cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quantitative measurement of airborne cockroach allergen in New York City apartments.

Abstract We designed and tested a sampling and analysis system for quantitative measurement of airborne cockroach allergen with sufficient sensitivity for residential exposure assessment. Integrated 1-week airborne particle samples were collected at 10–15 LPM in 19 New York City apartments in which an asthmatic child who was allergic to cockroach allergen resided. Four simultaneous air samples were collected in each home: at heights of 0.3 and 1 m in the child’s bedroom and in the kitchen. Extracts of air samples were analyzed by ELISA for the cockroach allergen Bla g2, modified by amplifying the colorimetric signal generated via use of AMPLI-Q detection system (DAKO Corporation, Carpinteria, CA, USA). Settled dust samples were quantified by conventional ELISA. Of the homes where cockroach allergen was detected in settled dust, Bla g2 also was detected in 87% and 93% of air samples in the bedroom and kitchen, respectively. Airborne Bla g2 levels were highly correlated within and between the bedroom and kitchen locations (P < 0.001). Expressed as picogram per cubic meter, the room average geometric mean for Bla g2 concentrations was 1.9 pg/m3 (95% CI 0.63, 4.57) and 3.8 pg/m3 (95% CI 1.35, 9.25) in bedrooms and kitchens, respectively. This method offers an attractive supplement to settled dust sampling for cockroach allergen exposure health studies. Practical Implications Until now, cockroach allergen exposures have usually been assessed by collection and analysis of settled dust, on the assumption that airborne cockroach allergen cannot be reliably measured. In this study, a sensitive and quantitative method for measuring indoor airborne exposures to cockroach allergens involving a 7-day integrated total suspended particulate (TSP) sample collected at approximately 10–15 l/min was developed. Investigators are now empowered with an alternative exposure assessment method to supplement their studies and the understanding of allergen aerodynamics in the homes of children with asthma. We report airborne cockroach allergen in apartments, suggesting an ongoing burden of inhalation exposure.
Log-domain circuit models of chemical reactions

We exploit the detailed similarities between electronics and chemistry to develop efficient, scalable bipolar or subthreshold log-domain circuits that are dynamically equivalent to networks of chemical reactions. Our circuits can be used for transient and steady-state simulations, parameter estimations and sensitivity analyses of large-scale biochemical networks. They allow the topology, rate constants, inputs, outputs and initial conditions of the reaction network to be programmed. When reactants are present in low concentrations, random fluctuations in reaction rates become significant; we can also model such stochastic effects. We present experimental results from a proof-of-concept chip implemented in 0.18µm CMOS technology.
PRICING EQUITY DERIVATIVES SUBJECT TO BANKRUPTCY

We solve in closed form a parsimonious extension of the Black–Scholes–Merton model with bankruptcy where the hazard rate of bankruptcy is a negative power of the stock price. Combining a scale change and a measure change, the model dynamics is reduced to a linear stochastic differential equation whose solution is a diffusion process that plays a central role in the pricing of Asian options. The solution is in the form of a spectral expansion associated with the diffusion infinitesimal generator. The latter is closely related to the Schr ¨ odinger operator with Morse potential. Pricing formulas for both corporate bonds and stock options are obtained in closed form. Term credit spreads on corporate bonds and implied volatility skews of stock options are closely linked in this model, with parameters of the hazard rate specification controlling both the shape of the term structure of credit spreads and the slope of the implied volatility skew. Our analytical formulas are easy to implement and should prove useful to researchers and practitioners in corporate debt and equity derivatives markets.
Identification of clustered YY1 binding sites in imprinting control regions

Mammalian genomic imprinting is regulated by imprinting control regions (ICRs) that are usually associated with tandem arrays of transcription factor binding sites. In this study, the sequence features derived from a tandem array of YY1 binding sites of Peg3-DMR (differentially methylated region) led us to identify three additional clustered YY1 binding sites, which are also localized within the DMRs of Xist, Tsix, and Nespas. These regions have been shown to play a critical role as ICRs for the regulation of surrounding genes. These ICRs have maintained a tandem array of YY1 binding sites during mammalian evolution. The in vivo binding of YY1 to these regions is allele specific and only to the unmethylated active alleles. Promoter/enhancer assays suggest that a tandem array of YY1 binding sites function as a potential orientation-dependent enhancer. Insulator assays revealed that the enhancer-blocking activity is detected only in the YY1 binding sites of Peg3-DMR but not in the YY1 binding sites of other DMRs. Overall, our identification of three additional clustered YY1 binding sites in imprinted domains suggests a significant role for YY1 in mammalian genomic imprinting.
Clinal adaptation and adaptive plasticity in Artemisia californica: implications for the response of a foundation species to predicted climate change

Local adaptation and plasticity pose significant obstacles to predicting plant responses to future climates. Although local adaptation and plasticity in plant functional traits have been documented for many species, less is known about population-level variation in plasticity and whether such variation is driven by adaptation to environmental variation. We examined clinal variation in traits and performance - and plastic responses to environmental change - for the shrub Artemisia californica along a 700 km gradient characterized (from south to north) by a fourfold increase in precipitation and a 61% decrease in interannual precipitation variation. Plants cloned from five populations along this gradient were grown for 3 years in treatments approximating the precipitation regimes of the north and south range margins. Most traits varying among populations did so clinally; northern populations (vs. southern) had higher water-use efficiencies and lower growth rates, C : N ratios and terpene concentrations. Notably, there was variation in plasticity for plant performance that was strongly correlated with source site interannual precipitation variability. The high-precipitation treatment (vs. low) increased growth and flower production more for plants from southern populations (181% and 279%, respectively) than northern populations (47% and 20%, respectively). Overall, precipitation variability at population source sites predicted 86% and 99% of variation in plasticity in growth and flowering, respectively. These striking, clinal patterns in plant traits and plasticity are indicative of adaptation to both the mean and variability of environmental conditions. Furthermore, our analysis of long-term coastal climate data in turn indicates an increase in interannual precipitation variation consistent with most global change models and, unexpectedly, this increased variation is especially pronounced at historically stable, northern sites. Our findings demonstrate the critical need to integrate fundamental evolutionary processes into global change models, as contemporary patterns of adaptation to environmental clines will mediate future plant responses to projected climate change.
When more is less: a counterintuitive effect of distractor frequency in the picture-word interference paradigm

Pictures were shown with superimposed word distractors of high and low frequency. Low-frequency distractors produced greater interference on picture naming than did high-frequency distractors. This distractor frequency effect was not affected by manipulations that facilitated or hindered distractor recognition. Interference was reduced for distractors that were read aloud several times prior to being shown in the picture-naming task. Together these findings suggest that the distractor frequency effect has its locus at some stage of lexical access for production. Other findings further constrain hypotheses about which level of speech production is involved in the effect. The distractor frequency effect has implications for models of lexical processing in speaking as well as for accounts of picture–word interference and the frequency effect. Two effects, reliably observed in picture naming, have received much attention from researchers interested in word production: the name frequency and the word interference effects. The first effect refers to the observation that pictures with high-frequency (HF) names are named faster and more accurately than pictures with low-frequency (LF) names (e.g., Oldfield & Wingfield, 1965). The second effect refers to the fact that it takes longer to name a picture when it is shown along with a word. The Stroop effect, obtained in the color-naming task, is perhaps the best known case of word interference. The phenomenon of word interference can be observed with all sorts of pictures (not only colors) and all sorts of words (not only semantically related words; for reviews, see Deyer, 1973; Glaser, 1992; MacLeod, 1991). For example, it takes longer to name the picture dog when it is shown with the word cup compared with when the picture is shown with a nonsense string of letters (e.g., uvc). The interest in the effects of frequency and word interference originates in part from the view that these effects involve the selection of the pictures’ names rather than other stages
Low-power electrostatic microthruster for propulsion based on helmholtz-resonance

This paper reports the development of a low-power electrostatic microthruster based-on Helmholtz resonance. This fluidic resonance phenomenon is utilized to create high-speed jets of air for thrust generation. The microthruster contains a curved-electrode (~8.8 mum deep) and provides high force to, and large deflection of a vibrating membrane thus resulting in twice higher thrust performance than previously reported devices with a flat-electrode design. The out-of-plane curved electrode is formed on a silicon wafer through the controlled buckling of stressed thin films of oxide, poly silicon, and nitride. The fabricated device contains 25 microthrusters, has a footprint of 1.6 times1.6 times 0.1 cm3 , and weighs about 0.35 g. It operates using a 140 V and 70 kHz sinusoidal signal and produces: 1) thrust of 55.6 muN, 2) maximum air velocity of 1.2 m/s, and 3) average velocity of 1.0 m/s across the whole chip. The average power consumption of the 25 micro thruster array is 3.1 mW. The generated jet was visualized by pumping ethanol clouds into a vertical gas stream up to 12 cm.
The body ion loss biomarker. 2. Field validation in coal mine‐polluted streams

We performed a field validation of the body ion loss biomarker by developing a predictive model of the level of impact of coal mining on receiving streams. Hatchery brook charr (Salvelinus fontinalis ; wet mass = 1.25 to 32.2 g) were exposed in four mine-impacted streams that exhibited differing levels of acid and trace metals and in two unimpacted control streams. Net whole-body ion (Na, Ca) fluxes over a 4-h exposure were determined. Stepwise regression was used to develop predictive models of body ion flux over 4 h from measured stream water chemistry variables. The predictive power of the best model was assessed using cross validation. The best model predicting net sodium flux explained 48% of the variability in the model with six chemical variables (Mn, Zn, Mg, Al, Fe, and Na). The model of calcium flux explained 42% of the variation with eight variables (H + , Ca, Na, Mn, Al, Ni, Mg, and Zn). A multiple regression model derived from principal components analysis did not significantly improve the predictive power of these models. We conclude that whole-body net sodium flux and to a lesser extent whole-body net calcium flux are acute indicators of the level of impact of acid and trace metals in streams polluted by coal mine discharge and may be useful as biomarkers under field conditions.
Workplace Dignity in a Total Institution: Examining the Experiences of Foxconn’s Migrant Workforce

In 2010, a cluster of suicides at the electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn Technology Group sparked worldwide outcry about working conditions at its factories in China. Within a few short months, 14 young migrant workers jumped to their deaths from buildings on the Foxconn campus, an all-encompassing compound where they had worked, eaten, and slept. Even though the language of workplace dignity was invoked in official re sponses from Foxconn and its business partner Apple, neither of these parties directly examined workers’ dignity in their ensuing audits. Based on our analysis of media accounts of life at Foxconn, we argue that its total institution structure imposed unique indignities on its workers that both raised questions of their self-respect and selfworth, as well as gave rise to multiple episodes of disrespectful communication. We interpret our findings in light of the larger cultural context and meanings of work in China to understand more fully the experience of dignity of Foxconn’s migrant workforce.
Of Ghostly and Mechanical Events

Two of the assumptions that drive most contemporary philosophy of mind are (i) the naturahtic thesis that minds, like mountains and molecules, are macro-objects in the natural order, involving nothing ‘spooky’, and (ii) a three-part taxonomy that recognizes substance dualism, property dualism, and monism as the available metaphysical options. Together, these assumptions drive most contemporary philosophers of mind to either monism of the materialistic stripe, or to a version of property dualism that treats mental properties on par with other macro-properties. Paul Pietroski, in Causing Actions (2000), aims to articulate a dualistic framework that ‘makes room for persons’. What is especially intriguing about Pietrosh’s framework is that it denies both of the above assumptions: (i) it is resolutely non-naturalistic, and (ii) it is a dualism of events, said to steer between substance and property dualisms. If Pietroski is right then both naturalism and the three-part taxonomy are worse than mistaken: they are in conflict with our conception of persons. In what follows I will ask (i) whether event dualism constitutes a coherent ontological position (Sl), (ii) whether the event dualist can offer a plausible conception of mental causation (52), and (iii) whether the event dualist can explain mind-body supervenience ($3). I will answer all three questions with some form of: yes, but not in the way Pietroski suggests. Though my discussion will be 1 argely critical, I am overall sympathetic to a n on-reductionist framework, albeit one which is based on tropes, which is naturalistic, and which replaces a dualism of mind and nature with a multiplicity of levels of nature. So the overall thrust of my criticisms will be that there is a better way to make room for persons. I should say that Causing Actions is a very rewarding book: it is technically sophisticated, intellectually provocative, and exceptionally creative. I should also say that Causing Actions contains important discussions of action and of intensionality, which I lack space to discuss here.’
Poor-data and data-poor species stock assessment using a Bayesian hierarchical approach

Appropriate inference for stocks or species with low-quality data (poor data) or limited data (data poor) is extremely important. Hierarchical Bayesian methods are especially applicable to small-area, small-sample-size estimation problems because they allow poor-data species to borrow strength from species with good-quality data. We used a hammerhead shark complex as an example to investigate the advantages of using hierarchical Bayesian models in assessing the status of poor-data and data-poor exploited species. The hammerhead shark complex (Sphyrna spp.) along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States is composed of three species: the scalloped hammerhead (S. lewini), the great hammerhead (S. mokarran), and the smooth hammerhead (S. zygaena) sharks. The scalloped hammerhead comprises 70–80% of the catch and has catch and relative abundance data of good quality, whereas great and smooth hammerheads have relative abundance indices that are both limited and of low quality presumably becau...
Point: Vancomycin Is Not Obsolete for the Treatment of Infection Caused by Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Since the discovery, development, and US Food and Drug Administration approval of vancomycin in the 1950s, this agent has remained a mainstay for the treatment of infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). However, because of the development of new antistaphylococcal antibiotics and reports of vancomycin failures, the utility of vancomycin has recently been questioned. Although vancomycin did not undergo the strict US Food and Drug Administration approval process that is in place today to demonstrate efficacy, there is considerable information available that sheds light on the role vancomycin has in infectious diseases pharmacotherapy today. In addition, although we look to in vitro susceptibility testing to assess vancomycin activity against S. aureus, we have come to appreciate that resistance of S. aureus to vancomycin can be a continuous--rather than a categorical--phenomenon. This has resulted in clinical microbiology laboratories having difficulty identifying S. aureus that may not respond to conventional doses of vancomycin. A better understanding is needed of the pharmacodynamic relationship between vancomycin and MRSA as relates to optimal dosing strategies, including consideration for loading doses, and development of rational categorical breakpoints for susceptibility based on clinical outcomes. By better understanding these critical issues, it may be possible to optimize the use of vancomycin, resulting in a cost-effective treatment option for many patients infected with MRSA.
A software falsifier

A falsifier is a tool for discovering errors by static source-code analysis. Its goal is to discover them while requiring minimal programmer effort. In contrast to lint-like tools or verifiers, which try to maximize the number of errors reported at the expense of allowing "false errors", a falsifier's goal is to guarantee no false errors. To further minimize programmer effort, no specification or extra information about the program is required. That, however, does not preclude project-specific information from being built in. The class of errors that are detectable without any specification is important not only because of the low cost of detection, but also because it includes errors of portability, irreproducible behavior, etc., which are very expensive to detect by testing. This paper describes the design and implementation of such a falsifier, and reports on experience with its use for design automation software. The main contribution of this work lies in combining data-flow analysis with symbolic execution to take advantage of their relative advantages.
Fast Detection of Volatile Organic Compounds from Bacterial Cultures by Secondary Electrospray Ionization-Mass Spectrometry

We propose a novel application of secondary electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (SESI-MS) as a real-time clinical diagnostic tool for bacterial infection. It is known that volatile organic compounds (VOCs), produced in different combinations and quantities by bacteria as metabolites, generate characteristic odors for certain bacteria. These VOCs comprise a specific metabolic profile that can be used for species or serovar identification, but rapid and sensitive analytical methods are required for broad utility. In this study, the VOC profiles of five bacterial groups from four genera, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, and Salmonella enterica serovar Pullorum, were characterized by SESI-MS. Thirteen compounds were identified from these bacterial cultures, and the combination of these VOCs creates a unique pattern for each genus. In addition, principal component analysis (PCA) was applied for the purpose of species or serovar discrimination. The first three principal components exhibit a clear separation between the metabolic volatile profiles of these five bacterial groups that is independent of the growth medium. As a first step toward addressing the complexity of clinical application, in vitro tests for mixed cultures were conducted. The results show that individual species or serovars in a mixed culture are identifiable among a biological VOC background, and the ratios of the detected volatiles reflect the proportion of each bacterium in the mixture. Our data confirm the utility of SESI-MS in real-time identification of bacterial species or serovars in vitro, which, in the future, may play a promising clinical role in diagnosing infections.
Detection of interannual vegetation responses to climatic variability using AVIRIS data in a coastal savanna in California

Ecosystem responses to interannual weather variability are large and superimposed over any long-term directional climatic responses making it difficult to assign causal relationships to vegetation change. Better understanding of ecosystem responses to interannual climatic variability is crucial to predicting long-term functioning and stability. Hyperspectral data have the potential to detect ecosystem responses that are undetected by broadband sensors and can be used to scale to coarser resolution global mapping sensors, e.g., advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) and MODIS. This research focused on detecting vegetation responses to interannual climate using the airborne visible-infrared imaging spectrometer (AVIRIS) data over a natural savanna in the Central Coast Range in California. Results of linear spectral mixture analysis and assessment of the model errors were compared for two AVIRIS images acquired in spring of a dry and a wet year. The results show that mean unmixed fractions for these vegetation types were not significantly different between years due to the high spatial variability within the landscape. However, significant community differences were found between years on a pixel basis, underlying the importance of site-specific analysis. Multitemporal hyperspectral coverage is necessary to understand vegetation dynamics.
Victory for the Aimless

There’s a common assumption that you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it. So it’s no surprise that our culture stresses driving full speed towards our goals, whether in starting a business, pursuing a career, or even in choosing hobbies or mates. The accepted wisdom is that it’s wasteful to meander through life without a consistent direction. But it turns out that many great achievers discovered their true potential only after letting go of their original objectives. Whether they’re rock stars, authors, or millionaires, a unifying trend behind the success of many outliers is a willingness to follow serendipity. And while sometimes things work out exactly the way we intended, the great successes don’t usually follow any predictable script. It turns out there’s no magical formula for changing the world. This chapter shares the stories of real people who found great success through abandoning objectives.
Articulating meanings of positive adjustment to aging through physical activity participation among older adults.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Physical activity can contribute to health and well-being for people of all ages. The purpose of this research is to use photo elicitation to examine the meanings associated with physical activity participation by older adults in North Carolina Senior Games (NCSG) State Finals. Six participants in the 2012 State Finals were invited to take photographs of what they deemed meaningful to them about their State Finals experiences. They described 137 photos during in-depth interviews. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze the data since symbolic interactionism was the methodological framework for organizing the study. Four themes emerged from the grounded theory process: distinguishing oneself through competition, transforming identities, being part of a collective experience, and redefining aging. Participation in these physical activity opportunities is shown to be a mechanism for adjusting to aging and maximizing mental and physical health in later life. Analysis of the descriptions of the photos revealed that the selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) theory was applicable to these older adults as they set and pursued their athletic goals. Although only a small percentage of older adults may be interested in high levels of competition, this study points to the importance of providing a range of sports and physical activity experiences (i.e., recreational and competitive) for older adults. The social aspects of participation also were highly valued. Although the benefits of lifelong physical activity are important, the experiences of these older adults were meaningful and important regardless of how active they had been throughout their lives. Facilitating ways for older adults to be active as they age can be important related to distinguishing and transforming their aging identities, offering a collective social experience, and as a means to set goals relative to aging. Importantly, recreation providers can promote opportunities aimed at adults throughout their lives so that they can be active when they reach older adulthood. Further, we suggest that photo elicitation could be useful for recreation programming. The technique might be an interesting way for older participants to record what is important about their involvement in recreation activities. These photos could be displayed in a senior center or a recreation center as evidence of how individuals can find meanings in being physically active in their later years.
The total hemispherical emittance of silicon-carbide coated reinforced carbon composites in the temperature range 100 K to 450 K

This paper deals with the measurement of the total hemispherical emittance of a silicon carbide coated carbon composite which is the thermal control material of the nose cone and leading edges of the Space Shuttle. In order to effect the thermal design of the spacecraft, it is desirable to have emittance data available for the temperature range 100 K to 2000 K to encompass the thermal extremes associated with orbiting and reentry conditions. Since the multiple thermal cycling associated with fifty to one hundred missions might result in substantial property changes, the data to be presented are for the low temperature regime 100 K to 450 K for both virgin material and material which was thermally treated to simulate multiple reentries. The discussion emphasizes the identification of possible sources of error in the measurement of equilibrium temperatures and the extent to which these measurement errors or uncertainties would alter the derived emittance values.
The interaction between acetylation and serine-574 phosphorylation regulates the apoptotic function of FOXO3

The multispecific transcription factor and tumor suppressor FOXO3 is an important mediator of apoptosis, but the mechanisms that control its proapoptotic function are poorly understood. There has long been evidence that acetylation promotes FOXO3-driven apoptosis and recently a specific JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase)-dependent S574 phosphorylated form (p-FOXO3) has been shown to be specifically apoptotic. This study examined whether acetylation and S574 phosphorylation act independently or in concert to regulate the apoptotic function of FOXO3. We observed that both sirtuins 1 and 7 (SIRT1 and SIRT7) are able to deacetylate FOXO3 in vitro and in vivo, and that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment of THP-1 monocytes induced a rapid increase of FOXO3 acetylation, partly by suppression of SIRT1 and SIRT7. Acetylation was required for S574 phosphorylation and cellular apoptosis. Deacetylation of FOXO3 by SIRT activation or SIRT1 or SIRT7 overexpression prevented its S574 phosphorylation and blocked apoptosis in response to LPS. We also found that acetylated FOXO3 preferentially bound JNK1, and a mutant FOXO3 lacking four known acetylation sites (K242, 259, 290 and 569R) abolished JNK1 binding and failed to induce apoptosis. This interplay of acetylation and phosphorylation also regulated cell death in primary human peripheral blood monocytes (PBMs). PBMs isolated from alcoholic hepatitis patients had high expression of SIRT1 and SIRT7 and failed to induce p-FOXO3 and apoptosis in response to LPS. PBMs from healthy controls had lower SIRT1 and SIRT7 and readily formed p-FOXO3 and underwent apoptosis when similarly treated. These results reveal that acetylation is permissive for generation of the apoptotic form of FOXO3 and the activity of SIRT1 and particularly SIRT7 regulate this process in vivo, allowing control of monocyte apoptosis in response to LPS.
The Coming of War: 1939

I Germany’s seizure of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 inaugurated the final crisis in the disintegration of the Versailles peace structure and the march toward war. Again, Britain, France, and the United States – the makers of the Versailles Treaty – had failed to relieve Europe’s burgeoning tensions by modifying their treaty or defending it through an effective display of force. Even after the Munich settlement of the previous September, British leaders assumed that some form of accommodation would produce a general European settlement and forestall a German continental hegemony. But in the fall of Prague they detected a new and inescapable threat to Europe’s future. What troubled European observers was not merely the ruthlessness of the German occupation but, even more alarming, the revelation of a German expansionism without visible limit. On no grounds, and certainly not self-determination, could anyone justify such aggression. “The utter cynicism and immorality of the whole performance,” wrote British Ambassador Sir Nevile Henderson from Berlin, “defies description. Nazism has definitely crossed the rubicon of purity of race and German unity….”
Visions of science: books and readers at the dawn of the Victorian Age

James A. Secord’s Visions of Science offers a masterful account of seven key works of scientific writing published in the late 1820s and 1830s, when scientific institutions, practices, and ideologi...
Hierarchical Metal Oxide Topographies Replicated from Highly Textured Graphene Oxide by Intercalation Templating.

Confined assembly in the intersheet gallery spaces of two-dimensional (2D) materials is an emerging templating route for creation of ultrathin material architectures. Here, we demonstrate a general synthetic route for transcribing complex wrinkled and crumpled topographies in graphene oxide (GO) films into textured metal oxides. Intercalation of hydrated metal ions into textured GO multilayer films followed by dehydration, thermal decomposition, and air oxidation produces Zn, Al, Mn, and Cu oxide films with high-fidelity replication of the original GO textures, including “multi-generational”, multiscale textures that have been recently achieved through extreme graphene compression. The textured metal oxides are shown to consist of nanosheet-like aggregates of interconnected particles, whose mobility, attachment, and sintering are guided by the 2D template. This intercalation templating approach has broad applicability for the creation of complex, textured films and provides a bridging technology that can ...
Computational Aids for Query Improvement

Information access tools are no better than the queries that drive them. Yet, the user is typically not provided any automated assistance to help formulate better queries. Two access methods that attempt to address this issue are discussed. The first, Snippet Search, permits search over the set of possible queries while the second, Scatter/Gather, enables query-free browsing over large document collections.
Motion-Extended Array Synthesis—Part I: Theory and Method

We consider the realization of motion-extended array synthesis (MXAS), in the RF and acoustic sensing domains, for the purpose of achieving high resolution in imaging, direction finding (DF), and geolocation applications. The focus is on a method in which, like synthetic aperture radar (SAR), the aperture synthesized is much larger than any aspect of the physical system, but, unlike SAR, in which there is no reference waveform available to exploit. We show that arbitrarily large virtual arrays, limited only by antenna element field of view, can be created by moving one collection system away from another, sweeping out a 1-D or 2-D area. The virtual array so created is suitable for use in general signal environments, including complex scenarios with cochannel and/or ultraweak sources. In the MXAS processing construct, the temporally distributed array formation is cast into a form resembling standard array processing and affording the same degrees of freedom as a real array of the same size. A performance assessment comparing an MXAS implementation to a leading method for DF and geolocation shows orders of magnitude improvement for MXAS, and conformance to the Cramer–Rao lower bound for DF for an array, under the correct interpretation of motion extension. Finally, we discuss candidate application areas.
Telomeres, Telomerase and CD28 in Human CD8 T-Cells: Effects on Immunity during Aging and HIV Infection

The immune system undergoes major alterations during aging, many of which have been implicated in the increased morbidity and mortality associated with infection, as well as the high incidence of cancer in the elderly. Although mouse models have provided important insights into immunosenescence, there are certain facets of human immunological history that cannot be modeled in experimental animals. Here, we focus on the process of replicative senescence in human CD8 T-cells, which seems to be driven by the extensive and long-term cell proliferation required to control certain latent viral infections. Replicative senescence has been well-characterized in cell culture fand is now recognized as an underlying mechanism for shaping the memory T-cell pool in humans. This chapter will focus on the complex relationship between telomeres, telomerase and the T-cell costimulatory receptor, CD28, in modulating the process of CD8 T-cell replicative senescence and the impact of this process on aging and HIV disease.
The scalable commutativity rule: designing scalable software for multicore processors

Developing software that scales on multicore processors is an inexact science dominated by guesswork, measurement, and expensive cycles of redesign and reimplementation. Current approaches are workload-driven and, hence, can reveal scalability bottlenecks only for known workloads and available software and hardware. This paper introduces an interface-driven approach to building scalable software. This approach is based on the scalable commutativity rule, which, informally stated, says that whenever interface operations commute, they can be implemented in a way that scales. We formalize this rule and prove it correct for any machine on which conflict-free operations scale, such as current cache-coherent multicore machines. The rule also enables a better design process for scalable software: programmers can now reason about scalability from the earliest stages of interface definition through software design, implementation, and evaluation.
Supergravity: a post-Einstein unification.

In attempting to honor the memory of Einstein’s work on this centennial occasion, it seems most fitting to discuss a current incarnation of his lifetime goal, unification of gravity and matter. As we all know, earlier attempts lay partly in inclusion of the other classical gauge field, electromagnetism, and partly in relating classical particles to singularities in the field. With the proliferation of new gauge fields and matter particles, especially the non-classical fermions, this program lost much of its immediate attraction. But the spirit of his quest always remained very much alive and unification is more than ever a guiding principle in physics, though mostly to the (temporary) exclusion of gravity. It is therefore gratifying that unified models with gravity as a basic ingredient have also begun to flourish and I shall devote myself to a discussion of one of these, supergravity,1 which is by now almost three years old. Its relevance to the real world is as yet unclear, but it is an elegant new gauge theory from which much has been, and is still to be, learned. I will try to show that it is simple, natural and unique in the same way that bosonic gauge theories are. The approach I will use is in fact equally applicable there and really uses only two underlying concepts: the initial restrictions imposed on sources of massless free fields of higher (S ≥ 1) spin and the necessity for self-interaction where those fields are themselves grouped in (global) gauge multiplets. Details of the work, carried out in collaboration with D. Boulware and J. H. Kay, may be found in a forthcoming paper2 where earlier references are also listed.
On Carolina Sartorio’s Causation and Free Will

In this article I review the core elements of Carolina Sartorio’s actual causal sequence account of free will and moral responsibility, and propose two revisions. First, I suggest replacing the contested notion of absence causation by the relatively uncontroversial notion of causal explanation by absences. Second, I propose retaining explanation by unreduced dispositions, of which Sartorio appears to be wary. I then set out a response to her critical treatment of manipulation arguments against compatibilism. Lastly, I point out that Sartorio’s reasons-sensitivity condition on moral responsibility is amenable to a conception of moral responsibility that, unlike the one she endorses, dispenses with basic desert.
UFO: predictive concurrency use-after-free detection

Use-After-Free (UAF) vulnerabilities are caused by the program operating on a dangling pointer and can be exploited to compromise critical software systems. While there have been many tools to mitigate UAF vulnerabilities, UAF remains one of the most common attack vectors. UAF is particularly difficult to detect in concurrent programs, in which a UAF may only occur with rare thread schedules. In this paper, we present a novel technique, UFO, that can precisely predict UAFs based on a single observed execution trace with a provably higher detection capability than existing techniques with no false positives. The key technical advancement of UFO is an extended maximal thread causality model that captures the largest possible set of feasible traces that can be inferred from a given multithreaded execution trace. By formulating UAF detection as a constraint solving problem atop this model, we can explore a much larger thread scheduling space than classical happens-before based techniques. We have evaluated UFO on several real-world large complex C/C++ programs including Chromium and FireFox. UFO scales to real-world systems with hundreds of millions of events in their execution and has detected a large number of real concurrency UAFs.
Sooner is better: use of a real-time automated bedside dashboard improves sepsis care.

Abstract Background Minimizing the interval between diagnosis of sepsis and administration of antibiotics improves patient outcomes. We hypothesized that a commercially available bedside clinical surveillance visualization system (BSV) would hasten antibiotic administration and decrease length of stay (LOS) in surgical intensive care unit (SICU) patients. Methods A BSV, integrated with the electronic medical record and displayed at bedside, was implemented in our SICU in July 2016. A visual sepsis screen score (SSS) was added in July 2017. All patients admitted to SICU beds with bedside displays equipped with a BSV were analyzed to determine mean SSS, maximum SSS, time from positive SSS to antibiotic administration, SICU LOS, and mortality. Results During the study period, 232 patients were admitted to beds equipped with the clinical surveillance visualization system. Thirty patients demonstrated positive SSS followed by confirmed sepsis (23 Pre-SSS versus 7 Post-SSS). Mean and maximum SSS were similar. Time from positive SSS to antibiotic administration was decreased in patients with a visual SSS (55.3 ± 15.5 h versus 16.2 ± 9.2 h; P Conclusions Implementation of a visual SSS into a BSV led to a decreased time interval between the positive SSS and administration of antibiotics and was associated with shorter SICU and hospital LOS. Integration of a visual decision support system may help providers adhere to Surviving Sepsis Guidelines.
THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE QUOTIDIAN ARTIFACT

In chapter four of The Human Condition 1 Hannah Arendt suggests that quotidian artifacts, such as the tables and chairs that we utilize on a daily basis, serve to stabilize human life. Between the private vagaries (one might even say the randomness) of human subjectivity on the one hand and the “sublime indifference of untouched nature” on the other, there is a man-made world protecting us from both.
Cobalt(II) acyl intermediates in carbon–carbon bond formation and oxygenation

The organocobalt scorpionate compounds ToMCoR (ToM = tris(4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazolinyl)phenylborate; R = Bn, 1; CH2SiMe3, 2; Ph, 3; Et, 4; nBu, 5; Me, 6) react in carbonylation, oxidation, and carboxylation reactions via pathways that are distinctly influenced by the nature of the organometallic moiety. The compounds are prepared by reaction of ToMCoCl with the corresponding organolithium or organopotassium reagents. Compounds 1-6 were characterized by 8-line hyperfine coupling to cobalt in EPR spectra and solution phase magnetic measurements (μeff = 4-5μB) as containing a high-spin cobalt(ii) center. The UV-Vis spectra revealed an intense diagnostic band at ca. 700 nm (e > 1000 M-1 cm-1) associated with the tetrahedral organocobalt(ii) center that was assigned to a d ← d transition on the basis of configuration interaction (CI) calculations. Complexes 1-6 react rapidly with CO to form equilibrating mixtures of the low spin organocobalt carbonyl ToMCo(R)CO, acyl ToMCoC([double bond, length as m-dash]O)R, and acyl carbonyl ToMCo{C([double bond, length as m-dash]O)R}CO. The 1H and 11B NMR spectra contained only one set of signals for the CO-treated solutions, whereas the solution-phase IR spectra contained up to two νCO and three νC([double bond, length as m-dash]O)R signals with intensities varying depending on the R group (R = Bn, 7; CH2SiMe3, 8; Ph, 9; Et, 10; nBu, 11; Me, 12). Single crystal X-ray diffraction of ToMCo{C([double bond, length as m-dash]O)Et}CO (10) supports its assignment as a square pyramidal cobalt(ii) acyl carbonyl complex. Upon evaporation of volatiles, solutions of 8-12 revert to the CO-free organocobalt starting materials 2-6, whereas attempts to isolate benzyl-derived 7 provide an unusual α-alkoxyketone species, characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Despite the differences observed in the carbonylation of 1-6 as a result of varying the R group, compounds 7-12 all react rapidly with O2 through an oxygenation pathway to afford the corresponding carboxylate compounds ToMCoO2CR (R = Bn, 13; CH2SiMe3, 14; Ph, 15; Et, 16; nBu, 17; Me, 18). In contrast, the insertion of CO2 into the Co-C bond in 1-6 requires several days to weeks.
Applying Systems-of-Systems Principles to Purposeful Design of Human Systems

This paper describes a set of methods and tools adapted from both systems of systems (SoS) engineering and human-centered design which can be used for strategic design and planning of SoS evolution. The concepts are focused on the purposeful design of human SoS, and in particular the design of more resilient human communities.
Examining the Relations Among Emerging Adult Coping, Executive Function, and Anxiety:

Emerging adulthood is a developmental period marked by increased anxiety related to academic, social, and professional stressors. The ability to successfully cope with stress is strongly negatively...
Clonal evolution in acute myeloid leukemia (AML): Relapse after a long remission period.

7022Background: Late relapse in AML occurring more than 5 years after achieving remission is uncommon and underlying biological events are poorly understood. We aim to determine the clonal events r...
Engineering Lineage Potency and Plasticity of Stem Cells using Epigenetic Molecules

Stem cells are considered as a multipotent regenerative source for diseased and dysfunctional tissues. Despite the promise of stem cells, the inherent capacity of stem cells to convert to tissue-specific lineages can present a major challenge to the use of stem cells for regenerative medicine. We hypothesized that epigenetic regulating molecules can modulate the stem cell’s developmental program, and thus potentially overcome the limited lineage differentiation that human stem cells exhibit based on the source and processing of stem cells. In this study, we screened a library of 84 small molecule pharmacological agents indicated in nucleosomal modification and identified a sub-set of specific molecules that influenced osteogenesis in human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) while maintaining cell viability in-vitro. Pre-treatment with five candidate hits, Gemcitabine, Decitabine, I-CBP112, Chidamide, and SIRT1/2 inhibitor IV, maximally enhanced osteogenesis in-vitro. In contrast, five distinct molecules, 4-Iodo-SAHA, Scriptaid, AGK2, CI-amidine and Delphidine Chloride maximally inhibited osteogenesis. We then tested the role of these molecules on hMSCs derived from aged human donors and report that small epigenetic molecules, namely Gemcitabine and Chidamide, can significantly promote osteogenic differentiation by 5.9- and 2.3-fold, respectively. Taken together, this study demonstrates new applications of identified small molecule drugs for sensitively regulating the lineage plasticity fates of bone-marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells through modulating the epigenetic profile of the cells.
Layer boundary evolution method for macular OCT layer segmentation

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is used to produce high resolution depth images of the retina and is now the standard of care for in-vivo ophthalmological assessment. It is also increasingly being used for evaluation of neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Automatic segmentation methods identify the retinal layers of the macular cube providing consistent results without intra- and inter-rater variation and is faster than manual segmentation. In this paper, we propose a fast multi-layer macular OCT segmentation method based on a fast level set method. Our framework uses contours in an optimized approach specifically for OCT layer segmentation over the whole macular cube. Our algorithm takes boundary probability maps from a trained random forest and iteratively refines the prediction to subvoxel precision. Evaluation on both healthy and multiple sclerosis subjects shows that our method is statistically better than a state-of-the-art graph-based method.