cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ultraviolet irradiation induces the production of multiple cytokines by human corneal cells.

Purpose. Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation exposure represents a significant environmental and occupational hazard that can cause acute and chronic inflammatory changes in the exposed cornea. Acute exposure to solar UV irradiation or to UV irradiation from such artificial sources as tanning lamps can result in severe pain and inflammation in the cornea. Chronic exposure to solar UV irradiation is associated with several external eye diseases including pterygium and squamous metaplasia or carcinoma. In the skin, inflammatory responses to UV exposure appear to be mediated by the release of inflammatory cytokines. The role of corneal-derived cytokines in UV-mediated corneal inflammation has not been established. In this study, the effect of UV exposure on the production of proinflammatory cytokines by corneal cells was examined. Methods. Cultured human corneal stroma cells and whole human corneas received UV irradiation (10 to 100 mj/cm 2 ), and the production of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-l, IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor a (TNFa) was measured by Northern blot analysis, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, cytokine bioassays, and immunohistochemical analysis. Results. The results indicate that acute UV exposure leads to a significant increase in the production of IL-1, IL-6, IL-8, and TNFa in human corneal stroma cells. Similarly, acute UV irradiation of whole human corneas ex vivo induces a significant increase in the production of IL-1, IL-6, IL-8, and TNFa. Conclusions. Acute UV irradiation exposure results in the induction of cornea-derived proinflammatory cytokines. The local release of these proinflammatory cytokines by cells in the irradiated cornea may be responsible for UV-mediated corneal inflammation. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1997;38:2483-2491.
Variations in support for secondhand smoke restrictions across diverse rural regions of the United States

Abstract Significant disparities exist between rural-urban U.S. populations. Besides higher smoking rates, rural Americans are less likely to be protected from SHS. Few studies focus across all regions, obscuring regional-level differences. This study compares support for SHS restrictions across all HHS regions. Data: 2014/15 TUS-CPS; respondents (n = 228,967): 47,805 were rural residents and 181,162 urban. We examined bi-variates across regions and urban-rural adjusted odds ratios within each. Smoking inside the home was assessed along with attitudes toward smoking in bars, casinos, playgrounds, cars, and cars with kids. Urban respondents were significantly more supportive of all SHS policies: (e.g. smoking in bars [57.9% vs. 51.4%]; support for kids in cars [94.8% vs. 92.5%]. Greatest difference between urban-rural residents was in Mid-Atlantic (bar restrictions) and Southeast (home bans): almost 10% less supportive. Logistic regression confirmed rural residents least likely, overall, to support SHS in homes (OR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.74, 0.81); in cars (OR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.79, 0.95), on playgrounds (OR = 0.88, 95% CI.83, 0.94) and in bars OR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.85, 0.92), when controlling for demographics and smoking status. South Central rural residents were significantly less likely to support SHS policies-home bans, smoking in cars with kids, on playgrounds, in bars and casinos; while Heartland rural residents were significantly more supportive of policies restricting smoking in cars, cars with kids and on playgrounds. Southeast and South Central had lowest policy score with no comprehensive state-level SHS policies. Understanding differences is important to target interventions to reduce exposure to SHS and related health disparities.
Deep learning-based classification of earthquake-impacted buildings using textual damage descriptions

Abstract To make informed decisions and have a well-coordinated response to a major hazard event, a rapid assessment of the spatial distribution and severity of building damage is needed. To this end, the long short-term memory (LSTM) deep learning method is applied to classify building damage based on textual descriptions of damage. The damaged state of an individual building is classified using the ATC-20 tags (red, yellow and green). The application of the LSTM approach is demonstrated using building damage descriptions recorded following the 2014 South Napa, California earthquake. The dataset, which consists of 3423 buildings (1552 green tagged, 1674 yellow tagged, 197 red tagged), is randomly divided into training and testing subsets. A predictive model is established using the training set and the performance of this model is evaluated with the test set. An overall accuracy of 86% is achieved when the deep learning model is used to identify the ATC-20 tags for the test set. Despite some noted limitations, the study highlights the overall potential of using the LSTM method to rapidly assess building cluster damage using textual information, which can be generated by building professionals, stakeholders or social media platforms.
Abstract MP03: Aortic Stiffening and Intracranial Atherosclerosis: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Neurocognitive Study (ARIC-NCS)

Introduction: Stiffening of the aorta is associated with increased pulse pressure and transmission of pulsatile energy into the cerebral circulation. An association between increased aortic stiffen...
The effects of acute exercise on episodic memory function among young university students: moderation considerations by biological sex.

Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate potential sex-specific differences on episodic memory function and determine whether sex moderates the effects of acute exercise on episodic memory.Methods: A randomized controlled intervention was employed. This experiment was conducted among young University students (mean age = 21 years). Both males (n=20) and females (n=20)completed two counterbalanced laboratory visits, with one visit involving a 15-minute bout of moderate-intensity exercise prior to the memory task. The control visit engaged in a time matched seated task. Memory function (including short-term memory, learning, and long-term memory) was assessed from the RAVLT (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test).Results: We observed a significant main effect for time (P<0.001, ƞ2p= 0.77) and a marginally significant main effect for sex (P=0.06, ƞ2p= 0.09), but no time by sex by condition interaction(P=0.91, ƞ2p= 0.01). We also observed some suggestive evidence of a more beneficial effect of acute exercise on memory for females. Conclusion: In conclusion, females outperformed males in verbal memory function. Additional research is needed to further evaluate whether sex moderates the effects of acute exercise on memory function.
Microstructural heterogeneity drives reaction initiation in granular materials

Thermal localization leads to reaction initiation in granular materials. Observations show that it occurs in the vicinity of large pores and, thus, depends on a material's microstructure. Since the spatial variability of the latter cannot be ascertained in all its relevant details, we treat the material's initial porosity as a random field. The so-called “hotspots” are then modeled as rare events in a complex nonlinear dynamical system. Their probability of occurrence is quantified by the tails of the distributions of the temperature and the corresponding reaction rate. These are computed via Monte Carlo simulations of a two-phase five-equation dynamic compaction model, which are supplemented with a mesoscale model of the thermal localization at the solid-gas interface. Our results demonstrate a strong nonlinear dependence of the probability of hotspot initiation on the variance of the initial porosity.Thermal localization leads to reaction initiation in granular materials. Observations show that it occurs in the vicinity of large pores and, thus, depends on a material's microstructure. Since the spatial variability of the latter cannot be ascertained in all its relevant details, we treat the material's initial porosity as a random field. The so-called “hotspots” are then modeled as rare events in a complex nonlinear dynamical system. Their probability of occurrence is quantified by the tails of the distributions of the temperature and the corresponding reaction rate. These are computed via Monte Carlo simulations of a two-phase five-equation dynamic compaction model, which are supplemented with a mesoscale model of the thermal localization at the solid-gas interface. Our results demonstrate a strong nonlinear dependence of the probability of hotspot initiation on the variance of the initial porosity.
The chiral specific synthesis of DMP 754, a platelet GP IIbIIIa antagonist

Abstract An effective and chiral specific synthesis of DMP 754 ( 1 ), a non-peptide platelet GP IIb IIIa antagonist, is reported.
Joint Associations of Obesity and NT-proBNP With the Incidence of Atrial Fibrillation in the ARIC Study.

Background Circulating NT‐proBNP (N‐terminal pro‐B‐type natriuretic peptide) levels, a well‐known indicator of atrial wall stress and remodeling, inversely correlate with body mass index. Both are ...
Increasing chemistry students’ knowledge, confidence, and conceptual understanding of pH using a collaborative computer pH simulation

The purpose of this quasi-experimental non-equivalent pretest posttest control group research was to determine whether or not the use of a collaborative pH computer simulation has an impact on the knowledge, confidence, and conceptual understanding of fundamental pH concepts for undergraduate Chemistry II students. A purposeful sample of 59 Chemistry II undergraduate students were administered pre/post assessments and surveys. Results indicated higher pH knowledge, pH confidence, and pH conceptual understanding among those students who had completed the collaborative computer simulation modules (23 students/intervention group) instead of the alternative traditional classroom assignments (36 students/control group).
Self-folding origami of prestrained shape memory polymer by resistive Joule-heating

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are studied extensively for self-folding origami due to their low cost, large strain recovery and low activation energy. SMPs utilize viscoelastic strain recovery to induce shape change, wherein an external stimulus, e.g. light or electricity, heats the material above the glass transition temperature to accelerate the recovery. Application of electric current to a conductive SMP composite produces Joule-heating, which provides higher energy density and a shorter self-folding time compared to other stimuli. Previous research has focused on Joule-heat induced shape recovery using SMP samples containing uniformly dispersed conductive fillers. Application of an electric field to these samples causes them to heat and change shape uniformly, thus limiting the ability to fold locally. In contrast, the present study focuses on shape recovery of a prestrained SMP sheets using localized resistive Joule-heating via a nichrome wire. The localized heat input applied to the SMP enables self-folding in specific regions of the sample. A previously prestrained polymer sample, experiences a differential shrinking between its top and bottom surface when subjected to the local Joule-heat. The differential shrinking causes the polymer to have a strain gradient along the thickness, which results in self-folding of the sample. This paper studies the thermal and mechanical response of Joule-heat induced self-folding of polymer sheets subjected to varying applied current and electrical resistance. Furthermore, an in-house polymer prestraining sequence is also reported.
Absence of heme at the catalytic site of heme oxygenase-2 triggers its lysosomal degradation

Heme oxygenase-2 (HO2) and -1 (HO1) catalyze heme degradation to biliverdin, CO, and iron,forming an essential link in the heme metabolism network. Tight regulation of the cellular levels and catalytic activities of HO1 and HO2 is important for maintaining heme homeostasis. While transcriptional control of HO1 expression has been well-studied, how the cellular levels and activity of HO2 are regulated remains unclear. Here, the mechanism of post-translational regulation of cellular HO2 levels by heme is elucidated. Under heme deficient conditions, HO2 is destabilized andtargeted for degradation. In HO2, three heme binding sites are potential targets of heme-dependent regulation: one at its catalytic site; the others at its two heme regulatory motifs (HRMs). We report that, in contrast to other HRM-containing proteins, the cellular protein level and degradation rate of HO2 are independent of heme binding to the HRMs. Rather, under heme deficiency, loss of heme binding to the catalytic site destabilizes HO2. Consistently, a HO2 catalytic site variant that is unable to bind heme exhibits a constant low protein level and an enhanced protein degradation rate compared to the wild-type HO2. However, cellular heme overload does not affect HO2 stability. Finally, HO2 is degraded by the lysosome through chaperone-mediated autophagy, distinct from other HRM-containing proteins and HO1, which are degraded by the proteasome. These results reveal a novel aspect of HO2 regulation and deepen our understanding of HO2s role in maintaining heme homeostasis, paving the way for future investigation into HO2s pathophysiological role in heme deficiency response.
‘I’m picking a side’: Thick solidarity, antiblackness and the grammar of the model minority

This article explores efforts by San Francisco based Asian American youth organizers to build meaningful cross-racial coalitions. Based upon two years of ethnographic field work with Fist Up, I off...
Characterizing Firearm Assault Injury Among Young Black Men Using Arkansas Hospital Discharge Data.

Using statewide hospital discharge data from 2005 to 2014, this study aimed to describe and identify predictors of firearm assault among young Black men ages 18 to 44 in Arkansas. Descriptive analy...
Tag a Teacher: A Qualitative Analysis of WhatsApp-Based Teacher Networks in Low-Income Indian Schools

Although WhatsApp-based communication is playing an increasingly large role in the professional lives of teachers in low-income schools, the nature of the interactions that occur and how these interactions enable cooperative work are not well understood. We contribute a qualitative analysis of 26 existing WhatsApp groups (35,567 messages) that examines (1) the strategies used to encourage interaction within teacher-focused WhatsApp groups, and (2) how these interactions are sustained by teachers, management, and organizations over a period of time. We use teacher networks and activity awareness model to make sense of WhatsApp-based interactions and show how WhatsApp narrows the gap between management and teachers, leading to additional work and stress for teachers. WhatsApp was also used to circulate polarizing and malicious information, leading to a variety of interesting content moderation strategies. Our findings expand the scope of research on teacher networks to low-income contexts and will inform future interventions that enable cooperative work among teachers.
Clinical Tips and Pearls

This chapter is devoted to providing key tips related to the fundamental clinical skills that underlie almost all specialties. Specialty-specific differences are covered in their respective chapters.
The University of Virginia Pay-for-Success Lab: Jump-Starting University-Based Pay-for-Success Research Labs

This case study gives an overview of the creation of the Pay-for-Success (PFS) Lab at the University of Virginia (UVA). It promotes discussion of how other university institutions can scale up their own research labs with a limited budget, and also introduces students to the PFS concept and the role university research institutions can play in the social impact process. It highlights the key opportunities and challenges of launching such research labs and concludes with several key decision questions that should be considered. Excerpt UVA-ENT-0222 Sept. 4, 2018 The University of Virginia Pay-for-Success Lab: Jumpstarting University-Based Pay-for-Success Research Labs Pay for Success is a powerful strategy for encouraging systemic change in how cities and states address critical local problems. The Pay-for-Success Lab educates leaders about the Pay-for-Success model, assists them with developing a project outline, and provides connections to advisory firms that can guide future project development. In essence, we aim to be the catalyst for initiatives that will improve the lives of at-risk community members in a real and measurable way. —Joshua Ogburn, Director, University of Virginia (UVA) Pay-for-Success (PFS) Lab . . .
Intensity-Modulated Proton Therapy (IMPT) Treatment of Angiosarcoma of the Face and Scalp.

Purpose To successfully plan and treat a patient with diffuse angiosarcoma involving the face and scalp with intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) before surgical resection. Materials and Methods A patient presented to the radiation oncology department for preoperative treatment of an angiosarcoma diffusely involving the face and scalp. A 4-field IMPT technique was used to create a homogeneous dose distribution to the entire target volume while sparing underlying critical structures from toxicity and low-dose spread. A custom Monte Carlo optimizer was necessary to achieve treatment goals. Biological dose was evaluated with a linear energy transfer-based biological enhancement model. Robustness criteria were evaluated per department standard. The patient was successfully planned and treated according to clinical goals. Results The patient successfully completed the course of IMPT and was able to undergo surgical resection. Pathology indicated no presence of angiosarcoma. Conclusion IMPT using a custom Monte Carlo optimizer is a suitable radiation therapy treatment option for patients with diffuse angiosarcoma of the scalp and face.
Outcomes of Richter’s transformation of chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL): an analysis of the SEER database

Richter’s transformation (RT) is a rare complication arising in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) and is associated with an overall dismal outcome. The rarity of this entity poses many challenges in understanding its biology and outcomes seen and the optimal treatment approach. We utilized the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results) database to identify patients diagnosed with CLL/SLL between 2000 and 2016 and subsequently had a diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) or Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), thus capturing those who experienced an RT event. We compared the outcomes of those patients to those of patients in the database diagnosed with DLBCL without a preceding CLL/SLL diagnosis. We identified 530 patients who developed RT out of 74,116 patients diagnosed with CLL/SLL in the specified period. The median age at RT diagnosis was 66 years, and the median time from CLL/SLL diagnosis to RT development was roughly 4 years. Patients with RT had a dismal outcome with median overall survival of 10 months. We identified advanced Ann Arbor stage (III/IV) and prior treatment for CLL as predictors of worse outcome in patients with RT. Our study represents the largest dataset of patients with CLL/SLL and RT and adds to the existing literature indicating the poor outcomes for those patients.
Konveyor Move2Kube: Automated Replatforming of Applications to Kubernetes

We present Move2Kube, a replatforming framework that automates the transformation of the deployment specification and development pipeline of an application from a non-Kubernetes platform to a Kubernetes-based one, minimizing changes to the application's functional implementation and architecture. Our contributions include: (1) a standardized intermediate representation to which diverse application deployment artifacts could be translated, (2) an extension framework for adding support for new source platforms, and target artifacts while allowing customization as per organizational standards. We provide initial evidence of its effectiveness in terms of effort reduction, and highlight the current research challenges and future lines of work. Move2Kube is being developed as an open source community project and it is available at https://move2kube.konveyor.io/
Beauvoir as Situated Subject: The Ambiguities of Life in World War II France

In her work on existentialist ethics, Pour une moral de l’ambiguite, Simone de Beauvoir argues that the struggle against oppression sometimes justifies the sacrifice of life. I explore how her position on this issue was influenced by her reactions to events before and during World War II
New Frontiers and Future Directions in Antarctic Science

The study of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, and their role in the Earth system, has never been more important as the region experiences change that has global implications. The Antarctic region is a “natural laboratory” for scientific research of importance in its own right and impossible to achieve elsewhere on the planet. Understanding the Earth system, its components, connections and feedbacks is a major endeavour of contemporary Antarctic science. The following ongoing and emerging research activities will be a continued focus of Antarctic research in the coming years: past, current and future climate change; the systematic response of Antarctica to change; understanding Antarctic biodiversity, evolution and ecology; exploration and modelling of ice dynamics and subice environments; ocean, ice, atmospheric and cryospheric observing and modelling; linkages and teleconnections between polar regions and the Earth system; and the poles as a vantage point to observe Earth, nearEarth space, the Solar System and beyond. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is a leader in facilitating international, interdisciplinary science in Antarctica, and through its portfolio of scientific projects, committees, and programs provides a venue for partnerships and exchange of the latest findings. The SCAR accomplishes its scientific mission in close partnership with a wide range of organizations, including the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs, the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists, and the International Arctic Science Committee. The SCAR works to ensure that maximum value is derived from the Antarctic research. Emerging frontiers and new directions in Antarctic science continue the historical recognition of the value of the Antarctic as a reserve for science and peace.
Optimal Oblivious Routing in Hole-Free Networks

We study oblivious routing algorithms in which the packet paths are constructed independently of each other. Oblivious algorithms are inherently distributed and they can be designed to efficiently balance the network utilization. We give an oblivious routing algorithm for the class of hole-free networks, in which the nodes are topologically embedded in simple areas of the plane. Such networks appear frequently in wireless and sensor network topologies. The algorithm achieves optimal congestion and stretch. The stretch of the resulting paths is constant. The congestion is O(C * logn), where C * is the optimal non-oblivious congestion and n is the number of nodes. This congestion bound is asymptotically worst-case optimal for oblivious routing algorithms.
Target Sites: Kidney

Publisher Summary The kidney serves many important functions within the body including maintaining homeostasis of electrolytes, excretion of waste products, stimulation of red blood cell formation, and contributing to vitamin D metabolism. The kidney is also a target for the toxic effects of a wide range of compounds including drugs (e.g. cisplatin, amphotericin B, cyclosporine), metals (e.g. mercury, lead, cadmium), agricultural chemicals (e.g. paraquat), halogenated solvents (e.g. chloroform, trichloroethylene), natural products (e.g. mycotoxins), anoxiants (e.g. carbon monoxide, cyanide), and many other compounds. The reasons for the kidney's susceptibility to the toxic effects of drug and non-drug chemicals are related closely to its normal kidney function. The kidney is a highly dynamic organ, receiving 20–25% of the cardiac output. Thus, chemicals that enter the blood are rapidly distributed to the kidney. As a result, the kidney often sees high concentrations of absorbed chemicals and/or their toxic metabolites.
The effects of norgestrel on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism over one year

Carbohydrate and lipid metabolism were studied with the use of a three-hour oral glucose tolerance test in 71 women before and after one year of daily oral norgestrel, 0.075 mg., treatment. There was no significant change in weight or fasting plasma triglyceride and cholesterol levels. There was a significant elevation of both the blood glucose and plasma insulin levels after one year of treatment. This was true for both the fasting and the glucose-stimulated values. Whereas all of the individual glucose tolerance curves at the pretreatment control test were normal by selection, 15.5 per cent of the curves were borderline abnormal to abnormal at the one-year test. The significance of these metabolic alterations is discussed.
Community structure in large complex networks

In this paper, we establish the definition of community fundamentally different from what was commonly accepted in previous studies, where communities were typically assumed to be densely connected internally but sparsely connected to the rest of the network A community should be considered as a densely connected subset in which the probability of an edge between two randomly-picked vertices is higher than average Moreover, a community should also be well connected to the remaining network, that is, the number of edges connecting a community to the rest of the graph should be significant In order to identify a well-defined community, we provide rigorous definitions of two relevant terms: “whiskers” and the “core” Whiskers correspond to subsets of vertices that are barely connected to the rest of the network, while the core exclusively contains the type of community we are interested in We have proven that detecting whiskers, or equivalently, extracting the core, is an NP-complete problem for weighted graphs Then, three heuristic algorithms are proposed for finding an approximate core and are evaluated for their performance on large networks, which reveals the common existence of the core structure in both random and real-world graphs Further, well-defined communities can be extracted from the core using a number of techniques, and the experimental results not only justify our intuitive notion of community, but also demonstrate the existence of large-scale communities in various complex networks.
Latent tuberculosis infection--Revisiting and revising concepts

Host- and pathogen-specific factors interplay with the environment in a complex fashion to determine the outcome of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), resulting in one of three possible outcomes: cure, latency or active disease. Although much remains unknown about its pathophysiology, latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) defined by immunologic evidence of Mtb infection is a continuum between self-cure and asymptomatic, yet active tuberculosis (TB) disease. Strain virulence, intensity of exposure to the index case, size of the bacterial inoculum, and host factors such as age and co-morbidities, each contribute to where one settles on the continuum. Currently, the diagnosis of LTBI is based on reactive tuberculin skin testing (TST) and/or a positive interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA). Neither diagnostic test reflects the activity of the infectious focus or the risk of progression to active TB. This is a critical shortcoming, as accurate and efficient detection of those with LTBI at higher risk of progression to TB disease would allow for provision of targeted preventive therapy to those most likely to benefit. Host biomarkers may prove of value in stratifying risk of development of TB. New guidelines are required for interpretation of discordance between TST and IGRA, which may be due in part to a lack of stability (that is reproducibility) of IGRA or TST results or to a delay in conversion of IGRA to positivity compared to TST. In this review, the authors elaborate on the definition, diagnosis, pathophysiology and natural history of LTBI, as well as promising methods for better stratifying risk of progression to TB. The review is centered on the human host and the clinical and epidemiologic features of LTBI that are relevant to the development of new and improved diagnostic tools.
Aspartic-β-Semialdehyde: A Potent Inhibitor of Escherichia coli l-Asparaginase

Abstract Aspartic-β-semialdehyde has been found to be a potent, rapid, and reversible inhibitor of Escherichia coli l-asparaginase. A Ki value of 3.6 x 10-6 m has been estimated for the l-enantiomer of the aldehyde in sodium borate-phosphate buffer (0.05 m, pH 8.6) at 37°. dl-Aspartic β-semialdehyde dimethyl acetal and dl-homoserine were found to be ineffective inhibitors, with Ki values exceeding 10-3 m. The aldehyde was shown not to exist as a cyclic acylal to an extent greater than one part in 106. Inhibition appears to be consistent with a double displacement mechanism for the hydrolytic action of this enzyme, and not with mechanisms involving either direct water attack or a cyclic anhydride intermediate.
Bijection Between Bigrassmannian Permutations Maximal below a Permutation and its Essential Set

Bigrassmannian permutations are known as permutations which have precisely one left descent and one right descent. They play an important role in the study of Bruhat order. Fulton introduced the essential set of a permutation and studied its combinatorics. As a consequence of his work, it turns out that the essential set of bigrassmannian permutations consists of precisely one element. In this article, we generalize this observation for essential sets of arbitrary permutations. Our main theorem says that there exists a bijection between bigrassmanian permutations maximal below a permutation and its essential set. For the proof, we make use of two equivalent characterizations of bigrassmannian permutations by Lascoux-Schutzenberger and Reading.
The Untold Story of the 1964 Civil Rights Act: How the GOP Helped the Democrats Destroy the Solid South

Some forty years ago, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 initiated the national government's effort to redress racial injustice. This act remains one of the landmark pieces of modern social legislation. Historians and political scientists have long argued that congressional Democrats led by civil rights icon Hubert Humphrey and the wily President Lyndon Johnson hoodwinked the Republicans and their leader, Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois, into supporting an act that was stronger than the Republicans had wanted. As one participant in the struggle argued, "What a genius Hubert Humphrey was in letting Dirksen think he was writing the final draft of the bill. Dirksen was only switching 'ands' and 'buts.' Humphrey pulled the greatest charade of all time. Dirksen sold out cheap." Although this account has become the standard wisdom, a closer look reveals it to be misleading and incomplete. True, Republicans did help the Democrats pass their act. But at the same time, the Republicans efforts had a second effect, namely, helping the Democrats destroy the solid Democratic South, transforming it into a region supporting Republicans. This political transformation helped create our modern American politics, at once more polarized and more favorable to Republicans than in mid-twentieth century.
Emerging Global Food System Risks and Potential Solutions

The food system is becoming ever more globally integrated, providing a broader array of foods available all year long than ever before. This adaptive, dynamic system does this very rapidly and at very low cost due to the high efficiency of the food and agriculture supply firms and chains. Globalized, just-in-time and cost-optimized supply chains do Overview, 3 Supply Chain Complexity, 4 Increasing Role of Imports, 6 Unusual Sources for Imports, 7 Other Emerging Food Safety Risks, 10 Economically Motivated Adulteration, 11 Other Emerging Intentional Threats, 13 Potential Solutions, 15 Conclusions, 19 References, 19
Object groups may be better than pages

Argues against trying to solve the problem of clustering objects into disk pages. Instead, the author proposes that objects be fetched in groups that may be specific to an application or user, and that can be computed at fetch time. He briefly describes crystals, which serve to record such groups statically. Finally, I speculate that object fetching may be particularly relevant for providing services to very small machines with limited memory, such as personal digital assistants. >
Decomposed arbiters for large crossbars with multi-queue input buffers

Crossbars are key components of communication switches used to construct multiprocessor interconnection networks. For a fixed number of nodes, larger crossbars result in reduced probability of conflicts and allow packets to traverse the network in fewer hops. However, increasing the size of the crossbar also increases the delay of the arbiter used to resolve conflicting requests. The increased arbitration delay can lead to overall poor network performance. The impact of the increased arbitration delay can be mitigated by decomposing the arbitration process into multiple steps, such that some requests can be granted before the arbitration of the entire crossbar is complete. The design of such decomposed arbiters for larger crossbars is discussed. The focus is on crossbars with multi-queue buffers at their inputs. Such buffers have been shown to provide significantly higher performance than conventional FIFO buffers. >
The Impact of the Dialysis Outcomes Quality Initiative Guidelines on the Care of the Pediatric End-Stage Renal Disease Patient

The National Kidney Foundation-Dialysis Outcomes Quality Initiative (NKF-DOQI) Guidelines for hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis adequacy, management of vascular access, and management of anemia are based primarily on evidence derived from the experience of adult dialysis patients. However, these Guidelines can also be used to improve the care of children with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Some of the guidelines are directly applicable to pediatric dialysis patients, such as the preferential use of the internal jugular vein for placement of a central venous catheter for dialysis. Other Guidelines, such as targets for adequacy of hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, serve as minimal standards of care for children with little supporting data specific to pediatrics. The importance of early referral and proactive care for children and adults with chronic renal failure is emphasized in all of the Guidelines. Optimum care should include early discussion of transplantation and choice of dialysis modality, preservation of sites for future vascular access, and early attention to anemia and nutrition. Clinical algorithms should be developed to implement the current Guidelines while data are generated to support modification of any of the recommendations for children.
An evaluation of limiter configurations in ZT-40M

Abstract Three limiter configurations were evaluated in the reversed-field pinch, ZT-40M. A bare graphite mushroom-shaped probe located in a pump port measured changes in the energy flux profiles resulting from three different limiter configurations. The first configuration was a graphite segmented poloidal ring limiter located 90° toroidally upstream from the mushroom probe, and it protruded into the plasma chamber ~ 0.95 cm beyond the bellows. The second configuration consisted of three graphite tiles which were positioned in the bottom of the convolution section immediately upstream from the mushroom probe. These tiles were electrically floating with respect to the metal liner and protruded radially inwards ~1.27 cm beyond the bellows. For the third configuration four graphite tiles were placed on each side of the pump port section where the mushroom probe was located. These tiles extended 25 cm in both toroidal directions from the pump port section and protruded ~ 0.95 cm into the plasma region. These tiles were also electrically floating. The introduction of the poloidal ring limiter resulted in the mushroom probe absorbing 28% less energy at the major radial position where the tip of the mushroom was even with the shadow of the liner bellows. The tile limiters produced an additional, but small, reduction in the energy absorbed at this location. The tiles produced an increase in the plasma resistance and radiation late in the discharge. Significant amounts of arcing occurred between the tiles and the liner. The experimental results led to a configuration which utilized four graphite poloidal ring limiters. These four limiters protected the pump port areas; however, the occasional increase in the liner temperature at a location approximately halfway between two limiters was not eliminated. The fraction of input energy radiated during the constant-current phase of the discharge increased from 20% to 30% with the four poloidal limiters, owing to an increase in electron density. During start-up, the energy radiated per electron was less for the four-ring case than for the case with no limiters, indicating that the discharge may have been cleaner with the four rings.
Consolidating Facilities for the Connecticut Department of Transportation: a Case-Study

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) was charged with investigating the possibility of reducing costs by operating with fewer than 13 equipment repair facilities. Using a mixed-integer programming model, we helped ConnDOT identify options for achieving savings without sacrificing quality of service. A key feature of the model is that it establishes repair capacities based on the past performance of benchmark facilities within the system. As we developed recommendation, we gave serious consideration to factors outside the context of the model and to feedback received from ConnDOT personnel. Ultimately, we proposed two options-one containing ten facilities and the other 11. The net present values of savings offered by these options are estimated at over $5.0 million and $3.1 million, respectively. While the 11-facility option is lower in savings,it has advantages in that it: (1) satisfies concerns highlighted by ConnDOT Maintenance; (2) is easier to implement than the ten-facility option; and (3) represents less of a current commitment, which is beneficial if future consideration of additional changes is likely. These advantages contributed to the 11-facility option being the one most widely preferred within ConnDOT.
Adaptive reliable H/sub /spl infin// control for linear time-delay systems via memory state feedback

The reliable controller design problem for continuous-time linear systems with time delay and actuator faults is considered, based on a linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique and an adaptive method. A new delay-dependent memory state-feedback reliable controller is established in a parameter-dependent form, in which fault parameters are adjusted online based on an adaptive method to compensate automatically the fault effect on system. In the framework of the LMI technique, the stability and H infin performance of closed-loop systems are guaranteed in normal and faulty cases. A numerical example and its simulations are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method
Critical Consciousness and the Christian Conscience: Making the Necessary Connections between Faith-Based Learning and Critical Pedagogy.

Critical pedagogy is a by product of postmodernism, which argues that reality is always subjective, and truth is identified through each person's experiences and environment. Can critical pedagogy be applied to faith-based education? The authors claim that it can. First, the theories and practices of critical pedagogy have strengthened faith-based education by emphasizing self-directed students, the teacher as facilitator, and well-organized learning experiences. In fact, Jesus knew that learning required an active knowledge-creating process through one's full participation in the class. He always encouraged his disciples to transcend superficial understanding. Jesus knew that learning was not simply memorizing facts or reciting the Law of Moses. His beliefs challenged the passive learning paradigm of memorizing content established by the Jewish leaders. This article concludes that both critical pedagogists and Christian teachers would endorse problem-posing methods to encourage full engagement and effect...
Psychological stress repeatedly blocks hippocampal primed burst potentiation in behaving rats

Primed burst (PB) potentiation is a long-term increase in CA1 population spike amplitude produced by brief physiologically patterned electrical stimulation of the hippocampal commissure. Exposure of rats to a novel environment resulted in a blockade of short-term (Post-tetanic potentiation, PTP) and long-term (PB potentiation) plasticity in all cases (n = 6). When the animals had extensive exposure to the environment (14 consecutive days), PTP and PB potentiation occurred. With placement of the rats in a second novel environment, once again, neither PTP nor PB potentiation was observed. Placement of rats in each of the two novel environments produced a significant increase in serum corticosterone levels, while placement in the familiar environment produced no increase in response. These findings support the hypothesis that hippocampal plasticity is repeatedly susceptible to modulation by the stress of forced exposure to a novel environment.
Small Oscillation Theory of the Interaction of a Particle and Scalar Field

We study the interaction of a nonrelativistic particle with a scalar field, with particular application to the theory of polarons. The approach is based on a general classical method for the integration of equations of motion. The Hamiltonian is transformed by successive canonical transformations, the first corresponding to describing the motion relative to special solutions of the equations of motion. This stage as applied to suitably ordered Heisenberg equations of motion is identical with intermediate coupling theory. The second transformation treats the coupled small oscillations of particle and field oscillators about the chosen special solution. This affords a natural extension of intermediate coupling theory for this problem. Differences between the classical and quantum theories arise in the ordering of operators; the differences play a crucial role in determining the effective cutoff in wave vector space.
A member of the KNOTTED class of homeodomain proteins encoded by the STM gene of Arabidopsis

The KNOTTED class of plant genes encodes homeodomain proteins. These genes have been found in all plant species where they have been sought and, where examined, show expression patterns that suggest they play an important role in shoot meristem function. Until now, all mutant phenotypes associated with these genes have been due to gain-of-function mutations, making it difficult to deduce their wild-type function. Here we present evidence that the Arabidopsis SHOOT-MERISTEMLESS (STM) gene, required for shoot apical meristem formation during embryogenesis, encodes a class I KNOTTED-like protein. We also describe the expression pattern of this gene in the wild-type plant. To our knowledge, STM is the first gene shown to mark a specific pattern element in the developing plant embryo both phenotypically and molecularly.
Interaction of aromatic hydrocarbons with organometallic compounds of the main group elements: VI. Synthesis and crystal structure of cesium diiododimethylaluminatep-xylene solvate, Cs[Al(CH3)2I2]·C6H4(CH3)2

The crystal structure of thep-xylene solvate of cesium diiododimethylaluminate has been determined from counter data, and refined by full-matrix least-squares techniques. The crystals belong to the orthorhombic space groupC2221 witha = 12.577(4),b = 9.311(3),c = 14.256(4) A, andD x = 2.19 g cm−3 forZ = 4. The finalR value for 481 observed reflections is 0.036. The anion resides on a two-fold axis; the Al-I bond length is 2.647(4) A, and the Al-C distance, 1.98(2) A. Important bond angles include I-Al-I′, 102.3(2) °; C-Al-C′, 115(1) °; I-Al-C, 114(3) °; and I-Al-C′, 106(3) °. The cesium ion also lies on the two-fold axis. Throughout the crystal the cesium ions are separated byp-xylene molecules. The Cs ⋯ C distances average 3.84 A. In the lattice the iodine atoms reside on thea,b face diagonals (and symmetry-related positions) and are situated almost exactly between the cesium ions. The Cs ⋯ I contact, 3.925(1) A, is consistent with a significant bonding interaction.
Electrical Conductivity and Thermogravimetric Studies of the High-7c Superconductor YBa2Cu3Ox

Nonstoichiometry in YBa2Cu3Ox has been studied by means of equilibrium electrical conductivity and thermogravimetric method. We have observed a strong correlation between electrical resistivity and oxygen stoichiometry (x) at high temperature. Electrical resistivities increase linearly from the superconducting onset tcmperature(100 K) to 450 C where oxygen starts to evolve from this material, and then begin to deviate from linear temperature dependence. The experimental results indicate that electrical resistivity in this material is associated with the defect species (charge carrier) population due to oxygen stoichiometry. Electrical conductivities were also measured as a function of oxygen partial pressure (1 to 10−4 atm) at various temperatures. At P(OI) > 101 atm the conductivity shows a l/4th slope dependence on oxygen partial pressure while at P(0;) < 10 f atm the conductivity is proportional to P(O2)1/2- The conductivity behavior with oxygen stoichiometry suggests that the electron holes associated with Cu+ play an important role as charge carriers in this material, and even at x < 6.5 p-typc conduction is predominant.
Health care expenditures among working-age adults with physical disabilities: Variations by disability spans

Abstract Background Data on health care costs for working-age adults with physical disabilities are sparse and the dynamic nature of disability is not captured. Objectives To assess the effect of 3 types of disability status (persistent disability, temporary disability, and no disability) on health care expenditures, out-of-pocket (OOP) spending, and financial burden. Methods Data from Medical Expenditure Panel Survey panel 12 (2007–2008) were used. Respondents were classified into 3 groups. Medians of average annual expenditures, OOP expenditures, and financial ratios were weighted. The package R was used for quantile regression analyses. Results Fifteen percent of the working-age population reported persistent disabilities and 7% had temporary disabilities. The persistent disability group had the greatest unadjusted annual medians for total expenditures ($4234), OOP expenses ($591), and financial burden ratios (1.59), followed by the temporary disability group ($1612, $388, 0.71 respectively). The persistent disability group paid approximately 15% of total health care expenditures out-of-pocket, while the temporary disability group and the no disability group each paid 22% out-of-pocket. After adjusting for other factors, quantile regression shows that the persistent disability group had significantly higher total expenditures, OOP expenses, and financial burden ratios (coefficients 1664, 156, 0.58 respectively) relative to the no disability group at the 50th percentile. Results for the temporary disability group show a similar trend except for OOP expenses. Conclusions People who have disabling conditions for a longer period have better financial protection against OOP health care expenses but face greater financial burdens because of their higher out-of-pocket expenditures and their socioeconomic disadvantages.