cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Possible Effects of Climate Warming on Selected Populations of Polar Bears ( Ursus maritimus ) in the Canadian Arctic

Polar bears depend on sea ice for survival. Climate warming in the Arctic has caused significant declines in total cover and thickness of sea ice in the polar basin and progressively earlier breakup in some areas. Inuit hunters in the areas of four polar bear populations in the eastern Canadian Arctic (including Western Hudson Bay) have reported seeing more bears near settlements during the open-water period in recent years. In a fifth ecologically similar population, no changes have yet been reported by Inuit hunters. These observations, interpreted as evidence of increasing population size, have resulted in increases in hunting quotas. However, long-term data on the population size and body condition of polar bears in Western Hudson Bay, as well as population and harvest data from Baffin Bay, make it clear that those two populations at least are more likely to be declining, not increasing. While the ecological details vary in the regions occupied by the five different populations discussed in this paper, analysis of passive-microwave satellite imagery beginning in the late 1970s indicates that the sea ice is breaking up at progressively earlier dates, so that bears must fast for longer periods during the open-water season. Thus, at least part of the explanation for the appearance of more bears near coastal communities and hunting camps is likely that they are searching for alternative food sources in years when their stored body fat depots may be depleted before freeze-up, when they can return to the sea ice to hunt seals again. We hypothesize that, if the climate continues to warm as projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), then polar bears in all five populations discussed in this paper will be increasingly food-stressed, and their numbers are likely to decline eventually, probably significantly so. As these populations decline, problem interactions between bears and humans will likely continue, and possibly increase, as the bears seek alternative food sources. Taken together, the data reported in this paper suggest that a precautionary approach be taken to the harvesting of polar bears and that the potential effects of climate warming be incorporated into planning for the management and conservation of this species throughout the Arctic.
A class of optimal coding schemes for moving average additive Gaussian noise channels with feedback

We consider additive moving average Gaussian noise channels with feedback, and show the optimality of a class of coding schemes similar to that analyzed by Schalkwijk and Kailath (1966) for white Gaussian noise. >
Synthesis of biomimetic oxygen-carrying compartmentalized microparticles using flow lithography

We report a microfluidic approach for lithographically photo-patterning compartmentalized microparticles with any 2D-extruded shape, down to the cellular length scale (~10 microns). The prepolymer solution consists of a UV crosslinkable perfluorodecalin-in-water nanoemulsion stabilized by Pluronic® F-68. The nanoemulsions are generated using high-pressure homogenization and are osmotically stabilized by the trapped species method. The presence of PFC droplets increases the solubility and diffusivity of oxygen in the prepolymer solution, thereby enhancing the rate of O2 inhibition during microparticle synthesis. We develop a simple model that successfully predicts the augmented O2 mass transport, which agrees well with experimental data. Informed by our analytical results, cell-sized composite microgels are generated by controlling the oxygen environment around the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic synthesis device. These nanoemulsion composites are functionally similar to red blood cells as oxygen carriers. Such bio-inspired polymeric particles with controlled physical properties are promising vehicles for drug delivery and clinical diagnostics.
Aesthetic Orthodontic Considerations in the Surgical Patient

The surgeon performing jaw surgery must have some fundamental understanding of the aesthetic results that can be obtained with orthodontic camouflage of underlying skeletal deformities. It is only in this way that he or she can adequately counsel prospective patients as to the aesthetic advantages and disadvantages of a surgical correction over an orthodontic correction. Secondly, if a surgical approach is chosen, it behooves the surgeon to understand the aesthetic implications of the orthodontic preparation of the patient. Accordingly, the surgeon and orthodontist can more fully cooperate in achieving the best possible aesthetic correction.
Nonfinite verbs and negotiating bilingualism in codeswitching: Implications for a language production model ∗

This paper argues that a set of codeswitching data has implications for the nature of cognitive control in bilingualism and for models of language production in general. The data discussed are Embedded Language (EL) nonfinite verbs that occur in Matrix Language (ML) frames with appropriate ML inflectional morphology in some codeswitching (CS) corpora. Notably EL infinitives are involved, as in wo mu concevoir be nu?e . . . "they don't imagine that something . . ." (from Ewe-French CS). The main argument is that such nonfinite forms are selected because they only need checking at the lexical-conceptual level of abstract structure with the speaker's intended semantic-pragmatic meaning. That is, they do not project information about syntactic and argument structure that is included in the abstract structure of finite verbs. Nonfinite EL verbs occur because they better satisfy the speaker's intentions regarding semantic and pragmatic meaning than NL finite verbs. The employment of nonfinite EL verbs instead of EL finite verbs partially explains why codeswitching in general and such verb phrases in particular is perceived as fast and effortless. How one lexical entry (the EL nonfinite verb) can take on the morphosyntactic role of another one (the ML finite verb) implies flexibility in cognitive control at an abstract level. It also implies a certain malleability at an abstract level in the ML morphosyntactic frame that makes it possible to take in a nonfinite verb in a slot for a finite verb.
Reliable MapReduce computing on opportunistic resources

MapReduce offers an ease-of-use programming paradigm for processing large data sets, making it an attractive model for opportunistic compute resources. However, unlike dedicated resources, where MapReduce has mostly been deployed, opportunistic resources have significantly higher rates of node volatility. As a consequence, the data and task replication scheme adopted by existing MapReduce implementations is woefully inadequate on such volatile resources. In this paper, we propose MOON, short for MapReduce On Opportunistic eNvironments, which is designed to offer reliable MapReduce service for opportunistic computing. MOON adopts a hybrid resource architecture by supplementing opportunistic compute resources with a small set of dedicated resources, and it extends Hadoop, an open-source implementation of MapReduce, with adaptive task and data scheduling algorithms to take advantage of the hybrid resource architecture. Our results on an emulated opportunistic computing system running atop a 60-node cluster demonstrate that MOON can deliver significant performance improvements to Hadoop on volatile compute resources and even finish jobs that are not able to complete in Hadoop.
Risk of Seizure-Related Automobile Accidents

A retrospective case-control study to identify clinical risk factors for seizure-related motor vehicle crashes in 50 patients with epilepsy and 50 matched control patients was performed at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.
Selected contribution: skeletal muscle capillarity and enzyme activity in rats selectively bred for running endurance.

To attempt to explain the difference in intrinsic (untrained) endurance running capacity in rats selectively bred over seven generations for either low (LCR) or high running capacity (HCR), the rel...
Risk factors for premature coronary artery disease and determinants of adverse outcomes after revascularization in patients *40 years old

Smoking is an important and modifiable risk factor associated with premature atherosclerosis and the need for coronary revascularization in young adult patients < or =40 years old. Although intermediate and long-term survival is better in young adult patients after percutaneous coronary intervention, co-morbidities such as low ejection fraction, previous myocardial infarction, and previous bypass surgery are important adverse prognostic determinants.
Zwitterionic Ligands Bound to Cdse/Zns Quantum Dots Prevent Adhesion to Mammalian Cells

Zwitterionic materials are useful tools in material science and biology as they provide high water solubility while preventing non-specific interactions. Quantum dots (QDs) functionalized with zwitterionic and quaternary ammonium ligands were synthesized to investigate their interactions with the outer membrane of HeLa cells. Quaternary ammonium functionalized quantum dots adhered strongly to the cell surface while zwitterionic QDs had no cell adhesion. These results demonstrate that future non-interacting nanoparticles based on this design are possible.
Social behavior in aged rhesus macaques.

This study investigated the relationship between chronological age and social behavior in 42 adult male and female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in three specific areas: social interactions, social roles, and social networks. While both old males and old females share behavioral differences associated with senescence, this study reports that old females and old males are distinct in their social behaviors, both from each other and from other adults. Many of these differences appear progressive across age classes, e.g., declining across age classes in females and increasing across age classes in males. Old females are less social and have smaller social networks than other females, while the opposite was found to be true of old males. An explanation for the sex-based differences in aged social behavior and social networks reported in this study may originate in rhesus matrifocal social structure.
Stalin's World: Dictating the Soviet Order

Iosif V. Stalin is of utmost importance to the history of the twentieth century. As Sarah Davies and James Harris correctly note in this study of the Soviet dictator, a great deal of new material h...
Arguments for successive-cyclic movement through SpecCP

Successive-cyclic A'–Cmovement derivations exploiting SpecCP as an intermediate landing-site deserve careful scrutiny. As a companion to Den Dikken’s (2009a) case for a typology of A'–Cdependencies that includes successive-cyclic movement via vP–edges, resumptive prolepsis, and scope marking, but not successive-cyclic movement via SpecCP, this paper demonstrates that the arguments accumulated in the generative literature in favour of successive-cyclic movement via SpecCP are invalid. To the extent that any of these arguments implicate SpecCP at all, they never make reference to SpecCP as an intermediate stopover point: they are arguments either for terminal movement to a subordinate SpecCP or for successive-cyclic movement via intermediate stopovers in positions other than SpecCP.
Majorana wave-function oscillations, fermion parity switches, and disorder in Kitaev chains

We study the decay and oscillations of Majorana fermion wave functions and ground-state (GS) fermion parity in one-dimensional topological superconducting lattice systems. Using a Majorana transfer matrix method, we find that Majorana wave-function properties are encoded in the associated Lyapunov exponent, which in turn is the sum of two independent components: a ``superconducting component,'' which characterizes the gap induced decay, and the ``normal component,'' which determines the oscillations and response to chemical potential configurations. The topological phase transition separating phases with and without Majorana end modes is seen to be a cancellation of these two components. We show that Majorana wave-function oscillations are completely determined by an underlying nonsuperconducting tight-binding model and are solely responsible for GS fermion parity switches in finite-sized systems. These observations enable us to analytically chart out wave-function oscillations, the resultant GS parity configuration as a function of parameter space in uniform wires, and special parity switch points where degenerate zero energy Majorana modes are restored in spite of finite size effects. For disordered wires, we find that band oscillations are completely washed out leading to a second localization length for the Majorana mode and the remnant oscillations are randomized as per Anderson localization physics in normal systems. Our transfer matrix method further allows us to (i) reproduce known results on the scaling of midgap Majorana states and demonstrate the origin of its log-normal distribution, (ii) identify contrasting behavior of disorder-dependent GS parity switches for the cases of even versus odd number of lattice sites, and (iii) chart out the GS parity configuration and associated parity switch points as a function of disorder strength.
ASYMMETRIC INTROGRESSION OF MITOCHONDRIAL DNA AMONG EUROPEAN POPULATIONS OF BLUE MUSSELS (MYTILUS SPP.).

Mytilus edulis and M. galloprovincialis are two blue mussel species that coexist in western Europe. Pre- viously, we reported that M. galloprovincialis populations contain female and male haplotypes that are fixed in M. edulis populations as well as unique haplotypes. This study assesses whether paraphyly for these species is due to introgression or incomplete lineage extinction. The lineage extinction hypothesis predicts that the shared mtDNA haplotypes in M. galloprovincialis will be significantly diverged from those in M. edulis and form distinct sequence clades. In contrast, the introgression hypothesis proposes that M. edulis haplotypes have only recently been introduced into M. galloprovincialis through hybridization with relatively little divergence accumulating between the shared RFLP haplotypes. We examined 80 mtl6S gene sequences for both the maternal and paternal mtDNA lineages from mussels sampled from various European populations and found strong support for the introgression hypothesis. In addition, we found that M. edulis mtDNA haplotypes appear to be introgressing into mussel populations in the Baltic Sea, which have predominantly M. trossulus nuclear genotypes, indicating that introgressive hybridization is prevalent among European mussel populations.
Utilization and Exploitation of Industrial Solid Waste as Materials Synthesize d Glass-Ceramics

The present status of the research of glass-ceramics by industrious solid waste as materials such as industrial slag, tailings, and refining furnace slag was s ummarized. The trends of solid waste as materials synthesized glass-ceramics we re prospected. It points out that the research of oil shale ash as materials syn thesized glass-ceramics is a new way of utilization of oil shale ash.
Use of Adult-Trained Medical Subspecialists by Children Seeking Medical Subspecialty Care

Objectives To quantify the use of adult-trained medical subspecialists by children and to determine the association between geographic access to pediatric subspecialty care and the use of adult-trained subspecialists. Children with limited access to pediatric subspecialty care may seek care from adult-trained subspecialists, but data on this practice are limited. Study design We identified children aged Results Among 1.1 million children, 8% visited the examined medical subspecialists, with 10% of these children using adult-trained medical subspecialists. Compared with children with a ≤30-minute travel time to a pediatric referral center, children with a >90-minute travel time were more likely to use adult-trained subspecialists (without CCCs: relative risk ratio [RRR], 1.94, 95% CI, 1.79-2.11; with CCCs: RRR, 2.33; 95% CI, 2.10-2.59) and less likely to use pediatric subspecialists (without CCCs: RRR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.63-0.68; with CCCs: RRR, 0.76, 95% CI, 0.73-0.79). Conclusion Among medical subspecialty fields with pediatric and adult-trained subspecialists, adult-trained subspecialists provided 10% of care to children overall and 18% of care to children living >90 minutes from pediatric referral centers. Future studies should examine consequences of adult-trained medical subspecialist use on pediatric health outcomes and identify strategies to increase access to pediatric subspecialists.
From Modal Skepticism to Modal Empiricism

In this paper, I sketch and defend a thoroughgoing empiricist account of our knowledge of metaphysical possibility. I argue that our knowledge of Moorean metaphysical possibilities traces back to our knowledge of the actual world through empirical sources (such as observation and observation-sensitive theory). In this connection, I advocate a pluralist account, according to which deductive, inductive, and abductive inferences from actuality are all legitimate sources of our knowledge of possibility.
Pregnancies After the Diagnosis of Mild Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Risk of Cardiometabolic Disorders.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of subsequent pregnancy with subsequent metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes mellitus after a pregnancy complicated by mild gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational follow-up study of women with mild GDM randomized from 2002 to 2007 to usual care or dietary intervention and glucose self-monitoring. Women were evaluated 5–10 years after the parent study. Participants were grouped according to the number of subsequent pregnancies (group A, none [reference]; group B, one; group C, two or greater). Serum triglycerides, glucose tolerance, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure, and waist circumference were assessed. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed by American Heart Association and National Heart Lung and Blood Institute criteria. Multivariable regression was used to estimate adjusted relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: Of 905 eligible women from the original trial, 483 agreed to participate, 426 of whom were included in this analysis. Groups A, B, and C consisted of 212, 143, and 71 women, respectively. Of women with subsequent pregnancies, 32% (69/214) had another pregnancy complicated with GDM. No difference between groups was observed for metabolic syndrome (group A, 34%; group B, 33%; group C, 30%). Subsequent pregnancies were associated with diabetes mellitus outside of pregnancy (group A, 5.2%; group B, 10.5%, RR 2.62, 95% CI 1.16–5.91; group C, 11.3%, RR 2.83, 95% CI 1.06–7.59), and if complicated with GDM (no subsequent GDM pregnancy, RR 1.99, 95% CI 0.82–4.84; subsequent GDM pregnancy, RR 3.75, 95% CI 1.60–8.82). CONCLUSION: In women with prior mild GDM, subsequent pregnancies did not increase the frequency of metabolic syndrome, but subsequent pregnancies with GDM increased the risk of diabetes mellitus outside of pregnancy.
Hypercontractile mutant of ventricular myosin essential light chain leads to disruption of sarcomeric structure and function and results in restrictive cardiomyopathy in mice.

Aims The E143K (Glu → Lys) mutation in the myosin essential light chain has been associated with restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) in humans, but the mechanisms that underlie the development of defective cardiac function are unknown. Using transgenic E143K-RCM mice, we sought to determine the molecular and cellular triggers of E143K-induced heart remodelling. Methods and results The E143K-induced abnormalities in cardiac function and morphology observed by echocardiography and invasive haemodynamics were paralleled by augmented active and passive tension measured in skinned papillary muscle fibres compared with wild-type (WT)-generated force. In vitro, E143K-myosin had increased duty ratio and binding affinity to actin compared with WT-myosin, increased actin-activated ATPase activity and slower rates of ATP-dependent dissociation of the acto-myosin complex, indicating an E143K-induced myosin hypercontractility. E143K was also observed to reduce the level of myosin regulatory light chain phosphorylation while that of troponin-I remained unchanged. Small-angle X-ray diffraction data showed a decrease in the filament lattice spacing (d1,0) with no changes in the equatorial reflections intensity ratios (I1,1/I1,0) in E143K vs. WT skinned papillary muscles. The hearts of mutant-mice demonstrated ultrastructural defects and fibrosis that progressively worsened in senescent animals and these changes were hypothesized to contribute to diastolic disturbance and to mild systolic dysfunction. Gene expression profiles of E143K-hearts supported the histopathology results and showed an upregulation of stress-response and collagen genes. Finally, proteomic analysis evidenced RCM-dependent metabolic adaptations and higher energy demands in E143K vs. WT hearts. Conclusions As a result of the E143K-induced myosin hypercontractility, the hearts of RCM mice model exhibited cardiac dysfunction, stiff ventricles and physiological, morphologic, and metabolic remodelling consistent with the development of RCM. Future efforts should be directed toward normalization of myosin motor function and the use of myosin-specific therapeutics to avert the hypercontractile state of E143K-myosin and prevent pathological cardiac remodelling.
RADIomic Spatial TexturAl descripTor (RADISTAT): Characterizing Intra-tumoral Heterogeneity for Response and Outcome Prediction

Radiomic analysis in cancer applications enables capturing of disease-specific heterogeneity, through quantification of localized texture feature responses within and around a tumor region. Statistical descriptors of the resulting feature distribution (e.g. skewness, kurtosis) are then input to a predictive model. However, a single statistic may not fully capture the rich spatial diversity of pixel-wise radiomic expression maps. In this work, we present a new RADIomic Spatial TexturAl descripTor (RADISTAT) which attempts to (a) more completely characterize the spatial heterogeneity of a radiomic feature, and (b) capture the overall distribution heterogeneity of a radiomic feature by combining the proportion and arrangement of regions of high and low feature expression. We demonstrate the utility of RADISTAT in the context of (a) discriminating favorable from unfavorable treatment response in a cohort of N = 44 rectal cancer (RCa) patients, and (b) distinguishing short-term from long-term survivors in a cohort of N = 55 glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients. For both datasets, RADISTAT resulted in a significantly improved classification performance (AUC = 0.79 in the RCa cohort, AUC = 0.71 in the GBM cohort, based on randomized cross-validation) as compared to using simple statistics (mean, variance, skewness, or kurtosis) to describe radiomic co-occurrence features.
Biomedical applications of RNA-based devices

Abstract Emergent RNA technologies employ sequence and structural information to perform a diversity of biological functions. Synthetic RNA molecules have been developed for a wide array of applications, including genetic regulation, environmental sensing, and diagnostics devices. Recent advances in chemical synthesis and computational design of RNA have enhanced our ability to program novel functions and expand upon current biomedical applications for therapeutics and diagnostics. In this review, we highlight recent advances in synthetic RNA devices that have been engineered for biomedical systems, while addressing the current limitations and challenges of translating these engineered functional RNAs to clinical applications.
A Longitudinal Study of Commonly Used Admissions Measures and Disenrollment from Medical School and Graduate Medical Education Probation or Termination from Training.

Introduction This is an empirical study to better understand commonly used medical school admission measures and disenrollment decisions during undergraduate medical education as well as graduate medical education (GME) probation or termination decisions. Materials and Methods Based on the data of USUHS medical students matriculating between 1998 and 2011 (N = 2,460), we compared medical school graduates and those disenrolled from medical school on MCAT scores, undergraduate BCPM (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math) GPA, and undergraduate overall GPA. We also reported more specific reasons for disenrollment decisions. Next, we compared the students who were referred to the student promotion committee (SPC) with other students on these measures. Moving onto GME, we compared trainees who were put on probation or terminated from training with those who were not on MCAT and undergraduate GPA measures. In addition, we examined the association between being referred to the SPC and GME probation or termination. Results There were 2,347 graduates and 113 disenrolled students from medical school (4.8%). For the disenrolled students, 43 (38.7%) students were disenrolled for exclusively (or primarily) non-academic reasons, and 68 (61.3%) were disenrolled for exclusively (or primarily) academic reasons. The t-tests showed statistically significant differences on the MCAT score of the first attempt (t(2,449) = 7.22, P < 0.01, Cohen's d = 0.70), average MCAT score (t(2,449) = 4.22, P < 0.01, Cohen's d = 0.41), and highest MCAT score (t(2,449) = 3.51, P < 0.01, Cohen's d = 0.34). Logistic regression model selection also revealed that the best predictor for disenrollment was the first MCAT score (exp(b) = 0.83, 95% CI = (0.78, 0.88)). No significant differences on these measures were found from the group comparisons on SPC and GME probation or termination. There was no significant association between SPC appearance and GME probation or termination. Conclusions Academic difficulties, especially in the basic sciences, appear to be the most common factor for disenrollment from medical school. These students also had lower MCAT scores, particularly on the first attempt. The MCAT performance indicators and undergraduate GPA were consistently lower, but not statistically significant, for those who appeared before SPC or were put on probation or terminated from training during GME.
Understanding Non-Deviant Utterances

The knowledge representations introduced in the previous chapter guide the parser’s search for a meaning structure. In CHAMP, the meaning of an utterance is represented by an annotated parse tree(APT). A grammatical sentence—one with no deviations—produces an APT with no recovery notations (or more than one unannotated tree if the sentence is ambiguous). We call such a tree an explanationof the utterance. Note that explanations are produced at Deviation-level 0 by definition. If the sentence requires error recovery, an APT with notations is produced at Deviation-level 1 or higher; we call an APT of this type a hypothetical explanation, or hypothesis.This chapter discusses the bottom-up parsing process by which APTs and their constituent parse nodes are constructed (for an example of an APT see Figure 5-26, page 93). To simplify the exposition, we consider here only Deviationlevel 0 search, creating explanations. In the next chapter we extend our discussion to creating hypotheses.
Mercaptan-induced fragmentation of a subunit-like proteolytic fragment of immunoglobulin M

Limited papain hydrolysis of immunoglobulin M (IgM) produces a subunit-like proteolytic fragment designated IgMp (Inman & Hazen, 1968). In the presence of mercaptans, IgMp partially dissociated into Fcμ-like and Fabμ fragments. Treatment of residual IgM (that remaining after a papain digestion) with 2mm-mercaptoethylamine resulted in fragmentation of the same type that occurs in a routine limited digestion of IgM with papain, although exogenous enzyme was not added to the mixture. When IgM was hydrolysed with 14C-labelled papain, a small quantity of the enzyme was found to be associated with the residual IgM and IgMp fractions. IgM and IgM 7S subunit (IgMs) that had been exposed to papain in the absence of activating mercaptan and separated from the enzyme by gel filtration also fragmented when subsequently treated with 2mm-mercaptoethylamine. The fragments resembled those produced during a typical limited papain digestion of IgM. It was concluded that mercaptoethylamine induced fragmentation of IgMp by activating adsorbed papain.
Universal Design as a Workplace Accommodation Strategy

Universal design is an accommodation strategy that is compatible with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) constructs of activity and participation. It is rooted in a rehabilitation paradigm that integrates human factors with social equity approaches into accommodation practices that provide opportunities to achieve both usability and inclusivity for employees with all types and levels of ability across their work life as well as the life of the work. This chapter introduces the reader to universal design principles and accommodation strategies aimed at enhancing work outcomes for employees over time and across abilities.
Amino Acid and Nucleotide Metabolism

Amino acid and nucleotide metabolism, like that of carbohydrates and lipids, can be divided into five major parts—digestion,transport,storage, degradation, and biosynthesis.
d-Xylose metabolism by mutant strains of Candida sp.

The first step in the metabolism of d-xylose by yeasts and mycelial fungi was found to be the reduction of d-xylose to xylitol, a reaction catalyzed by NADPH-linked d-xylose reductase. This step is followed by the oxidation of xylitol to d-xylulose which is catalyzed by NAD-linked xylitol dehydrogenase. This oxidation-reduction reaction appears to be an obligatory step in d-xylose metabolism since direct isomerization of d-xylose to d-xylulose does not occur. The d-xylulose formed is then phosphorylated to d-xylulose-5-phosphate, the key intermediate. Similar metabolic routes have also been suggested for other aldopentoses. This enzyme system in yeasts enables them to assimilate pentoses to produce pentitols as the major metabolic products. Recently yeast mutants that exhibit different product patterns have been isolated. Studies of the enzyme activities of a xylose-utilizing yeast, Candida sp. C2, and its ethanol-producing mutant XF217 have been conducted. The specific activities of xylitol dehydrogenase and xylulokinase in XF217 increased significantly over those of the parent strain, C2. d-Xylose reductase activity remained the same. The increased xylitol dehydrogenase and xylulokinase activities enable this strain to shift from xylitol to ethanol production. Instead of excreting xylitol as a final product, more xylitol is converted to d-xylulose and ultimately to ethanol.
Process R&D for CIS-Based Thin-Film PV: Annual Technical Report, January 2003--January 2004

This subcontract report describes Shell Solar Industries' outstanding progress in the initial commercialization of high-performance thin-film CIS technology. Cumulative production for 2002 exceeded 1 MW-about twice the production rate for 2001. SSI 2003 capacity was about 3 MW per year, whereas production for 2003 was just over 1.2 MW per year. Introducing the new product accounts for the main difference between production and capacity. Average laminate efficiency for 2003 was 11.0% with a full width of only 11% of the average. This distribution is nominally the same as the distribution for 2002, but with an about 33% increase in production volume. Line yield increased from about 60% in 2000 to about 85% in 2002. Maintenance of this high line yield was demonstrated during 2003. Process RD when losses have been observed, the losses correlated with date of deployment or prototype module configuration. Prototype glass/glass packages for individual 40-W circuit plates have passed accelerated tests, including the damp-heat test. This package incorporates an edge seal developed in collaboration with the National Thin-Film PV Module Reliability Team. Developing and testing of 40-W glass/glass packages is being extended to a new 80-W product made using two nominally 40-W circuit plates laminated to a common front sheet.« less
Case study: Industry-sponsored mechanical engineering capstone senior design program:

In the mechanical engineering program at Purdue University Fort Wayne, capstone senior design projects are accomplished during an undergraduate’s senior year and span two semesters. In the first se...
Chapter 1 – Change Measurement*

The representation and measurement of change is a central concern of virtually all scientific disciplines. Studying change directly requires the implementation of longitudinal research designs. From simple difference scores to complicated multivariate models, a variety of methods, procedures, and techniques involving longitudinal design have been developed to assist researchers in the quantification and analysis of change. Many of these tools are identified and examined in this chapter. Obviously, there is not one best way to study change. We have tried to identify some important alternatives, many of which are discussed at length in other chapters of this volume.
Risk aversion in macaques in a freely moving patch-leaving foraging task

ABSTRACT Animals, including humans, are risk-averse in most contexts. A major exception is the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), which is robustly risk-seeking. Macaques‘ unique preferences may reflect their unique evolutionary history. Alternatively, they may derive from elements of task design associated with the demands of physiological recording, the source of nearly all macaque risk preference data. To disambiguate these possibilities we assessed macaques’ risk attitudes in a somewhat more naturalistic environment: subjects foraged at four feeding stations in a large enclosure. Stations (i.e. patches) provided either stochastically or non-stochastically depleting rewards. Subjects’ patch residence times were longer at safe than at risky stations, indicating a preference for safe options. This preference was not attributable to a win-stay-lose-shift heuristic. These findings highlight the lability of risk attitudes in macaques and support the hypothesis that observed differences between macaques and other species are ephemeral, not evolved.
Lexical bundles in stand-alone literature reviews: Sections, frequencies, and functions

Abstract Stand-alone literature reviews exist to synthesize the vast amount of data produced by modern academia, but to date, little research exists on this genre of written academic prose. The present study, therefore, investigates the frequency, dispersion, and discourse functions of lexical bundles in stand-alone literature reviews. A 3.4 million word corpus of 417 stand-alone literature reviews in psychology, education, and medicine was compiled, and four-word bundles occurring more than 40 times per million words were extracted. Part of the corpus was then divided into IMRD sections, (i.e., introduction, methods, results, and discussion), and the frequency, dispersion, and function of these lexical bundles were examined within each section. Results revealed that lexical bundles in stand-alone literature reviews were identical to those found in other studies of academic writing, which suggests that a core set of bundles for written academic prose may exist. However, the frequency of each bundle differed by section, and concordance lines presented a range of discourse functions. Bundles established research gaps, clarified results and methods, reported data, undergirded interpretations, and contextualized findings. Further research into lexical bundle frequency and use patterns within sections of stand-alone literature reviews is needed to establish pedagogical guidelines for lexical bundle use.
Primary cutaneous CD4+ small‐ to medium‐sized pleomorphic T‐cell lymphoproliferative disorder in a pediatric patient successfully treated with low‐dose radiation

Primary cutaneous CD4+ small- to medium-sized pleomorphic T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder (PCSM-LPD) is a rare and low-grade form of cutaneous T-cell proliferation with the average age of diagnosis of 54 years. Because of its rarity, the etiology or exact clinicopathology of PCSM-LPD remains unclear, with < 10 pediatric cases reported. A 13-year-old boy presented to our clinic with a raised tumor with PCSM-LPD histology and was successfully treated with ultra-low-dose radiation therapy. While no standard of care has been established for pediatric PCSM-LPD, this report represents an example of achieving remission in a pediatric tumor with minimal potential for therapy-related long-term toxicity.
KRAS-Mutated Lung Cancer

A mutation in the Kirsten rat sarcoma virus transforming protein (KRAS) is the most common genomic driver identified in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. It is a key component of the PI3K and MAPK pathways and is an important regulator of cell proliferation and survival. Tobacco use and mutations in KRAS are strongly correlated and co-mutation of p53 or STK11 is common. KRAS is affected by upstream signaling from a variety of tyrosine kinase inhibitors including the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and ERBB2. Affected patients have a higher risk of death than with other driver mutations and, despite dozens of clinical trials attempting to find a specific inhibitor that is effective in this population, it has been a difficult drug target. There is substantial experience attempting to treat KRAS-mutated lung adenocarcinoma with the use of RAS/RAF multikinase inhibitors as well as inhibitors of both upstream and downstream proteins important in RAS signaling. We review the disappointing results from these clinical trials in lung cancer. However, more recently, there appears to be some improvement in outcome with immune checkpoint inhibitors in these patients.
Periapical Microsurgery: Assessment of Different Types of Light-emitting Diode Transilluminators in Detection of Dentinal Defects

Abstract Introduction This study evaluated 4 different light-emitting diode (LED) transilluminators and the impact of operator experience in the detection of dentinal defects through an ex vivo TRUEJAW surgical model (Dental Engineering Laboratories, Santa Barbara, CA). Methods Forty-four extracted and endodontically treated mandibular premolar teeth were evaluated. Teeth were mounted in the models followed by surgical flaps and osteotomies to expose the apical third of the roots. After apical resection, the root-end surfaces were randomly inspected for the presence or absence of dentinal defects using a dental operating microscope (DOM) at ×19.4 magnification by experienced and novice LED evaluators. The assessment was made with the DOM light and 4 masked LED transilluminators of different diameters and luminous flux. The teeth were examined outside the models to establish the ground truth. The sensitivity, specificity, and kappa and McNemar test values of each light source by examiner were calculated. Results The use of LED transilluminators improved the diagnostic sensitivity of dentinal defects when compared with the DOM light alone for both examiners. For the LED-experienced evaluator, the medium-low transilluminator had statistically significant higher sensitivity than the DOM light and the small-low and small-high transilluminators (P Conclusions Within the limitations of this ex vivo surgical study, dentinal defects were more often detected with the LED transilluminators with a larger diameter and increased lumens. The operator's LED transilluminator experience was found to have a positive effect on the detection of dentinal defects using transillumination.
Information Services Relevant to the Field of Blindness

Lists information suppliers that may be helpful to those working in the blindness field. For each supplier gives a brief description of services, procedures for using them and cost.
RAISE THE ROOF: IFR-GUIDED INTERVENTION OF A MYOCARDIAL BRIDGE

A myocardial bridge is a segment of an epicardial coronary artery tunneled within the myocardium, which clinically ranges from an incidental finding to an etiology of acute coronary syndrome. Determining the hemodynamic significance with instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) can guide medical vs.
Neural Correlate of Acceptance: Relating Individual Differences in Dispositional Acceptance to Error Processing

Many of the observed benefits following mindfulness training are associated with changes to acceptance, characterized by having less reactivity to, and judgment of, one’s experiences. Acceptance may be particularly relevant to the processing of errors, as errors often enlist difficult cognitive and affective reactions. Error processing can be measured by error-related negativity (ERN), a negative deflection that directly reflects the brain’s signal of error processing. The present study examined whether error processing may be a neural correlate of acceptance at the dispositional level in non-clinical populations, outside the context of meditation training. Thirty-seven participants, with a mean age of 22 years (SD = 5.79), 48.6% female, completed a Go/No-Go (GNG) task while their performance was monitored with an electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure the ERN and the co-occurring behaviors of response inhibition. Acceptance was measured by the nonreactivity and nonjudging subscales of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Nonreactivity correlated with a less negative ERN (r = 0.43, p = 0.01, 95% CI = [0.11, 0.67]), and higher acceptance correlated with faster reaction time (r = − 0.48, p = 0.003, 95% CI = [− 0.70, − 0.18]), without any trade-offs in accuracy. Findings suggest that individuals higher in acceptance may process errors and competing responses with less neural activity while still displaying similar behavioral responses. Given the limited objective measures for assessing acceptance and the benefits associated with acceptance, the presence of these neural and behavioral correlates of acceptance may inform the clinical research of mindfulness interventions.
On Press—The Liberal Values that Shaped the News

In On Press—The Liberal Values that Shaped the News , Matthew Pressman chronicles the transformation of the American press between 1960 and 1980, as exemplified by two of the era’s major newspapers, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times .
Prenatal exposure to pesticides and risk for holoprosencephaly: a case-control study.

Pesticide exposure during susceptible windows and at certain doses are linked to numerous birth defects. Early experimental evidence suggests an association between active ingredients in pesticides and holoprosencephaly (HPE), the most common malformation of the forebrain in humans (1 in 250 embryos). No human studies to date have examined the association. This study investigated pesticides during multiple windows of exposure and fetal risk for HPE. It is hypothesized that pre-conception and early pregnancy, the time of brain development in utero, are the most critical windows of exposure. A questionnaire was developed for this retrospective case-control study to estimate household, occupational, and environmental pesticide exposures. Four windows of exposure were considered: preconception, early, mid and late pregnancy. Cases were identified through the National Human Genome Research Institute’s ongoing clinical studies of HPE. Similarly, controls were identified as children with Williams-Beuren syndrome, a genetic syndrome also characterized by congenital malformations, but etiologically unrelated to HPE. We assessed for differences in odds of exposures to pesticides between cases and controls. Findings from 91 cases and 56 controls showed an increased risk for HPE with reports of maternal exposure during pregnancy to select pesticides including personal insect repellants (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.89, confidence interval (CI): 0.96–9.50) and insecticides and acaricides for pets (aOR 3.84, CI:1.04–16.32). Exposure to household pest control products during the preconception period or during pregnancy was associated with increased risk for HPE (aOR 2.60, OR: 0.84–8.68). No associations were found for occupational exposures to pesticides during pregnancy (aOR: 1.15, CI: 0.11–11.42), although exposure rates were low. Higher likelihood for HPE was also observed with residency next to an agricultural field (aOR 3.24, CI: 0.94–12.31). Observational findings are consistent with experimental evidence and suggest that exposure to personal, household, and agricultural pesticides during pregnancy may increase risk for HPE. Further investigations of gene by environment interactions are warranted.
Management of Nerve Trauma in the Mangled Extremity

In this review, we present a principled approach to surgical management of nerve injuries in the mangled extremity. We discuss initial evaluation of the mangled extremity, key considerations with respect to surgical planning and timing, and current options for restoration of function including nerve repair, interposition grafts, nerve transfers, and other adjunctive techniques. Significant advances have been made in nerve transfer techniques, providing another option for restoration of function in extremity nerve injury. Management of nerve injuries in the mangled extremity is a challenging endeavor that requires significant planning and consideration by the nerve surgeon. Optimal recovery of function necessitates careful selection of the most appropriate surgical option for a given patient.
Bronchiectasis Associated with Electronic Cigarette Use: A Case Series

Bronchiectasis (BE) is defined as a permanent, irreversible dilation of the bronchial tree. In the pediatric population, this disease process is most commonly associated with patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). However, bronchiectasis unrelated to cystic fibrosis is increasingly noted as a cause of chronic respiratory related morbidity worldwide. Chronic inflammation and recurrent infection result in cellular cascades that lead to irreversible structural changes of the airways. When these architectural changes occur, they confer extensive risks to morbidity usually due to continued infections. In the adult population, bronchiectasis has been associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is mainly caused by cigarette smoking. In this report, the authors reviewed various cases of bronchiectasis in the pediatric population at our institution. After a comprehensive case by case review, we compiled details of 3 cases of newly diagnosed bronchiectasis where the most likely inciting factor was the electronic cigarette use. Common features of the three cases included at least a year of e-cigarette use with conjunction of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and radiologic findings of bronchiectasis, ground glass opacities, and nodule formation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.