each reporter is assayed. Recently, Ernst et al. presented MPRA data covering 15750 putative regulatory regions. We trained a multitask convolutional neural network architecture using these sequence expression readouts which predicts as output the expression level outputs across four combinations of cell types and promoters. The model allows for the assigning of importance scores to each base through in silico mutagenesis, and the resulting importance scores correlated well with regions enriched for conservation and transcription factor binding.
A data-driven approach to modeling high-density terminal areas: A scenario analysis of the new Beijing, China airspace

Abstract Airports are being developed and expanded rapidly in China to accommodate and promote a growing aviation market. The future Beijing Daxing International Airport (DAX) will serve as the central airport of the JingJinJi megaregion, knitting the Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei regions together. DAX will be a busy airport from its inception, relieving congestion and accommodating growth from Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), currently the second busiest airport in the world in passengers moved. We aim to model terminal airspace designs and possible conflicts in the future Beijing Multi-Airport System (MAS). We investigate standard arrival procedures and mathematically model current and future arrival trajectories into PEK and DAX by collecting large quantities of publicly available track data from historical arrivals operating within the Beijing terminal airspace. We find that (1) trajectory models constructed from real data capture aberrations and deviations from standard arrival procedures, validating the need to incorporate data on historical trajectories with standard procedures when evaluating the airspace and (2) given all existing constraints, DAX may be restricted to using north and east arrival flows, constraining the capacity required to handle the increases in air traffic demand to Beijing. The results indicate that the terminal airspace above Beijing, and the future JingJinJi region, requires careful consideration if the full capacity benefits of the two major airports are to be realized.
Was Diplodocus (Diplodocoidea, Sauropoda) capable of propalinal jaw motion?

Citation for this article: Whitlock, J. A. 2017. Was Diplodocus (Diplodocoidea, Sauropoda) capable of propalinal jaw motion?. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2017.1296457.
Performance-thermal trade-offs for a VFI-enabled 3D NoC architecture

Small-world (SW) network-enabled 3D NoC (3D SWNoC) is capable of achieving better performance and lower energy consumption compared to conventional 3D MESH architectures. However, the 3D SWNoC still suffers from high power density and the resultant thermal hotspots leading to functionality and reliability concerns over time. The power consumption and thermal profiles of the 3D SWNoC can be improved by incorporating a Voltage Frequency Island (VFI)-based power management strategy. In this paper, we perform a detailed design space exploration for the 3D SWNoC incorporating VFI. We demonstrate that for the considered applications, the VFI enabled 3D SWNoC lowers the energy-delay-product (EDP) up to 63.3%, compared to a 2D MESH without VFI. Moreover, by incorporating VFI, we reduce the maximum temperature of 3D SWNoC by up to 24.4% compared to the non-VFI counterpart.
Bone and Soft Tissue

A wide variety of bone and soft tissue lesions are seen in the pediatric population, including benign and malignant neoplasms, as well non-neoplastic processes. Fine needle aspiration and/or small biopsies are increasingly used for evaluating these lesions and in many cases, allow definitive diagnosis or a narrowed differential diagnosis on which to base treatment. This chapter describes the cytologic features of a number of common and uncommon neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions of bone and soft tissue seen in the pediatric population, as well as key clinical and radiographic features of those entities and differential diagnostic considerations.
Noncovalent immobilization and surface characterization of lanthanide complexes on carbon electrodes

A new tripodal ligand featuring three appended pyrene moieties has been prepared for studies of noncovalent binding of lanthanide metal complexes to graphitic carbon surfaces. The ligand tightly binds lanthanide(III) ions by encapsulation within a heptadentate coordination environment; the cerium, neodymium, samarium, and europium complexes (all with formal metal oxidation state of +3) have been synthesized and characterized. These compounds are readily immobilized on graphitic electrodes—this is driven by the presence of the pyrene moieties, as complexes of an analogous ligand without pyrene groups are not stably adherent to the surface. X-ray photoelectron spectra confirm the molecular identity of the pyrene-appended metal complexes upon immobilization, with unique signals appearing for the metal centers as well as all for all symmetry-related nitrogen atoms on the ligand. Consistent with these surface characterization data and studies of a soluble model compound, the surface-immobilized cerium(III) complex is reversibly oxidized to cerium(IV) near −0.34 V vs. Fc+/0. Based on electrochemical data, this complex is stable for minutes to hours on the surface.
Casting a Long Shadow: Leader–Leader Relationship and Employee Citizenship Behavior:

This study examines the process and context of the relationship between leader–leader exchange (LLX) and subordinate organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) such that direct supervisors’ attitude...
Red Blood Cells and Hemoglobin in Hypoxic Pulmonary Vasoconstriction

Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in the modulation of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction; in turn, red blood cells (RBCs) augment HPV by hemoglobin-mediated oxidation and inactivation of NO. In addition, scavenging of reactive oxygen species by RBCs may play a role in augmentation of HPV. NO delivery and/or production by RBCs does not appear to be important in the control of pulmonary vasomotor tone. This review will discuss regulation of HPV by RBCs with an emphasis on hemoglobin-NO interactions. In addition, the review will discuss how biologic (S-nitrosation) or pharmacologic (cross-linking) modification of hemoglobin may affect pulmonary circulatory-hemoglobin interactions.
Getting to Know Open and Closed Sets

When we work in ℝ with the usual metric, we think of distance as measured by absolute value. Points are close when the absolute value of the difference is small.
Establishment of a Whole-Chick Sternum Model that Recapitulates Normal Cartilage Development

A serum-free organ culture model for chondrocyte maturation, using the Avian sternum, was developed. Day-14 chick embryo sterna were placed in organ culture in the presence of defined medium. The optimal medium for chondrocyte terminal differentiation contained specific concentrations of dexamethasone, insulin, thyroid hormone and ascorbic acid. Three parameters, including sternal growth, cell diameter and type X collagen production, were analyzed as indicators of chondrocyte terminal differentiation. These parameters were analyzed in cephalic, middle and caudal regions of the organ-cultured chick sterna and compared to sterna grown in ovo. This study demonstrates that the organ-cultured tissue maintains normal morphological characteristics and terminal differentiation in the cephalic region only, similar to in ovo development, while maintaining normal cell-matrix relationships.
3D Reconstruction of Phase Contrast Images Using Focus Measures

In this paper, we present an approach for 3D phase-contrast microscopy using focus measure features. By using fluorescence data from the same location as the phase contrast data, we can train supervised regression algorithms to compute a depth map indicating the height of objects in imaged volume. From these depth maps, a 3D reconstruction of phase contrast images can be generated. This paper has shown the ability to 3D reconstruct phase contrast images using a variance metric inspired by all-in-focus methods. The proposed method has been used on A549 lung epithelial cells.
An Interactive Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) Embedded with Augmented Aids Enabled by IoT and Sensing Technologies for Chinese Individuals with Autism

PECS or Picture Exchange Communication System, involving teaching individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to use the picture cards for requesting items and activities; it has been used with not only the individuals with ASD, but also their families and teachers with notably success. Despite the much progress achieved so far, to our knowledge, there are very few dedicated PECS (software) application available in Chinese. Motivated by these previous research, we are developing a highly customizable and contextually expandable PECS system embedded with augmented aids and some additional communication abilities. In particular, our system can not only offer content-authoring tools but also expands picture vocabularies by automatically offering context-sensitive picture cards (via location- and event sensing) for users to make on-demand request through WeChat, one of the most used social communication tools in China. Last but not the least, the simpler version with typical PECS capabilities with message-sending module has also been loaded in a children's tablet which makes our PECS very affordable for Chinese children's use in rural areas.
Wish You Were Here: Love & Longing in an American Heartland

Review of: Wish You Were Here: Love & Longing in an American Heartland, by Zachary Michael Jack
Liquid-Based Cytology Technique for Thyroid Cytology

Liquid-based cytology (LBC) is currently an acceptable technique utilized by most cytology laboratories across the world. Two different techniques are approved, ThinPrep® (Hologic Co., Marlborough, MA, USA) employing methanol fixation and a filtration-based methodology and SurePath® (BD Diagnostics-TriPath, Burlington, NC, USA) employing ethanol fixation and a sedimentation-based methodology. While both methods have been proven to perform equally or better than conventional direct smears, they both induce their own set of artifacts as a result of the wet fixation, methodology used, and elimination of manual spreading. It is now acknowledged that pathologists need to be acquainted with LBC and how it differs from direct smears to gain enough experience before implementing it in their practice. This chapter reviewed the up-to-date literature on LBC and describes the morphologic presentation and diagnostic tips for the different thyroid lesions on both LBC techniques.
Appendicitis: Unusual Complications and Outcomes

This chapter explores unusual complications and outcomes in the current era of changing approaches and controversies in the management of both simple and complicated appendicitis. Mortality is low, but morbidity, length of hospitalization, resource utilization, and healthcare-related costs remain high, mostly in association with complicated appendicitis. Unfortunately, up to 40% of children present with complicated appendicitis. Rare complications such as the association of perforated appendicitis with subsequent infertility, inflammatory bowel disease, splenic and portal vein thrombosis, and “stump” appendicitis are included.
Game theory of vaccination and depopulation for managing livestock diseases and zoonoses on small-scale farms

Abstract Livestock producers adapt their farm management to epidemiological risks in different ways, through veterinary interventions but also by modulating their farm size and the removal rate of animals. The objective of this theoretical study was to elucidate how these behavioral adaptations may affect the epidemiology of highly-pathogenic avian influenza in domestic poultry and the outcome of the implemented control policies. We studied a symmetric population game where the players are broiler poultry farmers at risk of infection and where the between-farms disease transmission is both environmental and mediated by poultry trade. Three types of farmer behaviors were modelled: vaccination, depopulation, and cessation of poultry farming. We found that the transmission level of the disease through trade networks has strong qualitative effects on the system's epidemiological-economic equilibria. In the case of low trade-based transmission, when the monetary cost of infection is high, depopulation behavior can maintain a stable disease-free equilibrium. In addition, vaccination behavior can lead to eradication by private incentives alone – an outcome not seen for human diseases. In a scenario of high trade-based transmission, depopulation behavior has perverse epidemiological effects as it accelerates the spread of disease via poultry trade. In this situation, state interventions should focus on making vaccination technologies available at a low price rather than penalizing infected farms.
Aortic Aneurysms and Dissections Series

The aortic wall is composed of highly dynamic cell populations and extracellular matrix. In response to changes in the biomechanical environment, aortic cells and extracellular matrix modulate thei...
Development and deployment of advanced multi-beam mask writer

Multi-beam mask writers (MBMW) manufactured by IMS Nanofabrication have been increasingly been accepted into mainstream mask making. Over the past decade, this new class of tools has successfully transitioned from the concept, to development and finally to the production phase. Significant technical challenges specific to the architecture were encountered and overcome. Many of these challenges are related to the large image size used by this writer. In this paper, we will review the motivation to develop this new class of writers and the key technical challenges which had to be overcome to realize lithographic promise. Current status and future opportunities to improve the architecture will be discussed.
Teacher candidate reflection: Benefits of using a synchronous computer-mediated communication-based virtual exchange

Abstract Fifteen participants, registered for a teaching program at a university in the United States, met with beginner and intermediate learners in their content area during a 4-week virtual exchange, via videoconferencing. These Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) teacher candidates: 1) explored language produced by learners while interacting with course content and 2) developed their reflective practices by watching their video recorded sessions. Analysis of written reflections and analysis of exchanges revealed that reflecting on a virtual exchange allowed TESOL teacher candidates to bridge theory into practice.
The Complexities of New Venture Legitimacy

For entrepreneurs, establishing and maintaining new venture legitimacy is a complex endeavor. Various factors complicate this process, including issues of optimal distinctiveness, audience diversit...
A case series of multiple myeloma PET/MR scans.

1324 Objectives: Plasma cell dyscrasias span a range of diseases from monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) to multiple myeloma (MM) based on a combination of clinical, laboratory and imaging findings with early diagnosis key to successful treatment of disease. Multiple imaging modalities including CT, PET/CT and MR are all currently used in the diagnosis and management of MM. A newer imaging technique PET/MR, combines the sensitivity of MR imaging with the physiologic imaging of PET; with only a few institutions currently using the technique. MR has proven useful in disease management by detecting bone marrow involvement before lytic changes are seen on CT and is the best technique for detecting diffuse bone marrow involvement. Furthermore, it can be problematic identifying focal lesions on PET/CT in patients with diffuse bone marrow hyperplasia without CT correlate; MR can be useful in detecting these focal lesions. Combining FDG-PET and MR, two common imaging modalities each having their own unique role in detecting active MM, is predicted to have a greater benefit for detecting active lesions and influencing treatment options and prognosis. Methods: Patients undergoing FDG-PET/MR were scanned using the GE Signa PET/MR. They were scanned 60 minutes after the injection of FDG. Images are obtained from the skull vertex through the mid-thigh. MR sequences obtained include axial T1, axial T2 FS, and axial DWI/ADC. Coronal and sagittal T1 and T2 reformatted images are also created. Dixon sequences were utilized for attenuation correction. 5 bed positions are used with total imaging time approximately 40 minutes. Results: 5 MM PET-MRs have been performed since August 2019. Greater than 50% (3/5) have proven clinical utility. 2 (40%) of the exams were negative for active lesions by both PET and MR criteria. A single exam (20%) showed diffuse marrow involvement on MR without FDG uptake as well as a focal lesion in the pelvis. 2 (40%) had comparison PET/CTs in which the PET/CT was negative or inconclusive. The inconclusive PET/CT showed skeletal FDG uptake in 3 separate areas all without CT correlate. The PET/MR on this patient had a MR correlate for 2 of these areas and subsequent biopsy of one of these lesions was positive for plasma cell proliferation confirming the diagnosis of MM. The final patient who presented with a negative PET/CT was discovered to have an active rib lesion adjacent to the left kidney on both the MR and PET images. This lesion was obscured by adjacent renal uptake on prior PET but the increased conspicuity of the lesion on MR allowed for diagnosis. Conclusions: PET/MR for multiple myeloma is a novel imaging modality for the diagnosis of MM. While our institution has performed only 5 examinations to date, PET/MR has proven clinical utility in over half of the cases indicating that PET/MR can be a useful tool for assessing active MM. This is likely due to the increased soft tissue contrast and sensitivity that MR provides in addition to the physiologic imaging of PET. $$graphic_F58024F3-2EA5-44A8-8A36-42ADAA951319$$
Persistence of quantal synaptic vesicle recycling following dynamin depletion

Abstract Dynamins are GTPases required for pinching vesicles off the plasma membrane once a critical curvature is reached during endocytosis. Here, we probed dynamin function in central synapses by depleting all three dynamin isoforms in postnatal hippocampal neurons. We found a decrease in the propensity of evoked neurotransmission as well as a reduction in synaptic vesicle numbers. Using the fluorescent reporter vGluT1-pHluorin, we observed that compensatory endocytosis after 20 Hz stimulation was arrested in ~40% of presynaptic boutons, while remaining synapses showed only a modest effect suggesting the existence of a dynamin-independent endocytic pathway in central synapses. Surprisingly, we found that the retrieval of single synaptic vesicles, after either evoked or spontaneous fusion, was largely impervious to disruption of dynamins. Overall, our results suggest that classical dynamin-dependent endocytosis is not essential for retrieval of synaptic vesicle proteins after quantal single synaptic vesicle fusion.
Structure of human Dispatched-1 provides insights into Hedgehog ligand biogenesis

Hedgehog (HH) signaling is essential for metazoan development. The HH ligand is secreted into the extracellular space by a cell surface protein named Dispatched-1 (DISP1). Here, we report the cryo-EM structure of human DISP1 protein. DISP1 contains 12 transmembrane helices (TMs) and two extracellular domains (ECDs). Its ECDs reveal an open state, in contrast to its structural homologues PTCH1 and NPC1, whose extracellular/luminal domains adopt a closed state. The low-resolution structure of the DISP1 complex with dual lipid-modified HH ligand reveals how the ECDs of DISP1 engage with HH ligand. Moreover, several cholesterol-like molecules are found in the TMs, implying a transport-like function of DISP1.
The Unequal Burden of Positive Gender Stereotypes on Women's and Men’s Sense of Autonomy

Seven studies (N = 3,536) examine the conditions under which individuals experience expectations about their social category as a threat to their sense of autonomy and the consequences of autonomy ...
Leveraging weakly-hard constraints for improving system fault tolerance with functional and timing guarantees

Many safety-critical real-time systems operate under harsh environment and are subject to soft errors caused by transient or intermittent faults. It is critical and yet often very challenging to apply fault tolerance techniques in these systems, due to resource limitations and stringent constraints on timing and functionality. In this work, we leverage the concept of weakly-hard constraints, which allows task deadline misses in a bounded manner, to improve system's capability to accommodate fault tolerance techniques while ensuring timing and functional correctness. In particular, we a) quantitatively measure control cost under different deadline hit/miss scenarios and identify weak-hard constraints that guarantee control stability; b) employ typical worst-case analysis (TWCA) to bound the number of deadline misses and approximate system control cost; c) develop an event-based simulation method to check the task execution pattern and evaluate system control cost for any given solution; and d) develop a meta-heuristic algorithm that consists of heuristic methods and a simulated annealing procedure to explore the design space. Our experiments on an industrial case study and synthetic examples demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
Training for understanding: a model for mediating abstract statistical concepts

concept learning. They suggest helping the learner to generate a prototype substitute for the concept thus focusing on salient attributes of abstract and concrete knowledge. According to Tennyson and Cocchiarella (1986), a prototype is like an image (abstraction) of the average, or typical, category member. Concepts, therefore, are learned as contextual entities (correlated structures), having common, typical, or average class member attributes. Clement (1989) suggests that a series of linear bridging
Element Level Bridge Inspection in the U.S.—Challenges for Assessing Specific Distress Type, Location and Progression

Collapse of the Silver Bridge over Ohio river between West Virginia and Ohio in 1967, which killed over 40 people, highlighted the need of conducting frequent safety inspections. Consequently, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1968 was passed that required the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to establish the National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) to ensure the safety of the traveling public. The Act directed the States to maintain an inventory of bridges in the Federal-aid highway system. This Act was amended several times and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) revised its regulations to develop the current version of the Standards. The National Bridge Inspection Standards provide guidelines on the types of bridges that are required to be inspected, inspection frequency, qualification of bridge inspectors, and documenting observations and maintenance of bridge inventories. As per the Standards, bridge components are classified into three major groups: bridge deck, superstructure, and substructure. A rating between 0 and 9 is assigned to these three components based on their condition at the time of inspection. Due to several drawbacks associated with the NBIS rating procedures, in early 1990s, element level bridge inspection method was introduced. The AASHTO Manual for Bridge Element Inspection provides the procedures and guidelines for element level inspection. This manual provides two element classifications: National Bridge Elements (NBEs) and Bridge Management Elements (BMEs). Also, highway agencies can define and incorporate additional elements into their databases as Agency-Developed Elements (ADEs). Four levels of condition states are defined with guidance statements for inspectors. This article describes the evolution of bridge inspection procedures, challenges for effective use of data, and the required changes to address specific conditions for improving inspection data accuracy, quality, and usefulness.
Upside-down kidney placement: An alternative in pediatric renal transplantation.

Purpose "Upside-down" kidney placement has been reported as an acceptable alternative in cases of technical difficulty in kidney transplantation but there are few reports in the pediatric population. The aim of our study is to analyze whether the placement of the upside-down kidney could affect graft outcome or produce more complications. Materials and methods A retrospective study was conducted of pediatric kidney transplants performed in our center between 2005 and 2017 with at least 6 months' follow-up. Epidemiological and anthropometric data, type of donor (deceased/living), graft position (normal/upside-down), reason for the upside-down placement, early, medium and long-term complications and renal function were analyzed and compared with patients transplanted in the same period with a normal graft placement. Results From 181 transplants, 167 grafts were placed in a normal position (mean age: 10 y and mean weight: 30 kg) and 14 were placed upside-down (10 y, 37 kg) mainly because of vessel shortness after laparoscopic nephrectomy. Male predominance was observed in both groups. 57% of grafts from the control group and 64% of those from study group came from a living donor. Four vascular and two ureteral re-anastomoses were recorded in the control group and two vascular and one ureteral re-anastomosis in the study group (p > 0.05). In the latter group, no grafts have been lost due to vascular or urological causes and no patients have required dialysis. Conclusions When necessary, an upside-down placement for the renal graft is a safe alternative in the pediatric population. Level of evidence Level III.
Thanks for being, loving, and believing

Gratitude to others is typically understood as a response to good things people give to us or do for us. Occasionally, though, we thank people for things other than gifts or actions. We sometimes thank people for being there for us, for instance, or for loving us, or for being good parents or teachers, or for believing in us. In this article, I develop a set of considerations to help determine whether gratitude to others for being, loving, or believing can be fitting in any of these cases. I begin by arguing that when it is appropriate for a beneficiary thank a benefactor for ϕ-ing, the beneficiary’s gratitude to the benefactor for ϕ-ing is fitting only insofar as the benefactor ϕ-ed out of benevolence, care or concern for the beneficiary. I then show that thanking can express attitudes other than gratitude, thereby highlighting the thanks-gratitude fallacy: the mistake of inferring the fittingness of one person’s gratitude to another from the fact that it would be reasonable for the former to thank the latter. These considerations imply that gratitude for being there for us, gratitude for believing in us, and gratitude for being a good professional can sometimes be fitting, while gratitude for loving us and gratitude for being a good intimate (e.g., a good parent or spouse) generally are not.
P-073: PDZ proteins, SCRIB and DLG1, regulate CD86 surface expression, myeloma growth, and survival

Background We have previously demonstrated that the cytoplasmic region of CD86 confers a survival phenotype in myeloma cells and regulates IRF4 and Integrin β7 expression. Here, we show that the cytoplasmic tail is important for surface expression of CD86. Methods We transfected HEK293T with either full length CD86 (CD86FL) or a mutant lacking the cytoplasmic tail (CD86TL). CD86FL can properly traffic to the cell surface while CD86TL cannot effectively export from the Golgi apparatus. We developed additional truncation mutants of the CD86 cytoplasmic tail and identified that several regions of the tail are required for proper trafficking out of the Golgi. While the truncation mutants traffic CD86 more effectively than CD86TL, they never fully phenocopy CD86FL surface expression. One specific region for proper transport is a three amino acid-long PDZ binding motif at the C-terminus of the tail. Using BioID analysis, we identified two PDZ-domain containing proteins, SCRIB and DLG1 as proximal to the CD86 cytoplasmic tail. Results Using the CoMMpass dataset, we identified that high SCRIB expression is a poor prognostic indicator for progression free (p=0.00022) and overall (p=0.000132) survival. We observed co-localization of SCRIB and DLG1 with CD86 in myeloma using confocal microscopy. Using a doxycycline-inducible CRISPR-Cas9 system, we deleted SCRIB and DLG1 in two myeloma cell lines, KMS18 and RPMI8226. Ablation of SCRIB or DLG1 decreased CD86 surface expression 3 days following activation of the Cas9 enzyme via doxycycline addition. Additionally, we found that knockout of SCRIB or DLG1 results in significantly decreased cell proliferation and viability in these cell lines. SCRIB and DLG1 have been classically studied in the context of apical-basal polarity indicating a possible role for regulating CD86 expression in time and space. We found decreased localization of SCRIB/DLG1 with CD86 at areas of cell-cell contact, presumably where CD86 binds to CD28 to signal for myeloma cell survival. These regions of contact have increased surface expression of CD86 relative to areas where there is no cell contact. This is only prevalent in myeloma cells, and we observed uniform distribution of expression of CD86 throughout the membrane of CD86FL-transfected HEK293T. This suggests that SCRIB and DLG1 transport CD86 to the cell surface, and binding with CD28 may help to stabilize CD86 surface expression. Ablation of SCRIB and DLG1 also decreases IRF4 and Integrin β7 expression, suggesting that SCRIB and DLG1 may contribute to CD86-mediated growth and survival signaling. Conclusion Our data supports a role for PDZ proteins as regulators of myeloma cell signaling and viability. Study of PDZ-proteins and their binding motifs may be warranted as numerous surface proteins in myeloma cells such as ICAM-1 and CD138 contain PDZ-binding motifs. The PDZ-binding motif may represent a specific region that can effectively be targeted and may be an attractive strategy for novel therapeutics.
Metal theft and repeat victimization

Research has consistently found that a small number of repeat victims account for a disproportionate share of crimes and that the risk of repeat crime is highest shortly after the preceding incident, dissipating within a few months. This finding has important implications for preventions efforts, informing highly focused interventions. Very little research on repeat victimization, however, has been conducted in the United States. This study analyzes repeat victimizations for metal thefts in Indianapolis, Indiana over a 2-year period. The findings indicate that metal theft is a prevalent and costly property crime and provide moderate support for previous findings on repeat victimization. Each new victimization increases the odds of another incident, and the risk of repeat victimization is highest shortly after the initial crime.
Patriarchy, property and death in the Roman family: Whips and words: discipline and punishment in the Roman household

In his powerful interpretation of slavery in the American South, Eugene Genovese discusses the conception of the plantation as a “ family, white and black.” Like the domus in Rome, the planter's family encompassed his wife and children and his slaves, “and therein lay dangerous implications.” In suffering merciless beatings, the slaves “did not always fare much worse than the master's wife and children. From ancient to modern times we hear this theme. According to Roman legend, Manlius Torquatus beheaded his son, who had just returned victorious from combat, for breaking ranks.” Genovese quotes planters on the virtues of corporal punishment of children and slaves alike, concluding: “The slaveholders' vision of themselves as authoritarian fathers who presided over an extended and subservient family, white and black, grew up naturally in the process of founding plantations.” In the cultural matrix of the slave society, then, the categories of the master's slaves and of his children were assimilated, both subject to patriarchal authority enforced by violent coercion. As Genovese's reference to Manlius Torquatus shows, the stereotype of the Roman paterfamilias invites projection of such an assimilation back to Roman society, apparently confirmed by the similarities in the legal position of the slave and the filiusfamilias . Despite the law, the Romans did not assimilate children and slaves in their reflections on the nature of authority. Cicero, following Greek philosophers, wrote that “different kinds of domination and subjection ( et imperandi et serviendi ) must be distinguished.” A father governs his children who follow out of readiness to obey ( propter oboediendi facilitatem ), but a master must “coerce and break ( coercet et frangit ) his slave” (Rep. 3.37).
Terrain Aided Localization of Autonomous Vehicles

This paper describes the development of a terrain-aided localization framework for autonomous land vehicles operating at high speeds in unstructured, expansive and harsh environments. The localization framework developed is sufficiently generic to be used on a variety of other autonomous land vehicles and is demonstrated by its implementation using field data collected from two different trials on two different vehicles. The results demonstrate the robustness of the proposed localization algorithms in producing reliable and accurate position estimates for autonomous vehicles operating in a variety of unstructured domains. Keywords—Outdoor Localization, Map Building, Iterative Closest Point, Extended Kalman Filter, Entropy, Scale Space.
Automatic and Robust Computation of 3D Medial Models Incorporating Object Variability

This paper presents a novel processing scheme for the automatic and robust computation of a medial shape model, which represents an object population with shape variability. The sensitivity of medial descriptions to object variations and small boundary perturbations are fundamental problems of any skeletonization technique. These problems are approached with the computation of a model with common medial branching topology and grid sampling. This model is then used for a medial shape description of individual objects via a constrained model fit. The process starts from parametric 3D boundary representations with existing point-to-point homology between objects. The Voronoi skeleton of each sampled object boundary is partitioned into non-branching medial sheets and simplified by a novel pruning algorithm using a volumetric contribution criterion. Using the surface homology, medial sheets are combined to form a common medial branching topology. Finally, the medial sheets are sampled and represented as meshes of medial primitives. Results on populations of up to 184 biological objects clearly demonstrate that the common medial branching topology can be described by a small number of medial sheets and that even a coarse sampling leads to a close approximation of individual objects.
A study of three-dimensional preferential flow using a web-based simulation system

Results of computational experiments using a web-based three-dimensional multi-reaction transport simulation model, modified to include macroporosity, are presented. Two types of soil column experiments are simulated: one in which the soil matrix is devoid of macropores and the other in which preferential flow occurs through randomly positioned cells that simulate preferential paths. The advection-dispersion equation is solved in both environments for two different input load concentration cases at the top of the simulated soil column: one-point-source and two-point-source. It is found that the vertical Darcy fluxes in the simulated soil matrix with macropores are up to four times as high as those in the corresponding homogeneous soil column.
Gender Differences in the Presentation and Management of Social Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorder is associated with significant impairment in social and occupational functioning. Gender differences in social anxiety disorder are apparent for treatment seeking and symptom clusters, and hormonal influences may affect the natural course of illness. The lifetime prevalence rate is 13.3%, with rates of 15.5% in women and 11.1% in men. Although most studies indicate that more women suffer from social anxiety disorder, it appears that men are more likely to seek treatment. Gender differences in the presentation and management of social anxiety disorder may be influenced by fluctuations in levels of endogenous or exogenous reproductive hormones. Neurotransmitter systems implicated in the etiology of mood and anxiety disorders may be affected by both estrogen and progesterone. There are also issues with regard to pregnancy in women who have social anxiety disorder. It is not known if untreated social anxiety disorder represents a significant risk to the fetus. However, social anxiety disorder often is complicated by comorbid depression, panic disorder, or substance abuse, all of which may pose risks to the fetus if left untreated. Treatment strategies for patients with social anxiety disorder should consider gender differences in response to pharmacotherapy, psychiatric comorbidity, oral contraceptive use, pregnancy status, and the specific nature of symptoms in the individual patient.
The effect of bathymetry on the steady baroclinic ocean circulation

A general solution is derived for the steady wind- and thermohaline-driven barotropic velocity field in a variable-depth ocean under the mild assumption that the bathymetry does not penetrate up to the depth of appreciable horizontal density gradients. Bi-linear depth depencies give a simple form to the resulting integral and since they can be used to represent typical ocean bathymetries, they permit analytical solutions to be obtained for a wide class of driving functions. In particular the case of a western continental shelf, numerically solved by Holland (1973) , is considered and the results are shown to be in agreement with this. The physical basis for the steady baroclinic circulation in an ocean of variable depth is made clear by vorticity arguments and, in particular, the “bottom torque” can be related directly to the stretching term in the barotropic vorticity balance. The resulting stream-line pattern depends also upon the coupling of the barotropic transport to the Ekman and baroclinic transports at the boundaries through the no-flux boundary condition.