cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Photoluminescent detection of dissolved underwater trace explosives.

A portable, rapid, and economical method for in situ trace explosive detection in aqueous solutions was demonstrated using photoluminescence. Using europium/thenoyltrifluoroacetone as the reagent, dissolved nitroglycerin was fluorescently tagged and detected in seawater solutions without sample preparation, drying, or preconcentration. The chemical method was developed in a laboratory setting and demonstrated in a flow-through configuration using lightweight, inexpensive, commercial components by directly injecting the reagents into a continually flowing seawater stream using a small amount of organic solvent (approximately 8% of the total solution). Europium's vulnerability to vibrational fluorescence quenching by water provided the mode of detection. Without nitroglycerin in the seawater solution, the reagent's fluorescence was quenched, but when dissolved nitroglycerin was present, it displaced the water molecules from the europium/thenoyltrifluoroacetone compound and restored fluorescence. This effort focused on developing a seawater sensor, but performance comparisons were made to freshwater. The method was found to perform better in freshwater and it was shown that certain seawater constituents (such as calcium) have an adverse impact. However, the concentrations of these constituents are not expected to vary significantly from the natural seawater used herein.
The utriculo-endolymphatic valve: its functional significance

A study was made of the anatomical structure and functional significance of the ultriculo-endolymphatic (UE) valve in man. The material consists of 170 human temporal bones of which 75 were chosen to show normal structure through nine decades of life, 29 with endolymphatic hydrops, 22 with developmental defects and 44 with pertinent staining characteristics of the endolymphatic fluid. The studies show that the UE valve is ideally suited to preserve the humoral and anatomical features of the pars superior (utricle and canals) from the developmental, disease, and traumatic susceptibilities of the pars inferior (cochlear duct and saccule). Its function probably is to permit the occasional egress of excessive accumulation of endolymph to be processed in the endolymphatic sac and to accomplish this while preserving the normal endolymph volume and membrane anatomy of the utricle and canals.
Benzyne derived from aryloxazolines. A versatile intermediate.

Abstract The benzyne derived from m-chlorophenyl oxazoline adds nucleopiles regiospecifically producing m-substituted products. Electrophiles are also trapped furnishing 1,2,3-trisubstituted benzenes.
Caffeine inhibits cell plate formation by disrupting membrane reorganization just after the vesicle fusion step

We have re-examined the effects of caffeine on cell plate formation in synchronized tobacco BY-2 cells by means of cryofixation, immunocytochemistry, and calcium staining techniques. Because cryofixation preserves structural intermediates of cell plates that are not seen in chemically fixed cells, this methodology has enabled us to define not only when caffeine acts but also which assembly steps are inhibited. Caffeine acts at an early stage of cytokinesis, just after the Golgi-derived vesicles have arrived at the cell equator and begun to fuse with each other via thin (20 nm) membrane tubules. This initial round of fusions produces a delicate membrane network which in control cells is rapidly converted in a more substantial tubulo-vesicular network covered by a thick, fuzzy coat on its cytoplasmic surface. Caffeine disrupts the conversion of the fragile, thin, fusion tube-generated membrane network into the more stable tubulo-vesicular network, the assembly of its fuzzy coat, and the budding of clathrin-coated vesicles from its surface. Normally, the tubulo-vesicular network also provides the structural framework for calcium-dependent callose synthases that deposit a callose layer over the lumenal surface of the cell plate membranes. In the presence of caffeine, no stabilizing callose layer is formed, and the thin tubule membrane network fragments into vesicles of variable sizes. Cell plates in caffeine-treated cells stained with chlortetracycline, a fluorescent stain of membrane-associated calcium, also display a significant reduction in fluorescence at the cell plate, suggesting a major decrease in cell plate membrane-associated calcium. However, this latter finding needs to be confirmed by more sophisticated calcium measuring techniques. Current theories of the mechanism of action of caffeine, including its ability to disrupt local calcium gradients, are discussed within the new ultrastructural context that this study provides. Our findings, finally, suggest a new method for isolating just fused but not further matured cell plate forming vesicles for biochemical studies.
Building expertise in high technology: new dynamics of R&D funding at U.S. research universities

This paper is a first cut at a larger research proposal to examine the likely effects of the predicted decline in the federal funding of university research and the growing share of the "research funding pie" that is composed of industry-supported R&D. This research is part of a larger post-doctoral project that focuses on the diffusion of cooperative R&D as a strategic business model in the electronics sector. In particular, this analysis centers on the impact of the increasing reliance of US universities on industry-financed joint research. Given the enormous pressures on the federal budget-most of which will be borne by discretionary spending-and the efforts of research universities to bring in an increasing amount of research funding from industry sources, it is not far-fetched to assume that the forces driving university hiring, retention, curriculum, student recruitment and job placement rates will be dramatically affected by these changes. This analysis considers some of the trends in R&D spending, by source, for the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and explores a few of the implications for the ability of these universities to fulfill their traditional missions.
Experiences with the Active Collections Framework

With increased intra- and inter-enterprise collaboration, consistent near-real-time sharing of operational enterprise data is a major problem faced by large enterprises. Shareable enterprise data is typically stored in persistent data stores such as relational database systems, and enterprise-wide applications continually create, retrieve, update, or delete this data. The Active Collections Framework (ACF) was developed as a simple yet effective approach to address this problem by unifying application access to both enterprise data and subsequent data changes through the Active Collection concept. This paper describes practical experiences with ACF to illustrate its strengths and weaknesses in building distributed enterprise applications.
Effectiveness in sales interactions: A contingency framework.

A new approach for research on effectiveness in sales interactions is proposed. This approach is based on considering the moderating effect of the salesperson's resources, the customer's buying tas...
Method using Modified Chord Algorithm to Balance Pool Element Ownership among Registrars in a Reliable Server Pooling Architecture

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) reliable server pooling (RSerPool) group provides a protocol framework that supports server redundancy and session failover providing fault tolerance. The RSerPool protocol framework allows a pool of redundant information sources to be viewed as a single transport end point and is thereby able to provide persistent connections for end users. A performance evaluation of the RSerPool protocols show that early arriving registrars are disproportionately loaded as compared to late arriving registrars. This results in an unbalanced load across registrars and leads to performance degradation of the overall reliable server pooling system. In this paper, we propose a methodology based on the chord algorithm for balancing the load across all registrars. A performance evaluation is carried out to showcase the effectiveness of the algorithm.
Space-efficient multi-versioning for input-adaptive feedback-driven program optimizations

Function versioning is an approach to addressing input-sensitivity of program optimizations. A major side effect of it is notable code size increase, which has been hindering its broad applications to large code bases and space-stringent environments. In this paper, we initiate a systematic exploration into the problem, providing answers to some fundamental questions: Given a space constraint, to which function we should apply versioning? How many versions of a function should we include in the final executable? Is the optimal selection feasible to do in polynomial time? This study proves selecting the best set of versions under a space constraint is NP-complete and proposes a heuristic algorithm named CHoGS which yields near optimal results in quadratic time. We implement the algorithm and conduct experiments through the IBM XL compilers. We observe significant performance enhancement with only slight code size increase; the results from CHoGS show factors of higher space efficiency than those from traditional hotness-based methods.
Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in U.S. Incarceration:

Although growth in the U.S. prison population over the past twenty-five years has been widely discussed, few studies examine changes in inequality in imprisonment. We study penal inequality by estimating lifetime risks of imprisonment for black and white men at different levels of education. Combining administrative, survey, and census data, we estimate that among men born between 1965 and 1969, 3 percent of whites and 20 percent of blacks had served time in prison by their early thirties. The risks of incarceration are highly stratified by education. Among black men born during this period, 30 percent of those without college education and nearly 60 percent of high school dropouts went to prison by 1999. The novel pervasiveness of imprisonment indicates the emergence of incarceration as a new stage in the life course of young low-skill black men.
Combined effects of termiticides and mechanical stress on chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) pipe.

BACKGROUND: CPVC pipe failures have recently been reported beneath structures as a result of termiticide soil treatments. To determine whether these CPVC failures were actually caused by termiticides, CPVC tubes were filled with 50 mL of either termiticide concentrate, dilutions or treated builder's sand and sealed. Mechanical stress was added to these sealed tubes by hanging bricks from their ends. RESULTS: As concentrates, eight of nine emulsifiable concentrates tested caused failure within 8 weeks. None of the three suspensible concentrates tested caused failure over this period. Dilution of emulsifiable concentrates caused progressively fewer CPVC tube failures. No treated soils caused tube failures. Excessive CPVC glue applications in combination with chlorpyrifos 440 g kg−1 EC (Dursban™ TC) degraded the CPVC. All volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in the termiticide formulations caused CPVC tube failure within 1 week as pure chemicals. The VOC 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene caused CPVC tube failure within minutes of exposure. This VOC was found in all termiticides that caused failures as concentrates. CONCLUSION: It is highly improbable that a properly conducted preconstruction soil treatment, where termiticide is completely adsorbed to the soil, would be solely responsible for CPVC pipe failure. Manufacturers should consider removing 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene from termiticide formulations to minimize the risk of CPVC pipe failure. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry
Phage Typing Reactions on Brucella Species

The nature of the phage typing reactions on Brucella species was determined by rates of adsorption and infection, one-step growth experiments, and susceptibility to lysis from without. The highest rates of adsorption and infection were obtained on smooth B. abortus cultures, and large clear plaques were produced. One or a few phage particles per B. neotomae cell killed about one-half of the cells, but some went through an infective cycle and released mature phage that resulted in production of small clear plaques. With B. suis, more phage particles per cell were required to kill, replication did not occur, and plaques were not observed. Still greater numbers of phage particles were required to cause some inhibition of growth of B. melitensis lawns. Rough Brucella cultures and species, such as B. ovis and B. canis, were not affected by the highest concentrations of phage. B. abortus cultures of intermediate colonial morphology adsorbed phage, but only a few infected cells (after a delayed latent period) released mature phage. An infected culture or colony appeared normal until spontaneous phage mutants appeared which could penetrate the cell wall more effectively than the parent phage. The mutant phage multiplied more rapidly, and the colony changed to a sticky white form.
The Rise of the Public Authority: Statebuilding and Economic Development in Twentieth-Century America. By Gail Radford. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2013. Pp. 213. $27.50.)

How large is the public sector in the United States? Many economists measure its size by looking at tax revenues as a percentage of GDP. But as the author points out in this new study, a great many...
Within the fortress: A specialized parasite of ants is not evicted

Every level of biological organization from cells to societies require that composing units come together to form parts of a bigger unit (1). Our knowledge of how behavioral manipulating parasites change social interactions between social hosts is limited. Here we use an endoparasite to observe changes in social interactions between infected and healthy ants, using trophallaxis (liquid food exchange) and spatial data as proxies for food sharing and social segregation. We found no change in trophallaxis (p-value=0.5156). By using K-function and nearest neighbor analyses we did see a significant difference in spatial segregation on day 3 (less than 8 millimeters; p-value<0.05). These results suggest healthy individuals are unable to detect the parasite within the host.
IMMUNOCHEMICAL DETECTION OF FECAL OCCULT BLOOD

An immunochemical test for fecal occult blood has been evaluated. It has been found to be specific for human hemoglobin and to be reproducible, accurate and four times more sensitive than chemical occult blood tests. Storage of prepared slides at -20 degrees C prevented reduction in sensitivity. To determine the effect of blood from the upper gastrointestinal tract, six volunteers ingested 100 ml of their own blood. Positive chemical, but no positive immunochemical tests were produced. In 20 healthy subjects, challenge with red meat and vegetables with high peroxidase content increased the positivity rate of chemical tests but had no effect on the positivity rate of the immunochemical test. The immunochemical method for fecal occult blood has advantages over chemical testing in that it is specific for human blood and for lower gut bleeding. Its increased sensitivity should result in a high detection rate of colorectal neoplastic lesions. However, this same increased sensitivity may also reduce its effectiveness in bowel cancer screening because of positive results in patients with trivial blood loss from non-neoplastic colonic sources.
Detection of contradictions in a semantic neural network

Connectionism is one of several models that explain how the brain might encode information. It implies that any cognizable entity and concept could be represented by a node. Central to the brain's function is the concept of 'contradiction', which enables the brain to evaluate new concepts against recorded ones. This article deals with representing 'contradiction' in a semantic neural network. Three kinds of contradictions and ways of representing and detecting them are described. The model suggests that temporal encoding might be an important mechanism in detecting contradictions by the brain.
BROKEN SYMMETRY AND JOSEPHSON-LIKE TUNNELLING IN QUANTUM HALL BILAYERS

I review recent novel experimental and theoretical advances in the physics of quantum Hall effect bilayers. Of particular interest is a broken symmetry state which optimises correlations by putting the electrons into a coherent superposition of the two different layers.
Strategies and barriers in facilitating natural supports for employment of adults with severe disabilities.

The concept of facilitating natural supports as a resource for obtaining and maintaining employment has received considerable attention, and a number of strategies for facilitating natural supports...
In-Plane Shielding for CT: Effect of Off-Centering, Automatic Exposure Control and Shield-to-Surface Distance

Objective: To assess effects of off-centering, automatic exposure control, and padding on attenuation values, noise, and radiation dose when using in-plane bismuth-based shields for CT scanning. Materials and Methods: A 30 cm anthropomorphic chest phantom was scanned on a 64-multidetector CT, with the center of the phantom aligned to the gantry isocenter. Scanning was repeated after placing a bismuth breast shield on the anterior surface with no gap and with 1, 2, and 6 cm of padding between the shield and the phantom surface. The “shielded” phantom was also scanned with combined modulation and off-centering of the phantom at 2 cm, 4 cm and 6 cm below the gantry isocenter. CT numbers, noise, and surface radiation dose were measured. The data were analyzed using an analysis of variance.
Left atrial appendage filling defects identified by multidetector computed tomography in patients undergoing radiofrequency pulmonary vein antral isolation: a comparison with transesophageal echocardiography.

Background Patients referred for radiofrequency pulmonary vein antral isolation undergo contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) to assess pulmonary vein and left atrial anatomy as well as transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) to detect intraatrial thrombus. We sought to determine the accuracy of MDCT to qualitatively and quantitatively detect severe spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) or thrombus by TEE in the left atrial appendage (LAA). Methods Two hundred twenty-three consecutive MDCT and TEE studies performed within 7 days of each other were retrospectively identified. The LAA was evaluated by MDCT for filling defects and by TEE for thrombus or SEC. Severe SEC or thrombus on TEE was considered positive. In patients with preserved ejection fraction, the Hounsfield unit (HU) density of a 1-cm 2 region of interest was measured in the LAA and ascending aorta (AA) of the same slice to calculate an LAA/AA HU ratio. Results Visually identified filling defects in LAA by MDCT correspond to severe SEC and thrombus with a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of 93%, 85%, 31%, and 99%, respectively. Multidetector CT missed severe SEC detected by TEE in one examination; all thrombi, however, were correctly identified. There is a significant inverse association between mean LAA/AA HU ratios with increasing grades of SEC or thrombus ( P Conclusions Multidetector CT can qualitatively and quantitatively identify and distinguish severe LAA SEC/thrombus from lesser grades of SEC.
RESPIRATORY PATTERNS IN NEWBORN INFANTS AS DETERMINED BY AIRFLOW AND PNEUMOGRAPHIC STUDIES AND THEIR POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP TO A DEFICIENT VAGAL MECHANISM

Pneumographic tracings of the movements of the upper chest, lower chest and abdomen have been recorded individually and simultaneously with the velocity of air flow by means of electronic equipment in 70 newborn infants. A total of 114 recordings were made on infants from zero to 49 days of age and with birth weights of 1000 gm. or more. Most infants during the first 24 hours after birth had a respiratory pattern in which the inspiratory and expiratory movements of the upper chest, lower chest and abdomen were parallel and tended to be synchronous. In a few infants at birth and in most older infants this respiratory pattern was modified. The modification consisted in the lower chest tending to move in a direction opposite to that of the abdomen and upper chest. The theory has been advanced that diaphragmatic breathing, which is so characterisitc of older infants, is not completely established at birth except in a few infants who perhaps are more mature. In the more mature infant, contraction of the diaphragm probably exerts a pull on the lower chest, causing its indrawing during inspiration. It has been suggested that inability to develop adequate diaphragmatic contractions may be an important factor in the many neonatal deaths that occur in the first few days of life. It has been pointed out that the newborn infant may have a poorly developed vagal mechanism and that this may be one of the factors causing diaphragmatic activity to be inadequate. Observations on three infants who died during the first 48 hours of life are reported which tend to support the theory that vagal deficiency is a possible cause of inadequate diaphragmatic activity, pulmonary hyaline membranes and neonatal death.
Optimal Price and Product Quality Decisions in a Distribution Channel

This paper studies a joint pricing and product quality decision problem in a distribution channel, in which a manufacturer sells a product through a retailer. The manufacturer jointly determines the wholesale price and quality of the product, and the retailer determines the retail price. We find that if the marginal revenue function is strictly concave, then the manufacturer chooses a lower product quality level than if selling the product directly to customers. If the marginal revenue function is affine, then the manufacturer's optimal product quality decision is independent of the distribution channel structure. If the marginal revenue function is strictly convex, then the manufacturer chooses a higher product quality level than if selling the product directly to customers.
Strain Evolution of Highly Asymmetric Polycrystalline Ferroelectric Ceramics via a Self-Consistent Model and In Situ X-Ray Diffraction

Strain and texture evolution (domain switching) of polycrystalline, ferroelectric BaTiO3 was investigated in four-point bending geometry. Lattice strains were measured by in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction to address problems related to modeling the constitutive behavior of highly asymmetric ferroelectrics. The hkl-dependent strain measured by X-ray diffraction was found to be smaller relative to both bulk strain measured by conventional, contact-based techniques and elastically computed strain, and reasons for this inconsistency are discussed. A self-consistent model with capabilities of quantifying domain switching and estimating hkl-dependent strain is applied to allow a direct comparison with diffraction data.
The relevance of information science to library‐school curricula

It is suggested that the point-of-view and research findings of information science and technology have a great deal of relevance to library school curricula. To produce up-to-date library school graduates it is not enough to append courses to existing curricula. A more imaginative and more fundamental approach is needed to integrate the fundamental concepts of information science into the entire curriculum.
Biometrics and Statistical Science at Cornell

Statistics at Cornell is organized in a distributed model with several groups of statisticians distributed in various departments across the campus. This document mostly focuses on one of these, the Biometrics Unit, but key figures that influenced the discipline in other Cornell statistics groups are also discussed.
Neuropeptide regulation of human dermal microvascular endothelial cell ICAM-1 expression and function

There is increasing evidence that sensory nerves may participate in cutaneous inflammatory responses by the release of neuropeptides such as substance P (SP). We examined the direct effect of SP on...
Does the preoptic anterior hypothalamus receive thermoafferent information

The preoptic anterior hypothalamus (POAH) is considered the thermointegrative center of the mammalian brain. Studies on anesthetized and unanesthetized animals have demonstrated neurons in the POAH...
Developmental Differences in Functioning in Youth With Social Phobia

Social phobia (SoP) in youth may manifest differently across development as parent involvement in their social lives changes and social and academic expectations increase. This cross-sectional study investigated whether self-reported and parent-reported functioning in youth with SoP changes with age in social, academic, and home/family domains. Baseline anxiety impairment data from 488 treatment-seeking anxiety-disordered youth (ages 7-17, N = 400 with a SoP diagnosis) and their parents were gathered using the Child Anxiety Impact Scale and were analyzed using generalized estimating equations. According to youth with SoP and their parents, overall difficulties, social difficulties, and academic difficulties increased with age, even when controlling for SoP severity. These effects significantly differed for youth with anxiety disorders other than SoP. Adolescents may avoid social situations as parental involvement in their social lives decreases, and their withdrawn behavior may result in increasing difficulty in the social domain. Their avoidance of class participation and oral presentations may increasingly impact their academic performance as school becomes more demanding. Implications are discussed for the early detection and intervention of SoP to prevent increased impairment over the course of development.
Occurrence of Adenovirus-SV40 Hybrids Among Monkey Kidney Cell Adapted Strains of Adenovirus.

SummaryThe strains of adenovirus types 1 through 5 adapted to rhesus monkey kidney cultures for use in vaccines became contaminated with SV40 virus and formed hybrids, carrying SV40 genetic material in adenovirus capsids in a manner similar to that seen in Ad. 7 strain LLE46. The ability of the strains studied here to propagate in monkey cells (with the possible exception of type 5) is dependent on the SV40 genetic material and is not due to emergence of monkey-adapted adenovirus mutants.
The Effect Observation of Improved Nasogastric Tube Placement

Objective To reduce the nasogastric tube into the process of patient discomfort and improve the success rate of disposable cathetersand guide clinical work.MethodsThe general urgery patient in need of a nasogastric tube into nto theconscious adult patients were randomly divided into two groups,A group for the conventional method,B group modified tube method,the patient's symptoms were observed,one-time set success rate and patients pipe tube operations of acceptance.ResultsBoth patients uncomfortable symptoms,the success rate of onetube and the patient acceptance of tube operation,there were significant(P0.05).ConclusionThe modified method can reduce the catheter tube in the process of patient discomfort and improve the success rate of one-timecatheterization,in which patients easily accept.
Joint separation and demodulation algorithm for paired carrier multiple access signals

The existing processing algorithms for paired carrier multiple access(PCMA) signals need to separate the mixed signals before demodulation whose performance is degraded dramatically by the separation error.To overcome this problem,a new algorithm based on tentative decision maximum likelihood sequence estimation(TD-MLSE) and per-survivor processing maximum likelihood sequence estimation(PSP-MLSE) was proposed.The proposed algorithm,which executes separation and demodulation together,estimates the transmitted sequence of the other side from the mixed signals directly.Numeric results show that the algorithm exhibits good acquisition and tracking capacities for unknown time-varying channel and has excellent symbol error rate performance when 2-oversampling is adopted.In small frequency offset situation TD-MLSE is a better choice for its low complexity while in large frequency offset situation PSP-MLSE is more appropriate for its good tracking property.
Regulation of intestinal cholecystokinin and somatostatin mRNA by bombesin in rats.

The neuropeptide bombesin has been shown to stimulate secretion of several gastrointestinal hormones, including cholecystokinin (CCK). We have previously demonstrated that stimulation of CCK release by feeding is associated with an increase in steady-state intestinal CCK mRNA levels. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether bombesin stimulates CCK release in rats and, if so, to determine whether bombesin regulates CCK mRNA levels in a manner similar to that of feeding. To establish a proper dose of bombesin for stimulating CCK release, rats received 1-h intravenous infusions of 0.25, 1, 4, or 16 micrograms.kg-1.h-1 bombesin. Basal plasma CCK levels averaged 1.8 +/- 0.4 pM and increased to peak levels of 2.9 +/- 0.6 pM within 15 min of infusion with 4 micrograms.kg-1.h-1 bombesin (the maximally effective dose). With the use of this dose, rats then received infusions of bombesin or saline lasting up to 24 h. At 1, 2, 4, and 24 h, animals were killed for collection of plasma for CCK measurements and of intestine for measurements of intestinal CCK and somatostatin mRNA levels. Bombesin treatment stimulated an increase in plasma CCK levels at 1 h, but levels declined to basal by 4 h, where they remained at 24 h. Despite increasing plasma CCK levels, bombesin infusion, unlike dietary stimulation, had no effect on duodenal CCK mRNA levels. Finally, to determine whether the decrease in plasma CCK levels after prolonged bombesin treatment was due to tachyphylaxis, rats treated with bombesin for 4 h were also fed soybean trypsin inhibitor (a known stimulus of CCK secretion).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
High power single transverse mode selectively oxidized VCSELs

In summary, a tapered oxide layer positioned at a field null produces reduced optical confinement and optical loss, in spite of large thickness, and maintains efficient electrical confinement. In this manner the optical and electrical confinement derived from the buried oxide can be decoupled for design of specific vertical surface emitting laser (VCSEL) performance, such as enabling high single transverse mode output power.
Theoretical neutron damage calculations in industrial robotic manipulators used for non-destructive imaging applications

Abstract This paper describes how to use MCNP to evaluate the rate of material damage in a robot incurred by exposure to a neutron flux. The example used in this work is that of a robotic manipulator installed in a high intensity, fast, and collimated neutron radiography beam port at the University of Texas at Austin's TRIGA Mark II research reactor. This effort includes taking robotic technologies and using them to automate non-destructive imaging tasks in nuclear facilities where the robotic manipulator acts as the motion control system for neutron imaging tasks. Simulated radiation tests are used to analyze the radiation damage to the robot. Once the neutron damage is calculated using MCNP, several possible shielding materials are analyzed to determine the most effective way of minimizing the neutron damage. Neutron damage predictions provide users the means to simulate geometrical and material changes, thus saving time, money, and energy in determining the optimal setup for a robotic system installed in a radiation environment.
Long Chain Saturated and Unsaturated Carboxylic Acids: Filling a Large Gap of Knowledge in Their Enthalpies of Formation.

Despite their abundance in nature and their importance in biology, medicine, nutrition, and in industry, gas phase enthalpies of formation of many long chain saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and of dicarboxylic acids are either unavailable or have been estimated with large uncertainties. Available experimental values for stearic acid show a spread of 68 kJ mol–1. This work fills the knowledge gap by obtaining reliable values by quantum theoretical calculations using G4 model chemistry. Compounds with up to 20 carbon atoms are treated. The theoretical results are in excellent agreement with well established experimental values when such values exist, and they provide a large number of previously unavailable values.
A Monte Carlo approach to quantifying discrepancies between intractable posterior distributions

ABSTRACTThe computational demand required to perform inference using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods often obstructs a Bayesian analysis. This may be a result of large datasets, complex dependence structures, or expensive computer models. In these instances, the posterior distribution is replaced by a computationally tractable approximation, and inference is based on this working model. However, the error that is introduced by this practice is not well studied. In this paper, we propose a methodology that allows one to examine the impact on statistical inference by quantifying the discrepancy between the intractable and working posterior distributions. This work provides a structure to analyse model approximations with regard to the reliability of inference and computational efficiency. We illustrate our approach through a spatial analysis of yearly total precipitation anomalies where covariance tapering approximations are used to alleviate the computational demand associated with inverting a large, dens...
Extended Gate Field-Effect Transistor Biosensors for Point-Of-Care Testing of Uric Acid

An enzyme-free redox potential sensor using off-chip extended-gate field effect transistor (EGFET) with a ferrocenyl-alkanethiol modified gold electrode has been used to quantify uric acid concentration in human serum and urine. Hexacyanoferrate (II) and (III) ions are used as redox reagent. The potentiometric sensor measures the interface potential on the ferrocene immobilized gold electrode, which is modulated by the redox reaction between uric acid and hexacyanoferrate ions. The device shows a near Nernstian response to uric acid and is highly specific to uric acid in human serum and urine. The interference that comes from glucose, bilirubin, ascorbic acid, and hemoglobin is negligible in the normal concentration range of these interferents. The sensor also exhibits excellent long term reliability and is regenerative. This extended gate field effect transistor based sensor is promising for point-of-care detection of uric acid due to the small size, low cost, and low sample volume consumption.
Predation and cryptic coloration in a managed landscape

Protective forms of animal color, such as crypsis, are thought to reduce the probability of detection by visual predators. However, because crypsis is ostensibly intuitive, the working hypothesis of cryptic coloration is seldom tested. Additionally because crypsis is a background-specific adaptation, events which alter habitat structure and substrate composition are likely to affect rates of predation on cryptic animals; animal colors that are cryptic against one visual background may be conspicuous against different visual backgrounds. Populations of Sceloporus woodi, a cryptic diurnal lizard, occupy clear-cut stands of sand pine scrub and prescribe-burned longleaf pine habitat within the Ocala National Forest. Here, we used a combination of clay models resembling S. woodi, and spectral analysis, to examine the effects of spatial heterogeneity and model-substrate contrast on rates of predation. The rate of attack on clay models differed between substrate types and habitats, and was highest when clay models were conspicuous against the local visual background. The dorsal color of models greatly contrasted open sand and dead wood, but had similar reflectance values to leaf litter, suggesting that models were most cryptic on leaf litter. We conclude that crypsis is adaptive in this species, and that variation in rates of attack between sampling locations is related to changes in substrate composition due to management history. For instance, the data suggest that the rate of attack on clay models would decrease in response to succession in sand pine scrub, because aging in sand pine scrub results in increased amounts of leaf litter and decreased amounts of open sand. Overall, the results of this study support the theory of protective coloration.
Abstract P192: Improving LDL Documentation and Control in Coronary Artery Disease Patients

Background: Obtaining a fasting lipid profile prior to a scheduled clinic visit can facilitate decision making at the time of the visit. However, this places extra burden on patients and can decrea...
Regulatory network controlling tumor-promoting inflammation in human cancers

Using an inducible, inflammatory model of breast cellular transformation, we describe the transcriptional regulatory network mediated by STAT3, NF-kB, and AP-1 factors on a genomic scale. These regulators form transcriptional complexes that directly regulate the expression of hundreds of genes in oncogenic pathways via a positive feedback loop. This inflammatory feedback loop, which functions to various extents in many types of cancer cells and patient tumors, is the basis for an "inflammation" index that defines cancer types by functional criteria. We identify a network of non-inflammatory genes whose expression is well correlated with the cancer inflammatory index. Conversely, the inflammation index is negatively correlated with expression of genes involved in DNA metabolism, and transformation is associated with genome instability. Inflammatory tumors are preferentially associated with infiltrating immune cells that might be recruited to the site of the tumor via inflammatory molecules produced by the cancer cells.
Transplantation of human bone marrow stem cells into symptomatic ALS mice enhances structural and functional blood-spinal cord barrier repair.

Abstract Accumulating evidence shows alterations in the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB) in ALS patients and in animal models of disease, mainly by endothelial cell (EC) damage. Repair of the altered barrier in the CNS by replacement of ECs via cell transplantation may be a new therapeutic approach for ALS. Recently, we demonstrated positive effects towards BSCB repair by intravenous administration of unmodified human bone marrow CD34+ (hBM34+) cells at different doses into symptomatic ALS mice. However, particular benefits of these transplanted cells on microvascular integrity in symptomatic ALS mice are still unclear. The aim of the present study was to determine the structural and functional spinal cord capillary integrity in symptomatic ALS mice after intravenous administration of hBM34+ cells. The G93A mice at 13 weeks of age intravenously received one of three different cell doses (5 × 104, 5 × 105, or 1 × 106) and were euthanized at 17 weeks of age (4 weeks post-transplant). Control groups were media-treated and non-carrier mutant SOD1 gene mice. Capillary ultrastructural (electron microscopy), immunohistochemical (laminin and HuNu), and histological (myelin and capillary density) analyses were performed in the cervical and lumbar spinal cords. Capillary permeability in the spinal cords was determined by Evans Blue (EB) injection. Results showed significant restoration of ultrastructural capillary morphology, improvement of basement membrane integrity, enhancement of axonal myelin coherence, and stabilization of capillary density in the spinal cords primarily of ALS mice receiving the high dose of 1 × 106 cells. Moreover, substantial reduction of parenchymal EB levels was determined in these mice, confirming our previous results on capillary permeability. Additionally, transplanted cells were detected in blood smears of sacrificed late symptomatic mice by HuNu marker. Altogether, these results provide novel evidence that unmodified bone marrow hematopoietic stem cell treatment at optimal dose might be beneficial for structural and functional repair of the damaged BSCB in advanced stage of ALS, potentially resulting in delayed disease progression by increased motor neuron survival.
Giant fibrovascular polyp of the esophagus.

Giant fibrovascular polyps (FVP) are the most common intraluminal tumors of the esophagus. The case of a second, nonrecurrent FVP is presented, A thorough review of the literature was conducted to provide an informative discussion on this benign but potentially life-threatening neoplasm.
Stochastic optimization of nonlinear energy sinks for the mitigation of limit cycle oscillations

This paper investigates the mitigation of limit cycle oscillations (LCOs) using optimally designed nonlinear energy sinks (NESs). The study is based on an NES attached to a two-degree-of-freedom ai...
Machine learning-assisted early ignition prediction in a complex flow

Abstract Machine learning methods are used to improve the efficiency by which turbulence-resolved simulations predict whether a hydrogen jet in air crossflow will successfully ignite. The flush-mounted jet issues perpendicularly from the wall of a low-speed wind tunnel into a turbulent boundary layer wherein a laser-induced optical breakdown (LIB) hotspot is deposited. A detailed hydrogen chemical mechanism is used to model the radicals and any subsequent chemical reactions. A dielectric-barrier discharge actuator generates body forces and hydrogen radicals near the jet orifice. We focus on the success or not of the ignition based on LIB location. A challenge is that definitive determination of this requires long simulations, up to 440 µs after the LIB deposition. This is particularly expensive since multiple simulations are required to find the threshold. To reduce the computational effort, three short-time (91 µs) criteria are proposed, evaluated, and compared: a constructed criterion based on detailed observations of radicals near the stoichiometric surface and two machine learning approaches, each trained on 38 realizations. The constructed criterion provides a low-cost estimate of the ignition boundary that is unambiguous in 45 of the 50 training and test trials, so only 10% of them would need to be simulated longer. The trained neural networks correctly predict outcomes in all cases evaluated, with the more automated procedure—a convolutional neural network (CNN) trained on two-dimensional images—providing the most definitive outcome prediction. From the CNN, a sensitivity analysis is used to determine which kernel features from the two-dimensional input data, as defined by intermediate-layer network weights, are important for identifying ignition.
Chirurgische Behandlung der Fisteln

Die Fisteln des Kolons werden als ausere oder innere Fisteln bezeichnet und treten bei einer Vielzahl von Erkrankungen auf.
Clonal dynamics of aplastic anemia/paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.

Acquired aplastic anemia (AA) is a bone marrow failure disorder caused by immune mediated destruction of hematopoietic progenitor cells. Despite excellent response rates and survival with immunosup...
An Empirical Study of ICTY and ICTR Sentencing: Doctrine Versus Practice

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) were tasked as vehicles for deterrence against future atrocities, retribution against perpetrators, restoration of peace and reconciliation, substituting and reflecting local customs, establishing a historical record of the events, building international law and jurisprudence on the topic, expressing humanity’s stake in redressing horrendous crimes, and justice. The Tribunals expressly adopted all of the objectives identified above and began building their sentencing doctrine around those objectives. This paper asks what factors in fact explain the length of sentences handed down by the ICTY and ICTR. Do the factors that the Tribunals claim to be considering in sentencing in fact affect sentence length? Do the sentencing factors rejected by the Tribunals as inappropriate in fact bear upon sentence length? Do factors not discussed at all by the Tribunals affect sentences? We find that several factors that the Tribunals claim matter bear no significant relationship to sentence length, and that one factor that is supposed to be inapposite is in fact related significantly to sentence length. These findings raise important questions, which we also address: Why aren’t these international courts doing what they say they are doing? And to what extent might the Tribunals’ de facto sentencing practices advance or undermine their various (and sometimes conflicting) objectives?
A simulation of HIF-1 pathways in tumor angiogenesis

6138 The transcription factor HIF (hypoxia-inducible factor) plays a critical role in mammalian response to oxygen levels. HIF1, the first characterized member of the HIF family, transcriptionally activates over 70 genes associated with angiogenesis in cancer, energy metabolism, nutrient transport and cell migration [2,3]. The HIF1 pathway has been a recent focus of therapeutic studies with particular hope for malignant glioma. A better fundamental understanding of its mechanisms would help advance translational research. With this goal, we have developed a detailed molecular-based computational models to gain a quantitative understanding of how HIF1 relates to angiogenesis and the expression of VEGF in cancer. The first simulation is a series of biochemical kinetic equations mapping the molecular steps in HIF1α degradation in the presence of oxygen. Initial kinetic values are estimated from in vitro studies on HIF degradation, and results are compared to independent experiments. Input is cellular oxygen level, and output is HIF1α levels in the nucleus in relation to necessary intermediate reactions {including reactions with different prolyl hydroxlylase isoforms, iron, 2-oxoglutarate, ascorbate, von Hippel Lindau ligase, and factor-inhibiting HIF}. The processes associated with hypoxia in the model include: HIF1α transport into the nucleus, HIF1α-HIF1β binding, and transcriptional activation of VEGF at the hypoxia response element site. Using the model’s first results, an existing hypothesis of a switch-like change in HIF1 expression and enzymes in the HIF1 pathway in response to a gradual decrease in oxygen levels to a critical level was tested . The model suggests that based on the environment and characteristics of the specific cell type, the response to hypoxia varies considerably. From these results, a new hypothesis was made. HIF1-activated cellular responses can be divided into two categories depending on the molecular environment: a sharp, switch-like response to oxygen levels, and a gradual one. As the simulation advances and includes validation with bench experiments, results will have implications for the characterization of tumors, and potentially the type and combination of chosen anti-angiogenic therapy. Future studies include expanding the model to represent the hypoxic response and onset of angiogenesis in the molecular environment of glioblastoma multiforme. 1. K.W. Kohn, J. Riss, O. Aprelikova, J.N. Weinstein, Y. Pommier, J.C. Barrett, Properties of switch-like bioregulatory networks studied by simulation of the hypoxia response control system, Mol Biol Cell 15 (2004) 3042-3052. 2. G.L. Semenza, Hydroxylation of HIF-1: oxygen sensing at the molecular level, Physiology (Bethesda) 19 (2004) 176-182. 3. G.L. Wang, B.H. Jiang, E.A. Rue, G.L. Semenza, Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 is a basic-helix-loop-helix-PAS heterodimer regulated by cellular O2 tension, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92 (1995) 5510-5514.
Assessment and Identification of Gifted Youth

This chapter discusses conceptual and practical issues in the assessment and classification of gifted youth for US public schools.