cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms for Depolarization by I-PalmitoyIcarnitine in Single Guinea Pig Ventricular Myocytes

I-PC Inhibits INa/K and IK1 in Heart. introduction: The changes of the resting potential (RP) and of the current-voltage (I-V) relationship induced by l-palmitoylcarnitine (I-PC) in the presence of the IK1 blocker, cesium, or in the presence of the INa/K blocker, ouabain, were tested in guinea pig ventricular myocytes to ascertain the relative contributions of IK1 and INa/k suppression to the membrane depolarization caused by this amphiphile. Methods and Results: Ramp voltages were applied to myocytes with the whole cell, patch clamp technique. 1-PC (10 μM) produced additional membrane depolarization in the presence of either 10 mM Cs+ or 30 μM ouabain. In the presence of Cs+ 1-PC, like 3 μM ouabain, shifted current inward at potentials negative to -20 mV as a result of INa/K blockade. In the presence of 30 μM ouabain, 1-PC, like Cs+, shifted current inward at potentials between -27 and -88 mV and outward at potentials negative to -88 mV. This is attributed to IK1 block because the current was inwardly rectifying, with a reversal potential near EK. When I-PC or ouabain inhibited INa/K, the presence of an Ni2+-sensitive component attributed to INa/ca distorted the membrane I-V relationship, particularly in the presence of Cs+. The relative contributions of IK1 and INa/K block by 1-PC were voltage dependent. At the RP, 1-PC produced a greater block of INa/K than of IK1. Conclusion: I-PC depolarizes the resting membrane by inhibiting both IK1 and INa/K. It is concluded that suppression of INa/K by I-PC predominates over block of IK, to depolarize the membrane at the RP.
Anthrax vaccination in the Millennium Cohort: validation and measures of health.

Background In 1998, the United States Department of Defense initiated the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program. Concerns about vaccine-related adverse health effects followed, prompting several studies. Although some studies used self-reported vaccination data, the reliability of such data has not been established. The purpose of this study was to compare self-reported anthrax vaccination to electronic vaccine records among a large military cohort and to evaluate the relationship between vaccine history and health outcome data. Methods Between September 2005 and February 2006 self-reported anthrax vaccination was compared to electronic records for 67,018 participants enrolled in the Millennium Cohort Study between 2001 and 2003 using kappa statistics. Multivariable modeling investigated vaccination concordance as it pertains to subjective health (functional status) and objective health (hospitalization) metrics. Results Greater than substantial agreement (kappa=0.80) was found between self-report and electronic recording of anthrax vaccination. Of all participants with electronic documentation of anthrax vaccination, 98% self-reported being vaccinated; and of all participants with no electronic record of vaccination, 90% self-reported not receiving a vaccination. There were no differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated participants in overall measures of health. Only the subset of participants who self-reported anthrax vaccination, but had no electronic confirmation, differed from others in the cohort, with consistently lower measures of health as indicated by Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey for Veterans (SF-36V) scores. Conclusions These results indicate that military members accurately recall their anthrax vaccinations. Results also suggest that anthrax vaccination among Millennium Cohort participants is not associated with self-reported health problems or broad measures of health problems severe enough to require hospitalization. Service members who self-report vaccination with no electronic documentation of vaccination, however, report lower measures of physical and mental health and deserve further research.
Diurnal Variation in Insulin Sensitivity of Glucose Metabolism Is Associated With Diurnal Variations in Whole-Body and Cellular Fatty Acid Metabolism in Metabolically Normal Women

Context: The mechanism(s) responsible for diurnal variations in insulin sensitivity of glucose metabolism in healthy people are unclear. Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate whether diurnal variations in whole-body and cellular fatty acid metabolism could contribute to evening insulin resistance in metabolically normal people. Subjects and Design: We measured plasma the free fatty acid (FFA) concentration, palmitate kinetics, and skeletal muscle expression of genes involved in fatty acid metabolism at breakfast (7:00 am) and dinner (7:00 pm) in 13 overweight (body mass index 27.8 ± 1.2 kg/m2) but metabolically normal, women. Results: Plasma FFA concentration was approximately 30% greater just before consuming dinner than breakfast (P < .05) and remained greater after dinner than breakfast (FFA areas under the curve: 0.88 ± 0.33 and 0.51 ± 0.09 μmol/mL × 4 h, P = .001). However, adipose tissue lipolytic activity was not different in the evening and in the morning. Skeletal muscle expressio...
RNA polymerase II phosphorylation: uncoupling from GAL4-VP16 directed open complex formation and transcription in a reconstituted system

Abstract An activated transcription system was constructed using substantially purified liver factors, Hela TFIID and GAL4-VP16. The system was used to study the relationship between RNA polymerase II large subunit phosphorylation and other ATP-dependent processes occurring during activated transcription. When C-terminal domain (CTD) kinase activity was inhibited, activator dependent open promoter complex formation proceeded normally. These open complexes could function to produce RNA in the absence of CTD phosphorylation, although the level of RNA produced was changed somewhat. The results demonstrate that RNA polymerase II CTD phosphorylation is not generally required for the formation of activator-dependent, functional open promoter complexes. Taken together with prior results the experiments suggest that a requirement for CTD phosphorylation may be situation-dependent and thus serve a regulatory function.
Adaptive control of piecewise linear systems: The output tracking case

This paper studies the adaptive state feedback for state tracking control problem for piecewise linear systems, which are approximations of nonlinear controlled systems at multiple operating points. Piecewise linear reference model systems are studied and used for generating state trajectories. Adaptive schemes are developed using Lyapunov design methods, and their stability and tracking performance are analyzed and evaluated by simulation examples. Asymptotic tracking performance of such an adaptive control system with a sufficiently rich reference input is shown by simulation results, indicating that certain persistent excitation conditions can be sufficient for ensuring the desired asymptotic tracking in the presence of repetitive system switchings.
Anatomic Lines and Extent of Exposure in Expanded Endoscopic Approaches to the Craniovertebral Junction

A t 2 a p I s s i o p o i T he craniovertebral junction (CVJ) is a complex anatomic region that contains key neurovascular structures, including the lower medulla and spinal cord, lower cranial and pper spinal nerves, and vertebrobasilar arterial system. In addiion, the bony elements comprising the occiput and C1-2 verterae adjoin at the occipital condyles and atlanto-axial joints to reate the stabilizing structure supporting the cranium and proecting these soft-tissue structures. Therefore, pathology in this egion may cause problems related to neurovascular compresion, structural instability, or both.
The Vividness Effect in Services Advertising: Refinements for Strategy

Because of the intangible nature of services compared to products and the associated difficulty of effectively communicating a services message, marketers have proposed specific strategies for services advertising. A central theme in the services advertising literature is a conceptual argument for the use of concrete, vivid language as opposed to abstractions. Surprisingly, this suggestion has not been empirically examined within a services context. This paper introduces a body of empirical evidence on the effect of vivid information, and discusses its relevance to services advertising. The authors then suggest important directions for future research and propose refinements to advertising strategy for the service marketer.
Secondary Structure Changes in Mutant Transthyretins after Proteolysis by Neutrophilic Serine Proteases

The secondary structure of plasma transthyretin (TTR) from patients with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy was studied with respect to alteration in the amount of beta conformation after exposure to proteolytic enzymes of the neutrophilic serine protease family. We examined TTR from four affected individuals, each with a different mutation or at a different stage of disease. After exposure to human neutrophilic elastase (HNE) or cathepsin G, circular dichroic (CD) spectra for each was compared to normal.
Reducing power and cycle requirement for fast fourier transform of electrocardiogram signals through low level arithmetic optimizations for cardiac implantable devices

The Fast Fourier Transform or FFT remains to be the de facto standard in almost all disciplines for computing discrete Fourier transform. In embedded biomedical applications, efficient signal processing algorithms such as FFT for spectrum analysis are indispensable. The FFT is an O(Nlog2N) algorithm which requires complex multiplication and addition using floating point numbers. On extremely power constrained embedded systems such as cardiac pacemakers, floating point operations are very cycle intensive and costly in terms of power. This work aims to exploit the repetitive nature of the Electrocardiogram (ECG) to reduce the number of total arithmetic operations required to execute a 128 point FFT routine. Using the simple concept of lookup tables, the proposed algorithm is able to improve both the performance and energy footprint for computing the FFT of the ECG data. An increase of 9.22% in computational speed and an improvement of 10.1% in battery life on a 32 bit embedded platform for a standard split-radix-2 FFT routine is achieved. The concept is tested using actual ECG data collected from PhysioNet.
P2Y12 Receptor Modulates Sepsis-Induced Inflammation

Objective— Platelets modulate hemostasis and immune responses via interactions with immune cells through secretion of immunemodulators and cell–cell interactions. The P2Y 12 receptor mediates ADP-induced aggregation and secretion in platelets. Approach and Results— Using a mouse model of intra-abdominal sepsis and acute lung injury, we investigated the role of the P2Y 12 receptor in neutrophil migration and lung inflammation in P2Y 12 null mice and in mice pretreated with the P2Y 12 antagonist clopidogrel. Our data show a decrease in circulating white blood cells and a decrease in platelet activation and platelet–leukocyte interactions in treated mice compared with untreated mice. Additionally, lung injury and platelet sequestration were diminished in clopidogrel-treated mice compared with their untreated septic littermates. Similar results were observed in P2Y 12 null mice: platelet activation and platelet–leukocyte aggregates were decreased in septic P2Y 12 null mice compared with wild-type mice. P2Y 12 null mice were refractory to lung injury compared with wild-type mice. Finally, to evaluate P2Y 12 -independent effects of clopidogrel, we pretreated P2Y 12 null mice. Interestingly, the number of circulating neutrophils was reduced in treated septic P2Y 12 null mice, suggesting neutrophils as a target for clopidogrel pleiotropic effects. No difference was observed in P2Y 1 null mice during sepsis, indicating that the P2Y 12 receptor is responsible for the effects. Conclusions— P2Y 12 null mice are refractory to sepsis-induced lung injury, suggesting a key role for activated platelets and the P2Y 12 receptor during sepsis.
Surveillance and analysis on death causes of 2010 in Shaoxing County

Objective To explore the distribution feature of death causes and the affection on life among residents of Shaoxing County,and to provide evidence for comprehensive control.Methods Surveillance data on the causes of deaths and demographic data in Shaoxing County were collected and analyzed.Results The average mortality rate was 648.15/100,000 and standardized mortality was 341.05/100,000,and the rate of chronic noninfectious disease accounting for 81.33 % of the total death.The top-five causes of death were malignant tumor(172.66/100,000),cerebrovascular disease(135.16/100,000),respiratory disease(114.18/100,000),heart disease(75.84/100,000),and injury and poisoning(61.26/100,000).Conclusion Chronic non-infectious disease has become a main cause to endanger the residents′health and malignant tumor was the most common death cause in Shaoxing County.So,comprehensive prevention and control of chronic non-infectious diseases should be strengthened,especially for malignant tumor.
Biliary tract surgery.

Many of the complications of biliary tract surgery are seen in elderly patients who also possess significant cardiopulmonary deficits, diabetes mellitus, and other disorders of advancing age. Operations in this group of patients could in many cases be avoided by the decision for earlier cholecystectomy in younger patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic gallstones.
Primary Repair of Completely Transected Female Urethra by Advancement

AbstractA case of complete transection of the female urethra by a 30-caliber bullet is presented. Successful primary repair by intussusception was accomplished. This method of treatment is preferred in cases when there is enough length to allow mobilization of the urethral remnants.
Effects of cerebral TRH on intestinal water transport: role of vagal, muscarinic, and VIP pathways.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) is a central nervous system (CNS) transmitter that stimulates various gastrointestinal secretory and motor processes by increasing vagal outflow. In this study, the CNS effects of TRH on ileal and jejunal water transport were examined in awake rats and dogs, respectively. Cerebral but not intravenous TRH (0.1-5.0 nmol/kg) significantly (P < 0.01) reversed net water absorption from approximately 30 microliters.cm-1.h-1 in rats and 300 microliters.cm-1.h-1 in dogs toward net water secretion of 60 and 600 microliters.cm-1.h-1, respectively. Truncal vagotomy and ganglionic blockade with chlorisondamine completely abolished this stimulatory effect of cerebral TRH, whereas adrenalectomy, hypophysectomy, noradrenergic and opiate blockade, and inhibition of prostaglandin and nitric oxide synthesis did not. Atropine methylnitrate significantly (P < 0.05) attenuated the stimulatory response produced by TRH by approximately 30%. Intravenous infusion of the vasoactive intestinal pe...
Effect of glucagon on histamine- and pentagastrin-stimulated canine gastric acid secretion and mucosal blood flow.

The effect of glucagon given intravenously, on histamine- and pentagastrin-stimulated gastric secretion, was studied in conscious dogs with Heidenhain pouches. The possible role that the gastric microcirculation may have in mediating the glucagon effect was assessed using the aminopyrine clearance technique. During maximal or submaximal histamine stimulation, glucagon, in dosages varying between 20 to 80 pg per kg failed to affect gastric secretion significantly. Pentagastrin-stimulated secretion was decreased as much as 90% from control levels by doses of glucagon ranging between 1 and 80 pg per kg. In these studies, a concomitant decrease in mucosal blood flow was always seen; however, by determining the change in the ratio of blood flow to secretory rate, the reduction in mucosal blood flow was found to be secondary to a fall in secretion. These studies indicate that glucagon has an inhibitory action on pentagastrin-stimulated secretion and that the inhibitory effect is not due to restriction of mucosal blood flow.
Bose-Hubbard model on a triangular lattice with diamond ring exchange

Ring-exchange interactions have been proposed as a possible mechanism for a Bose-liquid phase at zero temperature, a phase that is compressible with no superfluidity. Using the stochastic Green function algorithm (SGF), we study the effect of these interactions for bosons on a two-dimensional triangular lattice. We show that the supersolid phase that is known to exist in the ground state for a wide range of densities is rapidly destroyed as the ring-exchange interactions are turned on. We establish the ground-state phase diagram of the system, which is characterized by the absence of the expected Bose-liquid phase.
ADDITIONAL APPLICATIONS OF THE DEFINITE INTEGRAL

A body consisting of a thin sheet of substance is called a lamina. The mass of a homogeneous lamina of area A is assumed to be given by pA, where p may be thought of as the mass of a square unit of the lamina. When property of additivity is applied to mass, ΔM = p ΔA, where ΔA is the area of the lamina subregion of any size whatever and ΔM is its mass. The definition of the mass of a lamina of variable density satisfies three conditions: (1) it is consistent with the definition of the mass of a lamina of constant density, (2) it regards mass as additive, and (3) it assumes the validity of inequality. This chapter explains the concept of work done by a variable force and the center of gravity.
A narrative approach to studying symbolic boundaries among drug users: A qualitative meta-synthesis:

The narrative study of identity promotes the idea that people develop social identities by telling stories about themselves and others. Through these stories, people associate with desired groups a...
Chapter 3 – Lead-acid batteries for medium- and large-scale energy storage

The lead-acid battery represents the oldest rechargeable battery technology. Lead-acid batteries can be found in a wide variety of applications, including small-scale power storage such as UPS systems, starting, lighting, and ignition power sources for automobiles, along with large, grid-scale power systems. While inexpensive when compared to competing battery technologies, lead-acid cells have a significantly lower power density and higher weight, along with a lower cycle life. Recently, significant improvements in the cycle life of lead-acid batteries have been achieved through the incorporation of carbon into the negative plate, either as a direct addition to the negative active mass or as an electrochemical supercapacitor. Carbon modification has provided new life to aging lead-acid battery technology, enabling its use in hybrid vehicles as well as stationary storage.
Effects of Calcium Antagonists on Injured Cells

In recent years, calcium has been recognized as a key messenger in the regulation of a variety of cellular processes (1). The regulatory role of calcium depends upon a low cytosolic calcium ionic activity which is maintained by energy-requiring transport mechanisms operating at the level of the membranous organelles. During cell activation, the cytosolic calcium activity rises transiently and calcium alters metabolic reactions by binding to specific receptors such as troponin-C, calmodulin, parvalbumin and others (1). In many cells, activation has been shown to be associated with a transmembrane inward flux of calcium, although release of internally stored calcium may importantly contribute to the rise in cytosolic calcium (2). For a cell to maintain its normal electrolyte composition and excitability, a coordinated extrusion of calcium must follow net uptake. Whereas electrophysiological studies have provided considerable information about the influx of calcium through specific membrane pores, the transport mechanisms responsible for the extrusion of calcium are less well understood (2). It has been assumed that accumulation of calcium in injured cells reflects predominantly a passive inward leak of calcium through damaged cell membranes. However, another hypothesis is that the initial accumulation of calcium in injured cells is not caused by some gross inward electrolyte leak, but reflects instead an impaired uphill transport of calcium.
When Richard met CG: reference-point and English copy-raising*

The aim of this paper is to develop a Cognitive Grammar-based analysis of English Copy-raising (CR) constructions such as Richard seems like he is dancing. We argue that the notion of reference-point plays a crucial role in licensing the matrix-subject of the construction. In CR, with the epistemic verbs seem and appear, the matrix-subject functions as a reference-point in relation to the pronominal copy (if a copy exists) in the embedded clause. The aboutness topicality of the matrix-subject in CR is expected, owing to its reference-point property. The epistemic CR construction is acceptable without a pronominal copy if the matrix-subject functions as a reference-point in relation to the complement clause. The same type of analysis is applied to the CR construction with perceptual resemblance (PR) verbs – sound, look, feel, and smell – leading to the conclusion that the strong dichotomy between epistemic and PR verbs is illusory. It is further demonstrated that expletive there-raising in CR is motivated by the same reference-point phenomenon. The difference between there-raising and other CR examples stems from the role of there as a setting subject. Our reference-point-based analysis predicts a metonymic interpretation of the matrix-subject, which we attribute to the connection between reference-point and metonymy.
Trends in James Baldwin Criticism 2001–10

James Baldwin criticism from 2001 through 2010 is marked by an increased appreciation for Baldwin’s entire oeuvre including his writing after the mid 1960s. The question of his artistic decline remains debated, but more scholars find a greater consistency and power in Baldwin’s later work than previous scholars had found. A group of dedicated Baldwin scholars emerged during this period and have continued to host regular international conferences. The application of new and diverse critical lenses—including cultural studies, political theory, religious studies, and black queer theory—contributed to more complex readings of Baldwin’s texts. Historical and legal approaches re-assessed Baldwin’s relationship to the Civil Rights and Black Power movements and new material emerged on Baldwin’s decade in Turkey. Some historical perspective gave many critics a more nuanced approach to the old “art” vs. “politics” debate as it surfaced in Baldwin’s initial reception, many now finding Baldwin’s “angry” work to be more “relevant” than “out of touch” as it was thought of during his lifetime. In the first decade of the new millennium, three books of new primary source material, a new biography, four books of literary criticism, three edited collections of critical essays, two special issues of journals and numerous book chapters and articles were published, marking a significant increase not only in the quantity, but the quality of Baldwin criticism.
Benchmark Comparisons of Leading Wind and Solar Areas with the Coachella Valley: Implications

Renewable energy development and entrepreneurship in the Coachella Valley, which are at fairly early stages, are compared to benchmark mature metropolitan areas for renewable energy in Texas and Maryland. The purpose is to achieve broader perspective from states outside the U.S. Southwest, and to gain insights into possible opportunities and challenges for the Valley in the future. A literature review examines the history of policy formulation for wind energy in Texas and of barriers to residential adoption of solar. The main chapter focus is on the metropolitanarea benchmarks of Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land for wind energy; and Baltimore-Columbia-Towson for solar energy. For each metropolitan area and its state, the history and background of renewable energy are examined, as well as the geographic distributions of renewable manufacturing facilities relative to socio-economic features. Case examples are presented of wind and solar innovation. The findings on the benchmark areas are compared to those from Chap. 4 for the Coachella Valley, and the implications are discussed.
Accelerated Leach Testing of GLASS (ALTGLASS): I. Informatics approach to high level waste glass gel formation and aging

Glass corrosion data from the ALTGLASS™ database were used to determine if gel compositions, which evolve as glass systems corrode, are correlated with the generation of zeolites and subsequent increase in the glass dissolution rate at long times. The gel compositions were estimated based on the difference between the elemental glass starting compositions and the measured elemental leachate concentrations from the long-term product consistency tests (ASTM C1285) at various stages of dissolution, ie, reaction progress. A well-characterized subset of high level waste glasses from the database was selected: these glasses had been leached for 15-20 years at reaction progresses up to ~80%. The gel composition data, at various reaction progresses, were subjected to a step-wise regression, which demonstrated that hydrogel compositions with Si*/Al* ratios of <1.0 did not generate zeolites and maintained low dissolution rates for the duration of the experiments. Glasses that formed hydrogel compositions with Si^*/Al^* ratios ≥1, generated zeolites accompanied by a resumption in the glass dissolution rate. The role of the gel Si/Al ratio, and the interactions with the leachate, provides the fundamental understanding needed to predict if and when the glass dissolution rate will increase due to zeolitization.
Hearing Loss in Facioscapulohumeral Dystrophy

The clinical presentation of facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) with unusual large 4q35 deletions was studied with attention to hearing loss.
Remittance and economic development: Evidence from Bangladesh using unrestricted error correction model and Engle-Granger cointegration approach

Remittance is one of the popular issues in the development economics especially for the developing countries. This paper attempted at finding the relationship between remittance flow and economic development using time series data of 1976�2007. The two modern time series econometric approachesbound testing Autoregressive Distributed Lag Models or Unrestricted Error Correction Model and EngleGranger two step procedures for cointegration testwere exand this study finds that remittance is not significant contributing factor for the GDP per capita both in the short and long run. However, the foreign direct investment is found significant factor in the short, though it is not significant factor in the long run. This study suggests adopting necessary actions to ensure that remittances work as a contributing factor of economic development.
Trends in the supply of California's emergency departments and inpatient services, 2005-2014: a retrospective analysis.

OBJECTIVES:Given increasing demand for emergency care, there is growing concern over the availability of emergency department (ED) and inpatient resources. Existing studies of ED bed supply are dated and often overlook hospital capacity beyond ED settings. We described recent statewide trends in the capacity of ED and inpatient hospital services from 2005 to 2014. DESIGN:Retrospective analysis. SETTING:Using California hospital data, we examined the absolute and per admission changes in ED beds and inpatient beds in all hospitals from 2005 to 2014. PARTICIPANTS:Our sample consisted of all patients inpatient and outpatient) from 501 hospital facilities over 10-year period. OUTCOME MEASURES:We analysed linear trends in the total annual ED visits, ED beds, licensed and staffed inpatient hospital beds and bed types, ED beds per ED visit, and inpatient beds per admission (ED and non-ED). RESULTS:Between 2005 and 2014, ED visits increased from 9.8 million to 13.2 million (an increase of 35.0%, p<0.001). ED beds also increased (by 29.8%, p<0.001), with an average annual increase of 195.4 beds. Despite this growth, ED beds per visit decreased by 3.9%, from 6.0 ED beds per 10 000 ED visits in 2005 to 5.8 beds in 2014 (p=0.01). While overall admission numbers declined by 4.9% (p=0.06), inpatient medical/surgical beds per visit grew by 11.3%, from 11.6 medical/surgical beds per 1000 admissions in 2005 to 12.9 beds in 2014 (p<0.001). However, there were reductions in psychiatric and chemical dependency beds per admission, by -15.3% (p<0.001) and -22.4% (p=0.05), respectively. CONCLUSIONS:These trends suggest that, in its current state, inadequate supply of ED and specific inpatient beds cannot keep pace with growing patient demand for acute care. Analysis of ED and inpatient supply should capture dynamic variations in patient demand. Our novel 'beds pervisit' metric offers improvements over traditional supply measures.
Hierarchical Methods and Application to Water Systems

Abstract Hierarchical methods have been developed during the last two decades for solving-problems not tractable by existing methods. Water systems seem to be ideal for application of hierarchical methods. Guided by characterization of water systems we shall survey some chosen hierarchical concepts and present their applications to these systems. The future trends are also indicated wherever possible.
Ion-specificity in protein binding and recovery for the responsive hydrophobic poly(vinylcaprolactam) ligand

The conformational switch between the hydrophobic state and hydrophilic state of thermo-responsive poly(vinylcaprolactam) (PVCL) has great potential for protein binding and elution applications during protein purification as a hydrophobic interaction chromatography ligand. The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of PVCL is strongly salt type and salt concentration dependent. Here PVCL polymer chains were grafted on regenerated cellulose membranes using controllable atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) for protein binding/elution studies. Protein binding and recovery demonstrates strong salt type and salt concentration dependency. The effects of salt ions on the static and dynamic binding interactions were elucidated and correlated well with the conformational and hydrophobicity changes of the responsive ligand.
Controlling and Predicting Nanoparticle Formation by Block Copolymer Directed Rapid Precipitations.

Nanoparticles have shown promise in several biomedical applications, including drug delivery and medical imaging; however, quantitative prediction of nanoparticle formation processes that scale from laboratory to commercial production has been lacking. Flash NanoPrecipitation (FNP) is a scalable technique to form highly loaded, block copolymer protected nanoparticles. Here, the FNP process is shown to strictly obey diffusion-limited aggregation assembly kinetics, and the parameters that control the nanoparticle size and the polymer brush density on the nanoparticle surface are shown. The particle size, ranging from 40 to 200 nm, is insensitive to the molecular weight and chemical composition of the hydrophobic encapsulated material, which is shown to be a consequence of the diffusion-limited growth kinetics. In a simple model derived from these kinetics, a single constant describes the 46 unique nanoparticle formulations produced here. The polymer brush densities on the nanoparticle surface are weakly dep...
Synthesis of YBaCuO superconductors using organometallic precursors

Abstract Organometallic precursors from naphthenic acid and metal nitrates were used for the synthesis of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−x (so called YBCO or 123) superconducting compounds. The characteristics of metal naphthenates as organometallic precursors were investigated by IR spectra and viscosity measurements. 123 superconducting compound obtained from 123 naphthenate showed a T c of 90 °K and a rather dense and elongated microstructure. Four probe resistance measurements and carbon content determinations were carried out to characterize superconducting properties of the samples obtained in this study.
Content-based access control

In many contexts, users are either unable or unwilling to specify their access control policies. In Data Loss Prevention, for example, users cannot fully express what is secret in rule-based formats. Many users are unwilling to use access controls, particularly in the Web 2.0, because they are too draconian, leading to disastrous consequences in terms of privacy. To address both of these issues, we have introduced the concept of Content-Based Access Control (CBAC). CBAC combines content recognition with policy acquisition and enforcement. A CBAC-enabled system can be trained to recognize policy violations by learning what is secret from examples. This defense will discuss how CBAC can be successfully applied to Data Loss Prevention, Wikipedia Vandalism and the Web 2.0. Usability is integral to providing better CBAC systems and privacy interfaces, and this dissertation demonstrates improvements in the usability of these systems.
Enhancing Intuitive Decision Making through Implicit Learning

Today’s military missions pose complex time-constrained challenges, such as detecting IED emplacements while in a moving vehicle or detecting anomalous civilian behaviors indicative of impending danger. These challenges are compounded by recent doctrinal requirements that require younger and less-experienced Warfighters to make ever-more complex decisions. Current understanding of decision making, which is based on concepts developed around theories of analytic decision making (Newell and Simon, 1972), cannot effectively address these new challenges since they are based on the notion of enabling experts to apply their expertise to addressing new problems. Yet, there are actually two types of recognized decision making processes, analytical and intuitive, which appear to be mediated by different processes or systems (Ross et al, 2004; Evans, 2008; Kahneman & Klein, 2009). Analytical decision making is mediated by processes that reflect a sequential, step-by-step, methodical, and time-consuming process. To be effective, analytic decision making appears to require domain expertise. In contrast, intuitive decision making relies upon a more holistic approach to processing information at a subconscious level (Luu et al, 2010). The thesis of this paper is that unlike analytic decision making, effective intuitive decision making does not require domain expertise but, rather, can be enhanced through training methods and technologies. This paper will explore ways in which the results from a range of studies at the behavioral, cognitive and neurophysiological levels can be leveraged to provide a comprehensive approach to understanding and enabling more effective intuitive decision-making for these non-experts.
Das Entstehen evolutionärer Neuheiten

Ein sehr herausforderndes Thema in der Evolutionsbiologie betrifft die Evolution von Merkmalen, anhand deren Organismen verschiedenen hoheren Taxa zugeordnet werden. Durch welche Mechanismen entstanden die Unterschiede zwischen Familien, Ordnungen, Klassen und Stammen? Nur wenige Probleme der Evolution wurden derart endlos debattiert oder waren so schwierig zu losen.
Validity of Online Screening for Autism: Crowdsourcing Study Comparing Paid and Unpaid Diagnostic Tasks.

Background: Obtaining a diagnosis of neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism requires long waiting times that can exceed a year and can be prohibitively expensive. Crowdsourcing approaches may provide a scalable alternative that can accelerate general access to care and permit underserved populations to obtain an accurate diagnosis. Objective: We aimed to perform a series of studies to explore whether paid crowd workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) and citizen crowd workers on a public website shared on social media can provide accurate online detection of autism, conducted via crowdsourced ratings of short home video clips. Methods: Three online studies were performed: (1) a paid crowdsourcing task on AMT (N=54) where crowd workers were asked to classify 10 short video clips of children as “Autism” or “Not autism,” (2) a more complex paid crowdsourcing task (N=27) with only those raters who correctly rated ≥8 of the 10 videos during the first study, and (3) a public unpaid study (N=115) identical to the first study. Results: For Study 1, the mean score of the participants who completed all questions was 7.50/10 (SD 1.46). When only analyzing the workers who scored ≥8/10 (n=27/54), there was a weak negative correlation between the time spent rating the videos and the sensitivity (ρ=–0.44, P=.02). For Study 2, the mean score of the participants rating new videos was 6.76/10 (SD 0.59). The average deviation between the crowdsourced answers and gold standard ratings provided by two expert clinical research coordinators was 0.56, with an SD of 0.51 (maximum possible SD is 3). All paid crowd workers who scored 8/10 in Study 1 either expressed enjoyment in performing the task in Study 2 or provided no negative comments. For Study 3, the mean score of the participants who completed all questions was 6.67/10 (SD 1.61). There were weak correlations between age and score (r=0.22, P=.014), age and sensitivity (r=–0.19, P=.04), number of family members with autism and sensitivity (r=–0.195, P=.04), and number of family members with autism and precision (r=–0.203, P=.03). A two-tailed t test between the scores of the paid workers in Study 1 and the unpaid workers in Study 3 showed a significant difference (P<.001). Conclusions: Many paid crowd workers on AMT enjoyed answering screening questions from videos, suggesting higher intrinsic motivation to make quality assessments. Paid crowdsourcing provides promising screening assessments of pediatric autism with an average deviation <20% from professional gold standard raters, which is potentially a clinically informative estimate for parents. Parents of children with autism likely overfit their intuition to their own affected child. This work provides preliminary demographic data on raters who may have higher ability to recognize and measure features of autism across its wide range of phenotypic manifestations.
Characteristics and Function of Selenoprotein P

Selenoprotein P has several characteristics that may be clues to its function. It contains many selenium atoms and therefore probably has a redox function. It binds heparin in a pH-dependent manner that would predict its attraction to areas of inflammation where pH is low. It is associated with endothelial cells which produce nitric oxide. It appears to protect against diquat toxicity in the rat liver. Diquat produces superoxide which can react with nitric oxide to yield peroxynitrite. Thus, it seems possible that selenoprotein P may protect cell membranes against peroxynitrite.
Discrimination against Mixed-Status Families and its Health Impact on Latino Children.

Background and Objective Restrictive immigration policies and discrimination are associated with negative health outcomes for immigrant and Latino families. Mixed-status families represent a unique subpopulation of Latinos affected by restrictive immigration policies. This qualitative study explored discrimination against mixed-status families and its potential health impact on Latino children from the perspective of Latina mothers. Methods In 2017, twenty in-depth interviews with Latina mothers of mixed-status families living in northwestern North Carolina were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed. Constant comparison, an approach to grounded theory development, was used. Results Nine themes emerged that reflected experiences with discrimination and its negative impact on children. Themes included more frequent and severe discrimination during and after the 2016 US presidential election, determination to stay together and remain in the US, experiences of discrimination in multiple settings, the impact of discrimination on child health and well-being, the impact of fear and stress on meeting the needs of children, the burdening role of children as liaisons between families and services, the inability of citizenship to protect against the effects of discrimination, positive and hopeful responses to discrimination, and the potential role of education in building a foundation for reducing discrimination (and thus promoting the health and well-being of Latino children) in the future. Conclusions Discrimination against mixed-status, Latino families constitutes a critical threat to the health and well-being of Latino children. Further research should inform immigration policies that support (rather than threaten) the health, well-being, and health care practices that mitigate the stresses experienced by Latino children.
Reactions of women underscreened for cervical cancer who received unsolicited human papillomavirus self-sampling kits.

ObjectivesTo evaluate experiences and reactions after receiving a mailed, unsolicited human papillomavirus self-sampling kit and identify psychosocial correlates of using kits.MethodsSurvey partici...
Auditory Feedback Control Mechanisms Do Not Contribute to Cortical Hyperactivity Within the Voice Production Network in Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia

Purpose Adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD), the most common form of spasmodic dysphonia, is a debilitating voice disorder characterized by hyperactivity and muscle spasms in the vocal folds during speech. Prior neuroimaging studies have noted excessive brain activity during speech in participants with ADSD compared to controls. Speech involves an auditory feedback control mechanism that generates motor commands aimed at eliminating disparities between desired and actual auditory signals. Thus, excessive neural activity in ADSD during speech may reflect, at least in part, increased engagement of the auditory feedback control mechanism as it attempts to correct vocal production errors detected through audition. Method To test this possibility, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to identify differences between participants with ADSD (n = 12) and age-matched controls (n = 12) in (a) brain activity when producing speech under different auditory feedback conditions and (b) resting-state functional connectivity within the cortical network responsible for vocalization. Results As seen in prior studies, the ADSD group had significantly higher activity than the control group during speech with normal auditory feedback (compared to a silent baseline task) in three left-hemisphere cortical regions: ventral Rolandic (sensorimotor) cortex, anterior planum temporale, and posterior superior temporal gyrus/planum temporale. Importantly, this same pattern of hyperactivity was also found when auditory feedback control of speech was eliminated through masking noise. Furthermore, the ADSD group had significantly higher resting-state functional connectivity between sensorimotor and auditory cortical regions within the left hemisphere as well as between the left and right hemispheres. Conclusions Together, our results indicate that hyperactivation in the cortical speech network of individuals with ADSD does not result from hyperactive auditory feedback control mechanisms and rather is likely related to impairments in somatosensory feedback control and/or feedforward control mechanisms.
Combinatorial metabolism drives the naive to primed pluripotent chromatin landscape

Since epigenetic modifications are a key driver for cellular differentiation, the regulation of these modifications is tightly controlled. Interestingly, recent studies have revealed metabolic regulation for epigenetic modifications in pluripotent cells. As metabolic differences are prominent between naive (pre-implantation) and primed (post-implantation) pluripotent cells, the epigenetic changes regulated by metabolites has become an interesting topic of analysis. In this review we discuss how combinatorial metabolic activities drive the developmental progression through early pluripotent stages.
Added-Variable Plots for Panel-Data Estimation

In this article, I extend the theory of added-variable plots to three panel-data estimation methods: fixed effects, between effects, and random effects. An added-variable plot is an effective way t...
Design of a High Power Submillimeter Oscillator-Amplifier System

A submillimeter laser source for an ion-temperature diagnostic of a thermonuclear plasma will require approximately a one megawatt narrowlinewidth pulse with a duration of 150–300 nsec [1]. An oscillator-amplifier system optically pumped by a CO 2 TEA laser system of the type developed by Chang and Bridges is being constructed for this purpose [2]. To meet these requirements a wavelength insensitive submillimeter oscillator, based on an unstable resonator cavity design, is being developed to drive a large volume submillimeter amplifier. The oscillator will be optically pumped by a 15 joule TEA CO 2 laser and the amplifier is to be pumped by a 150 joule TEA CO 2 laser. Presently, the oscillator characteristics are being determined by using the 496 μm CH 3 F line and the 447 CH 3 I line.
The query complexity of sampling from strongly log-concave distributions in one dimension.

We establish the first tight lower bound of $\Omega(\log\log\kappa)$ on the query complexity of sampling from the class of strongly log-concave and log-smooth distributions with condition number $\kappa$ in one dimension. Whereas existing guarantees for MCMC-based algorithms scale polynomially in $\kappa$, we introduce a novel algorithm based on rejection sampling that closes this doubly exponential gap.
Newt [Gingrich] Cometh

This chapter considers the most serious and sustained effort yet to defund NPR: that of Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives elected in November 1994. A central contention of the abolitionists was that NPR was “elitist,” and both scholarly studies and NPR's own data reveal that its listeners do fit a demographic profile that contrasts sharply with that of non-listeners along lines of wealth, formal education, and residence. This chapter also recounts the scandals of the second decade of the twenty-first century which have given new energy to the organization's critics.
A Machine Learning Approach to Identifying Delirium from Electronic Health Records

ABSTRACT Background Despite the well-known impact of delirium on long-term clinical outcomes, identification of delirium in electronic health records (EHR) remains difficult due to inadequate assessment or documentation of delirium. The purpose of this research is to present a classification model that identifies delirium using retrospective EHR data. The classification model would support the additional identification of delirium cases otherwise undocumented during routine practice. Methods Delirium was confirmed with the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU). Age, sex, Elixhauser comorbidity index, drug exposures, and diagnoses were used as features to train the logistic regression and multi-layer perceptron models. The clinical notes from the EHR were parsed to supplement the features that were not recorded in the structured data. The model performance was evaluated with a 5-fold cross-validation area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results Seventy-six patients (17 cases and 59 controls) with at least one CAM-ICU evaluation result during ICU stay from January 30, 2018 to February 20, 2018 were included in the model. The multi-layer perceptron model achieved the best performance in identifying delirium; mean AUC of 0.967 ± 0.019. The mean positive predictive value (PPV), mean negative predicted value (NPV), mean sensitivity, and mean specificity of the MLP model were 0.9, 0.88, 0.56, and 0.95, respectively. Conclusion A simple classification model showed a mean AUC over 0.95. This model promises to identify delirium cases with EHR data, thereby enable a sustainable infrastructure to build a retrospective cohort of delirium in the ICU. The cohort would be useful for the evaluation of long-term sequelae of delirium in ICU.