cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Direct SIRPa Blockade Augments Macrophage Responses to Therapeutic Anticancer Antibodies

Abstract Antibody-dependent phagocytosis is a crucial mechanism underlying the efficacy of therapeutic antibodies for cancer. However, a major barrier to phagocytosis exists in the CD47-SIRPa interaction. CD47, a molecular “don’t eat me” signal, is highly expressed on many types of cancer and acts as a myeloid-specific immune checkpoint. By engaging SIRPa, an inhibitory receptor on macrophages, CD47 limits the ability of macrophages to respond to therapeutic antibodies. In this study, we developed anti-human SIRPa antibodies that block the interaction between CD47 and SIRPa. By themselves, these antibodies were not sufficient to induce human macrophage phagocytosis. However, when combined with a variety of tumor-specific antibodies, the anti-SIRPa antibodies exhibited remarkable synergy and augmented antibody-dependent phagocytosis of human cancer cells. Addition of anti-SIRPa antibodies improved phagocytosis of cancer in response to rituximab, cetuximab, and trastuzumab, among other therapeutic antibodies. Moreover, anti-SIRPa antibodies enhanced macrophage phagocytosis of lymphoma cells in response to anti-CD20 variants produced with each subclass of human IgG or glycoengineered anti-CD20 antibodies, indicating they could be effective for the majority of therapeutic antibodies that are clinically approved or under development. Importantly, both polarized macrophages and primary tumor-associated macrophages exhibited increased responses to therapeutic antibodies when SIRPa was blocked. In contrast to therapies targeting CD47 directly, anti-SIRPa antibodies benefit from more restricted expression of SIRPa and could have more favorable pharmacokinetic and toxicity profiles. They are an important addition to the growing arsenal of therapeutics targeting the CD47-SIRPa axis for cancer and could act as universal adjuvants to therapeutic antibodies. Disclosures Weiskopf: Stanford University: CD47/SIRPa blocking therapies Patents & Royalties. Ring: Stanford University: CD47/SIRPa blocking therapies Patents & Royalties. Guo: Stanford University: CD47/SIRPa blocking therapies Patents & Royalties. Volkmer: Stanford University: CD47/SIRPa blocking therapies Patents & Royalties. Weissman: Stanford University: CD47/SIRPa blocking therapies Patents & Royalties.
STAT5A/B Blockade Sensitizes Prostate Cancer to Radiation through Inhibition of RAD51 and DNA Repair

Purpose: The standard treatment for organ-confined prostate cancer is surgery or radiation, and locally advanced prostate cancer is typically treated with radiotherapy alone or in combination with androgen deprivation therapy. Here, we investigated whether Stat5a/b participates in regulation of double-strand DNA break repair in prostate cancer, and whether Stat5 inhibition may provide a novel strategy to sensitize prostate cancer to radiotherapy.Experimental Design: Stat5a/b regulation of DNA repair in prostate cancer was evaluated by comet and clonogenic survival assays, followed by assays specific to homologous recombination (HR) DNA repair and nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) DNA repair. For HR DNA repair, Stat5a/b regulation of Rad51 and the mechanisms underlying the regulation were investigated in prostate cancer cells, xenograft tumors, and patient-derived prostate cancers ex vivo in 3D explant cultures. Stat5a/b induction of Rad51 and HR DNA repair and responsiveness to radiation were evaluated in vivo in mice bearing prostate cancer xenograft tumors.Results: Stat5a/b is critical for Rad51 expression in prostate cancer via Jak2-dependent mechanisms by inducing Rad51 mRNA levels. Consistent with this, genetic knockdown of Stat5a/b suppressed HR DNA repair while not affecting NHEJ DNA repair. Pharmacologic Stat5a/b inhibition potently sensitized prostate cancer cell lines and prostate cancer tumors to radiation, while not inducing radiation sensitivity in the neighboring tissues.Conclusions: This work introduces a novel concept of a pivotal role of Jak2-Stat5a/b signaling for Rad51 expression and HR DNA repair in prostate cancer. Inhibition of Jak2-Stat5a/b signaling sensitizes prostate cancer to radiation and, therefore, may provide an adjuvant therapy for radiation to reduce radiation-induced damage to the neighboring tissues. Clin Cancer Res; 24(8); 1917-31. ©2018 AACR.
Pediatric Zygomaticomaxillary Complex Fracture Repair: Location and Number of Fixation Sites in Growing Children.

Background Relatively few reports have been published investigating the operative management of pediatric zygomaticomaxillary complex fractures. The purpose of this study was to assess pediatric zygomaticomaxillary complex fracture management and associated complications, and potentially describe a standard treatment paradigm for these cases. Methods A retrospective cohort review was performed of all patients younger than 15 years presenting to a single institution with zygomaticomaxillary complex fractures from 1990 to 2010. Patient demographics, concomitant injuries, management details, and complications were recorded. Complications were compared among patients by dentition stage, number of fixation points, and identity of fixation sites. Results A total of 36 patients with 44 unique zygomaticomaxillary complex fractures met the authors' inclusion criteria. Thirty-two fractures exhibited at least 2.0 mm of diastasis along at least one buttress (73 percent), and all but one of these were managed operatively. Among operatively managed patients with deciduous dentition, two-point fixation was associated with a lower overall complication rate compared with one- and three-point fixation (0 percent versus 75 percent and 75 percent; p = 0.01). Furthermore, rigid plate-and-screw fixation at the zygomaticomaxillary buttress was not associated with an increased complication rate in operatively managed patients with deciduous dentition (40 percent versus 50 percent; p = 0.76). Conclusions The authors' results suggest that two-point fixation is an effective management strategy for repair of displaced zygomaticomaxillary complex fractures in children. In addition, rigid plate-and-screw fixation at the zygomaticomaxillary buttress in children with deciduous dentition appears to be safe and effective when performed. Clinical question/level of evidence Therapeutic, III.
Criminal abortion deaths, illegitimate pregnancy deaths, and suicides in pregnancy. Minnesota, 1950-1965.

Abstract Proponents for the liberalization of therapeutic abortion laws repeatedly claim that 5,000 to 10,000 women die annually in the United States as a result of criminal abortion. However, statistics from the Minnesota Maternal Mortality Study suggest that these figures are exaggerated. During the period 1950 through 1965, 658 maternal deaths occurred in Minnesota among 1,301,745 live births. Only 21 of the deaths (1 per 61,988 live births) were due to criminal abortion. As the medical indications for therapeutic abortion have dwindled to almost nothing, the psychiatric indications have become more prominent. Sixty to 85 per cent of all abortions are said to be recommended on this basis, the principal criterion being the likelihood of maternal suicide. Again, however, data from the Minnesota study indicate this fear to be unfounded. There were only 14 suicides, 1 per 92,982 live births during the 16 year period. Ten of these occurred post partum and only 4 occurred with the fetus in utero. None occurred in illegitimately pregnant patients.
Response time bounds for G-EDF without intra-task precedence constraints

Prior work has provided bounds on the deadline tardiness that a set of sporadic real-time tasks may incur when scheduled using the global earliest-deadline-first (G-EDF) scheduling algorithm. Under the sporadic task model, it is necessary that no individual task overutilize a single processor and that the set of all tasks does not overutilize the set of all processors. In this work we generalize the task model by allowing jobs within a single task to run concurrently. In doing so we remove the requirement that no task overutilize a single processor. We also provide tardiness bounds that are better than those available with the standard sporadic task model.
Perspective: Accurate treatment of the quantum dynamics of light molecules inside fullerene cages: Translation-rotation states, spectroscopy, and symmetry breaking

In this perspective, I review the current status of the theoretical investigations of the quantum translation-rotation (TR) dynamics and spectroscopy of light molecules encapsulated inside fullerenes, mostly C60 and C70. The methodologies developed in the past decade allow accurate quantum calculations of the TR eigenstates of one and two nanoconfined molecules and have led to deep insights into the nature of the underlying dynamics. Combining these bound-state methodologies with the formalism of inelastic neutron scattering (INS) has resulted in the novel and powerful approach for the quantum calculation of the INS spectra of a diatomic molecule in a nanocavity with an arbitrary geometry. These simulations have not only become indispensable for the interpretation and assignment of the experimental spectra but are also behind the surprising discovery of the INS selection rule for diatomics in near-spherical nanocavities. Promising directions for future research are discussed.
Machine learning the kinematics of spherical particles in fluid flows

Numerous efforts have been devoted to the derivation of equations describing the kinematics of finite-size spherical particles in arbitrary fluid flows. These approaches rely on asymptotic arguments to obtain a description of the particle motion in terms of a slow manifold. Here we present a novel approach that results in kinematic models with unprecedented accuracy compared with traditional methods. We apply a recently developed machine learning framework that relies on (i) an imperfect model, obtained through analytical arguments, and (ii) a long short-term memory recurrent neural network. The latter learns the mismatch between the analytical model and the exact velocity of the finite-size particle as a function of the fluid velocity that the particle has encountered along its trajectory. We show that training the model for one flow is sufficient to generate accurate predictions for any other arbitrary flow field. In particular, using as an exact model for trajectories of spherical particles, the Maxey–Riley equation, we first train the proposed machine learning framework using trajectories from a cellular flow. We are then able to accurately reproduce the trajectories of particles having the same inertial parameters for completely different fluid flows: the von Karman vortex street as well as a two-dimensional turbulent fluid flow. For the second example we also demonstrate that the machine learned kinematic model successfully captures the spectrum of the particle velocity, as well as the extreme event statistics. The proposed scheme paves the way for machine learning kinematic models for bubbles and aerosols using high-fidelity DNS simulations and experiments.
Quick-irCLIP: Interrogating protein-RNA interactions using a rapid and simple cross-linking and immunoprecipitation technique.

Abstract RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are instrumental in the biochemical processing and physiological functioning of non-coding RNAs. Therefore, as interest in non-coding RNAs continues to expand, refining the techniques capable of probing protein-RNA interactions will prove ever more valuable in the characterization of these molecules. To identify the RNAs bound by a given RBP, cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) and its iterations have been widely utilized, but these approaches can be complex, labor-intensive, and time consuming. Here, we describe a rapid and technically simple method based upon individual nucleotide resolution CLIP (iCLIP) and infrared CLIP (irCLIP). Termed quick-irCLIP, our protocol circumvents confounding steps, can be completed in less than three days, and is capable of interrogating protein-RNA interactions at single nucleotide resolution.
Evaluation of regional variations in length of stay after elective, uncomplicated carotid endarterectomy in North America

Abstract Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate factors affecting regional variation in length of stay (LOS) after elective, uncomplicated carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Methods Data were obtained from the Vascular Quality Initiative database and included patients with complete data who received elective CEA without complications between 2012 and 2017 across 18 regions in North America and 294 centers. The main outcome measure was LOS >1 day after surgery (LOS >1 postoperative day [POD]). Using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression, multivariable modeling, and mixed-effects general linear modeling, we evaluated whether regional variations in LOS were independent of demographic, clinical, or center-related factors and to what extent these factors accounted for postoperative variation in LOS. Results A total of 36,004 patients were included. Mean postprocedure LOS was 1.6 ± 6.6 days. Overall, 24% of patients had an LOS >1 POD. After adjustment for important demographic, clinical, and center-related factors, the region in which a patient was treated independently and significantly affected LOS after elective, uncomplicated CEA. Region and center of treatment accounted for 18% of LOS variation. Demographic, clinical, and surgical factors accounted for another 32% of variation in LOS. Of these factors, postoperative discharge to a facility other than home (odds ratio [OR], 6.3; confidence interval [CI], 5.2-7.6), use of intravenous (IV) vasoactive agents (OR, 3.2; CI, 3-3.4), intraoperative drain placement (OR, 1.4; CI, 1.3-1.55), and female sex (OR, 1.4; CI, 1.3-1.5) were associated with longer LOS. Factors associated with LOS ≤1 POD included preoperative aspirin (OR, 0.88; CI, 0.8-0.96) and statin use (OR, 0.9; CI, 0.83-0.98), high surgeon volume (highest quartile: OR, 0.68; CI, 0.5-0.87), and completion evaluation after CEA (eg, Doppler, ultrasound; OR, 0.87; CI, 0.8-0.95). We also found that use of IV vasoactive medications varied significantly across regions, independent of demographic and clinical factors. Conclusions Significant regional variation in LOS exists after elective, uncomplicated CEA even after controlling for a wide range of important factors, indicating that there remain unmeasured causes of longer LOS in some regions. Even so, modification of certain clinical practices may reduce overall LOS. Regional differences in use of IV vasoactive medications not driven by clinical factors warrant further analysis, given the strong association with longer LOS.
The price-setting newsvendor: review and extensions

The newsvendor problem is a staple of operations management research, pedagogy and practice. From its humble roots as a single-period problem for a price-taking newspaper seller, this problem (and ...
Gender essentialism in transgender and cisgender children

Children, across cultures, show an early-emerging tendency to essentialize gender, viewing gender as inborn and predictive of stereotypical preferences. However, research has been limited to children whose own gender experience is largely consistent with the assumptions of gender essentialism. In contrast, transgender children have gender identities (and related stereotypical preferences) that differ from their sex assigned at birth, which therefore appear to challenge an essentialist view of gender. In the current study, we examined the degree to which transgender children (N = 97, 3-11 years) view a child's sex at birth as predictive of their later gender-typed preferences. Additionally, we recruited two comparison groups: cisgender siblings of transgender participants (N = 59) and cisgender, age- and gender-matched controls (N = 90). In an adapted switched-at-birth paradigm, participants in all groups believed that a child's sex at birth would predict their later gender-typed preferences; participants were especially likely to think so when the target character was reared in a socialization environment that aligned with the target's own gender, rather than one where the socialization environment aligned with a different gender. Whereas cisgender participants showed a decline in essentialism with age, transgender children did not show any age-related changes in their beliefs. The current findings are the first to show that transgender and cisgender children, despite differences in gender experiences, might similarly essentialize gender. However, these findings also raise questions about how different participant groups might interpret measures differently.
CDPA: Common and Distinctive Pattern Analysis between High-dimensional Datasets

A representative model in integrative analysis of two high-dimensional correlated datasets is to decompose each data matrix into a low-rank common matrix generated by latent factors shared across datasets, a low-rank distinctive matrix corresponding to each dataset, and an additive noise matrix. Existing decomposition methods claim that their common matrices capture the common pattern of the two datasets. However, their so-called common pattern only denotes the common latent factors but ignores the common pattern between the two coefficient matrices of these common latent factors. We propose a new unsupervised learning method, called the common and distinctive pattern analysis (CDPA), which appropriately defines the two types of data patterns by further incorporating the common and distinctive patterns of the coefficient matrices. A consistent estimation approach is developed for high-dimensional settings, and shows reasonably good finite-sample performance in simulations. Our simulation studies and real data analysis corroborate that the proposed CDPA can provide better characterization of common and distinctive patterns and thereby benefit data mining.
Necrotizing Fasciitis in a Patient on Long-Term Intramuscular Interferon-Beta for Multiple Sclerosis: A Case Report.

Case Immunomodulatory injections are becoming common long-term treatments for neuromuscular diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), although they carry a risk of local site infection. We describe a case of a 57-year-old man who developed necrotizing fasciitis of the anterior thigh secondary to intramuscular (IM) injections of interferon-beta-1A for MS, ultimately developing septic shock and requiring serial debridements for source control. Conclusions This is the first reported case of necrotizing fasciitis from chronic IM injections for MS and deserves particular attention because of the immunosuppressive nature of the injections. In patients with underlying predisposing factors for infection, such as decubitus ulcers, it may be prudent to reconsider the administration route. Patients in hypermetabolic states should be closely monitored for impaired response to infections.
Hope: The Spark of Perseverance to Survive in the Face of Adversity

In the summer of 2002, my mother, Margie DuBois, began to have difficulty breathing. Her gait gradually slowed from brisk and purposeful to exaggerated and awkward. Over the course of a year, Margie began experiencing muscle weakness and extreme fatigue. Her skin, once a beautiful shade of olive, turned red and flakey, sloughing off to reveal gaping wounds that oozed clear fluid in their place. Something was incredibly wrong. Though fearful of what it might entail, it was hope that urged us to persist in our search for treatment for this mysterious disease. As “Vinz (2013) asserts, ‘Hope is a call to action,’” and it was our love for her and Margie’s willful determination to live that pushed us to persevere (Sieben, 2018). Though we encountered many setbacks—including doctors that did not believe her illness was real, experimental medications that threatened the financial stability of our family, and the complications that followed in the wake of her treatments—our hope for Margie’s survival never faltered. It is my hope that as an educator I can share this mindset with my students, to enable each of them tap into own inner strength to find meaning and purpose in life. Hope may very well determine a person’s ability to survive in this world.
Chapter 25 – Primary Hyperparathyroidism in Children and Adolescents

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is common in adults, and usually presents as incidentally discovered asymptomatic hypercalcemia. By contrast, PHPT is much less common in children and adolescents, but in this age group the disorder has greater urgency as most young patients with PHPT will have symptomatic hypercalcemia or manifest complications such as kidney stones, abdominal pain, and skeletal fragility. A distinguishing feature of PHPT in younger patients is frequent occurrence of germline inactivating mutations of the CASR gene, which encodes the calcium-sensing receptor. Loss-of-function mutations that affect both CASR alleles cause neonatal severe hyperparathyroidism, a life-threatening condition that presents within days of life with marked hypercalcemia, respiratory distress, failure to thrive, and skeletal demineralization. When mutations affect only one CASR, allele patients develop a more benign variant of PHPT termed familial (FHH) hypercalcemia. Due to the relatively common presentation of FHH as hypercalcemia in children and adolescents, it is critically important to distinguish between FHH, which generally requires no specific treatment, and other forms of PHPT that are best treated by parathyroidectomy.
Chapter 1 – DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on descriptive statistics, which are used to summarize and communicate what is found in quantitative data. The chapter presents two types of descriptive statistics, namely, measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion. Measures of central tendency provide descriptions of the average characteristic of the subject, and the statistics used for this purpose are mean, median, and mode. The measures of dispersion state the amount of the data that deviate from the measures of central tendency and whether most of the observations in the distribution (data set) are close in value to the mean or median or whether there is a wide variation in the values. The three common measures of dispersion are the range, variance, and standard deviation. The chapter discusses the two concepts of scales of measurement and normality to clarify the use of descriptive statistics in other statistical procedures. The four scales of measurement used for quantitative data are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio.
Ecological Momentary Assessment of Social Interactions: Associations With Depression, Anxiety, Pain, and Fatigue in Individuals With Mild Stroke.

Abstract Objectives To examine real-time relationships between social interactions and poststroke mood and somatic symptoms in participants’ daily environments. Design Prospective observational study using smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys 5 times a day for 2 weeks. Multilevel models were used to analyze data for concurrent and lagged associations. Setting Community. Participants Adults (N=48) with mild stroke. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures EMA measures of self-appraisal of social interactions (confidence, satisfaction, and success), as well as mood (depression and anxiety) and somatic (pain and fatigue) symptoms. Results In concurrent associations, increased depressed mood was associated with reduced ratings of all aspects of social interactions. Fatigue was associated with reduced ratings of social satisfaction and success. In lagged associations, increased anxious mood preceded increased subsequent social confidence. Higher average social satisfaction, confidence, and success were related to lower momentary fatigue, anxious mood, and depressed mood at the next time point. Regarding clinicodemographic factors, being employed was concurrently related to increased social interactions. An increased number of comorbidities predicted higher somatic, but not mood, symptoms at the next time point. Conclusions This study provides preliminary evidence of dynamic relationships between social interactions and somatic and mood symptoms in individuals with mild stroke. Interventions to not only address the sequelae of symptoms, but also to promote participation in social activities in poststroke life should be explored.
Likelihood Landscape and Local Minima Structures of Gaussian Mixture Models.

In this paper, we study the landscape of the population negative log-likelihood function of Gaussian Mixture Models with a general number of components. Due to nonconvexity, there exist multiple local minima that are not globally optimal, even when the mixture is well-separated. We show that all local minima share the same form of structure that partially identifies the component centers of the true mixture, in the sense that each local minimum involves a non-overlapping combination of fitting multiple Gaussians to a single true component and fitting a single Gaussian to multiple true components. Our results apply to the setting where the true mixture components satisfy a certain separation condition, and are valid even when the number of components is over-or under-specified. For Gaussian mixtures with three components, we obtain sharper results in terms of the scaling with the separation between the components.
High-Dimensional Nonconvex Stochastic Optimization by Doubly Stochastic Successive Convex Approximation

In this paper, we consider supervised learning problems over training sets in which the number of training examples and the dimension of feature vectors are both large. We focus on the case where the loss function defining the quality of the parameter we wish to estimate may be non-convex, but also has a convex regularization. We propose a Doubly Stochastic Successive Convex approximation scheme (DSSC) able to handle non-convex regularized expected risk minimization. The method operates by decomposing the decision variable into blocks and operating on random subsets of blocks at each step (fusing the merits of stochastic approximation with block coordinate methods), and then implements successive convex approximation. In contrast to many stochastic convex methods whose almost sure behavior is not guaranteed in non-convex settings, DSSC attains almost sure convergence to a stationary solution of the problem. Moreover, we show that the proposed DSSC algorithm achieves stationarity at a rate of ${\mathcal O}((\log t)/{t^{1/4}})$ . Numerical experiments on a non-convex variant of a lasso regression problem show that DSSC performs favorably in this setting. We then apply this method to the task of dictionary learning from high-dimensional visual data collected from a ground robot, and observe reliable convergence behavior for a difficult non-convex stochastic program.
Hepatopancreatic Surgery in the Rural United States: Variation in Outcomes at Critical Access Hospitals.

Abstract Background Sixty million Americans live in rural America, with roughly 17.5% of the rural population being 65 y or older. Outcomes and costs of Medicare beneficiaries undergoing hepatopancreatic surgery at critical access hospitals (CAHs) are not known. Materials and Methods Medicare files were used to identify patients who underwent hepatopancreatic resection. Outcomes were compared (CAHs versus non-CAHs). Results Patients undergoing hepatopancreatic surgery at non-CAHs versus CAHs had a similar comorbidity score (4 versus 5, P = 0.53). After adjusting for patient-level factors and procedure-specific volume, there was no difference in complication rate (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.80, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.52-1.24). The median cost of hospitalization was roughly $4000 less at CAHs than that at non-CAHs (P Conclusions Only a small subset of Medicare beneficiaries underwent hepatic or pancreatic resection at a CAH. Despite similar complication rate, Medicare beneficiaries undergoing surgery at a CAH had more than two times the odds of dying within 30 and 90 d after surgery.
Calcium Signaling in T Cells and Chronic Inflammatory Disorders of the Oral Cavity.

Acute immune responses to microbial insults in the oral cavity often progress to chronic inflammatory diseases such as periodontitis and apical periodontitis. Chronic oral inflammation causes destr...
Castration anxiety, covid-19 and the extremist right

In this article, I draw on Theodor W. Adorno’s psychoanalytically inspired works on (neo-) fascism and psychoanalytic theory to outline the threat of castration in contemporary capitalist societies on economic, interpersonal and bodily levels. I then explain how the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened people’s castration anxieties on all three levels in a class-and gender-specific way. Finally, I expose how the right extremist president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the right extremist leader of the Austrian Freedom Party, Norbert Hofer, utilised castration anxieties in their psychologically oriented tricks to strengthen their base and capture new followers. © Bristol University Press 2021.
Connecting inquiry and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to teacher candidates’ emerging practice: development of a signature pedagogy

This article describes how faculty in a teacher preparation program developed a signature pedagogy, a teacher candidate action-research project rooted in the Universal Design for Learning Framework...
Use of the mushroom tissue block rapid pitting test to detect brown blotch pathogens.

Abstract Isolates of an Arthrobacter species known to produce a positive host pathogenicity test were evaluated by the mushroom tissue block rapid pitting test. All 11 isolates of the Arthrobacter species yielded a positive test response. The time required for a positive test was the same for Pseudomonas tolaasi and the Arthrobacter species.
Modeling Temporal and Spatial Power Supply Voltage Variation for Timing Analysis

This paper describes the full-chip power supply noise analysis methodology to accurately model the power supply voltage variation for signal integrity and timing analysis. An integrated chip and package power supply RLC model is developed to simultaneously analyze the resistive IR drop, inductive LΔI / Δt noise, and capacitive decoupling on a full-chip scale. Steady-state noise due to maximum average current and transient noise due to power ramp-up, clock gating, and V DD gating, are modeled with unit-based switching activities. Minimum V DD , maximum V DD , and average V DD are calculated at each location on the chip, and used in timing analysis to provide a better range of V DD variation than the standard 10% nominal V DD noise budget. Time-dependent power supply voltage waveforms at various locations, based on a specific switching sequence, are also provided to simulate clock buffers and other timing-critical circuits under common-mode and differential-mode noise.
Different pH optima in the two steps of an indirect fluorescent antibody reaction for Clostridium botulinum type E.

Quantitative measurements of the effects of ions on fluorescent antibody reactions have not been reported in the literature. Data in this report show the effects of ranges of H+, phosphate, Mg2+, and Ca2+ molarities on antigen-antibody coupling during an indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) reaction for Clostridium botulinum type E. These effects were quantified in two ways: (i) by microphotometric measurement of cell fluorescence intensity; and (ii) by visual estimation of cell fluorescence intensity on long glass strips treated with antibody in ion gradients. Optimal pH for the first part of the reaction (coupling of rabbit antibody to cells) was 7.25, and optimum in the second part (coupling of tracer globulin to the rabbit globulin) was pH 7.37. Running the reaction as little as 0.10 to 0.15 pH units off from the optima considerably reduced fluorescence intensity. Sodium phosphate buffer up to 0.1 M did not significantly affect either portion of the reaction. Ca2+ and Mg2+ showed no effect on the first part of the reaction. These results support the use of higher-strength phosphate buffer and indicate for the first time that IFA reactions may have two independent, narrow pH optima.
Heuristics for the gene-duplication problem: a Θ(n) speed-up for the local search

The gene-duplication problem is to infer a species supertree from a collection of gene trees that are confounded by complex histories of gene duplications. This problem is NP-hard and thus requires efficient and effective heuristics. Existing heuristics perform a stepwise search of the tree space, where each step is guided by an exact solution to an instance of a local search problem. We show how this local search problem can be solved efficiently by reusing previously computed information. This improves the running time of the current solution by a factor of n, where n is the number of species in the resulting supertree solution, and makes the gene-duplication problem more tractable for large-scale phylogenetic analyses. We verify the exceptional performance of our solution in a comparison study using sets of large randomly generated gene trees. Furthermore, we demonstrate the utility of our solution by incorporating large genomic data sets from GenBank into a supertree analysis of plants.
Do Landfills Always Depress Nearby Property Values

All available hedonic pricing estimates of the impact of landfills on nearby property values are assembled, including original estimates for three landfills in Pennsylvania. A meta-analysis shows l...
Chromosome Evolution of Near-Haploid Clones in an Established Human Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cell Line (NALM-16)

A cell line has been established from blood lymphoblasts of a female patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) shown to have near-haploid (27 chromosomes) cells in the bone marrow. The findings about the cell line were: 1) The frequency of near-haploid cells in culture decreased with time from 98.2% when the culture was started to 5.4% 15 months later. 2) Most of the other cells except the near-haploid ones were hyperdiploid, i.e., duplicates of the cells with near-haploid chromosome constitutions. 3) Chromosome evolution was seen in the near-haploid clones. The possible ancestor clone (clone A) had 27 chromosomes, one of each pair except no.10, 14, 18, and 21, which were disomic. A suggested evolution process is: clone A yields clone B (26 chromosomes: clone A, -no.10) yields clone C (27 chromosomes: clone B, +X) yields clone D (26 chromosomes: clone C, -no.21), clone E (28 chromosomes: clone C, +NO.20). Clone B and D, each with 26 chromosomes, appeared to contain the lowest number of chromosomes, appeared to contain the lowest number of chromosomes ever described for human somatic cell clones in vitro. 4) Changes in the constitutions of the hyperdiploid cell clones were preceded by evolution and changes in the near-haploid clones. 5) In near-haploid cells with 2 X-chromosomes, 1 exhibited late DNA replication; in hyperdiploid cells with 3-5 X-chromosomes, 2 were non-late DNA-replicating. 6) Fresh (uncultured) and cultured leukemia cells were antigenically typical non-T, non-B or common type ALL cells (positive for la-like and null-type ALL antigens and negative for surface membrane immunoglobulin).
Spontaneous glycosylation of glycosaminoglycan substrates by adherent fibroblasts

SV40-transformed mouse fibroblasts migrate upon, and spontaneously glycosylate, plastic substrates derivatized with chondroitin-6 sulfate and hyaluronic acid. Autoradiography of cultures prelabeled with 3H-glucose and 3H-galactose demonstrates the presence of silver grains near adherent cells. Silver grains are particularly dense near cells cultured on chondroitin sulfate. No significant grains are observed on control dishes or dishes derivatized with polygalacturonic acid. Radioactive material left by cells is not removed by boiling the dishes in 8 M urea and 10% sodium dodecylsulfate, suggesting that it is covalently linked to the derivatized plastic. Acid hydrolysis shows that the radioactive material consists of glucuronic acid and N-acetylglucosamine when the prelabeled cells are cultured on hyaluronic acid. When cells are cultured on chondroitin sulfate, the radioactive product consists only of glucuronic and and N-acetylgalactosamine sulfate. Sonicates of prelabeled cells or the supernatants from cultures of intact prelabeled cells add no SDS-urea-resistant radioactivity to dishes derivatized with these glycosaminoglycans.
Identification of decomposition products from autoxidation of methyl 4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoate

This is a continuation of a previous publication in which a number of aldehydes, aldehyde esters, hydrocarbons, and methyl esters was identified among the oxidation products of methyl docosahexaenoate. In the present paper, the identification of certain keto-esters, unsaturated ketones, cyclic esters, and furan derivatives also is reported. Mechanisms for the formation of these compounds are proposed.
A review of the foundational processes that influence beliefs in climate change: opportunities for environmental education research

Recently, many organizations involved in environmental education have initiated programs that aim to educate visitors or other publics who interact with nature-based resources about the impacts and landscape transformations occurring because of climatic changes. However, many psychological, human-evolutionary, and social–ecological processes that impede individuals’ ability to notice or respond to (e.g. adaptation and mitigation behaviors) climate impacts in nature-based areas, or in their urban-based home communities, may influence the educational process. By reviewing and examining these foundational processes and their potential influence on an audience’s attitudes and beliefs towards climate change, we outline and explain their importance for research. Based on these important psychological, human-evolutionary, and social–ecological processes, the authors conclude by identifying how researchers can investigate the influence of these processes and their potential impacts on environmental education outc...
Advanced computational methods for security constrained financial Transmission Rights

Financial Transmission Rights (FTRs) are financial insurance tools to help power market participants reduce price risks associated with transmission congestion. FTRs are issued based on a process of solving a constrained optimization problem with the objective to maximize the FTR social welfare under power flow security constraints. Security constraints for different FTR categories (monthly, seasonal or annual) are usually coupled and the number of constraints increases exponentially with the number of categories. Commercial software for FTR calculation can only provide limited categories of FTRs due to the inherent computational challenges mentioned above. In this paper, first an innovative mathematical reformulation of the FTR problem is presented, which dramatically improves the computational efficiency of optimization problem. After having re-formulated the problem, a novel non-linear dynamic system (NDS) approach is proposed to solve the optimization problem. The new formulation and performance of the NDS solver is benchmarked against widely used linear programming (LP) solvers like CPLEX™. Tests are performed on both standard IEEE test systems and large-scale systems using data from the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC). The NDS is demonstrated to be comparable, and in many cases outperforms the widely used CPLEX algorithms. The proposed formulation and NDS based solver are easily parallelizable, enabling further computational improvement.
Environment-Induced Effects on the Temperature Dependence of Raman Spectra of Single-Layer Graphene

Environment-induced effects on the E2G G-band and A1′ 2D-band Raman spectral features of single-layer graphene provide insights on the intrinsic and extrinsic dependences of the phonon energy and l...
Isolated polyarteritis nodosa affecting the cecum.

We report the case of a 52-year-old white male who developed low back pain and 35-pound weight loss and whose barium enema revealed a constricting lesion of the cecum. After resection, polyarteritis was found to be the cause of the lesion. There was no other histological evidence for arteritis in this patient.
Late outcomes in patients undergoing aortopulmonary window for pulmonary atresia/stenosis and major aortopulmonary collaterals.

Background Pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect (PA/VSD) and major aortopulmonary collateral arteries (MAPCAs) is a complex form of congenital heart defect. One identifiable subset has small ( Methods This was a retrospective review of our surgical experience with 35 children undergoing aortopulmonary window creation from 2002 to 2011. Patients were identified by preoperative cardiac catheterization to define the cardiac and pulmonary artery anatomy. Results There was no mortality in 35 patients undergoing aortopulmonary window creation. These patients have subsequently undergone 78 cardiac procedures (with 2 operative mortalities). Eighteen of these patients have achieved complete repair, 4 patients in a second procedure, 6 patients in a third procedure, 5 patients in a fourth procedure, and 3 patients in a fifth procedure. Conclusions The data demonstrate that patients can undergo creation of an aortopulmonary window with excellent early results. Few patients were amenable to complete repair at the second operation, and most required multiple reoperations to recruit sufficient arborization. We interpret these counterintuitive results to suggest that hypoplastic central pulmonary arteries and diminished pulmonary blood flow are markers for a less well developed pulmonary vascular bed.
Policemen, managers, lawyers: New results on complementarities between organization and information and communication technology

Abstract Recent empirical work sheds some light on the importance, form and consequences of complementarities between information and communication technology (ICT) and organizational design. We conclude from this research that (1) complementarities between organization and ICT maybe so strong that absent organizational changes, ICT may have a negligible effect on productivity; (2) different types of ICT require different changes in organizational design; (3) the evidence also suggests that changes in organization enhance the impact of ICT on wage inequality.
Prediction of radiant energy forces on the TOPEX/POSEIDON spacecraft

The largest nongravitational forces that will be acting on the TOPEX satellite will be those due to incident and emitted radiation on the spacecraft surfaces. In order to minimize the effects of these forces on orbit determination, a detailed model is being developed so that they may be predicted accurately. This model requires a precise description of the spacecraft shape and orientation, an evaluation of the solar and Earth radiation impinging on the surfaces, and a determination of the radiation being emitted from the surfaces as they heat and cool throughout the orbit. The TRASYS software system is used to evaluate the solar and Earth radiation (albedo and infrared) striking each surface of the spacecraft. This software has been modified to include an Earth radiation model that follows the seasonal variations in albedo and infrared radiation. The SINDA software system is then used to determine the transient temperatures of the spacecraft surfaces. Orbital thermal histories of significant features are given. These temperatures are used to determine the force exerted on each surface due to thermal emission. The emission forces are combined with the incident radiation forces to determine the total force acting on the satellite.
The pharmacokinetics of repetitive benzene exposures at 300 and 100 ppm in AKR mice and Sprague--Dawley rats.

Abstract Groups of AKR Mice and Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to either 300 or 100 ppm benzene for 6 hr/day × 5 days/week for 20 days. The uptake and clearance of benzene was followed in blood during and after the 1st, 6th and 20th exposures. In rats, the maximum concentrations of benzene in blood (C max ) were proportional to the exposure concentrations, that is the C max values at 300 ppm were three times the C max values at 100 ppm. This was not the case with the mice which showed C max values at 300 ppm equal to five to eight times the C max values at 100 ppm. At both exposure levels mice exhibited larger elimination rate constants than rats. Both rats and mice showed larger elimination rate constants at 100 ppm than at 300 ppm. At 300 ppm, the mice showed progressive increases in elimination rate constants, progressive decreases in C max and an unusual shift from monoexponential clearance to biexponential clearance between the 6th and 20th exposures. It is postulated that the induction of benzene-metabolizing enzymes and/or an increase in lipid tissue mass are responsible for the progressive changes of the kinetic parameters of the mice.
New molecular transmission band models for LOWTRAN

A discussion is presented of a modification to the molecular absorption band models in the LOWTRAN code for the uniformly mixed (N 20, CH4, CO, 02, and CO2) and the trace (NO, NO2, NH3, and SO2) gases. The transmission function adopted for each model consists of a double exponential defined by three absorber parameters and a single spectral parameter. All the parameters were determined optimally through a numerical procedure that incorporates line-by-line and measured transmittance spectra. Vertical concentration profiles are provided for these gases that may be used together with the 33-levels standard atmospheres in the calculation of slant-path transmittances. The present single model for the uniformly mixed gases in LOWTRAN is compared with the combination of the proposed individual models.
Place in Haitian Literature Since The 2010 Earthquake

Novelists responded immediately to the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. Analysis of key works demonstrates the numerous images and interpretations that the catastrophe has generate...
Predicting personal information system adoption using an integrated diffusion model

Abstract The purpose of this study is to develop a research model that integrates the relationship between innovation characteristics (innovation diffusion theory) and technology characteristics (task-technology fit model). With the research model, the current study investigates the adoption of the “personal information system,” a concept that we develop in the context of mobile technologies. In this paper, we performed the first quantitative test of the model by integrating the innovation diffusion and task-technology fit models. Further, we proposed a theoretical definition of “personal information systems” by highlighting the differences in the types of tasks across individual users’ needs. To test our research model, 202 college students were surveyed. Partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling was employed to analyze our data, and these analyses provided empirical support for the proposed hypotheses. Quality, compatibility, cost, and relative advantage were found to be important indicators of the intention to adopt due to their impact on the intended communication, information, transaction, and entertainment tasks, while compatibility, relative advantage, and complexity had a direct impact on the intention to adopt.