cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chapman Conference on Rainfall Fields

The Chapman Conference on Rainfall Fields, sponsored by AGU, was the first of its kind; it was devoted to strengthening scientific interaction between the North American and Latin American geophysics communities. It was hosted by Universidad Simon Bolivar and Instituto Internacional de Estudios Avanzados, in Caracas, Venezuela, during March 24–27, 1986. A total of 36 scientists from Latin America, the United States, Canada, and Europe participated. The conference, which was convened by I. Rodriguez-Iturbe (Universidad Simon Bolivar) and V. K. Gupta (University of Mississippi, University), brought together hydrologists, meteorologists, and mathematicians/statisticians in the name of enhancing an interdisciplinary focus on rainfall research.
Ultraviolet radiation and the athlete: risk, sun safety, and barriers to implementation of protective strategies.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation plays a pivotal role in the development of both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers. Numerous factors potentially place athletes at high risk for developing these cancers. Various prevention strategies ameliorate this risk, including avoiding sun exposure during peak UV exposure hours, applying sunscreen with a sun protection factor of 30 or above before participating in outdoor sports, wearing hats and sunglasses, and reducing exposure with long pants and long-sleeve shirts. The literature, however, cites several barriers to these prevention approaches, including sports’ competition rules, the lack of availability of sunscreen, and the lack of information about sun safety behaviors. Sun safety education programs prove effective in getting athletes to participate in prevention strategies. This article reviews the effect of UV radiation on athletes’ skin and provides sports medicine clinicians with suggestions to improve the sun safety behaviors of their athletes.
Effects of Noise on Sensor Placement for On-Orbit Modal Identification of Large Space Structures

A method of sensor placement for the purpose on-orbit modal identification and test-analysis correlation is presented. The method is an extension of the affective Independence method presented in past work to include the effects of a general representation of measurement noise. Sensor noise can be distributed nonuniformly throughout the structure as well as correlated between sensors. The only restriction is that the corresponding noise covariance intensity matrix is positive definite
Thymocyte transformation enhanced

A new study identifies recurrent somatic duplications of a NOTCH1-driven enhancer of MYC in human T cell leukemia. This enhancer is required for both normal and malignant T cell development.
Effects of Excess Dietary Phosphorus on Fecal Phosphorus Excretion and Water Extractable Phosphorus in Horses

Abstract Phosphorus excretion was studied in horses fed excess phosphorus. The hypothesis of this study was that the concentration of phosphorus and water extractable phosphorus (WEP) in the feces of sedentary horses would reflect the level of dietary phosphorus. Eight Standardbred mares were divided into two groups and received diets of grass hay and grain. The high phosphorus (HP) group received 142 g/d of monosodium phosphate (NaH 2 PO 4 ), formulated to provide 4.5-times dietary phosphorus requirement, or 65-g phosphorus per day. The low phosphorus (LP) group received 28 g of phosphorus per day in the basal diet. These amounts were based on horses consuming 2% of body weight per day as hay plus supplemental grain. After a 7-day diet adaptation, a 5-day collection was conducted. Animals were housed from 4 PM until 8 AM the following morning without bedding during the collection period. After the first period, horses underwent a 10-day washout and then groups were crossed over for a second 7-day adaptation and 5-day collection. Feces was collected daily, weighed, and a 10% of aliquot taken. At the end of each collection period, feces was composited for each horse and analyzed for nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and WEP. Fecal phosphorus and WEP content were greater in the HP group (8.1 ± 0.3 vs. 6.8 ± 0.3 g/kg, respectively) than the LP group (3.6 ± 0.3 vs. 2.1 ± 0.3 g/kg, respectively; P
Dynamic register file resizing and frequency scaling to improve embedded processor performance and energy-delay efficiency

With CMOS scaling leading to ever increasing levels of transistor integration on a chip, designers of high-performance embedded processors have ample area available to increase processor resources in order to improve performance. However, increasing resource sizes can increase power dissipation and also reduce access time, which can limit maximum achievable operating frequency. In this paper, we explore optimizations for the processor register file (RF), to improve performance and reduce the energy-delay product. We show that while increasing the size of the RF can potentially increase the IPC, overall it results in an increase in program execution time. In response we propose L2MRFS -- a dynamic register file resizing scheme in tandem with frequency scaling, which exploits L2 cache misses to noticeably improve processor performance (11% on average) and also significantly reduce the energy-delay product (7%).
Perceived stress, loneliness, and interaction with fellow students does not affect innate mucosal immunity in first year university students

The aim of the present study was to better understand how stress, loneliness, and interactions with peers may affect innate mucosal immunity in new university students. To examine these relationships, 68 new undergraduate students (27 male, 41 female; mean age = 18.89 ± 0.73 years) completed psychosocial measures at four times over a 13-month period and provided saliva samples to measure salivary secretory immunoglobulin-A (sIgA) to determine innate immune functioning. The UCLA Loneliness Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Interaction with Students domain from the Affective Quality of University Life Scale were administered at four time points over 1 year at approximately the start of the first two semesters, exam time, and the start of the second academic year. A lower salivary sIgA secretion rate was found at the beginning of students' academic careers; however, none of the three measures were found to be related to sIgA secretion rates at any assessment after controlling for sex, smoking, alcohol consumption, recent illnesses, and current medications. Previous studies have had mixed results in demonstrating a relationship between sIgA and stress and social interactions. In light of this, the present study also did not find this effect in first-year university students assessed at four time points. These results are discussed in relation to variances in psychosocial assessments; further studies accounting for cross-cultural differences, additional inventories, and more immune markers are suggested.
Lipopolysaccharide-Deficient Brucella Variants Arise Spontaneously during Infection

Lipopolysaccharide-deficient mutants of smooth Brucella species (rough mutants) have been shown to arise spontaneously in culture. However, in situ analysis of Brucella infected macrophages using antibody directed against O-polysaccharide suggested a loss of reactivity of Brucella consistent with the appearance of rough organisms, and a potential contribution to infection. The experiments reported describe the direct recovery of Brucella from macrophages infected in vitro and from the spleens of infected mice at a frequency similar to that described in vitro, suggesting that Brucella dissociation is not simply an in vitro artifact. The frequency of appearance of spontaneous rough organisms deficient in O-polysaccharide expression measured in vitro is approximately 2-3 logs higher than the appearance of mutation to antibiotic resistance, purine auxotrophy or reversion of erythritol sensitive ∆eryC mutants to tolerance. Genetic trans-complementation using a plasmid-based expression of Brucella manBA successfully restored O-polysaccharide expression in only one third of O-polysaccharide deficient spontaneous mutants. Suggesting that the appearance of rough mutants is caused by mutation at more than one locus. In addition, Sanger sequencing of the manBA structural genes detected multiple sequence changes that may explain the observed phenotypic differences. The presence of O-polysaccharide resulted in macrophage and neutrophil infiltration into the peritoneal cavity and systemic distribution of the organism. In contrast, rough organisms are controlled by resident macrophages or by extracellular killing mechanisms and rapidly cleared from this compartment consistent with the inability to cause disease. Loss of O-polysaccharide expression appears to be stochastic giving rise to organisms with biological properties distinct from the parental smooth organism during the course of infection.
Transient global amnesia after sildenafil (Viagra) use

Sildenafil citrate (Viagra; Pfizer US Pharmaceutical Group, New York, NY) is used for erectile dysfunction. Little is known, however, about its effects on the CNS. A recent case report suggests that sildenafil, through unknown mechanisms, can cause stroke.1 The authors describe a patient with a history of migraines who had a transient event of global amnesia after taking sildenafil. Patients with migraine may be more susceptible to transient global amnesia (TGA) if exposed to precipitants. Therefore, the authors recommend that sildenafil be used with caution in patients with a history of migraine. A 51-year-old, right-handed man with hypertension and a history of classic migraines had played 18 holes of golf in the early morning. When he …
Nitrogen fixation in termites: Fate of newly fixed nitrogen

Nitrogen (15N) fixed by gut symbionts of the termite Nasutitermes corniger is assimilated and incorporated into termite tissues. Metabolic differences between soldier and worker castes are reflected in assimilation patterns: a greater proportion of the newly fixed nitrogen was in the bodies of workers but in the heads of soldiers. Newly fixed nitrogen is also transferred between workers and soldiers by trophallaxis. These studies confirm the 3:1 ratio assumed as the affinity of nitrogenase for acetylene relative to nitrogen in the acetylene-reduction method.
Oncerometopus atriscutis and Prepops rubroscutellatus: Restheniine plant bugs (Hemiptera: Miridae) of apache plume, Fallugia paradoxa (Rosaceae).

Abstract Oncerometopus atriscutis Knight and Prepops rubroscutellatus (Knight) are plant bugs of the tribe Restheniini and subfamily Mirinae, largest of the eight mirid subfamilies. Both species were described in the late 1920s from a few locales in Arizona and New Mexico (also Colorado in the case of P. rubroscutellatus); their host-plant relationships have remained undocumented. We give additional distribution records of O. atriscutis from Arizona (3 counties, 6 sites), New Mexico (11 counties, 35 sites), and Texas (3 counties, 3 sites; new state record) and P. rubroscutellatus from Arizona (3 counties, 3 sites) and New Mexico (9 counties, 29 sites). Their seasonal histories are based mainly on regular sampling of Apache plume, Fallugia paradoxa (D. Don) Endl. ex Torr.; Rosaceae), from mid-July 2009 to mid-May 2012 at a Chihuahuan Desert site east of Las Cruces (Dona Ana Co.), New Mexico, where the bugs were syntopic. Supplemental data on seasonality were obtained from periodic collections from Apache p...
Identification and ablation of three types of ventricular tachycardia involving the his-purkinje system in patients with heart disease.

Introduction: Ventricular tachycardia (VT) with involvement of the His-Purkinje system (HPS) can be difficult to recognize in patients with heart disease, but it may be particularly susceptible to ablation targeting the HPS. This study defines the incidence and types of HPS involvement in VT. Methods and Results: Involvement of the HPS was sought during electrophysiologic study with catheter mapping in 234 consecutive patients referred for catheter ablation of recurrent VT associated with heart disease. HPS VT was observed in 20 (8.5%) patients (mean ejection fraction 29%± 17%); in 9 (11%) of 81 patients with nonischemic heart disease and 11 (7.1%) of 153 patients with coronary artery disease (P = NS). Three types of HPS VT were observed: 16 patients (group 1) had typical bundle branch reentry, 2 patients (group 2) had bundle branch reentry and interfascicular reentry, and 2 patients (group 3) had VT consistent with a focal origin in the distal HPS. In all three groups, the VT QRS had morphologic similarity to the sinus rhythm QRS. Ablation of HPS VT was successful in all patients in whom it was attempted but produced high-degree AV block in 6 (30%). In 12 patients (60%), other VTs due to reentry through scar also were inducible. Conclusion: Involvement of the HPS in VT associated with heart disease has three distinct clinical forms, all of which are susceptible to ablation. Ablation often is not sufficient as the sole therapy due to other induced VT's and conduction abnormalities, requiring pacemaker and/or defibrillator implantation. (J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol, Vol. 15, pp. 52-58, January 2004)
Interaction of a Warm-Season Frontal System with the Coastal Mountains of the Western United States. Part I: Prefrontal Onshore Push, Coastal Ridging, and Alongshore Southerlies

Abstract Observational analyses and numerical simulations are used to investigate the interaction between a warm-season frontal system/trough and the complex terrain of the western United States. Prior to frontal landfall, synoptically driven offshore flow was associated with the northward development of a thermal trough, and a coastal pressure ridge and associated southerly winds moved northward along the coasts of northern California, Oregon, Washington, and southwestern British Columbia. This coastal pressure ridge, coupled with the subsequent weakening of the offshore flow, resulted in the onshore push of cool marine air approximately 24 h before frontal passage. The onshore surge of cool marine air into warm, dry continental air associated with the thermal trough produced a mesofront that moved over the coastal and Cascade Mountains. Diagnosis of a realistic simulation of the event shows that both solar heating and adiabatic warming from downslope flow over the Rockies and the Cascade Mountains are i...
Intellectual Property And Academia

Accompanying the exponential growth in the technology sector in the last decade has been the development and implementation of new policies and protocols regarding intellectual property by many academic institutions. Characteristically, considerable debate has accompanied the process. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between technological progress and the development of university policies and protocols pertaining to intellectual property. Initially, a set of commonly accepted definitions for "Intellectual Property" (IP) is established. This is accomplished by drawing from federal laws and statutes, the American Association of University Professors guidelines for IP policy content and wording, and several current university policies. As these definitions are developed, it becomes apparent that one must next broach the issue of where software and other new forms of technology-related materials fit into current classifications. This paper includes an overview of current approaches to IP agreements among research-level universities in the United States, and a brief coverage of historical precedents. Special attention is given to recent changes in policies which seem to have been caused by technological advances, and several outside opinions and recommendations for modifications due to technology are presented. The question of whether or not any changes in IP policy are warranted becomes central, and some care is taken to analyze the consequences of various proposals for modification (or lack thereof), concluding with some recommendations on the topic.
Central Neuronal Histamine Contributes to Cardiovascular Regulation

Evidence suggests that central histaminergic neurons make important contributions to cardiovascular regulation. For example, histamine-containing neurons project to brain regions important for cardiovascular regulation. Furthermore, stimulation of central histamine receptors changes blood pressure and heart rate and alters activity of major vasoconstrictor systems. Finally, histamine metabolism is changed in hypertension.
Corporate Archives Today

An article published in Dun's Review in 1981, entitled "Inside Industry's Archives," reported that the "history of American business is alive and well."1 Robert Levy, the author of the article, went on to state that archival programs contribute to decision making by executives. It was Levy's belief that the fact that 210 American firms had archival programs, or "maintained inhouse repositories of historical records, photographs, and artifacts," constituted a vote of confidence for business
RN Educational Level and the Decision to Work as a Hospital Staff Nurse

Research Rationale: The educational requirement for entry into registered nurse (RN) practice has been controversial. Currently, one can practice as an RN having received a diploma in nursing, an associate degree in nursing (ADN), and a bachelor's degree in nursing (BSN). Some research has demonstrated that BSN-prepared RNs provide safer, higher quality care, and nursing leaders have considered making a BSN the entry-level educational requirement. An issue not yet explored is the employment decision of BSN-prepared RNs. To what extent does education influence RNs' choice of work setting? If BSN-prepared RNs become a greater proportion of the RN supply due to higher educational requirements, and fewer of them seek hospital bedside employment, the shortage of nurses at the hospital bedside could be accentuated. In prior studies of factors influencing RN nursing supply, around one-half find that higher education is related to lower participation and fewer hours of work. However, none of these studies examines the RN decision to work at the hospital bedside in particular. It is possible that there is a strong negative relationship between educational level and hospital employment because higher education allows individuals to work in other nursing and non-nursing settings. Objectives and Design: This study examines the influence of educational preparation on RN participation in the hospital bedside setting; and estimates the impact of an increase in the educational requirement to the BSN level on the hospital nursing shortage. Methods: We use the year 2000 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) and a logistic regression. The model is analyzed with and without stratification by marital status and age of children. Explanatory variables include: educational level, wage, age, marital status, the presence of children in the home, gender, race/ethnicity, and region. Wages of nurses not working in nursing are not captured in the NSSRN, so we imputed the missing wages from a regression model of wage as a function of human capital characteristics. Also, because wages can be endogenous to RN supply, we test for endogeneity. Probabilities of working as a hospital staff nurse are used to predict the change in hospital staff nurse supply, holding all else constant. Results: The odds of working as a hospital staff are 27% higher if the RN has a diploma and 38% if she or he has an AD compared to an RN with a BD. Statistically strong relationships exist between demographic factors such as age, presence of children in the home, and race, among other factors. When profiled over hypothetical life stages, the participation of RNs in staff nurse employment in hospitals declines over a lifetime. All else equal, hospital staff nurse supply could fall by nearly 5% if educational requirements are raised. Policy Implications: A 5% fall in hospital staff nurses could significantly impact the RN shortage in that area. It will be important to find ways to engage and retain BD-prepared RNs in the hospital setting and to increase the pipeline of new BD RNs.
The Need for Legal Reform of the For-Profit Educational Industry

Over the last century, higher education has undergone an expansive transformation. However, questions remain about students’ future access to postsecondary institutions in a political climate that increasingly seeks privatization over public investment. This is especially true for the recent growth of for-profit colleges and universities as the public takes on the risk of the student loans used to finance this industry while the stockholders receive all of the profits. Although some of these private, for-profit institutions work diligently to provide quality programs that give students an opportunity at better economic prospects, the industry, as a whole, has been plagued with problems involving student recruiting, student loan burdens, and gainful employment. These issues indicate that substantial reform of this industry is necessary as the majority of the harms of these practices affect marginalized populations. This Article provides a comprehensive legal analysis of the current state of for-profit higher education. After analyzing the spate of recent litigation and regulation related to for-profit postsecondary institutions, the Article argues for stronger controls for the industry, including increased federal and state oversight, accreditation association reforms, and self-regulation. These necessary measures will protect the students who attend these schools and the taxpayers who guarantee the student loans without which such institutions would struggle to function. In sum, the for-profit educational sector needs substantially more transparency through the implementation of these measures in order to address concerns, both real and imagined, of unscrupulous conduct.
α Amylase Content in Cervical Mucus of Females Receiving Sequential, Nonsequential, or No Contraceptive Therapy

The concentration of the enzyme alpha amylase was determined in the cervical mucus of females receiving sequential nonsequential or no contraceptive therapy. 307 samples of cervical mucus were obtained from the 3 groups of women. 1 group did not receive steroids. The second group received Ovulen from Day 5 through Day 25 of each menstrual cycle. The third group was treated with sequential therapy (C-Quens)8 consisting of 80 mcg mestranol per day from Day 5 through 19 of a given cycle and 80 mcg mestranol combined with 2 mg chlormadinone administered daily from Day 20 through 24 of that cycle. The samples were collected frozen thawed and homogenized in a .5% sodium chloride solution. Amylase was determined by observing the time required to hydrolyze the starch in a standard starch solution. A significant difference was observed between treatment (p-bc .001) and between periods within a treatment (p-bc .01). In the untreated group greatest amylase values occurred during the progestational portion of the cycle. The combined therapy levels were higher than sequential levels and were similar throughout the cycle. While amylase content of cervical mucus with sequential therapy was at a constant level during the estrogen phase administration of a progestagen resulted in a significant increase in amylase levels. In about 15% of the cases the amylase content was so reduced that no reaction was obtained within 30 minutes. There was no correlation between this reduced activity day of cycle treatment pH or amount of mucus with respect to different drugs. The amylase values of vaginal fluid obtained from the posteior part of the vagina were similar to those from the ectocervix. There were no differences in pH values among the 3 groups investigated. It was concluded that while the study data did not provide alpha amylase with a specific function in the reproductive process they did demonstrate that the enzyme is present in high concentration and is sensitive to the steroid hormone acombinations used in contraceptive therapy.
Safety of an Enhanced Recovery Pathway for Patients Undergoing Open Hepatic Resection

Background Enhanced recovery pathways (ERP) have not been widely implemented for hepatic surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety of an ERP for patients undergoing open hepatic resection.
Married and Divorced Korean Immigrant Women: A Report on Their Psychological Well-being

Although Korean immigrants have been celebrated as the "model minority" for their alleged success in education and small business, many face language difficulties, culture conflicts, and downward mobility. In particular, Korean husbands' underemployment or downward occupational mobility has greatly impacted their family lives. Due to lower family income, most immigrant wives are forced to seek employment outside the home. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, approximately 60 percent of married Korean American women participated in the labor market. This figure is much higher than 41.3 percent of Korean married women in Korea in 1992. Korean immigrant wives could find low or moderately paying jobs rather easily in the U.S. labor market. As a result of their employment, they have increased their economic role within the household, which increased their assertiveness and financial independence.
Phosphatase Activity of Hematopoietic Tissues of Nitrogen Mustard-Treated Animals.

SummaryThe effects of nitrogen mustards in vivo on the phosphatase activity of the spleens and thymus glands of rats and mice were studied. The results of this study indicated that sublethal doses of HN2 produce dose-dependent increases in the adenosine triphosphatase activity and the 5-nucleotidase activity of the spleens and thymus glands with the maximum increase being observed at 3 or 4 days after intraperitoneal administration of the compound. Reversal of the increase in enzyme activity was noted after sublethal doses of HN2. At equivalent dosage levels HN1 was more toxic and more effective than HN2 in increasing the adenosine triphosphatase activity of the spleens and thymus glands of rats.
Using Psychoanalytic Cultural Criticism and Computers to Teach about Social Change in University Writing Courses

In order to motivate contemporary university students to consider possible avenues for social change, I have found that it is necessary to address openly student resistances to critical thinking and social consciousness. However, I have also discovered that any direct confrontation with the students' defense mechanisms can undermine the teacher-student relationship, and thus it is important to develop indirect methods for motivating students to overcome their resistances. In this essay, I will discuss how I have used computers and a psychoanalytic version of cultural studies to help students consider their roles in transforming various social inequities.
A Day in the Life of David Berliner

Hero worship never gets old; but we do and so does the nature of our heroes. I was (am) a Batman fan. In response to a personal tragedy, Bruce Wayne dedicated himself to defending the citizens of G...
Numerical Analysis on Vault Stability of Rock Tunnel

The lateral pressure coefficient of rock tunnel is an important factor to evaluate the vault stability of surrounding rocks.Here, combining with the engineering examples and by using the finite difference software FLAC3D to set up the numerical model,11 stress and displacement results about the lateral pressure coefficient are modelled numerically,and the movement process of stress field and displacement field of the lateral pressure coefficient of surrounding rocks from 0-1 is analyzed.The results show that when the lateral pressure coefficient of surrounding rocks is from 0-1,the surrounding rock's vault is experienced by three states,such as the two-way tension,tension-compression coexistence and two-way compression,and the settlement of the vault decreases along with the increasing of the lateral pressure coefficient of surrounding rocks.
Why Worry about Evolution? Boundaries, Practices, and Moral Salience in Sunni and Evangelical High Schools:

Previous work on conservative Protestant creationism fails to account for other creationists who are much less morally invested in opposition to evolution, raising the sociological question: What c...
An empirical analysis of household choices among water storage devices

This paper investigates factors underlying the household decision to utilize a variety of water storage devices in the small, poor municipality of San Lorenzo, Guatemala. Seemingly unrelated probit models were estimated to account for potential interdependence among different types of storage devices. Almost all sampled households store water at home in a variety of devices such as buckets, barrels, cisterns, and roof tanks. Estimation results indicate that the decision to use water storage devices is related to household income, and that the direction of income effects varies according to the type of storage device. On the other hand, water service interruptions were found statistically significant only for the household choice of using barrels. Findings also indicate that small devices (e.g. buckets) and barrels are used in a complementary fashion. In contrast, large devices (i.e. roof tanks and cisterns) are deemed substitutes for small devices and barrels.
Trace Equivalence in SU(2, 1)

In this paper it is shown that one can choose an arbitrarily large number of inconjugate elements of the group Z/2Z*Z/2Z*Z/2Z which have the property that, under all representations of the group in SU(2,1) as a discrete complex hyperbolic ideal triangle group, the elements are hyperbolic and correspond to closed geodesics of equal length on the associated complex hyperbolic surface. This is an analogue of the geometric fact that the multiplicity of the length spectrum of a Riemann surface is never bounded or the equivalent algebraic phenomenon that an arbitrarily large number of conjugacy classes in a free group can have the same trace under all representations in SL(2,R ).
I Am a Surgery Resident Now, 10 Things I Wish I Had Learned as a Medical Student

The transition from medical school to residency is a period of significant adjustment. The goal of this chapter is to highlight several areas that are critical to pay attention to during this time and plan for in advance of beginning training. These are ten of the most important lessons we wish we had learned as medical students prior to surgical residency although all of these apply to other specialties. This is taken from personal perspective as well as input from peers and the medical literature. We hope this list facilitates personal reflection on how you can learn from our experiences and begin the process of working towards your own professional development.
Insect-induced gene expression at the core of volatile terpene release in Medicago truncatula

The blends of induced volatiles released by higher plants in response to herbivory regularly contain terpenoids. The precursors of volatile terpenoids can be synthesized via two pathways, the mevalonate (MVA) and the methyl erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathways localized in the cytosol and in plastids, respectively. Terpenes are important players in interactions between plants and herbivorous insects, by acting in both direct and indirect defenses. We recently characterized a gene encoding an (E)-β-ocimene synthase (MtEBOS) in the legume Medicago truncatula Gaertn. Compared to undamaged plants, caterpillar-damaged M. truncatula emitted (E)-β-ocimene at an elevated level and this increase is associated with high levels of expression of MtEBOS mRNA. Exogenous treatment with jasmonic acid also increases transcript accumulation of MtEBOS. These results indicate that transcript accumulation is used as a tightly regulated mechanism to control (E)-β-ocimene emission. The data, along with additional findings in other species, illustrate that like most plant families legumes regulate the final steps of volatile terpene biosynthesis at the level of transcript induction.
Differentiated rates of growth across preschool dual language learners

This study illustrates why preschool children who are dual language learners (DLLs) are not a homogeneous group. An empirically developed model of preschool DLL subgroups, based on latent class ana...
Brief of Interested Law Professors as Amici Curiae Supporting Petitioner in Brohl v. Direct Marketing Association

Amici curiae are 14 professors of law who have devoted much of their teaching and research to the area of state taxes and the role of state tax policy in our federal system. The amici are concerned with the effect of this Court’s dormant Commerce Clause jurisprudence on the development of fair and efficient state tax systems. No decision of this Court has had more effect on state sales and use tax systems than Quill Corporation v. North Dakota. We believe the Tenth Circuit properly decided the case below. But if the Court decides to grant the Direct Marketing Association’s petition to review the issue of discrimination which it raises, we respectfully request that the Court also grant the conditional cross-petition filed by Executive Director Barbara J. Brohl of the Colorado Department of Revenue asking the Court to reconsider Quill. This brief sets forth the reasons for our support of that cross-petition.
How to Look: Apprehension, Forensic Craft, and the Classification of Child Exploitation Images

The detection and removal of child pornography online is a vexing process, weighted with moral urgency. In recent years, this process has become increasingly digitally automated. In 2016, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) reported that they had reviewed over 500,000 image and video files suspected to contain child pornography; and since 2002 they had reviewed an aggregate of 192 million images in order to identify 12,500 child victims. NCMEC is a nonprofit that serves as the United States main clearinghouse for child exploitation content, and works directly with federal and local law enforcement to produce case files in criminal investigations of missing children, child abuse, and child exploitation recorded for the intent of commercial distribution.
XRCC1 phosphorylation affects aprataxin recruitment and DNA deadenylation activity.

Abstract Aprataxin (APTX) is a DNA-adenylate hydrolase that removes 5′-AMP blocking groups from abortive ligation repair intermediates. XRCC1, a multi-domain protein without catalytic activity, interacts with a number of known repair proteins including APTX, modulating and coordinating the various steps of DNA repair. CK2-phosphorylation of XRCC1 is thought to be crucial for its interaction with the FHA domain of APTX. In light of conflicting reports, the importance of XRCC1 phosphorylation and APTX function is not clear. In this study, a phosphorylation mutant of XRCC1 designed to eliminate APTX binding was stably expressed in Xrcc1−/− cells. Analysis of APTX-GFP accumulation at micro-irradiation damage confirmed that phosphorylated XRCC1 is required for APTX recruitment. APTX-mediated DNA deadenylation activity (i.e., 5′-AMP removal) was measured in extracts of cells expressing wild-type XRCC1 or the XRCC1 phosphorylation mutant, and compared with activity in APTX-deficient and APTX-complemented human cells. APTX activity was lower in extracts from Xrcc1−/− and XRCC1 phosphorylation mutant cells compared to the robust activity in extract from wild-type XRCC1 expressing cells. Taken together, results verify that interaction with phosphorylated XRCC1 is a requirement for significant APTX recruitment to cellular DNA damage and enzymatic activity in cell extracts.
BRAG1/IQSEC2 as a regulator of small GTPase-dependent trafficking

Precise trafficking events, such as those that underlie synaptic transmission and plasticity, require complex regulation. G-protein signaling plays an essential role in the regulation of membrane a...
“Friend to the Martyr, a Friend to the Woman of Shame”: Thinking About The Law, Shame and Humiliation

This paper considers the intersection between law, humiliation and shame, and how the law has the capacity to allow for, to encourage, or (in some cases) to remediate humiliation, or humiliating or shaming behavior. The need for new attention to be paid to this question has increased exponentially as we begin to also take more seriously international human rights mandates, especially – although certainly not exclusively – in the context of the recently-ratified United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a Convention that calls for “respect for inherent dignity,” and characterizes "discrimination against any person on the basis of disability [as] a violation of the inherent dignity and worth of the human person..." Humiliation and shaming, we believe, contravene basic fundamental human rights and raise important constitutional questions implicating the due process and equal protection clauses. Humiliation and shaming practices include “scarlet letter”-like criminal sanctions, police stop-and-frisk practices, the treatment of persons with mental disabilities in the justice system, and the use of sex offender registries. Humiliation and shame are detrimental in the ways that lead to recidivism, inhibit rehabilitation, discourage treatment, and injure victims. They also directly contravene the guiding principles of therapeutic jurisprudence, especially in the context of its relationship to the importance of dignity in the law, and potentially violate international human rights law principles as well.In this paper, we will explore how humiliation and shaming are bad for all participants in the legal system, and bad for the law itself. We will urge that humiliating and shaming techniques be banned, and that, this ban will enhance dignity for the entire legal system and society as a whole. First, we consider the meaning of shame and humiliation. Then, we briefly discuss principles of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) and its relationship to the significance of dignity, and then consider recent developments in international human rights law, both of which are valuable interpretive tools in this conversation. Next, we consider how the United States Supreme Court has considered these concepts in recent cases. Following this, we consider several relevant areas of law and policy from the perspective of how overt shaming is employed: scarlet letter punishments, use of the police power, treatment of institutionalized persons with mental disabilities and elders, and sex offender registry law. We then, using a TJ filter and drawing on international human rights law principles, examine why these shaming tactics are contrary to bedrock principles of the legal system: the mandates to honor dignity, to minimize recidivism, and to enhance rehabilitation.
Iterative Adaptive Control: Windsurfing with Confidence

Learning, apparetly, is the result of making mistakes. A good example is learning to windsurf. The approach I took is simple. Fall Often. This is the approach I seem to use regularly when learning anything. It helped a great deal that I did this in Tahiti where both the air and water were 80 degrees and there was little wind. I was in Tahiti following my first visit with Brian Anderson in Canberra in 1984. A few years later when I was describing my learning experience at windsurfing to Brian, who by the way is an excellent windsurfer, we realized that how a human learns windsurfing might be a procedure that could be used for adaptive control. We speculated about human learning of physical activities as fallows. The human first learns to control over a limited bandwidth and learning pushes out the bandwidth over which an accurate knowledge of the”plant” is known. The human first implements a low-gain controller and learning allows the loop to be tightened. The human tends to “over-react” when the environment changes, often resorting to high- gain or no-gain. Then falls. The few instants just before falling may provide some new information about the next higher increments in the bandwidth of the system. So of course mistakes are fundamental to learning. (This is why stabilizing feedback is negative; the popular concept of positive feedback may be useful, in fact, when it is actually negative!) Our speculations on this “windsurfing” approach to adaptive control was first expressed in [2] and subsequently filled out in a series of papers [24,25].
Manipulating valley-sensitive light-matter states in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides

Control over the interactions between light and matter underlies many classical and quantum applications. In recent years, 2D layered semiconductors have gained prominence for optoelectronics because of their strong excitonic effects and capacity for van der Waals assembly. One of the unique features of these monolayer materials, the valley pseudospin, can be manipulated by controlling the local properties of optical fields. Here, we discuss two manifestations of this optical control across different regimes of coupling. In a strongly coupled regime, we discuss the dynamics of valley-polarized hybrid light-matter states, or exciton-polaritons, in a monolayer MoS2 embedded in a microcavity. Different dynamics of valley-polarized exciton-polaritons can be accessed with microcavity engineering by tuning system parameters such as cavity decay rate and exciton-photon coupling strength. Comparison of predictions and measurements demonstrate the ability to intentionally modify exciton-polariton valley characteristics, illustrating the microcavity as a tool for manipulating and engineering valley dynamics in 2D materials. In the weak coupling regime optical selection rules give rise to the valley-selective optical Stark shift. We discuss recent advances in probing this effect with improved sensitivity. Both of these complementary approaches show how the valley structure of monolayer materials yield interesting light-matter phenomena that allow tuning of optical properties.
Morphology of vascular network in eyes with diabetic macular edema varies based on tolerance of aflibercept treatment interval length: preliminary findings

Diabetic macular edema is a leading cause of vision loss in diabetic patients. The underlying cause for the onset of DME is 1) the long term presence of hyperglycemia and the eventual degradation of the blood-retinal barrier (BRB) via an uptick in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF); VEGF increases the permeability of the blood retinal barrier and alters the length of capillaries, thereby inhibiting the ability of these vessels in performing their primary function of filtration. The lack of a proper filtration system in combination with the ongoing change in intra-retinal vasculature that stems from it, results in the eventual loss of visual acuity in DME patients. Due to the large role in which VEGF plays in acting as a catalyst for the onset of DME, current treatments now focus on utilizing anti-VEGF therapy as a first line treatment for DME. Anti-VEGF therapy improves clinical outcomes in the form of improved visual acuity and reduction in macular edema. Anti-VEGF treatments also have a peripheral effect of modifying the disease burden and allowing for extended time in between treatments. However, there is still a void in understanding how anti-VEGF affects the underlying pathophysiology. This study focuses on using quantification of the geometric properties of vasculature on Fluorescein Angiography(FA) to understand the impact anti-VEGF treatment has on retinal vascular dynamics. We hypothesize that vasculature disorder, due to VEGF action, differs across patients and can be modeled mathematically to identify candidates for anti-VEGF treatment. We use VaNgOGH, a Hough transform-based descriptor to model the disorder of the retinal vascular network on baseline FA of patients subsequently treated with intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy (aibercept). VaNgOGH computes local measures of vessel-curvature and identifies dominant peaks in the accumulator space. We explored the differences in such features on baseline FA between eyes tolerating extended dosing interval (N=15) and those eyes requiring more frequent dosing (N=12), based on initial response following treatment interval extension. The cross-validated AUC was found to be 0.73±0.1 using VaNgOGH. The variance of local orientations showed a statistically significant difference (p=0.008) between the two categories, unlike clinical parameters on baseline OCT. Our results suggest there may be fundamental differences in localized vessel orientations between eyes that will exhibit favorable response to extended interval aibercept dosing and eyes that require more frequent dosing.
Landau–Ginzburg/Calabi–Yau correspondence for the complete intersections X3,3 and X2,2,2,2

Abstract We define a generalization of Fan–Jarvis–Ruan–Witten theory, a “hybrid” model associated to a collection of quasihomogeneous polynomials of the same weights and degree, which is expected to match the Gromov–Witten theory of the Calabi–Yau complete intersection cut out by the polynomials. In genus zero, we prove that the correspondence holds for any such complete intersection of dimension three in ordinary, rather than weighted, projective space. These results generalize those of Chiodo–Ruan for the quintic threefold, and as in that setting, Givental's quantization can be used to yield a conjectural relation between the full higher-genus theories.
Strontium Isotopes Support Small Home Ranges for Extinct Lemurs

Among mammals, including anthropoid primates, the primary factors that affect mobility are body size (larger-bodied species move more than smaller ones), diet (frugivores and trophic omnivores are more mobile than folivores), and habit (terrestrial taxa have larger home ranges than arboreal ones). If similar factors hold for Lemuriformes, we would expect large-bodied (particularly frugivorous) extinct lemurs to have been more mobile than smaller-bodied (particularly folivorous) extant species. Yet multiple lines of evidence (e.g., low Retzius Periodicities, small semicircular canal size, small relative brain size) suggest that extinct lemurs were relatively inactive. If so, they may have had relatively small home ranges, perhaps on par with smaller-bodied extant lemurs. We used strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr), which vary spatially primarily as a function of geology, to compare mobility for eight lemur genera: Eulemur, Lemur, Lepilemur and Propithecus (extant), and Archaeolemur, Megaladapis, Pachylemur and Palaeopropithecus (extinct). Subfossils came from two sites: Ankilitelo/Mikoboka, a series of sinkholes in a limestone plateau, and Ampasambazimba, a wetland underlain by a variety of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Within either site, we expected more mobile taxa to exhibit more variable 87Sr/86Sr, reflecting larger movement across a diversity of geologies. We found no differences in median 87Sr/86Sr or variance between extinct and extant lemurs at either site (Wilcoxon and Bartlett p>0.05 for all comparisons). There were apparent but insignificant differences among genera (Kruskal-Wallis and Bartlett p>0.05). Isotopic variability was greater at Ampasambazimba than at Ankilitelo/Mikoboka, reflecting differences in the underlying geology. One Palaeopropithecus from Ankilitelo/Mikoboka and one Eulemur from Ampasambazimba had unusually elevated 87Sr/86Sr. We suspect that both of these individuals were deposited at their respective sites by a predatory bird. These results demonstrate the value of 87Sr/86Sr for testing hypotheses related to the behavior of now-extinct species. Strontium isotopes support low mobility for extinct lemurs, and suggest that Lemuriformes as a whole differ from anthropoids in having relatively depressed basal metabolism and reduced activity levels. These traits reduce energetic expenditure, and likely developed in response to Madagascar’s harsh environments. However, small home ranges also make lemurs more vulnerable to extinction.