cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Environmental Effects on Localized Corrosion of a High-Level Nuclear Waste Container Material

The effect of environmental variables on the localized corrosion behavior of alloy 825 is examined in this paper. Cyclic, potentiodynamic polarization tests based on a two-level, full factorial experimental design were conducted. An index incorporating both the visual and scanning electron microscope examinations of localized corrosion and the electrochemical parameters was used for the statistical analysis. The analysis showed that chloride is the single most important promoter of localized corrosion, while nitrate was the single most important inhibitor. Fluoride was a weak inhibitor, especially at low chloride levels. Sulfate was a weak promoter, especially at high chloride levels. Temperature did not have a significant effect within the chloride levels examined. Separate experiments indicated that silicon, added as metasilicate, did not have any significant effect on localized corrosion. The adverse effect of chloride was observed at concentrations as low as 100 ppm. Addition of H2O2 increased the corrosion potential of alloy 825 to a value above the repassivation potential observed in the 300 ppm chloride solution.
Making claims as workers or wives: The distribution of social security benefits

L'A. rappelle qu'un systeme de securite sociale a pour fin de reduire les effets de la stratification sociale. Il montre que pour un certain nombre de specialistes, les politiques sociales menees en ce domaine aux Etats-Unis tendent a etre desavantageuses envers les couches les plus defavorisees de la classe ouvriere et que pour les autres notamment les feministes elles sont moins favorables aux femmes. Il presente un certain nombre de donnees collectees entre 1937 et 1992. Il s'efforce de voir s'il existe des differences significatives entre homme et femme en matiere de protection sociale
Patient Stratification Using Electronic Health Records from a Chronic Disease Management Program.

Objective: The goal of this study is to devise a machine learning framework to assist care coordination programs in prognostic stratification to design and deliver personalized care plans and to allocate financial and medical resources effectively. Materials and Methods: This study is based on a de-identified cohort of 2,521 hypertension patients from a chronic care coordination program at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Patients were modeled as vectors of features derived from electronic health records (EHRs) over a six-year period. We applied a stepwise regression to identify risk factors associated with a decrease in mean arterial pressure of at least 2 mmHg after program enrollment. The resulting features were subsequently validated via a logistic regression classifier. Finally, risk factors were applied to group the patients through model-based clustering. Results: We identified a set of predictive features that consisted of a mix of demographic, medication, and diagnostic concepts. Logistic regression over these features yielded an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.71 (95% CI: [0.67, 0.76]). Based on these features, four clinically meaningful groups are identified through clustering - two of which represented patients with more severe disease profiles, while the remaining represented patients with mild disease profiles. Discussion: Patients with hypertension can exhibit significant variation in their blood pressure control status and responsiveness to therapy. Yet this work shows that a clustering analysis can generate more homogeneous patient groups, which may aid clinicians in designing and implementing customized care programs. Conclusion: The study shows that predictive modeling and clustering using EHR data can be beneficial for providing a systematic, generalized approach for care providers to tailor their management approach based upon patient-level factors.
The primary megacystis syndrome.

AbstractWe discuss 7 cases of the primary megacystis syndrome to demonstrate that the syndrome is nonobstructive and non-neurogenic, and probably of psychogenic origin owing to learned dysfunctional voiding. The major complication is vesicoureteral reflux and initial therapy is aimed at its correction. Prolonged followup and retraining of voiding habits are necessary. Specific pharmacologic or biofeedback techniques are indicated should urodynamic abnormalities of function be evident.
Population Growth and the Right of Privacy

In the preceding chapter we examined the wide variety of problems that population increase has helped create in the United States. This chapter discusses one more deleterious effect of population increase — this one, of a constitutional nature. The chapter argues that population growth has reduced the privacy of American citizens and has thereby circumvented, and in effect decreased, the protections afforded by the constitutional right of privacy.
Hunting-induced defaunation drives increased seed predation and decreased seedling establishment of commercially important tree species in an Afrotropical forest

Abstract Human hunting is widespread in tropical forests and can substantially alter the plant-animal interactions that drive tree recruitment. Seed predation is a strong determinant of plant reproductive success, but it remains unclear how defaunation modifies this process. We examined the effects of hunting-induced defaunation on seed predation and seedling establishment, using replicated exclosure treatments at six sites across a defaunation gradient in northeastern Gabon. We monitored 5580 seeds of eight commercially important tree species that varied in seed traits such as size and dispersal mode. Rodents caused the greatest seed mortality for all species, removing ∼60% of accessible seeds. In comparison, invertebrates and fungi together caused just 6% of seed mortality. With protection from rodents, more than twice as many seeds established as seedlings, demonstrating that vertebrate seed predation was a strong filter on recruitment. With increasing defaunation, the proportion of seeds removed by rodents increased significantly, and seedling establishment decreased significantly, for most species. In heavily defaunated sites, with the lowest abundances of large mammals, seed removal by rodents increased by 63% and seedling establishment decreased by 42% compared to sites with intact fauna. Diminished seedling establishment is likely to reduce the regeneration of many tree species – including some with commercial importance – in hunted forests, with detrimental economic consequences. In turn, declines in timber regeneration may increase the likelihood that selectively logged forests are converted to non-forest land uses with little conservation value. Appropriate management could preclude these outcomes, to the benefit of both wildlife and natural timber regeneration.
Time to share: lessons from post hoc analyses of IPF trials

It is, perhaps, an embarrassment of riches for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) researchers and providers—the approval of pirfenidone and nintedanib for the treatment of IPF and on its heels, an unprecedented interest on the part of pharmaceutical companies to sponsor clinical trials to test new candidates. In addition, large amounts of clinical data from patients with IPF of very diverse genetic and environmental backgrounds accompanied the clinical trials for pirfenidone and nintedanib. And the new studies promise to yield even more data, repositories of blood, cells, DNA and RNA, at an ever-increasing degree of sophistication. With the availability of these biorepositories and data repositories, very provocative questions can be asked—and potentially answered. It is in this context that we read in Thorax a new post hoc analysis by Professor Kreuter and colleagues of 624 patients with IPF pooled from the placebo arms of the pirfenidone trials (CAPACITY 004 and 006 and ASCEND).1 The authors have previously analysed these patients and have addressed some intriguing questions, including how anticoagulation and acid suppression in IPF for comorbid conditions affected study outcomes.2 ,3 In the present article, they have turned their attention to another question that has dogged clinical researchers previously, namely how the use of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMG coenzyme A) reductase inhibitors, popularly known as ‘statins’, affects outcomes in IPF. The authors employed a shared frailty model, which is an extension of the Cox regression model,1 to determine the effect of statins on study outcomes without adjustment and a multivariate model to adjust for age, …
Coenzyme Q10 and Heart Failure A State-of-the-Art Review

Heart failure (HF) with either preserved or reduced ejection fraction is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Evidence-based therapies are often limited by tolerability, hypotension, electrolyte disturbances, and renal dysfunction. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) may represent a safe therapeutic option for patients with HF. CoQ10 is a highly lipophilic molecule with a chemical structure similar to vitamin K. Although being a common component of cellular membranes, CoQ10's most prominent role is to facilitate the production of adenosine triphosphate in the mitochondria by participating in redox reactions within the electron transport chain. Numerous trials during the past 30 years examining CoQ10 in patients with HF have been limited by small numbers and lack of contemporary HF therapies. The recent publication of the Q-SYMBIO randomized controlled trial demonstrated a reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events with CoQ10 supplementation in a contemporary HF population. Although having limitations, this study has renewed interest in evaluating CoQ10 supplementation in patients with HF. Current literature suggests that CoQ10 is relatively safe with few drug interactions and side effects. Furthermore, it is already widely available as an over-the-counter supplement. These findings warrant future adequately powered randomized controlled trials of CoQ10 supplementation in patients with HF. This state-of-the-art review summarizes the literature about the mechanisms, clinical data, and safety profile of CoQ10 supplementation in patients with HF.
Characterization of nisin containing chitosan-alginate microparticles

Abstract Nisin is a naturally occurring bacteriocin that has GRAS status for use in foods granted by the FDA. Encapsulation of nisin within microparticles can protect it from interactions with other food components, thereby increasing its stability and functionality. The effects of formulation parameters on the physico-chemical characteristics of nisin-loaded chitosan-alginate microparticles were studied. Chitosan-alginate microparticles were prepared using the ionotropic pre-gelation method, which involves inducing coiling of the alginate polymer by forming a calcium-alginate pre-gel state, and followed by chitosan complexation. Calcium-alginate pre-gel states were investigated using various calcium concentrations (0–5 mM) through viscosity measurements, and calcium concentrations below 2 mM were found to promote the formation of a coiled alginate nucleus. Calcium concentration had a significant effect (p
Yoga and Low Back Pain: No Fool's Tool.

Saper and colleagues' trial examined whether yoga is noninferior to physical therapy for treating patients with low back pain. The editorialists discuss the findings and highlight the importance of...
COMPUTER CONTROL OF ANALOG DELAY LINES FOR B-MODE ULTRASONOGRAPHY

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses an improved phasing scheme taking advantage of reciprocity of lumped element analog delay lines. A functioning prototype electronically focuses a linear array of transducer elements through the use of a PDP-11 computer and lumped element analog delay lines. The overall width of the eight element array used in this system is 24 mm. Each element has a width of 1.0 mm and a height of 9.5 mm. The RP power amplifiers produce the power needed to excite the transducers. All the FORTRAN floating point calculated delays for a sector scan are stored as a file on a floppy disk. Through file manipulation, the user may either select a sector scan excitation format for the linear array or select to focus the linear array at any given scan point. The latter is used to obtain the focused transmit patterns of the array.
AAV vectors, the future workhorse of human gene therapy

Adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2) is a human parvovirus with a single-stranded DNA genome of approximately 4.68 kb. AAV2 is dependent on co-infection with a helper virus, such as adenovirus or herpes virus, to facilitate its replication. The genome of AAV consists of the rep and cap open reading frames (ORFs) flanked by inverted terminal repeats (ITRs). The replication (rep) gene encodes four overlapping proteins, Rep78, Rep68, Rep52, and Rep40. The two larger proteins, Rep78 and Rep 68, are transcribed from promoter p5 and are necessary for viral DNA replication. Rep52 and Rep 40 are transcribed from promoter p19 and function as DNA helicases facilitating the accumulation of single-stranded progeny virus. The capsid (cap) gene encodes three structural proteins, VP1, VP2, and VP3. The ratio of VP1, VP2, and VP3 in the AAV virion is 1:1:10. The ITRs are the only cis-acting elements that are required for AAV replication, packaging, integration, and rescue (Berns 1990).
Clinically Prepared Veterinary Students: Enhancing Veterinary Student Hands-on Experiences and Supporting Hospital Caseload Using Shelter Medicine Program.

Referral-level medicine is important in the veterinary curriculum, however veterinary students also need a solid base knowledge of clinically relevant, routine surgical and diagnostic skills to be clinically prepared after graduation. Exposure to a referral-only, or primarily referral caseload, does not always provide veterinary students with the routine hands-on experiences and competencies expected by the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the Australian Veterinary Boards Council, or prospective employers. The aim of this descriptive study was to assess how a shelter medicine program can fill the companion animal caseload gap and create the necessary hands-on experiences considered essential in the veterinary curriculum. Pedagogical frameworks, course curriculum and design, student experiences, and student assessments were described for three core curricular areas (surgery, medical days, population medicine) of the Shelter Medicine Program at Mississippi State University. The shelter surgery experience provided a high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter environment where fourth-year students averaged 65 sterilization surgeries in two weeks and demonstrated a quantifiable decrease in surgical time. The shelter surgery experience added on average 9,000 small animal cases per year to the overall hospital caseload. Shelter medical days, where students provide veterinary care during on-site shelter visits, created opportunities for third-year students to directly interact with shelter animals by performing physical examinations and diagnostic testing, and to gain experience in developing treatment protocols and recommendations for commonly encountered problems. The shelter medical days experience averaged over 700 small animal cases per year and over 1500 diagnostic procedures. Finally, students participated in 15 onsite shelter consultations where they obtained a working knowledge of biosecurity at a population level, including how to minimize the risk of infectious diseases spreading to healthy populations. Despite several challenges, results from this curricular program assessment support the aim that animal shelters and humane organizations offer opportunities that can be mutually beneficial for both animal organizations and veterinary students. The primary care caseload for the teaching institution was positively impacted, and students were better prepared to meet potential employers' expectations and fulfill required core competencies in veterinary medical education.
Efficient Outcoupling of Organic Light-Emitting Devices Using a Light-Scattering Dielectric Layer

It has long been a challenge to develop a highly efficient outcoupling method for organic light-emitting diodes that is independent of wavelength and viewing angle, as well as being nonintrusive into the device structure. Here, we demonstrate a transparent, top emitting structure integrated with a high index of refraction waveguide layer and a rough, dielectric diffuse reflector that eliminates plasmonic, waveguide, and substrate modes without introducing wavelength and viewing-angle dependence. The simple outcoupling structure increases the external quantum efficiency from 15 ± 2% to 37 ± 4% compared to an analogous device with a metal mirror, corresponding to a 2.5-fold enhancement without requiring the use of additional outcoupling structures such as microlens arrays or index matching layers to extract substrate modes. The method is potentially suitable for low-cost, solid-state lighting due to its simplicity and high outcoupling efficiency.
The Basic Manual-Visual Medium

Chances are that not even the initiated are quite sure what the actual topic of this chapter is supposed to be. The title is deliberately offbeat in an effort to disrupt a bit of functional fixedness. The topic is, of course, writing.
Prospect Eleven: Princeton University's entry in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge: Field Reports

This paper describes Princeton University's approach to the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, an off-road race for fully autonomous ground vehicles. The system, Prospect Eleven, takes a simple approach to address the problems posed by the Grand Challenge, including obstacle detection, path planning, and extended operation in harsh environments. Obstacles are detected using stereo vision, and tracked in the time domain to improve accuracy in localization and reduce false positives. The navigation system processes a geometric representation of the world to identify passable regions in the terrain ahead, and the vehicle is controlled to drive through these regions. Performance of the system is evaluated both during the Grand Challenge and in subsequent desert testing. The vehicle completed 9.3 miles of the course on race day, and extensive portions of the 2004 and 2005 Grand Challenge courses in later tests. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Brokering as a mechanism for the social production of meaning

A pressing concern in mathematics education is to reveal processes by which inquiry-oriented classrooms enable learners to explore and develop their own reasoning powers while simultaneously connecting them with the collected wisdom and conventions of the discipline (Cobb & Bauersfeld, 1995; Lampert, 2001). A teacher's role in this process is one that often comes with considerable tension. For example, in her work with elementary school students, Ball (1993) posed the tension in the following way: "How do I create experiences for my students that connect with what they now know and care about but that also transcend their present? How do I value their interests and also connect them to ideas and traditions growing out of centuries of mathematical exploration and invention?" (p. 375). Research in inquiry-oriented undergraduate mathematics classroom reveals similar tensions regarding the role of the teacher and other students in the social production and uptake of ideas (e.g., Wagner, Speer, & Rossa, 2007).
Growth Following Pediatric Heart Transplantation

Orthotopic heart transplantation is an accepted therapy in children for a variety of cardiac conditions including congenital heart disease and cardiomyopathies, both congenital and acquired. Post-transplant mortality continues to decrease, and as it does the challenges of preventing a variety of morbidities increase. Somatic growth is negatively affected in these patients both pre- and post-transplantation and can be an important morbidity. While data regarding growth in this population are limited, there are a growing number of studies which add to our knowledge and confirm suspicions that these patients are at high risk for impaired growth. Children requiring heart transplantation are often small for age prior to transplant and remain at risk for continued poor growth following transplant. Disordered growth can occur in all parameters: weight, height/length, and body mass index. Potential etiologies of post-transplant growth difficulties include underlying disease, medications used in the care of transplant recipients, and continued chronic complications. Different protocols for use of corticosteroids complicate interpretation and comparison of studies of growth following heart transplantation in children. However, the overall trend following transplantation is the long-term restoration of weight, and to a lesser extent height, to the normal range. Children undergoing heart transplantation exhibit “catch-up growth” early after transplantation, but remain shorter than their age-matched peers. Children with the greatest deficits in growth prior to transplantation show the greatest improvement after transplantation.
A note on the three-dimensional Ising model as a string theory

Abstract It has long been argued that the continuum limit of the three-dimensional Ising model is equivalent to a string theory. Unfortunately, in the usual starting point for this equivalence - a certain lattice theory of surfaces - it is not all obvious how to take the continuum limit. In this note, I reformulate the lattice theory of surfaces in a fashion such that the continuum limit is straightforward. I go on to discuss how this new formulation may overcome some fundamental objections to the notion that the Ising model is equivalent to a string theory. In an appendix, I also discuss some aspects of fermion doubling, and the lattice fermion formulation of the two-dimensional Ising model.
Phase Diagrams and Thermodynamics of Demixing of Polystyrene/Solvent Solutions in (T,P,X) Space

Phase diagrams for polystyrene solutions in poor solvents and theta-solvents have been determined as functions of concentration, molecular weight and polydispersity, pressure, temperature, and H/D isotope substitution on both solvent and polymer, sometimes over broad ranges of these variables. The phase diagrams show upper and lower consolute branches and contain critical and hypercritical points. The isotope effects are large, sometimes amounting to tens of degrees on critical demixing temperatures. Most often solvent deuterium substitution decreases the region of miscibility and substitution on the polymer increases it. The demixing process has been investigated using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and small angle neutron scattering (SANS), examining pressure and temperature quenches from homogeneous conditions to near-critical demixing. The SANS and DLS results (which refer to widely different length scales) are discussed in the context of scaling descriptions of precipitation from polymer solutions.
Selecting the appropriate consistency algorithm for CSPs using machine learning classifiers

Computing the minimal network of a Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) is a useful and difficult task. Two algorithms, PerTuple and AllSol, were proposed to this end. The performances of these algorithms vary with the problem instance. We use Machine Learning techniques to build a classifier that predicts which of the two algorithms is likely to be more effective.
Political Mobilization in American Congregations: A Religious Economies Perspective

It has become an article of faith that congregations in America play an important role in the political mobilization of the faithful, but the reasons why congregations themselves provide political opportunities are not well understood. We unite various strands of work about congregational political engagement under the canopy of the religious economies model. Using the 2001 U.S. Congregational Life Study and 1998 National Congregations Study datasets, we show that market forces shape churches’ provision of political goods, suggesting that the congregational embrace of political activities should be understood not as a politically strategic exercise, but as another way to reach out to new members and retain current ones.
Electrocatalysis on ultra-thin 2D electrodes: New concepts and prospects for tailoring reactivity

Abstract The convergence of surface and bulk in 2D electrodes enables the swift exploration and control of interfacial reactivity. Owing to their versatile synthesis and modification, these interfaces have emerged as unique electrode models to study the impact of electrode composition, heterostructure formation, and the presence of defects, on their electrocatalytic response. This is because the ultra-thin nature of materials such as graphene, MoS2, and MXenes allows to amplify the role of these structural motifs in defining their electrode responses. Their 2D geometry also facilitates the systematic tailoring of properties for enhancing reactivity using simple methodologies such as adsorption and elemental substitution. In this opinion, we showcase and discuss how these aspects make 2D materials an attractive platform for understanding electrocatalysis.
A spatially explicit modeling analysis of adaptive variation in temperate tree phenology

Abstract The geographic applicability of most phenological models is limited because of a lack in accounting for plant genotypic variation over space. This limitation may be partly addressed by quantifying plant adaptation patterns as revealed by common garden/provenance trial research. This study delineated adaptive patterns of a widely distributed tree species in North America—white ash (Fraxinus americana) using multi-year common garden observations of leaf out and leaf senescence phenology. Geographically varied phenology-climate (i.e., phenoclimatic) relationships of tree provenances were investigated both with the aid of interannual temperature variations and using process-based models. Interannual weather fluctuations likely led to varied gradients of spring phenological timing by tree origin latitude as influenced by interactions of chilling and forcing, while the latitudinal gradient of autumn phenology consistently followed a photoperiod-driven pattern. Fitted models revealed latitudinal gradients of chilling requirement (for dormancy release), forcing requirement (for bud break), and critical day length requirement (for leaf senescence) for the tree provenances. When these genotype-specific phenoclimatic relationships were accounted for in spring models, predictions closely matched the latitudinal gradient of USA-National Phenology Network (NPN) observations. On the other hand, average (non-spatial) model predictions of bud break tended to be biased in the species’ northern and southern ranges. This finding shows that introducing genotypic differences to phenological models is necessary for accurate prediction of temperate tree phenology over broad geographic regions.
Professionalism, autonomy, and the right of conscience: A call for balance

Summary The theme of this issue of Ethics, Medicine, and Public Health is “Healthcare Rights of Conscience.” The guest editor is Dr. Dennis Sullivan, a retired physician and university professor, and former director of the Center for Bioethics at Cedarville University. Dr. Sullivan's paper is entitled: “Professionalism, Autonomy , and the Right of Conscience: A Call for Balance.” He begins by contrasting modern oaths taken by today's aspiring physicians to the ancient Oath of Hippocrates from 400 BCE. He notes that the main difference is the modern notion of autonomy, missing from the original Oath but so important to the ethics of modern medical practice. He suggests, however, that while allowing patients to make their own decisions is clearly a key value, some of the key tenets of medical professionalism may get lost in the process. As a corrective, Sullivan recommends a renewed emphasis on virtue ethics, which originated with another ancient Greek source, Aristotle . With this background, Sullivan introduces the theme of this issue that of healthcare conscience rights. The Trump Administration has opened a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division (under Health and Human Services), with new rules to allow clinicians with religious or moral objections to opt out of providing certain medical services. Navigating all of this may be difficult, however, for such accommodations are not unlimited. Conscience rights should be respected and protected by law, but patients have a right to legal treatments, and may not be abandoned by the healthcare system. Are some patients denied care as a result of conscience claims, or are they simply inconvenienced? After previewing the six papers on rights of conscience, Sullivan concludes with an appeal to professionalism that embodies the spirit of Hippocrates, but with a renewed sense of compassion and dedication to the well-being of every patient.
The Phenomenological Legacy: Speaking Subjects

The dominant structuralist and post-structuralist legacy of the Course in General Linguistics imposed an understanding of Saussure’s linguistics as a chiefly system-based approach where speech is a secondary and derivate fact. If language operates as a relatively autonomous system of rules and relations, we can dispense with invoking the daily activity of expression and communication. Language is primarily an object that does not need speaking subjects. This concluding chapter tracks an alternative legacy of Saussure’s linguistics in contemporary philosophy that agrees with his stated emphasis on speech practice and language change. This interpretation is found in Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology. Specifically, Merleau-Ponty’s interpretation of the Course as a “synchronic linguistics of speech” is congruent with Saussure’s definition of language as a phenomenon contingent on the activity of speaking subjects in the Nachlass. Ultimately, subject- and structure-based approaches to cultural signification can be integrated, and the perceived antagonism between phenomenology and structuralism (and post-structuralism) softened.
Impact of CD138 Magnetic Bead-based Positive Selection on Bone Marrow Plasma Cell Surface Markers

Abstract Background Isolation of malignant plasma cells from bone marrow of patients with monoclonal gammopathies is critical for studies into the disease biology. The plasma cells are typically isolated by positive selection using plasma cell markers such as CD138. Here we have examined the effect of CD138 magnetic bead selection on the expression of other surface phenotypic markers on plasma cells. Materials and Methods Bone marrow aspirates from 16 patients were split and prepared using 2 methods before staining for flow cytometric evaluation. The first method (whole bone marrow) used an ammonium-chloride-potassium lyse of whole bone marrow followed by 2 phosphate buffered saline washes. The second method used CD138-positive magnetic sorting technology (Stem Cell Technology). The cells were run on the FACSCanto flow cytometer after staining for CD38, CD45, CD56, activation markers CD71, CD69, CD154, adhesion markers CD49d, CD49e, CD11a, CD11b, and CD66, B cell markers CD19 and CD20, and for clonality. Results There was a substantial loss in the expression of CD71, CD11b, CD11a, CD69, and CD49e on plasma cells following CD138-based sorting. Moreover, in 8 of the 16 cases, there was a nearly complete loss of the CD45-positive subset with a loss of discrimination between CD45-negative and CD45-positive plasma cell subsets in the remaining CD138-sorted preparations. Conclusions The change in immunophenotype of the plasma cells on magnetic sorting should be kept in mind when isolating plasma cells using CD138-positive selection for analysis of plasma cells. The technique for characterizing plasma cells should be selected based on the study design to prevent loss of crucial and valuable information.
Emotional Responses to Seductive Scientific Texts During Online and Offline Reading Tasks

Highly interesting but unimportant seductive details are commonly added to scientific texts, harming reader comprehension and memory for important content while also potentially evoking a strong em...
Rapid, green synthesis of high performance viscosifiers via a photoiniferter approach for water-based drilling fluids

Generation of high-performance materials under benign conditions is very much needed in the efforts to reduce carbon footprint of oil and gas explorations. Developing high performance novel additives for drilling operations that help reduce material consumption, and inevitably carbon consumption, through improved tolerance to harsh and extreme environmental conditions is an area that has been gaining momentum. Viscosifiers play a crucial role in water-based drilling fluid as they help in suspending and transporting formation cuttings during drilling operations. Natural viscosifiers such as xanthan gum are cost effective options, but they do not perform well at temperatures above 100°C due to thermal degradation. Linear synthetic polymers, such as partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (PHPA) and modified starches, provide higher thermal stability, but they are unable to resist shear degradation due to mechanical stress. Therefore, more effective viscosifiers that are able to provide thermal stability for high temperature, high pressure (HTHP) drilling while providing high mechanical stability during high shear rate and high flow velocity are very much needed. This study provides a green, sustainable approach for designing such novel viscosifiers. In this study, a photoiniferter approach was employed to synthesize ultra-high molecular weight polymers (UHMW) linear block copolymers and UHMW branched block copolymer microgel viscosifiers in a short duration (~1 hour) under aqueous conditions by using mild UV irradiation. These viscosifiers required no additional purification as monomers (~99%) were completely consumed at the end of the reaction. The UHMW branched block copolymer microgels were found to be excellent viscosifiers for HTHP drilling as they provided superior viscosification, higher mechanical and thermal stability, and greater shale inhibition capabilities over commercial PHPA viscosifier and linear UHMW block copolymers.
Invariance, Limit Sets, and Stability

The main concerns of this chapter are two-fold. Firstly, where do positive motions go as t → ∞, and secondly, what can we say about the behavior of the resulting limiting orbits?
GENERALIZED LYMPHADENOPATHY AND HEPATOSPLENOMEGALY INDUCED BY DIPHENYLHYDANTOIN

A 6-year-old child developed generalized lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly 2 weeks after diphenylhydantoin therapy was begun. The patient recovered 4 weeks after discontinuance of the drug therapy. There was eosinophilia in blood and in bone marrow, and a lymph node biopsy specimen showed reticulum and lymphoid hyperplasia.
When do Experts Cheat and Whom do They Target

A credence good is a product or service whose usefulness or necessity is better known to the seller than to the buyer. This information asymmetry often persists even after the credence good is consumed. I propose two new theories of expert cheating, suggesting that identifiable heterogeneities among customers can cause expert sellers to defraud their customers. According to these theories, cheating arises as a substitute for price discrimination, and experts cheat selectively. For instance, experts target high-valuation and high-cost customers. Finally, selective cheating may damage the communication of useful information from customers to experts and result in inferior services.
An Approach to the Semi-Automatic Generation of Mediator Specifications

Mediator architectures have become popular for systems that aim at providing transparent access to heterogeneous information sources. Similar to a view on a database, a mediator answers queries posed against the common domain schema by executing one or more queries against its underlying information sources and mapping the results back into the common schema. The mapping is usually specified declaratively by a set of rules, where the rule heads define queries against a common domain schema and the rule bodies define their implementations in terms of queries against one or more source schemas. In this paper a mechanism is presented that supports finding these mappings, a task that requires a fair amount of knowledge about the underlying schemas and that involves a lot of effort, thus becoming a major obstacle to scalability.
Quantification of cytosolic plasmid DNA degradation using high-throughput sequencing: implications for gene delivery.

Background Although cytosolic DNA degradation plays an important role in decreasing transgene expression, the plasmid degradation pattern remains largely unexplored. Methods Illumina dye sequencing was employed to provide degradation site information for S1 and cytosolic nucleases. S1 nuclease provided a positive control for a comparison between the agarose gel method and sequencing approaches. Results The poly(A) region between the β-lactamase gene and the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter was identified as the most likely cut site for polyplex-treated cytosol. The second most likely site, at the 5' end of the β-lactamase gene, was identified by gel electrophoresis and sequencing. Additional sites were detected in the OriC region, the SV40/poly(A) region, the luciferase gene and the CMV promoter. Sequence analysis of plasmid treated with cytosol from control cells showed the greatest cut activity in the OriC region, the β-lactamase gene and the poly(A) region following the luciferase gene. Additional regions of cut activity include the SV40 promoter and the β-lactamase poly(A) termination sequence. Both cytosolic nucleases and the S1 nuclease showed substantial activity at the bacterial origin of replication (OriC). Conclusions High-throughput plasmid sequencing revealed regions of the luciferase plasmid DNA sequence that are sensitive to cytosolic nuclease degradation. This provides new targets for improving plasmid and/or polymer design to optimize the likelihood of protein expression. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
How users read and comprehend privacy policies

This study examined participants' comprehension of Web privacy policies when the information from the policy had to be recalled from memory or when participants were able to view the policy while searching for the answers to specific questions. Eye-gaze data were analyzed to examine where users focus their attention when reading privacy policies and searching for information in them. Overall, participants showed poor comprehension of the information conveyed in the privacy policies even though they were written at the participants' level of education. When searching for information in the privacy policies, participants relied on the listing of individual sections provided at the beginning of a privacy policy, when available. When the listing of sections was not available, participants skimmed the entire policy, examining the headings and first few words of each paragraph to determine whether the sections or paragraphs were likely to contain the information for which they were searching.
Spinal interneurons and forelimb plasticity after incomplete cervical spinal cord injury in adult rats.

Abstract Cervical spinal cord injury (cSCI) disrupts bulbospinal projections to motoneurons controlling the upper limbs, resulting in significant functional impairments. Ongoing clinical and experimental research has revealed several lines of evidence for functional neuroplasticity and recovery of upper extremity function after SCI. The underlying neural substrates, however, have not been thoroughly characterized. The goals of the present study were to map the intraspinal motor circuitry associated with a defined upper extremity muscle, and evaluate chronic changes in the distribution of this circuit following incomplete cSCI. Injured animals received a high cervical (C2) lateral hemisection (Hx), which compromises supraspinal input to ipsilateral spinal motoneurons controlling the upper extremities (forelimb) in the adult rat. A battery of behavioral tests was used to characterize the time course and extent of forelimb motor recovery over a 16 week period post-injury. A retrograde transneuronal tracer – ...
Do high-status people really have fewer children? : Education, income, and fertility in the contemporary U.S.

Evolutionary discussions regarding the relationship between social status and fertility in the contemporary U.S. typically claim that the relationship is either negative or absent entirely. The published data on recent generations of Americans upon which such statements rest, however, are solid with respect to women but sparse and equivocal for men. In the current study, we investigate education and income in relation to age at first child, childlessness, and number of children for men and women in two samples—one of the general American population and one of graduates of an elite American university. We find that increased education is strongly associated with delayed childbearing in both sexes and is also moderately associated with decreased completed or near-completed fertility. Women in the general population with higher adult income have fewer children, but this relationship does not hold within all educational groups, including our sample with elite educations. Higher-income men, however, do not have fewer children in the general population and in fact have lower childlessness rates. Further, higher income in men is positively associated with fertility among our sample with elite educations as well as within the general population among those with college educations. Such findings undermine simple statements on the relationship between status and fertility.
Vichy law and the Holocaust in France

Leon Blum, the "Stranger" at Riom - legalized ostracism and Vichy's political trial the basic scheme of ostracism the special treatment of Jewish legal professionals Barthelemy - a Catholic pre-war liberal is called to Vichy the fight to control the legal fate of Jews - administrators versus magistrates outnaziing the masters property law the professional lives of private lawyers reforming the courts, reforming - denationalization, special sections et al academic discourse under Vichy - xenophobia and the Talmudic outsider.
The Weinstein conjecture and theorems of nearby and almost existence

The Weinstein conjecture, as the general existence problem for periodic orbits of Hamiltonian or Reeb flows, has been among the central questions in symplectic topology for over two decades and its investigation has led to understanding some fundamental properties of Hamiltonian flows.
Advances in the Theory of Single-Molecule Force Spectroscopy: Bond Potentials and Mobilities

In biological systems, conventional concepts of affinity and standard kinetic constants have been shown to be insufficient. For example, so-called catch bonds increase bond lifetimes with increasing force, like a Chinese finger trap. These type of bonds allow cells to regulate their integrin-mediated adhesions, an effect that can only be revealed by direct force application. For roughly two decades, measuring the forces required to pull single-molecule bonds apart has been used to reveal information about the binding-energy landscape of said molecules.
Meta-Level Control of Approximate Reasoning: A Decision Theoretic Approach

This paper describes a novel methodology for meta-level control of approximate reasoning. We show that approximate reasoning performed by anytime algorithms offers a simple means by which an intelligent system can trade-off decision quality for deliberation cost. The model exploits probabilistic knowledge about the environment and about the performance of each component in order to optimally manage computational resources. An off-line knowledge compilation technique and a run-time monitoring process guarantee that the system's performance is maximized. The paper concludes with a summary of two applications.
Rupture of the Urinary Bladder in the Foal

The normal muscular anatomy of the urinary bladder of the horse is reviewed. The basic pattern is an outer longitudinal and inner circular layer of smooth muscle, except on the dorsal surface where...
A Free Reading Program in the Foreign Languages

Author's summary.— Free reading should be encouraged, time should be allotted for it out of assigned periods, and consultation with students should help reach agreement as to amount, quality and type.
Examples of a non-vanishing conjecture of Kawamata

Let M be a compact complex manifold with a positive holomorphic line bundle L, and K be its canonical line bundle. We give some sufficient conditions for the non-vanishing of H0(M, K + L). We also show that the criterion can be applied to interesting classes of examples including all compact locally hermitian symmetric spaces of non-compact type, Mostow–Siu [10] surfaces, Kahler threefolds given by Deraux [3] and examples of Zheng [17].
Preschool teachers’ classroom behavioral socialization practices and low-income children's self-regulation skills

Abstract The present study examined associations between teachers’ classroom behavioral socialization practices and the development of preschoolers’ self-regulation skills throughout the year, as well as the moderating roles of child gender and initial self-regulation skills. The predominantly low-income sample consisted of 216 children from 68 preschool classrooms within 29 private child care centers. Findings suggest that teachers devoted very little time to whole-group classroom behavioral socialization practices. Hierarchical linear models revealed that classroom behavioral socialization time negatively predicted both spring self-regulation scores (lagged dependent variable models) and change in children's self-regulation scores from fall to spring (change score models). These patterns remained even after controlling for a variety of child, family, teacher, and classroom characteristics. Cross-level interactions indicated that the negative association between behavioral socialization time and change in self-regulation was stronger for girls than for boys. Preschoolers’ initial self-regulation in the fall did not moderate the association between behavioral socialization time and self-regulation in either model. Implications for practice are discussed.
Disagreeing with the (religious) skeptic

Some philosophers believe that, when epistemic peers disagree, each has an obligation to accord the other’s assessment equal weight as her own. Other philosophers worry that this Equal-Weight View is vulnerable to straightforward counterexamples, and that it requires an unacceptable degree of spinelessness with respect to our most treasured philosophical, political, and religious beliefs. I think that both of these allegations are false. To show this, I carefully state the Equal-Weight View, motivate it, describe apparent counterexamples to it, and then explain away the apparent counterexamples. Finally, I adapt those explanations to cases of religious disagreement. In the end, we reach the surprising conclusion that—even if the Equal-Weight View is true—in very many cases of religious disagreement between apparent epistemic peers, the parties to the disagreement need not be conciliatory. And what goes for religious beliefs goes for political and philosophical beliefs as well. This strongly suggests that the View does not demand an unacceptable degree of spinelessness.