cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Trehalase in Schizophyllum commune

The hydrolytic enzyme trehalase was demonstrated in mycelial extracts of Schizophyllum commune cultured on either glucose or trehalose as sole source of carbon and energy. The enzyme was also detected in culture-filtrates of trehalose-grown cells. The intracellular forms of trehalase from glucose- and trehalose-cultures were similar in their response to dialysis and heat treatment as well as pH optimum, affinity constant for trehalose and resistance to a variety of sugar alcohols.
Debt relief schemes and welfare

Abstract This paper shows that concerted debt reduction may be welfare-improving even when the investment disincentive effect of a debt overhang is not large enough to place the debtor country on the wrong side of the debt Laffer curve. Whether the appropriate relief scheme involves debt reduction or new money, however, depends on whether investment disincentives or liquidity constraints dominate. It is shown that, except under very special circumstances, mixed policy packages involving both debt and liquidity relief may not yield the desired results. (JEL F34).
A vector intermodulation analyzer applied to behavioral modeling of nonlinear amplifiers with memory

A large signal vector intermodulation network analyzer with a dynamic range of 90 dB and phase resolution of better than 2/spl deg/ is reported. The analyzer is used in conjunction with a multislice behavioral model to characterize memory effects in three different RF power amplifiers: an MOSFET instrumentation amplifier, a multistage GaAs/silicon-based broadband microwave integrated-circuit amplifier, and an SiGe HBT monolithic-microwave integrated-circuit amplifier. The multislice behavioral model architecture builds on conventional single-tone AM-AM and AM-PM modeling extended to capture long-term memory effects that are characterized by asymmetric intermodulation distortion (IMD). Phase asymmetries of upper and lower IMD are captured. A systematic procedure for extracting the model is presented.
Radiometric Calibration from Noise Distributions

A method is proposed for estimating radiometric response functions from noise observations. From the statistical properties of noise sources, the noise distribution for each scene radiance value is shown to be symmetric for a radiometrically calibrated camera. However, due to the non-linearity of camera response functions, the observed noise distributions become skewed in an uncalibrated camera. In this paper, we capitalize on these asymmetric profiles of measured noise distributions to estimate radiometric response functions. Unlike prior approaches, the proposed method is not sensitive to noise level, and is therefore particularly useful when the noise level is high. Also, the proposed method does not require registered input images taken with different exposures; only statistical noise distributions at multiple intensity levels are used. Real-world experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in comparison to standard calibration techniques.
Evidence and armchair access

In this paper, I shall discuss a problem that arises when you try to combine an attractive account of what constitutes evidence with an independently plausible account of the kind of access we have to our evidence. According to E = K, our evidence consists of what we know. According to the principle of armchair access, we can know from the armchair what our evidence is. Combined, these claims entail that we can have armchair knowledge of the external world. Because it seems that the principle of armchair access is supported by widely shared intuitions about epistemic rationality, it seems we ought to embrace an internalist conception of evidence. I shall argue that this response is mistaken. Because externalism about evidence can accommodate the relevant intuitions about epistemic rationality, the principle of armchair access is unmotivated. We also have independent reasons for preferring externalism about evidence to the principle of armchair access.
Force-controlled microcontact printing using microassembled particle templates

In this paper, force-controlled microcontact printing using microassembly-based particle templates is investigated. Polystyrene microparticles are assembled semi-automatically into a desired pattern on a glass substrate using an atomic force microscope nanoprobe installed on a nanopositioning stage. The micropattern on glass is sputtered with aluminum and removed of microparticles by ultrasonic vibration, resulting in a template with microfeatures corresponding to the microparticles. A soft lithography method is used to mold elastomeric polymers on the template, resulting in a stamp. The stamp is inked and printed using a force-controlled system onto a polystyrene substrate. Depending on the particle size and contact force, a smaller micro to nanometer sized pattern can be formed. As the spherical patterns on the stamp collapse due to interfacial contact forces, force-controlled microcontact printing is crucial for controlling the size of stamped features. Green fluorescent protein is used as the ink, enabling the use of fluorescent imaging to observe the stamped imprints. Preliminary experiments using 4.5 and 10 mum diameter polystyrene particles shows the feasibility of our technique. Thus it is possible to realize micro/nanopatterns using assembled microparticle-based stamps in high volumes
Experimental evolution and the Krogh principle: generating biological novelty for functional and genetic analyses.

Abstract August Krogh counseled the careful selection of the best subject organism on which to undertake mechanistic physiological research. But what if an organism with the desired properties does not exist? It is now within our power to engineer organisms genetically to achieve novel combinations of traits. I propose that it is a logical extension of the Krogh principle that we use biological methodologies to create novel organisms ideally suited for particular physiological studies. Transgenics may first come to mind as the method for such transformations, but here I suggest that an alternative and complementary technique for generating biological novelty is experimental evolution. The latter has several advantages, including modification of multiple characters in one experiment, the production of advantageous traits, the testing of evolutionary hypotheses, and the identification of previously unsuspected factors involved in adaptation. Three experiments are reviewed, each of which examined the evoluti...
Regulation of the progesterone receptor gene by gonadotropins and cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate in rat granulosa cells.

We have examined the effects of the pituitary gonadotropins on expression of the progesterone receptor (PR) gene in rat ovary and in granulosa cell cultures. Both gonadotropins (LH/hCG and FSH) rapidly induce PR mRNA expression in the granulosa cells of preovulatory follicles in vivo. Gonadotropins also effectively induce PR mRNA expression in primary cultures of rat granulosa cells, and this action can be mimicked by agents that elevate intracellular cAMP (forskolin or 8-bromo-cAMP). Estrogen does not induce PR mRNA expression in these cells. The cAMP-induced PR mRNA expression in rat granulosa cells is blocked by an inhibitor of transcription, but not by an inhibitor of protein synthesis. Structural characterization of the rat PR gene 5'-flanking region indicates that the proximal promoter does not contain a consensus cAMP response element. However, when luciferase fusion genes containing a 1375-basepair rat PR gene promoter were transiently transfected into rat granulosa cells, luciferase activity coul...
Na+ Channel Mutation That Causes Both Brugada and Long-QT Syndrome Phenotypes A Simulation Study of Mechanism

Background— Complex physiological interactions determine the functional consequences of gene abnormalities and make mechanistic interpretation of phenotypes extremely difficult. A recent example is a single mutation in the C terminus of the cardiac Na+ channel, 1795insD. The mutation causes two distinct clinical syndromes, long QT (LQT) and Brugada, leading to life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. Coexistence of these syndromes is seemingly paradoxical; LQT is associated with enhanced Na+ channel function, and Brugada with reduced function. Methods and Results— Using a computational approach, we demonstrate that the 1795insD mutation exerts variable effects depending on the myocardial substrate. We develop Markov models of the wild-type and 1795insD cardiac Na+ channels. By incorporating the models into a virtual transgenic cell, we elucidate the mechanism by which 1795insD differentially disrupts cellular electrical behavior in epicardial and midmyocardial cell types. We provide a cellular mechanistic ba...
Community and Diversity in Urban Community Colleges: Coursetaking among Entering Students.

Maxwell, Hagedorn, Cypers, Moon, Brocato, Wahl, and Prather (pp. 21-46) This study examines a sample of 15 courses in relation to 4 variables of student characteristics: gender, ethnicity, age, and full-time or part-time status. Transcripts were analyzed for 6,196 first-semester students from 9 urban colleges. The strongest relations found were between curriculum and ethnicity. Findings raise questions about student dispersal and concentration, campus community, and first-semester attrition.
Integrating an intermittent aerator in a swine wastewater treatment system for land-limited conditions

Abstract A full scale swine (300 pigs) waste treatment system, including a solid/liquid separation unit (3 m3) with a solids holding tank (1.2 m3) and a liquid holding tank (20 m3), two anaerobic reactors (10 m3 each) in series, an intermittent aeration unit (20 m3), a sedimentation/polishing unit (20 m3) and a sludge dewatering bed (17 m2), was used to investigate the impact of integrating an intermittent aeration unit on the overall process performance of the swine waste treatment system. The intermittent aeration unit was used for the treatment of a combination of raw liquid manure and anaerobically treated concentrated manure. Four operational ratios of aeration time to non-aeration time of 60 : 36, 5 : 1, 4 : 2 and 3 : 3 h were investigated. At an HRT of 3.2 days and a ratio of aeration to non-aeration of 3 : 3, the removal efficiencies for Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5), Total-N (T-N), TSS and Total-P (T-P) were 98.0%, 92.4%, 95.6% and 59.4%, respectively, for the intermittent aeration unit. Effluent concentrations of BOD5, NO3−–N, NH4+–N, and TSS were 35 ± 12, 2.6 ± 0.8, 36 ± 28 and 78 ± 13 mg/l, respectively. The impact of integrating an intermittent aeration unit in the overall swine waste treatment which included solid/liquid separation, anaerobic treatment and final sedimentation/polishing units is apparent from its high treatment efficiency for BOD5 and T-N. Economic evaluation of the swine waste treatment system integrating an intermittent aeration unit was conducted based on 300, 1000, 2000, 3000 and 5000 pigs. It was found that the utilization of biogas and digested sludge is essential for the benefit or profit of operating this treatment system. Integrating the intermittent aeration unit in the swine waste treatment system provides reduction of energy consumption cost and reuse/disposal of treated wastewater without causing deterioration of environmental quality. The integrated system also provides the possibility of developing a fabricated-packaged treatment plant or a central swine waste processing plant for application in land-limited tropical/subtropical areas.
Analysis Of Retinal Vessel Structure From Multiple Images

Automatic analysis of retinal images can generate quantitative measures useful in mass screening if the image acquisition and processing equipment can be cost effective. Automatic processing also allows the possibility of systematic evaluation of patients over a period of time. The structure of vessels in the retina provides diagnostic information and also establishes a frame of reference for comparison of multiple images taken at different times. Several effective edge filters and algorithms presented in the literature can detect the location and size of vessels in a retinal image. This paper addresses the problem of comparisons using several images of the same retina taken at different times and under different conditions.
Crystallization during polymerization of diphenylsilylene by a chemical transport reaction

Crystallization during polymerization of polydiphenylsilylene has been accomplished. Best results are obtained by initial thermal polymerization to the amorphous macromolecule. The macromolecules are then decomposed and repolymerized by sublimation. Macroscopic extended-chain single crystals are produced. The polymer crystals, once molten, will not recrystallize. Their initial characterization is described using infrared, Raman, ultraviolet, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. X-ray and thermal analysis data are also given.
Orbital apex disorders: a case series

Orbital apex syndrome is an uncommon disorder characterized by ophthalmoplegia, proptosis, ptosis, hypoesthesia of the forehead, and vision loss. It may be classified as part of a group of orbital apex disorders that includes superior orbital fissure syndrome and cavernous sinus syndrome. Superior orbital fissure syndrome presents similarly to orbital apex syndrome without optic nerve impairment. Cavernous sinus syndrome includes hypoesthesia of the cheek and lower eyelid in addition to the signs seen in orbital apex syndrome. While historically described separately, these three disorders share similar causes, diagnostic course, and management strategies. The purpose of this study was to report three cases of orbital apex disorders treated recently and to review the literature related to these conditions. Inflammatory and vascular disorders, neoplasm, infection, and trauma are potential causes of orbital apex disorders. Management is directed at the causative process. The cases described represent a rare but important group of conditions seen by the maxillofacial surgeon. A review of the clinical presentation, etiology, and management of these conditions may prompt timely recognition and treatment.
Comparison of Two Seafloor Observatory Mooring Designs

The purpose of this study is to compare two seafloor observatory mooring designs. The first mooring uses a subsurface float with an “S-tether” positioned above it. The other design uses distributed buoyancy to create an S-tether in the lower half of the mooring line. The maximum tensions at the anchor and in the snubber hose, bending fatigue parameter called contact stress-slip parameter at critical locations, and the dynamic motion in the cable is monitored. The trade-offs between the two designs, and the important design parameters that affect the tensions, bending fatigue, and the dynamic motion are discussed.
Deoxyribonucleic acid flow cytometry on primary adenocarcinoma of the bladder: an analysis of 36 cases.

AbstractDeoxyribonucleic acid flow cytometry was applied retrospectively to 36 primary pure adenocarcinomas of the bladder, stages A through D. Six tumors were enteric, 3 mucinous, 11 signet ring, 3 papillary, 5 unspecified and 8 mixed. Eight tumors were urachal in origin and 28 were nonurachal. The deoxyribonucleic acid pattern was diploid in 12 cases, aneuploid in 19, tetraploid in 3 and uncertain in 2. Nineteen patients died of disease after a mean of 27.4 months, 7 were well at a mean of 73.9 months, 8 had died of an unrelated cause and 1 was alive with metastatic disease. Ploidy pattern did not correlate with tumor stage, histological pattern or type of outcome: 6 of 12 patients with diploid and 12 of 22 with nondiploid tumors died of disease. However, if the tumor was urachal 1 of 4 patients with a diploid pattern died of disease, while 3 of 4 with an aneuploid pattern either died or were alive with disease. Our data suggest that deoxyribonucleic acid ploidy pattern apparently is not a significant p...
New Paradigm in Ionization: Multiply Charged Ion Formation from a Solid Matrix without a Laser or Voltage

Laserspray ionization (LSI) is a new approach to producing multiply charged ions from solids on surfaces by laser ablation of matrixes commonly used in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI). We show that the only necessity of the laser for producing multiply charged ions is to deliver particles or droplets of the matrix/analyte mixture to an ionization zone which is simply a heated inlet to the vacuum of the mass spectrometer. Several other methods for delivering sample are demonstrated to produce nearly equivalent results. One example shows the use of an air gun replacing the laser and producing mass spectra of proteins by shooting pellets into a metal plate which has matrix/analyte applied to the opposite side and near the ion entrance inlet to the mass spectrometer. Multiply charged ions of proteins are produced in the absence of any electric field or laser and with only the need of a heated ion entrance capillary or skimmer. The commonality of the matrix with MALDI and the mild conditions necessary for formation of ions brings into question the mechanism of formation of multiply charged ions and the importance of matrix structure in this process.
Research challenges in combinatorial search

I provide a personal view of some of the major research challenges in the area of combinatorial search. These include solving and playing games with chance, hidden information, and multiple players, optimally solving larger instances of well-known single-agent toy problems, applying search techniques to more realistic problem domains, analyzing the time complexity of heuristic search algorithms, and capitalizing on advances in computing hardware, such as very large external memories and multi-core processors.
Observation of a New Type of Energy-Selective Phonon Detector

Superconductors are commonly used as phonon detectors in either of two ways. Superconducting bolometers take advantage of the large change in resistance with temperature at the superconducting transition. Superconducting tunnel junctions, on the other hand, make use of the superconducting energy gap. These two mechanisms result in fundamentally different types of phonon detection. Bolometers are broadband in nature and respond to phonons of all energies whereas tunnel junctions respond only to phonons of energy greater than the superconducting energy gap. In this paper we report on experiments with a new form of superconducting detector. This has the unique property of energy-selectivity for phonons of energy significantly greater than the superconducting energy gap.
Sequence Determinants of Yeast Replication Origins

The first eukaryotic replication origin was isolated from S. cerevisiae in the late 1970s using a plasmid maintenance assay. Combined with Sanger sequencing, this assay gave valuable insights into origin structure in S. cerevisiae and a few other yeast species. Fast-forward to this millennium, and the same simple assay in conjunction with modern “next-generation” sequencing and other high-throughput techniques testing origin structure and activity has led to an explosion of powerful approaches for dissecting origin sequence and function. Although such studies are still in their infancy, they have already uncovered a surprising diversification of origin sequences over a relatively short evolutionary time span. In this chapter we focus on how these approaches are being applied to understand origin structure and evolution in diverse species of budding yeasts. These approaches hold out the hope that through a comprehensive analysis of origin function across the budding yeast lineage, we can begin to understand the evolutionary forces that shape the replication landscape.
Lyapunov Stability Analysis of Explicit Direct Integration Algorithms Considering Strictly Positive Real Lemma

AbstractIn structural dynamics, direct integration algorithms are commonly used to solve the temporally discretized differential equations of motion. Integration algorithms are categorized into either implicit or explicit. Implicit algorithms require iterations and may face numerical convergence problems when applied to nonlinear structural systems. On the other hand, explicit algorithms do not need iterations by making use of certain approximations, making them appealing for nonlinear dynamic problems. In this paper, a generic explicit integration algorithm is formulated for a nonlinear system governed by a nonlinear function of the restoring force. Based on this formulation, an approach is proposed to investigate the Lyapunov stability of explicit algorithms by means of the strictly positive real lemma. In this approach, the stability analysis is equivalent to investigating the strictly positive realness of the transfer function for the formulated system. Subsequently, a Nyquist plot is used to determin...
Wirkungen strategischer Allianzen auf den Wettbewerb

Nachdem in Kapitel 3 die Anreize zu strategischen Allianzen und in Kapitel 4 die Gestaltung der Zusammenarbeit im Rahmen der Allianz diskutiert wurden, soll nun die Wirkung strategischer Allianzen untersucht werden. Dabei wird zunachst in Abschnitt 5.1 untersucht, welche Kooperationsstruktur (Anzahl der Allianzen und Mitgliederzahl dieser Allianzen) sich in Abhangigkeit der Kooperationsanreize, der Gestaltungsmoglichkeiten des Kooperationsvertrags und der Modellierung der Beitrittsentscheidung der potentiellen Kooperationspartner ergibt. In den folgenden drei Abschnitten werden die in 3.1 – 3.3 entwickelten Modelle wieder aufgegriffen, um die Auswirkungen strategischer Allianzen auf Marktstruktur (z. B. Anzahl der Wettbewerber im Absatzmarkt), Marktverhalten (z. B. Hohe der F&E—Investitionen) und Marktergebnis (z. B. Veranderung der als Summe von Konsumentenrente und Produzentenrente gemessenen Wohlfahrt) abzuleiten.
Usability Testing Results for a Mobile Medical Transition Application

The use of mobile applications to assist with healthcare management is becoming increasingly present today. Healthcare consumers are demanding technologies that promote self-directed healthcare management; additionally, healthcare practitioners are utilizing these technologies to share ownership of healthcare responsibility. One aspect of healthcare that is common is the process of medical transition. Medical transition is when an individual shifts from a pediatric to adult healthcare team. As an individual’s medical history becomes more complex, often due to a chronic medical condition, the medical transition process is often complicated. To address this, a mobile application was designed and developed to assist patients undergoing medical transition. This paper extends previous work by presenting the results of the first round of usability testing on the mobile application.
Regenerative treatment for tympanic membrane perforation using gelatin sponge with basic fibroblast growth factor

Abstract Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate safety and efficacy of regenerative treatment using gelatin sponge with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in patients with tympanic membrane perforation (TMP). Methods The current study was a prospective, multicenter, open-label, single-arm, and exploratory clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the TM regeneration procedure (TMRP). Myringotomy was used to mechanically disrupt the edge of the TMP, and a gelatin sponge immersed in bFGF was then placed over the perforation. Fibrin glue was dripped over the sponge as a sealant. TMP closure was examined 4 weeks later and, if insufficient, TMRP was repeated a maximum of three more times. TMP closure and hearing improvement 12 weeks after the final TMRP as well as safety were evaluated. Results Of the 11 patients with TMP who participated in this study, one who fulfilled the exclusion criteria and did not undergo TMRP and one with cholesteatoma were excluded from the efficacy analysis. TMP closure and hearing improvement 12 weeks after the final TMRP were achieved in eight out of nine patients (88.9%). Mean bone conduction threshold significantly improved 12 weeks after the TMRP compared with baseline (35.7 ± 20.3 vs 29.4 ± 21.0 dB, P = 0.015). Six out of ten patients receiving TMRP experienced temporary adverse events: appendicitis (serious, severe), otorrhea (mild), otitis media (mild), and sudden hearing loss (mild). However, none were related to the protocol treatment. Conclusion TMP closure and hearing improvement were frequently confirmed following the TMRPs which were safely performed. These favorable outcomes were accompanied with significant improvement of the bone conduction threshold. These promising outcomes would encourage a large-scaled, randomized and pivotal clinical trial in the future. This trial is registered at http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index.htm (identifier: UMIN000006585).
“Dice que es bajo” (“She says he's low”): Negotiating breaches of learner identity in two Mexican families

Abstract This article examines the ways in which elementary-aged children from two Mexican families were socialized to adopt figured worlds of literacy through breach-identifying interactions that took place in the home. By integrating theories of ethnomethodology and figured worlds, this article illustrates how the identification and repair of breaches involve the negotiation of identities in educational contexts. The analysis tracks how and when the mothers drew upon teacher discourse of children's “low” academic status to identify and repair breaches of pace, neatness, and English reading fluency during the completion of homework. The article provides new insights into how mothers and children reproduce school-derived ideologies at home when attempting to resolve learner-identity breaches. The findings are significant because they extend an ongoing conversation in the field about home–school relationships and literacy development among language learners enrolled in public schools.
Uterine capacity in the pig reflects a combination of uterine environment and conceptus genotype effects

Prenatal losses in U.S. pig breeds range from 30 to 50%, of which greater than 75% occurs before d 30 of gestation and is thought to result from littermate asynchrony. Numbers of embryos can be experimentally increased to d 30 using superovulation (excess ova shed) and superinduction (transfer of embryos to an already pregnant uterus); however, these females farrow the same number of pigs as untreated controls. These data demonstrate that between d 30 and parturition there are significant additional periods of conceptus loss, which has led to the conclusion that uterine capacity (i.e., the number of conceptuses a sow uterus can accommodate) is the major limitation to litter size in the pig. The special importance of uterine capacity in the pig may result from the noninvasive epitheliochorial type of placentation in this species, making the surface area of attachment between the placenta and endometrium a limiting factor. In devising selection schemes for this trait, one could logically conclude the
Quantifying the security effectiveness of firewalls and DMZs

Firewalls and Demilitarized Zones (DMZs) are two mechanisms that have been widely employed to secure enterprise networks. Despite this, their security effectiveness has not been systematically quantified. In this paper, we make a first step towards filling this void by presenting a representational framework for investigating their security effectiveness in protecting enterprise networks. Through simulation experiments, we draw useful insights into the security effectiveness of firewalls and DMZs. To the best of our knowledge, these insights were not reported in the literature until now.
Mental Health Problems and Treatment Utilization of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Enrolled in Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care

Since the conflicts began in 2001, military service-related mental health problems, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), have steadily increased among Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, the majority of whom receives care from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system. Because of patient and system barriers to VA specialty mental health care, many Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans fail to access and receive an adequate course of mental health treatment, which puts this new generation of Veterans at risk for chronic mental health problems. Notably, combat Veterans with mental health disorders utilize primary care medical services in greater numbers than their counterparts without mental health problems. VA has seized this opportunity and has integrated mental health services into primary care in an attempt to engage returning veterans in mental health treatment. Nevertheless, several potentially modifiable barriers to mental health care still exist. This chapter charts the mental health epidemic and utilization patterns among returning Veterans in the VA healthcare system, delineates residual barriers to care, and proposes innovations to overcome these barriers to improve the health and functioning of returning combat Veterans.
Superconductivity and the Chemical Bond

Experimental evidence suggests the operation of electron rules based on bond ordering of doped radical CuO bonds (BO) and lattice pressure (LP) in cuprate superconductivity. Ideas are developed for understanding the crystal chemical principles involved in these BO. They are then extended to materials on the basis of other electronegative elements. For cuprates, a quantitative Tc formalism is based on radical bond or hole concentration in the CuO2 plane (hp) per O in the extended planar system including the apical O (radical formalism or RF). The deleterious effect of the apical O is ascribed to bond resonance with the CuO2 plane. A range in the critical hole concentration exists for optimal Tc depending on LP. Accordingly the small Sr analogs tend to be limited at smaller hole concentrations hp = 1/6, while the Ba analogs can optimize at 1/3. Selected experimental evidence is used to construct plausible BO patterns. Superconductivity is related to strings of local pairs of trijugate half bonds. Electronic freezing can occur in domain walls of alternating single holes, e.g., in La2CuO4 type materials at hp = 1/8. Predictions for this BO model have been corroborated by details in the transistor doping of CaCuO2 and C60 as a universal sequence of Tc development with hole doping becomes apparent for both cases. Hallmarks include linear portions up to an optimal BO (RF slopes), which extrapolate to the origin, and a “sharp” peak with another linear region thereafter. They further include Tc onset at a critical BO, where an adverse BO is cooperatively transformed to a beneficial one with a slope related to RF by rational numbers. Tendencies to electronic freezing [e.g., hp = 1/8 in CaCuO2 and an analogous one in C60] occur near the optimal BO because of increasing LP. Some of these features occur at identical numbers of atoms per hole for both systems and others are related numerically. Tc–hole slopes can supply hints for the mechanisms of BO transformations. The universality of this behavior suggests a common origin for all high Tc materials in pairs of doped covalent bonds of radical character and a “musical” BO phenomenology with respect to levels and limits.
GUATEMALA MEDICAL MISSION: REFLECTIONS OF AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT

This paper focuses on the experiences of an international student participating in an interprofessional medical mission in Guatemala. The main purpose of this paper is to share the experiences and critical reflections of the author with the hope of inspiring other international students to consider participating in a similar service learning experience. The author used the Content Analysis approach to analyze personal reflections on the various events experienced throughout the trip. The five themes, desire for the trip, culture, practical experiences, reflections and relationships, are explored and elaborated in this paper. Although these emerged themes are based on the author’s personal experiences and reflections, they may be generalized to other international students. Article visualizations:
Now and again: Eventful experience as a resource in senior activism

Shared memories shape relations among social movement participants and their organizations. However, scholars often ignore how experience operates as a means of solidifying attachment in group cont...
The Use of the Hand Test with Children and Adolescents: A Review

This article critically reviews and integrates existing child and adolescent Hand Test research for use within the school system. It examines the reliability and validity of this instrument along w...
Atheroma and Intimal Fibroplasia in Periodontal Disease

A correlation of coronary heart disease risk with periodontitis is strongly supported by a growing body of clinical studies. The findings reported in this chapter point to the fibroplasia per SMC in the coronary intima as the specific stage of atherogenesis most closely associated with poor dental condition. This finding offers possible clues to the mysterious origins of the fibroplasia.
The effect of bougie size and distance from the pylorus on dehydration after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: an analysis of the ACS-MBSAQIP database.

Abstract Background Dehydration is the most common cause of readmission after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (SG). Bougie size and distance from the pylorus, both of which have been associated with rates of dehydration postoperatively, varies by surgeon and across institutions. Objectives To determine if there is an association between bougie size or distance from the pylorus on the rate of dehydration after laparoscopic SG. Setting American College of Surgeons Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation Quality Improvement Program database. Methods All patients undergoing first-time, elective laparoscopic SG from 2015–2016 were identified. The association of bougie size and distance from the pylorus on the rate of dehydration within the first 30 days postoperatively was investigated. Results The inclusion criteria were met by 170,751 patients. The most commonly used bougie size was 36 Fr and the most common distance from the pylorus at which the gastric sleeve was started was 5 cm. Patients were divided into 4 groups based on bougie size and distance from the pylorus (Group 1: bougie size Conclusion Both distance from the pylorus and bougie size are significantly associated with dehydration-related complications after SG. Consideration should be made for standardizing these technical aspects of SG to help reduce the rate of postoperative dehydration and hospital readmission.
Investigating the temporal variation of formaldehyde using MAX-DOAS and satellite observations over Islamabad, Pakistan

Abstract Formaldehyde (HCHO) being an oxygenated Volatile Organic Compound (VOC), essentially contributes to the hazardous tropospheric ozone pollution in urban areas. Emissions from automobiles are the major contributors towards elevated formaldehyde concentrations in major urban cities of Pakistan. The current study is designed to explore the formaldehyde columns at a stationary site, Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering (IESE), National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Islamabad from September 2015 to August 2017 using Multi-Axis – Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS). Observations from MAX-DOAS instrument were used to measure the diurnal, weekly and annual cycle of formaldehyde (HCHO). The diurnal concentrations of HCHO were found to be at its maximum during early morning and evening hours. Relatively insignificant weekly cycle with higher concentrations on working days and lesser during the weekend was observed at IESE-NUST monitoring site. While annual cycle showed the highest columns in summer followed by spring, autumn and winter. The suspected sources of HCHO at a fixed station were identified as natural gas consumption, biogenic emissions from vegetation, emissions from industries and vehicular emissions. Furthermore, ground-based measurements were compared with monthly Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite observations. A good correlation with Pearson value of 0.68 is noticed during the whole study period.
Late Breaking Abstract - Evaluating the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of senolytics in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Cellular senescence is a key mechanism that drives age-related diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Selective ablation of senescent cells using dasatinib plus quercetin (DQ) alleviates IPF-related dysfunction in bleomycin-administered mice. A two-stage clinical study in patients with stable IPF was conducted to evaluate feasibility of implementing intermittent DQ (D:100mg/day, Q:1250mg/day, 3-d/wk over 3-wks). First, an open-label study (OL) was performed at two clinical sites followed by a single-site double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial (RCT; ongoing). The primary endpoints were retention and completion rates for planned assessments. Secondary endpoints were safety and change in functional and reported health measures. Associations with the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) were explored. 14 patients were recruited in the OL study and 12 in the RCT. Retention rate was 100%; planned assessments were complete in 25/26. Two serious adverse events were reported; one unrelated. Non-serious adverse events were primarily mild-moderate but none led to premature discontinuation or withdrawal. In the OL study, physical function assessments, as measured by 6-min walk, 4-m gait speed, and chair-stands time, were all significantly and meaningfully improved (p This two-stage clinical study supports trial feasibility and safety of DQ in IPF patients. Larger future RCTs to assess safety & efficacy should be pursued.
Unsupervised deep learning with variational autoencoders applied to breast tumor genome-wide DNA methylation data with biologic feature extraction

Recent advances in deep learning, particularly unsupervised approaches, have shown promise for furthering our biological knowledge through their application to gene expression datasets, though applications to epigenomic data are lacking. Here, we employ an unsupervised deep learning framework with variational autoencoders (VAEs) to learn latent representations of the DNA methylation landscape from three independent breast tumor datasets. Through interrogation of methylation-based learned latent dimension activation values, we demonstrate the feasibility of VAEs to track representative differential methylation patterns among clinical subtypes of tumors. CpGs whose methylation was most correlated VAE latent dimension activation values were significantly enriched for CpG sparse regulatory regions of the genome including enhancer regions. In addition, through comparison with LASSO, we show the utility of the VAE approach for revealing novel information about CpG DNA methylation patterns in breast cancer.
Dimension-reduction simplifies the analysis of signal crosstalk in a bacterial quorum sensing pathway

Many pheromone sensing bacteria produce and detect more than one chemically distinct signal, or autoinducer. The pathways that detect these signals are typically noisy and interlocked through crosstalk and feedback. As a result, the sensing response of individual cells is described by statistical distributions that change under different combinations of signal inputs. Here we examine how signal crosstalk reshapes this response. We measure how combinations of two homoserine lactone (HSL) input signals alter the statistical distributions of individual cell responses in the AinS/R- and LuxI/R-controlled branches of the Vibrio fischeri bioluminescence pathway. We find that, while the distributions of pathway activation in individual cells vary in complex fashion with environmental conditions, these changes have a low-dimensional representation. For both the AinS/R and LuxI/R branches, the distribution of individual cell responses to mixtures of the two HSLs is effectively one-dimensional, so that a single tuning parameter can capture the full range of variability in the distributions. Combinations of crosstalking HSL signals extend the range of responses for each branch of the circuit, so that signals in combination allow population-wide distributions that are not available under a single HSL input. Dimension reduction also simplifies the problem of identifying the HSL conditions to which the pathways and their outputs are most sensitive. A comparison of the maximum sensitivity HSL conditions to actual HSL levels measured during culture growth indicates that the AinS/R and LuxI/R branches lack sensitivity to population density except during the very earliest and latest stages of growth respectively.
Extremely well-differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma arising in gastric adenomyoma

Abstract Gastric adenomyoma, a subtype of pancreatic heterotopia, is a rare mural lesion typically located within the antrum or pylorus consisting of well-formed glands lined by a single layer of bland epithelium embedded within dense smooth muscle bundles. Like most forms of pancreatic heterotopia, gastric adenomyomas are usually incidental findings, but may result in obstructive symptoms, especially if situated within the pyloric channel. Malignant degeneration is exceedingly rare, with existing reports lacking detailed morphologic descriptions. Herein, we discuss the case of a 62-year old female who presented to our institution with two months of early satiety and bloating. Imaging revealed a partially cystic mass within the pyloric wall associated with eccentric gastric wall thickening. Endoscopic fine needle aspiration cytology revealed glands embedded in smooth muscle. Distal gastrectomy ultimately revealed an extremely well-differentiated adenocarcinoma arising in a pre-existing adenomyoma of the pyloric channel. In this report, an extensive review of this rare entity is provided, including detailed morphologic and immunohistochemical findings of our case, differential diagnostic considerations, pitfalls of gastric mural lesions that contain epithelium, and a comprehensive literature review.
Using the Java MIDI package to create music in CS1

Instructors teaching CS1 in Java are often looking for exciting applications for students to motivate their students and allow them to be as creative as possible while learning the fundamental principles of programming. This tutorial will explore the use of audio to motivate students in the CS1 programming course in Java by using the javax.sound.midi package to illustrate common principles in programming. This tutorial will include an explanation of the MIDI protocol which is the basis of this sound package, the fundamental interfaces and classes of javax.sound.midi and how they are used, and several examples of how this package can be used to demonstrate standard CS1 programming principles in Java including object-oriented programming, the use of interfaces, arrays and sorting.
Power Factor Measurement

The sections in this article are 1 Power Factor and Its Meaning 2 Power Factor in Single-Phase, 2-Phase, and 3-Phase Balanced Circuits With Sinusoidal Voltage and Current 3 Effects of the Power Factor on the Supply Source 4 Power Factor in 3-Phase Unbalanced Systems with Sinusoidal Voltages and Currents 5 Power Factor of Linear Loads with Nonsinusoidal Voltage 6 Power Factor of Nonlinear Loads with Sinusoidal Supply Voltage 7 Power Factor Measurement 8 Power Factor Meters 9 Iron-Vane PF Meters 10 Crossed-Coil PF Meters 11 Electronic Power Factor Meters Based on Phase-Shift Angle Measurement 12 Electronic Power Factor Meters Based on the Measurement of the Ratio of Active to Apparent Power
Density-Dependent Feedback Inhibition of Oligodendrocyte Precursor Expansion

The myelin sheath in the vertebrate CNS is formed by oligodendrocytes. The number of oligodendrocytes in a mature axon tract must be sufficient to myelinate all appropriate axons. How the number of oligodendrocytes is matched to axonal requirements and whether such matching involves axon-oligodendrocyte signaling or intrinsic oligodendrocyte self-regulation are not clear. Using a combination of in vitro analyses, we demonstrate that oligodendrocyte precursors closely regulate their numbers through interactions between adjacent precursors. In low-density rat spinal cord cultures, the number of oligodendrocyte lineage cells increases rapidly. The addition of large numbers of oligodendrocyte precursors substantially reduces precursor expansion and results in a normalization of oligodendrocyte lineage cell numbers in the cultures over time. Thus, the number of oligodendrocyte lineage cells that develop appears dependent on the density of oligodendrocyte lineage cells. This normalization of cell number is reflected in assays of clonal potential and proliferation. For example, precursors gave rise to fewer progeny and proliferated less at high density. Reduced precursor expansion at high density was not attributable to the depletion of growth factors. Cocultures of high and low densities did not inhibit precursor expansion in low-density cultures, suggesting the requirement for local cell-cell interactions. The inhibition of precursor expansion was cell-type-specific and dependent on the presence of oligodendrocyte lineage cells. We propose that this density-dependent feedback inhibition of oligodendrocyte precursor expansion may play a primary role in regulating the number of oligodendrocytes in the developing spinal cord.
Towards a refined cosmic concordance model: Joint 11-parameter constraints from the cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure

We present a method for calculating large numbers of power spectra ${C}_{l}$ and $P(k)$ that accelerates CMBFAST by a factor around ${10}^{3}$ without appreciable loss of accuracy, then apply it to constrain 11 cosmological parameters from current cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large scale structure (LSS) data. While the CMB alone still suffers from several degeneracies, allowing, e.g., closed models with strong tilt and tensor contributions, the shape of the real space power spectrum of galaxies from the IRAS Point Source Catalogue Redshift (PSCz) survey breaks these degeneracies and helps place strong constraints on most parameters. At 95% confidence, the combined CMB and LSS data imply a baryon density $0.020l{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{\mathrm{b}}l0.037,$ dark matter density $0.10l{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{\mathrm{dm}}l0.32$ with a neutrino fraction ${f}_{\ensuremath{\nu}}l38%,$ vacuum density ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}l0.76,$ curvature $\ensuremath{-}0.19l{\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\mathrm{k}}l0.10,$ scalar tilt $0.86l{n}_{s}l1.16,$ and reionization optical depth $\ensuremath{\tau}l0.44.$ These joint constraints are quite robust, changing little when we impose priors on the Hubble parameter, tilt, flatness, gravity waves or reionization. Adding nucleosynthesis and neutrino priors on the other hand tightens constraints considerably, requiring ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}g0.49$ and a red-tilt, ${n}_{s}l1.$ The analysis allows a number of consistency tests to be made, all of which pass. At the 95% level, the flat scalar ``concordance model'' with ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}=0.62, {\ensuremath{\omega}}_{\mathrm{dm}}=0.13, {\ensuremath{\omega}}_{\mathrm{b}}=0.02, {f}_{\ensuremath{\nu}}\ensuremath{\sim}0, {n}_{s}=0.9, \ensuremath{\tau}=0.1, h=0.63$ is consistent with the CMB and LSS data considered here, with big bang nucleosynthesis, cluster baryon fractions and cluster abundance. The inferred PSCz bias $b\ensuremath{\sim}1.2$ agrees with the value estimated independently from redshift space distortions. The inferred cosmological constant value agrees with the one derived independently from SNIa studies. Cosmology seems to be on the right track.