cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A more stable transition matrix for acoustic target scattering by elongated objects.

The transition (T) matrix of Waterman has been very useful for computing fast, accurate acoustic scattering predictions for axisymmetric elastic objects, but this technique is usually limited to fairly smooth objects that are not too aspherical unless complex basis functions or stabilization schemes are used. To ease this limitation, a spherical-basis formulation adapted from approaches proposed recently by Waterman [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 125(1), 42–51 (2009)] and Doicu, Eremin, and Wriedt [Acoustic and Electromagnetic Scattering Analysis Using Discrete Sources (Academic, London, 2000)] is suggested. This is implemented by simply transforming the high-order outgoing spherical basis functions within standard T-matrix formulations to low-order functions distributed along the object's symmetry axis. A free-field T matrix is produced in a nonstandard form, but computations with it become much more stable for elongated aspherical elastic shapes. Some advantages of this approach over the approaches of Waterman and Doicu, Eremin, and Wriedt are noted, and sample calculations for a 10:1 Al prolate spheroid and a 10:1 Al superspheroid of order 10 are given to demonstrate the enhanced stability.
Twisted zeta functions of quaternion orders

Abstract Given an abelian Galois extension K / F of number fields, a quaternion algebra A over F that is ramified at all infinite primes, and a character χ of the Galois group of K over F, we consider the twist of the zeta function of A by the character χ. We show that such twisted zeta functions provide a factorization of the zeta function of A ( K ) = A ⊗ F K . Also, the quotient of the zeta function for A ( K ) by the zeta function for A is entire when K / F is Galois of odd degree, not necessarily abelian. Examples show that the hypothesis of odd degree here may be relaxed, but not eliminated. So the analogue of the Aramata–Brauer holomorphy theorem in this situation requires some restriction. A key step in the proof of this analogue for K / F Galois of odd degree consists in showing that if a finite prime of K contains a ramified prime for A over F, then it is ramified for A ( K ) over K.
Battery and wind system in weak/strong grid analysis

The paper provides an analysis of the performance of the battery (1MW/1MWh) and wind system (1.7MW) when connected to weak or strong grid. Understanding the performance of the battery and analysis of the battery system tied to the distribution grid with heavy penetration of wind as a function of the strength of the grid is discussed with the aim to understand the optimized energy flow between the battery, the wind farm, and the utility grid, energy management for storage, battery performance, energy dispatch and reliability. The advanced battery model utilizes the dual polarization electrical equivalent model for the analysis. The grid-connected battery and wind system simulation results are obtained using PSCAD software.
Orthopedic Oncologic Surgical Specimen Management and Surgical Pathology

The pathologist is an integral member of the multidisciplinary team ­central to the successful treatment of bone tumors. The role of the pathologist is to provide morphology-derived information pertaining to diagnosis and status of disease. Communication between all members of this team is vital at all junctures of workup and treatment. During the evaluation of biopsies, critical information from the history, physical examination, and imaging studies should be taken into account and integrated with histological observations to ensure a correct diagnosis. Later on during the course of treatment, the pathologist is called upon to advise the surgeon as to the status of resection margins and adequacy of surgery. And later still, the pathologist provides the medical oncologist with an assessment of the response to preoperative chemotherapy.
Inclusive Growth, Development and Welfare Policy: A Critical Assessment, Edited by Reza Hasmath

The edited volume Inclusive Growth, Development, and WelfarePpolicy is an important attempt to grapple with how to marry a capitalist economic framework with policies attending to those left behind...
The relationship between income, economic freedom, and BMI

Abstract Objectives What explains increases in BMI (and obesity) over time and across countries? Although many microeconomic forces are likely explanations, increasingly scholars are arguing that macroeconomic forces such as market liberalism and globalization are root causes of the obesity epidemic. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of economic freedom on obesity conditional on the level of income and other factors. Study Design We use an unbalanced pooled cross section of up to 135 countries for 1995 and 2000–2009. Methods Our statistical model specifications include pooled OLS and fixed effects. Results First, we find that controlling for fixed effects siphons off much of the relationship previously documented between economic freedom and BMI. Second, economic freedom is associated with slightly higher BMIs but only for men in developing nations. Lastly, we show that economic freedom increases life expectancy for both men and women in developing countries. Conclusion Therefore, policies aimed at reducing obesity that limit economic liberalism may come at the expense of life expectancy in the developing world.
Substance that Stimulates Host-Seeking by Microplitis croceipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a Parasite of Heliothis Species,,

Frass of larvae of Heliothis sea (Boddie) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) elicited a host-seeking response by females of the Heliothis parasite, Microplitis croceipes (Cresson). The active material was present in the feces, salivary secretions, and hemolymph of host larvae, the hemolymph of pupae, and hemolymph and excretions of adults. The parasite's response to the stimulant varied considerably depending on the age and condition of the parasite. Water, ethyl ether, and methanol extracts of feces stimulated activity. Sephadex chromatography indicated that the molecular weight of the active material was in the order of 100–500. Responses equal to those from H. sea were elicited by feces of H. virescens (F.) and H. subflexa (Guenee). Definite but considerably weaker responses were elicited by feces from larvae of Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith), S. exigua (Hubner), and Trichoplusia ni (Hubner); no response was obtained to feces of Cadra cantella (Walker) and Plodia interpunctella (Hubner).
Marketing's Changing Social Relationships:

What are marketing's boundaries in a highly automated, industrialized society? What are marketing's social responsibilities today? These and other important questions are raised by the author. He c...
Results of sentinel surveillance among MSM in Shanxi Province from 2007-2011

[Objective]To understand epidemic situation of HIV/AIDS and related high-risk behavior among MSM in Shaanxi Province,to estimate and predict the AIDS epidemic trends in MSM,and provide scientific evidence for estimating AIDS control and developing intervention strategies.[Methods]Repeated cross-sectional survey was performed on MSM in Shanxi Province from 2007-2011.The results were epidemiologically analyzed.[Results] A total of 1 856 MSM were surveyed.57.5%-81.0% of MSM were unmarried,38.8%-52.3% were immigrants.In the last 6 months,77.0%-99.5% of MSM had anal homo-sex and 3.0%-13.5% of MSM did not use condom during anal homo-sex and 2.5%-17.3% of MSM had commercial homo-sex.The awareness of AIDS related knowledge was 63.8%-88.3%.20.8%-56.3% had received peer education in the last year.The HIV infection rate from 2007-2011 was 3.1%,3.3%,3.8%,8.0%,5.5%,respectively.Statistical significance was observed(χ2=29.3,P0.01).HIV-1 BED infection rate from 2009 to 2011 was 4.8%,3.7%,4.4%,respectively.The syphilis infection rate was 3.8%-15.3%.The HCV infection rate was 0-1.5%.Binary logistic regression analysis showed that high risk factors to HIV infection were unmarried and anal homo-sex and syphilis infection.[Conclusion]There are many risk factors involved in the spread of HIV,AIDS epidemic has been aggravated,with potential risk of from MSM to general population in Shaanxi Province.It is necessary to reinforce health education and effective intervention among MSM group.
Quantitative molecular phenotyping with topically applied SERS nanoparticles for intraoperative guidance of breast cancer lumpectomy

There is a need to image excised tissues during tumor-resection procedures in order to identify residual tumors at the margins and to guide their complete removal. The imaging of dysregulated cell-surface receptors is a potential means of identifying the presence of diseases with high sensitivity and specificity. However, due to heterogeneities in the expression of protein biomarkers in tumors, molecular-imaging technologies should ideally be capable of visualizing a multiplexed panel of cancer biomarkers. Here, we demonstrate that the topical application and quantification of a multiplexed cocktail of receptor-targeted surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanoparticles (NPs) enables rapid quantitative molecular phenotyping (QMP) of the surface of freshly excised tissues to determine the presence of disease. In order to mitigate the ambiguity due to nonspecific sources of contrast such as off-target binding or uneven delivery, a ratiometric method is employed to quantify the specific vs. nonspecific binding of the multiplexed NPs. Validation experiments with human tumor cell lines, fresh human tumor xenografts in mice, and fresh human breast specimens demonstrate that QMP imaging of excised tissues agrees with flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry, and that this technique may be achieved in less than 15 minutes for potential intraoperative use in guiding breast-conserving surgeries.
Biochemical effects of zinc difficiency: changes in activities of zinc-dependent enzymes and ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid content of tissues.

Abstract Zinc is known to be essential for the function of several enzymes and its role in polymeric organization of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules has been postulated; however, conflicting results have been reported concerning changes occuring in activities of zinc-dependent enzymes and content of RNA and DNA in zinc-deficient tissues. Present studies were carried out in young pigs made zinc-deficient by diet. Control pigs were pair-fed and received supplemental zinc (90p.p.m.). Pigs were put to death on the thirtieth day. Zinc content was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. RNA and DNA content was determined with the Schmidt-Thannhauser method. Activities of the following zinc-dependent enzymes were assayed in tissue homogenates under optimal conditions by standard methods and expressed per milligram of DNA: alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) and aldolase (ALD) in liver; ADH, ALD, and alkaline phosphatase (AP) in kidney, carboxypeptidase (CPD) and LDH in pancreas; and ADH, AP, LDH, and ALD in bone. Succinic dehydrogenase, an iron-dependent enzyme, and isocitric dehydrogenase, a manganese-dependent enzyme, were also assayed in the kidney as controls. Zinc content and RNA/DNA ratios were significantly reduced in the liver, kidney, pancreas, and bone, but DNA per milligram of wet weight remained unaltered in zinc-deficient animals as compared to their pair-fed controls. Only zinc-dependent enzymes revealed significantly reduced activities in zinc-deficient tissues; exceptions were LDH in the liver and pancreas, and ALD in bone. Addition of small amounts of ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) to tissue homogenates significantly reduced activities of ADH, AP, and CPD, but not the activities of LDH and ALD, thus revealing the differences in affinity for zinc of the various enzymes. These studies provide a basis for understanding the role of zinc in cellular functions.
Abstract 76: Molecular profiling of AML patient derived xenograft models with deep sequencing using a 109 AML associated gene panel and a 409 gene comprehensive cancer panel

Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA We have developed and validated a 109 AML associated gene panel NGS assay based on sequence capture technologies. The overall assay sensitivity was 99.%, and overall assay specificity was 100% when sequenced with reference “gold” standard NA12878. Assay analytical accuracy was evaluated with diluted cell line samples harboring mutations in this gene panel, all diluted mutations with minor allele frequencies were detected, analytical limit of detection (LOD) is < 5%, and assay reproducibility is 96.8%. The assay also demonstrated robustness in sequencing 10 commercial AML patient samples (whole blood and bone marrow) and detecting mutations. Therefore, the AML gene panel deep sequencing assay is sensitive and accurate and is ready to be used for preclinical and clinical studies. We subsequently sequenced 15 AML patient derived xenograft (PDX) models with this assay. These models were also deep sequenced with a 409 comprehensive cancer gene panel based on multiplex amplicon technologies. The mutation profiles of each model will be summarized in this presentation using two sequencing platforms. By analysis of the mutation profile of each model, sub-clones of mutations were revealed in the early passages of these models. Two of these models with FLT-3 mutations were later treated with Quizartinib and Crenolanib separately, the treated mouse models were profiled with these two targeted gene panels; clonal evolution of mutations in these models treated with FLT-3 inhibitors was documented. Deep sequencing with target gene panel is a powerful tool to decipher the mutation sub-clones in the early passages of PDX models, and understand the acquired resistance of drug treatment. Citation Format: Stephen Huang, Paul Lira, Kai Wang, Cathy Zhang, Amy Jackson-Fisher, Keith Ching, Paul Rejto. Molecular profiling of AML patient derived xenograft models with deep sequencing using a 109 AML associated gene panel and a 409 gene comprehensive cancer panel. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 76. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-76
The long term effects of an aging fleet on operational availability and cost: evidence from the U.S. coast guard

This paper empirically examines whether the aging of a fleet affects operational availability and operating cost using a unique data-set on the 117 47-foot Motor Lifeboats (MLBs) of the United States Coast Guard (USCG). Procured from 1997 to 2003, the 47-foot MLB is the standard lifeboat of the USCG and all 117 MLBs remain in service. The aging of the MLB fleet has resulted in higher annual operating costs and lower operational availability, although the nature of this relationship remains unclear. Our estimation strategy utilizes an error components estimator to examine these issues. We employ three variants of the dependent variables (i.e. the standard logarithmic transformation as is most commonly seen in the literature, inverse hyperbolic sine [IHS], and level outcomes). The point estimates from the standard logarithmic model finds operational availability for the MLBs decreases at a rate between 0.83 and 1.8% per year and cost increases at a rate between 0.33 and 7.81% per year. Similar effects are s...
The Relative Economic Position of Migrants and Natives in Colombia: An Economic Analysis of the 1973 Census Sample

Urbanisation in the countries of the Third World during the second half of this century has occurred at a fast pace. Cities in most African countries have annual population growth rates of about 6–7 per cent, and Asian and Latin American cities are growing at annual rates of 4–6 per cent. Bogota is among the twelve fastest growing cities in the world. While there is no consensus on the extent to which internal migration has contributed to urban growth, most researchers conclude that it accounts for between 40 and 65 per cent of the increase in urban populations in recent decades.1 Whether the urban economy is able to provide employment to this growing population or not has been a major topic of researchers and policy-makers concerned with alleviating poverty in low income countries.
The Funding of International Relief Assistance in Disaster Situations

The key to the decentralization of the international disaster relief system is the voluntary nature of funding for relief assistance. In Richard Pordes’ description of the fund-raising process at UNICEF, it becomes clear why this organization, although officially concerned primarily with long-term development, is nevertheless the United Nations organization that most readily comes to most people’s minds in the context of disaster relief. Success in generating voluntary contributions hinges on organizational identity; to preserve that identity requires a certain amount of rigidity that belies the need for cooperation in assistance programs where the principal requirements are flexibility and speed of response. It is unlikely that governments will dismantle the complex bureaucracy that has its home in the United States at Turtle Bay, but the fact Richard Pordes works for UNICEF, but the views expressed in this paper are those of the author alone and in no way represent the official point of view of the United Nations, UNICEF or any of the UN’s Specialized Agencies.
Not of our race, nor yet wholly strangers: Race, religion and empire in some novels of early Christian Britain

The small generic niche of nineteenth century historical novels set in early Christian Britain allows room for the expression of a variety of positions on such topics of popular concern as the racial origins and identity of the English, the form of Christianity proper to England, and the moral questions attending the status of England as an imperial power. Novels construct narratives which support views of the English as entirely Anglo-Saxon or as significantly Celtic in origin, visions of church history congruent with evangelical, broad church and Anglo-Catholic positions and attitudes to empire which range from openly jingoistic to ambivalent or critical.
Fundamentals of Nitride-Based Superlattice Thin Films

The structure and mechanical properties of superlattices have been studied since the 1960’s.[1] The term “superlattice” in this case refers to any thin-film structure with a periodic composition modulation in the film growth direction. Superlattices are characterized by the distance between successive pair of layers, A, known as the ‘bilayer repeat period’. In early work, Hilliard and co-workers used superlattices such as Ag/Cu for interdiffusion studies, where the nm-scale thicknesses allowed measurement of relative small diffusion coefficients. Early work also showed unusually large hardnesses in metallic superlattices. Interest in superlattice mechanical properties blossomed in the late 1970’s, with the first report of the so-called supermodulus effect - an anomalously large (2–5 times) enhancement in elastic moduli for small composition-modulation periods A ~ 2 nm. However, most recent reports show only minor (≈ 10%) deviations of elastic moduli, casting considerable doubt on the early supermodulus effect results.
Symptomatic Cushing’s syndrome and hyperandrogenemia in a steroid cell ovarian neoplasm: a case report

Background Malignant steroid cell tumors of the ovary are rare and frequently associated with hormonal abnormalities. There are no guidelines on how to treat rapidly progressive Cushing’s syndrome, a medical emergency.
Progression of leukoplakia of the bladder to squamous cell carcinoma 19 years after complete urinary diversion.

AbstractWe report a rare case of squamous cell carcinoma developing in a defunctionalized bladder with known leukoplakia 19 years after urinary diversion. We conclude from this case that once the initial metaplasia of the transitional epithelium of the urinary tract to leukoplakia has occurred chronic irritation by (infected) urine is not required to cause further progression to squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore, we recommend prophylactic cystectomy if palliative urinary diversion for relief of symptoms is considered in patients with leukoplakia of the bladder. (J. Urol., 140: 603–604, 1988)
Globally Important Haptophyte Algae Use Exogenous Pyrimidine Compounds More Efficiently than Thiamin

Vitamin B1 (thiamin) is a cofactor for critical enzymatic processes and is scarce in surface oceans. Several eukaryotic marine algal species thought to rely on exogenous thiamin are now known to grow equally well on the precursor 4-amino-5-hydroxymethyl-2-methylpyrimidine (HMP), including the haptophyte Emiliania huxleyi Because the thiamin biosynthetic capacities of the diverse and ecologically important haptophyte lineage are otherwise unknown, we investigated the pathway in transcriptomes and two genomes from 30 species representing six taxonomic orders. HMP synthase is missing in data from all studied taxa, but the pathway is otherwise complete, with some enzymatic variations. Experiments on axenic species from three orders demonstrated that equivalent growth rates were supported by 1 µM HMP or thiamin amendment. Cellular thiamin quotas were quantified in the oceanic phytoplankter E. huxleyi using the thiochrome assay. E. huxleyi exhibited luxury storage in standard algal medium [(1.16 ± 0.18) × 10-6 pmol thiamin cell-1], whereas quotas in cultures grown under more environmentally relevant thiamin and HMP supplies [(2.22 ± 0.07) × 10-7 or (1.58 ± 0.14) × 10-7 pmol thiamin cell-1, respectively] were significantly lower than luxury values and prior estimates. HMP and its salvage-related analog 4-amino-5-aminomethyl-2-methylpyrimidine (AmMP) supported higher growth than thiamin under environmentally relevant supply levels. These compounds also sustained growth of the stramenopile alga Pelagomonas calceolata Together with identification of a salvage protein subfamily (TENA_E) in multiple phytoplankton, the results indicate that salvaged AmMP and exogenously acquired HMP are used by several groups for thiamin production. Our studies highlight the potential importance of thiamin pathway intermediates and their analogs in shaping phytoplankton community structure.IMPORTANCE The concept that vitamin B1 (thiamin) availability in seawater controls the productivity and structure of eukaryotic phytoplankton communities has been discussed for half a century. We examined B1 biosynthesis and salvage pathways in diverse phytoplankton species. These comparative genomic analyses as well as experiments show that phytoplankton thought to require exogenous B1 not only utilize intermediate compounds to meet this need but also exhibit stronger growth on these compounds than on thiamin. Furthermore, oceanic phytoplankton have lower cellular thiamin quotas than previously reported, and salvage of intermediate compounds is likely a key mechanism for meeting B1 requirements under environmentally relevant scenarios. Thus, several lines of evidence now suggest that availability of specific precursor molecules could be more important in structuring phytoplankton communities than the vitamin itself. This understanding of preferential compound utilization and thiamin quotas will improve biogeochemical model parameterization and highlights interaction networks among ocean microbes.
Considerations for Cardiac CRISPR.

The recently identified 2-component clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 system has revolutionized the ease with which genome editing can be performed, greatly simplifying the process of generating knockout animal models.1,2 However, in spite of the great advances made, fewer studies have focused on the efficacy of the system for editing postnatal or adult tissues as a means to model adult onset diseases or to provide potential therapeutic intervention. In particular, the use of the system to perform genome editing in a tissue-specific manner remains to be thoroughly evaluated, especially for tissues that are less amenable to viral delivery of the CRISPR/Cas9 components, a common strategy for delivery in adult tissues.3 Because the heart is responsible for a large disease burden, it represents a particularly attractive tissue to target for therapeutic purposes.4 Although several studies have shown that cardiomyocytes can be edited in the postnatal murine heart using viral delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 system components,5–7 the efficiency of this phenomenon has been less well characterized. Article, see p 1168 A study in this issue by Johansen et al8 from Eva van Rooij’s group performed an in-depth analysis of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing in postnatal mouse myocytes. Cardiac-restricted expression of Cas9 was inducing using mice containing a floxed Cas9 cassette with a GFP (green fluorescent protein) reporter knocked into the Rosa26 locus together with an αMHC-Cre (alpha-myosin heavy chain-Cre) transgene. Consistent with other models that have expressed Cas9 in either a broad or tissue restricted manner,5,6,9 no changes in baseline cardiac function were observed after Cas9 overexpression, suggesting that Cas9 …
Noninvasive Retinal Optical Imaging in Metabolic Diseases Mouse Models Using Optical Coherence Tomography

Objectives To evaluate retinal thickness, microvasculature, blood flow rate and oxygen metabolic rate in glutaredoxin-1 (Glrx) knock out induced metabolic disease mouse models. Methods Twenty-week old wild type and Glrx knock out mice fed with normal chow diet were imaged. Visible-light optical coherence tomography (vis-OCT) was used to image retinal thickness and microvasulature, as well as functional parameters including retinal blood flow rate and oxygen saturation (sO2). These quantitative measurements were compared between wild type and Glrx knock out mice. Results We observed that the retinal thickness was significantly decreased in Glrx knock out mice compared with wild type mice. Additionally, we found significant reduction in arteriovenous sO2 difference in these mice, indicating lower oxygen extraction efficiency. However, Glrx knockout mice did not exhibit any differences in retinal blood flow rate as well as the density of microvasculature. Conclusions vis-OCT provides an unprecedented capability for high-resolution imaging of mouse retinal vessels, in venous sO2 and blood flow that may play a pivotal role in providing a noninvasive method for detection of early microvascular changes in patients with retinopathy. Glutaredoixn-1 plays a very important role in metabolic disorder induced retinopathy.
Experimental Studies of Respiration and Apnea

The use of physiologically-based computational models of chemoreflex control of ventilation has provided general insights into the roles of specific mechanisms in the genesis of periodic breathing and apneas. Our early studies utilized formal mathematical approaches to simplify complex models of this type so that their behaviors could more easily be predicted from various combinations of physiological and environmental parameters. Because it is difficult to apply such models to individual patients, we subsequently pursued a “black-box” approach in which the objective was to characterize the dynamic properties of the system for individual subjects, then relate these properties to physiological and environmental parameters. By stimulating ventilation through pseudorandom variations in inspired { CO}2 (or { O}2) level, we estimated input–output models, both open-loop (i.e., from end-tidal \({P}_{\mathrm{C{O}_{2}}}\) to ventilation) and closed-loop (i.e., from inspired { CO}2 to ventilation). We found that the dynamic properties of the resulting models differ between normal subjects and both sleep apnea patients and heart failure patients. We also demonstrated in normal subjects that the closed-loop model does not change between wakefulness and quiet sleep, even though the gain of the open-loop (or controller) model decreases. To explore the mechanistic basis for these findings using a detailed, physiologically-based, chemoreflex model, we enhanced the typical model of this type by improving the representation of { O}2 transport and distribution beyond the usual, single lumped-compartment, approach. In our new model, brain and muscle tissue each comprise two subcompartments with intercompartmental diffusion and arterio-venous shunting, as well as { O}2 binding to myoglobin in muscle. We use this model to predict changes in brain tissue \({P}_{\mathrm{{O}_{2}}}\) during sleep apnea. Chapter 8 provides another approach to respiratory control system modeling while Chap. 6 discusses the role of transport delay in respiratory control.
Rethinking Our Metrics: Research in the Field of Higher Education in Prison:

Increasing access to higher education in prison often hinges upon a series of seemingly compelling and related rationales: the reduction of recidivism, saving taxpayer dollars, and increasing safet...
Closure properties of minimalist derivation tree languages

Recently, the question has been raised whether the derivation tree languages of Minimalist grammars (MGs; [14, 16]) are closed under intersection with regular tree languages [4, 5]. Using a variation of a proof technique devised by Thatcher [17], I show that even though closure under intersection does not obtain, it holds for every MG and regular tree language that their intersection is identical to the derivation tree language of some MG modulo category labels. It immediately follows that the same closure property holds with respect to union, relative complement, and certain kinds of linear transductions. Moreover, enriching MGs with the ability to put regular constraints on the shape of their derivation trees does not increase the formalism's weak generative capacity. This makes it straightforward to implement numerous linguistically motivated constraints on the Move operation.
Nash-Cournot Equilibria in Power Markets on a Linearized DC Network with Arbitrage: Formulations and Properties

Extending a prior arbitrage-free model of Hobbs (2001), this article presents two models of an electric power market with arbitrage on a linearized DC network with a affine price functions. The two models represent a decentralized system involving bilateral contracts between producers and consumers in which the system operator's role is limited to providing transmission services. The two models differ in how arbitrage is handled. In the first model, the producers anticipate the effect of arbitrage upon prices at different locations (Stackelberg assumption), and therefore treat the arbitrage amounts as decision variables in their profit maximization problems. In the second model, the firms take the arbitrage quantities as inputs in their problems (Cournot assumption), and the arbitrager solves a separate profit maximization problem that takes the electricity prices and the transmission costs as inputs. In each model, we adopt a Nash-Cournot equilibrium as the solution concept for the game among producers. We show that the resulting equilibrium problems can be formulated as monotone mixed linear complementarity problems. Based on such a formulation, we obtain existence,uniqueness,and various quantitative properties of the equilibrium solutions to the models. It is also demonstrated that these two models of a bilateral market yield the same prices, producer outputs, and profits as a model of Cournot competition in a “Poolco” system,in which a system operator runs a centralized auction and buys all production, and then resells it to consumers. This result implies that Cournot competition among producers yields the same outcomes for two distinct market designs. Finally, we present a numerical example to illustrate the theoretical results.
IL-15 administration to human CD4+ T cells leads to expansion of CD4+CD25− cells but to a decrease of CD4+CD25highFoxp3+T cells via apoptosis (88.44)

Objective: Adoptive transfer of CD4 + CD25 high Foxp3 + regulatory T cells (nTreg) for immune therapy will require the development of strategies to expand these cells on a clinical scale. We have shown that rapamycin promotes the survival of nTreg. IL-15 protects human T cells from apoptosis. However, effects of IL-15 on nTreg remain unknown. Methods: CD4 + CD25 + and CD4 + CD25 − T cells were sorted from PBMC of normal controls using AutoMACS. All separated T cells were expanded in the presence of anti-CD3/CD28 Abs, 1000 IU/mL IL-2 or 20 IU/mL IL-15 for 21 d. Rapamycin (1 nM) was added to half of the cultures. After 21 d sensitivity to apoptosis (AnnexV+) was determined. Regulatory function was tested by co-culture analysis with CFSE-labeled responders. Results: TCR-stimulated CD4 + CD25 − T cells were sensitive to rapamycin-induced apoptosis, whereas Treg were resistant (90±7.5% vs. 12±10.5%). IL-15 + activated CD4 + CD25 − T cells were resistant to apoptosis relative to activated CD4 + CD25 − T cells alone (2±1.5 %). In contrast, Treg + IL-15 and rapamycin became sensitive to apoptosis (98±2.5% vs. 2.8±1.7%). Rapamycin enhanced the suppressor function of Treg (p ≤ 0.001). CD4 + CD25 − T cells were not suppressive, but expanded with IL-15 + rapamycin did suppress T cell proliferation (60±15%). Conclusion: Our results indicate that proliferation and survival of Treg and T responders are mediated by different molecular pathways.
Microbial Pretreatment of Biomass

Typical pretreatment requires high-energy (steam and electricity) and corrosion-resistant, high-pressure reactors. A review of the literature suggests that fungal pretreatment could potentially lower the severity requirements of acid, temperature and time. These reductions in severity are also expected to result in less biomass degradation and consequently lower inhibitor concentrations compared to conventional thermochemical pretreatment. Furthermore, potential advantages of fungal pretreatment of agricultural residues, such as corn stover, are suggested by its effectiveness in improving the cellulose digestibility of many types of forage fiber and agricultural wastes. Our preliminary tests show a three- to five-fold improvement in enzymatic cellulose digestibility of corn stover after pretreatment with Cyathus stercoreus; and a ten- to 100-fold reduction in shear force needed to obtain the same shear rate of 3.2 to 7 rev/s, respectively, after pretreatment with Phanerochaete chrysosporium.
Do NTSB Statistics Support Current FAA Third Class Medical Policy

Third Class Medical Reform is currently being considered by the FAA and by Congress. This study analyzes past incident data gathered by the NTSB from 1982 to the present to determine if a link exists between the amount of time that has elapsed since a pilot’s medical certification and his or her likelihood of involvement in an incident or accident caused by medical incapacitation or impairment. A control population of 26,987 incidents was formed from all recorded incidents in which the pilot held a valid third class medical. This population was used to compare with a smaller population of 172 incidents for which the NTSB has determined that medical incapacitation or impairment not related to illegal drug or alcohol use was at least a factor. A Chi-Squared distribution returned a 17% probability that the two populations were identical. Incidentally, descriptive statistics of the control population show an unexpected negative linkage between recentness of medical certification and likelihood of being involved in an incident (R2 = .821). This counterintuitive finding indicates that recent third class medical certification correlates to increased pilot risk, rather than increased levels of safety.
Discrimination Matters: Relations of Perceived Discrimination to Student Mental Health.

Although instances of discrimination are increasing across US schools, little is known about the relations of discrimination to mental health outcomes across the full range of school ages or how experiences of discrimination interact with various sociodemographic characteristics. This study entailed analysis of data from approximately 60,700 respondents to the 2011–2012 National Survey of Children’s Health to explore the associations between racial/ethnic discrimination and depression, anxiety, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder for children and youth ages 6–17. Multivariate logistic regression indicated that experiencing racial discrimination was associated with significantly increased odds of having a range of mental health problems including depression, anxiety problems, and behavior disorders. Moreover, an interaction effect was observed between discrimination, race, and anxiety. No interactions were observed for variables related to age groupings. Implications for school-based mental health practitioners and researchers are discussed.
A Framework for User Characterization based on Tweets Using Machine Learning Algorithms

Twitter having more than three billion users is one of the most commercial and popular social networking sites. Twitter permits its users to post short messages and update their status. Tweets can be seen instantly by the followers of the users and other people with no twitter accounts. So by far most of the substance posted on the twitter is publicly accessible. Enormous number of political actors used twitter, who are interested in seeking extreme motives like radicalization, mobilization and recruiting activities. Twitters is used by large number of extremist organizations for press releases, public declaration and provide confirmation or motivation of their attacks. There have been several works looking at identifying extremist content based on twitter data but user identification using tweets has not been focused enough because of publication barrier and unavailability of data. In this research, a model is proposed which characterize a user into extremist and non-extremist categories. In this approach, pre-processing is done using natural language processing techniques and feature selection is performed using bag of words model. TF-IDF and word length is applied to obtain vector or feature to measure the significance of obtained vector in the whole document. We performed a methodology using classification through NB (Multinomial naive Bayes) naive Bayes on crises related tweets and Kaggle dataset related to tweets published by several Islamic State of Iraq and Sham to validate our proposed model. In this paper, a novel method is discussed for user characterization based on tweets posted by them. Evaluation results show that our suggested method gives best retrieval accuracies for word length feature extraction approach.
Phase 1 Fractional Dose-Escalation Study of Equipotent Stereotactic Radiation Therapy Regimens for Early-Stage Glottic Larynx Cancer.

Purpose Early-stage glottic larynx squamous cell carcinoma (GLC) is a relatively common disease with excellent oncologic control, but treatment is associated with acute dysphagia and long-term voice quality changes. This phase 1 study of hypofractionated radiation therapy for early-stage GLC increased the fraction size while reducing the number of fractions until 5-fraction stereotactic ablative radiation therapy (SABR) was delivered. Methods and Materials Eligible patients had received a diagnosis of stage Tis to T2 GLC. Patients who had undergone prior curative-intent surgery were excluded. The equipotent dose levels were as follows: (1) level 0, 50 Gy in 15 fractions (n = 4); (2) level 1, 45 Gy in 10 fractions (n = 13); and (3) level 2, 42.5 Gy in 5 fractions (SABR level, n = 12). Grade 3 or 4 laryngeal edema, voice, dyspnea, stridor, or cough were the predefined dose-limiting toxicities. Results Twenty-nine patients were enrolled from November 2013 to March 2017. The median and minimum follow-up times were 39.2 and 13 months, respectively. Two actively smoking patients, 1 treated in level 1 (grade 4 laryngeal edema, grade 3 dysphagia) and 1 treated in level 2 (grade 3 laryngeal necrosis, dysphagia), developed dose-limiting toxicities. The former patient soon developed a local recurrence, and the latter patient recovered. There were a total of 5 local recurrences: 2 in level 0 and 3 in level 1. The Voice Handicap Index results showed robust long-term voice quality with median values of 7 and 0 at 6 and 12 months, respectively. Conclusions Given the tolerability, excellent voice outcomes, and preliminary efficacy data of 5-fraction glottic larynx SABR, this regimen warrants further study.
“A Little More Ghetto, a Little Less Cultured”: Are There Racial Stereotypes about Interracial Daters in the United States?:

Negative stereotypes about racial minorities, particularly African Americans, persist in the United States. Given the imperviousness of racial stereotypes about minorities, can individuals who date...
Sensor Sequential Data-Stream Classification Using Deep Gated Hybrid Architecture

Sensors are the main components to supply information for resource management in a smart city. This paper studies the sensor data-stream classification problem using different time series state-of-the-art classification models. In this study, we found that the hybrid architecture of gated recurrent units and temporal fully convolutional neural network (GRU-FCN) model outperforms the existing state-of-the-art classification techniques in most of the benchmark sensor-obtained datasets. Moreover, the GRU-FCN model is simpler than the other existing gate-based recurrent classification architectures. Thus, it is an appropriate model to be implemented on small or portable hardware devices.
Rebound nystagmus, a window into the oculomotor integrator

Rebound nystagmus, a common cerebellar sign, is a transient nystagmus that appears on returning to straight-ahead gaze after prolonged eccentric gaze. The slow phases of rebound nystagmus are in the direction of prior eccentric gaze. After eccentric gaze, healthy subjects also show rebound nystagmus when fixation is removed. Rebound nystagmus is thought to be related to the function of the oculomotor neural integrator-the circuit that ensures accurate gaze holding after any eye movement-but the exact mechanism of rebound nystagmus is unknown. Here, we combine experimental data with mathematical modeling to test several hypotheses for the generation of rebound nystagmus. We show that two mechanisms contribute, one relies on vision and the other does not. Future experiments must determine if (1) the non-visual mechanism is related to eye position or to eye velocity signals and (2) whether these signals are based on afferent (proprioception) or efferent (corollary) information.
Watch Your Language! The Words We Choose Shape the Future

This issue of the journal is not for the faint of heart. Our authors collectively call for us to carefully examine the work we do in Christian higher education, particularly around issues of divers...
A closer look at the effects of restoration design on biologic function in restored estuarine wetlands: A case study in Galveston Bay, Texas

A significant amount of coastal marsh restoration work has been implemented in estuarine coastal areas in an effort to reclaim previously degraded aquatic habitats. Design approaches vary according...
Patient Report of Recurrent and Persistent Thyroid Cancer.

Background: Despite the excellent survival of most patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), recurrent and persistent disease remain major concerns for physicians and patients. However, st...
Learner-generated explanations: effects on restudying and learning from a multimedia lesson

Two experiments investigated how writing an explanation after studying a multimedia lesson influences restudy behavior (eye movements) and learning. In Experiment 1, college students who wrote a re...
Inter-rater Reliability of Sacral Ratio Measurements in Patients with Anorectal Malformations.

Abstract Background Anorectal malformations (ARMs) are a spectrum of congenital anomalies with varying prognosis for fecal continence. The sacral ratio (SR) is a measure of sacral development that has been proposed as a method to predict future fecal continence in children with ARM. The aim of this study was to quantify the inter-rater reliability (IRR) of SR calculations by radiologists at different institutions. Materials and methods x-Rays in the anteroposterior (AP) and lateral planes were reviewed by a pediatric radiologist at each of six different institutions. Subsequently, images were reviewed by a single, central radiologist. The IRR was assessed by calculating Pearson correlation coefficients and intraclass correlation coefficients from linear mixed models with patient and rater-level random intercepts. Results Imaging from 263 patients was included in the study. The mean inter-rater absolute difference in the AP SR was 0.05 (interquartile range, 0.02-0.10), and in the lateral SR was 0.16 (interquartile range, 0.06-0.25). Overall, the IRR was excellent for AP SRs (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC], 81.5%; 95% confidence interval, 75.1%-86.0%) and poor for lateral SRs (ICC, 44.0%; 95% CI, 29.5%-59.2%). For both AP and lateral SRs, ICCs were similar when examined by the type of radiograph used for calculation, severity of the ARM, presence of sacral or spinal anomalies, and age at imaging. Conclusions Across radiologists, the reliability of SR calculations was excellent for the AP plane but poor for the lateral plane. These results suggest that better standardization of lateral SR measurements is needed if they are going to be used to counsel families of children with ARM.
Who Is an Indian Child? Institutional Context, Tribal Sovereignty, and Race-Making in Fragmented States:

Despite growing interest in state race-making, we know little about how race-making plays out in the everyday practice of policy governance. To address this gap, I examine the implementation of the...
Fault Location in Active Distribution Networks Containing Distributed Energy Resources (DERs)

This paper presents a simple yet effective method for locating faults in radial distribution networks where impedance-based methods are known to have limitations, especially in the presence of inverter-based power sources (IBPS). The proposed approach utilizes the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) to capture the first arrival times of the fault-generated traveling waves. It is assumed that a digital fault recorder (DFR) exists at the terminal node of every lateral, as well as the beginning and end of the main feeder. The detailed derivation of the fault location method is presented, and illustrative fault scenarios are simulated to experimentally verify the proposed algorithm's performance under very diverse conditions. It is shown that the proposed approach performs successfully irrespective of the unknown fault impedance, inception angle, and type.