cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quantum probability and the problem of interpretation

Quantum probability and quantum mechanics The formalism of quantum probability theory Discussions of quantum mechanics are often confused by a lack of clarity about what exactly constitutes ‘quantum mechanics’. It is therefore useful to try at the start to isolate a consistent mathematical core of quantum mechanics, and consider anything that goes beyond this core to be ‘interpretation’. For us, this core is quantum probability theory. Quantum probability is a generalization of classical probability, and therefore I begin with a brief review of the latter. I assume that the reader has some familiarity with the ideas of probability theory. What follows is just to provide a quick review, and to establish some notation and terminology. In modern classical probability theory, probabilities are defined over algebras of events. The motivation is straightforward: we begin with a set of ‘primitive’, or ‘simple’, events (the ‘sample space’), and form an algebra of events by taking all logical combinations of the simple events. For example, let us take the simple events to be the possible results of rolling a six-sided die one time, so that the sample space is the set {1,2,3,4,5,6}. We then form an algebra of events from the sample space by taking all possible logical combinations of the simple events. Logical combinations include, for example, ‘either 3 or 5’ and ‘not 3 and not 2’.
Fewer Hands, More Mercy: A Plea for a Better Federal Clemency System

The constitutional pardon power has generated more controversy than mercy over the past three decades. Even President Obama, who has pursued a focused clemency initiative, has struggled to meet historical standards. While changing ideas relating to retribution play a role in this decline, there is another significant factor at play: too much bureaucracy. Beginning around 1980, a review process has evolved that is redundant and biased towards negative decisions. No fewer than seven levels of review take place as cases course through four different federal buildings, a jagged path that dooms the process. For years, this bureaucracy stymied even President Obama’s intention to reduce prison populations; the relative success of his clemency initiative came despite this bureaucracy, not because of it, and only after seven and a half years of futility. This article analyzes the development of this system and the problems it creates before offering solutions based on the experience of state governments and President Ford’s successful use of a Presidential Clemency Board.
Comprehensive Study of Epoxy Die Attach Process to Achieve Zero Reject Performance

The epoxy die attach is one of the most preferred methods in mounting die on leadframe / substrate, mainly due to its flexibility and cost effectiveness. In a critical package called FETChip, several challenges occurred in the die attach process, due to upset flag/post, flag size smaller than die size, and small gap from flag to post leads. A comprehensive study performed in optimizing epoxy dispensing capability, from determining basic critical conditions, nozzle design, clamp design, idling effect, dispensing parameters, placement, pattern recognition, new machine features, until achieving six sigma process controls in epoxy performance.
Anisotropy-driven transition from the Moore-Read state to quantum Hall stripes

We investigate the nature of the quantum Hall liquid in a half-filled second Landau level ($n=1$) as a function of band mass anisotropy using numerical exact diagonalization and density matrix renormalization group methods. We find increasing the mass anisotropy induces a quantum phase transition from the Moore-Read state to a charge density wave state. By analyzing the energy spectrum, guiding center structure factors, and by adding weak pinning potentials, we show that this charge density wave is a unidirectional quantum Hall stripe, which has a periodicity of a few magnetic lengths and survives in the thermodynamic limit. We find smooth profiles for the guiding center occupation function that reveal the strong coupling nature of the array of chiral Luttinger liquids residing at the stripe edges.
Survey Incentives in Medical Education: What Do Students Say Will Entice Them to Participate in Surveys?

Surveys are the most commonly utilized tool for collecting data from college students. In recent years, the increasing number of surveys administered to students has resulted in low response rates due to survey fatigue. The use of incentives, especially those of a lottery-based nature, has become a popular strategy for improving response rates. At present, however, there is little research on the effectiveness of incentives for surveys involving students. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate what types of incentives are most likely to be effective for boosting response rates among students in medical and health professions programs, and what odds of winning a prize are likely to be most effective given lottery-based scenarios. Results indicate two major findings. First, lottery-based incentives, including those that offer a prize of considerable value (e.g., $250 cash and iPad) were reported to be much less attractive to students than guaranteed prizes, including those of relatively little value (e.g., $5 gift card). Second, students reported they were highly motivated to participate if the topic was of interest, they knew their feedback would make a difference, be taken seriously, be sincerely appreciated by the researcher(s), and if the topic appealed to their sense of professional responsibility/civic duty.
Real-time robot path planning around complex obstacle patterns through learning and transferring options

We consider the problem of path planning in an initially unknown environment where a robot does not have an a priori map of its environment but has access to prior information accumulated by itself from navigation in similar but not identical environments. To address the navigation problem, we propose a novel, machine learning-based algorithm called Semi-Markov Decision Process with Unawareness and Transfer (SMDPU-T) where a robot records a sequence of its actions around obstacles as action sequences called options which are then reused by it to learn suitable, collision-free maneuvers around more complex obstacles in future. Our results illustrate that SMDPU-T takes 24% planning time and 39% total time to solve same navigation tasks as compared to a recent, sampling-based path planner
The Merger Review Process at the Federal Trade Commission from 1989 to 2016

The modern Merger Guidelines have controlled merger policy for over three decades. Economic theory has evolved (and continues to evolve) and revisions of the Merger Guidelines have integrated some of these considerations into the merger review methodology. This paper tabulates and evaluates information from Federal Trade Commission (FTC) merger reviews using data for 1989 to 2016. The FTC’s workload focuses on horizontal mergers, with particular interest in health care, consumer goods, retailing, and a specific group of intermediary product industries. The evidence suggests that a shift away from coordinated interaction (collusion) cases occurred after the release of the 1992 Merger Guidelines, with a further shift focused on differentiated products after the 2010 revision in the Guidelines. Abstracting from mergers to monopoly, the structural characteristics of investigations reviewed with unilateral effects or collusion theories appear similar, but not identical. Most three-to-two and many four-to-three mergers end up as challenged, while other transactions often pass through the review process. Evidence suggests that the probability of ease of entry and cognizable efficiency findings has declined in recent years, as merger analysis seems to have focused on modeling competitive concerns.
Inflammasome expression and cytomegalovirus viremia in critically ill patients with sepsis

Background CMV viremia is a contributor to poor outcomes in critically ill patients with sepsis.
MAURICE STANS' VIEWS ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSION

Maurice Stans (1908–1998) is remembered for his role in the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, but he was also an early contributor to the literature on the accounting profession's obligations to the general public. His writings and speeches in this area have a place in the history of social responsibility accounting. The paper discusses his writings as well as his comments collected in an audio-taped interview about his role in the accounting profession as president of the American Institute of Accountants, senior partner in Alexander Grant (now Grant Thornton), and one of the first well-known practitioners to discuss broadly the importance of the accounting profession's social responsibilities. Today when accounting scandals have created questions about the credibility and integrity of financial reporting, it is reflective to see how concerns about financial reporting were once articulated.
New Immunosuppressive Agents for the Treatment of Sjögren’s Syndrome

Despite the significant success in many immune-mediated disorders of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) such as methotrexate and azathioprine, the demonstration of DMARD efficacy for the control of sicca and extraglandular symptoms of Sjogren’s syndrome (SS) has been elusive. This chapter will discuss potential applications of newer DMARDs for the management of primary SS (pSS) (Table 39.1).
The phospholipase A2 activity of peroxiredoxin 6 [S]

Peroxiredoxin 6 (Prdx6) is a Ca2+-independent intracellular phospholipase A2 (called aiPLA2) that is localized to cytosol, lysosomes, and lysosomal-related organelles. Activity is minimal at cytosolic pH but is increased significantly with enzyme phosphorylation, at acidic pH, and in the presence of oxidized phospholipid substrate; maximal activity with phosphorylated aiPLA2 is ∼2 µmol/min/mg protein. Prdx6 is a "moonlighting" protein that also expresses glutathione peroxidase and lysophosphatidylcholine acyl transferase activities. The catalytic site for aiPLA2 activity is an S32-H26-D140 triad; S32-H26 is also the phospholipid binding site. Activity is inhibited by a serine "protease" inhibitor (diethyl p-nitrophenyl phosphate), an analog of the PLA2 transition state [1-hexadecyl-3-(trifluoroethyl)-sn-glycero-2-phosphomethanol (MJ33)], and by two naturally occurring proteins (surfactant protein A and p67phox), but not by bromoenol lactone. aiPLA2 activity has important physiological roles in the turnover (synthesis and degradation) of lung surfactant phospholipids, in the repair of peroxidized cell membranes, and in the activation of NADPH oxidase type 2 (NOX2). The enzyme has been implicated in acute lung injury, carcinogenesis, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, male infertility, and sundry other conditions, although its specific roles have not been well defined. Protein mutations and animal models are now available to further investigate the roles of Prdx6-aiPLA2 activity in normal and pathological physiology.
Using the indicator amino acid oxidation technique to study threonine requirements in horses receiving a predominantly forage diet.

Threonine has been reported to be the second limiting amino acid in typical equine diets, but its actual requirement has not been determined in horses. To evaluate amino acid metabolism and requirements, the indicator amino acid oxidation (IAAO) method has been successfully used in other species. The objective of this research was to estimate threonine requirements in mature horses fed timothy hay and concentrate in 4:1 ratio using the IAAO method. Six Thoroughbred mares (579.9 ± 46.7 kg) received each of 6 levels of threonine intake, 41, 51, 61, 70, 80 and 89 mg/kg BW/day, in a randomly determined order. Each study period was 7-day long, and on day 6, blood samples were collected before and 90 min after feeding to measure amino acid concentrations using HPLC. On day 7, horses underwent IAAO procedures, which included a 2-hr primed, constant intravenous infusion of [13 C]sodium bicarbonate to measure total CO2 production and a 4-hr primed, constant oral administration of [1-13 C]phenylalanine to estimate phenylalanine oxidation to CO2 . Blood and breath samples were collected to measure blood [13 C]phenylalanine, using GC-MS analysis and breath 13 CO2 enrichment, using an infrared isotope analyser. Increasing threonine intake levels did not affect plasma phenylalanine oxidation by the ANOVA test (p > 0.05) but resulted in a linear decrease in phenylalanine oxidation (p = 0.04) without a breakpoint by the orthogonal linear contrast. This study is the first attempt to evaluate threonine requirements in horses by the IAAO method; however, threonine requirements are still unknown in mature horses at this time.
Spectral concentration of thermal conductivity in GaN—A first-principles study

We find using first-principles analysis of thermal conductivity (k) in isotopically pure Gallium nitride (GaN) that almost 60% of the heat is conducted by phonons in a very narrow frequency range of 5–7 THz (spanning only 9% of the frequencies in GaN). This spectral focusing of thermal conductivity is found to be due to a combination of two effects—a large increase in lifetimes of phonons through suppression of anharmonic scattering in the 5–7 THz frequency range coupled with a large phonon density of states at the same frequencies. Understanding of the effect is provided by solving the phonon Boltzmann transport equation in the single mode relaxation time approximation along with the use of harmonic and anharmonic force constants derived from density functional theory. The results can have important implications for engineering the thermal performance of devices based on GaN.
Measurement and Analysis Infrastructure Diagnostic, Version 1.0: Method Definition Document

Abstract : This document is a guidebook for conducting a Measurement and Analysis Infrastructure Diagnostic (MAID) evaluation. The MAID method is a criterion-based evaluation method that is used to assess the quality of an organization's data and the information generated from that data. The method is organized into four phases: (1) Collaborative Planning, (2) Artifact Evaluation, (3) On-site Evaluation, and (4) Report Results. Using the MAID evaluation criteria as a guide, a MAID team systematically studies and evaluates an organization's measurement and analysis practices by examining the organization's data and observing how the data is manipulated during its lifecycle, from the collection of base measures to the information provided to decision makers. The outcome of a MAID evaluation is a detailed report of an organization's strengths and weaknesses in measurement and analysis.
Introduction: Culture of Clinical Specimens for Anaerobic Bacteria

The literature has numerous articles on culture of anaerobes from clinical specimens and will not be reviewed. Instead, I will discuss certain topics which we feel are important in the isolattion and evaluation of anaerobes from clinical specimens.
Development of an Internal Camera–Based Volume Determination System for Triaxial Testing

A triaxial testing cell was instrumented with an internal camera monitoring system. By placing the camera monitoring system inside of the triaxial cell, optical distortions due to refraction at the confining fluid–cell wall and cell wall–atmosphere interfaces and the curvature of the cell wall were eliminated. The components of the system are presented. Furthermore, the photogrammetric techniques that were utilized to analyze the photographs that were captured from within the triaxial cell are discussed. The proposed methods for acquiring and analyzing the photographs are presented and the potential for the inclusion of an internal camera–monitoring system for triaxial testing applications are discussed.
Developing Culturally Sensitive mHealth Apps for Caribbean Immigrant Women to Use During Pregnancy: Focus Group Study.

Background A valuable addition to the mobile health (mHealth) space is an exploration of the context of minorities in developed countries. The transition period postmigration, culture, and socioeconomic uniqueness of migratory groups can shed light on the problems with existing prenatal mHealth apps. Objective The objectives of this study were to (1) use the theoretical concept of pregnancy ecology to understand the emotional, physical, information, and social challenges affecting low-income Caribbean immigrant women's prenatal well-being practices and (2) develop a deep understanding of challenges worthy of consideration in mHealth design for these women. Methods This qualitative interpretive approach using analytical induction presents the findings of 3 focus group sessions with 12 Caribbean immigrant women living in South Florida in the United States. The study took place from April to September 2015. Results The participants revealed problematic tiers and support needs within the pregnancy ecology including emotional stressors caused by family separation, physical challenges, information gaps, and longing for social support. Conclusions mHealth interventions for low-income Caribbean immigrant women must be designed beyond the conventional way of focusing on the events surrounding the unborn child. It can be tailored to the needs of the expecting mother. Pregnancy information should be customized on the basis of the variability of lifestyle, cultural practices, socioeconomic status, and social ties while still being able to deliver appropriate guidelines and clear cultural misconceptions.
The Instrumental Considerations of Learning Goal Orientation Among Sojourners

Based on the theory of goal orientation, we studied how the relationship between learning goal orientation (LGO) and sojourner-local social interaction can be influenced. With a sample of 311 inter...
Exact Solution of ZVS Boundaries and AC-Port Currents in Dual Active Bridge Type DC–DC Converters

This letter presents an approach to develop an exact, unified model of zero voltage switching (ZVS) regions and ac-port currents (peak and RMS) in dual active bridge type dc–dc converters for all its operating modes and modulation strategies. It is executed for a single-phase system, where the method is used to compute closed-form expressions of ac current at switching instants. Then, exact formulae of ZVS regions for all devices, system peak, and RMS currents are derived. Simulation and hardware results for forward and reverse power transfer are reported to validate the proposed approach.
Challenges and Opportunities in Evaluating Broadening Participation in Computing: The STARS Evaluation Cohort Model

The National Science Foundation has communicated the importance of Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) by including BPC as a required component of proposals across the Computer and Information Science and Engineering core programs. This call to action creates a need for collective understanding of how to demonstrate the impact of BPC initiatives through quality evaluation practices. Through our experience in conducting a large-scale national evaluation of the STARS BPC program, we have noticed three overarching challenges that are specific to evaluating BPC programs: evaluation costs, measuring longitudinal program impact, and capturing credible evidence for collective impact of multi-site programs. The STARS Evaluation Cohort Model addresses these challenges by applying an empowerment evaluation framework, which is uniquely applicable to BPC efforts, and by building evaluation capacity through training workshops and offering tools essential for evaluation fidelity. In this experience report, we share the evaluation framework that supports the model, describe the approach toward BPC evaluation challenges, and discuss the evidence base and lessons learned from our practice. Additionally, we present our approach to sustaining and catalyzing new Cohort participation in our ongoing efforts to develop evaluation capacity that facilitates the understanding and propagation of evidence-based BPC initiatives.
Achieving High-Resolution Electrohydrodynamic Printing of Nanowires on Elastomeric Substrates through Surface Modification

Stretchable electronics based on nanomaterials has received much interest recently. However, it is challenging to print 1D nanomaterials (e.g., nanowires) with high resolution on stretchable elasto...
Competitive Effects of Disclosure in a Strategic Entry Model

We investigate the welfare consequences of incumbent firms' mutual disclosure of cost information when there is a threat of entry from a firm not required to disclose its private cost information. New effects of disclosure are observed relative to no-entry models, with the result that incumbents' expected output is a decreasing function of the disclosure level. However, further analysis shows that increased disclosure usually increases incumbent expected profits and decreases expected consumer surplus, despite the additional entry effect of disclosure. Such analytical derivations provide objective input to the FASB as they attempt to predict the competitive effects of changing mandated disclosure requirements.
Physical-Equivalent Privacy

This article introduces and applies the concept of “physical-equivalent privacy” to evaluate the appropriateness of data collection about library patrons’ use of library-provided e-resources. It po...
Therapy use for U.S. school-aged children with developmental disabilities: State variation and determinants

Abstract Background Therapy services can support developmental needs, improve social emotional outcomes, and reduce persistent health inequities for children with developmental disabilities (DD). Receipt of therapy services may be especially timely when children with DD are school-aged, once diagnosis has often occurred. Yet limited knowledge exists on geographic variability and determinants of therapy use among school-aged U.S. children with DD. Objectives We aimed to (1) determine if therapy use varies significantly by state and (2) examine associations of health determinants with therapy use among U.S. school-aged children with DD. Methods This was a secondary analysis of 2016 and 2017 National Survey of Children's Health data. The sample included 9984 children with DD ages 6–17 years. We obtained odds ratios and predicted margins with 95% confidence intervals from multilevel logistic regression models to examine therapy use variation and determinants. Results Overall, 34.6% of children used therapy services. Therapy use varied significantly across states ( σ 2 = 0.11, SE = 0.04). Younger age, public insurance, functional limitations, individualized education program, frustration accessing services, and care coordination need were associated with higher adjusted odds of therapy access. In states with Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services waivers, higher estimated annual waiver cost was associated with lower adjusted odds of therapy use. Conclusions Results highlight geographic disparities in therapy use and multilevel targets to increase therapy use for school-aged children with DD.
The Fifth Order

The concept of fifth-order aberrations proceeds logically and arithmetically from the idea of third-order aberrations. The latter are the third-order terms of a power-series expansion of an eikonal function. The fifth-order aberrations must then be identified with the fifth-order terms of the same power series. In principle, we can proceed to higher and higher orders of aberrations ad infinitum.
Brief Psychotherapy of Depression

Most individual psychotherapy falls under the rubric of brief or short-term treatment and this chapter will address its application in depression. Together with anxiety, depression is one of the fundamental human reactions of conflict and distress, so much so that in ordinary parlance unhappiness and depression are practically synonymous. With its broad range of gradations and its variety of manifestations depression is perhaps the most common of psychiatric conditions. It is seen with great frequency, not only by the psychiatrist but also, of course, by the general physician or for that matter by anyone who has occasion to deal professionally with emotionally upset persons.
Rate of Major Anesthetic-Related Outcomes in the Intraoperative and Immediate Postoperative Period After Cardiac Surgery.

Objectives To examine anesthesia-centered outcomes in a large cohort of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or valvular heart surgery. Design A retrospective study with univariate and multivariate logistic regression to identify independent predictors for mortality. Setting Diverse setting including university, small, medium, and large community hospitals. Participants All patients undergoing CABG or valve surgery in the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR) from the Anesthesia Quality Institute. Interventions None. Measurements and Main Results Common anesthesia-centered outcomes including arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, death, hemodynamic instability, hypotension, inadequate pain control, nausea/vomiting, seizure, stroke, reintubation and transfusion were reported. All outcomes, consistent with NACOR data entry, were defined as occurring intraoperatively or during phase I or II recovery in the PACU. Death occurred in 0.15% of CABGs and 0.23% of valve surgeries. Age less than 18, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status (ASA PS) classification of 5, and mean case duration greater than 6 hours were associated with increased mortality (p Conclusions Death was a rare outcome in this cohort, reflecting the infrequent occurrence of intraoperative or immediate postoperative death. The presence of a board-certified anesthesiologist represented a modifiable risk factor for reducing mortality risk.
Active vs. passive recovery from short-term supramaximal exercise.

Abstract The relative merits of active (zero-load cycling, 50 rpm) vs. passive (quiet sitting) recovery was studied in 14 male subjects following supramaximal exercise (34 kp · rev−1) of short duration (60 seconds). Analyses of the exercise data revealed no statistical differences between 6-second by 6-second or cumulative work-output and oxygen uptake for the two criterion exercise tasks, thereby justifying comparison of the recovery data. Analyses of the gross [Vdot]O2 and HR recovery data for the active and passive conditions revealed statistically significant differences, with the active recovery scores being greater, but the magnitude of these differences between conditions was attributable solely to the ‘cost’ of the extra work of the active recovery.
Close encounters with a CSA: The reflections of a bruised and somewhat wiser anthropologist

This essay tells a story. It is a story of the author's experience with community supported agriculture (CSA). It is also a story that depicts the difficulties of academic activism and grass-roots engagement. As an academic and an activist, the author argues that it is important to admit and share experiences that are “less than perfect,” since they are the basis for a more complete knowledge and a more organic existence, individually, collectively, sensually, and intellectually.
Capsid Structure of Simian Cytomegalovirus from Cryoelectron Microscopy: Evidence for Tegument Attachment Sites

We have used cryoelectron microscopy and image reconstruction to study B-capsids recovered from both the nuclear and the cytoplasmic fractions of cells infected with simian cytomegalovirus (SCMV). SCMV, a representative betaherpesvirus, could thus be compared with the previously described B-capsids of the alphaherpesviruses, herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1), and of channel catfish virus, an evolutionarily remote herpesvirus. Nuclear B-capsid architecture is generally conserved with SCMV, but it is 4% larger in inner radius than HSV-1, implying that its ∼30% larger genome should be packed more tightly. Isolated SCMV B-capsids retain a relatively well preserved inner shell (or “small core”) of scaffolding-assembly protein, whose radial-density profile indicates that this protein is ∼16-nm long and consists of two domains connected by a low-density linker. As with HSV-1, the hexons but not the pentons of the major capsid protein (151 kDa) bind the smallest capsid protein (∼8 kDa). Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed cytoplasmic B-capsid preparations to contain proteins similar in molecular weight to the basic phosphoprotein (∼119 kDa) and the matrix proteins (65 to 70 kDa). Micrographs revealed that these particles had variable amounts of surface-adherent material not present on nuclear B-capsids that we take to be tegument proteins. Cytoplasmic B-capsids were classified accordingly as lightly, moderately, or heavily tegumented. By comparing the three corresponding density maps with each other and with the nuclear B-capsid, two interactions were identified between putative tegument proteins and the capsid surface. One is between the major capsid protein and a protein estimated by electron microscopy to be 50 to 60 kDa; the other involves an elongated molecule estimated to be 100 to 120 kDa that is anchored on the triplexes, most likely on its dimer subunits. Candidates for the proteins bound at these sites are discussed. This first visualization of such linkages makes a step towards understanding the organization and functional rationale of the herpesvirus tegument.
Extreme Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of the Seyfert 1 Galaxy Markarian 478

The Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 478, observed during the EUVE all-sky survey, is the brightest EUV source among its class. The SW spectrum of this object shows evidence of discrete emission, although this interpretation is tentative, since the source spectrum must be extracted against a bright background. If the EUV flux is, in fact, composed partly of line emission, we consider the implications if this is the result of emission from a collision-driven plasma at temperatures ≳ 106 K. In this context, we discuss some of the constraints imposed on the emission-line region by this observation.
Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement

Preface1. Flash Vs. Blink: An Introduction to Strategic Intuition2. Revolution on Earth: Flashers of Insight in Scientific Discovery3. Two Halves of a Brain: Intelligent Memory in Neuroscience4. Lieutenant M Saves Your Life: Expert Intuition in Action5. The Corsican Conquers Europe: Coup d'Oeil in Classical Military Strategy6. Warrior Buddha: The Path to Beginner's Mind7. Gates and the Google Guys: Strategic Innovation in Business8. Mouse, Minister and Moneylender: The Art of What Works in Social Enterprise9. Picasso Dines with an African Sculpture: Creative Combination in the Profession10. Do We Do Dewey? Teaching Strategic Intuition11. Kennedy Shoots for the Moon: Progress Through OpportunityAppendix: Strategic Intuition Online
Spectrocam-10 Thermal Infrared Observations Of The Dust In Comet C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp

We describe 5 to 18 μm broadband images and R ∼ 100 spectra of comet Hale-Bopp taken with SpectroCam-10 on the 5 m Hale telescope during six runs between 1996 June and 1997 April. Our data show the gradual warming of dust grains as the comet approached perihelion. In June, the 10 μm silicate emission feature was already stronger than observed in any other comet, and it increased to about 3 times the continuum level near perihelion. Spectral structure attributed to a crystalline olivine grain component remained relatively constant, but other features associated with pyroxenes appeared to vary with heliocentric distance.
Numerical investigation of the threshold for primordial black hole formation

First results of a numerical investigation of primordial black hole formation in the radiation dominated phase of the Early Universe are presented. The simulations follow the gravitational collapse of three different families of high-amplitude density fluctuations imposed at the time of horizon crossing. The threshold for black hole formation, \delta_{c} \approx 0.7, is found to be nearly identical for all perturbation families if the control parameter, \delta, is chosen as the total excess mass within the initial horizon volume. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the scaling of black hole mass with distance from the formation threshold, known to occur in near-critical gravitational collapse, applies to primordial black hole formation.
Who and Where: People and Location Co-Clustering

In this paper, we consider the clustering problem on images where each image contains patches in people and location domains. We exploit the correlation between people and location domains, and proposed a semi-supervised co-clustering algorithm to cluster images. Our algorithm updates the correlation links at the runtime, and produces clustering in both domains simultaneously. We conduct experiments in a manually collected dataset and a Flickr dataset. The result shows that the such correlation improves the clustering performance.
Cutting Edge: MMP-9 inhibits IL-23p19 expression in dendritic cells by targeting membrane stem cell factor affecting lung IL-17 response.

We reported previously that c-kit ligation by membrane-bound stem cell factor (mSCF) boosts IL-6 production in dendritic cells (DCs) and a Th17-immune response. However, Th17 establishment also requires heterodimeric IL-23, but the mechanisms that regulate IL-23 gene expression in DCs are not fully understood. We show that IL-23p19 gene expression in lung DCs is dependent on mSCF, which is regulated by the metalloproteinase MMP-9. Th1-inducing conditions enhanced MMP-9 activity, causing cleavage of mSCF, whereas the opposite was true for Th17-promoting conditions. In MMP-9 −/− mice, a Th1-inducing condition could maintain mSCF and enhance IL-23p19 in DCs, promoting IL-17–producing CD4 + T cells in the lung. Conversely, mSCF cleavage from bone marrow DCs in vitro by rMMP-9 led to reduced IL-23p19 expression under Th17-inducing conditions, with dampening of intracellular AKT phosphorylation. Collectively, these results show that the c-kit/mSCF/MMP-9 axis regulates IL-23 gene expression in DCs to control IL-17 production in the lung.
Investigation and solution to the early failure of parasitic NPN triggered by the adjacent PNP ESD clamps

The mechanism of PNP-triggered parasitic NPN's early failure during ESD stress has been clarified for the first time. We proposed two solutions for the high ESD and Latchup-hard requirements. The embedded SCR structure provides high HBM immunity, which can serve pin-to-pin protection such as the differential IO application. For the Latchup-hard solution, a sandwich guard ring structure solves the snapback-induced local ESD damage issue and achieves low substrate current injection. Note that the spacing rule for the parasitic NPN structures is also greatly reduced up to 44.7%.
Androgen receptor splice variants contribute to prostate cancer aggressiveness through induction of EMT and expression of stem cell marker genes.

BACKGROUND The mechanism(s) by which androgen receptor (AR) splice variants contribute to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) is still lacking. METHODS Expressions of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stem cell markers were molecularly tested using prostate cancer (PCa) cells transfected with AR and AR3 (also known as AR-V7) plasmids or siRNA, and also cultured cells under androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) condition. Cell migration, clonogenicity, sphere-forming capacity was assessed using PCa cells under all experimental conditions and 3,3′-diindolylmethane (DIM; BR-DIM) treatment. Human PCa samples from BR-DIM untreated or treated patients were also used for assessing the expression of AR3 and stem cell markers. RESULTS Overexpression of AR led to the induction of EMT phenotype, while overexpression of AR3 not only induced EMT but also led to the expression of stem cell signature genes. More importantly, ADT enhanced the expression of AR and AR3 concomitant with up-regulated expression of EMT and stem cell marker genes. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) treatment decreased the expression of AR and AR3, and reversed the expression of these EMT and stem cell marker genes. BR-DIM administered to PCa patients prior to radical prostatectomy inhibited the expression of cancer stem cell markers consistent with inhibition of self-renewal of PCa cells after BR-DIM treatment. CONCLUSION AR variants could contribute to PCa progression through induction of EMT and acquisition of stem cell characteristics, which could be attenuated by BR-DIM, suggesting that BR-DIM could become a promising agent for the prevention of CRPC and/or for the treatment of PCa. Prostate 75:161–174, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Defining interactions between DNA-PK and ligase IV/XRCC4

Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) is a major pathway for the repair of DNA double-strand breaks in mammalian cells. DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), ligase IV, and XRCC4 are all critical components of the NHEJ repair pathway. DNA-PK is composed of a heterodimeric DNA-binding component, Ku, and a large catalytic subunit, DNA-PKcs. Ligase IV and XRCC4 associate to form a multimeric complex that is also essential for NHEJ. DNA-PK and ligase IV/XRCC4 interact at DNA termini which results in stimulated ligase activity. Here we define interactions between the components of these two essential complexes, DNA-PK and ligase IV/XRCC4. We find that ligase IV/XRCC4 associates with DNA-PK in a DNA-independent manner. The specific protein-protein interactions that mediate the interaction between these two complexes are further identified. Direct physical interactions between ligase IV and Ku as well as between XRCC4 and DNA-PKcs are shown. No direct interactions are observed between ligase IV and DNA-PKcs or between XRCC4 and Ku. Our data defines the specific protein pairs involved in the association of DNA-PK and ligase IV/XRCC4, and suggests a molecular mechanism for coordinating the assembly of the DNA repair complex at DNA breaks.
Heart rate variability is related to pain severity and predominant bowel pattern in women with irritable bowel syndrome

This study examined heart rate variability (HRV) in women with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to determine its association with gut pain and predominant bowel pattern. Women with IBS (constipation predominant n = 45, diarrhoea predominant n = 64, alternating n = 56) and healthy controls (n = 50) were recruited from the community. Severity of gut pain was measured retrospectively. The HRV (24 h) was summarized as high-frequency (HF) power and the ratio of low-frequency (LF) power to HF power. Among those women with IBS who have severe gut pain, the 15 constipation-predominant women had lower (P = 0.01) HF power and higher (P = 0.003) LF/HF ratio (geometric means 70 and 7.5, respectively) than the 21 women with diarrhoea-predominant IBS (286 and 3.1) and controls (224 and 3.9). In contrast, among women without severe pain, there is a smaller and not quite significant difference in the opposite direction. Using a broader definition of pain severity based on several questions nearly doubles the number of subjects in the severe pain group and shows even more significant results. The relationship of predominant bowel pattern to HRV is qualitatively different in the subgroup of patients with more severe pain than in the subgroup with less severe pain.
Quantitation of the novel anticonvulsant remacemide in rat and dog plasma and urine: application of the plasma methodology to measure the plasma protein binding of remacemide

Sensitive and selective methods have been developed for quantitation of the novel anticonvulsant remacemide in rat and dog plasma and urine. The methods employed liquid—liquid extraction (urine) or ion-exchange solid-phase extraction (plasma), with an internal standard, followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. The detection limit for both methods was 10 ng/ml. Overall accuracy was 0.00% for plasma and −1.4% for urine with a precision of 6.04 and 3.87% for plasma and urine, respectively. The standard curves were linear for both plasma and urine over a wide concentration range (9.96–2490 ng/ml). The plasma method was also applied to measurement of in vitro plasma protein binding of remacemide in rat, dog and human plasma.
Some normed barrelled spaces which are not Baire

Introduction and Abstract A locally convex topological vector space is said to be (Baire-like) [unordered Baire-like] if it can not be covered by any (increasing) [-arbitrary] sequence of nowhere dense, balanced, convex set. These classes of spaces were introduced in [-6] and [-8], respectively. The present paper may be considered an addendum to those above: Section 1 gives many new examples of Baire-like spaces which are not unordered Baire-like. Included is a generalization of Example 2.21 of [-6] and a simple method for constructing from any infinite-dimensional Banach space a dense barrelled subspace which can be covered by countably many nowhere dense subspaces (although every metrizable barrelled space is Baire-like [,t, 6]). Also, in Section 2 a Bourbaki-Grothendieck type example is reviewed and found to be unordered Baire-like but not Baire. As indicated in the paper, at the time of its writing the authors of [-8] were unable to distinguish with certainty between unordered Baire-like spaces and locally convex Baire spaces. We now see that the class of unordered Baire-tike spaces is properly wider than the class of locally convex Baire spaces, and so enjoys some permanence properties not known to hold for the latter class; e.g., the conjecture that every dense, t-codimensional subspace of a Banach space is Baire is equivalent to the (unverified) Wilansky-Klee conjecture, whereas every countablecodimensional subspace of every unordered Baire-like space is known to be unordered Baire-like [8]. Thus any counter-example to the Wilansky-Klee conjecture, if it exists, would also serve to distinguish between "unordered Baire-like" and "locally convex Baire" spaces. The philosophical need for such distinguishing examples is underscored by the recent discovery [-7] that Wilansky's class of W-barrelled spaces [9, p. 44] (in [10], spaces with the t property) is precisely the class of linear Baire spaces. * Some of the results of this paper appear in the author's dissertation
Effects of glyphosate, chlorsulfuron, and methyl jasmonate on growth and alkaloid biosynthesis of jimsonweed (Datura stramonium L.)

Abstract The troublesome agronomic weed, jimsonweed ( Datura stramonium L.), is also a major poisonous plant. The toxicity of jimsonweed is due to tropane alkaloids, which contain a methylated nitrogen atom ( N -CH 3 ) and include the anticholinergic drugs atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine, as well as the narcotic cocaine. The enzyme and gene regulatory system of tropane alkaloid in plants is not clearly understood. The effects of the herbicides chlorsulfuron and glyphosate, and the growth regulator methyl jasmonate on the growth and alkaloid biosynthesis of jimsonweed were investigated. The growth responses of jimsonweed were characterized by determining the molar concentration of the herbicides required to inhibit plant root fresh weight by 50% ( I 50 ). Chlorsulfuron and glyphosate inhibited root growth of jimsonweed seedlings; the I 50 was 8 × 10 −9 and 10 −7 M, respectively. Methyl jasmonate increased root growth of jimsonweed seedlings at 10 −6 and 10 −7 M, but was inhibitory at 10 −5 M. Tropane alkaloids are produced by the condensation of tropine and tropic acid, a phenylalanine-derived intermediate. Phenylalanine levels in jimsonweed seedlings were reduced by glyphosate and chlorsulfuron. Methyl jasmonate at 10 −8 M or greater concentrations induced phenylalanine levels in jimsonweed seedlings. Arginine and ornithine levels in jimsonweed seedlings were increased two to three times by chlorsulfuron and glyphosate, but reduced by methyl jasmonate. Contents of tropinone, ϕ-tropine, and tropine in jimsonweed seedlings were reduced by chlorsulfuron and glyphosate, but increased by methyl jasmonate at 10 −7 and 10 −6 M. Putrescine N -methyltransferase (PMT) is the first committed enzyme, which drives the flow of nitrogen away from polyamine biosynthesis to tropane alkaloid biosynthesis. The expression of PMT mRNA transcripts was reduced in jimsonweed roots treated with 10 −6 M chlorsulfuron and glyphosate. PMT mRNA transcripts of jimsonweed roots were greatly induced following treatment with 10 −7 M methyl jasmonate. These results indicate that methyl jasmonate enhanced PMT activity due to an increase of PMT mRNA. The effects of glyphosate and chlorsulfuron on PMT mRNA’s transcriptional control and the accumulation of amino acid arginine/ornithine contents, coupled with their inhibitory effect on phenylalanine, tropinone, ϕ-tropine, and tropine levels, suggest that these herbicides might cause a decrease in overall tropane alkaloid biosynthesis in jimsonweed. However, the relationship between plant growth and metabolism affected by these compounds is not clear.
MJO-Related SST Variations over the Tropical Eastern Pacific during Northern Hemisphere Summer

Abstract The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) significantly modulates eastern tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures (SSTs) during Northern Hemisphere summer. Typical SST variations during an MJO life cycle are 0.4°–0.5°C. Considerably higher variations occur with the strongest events (1°–2°C). The magnitudes of these variations are comparable to those associated with west Pacific MJO variability during NH winter. SST anomalies to the north of 4°N, where the strongest modulation of east Pacific convection by the MJO occurs, are 180° out of phase with equatorial anomalies. These SST variations are responsible for variations in surface saturation equivalent potential temperatures of greater than 3°C. The highest SSTs lead maximum convection by about 10 days, and SSTs begin to cool with the onset of enhanced convection. Off-equatorial SST anomalies are most likely due to variations in surface latent heat flux, although shortwave flux anomalies are important in the heart of the MJO convective region. Decrea...
Botulinum toxin in urology: evaluation using an evidence-based medicine approach.

Botulinum toxin is under investigation as a treatment for a variety of urologic disorders. This evidence-based review objectively analyses the data on these off-label uses of botulinum toxin. Although most of the available data relates to uses in neurogenic bladder disorders, other applications in the bladder, urethra and prostate gland are discussed.
Another look at the chaos-game representation of DNA

Abstract We have considered the chaos game representation of short DNA sequences (about 100 bases instead of 100 000 bases considered by Jeffrey and others) and have outlined a procedure which converts the corresponding 2D DNA maps into ‘spectrum-like’ format, which offer not only a better visual representations but also makes possible a visual inspection of the degree of similarity among different DNA sequences.