cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
AIDS vaccine development: the long and winding road.

Development of a vaccine that provides sterilizing immunity against HIV infection remains an elusive goal, due primarily to the difficulty in generating neutralizing antibodies to primary HIV isolates. In lieu of a present solution to this problem, recent approaches to develop vaccines against HIV/AIDS have focused not on preventing infection outright, but on eliciting potent antiviral CD8+ T-cell responses to limit HIV replication in individuals who become infected after vaccination. Successful control of HIV replication in vivo, enabled by vaccine-elicited immune responses should, in turn, attenuate an individual's rate of progression to AIDS while reducing their likelihood of subsequently transmitting HIV. Recent pre-clinical evaluation of CTL-based vaccines in non-human primate models of AIDS has shown several different vaccine modalities (e.g. heterologous 'prime/boost' strategies such as DNA + recombinant viral vectors) to be capable of eliciting high-level cellular immune responses that are associated with limitation of virus replication and protection against disease following challenge with select pathogenic virus isolates. However, it is not currently known to what extent these protective effects, observed under optimal experimental conditions in select animal models, can be translated into relevant protection of humans against AIDS. In this article we discuss the promise, potential limitations, and scientific challenges that currently provide the context for efforts to develop and successfully employ a safe and effective AIDS vaccine.
Which Republican Constitution

Part of: Our Republican Constitution: Six Views and a Response. Six reviews of Our Republican Constitution: Securing the Liberty and Sovereignty of We the People, by Randy E. Barnett (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2016) with a response by Barnett.
The diagnosis and treatment of thyroglossal tract remnant in children

Objective:To explore the difficult point and the treatment of the thyroglossal tract remnant anomaly. Methods:From January 2002 to November 2008,35 children confirmed thyroglossal tract remnant were retrospectively analyzed. All children undergone operation and follow-up one to six years were come through. Results:There were 23 cases of male and 12 cases of female. The first complaints time was from 1 year old to 12 years old,the median age were 4.3 years old. There were 28 thyroglossal tract cyst and 7 thyroglossal tract fistula all without dysphagia. 6 cases were recurrent and performed the first operation in other different hospitals. All of them were only cysts or fistula excision without resection of the central portion of the hyoid or operations were carried out during infection. All of the 35 cases were undergone radical operation (Sistrunk procedure) and recovered uneventfully. There was no recurrence with follow-up 1-6 years. Conclusion:Sistrunk procedure is the classic and standard operation for the thyroglossal tract cyst and fistula in children,the pivotal point to prevent recurrence is the thoroughness of the operation.
Creating Possible … Aesthetically Engaging Life Amid Reminders of Our Mortality.

Photographs. Piano keys. Nature walks. Fingernails filled with paint. This was my life—a childhood of unceasing creativity. I constructed my world with fierce imagination. No one imposed limits on ...
The Effect of Regularity of Purchasing and Coupon Face Value on Preference for Joint Coupons: A Perceived Risk Approach

Using Bauer’s (1960) theory of perceived risk and past research, this study hypothesizes that the preference for a joint coupon for complementary products over a coupon for a single brand decreases with the degree of risk perceived by the consumer. Also, higher face values result in greater preference for the joint coupon. Further, the increase in preference with an increase in coupon face value is positively related to the degree of risk perceived by the consumer in purchasing the two brands. Hypotheses are based on the premise that the degree of risk perceived by the consumer is higher for occasional buyers of a brand than for regular buyers of a brand.
Microphone Array Processing Strategies for Distant-Based Automatic Speech Recognition

Robust distant speech recognition (DSR) is necessary in many speech technology applications using multiple microphones but has received only limited treatment in the literature. In this paper, we work on communicating with vehicle voice-controlled system which is one of the applications of DSR. Two approaches for DSR are i) signal-level combination using beamforming followed by automatic speech recognition (ACR), and ii) word hypothesis-level combination using several speech recognition engines followed by confusion network combination or followed by recognizer output voting error reduction (ROVER). In addition to these approaches, it is possible to examine training-level combination by training the recognizer on audio signals from multiple channels (microphones). In this paper, the authors investigate how these methods can be leveraged for in-vehicle ACR using the CU-Move corpus. The authors propose various combinations of these three methods to find an optimum structure for in-vehicle ACR. The authors also investigate the effect of speaker adaptation (SA). The author's experience shows that applying SA on individual channels and merging the results with ROVER reduces the negative effects of SA reported by others in the field, and illustrates the overall improvement obtained with front-end enhancement techniques in DSR.
Localization from visual landmarks on a free-flying robot

We present the localization approach for Astrobee, a new free-flying robot designed to navigate autonomously on the International Space Station (ISS). Astrobee will accommodate a variety of payloads and enable guest scientists to run experiments in zero-g, as well as assist astronauts and ground controllers. Astrobee will replace the SPHERES robots which currently operate on the ISS, whose use of fixed ultrasonic beacons for localization limits them to work in a 2 meter cube. Astrobee localizes with monocular vision and an IMU, without any environmental modifications. Visual features detected on a pre-built map, optical flow information, and IMU readings are all integrated into an extended Kalman filter (EKF) to estimate the robot pose. We introduce several modifications to the filter to make it more robust to noise, and extensively evaluate the localization algorithm.
Evaluation of a commercial electro-kinetically pumped sheath-flow nanospray interface coupled to an automated capillary zone electrophoresis system.

Capillary zone electrophoresis-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (CZE-ESI-MS) is attracting renewed attention for proteomic and metabolomic analysis. An important reason for this interest is the maturation and commercialization of interfaces for coupling CZE with ESI-MS. One of these interfaces is an electro-kinetically pumped sheath flow nanospray interface developed by the Dovichi group, in which a very low sheath flow is generated based on electroosmosis within a glass emitter. CMP Scientific has commercialized this interface as the EMASS-II ion source. In this work, we compared the performance of the EMASS-II ion source with our in-house system. The performance of the systems is equivalent. We also coupled the EMASS-II ion source with a PrinCE Next|480 capillary electrophoresis autosampler and an Orbitrap mass spectrometer, and analyzed this system’s performance in terms of sensitivity, reproducibility, and separation performance for separation of tryptic digests, intact proteins, and amino acids. The system produced reproducible analysis of BSA digest; the RSDs of peptide intensity and migration time across 24 runs were less than 20 and 6%, respectively. The system produced a linear calibration curve of intensity across a 30-fold range of tryptic digest concentration. The combination of a commercial autosampler and electrospray interface efficiently separated amino acids, peptides, and intact proteins, and only required 5 μL of sample for analysis.
Unraveling the Sikasso Paradox: Agricultural Change and Malnutrition in Sikasso, Mali

When cash cropping leads to agricultural and livelihood changes in the Global South, concern about food security is common among policy makers. This is indeed the case in the Sikasso region of Mali, where many have suggested that the ubiquitous cash crop cotton is a cause of the unexpectedly high rates of malnutrition in the region. Using household and forest surveys, we found little evidence that cotton cultivation is associated with malnutrition or decreased food security at a household level, but we did find evidence of a coassociation between cotton cultivation, loss of natural capital, and malnutrition at the village level.
Demographic and Clinical Factors Associated With Nonsurgical Osteoarthritis Treatment Among Patients in Outpatient Clinics.

Objective To identify patient demographic and clinical characteristics associated with osteoarthritis (OA) treatment use. Methods This was a secondary data analysis of three clinical trials among patients with hip or knee OA conducted in 1) Duke Primary Care practices, 2) the Durham Veterans Affairs Health Care System (DVAHCS), and 3) the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC). At baseline, participants reported socio-demographic characteristics, OA-related pain and function, and OA treatment use including oral analgesia, topical creams, joint injections and physical therapy. Separate, multivariable logistic models (adjusted for clustering of clinics and providers for Duke and VA cohorts) were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (OR, 95% CI) for the associations between participant characteristics and each type of OA treatment. Results Oral analgesic use was reported by 70-82% of participants across the three cohorts. Physical therapy, knee injections, and topical creams were used by 39%-52%, 55-60%, and 25-39% of participants, respectively. In multivariable models, worse pain, stiffness, and function, per 5-unit increase, were associated with greater odds of using any oral analgesic for the Duke (OR=1.18 (1.08, 1.28)) and UNC (OR=1.14 (1.05, 1.24)) cohorts but not for the VA cohort (OR=1.04 (0.95, 1.14)). For all three cohorts, Non-Whites had higher odds of use of topical creams compared to Whites. Conclusion Results suggest potential under-utilization of therapies other than oral analgesia. Patient characteristics may affect OA treatment use, and understanding the relationship between these factors and OA treatment preferences may improve adherence to OA treatment guidelines. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Thin-film repulsive-force electrostatic actuators

Abstract We demonstrate thin-film repulsive-force electrostatic actuators that employ a new electrode pattern and are useful for low-force actuation applications. Compared to prior patterns, the new electrode geometry increases electrostatic force production by an order of magnitude (at equal voltages) and eliminates the most common shorting failure modes. These electrostatic actuators have stable open-loop operation with no pull-in instability, low mechanical hysteresis, and peak force in rest configurations. The actuators are fabricated with a planar, flex-circuit manufacturing process, allowing production at scale and over large areas. Two-layer out-of-plane linear actuators (25 × 10 mm electrode area) were characterized: with 0–1000 V inputs (40 × 106 V/m), blocked normal forces of 9.03 mN (36.1 Pa) were generated, and controllable linear displacements up to 511 μm were measured across an open loop bandwidth of 43 Hz. Finally, we present a 290 mg 1-DoF micro-mirror system for laser beam steering that employs a two-layer out-of-plane rotational actuator for open-loop stable operation with controlled angular displacements up to 5.1° at 1000 V/16 Hz.
Integrins Modulate T Cell Receptor Signaling by Constraining Actin Flow at the Immunological Synapse.

Full T cell activation requires coordination of signals from multiple receptor-ligand pairs that interact in parallel at a specialized cell-cell contact site termed the immunological synapse. Signaling at the immunological synapse is intimately associated with actin dynamics; TCR engagement induces centripetal flow of T cell actin network, which in turn enhances the function of ligand-bound integrins by promoting conformational change. Here, we have investigated the effects of integrin engagement on actin flow, and on associated signaling events downstream of the TCR. We show that integrin engagement significantly decelerates centripetal flow of the actin network. In primary CD4+ T cells, engagement of either LFA-1 or VLA-4 by their respective ligands ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 slows actin flow. Slowing of actin flow is greatest when T cells interact with low mobility integrin ligands, supporting a predominately drag-based mechanism. Using integrin ligands presented on patterned surfaces, we demonstrate that the effects of localized integrin engagement are distributed across the actin network, and that focal adhesion proteins such as talin, vinculin, and paxillin are recruited to sites of integrin engagement. Further analysis shows that talin and vinculin are interdependent upon one another for recruitment, and that ongoing actin flow is required. Suppression of vinculin or talin partially relieves integrin-dependent slowing of actin flow, indicating that these proteins serve as molecular clutches that couple engaged integrins to the dynamic actin network. Finally, we found that integrin-dependent slowing of actin flow is associated with reduction in tyrosine phosphorylation downstream of the TCR, and that this modulation of TCR signaling depends on expression of talin and vinculin. More generally, we found that integrin-dependent effects on actin retrograde flow were strongly correlated with effects on TCR signaling. Taken together, these studies support a model in which ligand-bound integrins engage the actin cytoskeletal network via talin and vinculin, and tune TCR signaling events by modulating actin dynamics at the immunological synapse.
Whiteness as Giftedness

By examining a gifted magnet of an urban California high school as a racial project, this study contributes to our understanding of racial formation. The study analyzes the organizational and representational practices of this voluntary desegregation tool—a partial-site magnet program for “gifted” students—and its impact on students inside and outside the program. In doing so, the study reveals how, in contrast to its stated mission, this form of voluntary desegregation actually constitutes a form of resegregation. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this research reveals a series of practices that have produced exclusionary access to the gifted program, limited the interaction between magnet and non-magnet students, and instituted an apparently color-blind discourse of the gifted as in need of protection, all contributing to a widespread though complex and contradictory notion of whiteness as giftedness. Such notions run counter to the original intent of the desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Revealing the processes by which a desegregation instrument facilitates such contradictory outcomes provides critical insights into the dynamic nature of racial formation.
Contraceptive information on pregnancy resource center websites: a statewide content analysis

Abstract Objective Most pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) in the US are affiliated with national organizations that have policies against promoting or providing contraceptives, yet many provide information about contraception on their websites. In 2016, the state of Georgia passed a new law to publicly fund PRCs. This study sought to describe the contraceptive information on Georgia PRC websites. Study design We systematically identified all accessible Georgia PRC websites April–June 2016. We downloaded entire websites and used defined protocols to code and thematically analyze content about contraceptives. Results Of the 64 websites reviewed, 20 (31%) presented information about contraceptives. Most of the content was dedicated to emergency contraception. Emphasis on risks and side effects was the most prominent theme. However, no site presented information about the frequency or prevalence of risks and side effects. Sites also emphasized contraceptive failure and minimized effectiveness. We found a high degree of inaccurate and misleading information about contraceptives. Conclusions Georgia PRC websites presented skewed information that may undermine confidence in the safety and efficacy of contraceptive methods and discourage use. Public funding for PRCs, an increasing national trend, should be rigorously examined. Increased regulation is urgently needed to ensure that online information about contraceptives presented by publicly funded centers is unbiased, complete and accurate. Implications We examined contraceptive information on Georgia PRC websites and found sites minimize benefits and emphasize barriers to use. They contain high levels of medically inaccurate and misleading information that may undermine public health goals. Public funding for PRCs should be rigorously examined; increased regulation is urgently needed.
Bounded Rationality: Models for Some Fast and Frugal Heuristics

Herb Simon pioneered the study of bounded models of rationality. Simon famously argued that decision makers typically satisfice rather than optimize. According to Simon, a decision maker normally chooses an alternative that meets or exceeds specified criteria, even when this alternative is not guaranteed to be unique or in any sense optimal. For example, Simon argued that an organism – instead of scanning all the possible alternatives, computing each probability of every outcome of each alternative, calculating the utility of each alternative, and thereupon selecting the optimal option with respect to expected utility – typically chooses the first option that satisfies its “aspiration level.”
Protein Binding and Conjugation of Bilirubin in the Liver Cell

For over 40 years, it has been known that following injection of “physiologic” amounts of bilirubin and a variety of other organic anions, a large proportion of the injected dose is recovered within the liver in a matter of minutes. Complete elucidation of the mechanism responsible for this rapid and seemingly selective transfer from plasma into the liver remains unknown; however, experimental studies suggest several hypotheses; (i) bilirubin is noncovalently bound to plasma albumin and enters the liver by pinocytosis as a pigment: albumin complex; (ii) “unbound” bilirubin in plasma is transferred across the plasma membrane of the liver cell by non-ionic diffusion and net uptake flux is determined by intracellular binding and/or subsequent metabolism and biliary excretion; (iii) a plasma membrane carrier system exists with relative specificity for bilirubin; (iv) net hepatic uptake of bilirubin is largely determined by hepatic blood flow and a high extraction ratio of the bile pigment, and (v) an active transport system for bilirubin and other organic anions exists in the portion of the plasma membrane of the parenchymal liver cells which faces the sinusoid.
Urbanization alters predator-avoidance behaviours

Urbanization is considered the fastest growing form of global land-use change and can dramatically modify habitat structure and ecosystem functioning. While ecological processes continue to operate within cities, urban ecosystems are profoundly different from their more natural counterparts. Thus, ecological predictions derived from more natural ecosystems are rarely generalizable to urban environments. In this study, we used data from a large-scale and long-term camera trap project in Chicago IL, USA, to determine whether urbanization alters predator-avoidance behaviour of urban prey species. We studied three behavioural mechanisms often induced by the fear of predation (spatial distribution, daily activity patterns and vigilance) of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) when coyote (Canis latrans)-an urban apex predator-was present. We found no evidence of spatial segregation between coyote and either prey species. Furthermore, neither white-tailed deer nor eastern cottontail changed their daily activity or increased vigilance in urban areas when coyotes were present. Eastern cottontail, however, had their uppermost level of vigilance in highly urban sites when coyotes were absent. Our study demonstrates that predator-prey dynamics might be modified in urban ecosystems-moving from what is traditionally thought of as a two-player system (predator and prey) to a three-player system (predator, prey and people).
Photodissociative Cross-Linking of Diazirine-Tagged Peptides with DNA Dinucleotides in the Gas Phase.

Non-covalent complexes of DNA dinucleotides dAA, dAT, dGG, dGC, and dCG with diazirine-tagged Cys-Ala-Gln-Lys peptides were generated as singly charged ions in the gas phase. Laser photodissociation at 355 nm of the diazirine ring in the gas-phase complexes created carbene intermediates that underwent covalent cross-linking to the dinucleotides. The dinucleotides differed in the cross-linking yields, ranging from 27 to 36% for dAA and dAT up to 90–98% for dGG, dGC, and dCG. Collision-induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometry (CID-MS3) of the cross-linked conjugates revealed that fragmentation occurred chiefly in the dinucleotide moieties, resulting in a loss of a nucleobase and backbone cleavages. The CID-MS3 spectra further revealed that cross-links were primarily formed in the 3′-nucleotides for the dAT, dGC, and dCG combinations. Gas-phase and solution structures of dGG complexes with S-tagged CAQK were investigated by Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) and density functional theory calculations. The low free-energy complexes had zwitterionic structures in which the peptide was protonated at the N-terminus and in the Lys residue whereas the carboxyl or dGG phosphate were deprotonated, corresponding to the respective (Cys+, Lys+, COO−)+ and (Cys+, Lys+, phosphate−)+ protomeric types. Both types preferred structures in which the peptide N-terminal cysteine carrying the S-photo-tag was aligned with the 3′-guanine moiety. BOMD trajectories at 310 K were analyzed for close contacts of the incipient peptide carbene with the positions in dGG that pointed to frequent contacts with the N-1, NH2, and N-7 atoms of 3′-guanine, in agreement with the cross-linking results. Carbene insertion to the guanine N-1-H and NH2 bonds was calculated by density functional and Moller-Plesset perturbational theory to be 350–380 kJ mol−1 exothermic. Based on calculations, we proposed a mechanism for the carbene reaction with guanine starting with an exothermic attack at N-7 to form a dipolar intermediate that can close an aziridine ring in another exothermic reaction, forming a stable covalent cross link.
Threshold for Pre-existing Antibody Levels Limiting Transduction Efficiency of Systemic rAAV9 Gene Delivery: Relevance for Translation

Widespread anti-AAV antibodies (Abs) in humans pose a critical challenge for the translation of AAV gene therapies, limiting patient eligibility. In this study, non-human primates (NHPs) with pre-existing αAAV Abs were used to investigate the impact of αAAV9 Ab levels on the transduction efficiency of rAAV9 via systemic delivery. No significant differences were observed in vector genome (vg) biodistribution in animals with ≤1:400 total serum αAAV9-IgG compared to αAAV9-Ab-negative animals, following an intravenous (i.v.) rAAV9-hNAGLUop (codon-optimized human α-N-acetylglucosaminidase coding sequence cDNA) injection. Serum αAAV9-IgG at >1:400 resulted in a >200-fold decrease in vg in the liver, but had no significant effect on vg levels in brain and most of the peripheral tissues. Although tissue NAGLU activities declined significantly, they remained above endogenous levels. Notably, there were higher vg copies but lower NAGLU activity in the spleen in NHPs with >1:400 αAAV9 Abs than in those with ≤1:400 Abs. We demonstrate here the presence of a threshold of pre-existing αAAV9 Abs for diminishing the transduction of i.v.-delivered AAV vectors, supporting the expansion of patient eligibility for systemic rAAV treatments. Our data also indicate that high pre-existing αAAV9 Abs may promote phagocytosis and that phagocytized vectors are not processed for transgene expression, suggesting that effectively suppressing innate immunity may have positive impacts on transduction efficiency in individuals with high Ab titers.
Parametric analysis of torrefaction reactor operating under oxygen-lean conditions

Abstract A small-to medium-scale, mobile torrefaction system has the potential to improve the economics of biomass torrefaction and expand its deployment in decentralized, rural areas. In order to simplify the reactor design for deployment in these contexts, a torrefaction reactor prototype operating under oxygen-lean conditions was proposed and developed in our earlier study. The goal of this study is to carefully quantify some key performance metrics of the aforementioned oxygen-lean reactor design under more realistic conditions and compare these metrics with torrefaction under inert conditions. For each condition, we characterized the product yield, energy yield, and energy densification for different feedstock. By using mass closure and elemental analysis, we further calculated the composition in the solid and volatile components. We show some differences in the reactor's performance in comparison with existing literature data obtained under inert torrefaction conditions. In general, under an oxygen-lean environment and at similar temperature and residence time, slightly over-torrefied products with reduced solid mass and energy yield were obtained, which is consistent with results reported in prior studies. These sacrifices in the reactor performance should be weighed against the benefits of a simplified design that has greater potential in remote areas.
Impact of extremely hot days on emergency department visits for cardiovascular disease among older adults in New York State

Prior studies have reported the impact of ambient heat exposure on heat-related illnesses and mortality in summer, but few have assessed its effect on cardiovascular diseases (CVD) morbidity, and the association difference by demographics and season. This study examined how extremely hot days affected CVD-related emergency department (ED) visits among older adults from 2005-2013 in New York State. A time-stratified case-crossover design was used to assess the heat-CVD association in summer and transitional months (April-May and September-October). Daily mean temperature >95th percentile of regional monthly mean temperature was defined as an extremely hot day. Extremely hot days were found to be significantly associated with increased risk of CVD-related ED visits at lag day 5 (OR: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01-1.04) and lag day 6 (OR: 1.01, 95% CI: 1.00-1.03) among older adults in summer after controlling for PM2.5 concentration, relative humidity, and barometric pressure. Specifically, there was a 7% increased risk of ischemic heart disease on the day of extreme heat, and increased risks of hypertension (4%) and cardiac dysrhythmias (6%) occurred on lag days 5 and 6, respectively. We also observed large geographic variations in the heat-CVD associations.
Effects of intermittent T-cell cluster disaggregation on proliferative capacity and checkpoint marker expression.

Background/aim: T-cell immunotherapies are rapidly gaining grounds in clinical success. Presently, there is first-to-market knowledge on the translation of research scale methods to clinical and co...
Effect of Cyclodextrin Charge on Complexation of Neutral and Charged Substrates: Comparison of (SBE)7M-β-CD to HP-β-CD

Purpose. To understand the role of charge in substrate/cyclodextrin complexation by comparing the binding of neutral and charged substrates to a neutral cyclodextrin, such as hydroxypropyl β–CD (HP–β–CD) with 3.5 degrees of substitution, and an anionically charged cyclodextrin, such as sulfobutyl ether β–CD ((SBE)7M–β–CD) with 6.8 degrees of substitution.
Variational method for optimal multimaterial composites and optimal design

Abstract The paper outlines novel variational technique for finding microstructures of optimal multimaterial composites, bounds of composites properties, and multimaterial optimal designs. The translation method that is used for the exact two-material bounds is complemented by additional pointwise inequalities on stresses in materials within an optimal composites. The method leads to exact multimaterial bounds and provides a hint for optimal structures that may be multi-rank laminates or, for isotropic composites, “wheel assemblages”. The Lagrangian of the formulated nonconvex multiwell variational problem is equal to the energy of the best adapted to the loading microstructures plus the cost of the used materials; the technique improves both the lower and upper bounds for the quasiconvex envelope of that Lagrangian. The problem of 2d elastic composites is described in some details; on particular, the isotropic component of the quasiconvex envelope of three-well Lagrangian for elastic energy is computed. The obtained results are applied for computing of optimal multimaterial elastic designs; an example of such a design is demonstrated. Finally, the optimal “wheel assemblages” are generalized and novel types of exotic microstructures with unusual properties are described.
Complete Genome Sequence of Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella enterica Serovar I 4,[5],12:i:- 2015 U.S. Pork Outbreak Isolate USDA15WA-1.

ABSTRACT The genome of a multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar I 4,[5],12:i:− isolate from the 2015 U.S. pork outbreak was sequenced. The complete nucleotide sequence of USDA15WA-1 is 5,031,277 bp, including Salmonella genomic island 4 encoding tolerance to multiple metals and an MDR module inserted in the fljB region.
Facing Double Jeopardy: The Transition Experiences of Latina Family Caregivers of Young Adults With Disabilities Living in a Rural Community:

The transition for young adults with disabilities from high school to gainful employment is often difficult. This transition is even harder for students from minority or marginalized backgrounds, i...
The Case for the Caring Instructor

Not all instructors find the process of establishing positive interpersonal relationships with students easy. Even for the most experienced instructor, determining the best ways to establish and st...
The Power of the Future: Prophetic Politics Between Political Crises and Civil Rights

This paper examines the political life of Malcolm X in the context of the Black Prophetic Tradition. By exploring historical, literary, and theological considerations of political violence and divi...
Single-Cell Isolation from Regenerating Murine Muscles for RNA-Sequencing Analysis.

Summary Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is a powerful technique for deconvoluting and clustering thousands of otherwise intermingled cells based on their gene expression. Here, we present a complete protocol for the unbiased evaluation of regenerating murine skeletal muscle using scRNA-seq. The skeletal muscle is unique in its cellular composition as being primarily multinucleated muscle cells (myofibers). This protocol focuses on isolating mononuclear cells from muscle for subsequent scRNA-seq analysis and can be modified to assess cell populations in other tissues of interest. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Liu et al. (2015) and Oprescu et al. (2020) .
Entanglement-Embedded Recurrent Network Architecture: Tensorized Latent State Propagation and Chaos Forecasting.

Chaotic time series forecasting has been far less understood despite its tremendous potential in theory and real-world applications. Traditional statistical/ML methods are inefficient to capture chaos in nonlinear dynamical systems, especially when the time difference $\Delta t$ between consecutive steps is so large that a trivial, ergodic local minimum would most likely be reached instead. Here, we introduce a new long-short-term-memory (LSTM)-based recurrent architecture by tensorizing the cell-state-to-state propagation therein, keeping the long-term memory feature of LSTM while simultaneously enhancing the learning of short-term nonlinear complexity. We stress that the global minima of chaos can be most efficiently reached by tensorization where all nonlinear terms, up to some polynomial order, are treated explicitly and weighted equally. The efficiency and generality of our architecture are systematically tested and confirmed by theoretical analysis and experimental results. In our design, we have explicitly used two different many-body entanglement structures---matrix product states (MPS) and the multiscale entanglement renormalization ansatz (MERA)---as physics-inspired tensor decomposition techniques, from which we find that MERA generally performs better than MPS, hence conjecturing that the learnability of chaos is determined not only by the number of free parameters but also the tensor complexity---recognized as how entanglement entropy scales with varying matricization of the tensor.
Laser sintered PbSe semiconductor thin films for Mid-IR applications using nanocrystals

Abstract Interests in group IV-VI compound semiconductors for MWIR applications have undergone multiple resurgences over the last 70 years due to the high IR responsivity. Many research groups have shown they can achieve high IR response by making modification of the sensitization process; however, nearly all are using traditional deposition methods (Chemical Bath Deposition or Chemical/Physical Vapor Deposition) involving complex chemical processing or vacuum-based equipment. This work introduces a flexible alternative method for producing ultrapure polycrystalline thin films with exceptional morphological control. The process utilizes a planetary ball-mill to wet-mill ultra-pure crystalline ingot into colloidal nanocrystals (NC), followed by rapid deposition in a centrifuge to form a compact, thin film across a silicon substrate. Laser sintering is then used to rapidly form a continuous denser film with excellent substrate adhesion and unique control of the morphological properties. This work demonstrates a new method using laser sintering that can form a 1.5 μm thin film of PbSe with equivalent physical and electrical (p-type with a carrier concentration of 4.5 × 1017/cm3 and resistivity value of 0.17 Ωcm) properties to CBD/PVD. The results are presented for the process development, film morphology, crystal structure, and electrical properties. Lastly, unlike traditional deposition methods, this alternative process is environmentally responsible by producing zero hazardous waste by allowing recovery of all unused PbSe for reuse. The reported method is applicable for achieving thin films from a variety of high purity bulk materials.
Brain Connectivity Patterns in Children Linked to Neurocognitive Abilities

The development of objective brain-based measures of individual differences in psychological traits is a longstanding goal of clinical neuroscience. Here we show that reliable objective markers of children9s neurocognitive abilities can be built from measures of brain connectivity. The sample consists of 5,937 9- and 10-year-olds in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development multi-site study with high-quality functional connectomes that capture brain-wide connectivity. Using multivariate methods, we built predictive neuromarkers for a general factor of neurocognitive ability as well as for a number of specific cognitive abilities (e.g., spatial reasoning, working memory). Neuromarkers for the general neurocognitive factor successfully predicted scores for held-out participants at 19 out of 19 held-out sites, explaining over 14% of the variance in their scores. Neuromarkers for specific neurocognitive abilities also exhibited statistically reliable generalization to new participants. This study provides the strongest evidence to date that objective quantification of psychological traits is possible with functional neuroimaging.
Transcription factor expression as a predictor of colon cancer prognosis: a machine learning practice

Colon cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in the USA and around the world. Molecular level characters, such as gene expression levels and mutations, may provide profound information for precision treatment apart from pathological indicators. Transcription factors function as critical regulators in all aspects of cell life, but transcription factors-based biomarkers for colon cancer prognosis were still rare and necessary. We implemented an innovative process to select the transcription factors variables and evaluate the prognostic prediction power by combining the Cox PH model with the random forest algorithm. We picked five top-ranked transcription factors and built a prediction model by using Cox PH regression. Using Kaplan-Meier analysis, we validated our predictive model on four independent publicly available datasets (GSE39582, GSE17536, GSE37892, and GSE17537) from the GEO database, consisting of 925 colon cancer patients. A five-transcription-factors based predictive model for colon cancer prognosis has been developed by using TCGA colon cancer patient data. Five transcription factors identified for the predictive model is HOXC9, ZNF556, HEYL, HOXC4 and HOXC6. The prediction power of the model is validated with four GEO datasets consisting of 1584 patient samples. Kaplan-Meier curve and log-rank tests were conducted on both training and validation datasets, the difference of overall survival time between predicted low and high-risk groups can be clearly observed. Gene set enrichment analysis was performed to further investigate the difference between low and high-risk groups in the gene pathway level. The biological meaning was interpreted. Overall, our results prove our prediction model has a strong prediction power on colon cancer prognosis. Transcription factors can be used to construct colon cancer prognostic signatures with strong prediction power. The variable selection process used in this study has the potential to be implemented in the prognostic signature discovery of other cancer types. Our five TF-based predictive model would help with understanding the hidden relationship between colon cancer patient survival and transcription factor activities. It will also provide more insights into the precision treatment of colon cancer patients from a genomic information perspective.
Multiple perpetrator sexual assault: correlates of PTSD and depressive symptoms in a sample of adult women

While most sexual assaults are committed by a sole perpetrator, multiple-perpetrator assaults (MPSAs) still occur. However, less is known about their post-assault impacts. This study examined demog...
Advances in Foodborne Pathogen Analysis.

As the world population has grown, new demands on the production of foods have been met by increased efficiencies in production, from planting and harvesting to processing, packaging and distribution to retail locations. These efficiencies enable rapid intranational and global dissemination of foods, providing longer “face time” for products on retail shelves and allowing consumers to make healthy dietary choices year-round. However, our food production capabilities have outpaced the capacity of traditional detection methods to ensure our foods are safe. Traditional methods for culture-based detection and characterization of microorganisms are time-, labor- and, in some instances, space- and infrastructure-intensive, and are therefore not compatible with current (or future) production and processing realities. New and versatile detection methods requiring fewer overall resources (time, labor, space, equipment, cost, etc.) are needed to transform the throughput and safety dimensions of the food industry. Access to new, user-friendly, and point-of-care testing technologies may help expand the use and ease of testing, allowing stakeholders to leverage the data obtained to reduce their operating risk and health risks to the public. The papers in this Special Issue on “Advances in Foodborne Pathogen Analysis” address critical issues in rapid pathogen analysis, including preanalytical sample preparation, portable and field-capable test methods, the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in zoonotic pathogens and non-bacterial pathogens, such as viruses and protozoa.
Over-Individuation in Gift Giving: Shopping for Multiple Recipients Leads Givers to Choose Unique but Less Preferred Gifts

This research examines how the social context in which gifts are selected influences gift choices. Six experiments show that, when givers select gifts for multiple recipients, they tend to pass up gifts that would be better liked by one or more recipients in favor of giving different gifts to each recipient, even when recipients will not compare gifts. This over-individuation does not seem to arise because givers perceive recipients’ preferences differently when they consider them together versus separately: although givers’ gift selections differ between a one-recipient and multiple-recipient context, their perceptions of which gifts would be better liked do not. Rather, over-individuation seems to arise because givers try to be thoughtful by treating each recipient as unique. Consistent with this, givers are more likely to over-individuate when they are encouraged to be thoughtful. Focusing givers on recipients’ preferences reduces overindividuation and can help givers select better liked gifts.
Rumen protected branched amino acids supplementation during early lactation in dairy cows

The objective of this study was to test if supplementation of Rumen Protected Branched-Chain Amino Acids (RPBCAA) with or without PG oral supplementation improved milk protein yield as well as negative energy balance during the early postpartum period in dairy cows.
Texas sheriffs’ perceptions on firearm regulations and mass shootings:

Criminal justice research often focuses exclusively on municipal police departments. Sheriffs’ departments are largely ignored in this research despite this population’s reach and role. There are n...
How often do community-based mental health providers educate and initiate PTSD treatment following training? Answering the question of reach:

Background:Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a significant problem. Clinical practice guidelines recommend evidence-based treatments (EBTs) including cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and pr...
Disproportionate Insider Control and the Informativeness of Stock Returns about Future Earnings

We test whether agency conflicts generated by the divergence between insider voting rights and cash flow rights (i.e., disproportionate insider control) within dual-class firms reduce the informativeness of stock returns about future earnings. We find that the future earnings response coefficient (FERC), which measures the extent to which current period returns incorporate future earnings news, is decreasing in disproportionate insider control, but the negative relation between disproportionate insider control and the FERC is weaker when institutional ownership is high and when managers provide more disclosure (i.e., greater disaggregation in mandatory reports, voluntary management guidance, and voluntary Form 8-K filings). Collectively, our findings reveal that although agency conflicts inherent in dual-class firms weaken the information environment, bonding and monitoring achieved via more disclosure and a more sophisticated investor base can help to alleviate agency problems arising from disproportionate insider control.
“Gypsy” Fate:: Carriers of our collective shadow

Narratives, both individual and collective, are a primary embodiment of our understanding of the world, others, and ultimately ourselves. As a receptive and a creative activity, they tell us how we are always already caught up in the enacting and re-constructing of stories. Here a Romani narrative, a collective identity constructed through negative inflation, exile, and splitting, is read through the lense of a “scapegoat” complex. Such a reading points to the way we are split between any form of “us” and “them” – conscious and unconscious, light and dark. Non-Roma or Gadje, then, are not separate from this “other” but are co-creating and co-living this identity and narrative. Addressing the unconscious, personally and collectively, becomes our ethical responsibility so that we become aware of both our shadow and the other with whom we manifest (and blame). In attending the “problem” of the scapegoat, I hope to extend not only the discussion of difference in teaching and research but also in our social or political response toward people, in particular the Roma, and other ethnic and visible minorities who have been denied rights, persecuted and discriminated.
Menthol cigarettes in black neighbourhoods: still cheaper after all these years.

California was the second US state to adopt a law to end the sale of most flavoured tobacco products (including menthol) in August 2020.1 However, a tobacco industry front group submitted more than 625 000 validated signatures to challenge the law on a ballot referendum in November 2022. One hundred local laws that restrict sales of flavoured tobacco protected 22.1% of California’s population as of February 2021,2 3 and the state aims to increase this coverage. In addition, stronger support for the state-wide law is anticipated where local laws exist.4 Prior evidence of more advertising and lower prices for menthol cigarettes at stores in neighbourhoods with a greater proportion of black residents in California and in the USA suggests a history of predatory marketing.5–7 This secondary analysis tests whether these patterns persist in California. This research …
Titanium-Niobium Binary Alloys

This chapter offers complete coverage of the early literature of Ti-Nb superconductivity, but as a result of the burgeoning applicability of Ti-Nb alloys during the mid 1960’s, full coverage of the literature published after 1965–1966 is no longer possible or desirable. With regard to the post-1965 period, only key publications dealing with fundamental physical phenomena, metallurgical optimization of critical current density, and the most recent (through 1980–82) literature, have been selected for consideration. Many important developments in Ti-Nb superconductivity are also treated in a separate monograph intended as a companion to this book [Mon00.00] and Tables 1–27, 1–28, and 1–29 are further guides to the associated literature. In preparation for the writing, the literature was sorted into five categories which then gave rise to the following five parts of this chapter: