cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Isolation and Purification of Staphylococcal Lipase

An extracellular lipase was isolated from the cell-free supernatant fluid of a 24-hr culture of Staphylococcus aureus grown in Trypticase Soy Broth at 37 C with continuous agitation. The purification was achieved by precipitation with alcohol followed by differential precipitation at pH 8.6 and 4.3. Subsequent purification with Sephadex G 200 and BioGel 300 yielded a preparation which showed a 350- to 450-fold increase in specific activity over the original cell-free supernatant fluid. The purified lipase was homogeneous over a BioGel 300 column and showed a single peak on electrophoresis in a Veronal buffer (pH 8.6, Gamma/2 = 0.1). The electrophoretic mobility was -7.78 x 10(-5) cm(2) per v per sec.
Experimental determination of the effect of printed circuit card conductivity on the thermal performance of surface mount electronic packages

Surface mount electronic packages, typically a few millimeters thick, are mounted directly and very close to printed circuit cards. Due to close proximity to the card, the overall thermal performance of the package depends on the thermal conductivity of the circuit cards. For characterizing the thermal performance of surface mount packages, SEMI Specification G42-88 specifies a FR4 card with one layer of circuitry in a fan-out pattern on the package side. To determine the effect of the circuit card conductivity on the thermal performance of surface mount packages, tests were done with a number of different types of packages on two types of cards. The packages were all 28 mm 208-leaded EIAJ/JEDEC type plastic with copper and alloy 42 leadframes, plastic with exposed heat spreader, and metal quad flat packs. One of the test card designs was similar to SEMI Specification card, with only one layer of circuitry in a fan-out pattern on the package side. The other card had two internal copper planes in addition to the fan-out pattern of circuitry on the package side. This paper describes the experimental procedure and discusses the thermal performance of these various surface mount packages on these two types of cards. The data shows that the thermal performance of plastic packages with alloy 42 leadframe is relatively insensitive to the amount of copper in the circuit card. On the other hand, the thermal performance of metal packages shows the most dependence on the amount of copper in the circuit cards. >
Efficacy of second versus third generation oral contraceptives in the treatment of hirsutism.

Abstract Objective To compare second versus third generation combination oral contraceptives (OCs) in the treatment of hirsutism. Methods Women with hirsutism, as defined by a minimum Ferriman-Gallwey score of 10, were randomized in a double-blind fashion to receive an OC containing either ethinyl estradiol/desogestrel or ethinyl estradiol/levonorgestrel for 9 months of treatment. Ferriman-Gallwey scores, androgen levels and sex hormone-binding globulin were measured at baseline and every 3 months for the duration of the study. Hormones were measured in duplicate by radioimmunoassay. Results Of the 47 women enrolled, 24 were randomized to ethinyl estradiol/desogestrel and 23 were randomized to ethinyl estradiol/levonorgestrel. Mean sex hormone-binding globulin increased significantly in subjects using the desogestrel-containing contraceptive compared with the levonorgestrel-containing contraceptive. Ten subjects completed the 9 months of treatment in the levonorgestrel group and 11 completed the study in the desogestrel group. Mean free testosterone and 3α-androstanediol glucuronide decreased significantly in the group receiving ethinyl estradiol/desogestrel but not in the ethinyl estradiol/levonorgestrel group. Mean Ferriman-Gallwey scores decreased significantly in both treatment groups. Improvement in mean Ferriman-Gallwey score was 35.7 ± 38.1% (p Conclusions Treatment of hirsute women with third generation OCs containing desogestrel results in a significant increase in sex hormone-binding globulin and decrease in free testosterone and 3α-androstanediol glucuronide. Both second and third generation OCs were clinically effective in treating hirsutism.
The MATRICS initiative: developing a consensus cognitive battery for clinical trials.

The goals of the NIMH-Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) Initiative could hardly be more ambitious. NIMH launched MATRICS as a way to address a major mental health problem: individuals with schizophrenia, despite the availability of efficacious antipsychotic medications for psychotic symptoms, are often not successfully reentering the community. One reason for the residual disability of schizophrenia appears to be the long-standing cognitive deficits of the disorder. Although there is considerable ongoing basic research on the neuropharmacology of cognition, no drug has ever been approved for cognitive enhancement in schizophrenia, and until very recently, there was no pathway for such an approval. One of the primary goals of MATRICS is to develop a mechanism by which drugs that improve cognition in schizophrenia can be marketed for that
The Effects of 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10-Hexachloro-1, 4, 4a, 5, 8 8a-Hexahydroxy endo, exo-5, 8-Dimethionaphthalene (Aldrin) and Sodium Ethylenebisdithiocarbomate (Nabam) on the Chick

Abstract Fertile White Leghorn chicken eggs were injected on the tenth day of incubation with either 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 p.p.m. Aldrin or 0, 5, 10 or 15 p.p.m. Nabam and allowed to hatch. Aldrin neither did induce any deformities nor had any effect on hatchability, thyroid weight and histology. However, within three days after hatching, there was greater mortality in chicks treated with higher concentrations of the pesticide. Aldrin at higher concentrations significantly reduced 125I uptake by the thyroids. This was evident in the iodine fractions after chromatographic separation of the thyroid extracts. Nabam not only reduced hatchability but also induced deformities in the higher concentration groups. The thyroids showed an increase of resorption vacuoles in the colloid. Even though the thyroid weights increased in all experimental groups, a significant increase in 125I uptake was seen only in the 15 p.p.m. injected animals. This group also showed a reduction in radioactivity of thyroxine fraction but an increase of 125I in tyrosines. The significance of these results are discussed.
Head Circumference, Mental Retardation and Growth Failure

A recent publication in Pediatrics (36:62, 1965) by O9Connell, Feldt, and Stickler focused very timely attention on the frequent occurrence of growth failure, small head size, and mental subnormality in noninstitutionalized North American children. The degree of mental subnormality did not correlate with head size; however, children with growth failure and normal intelligence did apparently without exception have a normal circumference for age, i.e., a "disproportionately large head" for body size. An analysis of causal relationships was not possible because of the heterogenous case material.
A Numerical Case Study on the Initiation of the Madden–Julian Oscillation

A mesoscale tropical channel model is used to study the long-standing problem of the initiation of the Madden‐Julian oscillation (MJO). With initial and lateral boundary conditions provided by a global reanalysis, this model is able to reproduce the initiation and gross features of two observed MJO events up to 2 months after the start of simulations. This leads to a conjecture that these two MJO events are generated by the influences from the lateral boundaries. This conjecture is supported by a series of sensitivity tests. These sensitivity tests demonstrate that the simulated MJO initiation does not critically depend on detailed characteristics of sea surface temperature (varying versus constant in time, mean distribution from boreal spring versus winter), initial conditions (within a 10-day period), the latitudinal location of the lateral boundaries (218‐388N and S), or even latent heating and moist processes. The only factor found critical to the reproduction of the MJO initiation is time-varying lateral boundary conditions from the reanalysis. When such lateral boundary conditions are replaced by time-independent conditions, the model fails to reproduce the MJO initiation. These results support the idea that extratropical influences can be an efficient mechanism for MJO initiation. Implications of these results are discussed.
Hepatitis C virus screening practices and seropositivity among US veterans born during 1945 - 1965.

Background: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently augmented risk-based hepatitis C (HCV) screening guidelines with a recommendation to perform one-time screening in all persons born during 1945 – 1965, a birth cohort known to have a higher prevalence of HCV. We sought to estimate the proportion of veterans seen at the Atlanta VA Medical Center (AVAMC) who had ever been screened for HCV infection by birth year.
Multispectral enhancement method to increase the visual differences of tissue structures in stained histopathology images

In this paper we proposed a multispectral enhancement scheme in which the spectral colors of the stained tissue-structure of interest and its background can be independently modified by the user to further improve their visualization and color discrimination. The colors of the background objects are modified by transforming their N-band spectra through an NxN transformation matrix, which is derived by mapping the representative samples of their original spectra to the spectra of their target colors using least mean square method. On the other hand, the color of the tissue structure of interest is modified by modulating the transformed spectra with the sum of the pixel’s spectral residual-errors at specific bands weighted through an NxN weighting matrix; the spectral error is derived by taking the difference between the pixel’s original spectrum and its reconstructed spectrum using the first M dominant principal component vectors in principal component analysis. Promising results were obtained on the visualization of the collagen fiber and the non-collagen tissue structures, e.g., nuclei, cytoplasm and red blood cells (RBC), in a hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained image.
Black-Box Performance Modeling for Solid-State Drives

Flash-based Solid-State Drives (SSDs) have become a promising alternative to magnetic Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) thanks to the large improvements in performance, power consumption, and shock resistance. An accurate SSD performance model will provide the important research tools for exploring the design space of flash-based storage systems. While many HDD performance models have been developed, architectural differences prevent these models from being effective for SSDs, mostly because their designs cannot accurately account for many unique SSD characteristics (e.g., low latencies, slow updates, and expensive erases). In this paper, we utilize the black-box modeling technique to analyze and evaluate SSD performance, including latency, bandwidth, and throughput. Such an approach is appealing because it requires minimal a priori information about SSDs. We construct and evaluate our models on three commercial SSDs. Although this approach may lead to less accurate predictions for HDDs, we find that a black-box model with a comprehensive set of workload characteristics can achieve the mean relative errors of 20%, 13%, and 6% for latency, bandwidth, and throughput predictions, respectively.
Topological Models of Belief Logics

We explore the technical and philosophical aspects of topological models for modal logics of belief. We focus on K4, KD4, and KD45, interpreting the diamond as the derivative operator. Completeness proofs are presented for these logics, as well as for multi-agent KD45 with common belief. Special philosophical emphasis is given to the T1 condition, which we interpret to mean that the agent can never have a complete set of beliefs.
Temporal Structure in Cooperative Interactions: What Does the Timing of Exploitation Tell Us about Its Cost?

Exploitation in cooperative interactions both within and between species is widespread. Although it is assumed to be costly to be exploited, mechanisms to control exploitation are surprisingly rare, making the persistence of cooperation a fundamental paradox in evolutionary biology and ecology. Focusing on between-species cooperation (mutualism), we hypothesize that the temporal sequence in which exploitation occurs relative to cooperation affects its net costs and argue that this can help explain when and where control mechanisms are observed in nature. Our principal prediction is that when exploitation occurs late relative to cooperation, there should be little selection to limit its effects (analogous to “tolerated theft” in human cooperative groups). Although we focus on cases in which mutualists and exploiters are different individuals (of the same or different species), our inferences can readily be extended to cases in which individuals exhibit mixed cooperative-exploitative strategies. We demonstrate that temporal structure should be considered alongside spatial structure as an important process affecting the evolution of cooperation. We also provide testable predictions to guide future empirical research on interspecific as well as intraspecific cooperation.
A Curriculum Founded on Humanbecoming Educational Endeavoring

Parse scholar Dr. Constance Milton envisioned a nursing curriculum grounded in the humanbecoming school of thought (Parse, 1998). Flowing from that vision, the California Baptist University School of Nursing opened in 2006 with 40 undergraduate nursing students. Steeped in the humanbecoming paradigm (Parse, 1998, 2014), this school now flourishes with over 650 students in undergraduate and graduate nursing programs. Describing a nursing curriculum woven with Parse's theory of humanbecoming (1998, 2014), the authors provide examples of work from graduate nursing students in the first and last semesters of the pre-licensure program reflecting a unique paradigm guiding living the art of nursing.
Microscopy techniques for investigating the control of organic constituents on biomineralization

This article addresses recent advances in the application of microscopy techniques to characterize crystallization processes as they relate to biomineralization and bioinspired materials synthesis. In particular, we focus on studies aimed at revealing the role organic macromolecules and functionalized surfaces play in modulating the mechanisms of nucleation and growth. In nucleation studies, we explore the use of methods such as in situ transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and cryogenic electron microscopy to delineate formation pathways, phase stabilization, and the competing effects of free energy and kinetic barriers. In growth studies, we emphasize understanding the interactions of macromolecular constituents with growing crystals and characterization of the internal structures of the resulting composite crystals using techniques such as electron tomography, atom probe tomography, and vibrational spectromicroscopy. Examples are drawn from both biological and bioinspired synthetic systems.
Designs for Evaluating the Community-Level Impact of Comprehensive Prevention Programs: Examples from the CDC Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention

This article discusses the opportunities and challenges of developing research designs to evaluate the impact of community-level prevention efforts. To illustrate examples of evaluation designs, we describe six projects funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to evaluate multifaceted approaches to reduce youth violence in high-risk communities. Each of these projects was designed to evaluate the community-level impact of multiple intervention strategies to address individual and contextual factors that place youth at risk for violent behavior. Communities differed across projects in their setting, size, and how their boundaries were defined. Each project is using multiple approaches to compare outcomes in one or more intervention communities to those in comparison communities. Five of the projects are using comparative interrupted time-series designs to compare outcomes in an intervention community to matched comparison communities. A sixth project is using a multiple baseline design in which the order and timing of intervention activities is randomized across three communities. All six projects are also using regression point displacement designs to compare outcomes within intervention communities to those within broader sets of similar communities. Projects are using a variety of approaches to assess outcomes including archival records, surveys, and direct observations. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the designs of these projects and illustrate the challenges of designing high-quality evaluations of comprehensive prevention approaches implemented at the community level.
Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) and Irrigation Water Conservation

Human activities require more and more resources- among them water is certainly the most precious. Modern agriculture consumes almost two thirds of the water pumped in United States. For this reason, more and more people are seeking ways to conserve it. In the quest for improving water conservation in soils during irrigation, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducted studies on various materials in the early 1960s. As a result, a resin based on the grafting of acrylonitrile polymer onto the backbone of starch molecules (starch-grafting) was developed, which was known as ?Super Slurper?. At the time, the USDA gave the basic technology to several USA companies for further development. As the Japanese companies were excluded from participating, they started independent research using starch, carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC), acrylic acid, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and isobutylene maleic anhydride (IMA). The hydrolyzed product of the hydrolysis of this starch-acrylonitrile co-polymer gave water absorption greater than 400 times its weight and did not release water as fiber-based absorbents do. Could super absorbent polymer (SAP) be the future of irrigation water conservation?
Shock Regularization for the Burgers Equation

As is well-known, the inviscid Burgers equation is prone to shock formation. A class of regularized Burgers equations is proposed that do not have an explicit artificial viscosity term. The steepening eect of the Burgers nonlinear convective term is mitigated by spatial averaging or low pass filtering of the convective velocity. Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the eect of this regularization. Specifically, the regularized Burgers equation is numerically shown to compare favorably with the viscous Burgers equation and to avoid spurious oscillations (unlike other conservative regularizations, such as the KdV equation). The numerics indicates that the width of the filter or the diameter of the spatial averaging domain controls the thickness of the regularized shock. While the governing equations of fluid flows (the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations) are well-known, their computation are still a challenge. There are two particular challenges associated with the computation and the understanding of solutions of these equations: one is turbulence modeling and the other is the formation of shocks and their regularization. Both challenges are attributed to the nonlinear convective term in the governing equations. In this article we will show that both diuculties can potentially be fixed by a particular class of averaging or low pass filtering. While the general case of the Euler or Navier-Stokes equations are not investigated here, we will show evidence of shock regularization in the Burgers equations. Lagrangian averaging is a technique for modeling the mean flow of incompressible turbulent flows. 8‐10 The Lagrangian Averaged Euler (LAE- ) equations for incompressible flow and their viscous counterpart are interesting from both the analytical and the numerical points of view. In these equations, is a spatial scale below which rapid fluctuations are smoothed by linear and nonlinear dispersion. The distinctive feature of the Lagrangian averaging approach is that averaging is carried out at the level of the variational principle and not at the level of the Euler or Navier-Stokes equations, which is the traditional averaging or filtering approach used for both the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and the large eddy simulation (LES) models. Therefore, the resulted LAE- equations possess conservation laws for energy and momentum, as well as Kelvin circulation theorem. The behavior of the LAE- solution approximates the behavior of Euler equations well to spatial scales of order , while truncating the energy spectrum for scales smaller than . This averaging or filtering is done without adding viscosity, but by a nonlinear dispersion from the large scales. The numerical simulations of the Lagrangian Averaged Navier-Stokes- (LANS- ) equations performed by Chen et al 4 and Mohseni et al 16 for isotropic homogenous turbulence demonstrated the good features of this model in reproducing large scales of turbulence. Recently, these techniques have been extended to wall bounded flows 18 and compressible barotropic flows. 2
The synergistic toxicity of local and general anesthetics.

The author has had occasion to determine the lethal dosages of cocain and alypin for cats by intravenous injection. Solutions of the drugs, generally 1 to 1000, were injected into the femoral vein ...
Intravascular Detection of Ischemia by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

The interruption of myocardial oxygen supply in acute ischemia alters the O2 content of coronary venous blood. The oxygenation status of coronary sinus blood was assessed by intravascular application of near-infrared spectroscopy in 10 domestic pigs under in-vivo conditions. Calibration of the catheter was performed in vitro by perfusion of blood with gas mixtures of various O2 concentrations. The catheter was placed into the coronary sinus, and anterior wall ischemia was induced by temporary occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Spectroscopic and hemodynamic data were obtained. The main differences between oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin were found with O2 concentrations < 30%, corresponding to the coronary sinus blood O2 content. Spectrographs showed variations related to CO2 concentration, pH, and temperature. Spectral analysis showed significant differences between pre-ischemia and ischemia. Variations in spectrographs could be observed in both in-vitro and in-vivo experime...
Dependence of Anti-Jka Detection on Screening Cell Zygosity

The importance of using commercial reagent red cells that always include a homozygous Jk(a + b − ) cell to screen patients′ sera for unexpected antibodies was evaluated. Reagent antibody screening cells consisting of a set of two single donor red cells were used throughout the study. Of 169,791 serum samples tested for unexpected antibodies, sera from 26 patients were found to contain anti-Jka, either alone (17 patients) or in combination with other unexpected antibodies (9 patients). During the first 31 months of the study only 44% of the patients′ sera was screened with sets of red cells that included a Jk(a + b − ) cell: a new anti-Jka was detected for every 9,976 sera tested and for every 5,890 patients transfused a delayed hemolytic transfusion reaction associated with anti-Jka occurred. During the following 20 months, 100% of the patients′ sera was screened with sets of red cells that included a Jk(a + b − ) cell: a new anti-Jka was detected for every 4,377 sera tested (P<0.05) and only one transfusion reaction was associated with anti-Jka after transfusing 12,080 patients. These data suggest that the omission of Jk(a + b − ) red cells from the antibody screening test could result in the failure to detect anti-Jka antibodies, which could potentially result in an increased incidence of hemolytic transfusion reactions associated with anti-Jka. It is recommended that at least one screening cell used for routine antibody detection methods be homozygous Jk(a + b − ).
IMPACT fragmentation model developments

Abstract The IMPACT fragmentation model has been used by The Aerospace Corporation for more than 25 years to analyze orbital altitude explosions and hypervelocity collisions. The model is semi-empirical, combining mass, energy and momentum conservation laws with empirically derived relationships for fragment characteristics such as number, mass, area-to-mass ratio, and spreading velocity as well as event energy distribution. Model results are used for several types of analysis including assessment of short-term risks to satellites from orbital altitude fragmentations, prediction of the long-term evolution of the orbital debris environment and forensic assessments of breakup events. A new version of IMPACT, version 6, has been completed and incorporates a number of advancements enabled by a multi-year long effort to characterize more than 11,000 debris fragments from more than three dozen historical on-orbit breakup events. These events involved a wide range of causes, energies, and fragmenting objects. Special focus was placed on the explosion model, as the majority of events examined were explosions. Revisions were made to the mass distribution used for explosion events, increasing the number of smaller fragments generated. The algorithm for modeling upper stage large fragment generation was updated. A momentum conserving asymmetric spreading velocity distribution algorithm was implemented to better represent sub-catastrophic events. An approach was developed for modeling sub-catastrophic explosions, those where the majority of the parent object remains intact, based on estimated event energy. Finally, significant modifications were made to the area-to-mass ratio distribution to incorporate the tendencies of different materials to fragment into different shapes. This ability enabled better matches between the observed area-to-mass ratios and those generated by the model. It also opened up additional possibilities for post-event analysis of breakups. The paper will discuss a number of the modifications that have been made to improve IMPACT and why these modifications were made. Comparisons between observational data and the IMPACT predictions will be discussed in the context of these model revisions and the overall behavior of model results. A number of future areas of investigation that were uncovered in the process of the analysis efforts will also be reviewed.
Comparison of Clinical Features between Senile and Young Pulmonary Tuberculosis

In order to understand senile pulmonary tuberculosis(PTB) and increase diagnostic and treating efficiency,clinical features of 816 senile PTB patients and 350 young PTB patients from our out patient department from 2002 to 2010 were compared.The comparison included age,sex,disease course,clinical symptoms,first or second treated,PTB classification,sputum positivity,complications,treatment and outcomes.The results showed that the number of male patients is greater than that of female patients in both groups.Among patients,who is treated with short course(≤one month) and are confirmatively diagnosed within six month,there is significantly difference between elder(30.64%)and young group(81%).Senile PTB patients usually have more than three symptoms while young patients' symptoms are fewer and typical.The proportion of first and second treated is 53.92% and 46.08% in senile PTB group;80.86% and 19.14% in young PTB group.Elder group is higher than young group in rate of chronic fibrotic cavity formation(25.73% vs.16.57%),sputum positive(39.95% vs.28.86%) and complications(58.82% vs.16%).However,elder group is lower than young group in cure rate(75.74% vs.88.86%) and recovery rate(11.76% vs.3.43%).Therefore,senile PTB is an important source of infection.
Choroid plexus ion transporter expression and cerebrospinal fluid secretion.

The Cl-/HCO3- exchanger (AE2 isoform) and the Na+/K+-ATPase at the choroid plexus are both thought to be involved in CSF secretion. However, both transport mechanisms are also postulated to have a role in CSF ion homeostasis raising questions as to which parameters control the expression of these transporters? Northern blots have been used to assess AE2 mRNA levels in rats subjected to alterations in blood pH or blood osmolality (a factor affecting CSF secretion). Six hours of alkalosis induced a 40% increase in AE2 mRNA (p < 0.01), suggesting that alterations in the expression of this transporter play a role in CSF pH homeostasis. In contrast, changes in osmolality did not affect AE2 mRNA. Western blots of Na+/K+-ATPase subunits were also examined to determine whether hypo and hyperkalemia affect protein levels of this transporter. There was a positive correlation between the plasma K+ concentration and both α1- and β1 subunit protein levels suggesting a role for this transporter in CSF K+ homeostasis. As changes in plasma K+ and pH affect choroid plexus ion transporters but do not appear to alter CSF production, these results suggest the presence of compensatory mechanisms. Understanding of such mechanisms may facilitate therapeutic control of CSF production.
A terrestrial weathering and wind abrasion analog for mound and moat morphology of Gale crater, Mars

A striking feature of Gale crater is the 5.5 km high, central layered mound called Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons)—the major exploration target for the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity. Within the 154 km diameter crater, low plains (Aeolis Palous) resemble a moat surrounding Mount Sharp. There is a similar terrestrial analog in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone of southern Utah, USA, where a distinctive weathering pit 60 m wide by 20 m deep contains a central pillar/mound and moat. Strong regional and local winds are funneled to amplify their velocity and produce a Venturi effect that sculpts the pit via wind abrasion. Although the Navajo pit is orders of magnitude smaller than Gale crater, both show comparable morphologies accompanied by erosional wind features. The terrestrial example shows the impact of weathering and the ability of strong winds and vortices to shape lithified sedimentary rock over long periods of time.
Evaluating Controls On Crevasse-Splay Size: Implications For Floodplain-Basin Filling

Abstract: Although crevasse splays are often considered important contributors to floodplain-basin filling, evidence from modern and ancient fluvial deposits indicates that they may not play a significant role in all river systems. In order to better understand controls on the abundance and scale of crevasse splays produced in fluvial systems, we used aerial photography to observe crevasse-splay deposits along three rivers and conducted a targeted numerical-modeling study to explore factors which promote widespread crevasse-splay deposition on fluvial floodplains. Results demonstrate that splay size does not always scale directly with channel size or discharge and that hydrodynamic factors—primarily sediment size and floodplain-drainage conditions—play a significant role in determining whether a fluvial system is likely to produce large, floodplain-filling splays. This work suggests that widespread crevasse splays demand both a large supply of relatively coarse suspended sediment and a steep water-surface slope away from the channel across the floodplain. Without both these conditions, the role of crevasse splays in flood-basin filling is limited.
Improving informed consent: Stakeholder views

Purpose: Innovation will be required to improve the informed consent process in research. We aimed to obtain input from key stakeholders—research participants and those responsible for obtaining in...
Too Many Pixels to Perceive: Subpixel Shutoff for Display Energy Reduction on OLED Smartphones

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) has been widely recognized as the next-generation mobile display. Recently, smartphone manufacturers have been pushing up the pixel density of OLED display. Unfortunately, such an effort does not necessarily improve the everyday viewing because of the limitation in human visual acuity. Instead, high pixel density OLED can drain the battery power even more quickly since the power dissipation of OLED is determined by the number of displayed pixels and their RGB values, or subpixels. This paper presents a new design dimension to remedy this prevailing issue by leveraging the intuition that shutting off redundant subpixels of the display content on OLED can reduce power consumption without impacting viewing perception. We introduce ShutPix, a power-saving display system for OLED smartphones that can optimally shut off the redundant subpixels before the content is displayed. Inspired by the motivational studies, ShutPix is empowered by a suite of designs based on visual acuity, human perception, and content redundancy. Experimental results show that ShutPix can, on average, reduce 21% of display power and 15% of system power without degrading user viewing experience.
From Genius to Taste: Martin Buber’s Aestheticism

I reconstruct the aestheticism of Martin Buber in order to provide a new way of framing his moral philosophy and development as a thinker. The evolution of Buber’s thought does not entail a shift from aesthetics to ethics, but a shift from one aspect of aesthetics to another, namely, from taking genius to be key to social renewal, to taking taste to be key. I draw on Kantian aesthetics to show the connection between Buber’s aesthetic concerns and his moral concerns, and to defend the notion that a certain aesthetic orientation may be just what is needed for moral response.
Lack of respiratory and ocular effects following acute propylene glycol exposure in healthy humans.

Objective: Propylene glycol (PG) is a widely used solvent, chemical intermediate and carrier substance for foods, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. Professional and occupational exposure to PG ...
Piecewise Monotone Maps and the Gauss Endomorphism

The purpose of the next two chapters is to outline applications of our results to a family of examples of dynamics of endomorphisms, and their associated transfer operators.
Contributions to the flora of Ceylon. (Sri Lanka)

An investigation into the Flora of the Polonnaruwa District (southern part*) has revealed the existence of additional taxa in the Flora of Ceylon (Sri Lanka). These include a new species of Rbinacambus Nees, two new species records for the country, and a distributional record for the dry low country (inclusive of Polonnaruwa District) in Cambium puberulum Thwaites ex Hook f., a rare endemic species of the Rubiaceae, hitherto 1q)own only from the Central Province. Ecology notes provide additianal data to specific descriptions of specimens encountered in the field. Respective illustrations of the species described are provided.
Tonic GABAA-Receptor-Mediated Inhibition in Fragile-X Syndrome: A Cause of Dysfunction or a Pathway for a Cure?

Persistent conductance through tonically active extrasynaptic GABAA receptors provides dynamic and powerful regulation of neuronal networks. The adverse effects of reduced inhibitory function of this receptor system range from mood disorders and anxiety to epilepsy. Converging lines of evidence support the hypothesis that alterations in cellular excitability are a common mechanism underlying neurodevelopmental disorders including those in the autism spectrum. Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a leading genetic cause of intellectual disability and a leading monogenetic cause of autism. Several aspects of the behavioral phenotype in both human and mouse models point to excitatory/inhibitory imbalances in key brain regions. While the prevailing theory implicates excessive glutamatergic signaling, recent evidence suggests that cellular and behavioral excitability may also derive from dysfunction in inhibitory neurotransmission. This chapter will highlight specific examples of defective and reduced GABAA-receptor-mediated tonic inhibitory neurotransmission as a contributing factor to the hyperexcitable phenotype observed in FXS.
Immobility in the sedentary plant-parasitic nematode H. glycines is associated with remodeling of neuromuscular tissue

The sedentary plant-parasitic nematodes are considered among the most economically damaging pathogens of plants. Following infection and the establishment of a feeding site, sedentary nematodes become immobile. Loss of mobility is reversed in adult males while females never regain mobility. The structural basis for this change in mobility is unknown. We used a combination of light and transmission electron microscopy to demonstrate cell-specific muscle atrophy and sex-specific renewal of neuromuscular tissue in the sedentary nematode Heterodera glycines. We found that both females and males undergo body wall muscle atrophy and loss of attachment to the underlying cuticle during immobile developmental stages. Male H. glycines undergo somatic muscle renewal prior to molting into a mobile adult. In addition, we found developmental changes to the organization and number of motor neurons in the ventral nerve cord correlated with changes in mobility. To further examine neuronal changes associated with immobility, we used a combination of immunohistochemistry and molecular biology to characterize the GABAergic nervous system of H. glycines during mobile and immobile stages. We cloned and confirmed the function of the putative H. glycines GABA synthesis-encoding gene hg-unc-25 using heterologous rescue in C. elegans. We found a reduction in gene expression of hg-unc-25 as well as a reduction in the number of GABA-immunoreactive neurons during immobile developmental stages. Finally, we found evidence of similar muscle atrophy in the phylogenetically diverged plant-parasitic nematode Meloidogyne incognita. Together, our data demonstrate remodeling of neuromuscular structure and function during sedentary plant-parasitic nematode development.
Photophysical Properties of Tetracationic Ruthenium Complexes and Their Ter-Ionic Assemblies with Chloride

The synthesis of seven ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes bearing one dicationic bis-4,4′-(trimethylaminomethyl)-2,2′-bipyridine (tmam) ligand is reported. The ancillary ligands of each complex were 2,2′-bipyrazine (bpz), 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy), 4,4′-tert-butyl-2,2′-bipyridine (dtb), 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (4,4′-dmb), 5,5′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (5,5′-dmb), 4,4′-nonyl-2,2′-bipyridine (nonyl), and 4,4′-methoxy-2,2′-bipyridine (MeO). The metal-to-ligand charge transfer excited state was localized on the tmam ligand in all instances with the exception of [Ru(bpz)2(tmam)]4+, where it was localized on the bpz ligand. All [PF6]− complexes were shown to form strong ion pairs with chloride in a Ru/Cl 1:2 stoichiometry in acetone, as evidenced by 1H NMR and UV–visible titrations. With the exception of [Ru(bpz)2(tmam)]4+, ion pairing with chloride anions resulted in excited states that were ∼25% longer-lived and with an ∼50% increase in the photoluminescence quantum yields compared to the [PF6]− ion pairs....
Can preoperative breast MRI help predict DCIS recurrence

11552Background: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a pre-invasive breast cancer that may be overtreated due to lack of reliable clinical and pathological prognostic features. Recently, breast MRI ...
Abstract WP288: Patient, Caregiver, and Layperson Preferences of Informed Consent for tPA

Objective: Based on patient, caregiver, and layperson input, we aimed to identify themes, preferences, content, framing, and sequencing of the informed consent process for tPA in acute ischemic str...
Paleoindian-Era Osseous Rods: Distribution, Dating, and Function

ABSTRACTPaleoindian osseous technology includes a number of artifact categories, including at least four types of “rods” (straight uni-beveled, straight bi-beveled, curved uni-beveled, and bi-point...
A Human Gain-of-Function STING Mutation Causes Immunodeficiency and Gammaherpesvirus-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis in Mice

ABSTRACT We previously generated STING N153S knock-in mice that have a human disease-associated gain-of-function mutation in STING. Patients with this mutation (STING N154S in humans) develop STING-associated vasculopathy with onset in infancy (SAVI), a severe pediatric autoinflammatory disease characterized by pulmonary fibrosis. Since this mutation promotes the upregulation of antiviral type I interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), we hypothesized that STING N153S knock-in mice may develop more severe autoinflammatory disease in response to a virus challenge. To test this hypothesis, we infected heterozygous STING N153S mice with murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (γHV68). STING N153S mice were highly vulnerable to infection and developed pulmonary fibrosis after infection. In addition to impairing CD8+ T cell responses and humoral immunity, STING N153S also promoted the replication of γHV68 in cultured macrophages. In further support of a combined innate and adaptive immunodeficiency, γHV68 infection was more severe in Rag1–/– STING N153S mice than in Rag1–/– littermate mice, which completely lack adaptive immunity. Thus, a gain-of-function STING mutation creates a combined innate and adaptive immunodeficiency that leads to virus-induced pulmonary fibrosis. IMPORTANCE A variety of human rheumatologic disease-causing mutations have recently been identified. Some of these mutations are found in viral nucleic acid-sensing proteins, but whether viruses can influence the onset or progression of these human diseases is less well understood. One such autoinflammatory disease, called STING-associated vasculopathy with onset in infancy (SAVI), affects children and leads to severe lung disease. We generated mice with a SAVI-associated STING mutation and infected them with γHV68, a common DNA virus that is related to human Epstein-Barr virus. Mice with the human disease-causing STING mutation were more vulnerable to infection than wild-type littermate control animals. Furthermore, the STING mutant mice developed lung fibrosis similar to that of patients with SAVI. These findings reveal that a human STING mutation creates severe immunodeficiency, leading to virus-induced lung disease in mice.
The literate environment in Kenya: Re-conceptualizing the value of text:

Understanding how a society values reading beyond the educational setting is currently described in terms of a reading culture. Shifting the focus from a reading culture to a literate environment, which comprises all the ways people interact with text in their everyday lives, is an alternative way to capture the value of the written word. This study examines the extent to which a literate environment, to include a reading culture, exists in Kenya. The data was drawn from an exploratory study of the information practices of women attending university in Kenya. Findings show that a literate environment existed and extended beyond campus. Although not widely generalizable, evidence of a reading culture was also apparent. This case demonstrates how assessing the literate environment provides a broader understanding of how people engage with text that would otherwise be missed. A broader concept will lead to better strategies to enhance engagement with text.
Teaching cryptography in an applied computing program

Teaching cryptography to students in an applied computing program that prepares students to design, develop, use, and manage computer applications can be a very challenging task to a faculty member. There are several factors that are often perceived as obstacles to successful teaching of the subject matter of cryptography with respect to the objectives of an applied computing program. A typical course on cryptography covers theoretical and mathematical aspects of cryptographic algorithms and techniques which may not serve the objectives of an applied computing program, in which development and uses of applications are stressed. In addition, students in an applied computing program, in general, are not taught number theory or related subjects in mathematics that are essential to understand theoretical aspects of cryptographic algorithms. In this article, we recognize those issues and propose a model course curriculum with a set of objectives and a recommended set of assignments corresponding to the proposed objectives. In addition, we show how to design assignment problems and programming projects using free public-domain tools and packages to achieve the objectives in the course.
Ecotoxicity of three plant-based biodiesels and diesel using, Eisenia fetida.

Abstract Soil pollution is growing at an alarming rate in today’s industrialized world as a result of increasing anthropogenic activities, either intentional (e.g., use of fertilizers and pesticides, irrigation with untreated wastewater, or land application of sewage sludge) or accidental (e.g., oil spills or leaching from landfills). Terrestrial soil pollution from transportation fuels such as Diesel or Biodiesel is inevitable as they are part of life’s necessities. Biodiesel is considered an environmental friendly fuel due to its non-hydrocarbon composition and low particulate matter emission. However, there are still some controversies regarding biodiesel environmental toxicity to terrestrial life. Little is known about the ecotoxicity of plant-based biodiesels to soil organisms. In the present study, three ecotoxicological tests including an earthworm (Eisenia fetida) 14-day soil toxicity test, a filter paper contact toxicity test, and a cocoon hatchability test were performed to examine the toxic effects of three plant-based biodiesels - safflower methyl ester (SaME), castor methyl ester (CME), and castor ethyl ester (CEE), with Diesel fuel. Unlike Diesel, the biodiesels were less toxic based on low earthworm mortality in the soil toxicity test. However significant morbidity responses (e.g., weight loss, coiling, posterior and anterior fragmentation, and excessive discharge of coelomic fluid) were observed in earthworms exposed to biodiesel. Further, in the cocoon hatchability test, biodiesels were equally toxic to Diesel at 2% and 5% soil concentrations, with no hatching success.
Brain Characteristics Noted Prior to and Following Cranial Orthotic Treatment.

Objective:This case report aims to assess a potential association between cranial asymmetry, brain deformation, and associated developmental delay.Study Design:Two infants born at ≥37 weeks pursuin...
RAMP-CNN: A Novel Neural Network for Enhanced Automotive Radar Object Recognition

Millimeter-wave (mmW) radars are being increasingly integrated into commercial vehicles to support new advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) by enabling robust and high-performance object detection, localization, as well as recognition - a key component of new environmental perception. In this paper, we propose a novel radar multiple-perspectives convolutional neural network (RAMP-CNN) that extracts the location and class of objects based on further processing of the range-velocity-angle (RVA) heatmap sequences. To bypass the complexity of 4D convolutional neural networks (NN), we propose to combine several lower-dimension NN models within our RAMP-CNN model that nonetheless approaches the performance upper-bound with lower complexity. The extensive experiments show that the proposed RAMP-CNN model achieves better average recall (AR) and average precision (AP) than prior works in all testing scenarios (see Table. III ). Besides, the RAMP-CNN model is validated to work robustly under the nighttime, which enables low-cost radars as a potential substitute for pure optical sensing under severe conditions.