cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Ribosomal RNA Removal Methods for Transcriptome Sequencing Workflows in Teleost Fish

RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) is becoming the standard for transcriptome analysis. Removal of contaminating ribosomal RNA (rRNA) is a priority in the preparation of libraries suitable for sequencing. These methods have been well documented in mammals but typically require some optimization for lower vertebrates. Three commercial kits, including Dynabeads mRNA Purification Kit, RiboMinus Eukaryote System v2, and Ribo-Zero Gold rRNA Removal Kit were examined for the ability to remove rRNAs from rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) RNA isolations. Total RNA was isolated from liver and muscle tissue samples (n = 24) and rRNAs removed using one of the three kits. Samples were analyzed visually on the Agilent Bioanalyzer and by Illumina RNA-seq, screening for Oncorhynchus rRNAs. There were significant differences between the kits in regards to their ability to remove rRNA, ranging from 2.74% - 10.94% rRNA sequences left behind per kit on average. Using the Bioanalyzer to evaluate ribosomal contamination in rRNA-depleted samples for RNA-Seq was good for detecting samples with higher concentrations of rRNA (>5%), but not very accurate at lower levels. Although all three kits were able to remove a substantial portion of the rRNA from different fish tissues, the Ribo-Zero Gold rRNA Removal Kit eliminated significantly more contaminating ribosomal RNAs than the others.
Finger Tapping and Other Time-Honored Maneuvers

“Doctors have one eye on the patient and one eye on the clock,” said David J. Rothman, who studies the history of medicine at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.1 Yet, making patients feel they have been heard may be one of the most important elements of healing. In this piece, two patients provide cartoons2 to illustrate the sentiments expressed poetically by two behavioral science preceptors concerned about the stressors of patient-doctor visits in our current climate. In words or images, please share your own experiences about physician or other health care personnel’s attention or inattention to patients, clients, and family members. Do extend this invitation to your patients and colleagues.
Peroxynitrite modulates receptor-activated Ca2+ signaling in vascular endothelial cells

Peroxynitrite (ONOO-) is formed from superoxide (O2-) and .NO. We have previously reported that O2- does not alter endothelial cell Ca2+ signaling. To test whether .NO alters Ca2+ signaling, cells were incubated with the .NO donor, spermine NONOate. Neither spermine NONOate nor S-nitroso-N-acetyl penicillamine (SNAP) altered bradykinin-stimulated Ca2+ signaling. By contrast, 3-morpholinosydnonimine (SIN-1), which generates ONOO- by releasing O2- and .NO essentially in a simultaneous manner, significantly inhibited signaling. Initially, the inhibitory effect of 1 mM SIN-1 was selective toward agonist-stimulated influx of external Ca2+. At later time points, SIN-1 additionally depleted internal stores of releasable Ca2+. When cells were coincubated with SIN-1 plus superoxide dismutase, a technique designed to scavenge O2- and convert SIN-1 to purely an .NO-donor compound, Ca2+ signaling was identical to control. SIN-1C, the inactive metabolite of SIN-1, had no effect on [Ca2+]i. This study demonstrates that exogenously generated ONOO- modulates endothelial cell Ca2+ signaling, suggesting that ONOO- is of biological relevance to vasoregulation.
Analysis of changes in maternal circulating angiogenic factors throughout pregnancy for the prediction of preeclampsia.

Analysis of changes in maternal circulating angiogenic factors throughout pregnancy for the prediction of preeclampsia
Acoustic-Phonetic Versus Lexical Processing in Nonnative Listeners Differing in Their Dominant Language.

Purpose Nonnative listeners have difficulty recognizing English words due to underdeveloped acoustic–phonetic and/or lexical skills. The present study used Boothroyd and Nittrouer's (1988) j factor...
Ports and Economic Integration in Madagascar

The port situation of Madagascar is characterised by a large number of poorly equipped lighterage installations and three ports with deep-water facilities, only one of which is modern and adequately equipped. The dispersion of ports along both coasts both reflects and contributes to the poorly integrated transport and economic structure of the island, which is, in turn, a major explanation for the relative stagnation of the Malagasy economy over at least the past three decades.
Deflection Containment for Bufferless Network-on-Chips

Without buffers in its constituent routers to reduce power consumption and hardware complexity, the bufferless network-on-chip (NoC) is subject to growing deflection when the traffic load rises, leading to severe performance degradation and squandering the power-saving potential as well. This work proposes Deflection Containment (DeC) for the bufferless NoC to address its notorious shortcoming of excessive deflection for performance improvement and power reduction. With a link added to each router for bridging subnetworks (whose aggregated link width equals a given value, say, 128b), DeC lets a contending flit in one subnetwork be forwarded to another subnetwork instead of deflected, yielding extraordinary deflection reduction and greatly enriching path diversity. In addition, router microarchitecture under DeC is rectified to shorten the critical path and lift network bandwidth. We evaluate the proposed DeC design using multiprogrammed SPEC CPU2006 benchmarks and various synthetic traffic loads, for 4×4, 8×8, and 16×16 mesh-based NoCs. The results reveal that DeC comprising two bridged subnetworks can substantially contain deflection by up to 75%, yielding network power reduction by 60% and the weighted speedup of 28% averaged across all experiments.
Fast heuristics for transmission outage coordination

Preventive maintenance is key to extending the lifetime of transmission lines and to avoiding unnecessary replacement costs. Maintenance forces transmission assets to be taken out of service temporarily, which changes the network topology and may influence the system security margin as well as the energy markets. Therefore, transmission outage coordination is very critical. While industry practices typically examine the reliability impacts of outage coordination, this paper evaluates the impacts on both reliability and market economics. The procedure of practical outage coordination is first introduced in this paper. The extensive formulation to co-optimize the outage scheduling problem and the day-ahead unit commitment problem is then presented. The complete formulation with an exact algorithm can guarantee the optimal solution but that comes at the cost of a long solution time. Four fast heuristics are examined in order to solve this complex mathematical program. Case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the four proposed heuristics. The solution time is significantly reduced while quality solutions are still obtained. The numerical results show that transmission outage coordination could have a great impact on the energy markets such as changes in LMP.
Shared Book Reading and English Learners’ Narrative Production and Comprehension

This study examined the relation between exposure to shared book reading and Spanish-speaking English learners’ (ELs’; n = 102) narrative production and comprehension skills in kindergarten (mean age = 6.12 years). Audio- and videotaped book-reading sessions in Spanish were coded in terms of teachers’ extratextual talk and gestures. Using a silent cartoon as a prompt, ELs’ fall and spring story retellings in Spanish were transcribed, coded, and compared on micro- (e.g., word tokens) and macrostructure skills (story structure); story comprehension was assessed using multiple-choice questions. Results revealed that teachers’ extratextual talk predicted ELs’ narrative production (story structure) gains in the spring. Narrative comprehension gains were positively associated with teachers’ gestures. Findings suggest a nonuniform influence of shared book reading on ELs’ narrative skills, such that different features of the shared book-reading experience target specific skills.
The Art of Cartesianism: The Illustrations of Clerselier’s Edition of Descartes’s Traité de l’homme (1664)

One of the more difficult tasks that Clerselier faced in bringing out his 1664 edition of the Traite de l'homme was securing the illustrations, eventually composed by La Forge and Gutschoven. After considering the chronology of this frustrating process, which is interesting in its own right, I will examine the illustrations themselves, comparing them with Schuyl’s illustrations for his 1662 Latin edition, and especially in the light of what Clerselier says were the intended purpose of such illustrations.
Virtual patients for learning of clinical reasoning

Clinical reasoning is generally considered a decisive component of nearly everything doctors do in practice. There are indications that clinical reasoning is not well taught at present. So-called Virtual Patients (VP) are especially suited to foster learning of clinical reasoning. Virtual Patients are online cases in which the learner takes on the role of physician, has to make all decisions him/herself and receives feedback on these decisions. This dissertation examines how to improve the design and implementation of Virtual Patients to foster learning, especially of clinical reasoning. Our results provide concrete advice on how to accomplish that and are in line with current theories and insights outside of VP research.
Discussion: Lifetime Changes in Financial Problems of Farmers

The concept, current status, and informational needs involved in the association of lifetime stages of farmers with their accumulation and use of capital constituted the focal points in Wirth's paper. Except for the introductory and terminal comments, the same organizational procedure will be employed in this discussion. The simplicity of expression in the paper facilitated understanding on a more restful basis than is customary for meetings of this type. The content pertained to an important and interesting topic. The presence of more originality in the paper on the part of the author would have been helpful. Lack of clarity was evident relative to the purpose and the contribution potential visualized during the preparation of the paper. Uses of a stages approach in analyzing this topic and the usefulness of such an approach, or of classifications in general, are familiar to and appreciated by this audience. The reservations expressed regarding such problems as mutual exclusiveness seemingly are more a consideration with all classifications rather than a matter of paramount uniqueness with a study of the lifetime financial changes of farmers. The lifetime changes as presented have characteristics generally described as following cyclical patterns. The contribution potential lies not so much with the descriptions of cyclical patterns, but instead the fundamental challenge pertains to the successful transformation of the pattern to more of a sustained growth-like pattern. Studies at Auburn University and a number of other stations have included analysis pertaining to alteration of the cyclical pattern through increased and perhaps modified use of the partnership and corporate form of organization with family farm businesses. Relative to the single proprietorship as well, it may prove fruitful to give renewed emphasis to the transfer of going concerns from one party to another (involving relatives or nonrelatives) when the business is at a peak stage of productivity rather than at stages of decline in productivity generally associated with traditional retirement and estate holdings. The single proprietorship remains the dominant form of business organization with farmers, and there is no intent here to predict to the contrary for the future. Regarding joint business endeavors, the possibilities for improvement in the manner of use of the single proprietorship
Gut-liver axis and sterile signals in the development of alcoholic liver disease.

Background Innate immunity plays a critical role in the development of alcohol-induced liver inflammation. Understanding the inter-relationship of signals from within and outside of the liver that trigger liver inflammation is pivotal for development of novel therapeutic targets of alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Aim The aim of this paper is to review recent advances in the field of alcohol-induced liver inflammation. Methods A detailed literature review was performed using the PubMed database published between January 1980 and December 2016. Results We provide an update on the role of intestinal microbiome, metabolome and the gut-liver axis in ALD, discuss the growing body of evidence on the diversity of liver macrophages and their differential contribution to alcohol-induced liver inflammation, and highlight the crucial role of inflammasomes in integration of inflammatory signals in ALD. Studies to date have identified a multitude of new therapeutic targets, some of which are currently being tested in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis. These treatments aim to strengthen the intestinal barrier, ameliorate liver inflammation and augment hepatocyte regeneration. Conclusion Given the complexity of inflammation in ALD, multiple pathobiological mechanisms may need to be targeted at the same time as it seems unlikely that there is a single dominant pathogenic pathway in ALD that would be easily targeted using a single target drug approach. Short summary Here, we focus on recent advances in immunopathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease (ALD), including gut-liver axis, hepatic macrophage activation, sterile inflammation and synergy between bacterial and sterile signals. We propose a multiple parallel hit model of inflammation in ALD and discuss its implications for clinical trials in alcoholic hepatitis.
Partner Knowledge and Involvement in Adult Baby/Diaper Lover Behavior

Reported partner knowledge of and involvement in adult baby/diaper lover (ABDL) behavior were examined based on responses from 1,795 male and 139 female members of the ABDL community. Individuals in a relationship often divulge their ABDL interests early in dating. Some partners may try ABDL activity initially, but most are not involved. Involved nonpartners may be sanctioned ABDL friends. Nonpartners are usually not involved in ABDL practices because ABDL participants view this as infidelity. Individuals who have never been in a relationship may be working to reconcile their ABDL interests with building a romantic relationship.
Understanding the influences and impact of patient-clinician communication in cancer care.

Background Patient-clinician communication is thought to be central to care outcomes, but when and how communication affects patient outcomes is not well understood. Objective We propose a conceptual model and classification framework upon which the empirical evidence base for the impact of patient-clinician communication can be summarized and further built. Design We use the proposed model and framework to summarize findings from two recent systematic reviews, one evaluating the use of shared decision making (SDM) on cancer care outcomes and the other evaluating the role of physician recommendation in cancer screening use. Key results Using this approach, we identified clusters of studies with positive findings, including those relying on the measurement of SDM from the patients’ perspective and affective-cognitive outcomes, particularly in the context of surgical treatment decision making. We also identify important gaps in the literature, including the role of SDM in post-surgical treatment and end-of-life care decisions, and those specifying particular physician communication strategies when recommending cancer screening. Conclusions Transparent linkages between key conceptual domains and the influence of methodological approaches on observed patient outcomes are needed to advance our understanding of how and when patient-clinician communication influences patient outcomes. The proposed conceptual model and classification framework can be used to facilitate the translation of empirical evidence into practice and to identify critical gaps in knowledge regarding how and when patient-clinician communication impacts care outcomes in the context of cancer and health care more broadly.
Damage progression study of 3D TSV package during reflow, thermal shocks and thermal cycling

The increasing demand for lighter, thinner and flexible electronic devices are resulting in complexity in design. The 2D or planner devices miniaturization is reaching to its limit continuing its complexity in interconnect circuits causing limitation inefficient performance. To overcome the problem of complex interconnection and to introduce the more Compact device, the generation of 3D package rises. This package uses through-silicon via (TSV) technology, which plays a significant role in miniaturization and power reduction. [1, 12] The stresses developed due to the mismatch of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of different materials used in the package, causes failure, especially on the silicon oxide layer on TSV. So, the reliability assessment is important for the better performance of electronic packages. This helps electronic device manufacturing company to evaluate the life of any device. In this paper, the attempt is made to study the damage progression of crack that can occur along the TSV/Si interface and its relation to stress intensity factor (SIF) for different thermal cycles. This comparative study has also been carried out at different thermal shock condition. Finite element analysis is done to calculate all stress components and its variation through time and along the length. Most of the stress develops on interfaces and the interfacial lamination of TSV may encounter mainly driven by a shear stress concentration at the point. The failure progression is analyzed by creating a relation between crack dimension, the stress developed and load applied. The analysis helps in better understanding of crack propagation and evaluating the relation between thermal load, stress intensity factor and crack dimensions.
Trial Designs and Biostatistics for Molecular-Targeted Agents

The heterogeneity of molecular alterations identified in cancer has transformed drug discovery and treatment paradigms for the disease. Today, many new compounds have been identified which target specific defects or cellular pathways that are dysregulated in multiple tumor types. Clinical research and practice under the paradigm of personalized medicine requires integration of biomarkers that measure the molecular phenotype of the individual’s tumor. Here, prospective biomarker-driven studies are characterized as marker-stratified, marker-enriched, or marker-directed designs with discussion of the strengths and limitations. Umbrella and basket trials allow for drug development to span traditional cancer types. Adaptive designs allow for biomarker-driven trials to gain efficiency based on iterative evaluations of the performance of the assay. Completed and ongoing trials in breast cancer are given throughout as examples of biomarker-driven studies. Statistical inferences and estimation must account for the complexity of designs, including procedures to account for multiple comparisons, and can use Bayesian statistics to model the flexibility of adaptive designs.
CD8+ T Cells Lack Local Signals To Produce IFN-γ in the Skin during Leishmania Infection

Resolution of leishmaniasis depends upon parasite control and limiting inflammation. CD4+ Th1 cells are required to control parasites, whereas CD8+ T cells play a dual role: they promote Th1 cell differentiation but can also increase inflammation at the site of infection as a consequence of cytolysis. Although CD8+ T cells taken from leishmanial lesions are cytolytic, in this study, we showed that only a few CD8+ T cells produced IFN-γ. Correspondingly, only low levels of IL-12 and/or IL-12 mRNA were present in lesions from infected mice, as well as patients. Addition of IL-12 increased IFN-γ production by CD8+ T cells isolated from leishmanial lesions, suggesting that a lack of IL-12 at the site of infection limits IFN-γ production by CD8+ T cells. To determine whether CD8+ T cells could promote resistance in vivo if IL-12 was present, we administered IL-12 to Leishmania-infected RAG mice reconstituted with CD8+ T cells. IL-12 treatment increased the ability of CD8+ T cells to make IFN-γ, but CD8+ T cells still failed to control the parasites. Furthermore, despite the ability of CD8+ T cells to promote immunity to secondary infections, we also found that CD8+ T cells from immune mice were unable to control Leishmania in RAG mice. Taken together, these results indicate that lesional CD8+ T cells fail to make IFN-γ because of a deficit in IL-12 but that, even with IL-12, CD8+ T cells are unable to control Leishmania in the absence of CD4+ T cells.
An Overlooked Contributor to a Unique Colombian Periodical. Enrique Pérez and the journal Hispania (1912-1916)

Hispania, a cultural periodical published in London between 1912 and 1916, was an important Colombian endeavor that reflected widely-shared Latin American concerns before and during the outbreak of...
Understanding Membrane Operating Conditions

Operating conditions for membrane chloralkali electrolysis have been determined by experiment and experience in the more than ten years that membranes have been widely used by the industry. In that time our understanding of how membranes operate has advanced. We now can present a clear picture of why the operating conditions are what they are and describe the consequences of operation outside the recommended range.
Notes on the biology, taxonomy, and distribution of flashlight fishes (Beryciformes: Anomalopidae)

New information concerning the distribution and biology of anomalopid fishes is presented. There are five valid described species:Anomalops katoptron andPhotoblepharon palpebratus, widely distributed in the central and western Pacific Ocean;P. steinitzi from the Red Sea and Comoro Islands;Kryptophanaron alfredi from the Caribbean; andK. harveyi from Baja California.P. steinitzi differs fromP. palpebratus in coloration, head bone ornamentation, and pelvic ray number. The second known specimen ofK. harveyi is described in detail. The occurrence of large specimens ofAnomalops in deep water and small specimens in shallow water is discussed. Synonyms and a key to the species of anomalopids are provided.
The Use of Case-Control Studies in Pharmacoepidemiology

The case-control method of epidemiologic investigation has proven to be of great use in studies of adverse drug reactions and may even have a small role in the assessment of drug benefit as well. The drug history of persons with a condition suspected of being related to drug exposure is compared to the drug history of a suitable comparison group, called a “control group,” and the differences in the proportion exposed are measured.
An interpretation of typed OOP in a language

In this paper we give semantics toLoop, an expressive typed object-oriented programming language with updatable instance variables.Loop has a rich type system that allows for the typing of methods operating over an open-ended “self” type. We prove the type system given is sound;i.e., well-typed programs do not experience “message not understood” errors. The semantics ofLoop is given by a translation into a state-based language,Soop, that contains reference cells, records, and a form of F-bounded polymorphic type.
Animal Behavior: The Seventeenth to the Twentieth Centuries

During the three centuries from 1600 to 1900, the early beginnings of animal behavior as a scientific discipline emerged. This came about through continued work by natural historians, the development of systematics, and in the later half of the nineteenth century, the theory of evolution by natural selection, and the start of experimental work. Beginning with Descartes and ending with G.J. Romanes, C.L. Morgan, and C.O. Whitman, the approach to biology in general shifted both in terms of a religious context to a perspective that was couched in terms of evolution, and from a natural history approach to an experimental scientific one. The work of Linnaeus and others produced the basic system of classification of living organisms that is still in use today. The development of zoological parks, libraries, and published journals—all contributed to the advancement of science over the course of three centuries, including animal behavior. Early versions of the debate about nature versus nurture that remains a part of animal behavior today were played out in the debate between G. Cuvier and G. Saint-Hilaire. Comte de Buffon made significant contributions to both natural history and early use of the comparative method.
How the Byrd Rule Might Have Killed the 2017 Tax Bill . . . And Why It Didn't

During debate on the 2017 tax bill that was once slated to become the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” the number of stories referencing an arcane budget law known as the “Byrd rule” skyrocketed in publications as diverse as the New York Times and the weekly trade magazine, Tax Notes. Many of the references, however, dealt with minor effects of the rule, such as its role in removing the bill’s short title from the final legislation. This article briefly describes a much more important and little-known aspect of this little-known rule that might have—and perhaps should have—killed the bill altogether.
Ionization injection of highly-charged copper ions for laser driven acceleration from ultra-thin foils

Laser-driven ion acceleration is often analyzed assuming that ionization reaches a steady state early in the interaction of the laser pulse with the target. This assumption breaks down for materials of high atomic number for which the ionization occurs concurrently with the acceleration process. Using particle-in-cell simulations, we have examined acceleration and simultaneous field ionization of copper ions in ultra-thin targets (20-150 nm thick) irradiated by a laser pulse with intensity 1 × 1021 W/cm2. At this intensity, the laser pulse drives strong electric fields at the rear side of the target that can ionize Cu to charge states with valence L-shell or full K-shell. The highly-charged ions are produced only in a very localized region due to a significant gap between the M- and L-shells' ionization potentials and can be accelerated by strong, forward-directed sections of the field. Such an "ionization injection" leads to well-pronounced bunches of energetic, highly-charged ions. We also find that for the thinnest target (20 nm) a push by the laser further increases the ion energy gain. Thus, the field ionization, concurrent with the acceleration, offers a promising mechanism for the production of energetic, high-charge ion bunches.
Predicting inadequate postoperative pain management in depressed patients: A machine learning approach.

Widely-prescribed prodrug opioids (e.g., hydrocodone) require conversion by liver enzyme CYP-2D6 to exert their analgesic effects. The most commonly prescribed antidepressant, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), inhibits CYP-2D6 activity and therefore may reduce the effectiveness of prodrug opioids. We used a machine learning approach to identify patients prescribed a combination of SSRIs and prodrug opioids postoperatively and to examine the effect of this combination on postoperative pain control. Using EHR data from an academic medical center, we identified patients receiving surgery over a 9-year period. We developed and validated natural language processing (NLP) algorithms to extract depression-related information (diagnosis, SSRI use, symptoms) from structured and unstructured data elements. The primary outcome was the difference between preoperative pain score and postoperative pain at discharge, 3-week and 8-week time points. We developed computational models to predict the increase or decrease in the postoperative pain across the 3 time points by using the patient’s EHR data (e.g. medications, vitals, demographics) captured before surgery. We evaluate the generalizability of the model using 10-fold cross-validation method where the holdout test method is repeated 10 times and mean area-under-the-curve (AUC) is considered as evaluation metrics for the prediction performance. We identified 4,306 surgical patients with symptoms of depression. A total of 14.1% were prescribed both an SSRI and a prodrug opioid, 29.4% were prescribed an SSRI and a non-prodrug opioid, 18.6% were prescribed a prodrug opioid but were not on SSRIs, and 37.5% were prescribed a non-prodrug opioid but were not on SSRIs. Our NLP algorithm identified depression with a F1 score of 0.95 against manual annotation of 300 randomly sampled clinical notes. On average, patients receiving prodrug opioids had lower average pain scores (p 0.05). The machine learning algorithm accurately predicted the increase or decrease of the discharge, 3-week and 8-week follow-up pain scores when compared to the pre-operative pain score using 10-fold cross validation (mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.87, 0.81, and 0.69, respectively). Preoperative pain, surgery type, and opioid tolerance were the strongest predictors of postoperative pain control. We provide the first direct clinical evidence that the known ability of SSRIs to inhibit prodrug opioid effectiveness is associated with worse pain control among depressed patients. Current prescribing patterns indicate that prescribers may not account for this interaction when choosing an opioid. The study results imply that prescribers might instead choose direct acting opioids (e.g. oxycodone or morphine) in depressed patients on SSRIs.
Optimasi Modularitas Dengan Hierarchy Model View Controller (HMVC) Pada Framework Code Igniter

Ide dari Model-View-Controller (MVC) adalah untuk memisahkan antara lapisan logika, presentasi dan data dari suatu aplikasi. Pemisahan ini dapat meningkatkan kemudahan pengelolaan dari suatu system. Akan tetapi, MVC masih memiliki keterbatasan, yaitu skalabilitas. Untuk mengatasi masalah ini model MVC dimodifikasi dan ditingkatkan agar mampu memenuhi skalabilitas, dengan menggunakan Hierarchy Model-View-Controller (HMVC). Tujuan dari artikel ini adalah untuk menunjukkan implementasi dari HMVC pada framework PHP CodeIgniter. Kata kunci: MVC, HMVC, modularitas
Quasi-static Melting of Crystals: Experiments and Analysis

The kinetics of melting pivalic acid (PVA) dendrites was observed under convection-free conditions on STS-87 as part of the United States Microgravity Payload Mission (USMP-4) flown on Columbia in 1997 during STS-87. The analysis of video data show that PVA dendrites melt without relative motion with respect to the quiescent melt phase. Dendritic fragments display shrinking to extinction, with fragmentation occurring at higher initial supercoolings. Individual fragments follow a characteristic time-dependence derived elsewhere. The microgravity melting kinetics against which the experimental observations are compared is based on conduction-limited quasi-static melting under shape-preserving conditions. Agreement between the analytic theory and our experiments is found when the melting process occurs under shape-preserving conditions as measured using the C/A ratio of individual needle-like crystal fragments.
Without a Paddle: Barriers to School Enrollment Procedures for Immigrant Students and Families:

The growing immigrant population in the United States consists of school-aged children who are in need of educational opportunities available through the country’s existing educational system. Educ...
Long-term natural history of visual acuity in eyes with choroideremia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of data from 1004 individual eyes

Background/aims Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) is the most common primary endpoint in treatment trials for choroideremia (CHM) but the long-term natural history of BCVA is unclear. Methods We searched in seven databases to identify studies that reported BCVA of untreated eyes with CHM. We sought individual-level data and performed segmented regression between BCVA and age. For eyes followed longitudinally, we introduced a horizontal translation factor to each dataset to account for different ages at onset of a rapid BCVA decline. Results We included 1004 eyes from 23 studies. BCVA of the right and left eyes was moderately correlated (r=0.60). BCVA as a function of age followed a 2-phase decline (slow followed by rapid decline), with an estimated transition age of 39.1 years (95% CI 33.5 to 44.7). After the introduction of horizontal translation factors to longitudinal datasets, BCVA followed a 2-phase decline until it reached 0 letters (r2=0.90). The BCVA decline rate was 0.33 letters/year (95% CI −0.38 to 1.05) before 39 years, and 1.23 letters/year (95% CI 0.55 to 1.92) after 39 years (p=0.004). Conclusion BCVA in eyes with CHM follows a 2-phase linear decline with a transition age of approximately 39 years. Future trials enrolling young patients may not be able to use BCVA as a primary or sole endpoint, but rather, may need to employ additional disease biomarkers that change before age 39. BCVA may still have utility as a primary endpoint for patients older than 39 years who have measurable BCVA decline rates.
Naming the Fellowship Between the Church and the Jewish People at the Second Vatican Council and in Our Time

Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, describes the Catholic Church as the new people of God. It affirms that Orthodox and Protestant Christians belong to this new people of God in degrees of imperfect but real communion. In contrast, Jews and others who have not yet accepted the Gospel are said to be related and ordained to (ordinantur ad) the new people of God. And yet, implicit in Paul’s Letter to the Romans and the Latin text of Nostra Aetate is the basis for an ecclesiology that affirms that the Jewish people like non-Catholic Christians do belong to the new people of God in a distinct and qualified way. This manner of naming the relation between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people contributes to a recognition of the sui generis character of this fellowship, calls upon Catholics to recognize our history of sins against the Jewish people and to initiate new forms of relationship, and can contribute to the reframing of theological dichotomies such as that of the spirit and the flesh.
More Than Just Hard Work: Educational Policies to Facilitate Economic Mobility

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed long-standing class-based inequities in education and as a result highlighted the role of structural supports (e.g., food, stable housing, income) promoting economic o...
The De Beers Group: Launching Lightbox Jewelry for Lab-Grown Diamonds

In May 2018, the De Beers Group shocked the diamond industry when it announced it was launching a new fashion jewelry brand of laboratory-grown (synthetic) diamonds. The reaction was swift as people sought to understand the company’s motivations: was it a “huge gamble” or a “Machiavellian masterstroke”? What was the objective of the new product launch, would it succeed, and how would this new business affect the Group’s core business of selling natural (mined) diamonds? This case is intended to be used in conjunction with and to follow another HBS case: The De Beers Group: Exploring the Diamond Reselling Opportunity (HBS #717-430). This case illustrates the process of strategy development at one of the world’s most iconic brands (De Beers). Along with the Diamond Reselling case, it illustrates how companies change strategies by testing new markets. Within the diamond industry, it shows an attempt to differentiate products (the market for natural vs. synthetic diamonds) and to defend a core market by commoditizing a potential threat. Finally, it illustrates the strategic concept of using “adjacent” markets to achieve incremental growth and profitability beyond a firm’s core market.
A Generic Advanced Computing Framework for Executing Windows-based Dynamic Contingency Analysis Tool in Parallel on Cluster Machines

Dynamic contingency analysis tool (DCAT) has been developed to assess the impact and likelihood of extreme contingencies and potential cascading events across their systems and interconnections. By including more customized protection models and corrective actions into the Windows-based commercial tools, DCAT can help operators understand the cascading behavior and find mitigation approaches to reduce the risk of cascading outages in a more realistic manner. In order to further enhance the capability of DCAT, this paper presents a design of an advanced computing framework that enables DCAT to run on a cluster machine to improve its computational performance. This framework is generic and can be applied to other Windows-based simulation tools to fill the technical gap of applying advanced computing technology to vendors’ Windows-based tools. The preliminary tests using medium to large power systems have shown the effectiveness of this framework and its potential for accelerating the adoption of advanced computing in utilities.
Subtropical modulation of the equatorial undercurrent: a mechanism of Pacific variability

Combining data from Argo and the TAO buoy array we present new observations of variability in the Pacific Ocean. Argo profiles reveal the development of a thickness anomaly in the lower levels of the ventilated thermocline of the South Pacific in 2010. Data through 2017 show this anomaly propagating as a baroclinic wave westward and towards the equator. Theory suggests that this wave will reduce the velocity of the equatorial undercurrent (EUC) when it reaches the equator, transitioning the equatorial Pacific to a warm state. This is supported by TAO array observations that show a past decadal shift in EUC strength around 2000, as well as radiocarbon coral measurements which suggest a similar change in the 1970s, both of which align with phase changes in Pacific decadal variability. Using model simulations with enhanced vertical resolution in the thermocline, we affirm this link between the subtropical south Pacific thermocline and the EUC, which also manifests in eastern Pacific sea surface temperatures. We combine these results to hypothesize a mechanism that may explain some of the decadal variability observed in the Pacific. This mechanism relies on the propagation of anomalies in the structure of the ventilated thermocline from the southeastern Pacific to the equatorial Pacific, modulating the strength of the EUC. The cycle is enhanced by atmospheric teleconnections between the equatorial Pacific and the southeast Pacific that periodically reverse the anomaly in thermocline thickness. If correct, our hypothesis predicts a return to a warm state of the equatorial Pacific when the Kelvin wave reaches the equator and the thermocline adjustment slows the EUC.
Kimono: elucidating meanings of Japanese textile artifacts for a museum audience

ABSTRACT The objective of this research was to create museum texts and educational materials for a textiles section of a major year-long university museum exhibit focused on exploring Japanese culture and aesthetics through works of fine and applied art. Little background information about the textiles was available. A sample of historical Japanese kimono, yukata, and obi in a university collection was examined using material culture and semiotics research methods. The motifs present in the textiles were identified and explored for how the motifs represent values relevant to Japanese cultural practices throughout time. In particular, motifs were analyzed for their noted conveyance of a society’s religious and cultural values. Motifs were predominantly botanical, emphasizing the respect for nature within Japanese culture. Other motif categories present included geometric, animals/insects, cultural/everyday objects, and landscape motifs. 104 individual motifs were identified. Symbolic meanings were examined and interpreted alongside present materials, colors, and techniques. The use of material culture and semiotics research methods for analyzing Japanese textiles is mapped in this study.
COVID-19 and Autoimmune Demyelinating Diseases

Abstract This chapter addresses COVID-19 in the context of patients with demyelinating disorders of the central nervous system (CNS). Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common CNS demyelinating disease, and SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with MS and other autoimmune demyelinating CNS disorders causes numerous concerns. As with other infectious diseases, COVID-19 may exacerbate pathology in patients with MS. Standard therapies for MS and immunosuppressive treatments for other CNS autoimmune disorders may pose unique risks during severe COVID-19. However, preliminary findings on SARS-CoV-2 infection suggest that some MS therapies may limit the aggressive immune response underlying severe COVID-19 complications. Furthermore, infection with SARS-CoV-2 may have the potential to trigger postinfection autoimmune disorders. Here we review the current understanding of COVID-19 in patients with MS and other CNS disorders and the impact of immunomodulatory therapies on these patients.
How Do Firms Assess the Risks of Tax Aggressiveness? Evidence from Mandated Enterprise Risk Assessments

Tax aggressiveness can affect cash flow for various non-tax reasons, such as diminished reputation or investments in high-risk locations. These risks likely require information beyond the accounting function’s expertise to fully evaluate. Using a novel regulatory setting in the U.S. insurance industry, I examine whether the staggered adoption of mandated enterprise risk assessments update managers’ prior beliefs about the non-tax risks of tax aggressiveness. I find that the assessment of firm-wide risks and their interdependencies leads to a reduction in tax aggressiveness. Reduced tax aggressiveness is concentrated within firms that appear to update their overall firm risk assessment the most in response to the regulatory requirement. The reduction to tax aggressiveness is also larger when managers have lower risk-taking incentives (vega). Together, results suggest that constraints in internal risk information can allow managers to use aggressive tax positions without fully considering interdependent non-tax risks. Results also help reconcile survey evidence of managers’ concern over non-tax risks with the limited archival evidence of managers’ acting on these concerns.
Phosphorus-32, a clinically available drug, inhibits cancer growth by inducing DNA double-strand breakage

Radioisotopes that emit electrons (beta particles), such as radioiodine, can effectively kill target cells, including cancer cells. Aqueous 32P[PO4] is a pure beta-emitter that has been used for several decades to treat non-malignant human myeloproliferative diseases. 32P[PO4] was directly compared to a more powerful pure beta-emitter, the clinically important 90Y isotope. In vitro, 32P[PO4] was more effective at killing cells than was the more powerful isotope 90Y (P ≤ 0.001) and also caused substantially more double-stranded DNA breaks than did 90Y. In vivo, a single low-dose intravenous dose of aqueous elemental 32P significantly inhibited tumor growth in the syngeneic murine cancer model (P ≤ 0.001). This effect is exerted by direct incorporation into nascent DNA chains, resulting in double-stranded breakage, a unique mechanism not duplicatable by other, more powerful electron-emitting radioisotopes. 32P[PO4] should be considered for human clinical trials as a potential novel anti-cancer drug.
A Microwave Radiance Assimilation Study for a Tundra Snowpack

Recent studies have begun exploring the assimilation of microwave radiances for the modeling and retrieval of snow properties. At a point scale, and for short durations (i week), radiance assimilation (RA) results are encouraging. However, in order to determine how practical RA might be for snow retrievals when applied over longer durations, larger spatial scales, and/or different snow types, we must expand the scope of the tests. In this paper we use coincident microwave radiance measurements and station data from a tundra site on the North Slope of Alaska. The field data are from the 3rd Radio-brightness Energy Balance Experiment (REBEX-3) carried out in 1994-95 by the University of Michigan. This dataset will provide a test of RA over months instead of one week, and for a very different type of snow than previous snow RA studies. We will address the following questions: flow well can a snowpack physical model (SM), forced with local weather, match measured conditions for a tundra snowpack?; How well can a microwave emission model, driven by the snowpack model, match measured microwave brightnesses for a tundra snowpack?; How well does RA increase or decrease the fidelity of estimates of snow depth and temperatures for a tundra snowpack?
Spin-dependent Drell-Yan in QCD to O(αs2) (I). The non-singlet sector

A study of the order α 2 corrections to the Drell-Yan (non-singlet) differential cross section for incoming states of arbitrary longitudinal helicities is presented. The transverse momentum distributions, qT, of the lepton pair are studied and the calculations of Ellis, Martinelli, and Petronzio (EMP) are extended to include polarized initial states. We use the MS scheme and the t’Hooft-Veltman regularization for the helicity projectors. From our results one can obtain the bulk of the totally inclusive NNLO cross section for the production of a Drell-Yan pair in the non-singlet sector by a simple integration over the virtual photon momentum. We show that in the MS scheme helicity is not conserved along the quark lines, unless a finite renormalization is done and one adapts the physical (MSp) scheme. This aspect of the calculation is similar to the O(α 2 ) polarized production of single and double photons. Our spin averaged unpolarized differential cross sections agree with the EMP calculations.
The Unfinished Daubert Revolution

The American judiciary traditionally had a laissez-faire approach toward the admissibility of most categories of expert testimony. This approach ended in federal courts when the U.S. Supreme Court adopted a reliability test for the admissibility of expert testimony in a series of three decisions: Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., General Electric Co. v. Joiner, and Kumho Tire Co., Ltd., v. Carmichael. An amendment to Federal Rule of Evidence 702 in 2000 then codified a stringent interpretation of the "Daubert trilogy." Many states also have adopted some version of the Daubert reliability test.Contrary to many early predictions, the consequences of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals and its progeny have been quite positive. Contrary to pre-Daubert practice, all expert testimony is now scrutinized for reliability before admitted into court. The result has been a significant decline in the presentation of "quackspertise" in the courts.Nevertheless, Daubert has several significant limitations.First, many state courts have declined to adopt it, and have instead retained more liberal rules of admissibility, some of which amount to a "let-it-all-in" philosophy.Second, some federal judges simply refuse to acknowledge the sea change that has occurred in the law of expert testimony, and continue to rely on older, more inclusionary precedents.Third, Daubert has been ineffective in limiting the use of junk science by prosecutors in criminal cases. Finally, Daubert is a poor match for certain kinds of expert testimony. Specifically, Rule 702 and the Daubert trilogy are ill-equipped to deal with "connoisseur" testimony that arises from a legitimate field of expertise, but whose reliability is ultimately dependent on the personal credibility of the testifying expert.This paper addresses each of these limitations in turn, and suggests that the relevant problems demand resolution before one can conclude that the Daubert revolution is complete.