cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Consistency and development of prosocial dispositions: A longitudinal study

The issue of whether there is consistency in prosocial dispositions was examined with a longitudinal data set extending from ages 4 to 5 years into early adulthood (N = 32). Spontaneous prosocial behaviors observed in the preschool classroom predicted actual prosocial behavior, other- and self-reported prosocial behavior, self-reported sympathy, and perspective taking in childhood to early adulthood. Prosocial behaviors that were not expected to reflect an other-orientation (i.e., low cost helping and compliant prosocial behavior) generally did not predict later prosocial behavior or sympathy. Sympathy appeared to partially mediate the relation of early spontaneous sharing to later prosocial dispositions. The results support the view that there are stable individual differences in prosocial responding that have their origins in early childhood.
Minority Business Enterprise Programmes in the United States of America: An Empirical Investigation

Affirmative action in the United States has generated no shortage of academic, legal, and popular analysis. Yet few ever ask, let alone test, the most fundamental question about affirmative action - whether it actually works. This article provides an historical overview of affirmative action in the United States, briefly reviews its legal status, and then tests the effectiveness of one type of affirmative action in three American cities between 1981 and 2000. It finds that affirmative action in government contracting does not significantly increase minority employment and is statistically insignificant in eradicating discrimination in contracting.
More than Coping: Thriving in a World of Wicked Problems

This essay asks whether it is possible to find ways of thriving in a world full of wicked problems—the most significant of which may be the sustainability crisis. Ensuring a healthful and adequate food supply comprised of nature-made foods rather than processed goods, demands collaborative actions, new leadership skills and the evolution of global action networks (GANs).
Synthesis, hybridization, and nuclease resistance properties of 2′-O-aminooxyethyl (2′-O-AOE) modified oligonucleotides

Abstract The novel RNA mimic 2′-O-AOE has been incorporated into antisense oligonucleotides. This 2′-O-modification significantly enhances hybridization against target RNA, and furthermore, exhibits specificity for RNA over DNA. The nuclease resistance (SVPD) of 2′-O-AOE modified phosphodiester oligonucleotides is significantly higher than the unmodified DNA and comparable to the 2′-O-MOE oligonucleotides.
Intestinal coccidia of raccoons (Procyon lotor) from Key Largo, Florida, U.S.A.

Abstract Fecal samples were collected from 61 adult raccoons (Procyon lotor) livetrapped on Key Largo, Florida, U.S.A. (25°15′N; 80°15′W), between April and November 2002 and analyzed for intestinal coccidia. Eimeria procyonis (84%), Eimeria nuttalli (10%), 1 unidentified species of Eimeria (3%), and an unidentified species of Sarcocystis (3%) were found. No oocyst of Cryptosporidum was found on a fecal smear stained with Kinyoun carbol-fuchsin acid-fast stain.
Comparison of two code scalability tests

When a computer system is expensive to use or is not often available, one may want to tune software for it via analytical models that run on more common, less costly machines. In contrast, if the host system is readily available, the attraction of analytical models is far less. One instead employs the actual system, testing and tuning its software empirically. Two examples of code scalability testing illustrate how these approaches differ in objectives and costs, and, how they complement each other in usefulness. Concurrent computing requires scalable code [1,8, 12]. Successes of a parallel application often fuel demands that it handle an expanded range. It should do this without undue waste of additional system resources. Definitions of scalability will vary according to circumstances — when looking for speedup, problem size is fixed and the host system grows. In another case, one evaluates an enlarged problem together with a larger host [3]. The discussion that follows assumes
Characterization of Chorioamnionitis in 2nd-Trimester C-Section Placentas and Correlation with Microorganism Recovery from Subamniotic Tissues:

Prolonged exposure to infection appears to influence fetal/neonatal development. We characterize the relationship between histologic patterns of inflammation and microorganism recovery from the placentas of live born infants delivered before the 28th postmenstrual week. The subamniotic parenchyma of 835 placentas delivered by cesarean section were cultured and evaluated for specific histologic patterns of inflammation in a blinded fashion. Cases with prolonged membrane rupture were excluded. Microorganisms were recovered from 41% of placentas. Microorganisms found more frequently in placentas with high-grade chorionic plate inflammation include Actinomyces, Prevotella bivia, Corynebacterium sp., Escherichia coli, Peptostreptococcus magnus, multiple species of Streptococci, and Mycoplasma sp., including Ureaplasma urealyticum. These microorganisms were also associated with fetal vasculitis (neutrophilic infiltration of chorionic plate stem vessels or umbilical cord). Recovery of microorganisms from placental parenchyma is associated with histologic inflammation. The same microorganisms responsible for inciting high-grade chorionic plate inflammation are also most likely to promote fetal inflammation.
Host Size and Oviposition Site Effects on Sex Ratio of Pupal Parasitoid Muscidifurax zaraptor (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)

This study examined how the size of host pupae of Musca domestica L. and exposure of host spiracles affected parasitism and sex ratio of Muscidifurax zaraptor Kogan & Legner (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae). Based on a model by Charnov et al. (Nature [Lond.] 289: 27-33, 1981), we predicted that a lower proportion of female offspring would be produced on large hosts when large hosts were presented alone than when both small and large hosts were presented simultaneously. This prediction was supported, suggesting that females used relative cues for determining host size. We also predicted a greater proportion of female eggs would be produced on small hosts when only small hosts were presented than when both small and large hosts were presented simultaneously. This prediction was not supported, suggesting that females also used absolute cues for assessing host size. Host size had no significant effect on the thorax widths of offspring. However, the head widths of offspring varied with pupal size, with wasps emerging from large pupae having larger thoraces. There was a difference in parasitism depending on pupal orientation; house fly pupae that had posterior spiracles exposed (i.e., anterior spiracles concealed) were less often parasitized than when the anterior spiracles were exposed. Pupal position and sex ratio were not related. Finally, females spent less time drilling through posterior spiracles than through anterior spiracles.
N-(3-Bromo-1,4-dioxo-1,4-dihydro-2-naphth­yl)-4-fluoro-N-(4-fluoro­benzo­yl)benzamide

In the title compound, C24H12BrF2NO4, synthesized from 2-amino-3-bromo-1,4-naphthoquinone and 4-fluoro­benzoyl chloride, the two p-fluoro­phenyl rings are inclined at 73.9 (1) and 73.6 (1)° to the naphthoquinone ring system. The two imido carbonyl O atoms are anti to each other, while the fluoro­phenyl rings are located opposite each other, connected to the imide group in a funnel-like arrangement. This conformation allows the fluorine groups be oriented slightly away from each other. An examination of the packing shows a close inter­molecular F⋯O contact of 2.982 (5) A and a Br⋯O contact of 2.977 (4) A. In addition, the mol­ecules are linked by weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O and C—H⋯F inter­actions.
Positive psychology and the quality of life

Positive psychology is the scientific study of the qualities and conditions that permit humans to live a life worthwhile. Positive psychology has fostered several new strains of research, three of which are brought together in this chapter – the study of flourishing, positive emotional dynamics, and character strengths and virtues. This research seeks to balance out the bulk of theory and research in quality of life studies that focus on the causes and dynamics of pathology, and it supports the premise of positive psychology that attention to “the positive” sheds light on what makes life worth living. This chapter reviews the body of scientific evidence supporting the promotion of human flourishing, positive emotions, and character strengths, and seeks to bring these lines of research together to foster research that investigates a central hypothesis of positive psychology – namely, that increasing character strengths and virtues promote flourishing, and the mechanism by which character strengths and virtues promote flourishing is through the broaden-and-build process caused by the balance of positive to negative emotional dynamics.
Active Learning for Coreference Resolution

Active learning can lower the cost of annotation for some natural language processing tasks by using a classifier to select informative instances to send to human annotators. It has worked well in cases where the training instances are selected one at a time and require minimal context for annotation. However, coreference annotations often require some context and the traditional active learning approach may not be feasible. In this work we explore various active learning methods for coreference resolution that fit more realistically into coreference annotation workflows.
Using Economics to Improve Antitrust Policy

This paper discusses the benefits and limitations of several recent trends in the use of economics to analyze antitrust questions. It explains the connection between HHI analysis and merger simulation, and also critically discusses structural estimation and critical loss analysis.
Penetration of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Treatment into Fluid for Biomedical Applications

Treatment of melanoma cell cultures submerged into a typical cell growth buffer solution by room-temperature atmospheric pressure air plasma generated through the Dielectric Barrier Discharge above the surface of the fluid is investigated. It is shown that the plasma discharge can inactivate or permeabilize the cytoplasmic membrane of Melanoma cells at depths of about half a millimeter of the fluid within a few tenths of seconds. It is also demonstrated that the observed effects occur only when the cells are present in the solution during the plasma treatment and, therefore, cannot be attributed to chemical changes in the solution alone.
Uma lista de espécies de plantas tropicais brasileiras naturalmente infectadas com micorriza vesicular-arbuscular

A list is presented of native, ornamental, and economic plant species of tropical Brazil that were found to support infections of Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhyzae. The list includes 131 species of 49 families.
Analysis Of Naturally Occurring False Alarms At A Uxo Test Site On Jefferson Proving Ground

The detection and discrimination of UXO can be limited by small scale geologic anomalies that exhibit similar responses, both in spatial extent and amplitude, to real ordnance. These anomalies are referred to as naturally occurring false alarms (NOFA). During the Jefferson Proving Ground 4 (JPG4) demonstrations in 1996, a number of NOFA were identified in total field magnetic data with one being quite large. To explain the causes of these NOFA, in-situ magnetic susceptibility measurements were made over the anomalies as well as the collection of soil samples up to a meter deep. The soil samples have been analyzed for mineralogy and the magnetic susceptibility, as well as frequency dependence of susceptibility, have been measured in the laboratory. A number of the NOFA also exhibited reversed polarity which would mean that they probably quite shallow anomalies. A number of these NOFA have been modeled to determine their remnance. The results of all of these analyses lead to the conclusion that the large magnetic anomaly is due to mineral transport and deposition along two converging ephemeral streams.
The Evolution of Insect Pest Management in Cotton and Soybeans: Pas Experience, Present Status, and Future Outlook in Arkansas

Soybeans and cotton occupy vast acreages of the alluvial soils of eastern Arkansas. In this greatly simplified agro-ecosystem, soybeans are usually grown without sustaining economic damage from insects. Serious outbreaks do occur, however, and on the average 15% of the acreage is treated annually. Much of the cotton in northeastern Arkansas is not treated. Outbreaks of bollworm and boll weevil regularly require insecticide usage in central and southern Arkansas. Insect pest surveys and individual field scouting are used as the basis for determining the need for insecticides on both crops. This insect pest management system has been 50 years in the making in Arkansas. Current research in various areas, including innovative practices, should lead to improvement in the system. In-depth studies of all aspects of the several agro-ecosystems are essential for long-term progress in insect pest management. Given professional dedication by entomologists, with support from the agricultural community, industry, federal and state governments, and the public, progress should accelerate rapidly.
Rapid cable tension estimation using dynamic and mechanical properties

Main tension elements are critical to the overall stability of cable-supported bridges. A dependable and rapid determination of cable tension is desired to assess the state of a cable-supported bridge and evaluate its operability. A portable smart sensor setup is presented to reduce post-processing time and deployment complexity while reliably determining cable tension using dynamic characteristics extracted from spectral analysis. A self-recording accelerometer is coupled with a single-board microcomputer that communicates wirelessly with a remote host computer. The portable smart sensing device is designed such that additional algorithms, sensors and controlling devices for various monitoring applications can be installed and operated for additional structural assessment. The tension-estimating algorithms are based on taut string theory and expand to consider bending stiffness. The successful combination of cable properties allows the use of a cable’s dynamic behavior to determine tension force. The tension-estimating algorithms are experimentally validated on a through-arch steel bridge subject to ambient vibration induced by passing traffic. The tension estimation is determined in well agreement with previously determined tension values for the structure.
~(15)N Tracer Study Ratooning Rice Applied Nitrogen Absorption,Assignment and Effect

The middleseason rice-ratooning rice's 15N tracing result indicated:①the 15N absorption rate in the season rice mature period is 34.22%-43.09%,the ratooning rice mature period climbs to 38.64%-55.75%,the first two seasons consistent tendency is:Bud fertilizer and to Bud pledge fertilizer apply early is higher than late,fertilization mete is more than littler.② ratooning rice mature period 15N in rice various organs' assignment:Bud fertilizer and to Bud pledge fertilizer,the season harvest(fringe and the frist node)are 41.84% equally,ratooning rice is 45.26%,the rice peg and the root are 12.90%;nothing but is only to apply Bud fertilizer,then respectively is in turn 76.81%,14.45% and 8.74%.The season rice harvest while the great proportion carries off the nitrogen,advance the rice protein content,and increases a rice nitrogen content,the leaf blade photosynthesis intensity,the stem sheath dry weight,the root system vigor and so on,promoted the regeneration bud to live early and send.③Applies fertilizer respectively the way has the obvious effect to the ratooning rice birth advancement and the economic character,is bud pledge fertilizer after the frist season rice full heading adding is in the 23days after full heading apply bud fertilizer,in the 15 days after full heading apply bud fertilizer adding apply occurring seeding fertilizer at once,the colligate domino offect is best markedness of the two fashions.
An Effect of Phosphorous Gas Generated in Slagging Gasifiers on Pt‐Rh Sensor Degradation

Entrained flow slagging gasifiers are used to covert coal, petcoke and other carbon feedstock to syngas (CO and H2), which is used as a fuel in power generation or is converted into chemical products. During the gasification process, gasifier components such as refractory liners, syngas coolers, and thermocouples are aggressively attacked by corrosive slags and gases originating from the carbon feedstock, materials that contain arsenic, sulfur, phosphorous and other impurities; –all of which are in a mixed equilibrium condition during gasification. This research evaluated the effect of phosphorous gas generated during gasification on the corrosion degradation of Pt-Rh thermocouple sensor materials. Phosphorous interactions with Pt-Rhx (x = 0 – 30 wt.%) alloys have been analyzed isothermally at 1012 °C. Phosphorous diffusion into the alloy is discussed.
Evaluation of moisture induced hot-carrier degradation of N- and P-MOSFETs using steam stress

Steam stress was performed on N- and P-MOSFETs of a single-level metal process to simulate the backend process induced moisture penetration effect and the results of subsequent hot-carrier stresses were then compared with End-Of-Line (EOL) transistors of a triple-layer metal (M3) CMOS technology with different InterLayer Dielectric (ILD) processes. Our data showed good correlation between the effect of steam stress on M1 device and the water induced M3 device deterioration. Moisture penetration deteriorates N- and P-MOSFETs transistor characteristics and hot-carrier performance. The effect of hot-carrier moisture induced degradation is more severe on N-MOSFETs,. >
Cost-utility of osteoarticular allograft versus endoprosthetic reconstruction for primary bone sarcoma of the knee: A markov analysis.

Background The most cost-effective reconstruction after resection of bone sarcoma is unknown. The goal of this study was to compare the cost effectiveness of osteoarticular allograft to endoprosthetic reconstruction of the proximal tibia or distal femur. Methods A Markov model was used. Revision and complication rates were taken from existing studies. Costs were based on Medicare reimbursement rates and implant prices. Health-state utilities were derived from the Health Utilities Index 3 survey with additional assumptions. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) were used with less than $100 000 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) considered cost-effective. Sensitivity analyses were performed for comparison over a range of costs, utilities, complication rates, and revisions rates. Results Osteoarticular allografts, and a 30% price-discounted endoprosthesis were cost-effective with ICERs of $92.59 and $6 114.77. One-way sensitivity analysis revealed discounted endoprostheses were favored if allografts cost over $21 900 or endoprostheses cost less than $51 900. Allograft reconstruction was favored over discounted endoprosthetic reconstruction if the allograft complication rate was less than 1.3%. Allografts were more cost-effective than full-price endoprostheses. Conclusions Osteoarticular allografts and price-discounted endoprosthetic reconstructions are cost-effective. Sensitivity analysis, using plausible complication and revision rates, favored the use of discounted endoprostheses over allografts. Allografts are more cost-effective than full-price endoprostheses.
The subjective quality of episodic future thought and the experience of meaning in life

AbstractTwo studies assessed whether mentally simulating specific future events to occur in familiar (vs. unfamiliar) settings indirectly increases meaning life via the subjective quality of the simulations. Participants in both studies (N = 344) were randomly assigned to visualize themselves doing something in familiar (e.g. home) or unfamiliar (e.g. fantasy world) settings in the future. They then rated the subjective quality of these visualizations and completed a measure of meaning in life. We replicated previous findings by showing that mental simulations involving familiar settings were of greater subjective quality than simulations involving unfamiliar settings. However, we also found that simulating future events in familiar (vs. unfamiliar) settings indirectly increased the perceived meaningfulness of life. These findings integrate research in cognitive psychology with research on the psychology of well-being and reveal how mental time travel contributes to the perception that one’s life has meaning.
The value of beryllium determinations in the diagnosis of berylliosis.

Since the recognition of acute and chronic pulmonary berylliosis,'' it has been found that the clinical diagnosis of this disease, especially the chronic form, may sometimes be quite difficult. In all cases of acute berylliosis a history has been obtained of occupational exposure to beryllium preceding the onset of symptoms. Some of the persons who developed chronic disease were also working in the beryllium industry at the time of the onset of symptoms, but in other instances exposure to beryllium had ceased as long as four years before symptoms appeared. We have encountered non-occupational chronic berylliosis in at least 9 persons who lived in the neighborhood of beryllium plants or handled the clothing of those working in beryllium plants. It was believed that in some obscure illnesses in which berylliosis was suspected, examination for beryllium in fluids or tissues of the patients might aid in establishing or excluding this diagnosis. Accordingly, attempts were made to secure 24-hour samples of urine from patients who were ill with acute or chronic berylliosis and, as a control, from healthy persons currently working in beryllium plants. Analyses were also made of the urine of persons who had recovered from acute pulmonary berylliosis, some of whom were again working in the industry. Analyses of sputum and blood samples were made in a few instances and of renal calculi from 4 persons with chronic berylliosis. In some fatal cases in which the subjects came to autopsy, tissues were obtained for analysis. In addition, tissues were analyzed from 11 persons who had had no known exposure to beryllium, including 7 who had died of Boeck's sarcoid with pulmonary involvement. An accurate spectrographs method for the determination of minute quantities of beryllium in organic material •• was employed. Some of the results were obtained in our earliest application of the analytic method, when a number of sources of contamination by traces of beryllium were not recognized or suspected. AVith increasing experience with the method, it was possible to eliminate or minimize these contaminations, so that re-examination in questionable cases definitely established the presence or absence of beryllium. Such a re-examination was not possible in every case and a few of the extremely low positive findings may in fact represent contamination. I t is believed that the positive results obtained in twof of eleven tissues from persons who had had no known exposure to beryl-
Parental Divorce, Social Capital, and Postbaccalaurate Educational Attainment Among Young Adults:

Educational attainment is lower among children with divorced parents than those with continuously married parents. Most research has focused on the educational outcomes of children and little research has examined the effect of parental divorce on educational attainment beyond a bachelor’s degree. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we investigated how parental divorce affects young adult postbaccalaureate educational attainment, measured by graduate/professional school enrollment and attainment of a graduate/professional degree. We also examined the role of social capital, measured by parental educational expectations. Parental divorce was negatively associated with enrolling in a graduate/professional program and obtaining a degree. Parental educational expectations were positively related to children’s postbaccalaureate educational attainment, but the expectations of divorced and continuously married parents were similar and did not explain the negative effect of parental di...
Highly functional methacrylated bio-based resins for UV-curable coatings

Abstract A series of highly functional methacrylated bio-based resins were synthesized and used in the formulation of UV curable coatings systems. Methacrylated epoxidized sucrose soyate (MESS) and dimethacrylated epoxidized sucrose soyate (DMESS) were synthesized from epoxidized sucrose soyate (ESS). The resins were combined with multifunctional reactive diluents and a photoinitiator and cured under UV light. A commercially available bisphenol A glycerolate dimethacrylate (BisGMA) resin was used as the control. The curing kinetics was studied using real-time infrared spectroscopy equipped with a UV light. Shrinkage of the coatings was measured by the volume change before and after the curing process. The extent of cure was determined using Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). Thermal and mechanical properties were evaluated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), thermomechanical analysis (TMA), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Performance of the coatings was also assessed by measuring the moisture uptake and abrasion resistance. Coatings made from these formulations displayed good solvent resistance and hardness due to the high crosslink density achieved due to the high number of functional groups on the bio-based resin system.
Basic Concepts of Algebraic Number Fields

In Chapter 2, we shall extend the results of Chapter 1 (number theory in ℚ) to the case of an algebraic number field K. Such a field K is a subfield of the field ℚ (the algebraic closure of ℚ) which is of finite dimension over ℚ. In particular, as a generalization of prime numbers in ℚ, we shall introduce the concept of prime ideals in K and extend Theorem 1.6 (fundamental theorem of number theory) to the case of number fields. This is the ideal theory of Dedekind (1831–1916). Next, we shall introduce the theory of Hilbert (1862–1943) which combines the theory of Galois (1811–1832) on field extensions with the ideal theory of Dedekind. We shall give an alternative proof of the Gauss reciprocity law (Theorem 1.27) by considering, for an odd prime I, the quadratic subfield ℚ\((\sqrt {{l^*}} )\), l* = (−1)(l−1)/2l, of the lth cycloto-mic field K = ℚ\(({e^{2\pi ill}})\) (Remark 2.20). This situation will turn out to be a special case of the reciprocity in the theory of relative abelian extensions, i.e., the class field theory, due to Takagi (1875–1960) and Artin (1898–1962).
High-grade calcareous metasediments from the Sawtooth Metamorphic Complex, Idaho, USA: evidence for passive margin strata and polymetamorphism within the Idaho batholith

The Sawtooth Metamorphic Complex (SMC) of central Idaho contains exposures of metasupracrustal rocks, in a crucial location between the Archaean Wyoming craton to the east and the adjacent Mesozoic...
Incorporating Spectral Unmixing in Satellite Imagery Semantic Segmentation

Land-cover classification to distinguish physical covers of Earth’s surface is one of the critical tasks in remote sensing. Although deep learning-based approaches have shown remarkable performance in semantic segmentation, they require a massive amount of training data. Thus, the generalization capability of these approaches is of great importance, especially in working with satellite images when the amount of available labeled data is quite limited. In this paper, we propose incorporating spectral unmixing methods to obtain powerful representations of spectral information for semantic segmentation of satellite images. We show that land-cover classification performance can be enhanced by this proper extraction of features as input to the deep learning-based model. The experimental results demonstrate promising potential improvements in terms of segmentation accuracy. In addition, qualitative assessments show a higher confidence level of the proposed framework in predicting a label for a given pixel.
Multiplexed Comparative Analysis of Intact Glycopeptides Using Electron-Transfer Dissociation and Synchronous Precursor Selection Based Triple-Stage Mass Spectrometry

A recently developed synchronous precursor selection (SPS) mass spectrometry to the third (MS3) protocol enables more accurate multiplexed quantification of proteins/peptides using tandem mass tags (TMT) through comparison of reporter ion intensities at the MS3 level. However, challenges still exist for TMT-based simultaneous quantification and identification of intact glycopeptides due to inefficient peptide backbone fragmentation when using collision-induced dissociation (CID). To overcome this limitation, here we report an improved SPS/ETD workflow for TMT-based intact glycopeptide quantification and identification. The SPS/ETD approach was implemented on an Orbitrap Tribrid mass spectrometer and begins with selection of a parent ion in the MS scan, followed by tandem mass spectrometry (MS2) fragmentation by CID in the ion trap. Following MS2 fragmentation, SPS enables simultaneous isolation of the top 10 MS2 fragment ions for further higher energy collisional dissociation (HCD) fragmentation with the resulting MS3 fragments detected in an Orbitrap analyzer. Here, in addition to the standard SPS workflow, an electron-transfer dissociation (ETD) MS2 was performed and analyzed in the ion trap. The resultant ETD and CID spectra were used for the identification of the intact glycopeptides, while the quantitative comparison of site-specific glycans was achieved utilizing TMT reporter ions from HCD MS3 spectra. For intact glycopeptides, through systematic optimization and evaluation using a glycoprotein interference model, the SPS/ETD approach was demonstrated to offer improved accuracy, precision, and sensitivity compared to traditional data-dependent MS2 quantification, while maintaining the glycopeptide identification capability. Finally, this workflow was applied for the site-specific quantitative comparison of the glycoforms for two therapeutic enzymes (Cerezyme and VPRIV) and their different lots. The results demonstrate that this workflow is suitable for TMT-based intact glycopeptide characterization of glycoproteins.
Large Hydrogen Isotope Fractionation Distinguishes Nitrogenase-Derived Methane from Other Methane Sources.

ABSTRACT Biological nitrogen fixation is catalyzed by the enzyme nitrogenase. Two forms of this metalloenzyme, the vanadium (V)- and iron (Fe)-only nitrogenases, were recently found to reduce small amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH4). Here, we report carbon (13C/12C) and hydrogen (2H/1H) stable isotopic compositions and fractionations of methane generated by V- and Fe-only nitrogenases in the metabolically versatile nitrogen fixer Rhodopseudomonas palustris. The stable carbon isotope fractionation imparted by both forms of alternative nitrogenase are within the range observed for hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis (13αCO2/CH4 = 1.051 ± 0.002 for V-nitrogenase and 1.055 ± 0.001 for Fe-only nitrogenase; values are means ± standard errors). In contrast, the hydrogen isotope fractionations (2αH2O/CH4 = 2.071 ± 0.014 for V-nitrogenase and 2.078 ± 0.018 for Fe-only nitrogenase) are the largest of any known biogenic or geogenic pathway. The large 2αH2O/CH4 shows that the reaction pathway nitrogenases use to form methane strongly discriminates against 2H, and that 2αH2O/CH4 distinguishes nitrogenase-derived methane from all other known biotic and abiotic sources. These findings on nitrogenase-derived methane will help constrain carbon and nitrogen flows in microbial communities and the role of the alternative nitrogenases in global biogeochemical cycles. IMPORTANCE All forms of life require nitrogen for growth. Many different kinds of microbes living in diverse environments make inert nitrogen gas from the atmosphere bioavailable using a special enzyme, nitrogenase. Nitrogenase has a wide substrate range, and, in addition to producing bioavailable nitrogen, some forms of nitrogenase also produce small amounts of the greenhouse gas methane. This is different from other microbes that produce methane to generate energy. Until now, there was no good way to determine when microbes with nitrogenases are making methane in nature. Here, we present an isotopic fingerprint that allows scientists to distinguish methane from microbes making it for energy versus those making it as a by-product of nitrogen acquisition. With this new fingerprint, it will be possible to improve our understanding of the relationship between methane production and nitrogen acquisition in nature.
Negative Impacts of Federal Student Loans and Grants

Federal involvement in higher education via Federal student loans and grants has raised the overall cost of education, reduced the value of higher education and diminished the quality of education. It has increased the supply of students, causing institutions to spend great effort in recruiting students and making compromises in terms of quality in order to accommodate them. Finally, it has created an oversupply of degree-holders in fields the market did not value highly, to begin with, further devaluing the worth of higher education to the degree-holder; particularly in light of the long term cost of repaying loans relative to the employability and earnings potential.
Resolution of Vertical Gaze Following a Delayed Presentation of Orbital Floor Fracture With Inferior Rectus Entrapment: The Contributions of Charles E. Iliff and Joseph S. Gruss in Orbital Surgery.

Introduction:Orbital floor fractures occur commonly as a result of blunt trauma to the face and periorbital region. Orbital floor fractures with a “trapdoor” component allow both herniation and inc...
A Case of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis in a patient receiving chemo-immunotherapy with pemetrexed and pembrolizumab

Abstract Chemo-immunotherapy consisting of pemetrexed and pembrolizumab is first line therapy for individuals with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer without ALK or EGFR mutations. Each drug has been associated with cutaneous reactions, more commonly pembrolizumab, which in severe cases may progress to Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) or toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). We present a case of a 55-year-old female with history of stage IV-B non-small cell lung cancer who underwent first-line chemo-immunotherapy with cisplatin, pemetrexed, and pembrolizumab later followed by continuation maintenance pemetrexed plus pembrolizumab, who subsequently developed SJS/TEN. Pembrolizumab is far more commonly associated with cutaneous reactions, although an adverse reaction to pemetrexed cannot be ruled out. This case highlights the presentation of SJS/TEN in a patient receiving pembrolizumab and pemetrexed and demonstrates its clinical management.
FusionVLAD: A Multi-View Deep Fusion Networks for Viewpoint-Free 3D Place Recognition

Real-time 3D place recognition is a crucial technology to recover from localization failure in applications like autonomous driving, last-mile delivery, and service robots. However, it is challenging for 3D place retrieval methods to be accurate, efficient, and robust to the variant viewpoints differences. In this letter, we propose FusionVLAD, a fusion-based network that encodes a multi-view representation of sparse 3D point clouds into viewpoint-free global descriptors. The system consists of two parallel branches: a spherical-view branch for orientation-invariant feature extraction, and the top-down view branch for translation-insensitive feature extraction. Furthermore, we design a parallel fusion module to enhance the combination of region-wise feature connection between the two branches. Experiments on two public datasets and two generated datasets show that our method outperforms state-of-the-art with robust place recognition accuracy and efficient inference time. Besides, FusionVLAD requires limited computation resources and makes it extremely suitable for low-cost robots’ long-term place recognition task.
The oval of adequate binocular alignment: just how straight do the eyes of an infantile esotropia have to be maintained to preserve stereopsis and binocular vision?

PURPOSE To measure the maximum exotropic and hypertropic deviations compatible with at least gross stereopsis in a group of treated infantile esotropes. METHODS Over a ten year period (1992-2002) all former (i.e. surgically corrected) infantile esotropes now ages 10 to 23 years old coming into my office for routine long term followup visits were tested for the presence of at least gross stereopsis on the classic Titmus Stereo Test (Stereo Optical Co., Inc., 3539 N Kenton Ave, Chicago IL 60641). For the approximately 40% who demonstrated at least gross stereopsis on this test at near in either the primary position or in downgaze, further stereo testing was performed if the patient had a manifest deviation in other positions of gazes that was more than two prism diopters more than the position in which stereopsis was originally found. Testing in these other positions of gaze was performed no more than 20 degrees away from the primary position so that the standard Polaroid glasses could be used with the test. The deviation at which the patient reported that the "fly went flat" was taken as the end point. RESULTS Among 22 with more XT in a position of gaze away from the position where they demonstrated stereopsis, 2 lost stereopsis at 5 prism diopters (pd) XT, 10 lost stereopsis at 6 pd XT, 8 lost stereopsis at 7 pd XT, 1 lost stereopsis at 8 pd XT, and 1 preserved stereopsis until the deviation was 9 pd XT. Among 8 with more HT in a position of gaze away from the position where they demonstrated stereopsis, 1 lost stereopsis at 2 pd HT, 1 at 5 pd HT, 4 at 6 pd HT, 1 at 7 pd HT, and 1 at 8 pd HT. The averages were 6.5 pd XT and 6.3 pd HT (with the 2 pd HT excluded as an outlier). CONCLUSIONS To maintain stereopsis among those infantile esotropes for whom stereopsis is possible, an exotropia of more than 6 pd XT or a hypertropia of more than 6 pd HT should not be tolerated. These limits can be combined with criteria from other studies to produce a diagram, the oval of adequate binocular alignment.
Tuning Memory Fault Tolerance on the Edge

Error correction and fault tolerance have become pivotal considerations as conventional memories scale and emerging memories come to market. The common thread in these reliability challenges is that deep scaling reveals outliers in the memory system, which are responsible for the vast majority of faults. These cells, which may be attributed to process variation or undetected fabrication defects, tend to be more vulnerable to various forms of crosstalk, read- and write-disturbance, and even radiation-induced faults. By tracking faults in memory cells, identifying the worst offenders, and mitigating their effects accordingly, we can design dramatically improved fault tolerance techniques that are tuned to the fault characteristics of the memory at hand. A critical piece is the development of scalable and fault tolerance registries to track and retain critical information about these faults. The fault registries must be able to function in the faulty memory they protect, operate efficiently at the cell/bit-level, and handle extreme fault rates. Using the knowledge of faulty locations, our fault tolerance techniques applied to conventional main memories like DRAM and endurance-limited memories like flash and phase-change memory improve reliability, endurance, and lifetime by orders of magnitude while maintaining performance and energy efficiency.
Linking scores on the 4- and 5-item versions of the Satisfaction with Life Scale in people with traumatic brain, spinal cord, or burn injury: a National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research Model System study

BACKGROUND The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used measure of subjective well-being. Recent evidence indicates the fifth item of the scale reduces the reliability of the scale and is inappropriate for use in traumatic injury populations. The purpose of this study was to develop a linking procedure between the five-item version of the SWLS and a modified four-item version, which removes the problematic item, for use in Spinal Cord (SCI), Traumatic Brain (TBI), and Burn Injury populations. METHODS Proration (i.e. adding the mean of the four items to their total) was identified as a potential linking solution that could be easily implemented in clinical or research settings. The validity of the proration approach was evaluated by examining mean differences, cross group classification by SWLS category, score correlations, the intraclass correlation coefficient, and visual inspection of Bland-Altman plots in a large sample of SCI, TBI, and Burn Injury survivors who were participants in the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) Model Systems' National Databases. RESULTS A total of 17,897 (SCI n = 8566, TBI n = 7941, and Burn n = 1390) participants were included in this study. SWLS scores ranged from 5 to 35, and the average score difference between directly derived and prorated scores was 0.39 points. A large majority of the sample (93%) had score differences of < 4 points (i.e. approximately 0.5 SD). The correlation between the prorated and directly derived scores was very high (r = 0.97) and the ICC value indicated excellent reliability (ICC = 0.97). CONCLUSIONS This study provides a valid scoring approach for researchers or clinicians who don't want to lose continuity with previously collected data but prefer to switch to the modified four-item version of the SWLS. Clear guidance is provided for traumatic injury researchers or clinicians on how to implement the proration scoring approach.
INTRAORAL RADIOGRAPHS—A COMPARISON OF DOSE REDUCTION WITH COLLIMATION AND THYROID SHIELDING

BACKGROUND The National Commission on Radiation Protection has reinforced its recommendation for the use of rectangular collimation for intraoral radiography in the most recent Report No. 177. In response to growing concern for the risks associated with dental diagnostic imaging, adoption of the concept of ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) has inspired multiple modifications in collimator design approaches for reducing patient dose. OBJECTIVE(S) This intraoral study compared effective dose (E) using circular and rectangular collimator (RC) modalities. STUDY DESIGN Simulated 18-projection adult and 12-projection child full mouth series were exposed using a 6-cm-diameter circular collimator, a factory rectangular position-indicating device (PID) (Focus-RC), and 5 alternative universal RC modalities—JadRad-RC, Rinn-RC, Durr-RC, DexShield-RC, and TruAlign-RC—for both adult and child phantoms. Dosimetry was acquired using optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters placed at 24 anatomic sites in the head/neck region. Exposures were made with a Focus Instrumentarium Intraoral source using 70 kVp and total of 5.34 mA (adult) and 2.7 mA (child). RESULTS Adult E was lowest for Focus-RC (54 µSv), which also produced the greatest exposure area reduction (51%) compared with the circular collimator, followed by JadRad-RC (61 µSv), Rinn-RC (68 µSv), Durr-RC (69 µSv), DEXShield-RC (79 µSv), TruAlign-RC (79 µSv), and circular (90 µSv). Child E followed a similar trend: Focus-RC (44 µSv), JadRad-RC (49 µSv), Rinn-RC (53 µSv), Durr-RC (53 µSv), DEXShield-RC (60 µSv), TruAlign-RC (79µSv), and circular (92 µSv). Thyroid dose was reduced by as much as 59% using added shielding with circular techniques. RC with thyroid shielding reduced dose to the thyroid by as much as 87%. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS Focus-RC techniques yielded the greatest dose reduction compared with alternative rectangular techniques and circular collimation. However, collimator dimensions, in addition to shape, should be considered as a significant factor in affecting patient effective dose. Rectangular collimation alone yielded a greater reduction in thyroid dose than did circular collimation with thyroid shielding.
External Quality Assessment and Proficiency Testing in Diagnostic Molecular Microbiology

Proficiency testing (PT) and external quality assurance/assessment (EQA) are considered interchangeable terms; the generally accepted international terminology is ‘‘proficiency testing,’’ which is used in this chapter. The requirement for PT, as discussed in the chapter, applies to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)-accredited laboratories and pertains to nonwaived testing. Laboratory-specific aspects of the protocols should include detailed information regarding specimen evaluation, methods and reagents used for sample reconstitution and testing, maximum interval between reconstitution and testing, storage of excess sample, documentation. In order for PT to be relevant to the quality of patient care testing, PT challenge specimens must be tested in the same manner as patient specimens, including the processing, method and extent of testing, and personnel assigned to perform the testing. Among the microbiology surveys, there are pathogen-specific surveys specifically challenging molecular diagnostic strategies, including qualitative detection and identification, quantification, and genotyping. Proficiency testing, along with other Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) quality requirements, provides laboratories and accreditation organizations the tools needed to assess and improve the quality of diagnostic testing. The collaborative efforts of external advocacy groups, professional organizations and societies, governmental and nongovernmental agencies, and commercial providers of quality assurance products should result in increasing improvements to the technical quality and clinical utility of molecular diagnostic testing for infectious diseases. These improvements should result in improvements in patient safety and clinical outcomes as well as the efficiency of diagnostic testing for laboratories and health care systems.
Functionalization and applications of carbon nanotubes

Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes the recent progress in the research on functionalization of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for multifunctional materials, and device applications. CNTs can be viewed as graphite sheet(s) that have been rolled up into a tiny tube form. These elongated nanotubes usually have a diameter in the range from a few angstroms to tens of nanometers, and a length upto centimeters. The ends of CNTs are normally capped by fullerene-like structures containing pentagons. It has been demonstrated that the tips of CNTs are more reactive than sidewalls with the seamless arrangement of hexagon rings. A judicious application of site-selective reactions to non-aligned, and aligned CNTs, has opened up a rich field of carbon nanotube chemistry for chemical functionalization of the nanotube tips, inner-, and/or outer-walls.