cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Biodegradable chitosan nanoparticles in drug delivery for infectious disease

Increasing rates of antimicrobial resistance have left a significant gap in the standard antimicrobial armament. Nanotechnology holds promise as a new approach to combating resistant microbes. Chitosan, a form of deacetylated chitin, has been used extensively in medicine, agriculture and industry due to its ease of production, biocompatibility and antimicrobial activity. Chitosan has been studied extensively as a main structural component and additive for nanomaterials. Specifically, numerous studies have demonstrated its potent microbicidal activity and its efficacy as an adjuvant to vaccines, including mucosally administered vaccines. In this review, we present fundamental information about chitosan and chitosan nanoparticles as well as the most recent data about their antimicrobial mechanism and efficacy as a nanotechnology-based drug delivery system.
Older Women and Poverty

The popular perception of the financially secure economic status of elders, referred to as the "greening of the aged," does not reflect the reality faced by many older women. Older women's economic positions depend largely on marital status. Women who are widowed and other women living alone are among the most poor. Cuts in Social Security benefits, viewed by some policymakers as a possible solution to the problem of the federal budget deficit, would exacerbate the poverty of older women who rely on Social Security as their main source of income. Social workers concerned with poverty among older women must ensure that older women's interests are not sacrificed to resolve the federal deficit.
A Reviews of: “Brynjar Lia, Architect of Global Jihad: The Life of Al-Qaida Strategist Abu Mus'ab al-Suri” and “Jim Lacey, ed., The Terrorist's Call to Global Jihad: Deciphering Abu Musab'Al-Suri's Islamic Jihad Manifesto”

Abu Musab al-Suri is the nom de guerre of the jihadist who was al-Qaeda's chief theoretician until his capture in 2005. 1 It has been observed that “no other individual has done more to conceptuali...
Abstract 14359: Abnormal Extracellular Matrix Remodeling in an Nkx2-5+/- Model of Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Mice heterozygous for the cardiac transcription factor Nkx2-5 are viable but have an abnormal conduction system. To identify conduction cells we employed a double transgenic strategy by crossing Nkx2-5 +/- mice with a knock-out/knock-in Connexin 40 (Cx40) allele replaced with enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)(Cx40 EGFP/+ ). We subjected both the Nkx2-5 +/- and Nkx2-5 +/- /Cx40 EGFP/+ mice to 4 weeks of pressure-overload (PO) via transaortic constriction and found the left ventricle (LV) responded with a reproducibly dilated cardiomyopathy phenotype in contrast to the LV hypertrophy and preserved function in Cx40 EGFP/+ and wild-type controls (EF declined to 40-42% with associated dysynchrony). To elucidate mechanisms underlying the dilated phenotypes found in Nkx2-5 cohorts, mRNAs were analyzed by specialized gene chip arrays. We found no significant differences in markers of apoptotic, growth and transcription factor genes unrelated to Nkx2-5. However, there were marked and significant abnormalities of genes known to regulate the extra-cellular matrix (ECM) including increased metalloproteinase (MMP) -2(+3.1 fold) and MMP-14 (+12.5 fold) and decreases in tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP) -3 (-76.6 fold) and TIMP-4 (-3.7 fold). Confirmatory MMP-2 zymography showed the active form increased 5.8 fold. There were also changes identified within the ECM with increases in cardiac fibroblast specific collagen type 1a (+57.6 fold) and 5a (+7.5 fold). Immunofluorescence imaging for collagen 1a after PO in the WT mice showed high levels typical for myocardial fibrosis but the dilated Nkx2-5 +/- /Cx40 EGFP/+ transgenic failed to mount a fibrotic collagen response and was confirmed with picro sirius red staining for total collagen. Finally, we found gene expression was decreased for Smad1 (-16-fold), -5 (-5.9-fold) and -7 (-24-fold) with corresponding increases in latent TGF-β binding protein-1 (+3.3-fold) and -2 (+56-fold), compared to controls, suggesting that perturbed Smad/TGF-β signaling may underlie the dilated Nkx2-5 +/- /Cx40 EGFP/+ phenotype. ECM remodeling is a component of heart failure syndromes. Our data suggest cardiomyocytes lacking Nkx2-5 are unable to correctly signal to the ECM after PO.
National survey of men: design and execution.

The National Survey of Men (NSM-I) was conducted in 1991 to examine issues related to sexual behavior and condom use among noninstitutionalized US men aged 20-39 intended as the baseline survey for a longitudinal study. A total of 20086 housing units were canvassed 2434 were excluded and 16414 of the remaining 17652 housing units were successfully screened for eligibility. The main sample of the general population contained 1062 listing areas and an oversample contained 153 listing areas designated as black listing areas. The probability of selection of a listing area in the main survey sample was 1 in 10511 while the probability in the black oversample was 1 in 1164. The questionnaire consisted of personal particulars; sexual initiation and current exposure; current wife or partner; previous marital relationships; other nonmarital sexual partners; nonsexual partners; health and risk-taking behavior; attitudes perceptions and knowledge of health-related and contraception related issues; reasons for using or not using condoms; follow-up information; interviewer observations; and self-administered questions. Data collection and processing was carried out by the Institute for Survey Research at Temple University Philadelphia. A total of 206 interviewers and 9 regional field coordinators were recruited for the field work; of these 189 interviewers and 7 coordinators worked on the survey. The response rate of 70% was considered respectable given the highly sensitive nature of the questions. Standard errors for various estimated percentages were provided separately for the white and the black samples. After the survey was completed the final sample was weighted to reflect differential sampling rates as well as to account for multiple households multiple eligibility and differential nonresponse. The final weight consisted of sampling weight screening weight eligibility weight nonresponse weight and poststratification weight. Scaled to the sample size it produced a self-weighing sample with a mean weight of 1.00 and a standard deviation of 1.16. The minimum and maximum values of the final weight were .07 and 11.40 respectively.
Analyzing Cultural Consensus with Proportional Reduction in Error (PRE) Beyond the Eigenvalue Ratio

This article provides an alternate method to assess the fit of the cultural consensus model (CCM) of Romney and colleagues to the responses of a group of informants about a domain of knowledge, and thus also to evaluate the extent of shared knowledge within a group. Criteria for judging the existence of singular culture have been articulated previously by examining the relative size of the first versus second eigenvalue from the factor analysis used to estimate the informant competencies. By contrast, our new procedure examines whether a particular cultural consensus answer key and set of competency scores can predict group members’ responses, allowing one to assess the degree of cultural sharing in terms of the model’s predictive power as compared to guessing. In comparison to previously established CCM approaches for assessing cultural sharing, our approach is intuitively interpretable while remaining based on well-established statistical procedures.
Southern pines char gasification with CO2—Kinetics and effect of alkali and alkaline earth metals

Abstract Carbon dioxide gasification of southern pine char was carried out in a fixed bed reactor at temperatures in the range of 800 °C–975 °C. Evolution of carbon monoxide was used as the basis for conversion. The conversion versus time data were fitted to three different solid-gas reaction models: volume reaction model (VRM); non-reactive core model (NRC) and random pore model (RPM). Regression analysis showed that the RPM was the best at predicting experimental data. The measured change in char surface area was in agreement with the change in surface area predicted by the RPM. Furthermore, the RPM was used to predict the kinetic parameters of gasification of chars that were loaded with alkali and alkaline earth metals such as Na, Mg, K and Ca. The reduction in activation energy and hence increase in gasification reactivity was highest for potassium followed by calcium, sodium and magnesium. The pore structure parameter was highest for sodium implying a significant change in surface area of the char with initial conversion.
Neuropathology of progressive cognitive decline in chronically hypertensive rhesus monkeys

Hypertension is an identified major risk factor for cerebrovascular disease, which is second only to Alzheimer's disease as a cause of dementia in the elderly. In addition, hypertension has been associated with a more subtle, progressive decline in cognitive function for which the neuropathology is not well understood. The present study was undertaken to explore this relationship in an experimental, nonhuman primate model, with hypertension produced by a coarctation of the thoracic aorta. Since prior studies with this model have shown a progressive decline in memory function, similar to that seen in human hypertension, as well as scattered microinfarcts in the cerebral white and gray matter, this study was designed to explore the relationship between these two. In addition to microinfarcts, the hypertensive monkeys with the highest arterial blood pressure also showed minute areas of focal gliosis without infarction. The number of these focal lesions showed a significant correlation with the severity of the hypertension, but not with the behavioral deficit. For four of these hypertensive monkeys, immunostaining demonstrated a pervasive, widespread activation of microglial cells and astroglial cells in the white matter as well as evidence of leaks in the blood-brain barrier, providing a more logical substrate for the cognitive decline.
Conducting Research with Minimally Verbal Participants with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

A growing number of research groups are now including older minimally verbal individuals with autism spectrum disorder in their studies to encompass the full range of heterogeneity in the population. There are numerous barriers that prevent researchers from collecting high-quality data from these individuals, in part because of the challenging behaviors with which they present alongside their very limited means for communication. In this article, we summarize the practices that we have developed, based on applied behavioral analysis techniques, and have used in our ongoing research on behavioral, eye-tracking, and electrophysiological studies of minimally verbal children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Our goal is to provide the field with useful guidelines that will promote the inclusion of the entire spectrum of individuals with autism spectrum disorder in future research investigations.
Filters of influence: The help-seeking process of African American single mothers living in poverty seeking mental health services for their children

There are a disproportionate number of African American children living in poverty who are in need of mental health services. African American children who live in poverty tend to underutilize ment...
High-resolution interferometric quantum sensing with spectrally engineered broadband entanglement

The asymmetric poling in a titanium diffused periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide mitigates phase distortions associated with strong chirping. It broadens significantly the entangled source bandwidth while preserving a high visibility of quantum interferometric sensing
A Multihazard Approach to Insure Resilient Urban Structures

This paper provides background on a multihazard research approach for protecting urban infrastructure systems. This effort is vital for the development of more effective solutions to problems that are currently addressed primarily with conservative, and/or empirical approaches. The expected outcome will have a profound effect on national and international peace, prosperity, and security. Essential work must be conducted in several important areas that include scientific and technical topics, as well as socio-economics and public policy.
Cassini Spacecraft Attitude Control System: Flight Performance and Lessons Learned, 1997-2017

A sophisticated interplanetary spacecraft, Cassini/Huygens was launched on October 15, 1997. Since achieving orbit at Saturn in 2004, Cassini has collected science data throughout its four-year prime mission (2004–08), and has since been approved for first and second extended missions through September 2017. The Cassini Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem (AACS) is perhaps the spacecraft subsystem that must satisfy the most mission and science pointing requirements. Since launch, the performance of the Cassini AACS design has been superb. All key mission and science requirements are met with significant margins. An overview of the flight performance of the Cassini attitude control system as well as AACS mission operation-centric lessons learned, from launch to 2017, are described by topics. Many of these lessons learned should be applicable to the safe operations of other interplanetary missions. Processes taken by the AACS operation team to guard against “human” errors are also outlined in this paper.
Multi-scale genetic network inference based on time series gene expression profiles

This work integrates multi-scale clustering and short-time correlation to estimate genetic networks with different time resolutions and detail levels. Gene expression data are noisy and large scale. Clustering is widely used to group genes with similar pattern. The cluster centers can be used to infer the genetic networks among these clusters. This work introduces the Multi-scale Fuzzy K-means clustering algorithm to uncover groups of coregulated genes and capture the networks in different levels of detail. Time series expression profiles provide dynamic information for inferring gene regulatory relationships. Large scale network inference, identifying the transient interactions and feedback loops as well as differentiating direct and indirect interactions are among the major challenges of genetic network inference. Time correlation can estimate the time delay and edge direction. Partial correlation and directed-separation theory help differentiate direct and indirect interactions and identify feedback loops. This work introduces the constraint-based time-correlation (CBTC) network inference algorithm that combines these methods with time correlation estimation to more fully characterize genetic networks. Gene expression regulation can happen in specific time periods and conditions instead of across the whole expression profile. Short-time correlation can capture transient interactions. The network discovery algorithm was mainly validated using yeast cell cycle data. The algorithm successfully identified the yeast cell cycle development stages, cell cycle and negative feedback loops, and indicated how the networks dynamically changes over time. The inferred networks reflect most interactions previously identified by genome-wide location analysis and match the extant literature. At detailed network level, the inferred networks provide more detailed information about genes (or clusters) and the interactions among them. Interesting genes, clusters and interactions were identified, which match the literature and the gene ontology information and provide hypotheses for further studies.
Differences in pyloric caeca counts between lean and siscowet lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in southern Lake Superior

Abstract There are four documented morphotypes of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in Lake Superior, with the two dominant forms being the shallow water lean and the deep water siscowet. These morphotypes are differentiated externally by morphometrics and meristics. Pyloric caeca counts have been used to distinguish closely related fish species including the Salvelinus genus. From samples collected in 2009, 2011–2013, and 2017, we counted and measured pyloric caeca from 116 lean and 119 siscowet lake trout from southern Lake Superior. For a subset of 22 leans and 19 siscowets between 575 and 625 mm, we measured individual pyloric caecum basal diameter, length, and estimated individual caecum and total caeca surface areas. Siscowets had significantly fewer and thicker pyloric caeca than leans, but caecum length did not differ between the morphotypes. Mean pyloric caeca count for siscowets and leans was 131 and 153, respectively. Mean individual caecum surface area was 31% higher in siscowets than in leans. When adjusted for mean total number of pyloric caeca, total caecum surface area for siscowets was 12% greater than leans. We postulate that greater pyloric caecum surface area in siscowets may be an adaption for greater lipid uptake because they have substantially higher lipid content than leans. Based on our findings, pyloric caeca counts can be used in addition to other meristic and morphometric characteristics to help distinguish lean and siscowet lake trout.
Physical Activity and Bone Accretion: Isotemporal Modeling and Genetic Interactions.

ABSTRACTPurposeThis study aimed to determine if replacing time spent in high- and low-impact physical activity (PA) predicts changes in pediatric bone mineral density (BMD) and content (BMC).MethodsWe analyzed data from the longitudinal Bone Mineral Density in Childhood Study (N = 2337 with up to se
An assessment of the likely impact of the liberalization of the Soviet economy on Soviet patterns of trade

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of an economic transition from a centrally planned to a market economy on Soviet trade patterns. The Heckscher-Ohlin model, which is a standard general equilibrium model in international trade that predicts the patterns of trade based solely on resource endowments was used for this study;The Heckscher-Ohlin theorem, which is the core of the model states that a country will export the commodity which uses relatively intensively the factor which is relatively abundant in that country. Vanek's 1968 contribution to the Heckscher-Ohlin theorem, in which he referred to the factor services embodied in the goods traded, has made the model useful in empirical work. The ensuing Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek linear equations are a set of relationships among industry factor requirements, international trade in commodities, and excess factor endowment supplies;To use these equations to predict Soviet trade patterns, data for Soviet resource endowments, U.S. technology matrix, and resource endowments for 45 countries considered as the rest of the world were used. Data for dollar/ruble exchange rate and the GNP were also required for the model simulation;The Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek model predicted that Soviet patterns of trade will change most significantly in agricultural commodities after economic liberalization. The Soviet Union will move from a negative to a positive trade balance in this category. According to the model, the trade patterns do not change much in primary products and manufactures after a market economy is developed;The impact of economic liberalization on Soviet agricultural trade patterns was also examined. The model predicted that the Soviet Union will become a net grain exporter. The Soviets will export wheat and barley and import corn, oilseeds, and meat.
XIM: X-Ray Inspection Module for Automatic High Speed Inspection of Turbine Blades and Automated Flaw Detection and Classification

Under military manufacturing technology funding, a production prototype X-ray Inspection Module (XIM) has been established at General Electric Corporate Research and Development (GE-CRD) and delivered to Quality Technology (QT), General Electric Aircraft Engine Business Group (GE-AEBG). A company funded production unit has been built by GE-AEBG and delivered to the GE-AEBG manufacturing facility in Madisonville, Kentucky where it is in use in production. Computerized tomography (CT) and digital fluoroscopy (DF) images are produced with the system. The CT images provide an image cross-section, and the DF images are much like chest X-rays.The system was designed to automatically inspect and analyze flaws present in turbine blades. It was applied to two flaw types; each type in a different turbine blade. The image processing is performed on complex gray scale images with varying background. The XIM system may be used either automatically or in a manual mode with a trained operator to interpret the images and make quality decisions.
Rotundity and Smoothness

When thinking of the closed unit ball of a normed space, it is tempting to visualize some round, smooth object like the closed unit ball of real Euclidean 2- or 3-space. However, closed unit balls are sometimes not so nicely shaped. Consider, for example, the closed unit balls of real l 1 2 and l ∞ 2 . Neither is round by any of the usual meanings of that word, since their boundaries, which is to say the unit spheres of the spaces, are each composed of four straight line segments. Also, neither is smooth along its entire boundary, since each has four corners. These features of the closed unit balls have a number of interesting consequences that cause the norms of these two spaces to behave a bit unlike that of real Euclidean 2-space. For example, if z1 and z2 are different points on any one of the four sides of one of these balls, then \(1\left\| {z_1 } \right\| = \left\| {z_2 } \right\| = \frac{1}{2}\left\| {z_1 } \right\| + \frac{1}{2}\left\| {z_2 } \right\| = \left\| {\frac{1}{2}z_1 + \frac{1}{2}z_2 } \right\|\) so equality is attained in the inequality \(\left\| {z_{1 + } z_2 } \right\| \leqslant \left\| {z_1 } \right\| + \left\| {z_2 } \right\|\) despite the fact that neither z1 nor z2 is a nonnegative real multiple of the other. Furthermore, the presence of the corners leads to the existence of multiple norming functionals for some points z of the unit sphere of each of these spaces, that is, norm-one members z* of the dual space such that \(z^* z = \left\| z \right\|\). To see why this would be, let Z be either of these two spaces and let z0 be one of the four corners of B z . Then there are infinitely many different straight lines that pass through z0 without intersecting the interior of the closed unit ball; let l1 and l2 be two of them. By Mazur’s separation theorem, there are members z 1 * and z 2 * of Z*, necessarily different, such that if j ∈ {1, 2}, then z j * z = 1 when z ∈ l j and z j * z ≤ 1 when z ∈ B z . It follows readily that z 1 * and z 1 * are both norming functionals for z0. As will be seen, it is precisely the presence of the corners or sharp bends in the unit sphere that caused this multiplicity of norming functionals for elements at the locations of the bends.
The manager-salesperson relationship: An exploratory examination of the vertical-dyad linkage model

AbstractThe Vertical-Dyad-Linkage Model (VDL) is offered as a tool to explore the infrastructure of a sales team. Building on the philosophy found in most sales management literature that salespersons are to be managed as individuals, VDL theory allows an exploration of the underlying social organization that is present in all sales forces. Thus, the style that a manager uses with a particular salesperson will vary depending on the exchange relationship established (cadres, hired hands). The objectives of the paper are to explore the general tenets of VDL theory, to assimilate the theory in sales management, to provide implications for sales managers and salespeople, and to discuss the important implications for sales management research.
The design critique and the moral goods of studio pedagogy

In this paper we inquire into the moral goods that are significant for design studio instructors, by examining how they talk about the way critiques fit into the studio as a social practice. We studied this issue using in-depth interviews with six studio instructors. Through these interviews, we found that critiques are how they structure the studio so they can pursue three types of moral goods: a) for student development; b) for their own self-cultivation; and c) for other stakeholders. Along with presenting these goods, we discuss what instructors say about multiple goods exerting influence on them at the same time. Finally, we discuss implications these findings have for understanding the studio environment, and why critiques matter within this environment.
BaZrSe 3: Ab initio study of anion substitution for bandgap tuning in a chalcogenide material

Recently, transition metal perovskite chalcogenide materials have been proposed as possible candidates for solar cell applications. In this work, we provide accurate theoretical calculations for BaZrS 3 and two phases of SrZrS 3, which have been recently synthesized and their optical properties elaborated. In this study, we consider the substitution of S in BaZrS 3 with Se to form BaZrSe 3. Evolutionary methods are used to find the optimal structure of this compound, and accurate calculations of its optoelectronic properties are presented. Using phonon frequency calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics, we assess the stability of this compound. We find that BaZrSe 3 is likely to be stable under typical conditions, with a low bandgap and high optical absorption coefficients. This suggests that BaZrSe 3 could be useful for solar cell applications.
Abstract 4228: Integrated drug high-throughput screening and quantitative phosphoproteomics rationalizes combination therapy for mutant KRAS pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly recalcitrant malignancy for which better therapies are urgently needed. KRAS is the most frequently altered gene in PDAC and it orchestrates a number of effector pathways that ultimately drives PDAC growth and proliferation. The recent development of allele-specific inhibitors of oncogenic KRAS G12C, such as ARS-1620, provides an unprecedented opportunity to explore direct targeting of oncogenic KRAS signaling in PDAC. Nearly 3% PDAC patient harbor KRAS G12C, corresponding to ~1,600 new cases of PDAC/year in the US alone for which currently there are no robust targeted therapies. Even if the inhibitor effectively block KRAS function, compensatory mechanism will probably be triggered to overcome the KRAS-mutant PDAC.To better position the direct mutant KRAS inhibitor, we have developed a platform that includes: a high-throughput screen anchored with ARS-1620 to identify companion inhibitor to further dial down the oncogenic KRAS signaling, quantitative mass spectrometric method to map out the adaptive signaling mechanisms of this combination therapy, and bioinformatics pipeline to reveal and rank targetable kinases that drive the adaptive resistance mechanism. To do so, we will apply our platform on a panel of KRAS G12C primary PDAC models. We will profile the proteomic/phosphoproteomic changes of cells treated with combination therapy to identify adaptive signaling pathways that could be potentially targeted.High-throughput chemical-genomics screening identified receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) to be synergistic to the KRAS inhibitor, ARS-1620. In particular, multiple epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors restrict growth of patient-derived PDAC, XWR200, when combined with ARS-1620. When profiling the proteomic/phosphoproteomics changes induced by the combination therapy, we quantified nearly 9600 protein groups and 44,000 phosphopeptides with 36,000 class 1 phosphopeptides having quantitation in all groups (FDR Note: This abstract was not presented at the meeting. Citation Format: Joseph Capri, Thuc Le, Caius Radu, Timothy Donahue. Integrated drug high-throughput screening and quantitative phosphoproteomics rationalizes combination therapy for mutant KRAS pancreatic cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4228.
Why Are Physicians So Confused about Acute Heart Failure

For most of the past 3000 years, physicians believed that all patients with heart failure had acute heart failure. Heart failure was viewed as an episodic disorder — that is, patients were consider...
Mechanical Design and Modeling of a Manipulator Tool for a Compact Multiple-Tool Single Port Laparoscopic Robot Platform

Laparoendoscopic single-site surgery (LESS) has been shown to reduce the invasiveness of surgery by requiring only one incision to access the abdominal cavity. However, single-site surgery integrating with a compact robotic surgical platform remains as a unique challenge. To address this challenge, we have designed a comprehensive robotic surgery platform that consists of three 6-DOF manipulators and a laparoscope camera can all be inserted into the operation field through a single 18 mm cannula holding by one 4 degrees of freedom light-weight supporting frame. Each dexterous manipulator is 5+1 degree-of-freedom (DOF), serially inserted and removable, and remotely driven by 12 actuation tendons and is composed of rigid links joined by hybrid flexure hinges. This paper introduces the compact multiple-tool single port laparoscopic robot platform for the first time. Details of the mechanical design of the trocar and manipulator including joint design and tendon routing are presented. The forward and inverse kinematics of the manipulator are also discussed along with an analysis and simulation of the cooperative workspace of two manipulators. A preliminary dynamic model of the manipulator was also constructed to study the effect of tendon-sheath friction forces at various joint configurations. Future work will illustrate the existing supporting frame mechanism for posing tools and trocar.
Streams, phones and transitions: toward a new phonological and phonetic model of formant timing

This paper presents a new model of formant timing based on the Delta multi-tiered framework for phonology, phonetics and speech synthesis. Central to the Delta framework is an integrated utterance representation, in which multiple synchronized "streams" can simultaneously represent higher-level phonological and lower-level phonetic units and the precise timing between them. The model treats formant transitions as independent units between phones, rather than incorporating the transitions into the phones, as in more conventional models, and it uses Delta’s multiple streams to represent directly the hierarchical linguistic structure of an utterance, such as phonemes, syllables and syllable nuclei. The model presented is for General American English, but is part of a larger universal model being developed for multiple dialects and languages. Evidence for the English model is drawn from the durational behavior of sonorants before voiced and voiceless obstruents, diphthongs in fast and slow speech, and the timing of aspiration. The model leads to a more cogent treatment of formant timing and the segmentation of continuous speech patterns than is possible with conventional models. It therefore promises a unified account of many formerly disparate phonetic phenomena, more straightforward synthesis rules, and a better understanding of the relationship between phonology and phonetics.
Age-related macular degeneration-like phenotypic features develop at the early ages of Cxcr5/Nrf2 double knockout mice: An accelerated AMD model

Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of blindness for older adults. The aim of this study is to develop an accelerated mouse model of AMD and characterize its phenotypic features. Cxcr5 knockout (KO) mice and Nrf2 KO mice were bred to create Cxcr5/Nrf2 double knockout (DKO) mice. AMD like features in Cxcr5/Nrf2 DKO mice were compared with those in CXCR5 KO mice and C57BL6 wild-type (WT) controls. The assessment included fundus and optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging, periodic acid Schiff (PAS) and immunofluorescence staining of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) choroid flat mounts and sections. Stained samples were imaged with fluorescent microscopy, and Western blots were used to monitor protein expression changes. The staining of cleaved caspase 3, peanut agglutinin (PNA) lectin, and MAP2 was performed to assess the presence of retinal degeneration and cell apoptosis. Quantification with statistical analysis was performed with Graphpad software. The 2, 4, and 6 months old DKO mice exhibited increased hypopigmented spots on fundus and subRPE abnormalities on OCT as compared to the Cxcr5 KO mice, and C57BL6 WT controls. Aberrant RPE/subRPE depositions and increased Bruchs membrane (BM) thickness were demonstrated by PAS stained sections. The DKO mice had strong autofluorescence (A2E) and increased RPE/subRPE depositions of IgG and AMD associated proteins (β amyloid, Apolipoprotein E, complement 5b 9, and αB crystallin). The protein expression of AMD associated proteins and Transmembrane Protein 119 (TMEM119) microglia marker were upregulated at the RPE/BM/choroid complex of DKO mice. The adult DKO mice underwent accelerated retinal degeneration and cell apoptosis compared to the KO and the WT mice. Together, the data suggest that the Cxcr5/Nrf2 DKO mice develop significant AMD like characteristics at an early age and may serve as an accelerated AMD model.
The Price for Blowing the Whistle when Facing Ethical Dilemmas

Many engineers and scientists join the defense sector, because it offers well-paying opportunities to work on challenging technical problems. However, some face ethical dilemmas about the nature of their work and its end use. Examples range from the Manhattan Project that developed the atom bomb during World War II, to the more recent Project Maven at Google that used artificial intelligence for combat drones. In both of these cases, several project participants questioned the morality of their work. The problem in most cases is that individuals have to make difficult choices alone when facing an ethical dilemma. There is very little choice in finding alternative work since defense organizations do not typically have nondefense projects. This paper narrates two case studies drawing on the author's own experience working on the Pentagon's missile defense program. The first relates to author's experience in a laser weapon program and the second, as an investigator for the US Government Accountability Office. The research methodology is strictly narrative. It describes the author's efforts to bring to light the ethical lapses and the lessons learned.
What Am I Really Saying When I Open My Smartphone?: A Response to Professor Kerr

In his forthcoming article in the Texas Law Review, Compelled Decryption and the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination, Orin S. Kerr addresses a common question confronting courts. If a court orders a suspect or defendant to enter her password to open a smartphone or other device as part of a law enforcement investigation, does that order violate the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination? To answer this question, Kerr appropriately looks by analogy to existing Fifth Amendment case law as applied to document subpoenas, the “act of production” doctrine, and its mysterious cousin, the “foregone conclusion” doctrine. From these materials, he gleans a simple rule: if the government can independently show the person knows the password to the device, it may compel her to enter her password to open it. But when we consider the analogy to the act of production cases closely, and match like to like, we really should arrive at a rule different from Kerr’s. The rule should be whether the government already knows the person possesses the files on the device and can identify them with reasonable particularity. The difficulty, the debate, and the growing court split all arise because the act of production doctrine rests upon a faulty premise. Courts and some scholars including Kerr rarely discuss this flaw, and how it infects the entire act-of-production enterprise. This response shows how we must address this flaw before applying the act of production doctrine to the new situation of passwords.
Depressive disorders: treatment patterns and costs of treatment in the private sector of the United States

The purpose of this paper is to examine the treatment patterns and costs of treatment for depressive disorders in the private sector of the United States. Based on the 1987-1989 calendar year MEDSTAT claim data, 40,898 patients were identified with a principal diagnosis of depressive disorder. Among a list of CPT-4 code procedures, individual psychotherapy had the highest frequency of usage followed by individual visits. Compared to individual psychotherapy, group/family psychotherapy had a much lower frequency of usage. Very few diagnostic episodes had laboratory work. In inpatient settings, costs of physician procedures and laboratory services were 2 times greater for patients with major depression or bipolar disorder than for patients with depression not otherwise specified (NOS) or dysthymic disorder. As expected, costs varied widely per episode. As the severity of illness increased, the cost variation became wider.
Impact of Endovascular False Lumen Embolization on Thoracic Aortic Remodeling in Chronic Dissection.

Background Retrograde false lumen (FL) perfusion after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) for chronic dissection is a mode of treatment failure. Thrombosis of the FL is associated with favorable reverse remodeling. Objectives are to describe false lumen embolization (FLE) strategy, assess aortic remodeling and survival. Methods From 1/2009 to 12/2017, 51 patients with chronic dissection underwent FLE, most after previous TEVAR. Devices included a combination of: iliac plug (29 patients), coils (19 patients), or nitinol plug (3 patients). Computed tomography (CT) was performed before discharge, at 3 months, and annually (median follow-up 2 years [1 month-7 years]). Results After FLE, mean maximum aortic diameter decreased (64.2±12 to 61.0±13mm [p=0.03]), true lumen diameter increased (24.7±10 to 33.7±8 mm (p Conclusions FLE is an important endovascular adjunct to TEVAR promoting reverse aortic remodeling in select patients with chronic aortic dissection and persistent retrograde FL perfusion.
Conjugal DNA transfer in the maternally inherited symbiont of tsetse flies Sodalis glossinidius

Abstract Stable associations between insects and bacterial species are widespread in nature. This is the case for many economically important insects, such as tsetse flies. Tsetse flies are the vectors of Trypanosoma brucei, the etiological agent of African trypanosomiasis—a zoonotic disease that incurs a high socioeconomic cost in endemic regions. Populations of tsetse flies are often infected with the bacterium Sodalis glossinidius. Following infection, S. glossinidius establishes a chronic, stable association characterized by vertical (maternal) and horizontal (paternal) modes of transmission. Due to the stable nature of this association, S. glossinidius has been long sought as a means for the implementation of anti-Trypanosoma paratransgenesis in tsetse flies. However, the lack of tools for the genetic modification of S. glossinidius has hindered progress in this area. Here we establish that S. glossinidius is amenable to DNA uptake by conjugation. We show that conjugation can be used as a DNA delivery method to conduct forward and reverse genetic experiments in this bacterium. This study serves as an important step in the development of genetic tools for S. glossinidius. The methods highlighted here should guide the implementation of genetics for the study of the tsetse-Sodalis association and the evaluation of S. glossinidius-based tsetse fly paratransgenesis strategies. Importance Tsetse flies are the insect vectors of T. brucei, the causative agent of African sleeping sickness—a zoonotic disease that inflicts a substantial economic cost to a broad region of sub-Saharan Africa. Notably, tsetse flies can be infected with the bacterium S. glossinidius to establish an asymptomatic chronic infection. This infection can be inherited by future generations of tsetse flies allowing S. glossinidius to spread and persist within populations. To this effect, S. glossinidius has been considered as a potential expression platform to create flies which reduce T. brucei stasis and lower overall parasite transmission to humans and animals. However, the efficient genetic manipulation of S. glossinidius has remained a technical challenge due to its complex growth requirements and uncharacterized physiology. Here we exploit a natural mechanism of DNA transfer among bacteria and develop an efficient technique to genetically manipulate S. glossinidius for future studies in reducing trypanosome transmission.
Africultural Coping Systems Inventory: Psychometrics in a Clinical Sample of African American Women:

The Africultural Coping Systems Inventory (ACSI) assesses African Americans’ culturally relevant stress coping strategies. Although its factor structure, reliability, and validity of the scores hav...
Ramadan effect on sectoral herding

One variable that affects stocks prices in the financial markets is herding behavior. As the level of herding is not constant over time, its level may be different during some events. Herding may increase during religious events like Ramadan in the Muslim world causing volatility to increase and leading to unexplained stock prices. The purpose of this study was to test the effect of Ramadan on herding presence at market and sector levels. The study was based on the behavioral finance theory which considers mood and behavior of investors as variables that may affect the prices of stocks. The enquiry that the researcher tried to answer was whether the presence of herding in the market and sectors is affected by Ramadan. To achieve the study purpose, a quantitative study was conducted using daily data from Amman stock exchange for the period from 2000 to 2018. Collected data were analyzed using ordinary least squares (OLS) method. The Results of market-level analysis showed that market investors do not herd during and out of Ramadan. At sector-level, however, herding is absent during Ramadan and exists out of it in services and industrial sectors while it's absent in both times in the financial sector.
Many-Tier Vertical Gate-All-Around Nanowire FET Standard Cell Synthesis for Advanced Technology Nodes

Many-tier vertical gate-all-around nanowire FET (VFET) synthesis strongly demands a holistic approach of modeling/formulating/optimizing transistor placement and in-cell routing to obtain the maximum-achievable power, performance, area, and cost (PPAC) benefits. In this article, we propose a novel satisfiability modulo theories (SMT)-based many-tier VFET standard cell (SDC) synthesis framework that simultaneously solves place-and-route (P&R). We devise an extended relative positioning constraint and a dummy gate control scheme to capture the unique VFET cell architecture. Moreover, we present efficient objectives to improve pin-accessibility and reduce the use of vertical routing, which has high resistance. Compared to the conventional sequential P&R approach, our concurrent P&R achieves a 15.2% smaller cell area on average for 2-tier VFET. Throughout the extensive exploration for many-tier VFET configurations up to 4-tier, we show that the 4-tier VFET respectively achieves 50.1% and 27.9% of average area reduction on chip-level and block-level, over 4.5T GAAFET.
Language Style Matching and CFO Turnover

Analyzing the language styles of top executives using conference call transcripts, we find that the language style matching between the CEO and the CFO can predict CFO turnover. Using the CEO-CFO pair fixed effects, we find that the mimicry component of language style matching is negatively associated with CFO turnover. We also find that the effect is mitigated by better corporate governance mechanisms, suggesting that corporate decisions driven by social interactions could be a source of agency costs. The effect is also weaker for CFOs appointed by the current CEO.
The inflammatory role of dysregulated IRS2 in pulmonary vascular remodeling under hypoxic conditions

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a devastating disease characterized by progressive elevation of pulmonary vascular resistance, right ventricular failure, and ultimately death. We have shown previously that insulin receptor substrate 2 (IRS2), a molecule highly critical to insulin resistance and metabolism, has an anti-inflammatory role in Th2-skewed lung inflammation and pulmonary vascular remodeling. Here, we investigated the hypothesis that IRS2 has an immunomodulatory role in human and experimental PH. Expression analysis showed that IRS2 was significantly decreased in the pulmonary vasculature of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension and in rat models of PH. In mice, genetic ablation of IRS2 enhanced the hypoxia-induced signaling pathway of Akt and Forkhead box O1 (FOXO1) in the lung tissue and increased pulmonary vascular muscularization, proliferation, and perivascular macrophage recruitment. Furthermore, mice with homozygous IRS2 gene deletion showed a significant gene dosage-dependent increase in pulmonary vascular remodeling and right ventricular hypertrophy in response to hypoxia. Functional studies with bone marrow-derived macrophages isolated from homozygous IRS2 gene-deleted mice showed that hypoxia exposure led to enhancement of the Akt and ERK signaling pathway followed by increases in the pro-PH macrophage activation markers, vascular endothelial growth factor-A and arginase 1. Our data suggest that IRS2 contributes to anti-inflammatory effects by regulating macrophage activation and recruitment, which may limit the vascular inflammation, remodeling, and right ventricular hypertrophy that are seen in PH pathology. Restoring the IRS2 pathway may be an effective therapeutic approach for the treatment of PH and right heart failure.
Tribotronic control and cyclic voltammetry of platinum interfaces with metal oxide nanofluids

Abstract Nanotribological and electrochemical behavior of platinum-nanofluid interfaces are reported for aqueous suspensions of positively charged Al2O3 and negatively charged TiO2 nanoparticles, employing Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) techniques. Tribotronic methods were employed to adjust the nanoparticles’ positions relative to Pt surface electrodes, and both voltammetry and tribological performance measures were observed to be highly sensitive to the adjustments. Interfacial friction levels were observed to be higher for both types of nanoparticles when electrostatically driven towards the surface. For electric fields of sufficient amplitude and duration, the TiO2 nanosuspension exhibited properties consistent with reversible electrophoretic deposition of the nanoparticles, accompanied by changes in the electrochemical attributes of the electrode itself. Overall, the study suggests a method for active tribological control and optimization of device performance in applications where suspensions of charged nanoparticles are present and can be exposed to external fields.