cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
High-throughput electrical measurement and microfluidic sorting of semiconductor nanowires

Existing nanowire electrical characterization tools not only are expensive and require sophisticated facilities, but are far too slow to enable statistical characterization of highly variable samples. They are also generally not compatible with further sorting and processing of nanowires. Here, we demonstrate a high-throughput, solution-based electro-orientation-spectroscopy (EOS) method, which is capable of automated electrical characterization of individual nanowires by direct optical visualization of their alignment behavior under spatially uniform electric fields of different frequencies. We demonstrate that EOS can quantitatively characterize the electrical conductivities of nanowires over a 6-order-of-magnitude range (10−5 to 10 S m−1, corresponding to typical carrier densities of 1010–1016 cm−3), with different fluids used to suspend the nanowires. By implementing EOS in a simple microfluidic device, continuous electrical characterization is achieved, and the sorting of nanowires is demonstrated as a proof-of-concept. With measurement speeds two orders of magnitude faster than direct-contact methods, the automated EOS instrument enables for the first time the statistical characterization of highly variable 1D nanomaterials.
Cotton/Rayon Tipped Applicators

Applicators conformed of a cotton-wool or rayon tip on a thin wooden stick are used for dipstick technique cryosurgery. The tip is submerged in LN contained in a cup or flask and transferred to a lesion. Significant loss of cooling is lost in the process, making it less efficient than spray. Sticks, cotton-wool and rayon can be bought separately to improvise large tip applicators.
Les fontes à graphite sphéroïdal de structure bainito-austénitique

La construction de machines et de vehicules modernes exige que les materiaux utilises presentent une serie de proprietes particulieres. Par exemple, des materiaux resistant a l’usure doivent encore posseder une tenacite favorable et une resistance a la fatigue elevee. Cette rare combinaison de proprietes - haute resistance mecanique, resistance a la fatigue elevee, tenacite favorable et bonne resistance a l’usure - est offerte par le groupe des fontes a graphite spheroidal de structure bainito-austenitique.
Infomax models of oculomotor control

From a Bayesian point of view, learning is simply the process of making inferences about the world based on incoming data. The efficiency of this learning is determined by the quality of the information provided by the sensors. Thus, a critical part of learning is the existence of a sensory-motor system designed to maximize the information required to achieve goals. Here we show that a wide range of primate eye movement phenomena can be elegantly explained from the point of view of infomax control. The proposed approach describes the velocity profiles of saccadic eye movements as well as previously existing models. In addition, the infomax approach explains phenomena that are beyond the scope of previous models: non-saccadic eye movements, and the difference in end point and velocity profiles observed in saccade-to-target and reach-to-target tasks. The results suggest that the occulomotor control system evolved to be a very efficient real time learning machine.
Water Markets: How Do We Expand Their Use?

This chapter outlines how the book is organized and how it examines water markets in many different parts of the world. Water markets can be a very effective tool for many countries as they address their growing water scarcity problems. These markets can help reallocate water to higher valued users while improving both water use and allocation efficiency. With tools such as option contracts, water markets can also help in the environment of climate change and the accompanying increase in hydrologic variability. The constraints to water markets are also discussed along with suggestions regarding how such constraints can be eliminated. Effective institutional arrangements including a sound legal system with water rights separate from land are critical for reducing constraints particularly the potential of negative third party impacts. Markets in eight different countries and three different U.S. states are considered ranging from the village level water markets in Oman to basin wide formal water markets throughout the Murray-Darling River basin in Australia. Much has been learned about water markets in the past quarter century particularly that stakeholder participation is critical for the development and effectiveness of water markets with robust institutional arrangements supporting them.
Results Through Transparency: Does Publicity Lead to Better Procurement?

Governments buy about $9 trillion worth of goods and services a year, and their procurement policies are increasingly subject to international standards and institutional regulation including the WTO Plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement, Open Government Partnership commitments and International Financial Institution procurement rules. These standards focus on transparency and open competition as key tools to improve outcomes. While there is some evidence on the impact of competition on prices in government procurement, there is less on the impact of specific procurement rules including transparency on competition or procurement outcomes. Using a database of World Bank financed contracts, we explore the impact of a relatively minor procurement rule governing advertising on competition using regression discontinuity design and matching methods. The rule does appear to have a small, positive impact on bidding levels, suggesting the potential for more significant and strongly enforced transparency initiatives to have a sizable effect on procurement outcomes.
ITS: A DDoS Mitigating Architecture

We propose a DDoS mitigation architecture that protects legitimate traffic from the large volume of malicious packets during a DDoS bandwidth attack. The system keeps a legitimacy list and gives higher priority to those packets that are on the list. The legitimacy list is kept up to date by keeping only the entries that complete the TCP three-way handshake and thus defeats IP spoofing. Entries in the list contain the IP address and the path signature of active TCP connections. A packet obtains high priority if its path signature strongly correlates with the corresponding path signature stored in the legitimacy list. We show that the scheme is efficient when deployed incrementally by using priority queuing at perimeter routers. An autonomous system (AS) can immediately benefit from our proposed system when deployed even if other ASs do not deploy it.
Patterns in protein flexibility: a comparison of NMR "ensembles", MD trajectories and crystallographic B-factors

Proteins are molecular machines requiring flexibility to function. Crystallographic B-factors and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations both provide insights into protein flexibility on an atomic scale. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) lacks a universally accepted analog of the B-factor, however, a lack of convergence in atomic coordinates in an NMR-based structure calculation also suggests atomic mobility. This paper describes a pattern in the coordinate uncertainties of backbone heavy atoms in NMR-derived structural "ensembles" first noted in the development of FindCore2 (previously called Expanded FindCore: DA Snyder, J Grullon, YJ Huang, R Tejero, GT Montelione, Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics 82 (S2), 219-230) and demonstrates that this pattern exists in coordinate variances across MD trajectories but not in crystallographic B-factors. This either suggests that MD trajectories and NMR "ensembles" capture motional behavior of peptide bond units not captured by B-factors or indicates a deficiency common to force fields used in both NMR and MD calculations. Additionally, a comparison of Cα B-factors with Cα coordinate variability in NMR "ensembles" and MD trajectories shows that NMR-derived coordinate uncertainties measure variability in atomic positions as well as crystallographic B-factors and superimpositions of MD trajectories do.
What does the Managing Emotions branch of the MSCEIT add to the MATRICS consensus cognitive battery

The Managing Emotions branch of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT-ME) was included within the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) as the measure of social cognition, although limited research has examined its associations with psychosocial functioning in people with schizophrenia or other severe mental illnesses. This secondary analysis with 107 participants examined what the MSCEIT-ME contributes to our understanding of functioning in this population, and whether it uniquely predicts psychosocial functioning after controlling for performance on the other MCCB tests and negative symptoms. Performance on the MSCEIT-ME was significantly correlated with all three MCCP factors (processing speed, attention/working memory, learning) within schizophrenia-schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and other mixed diagnoses groups. Better performance on MSCEIT-ME was associated with better psychosocial functioning on the Quality of Life Scale (QLS) in the schizophrenia-schizoaffective disorder group, but not in the bipolar or other mixed diagnoses groups. In addition, in the schizophrenia-schizoaffective disorder group, after controlling for demographic characteristics in stepwise multiple regression analyses, MSCEIT-ME was the only significant predictor of the QLS total score and the QLS interpersonal relations and intrapsychic foundations subscales, with none of the MCCB factors entering any of the regression models. The MSCEIT-ME may reflect a unique aspect of social cognition that is related to impaired psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia and is not tapped by the other cognitive tests on the MCCB. Further research on the MSCEIT-ME could provide unique insights into the social functioning problems in schizophrenia.
Arousal from Anesthesia After Neurosurgical Operations

Prolonged emergence after a neurosurgical procedure is a very disconcerting problem for both the surgeon and anesthesiologist. Delayed emergence may lead to expensive neuroradiologic testing that would otherwise not be done. Failure to emerge from anesthesia after a neurosurgical procedure may be multifactorial in nature and may be affected by the type of anesthesia used, the area of the brain traumatized by surgery, the size of the tumor, and medications administered to the patient prior to surgery (see Fig. 42.1).
Liver Transplantation in Patients with Multiple Organ Failures: Feasibility and Outcomes

Background & Aims Multiple organ failures (OFs) are common in patients with cirrhosis, but the independent effect of the number or type of OFs on liver transplantation (LT) outcomes is not well defined. Method United Network for Organ Sharing data were analyzed from 2002 to 2016 for all adults listed for LT who received an LT within 30 days after listing. We estimated post-LT survival stratified by number and type of pre-transplant OFs before and after adjusting for confounding variables. Results During the study period, 4,714 (4.1%) patients died and 19,375 (16.6%) patients were transplanted within 30 days of listing. One or more OF were more common in those who were transplanted (57.4%) compared to those without LT (9.5%). The probability of staying alive more than 30 days on the waiting list without LT decreased with increasing number of OFs; while 90% were alive without OF, only 20% were alive with two OFs, and 2–8% with three or more OFs. The interval between listing and transplantation decreased with an increase in OFs, and the median time to transplant after listing was only 4–5 days with three or more OFs. Although the risk of post-LT mortality increased with increasing number of OFs, the 90-day patient survival was 90% and one-year survival was 81% in the presence of 5–6 OFs. The number of OFs was an independent predictor of survival, but the maximum difference in one-year graft or patient survival between those without OF and those with 5–6 OFs was only 9%. Additionally, the type of OF had minimal impact on outcomes. Conclusions Liver transplantation is feasible with excellent outcomes, even in the presence of five or six OFs. Lay summary Multiple organ failures, ranging from 1–6, are common in hospitalized patients with cirrhosis. The survival without liver transplant is dismal in the presence of three or more organ failures. Small retrospective studies have shown that liver transplant is feasible with good outcomes even in the presence of multiple organ failures. In this study, using a large national dataset, we show that survival chances for more than 30 days in those with three or more organ failures are less than 8%. However, if a liver transplant is performed quickly, the survival chances are very high with one-year survival ranging from 84% with three organ failures to 81% with 5–6 organ failures.
Mid-range Ultradian Rhythms in Drosophila and the Circadian Clock Problem

The current molecular model of the circadian timer presumes a 24-h escapement based on a transcription/translation oscillator (TTO) as the ultimate frequency source. The output of a very accurate mammalian circadian clock functioning both in free-run and LD-entrained mode is here analyzed using clock-theory methodology. The results are used to ask whether this postulated molecular oscillator is consistent in theory with the precision observed. The outcome suggests that the TTO is found wanting in this regard and a number of reasons why this may be so are discussed. In contrast, mid-range ultradian oscillations (τ ~ 1–18 h) provide likely evidence for even faster oscillations, and these very high frequency ultradian oscillations in turn offer an alternative to the TTO as the biological clock’s escapement. The well-studied TTO would act as the “integrator” of this inherently more precise timing information translating it into a relevant time frame. Two-part timing systems such as this are universal in all man-made clocks.
Transport in 2D Complex Plasma Crystals

In this chapter, we investigate numerically the transport properties of a 2D complex plasma crystal by examining the propagation of coplanar dust lattice waves. In the limit where the Hamiltonian interactions can be decoupled from the non-Hamiltonian effects, we identify two distinct regimes of wave transport: Anderson-type delocalization and long-distance excitation. We use the spectral approach to evaluate the contribution from the Anderson problem, i.e. to determine whether the initial lattice perturbation delocalized through nearest neighbor (short distance) interaction. The theoretical predictions are then compared against the results from a mulecular dynamics simulation. Any major deviations between the predicted and observed crystal dynamics are contributed to non-Hamiltonian effects. The benefit of our approach is twofold. First, the use of complex plasma system allows for tunability of the initial conditions and investigation of the transport problem at the kinetic level. In addition, the 2D dust crystal exhibit hexagonal symmetry, which makes it an ideal macroscopic analogue for materials, such as graphene. Second, the Hamiltonian part of the transport problem is analyzed using a theoretical approach, which determines delocalization in an infinite disordered system without the use of finite-size scaling or periodic boundary conditions. Thus, the comparison between theoretical and numerical results can be used to evaluate the effect of the actual physical boundaries and system size.
Association of socioeconomic status and DKA readmission in adults with type 1 diabetes: analysis of the US National Readmission Database

Objective To identify patient and hospital predictors of recurrent diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) admissions in adults in the USA with type 1 diabetes, focusing on socioeconomic indicators. Research design and methods This cross-sectional study used the National Readmission Database to identify adult patients with type 1 diabetes admitted for DKA between 2010 and 2015. The index DKA admission was defined as the first admission within the calendar year and the primary outcome was recurrent DKA admission(s) within the same calendar year. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed using covariates of patient and hospital factors at the index admission to determine the odds of DKA readmission(s). Results Among 181 284 index DKA admissions, 39 693 (22%) had at least one readmission within the calendar year, of which 33 931 (86%) and 5762 (14%) had 1–3 and ≥4 DKA readmissions, respectively. When compared with the highest income quartile, patients in the first and second income quartiles had 46% (95% CI 30% to 64%) and 34% (95% CI 19% to 51%) higher odds of four or more DKA readmissions, respectively. Medicaid and Medicare insurance were both associated with a 3.3-fold adjusted risk (95% CI 3.0 to 3.7) for ≥4 readmissions compared with private insurance, respectively. Younger age, female sex, and discharge against medical advice were also predictive. Conclusions Lower socioeconomic status and Medicaid insurance are strong predictors of DKA readmissions in adults with type 1 diabetes in the USA. Further studies are needed to understand the mediators of this association to inform multilevel interventions for this high-risk population. Significance of the study The association of socioeconomic status (SES) and hospital admission for DKA has been studied in pediatrics with type 1 diabetes, but the data in adults are limited, and studies evaluating recurrent DKA admissions are scarcer. To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe predictors of recurrent DKA admissions in adults with type 1 diabetes on a national level in the USA. We found that those at highest risk of recurrent DKA are young women with low SES who had Medicaid or Medicare insurance. These findings should prompt further studies to explore the mediators of these disparities in patients with type 1 diabetes, as recurrent DKA results in high healthcare utilization and increased risk of long-term complications.
Social media-based visual humour use in tourism marketing: a semiotic perspective

Tourism firms using visual social media marketing are struggling with its implementation, specifically in formulating engagement-based visual message strategies. Yet, creating such appealing posts can lead to positive brand and financial outcomes. Humour has been identified as a potent tool for social media communication, given its capability to develop social interactions. Yet, how humour works on social media is not well understood – specifically its visual form. Treating humour as a symbolic resource, this study adopted a compound content analysis-semiotic analysis to identify visual content and its symbolic meaning embedded in destination marketing organization (DMO)’s social media posts. 200 Sina Weibo posts containing humour images initiated by 5 Chinese provincial DMOs were collected. The results show 6 types of humour content and6 types of symbolic meaning – none of which are product-related. This study advances the tourism literature and humour theory, and offers tourism firms a holistic view of how to fully leverage social media-based visual humour to achieve consumer reach and engagement.
Pattern Recognition on the Forehead: An Electronic Scan and a Single Glimpse:

Evaluates a new system—Trigemina—that relates visual information to blind persons by tactile stimulation through a matrix of 10 x 10 vibrating rods applied to a postage stamp sized area of skin ove...
Detecting DoS Attack in Smart Home IoT Devices Using a Graph-Based Approach

The use of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices has surged in recent years. However, due to the lack of substantial security, IoT devices are vulnerable to cyber-attacks like Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks. Most of the current security solutions are either computationally expensive or unscalable as they require known attack signatures or full packet inspection. In this paper, we introduce a novel Graph-based Outlier Detection in Internet of Things (GODIT) approach that (i) represents smart home IoT traffic as a real-time graph stream, (ii) efficiently processes graph data, and (iii) detects DoS attack in real-time. The experimental results on real-world data collected from IoT-equipped smart home show that GODIT is more effective than the traditional machine learning approaches, and is able to outperform current graph-stream anomaly detection approaches.
Crime and the Mariel Boatlift

Our paper describes crime effects attributable to the Mariel Boatlift, the 1980 Cuban refugee crisis that increased Miami’s population by nearly 10%. Using synthetic control methods to match Miami with cities that exhibit similar pre-intervention crime patterns, we find strong evidence the phenomenon comparatively increased property crime and murder rates; we also document weaker but suggestive relative growth in per capita violent crime linked with the influx of Cubans. Compositional features of the newcomers seemingly drive our results; the disproportionately young, male Mariel Cubans’ characteristics highly correlate with illicit activity. Given the unique composition of the group and the absence of rigorous screening, our findings likely constitute the “upper bound” of crime caused by migration.
Validation of one-year reliable change in the RBANS for community-dwelling older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE The current study sought to externally validate previously published standardized regression-based (SRB) equations for the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) Indexes administered twice over a one-year period. Method: Hammers and colleagues' SRB prediction equations were applied to two independent samples of community-dwelling older adults with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), including those recruited from the community (n = 64) and those recruited from a memory disorders clinic (n = 58). Results: While Observed Baseline and Observed Follow-up performances were generally comparable for both MCI samples over one year, both samples possessed significantly lower Observed One-Year Follow-up scores than were predicted based on Hammers and colleagues' development sample across many RBANS Indexes. Relatedly, both amnestic MCI samples possessed a greater percentage of participants either "declining" or failing to exhibit a long-term practice effect over one year relative to expectation across most Indexes. Further, the clinic-recruited amnestic MCI sample displayed worse baseline performances, smaller long-term practice effects, and greater proportions of individual participants exhibiting a decline across one year relative to the community amnestic MCI sample. Conclusions: These findings validate Hammers and colleagues' SRB prediction equations by (1) indicating their ability to identify clinically meaningful change across RBANS Indexes in independent samples, and (2) discriminating rates of cognitive change among cognitively nuanced samples.
Book Review: Disrupting received wisdom in psychoanalysis and critical theory

One may postulate that Lacan's avowed fidelity to Freud, in opposition to the Pharisees constituted by the IPA, bolstered his own heroic self-image, rendering him something akin to a psychoanalytic Saint Paul who uniquely understood the living spirit of Freud. Burston also notes that while Lacan appeared to venerate Freud's texts, particularly his early texts, as something akin to holy scripture, he often interpreted Freud's texts in ways that radically departed from Freud's own formulations. Burston summarizes, "This prompts the reflection that the tone of religious veneration Lacan attempted to endow on Freud's texts is oddly fetishistic, because it belies his persistent I unfaithfulness i to Freud, which is probably rooted in an unresolved ambivalence toward him" (p. 50). [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Theory & Psychology is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Solving QSAT problems with neural MCTS.

Recent achievements from AlphaZero using self-play has shown remarkable performance on several board games. It is plausible to think that self-play, starting from zero knowledge, can gradually approximate a winning strategy for certain two-player games after an amount of training. In this paper, we try to leverage the computational power of neural Monte Carlo Tree Search (neural MCTS), the core algorithm from AlphaZero, to solve Quantified Boolean Formula Satisfaction (QSAT) problems, which are PSPACE complete. Knowing that every QSAT problem is equivalent to a QSAT game, the game outcome can be used to derive the solutions of the original QSAT problems. We propose a way to encode Quantified Boolean Formulas (QBFs) as graphs and apply a graph neural network (GNN) to embed the QBFs into the neural MCTS. After training, an off-the-shelf QSAT solver is used to evaluate the performance of the algorithm. Our result shows that, for problems within a limited size, the algorithm learns to solve the problem correctly merely from self-play.
Donor to recipient transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by lung transplantation despite negative donor upper respiratory tract testing.

We describe a case of proven transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from lung donor to recipient. The donor had no clinical history or findings suggestive of infection with SARS-CoV-2 and tested negative by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on a nasopharyngeal (NP) swab obtained within 48 h of procurement. Lower respiratory tract testing was not performed. The recipient developed fever, hypotension, and pulmonary infiltrates on posttransplant day (PTD) 3, and RT-PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 on an NP swab specimen was non-reactive, but positive on bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid. One thoracic surgeon present during the transplantation procedure developed COVID-19. Sequence analysis of isolates from donor BAL fluid (obtained at procurement), the recipient, and the infected thoracic surgeon proved donor origin of recipient and health-care worker (HCW) infection. No other organs were procured from this donor. Transplant centers and organ procurement organizations should perform SARS-CoV-2 testing of lower respiratory tract specimens from potential lung donors, and consider enhanced personal protective equipment for HCWs involved in lung procurement and transplantation.
A framework of metal object insertion in the projection domain for interventional CT image quality optimization

Numerous advances in CT imaging have led to improved image guidance for interventional oncology procedures. However, image artifacts stemming from metal devices used during procedures have remained a persistent problem. Severe artifacts introduced by metallic treatment devices significantly degrade image quality in anatomical regions of interest and can substantially reduce the confidence of the interventional radiologist in accurate probe placement. The purpose of this work is to develop a framework to accurately simulate the presence of metal objects in CT images, which could be used for image quality assessment and development of artifact mitigation strategies. The projection domain insertion framework was developed based on an existing lesion insertion tool. New noise and beam hardening models were developed and incorporated into the insertion algorithm to better replicate the artifactual signal produced by the metal objects. These models were validated by comparing images of real and artificially inserted metallic rods with known material composition and dimensions in head and body CT phantoms. The validated model was applied to a single cryoablation probe, which was imaged with routine clinical acquisition parameters and reconstructed with three different sets of reconstruction settings to evaluate their effects on probe segmentation and eventual insertion performance. To determine the optimal digital probe model derived from CT images, the segmented probes were inserted into the projection data from a water phantom and compared to the corresponding water images with the real probe. Additional phantom studies were conducted with two probes positioned such that they were coplanar with the imaging plane, to fully evaluate the severity of the simulated metal artifacts. Finally, a comprehensive library of metallic probes used in our clinical practice during cryoablation and microwave ablation procedures was generated, and an intuitive graphical user interface was built to facilitate efficient insertion of any number of different probes at arbitrary positions in patient CT data. Results from the metallic rod experiments demonstrated that quantum noise, electronic noise, and beam hardening were properly modeled. Further, digital probe models derived from probe images from high resolution reconstructions with an extended HU scale yielded simulated image artifacts consistent with presentation of real artifacts; whereas, using probe models derived from segmentations of clinical reconstructions or high resolution reconstruction without the extended HU scale did not. Extension of the insertion model to two coplanar probes demonstrated production of realistic artifacts with similar magnitude and texture to real probes. Lastly, the model was successfully applied to patient data and generated convincing artifacts as compared to patient images with real probes.
State of the art and prospects of chemically and thermally aggressive membrane gas separations: Insights from polymer science

Abstract Membrane gas separation at high temperatures and in the presence of aggressive chemicals, such as H2S, NH3, SOx, NOx and hot water vapor, is attracting interest from both a fundamental and industrial standpoint. To fully exploit the benefits of membrane technology, it is imperative to develop membrane materials that withstand thermally and chemically harsh conditions, as well as to understand the fundamental principles underpinning the transport of aggressive species in polymer membranes. In this paper, we review the state of the art of membrane separations in thermally and chemically aggressive environments, with emphasis on polymer membranes and polymer-based mixed matrix membranes. Guidelines for membrane materials selection in thermally and chemically aggressive environments are provided, major roadblocks to progress in the field are discussed, and possible strategies to remove such roadblocks are proposed. Research needs are identified and recommendations for future research directions in the field are provided. Finally, to put in broad perspective the performance of the most promising literature materials, selectivity-permeability upper bounds in the presence of complex gas mixtures containing aggressive species and in a wide temperature range are shown and discussed.
Occidiofungin is the key metabolite for antifungal activity of the endophytic bacterium Burkholderia sp. MS455 against Aspergillus flavus.

Aflatoxin is a secondary metabolite produced by Aspergillus fungi and presents a major food safety concern globally. Among the available methods for prevention and control of aflatoxin, the application of antifungal bacteria has gained favorability in recent years. An endophytic bacterium MS455, isolated from soybean, exhibited broad-spectrum antifungal activity against economically important pathogens, including Aspergillus flavus. MS455 was identified as a strain of Burkholderia based on genomic analysis. Random and site-specific mutations were employed in discovery of the genes that share high homology to the ocf gene cluster of Burkholderia contaminans strain MS14, which is responsible for production of the antifungal compound occidiofungin. RNA-seq analysis demonstrated ORF1, a homolog to the ambR1 LuxR-type regulatory gene, regulates occidiofungin biosynthesis in MS455. Additionally, a total of 284 differentially expressed genes, including 138 up-regulated, and 146 down-regulated genes, suggesting that, in addition to its role in occidiofungin production, ORF1 is involved in expression of multiple genes, especially those involved in ornibactin biosynthesis. Plate bioassays showed the growth of A. flavus was significantly inhibited by the wild-type strain MS455 as compared with the ORF1 mutant. Similarly, corn kernel assays showed that growth of A. flavus and aflatoxin production were reduced significantly by MS455 as compared with buffer control and the ORF1 mutant. Collectively, the results demonstrated that production of occidiofungin is essential for antifungal activity of the endophytic bacterium MS455. This research has provided insights to understanding antifungal mechanisms of MS455 and development of biological approaches to prevent aflatoxin contamination in plant production.
Does the mechanism matter? Comparing thrombelastography between blunt and penetrating pediatric trauma patients.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE The utility of thrombelastography (TEG) in pediatric trauma remains unknown, and differences in coagulopathy between blunt and penetrating mechanisms are not established. We aimed to compare TEG patterns in pediatric trauma patients with blunt solid organ injuries (BSOI) and penetrating injuries to determine the role of mechanism in coagulopathy. METHODS Highest-level pediatric trauma activations with BSOI or penetrating injuries and admission TEG at two pediatric trauma centers were included. TEG abnormalities were defined by each institution's normative values and compared separately by injury mechanism and evidence of shock (elevated SIPA) using Kruskal-Wallis or Fisher's exact tests. RESULTS Of 118 patients included, 64 had BSOI and 54 had penetrating injuries. There were no significant differences in TEG abnormalities between the BSOI and penetrating injury groups. Patients with shock were more likely to have decreased alpha-angles (30.9% vs. 8.0%, p = 0.01) and decreased maximum amplitude (MA) (44.1% vs. 8.0%, p < 0.001) compared to those without shock, regardless of mechanism of injury. CONCLUSIONS TEG abnormalities were not significantly different between the BSOI and penetrating groups, but there were significant differences in alpha-angle and MA in those with shock, independent of mechanism. Hemodynamic status, rather than mechanism of injury, may be more predictive of coagulopathy in pediatric trauma patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE/STUDY TYPE Level III, retrospective.
Risk Control Through the Use of Procedures - A Method for Evaluating the Change in Risk

Organizations use procedures to influence or control the behavior of their workers, but often have no basis for determining whether an additional rule, or procedural control will be beneficial. This paper outlines a proposed method for determining if the addition or removal of procedural controls will impact the occurrences of critical consequences. The proposed method focuses on two aspects: how valuable the procedural control is, based on the inevitability of the consequence and the opportunity to intervene; and how likely the control is to fail, based on five procedural design elements that address how well the rule or control has been Defined, Assigned, Trained, Organized and Monitored-referred to as the DATOM elements
Eine vorläufige Bilanz des Interpretativen Paradigmas

Am Ende des vorliegenden Einfuhrungsbandes bleibt nur eine vorlaufige Bilanz. Die verschiedenen vorgestellten Perspektiven des Intepretativen Paradigmas haben weltweit die Geschichte der Soziologie und angrenzender Disziplinen beeinflusst, und sie tun das auch heute in einer Vielfalt, die hier nur angedeutet werden konnte. Sie sind dennoch nicht zu einer einzigen gemeinsamen Grundlagentheorie geronnen, obwohl sie doch in ihren unterschiedlichen Akzentsetzungen immer auch ineinaner widerhallen und eine entsprechende Integration denkbar erschiene. Vielleicht liegt jedoch gerade in der weiterbestehenden Unterschiedlichkeit der einzelnen Ansatze die Erfolgsgeschichte und andauernde Wirkungskraft des Interpretativen Paradigmas. So mochte ich nur ein paar wenige Punkte rekapitulieren. Ganz allgemein lasst sich am Ende der Ausfuhrungen festhalten, dass die Ausrichtung der Soziologie entlang der Forschungsfragen der Chicago School und, daran anschliesend, auf die Analyse von symbolisch vermittelten Interaktionsprozessen eine nachhaltige Veranderung und Erweiterung des soziologischen Denkens und Forschens mit sich gebracht hat. Sie bildet heute eine „fraglos gegebene“, selbstverstandliche Grundlage der qualitativen Sozialforschung; viele ihrer Annahmen sind in unterschiedlichste soziologische Theorieentwicklungen diffundiert (Atkinson und Housley 2003). Auch sollte deutlich geworden sein, dass sich die vorgestellten Ansatze nicht per se und unausweichlich auf die mikrosoziologische Analyse von Interaktionsprozessen oder subjektiven Sinnsetzungen beschranken. Wahrend der SI im angelsachsischen Raum nach wie vor als Theorieperspektive (allerdings mehr oder – haufiger – weniger) explizit vorhanden ist und Weiterentwicklungen erfahrt, diffundierte er in der deutschsprachigen Soziologie in die Hintergrundannahmen der qualitativen Sozialforschung. Zeitschriftenneugrundungen wie „Symbolische Interaktion“ oder verschiedene neuere Veroffentlichungen bzw. Buchserien mit pragmatistischem und symbyolisch-interaktionistischem Hintergrund zeigen im Verbund mit ethnographischen Vorgehensweisen in der Soziologie jedoch auch im deutschsprachigen Raum gegenwartig ein neues Interesse an diesen traditionsreichen soziologischen Grundlegungen und Unternehmungen an. Umgekehrt hat die sozialkonstruktivistische Wissenssoziologie von Berger und Luckman im deutschsprachigen Raum zu einer besonderen Profilbildung in Gestalt der Hermeneutischen Wissenssoziologie und zahlreichen empirischen Studien zu Wissensfragen gefuhrt. Landerubergreifend haben sich Ethnomethodologie und Konversationsanalyse als spezifische Forschungsparadigmen uberaus erfolgreich etabliert. Goffmans Soziologie wurde und wird breit rezipiert und erlaubt eine detaillierte Untersuchung von Strukturierungsprozessen sozialer Begegnunen, ohne in eine entsprechende Schulenbildung einzumunden.
On the Use of a Role Orientation Measure to Determine Psychographics and Advertising Attributes on Women

This study uses women's sex role orientation as a means to psychographically determine lifestyles and attitudes towards advertising. The results of the research suggest that it can be used to differentiate women on these two dimensions and could represent a potentially useful new tool in future research on women consumers.
Meningeal Leukemia and Carcinomatosis

The term “neoplastic meningitis” refers to diffuse or multifocal seeding of the leptomeninges by tumor cells. Pure neoplastic meningitis is defined by the presence of leptomeningeal involvement by tumor cells in the absence of concomitant malignant metastasis in the brain or spinal cord. Primary leptomeningeal tumors such as primary melanomatosis or primary glioblastomatosis are exceptionally rare (Table 1). Secondary neoplastic meningitis can be divided into two groups. The first includes meningeal leukemias and lymphomas, and the second includes leptomeningeal metastases of solid tumor, the so-called “meningeal carciomatosis.”
Active Cancellation – A Means to Zero Dead-Time Pulse EPR

The necessary resonator employed in pulse electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) rings after the excitation pulse and creates a finite detector dead-time that ultimately prevents the detection of signal from fast relaxing spin systems, hindering the application of pulse EPR to room temperature measurements of interesting chemical or biological systems. We employ a recently available high bandwidth arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) to produce a cancellation pulse that precisely destructively interferes with the resonant cavity ring-down. We find that we can faithfully detect EPR signal at all times immediately after, as well as during, the excitation pulse. This is a proof of concept study showcasing the capability of AWG pulses to precisely cancel out the resonator ring-down, and allow for the detection of EPR signal during the pulse itself, as well as the dead-time of the resonator. However, the applicability of this approach to conventional EPR experiments is not immediate, as it hinges on either (1) the availability of low-noise microwave sources and amplifiers to produce the necessary power for pulse EPR experiment or (2) the availability of very high conversion factor micro coil resonators that allow for pulse EPR experiments at modest microwave power.
Biosafety classification of livestock and poultry animal pathogens.

This chapter introduces a proposed scheme for use as a reference in placing animal pathogens into biosafety classifications. The importance of an accepted animal disease classification is apparent; however, the universally accepted guidelines for placing pathogens that only infect animals into biosafety risk categories are poorly defined compared with the guidelines for human pathogens. A biosafety classification scheme for animal pathogens is not intended to place undue burden on researchers but to enhance the quality of research and efforts to improve animal health. The natural starting point for proper biosecurity classification of strict animal pathogens is risk assessment. A consensus on animal pathogen risk groups was reached at the 5th International Veterinary Biosafety Workshop in 1996. The emphasis of biosafety risk classification was on pathogens that infect only animals (not affecting human health). Laboratory work allows the containment and control of infectious materials during procedures by utilizing standard laboratory practices and techniques and also specialized primary barrier equipment. Animals (livestock and poultry species) infected with disease agents present unique challenges for biosecurity control.
Local Redistribution, Interest Groups, and Judicial Competence

Theories of fiscal federalism and urban economics suggest that only relatively centralized levels of government can successfully implement redistributive policies. Nevertheless, local redistributive programs that direct resources to both the wealthy and the poor are ubiquitous. In this paper, I suggest why localities might adopt such programs. I argue that there are multiple plausible reasons for publicly interested local officials to engage in significant redistributive spending. At the same time, I recognize that the very characteristics of municipalities that make local redistribution possible also provide opportunities for its abuse. I suggest that, ideally, judicial analysis of the scope of local autonomy could distinguish between benign and malign redistributive programs, but that the capacity of courts to make those distinctions in practice is significantly limited. In this regard, I suggest and evaluate a variety of proxies that courts could plausibly utilize to discern the presence of "malign" redistribution, that is, redistributive programs that advance private rather than public interests. I conclude, however, that these proxies are unlikely to be of much assistance, except in pathological cases where there exist multiple indicia of private interest. Finally, I suggest that even in those rare cases in which the judiciary might accurately recognize improper local redistribution, issues of institutional competence should limit judicial intervention.
Lifted relational Kalman filtering

Kalman Filtering is a computational tool with widespread applications in robotics, financial and weather forecasting, environmental engineering and defense. Given observation and state transition models, the Kalman Filter (KF) recursively estimates the state variables of a dynamic system. However, the KF requires a cubic time matrix inversion operation at every timestep which prevents its application in domains with large numbers of state variables. We propose Relational Gaussian Models to represent and model dynamic systems with large numbers of variables efficiently. Furthermore, we devise an exact lifted Kalman Filtering algorithm which takes only linear time in the number of random variables at every timestep. We prove that our algorithm takes linear time in the number of state variables even when individual observations apply to each variable. To our knowledge, this is the first lifted (linear time) algorithm for filtering with continuous dynamic relational models.
Mining Determining Sets for Partially Defined Functions

This paper describes an algorithm that determines the minimal sets of variables that determine the values of a discrete partial function. The Apriori-like algorithm is based on the dual hereditary property of determining sets. Experimental results are provided that demonstrate the efficiency of the algorithm for functions with up to 24 variables. The dependency of the number of minimal determining sets on the size of the specification of the partial function is also examined.
Clinical artifacts in real-time examinations

Ultrasonic evaluation of the eye gives an accurate representation of the tissues and structures under observation. There are several artifacts which can occur in ultrasonic examinations, however, which tend to confuse the clinical picture and may lead to an erroneous diagnosis. Real-time ultrasonic studies may produce a disturbing number of image artifacts which confound the clinical picture. Multiple-element transducers can produce their own artifacts which add to the confusion. By recognizing these artifacts and understanding the mechanism of their production, the sonographer can avoid mistakes and use ultrasonic equipment more effectively at its higher sensitivity levels. This paper will discuss those artifacts frequently encountered in real-time clinical ultrasonic examinations, particularly artifacts which may be related to multiple array transducers and higher ultrasonic sensitivity. An exhaustive discussion of all ophthalmic ultrasonic artifacts is beyond the scope of this communication.