cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Flashes, Floaters, and an Unfamiliar Fundus.

An African American woman in her early to mid-60s presented to the ophthalmology clinic with complaints of flashes and occasional floaters in her left eye for the past 2 weeks. She had been seen 7 months prior to presentation for a comprehensive eye evaluation. She was found to have a bilateral posterior vitreous detachment, and the results of her retinal examination at that time were normal. Her best-corrected vision was 20/20 OU, and the intraocular pressure in each eye was normal. An anterior segment examination of the left eye revealed trace keratic precipitates on the inferior cornea and 1+ cell. A posterior segment examination revealed 1+ vitreous cell. A photograph from a fundus examination is shown in Figure 1. The right eye was normal. Quiz at jamaophthalmology.com Figure 1. Color fundus photograph of the left eye demonstrating notably clear media and whitish-yellow periarterial lesions.
Abstract 1109: Identification of a novel MDM2 splice transcript that lacks nuclear transport signals but harbors the p53 binding motif in human glioma cells

MDM2 a nuclear phosphoprotein binds with E3 ubiquitin ligase activity, binds and targets p53 for proteosomal degradation, hence is a negative regulator of p53. Consequently, over-expression of MDM2 results in the loss of p53 tumor suppressor function even in the absence of inactivating mutations in the p53 gene. To date, more than 40 different alternative spliced MDM2 transcript variants have been reported in both normal and tumor cells, with most of these lacking, in part or in full, the p53 binding domain of MDM2. In this study, we examined the levels of MDM2 gene expression in a panel of glioblastoma (GBM) cell lines and in vivo primary tumor xenografts by quantitative PCR /RT-PCR and examined the full length MDM2 cDNAs for the presence of MDM2 splice transcript variants using the nested PCR technique and a combination of direct sequencing and TA vector sequencing. The results showed a significant heterogeneity in MDM2 expression and in MDM2 splice variants among the tumors. Importantly, we identified a novel splice MDM2 transcript that was consistently associated with low MDM2 transcript levels in the tumors. Sequence analysis of this MDM2 spliced transcript showed it to harbor an internal deletion of three exons, namely 7, 8, and 9, containing the nuclear localization signal (NLS), the nuclear export signal (NES) and a portion of the acidic domain (AD). The p53 binding domain was fully conserved. The deletion caused a shift in the MDM2 open reading frame that created a stop codon (TGA) at codon 316. The spliced MDM2 transcript encoded a truncated MDM2 protein that harbors the functional p53 binding motif capable of interacting with the p53 protein but without the ability to localize to the nucleolus. Overall, our results with the 15 tumors showed no strong correlation between the presence of this novel splice MDM2 transcript and the expression levels of p53in the tumors. Studies are ongoing to determine the functional consequences of this novel MDM2 spliced variant on p53 downstream function in glioma cells. Supported by grants RO1CA112519, RO1CA127872, RO1CA91438, P30CA114236 and P5OCA108786 from the National Institutes of Health (USA). Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1109.
Cracking Potential and Temperature Sensitivity of Metakaolin Concrete

Abstract Metakaolin is a pozzolanic material with the potential to reduce permeability and chloride ingress; however, quantification of the effects of metakaolin use on the cracking sensitivity of concrete mixtures is needed to ensure that these improvements in performance are not compromised. This study was conducted to investigate the early age cracking potential due to restraint stresses from incorporating metakaolin in concrete. Calorimetry testing showed that metakaolin was more sensitive to temperature than mixtures with only Portland cement. Results showed more shrinkage, less stress relaxation, and higher restraint stress from the inclusion of metakaolin, potentially increasing cracking sensitivity of mixtures.
Comparison of a single-channel EEG sleep study to polysomnography.

Summary An accurate home sleep study to assess electroencephalography (EEG)-based sleep stages and EEG power would be advantageous for both clinical and research purposes, such as for longitudinal studies measuring changes in sleep stages over time. The purpose of this study was to compare sleep scoring of a single-channel EEG recorded simultaneously on the forehead against attended polysomnography. Participants were recruited from both a clinical sleep centre and a longitudinal research study investigating cognitively normal ageing and Alzheimer's disease. Analysis for overall epoch-by-epoch agreement found strong and substantial agreement between the single-channel EEG compared to polysomnography (κ = 0.67). Slow wave activity in the frontal regions was also similar when comparing the single-channel EEG device to polysomnography. As expected, Stage N1 showed poor agreement (sensitivity 0.2) due to lack of occipital electrodes. Other sleep parameters, such as sleep latency and rapid eye movement (REM) onset latency, had decreased agreement. Participants with disrupted sleep consolidation, such as from obstructive sleep apnea, also had poor agreement. We suspect that disagreement in sleep parameters between the single-channel EEG and polysomnography is due partially to altered waveform morphology and/or poorer signal quality in the single-channel derivation. Our results show that single-channel EEG provides comparable results to polysomnography in assessing REM, combined Stages N2 and N3 sleep and several other parameters, including frontal slow wave activity. The data establish that single-channel EEG can be a useful research tool.
The Psychology and Theology of Sexism

Studied the relationships between two dimensions of sexism and ten personality variables among 92 college students, sexes analyzed separately. The psychological data were interpreted and discussed ...
Human exhibitions: Race, gender and sexuality in ethnic displays, by Rikke Andreassen, Farnham, UK, Ashgate, 2015, 226 pp., £60.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-4724-2245-3

Originally published in 2011, and revised and updated for inclusion in Ashgate’s series ‘Studies in Migration and Diaspora’, this book by Rikke Andreassen, Associate Professor in the Department of ...
Envy-minimizing pareto efficient intersection control with brokered utility exchanges under user heterogeneity

Abstract We propose PEXIC (Priced EXchanges in Intersection Control), a new concept and algorithm for traffic signal control that incorporates user heterogeneity on value of delay savings. The algorithm assigns phases with associated delays, taking into account the vehicle travelers’ values for experienced delay. Applying principles of envy-freeness, we develop a pricing scheme that addresses fairness by minimizing user envy via compensatory monetary transfers among users. PEXIC is Pareto efficient and budget balanced, and thus financially self-sustainable without external subsidy. The optimization is solved sequentially on a rolling horizon basis: first the phasing, and next the pricing. PEXIC achieves significant cost reductions for a large range of volumes and users’ value heterogeneity levels. Inclusion of user heterogeneity also proved to be fairer than standard delay minimization that disregards individual vehicles’ values for delay savings. Furthermore, we show that arbitrage is not possible, thus there are no incentives to drive just to collect those payments. The method used has polynomial complexity and it is suitable for real-world implementation.
Monocular human pose tracking using multi frame part dynamics

Efficient monocular human pose tracking in dynamic scenes is an important problem. Existing pose tracking methods either use activity priors to restrict the search space, or use generative body models with weak kinematic constraints to infer pose over multiple frames; these often tends to be slow. We develop an efficient algorithm to track human pose by estimating multi-frame body dynamics without activity priors. We present a montecarlo approximation of the body dynamics using spatio-temporal distributions over part tracks. To obtain tracks that favor kinematically feasible body poses, we propose a novel “kinematically constrained” particle filtering approach which results in more accurate pose tracking than other stochastic approaches that use single frame priors. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on videos with actors performing various actions in indoor dynamic scenes.
Impact of a Long Run on Injury-Related Biomechanics with Relation to Weekly Mileage in Trained Male Runners

The purposes of this study were to compare selected biomechanical variables before and after a long run, and to assess the relationship between weekly running volume and changes in lower limb biomechanics after the run. Twelve trained habitual rearfoot strike male runners ran overground before and after a treadmill long run while kinematic and kinetic data were recorded. Repeated measures analysis of variance and Cohen's d effect sizes were used to compare kinematic and kinetic variables before and after the run. Loading rate was 6% higher after the run (p < .05) but this difference had a small effect size (d = .32). Moderate effects were found for a 25% increase in peak ankle eversion (d = 0.62) and a 10% increase in hip adduction (d = 0.60) after the run. These findings suggest that the completion of a submaximal long run does not yield potentially injurious lower limb biomechanics in uninjured rearfoot strike runners. Weekly running mileage was not correlated to biomechanical changes observed before and after the long run. Since biomechanical responses to the long run varied among runners, differences in other factors such as specific training regimens and neuromuscular control should be considered in future studies.
READMISSION AND LONG-TERM MORTALITY IN OLDER PATIENTS TREATED WITH TICAGRELOR VERSUS PRASUGREL AFTER PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY INTERVENTION: INSIGHTS FROM THE BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF MICHIGAN CARDIOVASCULAR CONSORTIUM

Background: In randomized trials, ticagrelor and prasugrel were superior to clopidogrel in the treatment of acute coronary syndrome (ACS); however, the comparative effectiveness of these two drugs in real-world practice remains unknown. We compared post-discharge outcomes among older pts discharged
A Domain-Agnostic Approach to Spam-URL Detection via Redirects

Web services like social networks, video streaming sites, etc. draw numerous viewers daily. This popularity makes them attractive targets for spammers to distribute hyperlinks to malicious content. In this work we propose a new approach for detecting spam URLs on the Web. Our key idea is to leverage the properties of URL redirections widely deployed by spammers. We combine the redirect chains into a redirection graph that reveals the underlying infrastructure in which the spammers operate, and design our method to build on key characteristics closely associated with the modus operandi of the spammers. Different from previous work, our approach exhibits three key characteristics; (1) domain-independence, which enables it to generalize across different Web services, (2) adversarial robustness, which incurs difficulty, risk, or cost on spammers to evade as it is tightly coupled with their operational behavior, and (3) semi-supervised detection, which uses only a few labeled examples to produce competitive results thanks to its effective usage of the redundancy in spammers’ operations. Evaluation on large Twitter datasets shows that we achieve above 0.96 recall and 0.70 precision with false positive rate below 0.07 with only 1% of labeled data.
Implications of Semiconductor Superlattice Research

Following the past two decade evolutionary path in the inter-disciplinary research of semiconductor superlattices and quantum wells, significant milestones are presented with emphasis on electric field-induced effects in the frontier of semiconductor physics associated with technological advances.
Testing a reciprocal causation model between anxiety, enjoyment and academic performance in postsecondary organic chemistry

Affective factors such as the achievement emotions are considered critical for students’ academic performance in STEM degree programmes and careers. In this study, a reciprocal causation model was ...
Influence of Shock-Wave Deformation on the Structure/Property Behavior of Materials

While the field of shock-wave physics has provided significant insights into many of the processes related to wave propagation in materials, the exact micromechanisms of deformation during shock loading remain poorly understood. The initial response of a material subjected to explosive or high-velocity impact conditions is to propagate shock waves that rapidly traverse the material. These waves produce dynamic deformations, the extent of strain is dependent on the precise method of loading and the degree to which a hydrostatic stress state is maintained. If we are to develop an understanding of the total response of a material to impact, we must investigate the specific influence of shock waves on microstructure and the corresponding effects on mechanical properties. The severe loading path conditions imposed during a shock induce a high density of defects in most materials, i.e., dislocations, point defects, and/or deformation twins. In addition, during the shock process some materials may undergo a pressure-induced phase transition which will affect the real-time material response. If the phase remains present to ambient conditions (although metastable) the post-mortem substructure and mechanical response will also reflect the high-pressure excursion. Interpretation of the results of shock-wave effects on materials must therefore address all of the details of the shock-induced deformation substructure in light of the operative metallurgical strengthening mechanisms in the material under investigation, and the experimental conditions under which the material was deformed and recovered.
Cell Cycle Regulation in Human Pancreatic Beta Cells

For decades, it had been assumed that pancreatic β cells were terminally differentiated and thus unable to replicate, and that β-cell replication did not exist in any quantitatively meaningful way. This view has changed dramatically in the past decade, with abundant data demonstrating that fetal, neonatal, and adult rodent β cells replicate at physiologically important rates. These new data have resulted in a plethora of new reports exploring the nutrient, growth factor, and signaling cascades that lie upstream and regulate the cell cycle machinery that controls rodent β-cell replication. Moreover, myriad reports of murine genetic models of cell cycle molecule knockout or overexpression have appeared and have documented unequivocally the importance and therapeutic relevance of cell cycle regulatory mechanisms in murine β cells. These events contrast with the pace of development of new knowledge regarding human β-cell replication. It seems clear that unlike in rodents, spontaneous replication of adult human β cells is uncommon. Further, standard manipulations, nutrients, and growth factors that induce rodent β-cell replication fail to do so in human β cells. In this chapter we focus on the molecular control of cell cycle progression in human β cells, illustrate the differences between human and rodent β-cell cycle regulatory control, and provide examples of approaches to inducing human β-cell replication.
Functional Genomics of Aging

Functional genomics of aging is a comprehensive approach to study the dynamic network of genes that ultimately determines the physiology of an individual organism over its lifetime.
Observations of the electric fields that accelerate auroral particles

Electric fields accelerate electrons and ions in the auroral zone at altitudes below 8000 km to produce several distinctive particle distributions. The electric field of electrostatic shocks and double layers produces the inverted-V precipitating electron and up-flowing ion beams. Electrostatic ion cyclotron waves heat ion beams. The electric field in low frequency plasma waves and electrostatic shocks produces ion conics and field-aligned or counterstreaming electrons. Relationships between electric fields and particle distributions are illustrated with data from the S3-3 satellite.
Tutorial: Rapidly Identifying Disease-associated Rare Variants using Annotation and Machine Learning at Whole-genome Scale Online

Accurately identifying disease-associated alleles from large sequencing experiments remains challenging. During this tutorial, participants will learn how to use a new variant annotation and filtering web app called Bystro (https://bystro.io/) to analyze sequencing experiments. Bystro is the first online, cloud-based application that makes variant annotation and filtering accessible to all researchers for even the largest, terabyte-sized whole-genome experiments containing thousands of samples. Using its general-purpose, natural-language filtering engine, attendees will be shown how to perform quality control measures and identify alleles of interest. They will then be guided in exporting those variants, and using them in both a regression context by performing rare-variant association tests in R, as well as classification context by training new machine learning models in Python's scikit-learn library.
Long-Term Success of Surgery for Primary Hyperparathyroidism: Focused Exploration using Intraoperative Parathyroid Hormone Monitoring Versus Four-Gland Exploration

Primary hyperparathyroidism is a common problem that is a result of the excessive secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH) from the parathyroid glands. This is most commonly caused by a single hypersecreting adenomatous gland. Most all patients with primary hyperparathyroidism meet criteria for surgery. The best operation should provide the highest rate of cure with the lowest rate of complications. The standard surgical approach has traditionally been a four-gland exploration. Though this method has endured many years of excellent cure rates, it has been challenged because a long-lasting cure is possible with the removal of a single adenoma in the majority of cases. Thus, a focused exploration via an image-guided, open unilateral exploration employing intraoperative PTH (ioPTH) monitoring has gained popularity over the last two decades. Specifically, ioPTH monitoring has been shown to be paramount to this approach, enabling a more limited exploration by accurately guiding gland excision and predicting postoperative cure. Several large series of focused parathyroid operations have shown excellent, durable cure rates similar to standard four-gland exploration. Focused exploration guided by ioPTH is a safe, effective technique that is recommended for most patients with sporadic primary hyperparathyroidism.
Flicker Estimation Associated with PV Integrated Distribution Network

The interest for solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems installation has been recently increasing due to their reducing cost and high electricity price from the utilities. However, the PV power generation is sensitive to variable solar irradiation, which causes technical difficulties related to power quality and control. Severity of those problems directly depends on PV penetration level, grid design and geographic location. This paper explores the flicker indices of grid-tied PV power plant, one of the major power quality issues. The study has been carried out on a real grid-integrated PV system, situated at Engineering Center, Florida International University (FIU). The field measurements of various solar output power and flicker quantifying indices at the point of common coupling (PCC) have been recorded using data acquisition system and power quality meter respectively. The collected data has been categorized and analyzed for voltage fluctuations and flicker. Different approaches have been done to investigate the influence of PV power plant on the flicker indices. Results show that solar output power has a marginal effect towards flicker indices with existing penetration level. Load connection and variation are the key indicators of high flicker value during observation time.
Is the endothelial cell responsible for the thrombus core and shell architecture

Ischemia leading to heart attacks and strokes is the major cause of deaths in the world. This report explores the possibility that intracellular material from ruptured endothelial cells is partially responsible for the heterogeneous core-and-shell blood clot architecture, typically observed using intravital microscopy. As evidence, we present a fluid dynamic argument that platelet agonists emanating from the injury cannot activate platelets in the thrombus core, given that they would have to travel against flow of blood escaping into the extravascular. Furthermore, we demonstrate visual evidence that the core material appears to be continuous and originating from the damaged endothelium. Finally, we present a mechanism, illustrating the steps of platelet recruitment into the thrombus and sealing of the injury. If correct, the model presented herein will be beneficial to the understanding and treatment of heart attacks, strokes and hemophilia.
Ursachen und Voraussetzungen für den Bruch eines Materials

Bei der Dimensionierung eines Bauteils ist die ubliche Voraussetzung, das das Material zerstort oder jedenfalls so deformiert wird, das der betreffende Bauteil unbrauchbar wird, wenn eine Beanspruchung (Zug, Druck oder Abscherung) eine gewisse Grenze uberschreitet. Wenn das Problem damit ganzlich erfast ware, so hatte man nichts weiter zu tun, als die einzelnen Bauteile so zu bemessen, das die grosten Spannungen genugend weit unterhalb einer gewissen Grenze bleiben.
Magneto-plasmonic properties of Ag-Co composite nano-triangle arrays

The magneto-plasmonic properties of Ag-Co composite nano-triangle arrays are investigated. Both plasmonic and magnetic properties of the samples are found to strongly depend on the composition ratio of Ag and Co. Composite nano-triangle arrays exhibit strong plasmonic properties and low magneto-optics (MO) effect with high composition of Ag, and vice versa. The enhanced magneto-optic effect is also observed to be coincident with the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) properties, i.e. the maximum Faraday effect occurs at the LSPR wavelength, which is due to locally high E-field. The composite triangle arrays with the 60% Co content show high plasmonic-MO performances characterized by magneto-optics-plasmonic correlation factor. All experimental results are confirmed by finite-difference time domain calculations.
Characterization of Phase I and Glucuronide Phase II Metabolites of 17 Mycotoxins Using Liquid Chromatography-High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.

Routine mycotoxin biomonitoring methods do not include many mycotoxin phase I and phase II metabolites, which may significantly underestimate mycotoxin exposure especially for heavily metabolized mycotoxins. Additional research efforts are also needed to measure metabolites in vivo after exposure and to establish which mycotoxin metabolites should be prioritized for the inclusion during large-scale biomonitoring efforts. The objective of this study was to perform human in vitro microsomal incubations of 17 mycotoxins and systematically characterize all resulting metabolites using liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). The results obtained were then used to build a comprehensive LC-MS library and expand a validated 17-mycotoxin method for exposure monitoring to screening of additional 188 metabolites, including 100 metabolites reported for the first time. The final method represents one of the most comprehensive LC-HRMS methods for mycotoxin biomonitoring or metabolism/fate studies.
Brain-machine interfaces from motor to mood.

Brain–machine interfaces (BMIs) create closed-loop control systems that interact with the brain by recording and modulating neural activity and aim to restore lost function, most commonly motor function in paralyzed patients. Moreover, by precisely manipulating the elements within the control loop, motor BMIs have emerged as new scientific tools for investigating the neural mechanisms underlying control and learning. Beyond motor BMIs, recent work highlights the opportunity to develop closed-loop mood BMIs for restoring lost emotional function in neuropsychiatric disorders and for probing the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation. Here we review significant advances toward functional restoration and scientific discovery in motor BMIs that have been guided by a closed-loop control view. By focusing on this unifying view of BMIs and reviewing recent work, we then provide a perspective on how BMIs could extend to the neuropsychiatric domain. This paper first reviews the work on brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) for restoring lost motor function and then provides a perspective on how BMIs could extend to the new frontier of restoring lost emotional function in neuropsychiatric disorders.
A Formal SPN Methodology for Single (1D) and Multiple Channels (2D) EEG Brain Activity Representations/Analysis/Diagnosis

In this paper, a syntactic approach for the Electroencephalography (EEG) signal modeling and analysis is presented. EEG is a noninvasive neuroimaging method which directly measures the brain activity in a form of time series of electrical potential oscillations. The assessment of brain dynamics and activity patterns is of crucial importance for the understanding of brain functionality. Over the years, the progress in data mining and processing techniques have contributed to the exploration of the time and frequency domain characteristics embodied in the EEG recordings. Here, a synergistic methodology that enables the analysis of the structural features of EEG and moreover, aims to combine the EEG channels' spatiotemporal dependencies utilizing the Stochastic Petri Nets model, is presented.
The Embodied Imagination in Antebellum American Art and Culture

This book reveals a new history of the imagination told through its engagement with the body. Even as they denounced the imagination’s potential for inviting luxury, vice, and corruption, American audiences avidly consumed a transatlantic visual culture of touring paintings, dioramas, gift books, and theatrical performances that pictured a preindustrial—and largely imaginary—European past. By examining the visual, material, and rhetorical strategies artists like Washington Allston, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, and others used to navigate this treacherous ground, Catherine Holochwost uncovers a hidden tension in antebellum aesthetics. The book will be of interest to scholars of art history, literary and cultural history, critical race studies, performance studies, and media studies.
A Food Journalism Pioneer: The Story behind the First New York Times Food Writer Jane Nickerson and Her Food Section, 1942-1957

Jane Nickerson was a pioneering food journalist whose story is largely untold. She began her job as The New York Times food editor during World War II, when food journalism was in its infancy but i...
Understanding the Interplay between Hardware Errors and User Job Characteristics on the Titan Supercomputer

Designing dependable supercomputers begins with an understanding of errors in real-world, large-scale systems. The Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory provides a unique opportunity to investigate errors when an actual system is actively used by multiple concurrent users and workloads from diverse domains at varying scales. This study presents a thorough analysis of 6, 908, 497 hardware errors from 18, 688 compute nodes of Titan for 312, 215 user jobs over a 3-year time period. Through careful joining of two system logs – the Machine Check Architecture (MCA) log and the job scheduler log – we show the correlated pattern of hardware errors for each job and user, in addition to individual descriptive statistics of errors, jobs, and users. Since the majority of hardware errors are memory errors, this study also shows the importance of error correcting in memory systems.
Sensing dissolved oxygen through organic electrochemical transistors

Low-cost sensors for in situ monitoring of ocean conditions will provide critical information to understand how nutrients and oxygen levels correlate to fish kills and aquaculture issues. The compatibility of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) with aqueous environments makes them promising sensor components in an ocean sensing platform. Our OECTs is based on PEDOT as channel and carbon as electrodes. Here we design the sensor for detecting dissolved oxygen (DO) and explain the challenges in balancing the oxygen reduction reaction with the doping/dedeoping process in OECTs. We will show the device sensitivity and stability with respect to DO concentration under simulated marine environment.
Acute cocaine exposure occludes long-term depression in ventral tegmental area GABA neurons.

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) in the midbrain is essential in incentive salience of reward behavior. Drugs of abuse increase midbrain dopamine cell activity and/or dopamine levels, and can alter endogenous VTA glutamate plasticity, leading to addiction or dependence. VTA dopamine cells are regulated by local inhibitory GABA cells, which exhibit a form of pre-synaptic cannabinoid receptor 1-dependent long-term depression of their glutamatergic inputs. Our current aim was to determine cocaine's influence on VTA GABA cell glutamate plasticity and circuity. Using whole cell voltage-clamp electrophysiology in VTA slices of GAD67-GFP knock-in mice, we recorded excitatory inputs on VTA GABA cells. Acute and chronic injections of cocaine were sufficient to occlude long-term depression. The plasticity could be reversed to the naive state however, as long-term depression was again observed following a 7-day abstinence from acute cocaine exposure. Furthermore, chronic cocaine decreased AMPA/NMDA ratios at glutamate synapses onto VTA GABA cells, compared to vehicle injection controls, the opposite change noted in dopamine cells. Collectively, our data suggest the cellular mechanism of cocaine-mediated synaptic modification that may result in dependence/withdrawal could involve changes in glutamate input to VTA GABA circuitry in addition to VTA dopamine cells. Therefore VTA GABA cells may also play a role, possibly in a synergistic manner with the dopamine circuit, in cocaine-induced changes to the VTA reward pathway than previously known.
Genome-wide association study to identify chromosomal regions related to panicle architecture in rice (Oryza sativa)

Panicle architecture directly affects the grain yield of rice; meanwhile, crop domestication has increased the complexity of rice panicle size and branching pattern. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed to investigate the genetic basis underlying panicle architecture using 183 rice accessions from around the world and a 7 K SNP array. Phenotyping was conducted at Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center in Beaumont, TX. GWAS was performed using MLM (Q + K) model using GAPIT software. At p-value < 0.001, a total of 49 GWAS QTLs controlling various panicle architecture traits were mapped. Considering the recurring and linked SNPs across the panicle architecture traits, 42 independent QTL regions were identified. Among these, 27 QTL regions co-localized with known genes or previously reported QTLs or significant SNP markers, while 15 were potentially novel QTL regions. The results of our study offer useful information on genetic bases controlling panicle architecture in rice, which could be further validated and utilized for designing markers for use in markers assisted selection (MAS) in rice breeding programs.
Economic, Reproductive, and Performance Effects of PI BVD in Commercial Cattle Operations:

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) infection can cause a range of reproductive, performance, and health problems in commercial cow herds. The primary reservoir of BVDV is cattle persistently infected (PI) with the virus, and BVDV is most commonly introduced into a herd through contact with a PI animal. The economic loss in a given herd varies due to factors such as herd immunity and the timing of PI introduction into the herd. Losses due to BVDV are minimized by initiating a biocontrol strategy that includes testing for PI cattle and vaccinating to enhance herd immunity.
A Framework for Array Shape Reconstruction Through Mutual Coupling

Flexible phased arrays potentially enable diverse applications not permitted by rigid systems; however, they introduce ambiguity in antenna element positions. If this position ambiguity can be overcome, flexible arrays can perform the full suite of array functions: beam steering, wavefront engineering, and beam focusing. Furthermore, shape reconstructions of arrays can be used for applications beyond beamforming. We propose a framework to reconstruct the shape of a flexible array that only uses mutual coupling measurements and does not require additional sensors or functionalities in the system. We discuss the approach, a two-step algorithm, which is highly modular and can be implemented in a variety of phased array systems. To demonstrate the accuracy of the approach, we present results from two passive 2.5-GHz phased array setups using dipole and patch antennas, as well as a 10-GHz (active) integrated circuit flexible phased array, and demonstrate the accuracy of the approach in this system. In all cases, the algorithm reconstructs the antenna shape accurately, with average position errors of approximately 6% of the wavelength. This article can serve as the beginning of the broad study of shape reconstruction algorithms and their applications.
Magnetic Field Effect on Convective Fluid Flow in a Vertical Bridgman System

We studied the magnetic field effects on convective fluid flow in a differentially heated HgCdTe Bridgman growth system with linearly stratified vertical HgTe concentration. We followed J. E. Hart's system set-up, boundary conditions, and formulation. We obtained analytical steady parallel flow solutions for fluid flow's velocity and solutal concentration. These solutions depend only on solutal Rayleigh number. Our analytical solutions had different expressions from that of Hart's, but had similar numerical simulation results for the mean fluid velocity and solutal concentration gradient as a function of solutal Rayleigh number. We studied the effects of a transverse magnetic field on the fluid flow of the Bridgman growth systems both on the ground and in the space. The simulation results and comparison with experimental results will be presented.
Abstract 2688: Drugging MYCN through an allosteric transition in Aurora A kinase

MYC genes contribute to a range of cancers including neuroblastoma, where amplification of MYCN confers a poor prognosis. Proteolytic degradation of MYCN protein is regulated in part by a kinase-independent function of Aurora kinase A. We describe a class of inhibitors that disrupts the native conformation of Aurora A and causes degradation of MYCN protein across MYCN-expressing neuroblastoma cell lines. Comparison of co-crystal structures with structure- activity relationships across multiple inhibitors and chemotypes, coupled with mechanistic studies and biochemical assays, delineates an Aurora A conformation-specific effect on proteolytic degradation of MYCN, rather than simple nanomolar-level inhibition of Aurora A kinase activity. This new class of inhibitors, which disrupts stabilizing interactions between Aurora A and MYCN, represents candidate agents to target MYCN-driven and potentially MYC-driven cancers. Citation Format: William C. Gustafson, Justin G. Meyerowitz, Erin A. Nekritz, Elise A. Charron, Yvan Chanthery, Erin Simonds, Katherine Matthay, Nicholas Hertz, Kevan Shokat, William A. Weiss. Drugging MYCN through an allosteric transition in Aurora A kinase. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2688. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2688
Oxygenase Enzymes: Role in Biodegradation

Monooxygenases and their Roles in Biodegradative Pathways Dioxygenases and their Roles in Biodegradative Pathways Keywords: biodegradation; enzymes; dioxygenases; monooxygenases; oxygenases
The UAVSAR phased array aperture

The development of a microstrip patch antenna array for an L-band repeat-pass interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) is discussed in this paper. The instrument will be flown on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and will provide accurate topographic maps for Earth science by 2007. The antenna operates at a center frequency of 1.2575 GHz and with a bandwidth of 80 MHz, consistent with a number of radar instruments that JPL has previously flown. The antenna is designed to radiate orthogonal linear polarizations for fully-polarimetric measurements. Beam-pointing requirements for repeat-pass SAR interferometry necessitate electronic scanning in azimuth over a range of /spl plusmn/20degrees in order to compensate for aircraft yaw. Beam-steering is accomplished by transmit/receive (T/R) modules and a beamforming network implemented in a stripline circuit board. This paper focuses on the electromagnetic design of the antenna tiles and associated interconnects. An important aspect of the design of this antenna is that it has an amplitude taper of 10dB in the elevation direction. This is to reduce multipath reflections from the wing that would otherwise be detrimental to interferometric radar measurements. The amplitude taper is provided by coupling networks in the interconnect circuits as opposed to using attenuators in the T/R modules. Details are given of material choices and fabrication techniques that meet the demanding environmental conditions that the antenna must operate in. Predicted array performance is reported in terms of co-polarized and cross-polarized far-field antenna patterns, and also in terms of active reflection coefficient. Measured performance of a 4-element by 2-element antenna tile is presented.
On the learning control of a robot manipulator

A learning control law is derived to achieve trajectory following for a robot manipulator. The controller consists of a computed torque servo for the rigid body terms that can be modeled and a learning law for the unmodeled dynamics. Two advantages of this method are that bounds can be assigned to the position and velocity tracking errors and that no measurements of joint acceleration are required. >
Degeneration and Regeneration of Subbasal Corneal Nerves after Infectious Keratitis: A Longitudinal In Vivo Confocal Microscopy Study.

Purpose To investigate the longitudinal alterations of subbasal corneal nerves in patients with infectious keratitis (IK) during the acute phase, cessation of treatment, and the recovery phase by in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM). Design Prospective, longitudinal, case-control, single-center study. Participants Fifty-six eyes of 56 patients with the diagnosis of bacterial (n = 28), fungal (n = 15), or Acanthamoeba (n = 13) keratitis were included in the study. Thirty eyes of 30 normal volunteers constituted the control group. Methods Corneal sensation and serial IVCM of the central cornea were performed prospectively using the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph 3/Rostock Cornea Module (Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany). The IVCM images were assessed at 3 time points: at the acute phase (first visit to the cornea service), at cessation of antimicrobial treatment, and up to 6 months after the resolution of infection. Main Outcome Measures Total nerve number and length, main nerve trunks, branching, and corneal sensation were assessed during the follow-up period. Results Corneal nerves were reduced significantly during the acute phase in eyes with IK compared with controls across all subgroups, with total nerve length of 5.47±0.69 mm/mm 2 versus 20.59±1.06 mm/mm 2 ( P 2 ; P = 0.02) and nerve branch length (4.80±0.37 mm/mm 2 ; P = 0.005). During the recovery phase, after resolution of infection, corneal nerves regenerated further, including total nerve length (12.13±1.97 mm/mm 2 ; P = 0.005), main nerve trunk length (5.80±1.00 mm/mm 2 ; P = 0.01), and nerve branch length (6.33±0.76 mm/mm 2 ; P = 0.003) as compared with the acute phase, but were still significantly lower when compared with controls ( P r = 0.47; P = 0.0009). Conclusions Patients with IK who sustain profound loss of corneal nerves during the acute phase of infection demonstrate increased corneal nerve density during the first 6 months after the resolution of infection. However, despite significant nerve regeneration, corneal nerve density does not recover fully and remains low compared to controls. By providing an objective methodology to monitor corneal re-innervation, IVCM adds potentially important findings that may have implications for clinical management and surgical planning.
Complications of Ablative Renal Procedures

Increasing use of sonography, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has led to a rapid rise in the discovery of small renal tumors and an increase in detection of renal cell cancer (RCC). Although these incidentally discovered masses tend to be smaller and of lower grade than symptomatic lesions [1, 2], the majority (65–80%) of these tumors are renal cell carcinomas (RCC) when pathologically analyzed [3]. In addition, nearly 60% of these lesions will exhibit growth during active surveillance (mean 0.26 cm/year), such that given a long life expectancy, lesions in younger patients may grow sufficiently to become symptomatic or to metastasize [4].
Comentarios sobre el problema de empleadores e inmigración de indocumentados a EUA: una oportunidad para estudios macro regionales

El fenomeno de trabajadores de origen mexicano en Estados Unidos tiene impactos nacionales y transnacionales en Mexico y en aquel pais. Existen contrastes importantes: unos senalan la contribucion economica que hacen los inmigrantes mexicanos a ambos paises mientras mejoran su vida propia; otras senalan la competencia en el mercado laboral en los Estados Unidos, la cual empeoro la situacion de los trabajadores nacionales de Estados Unidos. No es el proposito resolver estos dos puntos de vista, sino revisar algunos estudios sobre empleadores, puesto que la legislacion implica un mayor control de empleadores con sanciones en los sectores urbanos, mientras que hace excepciones extraordinarias a los agricultores. El resultado de este trabajo nos ofrece solo una vision parcial e incompleta de como varia entre empresas grandes y pequenas el empleo de inmigrantes —legales o indocumentados— en varios sectores de la economia y sobre todo, la variacion microregional.
Characterization and Throttling-Based Mitigation of Memory Interference for Heterogeneous Smartphones

The availability of a wide range of general purpose as well as accelerator cores on modern smart phones means that a significant number of applications can be executed on a smart phone simultaneously, resulting in an ever increasing demand on the memory subsystem. While the increased computation capability is intended for improving user experience, memory requests from each concurrent application exhibit unique memory access patterns as well as specific timing constraints. If not considered, this could lead to significant memory contention and result in lowered user experience. In this paper, we design experiments to analyze the performance degradation caused by the interference at the memory subsystem for a broad range of commonly-used smart phone applications. The characterization studies are performed on a real smart phone device -- Google Nexus5 -- running an Android operating system. Our results show that user-centric smart phone applications, such as web browsing and media player, suffer up to 34% and 21% performance degradation, respectively, from shared resource contention at the application processor's last-level cache, the communication fabric, and the main memory. Taking a step further, we demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of a frequency throttling-based memory interference mitigation technique. At the expense of performance degradation of interfering applications, frequency throttling is an effective technique for mitigating memory interference, leading to better QoS and user experience, for user-centric applications.
Technological, organizational and alliance strategies in the auto parts supplier industry

In order to compete favorably in the auto parts supplier markets, domestically and internationally, participating firms must position their manufacturing to meet changing demands of the auto manufacturers. Changes in the supplier industry (30000 firms and 950000 workers) include both technological and business organizational changes. To determine possible industry-based strategies, research was conducted with select-positioned firms. Their information was correlated with literature and trade information regarding manufacturing systems. The authors report results of the systematic strategic management process approach to the environment (economic, social, political, and technological), and posits alternative approaches to survive and prosper in this industry. The competing strategy formulated for the auto parts supplier is focused on: (1) the shifting boundary of outsourcing/in-house decisions by the OEM; and (2) the changing position of the auto parts supplier to compete for the business. >
Effects of flexible walls on radiated sound from a turbulent boundary layer

In this paper, radiated sound from low Mach number turbulent boundary layers is studied using Lighthill's analogy. The focus is on investigating the behavior of wall pressure fluctuations on a flexible wall boundary. Comparisons are made between the results from rigid and flexible walls. At low frequencies, the flexible wall results have shown much higher levels of power spectra. At high frequencies, the spectra of the flexible wall sound radiation merge with those of the rigid wall sound radiation. These trends are in agreement with other experimental and theoretical results in literature. This theoretical study of the two-dimensional turbulent boundary layer clarifies the effects of a flexible wall on radiated sound in low Mach number flows.
Analyticity and phase retrieval

The general problem of constructing a spectrumg(v) from the knowledge of the magnitude of its Fourier transform ¦ γ(τr) ¦ is considered. The question reduces to locating the zeros of the analytic continuation γ(τ) in the upper half-plane. It is shown that ifg(v) is real, the complex zeros of γ(τ) in the u.h.p. either are on the imaginary axis or occur pairwise in a symmetrical position. If, in addition, g(v)≥0, the zeros on the imaginary axis disappear. The conditiong(v) ≥ 0 also leads to the requirement that γ(τ) must be representable as a convolution of a functionh(τ) with itself. The analytic properties ofh(τ) and the equations to determine it are discussed. Possible ways to obtain the solution of the ensuing nonlinear eigenvalue problem are suggested.
Inertia in Cognitive Processes: The Role of Accumulated Information in Attitude Change

Research evidence is presented to support a new and simple theory of attitude formation and change. This theory posits that the attitude of any individual converges over time on the arithmetic mean of the attitude-pertinent information received by the individual. Consequently, the stability of an attitude is dependent on the number of messages out of which that attitude was formed. This formulation also implies that the emotional state or feelings of an individual and the degree of heterogeneity of influences to which he or she was exposed are unrelated to attitude change. Using a multi-stage, multi-time procedure, and instruments designed to detect and measure interpersonal influence, data provided by 135 high school students over a six-month interval support these hypotheses.