cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Substance P inhibits pancreatic exocrine secretion via a neural mechanism

We investigated the effects of the sensory neuropeptide substance P (SP) on amylase and fluid secretion in the isolated vascularly perfused rat pancreas. SP inhibited CCK-induced amylase release and secretin-induced juice flow via the pancreatic duct in a dose-related fashion. Threshold inhibition occurred following addition of 10−10 M SP to the perfusate, and maximal inhibition was seen with 10−8 M SP. The effects of SP were partially blocked by both the neurokinin-1 (NK1) and neurokinin-2 (NK2) receptor antagonists. Atropine and TTX blocked SP-induced effects on both amylase secretion (26 and 63% blockade, respectively) and pancreatic juice flow (21 and 79% blockade, respectively). Excitation of pancreatic sensory nerves using capsaicin (in the absence of SP) inhibited both amylase and pancreatic juice flow via activation of the NK1 receptor. We conclude that SP inhibits exocrine secretion via an indirect neural mechanism.
FSK demodulation using an adaptive recursive digital filter

A second-order adaptive recursive digital filter is used for frequency-shift keying (FSK) demodulation. Explicit formulas are derived for the noise variance in the frequency detector, and optimum transmitter carrier frequencies and detector threshold frequencies are calculated. A formula for the adaptation time is derived and the error probability is found. Computer simulations verify the derived results.
Spatial phase sensitivity of mechanisms mediating discrimination of small orientation differences

Experiments with spatially superimposed gratings have defined mechanisms that sum signals across spatial frequency bands while mediating discriminations of small differences in orientation. In the present experiments, localized stimuli (Gaussian bars and derivatives of Gaussian bars) occupying different spatial frequency bands were superimposed in different phase and location relationships to assess the sensitivity of the summing mechanisms to these differences. Masking (loss of accuracy when a second component is added as a mask) was unaffected by differences in either phase or location (15 min separation). Summation (increase in accuracy when both components vary together) occurs for all phase relationships but is reduced by spatial separation.
Characterization of a sustainable sulfur polymer concrete using activated fillers

Abstract Sulfur polymer concrete (SPC) is a thermoplastic composite concrete consisting of chemically modified sulfur polymer and aggregates. This study focused on the characterization of a new SPC that has been developed as a sustainable construction material. It is made from industrial by-product sulfur that is modified with activated fillers of fly ash, petroleum refinery residual oil, and sand. Unlike conventional sulfur polymer cements made using dicyclopentadiene as a chemical modifier, the use of inexpensive industrial by-products enables the new SPC to cost-effectively produce sustainable, low-carbon, thermoplastic binder that can compete with conventional hydraulic cement concretes. A series of characterization analyses was conducted including thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, and spatially-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy to confirm the polymerization of sulfur induced from the presence of the oil. In addition, mechanical testing, internal pore structure analysis, and scanning electron microscope studies evaluate the performance of this new SPC as a sustainable construction material with a reduced environmental impact.
Optical potential for /sup 6/Li+/sup 28/Si elastic scattering at 154 MeV

The differential cross section angular distribution for $^{6}\mathrm{Li}$ elastic scattering from $^{28}\mathrm{Si}$ was measured at 154 MeV lab energy for center-of-mass angles up to 66\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}. The data exhibit forward-angle diffractive structure and a large-angle falloff similar to that of refractive nuclear scattering. An optical-model analysis with Woods-Saxon form factors and standard fitting criterion yields a broad continuum of admissible real central potential depths $|V|\ensuremath{\sim}120\ensuremath{-}200$ MeV rather than the multitude of discrete parameter families encountered at lower bombarding energies. The best fit to the data selects a $|V|$ near 160 MeV. A Woods-Saxon squared form factor as well as a microscopic folding-model potential have also been investigated in fitting the data.NUCLEAR REACTIONS $^{28}\mathrm{Si}$($^{6}\mathrm{Li}$, $^{6}\mathrm{Li}$), ${E}_{L}=154$ MeV: measured $\frac{d\ensuremath{\sigma}}{d\ensuremath{\Omega}}$; optical-model analysis.
Cognition in Complex Organizations

The cognitive perspective highlights that the decision making process of managers is not merely a mechanical matching of the firm’s resources to available opportunities, but is constructed through ...
Drug companies' patient-assistance programs--helping patients or profits?

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have attempted to blunt the impact of drug copayments and coinsurance on patients by funding patient-assistance programs. But these programs may lead to higher drug prices, undermining the beneficial aspects of cost sharing.
Interactions and Perceptions in the Test Ban Negotiations

The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 represented the first major breakthrough in postwar arms control negotiations, and thus in some ways laid the foundation for a series of subsequent agreements (especially among the nuclear powers), which have become the primary concrete representations of the present superpower detente. Although many of these agreements may have had little substantive effect upon the arms race, they have at least been affected by and exerted a subsequent impact upon political relations between the communist bloc nations and those of the Western bloc. This article reports on an analysis of the negotiations among the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom leading up to this test ban treaty. Specifically, it applies the two-step mediated stimulus-response model (S—r:s—R) to analyze these negotiations. This model predicts that negotiators' perceptions will be influenced by the behavior of other nations toward their country both outside and inside the negotiating forum, that these perceptions will then be converted into plans about their responses, and finally that these plans will become actualized in overt responses toward other nations, both within and outside negotiations. Several conclusions were reached. First, the perceptual variables generally had little significant impact in mediating between stimuli and responses, although they did appear to exert some influence in the case of Great Britain; in the other cases there was little congruence between changes in perceptions and in actual behaviors over time. Second, the behaviors of the three nuclear powers within the test ban negotiations were highly symmetrical over time; that is, each nation tended to change its responses roughly “in kind” with changes in the stimuli directed toward it from other actors both inside and outside negotiations. Third, there was substantial consistency between the interactions among actors inside and outside negotiations, suggesting that the negotiation process was in some ways a small-scale reflection of the general patterns of conflict and cooperation among the three nuclear powers in their overall interactions.
Analysis of the surveillance data on hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Tiantai county, Zhejiang province from 2005 to 2009

Objective To study the epidemiological charactristics of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome(HFRS) in Tiantai county for the development of the strategies specific to the prevention and control of the epidemic. Methods Epidemiological investigation into the epidemic situation among human population was conducted by means of the indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) for the detection of serum antibody in patients and healthy population. The virus-carrying state of the host animals was determined by Hantaan virus antigen detection with the direct immunofluorescence assay. Results A total of 181 HFRS cases was reported with an average annual incidence rate of 6.39/105 in Tiantai county from 2005-2009. There was an incidence ratio of 2.42∶1 for male and female patients, with peasants affected predominantly accounting for 86.74%. The total density of rodents was 4.87% with an average indoor rodent density of 2.10% and an outdoor one of 5.76%. The average virus-carrying rate of rodents was 7.48% and the serum positive rate of patients was 77.70%. Conclusion Tiantai is a mixed HFRS epidemic area, with the Apodemus-type dominant. Greater efforts need to be made in the surveillance and prevention of the epidemic.
The Formalization of Practical Reasoning: An Opinionated Survey ∗

I try to frame the general challenge that is presented to logical theory by the problem of formalizing practical reasoning, and to survey the existing resources that might contribute to the development of such a formalizatio
A high-order discontinuous Galerkin method for unsteady advection–diffusion problems

Abstract A high-order discontinuous Galerkin method with Lagrange multipliers is presented for the solution of unsteady advection–diffusion problems in the high Peclet number regime. It operates directly on the second-order form of the governing equation and does not require any stabilization. Its spatial basis functions are chosen among the free-space solutions of the homogeneous form of the partial differential equation obtained after time-discretization. It also features Lagrange multipliers for enforcing a weak continuity of the approximated solution across the element interface boundaries. This leads to a system of differential–algebraic equations which are time-integrated by an implicit family of schemes. The numerical stability of these schemes and the well-posedness of the overall discretization method are supported by a theoretical analysis. The performance of this method is demonstrated for various high Peclet number constant-coefficient model flow problems.
Icons for health effects of cigarette smoke: a test of semiotic type.

We sought to identify icons to effectively communicate health harms of chemicals in cigarette smoke. Participants were a convenience sample of 701 U.S. adults. A within-subjects online experiment explored the effects of icon semiotic type: symbolic (arbitrary, most abstract), indexical, and iconic (representative, most concrete). Outcomes were perceived representation, affect toward smoking, elaboration, perceived severity, and perceived effectiveness. For not-easy-to-visualize harms of cancer and addiction, symbolic icons received the highest ratings (all p < .001). For easy-to-visualize symptoms of heart attack/stroke, indexical icons received the highest ratings (all p < .001). For easy-to-visualize harm of reproductive organ damage, the iconic image did best (all p < .001). Icon type often had a larger impact among participants with higher health literacy. Symbolic icons may be most effective for health effects not easily visualized. Iconic or indexical icons may be more effective for health effects attributable to specific body parts or symptoms.
Introduction to Elliptic Curves

In this chapter, we introduce some basic notions about elliptic curves, and collect various results that will be used throughout this book. We make no attempt to be complete in the presentation; rather we wish to expand upon the introduction to elliptic curves provided in Chapter 6 of Koblitz’s book [68]. Unless otherwise stated, proofs of these results can be found in the book by J. Silverman [140]. For an elementary introduction to elliptic curves, we recommend the notes by Charlap and Robbins [26], and also to the recent book by Silverman and Tate [141].
Optimal Control of a Tandem Production System with Periodic Maintenance

Abstract We consider a production system consisting of two machines in tandem for which maintenance is performed simultaneously on a periodic basis. In order to make on-time delivery, the objective is to produce following the demand as closely as possible. We formulate the production flow control problem as an optimal control model and use Pontryagin’s Minimum Principle to solve the special case of one up-down cycle.
Primer in Cerebrovascular Disease: Innominate and Subclavian Disease

Diseases of the subclavian and innominate arteries, including stenosis and aneurysm, are rare entities that are most commonly identified as incidental findings on routine imaging. When present, symptoms may result from distal embolization, low-flow state, mass effect, or rupture. All patients with occlusive disease should be treated with an aspirin and statin. While there is no formal consensus for the treatment of asymptomatic patients, all symptomatic lesions merit surgical intervention. Among patients with suitable anatomy an endovascular approach is considered first line. There are no formal guidelines to direct postoperative imaging; however, due to the risk of restenosis, routine surveillance with duplex or computerized tomography imaging is warranted following open or endovascular intervention for stenosis.
Structure of FUS Protein Fibrils and Its Relevance to Self-Assembly and Phase Separation of Low-Complexity Domains

Polymerization and phase separation of proteins containing low-complexity (LC) domains are important factors in gene expression, mRNA processing and trafficking, and localization of translation. We have used solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance methods to characterize the molecular structure of self-assembling fibrils formed by the LC domain of the fused in sarcoma (FUS) RNA-binding protein. From the 214-residue LC domain of FUS (FUS-LC), a segment of only 57 residues forms the fibril core, while other segments remain dynamically disordered. Unlike pathogenic amyloid fibrils, FUS-LC fibrils lack hydrophobic interactions within the core and are not polymorphic at the molecular structural level. Phosphorylation of core-forming residues by DNA-dependent protein kinase blocks binding of soluble FUS-LC to FUS-LC hydrogels and dissolves phase-separated, liquid-like FUS-LC droplets. These studies offer a structural basis for understanding LC domain self-assembly, phase separation, and regulation by post-translational modification.
Effect of differential cross section in Breit-wheeler pair beaming

The pair beaming in the Breit-Wheeler (BW) process is investigated. We examine the effect of the BW differential cross section on pair angular and energy distributions. Although, this study is relevant for laser induced intense gamma-ray source collisions experiments, we apply the pair beaming in astrophysical context, in particular for Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN).
Statistical inference in single molecule measurements of protein adsorption

Significant effort has been invested into understanding the dynamics of protein adsorption on surfaces, in particular to predict protein behavior at the specialized surfaces of biomedical technologies like hydrogels, nanoparticles, and biosensors. Recently, the application of fluorescent single molecule imaging to this field has permitted the tracking of individual proteins and their stochastic contribution to the aggregate dynamics of adsorption. However, the interpretation of these results is complicated by (1) the finite time available to observe effectively infinite adsorption timescales and (2) the contribution of photobleaching kinetics to adsorption kinetics. Here, we perform a protein adsorption simulation to introduce specific survival analysis methods that overcome the first complication. Additionally, we collect single molecule residence time data from the adsorption of fibrinogen to glass and use survival analysis to distinguish photobleaching kinetics from protein adsorption kinetics.
Reduction of Worst Case Housing Needs by Assisted Housing

This report investigated the impact of HUD-assisted housing on the number of worst case needs for housing. This issue affects policy discussions about the impact of HUD’s current assistance for 5.06 million units and the effects of devoting additional resources to assisted housing.
Geoengineering: Direct Mitigation of Climate Warming*

With the concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) rising to levels unprecedented in the current glacial epoch, the earth’s climate system appears to be rapidly shifting into a warmer regime. Many in the international science and policy communities fear that the fundamental changes in human behavior, and in the global economy, that will be required to meaningfully reduce GHG emissions in the very near term are unattainable. In the 1970s, discussion of “geoengineering,” a radical strategy for arresting climate change by intentional, direct manipulation of the Earth’s energy balance began to appear in the climate science literature. With growing international concern about the pace of climate change, the scientific and public discourse on the feasibility of geoengineering has recently grown more sophisticated and more energetic. A wide array of potential geoengineering projects have been proposed, ranging from orbiting space mirrors to reduce solar flux to the construction of large networks of processors that directly remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Simple estimates of costs exist, and some discussion of both the potentially negative and “co-beneficial” consequences of these projects can be found in the scientific literature.
On the Numerical Modelling of Stratified Flows

This chapter presents a review of turbulence models for stratified flows and shows how these models react to stable or unstable stratification phenomena. The test case of a two-layer flow is described in detail.
Enhanced Bioactivity of Collagen Fiber Functionalized with Room Temperature Atomic Layer Deposited Titania

Surface modifications of a biomaterial like collagen are crucial in improving the surface properties and thus enhancing the functionality and performance of such a material for a variety of biomedical applications. In this study, a commercially available collagen membrane’s surface was functionalized by depositing an ultrathin film of titania or titanium dioxide (TiO2) using a room temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. A novel titanium precursor–oxidizer combination was used for this process in a custom-made ALD reactor. Surface characterizations revealed successful deposition of uniform, conformal TiO2 thin film on the collagen fibrillar surface, and consequently, the fibers became thicker making the membrane pores smaller. The in vitro bioactivity of the ALD-TiO2 thin film coated collagen was investigated for the first time using cell proliferation and a calcium phosphate mineralization assay. The TiO2-coated collagen demonstrated improved biocompatibility promoting higher growth and prolif...
Observed geocenter motion from precise orbit determination of GRACE satellites using GPS tracking and accelerometer data

We present a method to estimate geocenter motion through single low-earth orbiter (LEO) precise orbit determination (POD) using global positioning system (GPS) tracking data and accelerometer data from the GRACE satellites. We fix the values of the GPS ephemerides and time-varying clock offsets to precise estimates from the definitive constellation product produced by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. As part of the POD process of the LEOs, we estimate a translation of the reference coordinate system realized by the GPS orbit and clock product. Doing so accounts for the inconsistency between the Earth’s center of mass coordinate system used for the orbit integration of the LEOs, and the terrestrial reference frame produced by the GPS orbit and clock product. The resulting translation parameters estimated separately from the GRACE-A and GRACE-B satellites show very similar variations from day to day. They represent the geocenter motion, as realized from the difference between the origin of the terrestrial reference frame represented by the GPS orbit and clock product and the Earth’s instantaneous center of mass defined by the GRACE satellite dynamical orbital motion. Comparisons with geocenter motion observations from other techniques show that our daily estimates of geocenter motion agree well, when smoothed, in both the amplitude and phase of the annual signal. This validates both the high sensitivity of the GRACE GPS measurement type to geocenter motion and the high precision of the GRACE force model enabled by accelerometer measurements, the two essential components for estimation of geocenter motion with this technique.
Hematologic malignancies in temozolomide-treated metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours

Abstract Background Metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNET) are generally not curable; however, some patients may have prolonged survival. Until recently, metastatic PNET were primarily managed with somatostatin-analogs. New developments demonstrating therapeutic value of temozolomide (TMZ) in these patients resulted in its off-label use in National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines. Given alone, or in combination with other therapies, TMZ is associated with improved clinical outcomes. However, serious hematologic adverse events (AEs) like agranulocytosis, lymphopenia and aplastic anemia are not uncommon. At the University of Kansas Cancer Center (KUCC), 3 patients with history of TMZ-treated metastatic PNET developed hematologic malignancies. The purpose of this study is to determine the incidence of secondary malignancies (SM) in this patient population. Methods A systematic review of all known clinical trials, case reports, and other relevant literature regarding PNET and TMZ published before September 2017 was conducted using PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). Results We analyzed 38 publications and 8,215 cases reported from FAERS. AEs ranged from agranulocytosis to myelodysplastic syndrome. No publications reported any SM. The 3 patients identified at KUCC are as follows: 1) 29-year-old female with TMZ-treated metastatic PNET developed acute myeloid leukemia with cytogenetics consistent with therapy-related leukemia. 2) 80-year-old male with TMZ-treated metastatic PNET developed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. 3) 12-year-old male with TMZ-treated metastatic PNET developed high-grade T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. All these patients succumbed to their hematologic malignancies, and not the underlying PNET. Conclusions Although we observed 3 cases at KUCC, this retrospective review did not find any cases of SM in TMZ-treated metastatic PNET. We believe that the leukemogenic potential of TMZ is underreported. It is important for treatment guidelines to address this risk in the decision to pursue TMZ treatment. Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Has not received any funding. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
An extensive evaluation of deep featuresof convolutional neural networks for saliency prediction of human visual attention

Abstract Based on transfer learning, feature maps of deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) have been used to predict human visual attention. In this paper, we conduct extensive comparisons to investigate effects of feature maps on the predictions of the human visual attention using a deep features based saliency model framework. The feature maps of seven pretrained DCNNs are investigated using classical and class activation maps approaches. The performances of various saliency implementations are evaluated over four datasets using three metrics. The results demonstrate that deep feature maps of the pretrained DCNNs can be used to create saliency maps for the prediction of human visual attention. The incorporation of multiple levels of blurred and multi-scale feature maps improves the extraction of salient regions. Moreover, DCNNs pretrained using the Places dataset provide more localized objects that can be beneficial to the top-down saliency maps.
Field-based method for assessing duration of infectivity for influenza A viruses in the environment.

Abstract Understanding influenza A virus (IAV) persistence in wetlands is limited by a paucity of field studies relating to the maintenance of infectivity over time. The duration of IAV infectivity in water has been assessed under variable laboratory conditions, but results are difficult to translate to more complex field conditions. We tested a field-based method to assess the viability of IAVs in an Alaska wetland during fall and winter which incorporated physical and chemical properties of the waterbody in which samples were held. Filtered pond water was inoculated with avian fecal samples collected from the environment, aliquoted into a series of duplicate sealed vials and submerged back in the wetland for up to 132 days (October 2018–March 2019). Sample aliquots were sequentially recovered and tested for IAVs by rRT-PCR and virus isolation. One sample remained rRT-PCR positive for the duration of the study and virus isolation positive for 118 days. The surrounding water temperature was 1°–6 °C with near neutral pH (6.6–7.3) for the duration of the study. This proof of concept study demonstrates a protocol for testing the persistence of infectious IAV naturally shed from waterfowl under ambient environmental conditions.
Cellular rewiring in lethal prostate cancer: the architect of drug resistance

Over the past 5 years, the advent of combination therapeutic strategies has substantially reshaped the clinical management of patients with advanced prostate cancer. However, most of these combination regimens were developed empirically and, despite offering survival benefits, are not enough to halt disease progression. Thus, the development of effective therapeutic strategies that target the mechanisms involved in the acquisition of drug resistance and improve clinical trial design are an unmet clinical need. In this context, we hypothesize that the tumour engineers a dynamic response through the process of cellular rewiring, in which it adapts to the therapy used and develops mechanisms of drug resistance via downstream signalling of key regulatory cascades such as the androgen receptor, PI3K-AKT or GATA2-dependent pathways, as well as initiation of biological processes to revert tumour cells to undifferentiated aggressive states via phenotype switching towards a neuroendocrine phenotype or acquisition of stem-like properties. These dynamic responses are specific for each patient and could be responsible for treatment failure despite multi-target approaches. Understanding the common stages of these cellular rewiring mechanisms to gain a new perspective on the molecular underpinnings of drug resistance might help formulate novel combination therapeutic regimens.
Feasibility and acceptability of testing a menstrual-cycle timed smoking cessation intervention for women of reproductive age (Project Phase): Protocol of a pilot randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Compared to men, women have unique barriers to smoking cessation and are less likely to utilize quitline services. While current clinical recommendations have called for sex/gender-specific smoking cessation protocols, quitlines have not been expanded protocols to address the unique needs of women. Menstrual cycles (and/or ovarian hormones) influence quit outcomes in women. This paper presents the study design and protocol for a randomized control trial (Project Phase) designed to test the feasibility and acceptability of utilizing menstrual cycle timing to improve quit outcomes in women of reproductive age. Methods/design Participants include treatment-seeking women (n = 116), between the ages of 18–40 with regular and naturally-occurring menstrual cycles. Eligible participants are randomized to either the mid-Follicular Phase (FP) or Standard Care (SC-control) group. Counseling includes six weekly telephone sessions with four weeks of nicotine replacement therapy. The timing and frequency of sessions is identical to both conditions, with the exception of the quit day (week 3 of counseling). In addition to providing education on menstrual cycle and quitting, quit day for FP participants is set within 6–8 days post onset of menses; the SC group quit day is set for Week 3 of counseling regardless of their menstrual cycle phase. Dried blood spots will be used to bioverify menstrual cycle phase and smoking status. Discussion If feasible and acceptable, our behavioral counseling intervention that times the quit day to the mid-follicular phase of the menstrual may increase quit outcomes among women of reproductive age and has potential for dissemination across quitlines nationally.
Uterine Corpus Cancers

In this chapter, we will cover cancers and precancerous diseases of the uterus. Endometrial carcinoma is the commonest type of female genital cancer. However, most patients are diagnosed at early stage. The key to early diagnosis is appropriate management of women presenting with abnormal uterine bleeding and appropriate treatment and follow-up of patients diagnosed with endometrial hyperplasia.
Answer to September 2020 Photo Quiz.

Answer: Chronic pulmonary coccidioidomycosis. An IgG antibody to Aspergillus fumigatus was not present in the patient’s serum, and Aspergillus fumigatus was not detected in either BAL sample by PCR. However, a serum Coccidioides IgG complement fixation titer was positive at 1:32. Coccidioides
The Cleft Clinic Passport—Improving the Patient Experience:

Challenges in patient and public understanding of the cleft multidisciplinary team (MDT) clinic were highlighted in the Cleft Care UK report in 2012. An innovative personalized visual guide was designed to improve understanding of cleft MDT clinic and encourage child engagement at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. We demonstrate the use of Public and Patient Involvement to produce this novel visual educational tool in the Cleft MDT setting, which can form part of a personal health record.
Osteoporosis medication is associated with mortality risk reduction among adults with epilepsy: An observational study.

Abstract Background Adults with epilepsy have an increased risk of fragility fractures, which contributes to an accelerated rate of premature morbidity and mortality. In the general population, osteoporosis treatment has shown improvements in health and survival, possibly through improving skeletal robustness; however, the effect of osteoporosis medication on survival among adults with epilepsy has not been investigated. The purpose of this propensity score-matched, observational cohort study was to determine if osteoporosis medication was associated with mortality risk among adults with epilepsy. An exploratory analysis then examined the association between the type of osteoporosis medication with mortality. Methods Data from 01/01/2012–09/30/2017 was extracted from Optum Clinformatics® Data Mart. Adults ≥50 years of age with epilepsy that were treatment naive for and initiated osteoporosis medication (EP new users) were the primary group of interest, and were compared to adults with epilepsy that were not prescribed osteoporosis medication (EP no users) and adults without epilepsy that were treatment naive for and initiated osteoporosis medication (w/o EP new users). Comparison groups were matched 1:4 to EP new users (n = 733; comparison groups, n = 2932) for demographics, glucocorticoid and antiseizure medication, prior 12-month fracture, and the Elixhauser comorbidity index. Crude incidence rate (IR) and IR ratio (IRR and 95% confidence intervals [CI]) was estimated for mortality for up to 3 years of follow-up. For new users, the association between type of osteoporosis medication (bisphosphonates vs. others) and mortality was explored using Cox proportional hazards regression after adjusting for all covariates. Results For new users, the majority of the prescribed osteoporosis medications were bisphosphonates (~83%). The incidence of mortality for EP new users was lower compared to EP no users (IRR = 0.69; 95%CI = 0.52–0.93), but elevated compared to w/o EP new users (IRR = 1.42; 95%CI = 1.04–1.94). Comparing bisphosphonates to other medications for new users (P for EP group interaction = 0.089), EP new users showed a lower fully adjusted hazard ratio for mortality (HR = 0.56; 95%CI = 0.30–1.04), but was marginally insignificant (P = 0.066), while w/o EP new users showed no evidence of an association (HR = 1.09; 95%CI = 0.72–1.65). Conclusions Osteoporosis medication initiation was associated with a lower 3-year risk of mortality among adults with epilepsy. The exploratory analysis revealed potential evidence of a unique protective effect of bisphosphonates as compared to other osteoporosis medications on 3-year mortality for adults with epilepsy.
US Climate Change Adjudication: The Epic Journey from a Petition for Rulemaking to National Greenhouse Gas Regulation

Although the United States Congress has refused to adopt any climate change legislation, significant national climate policy has emerging from President Obama’s administration’s use of agency regulatory authority under existing statutes, particularly the Clean Air Act. The story of how this came about is one of successful, sustained litigation before an environmental agency (US EPA) and in the federal courts. This paper will describe and analyze the almost two decades-long litigation that has been a central force in creating meaningful climate change law and policy in the United States, which has already produced major reductions in greenhouse gases from motor vehicles. Starting with a simple petition asking US EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles, the ensuing administrative and judicial adjudication together with ancillary litigation and administrative action has transformed United States national climate change law from essentially nonexistent to a potentially powerful set of legal instruments that could significantly reduce US greenhouse gas emissions. The litigation story contains both procedural and substantive administrative lessons about administrative, statutory, and common-law adjudication. This paper is a case study of how administrative and judicial adjudication placed the United States on a path of sustainable development even though its courts did not view their role as one of promoting and creating sustainable development law or policy generally, or climate change policy particularly. This paper demonstrates the fundamental legitimacy of judicial involvement in overseeing agency climate change action in a legal system without specialized environmental courts but with only courts of general jurisdiction. Using only traditional legal doctrines and adjudicatory procedures, the courts ultimately empowered the US EPA to address the anthropogenic threat to global climate, the environment, and human communities. The paper examines the roles of agency procedure and decision-making, of public interest litigation and issues of judicial competency. The lessons from this litigation saga can be applied to adjudication in other jurisdictions because the legal approaches used here were based on traditional administrative law doctrines and procedures.
The Effect of Albumin-Binding Moiety on Tumor Targeting and Biodistribution Properties of 67Ga-Labeled Albumin Binder-Conjugated Alpha-Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormone Peptides.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of 4-p-(tolyl)butyric acid as an albumin-binding (ALB) moiety on tumor targeting and biodistribution properties of 67Ga-labeled albumin binder-co...
NOAA/EPA Surface Ultra-Violet Flux Index

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have joined together to research, validate and present to the general public an Ultraviolet Index (UV Index). The UV Index is modeled after a similar index created by the Canadian Atmospheric Environment Service (AES), which has been in effect since 1992. Differences between the NOAA/EPA and the AES UV Indexes as well as current and future improvements will be discussed.
Prehistoric Artifacts From the Little Nemaha River Drainage, Otoe County, Nebraska

The article describes certain stream deposited pottery sherds and projectile points found in south eastern Nebraska. Some of the sherds are attributable to the Sterns Creek complex and to the more ...
Statistical Mechanical Modeling of RNA Folding: From Free Energy Landscape to Tertiary Structural Prediction

In spite of the success of computational methods for predicting RNA secondary structure, the problem of predicting RNA tertiary structure folding remains. Low-resolution structural models show promise as they allow for rigorous statistical mechanical computation for the conformational entropies, free energies, and the coarse-grained structures of tertiary folds. Molecular dynamics refinement of coarse-grained structures leads to all-atom 3D structures. Modeling based on statistical mechanics principles also has the unique advantage of predicting the full free energy landscape, including local minima and the global free energy minimum. The energy landscapes combined with the 3D structures form the basis for quantitative predictions of RNA functions. In this chapter, we present an overview of statistical mechanical models for RNA folding and then focus on a recently developed RNA statistical mechanical model—the Vfold model. The main emphasis is placed on the physics underpinning the models, the computational strategies, and the connections to RNA biology.
Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor mediates non-redundant functions necessary for normal wound healing.

Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) is a serine protease inhibitor with anti-microbial properties found in mucosal fluids. It is expressed during cutaneous wound healing. Impaired healing states are characterized by excessive proteolysis and often bacterial infection, leading to the hypothesis that SLPI may have a role in this process. We have generated mice null for the gene encoding SLPI (Slpi), which show impaired cutaneous wound healing with increased inflammation and elastase activity. The altered inflammatory profile involves enhanced activation of local TGF-β in Slpi-null mice. We propose that SLPI is a pivotal endogenous factor necessary for optimal wound healing.
Computational study of the energetics of charge and cation mixing in U 1-x Ce x O 2

The formalism of electronic density-functional theory (DFT), with Hubbard-U corrections ($\text{DFT}+U$), is employed in a computational study of the energetics of fluorite-structured U${}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}$Ce${}_{x}$O${}_{2}$ mixtures. The computational approach makes use of a procedure which facilitates convergence of the calculations to multiple self-consistent $\text{DFT}+U$ solutions for a given cation arrangement, corresponding to different charge states for the U and Ce ions in several prototypical cation arrangements. Results indicate a significant dependence of the structural and energetic properties on the nature of both charge and cation ordering. With the effective Hubbard-U parameters that reproduce well the measured oxidation-reduction energies for urania and ceria, we find that charge transfer between U${}^{4+}$ and Ce${}^{4+}$ ions, leading to the formation of U${}^{5+}$ and Ce${}^{3+}$, gives rise to an increase in the mixing energy in the range of 4--14 kJ/mol of the formula unit, depending on the nature of the cation ordering. The results suggest that although charge transfer between uranium and cerium ions is disfavored energetically, it is likely to be entropically stabilized at the high temperatures relevant to the processing and service of urania-based solid solutions.
Multi-Scale Chemical Product Design using the Reverse Problem Formulation

Abstract The main objective for this research is to extend the reverse problem formulation algorithm to include aspects of multiple length scales, thereby creating a framework where product synthesis, design, and optimization can be achieved with significantly reduced computational time. In order to achieve this objective a centralized framework was developed that combines property clustering with chemometric techniques like principal component analysis (PCA) and partial linear regression onto latent surfaces (PLS) to solve the design problem in a property descriptor sub-domain. Information from the molecular scale on short range order, such as group structure, conformation, and stereoregularity, is combined with information from the mesoscale on long range order, such as the particle size, to design a set of alternative excipients that exhibit superior properties for use in an acetaminophen tablet without the use of parallel, grid, or supercomputing techniques.
An experience teaching operating systems course with a programming project

An operating system course can be taught with or without a programming project. The author has found that teaching it with a programming project has several advantages. In particular, students gain the valuable implementation experience of the essential features of an operating system, testing, debugging a large program, and validation of principles of operating systems they learn in the class. The author has designed a multiprocessing operating system called MTOPS for this purpose. It has been used as a programming project in a semester-long undergraduate operating systems course at the senior level. The project covers features such as process management, including scheduling algorithms, memory management, process synchronization, interprocess communication, I/O management, timer management, simulation of a two-address machine with a stack, event simulation, assembly language programming and hand assembly to machine language program, and an absolute loader. The design of the project is such that the students have the option to use any high-level language such as C, C++ or Java for implementation on any host, including a Personal Computer. The hardware for MTOPS is simulated. The project is implemented in the form of four homeworks. User programs to test the hardware and operating systems are written in assembly language first and then hand assembled into machine language. Student evaluation has shown that the project, though highly demanding, has been well received by students.
ULF waves in the magnetosphere

Research efforts in the area of magnetospheric ULF waves in the 1987-1990 period are reviewed. Attention is given to externally excited hydromagnetic waves including field line resonance, the global cavity mode, bow-shock-associated upstream waves, and Kelvin-Helmholtz waves. Consideration is given to internally excited Pc 4-5 pulsations and the role of these pulsations in the diffusion of ring-current ions based on the observed properties of the pulsations.
In Search of Respect: Preface to the 2003 Second Edition

In the seven years since the first edition of this book went to press in the fall of 1995, four major dynamics altered the tenor of daily life on the streets of East Harlem and deeply affected the lives of the crack dealers and their families depicted in these pages: 1) The U.S. economy entered the most prolonged period of sustained growth in its recorded history; 2) the size of the Mexican immigrant population in New York City and especially in East Harlem increased dramatically; 3) the war on drugs escalated into a quasi-official public policy of criminalizing and incarcerating the poor and the socially marginal; and 4) drug fashion trends among inner-city youth rendered marijuana even more popular and crack and heroin even less popular among Latinos and African Americans. In 2002, crack, cocaine, and heroin were still sold on the block where I lived, but they were sold less visibly by a smaller number of people. It was still easy to purchase narcotics throughout East Harlem, but much of the drug dealing had moved indoors, out of sight of the police. There were fewer small-time hawkers competing openly on street corners, shouting out the brand names of their drugs. Most importantly, heroin and crack continued to be spurned by Latino and African American youth who had witnessed as children the ravages that those drugs committed on the older generations in their community.
SIRF-1: enhancing reliability of single flash SSD through internal mirroring for mission-critical mobile applications

Flash memory based solid state drives (SSD) are increasingly common in portable and mobile computing devices such as laptops, mobile phones, and tablets. Due to space, weight, and power constraints, portable devices are often restricted to a single storage device, which makes them susceptible to data loss from internal errors. On the other hand, mission-critical mobile applications like wireless healthcare always demand a high level of data reliability. This is mainly because data sampled from mobile and dynamic environments are most likely irreproducible. An effective approach to improving storage and data reliability is the RAID (redundant arrays of inexpensive disks) organization. However, the multiple disks required to implement RAID make it incompatible with the aforementioned restrictions of many portable devices. In this paper, we propose a SIRF (single internally redundant flash) architecture that leverages the internal hierarchical structure and parallelism of SSDs to provide redundancy similar to RAID in a single drive configuration. The initial effort focuses on implementing SIRF-1 (mirroring), which is the corollary to its RAID-1 counterpart. In SIRF-1, data is mirrored across SSD channels to optimally exploit parallelism for both read and write operations. Simulation results show that for read-dominant workloads SIRF-1 significantly outperforms a non-mirrored SSD by up to 39.5% in terms of mean response time. For write-intensive workloads, SIRF-1 pays a performance penalty no more than 5.5%.
Heterodyne locking of an integrated optical phase-locked loop

We demonstrate proof-of-concept heterodyne locking of the first optical phase-locked loop photonic integrated circuit. The circuit contains two sampled-grating distributed reflector lasers monolithically integrated with optical amplifiers, multimode interference splitters/couplers, and high-speed modulators and photodetectors.
Shock Waves in the Solar Wind

Since the advent of in situ observations of the solar wind, a sufficient number of interplanetary shock waves has been studied to suggest some general conclusions regarding their properties. While some of these conclusions agree with inferences drawn earlier from indirect evidence, a disparity appears to exist which is of interest in relating shock associated geomagnetic activity to solar activity. The directly measured propagation speeds of interplanetary shocks imply transit times from their assumed solar origin to 1 AU which are longer than those often inferred from solar flare-SC correlation studies.