cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
306 INTRAUTERINE GROWTH RESTRICTION DECREASES IMMATURE T CELLS IN THE THYMUS OF JUVENILE RATS.

Background IUGR infants have qualitative and quantitative abnormalities in lymphocyte function that persist into childhood, resulting in increased susceptibility to infections. We have previously shown in a rat model of IUGR that there is a decrease in the overall number of lymphocytes. However, little detail is known about the extent to which IUGR affects all white blood cells. Interestingly, lymphocyte phenotype can be altered by high glucocorticoid levels, which also characterizes both IUGR human and rat. Objective We hypothesized that IUGR affects leukocyte phenotype in postnatal juvenile IUGR rats. Design/Methods To prove this hypothesis, we used bilateral uterine artery ligation and sham surgery to produce IUGR and control rats (n = 4 in each group). Perinatal glucocorticoid levels are elevated in this model of IUGR (Baserga et al, AJP, 2005). Pups were allowed to deliver, and litters were culled to 6. Pups were killed on day of life 21, and thymus and spleen were harvested. Organ weight and total cell number were corrected for body weight differences. Monoclonal antibodies and flow cytometry analysis were used to compare the major leukocyte cell lines in the thymus and spleen from 21-day-old juvenile rats. Cells were stained with cell-surface markers for general T cells (CD3+), T-helper (CD4+), T-cytotoxic (CD8+), granulocytes (GR1+), B cells (CD45r+), macrophages (Mac1+), and dendritic cells (CD11c+). Results Thymus and spleen weights were disproportionately decreased in IUGR. IUGR decreased double positive (CD4+, CD8+) naive, undifferentiated T cells in the thymus versus controls (72 ± 1% vs 66 ± 1%, p Conclusions We conclude that IUGR disproportionately decreases the naive, undifferentiated T cells in the postnatal thymus and shifts the percentage of cells to a more mature, differentiated phenotype. This is very intriguing because increased glucocorticoid levels have been previously shown to similarly affect lymphocyte phenotype. We speculate that elevated perinatal glucocorticoid levels lead to a persistent change in the postnatal lymphocyte population in the IUGR rat, which represents a pathway through which IUGR causes qualitative and quantitative abnormities in lymphocyte function. Supported by the Children9s Health Research Center.
Reliability Assurance of Highly Precise Rolling Bearing Clearance

A reliability-based design for rolling bearing clearance was carried out.The effects of random factors like interference fitting and speed on clearance were obtained based on the theory of elasticity,and the conversion of initial and working clearance distribution was realized using the Monte-Carlo method.In the analysis of getting optimal interval of working clearance,the load distribution of bearing under different clearances was calculated based on quasi-dynamic analysis,and the bifurcation diagram of bearing-rotor system under different clearances was plotted with theory of bifurcation of nonlinear vibration.The initial clearance interval was controlled to ensure the reliability of clearance of bearing on the basis of the optimal interval of working clearance for highly precise bearing clearance.
Protective effects of buckwheat rutin on immune hepatic injury of mice

【Objective】To observe the effects of rutin from buckwheat flowers and leaves(RBFL) on immune hepatic injury of mice induced by BCG and LPS.【Methods】Immune hepatic injury model of mice was induced by BCG and LPS,meanwhile,different concentrations of RBFL were applied to observe their effects.Bifendate was selected as positive control drug.The effect of RBFL was evaluated by observing the general condition of the mice,detecting the serum ALT activity,calculating liver index,and examining the pathological changes of the liver.【Results】Compared with model group,different dosages of RBFL could obviously improve the general condition of BCG and LPS induced immune hepatic injury mice,antagonize the increase of serum ALT and liver index,and lighten the pathological injury of the liver.【Conclusions】RBFL possessed protective effect on immune hepatic injury of mice induced by BCG and LPS.
Brief Report: Bone Marrow Lymphocytosis in Acute Leukemia: A Second Look

A review of 54 patients with acute leukemia in remission confirms the impression that bone marrow lymphocytosis (BML) of 20 per cent or more is not a manifestation of incomplete remission, but may be an indicator of good prognosis. This concept is particularly manifest in patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Eight such patients without BML have had median remissions and survivals of five and 10 months, respectively, while 30 patients with BML have had remissions and survivals of nine and 35 months.
Isolation and Expansion of C-Kit-Positive Cardiac Progenitor Cells by Magnetic Cell Sorting

Cell therapy techniques are a promising option for tissue regeneration; especially in cases such as heart failure where transplantation is limited by donor availability. Multiple cell types have been examined for myocardial regeneration, including mesenchymal stem cells (and other bone marrow-derived cells), induced pluripotent stem cells, embryonic stem cells, cardiosphere-derived cells, and cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs). CPCs are multipotent and clonogenic, can be harvested from mature tissue, and have the distinct advantages of autologous transplant and lack of tumor formation in a clinical setting. Here we focus on the isolation, expansion, and myocardial differentiation of rat CPCs. Brief adaptations of the protocol for isolation from mouse and human tissue are also provided.
Effects of Phosphate Concentration on Growth in Mirabilis jalapa Cultured Cells

Recherche des conditions optimales de culture, dans le but de produire une proteine ayant une activite anti-virale, notamment vis-a-vis du irus de la mosaique du tabac
The Role of Human Papillomaviruses in Oncogenesis

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are the causative agents of cervical and other anogenital as well as oral cancers. Approximately fifty percent of virally induced cancers in the USA are associated with HPV infections. HPVs infect stratified epithelia and link productive replication with differentiation. The viral oncoproteins, E6, E7, and E5, play important roles in regulating viral functions during the viral life cycle and also contribute to the development of cancers. p53 and Rb are two major targets of the E6 and E7 oncoproteins, but additional cellular proteins also play important roles. E5 plays an auxiliary role in contributing to the development of cancers. This review will discuss the various targets of these viral proteins and what roles they play in viral pathogenesis.
Role-play simulations for climate change adaptation education and engagement

In order to effectively adapt to climate change, public officials and other stakeholders need to rapidly enhance their understanding of local risks and their ability to collaboratively and adaptively respond to them. We argue that science-based role-play simulation exercises — a type of 'serious game' involving face-to-face mock decision-making — have considerable potential as education and engagement tools for enhancing readiness to adapt. Prior research suggests role-play simulations and other serious games can foster public learning and encourage collective action in public policy-making contexts. However, the effectiveness of such exercises in the context of climate change adaptation education and engagement has heretofore been underexplored. We share results from two research projects that demonstrate the effectiveness of role-play simulations in cultivating climate change adaptation literacy, enhancing collaborative capacity and facilitating social learning. Based on our findings, we suggest such exercises should be more widely embraced as part of adaptation professionals' education and engagement toolkits. Science-based role-play simulation exercises involving face-to-face mock decision-making have potential as education and engagement tools for enhancing readiness to adapt to climate change, as results from two research projects show.
PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS WITH MULTIPLE DISABILITIES AND TYPICALLY DEVELOPING PEERS

The purpose of this study was to investigate if students with multiple disabilities perceived a lower level of feeling cared about, more difficulty in school, and decreased mental health status, when compared to their typically developing peers. Data from 244 participants was extracted from the National Survey of Adolescent Health. Of this sample, 36 participants were identified as having multiple disabilities. Independent samples t-tests and multivariate analyses of variance were used to analyze data using the sample of the population. No significant results were found, indicating that there are no differences between the perceptions of students with multiple disabilities and their typically developing peers. Article visualizations:
Cyclotron and Production of PET Radionuclides

Cyclotrons are lead or concrete shielded copper-made dee-shaped chambers under vacuum in which negatively or positively charged hydrogen ions (H− or proton) are accelerated under a radiofrequency high voltage in a magnetic field. In medical cyclotrons, H− ions are externally extracted out of the cyclotron and intended targets are positioned in the path of the proton beam, whereby positron-emitting nuclides of interest such as 11C, 18F, 13N etc., are produced by nuclear reactions. These are separated and purified by chemical methods in hot cells and are then utilized in the synthesis of desired radiopharmaceuticals in synthesis boxes for clinical use. Target preparation, individual radionuclide production, and their yield are described.
Carbon Nanotube Thread Electrochemical Cell: Detection of Heavy Metals

In this work, all three electrodes in an electrochemical cell were fabricated based on carbon nanotube (CNT) thread. CNT thread partially insulated with a thin polystyrene coating to define the microelectrode area was used as the working electrode; bare CNT thread was used as the auxiliary electrode; and a micro quasi-reference electrode was fabricated by electroplating CNT thread with Ag and then anodizing it in chloride solution to form a layer of AgCl. The Ag|AgCl coated CNT thread electrode provided a stable potential comparable to the conventional liquid-junction type Ag|AgCl reference electrode. The CNT thread auxiliary electrode provided a stable current, which is comparable to a Pt wire auxiliary electrode. This all-CNT thread three electrode cell has been evaluated as a microsensor for the simultaneous determination of trace levels of heavy metal ions by anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). Hg2+, Cu2+, and Pb2+ were used as a representative system for this study. The calculated detection limits (b...
Effect of biomechanical stress on endogenous antioxidant networks in bovine articular cartilage

Mechanosensitve pathways in chondrocytes are essential for maintaining articular cartilage homeostasis. Traumatic loading increases cartilage oxidation and causes cell death and osteoarthritis. However, sub-lethal doses of the pro-oxidant molecule tert-Butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP) protects against loading-induced chondrocyte death. We hypothesized that compressive cyclic loading at moderate strains (<20%) causes sub-lethal cartilage oxidation that induces an adaptive increase in the endogenous antioxidant defense network. We tested this hypothesis by subjecting healthy bovine articular cartilage explants to in vitro static or cyclic (1 Hz) compressive loading at 50kPa (15% strain, “physiologic”) versus 300kPa (40% strain, “hyper-physiologic”) for 12 hours per day for 2 days. We also treated unloaded explants with 100µM tBHP for 12 hours per day for 2 days to differentiate between biomechanical and chemical pro-oxidant stimulation. All loading conditions induced glutathione oxidation relative to unloaded controls, but only the 50kPa cyclic loading condition increased total glutathione content (2-fold). This increase was associated with a greater expression of glutamate-cysteine ligase, the rate-limiting step in glutathione synthesis, compared to 300kPa cyclic loading. 50kPa cyclic loading also increased the expression of superoxide dismutase-1 and peroxiredoxin-3. Like 50kPa loading, tBHP treatment also increased total glutathione content. However, tBHP treatment and 50kPa cyclic loading differed in their effect on the expression of genes regulating antioxidant defense and cartilage matrix synthesis and degradation. These findings suggest that glutathione metabolism is a mechanosensitive antioxidant defense pathway in chondrocytes and that intermittent pro-oxidant treatment alone is insufficient to account for all changes in mediators of cartilage homeostasis associated with cyclic loading. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Developing a Machine-Supported Coding System for Constructed-Response Items in PISA

Approximately a third of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) items in the core domains (math, reading, and science) are constructed-response items and require human coding (scoring). This process is time-consuming, expensive, and prone to error as often (a) humans code inconsistently, and (b) coding reliability in international large-scale assessments varies across items and countries. The shift in PISA 2015 from paper- to computer-based assessment digitized all responses and associated coding, thus providing opportunities to introduce technology and analytical methods to improve data processing and analyses in future cycles. In this computer-based setting, this research explains the framework and approach for improving the accuracy and efficiency of the coding process in constructed-response items for future PISA cycles. In the pilot study associated with this research, we demonstrate how the proposed machine-supported coding system can be utilized using sample reading items from the PISA 2015 cycle.
Lentiviral Knockdown of Transcription Factor STAT1 in Peromyscus leucopus to Assess Its Role in the Restriction of Tick-borne Flaviviruses

Cellular infection with tick-borne flaviviruses (TBFVs) results in activation of the interferon (IFN) signaling pathway and subsequent upregulation of numerous genes termed IFN stimulated genes (ISGs) ( Schoggins et al., 2011 ). Many ISGs function to prevent virus pathogenesis by acting in a broad or specific manner through protein-protein interactions (Duggal and Emerman, 2012). The potency of the IFN signaling response determines the outcome of TBFV infection (Best, 2017; Carletti et al., 2017 ). Interestingly, data from our lab show that TBFV replication is significantly restricted in cells of the reservoir species Peromyscus leucopus thereby suggesting a potent antiviral response ( Izuogu et al., 2017 ). We assessed the relative contribution of IFN signaling to resistance in P. leucopus by knocking down a major transcription factor in the IFN response pathway. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) was specifically targeted in P. leucopus cells by shRNA technology. We further tested the impact of gene knockdown on the ability of cells to respond to IFN and restrict virus replication; the results indicate that when STAT1 expression is altered, P. leucopus cells have a decreased response to IFN stimulation and are significantly more susceptible to TBFV replication.
Daily pattern of energy distribution and weight loss.

Abstract Timing of energy intake, a temporal dietary pattern, may enhance health. Eating a greater amount of energy earlier and a smaller amount of energy later in the day, a behavioral circadian rhythm, may assist with chronoenhancement. Chronoenhancement seeks to enhance entrainment (synchronization) of biological and behavioral circadian rhythms. In humans, research reports that eating a greater amount of energy early and a smaller amount of energy later in the day increases dietary induced thermogenesis, improves cardiometabolic outcomes, and enhances weight loss. However, little human research has examined if this eating pattern enhances regularity of biological circadian rhythm. In a randomized controlled 8-week pilot study, the influence of energy distribution timing on weight loss and regularity of sleep onset and wake times (marker for biological circadian rhythm) was examined. Within an hypocaloric, three-meal prescription, participants ( n = 8) were assigned to either: 1) Morning: 50%, 30%, and 20% of kcal at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, respectively; or 2) Evening: 20%, 30%, and 50% of kcal at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, respectively. Percent weight loss and regularity of sleep onset and wake times were significantly ( p
A level-map approach to transform coefficient coding

Transform coding is widely used in the video and image codec to largely remove the spatial correlation. The magnitude of transform coefficient is weakly correlated to a number of factors, including its frequency band, the neighboring coefficient magnitudes, luma/chroma planes, etc. To exploit such correlations for efficient entropy coding, one would build a probability model conditioned on the available contexts. However, the interaction of these factors creates a high dimensional space, a direct use of which would easily fall into the over-fitting problem. How to construct a compact context set which effectively captures the underlying correlations remains a major challenge in video and image compression. Prior research work primarily relies on bucketizing the previously coded coefficients into a small number of categories as the context model for next coefficient. Certain information loss is inevitable due to the classification process. To fully exploit the available context in a limited model space, a level map approach is proposed in this work. It decomposes the coding of coefficient magnitudes into consecutive runs of binary map coding, each corresponds to whether a coefficient is equal to or greater than the given level. Under the Markov assumption across the levels, nearly all the reference symbols available to each level map can be approximated as binary random variables. It hence allows the context model to account for all the surrounding coefficients information provided by the lower level maps, while retaining a reasonably compact size. Experimental evidence demonstrates that the proposed coding scheme provides considerable compression performance gains consistently over a large test settings.
Reflections on a medical career: mistakes made and lessons learned

Medicine is a great profession and a special kind of human endeavor that requires compassion, judgment and intellectual honesty, whether in academic medicine or private practice. Impressive technical advances have been made that are dramatically improving patient care, and they will continue in the future; however, in this era of evidence-based medicine the art of medicine (personalized care) is alive and well, and it is still important.
The value of inflammatory signals in adaptive immune responses

Cells of the immune system search among billions of healthy cells to find and neutralize a small number of infected cells before pathogens replicate to sufficient numbers to cause disease or death. The immune system uses information signals to accomplish this search quickly. Ordinary differential equations and spatially explicit agent-based models are used to quantify how capillary inflammation decreases the time it takes for cytotoxic T lymphocytes to find and kill infected cells. We find that the inflammation signal localized in a small region of infected tissue dramatically reduces search times, suggesting that these signals play an important role in the immune response, especially in larger animals.
Autobiography: Precarious Totality

Based on the eight aspects of the sociological relationship between author and beholder sketched by Alfred Schutz ‘s “Construction” and using Simone de Beauvoir ‘s memoirs as an example, this chapter examines autobiography as mixed literary type. It illustrates how the autobiographer constructs from her solitude a totality centered upon her relevances and motives, shaped by her interconnecting of events, and dissimulated by the sincerety of her autobiographical I. Such totalizing, though, encounters and succumbs to detotalizing counterforces in the personal relationships between autobiographers, characters, and readers; in the continual, restless capacity of the autobiographer to reflect; and in the passage of time that leaves every event open-ended.
Art of Local Radiance: The Teacher's Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion.

Exploring the Glass City: The Teacher’s Guide to the Glass Pavilion, published in 2008 to celebrate the opening of the Toledo Museum of Art’s Glass Pavilion, exemplifies the museum’s multidisciplinary approach to public art museum education. This research narrative about the teacher’s guide unfolds in three levels. The first, autoethnography, relates aspects of personal history with the Toledo Museum of Art. The second level links four generations of family history to the social history of Toledo, Ohio. Curricular questions in the guide are used to rethink family history in relation to social movements, labor struggles, economic trends, and environmental change. The third level discusses ways of teaching art that allow students to make connections between self, family, place, and society through the study and creation of art. At every level, the narrative grapples with questions of how to bring the personal and political together in an embodied teaching practice. This task is complicated by an understandi...
Publication Rates of Molecular versus Non-Molecular Biologists: A Case Study of Seven Primarily Undergraduate Institutions.

At many primarily undergraduate institutions, biology faculty members mentor student research collaborators. If publication is required for tenure and promotion, this research is expected to result in periodic publications; and publication rates are a common metric used to assess faculty productivity. However, we have uncovered a highly significant difference in the time required to publish articles based on biological sub-discipline. It takes, on average, twice as long for molecular biologists to publish articles than scholars from other sub-disciplines in biology. We believe that this analysis can be used to assess whether this phenomenon generalizes to other disciplines and/or other categories of institutions.
Epilogue: A Millennium of British Poetry?

The epilogue looks forward to a nineteenth century of proliferating medieval texts of all three British nations in print, new poetry that more closely resembled archaic sources, and the expanding metrical license of poets in English generally. It situates the appearance in print of texts like Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight—first published in 1815 and 1839, respectively—in the context of the eighteenth century’s use of archaic poetry to antiquate the nation as a cultural formation of long historical duration. Alfred Tennyson and Gerard Manley Hopkins are offered as cases of poets who, building on newly available poetic models and historical prosodic knowledge, wrote poems that mimicked archaic poetic elements to a degree not previously possible in English poetry.
Predicting Fatality Rates Due to Earthquakes Accounting for Community Vulnerability

The existing prediction models for earthquake fatalities usually require a detailed building inventory that might not be readily available. In addition, existing models tend to overlook the socioec...
A Zero-Entry Cyber Range Environment for Future Learning Ecosystems

Sandia National Laboratories performed a 6-month effort to stand up a “zero-entry” cyber range environment for the purpose of providing self-directed practice to augment transmedia learning across diverse media and/or devices that may be part of a loosely coupled, distributed ecosystem. This 6-month effort leveraged Minimega, an open-source Emulytics™ (emulation + analytics) tool for launching and managing virtual machines in a cyber range. The proof of concept addressed a set of learning objectives for cybersecurity operations by providing three, short “zero-entry” exercises for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels in network forensics, social engineering, penetration testing, and reverse engineering. Learners provided answers to problems they explored in networked virtual machines. The hands-on environment, Cyber Scorpion, participated in a preliminary demonstration in April 2017 at Ft. Bragg, NC. The present chapter describes the learning experience research and software development effort for a cybersecurity use case and subsequent lessons learned. It offers general recommendations for challenges which may be present in future learning ecosystems.
Cell differentiation, protein synthesis rate and protein accumulation in muscle cell cultures isolated from embryos of layer and broiler chickens.

Muscle cell cultures were prepared from the leg muscle of 12-d layer and broiler chicken embryos. Cultures were then compared over a 10-d period from their capacity to differentiate into multinucleated myotubes and to synthesize and accumulate protein. Differentiation was qualitatively similar in the two cell types as evidenced by myoblast fusion that occurred rapidly during the first 2 d and remained essentially constant between d 3 and 10. However, several quantitative differences were observed. Even though the number of myotubes per culture was comparable between layers and broilers throughout development, layer muscle cultures usually exhibited a higher percentage fusion and more myonuclei per culture than broiler muscle cultures. Additionally, the nuclear density (i.e., the number of nuclei per myotube segment) was approximately 25% greater in layer cultures than in broilers between d 2 and 10 in culture. The rate of incorporation of 3H-leucine into total protein during pulse labeling experiments was comparable in muscle cultures of layers and broilers; however, broiler muscle cells accumulated approximately 40% more total protein per nucleus between d 6 and 10. Myosin heavy chain synthesis rate was higher in layer than in broiler muscle cultures, but broiler muscle cultures accumulated approximately 30% more myosin heavy chain than layers between d 6 and 10. The half-life of myosin heavy chain was 45 h in layer muscle cultures and 103 h in broiler muscle cultures. Thus, the capacity of broiler cells to accumulate more muscle protein was primarily due to a drastically slower protein breakdown rate.
Capturing the Information Dependencies of Verification Activities with Bayesian Networks

Verification activities provide the evidence of contractual fulfillment in the engineering of systems. Thus, the importance of adequately defining verification activities in any acquisition program is unquestionable. Its significance extends beyond contracting though. A major portion of the development financial budget is spent in executing verification activities, and verification activities are the main vehicle in discovering knowledge about the system, which is key to reduce development risk. Hence, it is important to optimize verification activities so that a given level of confidence about the proper functioning of the system is achieved with minimum investment. Current approaches to optimize verification strategies assume that a verification activity contributes to an absolute increase or decrease in such confidence. That means that the confidence generated by a verification activity is independent of the past or potential future results of other verification activities. However, this representation is not an accurate reflection of actual practice. On the contrary, the necessity to perform a given verification activity depends on the results of all verification activities that have been previously performed. In order to address such limitation, we show in this paper how Bayesian networks can be an effective approach to capture the information dependencies of verification activities.
Histories, dynamical laws, and initial conditions −Invariance under time-reversibility and its failure in Markov processes, with application to the second law of thermodynamics and the past hypothesis

Abstract A Markov process can be invariant under time reversal and it also can exhibit a failure of invariance that is “uniformly positive.” I show how each of these possibilities contributes to the project of deciding when a temporal sequence of states has a higher probability than its mirror image. Neither suffices, but a distinct property of the Markov process completes the project, namely the unconditional probabilities of two possible states of the system at the start of the process. The concept of forward time-translational invariance plays a role in the analysis, but I discuss backward time-translational invariance as well. I argue that the Markov framework helps clarify how the Past Hypothesis (the hypothesis that the universe began in a very low entropy state) is related to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and how each is relevant to explaining why histories that exhibit entropy increase have higher probabilities than histories that exhibit entropy decline. I argue that the Past Hypothesis, if true, helps explain this fact about histories, but a far weaker hypothesis about the universe's initial state suffices to do so.
Robust random forest based non-fullerene organic solar cells efficiency prediction

Abstract Non-fullerene materials have attracted attention as high-performance molecular acceptors in organic solar cells (OSCs). A proper understanding of the energy level alignment between donors and non-fullerene acceptors is crucial for photoactive materials selection in designing high-performance non-fullerene OSCs. However, the quantitative assessment for the proper selection of donors and non-fullerene acceptors is still rarely studied, which is seen as time-consuming and complicated tasks. In this study, the optimized Random Forest model based on the electronic descriptors (e.g., highest occupied molecular orbitals levels, lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals levels, and band gap) provides the high predictive power, reaching the coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.85 and 0.80 for the training set and testing set, respectively. The use of machine learning approach benefits the development of non-fullerene OSCs in two ways: (1) it helps to extract complex correlation between various descriptors and device performance, and (2) it indicates that the band gap of acceptors is the more critical feature for improving the efficiency of non-fullerene OSCs. The machine-learning model for predicting the efficiency of non-fullerene OSCs (macroscopic performance) from frontier molecular orbital energy levels of the organic materials (microscopic properties) is developed, as an important guide to design the heterojunction blends and accelerate the research for non-fullerene OSCs.
The Wolbachia cytoplasmic incompatibility enzyme CidB targets nuclear import and protamine-histone exchange factors

Intracellular Wolbachia bacteria manipulate arthropod reproduction to promote their own inheritance. The most prevalent mechanism, cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), traces to a Wolbachia deubiquitylase, CidB, and CidA. CidB has properties of a toxin, while CidA binds CidB and rescues embryonic viability. CidB is also toxic to yeast where we identified both host effects and high-copy suppressors of toxicity. The strongest suppressor was karyopherin-α, a nuclear-import receptor; this required nuclear localization-signal binding. A protein-interaction screen of Drosophila extracts using a substrate-trapping catalytic mutant, CidB*, also identified karyopherin-α; the P32 protamine-histone exchange factor bound as well. When CidB* bound CidA, these host protein interactions disappeared. These associations would place CidB at the zygotic male pronucleus where CI defects first manifest. Overexpression of karyopherin-α, P32, or CidA in female flies suppressed CI. We propose that CidB targets nuclear-protein import and protamine-histone exchange and that CidA rescues embryos by restricting CidB access to its targets.
Consensusn-trees

It is not unusual for several classifications to be given for the same collection of objects. We present a method, called majority rule, which can be used to define a consensus of these classifications. We also discuss some mathematical properties of this consensus tree.
Marx After a Century of “Real Socialism”

This chapter begins by explaining why Marxian thought is relevant today, focusing on what has changed in the century since the Russian Revolution. Attention is paid to advances in technology, to the increasing centrality of the environmental crisis, and to the lessons learned from earlier revolutionary experience. Also considered are political contrasts between the current leading powers and the sites of socialist revolution in the early to mid-twentieth century. The experience of specific revolutions (Russian, Chinese, Cuban) is briefly discussed. Also addressed are Marx’s own activism and the history of the US Left. A final topic is the interplay between democratic structures and vanguard-type leadership.
An Overview of the Translational Dilemma and the Need for Model-Based Precision Medicine

The translational dilemma, that is, the difficulty in achieving effective translation of basic mechanistic biomedical knowledge into effective therapeutics, remains the greatest challenge in biomedical research. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the reductionist approaches to understanding and manipulating the acute inflammatory response in the settings of sepsis, trauma/hemorrhage, wound healing, and related processes such as host–pathogen interactions. Despite numerous advances in defining novel molecules, pathways, and mechanisms, these advances remain, in general, in scientific silos that are poorly connected and lacking interoperability, reflected in the dearth of available therapeutics for these deadly diseases. Recently, an array of computational informatics methods falling under the rubric of “machine learning” or the more colloquial “Artificial Intelligence” have come to the fore. These methods, while representing a step forward from the reductionist paradigm they are supplanting, also suffer from various pitfalls. We suggest that mechanistically oriented complex systems and computational biology methods and approaches have advanced sufficiently to allow for knowledge generation, knowledge integration, and clinical translation in the settings of complex diseases related to the inflammatory response and could be integrated with machine learning approaches. This book brings together the current state of the art in complex systems and computational biology as applied to inflammatory diseases and lays out a paradigm for Model-Based Precision Medicine as a distinct pathway from what is commonly termed “Precision Medicine.”
Islamic Legal Maxims as Substantive Canons of Construction: Ḥudūd-Avoidance in Cases of Doubt

Legal maxims reflect settled principles of law to which jurists appeal when confronting new legal cases. One such maxim of Islamic criminal law stipulates that judges are to avoid imposing ḥudūd and other sanctions when beset by doubts as to the scope of the law or the sufficiency of the evidence (idra’ū ʾl-ḥudūd biʾl-shubahāt): the “ḥudūd maxim.” Jurists of all periods reference this maxim widely. But whereas developed juristic works attribute it to Muḥammad in the form of a prophetic report (ḥadīth), early jurists do not. Instead, they cite the maxim as an anonymous saying of nonspecific provenance in a form unknown to ḥadīth collectors of the first three centuries after Islam’s advent. This difference in the jurists’ citations of the maxim signals a significant shift in claims to legal authority and the asserted scope of judicial discretion, as jurists debated whether and how to resolve legal and factual doubt. While political authorities exercised increasingly wide discretion over criminal matters and used it to benefit the elite, most jurists promoted an egalitarian “jurisprudence of doubt” through insisting on criminal liability for high-status offenders and heightening claims of the authoritativeness and scope of the ḥudūd maxim as a ḥadīth.
Explaining Premiums in Restricted DR Markets and Theri Implicartions: The Case of Infosys

I examine several possible explanations for why Infosys' Deposirtary Receipts (DRs) trade at significant premiums to the equivalent underlying domestic shares. I find that a limited supply of DRs and a downwoard-sloping demand curve, significant transaction costs associated with investing directly in the domestic market, and trend-chasing by smaller and potentially uninformed investors partly explain the DR premiums. I also examine the wealth effects of non-capital raising secondary depositary receipt offerings by Infosys Technologies and find significant wealth transfers from existing DR holders to selling domestic shareholders who are comprised significantly of Infosys' founders.
Retrograde ejaculation following anterior lumbar surgery: a systematic review and pooled analysis.

Objective The present systematic review and pooled analysis aims to assess the incidence and risk factors for the development of retrograde ejaculation (RE) following first-time open anterior lumbar surgery. Methods A systematic MEDLINE review via PubMed was performed, identifying 130 clinical papers relating to the topic. Eighteen publications were selected according to predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria and were used to determine the incidence of RE. Only the publications that provided data on surgical risk factors present specifically in the men in the study were included in the analysis of risk factors. Results Of the 2503 men included, there were 57 reported events of RE (2.3%). Of the cases for which long-term data were provided, 45.8% had resolved by final follow-up. There was a statistically significant increased risk associated with a transperitoneal as opposed to a retroperitoneal approach (8.6% vs 3.2%), as well as with the use of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) in anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) as opposed to ALIF with bone graft or arthroplasty in controls (5.0% vs 1.8%). However, when excluding from analysis the patients operated on prior to the FDA's 2008 warning that commented on the drug's neuroinflammatory properties, there was no significant difference in rates of RE in patients receiving rhBMP-2 versus the control group (2.4% vs 2.5%). There was no significant difference in risk based on single- versus multilevel procedure or on ALIF versus arthroplasty. Conclusions In a pooled analysis of currently published data on men undergoing first-time open anterior lumbar surgery, this study found an overall incidence of RE of 2.3%. Nearly half of these patients recovered, reporting resolution of symptoms anywhere between 3 months and 48 months. Analysis of risk factors was limited by a paucity of published literature segregating data by sex. However, there was an increased risk associated with rhBMP-2 only when including data collected prior to the FDA warning on its detrimental properties. The authors therefore posit that the risk of RE is probably overestimated in the literature, given that the vast majority of the data available were collected prior to this warning and given the subsequent implementation of precautions when handling rhBMP-2.
The Hiring Entity’s Usual Course of Business

The ABC Test has increasingly become a tool to differentiate employees from independent contractors. Companies and counsel throughout the nation have grappled with Part B of this test, which requires a determination of the hiring entity’s “usual course of business.” Adjudicators have provided little guidance on how to conduct this analysis and are admittedly frustrated with this “elusive concept.” Yet a thorough treatment of the analytical framework and guiding principles of Part B of the ABC Test has not been put forth. This article fills this void in scholarship. By tracing the relevant concepts to the common law control test, and more importantly, a lesser-known framework analyzing skill and integration to determine liability, in addition to articulating the genesis and proliferation of the ABC Test within unemployment insurance legislation, this article answers a call from the judiciary to locate the origins of the ABC Test. Assessing decisions from state supreme courts and intermediate appellate bodies, this article then examines three methods courts use to determine whether work was done outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business. The principal insight of this article is that work which is in the hiring entity’s usual course of business is work which provides regular aid to the business. This article concludes by analyzing two related questions within the Part B framework: (1) whether the Part B test is work-specific or worker-specific, a question of salience given the use of class actions, and (2) how to describe the hiring entity’s business, a question of import due to the rise of the gig economy.
Energy Cost of Incubation to the Parent Seabird

Our knowledge of incubation energetics has increased dramatically in the last decade since King (1973) and Kendeigh (1963, 1973) first presented their cost-of-incubation theories. Kendeigh’s model assumes that the heat lost from the egg must be balanced by extra heat production by the parent bird while King argues that the heat produced as a by-product of metabolism could substitute at least part of the heat needed to maintain egg temperature. Much of the recent data on this subject stem from elaborate and extensive studies combining both field and laboratory methods conducted on seabirds nesting on remote oceanic islands. The tameness of the birds, the size of nesting colonies, and the ability to carry Scholander micro-gas analyzers, Haldane apparatus, sensitive balances, and radioactive water to nesting colonies have made such studies posnible. Long fasting periods and long incubation periods of seabirds have facilitated these studies.
Processing Landsat TM data using complex-valued NRBF neural network

This paper describes a novel classification technique - a complex-valued normalized radial basis function (NRBF) neural network classifier. Complex-valued weights are used in the supervised learning part of NRBF neural networks. Different from the original NRBF neural network, another activation function for the output was added in NRBF neural network. This new neural network model improves the classification ability of NRBF neural networks regardless of the learning method in the unsupervised part. This classifier was tested with satellite multi-spectral image data. Classification results show that this new neural network model is more accurate and powerful than the conventional NRBF model and can solve classification problems more efficiently.
Water Shortage: Lessons in Conservation From the Great California Drought, 1976-1977

Legislation moving quickly through both houses of the U.S. Congress would establish a fund to promote and support research and development to increase the security of the nation's water infrastructure from source to faucet. The House of Representatives bill, “The Water Infrastructure Security and Research and Development Act” (HR 3178), would provide $12 million per year for fiscal years 2002–2006 for a number of research areas. These include assessing water supply systems for physical vulnerabilities, including biological, chemical, and radiological contamination; devising real-time systems to monitor water for contamination; determining mitigation options; and upgrading security technologies.
Microscopic theories of effective interaction with an application to halo nuclei

The effective interaction used in shell model calculations plays a central role in nuclear structure calculations. We review here several microscopic methods for deriving such effective interactions, starting from the free NN potential. For a chosen model space, there are formal methods for obtaining a model-space effective hamiltonian H eff which can reproduce certain physical properties of the original hamiltonian. These methods are briefly discussed. Among them, the \(\hat Q\)-box folded diagram method initially developed by Kuo-Lee-Ratcliff is relatively more convenient for numerical calculations. To apply this method to nuclear structure calculations, a first step is perform a partial summation of certain \(\hat Q\)-box diagrams so as to express the \(\hat Q\)-box in terms of G-matrix interactions. Accurate calculation of the G-matrix for finite nuclei is now feasible. For a given \(\hat Q\)-box the folded-diagram series for the effective interaction can be summed up to all orders using iterative methods, such as the Lee-Suzuki method and the Krenciglowa-Kuo method. For the \(\hat Q\)-box, however, it seems that one has to adopt some low-order, in the G-matrix, approximation. A highly desirable situation seems to be provided by halo nuclei where the valence nucleons are weakly attached to those of the inner core. In this case the effect of core-polarization is largely weakened, and the \(\hat Q\)-box may be accurately calculated by including only few low-order G-matrix diagrams.
Quantifying Tail Risk with Low-Frequency Data

We document substantial practitioner interest in measures of the downside tail risk of hedge funds, such as maximum drawdown (MDD) and worst one-period loss, together with a general sentiment that volatility does not convey enough information about tail risk. We show that past observed extremes are inappropriate estimators of tail risk, and propose a better, parametric estimator that is simple to implement and needs only short return histories as input. In addition, we characterize the statistical properties of downside risk measures and show that they depend linearly on volatility. Together with evidence that tail shape does not change much across funds, this explains why extreme downside performance measures rank funds similarly to the Sharpe ratio. Finally, we note that using sample standard deviation to estimate volatility when returns have fat tails is problematic. We show that the same technique employed in the paper can be used to improve estimation of the Sharpe ratio and other measures based on volatility.
The distribution of atomic hydrogen and diffuse gas in the galaxy

We review the distribution of diffuse gas, both neutral and ionized, in the Galaxy and the galactic halo.
Purification and characterization of a 7Fe ferredoxin from Streptomyces griseus.

Abstract A ferredoxin has been purified from Streptomyces griseus grown in soybean flour-containing medium. The homogeneous protein has a molecular weight near 14000 as determined by both PAGE and size exclusion chromatography. The iron and labile sulfide content is 6–7 atoms/mole protein. EPR spectroscopy of native S. griseus ferredoxin shows an isotropic signal at g =2.01 which is typical of [3Fe-4S] 1+ clusters and which quantitates to 0.9 spin/mole. Reduction of the ferredoxin by excess dithionite at pH 8.0 produces an EPR silent state with a small amount of a g =1.95 type signal. Photoreduction in the presence of deazaflavin generates a signal typical of [4Fe-4S] 1+ clusters at much higher yields (0.4–0.5 spin/mole) with major features at g -values of 2.06, 1.94, 1.90 and 1.88. This latter EPR signal is most similar to that seen for reduced 7Fe ferredoxins, which contain both a [3Fe-4S] and [4Fe-4S] cluster. In vitro reconstitution experiments demonstrate the ability of the S. grisues ferredoxin to couple electron transfer between spinach ferredoxin reductase and S. griseus cytochrome P -450 soy for NADPH-dependent substrate oxidation. This represents a possible physiological function for the S. griseus ferredoxin, which if true, would be the first functional role demonstrated for a 7Fe ferredoxin.