cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Best practices for autonomous measurement of seawater pH with the Honeywell Durafet

Abstract Performance of autonomous pH sensors is evaluated by comparing in situ data to independent bench-top measurements of pH and to co-located pH, O2, and p CO 2 sensors. While the best practice is always to deploy a properly calibrated sensor, the lengthy time period required for sensor conditioning and calibration often results in sensor deployment without comprehensive calibration. Quality control (QC) procedures are examined to determine the errors associated with different in situ calibration approaches and lay a framework for best practices. Sensor packages employing the Honeywell Durafet remained stable across multiple deployments for over nine months. However, sensor performance was often limited by biofouling. Regional empirical relationships for estimating carbonate system parameters are shown to enable identification of otherwise indistinguishable sensor offset and drift when multiple sensor types are co-located. Uncertainty is determined by calibration approach and must be quantified on a case-by-case basis. Our results indicate that the Durafet is capable of accuracy, relative to a chosen reference, of better than 0.03 pH units over multiple months. Accuracy is improved when a robust shore-side calibration is performed, an independent means of QC is available throughout a deployment, and effective biofouling prevention measures are taken.
On clustering for maximal regularity extraction

The authors point out that proper usage of regularity in digital systems leads to efficient as well as economical designs. This important question of regularity extraction is examined, and a general and efficient methodology for component clustering based on the concept of structural regularity is presented. While the concept of regularity can be employed to simplify many problems in the area of design automation, system- and logic-level applications are emphasized here. The authors show how identifying clusters in a circuit can simplify two important CAD problems-system-level clustering and module (layout) generation. A prototype system based on these ideas has been built, and some real-life examples are considered for testing. The results are encouraging; they demonstrate the essential role such a system could play in aiding the high-level system designer. Research is under way to explore some of the other promising applications that such a system could have. >
Autoantibodies Bind Solubilized Calcium Channel-ω-Conotoxin Complexes From Small Cell Lung Carcinoma: A Diagnostic Aid for Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome

Serum autoantibodies found by radioimmunoassay in 27 of 52 patients with the Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LES) bound specifically to a soluble ω-conotoxin binding component of a voltage-gated Ca 2+ channel (VGCC) complex extracted from small cell lung carcinoma (SCC). These antibodies were not found in 43 control patients with other neurologic diseases, including myasthenia gravis, peripheral neuropathies, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or in 9 patients with endocrine autoimmunity, but they were found in 2 of 21 control patients with SCC without a history of LES, 1 of whom had severe autonomic neuropathy. Seropositivity was more frequent in patients with LES who had evidence of a primary lung cancer (76%) than in those with other neoplasms or without evidence of cancer (30%). Antigens extracted from SCC tumor lines derived from patients with and without LES and from a human neuroblastoma line yielded results that were highly correlated. A control extract of colonic carcinoma (derived from a patient with LES) yielded negative results. The data implicate a tumor-associated VGCC as the autoimmunizing stimulus in a subset of patients with LES and provide the first direct evidence that the VGCC complex in SCC is a target for some LES antibodies. The serologic test described should be a useful aid in diagnosing LES.
Thiol Isomerases in Thrombus Formation

Protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), ERp5, and ERp57, among perhaps other thiol isomerases, are important for the initiation of thrombus formation. Using the laser injury thrombosis model in mice to induce in vivo arterial thrombus formation, it was shown that thrombus formation is associated with PDI secretion by platelets, that inhibition of PDI blocked platelet thrombus formation and fibrin generation, and that endothelial cell activation leads to PDI secretion. Similar results using this and other thrombosis models in mice have demonstrated the importance of ERp5 and ERp57 in the initiation of thrombus formation. The integrins, αIIbβ3 and αVβ3, play a key role in this process and interact directly with PDI, ERp5, and ERp57. The mechanism by which thiol isomerases participate in thrombus generation is being evaluated using trapping mutant forms to identify substrates of thiol isomerases that participate in the network pathways linking thiol isomerases, platelet receptor activation, and fibrin generation. PDI as an antithrombotic target is being explored using isoquercetin and quercetin 3-rutinoside, inhibitors of PDI identified by high throughput screening. Regulation of thiol isomerase expression, analysis of the storage, and secretion of thiol isomerases and determination of the electron transfer pathway are key issues to understanding this newly discovered mechanism of regulation of the initiation of thrombus formation.
Logic synthesis for programmable logic devices

The use of communication complexity based logic synthesis when configuring programmable logic devices (PLDs) is discussed. Configuration of a PLD involves the two processes of logic synthesis and logic embedding. Since the allowable PLD logic primitives usually include a very large number of gates, the processes of logic synthesis and technology mapping cannot be completely decoupled as they normally are in traditional logic synthesis systems. The proposed communication-complexity-based logic synthesis tool has the advantage of not completely decoupling these two processes. It is more suited to PLD configuring than other multilevel logic synthesis methods. >
Corrigendum: "Rings which Admit Elimination of Quantifiers"

Matatyahu Rubin pointed out that the proof of Lemma 6.1 [2] works only for rings of prime or zero characteristic. This invalidates the characterization of semiprime rings with the descending chain condition on right or left ideals which admit elimination of quantifiers given in [2] and cited in the abstract [1]. Although the correct characterization is easy to derive, it is complex to state. Let be the class of finite fields. Let be the class of 2 × 2 matrix rings over a field with a prime number of elements. Let be the class of rings of the form GF ( p n ) ⊕ GF ( p k ) such that either n = k or g.c.d.( n, k ) = 1 and p is a prime. Let ′ be the class of algebraically closed fields. Let P denote the set of all prime numbers together with zero. Let be the set of all ordered pairs ( f, Q ) where Q is a finite subset of P and f : Q → ⋃ ⋃ ⋃ such that the characteristic of the ring f ( q ) is q . Finally, let be the class of rings of the form ⊕ q ∈Q f ( q ) for some ( f , Q ) in . A corrected version of Theorem 6.2 [2] is Theorem 1. Let R be a ring with the descending chain condition on left or right ideals and without nonzero trivial ideals. Then R admits elimination of quantifiers if only if R belong to .
Decreases in Hispanic and non-Hispanic asthma mortality

Background Rates of death from asthma in the United States increased from 0.8 per 100,000 general population in 1977-1978 to 2.1 in 1994-1996, but they have decreased since then to 1.5 in 2001. Objective To investigate changes in asthma mortality among Hispanics in the United States. Methods Collection and graphing of data from the National Center for Health Statistics identifying asthma ( International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes J45-J46) as the underlying cause of death in the 50 United States and the District of Columbia among Hispanics and non-Hispanics. Results Deaths from asthma among Hispanics decreased from 320 in 1999 to 274 in 2001, whereas deaths among non-Hispanics decreased from 4,324 to 3,976. Rates of death from asthma among Hispanics decreased from 1.0 per 100,000 general population in 1999 to 0.7 in 2001, whereas those for non-Hispanics decreased from 1.84 to 1.6. Rates have been much higher for non-Hispanic blacks than for non-Hispanic whites but have decreased for both. Death rates from asthma have been higher among Hispanic females than males but have decreased for both. Conclusions Asthma mortality in the United States has been decreasing since 1999 among Hispanics and non-Hispanics. These changes are consistent with better management of asthma.
Examination of blood levels of mercurials in practicing dentists using cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry.

The toxicity of mercury compounds in dentistry has been an Issue of Increasing concern. Relatively few data are available concerning the possible in vivo blotraneformatlon of elemental mercury from dental amalgam Into more toxic organic mercurials. The present study was designed to evaluate the existence of this in vivo pathway in dentists who work In a confined environment where metallic mercury vapor is constantly present. Two hundred five practicing dentists and 24 nondental controls were asked to participate in this study. The total, Inorganic, and organic mercury contents of blood were determined by syringe-injection coldvapor atomic absorption spectrometry. The student t-test indicates that the total and inorganic mercury levels In blood are significantly different between dentists and nondental controls at the significant level of p <~ 0.05. The organomercurlal levels are, however, Insignificant at the same test level. This Implies that high total and inorganic mercury levels are not correlated with high organomercurlal levels in the blood of practicing dentists. Therefore, significant enzymatic conversion of Inorganic to organic mercury compounds does not occur in vlvo. is designed to examine whether indigenous microflora will convert mercury to organomercury (org-Hg) in vivo. Syringe-injection cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) (3-5) was used to determine the total and the inorganic mercury in whole blood samples. Organomercury was taken as the difference between total and inorganic mercury (6-8). Total and inorganic mercury were determined using the SnC6/CdC6 mixture and SnCI~ solutions, respectively, as reducing reagents (6-8). Using the syringe-injection sampling technique, a greater sensitivity over the conventional aeration bubbling technique (6,9) was achieved. Enhancement of sensitivity is a result of trapping all generated mercury vapor from the blood sample in the enclosed reduction cell (i.e., the syringe) before transferring it into an absorption cell for peak height measurement (3). Furthermore, this approach will eliminate the use of a drying collection cell between the reduction and absorption cells and the use of an antifoaming agent (9,10). In this paper, quantitative recoveries of the spiked inorganic and organic mercury compounds from whole blood samples are studied. Comparison of the mercury contents in the whole blood taken from both dentists and nondentists is also reported.
Immunoprotective Properties of Primary Sertoli Cells in Mice: Potential Functional Pathways that Confer Immune Privilege

Primary Sertoli cells isolated from mouse testes survive when transplanted across immunological barriers and protect cotransplanted allogeneic and xenogeneic cells from rejection in rodent models. In contrast, the mouse Sertoli cell line (MSC-1) lacks immunoprotective properties associated with primary Sertoli cells. In this study, enriched primary Sertoli cells or MSC-1 cells were transplanted as allografts into the renal subcapsular area of naive BALB/c mice, and their survival in graft sites was compared. While Sertoli cells were detected within the grafts with 100% graft survival throughout the 20-day study, MSC-1 cells were rejected between 11 and 14 days, with 0% graft survival at 20 days posttransplantation. Nonetheless, the mechanism for primary Sertoli cell survival and immunoprotection remains unresolved. To identify immune factors or functional pathways potentially responsible for immune privilege, gene expression profiles of enriched primary Sertoli cells were compared with those of MSC-1 cells. Microarray analysis identified 2369 genes in enriched primary Sertoli cells that were differentially expressed at ±4-fold or higher levels than in MSC-1 cells. Ontological analyses identified multiple immune pathways, which were used to generate a list of 340 immune-related genes. Three functions were identified in primary Sertoli cells as potentially important for establishing immune privilege: suppression of inflammation by specific cytokines and prostanoid molecules, slowing of leukocyte migration by controlled cell junctions and actin polymerization, and inhibition of complement activation and membrane-associated cell lysis. These results increase our understanding of testicular immune privilege and, in the long-term, could lead to improvements in transplantation success.
The Flux OS Toolkit: reusable components for OS implementation

To an unappreciated degree, research both in operating systems (OSs) and their programming languages has been severely hampered by the lack of cleanly reusable code providing mundane low-level OS infrastructure such as bootstrap code and device drivers. The Flux OS Toolkit solves this problem by providing a set of clean, well-documented components. These components can be used as basic building blocks both for operating systems and for booting language run-time systems directly on the hardware. The toolkit's implementation itself embodies reuse techniques by incorporating components such as device drivers, file systems and networking code, unchanged, from other sources. We believe the kit also makes feasible the production of highly assured embedded and operating systems: by enabling reuse of low-level code, the high cost of detailed verification of that code can be amortized over many systems for critical environments. The OS toolkit is already heavily used in several different OS and programming language projects, and has already catalyzed research and development that would otherwise never have been attempted.
Comparison of two culture methods for detection of tobramycin-resistant gram-negative organisms in the sputum of patients with cystic fibrosis.

A culture method utilizing quantitative plating on antibiotic-containing media has been proposed as a technique for the detection of tobramycin-resistant organisms that is more sensitive than standard methods. Typical sputum culture methods quantitate the relative amounts of each distinct morphotype, followed by antibiotic susceptibility testing of a single colony of each morphotype. Sputum specimens from 240 cystic fibrosis patients were homogenized, serially diluted, and processed in parallel by the standard method (MacConkey agar and OF basal medium with agar, polymyxin, bacitracin, and lactose) and by plating on antibiotic-containing media (MacConkey agar with tobramycin added at 25 μg/ml [MAC-25] and 100 μg/ml [MAC-100]). MICs of tobramycin were determined for all Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates by broth microdilution. Growth of P. aeruginosa on MAC-25 was considered to be equivalent to a tobramycin MIC of ≥16 μg/ml, and growth on MAC-100 was considered to be equivalent to a tobramycin MIC of ≥128 μg/ml. Analysis of method-specific detection rates showed that tobramycin-containing medium was more sensitive than the standard method for the detection of tobramycin-resistant P. aeruginosa, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and Achromobacter xylosoxidans but was less sensitive for the detection of Burkholderia cepacia than the standard method. When MICs for P. aeruginosa that grew on tobramycin-containing medium were tested by broth microdilution, the MICs for 28 of 121 strains (23%) growing on MAC-25 and 22 of 56 strains (39%) growing on MAC-100 were MICs <16 and <128 μg/ml, respectively. Addition of a tobramycin-containing MacConkey plate to the routine media for sputum culture may provide additional, clinically relevant microbiologic data.
New Media, Enduring Values How Three News Organizations Managed Change in an Age of Uncertainty

This case study uses theory about organizational culture and leadership and multiple sources of evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of an initiative by three news organizations to bring the core principles of journalism to life on the web. A newspaper, a local television station, a producer and distributor of public radio, and an academic institution participated in this effort. Drawing upon participant observation and in-depth interviews, this study examines the role this emphasis on core values, so important to the professional identity of journalists, played in securing buy-in for the project and overcoming resistance to change, as well as other internal factors that negatively affected implementation, such as lack of sustained commitment and poor communication.
North American blastomycosis: a study of ten cases.

Eight cases of primary pulmonary blastomycosis, with generalized disease in four, are presented. In a ninth case, the relation between laryngeal and pulmonary lesions could not be determined from the clinical history. In the tenth case, that of a woman with unique and apparently metastatic blastomycosis of the breast, no lesions in the skin, lungs, or other organs could be demonstrated. The early stage of blastomycotic pneumonia is of an exudative purulent type, later becoming of mixed purulent granulomatous character with true abscess formation. Caseous-like foci may develop owing to inspissation and homogenization of suppurative liquefaction, accompanied by fibrous encapsulation. Fibrous transformation of epitheloid-cell granulomas and scarring characterize the late and healing stages of the process. In contradistinction to the rare primary cutaneous blastomycosis, the involvement of the regional lymph nodes in primary pulmonary lesions is not constant. The same appears to be true in several other fungous diseases, except for histoplasmosis, in which, as in tuberculosis, the typical primary complex is the rule. Calcification, if it occurs at all, does not appear to be a regular feature in blastomycosis.
Relative Rates of Color Development of 17-Keto- and Ketogenic Steroids in the Zimmermann Reaction

The rates of reaction at 27° 37°, 47°, and 57°, of 17-ketosteroids (17-KS), dehydroisoandrosterone (DHA), and 17-ketogenic steroids (17-KGS) were studied by a modified Zimmermann color reaction. Curves were constructed by plotting absorbance against time necessary for maximum color development at these temperatures. Pooled eluates of 17-KS and 17-KGS from normal urine samples were used in the determinations. Temperature was plotted against the time found necessary for maximum color development using DHA as standard. Experimental results conformed to the temperature-dependence theory of reaction rates, that for every 10° rise, the rate of reaction doubles. Curves of the absorbances at various times of incubation were calculated as percentiles of maximum color formation at each temperature. The interrelationship between 17-KS, 17-KGS, and DHA with respect to optimum reading time was noted. The significance of the finding that the rate of reaction of 17-KGS is much greater than that of 17-KS and DHA is demonstrated. Functional group contribution to the rate of reaction is discussed, as are other factors affecting the Zimmermann color reaction.
Legal Education and the Formation of Professional Identity: A Critical Spirituo-Humanistic - 'Humanity Consciousness' - Perspective

This article examines the interests of nontraditional law students and explores how they are sacrificed to the dominant interests controlling legal education. Using recent studies that describe unhappiness in legal education, this article offers opportunities to reconstruct legal education in order to develop the whole human being. The focal point of such a reform effort would revolve around a humanity consciousness approach to law school education. Humanity consciousness is a pedagogy of sensitivity infused with a spiritually grounded humanism available to all law students. It could take form through the offering of courses or teach-ins to students who want exposure to non-mainstream ideology in the law. Humanity consciousness ultimately may serve as a revelation to students of how power dynamics are at play in traditional legal education and may help transform such education through reflection, challenge and a demand for change.
Determining That Aortic Valve Stenosis Is Severe: Back-to-the-Future: Physical Examination and Aortic Valve Area Index/Energy Loss Index &#x2264;0.6 cm2/m2

How can you know the future, If you don't know the past. —Adapted from John W. Kirklin, MD Severe calcific aortic stenosis (AS) is the most common cause for aortic valve replacement, especially in the developed world. Initially, assessment of severity of AS was largely based on physical
Data Denoising and Compression for Smart Grid Communication

A technique based on wavelet packet decomposition (WPD) is proposed for the analysis, denoising, and compression of power system data in the smart grid (SG) communication. WPD is an expansion of wavelet decomposition (WD) tree algorithm to a full binary tree. The main advantage of WPD is better signal representation by finding the best tree from a number of bases of the WPD. Thus, the wavelet packet analysis provides satisfactory preservation of feature integrity and removal of redundancy to achieve better noise reduction and higher compression with controlled degradation in data fidelity. A cost function is used in this work for efficient searching of full binary tree of WPD to obtain an accurate representation of a given signal. The data analysis, compression, and denoising are performed through selection of a suitable wavelet function, decomposition the signal up to the optimum level, determination of the best tree representation, calculate threshold at different levels, application of the threshold to the coefficients, and reconstruction of the signal. The proposed method is evaluated using a set of frequency disturbance recorder (FDR), phasor measurement unit (PMU), and load voltage data. Comparative results are presented with the wavelet decomposition (WD) and the built-in Matlab function ‘wpdencmp.’
The Impact of Micro Media Communication on the Effectiveness of Ideological and Political Education and Its Countermeasures

Micro media communication is a double-edged sword, and it will produce some impacts on the effectiveness of ideological and political education showing in the following aspects: the decentration of the way of micro media communication weakens the discourse power of ideological and political education; the instantaneity of communication weakens the information superiority of ideological and political education; the extensiveness of the micro people(people who use the micro media communication) cuts down the pertinence of ideological and political education; the complexity of communication content reduces the impact of the ideological and political education content; the virtuality of feedback reduces the effect of the ideological and political education. According to these challenges, the development of ideological and political education should make the micro media platform “learning tour ” normalization, enhance the ability to set the issue , dig deeper to the frontier theory behind micro media hot topics, and make effective teaching combined with the traditional carrier.
Survival and Sensemaking: Organizational Resilience in a Wall Street Trading Room After 9/11

How do organizations cope with extreme uncertainty? The existing literature is divided on this issue: some argue that organizations deal best with uncertainty in the environment by reproducing it in the organization, whereas others contend that the orga nization should be protected from the environment. In this paper we study the case of a Wall Street investment bank that lost its entire office and trading technology in the terrorist attack of September 11 th. The traders survived, but were forced to relocate to a makeshift trading room in New Jersey. During the six months the traders spent outside New York City, they had to deal with fears and insecurities inside the company as well as outside it: anxiety about additional attacks, questions of professional identity, doubts about the future of the firm, and ambiguities about the future re-location of the trading room. The firm overcame these uncertainties by protecting the traders' identities and their ability to engage in sensemaking. The organization held together through a leadership style that managed ambiguities and created the conditions for new solutions to emerge.
Managing Autoimmune Disorders through Personalized Epigenetic Approaches

The pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases involves a breach of immune tolerance, although many mechanisms may contribute to the generation of such a phenomenon. As is the case with many diseases, it is widely accepted that some combinations of genetic and environmental factors influence the development of autoimmunity. It has become evident that changes in DNA and DNA–protein structure may influence how genes are expressed in the absence of any mutations in sequence. This is the phenomenon of epigenetics, and with the discovery of this mechanism by which gene expression is regulated, an entire new realm of science has been created to treat and diagnose diseases. Because the spectrum of autoimmune diseases is so broad, and because autoimmune diseases involve so many different cellular and molecular derangements, the use of epigenetic techniques to modify gene expression has shown great promise in the development of new therapies for autoimmune diseases. In particular, the variability in the phenotypes of autoimmune diseases is an indication that not all patients suffering from the same autoimmune disease have identical triggers or pathogenesis. If the precise derangement can be isolated, and epigenetic principles applied, then diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of the disease become a customizable management plan for the individual patient. This is the promise of personalized epigenetics, but to get there, we need to increase and improve our knowledge of the individual pathogenesis of disease for each patient, and we are still quite far from achieving this. Meanwhile, we embark on a discussion of what is currently feasible using epigenetic treatment of autoimmune disease and offer an early look at what may be possible in the future.
Terahertz Technology and its Applications: Is it All Hype?

For more than last forty years, terahertz components and instruments have primarily been developed for space science applications in radio astronomy and planetary sciences. However, in recent years, terahertz waves are increasingly being used in commercial applications such as high speed communications, security imaging, autonomous landing and refueling of airplanes, and medicines. In spite of all these fascinating scientific and commercial potential, the terahertz frequency range (loosely defined as 300 GHz
What Happens to Plant Cover and Species Diversity When an Extensive Green Roof System Is Tilted? A Case Study on Green Roof Design, Old Mission Peninsula, Michigan

ABSTRACT This paper describes plant species composition and coverage changes that occurred on an extensive (shallow) green roof system exposed to direct solar exposure and steep roof conditions over time. The green roof system, installed in August, 2005, involved a pre-seeded, manufactured mat product that initially was vegetated with twelve plant species. During the interim between installation and data collection for this paper, no maintenance, fertilizer, or irrigation was applied, despite the fact that observable differences in plant coverage were noted. In April, 2009, undergraduate student researchers revisited the green roof system and examined the green roof for species composition and absolute plant cover. These data were compared to a control area where solar incidence and slope were comparable to the conditions found on a flat roof system. This paper reports on the findings of this study, and offers insight to the types of modifications in extensive green roof technology that may be necessary i...
Electron saturation velocity in Ga0.5Inp0.5P measured in a GaInP/GaAs/GaInP double-heterojunction bipolar transistor

The first (not necessarily typical) performance measurements on Ga0.5In0.5P/GaAs/Ga0.5In0.5P double-heterojunction bipolar transistors are reported. The measured cutoff frequency and maximum oscillation frequency are 25 and 35GHz, respectively. From various measurements of fT under various bias conditions, the value of the electron saturation velocity in GaInP is determined to be 4.4 × 106cm/s.
The intrinsic strength of the halogen bond: electrostatic and covalent contributions described by coupled cluster theory

36 halogen-bonded complexes YX⋯ARm (X: F, Cl, Br; Y: donor group; ARm acceptor group) have been investigated at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory. Binding energies, geometries, NBO charges, charge transfer, dipole moments, electrostatic potential, electron and energy density distributions, difference density distributions, vibrational frequencies, local stretching and bending force constants, and relative bond strength orders n have been calculated and used to order the halogen bonds according to their intrinsic strength. Halogen bonding is found to arise from electrostatic and strong covalent contributions. It can be strengthened by H-bonding or lone pair delocalization. The covalent character of a halogen bond increases in the way 3c-4e (three-center-four-electron) bonding becomes possible. One can characterize halogen bonds by their percentage of 3c-4e bonding. FCl–phosphine complexes can form relatively strong halogen bonds provided electronegative substituents increase the covalent contributions in form of 3c-4e halogen bonding. Binding energies between 1 and 45 kcal mol−1 are calculated, which reflects the large variety in halogen bonding.
Is a general or specific exercise recommendation more effective for promoting physical activity among postpartum mothers

This comparative effectiveness trial examined the effects of a behavior change intervention supplemented by a general or specific exercise recommendation on physical activity among postpartum mothers. Participants ( N = 49) attended three workshop sessions that provided the exercise recommendation and taught self-regulatory skills. Physical activity, self-efficacy, planning, and barriers were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and 6-month follow-up. Self-reported physical activity increased significantly in both groups ( p < .001), but the increase was larger in the general condition ( p = .03). Both groups reported increased planning and decreased barriers. Postpartum mothers may benefit from interventions that teach strategies for overcoming barriers while allowing them to choose preferred activities.
Time-invariant versus time-varying actuator scheduling in complex networks

This paper studies the benefits of time-varying actuator scheduling to the controllability of complex networks. The network dynamics are described by a single-input discrete-time linear system over an undirected graph. Taking the trace of the controllability Gramian as the measure of network controllability, we identify a new notion of nodal communicability and unveil its role in the time-varying actuator scheduling problem. We then proceed to identify conditions on the network structure that determine whether time-varying actuator scheduling is better than time-invariant actuator selection. The main conclusion of our results is that having several and heterogeneous central nodes (versus having a single highly central node) is the common factor in networks where time-varying actuator scheduling is advantageous.
Generating Optical Birefringence and Chirality in Silicon Nanowire Dimers

Narrow high refractive index nanowires sustain weakly guided modes with significant mode volume outside of the nanowire. This modal spillover makes them interesting photonic materials for a multitude of applications. In this article we fabricate dimers of nanowires with lengths up to 1.4 μm, radii down to 55 nm, and edge-to-edge separation down to 60 nm through anisotropic etching from crystalline silicon (Si). We investigate how the properties of the weakly confined fundamental HE1,1 mode in Si nanowires are modified by their integration into dimers. In particular, we characterize through a combination of experimental spectroscopy and numerical electromagnetic simulations how the lifting of the degeneracy of HE1,1x and HE1,1y modes in dimers of Si nanowires generates linear birefringence, spin angular momentum, and superchirality. Achiral Si nanowire dimers are found to create locations of strongly enhanced near-field chirality in the gap between the nanowires, where the field can interact with the ambie...
Reflections on the influence of ‘Mica: A programming terminology aid’: 10-Year most influential paper award talk

Our paper on “Mica” from the 2006 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCCO6 [1] presented a prototype tool that helped programmers use a description of desired functionality to find specific relevant API classes and methods. Mica worked by using the Google Web APIs to find pages relating to a given query, and then using a list of known API classes and methods to recognize and aggregate the API-relevant words contained in the result pages. Mica used weighted word frequencies to find the API-relevant words correlated with the search and displayed the most relevant words alongside regular web search results. We had observed that when programmers create new software or add functionality to existing software, a common and often difficult task is that of using libraries, toolkits and SDKs to achieve the desired functionality. Internet search engines, in particular Google, have emerged as new and effective tools for this task, providing quick access to a large collection of tutorials and example code. However, our observations of how programmers used these resources revealed problems and inefficiencies in their use as programming tools. Mica was the first of long series of tools that we built as part of the “Natural Programming Project” [2] to help programmers more easily use APIs. We speculate that the impact of the Mica paper is because: •The problem of helping users find and use the right API from a growing number of available options has become increasingly relevant. •The data that comes from other developers' experience, found and ranked through web search, continues to be an invaluable starting point for finding and figuring out how to use APIs. •The strategy of extracting and displaying relevant information alongside Google search results has proven effective. Since Mica came out Google and Bing have started to support this pattern for movies, people, events, and many other pieces of information, although not yet APIs. •That sweet logo!
State observer design for a walking in-pipe robot

In this paper, a state observer design for a walking in-pipe robot is studied. The necessity of using a state observer is related to the fact that sensors have limited accuracy and are prone to producing noise. This is especially problematic for in-pipe walking robots, since they use model-based control and require accurate information of their current state. The paper shows that an iterative state observer based on solving Riccati equation provides significant improvements in the behaviour of the control system. It allows to smooth out the spikes in the control actions requested by controller and to minimize tremor of the robot links. In order to study the behaviour of the observer when different sensors are used, a performance function was introduced. It was shown that the observer allows to improve the performance of the control system for a wide range of sensor parameters. Additionally, it was shown that the introduction of the observer allows to choose higher feedback controller gains, enabling more precise control. Simulations on the full robot model, taking into account mechanical constraints and contact forces showed that the linear observer is capable of improving the behaviour of the control system of the walking robot, if measurements of the reaction forces are provided. The effects that the noise and quantization in the reaction forces measurements have on the behaviour of the state observer is studied.
Hierarchically arranged mutualism of neural circuit ecosystems

Neural reuse theories of the development of the functional structure of the brain [1] state that it is normal and common that neural circuits evolved for one purpose can and will be exapted (exploited, recycled and redeployed) by newer and later developed functions. This organizational hypothesis of the nature of neural evolution supports many observations on how and why the embodied nature of cognition works. In this paper we introduce the neural reuse paradigm, and relate it to theories of hierarchically arranged mutualisms in the development of natural ecosystems. In such nested structures of functional mutualism, the ecosystems evolve to support more diverse types of species (or functions) [2]. This diversity has many advantages for natural ecosystems. We will argue that these same concepts can be applied to understanding the functional ecosystem of the evolved neural circuits of the brain. We will discuss how these ideas relate to the robustness and flexibility of embodied cognitive functioning and discuss ways that this concept could be tested in natural neural networks and artificial cognitive systems.
Hysterosalpingography contrast media and chromotubation dye inhibit peritoneal lymphocyte and macrophage function in vitro: a potential mechanism for fertility enhancement.

Objective To determine the effects of hysterosalpingography (HSG) contrast media (CM) and chromotubation dye on peritoneal lymphocyte proliferation and macrophage phagocytosis in vitro. Design Peritoneal fluid (PF) lymphocytes and macrophages were isolated from 40 subfertile women undergoing diagnostic laparoscopy and 12 fertile women having laparoscopic tubal ligation. Dilutions of renografin, ethiodol, methylene blue, and indigo carmine were added to peritoneal lymphocyte and macrophage cultures. Tissue culture media alone served as control. Lymphocyte proliferation was assessed by hemocytometer counts and 3 H-thymidine incorporation. Macrophage function was determined by phagocytosis of fluorescent microspheres. Results Peritoneal lymphocyte proliferation and macrophage phagocytosis were significantly inhibited by renografin, ethiodol, methylene blue, and indigo carmine in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion Inhibition of PF immune cell function by HSG CM and chromotubation dye may provide a potential mechanism for fertility enhancement after these diagnostic procedures.
Does left ventricular hypertrophy by electrocardiogram predict adverse outcomes in pregnancies with chronic hypertension

AbstractObjectives: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Task Force on Hypertension in Pregnancy recommends assessing left ventricular function with echocardiogram or electrocard...
Ventral Stabilization of a T2-T3 Vertebral Luxation via Median Sternotomy in a Dog

An 8-year-old neutered male miniature Poodle presented for evaluation of a suspected T3-L3 lesion with cervical component following vehicular trauma. Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography revealed a T2-T3 luxation with right displacement of T3. A T2 caudal endplate fracture was present as well as multifocal noncompressive bulges of cervical intervertebral discs. Conservative management failed and ventral stabilization of C7-T4 was performed via a median sternotomy. Paired String-of-Pearls plates were placed on the ventral aspect of vertebrae. Eight weeks postoperatively, the dog was ambulatory with moderate pelvic limb paraparesis. A luxation of T2-T3 is uncommon in small animals and surgical stabilization is poorly described in literature. This case report demonstrates the use of a ventral approach to cranial thoracic vertebral stabilization with a successful outcome.
New Hope for Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines in the Era of Immune Checkpoint Modulation.

The driver and passenger mutations accumulated in the process of malignant transformation offer an adequate spectrum of immune visible alterations to the cellular proteome and resulting peptidome t...
Genetic and pharmacological validation of TAK1 inhibition in macrophages as a therapeutic strategy to effectively inhibit TNF secretion

Immune challenge of invading macrophages at sites of infection is associated with release of TNF, which triggers a local cytokine storm as part of the normal inflammatory response. Whereas this response maybe beneficial in fighting off infections, similar responses triggered in autoimmune diseases contribute significantly to the underlying damaging pathology associated with these diseases. Here we show that Takinib, a highly discriminatory inhibitor of transforming growth factor Beta- activated kinase 1 (TAK1), selectively and potently reduces TNF production in pro-inflammatory THP-1 macrophages. A complete survey of 110 cytokines, showed robust loss of proinflammatory cytokine responsiveness to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon gamma (IFNγ) challenge in response to Takinib. The mechanisms of action of Takinib was recapitulated in TAK1 KO macrophages. TAK1 KO cells showed significant loss of TNF production as well as release of IL-6 in response to LPS challenge. Furthermore, Takinib blocked the ability of exogenously added LPS to promote phosphorylation of, c-Jun, p38 protein kinases as well as downstream transcription factors regulated by nuclear factor κ-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NFκB). In a mouse LPS challenge model, Takinib significantly reduced TNF serum levels. Our findings demonstrate that Takinib has utility in the treatment inflammatory disease by locally suppressing TNF production from invading macrophages.
Internacionalismo e inicio de las políticas de drogas en Uruguay. Montevideo y el mundo atlántico, 1912-1930

El estudio del origen de las politicas de drogas con un enfoque global viene concitando un creciente interes academico. Tambien se ha propuesto que es necesario avanzar hacia una nueva historia de las drogas de America Latina. Dentro de los fenomenos globales y mas especificamente del mundo atlantico que influyeron en las primeras acciones dirigidas al control de drogas en Uruguay se encuentra el internacionalismo de principio del siglo XX. Al mismo tiempo la emergencia del uso recreacional de morfina y cocaina fue visto por las elites del pais como la aparicion de una costumbre exotica . Este ensayo explora el nacimiento de las politicas de drogas en Uruguay buscando iluminar como se combinaron las iniciativas locales con el impulso internacional.
“You Are Really at Their Mercy”: Examining the Relationship between Transportation Disadvantage and Social Exclusion among Older Adults through the Use of Innovative Technology:

This study investigates transportation disadvantage (TD) and its impact on social exclusion among lower-income older adults (n = 10) through the use of a custom-designed daily transportation diary ...
Kinetic versus thermodynamic control of mutational effects on protein homeostasis: A perspective from computational modeling and experiment

The effect of mutations in individual proteins on protein homeostasis, or "proteostasis," can in principle depend on the mutations' effects on the thermodynamics or kinetics of folding, or both. Here, we explore this issue using a computational model of in vivo protein folding that we call FoldEcoSlim. Our model predicts that kinetic versus thermodynamic control of mutational effects on proteostasis hinges on the relationship between how fast a protein's folding reaction reaches equilibrium and a critical time scale that characterizes the lifetime of a protein in its environment: for rapidly dividing bacteria, this time scale is that of cell division; for proteins that are produced in heterologous expression systems, this time scale is the amount of time before the protein is harvested; for proteins that are synthesized in and then exported from the eukaryotic endoplasmic reticulum, this time scale is that of protein secretion, and so forth. This prediction was validated experimentally by examining the expression yields of the wild type and several destabilized mutants of a model protein, the mouse ortholog of cellular retinoic acid-binding protein 1.
On Evaluating the Effectiveness of the HoneyBot: A Case Study.

In recent years, cyber-physical system (CPS) security as applied to robotic systems has become a popular research area. Mainly because robotics systems have traditionally emphasized the completion of a specific objective and lack security oriented design. Our previous work, HoneyBot \cite{celine}, presented the concept and prototype of the first software hybrid interaction honeypot specifically designed for networked robotic systems. The intuition behind HoneyBot was that it would be a remotely accessible robotic system that could simulate unsafe actions and physically perform safe actions to fool attackers. Unassuming attackers would think they were connected to an ordinary robotic system, believing their exploits were being successfully executed. All the while, the HoneyBot is logging all communications and exploits sent to be used for attacker attribution and threat model creation. In this paper, we present findings from the result of a user study performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the HoneyBot framework and architecture as it applies to real robotic systems. The user study consisted of 40 participants, was conducted over the course of several weeks, and drew from a wide range of participants aged between 18-60 with varying level of technical expertise. From the study we found that research subjects could not tell the difference between the simulated sensor values and the real sensor values coming from the HoneyBot, meaning the HoneyBot convincingly spoofed communications.