cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Metalation of a Mesoporous Three-Dimensional Covalent Organic Framework

Constructing metalated three-dimensional (3D) covalent organic frameworks is a challenging synthetic task. Herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of a highly porous (SABET = 5083 m2 g–1) 3D COF with a record low density (0.13 g cm–3) containing π-electron conjugated dehydrobenzoannulene (DBA) units. Metalation of DBA-3D-COF 1 with Ni to produce Ni-DBA-3D-COF results in a minimal reduction in the surface area (SABET = 4763 m2 g–1) of the material due to the incorporation of the metal within the cavity of the DBA units, and retention of crystallinity. Both 3D DBA-COFs also display great uptake capacities for ethane and ethylene gas.
Systems Biology Approaches to Understanding the Pathogenesis of Systemic Sclerosis

Genome-wide transcriptional profiling and genome-wide association studies of SSc skin have provided a wealth of information that can be integrated comprehensively to increase our understanding of SSc pathophysiology. These approaches measure and quantify SSc heterogeneity on the molecular level using unbiased genome-wide measurements. Concurrently, powerful systems biology tools have been developed that collate and analyze the tens of thousands of publicly available data sets and integrate these data with our comprehensive body of biological knowledge, thus providing an interpretive framework to understand these results. Systems biology analyses of SSc are allowing us to build a comprehensive picture of pathogenesis and progression that will result in the identification of novel therapeutic targets.
ATRIAL FIBRILLATION IS ASSOCIATED WITH SEVERE METABOLIC DISRUPTION IN ATRIAL MYOCARDIUM IN PATIENTS WITH HEART FAILURE

Background: Myocardial energetics is essential for cardiac contractility and electrical property. However, it is not known whether atrial myocardial energetics is disrupted in disease condition such as atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF). We hypothesized that AF and HF are associated
The Severity of Vestibular Dysfunction in Deafness as a Determinant of Comorbid Hyperactivity or Anxiety

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety-related disorders occur at rates 2-3 times higher in deaf compared with hearing children. Potential explanations for these elevated rates and the heterogeneity of behavioral disorders associated with deafness have usually focused on socio-environmental rather than biological effects. Children with the 22q11.2 deletion or duplication syndromes often display hearing loss and behavioral disorders, including ADHD and anxiety-related disorders. Here, we show that mouse mutants with either a gain or loss of function of the T-Box transcription factor gene, Tbx1, which lies within the 22q11.2 region and is responsible for most of the syndromic defects, exhibit inner ear defects and hyperactivity. Furthermore, we show that (1) inner ear dysfunction due to the tissue-specific loss of Tbx1 or Slc12a2, which encodes a sodium-potassium-chloride cotransporter and is also necessary for inner ear function, causes hyperactivity; (2) vestibular rather than auditory failure causes hyperactivity; and (3) the severity rather than the age of onset of vestibular dysfunction differentiates whether hyperactivity or anxiety co-occurs with inner ear dysfunction. Together, these findings highlight a biological link between inner ear dysfunction and behavioral disorders and how sensory abnormalities can contribute to the etiology of disorders traditionally considered of cerebral origin.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This study examines the biological rather than socio-environmental reasons why hyperactivity and anxiety disorders occur at higher rates in deaf individuals. Using conditional genetic approaches in mice, the authors show that (1) inner ear dysfunction due to either Tbx1 or Slc12a2 mutations cause hyperactivity; (2) it is vestibular dysfunction, which frequently co-occurs with deafness but often remains undiagnosed, rather than auditory dysfunction that causes hyperactivity and anxiety-related symptoms; and (3) the severity of vestibular dysfunction can predict whether hyperactivity or anxiety coexist with inner ear dysfunction. These findings suggest a need to evaluate vestibular function in hearing impaired individuals, especially those who exhibit hyperactive and anxiety-related symptoms.
Terahertz phase modulation in a slab waveguide metasurface

We describe experimental measurements and simulations of a switchable THz metasurface device in a slab waveguide geometry. The device exhibits giant phase modulation of the TE 1 mode at particular frequencies determined by the metamaterial geometry. Simulations predict that a 2π phase shift can be realized in an interaction length of only a few millimeters.
Analysis of two benzo[a]pyrene-resistant mutants of the mouse hepatoma Hepa-1 P(1)450 gene via cDNA expression in yeast.

Two benzo[a]pyrene-resistant mutant clones (c1 and c37) of the mouse hepatoma Hepa-1 wild-type (wt) cell line were examined for their lack of P(1)450 [aryl hydrocarbon (benzo[a]pyrene) hydroxylase (AHH)] activity. From lambda gt11 cDNA libraries, the nearly full-length P(1)450 cDNAs of wt, c1 and c37 were isolated and sequenced. The c1 cDNA was found to have a single mutation leading to premature termination of the protein after Asn-414; a rapidly migrating band corresponding to this truncated protein was found on Western immunoblots. The c37 cDNA was found to have two point mutations, leading to Leu-118----Arg-118 and Arg-245----Pro-245, but otherwise to encode the normal (524-residue) protein; the mature protein was confirmed by Western blot analysis. P(1)450 cDNA from wt, c1 and c37 and chimeric cDNAs between wt and c37 were inserted into the expression vector pAAH5 and expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain 50.L4. The Leu-118----Arg-118 mutation alone was found to have negligible effect on AHH activity, while the Arg-245----Pro-245 mutation alone leads to a 2- to 3-fold decrease in enzyme activity. The two mutations together totally abrogate AHH activity. The biologic mutant c37 provides the first evidence for the importance of Arg-245, and the complementary function of Leu-118, in normal P(1)450 enzymic function. This alteration in a single amino acid from arginine to proline might block electron flow directly, or change secondary structure of the protein, such that normal monooxygenation of benzo[a]pyrene cannot occur.
Case report: Hereditary myopathy with early respiratory failure and ventricular tachycardia (P5.457)

Objective: To describe the first case report of hereditary myopathy with early respiratory failure associated with ventricular tachycardia. Background: Muscular dystrophies are commonly linked to cardiac abnormalities, including cardiomyopathy and arrhythmias. Hereditary myopathy with early respiratory failure (HMERF), an autosomal dominant muscular dystrophy, has been linked to mutations in the fibronectin III domain of the titin (TTN) gene. Titin is a large sarcomere protein found in both cardiac and skeletal muscle. It has multiple functions and plays an important role in assembly of the sarcomere, stabilization of contractile proteins, transmission of force, and maintenance of resting muscle tension and elasticity. However, cardiac abnormalities are not typically reported in patients with HMERF. Only one recent cohort study of English patients (Steele et. al, Neurology 2016) found cardiac conduction abnormalities (re-entry tachycardia, supra ventricular tachycardia, atrial tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, and sinus bradycardia) in 7 of 22 patients with HMERF. Potentially life-threatening ventricular tachycardia has not been reported. Design/Methods: Case report Results: We describe a 67-year-old female with genetically proven HMERF, due to the most common mutation, c.95134T>C, who initially presented with dyspnea on exertion, symmetric proximal extremity weakness and palpitations. Her echocardiogram and cardiac MRI were both unremarkable but 24-hour ambulatory cardiac monitoring revealed paroxysmal atrial tachycardia, premature atrial and ventricular contractions, and several bursts of non-sustained ventricular tachycardia. The patient’s mother (deceased) had a history of limb girdle muscular dystrophy, rheumatic heart disease and atrial fibrillation; the patient’s daughter (age 46) and granddaughter (age 10) have mitral valve prolapse. Conclusions: This is the first case reported of ventricular tachycardia in an American patient with genetically proven HMERF. This case expands the cardiac co-morbidity in titin myopathies and highlights the importance of cardiac monitoring to screen patients with HMERF for potential life-threatening arrhythmias, including in the absence of coexisting cardiomyopathy. Disclosure: Dr. Grodinsky has nothing to disclose. Dr Soni has nothing to disclose.
Conclusions and Future Areas to be Mapped

In the 11 preceding chapters we have examined how people make resource-allocation decisions. We started with some basic questions and tried to expand outwards from the beginning point in a logical and methodical manner. It was clear from the initial research that people could function surprisingly well as intuitive resource allocators, solving problems without having had any background in Linear Programming. Most participants could initially obtain approximately 80% to 85% of the optimal LP solution, and with practice, most could improve to 95% or more. This finding remained generally consistent and stable throughout all the studies we conducted under a variety of conditions.
Annotated Bibliography: World Values Surveys

The Human Beliefs and Values Surveys have been collecting opinion and demographic data on countries all over the world since the early 1980s. Some surveys collected responses to hundreds of questions from 200,000 people in more than 80 countries representing 85% of the world’s population. The samples for each country were generally large, in some cases exceeding 2,000 participants. The surveys generally used a 10-point Likert Scale where 1 = never justified and 10 = always justified. The studies listed below used the data from these surveys.
Designing Rewards-Based Crowdfunding Campaigns for Strategic (but Distracted) Contributors

In rewards-based crowdfunding, entrepreneurs solicit donations from a large number of individual contributors. If total donations exceed a prespecified funding target, the entrepreneur distributes non-monetary rewards to contributors; otherwise, their donations are refunded. We study how to design such campaigns when contributors choose not just whether to contribute, but also when to contribute. We show that strategic contribution behavior—when contributors intentionally delay until campaign success is likely—can arise from the combination of non-refundable (potentially very small) hassle costs and the risk of campaign failure, and can explain pledging patterns commonly observed in crowdfunding. Furthermore, such delays do not hurt the entrepreneur if contributors are perfectly rational, but they do if contributors are distracted, i.e., if they might fail to return to the campaign after an intentional delay. To mitigate this, we find that an entrepreneur can use a simple menu of rewards with a fixed number of units sold at a low price, and an unlimited number sold at a higher price; this segments contributors over time based on the information they observe upon arrival. We show that, despite its simplicity, under many conditions such a menu performs well compared to a theoretically optimal menu consisting of an infinite number of different rewards and price levels. Lastly, we experimentally validate our model assumptions and theoretical insights by studying pledging behavior of participants in simulated crowdfunding campaigns.
Influence of an abscisic acid (ABA) seed coating on seed germination rate and timing of Bluebunch Wheatgrass.

Semi-arid rangeland degradation is a reoccurring issue throughout the world. In the Great Basin of North America, seeds sown in the fall to restore degraded sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) steppe plant communities may experience high mortality in winter due to exposure of seedlings to freezing temperatures and other stressors. Delaying germination until early spring when conditions are more suitable for growth may increase survival. We evaluated the use of BioNik™ (Valent BioSciences LLC) abscisic acid (ABA) to delay germination of bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata). Seed was either left untreated or coated at five separate rates of ABA ranging from 0.25 to 6.0 g 100 g-1 of seed. Seeds were incubated at five separate constant temperatures from 5 to 25°C. From the resultant germination data, we developed quadratic thermal accumulation models for each treatment and applied them to 4 years of historic soil moisture and temperature data across six sagebrush steppe sites to predict germination timing. Total germination percentage remained similar across all temperatures except at 25°C, where high ABA rates had slightly lower values. All ABA doses delayed germination, with the greatest delays at 5-10°C. For example, the time required for 50% of the seeds to germinate at 5°C was increased by 16-46 d, depending on the amount of ABA applied. Seed germination models predicted that the majority of untreated seed would germinate 5-11 weeks after a 15 October simulated planting date. In contrast, seeds treated with ABA were predicted to delay germination to late winter or early spring. These results indicate that ABA coatings may delay germination of fall planted seed until conditions are more suitable for plant survival and growth.
Measurement of high-bandwidth nanonewton forces in a low-compliance configuration

Abstract This paper presents a technique for precise and reproducible measurements of high bandwidth nanonewton forces in a low-compliance configuration. Precisely measuring high-bandwidth nanonewton forces is a critical enabler for many areas of nanotechnology. However, the prevailing nanonewton force measurement approaches can only measure low-frequency forces (
Financial Privacy in a Cashless Society

Electronic payments are the touchstone of every financial transaction in today’s economy. Cash is becoming extinct. In a totally cashless society, every transaction requires a third-party intermediary. While these third-party services increase the convenience of transacting amongst one another, they decrease the user’s privacy and autonomy. The design of the payments system requires users to essentially trust these third-parties with the keys to their financial accounts and information to carry out transactions on their behalf. In what seems like peer-to-peer transactions are, in reality, a series of coordinated moves among multiple intermediaries gleaning access and information about the user. The current financial privacy laws in the U.S. fail to provide the user with a means of redress in the event that these intermediaries suffer a data breach. Therefore, as users trust these intermediaries with their valuable financial information, these intermediaries should be labeled as information fiduciaries subject to fiduciary laws that work alongside current financial privacy laws to give users a legal right in the event their privacy is breached because one of the payment intermediaries is breached.
Medical imaging of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine constructs

Advancement of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM) strategies to replicate tissue structure and function has led to the need for noninvasive assessment of key outcome measures of a construct's state, biocompatibility, and function. Histology based approaches are traditionally used in pre-clinical animal experiments, but are not always feasible or practical if a TERM construct is going to be tested for human use. In order to transition these therapies from benchtop to bedside, rigorously validated imaging techniques must be utilized that are sensitive to key outcome measures that fulfill the FDA standards for TERM construct evaluation. This review discusses key outcome measures for TERM constructs and various clinical- and research-based imaging techniques that can be used to assess them. Potential applications and limitations of these techniques are discussed, as well as resources for the processing, analysis, and interpretation of biomedical images.
Appropriate triage allows aggressive primary debulking surgery with rates of morbidity and mortality comparable to interval surgery after chemotherapy

Abstract Objective Morbidity and mortality (M/M) after primary debulking surgery (PDS) is often cited as a rationale for neoadjuvant chemotherapy and interval debulking surgery (IDS). We tested if using an evidence-based algorithm to identify patients fit for surgery would reduce M/M after PDS to that seen after IDS. Methods We included women who underwent PDS or IDS for advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) (1/2012–7/2016) guided by the use of a prospective triage algorithm. Outcomes were compared after applying inverse-probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) to adjust for covariate imbalance. Results Of 334 included patients, 232 (69.5%) underwent PDS and 102 (30.5%) were triaged to IDS. Relative to IDS group, PDS patients were younger (63.9 vs 67.5 years, P=0.01), were less likely to have low albumin (16.8% vs. 32.4%, P Conclusions Use of our validated triage strategy allowed us to offer 70% of women with advanced EOC PDS surgery. Despite more complex surgery, M/M after this approach is low and comparable to IDS, with similar rates of complete resection and superior OS. Use of a validated triage system should be utilized when considering PDS vs neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
The impacts of Marcellus Shale gas drilling accidents on amphibians in a Pennsylvania fen

Gas drilling into the Marcellus Shale play has been linked to environmental issues, including potential impacts on wildlife. In 2009, three separate accidents occurred at two gas well sites in central Pennsylvania, USA that resulted in high levels of contaminants in Wallace Mine Fen and a headwater stream that flows through the fen. We collected water chemistry, vegetation, and amphibian data at the impacted fen and at a control fen in 2012 and 2013 to determine similarity of sites and the impacts of the contaminants. We also reviewed water chemistry reports generated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for data collected shortly after the accidents occurred to provide insight on the nature of the accidents. Ordinations of vegetation data, as well as water chemistry, showed that the two wetlands are similar and dominated by the same plant species and water chemistry. Historically, both wetlands provided habitat for amphibians. However, unlike in pre-accident amphibian data, we detected virtually no amphibians in the impacted Wallace Mine Fen, suggesting that amphibians were possibly negatively affected by gas-drilling accidents.
Learning Indirect Actions in Complex Domains: Action Suggestions for Air Traffic Control

Providing intelligent algorithms to manage the ever-increasing flow of air traffic is critical to the efficiency and economic viability of air transportation systems. Yet, current automated solutions leave existing human controllers "out of the loop" rendering the potential solutions both technically dangerous (e.g. inability to react to suddenly developing conditions) and politically charged (e.g. role of air traffic controllers in a fully automated system). Instead, this paper outlines a distributed agent-based solution where agents provide suggestions to human controllers. Though conceptually pleasing, this approach introduces two critical research issues. First, the agent actions are now filtered through interactions with other agents, human controllers and the environment before leading to a system state. This indirect action-to-effect process creates a complex learning problem. Second, even in the best case, not all air traffic controllers will be willing or able to follow the agents' suggestions. This partial participation effect will require the system to be robust to the number of controllers that follow the agent suggestions. In this paper, we present an agent reward structure that allows agents to learn good actions in this indirect environment, and explore the ability of those suggestion agents to achieve good system level performance. We present a series of experiments based on real historical air traffic data combined with simulation of air traffic flow around the New York city area. Results show that the agents can improve system-wide performance by up to 20% over that of human controllers alone, and that these results degrade gracefully when the number of human controllers that follow the agents' suggestions declines.
Negative Association Between Mediterranean Diet Adherence and COVID-19 Cases and Related Deaths in Spain and 23 OECD Countries: An Ecological Study

In December 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov2) emerged in Wuhan, China, sparking the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The high prevalence of nutrition-related COVID-19 risk factors including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension, suggests that healthy dietary approaches may mitigate COVID-19 related outcomes and possibly SARS-CoV-2 infection. Based on the fundamental role of nutrition in immune function and the well-documented association between Mediterranean diet consumption and risk reduction for chronic diseases that are comorbidities in COVID-19 patients, we hypothesized that there would be a relationship between Mediterranean diet adherence and COVID-19 cases and related deaths. In this perspective, we examined the association between regional adherence to a Mediterranean diet and COVID-19 cases and deaths using an ecological study design. We observed that Mediterranean diet adherence was negatively associated with both COVID-19 cases and related deaths across 17 regions in Spain and that the relationship remained when adjusted for factors of well-being. We also observed a negative association between Mediterranean diet adherence and COVID-19 related deaths across 23 countries when adjusted for factors of well-being and physical inactivity. The anti-inflammatory properties of the Mediterranean diet - likely due to the polyphenol content of the diet - may be a biological basis to explain our findings. However, there are confounding factors unrelated to dietary factors driving COVID-19 cases and related deaths across the regions in Spain and the 23 countries examined in our analysis. Our findings will need to be confirmed and further explored in cohort studies.
Comparative Study on Practical Implications of Digital Peak Current and Hysteresis Current Controllers for MHz Frequency DC-DC Converters

Fast switching characteristics of gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor devices have enabled power converters to operate in megahertz (MHz) scale switching frequencies. Practical implementation of this fast switching operation requires high-speed controllers, which is increasingly becoming difficult to be achieved using the digital microcontrollers due to the hardware limitations such as signal latency and sampling rates. The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of the hardware limitations for implementing classical control techniques for fast switching power converters and to propose a viable alternative to meet control requirement without compromising on switching frequency. The adverse effects due to the hardware limitations of existing controllers for implementing digital peak current (DPC) control technique have been analyzed in this paper. An improved controller performance has been achieved by replacing the DPC control with digital hysteresis current (DHC) control technique, even with the same hardware limitations of the microcontroller. A 70 V to 48 V 2.4 kW 1.5 MHz GaN FET - based buck converter is designed and simulated to validate the performance of the DPC and DHC control techniques.
Frequency-domain Methods and Polynomial Optimization for Optimal Periodic Control of Linear Plants

Abstract We consider the problem of periodic trajectory design for single-output systems which may be subject to periodic external disturbances. We show how trajectories optimizing a possibly nonquadratic and nonconvex polynomial performance objective can be found by using the frequency-domain description of the plant by converting the problem to a polynomial optimization problem (POP) in the Fourier coefficients of the external input signals. The method is suited for distributed-parameter systems, since the system transfer functions are not required to be rational; the computational complexity of the method depends on the order of the polynomial nonlinearities in the performance objective as well as the number of required harmonics, but is independent of the underlying system dimension.
Deep-n-Cheap: An Automated Efficient and Extensible Search Framework for Cost-Effective Deep Learning

Artificial neural networks (NNs) in deep learning systems are critical drivers of emerging technologies such as computer vision, text classification, and natural language processing. Fundamental to their success is the development of accurate and efficient NN models. In this article, we report our work on Deep-n-Cheap—an open-source automated machine learning (AutoML) search framework for deep learning models. The search includes both architecture and training hyperparameters and supports convolutional neural networks and multi-layer perceptrons, applicable to multiple domains. Our framework is targeted for deployment on both benchmark and custom datasets, and as a result, offers a greater degree of search space customizability as compared to a more limited search over only pre-existing models from literature. We also introduce the technique of ‘search transfer’, which demonstrates the generalization capabilities of the models found by our framework to multiple datasets. Deep-n-Cheap includes a user-customizable complexity penalty which trades off performance with training time or number of parameters. Specifically, our framework can find models with performance comparable to state-of-the-art while taking 1–2 orders of magnitude less time to train than models from other AutoML and model search frameworks. Additionally, we investigate and develop insight into the search process that should aid future development of deep learning models.
Equity-Advancing Practices at Public Transit Agencies in the United States:

Consistent with federal anti-discrimination and environmental justice law and guidance, public transportation agencies must evaluate the extent to which their decisions benefit and burden different...
Programmable Program Synthesis

Program synthesis is now a reality, and we are approaching the point where domain-specific synthesizers can now handle problems of practical sizes. Moreover, some of these tools are finding adoption in industry. However, for synthesis to become a mainstream technique adopted at large by programmers as well as by end-users, we need to design programmable synthesis frameworks that (i) are not tailored to specific domains or languages, (ii) enable one to specify synthesis problems with a variety of qualitative and quantitative objectives in mind, and (iii) come equipped with theoretical as well as practical guarantees. We report on our work on designing such frameworks and on building synthesis engines that can handle program-synthesis problems describable in such frameworks, and describe open challenges and opportunities.
Trends and epidemiology of radial head subluxation in the United States from 2004 to 2018

Increased body mass may predispose children to a greater risk for radial head subluxation (RHS). Recent studies in the literature have reported a plateau in obesity prevalence among infants and toddlers. This study sought to examine recent epidemiological trends in RHS incidence from 2004 to 2018 using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database to determine how obesity patterns may affect RHS incidence. The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database was queried for patients 6 years of age or younger presenting with radial head subluxation between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2018. Patient demographics, mechanisms of injury, and location of injury were recorded. An estimated total 253,578 children 6 years or younger were treated for RHS with 14,204 (95% CI = 8124–20,284) in 2004 to 21,408 (95% CI = 12,882–29,934) in 2018. The overall annual rate of RHS per 10,000 children ≤ 6 years was 6.03 (95% CI = 4.85–7.58). The annual rate of RHS per 10,000 children ≤ 6 years increased (m = 0.200, s = 0.802, p < 0.001) from 5.18 (95% CI 2.96–7.39) in 2004 to 7.69 (95% CI = 4.63–10.75) in 2018. The most common mechanism associated with RHS was falls (39.4%) with 103,466 (95% CI 74,806–132,125) cases. Pulls accounted for the second most common mechanism of injury, accounting for 90,146 (95% CI 68,274–112,018) cases or 36.2%. Yearly RHS incidence was compared to obesity prevalence for ages 2–5 children provided by the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) surveys. Changes in obesity prevalence may visually reflect RHS incidence trends, but no causality between obesity prevalence and RHS incidence could be confirmed. This study corroborated previous findings that falls and arm pulling contribute to the vast majority of RHS cases. The nonsignificant rise in RHS cases may reflect a possible plateau in obesity prevalence of children aged 2–5 years in recent years. III.
A two-stage decomposition method for integrated optimization of islanded AC grid operation scheduling and network reconfiguration

Abstract A restructuring of electricity systems promises energy resilience, prosperity, and sustainability for communities. In particular, Reconfigurable networks, such as distribution systems or microgrids, as smart electricity systems are more controllable and flexible compared to traditional systems. In this study, we integrate network reconfiguration decisions into a multi-period grid operation scheduling problem to minimize the operational costs while taking into account both technical and inter-temporal constraints for distributed energy resources, physical constraints on alternating current (AC) network, and system reliability constraints. We develop a comprehensive optimization model for the grid operation planning problem by taking into account the operation scheduling and economic dispatch decisions from earlier cycles and grid operational constraints while determining the optimal network topology. Due to the NP-hard nature of the problem, we introduce a two-stage decomposition algorithm where the solution of the operation scheduling problem (without switching variables) feeds the network reconfiguration problem embedding the dispatch problem for each time period. The performance of the proposed two-stage decomposition algorithm is demonstrated on three different available IEEE testbeds against CPLEX and COUENNE solvers for benchmarking purposes. The selected IEEE testbeds have been widely adopted by previous literature for the aforementioned grid operation planning problem due to their capability in reproducibility. The proposed decomposition algorithm outperforms CPLEX in terms of both solution quality and computational times, particularly our algorithm provides 0.5% and 3.17% better solutions in mid-size and large-size networks, respectively.
Pressure solution creep of random packs of spheres

We performed numerical calculations of compaction in aggregates of spherical grains, using Lehner and Leroy's (2004, hereinafter LL) constitutive model of pressure solution at grain contacts. That model is founded on a local definition of the thermodynamic driving force and leads to a fully coupled formulation of elastic deformation, dissolution, and diffusive transport along the grain boundaries. The initial geometry of the aggregate was generated by random packing of spheres with a small standard deviation of the diameters. During the simulations, isostatic loading was applied. The elastic displacements at the contacts were calculated according to Digby's (1981) nonlinear contact force model, and deformation by dissolution was evaluated using the LL formulation. The aggregate strain and porosity were tracked as a function of time for fixed temperature, applied effective pressure, and grain size. We also monitored values of the average and standard deviation of total load at each contact, the coordination number for packing, and the statistics of the contact dimensions. Because the simulations explicitly exclude processes such as fracturing, plastic flow, and transport owing to surface curvature, they can be used to test the influence of relative changes in the kinetics of dissolution and diffusion processes caused by contact growth and packing rearrangements. We found that the simulated strain data could be empirically fitted by two successive power laws of the form, ex ∝ tξ, where ξ was equal to 1 at very early times, but dropped to as low as 0.3 at longer times. The apparent sensitivity of strain rate to stress found in the simulations was much lower than predicted from constitutive laws that assume a single dominant process driven by average macroscopic loads. Likewise, the apparent activation enthalpy obtained from the simulated data was intermediate between that assumed for dissolution and diffusion, and, further, tended to decrease with time. These results are similar to the experimental observations of Visser et al.'s (2012), who used an aggregate geometry and physical conditions closely resembling the present numerical simulations.
21 Days to Success Through Networking: The Life and Times of Gnik Rowten

Review of Sukenick and Williams' 21 Days to Success Through Networking: The Life and Times of Gnik Rowte n.
Mapping computation kernels to clustered programmable-reconfigurable processors

Reconfigurable computing systems have shown the potential to surpass conventional processor architectures in performance for a growing range of applications. That performance, however, must be attained without significantly changing the design effort on the programmer's part, and without drastically increasing compilation time. In this paper, we present our compiler framework for mapping computation kernels to the reconfigurable clusters of Amalgam, a clustered programmable-reconfigurable processor. We first promote the use of the gated singular-assignment program dependence graph, a parallel intermediate program representation, to represent computation kernels. We then present an algorithm for mapping a computation kernel into the control FSM and datapath for a reconfigurable cluster. Finally, we describe our fast datapath synthesis tool-flow which preserves regularity and reduces the problem size by not flattening the datapath to gates.
Towards unsupervised segmentation of semi-rigid low-resolution molecular surfaces

In this paper, we study a particular type of surface segmentation problem motivated by molecular biology applications. In particular, two input surfaces are given, coarsely modeling two different conformations of a molecule undergoing a semi-rigid deformation. The molecule consists of two subunits that move in a roughly rigid manner. The goal is to segment the input surfaces into these semi-rigid subcomponents. The problem is closely related to non-rigid surface registration problems, although considering only a special type of deformation that exists commonly in macromolecular movements (such as the popular hinge motion). We present and implement an efficient paradigm for this problem, which combines several existing and new ideas. We demonstrate the performance of our new algorithm by some preliminary experimental results in segmenting low-resolution molecular surfaces.
Examination of clozapine and haloperidol in improving ketamine-induced deficits in an incremental repeated acquisition procedure in BALB/c mice.

Ketamine, an N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist, causes locomotor hyperactivity, aberrant prepulse inhibition and impaired reversal learning among other deficits. There are numerous clinical and pre-clinically uses of NMDAR antagonists and a growing need to characterize their neurobehavioral effects. The present study was designed to characterize 1) ketamine’s effect on incremental repeated acquisition (IRA), a procedure that taps multiple neurobehavioral functions and has performance measures correlated with IQ in humans, and 2) the extent to which clozapine (CLZ) and haloperidol (HAL) block ketamine’s detrimental effects. In experiment 1 (Exp. 1), BALB/c mice nose-poked under an IRA procedure for sucrose pellets. Systemic ketamine (1–30 mg/kg) dose-dependently decreased measures of cognitive and motor function. CLZ pretreatment (CLZ 0.1–4.0 mg/kg) dose-dependently attenuated ketamine-induced (30 mg/kg) deficits; the effective dose range of CLZ was 0.3–1.0 mg/kg. HAL pretreatment (0.01–0.1 mg/kg) did not attenuate any ketamine-induced deficits. In experiment 2 (Exp. 2), BALB/c mice lever-pressed under an IRA procedure for sweetened condensed milk. Ketamine (30 mg/kg) produced a global impairment in the IRA procedure and CLZ pretreatment (0.3–1.0 mg/kg) dose-dependently attenuated that impairment; motor-based performance recovered to a greater extent than cognitive performance. When tested alone, these doses of CLZ had little effect on IRA performance. These findings support the notion that CLZ is more effective than HAL at blocking ketamine-induced deficits. The IRA procedure may be beneficial for distinguishing the efficacy of drugs that seek to alleviate deficits in complex behavior that result from acute NMDAR antagonism.
Incorporating Sectoral Structure into Shift–Share Analysis

The objective of this article is to present a new way to incorporate the sectoral dimension within the components of regional growth provided by the traditional shift–share analysis. The new methodology elaborates the way that the dynamics of a specific sector in a region are influenced by the performance of other sectors, the latter decomposed between national, structural, and differential effects. To illustrate this extension of the shift–share method, an application is provided using data for the Spanish region of Extremadura for the period 1990–2004. The results highlight how these new components can shed new insights into the analysis of sectoral and regional economic growth processes.
Epidermal growth factor induces c-fos and c-jun mRNA via Raf-1/MEK1/ERK-dependent and -independent pathways in bovine luteal cells.

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) modulates the actions of gonadotropins in the corpus luteum. The membrane-associated EGF receptors undergo rapid tyrosine phosphorylation and internalization upon ligand binding in ovarian cells, including luteal cells. However, little is known about the post-receptor signaling events induced by EGF that lead to the transcriptional regulation of EGF-responsive genes in the ovary. The present study was designed to examine in bovine luteal cells (1) activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascade (Raf/MEK/ERK) by EGF; (2) mRNA expression of AP-1 transcription factors, i.e. c-fos and c-jun, in response to EGF; and (3) the role of ERK in EGF-induced expression of c-fos and c-jun mRNA. Raf-1 and B-Raf, but not A-Raf, were activated by EGF (10 ng/ml) and the pharmacological protein kinase C (PKC) activator phorbol myristate acetate (PMA, 20 nM). Activation of Raf resulted in the phosphorylation and activation of MAPK kinase (MEK1) which subsequently activated ERKs. Treatment with EGF-induced the phosphorylation of both ERK2 and ERK1 in a time and concentration dependent manner. Additionally, activated ERK was found in the nucleus of the cells following treatment with EGF (10 ng/ml) and PMA (PMA, 20 nM) for 5 min. Depletion of PKC by chronic PMA treatment (2.5 microM, 24 h) only partially inhibited the stimulatory effects of EGF on Raf-1, ERK2 and ERK1. These data demonstrate that PKC-dependent and independent-mechanisms are involved in EGF activation of the Raf/MEK/ERK signaling cascade in bovine luteal cells. EGF rapidly and transiently stimulated the expression of c-fos and c-jun mRNA in bovine luteal cells. Maximal induction of c-fos and c-jun mRNA by EGF occurred within 30 min of treatment with 10 ng/ml EGF. Treatment with the MEK1 inhibitor PD098059 (50 microM) abolished EGF-induced ERK activation. However, blocking EGF-induced ERK activation by pretreatment with PD098059 only partially attenuated EGF-induced c-fos and c-jun mRNA expression. Thus, additional pathways are implicated in the regulation of c-fos and c-jun mRNA expression by EGF in bovine luteal cells.
Multivariate tolerance design using quality loss

The determination of tolerance allocations among design parameters is an integral phase of product/process design. Such allocations are often necessary to achieve desired levels of product performance. We extend our prior research on tolerance allocation by developing both parametric and nonparametric methods for a multivariate set of performance measures that are functions of a common set of design parameters. The parametric method is novel and assumes full information about the probability distribution of design parameter processes. The proposed nonparametric method assumes that only partial information is available and significantly extends prior research by considering a more contemporary and realistic model for manufacturer costs. For both methods we derive economically based models that represent the costs, both internal (supplier) and external (manufacturer), of tolerance allocation under several different process scenarios. These scenarios are based on the manner of disposition of nonconforming product. For the parametric methods we derive tolerance allocation solutions that jointly minimize expected total cost of the supplier and manufacturer. For the nonparametric methods we derive solutions for tolerance allocation that jointly minimizes the maximum expected total cost. An example in the fabrication of a rubber tread compound is used to: (i) demonstrate the implementation of our proposed methodologies for tolerance allocation; (ii) illustrate and compare the nonparametric and parametric methods; and (iii) assess the sensitivity of optimal tolerance allocations to changes in process model types, cost coefficient estimates, and manner of disposition of nonconforming product.
Potential hazards of probiotic bacteria for immunodeficient patients

Probiotic bacteria provide a variety of health benefits to immunocompetent hosts; however, their use in immunodeficient patients may pose problems. Some probiotics are closely related to bacteria that are opportunistic pathogens and can transfer antibiotic resistance genes. Intestinal bacteria have recently been associated with inflammatory and autoimmune diseases in immunodeficient hosts; similar problems may arise if probiotics are fed to immunodeficient patients. The safety, efficacy, benefits and costs of feeding probiotic bacteria to immunodeficient patients needs to be carefully considered and fully researched to assure they will not cause infectious, inflammatory or autoimmune diseases in these susceptible hosts.
Protective health factors and incident hypertension in men

Background Few studies have examined the association between a combination of lifestyle factors and the incidence of hypertension, particularly among men. This is important as lifestyle factors are often interrelated, and may often occur in combination. Thus, we investigated the individual and combined effects of body mass index (BMI), smoking status, alcohol intake, physical activity (PA), and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) on the incidence of hypertension in men. Methods A total of 14,568 men (mean age = 44.0 + or - 9.3 years) from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (ACLS) initially free of hypertension completed an extensive baseline examination during 1974-2003, and were followed for the incidence of hypertension. Results A total of 1,959 men reported having hypertension during a mean of 10.7 + or - 7.6 years of follow-up. Our data indicated that a combination of five protective health factors significantly reduced the risk of hypertension by 47% (95% confidence interval (CI): 36-56%). We also found that whether all participants in our sample had five protective health factors, the incidence of hypertension would be expected to decrease by 29% (95% CI: 26-31%). Additionally, having a normal BMI and being a nonsmoker and physically fit were significantly and independently associated with a lower risk of developing hypertension. Conclusions Our results show that among men aged 20-82 years, a healthy lifestyle can significantly reduce the risk of developing hypertension, and should be considered for the prevention of this chronic condition.
Incorporation of texture-based features in optimal graph-theoretic approach with application to the 3D segmentation of intraretinal surfaces in SD-OCT volumes

While efficient graph-theoretic approaches exist for the optimal (with respect to a cost function) and simultaneous segmentation of multiple surfaces within volumetric medical images, the appropriate design of cost functions remains an important challenge. Previously proposed methods have used simple cost functions or optimized a combination of the same, but little has been done to design cost functions using learned features from a training set, in a less biased fashion. Here, we present a method to design cost functions for the simultaneous segmentation of multiple surfaces using the graph-theoretic approach. Classified texture features were used to create probability maps, which were incorporated into the graph-search approach. The efficiency of such an approach was tested on 10 optic nerve head centered optical coherence tomography (OCT) volumes obtained from 10 subjects that presented with glaucoma. The mean unsigned border position error was computed with respect to the average of manual tracings from two independent observers and compared to our previously reported results. A significant improvement was noted in the overall means which reduced from 9.25 ± 4.03μm to 6.73 ± 2.45μm (p < 0.01) and is also comparable with the inter-observer variability of 8.85 ± 3.85μm.
Lower extremity kinetics for balance control in children with cerebral palsy

The authors examined and compared the effect of support-surface perturbations of various magnitudes on lower extremity kinetics of 7 children with cerebral palsy (CP) and 8 typically developing (TD) children. Results showed that the highest velocity tolerated without stepping was slower in children with CP than in either age-matched TD or younger TD children. Multimodal torque profiles were more frequent in children with CP than in TD controls. TD groups temporally and spatially organized torque activation, whereas children with CP activated all joints simultaneously and showed altered torque contribution patterns among joints. Those results suggest that impairments in reactive postural control in children with CP result not only from developmental delay but also from pathology. Evidence for pathology included increased numbers of torque bursts required to regain stability and less efficient temporal and spatial organization of torque activation patterns.