cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Near optimal representative subset selection from short sequences generated by a stationary source

We consider the problem of representative subset selection for model training and identification, particularly for the applications in universal compression. We used the Kullback-Leibler divergence to measure the distance between the estimated model from the representative subset and the source model resulting from the entire data in the set. As directly solving the original projection problem is NP-hard and not practical for large data-sets, we proposed a different approximate algorithm, based on l 2 optimization with l 0 constraints. Furthermore, we derive an upper bound for the KL-Divergence that relates monotonically (increasingly) to the l 2 cost function. Hence, we can bound KL-divergence penalty by minimizing the l 2 -norm. Using experimental results, we confirm the effectiveness of the proposed l 2 -norm method.
If a Robot did “The Robot,” would it still be called “The Robot” or just Dancing? Perceptual and Social Factors in Human-Robot Interactions:

One day in the future, robots will become a normal feature of everyday life and effective human-robotic partnerships will be important. The purpose of the present study was to identify the impact certain social design elements have on likability and fear in human-robot interactions through examination of human-like feminine, human-like masculine, human-like gender-neutral, and machine-like robots. The current study examined college students at a small private university. Analyses revealed that robot appearance did influence likability, with the human-like gender-neutral robot liked most by participants. Robot appearance also played a role in shaping evaluations of fear, with the human-like feminine robot feared more than the human-like gender-neutral and machine-like robots, but no more than the human-like masculine robot. The discussion centers on the importance of studying likability and fear in the context of HRI.
On the path to oblivion: The pilgrims' declining role in the St. Christopher plays of early and early modern Spain

ABSTRACTThis article examines the representation of the pilgrim in the corpus of St. Christopher dramas of early and early modern Iberia. The importance of the character's supporting role varies according to the era in which each play is written. At first, in the medieval religious dramas of the Crown of Aragon, the pilgrim not only celebrates St. Christopher's piety and anticipates his meeting with Jesus Christ, but also embodies the sanctity and devotion necessitated of pilgrimage. The pilgrims undergo a transformation in the sixteenth century as they become comic and serve as foils to the protagonist's gravity. On the seventeenth-century secular stage, the representations diverge: they begin with a traditional representation of the pilgrim, but then the figure ultimately disappears as the comedias focus on the later period of St. Christopher's life, the result of a Tridentine directive that refocused the general worship of saints and hagiographical literature.
The long-term effects of stress and kappa opioid receptor activation on conditioned place aversion in male and female California mice.

Psychosocial stress leads to the activation of kappa opioid receptors (KORs), which induce dysphoria and facilitate depression-like behaviors. However, less is known about the long-term effects of stress and KORs in females. We examined the long-term effects of social defeat stress on the aversive properties of KOR activation in male and female California mice (Peromyscus californicus) using a conditioned place aversion paradigm. Female California mice naive to social defeat, formed a place aversion following treatment with 2.5 mg/kg of the KOR agonist U50,488, but females exposed to defeat did not form a place aversion to this dose. This supports the finding by others that social defeat weakens the aversive properties of KOR agonists. In contrast, both control and stressed males formed an aversion to 10 mg/kg of U50,488. We also examined EGR1 immunoreactivity, an indirect marker of neuronal activity, in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and found that stress and treatment with 10 mg/kg of U50,488 increased EGR1 immunoreactivity in the NAc core in females but reduced activation in males. The effects of stress and U50,488 on EGR1 were specific to the NAc, as we found no differences in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. In summary, our data indicate important sex differences in the long-term effects of stress and indicate the need for further study of the molecular mechanisms mediating the behavioral effects of KOR in both males and females.
Using Utility Theory to Prep for the Negotiation

The basis of this paper will focus on utilizing utility theory as a preparatory tool in negotiations. The models used in this paper are simple and can be used be any novice seeking to develop a quick start tool for negotiation prep. The models are also dynamic in that they allow the user to construct scenarios based on changing inputs.
School Psychological Evaluation Reports for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children: Best Practices

This article discusses the best practices for school psychological evaluation and reports for parents and professionals who work with deaf and hard of hearing children. Deaf and hard of hearing children present unique challenges and for parents to be strong advocates for their children, knowledge about the complexities of psychological assessments is important. Parents are also provided with best practices for psychological reports with descriptions for typical areas of reports and how each is different for deaf and hard of hearing children.
Characteristics of Intracellular and Extracellular Fluid Ratio for the Varying Body Impedances in Fixed Total Body Fluid

A bioelectrical impedance analysis is a proven method to measure body composition in clinical situations. It uses the relation between the body fluid and the impedances in a variety of frequencies. A body model can be simplified as a parallel combination of a capacitor and two resistors which represent a cell membrane, Intracellular Fluid (ICF), and Extracellular Fluid (ECF). Low frequency current passes through ECF and high frequency current also passes through ICF in a body. A Cole-Cole plot is a graphical interpretation of the path of impedances and each axis represents resistance and reactance with variable frequencies. A high value of resistance in a horizontal axis is a resistance value of ECF and a low value of resistance at a high frequency presents ICF. Interpolation technique is needed to find out the exact cross-point between impedance values and the horizontal axis. The two estimated impedance values are used to derive Total Body Water (TBW), ICF, ECF, Fat Free Mass (FFM), and Fat Mass (FM) from various published equations [1]. Minimizing the possible error of fluid volume assessment and accurate prediction of fluid status in a human body is essential for appropriate therapy. Different techniques of fluid status assessment in a human body can be applicable, such as physical examination, orthostatic vital signs, blood volume measurement, acoustic cardiograph, chest radiography, and thoracic ultrasonography [2]. In this study, a bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy device and simple body models were used to collect data such as TBW, ICF, ECF, FM, and FFM. The ratio between ICF and ECF was investigated for the same values of TBW, FM, and FFM by varying impedance values.Copyright © 2017 by ASME
Impact of Dietary Galacto-Oligosaccharide (GOS) on Chicken's Gut Microbiota, Mucosal Gene Expression, and Salmonella Colonization.

Preventing Salmonella colonization in young birds is key to reducing contamination of poultry products for human consumption (eggs and meat). While several Salmonella vaccines have been developed that are capable of yielding high systemic antibodies, it is not clear how effective these approaches are at controlling or preventing Salmonella colonizatison of the intestinal tract. Effective alternative control strategies are needed to help supplement the bird’s ability to prevent Salmonella colonization, specifically by making the cecum less hospitable to Salmonella. In this study, we investigated the effect of the prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharide (GOS) on the cecal microbiome and ultimately the carriage of Salmonella. Day-old pullet chicks were fed control diets or diets supplemented with GOS (1% w/w) and then challenged with a cocktail of Salmonella Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis. Changes in cecal tonsil gene expression, cecal microbiome, and levels of cecal and extraintestinal Salmonella were assessed at 1, 4, 7, 12, and 27 days post infection. While the Salmonella counts were generally lower in the GOS treated birds, the differences were not significantly different at the end of the experiment. However, these data demonstrated that treatment with the prebiotic GOS can modify both cecal tonsil gene expression and the cecal microbiome, suggesting that this type of treatment may be useful as a tool for altering the carriage of Salmonella in poultry.
In Vitro Enzymatic Depolymerization of Lignin with Release of Syringyl, Guaiacyl, and Tricin Units

New environmentally sound technologies are needed to derive valuable compounds from renewable resources. Lignin, an abundant polymer in terrestrial plants comprised predominantly of guaiacyl and syringyl monoaromatic phenylpropanoid units, is a potential natural source of aromatic compounds. In addition, the plant secondary metabolite, tricin, is a recently discovered and moderately abundant flavonoid in grasses. The most prevalent inter-unit linkage between guaiacyl, syringyl, and tricin units is the β-ether linkage. Previous studies have shown that bacterial β-etherase pathway enzymes catalyze glutathione-dependent cleavage of β-ether bonds in dimeric β-ether lignin model compounds. To date, however, it remains unclear whether the known β-etherase enzymes are active on lignin polymers. Here, we report on enzymes that catalyze β-ether cleavage from bona fide lignin, under conditions that recycle the cosubstrates NAD + and glutathione. Guaiacyl, syringyl and tricin derivatives were identified as reaction products when different model compounds or lignin fractions were used as substrates. These results demonstrate an in vitro enzymatic system that can recycle cosubstrates while releasing aromatic monomers from model compounds as well as natural and engineered lignin oligomers. These findings can improve the ability to produce valuable aromatic compounds from a renewable resource like lignin. IMPORTANCE Many bacteria are predicted to contain enzymes that could convert renewable carbon sources into substitutes for compounds that are derived from petroleum. The β-etherase pathway present in sphingomonad bacteria could cleave the abundant β–O–4-aryl ether bonds in plant lignin, releasing a bio-based source of aromatic compounds for the chemical industry. However, the activity of these enzymes on the complex aromatic oligomers found in plant lignin is unknown. Here, we demonstrate biodegradation of lignin polymers using a minimal set of β-etherase pathway enzymes, the ability to recycle needed cofactors (glutathione and NAD + ) in vitro , and the release of guaiacyl, syringyl, and tricin, as depolymerized products from lignin. These observations provide critical evidence for the use and future optimization of these bacterial β-etherase pathway enzymes for industrial level biotechnological applications designed to derive high-value monomeric aromatic compounds from lignin.
Quantitative vs. Semiquantitative Ecosystem Models: Comparing Alternate Representations of an Estuarine Ecosystem

ABSTRACT Vasslides, J.M. and Jensen, O.P., 2017. Quantitative vs. semiquantitative ecosystem models: Comparing alternate representations of an estuarine ecosystem. In: Buchanan, G.A.; Belton, T.J., and Paudel, B. (eds.), A Comprehensive Assessment of Barnegat Bay–Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey. As the management of marine and coastal resources continues to move toward an ecosystem-based approach, there is a need for tools that can match the scope and complexity of the systems in question. This article contrasts the strengths and weaknesses of two types of models that can be used to understand ecosystem-level changes: Ecopath with Ecosim, a whole-ecosystem trophic-based quantitative model, and a semiquantitative fuzzy cognitive mapping conceptual model developed by local stakeholders. It also compares the modeled results of reducing nutrient loads to a temperate estuary to understand how the different approaches can be best utilized to meet the needs of resource managers. Both models responded to the nutrie...
Inside or outside? Expanding the narratives about life-sentenced prisoners:

The number of life-sentenced prisoners in the United States is growing, an increase that deserves ongoing critical consideration. Such consideration is heightened by the fact that many lifers under...
ADS-B and CPDLC fault modeling for safety assessment in a distributed environment

Transitioning from the current air transportation system to the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) heavily depends on distributed surveillance and communication technologies. These technologies operate as a part of a complex distributed System-of-Systems (SoS) of avionics, pilots, aircraft, ground stations and air traffic controllers. A comprehensive understanding of the failure modes of the avionics in the SoS is essential to ensure safe operations, especially while implementing automated separation assurance algorithms. Our study investigates the impact of faults in Automatic Dependent Surveillance — Broadcast (ADS-B), Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC), and their networked devices on the safety in airspace for distributed self-separation. Existing literature on faults for these technologies are spread across two categories: (1) observed faults reported from experiments, simulation, or real-world operations of the devices and (2) potential faults based on failure modes that generally lack a rigorous representation suitable for modeling and simulation. These faults are compiled in the form of a generalized fault map that abstracts them into a minimalistic set of fault models suitable for an agent-based model (ABM). The ABM simulations further demonstrate the degradation in safety due to faults in ADS-B as quantified by a set of safety metrics. Our results indicate faults that corrupt the position and heading data of the aircraft result in the greatest threat to safety during self-separation.
Immunopathology of Malignant Disease in Humans

Most of the knowledge of the immune response to malignant tumors is based on manipulations of induced and spontaneous tumors in experimental animals. It has only been within the last two decades that the presence of tumor antigens and the hosťs ability to respond to them have been clearly demonstrated in humans. Knowledge of the significance and variability of this response is in its infancy. This probably accounts for the disappointing results of premature attempts to treat neoplasms by immunological methods.
Three-Dimensional Aspects of the Fracture Process Zone and Caustics

The method of caustics has been applied to the study of hydrogen-assisted cracking (HAC). On the basis of two rather unexpected observations concerning the stress intensity (K) vs. caustic diameter (D) dependence and crack tunnelling, we elaborate on two specific issues related to through the thickness or three-dimensional (3D) effects pertaining to the definition of the fracture process zone (PZ) and the caustics interpretation.
Impresarios and Protestors: From the Bush Administration to Cindy Sheehan

While scholars have grown comfortable identifying terrorists and torturers as kinds of artists, there seems to be less willingness to apply this framework to the US government. But in terms of the Iraq War, there were rehearsed scripts, improvisations, casting choices, a villain, heroes, and conflict. The administration paid careful attention to costuming, blocking, and the mise-en-scene. All that was missing was a resolution—something that, in light of the rise of Daesh, we’re still waiting for. In this chapter, I first analyze the Bush administration as impresarios, producing a war of choice. The second half of the chapter looks at some of the protests against the war, particularly Cindy Sheehan’s sit-in after her son, an Army specialist, died in Iraq in 2004, and world-wide performances of Eliot Weinberger’s poem “What I Heard About Iraq.”
Curcumin and quercetin synergistically inhibit cancer cell proliferation in multiple cancer cells and modulate Wnt/β-catenin signaling and apoptotic pathways in A375 cells.

Abstract Background Traditional therapy using natural products, especially flavonoids and alkaloids have been in practice for a long time. Among flavonoids, curcumin, quercetin, berberine, and epigallocatechin have been studied in greater detail in terms of their anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities. Although many studies focused on the PI3K, MAP kinase and NF-κB pathways, a thorough investigation of modulation of players in the apoptotic and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by curcumin and quercetin has not been done. Also, only few studies have been carried out on curcumin and quercetin co-treatment studies. Hypothesis/Purpose We hypothesized that the combination of natural products will have synergistic effects and the antiproliferative effect will be attenuated via apoptotic as well as Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways. Study design and methods To test our hypothesis, we compared potency of natural anticancer agents in four cancer cell lines, A549, HCT116, MCF7, and A375 by MTT and colony proliferation assays and investigated mechanism of anticancer activities by analyzing players in apoptotic and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways in A375 cells treated with test agents individually or in combination. Results Epicatechins, up to 100 μM concentration, did not inhibit cancer cell proliferation, while curcumin inhibited proliferation in A549 and HCT116 cancer cell lines with an IC50 of 3 to 8.5 μM. Quercetin showed stronger inhibition of cell proliferation than berberine. Combination study with two most potent agents, curcumin and quercetin, in 4 cancer cell lines, suggested synergistic effect on cell proliferation with several fold decreases in IC50. Further investigation of the mechanism of action of curcumin and quercetin in melanoma cells, A375, suggested that inhibition of cell proliferation occurred through down-regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway proteins, DVL2, β-catenin, cyclin D1, Cox2, and Axin2. In addition, both curcumin and quercetin induced apoptosis by down-regulating BCL2 and inducing caspase 3/7 through PARP cleavage. Conclusion These results demonstrate that curcumin and quercetin inhibit cancer cell proliferation synergistically and Wnt/β-catenin signaling and apoptotic pathways are partly responsible for antiproliferative activities.
Transcript- and protein-level analyses of the response of human eosinophils to glucocorticoids

Glucocorticoids are first-line agents for the treatment of many eosinophil-associated disorders; however, their effects on human eosinophils remain poorly understood. To gain an unbiased, genome-wide view of the early transcriptional effects of glucocorticoids on human eosinophils in vivo, RNA sequencing was performed on purified blood eosinophils obtained before and 30, 60, and 120 minutes after administration of a single dose of oral prednisone (1 mg/kg) to three unrelated healthy subjects with hypereosinophilia of unknown significance. The resulting dataset is of high quality and suitable for differential expression analysis. Flow cytometry and qPCR were then performed on three additional cohorts of human subjects, to validate the key findings at the transcript and protein levels. The resulting datasets provide a resource for understanding the response of circulating human eosinophils to glucocorticoid administration. Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data (ISA-Tab format)
Photolithography of SU-8 microtowers for a 100-turn, 3-D toroidal microinductor

We present a photolithography scheme for ultra-tall, high-aspect-ratio microstructures. While increased height of microstructures can expand the design capability of various microdevices, it has been challenging to achieve the ultra-tall microstructure, 1 mm or higher, using a well-known negative photoresist, SU-8. One of the reasons is the high absorption rate of 365-nm ultra-violet light during the exposure process, although it used to be recommended for the SU-8 process. We report on optical characteristics of microlithography, in particular the 365- and 405-nm wavelengths, and present the lithography method for ultra-tall micropillars with a height of 1 mm or higher, called microtowers. While the 365-nm wavelength is experimentally validated with its high attenuation inside the SU-8, higher transparency of the 405-nm wavelength with a thicker SU-8 is reported to be suitable for ultra-tall micropillar structures. Assuming exposure time causes the color change of the SU-8, transparency of the SU-8 as a function of exposure time is measured with a thick SU-8. SU-8 microtowers with various heights are reported, including an array of 2000-µm-tall microtowers and a state-of-the-art 7000-µm microtower. To demonstrate usefulness of the proposed fabrication method, an array of 1000-µm-tall microtowers are successfully fabricated to form a 100-turn, 3-D toroid inductor. The fabricated inductor shows average inductance of 950 nH in the frequency range of 0.1 to 10 MHz, a low-frequency resistance of 5.4 Ω at 0.1 MHz, and a quality factor of 22 at 60 MHz.
NetsBlox and Wireless Robots Make Cybersecurity Fun

NetsBlox (https://netsblox.org) is a web-based collaborative learning environment extending Snap! with a few carefully selected abstractions that enable students to create distributed applications. These include online multi-player games and client-server applications that access online STEAM data such as maps, weather, earthquakes, movie information, etc. The distributed computing abstractions supported by NetsBlox also make it possible to write robot control programs. These programs issue wireless commands to the robots which in turn reply with acknowledgements and sensor readings. The programs run in the browser making debugging much easier and eliminating the need to download anything to the robots. Furthermore, the environment makes it possible for other users to eavesdrop on the wireless messages and hijack the robots of others. This provides an excellent motivation for cybersecurity and makes it easy to teach it in a hands-on manner. We have created a cybersecurity curriculum for a week-long summer camp for high school students. Lessons include Denial of Service attacks, their detection and mitigation, cryptography, secure key exchange, replay attacks, etc. Each day student teams solve challenge problems that their robots have to carry out while under cyber-attack by the other participants. This technology demonstration is a companion to the paper "Teaching Cybersecurity with Networked Robots." It will provide the audience with a more practical view of this novel approach to hands-on cybersecurity education.
Investigation of iron passivity in highly alkaline media using reactive-force field molecular dynamics

Abstract The passivity of Fe(110) in a 0.316 M NaOH solution (pH = 13.5) was investigated using Reactive Force Field Molecular Dynamics. The initial stages of passivation involved the formation of Fe(OH)2 species on the metal surface, which created conditions for oxygen diffusion into the metal without iron dissolution into the electrolyte. The passive film had multiple oxide structures: Fe2O3 in outer layers, Fe3O4 in the middle layers, and FeO in the innermost layers. A parallel XPS investigation showed that the FeIII/FeII ratio decreased with increasing film depth and confirmed the findings of the ReaxFF-MD simulations.
Effect of polymer–nanoparticle interactions on solvent-driven infiltration of polymer (SIP) into nanoparticle packings: a molecular dynamics study

Naturally occurring nanocomposites like nacre owe their exceptional mechanical properties to high loadings of platelets that are bridged by small volume fractions of polymers. Polymer infiltration into dense assemblies of nanoparticles provides a powerful and potentially scalable approach to manufacture bio-inspired nanocomposites that mimic nacre's architecture. Solvent-driven infiltration of polymers (SIP) into nanoparticle packings formed on top of glassy polymer films is induced via capillary condensation of a solvent in the interstitial voids between nanoparticles (NP), followed by plasticization and transport of polymers into the liquid-filled pores, leading to the formation of the nanocomposite structure. To understand the effect of polymer–nanoparticle interactions on the dynamics of polymer infiltration in SIP, we perform molecular dynamics simulations. The mechanism of polymer infiltration and the influence of interactions between polymer and NPs on the dynamics of the process are investigated. Depending on the strength of interaction, polymer infiltration either follows (a) dissolution-dominated infiltration where plasticized polymer chains remain solvated in the pores and rapidly diffuse into the packing or (b) adhesion-dominated transport where the chains adsorb onto the nanoparticle surface and move slowly through the nanoparticle film as a well-defined front. A non-monotonic trend emerges as the adhesion strength is increased; the infiltration of chains becomes faster with the co-operative effect of adhesion and dissolution as adhesion increases but eventually slows down when the polymer–nanoparticle adhesion dominates.
Demystifying the Performance of HPC Scientific Applications on NVM-based Memory Systems

The emergence of high-density byte-addressable non-volatile memory (NVM) is promising to accelerate data-and compute-intensive applications. Current NVM technologies have lower performance than DRAM and, thus, are often paired with DRAM in a heterogeneous main memory. Recently, byte-addressable NVM hardware becomes available. This work provides a timely evaluation of representative HPC applications from the "Seven Dwarfs" on NVM-based main memory. Our results quantify the effectiveness of DRAM-cached-NVM for accelerating HPC applications and enabling large problems beyond the DRAM capacity. On uncached-NVM, HPC applications exhibit three tiers of performance sensitivity, i.e., insensitive, scaled, and bottlenecked. We identify write throttling and concurrency control as the priorities in optimizing applications. We highlight that concurrency change may have a diverging effect on read and write accesses in applications. Based on these findings, we explore two optimization approaches. First, we provide a prediction model that uses datasets from a small set of configurations to estimate performance at various concurrency and data sizes to avoid exhaustive search in the configuration space. Second, we demonstrate that write-aware data placement on uncached-NVM could achieve 2x performance improvement with a 60% reduction in DRAM usage.
Geographic Shifts in Antibacterial Drug Clinical Trial Enrollment: Implications for Generalizability.

Background As drug development has globalized, trials have increasingly enrolled participants from all parts of the world rather than just the United States and Western Europe. For antibacterial drug trials, understanding enrollment trends and regional differences is important for generalizability considerations. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 42 phase 3 trials submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration after 2001 for complicated urinary tract infection (cUTI), complicated intra-abdominal infection (cIAI), community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP), and acute bacterial skin and skin structure infection (ABSSSI) (n = 29 282 participants). Enrollment numbers, demographics, clinical characteristics, and microbiological data were compared to identify temporal and geographic trends. Results For cUTI, cIAI, and CABP trials, Eastern European enrollment greatly increased over the study period. For ABSSSI trials, North American enrollment increased. Demographic characteristics and regional microbiology among regions were broadly similar with several exceptions. For cIAI trials, Eastern European participants had the lowest proportion of participants with prior antibacterial drug therapy. For ABSSSI trials, North American participants more commonly reported intravenous drug use. Microbiological differences relative to North America included a greater proportion of Klebsiella pneumoniae among Asian cIAI isolates (17.8% vs 9.0%, P = .0057), a higher proportion of cephalosporin resistance in South American Enterobacteriaceae cUTI isolates (26.8% vs 15.7%, P = .044), and a lower proportion of Staphylococcus aureus in Eastern European ABSSSI isolates (43.7% vs 61.9%, P Conclusions Geographic trends in recruitment for recent antibacterial clinical trials differ by indication. Regional similarities in demographic characteristics and microbiology across regions lessen concerns regarding generalizability due to shifting enrollment trends.
Tailored synthesis of hydrogel media for chirality separation of single walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract An alternative approach toward understanding and advancing hydrogel-based single walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) purification is described and employed. Experimental and atomistic modeling analysis of the leading hydrogel for SWNT purification, Sephacryl S200, affords creation of gels that mimic its behavior in terms of dependent SWNT interaction and SWNT purification properties. This achievement introduces a generalized approach toward optimization of SWNT purification media with respect to the components of Sephacryl. Here, the role of the radical initiator ammonium persulfate (APS) in hydrogel-based SWNT purification is explored through synthesis and characterization of gels containing varied APS concentration, and thus, varied amounts of covalently embedded charged organosulfate groups (R–SO4-). The presence of these moieties plays a significant role in SWNT-gel interactions: at decreasing APS concentration SWNT uptake is increased, the chiral profiles of purified SWNT are altered, and a greater fraction of adsorbed material is recovered. Tailored hydrogels containing minimal APS exhibit improved SWNT adsorption vs. Sephacryl. These findings warrant proposition of a four-step qualitative model that deconvolutes electrostatic and steric effects within SWNT/surfactant/hydrogel systems. Collectively, this work demonstrates enhanced methodology for hydrogel-based SWNT purification and lays the foundation for further optimization of the gel medium.
Bisphenol A and 17α-ethinylestradiol-induced transgenerational gene expression differences in the brain-pituitary-testis axis of medaka, Oryzias latipes†

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), such as bisphenol A (BPA) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), can have far reaching health effects, including transgenerational abnormalities in offspring that never directly contacted either chemical. We previously reported reduced fertilization rates and embryo survival at F2 and F3 generations caused by 7-day embryonic exposure (F0) to 100 µg/L BPA or 0.05 µg/L EE2 in medaka. Crossbreeding of fish in F2 generation indicated subfertility in males. To further understand the mechanisms underlying BPA or EE2-induced adult onset and transgenerational reproductive defects in males, the present study examined the expression of genes regulating the brain–pituitary–testis (BPT) axis in the same F0 and F2 generation male medaka. Embryonic exposure to BPA or EE2 led to hyperactivation of brain and pituitary genes, which are actively involved in reproduction in adulthood of the F0 generation male fish, and some of these F0 effects continued to the F2 generation (transgenerational effects). Particularly, the F2 generation inherited the hyperactivated state of expression for kisspeptin (kiss1 and kiss2) and their receptors (kiss1r and kiss2r), and gnrh and gnrh receptors. At F2 generation, expression of DNA methyltransferase 1 (dnmt1) decreased in brain of the BPA treatment lineage, while EE2 treatment lineage showed increased dnmt3bb expression. Global hypomethylation pattern was observed in the testis of both F0 and F2 generation fish. Taken together, these results demonstrated that BPA or EE2-induced transgenerational reproductive impairment in the F2 generation was associated with alterations of reproductive gene expression in brain and testis and global DNA methylation in testis.Summary SentenceAncestral BPA or EE2 exposure during the first phase of primordial germ cell reprogramming in medaka fish leads to fertilization defects in male grandchildren and transcriptional alterations in male reproductive tissues.Graphical Abstract
USSD Digital Wallet

This paper deals with the research of the utilizing Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) to create a digital payment solution that bridges the gap between technology and banking to bring financial inclusion to the majority of people who do not have wide access to internet. By developing an open source web enabler in the form of an Application Programming interface (API), our software promotes banking to the unbanked and progresses towards secured financial convenience for all. Not only it will serve the unbanked people, it will also offer payment solutions to those who already have bank accounts by connecting to the banks of their personal choice for payment services, which makes our product a one stop solution for all the financial service needs without using the internet. Initial implementation of this software suite has been tested successfully on Africa's Talking USSD simulator in the form of a prototype.
A Schauder basis for $$L_2$$ L 2 consisting of non-negative functions

We prove that $$L_2(\mathbb {R})$$ contains a Schauder basis of non-negative functions. Similarly, for all $$1<p<\infty $$ , $$L_{p}(\mathbb {R})$$ contains a Schauder basic sequence of non-negative functions such that $$L_p(\mathbb {R})$$ embeds into the closed span of the sequence. We prove as well that if X is a separable Banach space with the bounded approximation property, then any set in X with dense span contains a quasi-basis (Schauder frame) for X.
Bidirectional Control of Orienting Behavior by the Substantia Nigra Pars Reticulata: Distinct Significance of Head and Whisker Movements

Detection of an unexpected, novel, or salient stimulus typically leads to an orienting response by which animals move the head, in concert with the sensors (e.g., eyes, pinna, whiskers), to evaluate the stimulus. The basal ganglia are known to control orienting movements through tonically active GABAergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) that project to the superior colliculus. Using optogenetics, we explored the ability of GABAergic SNr neurons on one side of the brain to generate orienting movements. In a strain of mice that express channelrhodopsin (ChR2) in both SNr GABAergic neurons and afferent fibers, we found that continuous blue light produced a robust sustained excitation of SNr neurons which generated ipsiversive orienting. Conversely, in the same animal, trains of blue light excited afferent fibers more effectively than continuous blue light, producing a robust sustained inhibition of SNr neurons which generated contraversive orienting. When ChR2 expression was restricted to either GABAergic SNr neurons or GABAergic afferent fibers from the striatum, blue light patterns in SNr produced only ipsiversive or contraversive orienting movements, respectively. Interestingly, whisker positioning and the reaction to an air-puff on the whiskers were incongruent between SNr-evoked ipsiversive and contraversive head movements, indicating that orienting driven by exciting or inhibiting SNr neurons have different behavioral significance. In conclusion, unilateral SNr neuron excitation and inhibition produce orienting movements in opposite directions and, apparently, with distinct behavioral significance.
The genetic aspects of facial abnormalities.

Although there are several formal definitions for the term “syndrome” rarely is it used correctly and we are not sanguine that anything we state here will alter its pattern of usage one scintilla. For those readers for whom precision is desired, we can refer you to a short resume of a recent meeting at which such definitions were limned—even new terms were coined such as “anomalad.” 15 However, we have little doubt that the clinician will persist in interchangeably using such terms as “disease,” “syndrome,” “association,” “symptom complex,” and “malformation.”
An evaluation of electroencephalography in the diagnosis of brain tumors of children.

A study was made of the electroencephalograms of 50 children who had proved neoplasms of the brain. In 9 of 12 children who had tumors of the cerebral cortex, the localization afforded by the EEG was correct. In 8 children who had supratentorial tumors of or near the brain stem no localizing or consistent electroencephalographic pattern was observed. In 21 (70%) of 30 children who had tumors of the posterior fossa a bilateral abnormality was observed in the EEG recorded from the occipital region or occipital and contiguous regions. It is acknowledged that the abnormality found in this last group also is found occasionally in conditions other than in brain tumors of the posterior fossa. These conditions usually can be excluded by use of the history and other laboratory aids. Electroencephalography in the study of brain tumors in children should not be considered as an infallible test but rather as a diagnostic aid to be used and evaluated with the help of a clinical history and other diagnostic and laboratory aids.
An Early Effect of Prolactin on the Formation of α-Lactalbumin by Mouse Mammary Epithelial Cells

Abstract Epithelial cells from freshly isolated mammary glands of mature virgin mice make minute amounts of casein and exhibit low levels of lactose synthetase A-protein (a UDP-galactosyltransferase) activity. They have barely detectable lactose synthetase B-protein (α-lactalbumin) activity. When cultured in the presence of insulin, hydrocortisone, and prolactin, mammary explants from mature virgin mice develop the capacity to synthesize these milk proteins asynchronously. Casein synthesis and A-protein activity reach their maxima after 72 hours of exposure to the hormones and 24 hours before the emergence of B-protein activity. Estradiol-17β, or prolactin, priming of mature virgin mice reduces the time required for the development of B-protein activity in the mammary explants, while the time course of casein synthesis and appearance of A-protein activity is not appreciably affected. As a result, the secretory proteins, casein and α-lactalbumin, develop synchronously. This represents a heretofore undiscovered manifestation of the influence of prolactin in this system.
Montebello: a metapopulation based model of carcinogenesis

The dynamics of the lengthy process by which tumors arise from normal tissues is not well understood. We developed a stochastic cellular automaton model based on the ecological concept of metapopulations to explore the role of mutation, exogenous disturbance, and selection in the genesis of tumors. The operation of the model shows how disturbances (e.g. inflammation) acting on tissues can cause tumors by modifying the dynamics among metapopulations of cells. Simulations demonstrate that disturbance, without change in mutation rates, can drive tumor formation. Changes in the distribution of genetic alterations among metapopulations in the tissue can predict the emergence of a tumor, thus providing a measure of risk. Modifying the disturbance regimen can prevent the emergence of tumors. Thus, the model provides insights into how mutation rates and disturbance interact in the causation of cancer, and illustrate how measuring metapopulation distributions can provide surrogate end points for preventive intervention.
Internet Investment Advice: Investing with a Rock of Salt

This study investigates the value contained in stock recommendations posted on two Internet newsgroups. I estimate the quality of the advice using conventional abnormal return methodology around the posting date. I find that stocks recommended do not earn any significant cumulative abnormal return over the next 5, 10 and 20 trading days. I also report that the posters tend to select stocks with extreme recent performance. Sixty percent of the stocks recommended significantly out-performed their benchmark. However, only the stocks in the lower quintiles of prior performance generate significant abnormal returns whereas top prior performers encounter significant under-performance subsequent to the posting. Posters exhibit over-confidence in believing that any new product introduction or possibility of a business alliance will always generate positive returns to companies.
Storage capacity of labeled graphs

We consider the question of how much information can be stored by labeling the vertices of a connected undirected graph G using a constant-size set of labels, when isomorphic labelings are not distinguishable. An exact information-theoretic bound is easily obtained by counting the number of isomorphism classes of labelings of G, which we call the information-theoretic capacity of the graph. More interesting is the effective capacity of members of some class of graphs, the number of states distinguishable by a Turing machine that uses the labeled graph itself in place of the usual linear tape. We show that the effective capacity equals the information-theoretic capacity up to constant factors for trees, random graphs with polynomial edge probabilities, and bounded-degree graphs.
Estimating the accuracy of learned concepts

This paper investigates alternative estimators of the accuracy of concepts learned from examples. In particular, the cross-validation and 632 bootstrap estimators are studied, using synthetic training data and the FOIL learning algorithm. Our experimental results contradict previous papers in statistics, which advocate the 632 bootstrap method as superior to cross-validation. Nevertheless, our results also suggest that conclusions based on cross-validation in previous machine learning papers are unreliable. Specifically, our observations are that (i) the true error of the concept learned by FOIL from independently drawn sets of examples of the same concept varies widely, (ii) the estimate of true error provided by cross-validation has high variability but is approximately unbiased, and (iii) the 632 bootstrap estimator has lower variability than cross-validation, but is systematically biased.
Crystallographic dependence of visible-light photoactivity in epitaxial TiO2-xNx anatase and rutile

Nitrogen-doped ${\text{TiO}}_{2}$ materials have been shown to exhibit visible-light photoactivity, but the operative mechanism(s) are not well understood. Here we use structurally and compositionally well-defined epitaxial films of ${\text{TiO}}_{2\ensuremath{-}x}{\text{N}}_{x}$ anatase (001) and rutile (110) $(x\ensuremath{\le}\ensuremath{\sim}0.02)$ to show a qualitative difference between the visible-light activities for the two polymorphs. Holes generated by visible light at N sites in anatase (001) readily diffuse to the surface and oxidize adsorbed trimethyl acetate while the same in rutile (110) remain trapped in the bulk. In light of the low doping densities that can be achieved in phase-pure material, conventional wisdom suggests that holes should be trapped at N sites in both polymorphs. Although the detailed mechanism is not yet understood, these results suggest that the hole hopping probability is much higher along the [001] direction in N-doped anatase than along the [110] direction in N-doped rutile.
Verbal and Physical Aggression Directed at Nursing Home Staff by Residents

Context Little research has been conducted on aggression directed at staff by nursing home residents.
Effect of light and water-stress on photosynthesis and biomass production in Boltonia decurrens (Asteraceae), a threatened species

Boltonia decurrens (Torrey & Gray) Wood, a perennial species endemic to the Illinois River Valley, is threatened with extinction. Construction of a system of dikes along the Illinois River has altered flood patterns during the last 100 years, converting wet prairies and natural marshes to cropland. Remaining shore habitats have been modified by heavy siltation and altered flooding regimes. Boltonia decurrens is now confined to areas that are disturbed by occasional cropping, disappearing from sites after 3 to 5 years of natural succession. This study was conducted to determine the role of light and water availability upon growth and reproduction. Our data indicate that under greenhouse conditions B. decurrens requires high levels of light for optimal photosynthesis and growth, and is more sensitive to reductions in growth light level than to moderate drought-stress. This sensitivity to light regime may help explain its disappearance from disturbed areas after several years of natural succession. If B. decurrens is overtopped by fast-growing species, it could be shaded to the extent that growth and seed production would be severely affected, increasing the likelihood of its extinction.
Sickle cell diseases: current therapeutic options and potential pitfalls in preventive therapy for transcranial Doppler abnormalities

Sickle cell disease is an important and common hemoglobinopathy that is highly prevalent worldwide. Recent clinical research has clarified the natural history, and newer, exciting therapeutic maneuvers have been developed, including stem cell transplantation, a curative, albeit toxic strategy. There is a need for early identification of a severe disease profile so that these newer therapeutic interventions can be offered before severe organ damage occurs. Investigative methodologic research by radiologists to discover early organ damage can be important to successful planning of treatment protocols. Stroke is one complication, which, if diagnosed early, can be satisfactorily managed with more aggressive therapy. The advent of transcranial Doppler and MRI have greatly increased the ability to detect early CNS disease.
Generic matrix multiplication and memory management in linBox

We describe the design and implementation of two components in the LinBox library. The first is an implementation of black box matrix multiplication as a lazy matrix-times-matrix product. The implementation uses template meta-programming to set the intermediate vector type used during application of the matrix product. We also describe an interface mechanism that allows incorporation of external components with native memory management such as garbage collection into LinBox. An implementation of the interface based on SACLIB's field arithmetic procedures is presented.
On relationship inference using gamete identity by descent data.

Related individuals are identical by descent (IBD) at a genetic locus if they share the same DNA material from a common ancestor. Continuous gamete IBD data consist of the lengths of (in order) IBD...
East-west stationkeeping requirements of nearly synchronous satellites due to Earth's triaxiality and luni-solar effects

A closed form solution, for longitude and semimajor axis deviations in the neighborhood of a prespecified station, is obtained for nearly synchronous satellites. The model use includes the important terms in Earth's zonal and tesseral harmonics as well as the luni-solar perturbations. The initial semimajor axis for two-maneuver east-west stationkeeping is then deduced. Due to the luni-solar effects, it is found that the initial semimajor axis deviation from synchronous orbit value is highly dependent on the initial position of the satellite relative to the Moon and the Sun. Verifications of the results by means of numerical integrations are also included.