cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Long-term culture and characterization of goat primordial germ cells

While the culture and identification of primordial germ cells (PGCs) in mice is established, only limited investigations on PGCs in livestock have been reported. This study was performed to characterize goat PGCs after culture and cryopreservation. Goat PGCs were isolated from Day 32 fetuses and cultured on a continuous cell line of murine embryonal fibroblasts (STO) as feeder-cells in the presence of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). The PGCs proliferated slowly and showed colony formation in early passages. Frozen-thawed PGCs continued to proliferate when stem cell factor (SCF) was added to the culture medium. However, differentiation into epithelial-like polygonal cells or neuronal cells was observed after 1 or 2 passages. The PGCs of 1 female and 1 male cell line were characterized by immunocytochemistry. The PGCs showed positive staining for anti stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 (SSEA-1) and FMA-1 (monoclonal antibody produced against a glycoprotein cell surface antigen of the embryonal carcinoma Nulli SCC1), whereas the reactivity to alkaline phosphatase (AP), an established marker for PGCs in mice, was inconsistent. After differentiation, PGCs lost their positive reaction to SSEA-1, EMA-1 and AP. In conclusion, SSEA-1 and EMA-1 can be used as reliable markers for identifying goat PGCs in addition to morphological criteria. The results indicate that goat PGCs can be kept in long-term culture without losing their morphological characteristics and their positive reaction to SSEA-1 and EMA-1, thus providing a promising source of donor-karyoplasts for nuclear transfer procedures.
ESTROGEN ACTIVITY IN THE EVISCERATED RAT1

THE EXTENSIVE work of Zondek (1934) and numerous other investigators offers strong evidence that the liver is largely responsible for the detoxification and removal from the blood of the natural estrogens. The spleen has also been implicated, and it is possible that other viscera may function similarly. However, it has been demonstrated by Heller (1940) and by Szego and Samuels (1943b) that other organs, especially uterus, may effect chemical conversions which increase the activity of the estrogens. Thus, these investigators were able to show that estrone can be converted to estradiol in vitro by fresh rat and rabbit uterus. Specific quantitative colorimetric methods were employed by Szego and Samuels (1943a) in the estimation of estrone and estradiol in the incubated solution. It is well known that extradiol is much more active than estrone in stimulating an increase in uterine weight and, particularly, in uterine water content after parenteral administration.
Biliary stent placement is associated with post-ERCP pancreatitis

Background A variety of factors have been linked to post-ERCP pancreatitis. However, the role of biliary stenting has not been well studied. Objective To evaluate the relationship between biliary stenting and post-ERCP pancreatitis. Design Prospective study of all patients undergoing ERCP with biliary stenting over a 7.5-year period. All patients had follow-up at 24 to 48 hours after the procedure and at 1 month. Setting A single-center tertiary referral academic medical center. Patients Consecutive patients undergoing ERCP over a 7.5-year period. Interventions Endoscopic therapy based on the indication for and findings of ERCP. Main Outcome Measurements The rate of post-ERCP pancreatitis. Results A total of 3499 patients underwent ERCP with bile duct stent placement of a native papilla performed in 660: 544 (83%) 10F and 116 (17%) 7F. The most common indication for stent placement was pancreaticobiliary malignancy in 250 patients (37%). The overall rate of pancreatitis for the entire cohort was 3.17%. Multivariate analysis identified 6 factors that were associated with pancreatitis: previous ERCP pancreatitis (odds ratio [OR], 2.44; 95% CI, 1.31-4.55), age (OR, 2.30; 95% CI, 1.44-3.67), history of acute pancreatitis (OR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.12-2.88), pancreatic sphincterotomy (OR, 2.30, 95% CI, 1.43-3.70), suspected sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (OR, 3.91; 95% CI, 2.36-6.46), and bile duct stenting (OR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.03-2.88). The rates of pancreatitis were not significantly different based on performing sphincterotomy before stent placement, stent type, stent length, stent size, or indication. Limitations Single-center study. Conclusions Bile duct stent placement is an independent predictor for pancreatitis, and pancreatitis is not related to performing sphincterotomy before stenting or to stent characteristics.
The upper gastrointestinal safety of rofecoxib vs. NSAIDs: an updated combined analysis.

SUMMARYBackground: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are nonspecific cyclo-oxygenase (COX-1/COX-2) inhibitors and are associated with gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity attributable to COX-1 inhibition. Rofecoxib, a COX-2 specific inhibitor, was developed to provide similar efficacy and less GI toxicity than NSAIDs.Objective: To update the results of a previously performed analysis of the incidence of upper GI perforations, symptomatic gastroduodenal ulcers, and upper GI bleeding (PUBs) with rofecoxib compared with non-selective NSAIDs.Research design and methods: We compared the incidence of PUBs in a combined analysis of 20 randomized, double-blind, clinical trials of rofecoxib versus NSAIDs. Men and women (N = 17 072) from multinational trial sites with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis were studied. There was no upper age limit in any of the trials. Investigator-reported PUBs were reviewed by a blinded, external adjudication committee using pre-specified criteria. The incidence of confirm...
Place lab: device positioning using radio beacons in the wild

Location awareness is an important capability for mobile computing. Yet inexpensive, pervasive positioning—a requirement for wide-scale adoption of location-aware computing—has been elusive. We demonstrate a radio beacon-based approach to location, called Place Lab, that can overcome the lack of ubiquity and high-cost found in existing location sensing approaches. Using Place Lab, commodity laptops, PDAs and cell phones estimate their position by listening for the cell IDs of fixed radio beacons, such as wireless access points, and referencing the beacons' positions in a cached database. We present experimental results showing that 802.11 and GSM beacons are sufficiently pervasive in the greater Seattle area to achieve 20-30 meter median accuracy with nearly 100% coverage measured by availability in people's daily lives.
On-Chip RMS Detector using CMOS Quad for RF Testing

An RMS detector using CMOS Quad for the on- chip RF testing is introduced. When a differential voltage is applied across a CMOS quad, it generates both even and odd output currents. Even component of the generated current is isolated and converted back to voltage using inverse function. Higher frequency components of the output voltage is filtered out. The DC or low frequency output of the detector is proportional to the RMS value of the input signal. The detector offers a high input impedance and small area overhead, and thus can be used for on-chip built-in testing of critical blocks of the transceivers or other RF blocks. The design is carried out in 0.18µm TSMC process.
Collapsing and Explosion Waves in Phase Transitions with Metastability, Existence, Stability and Related Riemann Problems

Collapsing waves were observed numerically before and were used to explain the ring formations in dynamic flows involving phase transitions with metastability. In this paper, necessary and sufficient conditions for collapsing type of waves to exist are given. The conditions are that the wave speed of the collapsing wave is not less than a number and is supersonic on both sides of the wave. Existence and non-existence conditions for the explosion waves are also found. The stability of these waves are studied numerically. Although there are infinitely many collapsing (or explosion) waves for a fixed downstream state, the collapsing (or explosion) wave appeared in the solution of Riemann problem is numerically verified to be the one with the slowest speed. Although a Riemann problem in the zero viscosity limit may have two solutions, one with, the other without, a collapsing (or explosion) wave, from the vanishing viscosity point of view, the one with a collapsing (or explosion) wave is numerically verified to be admissible.
Integrated direct/indirect adaptive robust motion control of single-rod hydraulic actuators with time-varying unknown inertia

This paper studies the precision motion control of single-rod hydraulic actuators with accurate parameter estimations. An integrated direct/indirect adaptive robust controller (DIARC) is proposed to take into account the inherent nonlinearity, parametric uncertainties and uncertain nonlinearities associated with the hydraulic systems. Compared with existing direct ARC controller designs, the proposed DIARC controller not only achieves a better output tracking performance, but also provides better parameter estimations, which can be used for other purposes such as the higher level trajectory planning and the system and component health monitoring. These stronger theoretical results are made possible through the use of the new design philosophy of separating parameter estimation dynamics from the tracking error dynamics. Theoretically, in the absence of valve dynamics, the proposed DIARC controller achieves a guaranteed transient performance and final tracking accuracy in the presence of both parametric uncertainties and uncertain nonlinearities, while achieving asymptotic tracking in the presence of parametric uncertainties only. Practically, experimental results on the precision motion control of a single-rod hydraulic cylinder with time-varying unknown inertia verify the excellent output tracking accuracy and good parameter estimation of the proposed integrated ARC design.
Current-mode variable-frequency control architecture for high-current low-voltage DC–DC converters [Letters]

For controlling high-current low-voltage dc–dc converters, the control methods with variable switching frequency have the potential to achieve fast transient response and high efficiency. However, some issues in practical design limit the usefulness of the conventional variable-frequency control methods, such as the voltage-mode hysteretic control. This letter presents a novel implementation of current-mode variable-frequency control. The system architecture features a dual-loop feedback and a unique structure with symmetric signal paths for voltage and current signals. The symmetric structure provides practical advantages for integrated controller design to achieve accurate control on the droop resistance (or the load-line resistance). The system dynamics are analyzed with the small-signal model. Design guidelines are derived for simple compensation circuits to achieve constant output impedance. With variable switching frequency, the system achieves good dynamic response without requiring high switching frequency at steady-state. The system performance was verified by a two-channel interleaved controller chip implemented with CMOS technology.
Endothelial Cell Culture From Human Cerebral Cavernous Malformations

Background and Purpose —The cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) is a common and frequently unrecognized cause of stroke and epilepsy. It consists of blood-filled caverns lined by endothelial cells (EC) and devoid of mature vessel wall structure. Cultured EC obtained from CCM may express phenotypic and genotypic alterations contributing to CCM pathogenesis. We report the first successful isolation and growth in vitro of primary EC lines from human CCM lesions. Methods —We developed a procedure for the isolation and growth of EC from human CCM, confirmed their EC origin by a panel of molecular markers, and determined by immunocytochemistry the basic expression patterns of 6 transmembrane receptor protein kinases comparing brain, skin, and CCM primary EC lines grown identically. Results —Several CCM EC lines were established from 2 patients after we treated the excised specimens with 0.3% trypsin/1% EDTA, selective cloning, and growth in MCDB107 containing 0.3 g/L heparin, 0.15 g/L endothelial cell growth supplement, and 15% FBS. The CCM EC showed contact inhibition and a rounded cobblestone appearance. The cells expressed CD31, CD105, von Willebrand factor, and binding sites for Ulex europaeus agglutinin, type 1 and acetylated LDL. They showed low levels of Flt-1, Flk-1, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β RI, and TGF-β RII expression but stained strongly with antibodies against Tie-1 and Tie-2. Conclusions —Cultured CCM EC retained their endothelial phenotype. Brain, skin, and CCM EC lines did not significantly differ in their staining patterns with antibodies against Flt-1, Flk-1, TGF-β RI, TGF-β RII, Tie-1, and Tie-2. These cell lines will assist in defining molecular phenotype and genotype alterations in association with CCM.
Accelerating boolean satisfiability through application specific processing

This paper presents our work in developing an application specific multiprocessor system for SAT, utilizing the most recent results such as the development of highly efficient sequential SAT algorithms, the emergence of commercial configurable processor cores and the rapid progress in IC manufacturing techniques. Based on an analysis of the basic SAT search algorithm, we propose a new parallel SAT algorithm that utilizes fine grain parallelism. This is then used to design a multiprocessor architecture in which each processing node consists of a processor and a communication assist node that deals with message processing. Each processor is an application specific processor built from a commercial configurable processor core. All the system configurations are determined based on the characteristics of SAT algorithms, and are supported by simulation results. While this hardware accelerator system does not change the inherent intractability of the SAT problems, it achieves a 30-60x speedup over and above the fastest known SAT solver - Chaff. We believe that this system can be used to expand the practical applicability of SAT in all its application areas.
ARTIST: High-Resolution Genome-Wide Assessment of Fitness Using Transposon-Insertion Sequencing

Transposon-insertion sequencing (TIS) is a powerful approach for deciphering genetic requirements for bacterial growth in different conditions, as it enables simultaneous genome-wide analysis of the fitness of thousands of mutants. However, current methods for comparative analysis of TIS data do not adjust for stochastic experimental variation between datasets and are limited to interrogation of annotated genomic elements. Here, we present ARTIST, an accessible TIS analysis pipeline for identifying essential regions that are required for growth under optimal conditions as well as conditionally essential loci that participate in survival only under specific conditions. ARTIST uses simulation-based normalization to model and compensate for experimental noise, and thereby enhances the statistical power in conditional TIS analyses. ARTIST also employs a novel adaptation of the hidden Markov model to generate statistically robust, high-resolution, annotation-independent maps of fitness-linked loci across the entire genome. Using ARTIST, we sensitively and comprehensively define Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Vibrio cholerae loci required for host infection while limiting inclusion of false positive loci. ARTIST is applicable to a broad range of organisms and will facilitate TIS-based dissection of pathways required for microbial growth and survival under a multitude of conditions.
Lutetium: High pressure polymorph and compression

Abstract The effect of pressure on the lattice parameters of the h.c.p. phase of Lu has been studied up to 230 kbar at 23 ± 3°C by means of X-ray diffraction employing a diamond-anvil cell. The data fitted to the Birch equation yield an isothermal bulk modulus of 460 ± 20 kbar with a pressure derivative of 2.8 ± 0.5. The axial ratio ( c a ) decreases nonlinearly with increasing pressure, the decrease being 2.4 per cent at 230 kbar. When the pressure exceeds 230 kbar, Lu transforms reversibly from the h.c.p. phase to the Sm-type structure. The transition occurs with increasing pressure in the range of 230 ± 5 kbar. The lattice parameters of the Sm-type structure at about 231 kbar are a = 3.176 ± 0.006 A and c = 21.77 ± 0.04 A, and the volume change is −0.21 cm 3 mole or −1.6 per cent of the volume of the h.c.p. phase.
The Resistance and Carrier Status of Meat-type Hens Exposed to Mycoplasma Synoviae

Forty-eight 32-week-old meat-type females, free from Mycoplasma synoviae (Ms.) and Mycoplasma gallisepticum (Mg.) were aerosol exposed with a 24-hour broth culture of Ms. 1331 and placed in 3 pens. 16 birds per pen. Two males were placed in each of the 3 pens and used as contact birds. All birds were bled at 2, 4, 7, 10, 14, 24, 26, and 30 weeks post Ms. exposure. After the 24-week bleeding, the females were equally divided into 4 pens. All females in 2 of the pens were given a foot pad injection of 0.3 ml. of Ms. 1331 broth culture. Ms. isolation attempts were made from the trachea of all birds at 2, 14, and 24 weeks post Ms. exposure. Ms. isolation attempts were made from all eggs produced, either from the allantoic fluid and egg yolk of 17- or 18-day-old embryos, dead embryos, and infertile eggs, or from the tracheas of day-old progenies. Each day-old progeny was bled. Ms. and Mg. serum plate tests were conducted on the serums from the progeny and adult birds from each bleeding. Ms. hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) tests were conducted on the serums of the adult birds. In the Ms.-exposed birds, the geometric mean HI titer of the serums from each bleeding rose significantly over the previous bleeding. The percentages of Ms. serum plate reactions increased with length of time after Ms. exposure. There were false Mg. serum plate reactions in the early stages of Ms. infection. A foot pad challenge with a broth culture of Ms. 1331 24 weeks after Ms. exposure did not significantly increase the geometric mean HI titer over the Ms. exposed birds that did not have a Ms. foot pad challenge. Ms. was isolated from the trachea of 91.6%, 100%, and 100% of the Ms.-exposed birds at 2, 14, and 24 weeks after Ms. exposure, respectively. There were 35 Ms. isolates from 575 attempts from 17- or 18-day embryos, dead embryos, or infertile eggs, and 7 Ms. isolates from 67 attempts from the trachea of day-old progenies. All isolates were made from eggs collected from 6 through 31 days afer Ms. exposure. No isolations were made from 1760 attempts made from eggs collected from 32 through 210 days after Ms. exposure, including eggs collected from Ms. foot pad-challenged birds at 168 days after Ms. exposure. There were 312 broilers reared from eggs collected from the 22 through 24 weeks after Ms. exposure. The broilers were marketed at a federally inspected poultry processing plant. Their records showed 3 birds condemned for septicemia-toxemia, but none were condemned for air-sacculitis or synovitis. Twenty-four serums from the broilers that were positive to Ms. or Mg. serum plate tests were all negative to the Ms. and Mg. HI tests. Ms. serum plate reactors began to show up in the day-old progeny from eggs collected beginning on the 76th day after Ms. exposure. There were 16.0% (80/500) positive to the Ms. serum plate test from eggs collected from the 76 through 126 days after Ms. exposure and 14.0% (52/372) from eggs collected from the 169 through 210 days after Ms. exposure.
Review: Coalinga Chrysotile: Dissolution, Concentration, Regulation and General Relevance:

Coalinga chrysotile's lack of biological activity in animals and humans is due to its amphibole-free nature, short fiber length, and enhanced width, all of which contribute to a greatly reduced bio-persistence. Compared to most other chrysotile types, it has greater solubility and enhanced dissolution, especially the very small percentage of long, thin respirable fibers that reach the alveolar portions of the lung. In consequence, the mineral poses no health threat. The ultra-structural features underlying the susceptibility to dissolution include spiral structures, permanent ledges, an absence of inter- and intra-fibrillar matrix, extremely narrow fibrillar width giving very high surface areas and surface reactivity potentials, and a relatively high number of fibrillar `ends'. Any fibers released from products made from Coalinga type material; including friction products, ceiling tiles, acoustic tiles, shingles, piping and other cement products as well as fireproofing materials, through manipulation will...
Net Transfer of Sediment from Floodplain to Channel on Three Southern U.S. Rivers

Eroding streambanks play an important role in the transfer of fine sediment between temporary storage in a floodplain and active transport by a river. Quantifying this transfer rate is important both for developing sediment budgets for fine sediment and for describing of the fate of contaminants that are bound to sediment particles. Many studies have measured gross bank retreat rates without also measuring the volume of material deposited in point bars on the opposite accreting bank. However, the net transfer of material from a floodplain to a river channel cannot be computed without accounting for deposition in point bars. Since the local geometry and channel migration rate determine the net transfer at any given location, and since both of these vary in the streamwise direction, computing net transfer rates is more difficult than computing gross bank erosion rates. This study presents net transfer rates for portions of three U.S. rivers: a 91 km reach of the Pearl River in Louisiana, a 62 km reach of the Bogue Chitto River in Louisiana, and a 35 km reach of the Neuse River in North Carolina. Channel migration rates taken from sequences of historic aerial photographs, together with detailed topography obtained using LIDAR, allow both the local erosion rate from cut banks and the local deposition rate on point bars to be estimated approximately every half channel width down the channel. These rates are used to develop system-wide net transfer rates. The datasets can be used to optimize surveying strategies for measuring net transfer rates on streams where high-resolution digital elevation data does not exist.
Osteofibrous dysplasia--report of four cases with review of literature

Osteofibrous Dysplasia (Ossifying fibroma of long bone) usually affects the tibia and/or the fibula of the child in the first decade of life. There were only 64 cases reported in the world English literature. We report 4 additional cases; 2 located in the tibia, 1 in the radius and 1 in the ulna respectively. The location of this lesion in the radius and the ulna is unusual and has not been reported previously. In addition to the intracortical location of long bone on roentgenogram, histological examinations show typical woven bones rimmed by active osteoblasts. One case had two recurrences following curettage before 10 years of age. The other three patients who were treated after the age of 18 years had uneventful healing. It is recommended that once the diagnosis of osteofibrous dypplasis is made, only curettage with bone grafting is necessary for those asymptomatic patients who are older than 15 years. Several recent reports have also pointed out that the osteofibrous dysplasia may be allied closely to the differentiated form of adamantinoma. Therefore careful search of the stroma and use of keratin immunostains were performed on multiple sections. No such squamous epithelial cell nests were found in all four cases.
Durability of the Pherocon AM Trap for Adult Western and Northern Corn Rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) Sampling

The durability of the Pherocon AM sticky trap as a sampling tool for western corn rootworms (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, and northern corn rootworms (NCR), Diabrotica barberi Smith & Lawrence, was examined in 1st-yr and continuous cornfields with both bright yellow and light blue traps. The relationship between temperature and trap performance was also examined. Light blue traps caught so few beetles and showed such high variability that they were deemed of little value in WCR and NCR sampling. In 1981, bright yellow traps that had been in place for 6–21 d were found to perform equally well, but not as well as newly installed traps. In 1982, traps up to 10 d old performed as well as new traps in continuous cornfields with large WCR and NCR populations. In 1st-yr cornfields with small populations of WCR and NCR, traps ≤6 d old performed as well as new traps. Trapping ability of the Pherocon AM trap apparently changes only slightly between the 3rd and 10th d following placement in the field. It is thus a flexible sampling tool that can be installed for a convenient period. Temperature was found to influence catch significantly but could not be used to improve precision because it did not account for a sufficiently large proportion of the variation in catch.
A Survey of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

The Unmanned Underwater Vehicle(UUV)is an important tendency of development of the unmanned platform.The latest evolvements of several countries’UUVs are presented in this paper.Its underwater applications including communications navigating,environmental monitoring,and ordnance survey are summarized.Some key techniques are analyzed,such as intelligent control,precise navigating,ulti-sensor cooperation,etc..Finally,the developing tendency of UUV is presented.
Assembling Conditionality in the Republic of Macedonia

For EU policymakers currently insisting on the moral economy of austerity in response to the banking and subsequent sovereign debt crisis in Southern Europe, the case of Greece suggests a particular lesson: Inadequate conditionality in social and subjective dimensions of political- economic life prior to membership (i.e. the alleged inefficiency of the Greek worker, corruption of the Greek official, and profligacy of the Greek consumer) breeds social disorder and economic contagion. That other explanations for the crisis are possible — in particular, that the introduction of the euro encouraged unsustainable lending practices and wage inflation in Southern Europe as Germany’s export markets surged (Krugman 2012) — is of little importance. The specter of an unconditionalized Greece seemingly makes the work of conditionality in the Republic of Macedonia and other candidate states in ‘the Balkans’ (a region long understood to be potentially dangerous) all the more vital.
Between philosophy and cultural psychology: Pragmatist and semiotic reflections on the thresholds of sense

Cultural psychology has multiple points of intersection with some of the central themes and issues of philosophy, especially a philosophy that is not self-absorbed with problems purely of its own m...
Human cargo: health conditions of Chinese migrants interdicted offshore by U.S. authorities.

During the eight month period between April and December 1999, the United States Coast Guard intercepted seven boats carrying migrants from the People's Republic of China destined for the United States. These migrants were processed by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service in three locations: Tinian Island, Midway Island, and Guatemala. Emergency Medical Response Teams from the United States Public Health Service, Division of Immigration Health Services, were deployed to conduct initial health screenings of the 913 migrants on board these ships and provide on-going health care until the individuals were repatriated or relocated. The distributions of demographic characteristics of the population and the health conditions observed are presented. Differences in health conditions observed by temporary detention location, sex, and age group were assessed.
Reduced Order Gaussian Smoothing for Nonlinear Data Assimilation

Abstract: We investigate Gaussian filtering for data assimilation in numerical weather prediction (NWP). Data assimilation is the process of combining prior forecasts and observations to produce a system estimate. The prevailing data assimilation method in operational NWP centers is variational data assimilation. This method involves solving a cost function over a time window forming a maximum likelihood estimate. This method, however, requires the use of linearized models which in practice are difficult to produce and maintain. As an alternative we propose Gaussian smoothing for derivative-free, nonlinear data assimilation. Gaussian filters and their corresponding smoothers use numerical integration to evaluate the recursive Bayesian formulas for optimal filtering under Gaussian assumptions. This numerical integration typically requires many model evaluations making conventional Gaussian filtering/smoothing impractical for use in NWP. We will present a reduced order method for forming a Rauch-Tung-Striebel (RTS) type smoother. To do so we review the Bayesian filtering and smoothing equations and discuss an efficient numerical method for evaluating them. We will then discuss a numerical example using the Korteweg-de Vries equation to compare our technique to the standard variational approach.
Law and the Legislation of Morality

There is an old saying that subjecting us to law cannot make us good, but can prevent us from behaving badly. Like many epigrams, that one is too clever by half—indeed, I think, by each half; for each of the two assertions that it makes is, I suspect, false. It assumes a ready distinction between what we are and what we do, and it implies that it cannot be among the tasks of the law to make us morally better people, because it cannot make us morally better; all it can do by its requirements, prescribing some conduct and prohibiting others, is to make our actions conform to its rules. And this assumption leads naturally to the view that it is the function of our law, as enforced and applied by police and courts, to criticize and chastise us, not for our moral failings, but for our conduct which is, or risks being, in one way or another a danger to society. This view forms one of the themes of a recent book, in which the author argues that crimes are not punished as moral wrongs, for (as an example) burglary is rightly punished as a serious crime, although it is only a minor moral wrong, and “mere moral wrongs are regarded by the criminal law as none of its business.”1 It is a view that may seem naturally to go along with legal positivism, the theory that laws are valid if and only if they have been made by whatever is the correct procedure, legislative and/or judicial, for the society whose laws they are; and it seems to be correspondingly opposed to the theory of natural law, according to which the validity of law is extralegal, deriving its authority from God or from the dictates of reason or from the nature of man.
How Social Status Shapes Person Perception and Evaluation: A Social Neuroscience Perspective:

Inferring the relative rank (i.e., status) of others is essential to navigating social hierarchies. A survey of the expanding social psychological and neuroscience literatures on status reveals a diversity of focuses (e.g., perceiver vs. agent), operationalizations (e.g., status as dominance vs. wealth), and methodologies (e.g., behavioral, neuroscientific). Accommodating this burgeoning literature on status in person perception, the present review offers a novel social neuroscientific framework that integrates existing work with theoretical clarity. This framework distinguishes between five key concepts: (1) strategic pathways to status acquisition for agents, (2) status antecedents (i.e., perceptual and knowledge-based cues that confer status rank), (3) status dimensions (i.e., domains in which an individual may be ranked, such as wealth), (4) status level (i.e., one’s rank along a given dimension), and (5) the relative importance of a given status dimension, dependent on perceiver and context character...
Determining the Differential Effects of Stretch and Growth in Tissue-Expanded Skin: Combining Isogeometric Analysis and Continuum Mechanics in a Porcine Model.

BACKGROUND The relative effects of skin growth and stretch during tissue expansion have not been studied. The authors use novel analytic techniques that allow calculation of these factors at any point of a skin patch. OBJECTIVE The authors sought to determine how stretch and growth change with different expansion rates and to correlate these values with histologic and cellular changes in skin. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two minipigs were implanted with a total of 5 tissue expanders under tattooed skin grids. One pig was expanded over 35 days and the second over 15 days. Isogeometric analysis allowed calculation of growth and stretch. Expanders with similar total deformation were compared between protocols. Regression analysis determined predictive effects of stretch and growth on histologic data from the second animal. RESULTS Deformation was more attributable to stretch in rapid than in slow expansion (1.40 vs1.12, p < .001). Growth was higher in slow expansion than in rapid (1.52 vs 1.07, p < .001). Both growth and stretch predicted epidermal thickness, dermal thinning, and keratinocyte proliferation. Growth predicted vascularity. CONCLUSION Isogeometric analysis allows determination of precise surface area changes for correlation to microscopic-level data. Using the model, the authors identified that skin deformation in rapid expansion is more attributable to stretch.
Reproductive strategies and infant care in the malagasy primates

The old African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” may extend well beyond the collective effort attributed to human child rearing strategies. In fact, allomaternal care is taxonomically widespread, particularly among mammalian taxa (e.g., rodents: Gubernick and Alberts 1987; Solomon and Getz 1997; chiroptera: O’Farrell and Studier 1973; canids: Moehlman and Hofer 1997; cetaceans: Gero et al. 2009; and primates: Hrdy 1976; Chism 2000). Allomaternal care includes infant care provided by the father (paternal care, Fernandez-Duque et al. 2009) or by conspecifics other than the parents (alloparental care, Wilson 1975). While well represented by a diversity of taxa, allomaternal care is not common among mammals (e.g., 9–10% of taxa display paternal care; Kleiman and Malcolm 1981; Huck and Fernandez-Duque 2012), allomaternal care has been recently noted to occur at relatively high frequencies in the Order Primates, particularly among many haplorhine (e.g., monkey and ape) species (Tardif 1997; Chism 2000; Ross and MacLarnon 2000; Hrdy 2009). While studies have examined the causes and consequences of allomaternal care among haplorhines, to our knowledge, there has yet to be a comprehensive analysis of allomaternal care across the entire primate order (e.g., including the primates of Madagascar, hereafter referred to as lemurs). This is in large part because studies of lemur allomaternal care have lagged behind those of their primate cousins. The most recent attempt at a synthesis of primate allomaternal care found that it was a haplorhine-biased phenomenon, finding no evidence of lemurs participating in allomaternal care-related behaviors (Ross 2003), and thus precluding any analysis of allomaternal care within that taxon. However, recent increases in attention to and sampling effort of lemur care behaviors have revealed that allomaternal care is more common in lemurs than originally thought (Mitchell 1969; Klopfer 1974; Pereira et al. 1987; Wright 1990; Patel 2007; Hrdy 2010; Rowe and Myers 2011; Tecot and Hrdy, unpublished data). Moreover, a number of studies in recent years have added to our understanding of this postnatal care strategy in lemurs, making it possible to include these species in broader taxonomic comparisons of primate reproductive strategies. In light of these recent discoveries, we aim to (1) describe the different types of allomaternal care observed in primates, including a discussion of how each type of care is expressed in monkeys and apes, and a summary of what is currently known for lemurs; (2) discuss the benefits of allomaternal caretaking and whether such behaviors benefit lemur mothers; and (3) outline important gaps in our knowledge of lemur allomaternal care, suggesting future avenues of research.
Dimension reduction in magnetohydrodynamics power generation models: Dimensional analysis and active subspaces

Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)—the study of electrically conducting fluids—can be harnessed to produce efficient, low-emissions power generation. Today, computational modeling assists engineers in studying candidate designs for such generators. However, these models are computationally expensive, so thoroughly studying the effects of the model's many input parameters on output predictions is typically infeasible. We study two approaches for reducing the input dimension of the models: (i) classical dimensional analysis based on the inputs' units and (ii) active subspaces, which reveal low-dimensional subspaces in the space of inputs that affect the outputs the most. We also review the mathematical connection between the two approaches that leads to consistent application. We study both the simplified Hartmann problem, which admits closed form expressions for the quantities of interest, and a large-scale computational model with adjoint capabilities that enable the derivative computations needed to estimate the active subspaces. The dimension reduction yields insights into the driving factors in the MHD power generation models, which may aid generator designers who employ high-fidelity computational models.
Targeting Protein Kinases for the Treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme: Linking Basic Studies to Clinical Applications

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common malignant primary brain tumor in adults with intensive heterogeneity and one of the most lethal human cancers. Protein kinases control diverse cellular processes by coordinating different signaling pathways. Protein kinases are frequently dysregulated in human cancers, which contributes to tumor initiation and development. Thus, protein kinases are a growing drug target class for cancers including glioblastoma. This review focuses on the most important protein kinases and kinase-mediated signaling cascades in glioblastoma, and discusses the functional mechanism of these kinases in glioblastoma tumorigenesis. Moreover, this review has summarized the most recent preclinical and clinical advances of agents targeting protein kinases in the treatment of glioblastoma.
Measures and metrics of sustainable diets with a focus on milk, yogurt, and dairy products

The 4 domains of sustainable diets are nutrition, economics, society, and the environment. To be sustainable, foods and food patterns need to be nutrient-rich, affordable, culturally acceptable, and sparing of natural resources and the environment. Each sustainability domain has its own measures and metrics. Nutrient density of foods has been assessed through nutrient profiling models, such as the Nutrient-Rich Foods family of scores. The Food Affordability Index, applied to different food groups, has measured both calories and nutrients per penny (kcal/$). Cultural acceptance measures have been based on relative food consumption frequencies across population groups. Environmental impact of individual foods and composite food patterns has been measured in terms of land, water, and energy use. Greenhouse gas emissions assess the carbon footprint of agricultural food production, processing, and retail. Based on multiple sustainability metrics, milk, yogurt, and other dairy products can be described as nutrient-rich, affordable, acceptable, and appealing. The environmental impact of dairy farming needs to be weighed against the high nutrient density of milk, yogurt, and cheese as compared with some plant-based alternatives.
Networking in the Russian North: The Karino Tatars

While well documented in the Muscovite customs registers ( tamozhennye knigi ), the commercial and communications networks of the Russian North have yet to receive the scholarly attention they deserve. Despite the low population density of that region and its ostensibly forbidding natural environment, communications were comparatively fast and frequent. This essay examines the evidence concerning the commercial activities of the Tatars and connected non-Russian groups, the Udmurts and Besermiane, who lived in and near the village of Karino east of Khlynov (Viatka). Their lucrative business dealings, especially in wax and honey, drew on resources to the south and east, took them regularly to Velikii Ustiug, and on some occasions all the way to the White Sea. To a considerable degree, this is the story of kinship networking and family enterprise.
Temperature preference of cave and surface populations of Astyanax mexicanus

Little is known about the genetic basis of behavioral choice, such as temperature preference, especially in natural populations. Thermal preference can play a key role in habitat selection, for example in aquatic species. Examining this behavior on a genetic level requires access to individuals or populations of the same species that display distinct temperature preferences. Caves provide a uniquely advantageous setting to tackle this problem, as animals colonizing caves encounter an environment that generally has a different, and far more stable, annual temperature than what is encountered on the outside. Here, we focus on cave and surface populations of Astyanax mexicanus, the Mexican tetra, and examine temperature preference and strength of temperature preference (reflected in the percent of time spent at the optimal temperature). We used a tank with a stable temperature gradient and automated tracking software to follow individual fish from each population. We found that distinct populations of A. mexicanus display differences in both temperature preference and strength of preference. Hybrid crosses established that these are multigenic traits that segregate independently from one another. Temperature preference in many aquatic animals is known to shift towards warmer temperatures following infection with parasites (akin to a fever response in humans). While surface fish infected by the ectoparasite Gyrodactylus turnbulli (a gill fluke) displayed a strong fever response, cavefish showed a significantly attenuated fever response. This work establishes A. mexicanus as a genetically tractable system in which differences in temperature preference can be studied in naturally evolved populations.
Validity and reliability of the Perineal Assessment Tool.

This study was conducted to evaluate the validity and reliability of an instrument designed to measure risk of perineal skin injury in hospitalized individuals. Interrater reliability of the Perineal Assessment Tool was examined by correlating the scores calculated by a wound, ostomy and continence nurse compared to those calculated by staff RNs and LPNs using the same tool with the same patient. Content validity was assessed by obtaining level of agreement ratings from 102 wound, ostomy, and continence nurses. Good correlation between the expert and staff nurse scores was found (r = .970, confidence intervals = 95%, P = .923 to .988 or P < .0001). Average perineal assessment tool subscale level of agreement scores ranged from 7.66 to 8.4 (range 1 = strongly disagree to 10 = strongly agree) and the median score for all subscales was 9. The results obtained are encouraging and justify additional reliability and validity studies.
Flood Basalts and Mass Extinctions

Flood basalts were Earth's largest volcanic episodes that, along with related intrusions, were often emplaced rapidly and coincided with environmental disruption: oceanic anoxic events, hypertherma...
Genetic underpinnings of callous‐unemotional traits and emotion recognition in children, adolescents, and emerging adults

Background Callous-Unemotional (CU) and psychopathic traits are consistently associated with impaired recognition of others' emotions, specifically fear and sadness. However, no studies have examined whether the association between CU traits and emotion recognition deficits is due primarily to genetic or environmental factors. Methods The current study used data from 607 Caucasian twin pairs (N = 1,214 twins) to examine the phenotypic and genetic relationship between the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) and facial emotion recognition assessed via the laboratory-based Facial Expression Labeling Task (FELT). Results The uncaring/callous dimension of the ICU was significantly associated with impaired recognition of happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, and disgust. The unemotional ICU dimension was significantly associated with improved recognition of surprise and disgust. Total ICU score was significantly associated with impaired recognition of sadness. Significant genetic correlations were found for uncaring/callous traits and distress cue recognition (i.e. fear and sadness). The observed relationship between uncaring/callous traits and deficits in distress cue recognition was accounted for entirely by shared genetic influences. Conclusions The results of the current study replicate previous findings demonstrating impaired emotion recognition among youth with elevated CU traits. We extend these findings by replicating them in an epidemiological sample not selected or enriched for pathological levels of CU traits. Furthermore, the current study is the first to investigate the genetic and environmental etiology of CU traits and emotion recognition, and results suggest genetic influences underlie the specific relationship between uncaring/callous traits and distress cue (fear/sadness) recognition in others.
Forecast to grow: Aviation demand forecasting in an era of demand uncertainty and optimism bias

Abstract Errors in forecasting airport passenger demand arise from uncertain economic climates and planners’ optimism, leading airport planners to make misinformed infrastructure investments. We use publicly available data to develop and test methodologies that enable airport planners to (1) predict the probability of a severe contraction in passenger volumes and (2) improve forecast accuracy by systematically incorporating past forecast errors of airport peers thus “grounding” optimistic forecasts. By incorporating past forecast errors from like airports into airport forecasting models, we build a methodology that is grounded in established demand forecasting practices and is able to significantly improve the accuracy of aviation demand forecasting models.
Negotiator relationships: Construct measurement, and demonstration of their impact on the process and outcomes of negotiation.

The study of negotiations is giving increasing attention to relationships between the negotiating parties. This study describes the development of a multidimensional index to measure the strength of the various facets of relationships. Results from a laboratory study that used this instrument show that cohesive relationships encourage information-sharing and discourage use of coercive tactics, both of which have direct or indirect effects on the attainment of integrative outcomes, negative affect, and the negotiators' ongoing relationship.
From Surveys to Skill Sets: Improving Patient Experience by Supporting Clinician Well-Being:

Sharing patient satisfaction survey results is not ideal as a stand-alone motivator for clinician behavior change. Rather, this is best combined with efforts to support clinician well-being by offe...