cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Response to “Comments on Fuel-Coolant Premixing Modeling”

(1989). Response to “Comments on Fuel-Coolant Premixing Modeling”. Nuclear Science and Engineering: Vol. 103, No. 1, pp. 102-103.
Abstract 92: The Protective Effect of β3-Adrenergic Signaling Occurs via Differential Phosphorylation of nNOS in Cardiac Myocytes

Objective: The aim of this study is to identify the mechanisms involved in β3-adrenoreceptor (β3-AR)-dependent cardiac protection via nNOS signaling in cardiomyocytes in the setting of hypertrophy. Background: β3-AR and its downstream signaling pathways are recognized as novel modulators of heart function. Unlike β1- and β2-ARs, β3-ARs are stimulated at high catecholamine concentrations and induce negative inotropic effects, it serves as a “brake” to protect the heart from catecholamine overstimulation. We previously showed that β3-agonism restored left ventricular function, generated nitric oxide, and suppressed reactive oxygen species in mouse myocardium after pressure overload. Interestingly, cardioprotection was lost after acute nNOS inhibition and in nNOS-/- animals. Methods: Neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes (NRVMs) were isolated from 2-4 day old Sprague-Dawley pups. Cells were treated with hypertrophic agents (angiotensin II, endothelin-1, and norepinephrine), the specific β3-AR agonist (BRL-37433),and phosphometic Sindbis viruses for nNOS. Results: Forty-eight hours of ET-1 (100nM) or 72 hours of NE (100μ M) treatment increased cell size and β3-AR mRNA expression vs. untreated cells. In hypertrophied cardiomyocytes, BRL (75nM) reduced cell size and induced NOS activity, nNOS phosphorylation at stimulatory site Ser1412, dephosphorylation of deactivation site Ser847, and ROS suppression. BRL-dependent NOS activity and ROS suppression were both attenuated by the nNOS inhibitor L-VNIO. NOS activity was also attenuated by phosphomemetic mutants Ser1412A (constitutively dephosphorylated) and Ser847D (constitutively phosphorylated). In addition, Gi/oand Akt inhibition suppressed BRL-induced nNOS-Ser1412 phosphorylation and NOS activity. Conclusion: Our data suggest that BRL regulates β3-specific myocardial NOS activity via alterations in nNOS phosphorylation in isolated hypertrophied myocytes and failing hearts of murine animals. This is the first study to demonstrate a role for nNOS phosphorylation as a key factor in cardiac myocyte and β3-AR signaling. These results contribute significantly to our understanding of the cardiac protection.
Real-time Google Glass Heads-Up Display for rapid air-traffic detection

As airspace becomes increasingly crowded, the need for next-generation traffic-advisory systems for pilots has become more crucial. To this end, a heads-up advisory display is developed within the ...
Integrating the Grey, Green, and Blue in Cities: Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Reduction

Cities are high emitters of greenhouse gases and are drivers of environmental modification, often leading to degradation and fragmentation of ecosystems at local and regional scales. Linked to these trends is a growing threat experienced by urban areas: the risk from hydro-meteorological and climatological hazards, further accentuated by climate change. Ecosystems and their services, though often overlooked or degraded, can provide multiple hazard regulating functions such as coastal and surface flood regulation, temperature regulation and erosion control. Engineering or grey approaches often do not tackle the root causes of risk and can increase the vulnerability of populations over the long-term. However, evidence of alternative approaches such as the role of healthy, functioning ecosystems in disaster risk reduction are still scarce, contentious, and with limited applicability in the urban context. This chapter explores the role of grey, green, and blue infrastructure and in particular hybrid approaches for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation to shed light on available sustainable adaptation opportunities in cities and urban areas. We highlight the dependence of cities on ecosystems as a key component of climate resilience building through case studies and literature review. At the same time, we highlight the limitation and drawbacks in the adoption of merely grey or merely green infrastructures. We suggest that an intermediate ‘hybrid’ approach, which combines both blue, green and grey approaches, may be the most effective strategy for reducing risk to hazards in the urban context.
Lymph node dissection during radical cystectomy following prior radiation therapy: results from the SEER database

Population studies of patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC) for bladder cancer (BC) suggest that a more extended lymph node dissection (LND) increases survival. However, information regarding LNDs of patients undergoing RC with a history of radiation therapy for BC is largely unknown. This study aims to define the lymph node yield (LNY) in patients undergoing RC for BC following radiation of the bladder using the surveillance epidemiology and end results (SEER) database. Data were collected using SEER 18 registries from 1988 to 2013 to identify patients undergoing RC for BC. Data on extent and yield of LND were obtained. Logistic regression and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression were done to identify predictors of adequate LND and all-cause mortality, respectively. In total, 27,451 patients were identified, of which, 27,362 (99.7%) were radiation naive and 89 (0.3%) had prior radiation therapy for BC. The average LNY in radiation naive patients (15, SD [13.5]) was slightly higher than the LNY in patients with prior radiation (12.3 SD [9.2], p = 0.157). Prior radiation was not an independent predictor of overall mortality (HR = 1.3, 95% CI [0.98–1.7]; p = 0.076). A lower proportion of patients with a history of radiation underwent a LND. The LNYs of radiation naive patients, and those with a history of radiation, were not statistically different; however, the proportion of irradiated patients was small. Further investigation will be required to elucidate the patient and provider characteristics that contribute to the similar LNYs.
Have you Heard the One about Social Work Humor

As evidenced by its infrequent appearance in professional literature, social work humor is a rare commodity. Yet it is valued by social workers for therapeutic reasons and for their own self-develo...
The Organization of Graphical, Narrative and Symbolic Interactions

In order to collaborate effectively in group discourse on a topic like mathematical patterns, group participants must organize their activities so that they have a shared understanding of the significance of their utterances, inscriptions and behaviors—adequate for sustaining productive interaction. Some methodologies applied in CSCL research—such as the widespread coding-and-counting quantitative analysis genre—systematically ignore the sequentiality of actions and thereby miss the implicit referencing, which is essential to shared understanding. The VMT Project attempts to capture and analyze the sequential organization of references and inter-relationships among whiteboard inscriptions, chat postings, mathematical expressions and other elements of virtual math team activities in order to understand the mechanisms of group cognition.
Column Design for Sorption Processes

Basic concepts, including the role of equilibrium, stoichiometric, and rate relations on the performance of fixed, monovariant sorption beds are reviewed, with emphasis on simple, idealized, linear-driving force rate models. A novel method is presented for combining film- and particle-diffusion mechanisms. The number of variables involved is reduced by combination into dimensionless groups, and the types of column performance are illustrated by generalized time-distance plots with concentration contours. A method for deriving rate constants and mechanism parameters from an ionexchange isotherm and a constant-pattern effluent-concentration history is presented. Calculation methods are classified and outlined for the axis intercepts, the noncoherent, and the coherent portions of constant and proportional-pattern concentration contours. Column design is illustrated by example.
Natural history of rheumatic heart disease in adolescents.

• Why has penicillin failed to eradicate rheumatic fever?• What is the most effective treatment for rheumatic heart disease?• What is the prognosis for a child or adolescent with mitral or aortic insufficiency or stenosis? With atrial fibrillation?
A Story of Online Construction Masters’ Project: Is an Active Online Independent Study Course Possible?

With the availability of online teaching tools, educators got the opportunity to create learning environments for students that are flexible and user-friendly. Though being exciting and intuitive, this opportunity comes with great responsibility, as students may be lost in online education without any face-to-face (FTF) contact. Engaging online students becomes even harder in an independent research study course, where students are expected to perform a high level of self-directed work. It is a challenge to promote an online independent study, as students need to be active, engaged, motivated, and prepared in the virtual environment. Additionally, the non-traditional nature of online students requires flexibility and interactive teaching methods to sustain collaborative and connected learning. The Construction Management (CM) Masters’ Project at Jefferson is an independent research study that serves as the culminating experience in the program, where students choose their own project to produce a comprehensive Project Manual with an oral defense presented at the end of the semester. This paper identifies best practices for delivering an online Masters’ Project course, which is engaged, collaborative, real world-based, and grounded in the liberal arts and sciences. The methodology will include creation of online learning models, assessing principles of online independent study development, and evaluating the new online Masters’ Project delivery model with a pilot group of students. Results will be used to create guidelines and assessment methods for faculty, who teach online independent study courses and who are willing to embrace the emerging online education phenomenon in construction.
Hepatic epigenomic changes associated with chronic oxidative stress in a mouse model of glutathione deficiency

Purpose Oxidative stress has been shown to be intimately involved in the pathogenesis of fatty liver disease (FLD). A major factor contributing to oxidative stress is the depletion of glutathione (GSH). Our previous studies in glutamate cysteine ligase modifier subunit (Gclm)-null mice demonstrate that ~85% deficiency in hepatic GSH renders mice protected from fatty liver injuries induced by varieties of hepatic insults, including alcohol exposure. It is well-known that epigenetic mechanisms play active roles in modulating gene expression and disease outcome in FLD. The purpose of the current study is to utilize the Gclm-null mouse model to examine in vivo interplay between chronic oxidative stress and DNA methylation at the epigenome level and whether these epigenetic changes are functionally involved in FLD. Methods we performed DNA methylation profiling in the liver and whole blood using the Mouse Promoter Methylation Array. Genes with CpG sites that were significantly affected by GSH deficiency were further investigated for network and functional enrichment. Results Among 22,327 gene promoter regions (from -1300bp to +500bp of the Transcription Start Sites) that were analyzed, in the liver, only 52 and 6 gene promoters were hypo- and hyper-methylated, respectively, in Gclm-null mice relative to wild-type mice, indicating an overall hypo-methylated genome associated with low GSH. Interestingly, the DNA methylation profiles in the liver and blood appeared to be comparable irrespective of the genotype, which leads to the possibility of potential circulating biomarker(s) for hepatic epigenetic fingerprints related to chronic oxidative stress. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) revealed that hypo-methylated genes in the KO liver are enriched in canonical pathways of protein phosphorylation, RNA transcription, cytoplasm organization and organismal death. Conclusion our preliminary data indicate that chronic GSH deficiency induces global DNA hypomethylation. The functional significance of observed epigenomic changes is under investigation.
Combining A4R and MCDA in priority setting for health

Multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) has been proposed as a method for determining the criteria to be used in health technology assessment. A standard criticism of MCDA is that it lacks attention to securing legitimacy for its decisions. The relevance condition of A4R has been criticized for its vagueness because it lacks a focus on criteria selection. Combining the two methods addresses the central criticisms of each and provides a way of addressing the problem of priority setting for health.
A complete workflow for utilizing Monte Carlo toolkits in clinical cases for a double-scattering proton therapy system

The methods described in this paper allow end users to utilize Monte Carlo (MC) toolkits for patient-specific dose simulation and perform analysis and plan comparisons for double-scattering proton therapy systems. The authors aim to fill two aspects of this process previously not explicitly published. The first one addresses the modeling of field-specific components in simulation space. Patient-specific compensator and aperture models are exported from treatment planning system and converted to STL format using a combination of software tools including Matlab and Autodesk's Netfabb. They are then loaded into the MC geometry for simulation purpose. The second details a method for easily visualizing and comparing simulated doses with the dose calculated from the treatment planning system. This system is established by utilizing the open source software 3D Slicer. The methodology was demonstrated with a two-field proton treatment plan on the IROC lung phantom. Profiles and two-dimensional (2D) dose planes through the target isocenter were analyzed using our in-house software tools. This present workflow and set of codes can be easily adapted by other groups for their clinical practice.
Effect of competing noise on cortical auditory evoked potentials elicited by speech sounds in 7- to 25-year-old listeners.

Abstract Child listeners have particular difficulty with speech perception when competing speech noise is present; this challenge is often attributed to their immature top-down processing abilities. The purpose of this study was to determine if the effects of competing speech noise on speech-sound processing vary with age. Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) were measured during an active speech-syllable discrimination task in 58 normal-hearing participants (age 7–25 years). Speech syllables were presented in quiet and embedded in competing speech noise (4-talker babble, +15 dB signal-to-noise ratio; SNR). While noise was expected to similarly reduce amplitude and delay latencies of N1 and P2 peaks in all listeners, it was hypothesized that effects of noise on the P3b peak would be inversely related to age due to the maturation of top-down processing abilities throughout childhood. Consistent with previous work, results showed that a +15 dB SNR reduces amplitudes and delays latencies of CAEPs for listeners of all ages, affecting speech-sound processing, delaying stimulus evaluation, and causing a reduction in behavioral speech-sound discrimination. Contrary to expectations, findings suggest that competing speech noise at a +15 dB SNR may have similar effects on various stages of speech-sound processing for listeners of all ages. Future research directions should examine how more difficult listening conditions (poorer SNRs) might affect results across ages.
Legislatures vs. Courts: Dictators and Conflicting Institutional Incentives for Treaties and Torture

How do dictators make choices about commitment to and compliance with international human rights law when domestic institutions create conflicting incentives? Dictators often commit to human rights treaties to appease their domestic opposition but with no intention of complying with their terms (Vreeland 2008). At the same time, dictators facing effective judiciaries must consider the likelihood of being held accountable domestically for violations when they commit to the international regime (Powell and Staton 2009). In this paper, we present a formal model that provides insight into how dictators balance domestic institutional incentives when deciding to commit to and comply with international human rights law. In dictatorships with ineffective domestic judiciaries, dictators have little incentive to commit to the CAT even though they can violate its terms without repercussions. In contrast, dictators facing an institutionalized opposition have incentives to commit and to torture, but commitment makes costly litigation in response to torture more likely. We argue that dictators balance these competing incentives as a function of their job security. Dictators vulnerable to turnover will be more likely to commit to the CAT in an attempt to gain the opposition’s support, though the move will give the opposition the room to dissent, making torture more likely. Effective domestic judicial institutions are unlikely to deter vulnerable dictators from committing to international human rights law and violating its terms. Conversely, secure dictators will avoid commitment to avoid litigation, though those that do commitwill torture less. We test these predictions using a dataset of 116 dictatorships from 1984 to 1996 and find support for our theory of political survival conditionality.
Predicting layer cracks in cross-laminated timber with evaluations of strategies for suppressing them

Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is made by laminating three or more timber layers with grain directions in alternate layers at right angles to each other. This structure, with its numerous wood bonds glued in cross-grained directions, develops residual stresses whenever panels are exposed to variations in temperature or moisture content. This paper analyzes how these residual stresses combined with mechanical stresses can cause CLT cracks by deriving an expression for energy released when a new crack forms within one layer. By using finite fracture mechanics concepts, where a crack forms when energy released by that crack exceeds the transverse toughness of wood, this equation can predict layer cracking under many conditions. Two specific examples given are cracking due to residual shrinkage alone and cracking due to uniaxial tension. Finite fracture mechanics and energy release calculations provide useful tools for designing durable CLT products and structures. Various options for improving CLT are considered along with needs for more analysis and experiments. Two simple changes to CLT that could greatly enhance durability are to use thinner layers and to sufficiently dry the timber before panel fabrication.
Teachers’ Perceptions of Using Health Disparities Content to Engage High School Students in Urban Communities

The objective of this study was to report on teachers' perceptions of using health disparities content to engage high school students in urban communities over the course of a summer health disparities professional development (PD) program. Teachers participated in a three-week, 80-hour summer PD, where they received content on health disparities, met with health disparities researchers, and developed project-based learning units focused on health disparities. To under-stand teachers' perceptions of integrating health disparities content in the classroom, thematic coding was used to analyze data from focus groups collected before and after summer PD for three cohorts of high school teachers in two urban school districts (2016-2018, N=22 teachers). Findings were that: 1) Teachers showed awareness of the social challenges students face, even prior to starting a summer PD on health disparities; 2) Teachers appreciated the role of community engagement and student activism as a solution to health disparities and felt that they would be able to engage students with this material; 3) Teachers needed resources, mostly in the form of community connections, to fully integrate health disparities lessons, with community engagement infused throughout. Findings suggest that teachers are prepared to integrate information about community context in their classes and could be furthered empowered to teach about health disparities with the right community connections and engagement infrastructure.
Identifying Needs for Advancing the Profession and Workforce in Environmental Health.

An ever-changing landscape for environmental health (EH) requires in-depth assessment and analysis of the current challenges and emerging issues faced by EH professionals. The Understanding the Nee...
The Supreme Court 2017–2018: Justice Kennedy, Wedding Cakes, and Immigration

The 2017–2018 Supreme Court session included rulings on professional practice issues and social justice matters. Several cases examined issues related to capital punishment and the availability of psychological services. Challenges concerning jury selection and racial bias were addressed. A narrow decision was made involving the conflict between gay rights and religious rights. Twenty-six percent of cases were decided by a 5-4 vote, and only 39% of decisions were unanimous.
Pilot Feasibility Study of a Video Intervention to Educate Patients with Breast Cancer About Clinical Trials.

The purpose of this project was to develop and test the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a video about cancer clinical trials (CCTs) developed for breast cancer patients. We developed 2 brief 7-min videos that focused on breast cancer patients describing their experiences participating in CCTs, supplemented with doctors and research staff explaining key research concepts. One video was culturally tailored to Black patients and the other to White patients. To assess feasibility study, participants and their care providers completed a survey to evaluate their satisfaction with the video. Eligibility criteria for the study included ≥ 21 years of age, English-speaking, no prior experience participating in a CCT, and being potentially eligible for breast CCT enrollment. Preliminary efficacy was evaluated with a pretest-posttest design using a single item asking about intent to enroll in a clinical trial. The mean age of the patient sample (n = 50) was 53.0 years, and 50.0% were Black. Participants reported that the video was in the right length, useful, and easy to understand. Providers’ evaluation (n = 5) revealed that viewing the video helped prepare patients for further CCT discussion. Preliminary efficacy showed no statistically significant difference in participant interest in CCT enrollment pre- and post-video. Changes in patients’ intent in enrollment were associated with age and education. Culturally adapted video interventions can be helpful in supporting both patients and providers throughout the CCT education process but additional work is needed to improve enrollment into clinical trials.
Multi-Agent Cooperative Pursuit-Defense Strategy against One Single Attacker

Multiple-player games involving cooperative and adversarial agents are a type of problems of great practical significance. In this letter, we consider an attack-defense game with a single attacker and multiple defenders. The attacker attempts to enter a protected region, while the defenders attempt to defend the same region and capture the attacker outside the region. We propose a distributed pursuit-defense strategy for the defenders' cooperative defense against the attacker. Inside a bounded, convex, two-dimensional space, the defenders choose among an area-decreasing, a distance-decreasing, or a pursuing strategy. We prove that our strategy guarantees the attacker to be captured before entering the protected region in a finite time. We also demonstrate with simulations that a human-controlled attacker is unable to enter a protected region when multiple defenders are using our pursuit-defense strategy.
Cancer-Specific Immune Prognostic Signature in Solid Tumors and Its Relation to Immune Checkpoint Therapies

To elucidate the role of immune cell infiltration as a prognostic signature in solid tumors, we analyzed immune-function-related genes from four publicly available single-cell RNA-Seq data sets and twenty bulk tumor RNA-Seq data sets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Unsupervised clustering of pan-cancer transcriptomic signature showed two major immune function types: one related to NK-, T-, and B-cell functions and the other related to monocyte, macrophage, dendritic cell, and Toll-like receptor functions. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed differential prognosis of these two groups, dependent on the cancer type. Our analysis of TCGA solid tumors with an elastic net model identified 155 genes associated with disease-free survival in different tumor types with varied influence across different cancer types. With this gene set, we computed cancer-specific prognostic immune score models for individual cancer types that predicted disease-free and overall survival. Validation of our model on available published data of immune checkpoint blockade therapies on melanoma, kidney renal cell carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer, gastric cancer and bladder cancer confirmed that cancer-specific higher immune scores are associated with response to immunotherapy. Our analysis provides a comprehensive map of cancer-specific immune-related prognostic gene sets that are associated with immunotherapy response.
Automating Utility Permitting within Highway Right-of-Way via a Generic UML/OCL Model and Natural Language Processing

AbstractEach year, thousands of new utilities are installed within the highway right-of-way (ROW) nationwide. This proliferation of utilities yields a great challenge to the traditional practice at...
How Emotional Reactions to Change Efforts Influence Perceptions of Project Outcomes? From a Change Agent Perspective

There is a consensus in the change management literature that emotions have a significant role in the workplace. It has been studied and applied across the human resource domain including recruitment and selection, training, performance management, as well as within the customer service setting. This study has the potential for expanding that application within the context of organizational change efforts. Our data show that change agents rely on three focal areas (personal commitment to the project, resonance of relationships with colleagues, and work-life balance) as they gauge their role and maneuver through the highly complex and often stress-inducing nature of change efforts. We report that as affective qualitative components (executive sponsorship, shared vision and organizational readiness) in change efforts were less prominent, change agents become more inclined to seek and engage in external activities to maintain work/life balance. Interestingly, their outlook on project outcomes was more positive, notwithstanding final evaluations by third parties. We offer insights to project leaders that will enable them to develop and encourage a positive emotional setting throughout the project lifecycle as well as project change agents so they will focus on their self-care and well-being during organizational change efforts.
Silence as absence, silence as presence: A discourse analysis of English language arts teachers’ descriptions of classroom silences

Abstract This article reports on a discourse analysis of five English language arts teachers' descriptions of classroom silences. Drawing on sociolinguistic and poststructuralist influences on discourse analysis, silence was theorized as a resource for building significance about aspects of classroom life and as an interface that connects local circumstances to social, cultural, and historical processes. Data analysis focused on teacher descriptions of silence in post-observation interviews and an excerpt from a 10th grade class discussion. Findings demonstrate how the teachers drew on two discourses of silence: silence as an absence of verbal participation and silence as a presence of dynamic interpretation. Teachers in the study used both of these discourses of silence to call forth particular aspects of their classrooms that would otherwise remain hidden to an outside observer, which is further analyzed through one teacher’s use of discourses of silence to add layers of meaning to a one-minute excerpt from a class discussion about Edgar Allan Poe's “The Masque of the Red Death.” These findings are complemented by a critical analysis of silencing in the class discussion, arguing close reading interpretive practices as applied to a canonized text contributed to the silencing of students’ backgrounds and knowledges. Implications of the study include using silence as a site of critical reflection in teacher education and theorizing silence, paradoxically, as (a) nonexistent and (b) a constant accompaniment to what is “sounded” in the classroom.
AI for Retrospective Review

This article explores the significant administrative law issues that agencies will face as they devise and implement AI-enhanced strategies to identify rules that should be subject to retrospective review. Against the backdrop of a detailed examination of HHS’s “AI for Deregulation” pilot and the very first use of AI-driven technologies in a published federal rule, the article proposes enhanced public participation and notice-and-comment processes as necessary features of AI-driven retrospective review. It challenges conventional wisdom that divides uses of AI technologies into those that “support” agency action—and therefore do not implicate the APA’s directives—and those that “determine” agency actions and thus should be subject to the full panoply of APA demands. In so doing, it takes aim at the talismanic significance of “human in the loop” that shields AI uses from disclosure and review by casting them in a merely supportive role.
A Fluid-Diffusion-Hybrid Limiting Approximation for Priority Systems with Fast and Slow Customers

The paper “Fluid-Diffusion-Hybrid (FDH) Approximation” proposes a new heavy-traffic asymptotic regime for a two-class priority system in which the high-priority customers require substantially larg...
Measurement and modeling of longwave infrared directional downwelling spectral radiance

Exploitation of longwave infrared hyperspectral imagery often requires atmospheric compensation in order to retrieve intrinsic material emissivity properties. For materials possessing subtle spectral features and those with lower emissivity, downwelling radiance plays an important role in the atmospheric compensation process. Most atmospheric compensation algorithms use an estimate of the total downwelling radiance integrated over the hemisphere. However, for tilted surfaces and non-nadir imaging scenarios, directional downwelling radiance information may be required. This work examines collection of directional downwelling radiance measurements using a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. Specifically, work is done to determine a minimum number of sky angles to measure for which the remainder of the directional sky measurements can be estimated with minimal error through the use of simple data fitting models.
Golden rule reference: Face-to-face and virtual

Reference service in all types of libraries could be improved if librarians actively adopted the mindset of the Golden Rule. The Rule is expressed in some form in many world religions and instructs us to treat others how we would like to be treated. This approach has applicability not only in face-to-face reference transactions, but also in virtual reference. The empathetic reference librarian should be alert to both verbal and non-verbal clues that can indicate how a patron would like to be treated.
Hybrid electro-optical solutions for high-speed connectivity (invited)

Integrated optics can provide low-loss broadband optical delay much more readily than electronics. On the other hand, electronic integrated circuits offer unparalleled levels of signal gain and signal processing on a single die. The hybrid electro-optical solutions benefiting from best of both domains can provide significant improvements overs solutions solely in one domain. In this paper, we present two examples of such hybrid electro-optical solutions.
Hepatitis B Virus

The clinical, epidemiological, pathological, and immunological attributes of viral hepatitides share many clinical features despite their remarkably different etiologies, which include multiple unrelated hepatitis viruses, viz. HAV, HBV, HCV, HDV, HEV, and perhaps HGV. This group of viral agents has a dichotomous mode of epidemiological transmission, viz., enteric for HAV and HEV, which does not establish persistent infection, and parenteral for HBV, HCV, HDV, and HGV, which tend to establish persistent infection or chronic carrier state. The etiology of acute or chronic liver disease caused by these diverse agents cannot be established on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms, or abnormal liver function tests, for example, elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Since Blumberg’s Nobel Prizewinning discovery of Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg, originally termed Australia antigen) in 1965, enzyme immunoassays (EIA) for the immunological markers of viral hepatitides in serum have remained the mainstay of laboratory diagnosis. The cloning of HBV DNA and complete nucleotide sequencing of the cloned DNA in 1979 opened new approaches to understanding the biology of HBV as a blood-borne pathogen that has not been propagated in cultures. Amplification of viral DNA by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), another Nobel Prize-winning discovery, has enabled us to most sensitively and directly detect HBV DNA in serum, cells, and tissues
Selective elements for the V beta region of the T cell receptor: Mls and the bacterial toxic mitogens.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on Mls and the bacterial toxic mitogens. The mouse expresses products of several genes mapping to different chromosomes whose effect is to influence the expressed repertoire of T cell receptors solely in terms of the Vβ gene segment utilized in the receptor. Allelic polymorphisms of some of these genes can directly stimulate T cell proliferative responses and they are known as “minor lymphocyte stimulating ( Mls ) genes.” These structures are called “Vβ selective elements,” or Vbse. Although much is known about Vbse, the crucial questions in this field remain to be answered. The determination of responsiveness by Vβ gene segment usage readily explained the very high precursor frequency of responding T cells, because 5–15% of normal T cells can express receptors encoded by a single Vβ gene segment. The chapter broadens the consideration of Mls to include two other sets of molecules with similar functional effects. The first are bacterial proteins that mimic all of the properties of Mls, the staphylococcal enterotoxins and their relatives. The second are products of genes that produce some but not all of the effects of Mls in the mouse.
Predator-Induced Defenses in Five Species of Larval Ambystoma

While predator-induced plasticity has been demonstrated in a wide range of organisms, relatively few data exist to compare differences among species. In studies of predator-induced plasticity in amphibians, larval anurans have been widely examined, but there are fewer data for larval salamanders. We sought to examine morphological and behavioral defenses in larvae of five species of Ambystoma salamanders. We raised five species of larval mole salamanders (A. barbouri, A. gracile, A. laterale, A. maculatum, A. tigrinum) in separate lab experiments and exposed them to predator cues from larval dragonflies (Anax junius). Salamanders did not vary in their refuge use during the experiment, but A. gracile, A. laterale, and A. tigrinum reduced their activity in the presence of predators early in development. Dragonfly cues induced relatively few morphological changes across species: A. barbouri developed relatively large heads and deep tails, A. gracile and A. laterale developed relatively shorter heads, and A. ...
Quantum stabilizer codes and beyond

The importance of quantum error correction in paving the way to build a practical quantum computer is no longer in doubt. Despite the large body of literature in quantum coding theory, many important questions, especially those centering on the issue of “good codes” are unresolved. In this dissertation the dominant underlying theme is that of constructing good quantum codes. It approaches this problem from three rather different but not exclusive strategies. Broadly, its contribution to the theory of quantum error correction is threefold. Firstly, it extends the framework of an important class of quantum codes - nonbinary stabilizer codes. It clarifies the connections of stabilizer codes to classical codes over quadratic extension fields, provides many new constructions of quantum codes, and develops further the theory of optimal quantum codes and punctured quantum codes. In particular it provides many explicit constructions of stabilizer codes, most notably it simplifies the criteria by which quantum BCH codes can be constructed from classical codes. Secondly, it contributes to the theory of operator quantum error correcting codes also called as subsystem codes. These codes are expected to have efficient error recovery schemes than stabilizer codes. Prior to our work however, systematic methods to construct these codes were few and it was not clear how to fairly compare them with other classes of quantum codes. This dissertation develops a framework for study and analysis of subsystem codes using character theoretic methods. In particular, this work established a close link between subsystem codes and classical codes and it became clear that the subsystem codes can be constructed from arbitrary classical codes. Thirdly, it seeks to exploit the knowledge of noise to design efficient quantum codes and considers more realistic channels than the commonly studied depolarizing channel. It gives systematic constructions of asymmetric quantum stabilizer codes that exploit the asymmetry of errors in certain quantum channels. This approach is based on a Calderbank-Shor-Steane construction that combines BCH and finite geometry LDPC codes.
Gene Therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Introduction: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a relatively common inherited disorder caused by defective expression of the protein dystrophin. The most direct approach to treating this disease would be to restore dystrophin production in muscle. Recent progress has greatly increased the prospects for successful gene therapy of DMD, and here we summarize the most promising developments.Areas covered: Gene transfer using vectors derived from adeno-associated virus (AAV) has emerged as a promising method to restore dystrophin production in muscles bodywide, and represents a treatment option applicable to all DMD patients. Using information gleaned from PubMed searches of the literature, attendance at scientific conferences and results from our own lab, we provide an overview of the potential for gene therapy of DMD using AAV vectors including a summary of promising developments and issues that need to be resolved prior to large-scale therapeutic implementation.Expert opinion: Of the many approaches bein...
The subcutaneous spleen: a new model for percutaneous access to the portal venous system

Correction of hepatic failure or metabolic disease by hepatocellular transplantation may require replacement of up to 10% of enzyme function with normal or genetically corrected cells. Although single injections of hepatocytes have not been able to consistently achieve this level of functional replacement in experimental models, multiple injections should theoretically be able to approach this goal. Delivery of multiple doses of hepatocytes to the spleen in experimental animals is complicated by the need to perform multiple laparotomies. By relocating the spleen to a subcutaneous position, the authors have designed an animal model to facilitate multiple splenic injections without the need for repeated celiotomies. Because it is in the prefascial plane, multiple hepatocyte injections can be delivered to the spleen percutaneously using only minimal sedation. Bleeding secondary to needle puncture is contained by a pseudocapsule which develops around the spleen. No statistical difference in the degree of hepatocyte migration to the liver has been demonstrated in animals transplanted via the subcutaneous spleen compared with animals transplanted by laparotomy (0.51% vs. 0.56%, p = .785).
Large p ⊥ lepton production and the ψ(3100)

Abstract We determine the invariant cross section E d σ d 3 p(s,x ‖ ,pp ⊥ ) for pp→ψ(3100)+X near x‖=0 at NAL and ISR energies using the assumption that all large p⊥ single leptons originate from the ψ. We adequately reproduce the single lepton data, and by suitable extrapolarion in x‖ ensure agreement with the NAL ψ production data (x‖≳0.3). The magnitude of the resulting ψ production cross section is, however, roughly a factor of 3 larger than that observed by the recent CCRS-ISR experiment.
RFID sensor networks with the Intel WISP

We demonstrate a simple RFID sensor network comprised of an Intel WISP and a commodity UHF RFID reader. WISPs are devices that gather their operating energy from RFID reader transmissions, in the manner of passive RFID tags, and further include sensors, e.g., accelerometers, and provide a very small-scale computing platform. We believe that the small form factor and lack of battery makes the WISP an attractive alternative to motes for many of the original smart dust applications that require very small or long-lived sensors. The Intel WISP that we demonstrate has an ultra-low-power microcontroller, 32K of program space, 8K of flash, and accelerometer and temperature sensors. It harvests power from and communicates sensor data to standard (EPC Class 1 Gen 2) UHF RFID readers with a range of roughly 10 feet. This combination of RFID technology and sensor networks raises many research challenges, such as how to function with intermittent power and how to modify RFID protocols to support sensor queries.
The Importance of Travel Companionship and We-Intentions at Tourism Service Encounters

This study examined how visitors’ interactions with their companion(s) affect satisfaction and, in turn, revisit intentions. Revisit intentions were defined as “we-intentions” to revisit, as people usually travel in groups. This study further sought to test the more prevalent model by comparing a We-Intentions Model with We-Satisfaction and We-Intentions to revisit concepts and an I-Intentions Model with I-Satisfaction and I-Intentions to revisit concepts. An empirical study involving 348 agrivisitors supports not only hypothetical relationship among agrivisitors’ interactions with their companions, We-Satisfaction, and We-Intentions but also better performance of the We-Intention Model than the I-Intention Model.
The Tandem BRCT Domain of 53BP1 Is Not Required for Its Repair Function

53BP1 plays an important role in cellular response to DNA damage. It is thought to be the mammalian homologue of budding yeast Rad9 and/or fission yeast Crb2. Rad9/Crb2 are bona fide checkpoint proteins whose activation requires their corresponding C-terminal tandem BRCT (BRCA1 C-terminal) motifs, which mediate their oligomerization and phosphorylation at multiple sites following DNA damage. Here we show that the function of human 53BP1 similarly depends on its oligomerization and phosphorylation at multiple sites but in a BRCT domain-independent manner. Moreover, unlike its proposed yeast counterparts, human 53BP1 only has limited checkpoint functions but rather acts as an adaptor in the repair of DNA double strand breaks. This difference in function may reflect the higher complexity of the DNA damage response network in metazoa including the evolution of other BRCT domain-containing proteins that may have functions redundant or overlapping with those of 53BP1.
Surface effects on in-plane buckling of nanowires on elastomeric substrates

Buckling of nanowires on elastomeric substrates shows enhanced stretchability for these materials, and can foster stretchable form of nanoelectronics and nanosystems. Since surface effects can have strong influence on the mechanical behaviour of nanowires, a theoretical model is established to study the surface effects on in-plane buckling of nanowires on elastomeric substrates. The buckling wavelength, amplitude and critical buckling strain are obtained analytically in terms of surface elasticity, residual surface tension, bending and tension stiffness of the nanowire and the elastic modulus of the substrate. The results show that the buckling wavelength is only dependent on the surface elasticity, while both surface elasticity and residual surface tension can have significant effects on the buckling amplitude and critical buckling strain.
Aristostomias scintillans (Malacosteidae): A deep-sea fish with visual pigments apparently adapted to its own bioluminescence

Abstract Extracts of visual pigments in digitonin were prepared from the bioluminescent deep-sea fish,Aristostomias scintillans (Gilbert, 1915) (family Malacosteidae, suborder Stomiatoidei, order Salmoniformes). Partial bleaching analysis in the presence of hydroxylamine revealed the presence of two photo-pigments having absorbance maxima at 551 and 526 nm, respectively. These pigments appear to be especially adapted for perceiving the red and green luminescence emitted byA. scintillans. No photopigment with high sensitivity in the red has previously been extracted from a deep-sea animal. The chromophore of the 526 nm pigment is retinal but that of the 551 nm pigment is probably 3-dehydroretinal.
Effects of thermal fluctuations on giant dipole resonances in hot rotating nuclei

Abstract We present a macroscopic approach to giant dipole resonance (GDR) in highly excited nuclei, using a unified description of quadrupole shape thermal fluctuations. With only two free parameters, which are fixed by the zero-temperature nuclear properties, the-model reproduces well experimental GDR cross sections in the 100 ≤ A ≤ 170 mass range for both spherical and deformed nuclei. We also investigate the cross-section systematics as a function of both temperature and angular velocity and the sensitivity of the GDR peak to the nuclear shape. We conclude that at low temperatures (T ≈ 1 MeVfs) the GDR cross section is sensitive to changes in the nuclear energy surface. Higher-temperature (T ≳ 2 MeV) cross sections are dominated by large fluctuations (triaxial in particular) and are much less sensitive to the equilibrium shape.
Hybrid evolutionary motion planning using follow boundary repair for mobile robots

This paper presents a hybrid evolutionary motion planning simulation system for mobile robots operating in unstructured environments. We have designed a new obstacle representation method named cross-line, a follow boundary repair approach, and a hybrid evolutionary motion planning algorithm. A high-level navigator uses the approach and algorithms to implement mobile robot motion planning in various environments. An interactive graphical user interface is developed and the DLL technique is used to implement this system. A group of experiments was conducted. The results demonstrate that this system has high performance, effectiveness and flexibility.