cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Accounting for the shared environment in cognitive abilities and academic achievement with measured socioecological contexts

Behavioral and molecular genetic research has established that child cognitive ability and academic performance are substantially heritable, but genetic variation does not account for all of the stratification of cognitive and academic outcomes across families. Which specific contexts and experiences contribute to these shared environmental influences on cognitive ability and academic achievement? Using an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of N = 1728 twins ages 7-20 from the Texas Twin Project, we identified specific measured family, school, and neighborhood socioecological contexts that statistically accounted for latent shared environmental variance in cognitive abilities and academic skills. Composite measures of parent socioeconomic status (SES), school demographic composition, and neighborhood SES accounted for moderate proportions of variation in IQ and achievement. Total variance explained by the multilevel contexts ranged from 15% to 22%. The influence of family SES on IQ and achievement overlapped substantially with the influence of school and neighborhood predictors. Together with race, the measured socioecological contexts explained 100% of shared environmental influences on IQ and approximately 79% of shared environmental influences on both verbal comprehension and reading ability. In contrast, nontrivial proportions of shared environmental variation in math performance were left unexplained. We highlight the potential utility of constructing "polyenvironmental risk scores" in an effort to better predict developmental outcomes and to quantify children's and adolescents' interrelated networks of experiences. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/77E_DctFsr0.
Understanding Knowledge Creation in Virtual Communities through Narrative Network Analysis

This paper extends our understanding of knowledge creation in virtual communities by focusing on the participants in these communities and the process with which these individuals contribute to kno...
Estimation of the Incidence of Guillain-Barré Syndrome During Pregnancy in the United States.

Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an adverse event of interest after vaccination, yet few data are available for background rates during pregnancy. We confirmed 2 cases of incident GBS and estimated an incidence of 2.8 confirmed GBS cases per million person-years (95% confidence interval, 0.5-9.3), indicating rare occurrence. Our findings will help inform safety assessments of Zika vaccines in pregnant populations.
Property control from polyhedral connectivity in A B O 3 oxides

We investigate the effect of the degree of metal-oxygen octahedral facesharing on the mechanical and electronic properties of ${d}^{0} {\mathrm{BaTiO}}_{3}$ and ${d}^{3} {\mathrm{BaMnO}}_{3}$. We find that increased facesharing softens the elastic constants of both materials due to the increased volume per atom, with polar distortions also contributing to the reduction in the bulk modulus. Owing to orbital filling in the $d$ manifold, we find the electronic band gap of ${\mathrm{BaTiO}}_{3}$ is relatively unaffected by changes in percent facesharing whereas the band gap of ${\mathrm{BaMnO}}_{3}$ increases by more than 200% as the percent facesharing increases from 0% (cubic perovskite) to 100% (hexagonal ${\mathrm{BaNiO}}_{3}$ perovskite). We identify that the trigonal distortions present in the face-connected polymorphs represent useful atomistic structural knobs to tune band structure in hexagonal perovskites. Our results indicate that facesharing hexagonal polymorphs provide an expanded oxides arena with additional structural flexibility beyond the usual fully corner-connected perovskites for property control.
Synterface: Efficient Chip-to-World Interfacing for Flow-Based Microfluidic Biochips Using Pin-Count Minimization

Flow-based microfluidic biochips can be used to perform bioassays by manipulating a large number of on-chip valves. These biochips are increasingly used today for biomolecular recognition, single-cell screening, and point-of-care disease diagnostics, and design-automation solutions for flow-based microfluidics enable the mapping and optimization of bimolecular protocols and software-based valve control. However, a key problem that has not received adequate attention is chip-to-world interfacing, which requires the use of off-chip control equipment to provide control signals for the on-chip valves. This problem is exacerbated by the increase in the number of valves as chips get more complex. To address the interfacing problem, we present an efficient pin-count minimization (synthesis) problem, referred to as Synterface, which uses on-chip microfluidic logic gates and optimization based on concepts from linear algebra. We present results to show that Synterface significantly reduces pin-count and simplifies the external interface for flow-based microfluidics.
From Plan to Action: Adapting Evaluation to Serve the Developmental Needs of a Newly-Funded Multidisciplinary Research Center

The Southeastern Coastal Center for Agricultural Health and Safety (SCCAHS) is one of many newly-funded federal research centers, housing five multidisciplinary research projects and seven pilot projects, and serving a multi-state region. In the early stages of such a complex project, with multiple teams separated by geography and disciplines, the evaluation program has been integral in connecting internal and external stakeholders at the center and project levels. We used a developmental evaluation (DE) framework to respond to the complex political environment surrounding agricultural health and safety in the southeast; to engage external stakeholders in guiding the center's research and outreach trajectories; to support center research teams in a co-creation process to develop logic models and tailored indicators; and to provide timely and feedback within the center to address communications gaps identified by the evaluation program. By using DE principles to shape monitoring and evaluation approaches, our evaluation program has adapted to the dynamic circumstances presented as our center's progress has been translated from a plan in a grant proposal to implementation.
Floral resources of an invasive shrub alter native bee communities at different vertical strata in forest-edge habitat

Disturbances associated with intensive agriculture facilitate the spread of invasive plants that become dominant along habitat edges in fragmented landscapes. Many invasive woody plants offer large quantities of floral resources to bees, but little is known about how invasive plants affect the use of flowering resources in the forest canopy and understory by native bee communities. We sampled the bee community at vertical strata along forest-agriculture edges that varied in density of a dominant invasive shrub Lonicera maackii before, during, and after the flowering period. We also recorded diameters and species identities of woody stems. Bee and woody plant abundance, diversity, and life-history traits were then spatially and temporally compared in response to L. maackii density. Overall, we found that L. maackii structured bee communities through its floral resources by altering bee species composition and supporting greater abundances and species richness of bees during and after its flowering period. We also demonstrated a diverse and abundant bee community up to 16 m high in the forest canopy that is supported by floral resources of native shrubs and trees but sensitive to woody shrub invasion. These findings collectively suggest that this invasive shrub structures the bee community in favor of species that use its own flowers and competes with co-flowering woody species at different vertical strata. Our study emphasizes the importance of forest trees and shrubs for bees in agricultural landscapes and demonstrates potential risks for early-season bees as well as those that cannot use floral resources of this invasive shrub.
GDP forecasts: Informational asymmetry of the SPF and FOMC minutes

Abstract This paper emphasizes asymmetric information about the U.S. economy between the FOMC and SPF. Following Stekler and Symington (2016), it extends their text-based FOMC minutes index (FMI) of economic outlook to 1986-2016. Following Ericsson (2016), it employs truncation adjustment indicators and reinterprets the FMI calibrations as the policy-makers forecasts of the GDP growth, which carry information about the staff Greenbook forecasts prepared prior to the bi-quarterly FOMC meetings. Tests confirm unbiasedness and rationality of these forecasts. The encompassing tests indicate that both the FMI and SPF forecasts contain unique information beyond their alternative’s information set and can be weighted equally. The orthogonality tests suggest that the SPF efficiently use all their information set but could gain if the FOMC minutes were published without a lag, while the policy-makers rely mostly on their projections made earlier in the meetings, and could benefit from incorporating the already published SPF forecasts.
Dual portfolio management strategies of online subscription video on demand (SVOD) companies: a genre perspective

Effective portfolio management is vital for organisations to achieve competitive advantage. This study investigates how online subscription video on demand (SVOD) companies manage their genre portf...
Physiology: New Insights into Central Oxygen Sensing.

Summary Astrocytes, the star-shaped brain cells, are known chemosensitive cells in the respiratory system. A new study shows that trafficking of TRPA1 channels in and out of the cell membrane in brainstem astrocytes contributes to their role as central respiratory oxygen sensors.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is an ambitious, multi-institutional project to create a huge digital imaging and spectroscopic data bank of 25% of the celestial sphere, approximately 10,000 deg^2 centred on the north galactic polar cap. The photometric atlas will be in 5 specially-chosen colours, covering the pi ster of the Survey area to a limiting magnitude of r~23.1, on 0.4" pixels, resulting in a 1 Tpixel map. This data base will be automatically analysed to catalog the photometric and astrometric properties of 10^8 stellar images, 10^8 galaxies, and 10^6 colour-selected QSO candidates; the galaxy data will in addition include detailed morphological data. The photometric data are used to autonomously and homogeneously select objects for the spectroscopic survey, which will include spectra of 10^6 galaxies, 10^5 QSOs, and 10^5 unusual stars. Although the project was originally motivated by the desire to study Large Scale Structure, we anticipate that these data will impact virtually every field of astronomy, from Earth-crossing asteroids to QSOs at z>6. In particular, the ~12 TByte multi-colour, precision calibrated imaging archive should be a world resource for many decades of the next century.
Why do female Asian-American fashion and beauty YouTubers go blond?

Appearance works as a medium to communicate individual self’s identity(Hillestad, 1980; Roach-Higgins & Eicher, 1992). Individuals are seeking to achieve a balance between the images that they imitate and the distinction they need to express about themselves (Simmel, 1904. It has noticed that more and more female Asian-Americans bleach their natural hair to blond – the trend of young female adults in the U.S., just as popular among celebrities as it is among beauty Youtubers. This study aims to examine how Asian-American women negotiate their beauty ideals from their hair transformation journey.
BigFuzz: efficient fuzz testing for data analytics using framework abstraction

As big data analytics become increasingly popular, data-intensive scalable computing (DISC) systems help address the scalability issue of handling large data. However, automated testing for such data-centric applications is challenging, because data is often incomplete, continuously evolving, and hard to know a priori. Fuzz testing has been proven to be highly effective in other domains such as security; however, it is nontrivial to apply such traditional fuzzing to big data analytics directly for three reasons: (1) the long latency of DISC systems prohibits the applicability of fuzzing: naive fuzzing would spend 98% of the time in setting up a test environment; (2) conventional branch coverage is unlikely to scale to DISC applications because most binary code comes from the framework implementation such as Apache Spark; and (3) random bit or byte level mutations can hardly generate meaningful data, which fails to reveal real-world application bugs. We propose a novel coverage-guided fuzz testing tool for big data analytics, called BigFuzz. The key essence of our approach is that: (a) we focus on exercising application logic as opposed to increasing framework code coverage by abstracting the DISC framework using specifications. BigFuzz performs automated source to source transformations to construct an equivalent DISC application suitable for fast test generation, and (b) we design schema-aware data mutation operators based on our in-depth study of DISC application error types. BigFuzz speeds up the fuzzing time by 78 to 1477X compared to random fuzzing, improves application code coverage by 20% to 271%, and achieves 33% to 157% improvement in detecting application errors. When compared to the state of the art that uses symbolic execution to test big data analytics, BigFuzz is applicable to twice more programs and can find 81% more bugs.
Impulsive stimulated Brillouin spectroscopy for non-invasive microfluidic-based viscoelastic measurements in vitro

Dysfunctions in the endothelial cell lining of the vascular endothelium are linked with human pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, venous thrombosis, and several human viral infections. These diseases typically originate from abnormalities resulting from poor structural integrity of the tunica intima of the vascular endothelium. In this report, impulsive stimulated Brillouin scattering spectroscopy was used to assess viscoelastic properties of cells in a microfluidic chip which was designed to mimic the vascular endothelium tunica intima. Brillouin spectroscopy method enabled non-invasive data acquisition of viscoelastic measurements to understand the role of collagen type I on the anchoring of endothelial cells to the extracellular matrix.
The Extended Regularized Dual Averaging Method for Composite Optimization

We present a new algorithm, extended regularized dual averaging (XRDA), for solving composite optimization problems, which are a generalization of the regularized dual averaging (RDA) method. The main novelty of the method is that it allows more flexible control of the backward step size. For instance, the backward step size for RDA grows without bound, while XRDA the backward step size can be kept bounded.
Abstract 1155: Subcutaneous intratumoral administration of a novel oncolytic virus leads to eradication of peritoneal disseminated pancreatic cancer in nude mice

Introduction: We investigated a novel oncolytic virus, CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1, which has shown robust preclinical activity against numerous solid tumors, for its ability to track and kill distant peritoneal metastases after local virus administration in vivo. Methods: In this study, we used CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1, a replication competent orthopoxviral chimera engineered to express the human sodium iodine symporter (hNIS) and anti-human programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibody. To create our mouse model, we inoculated the human pancreatic cell line - AsPC1-ffluc (5x106 cells/site) in both the subcutaneous space and the peritoneum in nude mice. After confirming presence of tumor, the mice were divided into two groups; and treated with either 1) three doses of intratumoral (IT) CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 (3x105 plaque forming units; (n=8) or 2) PBS (n=4). Each mouse was assessed for the following: tumor burden (bioluminescence imaging); CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 tracking and replication in tumors (124I based PET imaging); and survival (time to death). Results: By week 2, the animals in the CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 treated group compared to the PBS treated group had significantly decreased tumor burden both in the peritoneal tumors (2.5e9±2.498e9 %/ID/cc versus 1.6e10 ±1.3e10 %/ID/cc, respectively; p Conclusion: After local SC tumor injection, CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 can efficiently kill local tumor and kill distant peritoneal metastases to improve survival. Successful therapy of SC and peritoneal tumors using CF33-hNIS-antiPDL1 can be visualized by 124I-based PET imaging. Citation Format: Zhifang Zhang, Annie Yang, Shyambabu Chaurasiya, Sang-In Kim, Anthony K. Park, Jianming Lu, Susanne G. Warner, Yuman Fong, Yanghee Woo. Subcutaneous intratumoral administration of a novel oncolytic virus leads to eradication of peritoneal disseminated pancreatic cancer in nude mice [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1155.
Problematic social media use is associated with the evaluation of both risk and ambiguity during decision making.

Background and aims People can engage in excessive, maladaptive use of social media platforms. This problematic social media use mirrors substance use disorders with regard to symptoms and certain behavioral situations. For example, individuals with substance use disorders demonstrate aberrations in risk evaluations during decision making, and initial research on problematic social media use has revealed similar findings. However, these results concerning problematic social media use have been clouded by tasks that involve learning and that lack a clear demarcation between risky and ambiguous decision making. Therefore, we set out to specifically determine the relationship between problematic social media use and decision making under both risk and ambiguity, in the absence of learning. Methods We assessed each participant's (N = 90) self-reported level of problematic social media use. We then had them perform the wheel of fortune task, which has participants make choices between a sure option or either a risky or ambiguous gamble. In this way, the task isolates decisions made under risk and ambiguity, and avoids trial-to-trial learning. Results: We found that the greater an individual's problematic social media use, the more often that individual choses high-risk gambles or ambiguous gambles, regardless of the degree of ambiguity. Discussion and conclusions Our findings indicate that greater problematic social media use is related to a greater affinity for high-risk situations and overall ambiguity. These findings have implications for the field, specifically clarifying and extending the extant literature, as well as providing future avenues for research.
Afghan scholars despair after Taliban's takeover.

Many Afghan scholars are trying to leave their country after the Taliban seized power earlier this month. They fear a return to the Taliban9s harsh regime between 1996 and 2001, when women were deprived of civil liberties and intellectuals and others opposed to its ideology summarily executed. Taliban leaders insist they have moderated their views, but few Afghans take those reassurances at face value and many say the group9s philosophy is inimical to science. As Science went to press, European and U.S. officials were scrambling to get hundreds of other Afghan scholars and their families out of Kabul.
Lattice symmetry breaking transition and critical size limit for ferroic orders in nanophase BiFe O 3

Finite size effects on the ferroic orders in $\mathrm{BiFe}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ are studied by atomic pair distribution function analysis and magnetic measurements. While bulk rhombohedral $\mathrm{BiFe}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ exhibits ferroelectricity and antiferromagnetism with a cycloidal magnetic moment arrangement leading to zero magnetization and weak magnetoelectric coupling, $\mathrm{BiFe}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ nanoparticles with a size smaller than the spin cycloid period of 62 nm preserve their polar rhombohedral structure and develop ferromagnetism, thus exhibiting coexisting polarization and nonzero magnetization that enhances the magnetoelectric coupling. When the nanoparticles become smaller than 17 nm, however, their crystal lattice expands and becomes nonpolar cubic. They also become superparamagnetic and thus simultaneously cease exhibiting both ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism. Our findings shed light on the interaction between the lattice structure and ferroic orders in nanophase perovskites and also provide a rare example of a lattice symmetry breaking phase transition that determines their critical size.
Comparison of Exercise Capacity in Patients with Mechanical Aortic Valve Replacement vs. Ross Procedure

Background: Surgical replacement of dysfunctional bicuspid aortic valve (AV) is performed utilizing a mechanical valve or the Ross procedure. In the later, AV is replaced with pulmonary valve autograft. A decrease in exercise capacity (XC) has been reported following both procedures. However, there is a paucity of data comparing the XC between the two groups. Purpose: To compare XC between patients following mechanical aortic valve replacement vs. Ross procedure. Methods: This single-center retrospective study included patients who underwent a comprehensive …
In-Situ Transmission Electron Microscope High Temperature Behavior in Nanocrystalline Platinum Thin Films

In this work, we present a micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)-based in situ transmission electron microscope (TEM) experimental setup for high-temperature uniaxial tensile behavior of nanocrystalline thin films. This setup utilizes self-heating (Ohmic) to raise the temperature of thin films while applying uniaxial tensile loading using electro-thermal actuators. Self-heating is achieved by passing a high-density direct current through the specimen. We carried out a qualitative uniaxial tensile experiment on a 75-nm platinum thin film at 360 K. Temperature is estimated using COMSOL modeling. In this qualitative experiment, we observed initial grain growth followed by formation of edge serrations. We propose that grain boundary sliding coupled with grain growth is the underlying mechanism responsible for the observed behavior.
Woody Biomass Energy: An Opportunity for Silviculture on Nonindustrial Private Forestlands in New York

try is also reviewed and the importance of their management decisions for balancing these two material uses is assessed. NIPF Ownership and Management Defined as forestland that is privately owned by individuals or corporations other than forest industry (Society of American Foresters [SAF] 2001), NIPF is important from a spatial and timber management perspective. Nationally, NIPF supplied almost 60% of the estimated 16 billion ft harvested in 1997, constituting a 25% increase from 1991. This accounted for about 51% of the total softwood and 73% of total hardwood harvested in the United States (US Forest Service 2001). In the eastern half of the country, NIPF provides an estimated 80– 90% of the forest products industry’s roundwood (Newman and Wear 1993). The role of NIPF in New York is even more dramatic. New York forests extend across 18.6 million ac or 62% of the state. Of that total, 15.4 million ac (83%) are classified as timberland by the US Forest Service. The majority (14.2 million ac) is privately held in either industrial or nonindustrial ownerships. An estimated half million NIPF owners control 85% of the state’s private timberland, or about 13 million ac (NEFA 2001). They supply 90% of the roundwood used by the state’s two pulp and paper operations and its 450 sawmills (Canham and King 1998). The part that New York’s NIPFs play in providing wood underscores the importance of exploring how these forests can supply large-scale woody bioenergy markets while also satisfying continued demands for
Communication Generation for Cyclic(K) Distributions

Communication resulting from references to arrays with general cyclic(k) distributions in data-parallel programs is not amenable to existing analyses developed for block and cyclic distributions. The methods for communication generation presented in this paper are based on exploiting the repetitive nature of array accesses. We represent array access patterns as periodic sequences and use these sequences for efficient communication analysis and code generation. Our approach allows us to incorporate message coalescing optimization and to use overlap areas for shift communication. Experimental results from our prototype implementation demonstrate the validity of the proposed techniques.
Regulation of Hepatic Glycogen Synthetase of Rana catesbeiana: STUDIES OF ADENOSINE TRIPHOSPHATE INHIBITION WITH REFERENCE TO INSULIN ACTIVATION OF GLYCOGEN SYNTHETASE

Abstract Treatment of Rana catesbeiana tadpoles with insulin results in activation of glycogen synthetase. Glycogen synthetase from insulin-treated animals has a lower Km for uridine diphosphoglucose and the nature of ATP inhibition is changed from cooperative to strictly competitive with substrate and with the activator, glucose 6-phosphate. A change in the mechanism of ATP inhibition from cooperative to strictly competitive with substrate and activator is also obtained by photo-oxidation of the untreated enzyme. Other properties of the insulin-activated and photo-oxidized enzymes are also similar: (a) cooperativity for glucose-6-P and UDP-glucose in the presence of ATP is no longer observed; (b) inhibition by ATP is more completely reversed by glucose-6-P in these enzymes compared with untreated glycogen synthetase. It is proposed that in the untreated enzyme ATP interacts with an allosteric regulatory site in addition to the UDP-glucose and glucose-6-P sites. Treatment with insulin in vivo or photo-oxidation in vitro abolishes the functional allosteric regulatory site for ATP without affecting the other ATP sites. It is not yet clear whether the insulin-mediated enzyme modification that results in a reduced Km for UDP-glucose is separate from that which inactivates the allosteric regulatory site for ATP.
Body Mass Bias in Exercise Physiology

Body mass bias in the field of exercise physiology has been the subject of increased focus over the past twenty years. This is based primarily on the fact that key widely held assumptions about the relationships between body mass and human performance have been challenged by theory and empirical data. The result for how we express certain variables of physical fitness has been generally two-fold: a systematic and meaningful body mass bias against larger, not fatter, individuals and spurious attribution of the effect of body mass on key dependent variables. Physical educators, the military services, law enforcement agencies, and conditioning coaches have readily used fitness tests comprised of events that involve body mass as the primary resistance. Common tests include pushups, situps, and timed distance runs. Virtually none of these tests takes into account one’s body mass in scoring because a common assumption has been that larger people have more muscle to move the heavier mass. In short, these factors are assumed to “wash out” any body mass bias. Empirical research has shown, however, that these types of tests impose a substantial and predictable bias against larger, not just fatter, body mass (Crowder & Yunker, 1996; Harman & Frykman, 1992; Jaric et al., 2005; Markovic & Jaric, 2004; Vanderburgh et al., 1995). Similarly, because maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max, in L/min) and maximal strength increase with body mass, a common convention to compare individuals is to divide VO2max or strength measures by body mass. Expressing these human performance indices as simple ratios this way has been scrutinized given that the numerator does not change at the same rate as the denominator (Astrand & Rodahl, 1986; Heil, 1997). Again, the result is not only a body mass bias against larger individuals but, in the case of inferential research, improper accounting for the effects of body mass on outcome variables. In certain physically demanding occupations, especially the military, body mass bias has substantive implications. Work physiologists have determined that despite body mass bias in the common military physical fitness tests, the larger service members were often better performers of the physically demanding occupational tasks (Bilzon et al., 2002; Lyons et al., 2005; Rayson et al., 2000). That is, they could carry more, more easily evacuate casualties, and better engage in heavy materiel handling. Yet, the smaller personnel were achieving better scores on the physical fitness tests, the results of which have significant promotion and advancement implications (Vanderburgh & Mahar , 1995; Crowder & Yunker, 1996). This chapter chronicles the fundamentals and applications of body mass bias in fitness and exercise physiology, to include the theory and empirical data used to evaluate it. It also
Analyses of asymmetric stiffened shell type structures by the finite element method: 1. Flat rectangular elements☆

Abstract This paper, the first part of the subject analysis, deals with analyses based on flat rectangular elements. These elements, which are used to approximate the actual structure, can be composed of multiple stiffened orthotropic layers. The effects of structural stiffeners, elastic foundations, and surface and thermal loadings, as well as the dynamic mass matrix, are derived, for assumed continuous deformation modes within the panel, from the principle of virtual work. The application of the described solution method to the analysis of the cylindrical steel containment vessel for the LOFT reactor facility is illustrated. This structure has a large rectangular opening reinforced by box girders.
Some Remarks on Separately Convex Functions

I want to discuss here some results concerning separately convex functions. Most of these results were obtained some time ago but only mentioned to a few specialists, and I had not taken the time to publish them before, for obvious reasons. The motivation of these studies was nonlinear elasticity, but once I had solved an academic example where quasiconvexity had been replaced by separate convexity, it was not clear to me how to get further on. I find useful to choose this subject now in order to describe the evolution of some ideas during the last fifteen years.
Endothelial inflammatory transcriptional responses to an altered plasma exposome following inhalation of diesel emissions.

AbstractBackground: Air pollution, especially emissions derived from traffic sources, is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes. However, it remains unclear how inhaled factors drive extrapulmonary pathology.Objectives: Previously, we found that canonical inflammatory response transcripts were elevated in cultured endothelial cells treated with plasma obtained after exposure compared with pre-exposure samples or filtered air (sham) exposures. While the findings confirmed the presence of bioactive factor(s) in the plasma after diesel inhalation, we wanted to better examine the complete genomic response to investigate (1) major responsive transcripts and (2) collected response pathways and ontogeny that may help to refine this method and inform the pathogenesis.Methods: We assayed endothelial RNA with gene expression microarrays, examining the responses of cultured endothelial cells to plasma obtained from six healthy human subjects exposed to 100 μg/m3 diesel exhaust or filtered air for 2 h on sep...
Long-Time Performance of a Stainless Steel Crossflow Filter with Simulated Hanford Tank Waste

Abstract The long-time (>100 h of operation) flux was measured for a set of five tests where nuclear waste slurry simulant was separated and continuously recycled using a stainless steel crossflow filter. The tests were conducted at various constant axial velocities and transmembrane pressures. In all five tests, the filter flux continued to decay at long times and did not reach a steady-state value. The long-time slope of the flux decay was unaffected by the axial velocity, but a larger transmembrane pressure resulted in a larger slope. Post-test examination of the filter did not show evidence of significant depth fouling. The experimental results are compared to theoretical predictions of the time to initiate cake formation and the time to reach steady-state predicted by models from the literature, both of which do not imply long-time phenomena would be expected. A more reasonable match between theory and experiment was achieved using a model based on the principles of dead-end filtration.
Object-Based Verification of Precipitation Forecasts. Part II: Application to Convective Rain Systems

The authors develop and apply an algorithm to define coherent areas of precipitation, emphasizing mesoscale convection, and compare properties of these areas with observations obtained from NCEP stage-IV precipitation analyses (gauge and radar combined). In Part II, fully explicit 12–36-h forecasts of rainfall from the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) are evaluated. These forecasts are integrated on a 4-km mesh without a cumulus parameterization. Rain areas are defined similarly to Part I, but emphasize more intense, smaller areas. Furthermore, a time-matching algorithm is devised to group spatially and temporally coherent areas into rain systems that approximate mesoscale convective systems. In general, the WRF model produces too many rain areas with length scales of 80 km or greater. Rain systems typically last too long, and are forecast to occur 1–2 h later than observed. The intensity distribution among rain systems in the 4-km forecasts is generally too broad, especially in the late afternoon, in sharp contrast to the intensity distribution obtained on a coarser grid with parameterized convection in Part I. The model exhibits the largest positive size and intensity bias associated with systems over the Midwest and Mississippi Valley regions, but little size bias over the High Plains, Ohio Valley, and the southeast United States. For rain systems lastin g6ho rmore, the critical success index for matching forecast and observed rain systems agrees closely with that obtained in a related study using manually determined rain systems.
Reply to the letter to the editor: anconeus interposition arthroplasty: mid- to long-term results.

We would like to thank Dr. van den Bekerom and colleagues for their letter regarding our recently published paper [1]. Their comments were insightful and will benefit many readers. We agree with van den Bekerom and colleagues’ comments that comparing the clinical results of anconeus interopsition arthroplasty to the results of other surgical treatments (radiocapitellar prosthetic arthroplasty or simple radial head resection) will provide stronger evidence than we reported in our current study [1]. However, we state that the anconeus arthroplasty can serve as an option for situations in which these other interventions are not feasible for any of several reasons. Each patient included in our series had been independently evaluated for best available option to address their radiocapitellar arthritis and/or proximal radioulnar impingement. Given that these patients had been treated with anconeus arthroplasty during a wide study period (between 1992 and 2012) other alternatives to anconeus arthroplasty might not have been available at the time of patient presentation. Additionally, these patients mostly were young and largely underwent the interposition to address a multifactorial elbow symptoms rather than an isolated problem in the context of multiple previous interventions; 14 patients (48%) in this group had at least two prior operations on the affected elbow. Furthermore, since these patients generally were rather young, we try to avoid prosthetic replacement because of concerns with the unresurfaced capitellar side of the joint at the long term, as well as mechanical failure of a radial head implant secondary to loosening [3]. Also the current long-term reports are insufficient to support the radiocapitellar prosthetic arthroplasty [2]. Finally, as noted in our study limitations, the latest radiographs were not available for all patients and the radiographic followup duration was obviously shorter in comparison to the followup of patient outcome scores. Thus, it would be difficult to correlate any radiographic parameters, including proximal migration of the radius, with outcomes scores, since the information or each of these two measures was collected at different time point.
Estradiol Down‐Regulates LPS‐Induced Cytokine Production and NFkB Activation in Murine Macrophages

Problem In vivo and in vitro studies have indicated that estradiol can affect cytokine production in different cell types. This study examines whether estradiol affects inflammatory cytokine production by murine splenic macrophages. Methods Mouse splenic macrophages were first treated with 17 beta-estradiol, followed by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation. The production of cytokines by macrophages with or without estradiol treatment was determined at both the protein and mRNA levels. The nuclear factor-kB (NFkB) activity of activated mouse splenic macrophages was also evaluated by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Result Our results show that 17 beta-estradiol decreases LPS-induced IL-1 alpha, IL-6, and TNF-alpha production but not IL-10, IL-12, and macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP) production by splenic macrophages. Furthermore, inhibition of cytokine production by 17 beta-estradiol was associated with a decreased LPS-induced NFkB-binding activity. Conclusion Because cytokines are important mediators of immune function, the alteration of cytokine production by 17 beta-estradiol may thus have a profound effect on the outcome of immune response during inflammation.
Acute Maternal Respiratory Alkalosis (Hyperventilation) in the Pregnant Rhesus Monkey

Extract: Maternal respiratory alkalosis from hyperventilation before delivery has been associated with depression and acidosis of some newborn infants. In these in utero studies of 6 primate fetuses, acute maternal hyperventilation significantly increased both the maternal and the fetal pH and thus increased the oxygen affinities of maternal and fetal hemoglobins. In comparison with the control period, during hyperventilation 71 % more CO2 was removed from the uterus and its contents. The average O2 consumption by the uterus and placenta, 3.4 ml/min, and the fetus, 2.1 ml/min was unchanged during hyperventilation. Mean pO2 in the umbilical vein during hyperventilation fell to 24.8 mm Hg and saturation to 65%, and umbilical blood flow increased from 40 to 45 ml/min. Average uterine blood flow decreased slightly during hyperventilation. During these same comparison periods, neither maternal and fetal heart rate nor arterial venous pressures changed significantly. Thus, although pO2 and saturation in the umbilical and uterine venous blood decreased, the amount of oxygen delivered to each fetus remained relatively constant due in part to an increase in umbilical blood flow and to shifts in the oxygen dissociation curves of fetal and adult hemoglobins. Speculation: A number of interrelated physiologic adjustments may take place on both sides of the placenta in response to maternal respiratory alkalosis in the primate without necessarily resulting in untoward effects on the fetus. However, any of a variety of additional clinical complications, particularly those that interfere with umbilical or uterine blood flow, might exceed the limits of intrauterine adjustment and compromise fetal oxygenation.
Color Image Scanning Using Acousto-Optic Interaction With Surface Waves

The scanning of a one dimensional multi-color light intensity distribution by means of the acousto-optic interaction using acoustic surface waves is presented. In the experiment laser sources of different color are used to image a multi-color transparency into the surface region of a LiNbO, surface acoustic wave light modulator. An rf acoustic pulse propagating on the LiNbO surface scans this ithage and diffracts the light. Each color component is then individually detected in the3diffracted light by means of a photodiode. Four different device schemes are compared, being classified by the configuration through which the light and acoustic beams interact. Applications of the system to producing a real-time signal of the Fourier transform of an optical transparency and to electronic focusing by use of chirped acoustic waves are also discussed. Argon and HeNe lasers are used as light sources, and center frequency of the surface acoustic wave varies from 45 to 100 MHz.© (1977) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Aggregate impacts of the proposed reduction in the motor fuels excise tax in the United States

This paper assesses the effects of the proposed reduction in the excise tax on gasoline and diesel fuel on the US economy. The analytical approach used in the analysis consists of a computable general equilibrium model composed of 14 producing sectors, 14 consuming sectors, six household categories classified by income and a government. The effects of a 4.3 cents/gallon reduction in the excise tax on gasoline and diesel fuel on prices and quantities are examined. The results suggest, for example, a decrease in the tax would result in higher output by the producing sectors (by approximately $2.86 billion), an expansion in the consumption of goods and services (by approximately $3.48 billion) and an increase in welfare (by approximately $3.59 billion). The government would realize a decrease in revenue of approximately $2.37 billion. When subjected to a sensitivity analysis, the results are reasonably robust with regard to the assumption of the values of the substitution elasticities.
Comparative evaluation of epidemiology and outcomes of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) USA300 infections causing community- and healthcare-associated infections.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) USA300 clone is commonly found in the community and is being increasingly reported in the healthcare setting. A retrospective analysis was conducted to compare the epidemiology and outcomes between community-associated (CA) and healthcare-associated (HA) USA300 MRSA infections. The study enrolled 160 subjects with USA300 MRSA infections (47.5% CA-MRSA and 52.5% HA-MRSA). Failure in the HA group was higher (38.1%) compared with the CA group (23.7%) (P = 0.05). Predictors of failure included male gender, age, presence of any co-morbidity, coronary artery disease, chronic kidney disease, history of MRSA, previous admission, fluoroquinolone exposure, HA infection and osteomyelitis (P ≤ 0.05). Independent predictors of failure were osteomyelitis, history of MRSA, male gender and pneumonia. Recurrent disease was found in 32.6% of cases. Overall, USA300 MRSA most commonly causes infection of the skin and skin structure, however, 20% of subjects can experience more invasive disease with infection of the bloodstream, lung or bone. Failure rates are higher in subjects with healthcare risk factors or if the infection was acquired in the hospital, with these subjects experiencing more invasive infections such as bacteraemia, pneumonia or osteomyelitis.
9-(1-Acetoxyethylidene)fluorene ("diacetylfluorene"), a by-product from the acetylation of 9-fluorenyllithium.

Treatment of 9-fluorenyl­lithium with acetyl chloride produces 9-acetyl­fluorene, (I), and several by-products, among which is `di­acetyl­fluorene', now characterized definitively as 9-(1-acetoxy­ethyl­idene)­fluorene [IUPAC name: (1-fluoren-9-yl­idene­)ethyl acetate], (II), C17H14O2, derived from acetyl­ation of initially formed (I). Various parameters disclose substantial structural distortion within (II) emanating from A(1,3) strain associated with the 9-(acetoxy­ethyl­idenyl)­fluorene system.
Deformation twinning in metals and ordered intermetallics-Ti and Ti-aluminides

The role of deformation twinning in the strength and ductility of metals and ordered interrnetallic alloys is examined on the basis of crystallography, energetics and kinetics of deformation twinning. A systematic analysis is made by taking Ti, T13Al, TiAl, and A13Ti as four model systems. In comparison with profuse twinning in Ti, the intrinsic difficulty of twinning in T13Al is rationalized in terms of the interchange shuffling mechanism. A fault (SISF) dragging mechanism based on the interaction torque explains the physical source for the low mobility of screw superdislocations in TiAI, which may lead to (1Ii) [1Ii] twin nucleation. In TiAI and A13Ti alloys, the twin-slip (ordinary) conjugate relationship makes an important contribution to the strain compatibility for high,temperature plasticity. Potentially beneficial alloying additions to promote twinning are discussed. (I) Research sponsored by the Division of Materials Sciences, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U-SDepartment of Energy, under contract DE-ACo5-840R21400 with Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. (2) Permanent address.Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931, U-S-Aloss JOURNAL DE PHYSIQUE III M 6
Does a mid-lumbar block level provide adequate anaesthesia for transurethral prostatectomy?

In this prospective, randomized study, 23 patients having spinal anaesthesia for transurethral prostatectomy (TURP) were evaluated for the adequacy of their block using a visual analog pain score (V4 PS). Each patient with a “standard”(≥T10) block level (n = 5) or “intermediate” (L1 or T12) block level (n = 5) found the block adequate. Sixty-two percent (8/13) of patients with a “low”-L3) block level found their block adequate. The VAPS was assessed every five minutes or whenever pain abruptly increased during TURP; an “inadequate block” was defined as a V4 PS ≥ 5 /10 during prostatic resection. Intravesical pressure was monitored and kept <15 mmHg to distinguish between pain from bladder distension and from prostatic resection. “Low” block patients (LBP) who found their block inadequate (n = 5) received supplemental intrathecal local anaesthetic given through a spinal catheter. The subsequent L1 block level was adequate for TURP. In LBP, who found their block adequate (n = 8), a higher (P < 0.01) VAPS was observed than in patients with a “standard” block level. However, a smaller (P < 0.05) maximum percent decrease in diastolic blood pressure was found in LBPs, than in “intermediate” or “standard” block patients. It is concluded that a spinal block ≥L1) is adequate during TURP when bladder pressure is monitored and kept low. Mid-lumbar block levels should be reserved for patients in whom the benefit of minimizing haemodynamic changes outweighs the risk of a “less complete” anaesthetic.
Novel fault localization approach for ATPG / scan-fault failures in complex sub-nano FPGA/ASIC debugging

Fault isolation in automated test pattern generation (ATPG) / scan-fault has been increasingly challenging in today's advanced integrated circuit (IC) as diagnosis results usually point to extensive faulty nets which can be physically widespread on the die. This work highlights a novel approach in understanding electrical fault data with promising physical failure analysis (PFA) results in FPGA/ASIC debugging.