cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
DozyAP: power-efficient Wi-Fi tethering

Wi-Fi tethering (i.e., sharing the Internet connection of a mobile phone via its Wi-Fi interface) is a useful functionality and is widely supported on commercial smartphones. Yet existing Wi-Fi tethering schemes consume excessive power: they keep the Wi-Fi interface in a high power state regardless if there is ongoing traffic or not. In this paper we propose DozyAP to improve the power efficiency of Wi-Fi tethering. Based on measurements in typical applications, we identify many opportunities that a tethering phone could sleep to save power. We design a simple yet reliable sleep protocol to coordinate the sleep schedule of the tethering phone with its clients without requiring tight time synchronization. Furthermore, we develop a two-stage, sleep interval adaptation algorithm to automatically adapt the sleep intervals to ongoing traffic patterns of various applications. DozyAP does not require any changes to the 802.11 protocol and is incrementally deployable through software updates. We have implemented DozyAP on commercial smartphones. Experimental results show that, while retaining comparable user experiences, our implementation can allow the Wi-Fi interface to sleep for up to 88% of the total time in several different applications, and reduce the system power consumption by up to 33% under the restricted programmability of current Wi-Fi hardware.
The fine structure of bicomponent polyester fibers

The application of alkaline hydrolysis to study the change in the fine structure of bicomponent polyester fibers as their surface is removed progressively was explored. The samples were prepared with a poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) sheath and a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) core. The reagent used to hydrolyze the PBT was 1M NaOH in 75/25 methanol to water since it appeared to react topochemically with the fiber. The solution reacted more rapidly with PET than with PBT. Thus, when necessary to retard the weight loss of the bicomponent fibers, after a 2-h hydrolysis with this reagent to remove PBT, it was replaced with aqueous 1M NaOH solution contain- ing 0.1% cetrimmonium bromide. Unlike homofil PET or PBT fibers, where alkaline attack appeared to be confined to the surface and left the residue relatively smooth, the bicomponent fiber was attacked unevenly, and penetration to the PET core occurred before all the PBT at the surface was removed. Nevertheless, most of the reaction was confined initially to the PBT sheath. The tenacity and extension at break of the PBT-PET fiber passed through a maximum as hydrolysis progressed. The fall in tenacity at high weight losses is ascribed to increasing surface defects in the fiber surface. After removal of the PBT by the hydrolysis, the birefringence of the residue became progressively higher. The synergistic effect of the PBT sheath on the properties of the PET core and the possible causes of the nonuniform hydrolysis at the PBT surface are discussed. An equation is proposed that includes an interaction parameter, which can be utilized to determine which property is affected most by the hydrolysis of a bicomponent fiber. In this instance, it appears from the parameters that the order is strength . extension at break ' birefringence. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 71: 1163-1173, 1999
The genetics of alopecia areata

Alopecia areata (AA) is one of the most common forms of hair loss observed in humans. While the genetic basis for AA remains unknown, epidemiologic studies of heritability indicate the presence of a genetic component. AA can be modeled as a complex genetic disorder that results from the aggregate contribution of an unknown number of genes interacting with each other and the environment. In individuals who present with AA, it is expected that a varied combination of alleles of different genes confer a predisposition to disease development, which in turn is influenced by environmental and possibly autoimmunologic factors. This review summarizes the current body of knowledge involving the genetics of AA and gives a brief theoretical overview of genetic approaches that provides a framework for understanding future genetic mapping studies of AA.
Monitoring Technologies for Mitigating Insider Threats

In this chapter, we propose a design for an insider threat detection system that combines an array of complementary techniques that aims to detect evasive adversaries. We are motivated by real world incidents and our experience with building isolated detectors: such standalone mechanisms are often easily identified and avoided by malefactors. Our work-in-progress combines host-based user-event monitoring sensors with trap-based decoys and remote network detectors to track and correlate insider activity. We introduce and formalize a number of properties of decoys as a guide to design trap-based defenses to increase the likelihood of detecting an insider attack. We identify several challenges in scaling up, deploying, and validating our architecture in real environments.
Identification of a Bipartite Nuclear Localization Sequence Necessary for Nuclear Import of 5-Lipoxygenase

5-Lipoxygenase catalyzes the synthesis of leukotrienes from arachidonic acid. This enzyme can reside either in the cytoplasm or the nucleus; its subcellular distribution is influenced by extracellular factors, and its nuclear import correlates with changes in leukotriene synthetic capacity. To identify sequences responsible for the nuclear import of 5-lipoxygenase, we transfected NIH 3T3 cells and RAW 264.7 macrophages with expression vectors encoding various 5-lipoxygenase constructs fused to green fluorescent protein. Overexpression of wild type 5-lipoxygenase with or without fusion to green fluorescent protein resulted in a predominantly intranuclear pattern of fluorescence, similar to the distribution of native 5-lipoxygenase in primary alveolar macrophages. Within the 5-lipoxygenase protein is a sequence (Arg638–Lys655) that closely resembles a bipartite nuclear localization signal. Studies using deletion mutants indicated that this region was necessary for nuclear import of 5-lipoxygenase. Analysis of mutants containing specific amino acid substitutions within this sequence confirmed that it was this sequence that was necessary for nuclear import of 5-lipoxygenase and that a specific arginine residue was critical for this function. As nuclear import of 5-lipoxygenase may regulate leukotriene production, natural or induced mutations in this bipartite nuclear localization sequence may also be important in affecting leukotriene synthesis.
β-Arrestin-1 mediates thyrotropin-enhanced osteoblast differentiation

Thyrotropin (TSH) activation of the TSH receptor (TSHR), a 7-transmembrane-spanning receptor (7TMR), may have osteoprotective properties by direct effects on bone. TSHR activation by TSH phosphorylates protein kinases AKT1, p38α, and ERK1/2 in some cells. We found TSH-induced phosphorylation of these kinases in 2 cell lines engineered to express TSHRs, human embryonic kidney HEK-TSHR cells and human osteoblastic U2OS-TSHR cells. In U2OS-TSHR cells, TSH up-regulated pAKT1 (7.1±0.5-fold), p38α (2.9±0.4-fold), and pERK1/2 (3.1±0.2-fold), whereas small molecule TSHR agonist C2 had no or little effect on pAKT1 (1.8±0.08-fold), p38α (1.2±0.09-fold), and pERK1/2 (1.6±0.19-fold). Furthermore, TSH increased expression of osteoblast marker genes ALPL (8.2±4.6-fold), RANKL (21±5.9-fold), and osteopontin (OPN; 17±5.3-fold), whereas C2 had little effect (ALPL, 1.7±0.5-fold; RANKL, 1.3±0.6-fold; and OPN, 2.2±0.7-fold). β-Arrestin-1 and -2 can mediate activatory signals by 7TMRs. TSH stimulated translocation of β-arrestin-1 and -2 to TSHR, whereas C2 failed to translocate either β-arrestin. Down-regulation of β-arrestin-1 by siRNA inhibited TSH-stimulated phosphorylation of ERK1/2, p38α, and AKT1, whereas down-regulation of β-arrestin-2 increased phosphorylation of AKT1 in both cell types and of ERK1/2 in HEK-TSHR cells. Knockdown of β-arrestin-1 inhibited TSH-stimulated up-regulation of mRNAs for OPN by 87 ± 1.7% and RANKL by 73 ± 2.4%, and OPN secretion by 74 ± 10%. We conclude that TSH enhances osteoblast differentiation in U2OS cells that is, in part, caused by activatory signals mediated by β-arrestin-1.—Boutin, A., Eliseeva, E., Gershengorn, M. C., Neumann, S. β-Arrestin-1 mediates thyrotropin-enhanced osteoblast differentiation.
Analysis and control of a buck DC-DC converter operating with constant power load in sea and undersea vehicles

Power-electronics-based zonal direct current (dc) power distribution systems are being considered for sea and undersea vehicles. The stability of the dc power-electronics-based power distribution systems is a significant design consideration because of the potential for negative-impedance-induced instabilities. In this paper, the dynamic properties and control of a buck converter feeding a downstream dc-dc converter are studied. The controller in this system combines an instantaneous current feedback loop using hysteresis with a proportional-integral (PI) algorithm to regulate the output voltage of the converter. Based on a large-signal-averaged model of the converter, the stability-in-large around the operation point is presented. The complete analysis is carried out considering a buck dc-dc converter operating with a constant power load (CPL). Simulations and experimental results are provided to verify the analysis.
Connectivity in energy balanced traffic distribution

For many sensor network applications such as wild fire detection and battlefield surveillance, it is necessary to minimize energy consumption and extend system lifetime by leveraging the redundant deployment of sensor nodes while at the same time provide full sensing coverage and communication connectivity. An energy balanced stochastic based traffic distribution (SBTD) has been introduced in J. Wang and I. Howitt (2005), which has the target to prolong the network's lifetime. Thus, SBTD can be used to provide efficient communication connectivity in the future routing paradigm. This paper investigates the connectivity of the wireless sensor networks using the SBTD in a log-normal shadowing environment. Our main contributions include: (i) the effective communication coverage of nodes in the network using the SBTD is derived; (ii) the network connectivity and the parameters affecting the network connectivity are discussed and investigated; (iii) and the system accuracy using different values of the optimization parameter is discussed
The fundamental 1/f noise and the Hooge parameter in semiconductor quantum wires

We have calculated the Hooge parameter /spl alpha//sub H/ characterizing fundamental 1/f noise in a free-standing intrinsic silicon quantum wire using microscopic noise theory. Our model takes into account quasi-one-dimensional confinement of both phonons and electrons. We find that at low temperatures, /spl alpha//sub H/ can be reduced significantly by an external magnetic field which suppresses large-angle electron scattering. This allows one to quench 1/f noise. Furthermore, a magnetic field provides a convenient tool to probe the source of noise in quantum wires, and, to a certain degree, test the validity of the microscopic mobility-fluctuation quantum noise model itself.
Pulmonary arterial endothelial dysfunction potentiates hypercapnic vasoconstriction and alters the response to inhaled nitric oxide

Abstract Background . Pulmonary hypertensive crisis can be initiated by episodes of hypercapnic acidosis. Hypercapnic vasoconstriction in the newborn pulmonary arterial circulation may be modulated by endogenous production of nitric oxide (NO) by the endothelial cell and effectively treated with inhalation of NO. Methods . Sixteen 48-hour-old piglets were randomized to receive a hypercapnic challenge after administration of either saline vehicle or the NO synthase inhibitor N -ω-nitro-l-arginine (L-NA). Pulmonary arterial pressure, flow, and radius measurements were taken at baseline, after infusion of vehicle or L-NA, during hypercapnia (inspired fraction of carbon dioxide, 0.15), and during inhalation of NO (100 ppm). Fourier analysis was used to calculate input mean impedance, reflecting distal arteriolar vasoconstriction, and characteristic impedance, reflecting proximal arterial geometry and distensibility. Results . Input mean impedance was increased with L-NA administration. Animals pretreated with L-NA also underwent a much larger increase in input mean impedance with exposure to hypercapnia than untreated animals. Characteristic impedance increased in the treated animals, but not in the controls. Conclusions . In the newborn pulmonary arterial circulation, endogenous NO production by the endothelial cell modulates resting tone distally, but not proximally. In addition, lack of a functional endothelium markedly potentiates the distal vasoconstrictor response to hypercapnia and produces proximal vasoconstriction. Despite impaired endothelial function, inhaled NO remains an effective vasodilator in hypercapnic pulmonary vasoconstriction.
Automotive emissions control

Local and global environmental concerns regarding automotive emissions motivate legislative action by governments throughout the world. Aggressive regulation of both tailpipe and evaporative emissions of passenger vehicles is the norm in most developed countries. These governmental regulations produce significant challenges and opportunities for control, particularly when combined with other system objectives such as fuel economy and performance. This tutorial presents an overview of the challenges related to emission control in the design and development of powertrain systems for modern passenger vehicles.
Approximate Motion Synthesis Using an SVD Based Distance Metric

This paper presents a novel technique for approximate spatial motion generation. Finite spatial locations are represented using homogeneous transforms, which can then be approximated by rotations using products derived from the singular value decomposition. A bi-invariant metric on rotations calculates the distance between two locations. A multidimensional nested optimization procedure determines the optimum assembly and associated design variables of a spatial mechanism to minimize the distances from the moving body to a finite number of desired locations. The result is a methodology for performing the dimensional synthesis of spatial mechanisms for approximate motion generation. A ten location spatial mechanism design problem is presented to illustrate the method.
Managing contextual and structural knowledge in an online document repository

I suggest that knowledge in an online document repository can be classified along the dimension of content (knowledge codified within documents), structure (how documents relate to each other) and context (how documents are used). While much research in online document repositories has focused on content management, structure and context management have been largely ignored. My dissertation contains a series of manuscripts that study how to manage contextual and structural knowledge in electronic document repositories. To utilize contextual knowledge, I analyze knowledge workers' collective document activities and identify prominent topics, important documents on these topics, and topical trends in a document repository. To cultivate and utilize structural knowledge, I design systems that allow individuals or organizations to collaboratively organize documents into useful document structures. In the dissertation I design statistical techniques, algorithms and systems with theoretical underpinnings. Results show promise.
Physiological and biochemical correlates of increased work in trained iron-deficient rats

We investigated physiological and biochemical factors associated with the improved work capacity of trained iron-deficient rats. Female 21-day-old rats were assigned to one of four groups, two dietary groups (50 and 6 ppm dietary iron) subdivided into two levels of activity (sedentary and treadmill trained). Iron deficiency decreased hemoglobin (61%), maximal O2 uptake. (VO2max) (40%), skeletal muscle mitochondrial oxidase activities (59-90%), and running endurance (94%). In contrast, activities of tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle enzymes in skeletal muscle were largely unaffected. Four weeks of mild training in iron-deficient rats resulted in improved blood lactate homeostasis during exercise and increased VO2max (15%), TCA cycle enzymes of skeletal muscle (27-58%) and heart (29%), and liver NADH oxidase (34%) but did not affect any of these parameters in the iron-sufficient animals. In iron-deficient rats training affected neither the blood hemoglobin level nor any measured iron-dependent enzyme pathway of skeletal muscle but substantially increased endurance (230%). We conclude that the training-induced increase in endurance in iron-deficient rats may be related to cardiovascular improvements, elevations in liver oxidative capacity, and increases in the activities of oxidative enzymes that do not contain iron in skeletal and cardiac muscle.
A MULTIVARIATE MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF DIVERGENCE IN SKULL MORPHOLOGY AMONG GEOGRAPHICALLY CONTIGUOUS AND ISOLATED GROUPS OF WHITE-TAILED DEER (ODOCOILEUS VIRGINIANUS) IN MICHIGAN.

The contemporary and historic geology of the state of Michigan and the availability of biological materials there provide a special opportunity to relate ecologic and isolating factors to intraspecific morphologic divergence among populations of organisms. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have inhabited Michigan continuously since the latest recession of glacial ice approximately 10,000' years ago (Quimby, 1960). The Strait of Mackinac, which is about 4 miles wide at its narrowest point, connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and separates Upper Michigan from Lower Michigan. This expanse of water appears to be an effective barrier to gene flow between populations on opposite sides of the channel, as few, if any, crossings of white-tailed deer have been reported. Historically, populations in Upper Michigan were separated from their counterparts in Lower Michigan by the length of Lake Michigan until about 6000 B.C., when the receding ice opened an outlet for lake water to the Ottawa River near North Bay, Ontario. This lowered the water level in the Michigan and Huron basins and reduced the Strait of Mackinac to a long river. During the period that followed, animals probably were able to swim the narrow channel or cross on winter ice, but rapid upwarping of the land at higher latitudes after recession of the glacier interrupted the more northerly out-
Abstract 1680: Characterization of olanzapine glucuronidation: Potential role of the UGT2B10 codon 67 SNP in olanzapine metabolism

Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC Olanzapine (OLZ) is an atypical antipsychotic with broad applications for cancer patients including treatment-resistant depression, psychiatric problems such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. The half-life of OLZ varies widely between patients. The purpose of the present study was to determine the relative contribution of various UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) that are known to metabolize OLZ and examine the role of functional UGT genetic variants as a potential determinant of OLZ metabolism. OLZ glucuronides were identified by ultra-pressure liquid chromatography (UPLC) and the UGTs exhibiting activity against OLZ were determined using homogenates of UGT-over-expressing HEK293 cell lines. Kinetic analysis was performed for active wild-type and variant UGTs. The clinical and physiological relevance of polymorphic active UGTs was examined by studying OLZ metabolism in 114 human liver microsomes and characterizing their glucuronidation activity via UPLC. One-Way ANOVA using Tukey's family error rate was used for pairwise comparisons between cell lines. Student's 2-sample t-test was used to compare human liver microsome glucuronidation data. UPLC analysis of cell line homogenate samples revealed three distinct glucuronidation products. We found that two UGT enzymes, UGT1A4 and UGT2B10, exhibit glucuronidation activity against OLZ. The enzymatic activity of UGT1A4 codon 24 and codon 48 variants against OLZ was significantly different from wild-type UGT1A4 (both p < 0.05). In addition, the UGT2B1067Tyr variant exhibited no glucuronidation activity against OLZ. Human liver microsomes homozygous for the UGT2B1067Tyr variant exhibited an 82% reduction in glucuronidation activity against OLZ (p<0.05). These data demonstrate the significance of a previously unrecognized UGT (UGT2B10) in OLZ excretion and the potential importance of a functional SNP at codon 67 of the UGT2B10 gene in the wide variability observed in OLZ metabolism between individuals. This could have an important impact on overall patient response/toxicity to OLZ. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1680.
Call for a new classification system and treatment strategy in blunt aortic injury.

Objective The current Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) classification scheme for blunt aortic injury (BAI) is descriptive but does not guide therapy. We propose a simplified classification scheme based on our robust experience with BAI that is descriptive and guides therapy. Methods Patients presenting with BAI between January 1999 and September 2014 were identified from our institution's trauma registry. We divided patients into eras by time. Era 1: before the first United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) device (1999-2005); era 2: FDA-approved TEVAR devices (2005-2010); and era 3: FDA-approved BAI-specific devices (2010-present). Baseline demographic information, Injury Severity Score, hospital details, and survival were collected and compared. Our classification scheme was minimal aortic injury, SVS grade 1 and 2; moderate aortic injury, SVS grade 3; and severe aortic injury, SVS grade 4. Results We identified 226 patients with a diagnosis of BAI: 75 patients in era 1, 84 in era 2, and 67 in era 3. Mean Injury Severity Score was 39.5 (range, 16-75). The BAI-related in-hospital mortality was significantly higher before endovascular introduction in era 1 (14.6% vs 4.8%; P = .03), but was not significantly different between eras 2 and 3 or before and after BAI-specific devices were introduced ( P = .43). Of 146 patients (64.6%) who underwent aortic intervention, 91 underwent endovascular repair, and 55 underwent open repair. All but nine patients (94%) had a moderate or severe injury. Survival across all three eras of patients undergoing operative intervention was 80.2%. Survival in eras 2 and 3 was higher than in era 1 (86.4% vs 73.8%) but was not significant ( P = .38). Of 47 patients in eras 2 and 3 with minimal aortic injury, 45 (96%) were managed nonoperatively, with no BAI-related deaths. After 2007, follow-up imaging was obtained in 38 patients (80%) with minimal aortic injury, and progression was not observed. Computed tomography scans showed the injury in 13 patients appeared stable, 19 had complete resolution (50%), and 6 had a decreasing size of injury. Conclusions Our experience confirms that BAI-related mortality for patients who survive to presentation is now 5%. From our findings during the past 15 years, we propose simplification of the SVS grading criteria of BAI into minimal, moderate, and severe based on treatment differences among the three groups. Minimal aortic injury can be successfully managed nonoperatively without mandatory follow-up imaging. Moderate aortic injury can be managed semielectively with TEVAR, and severe aortic injury, requires emergency TEVAR.
Home Writ Large: Nationalism and the Maintenance of Empire

What happens when homeland has been a large empire and must be reconfigured into a ‘mere’ multinational state or smaller imperium? How are identities reconstructed to reflect empires diminished in size? What part does nationalism play in providing meaningful new identities?
System-level thermal management and concurrent system design of a wearable multicomputer system

This paper describes the concurrent system design and thermal management of the Navigator2 which is used as a computerized maintenance manual far aircraft inspection with speech recognition capabilities. The Navigator2 is a wearable computer that includes a novel dual architecture, spread spectrum radio, and VGA head-mounted display. The semi-custom electronic design includes two electronic boards-a custom-designed system board and a 486-based processor board. The system board captures glue logic functions and provides support for two PCMCIA slots, a power management microcontroller, memory backup batteries, and a power supply. The thermal design of the Navigator2 develops concurrently with the overall design in a series of stages. A framework of concurrent thermal engineering consisting of three basic stages is used to maintain interdisciplinary interaction while satisfying thermal design goals.
Water permeation through electrically damaged polymers

The exposure of dielectrics to moisture in the presence of an electrical field can result in the growth of water trees possibly leading to premature failure (1). Although investigated extensively, the mechanisms of initiation and growth of water trees remain unclear. In relation to this, the mode of water transport through treed polymeric materials is a subject of considerable controversy. It has been suggested that the voids constituting the water trees are interconnected by channels which develop under the influence of electrical stress and collapse due to surface tension once the field is removed (2). If this is the case, one must consider the possibility that the observed stress dependence of the rate of water-tree growth is controlled by the effect of the stress of the rate of water transport through a damaged dielectric. To date, all work dealing with fluid transport studies show no indication of the existence of these channels. However studies were carried out either with undamaged materials (3) or without an applied field (4,5).
Cytosolic iron‐sulfur cluster transfer: a proposed kinetic pathway for reconstitution of glutaredoxin 3

Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are ubiquitously conserved and play essential cellular roles. The mechanism of Fe-S cluster biogenesis involves multiple proteins in a complex pathway. Cluster biosynthesis primarily occurs in the mitochondria, but key Fe-S proteins also exist in the cytosol. One such protein, glutaredoxin 3 (Grx3), is involved in iron regulation, sensing, and mediating [2Fe-2S] cluster delivery to cytosolic protein targets, but the cluster donor for cytosolic Grx3 has not been elucidated. Herein, we delineate the kinetic transfer of [2Fe-2S] clusters into Grx3 from potential cytosolic carrier/scaffold proteins, IscU and Nfu, to evaluate a possible model for Grx3 reconstitution in vivo.
Beta-glucuronidase studies in women. III. Trichomonas vaginalis vaginitis and vaginal fluid enzyme activity.

Abstract A total of 96 nonpregnant, noncancerous healthy women over 40 years of age were studied for vaginal fluid beta-glucuronidase activity in its relation to Trichomonas infestation. Nine of the subjects had previously unsuspected Trichomonas organisms identified by culture and seven of these were positive by examination of the hanging-drop preparation. Sixty-three per cent of 64 specimens in the Trichomonas group exhibited values for beta-glucuronidase activity below 300 units per gram. This compared closely with 59 per cent obtained in the women showing no Trichomonas organisms. In individual subjects with Trichomonas who were studied an intervals over a period of months values were distributed almost as frequently below 300 units per gram as above. Trichomonas vaginitis as a factor in explaining vaginal beta-glucuronidase phenomena is considered of some significance, but the presence of organisms without clinical symptoms is not necessarily accompanied by high vaginal fluid beta-glucuronidase activity.
Remember, Me: An Interlocking Narrative of Black Women’s Past and Present:

This is a postcolonial autoethnography that explores the historical and contemporary plight of African American women. Specifically, it uses narrative and performative writing to demonstrate how bo...
How (Over) Confident Are Financial Analysts

ABSTRACTExtensive research has been devoted to the quality of analysts' earnings forecasts. The common finding is that analysts' forecasts are not very accurate. Prior studies have tended to focus ...
In Vivo Delivery of Nanoparticles into Plant Leaves

Plant nanobiotechnology is an interdisciplinary field at the interface of nanotechnology and plant biology that aims to utilize nanomaterials as tools to study, augment or impart novel plant functions. The delivery of nanoparticles to plants in vivo is a key initial step to investigate plant nanoparticle interactions and the impact of nanoparticles on plant function. Quantum dots are smaller than plant cell wall pores, have versatile surface chemistry, bright fluorescence and do not photobleach, making them ideal for the study of nanoparticle uptake, transport, and distribution in plants by widely available confocal microscopy tools. Herein, we describe three different methods for quantum dot delivery into leaves of living plants: leaf lamina infiltration, whole shoot vacuum infiltration, and root to leaf translocation. These methods can be potentially extended to other nanoparticles, including nanosensors and drug delivery nanoparticles. © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Infusing Health Disparities Awareness Into Public Health Curricula at a Rural Midwestern University

Preventable differences in health outcomes between U.S. population subgroups, related to factors such as race or ethnicity, income, and geographic location, are troubling. Geographically, rural Ame...
Choosing adjunctive glaucoma therapy

Glaucoma is a group of optic neuropathies characterized by retinal ganglion cell death, irreversible optic nerve damage, and vision loss. The treatment of glaucoma consists of reducing intraocular pressure (IOP) to a target level that is presumed to prevent further optic nerve deterioration. This presumption of clinical stability should be reevaluated at each clinical encounter with the patient and a new lower target IOP level estimated if progression has occurred.
Collisionless Hydrodynamic Generators in a Planetary Atmosphere

In this chapter, we study how atmospheric winds and waves in the 90-300-km height range create electric fields. The processes discussed here dominate the earth’s electric field below 60° latitude. The phenomena discussed in Chapters 4 and 5 dominate above this latitude. In each case, the key diagnostic equation is that the divergence of current must vanish—basically Kirchhoff’s Current Law from electrical circuit theory and conservation of charge from a physics viewpoint. In Section 3.2, we discuss the motion of the dense neutral upper atmosphere and how its interaction with the plasma creates electrical currents. For these currents to be divergence-free, electric fields must exist, and we provide some simplified models that predict the magnitude and direction of these fields. To proceed further, we need a better understanding of these atmospheric motions, which are better characterized by the terms “tides” and “internal waves.” After this discussion, we examine how such waves can generate electric fields and other issues relating to the earth’s electric field.
The Evolutionary Origin of the Plant Spore in Relation to the Antithetic Origin of the Plant Sporophyte

Abstract The antithetic (interpolational) hypothesis for the origin of the plant sporophyte from algal ancestors calls for the evolution of the embryophytic spore in advance of the vegetative sporophyte. Here we view the fossil record of cryptospores from lower Paleozoic strata in light of this “spores before sporophytes” paradigm. Cryptospores show marked changes between pre-Darriwilian and post-Darriwilian assemblages. These include shifts from smaller to larger spore diameters, topological changes from irregular to isometric spore-body attachment configurations, and the de novo origin of homogeneous sporoderm. These changes in spore morphology and topology appear to reflect the canalization of meiosis in the sporocyte, as karyokinesis and cytokinesis became tightly coupled and meiosis resulted in only four (meio)spores. Indirect evidence of embryophytic sporangia is first found in Darriwilian rocks in the form of homogeneous sporoderm, which is considered to be tapetal in origin. Thus, the fossil record appears to support the progressive acquisition of evolving sporophyte characters with respect to spore formation. If embryophytic sporogenesis first evolved during the Darriwilian, the antithetic hypothesis would predict that the full suite of vegetative characters that defined the first sporophyte must have evolved later. This scenario is consistent with the Homerian origin of land plants as seen in the (mega)fossil record, but it implies that the origin of lands plants, per se, was not a singularity in geologic time but rather required a long period of adaptive selection in subaerial habitats throughout the early Paleozoic.
Validation of Satellite Observations of Storm Damage to Cropland with Digital Photographs

ABSTRACTSevere storm events that include hail and wind often cause widespread contiguous swaths of damage; however, their occurrence is typically documented at individual and disjointed locations. ...
Conversations on Method: Deconstructing Policy through the Researcher Reflective Journal

In this article the authors argue that the researcher reflective journal is a critical interpretive tool for conducting educational policy analysis. The idea for this research grew from the experiences of a doctoral candidate (Ruth) in pursuit of a policy focused dissertation and a series of on-going conversations with her qualitative methodologist (Valerie). The structure of the paper takes a dialogue form on the topic of policy analysis and the various uses of the journal, including found data poetry and photographic representations of the self as a research instrument, which may expand the findings and increase options for data presentation. Sections of the paper include a discussion on journal writing as a creative process, the reflective role of the researcher when examining policies, and the
Assembling Heads and Circulating Tales: The Doings and Undoings of Specimen 2032

In April 1859, U.S. Army assistant surgeon Charles W. Brewer was dispatched to a remote mountain valley in the Utah Territory with orders to oversee the burial of 120 massacre victims. The scattered bones of overland immigrants who had been murdered by Mormon militiamen were gathered and interred in a series of mass graves. Though Brewer reported that his work was complete, he carried away from the site two skulls and “long tresses of dark and blonde hair of some of the tender victims” (Robinson 1884). One of the crania was recently identified in the collections of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, historically known as the Army Medical Museum in Washington, D.C. The analysis of “Specimen 2032” is presented here, along with the history of movements and encounters that brought it to this place. Rather than focus solely on the object’s authenticity or its linkages to the massacre site, we examine it within multiple assemblages—lively gatherings of materials, agents, and practices. In moving through these assemblages, the so-called specimen, we argue, is ontologically modified and transformed.
Cognitive functioning as a predictor of response to comprehensive cognitive remediation

Abstract Cognitive remediation is aimed at reducing cognitive impairments in severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, but little is known about whether severity of cognitive impairment predicts benefit from this intervention. To address this question, this study aggregated data from five randomized controlled trials (N = 300) of a standardized comprehensive, multimodal outpatient cognitive remediation program, the Thinking Skills for Work program, and evaluated whether baseline level of cognitive impairment differentially predicted improvement in cognitive functioning following cognitive remediation vs. usual services. Using standardized scores of neuropsychological functioning to designate “low average,” “moderate,” and “severe” levels of cognitive impairment, participants with greater cognitive impairment were found to benefit differentially more from cognitive remediation than usual services compared to less cognitively impaired participants. The findings were unaffected by statistically controlling for participant demographic and clinical characteristics. The findings suggest that individuals with the greatest cognitive impairment, for whom cognitive remediation was developed, are also most likely to benefit from this intervention.
Fast and Scalable Implementations of Influence Maximization Algorithms

The Influence Maximization problem has been extensively studied in the past decade because of its practical applications in finding the key influencers in social networks. Due to the hardness of the underlying problem, existing algorithms have tried to trade off practical efficiency with approximation guarantees. Approximate solutions take several hours of compute time on modest sized real world inputs and there is a lack of effective parallel and distributed algorithms to solve this problem. In this paper, we present efficient parallel algorithms for multithreaded and distributed systems to solve the influence maximization with approximation guarantee. Our algorithms extend state-of-the-art sequential approach based on computing reverse reachability sets. We present a detailed experimental evaluation, and analyze their performance and their sensitivity to input parameters, using real world inputs. Our experimental results demonstrate significant speedup on parallel architectures. We further show a speedup of up to 586× relative to the state-of-the-art sequential baseline using 1024 nodes of a supercomputer at far greater accuracy and twice the seed set size. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first effort in parallelizing the influence maximization operation at scale.
Binder jet 3D printing—Process parameters, materials, properties, modeling, and challenges

Abstract As a non-beam-based additive manufacturing (AM) method, binder jet 3D printing (BJ3DP) is a process in which a liquid binder is jetted on layers of powdered materials, selectively joined, and then followed by densification process. Among AM technologies, binder jetting holds distinctive promise because of the possibility of rapid production of complex structures to achieve isotropic properties in the 3D printed samples. By taking advantage of traditional powder metallurgy, BJ3DP machines can produce prototypes in which material properties and surface finish are similar to those attained with traditional powder metallurgy. Various powdered materials have been 3D printed, but a typical challenge during BJ3DP is developing printing and post-processing methods that maximize part performance. Therefore, a detailed review of the physical processes during 3D printing and the fundamental science of densification after sintering and post–heat treatment steps are provided to understand the microstructural evolution and properties of binder jetted parts. Furthermore, to determine the effects of the binder jetting process on metallurgical properties, the role of powder characteristics (e.g., morphology, mean size, distribution), printing process parameters (e.g., layer thickness, print orientation, binder saturation, print speed, drying time), sintering (e.g., temperature, holding time), and post-processing are discussed. With the development of AM technologies and the need for post-processing in 3D printed parts, understanding the microstructural evolution during densification is necessary and here, processing steps are explained. Finally, opportunities for future advancement are addressed.
Transient Dexmedetomidine Bolus-Induced Excessive Urination Intraoperatively in a 68-Year-Old Male.

Excessive urination can be a perioperative challenge for providers due to the possibility of secondary hypernatremia. Dexmedetomidine has previously been reported by several groups to induce a polyuric-like syndrome; however, the exact mechanism in humans remains unclear. In this report, we discuss a case of intraoperative, transient dexmedetomidine bolus-induced excessive urination and suggest a potential mechanism by which this may occur in a subset of the population.
What Makes a Military Professional? Evaluating Norm Socialization in West Point Cadets:

Scholars have contended that norms of professionalism are critical to understanding how militaries interact with civilian leaders and when they intervene in politics. Yet, few studies have directly...
Medicine in Between: Thomas Wolfe, Spirituality, and the Meaning of Life.

Questions of meaning may seem more properly suited to the spheres of religion or philosophy; yet physicians certainly witness some of the greatest sufferings of their patients’ lives, and through this suffering, many patients look to their doctors not just for treatments but for answers. In this essay, the author highlights an exchange between patient and doctor in Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel, to argue that physicians need not have ready made answers about life, meaning, or spirituality, but should indeed provide comfort and support when their patients ask: “What’s it all about?”
Salvation in Colossians and Ephesians

The letters to the Colossians and Ephesians enrich the understanding of the New Testament message of salvation in unique ways. The world, once considered to be a well ordered cosmos, had come to be apprehended as a cosmic prison superintended by hostile spiritual presences. In asserting the supremacy of Christ, the letter to the Colossians turns the interest of its readers away from cosmological speculation and fear to the centrality of forgiveness and salvation. The letter to the Ephesians sets the power of God's salvation over and against the cosmic powers and emphasizes that believers have been resurrected and exalted with Christ to a position of power and authority far superior to the hostile cosmic powers. The message of salvation in both these letters addresses the "Weltangst" of a Hellenistic world in a decisive and comforting way.Keywords: Colossians; cosmological speculation; Ephesians; Hellenistic world; New Testament; salvation
Generalizing the Layering Method of Indyk and Woodruff: Recursive Sketches for Frequency-Based Vectors on Streams

In their ground-breaking paper, Indyk and Woodruff (STOC 05) showed how to compute the k-th frequency moment F k (for k > 2) in space O(poly − log(n,m) · n\(^{1-{2} \over{k}})\), giving the first optimal result up to poly-logarithmic factors in n and m (here m is the length of the stream and n is the size of the domain.) The method of Indyk and Woodruff reduces the problem of F k to the problem of computing heavy hitters in the streaming manner. Their reduction only requires polylogarithmic overhead in term of the space complexity and is based on the fundamental idea of “layering.” Since 2005 the method of Indyk and Woodruff has been used in numerous applications and has become a standard tool for streaming computations.
Debt seniority and mergers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how corporate policy with respect to the seniority structure of debt changes after a merger. Design/methodology/approach – The author uses data on the seniority and other properties of outstanding bonds of acquiring and target firms before mergers and of the combined firm after the merger. The author tests whether a combined firm that has acquired junior debt in the merger attempts to move toward the senior-only structure of the acquiring firm before the merger. Findings – The author finds that acquiring firms do not rapidly move back toward that structure after acquiring senior debt. Research limitations/implications – The results of this study are consistent with those of many recent studies on capital structure, which find that changes in capital structure tend to persist, and that firms are slow to revert to previous structures aftershocks, such as those that may result from mergers. Practical implications – The paper suggests that there may be an advanta...
The Continuous Evolution In Vitro Technique

In vitro experimentation techniques were developed in response to the necessity of exploring new molecular structures and functions and to better understand evolutionary phenomena that shape organismal and molecular populations. The advancement of these techniques has allowed further exploration of more complicated evolutionary dynamics. One such technique is the continuous evolution in vitro (CE) method, to which this unit is devoted. The CE method is characterized by continuous cycles of amplification of RNA molecules that occur without much participation of the researcher. This feature allows us to evolve lineages in which the evolutionary phenomena occurring at the molecular level more closely mimic what happens in organismal populations in the present, or what may have happened in RNA populations during the RNA world stage of life. Curr. Protoc. Nucleic Acid Chem. 40:9.7.1-9.7.16. © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Keywords: evolution; in vitro; mutation; RNA
Latin American Economic Integration

A recurrent crisis which has plagued the Andean Common Market (ANCOM) for the past year (8 Law.Am. 832, 1976) resulted in the withdrawal of Chile from the Andean Pact. The withdrawal, announced on October 31, 1976, followed several days of unsuccessful negotiations aimed at resolving fundamental differences in the treatment of foreign trade and investment within the region. Despite apprehensions that the Chilean withdrawal would prompt the stagnation of the Pact, there is speculation that the withdrawal of the Pact's most dissident member may result in a return to the political stability which had been the hallmark of ANCOM progress since the date of its inception.
DNA replication in SV40-infected cells. VI. The effect of cycloheximide on the formation of SV40 oligomeric DNA.

Abstract The effect of cycloheximide on the formation of SV40 oligomeric DNA was examined. About 1.5% of the total viral DNA synthesized in an infected cell sedimented as SV40 dimers while 0.2% of the total DNA was found as tetramers. The addition of cycloheximide to these cells resulted in a 70–90% decrease in the formation of SV40 monomeric DNA, but little or no decrease in the formation of SV40 dimers and tetramers. Thus, SV40-specific dimers (3–6%) and tetramers (0.5–1.5%) represented a larger percentage of the total viral DNA synthesized in the presence of cycloheximide. Viral DNA synthesized prior to the addition of cycloheximide did not participate, or participated to only a small extent, in the formation of SV40 oligomeric DNA observed after cycloheximide treatment. These results demonstrate that SV40 oligomers were not formed by recombination of monomeric viral DNA synthesized prior to cycloheximide treatment. The available evidence indicates that SV40 oligomers were synthesized by the replication of viral DNA in the absence of protein synthesis.