cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Agricultural price transmission: China relationships with world commodity markets

Abstract This paper explores the transmission of the international prices agricultural commodities to the domestic Chinese market over a period of time when China was both opening up to world markets and constantly adjusting it agricultural policies in response to changing world market conditions. An ECM model is estimated which distinguishes between short and long run transmission and enables account for the impact that past price variability has on the transmission of prices. The model specification also allows us to test whether China can influence world commodity prices and to distinguish between the transmission of expected and unexpected price changes to China. We find significant differences in transmission across commodities, with Chinese soybeans and soymeal and chicken price being the most integrated with world prices and rice being the least integrated. We also find that short run transmission of prices are much lower than long run price transmissions, suggesting that stabilization policies may delay--but not eliminate—transmission of price shocks for many commodities.
High electromechanical coupling piezoelectric micro-machined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) elements for medical imaging

This paper presents a multi-cell lead zirconate titanate (PZT) pMUT element geometrically optimized for high effective electromechanical coupling (ke ff 2) and acoustic power and manufactured via a commercially viable, array compatible and wafer-scale process. A top-down fabrication approach facilitates achievement of a high fill factor (≈1250 transducers/mm2) multi-cell element array, and more substantially, results in a frequency based k eff 2 measurement of 9±1.4% per element, a nearly two fold improvement over the previous state-of-the-art.
Determination of Total Mercury in Fish Tissues using Combustion Atomic Absorption Spectrometry with Gold Amalgamation

A simple and rapid procedure for measuring total mercury in fish tissues is evaluated and compared with conventional techniques. Using an automated instrument incorporating combustion, preconcentration by amalgamation with gold, and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), milligram quantities of wet fish tissue were analyzed directly for mercury (i.e., without acid digestion). Seven tissue types (skeletal muscle, liver, blood, gonad, brain, gill, and heart) from five species (340 fish) were analyzed. Because of the small quantities of tissue needed for analysis, we document the homogeneity of mercury within the tissues and determine a preferred sampling technique and location for skeletal muscle. The precision was found to be generally 0.05) results. Because the combustion-AAS method is faster than conventional CV-AAS and produces no waste reagents, it should be particularly useful for laboratories that analyze large numbers of fish for mercury. The method detection limit for fish-muscle homogenate was estimated at 0.9 ng g −1 .
NMR in 3He Monolayers Adsorbed on Graphite below 4.2°K

We have performed pulsed NMR experiments on 3He monolayers adsorbed on Grafoilf † pyrolytic graphite at temperatures between 4.2 and 0.3°K.
Design of a novel integrated motor-compressor machine with GaN-based inverters

The objective of this paper is to analyze a novel high-speed integrated motor-compressor drive system and investigate the opportunities by using gallium nitride (GaN)-based inverters. The proposed integrated motor-compressor is a combination of electric machine and axial-flow compressor by shaping the rotor pole of the electric machine into airfoils. Hence, the proposed integrated motor-compressor can provide electromagnetic torque and compression function at the same time. As the integrated machine needs to rotate at high speed to achieve high compression ratio, the challenges of high fundamental frequency are addressed. By leveraging GaN-based inverters, the current harmonics distortion is reduced, and high efficiency is maintained at the high-speed operating condition. In this design, a GaN-based inverter is proposed for driving an integrated motor-compressor rotating at 35000 rpm. The electromagnetic performance of the proposed integrated machine is investigated by analytical equations and finite element analysis (FEA). The characteristic parameters, current total harmonic distortion, and the efficiency of the GaN-based inverter are compared with the Si-based inverter.
Service outsourcing: The home, the host and the provider

Although offshoring service providers have grown meteorically in the last two decades, the phenomenon is still primarily analyzed through the lens of a home country and its firms. This paper presents a framework for explaining some of the stylized facts of the offshore service provider industry. The model characterizes the service choice of offshore service providers under alternative skill distribution and also explains why complex service providers employ more skilled workers, pay higher wages, and have a lower scale of provision. Finally, it sheds light on the relationship between partnering country sizes and wage inequality.
Security Audit Based on Dynamic ACCESS CONTROL

The paper proposed a design of security audit based on dynamic access control, which periodically generated rules by mining latest log and applied rules to the packet filtering. Based on matching the content of packet with rules to measure network behavior security, this design generated different mechanism of security access control. Comparing to existing systems which made constant rules to respond to mutative filtering, this design had great applicability and flexibility.
Automated written corrective feedback: how well can students make use of it?

Automated written corrective feedback (AWCF) has qualities that distinguish it from teacher-provided WCF and potentially undermine claims about its value for L2 student writers, including dispariti...
Action history influences eye movements

ABSTRACTRecent research has revealed that simple actions can have a profound effect on subsequent perception – people are faster to find a target that shares features with a previously acted on object even when those features are irrelevant to their task (the action effect). However, the majority of the evidence for this interaction between action and perception has come from manual response data. Therefore, it is unknown whether action affects early visual search processes, if it modulates post-attentional-selection processes, or both. To investigate this, we tracked participants’ spontaneous eye movements as they performed an action effect task. In two experiments we found that participants looked more quickly to the colour of an object they had previously acted on, compared to if they had viewed but not acted on the object, showing that action influenced early visual search processes. Additionally, there was evidence for post-selection effects as well. The results suggest that prior action affects both...
Beyond Double Movement and Re-regulation: Polanyi, the Organized Denial of Money Politics, and the Promise of Democratization:

Although Karl Polanyi is best known for his theorization of market regulation and the double movement, democratizing the economic was one of his core concerns. He believed societies need to bring l...
Virtual-Reality Videos to Relieve Depression

Depression is a serious public health concern. The problem is further exacerbated due to social stigma and stereotypical attitudes. Thus, many people with depression keep the suffering to themselves and avoid seeking professional psychological help. Virtual reality applications offer a way to provide a virtual counseling experience without being stigmatized. In this study, we produced 360-degree virtual reality videos in which a person is shown sharing stories about his experience of living with depression. The participants (n = 12), with mild and moderate levels of depression, were invited in the lab and watched the 360-degree videos using Oculus Rift. After each video, participants were asked to say-out-loud their personal experiences about living with depression. We hypothesize that such private and confidential experience of talking about one’s illness will help the users to express their feelings without the fear of being stigmatized. Results show that participants expressed more positive emotions, compared with negative emotions, after watching the 360-degree videos. Participants also expressed high positive attitude toward help seeking behavior. However, the study did not find an above average behavioral intention to seek help. Qualitative data gathered from the thought-listing exercise provides further insights about the effectiveness of virtual reality videos to promote help seeking behavior among depressed individuals. The study offers implications for improving mental health help-seeking, specifically on college campuses.
Tiny Graves: Mortality, Health, and Personhood in the Early Stages of Life

In recent years, the discipline of anthropology has neglected the long-standing “othering” of children and infants that found its way in past ethnographies. This recent development in the field has resulted in more inclusive and well-rounded ethnographic research and also the culmination of new theoretical questions, including that of the beginnings of personhood. This article explores personhood as it relates to one of the most precarious stages of life, most commonly referred to as the period of “infancy”, using examples from the fields of both philosophy and anthropology. More specifically, it seeks to expand on the cultural practices, ethics, and biological aspects that influence the onset of personhood and the concept of “self” in society.
Improved real-time MRI of oral-velar coordination using a golden-ratio spiral view order.

In speech research using real-time magnetic resonance imaging (RT-MRI), frame reconstruction is typically performed with a constant temporal resolution. However, a flexible selection of temporal resolution is desirable because of natural variations in speaking rate and variations in the speed of different articulators. In this work, a novel spiral golden-ratio temporal view order was applied to nasal RTMRI studies in imaging a mid-sagittal slice of the upper airway. Compared to conventional spiral bit-reversed temporal view order scheme, the proposed golden-ratio scheme provides less temporal blurring in the depiction of rapid tongue tip motion with a selection of high temporal resolution. It also provides higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the depiction of relatively slow velar motion with a selection of low temporal resolution.
Assessing the Carrying Capacity of the Florida Keys

In 1996, the State of Florida mandated a study of the Florida Keys, the most populated portion of Monroe County, explicitly calling for a carrying capacity analysis to function as a basis for determining building permit allocation in the future. The Florida Keys Carrying Capacity Study, conducted by the State of Florida and the US Army Corps of Engineers, has encountered challenges in trying to convert the vague carrying capacity concept into a functional, quantitative method. Difficulties in responding to external peer review advice suggests that institutional constraints are hindering re-direction of the study.
Kinetics of antibody response to influenza vaccination in renal transplant recipients

Annual vaccination is routinely used in organ transplant recipients for immunization against seasonal influenza. However, detailed analysis of the kinetics of vaccine-induced immune responses in this population is lacking. In this study, we investigated the kinetics of vaccine strains-specific antibody responses to trivalent influenza vaccine in a group of renal transplant recipients and a control group. First, we found that the geometric mean hemagglutination inhibition titer against all 3 vaccine strains in the transplant cohort was significantly low when compared to control subjects. Next, whereas the control group sera showed significantly higher HA-specific IgG and isotype IgG1 antibodies at all four time points, a similar increase in the transplant group was delayed until day 28. Interestingly, within the transplant group, subjects receiving belatacept/MMF/prednisone-based regimen had significantly lower levels of total IgG and HA-specific IgG when compared to tacrolimus/MMF/prednisone-based regimen. Even though IgG-ASC response in both cohorts peaked at day 7 post-vaccination, the frequency of IgG-ASC was significantly low in the transplant group. Taken together, our studies show delayed kinetics and lower levels of influenza vaccine-specific antibody responses in renal transplant recipients and, more importantly, indicate the need to probe and improve current vaccination strategies in renal transplant recipients.
Trade-offs constrain the evolution of an inducible defense within but not between plant species

Inducible defense is a common form of phenotypic plasticity, and inducibility (change in defense after herbivore attack) has long been predicted to trade off with constitutive (or baseline) defense to manage resource allocation. Although such trade-offs likely constrain evolution within species, the extent to which they influence divergence among species is unresolved. We studied cardenolide toxins among genetic families in eight North American Asclepias species, spanning the full range of defense in the genus. Using common environment experiments and chemical assays, we report a consistent trade-off (negative genetic correlation) between concentrations of constitutive cardenolides and their inducibility within each species. However, no trade-off was found in a phylogenetic analysis across species. To investigate factors driving differences in defense allocation among species we used latitude as a proxy for growing season and herbivore pressure and found that divergence into lower latitudes resulted in evolution of higher cardenolides overall. Next we used an enzymatic assay of the cellular target of cardenolides (sodium-potassium ATPase) and confirm that higher cardenolides resulted in stronger toxicity to a sensitive species, but not to specialized monarch butterflies. Thus, plant speciation into biogeographic regions with alternative resources or pest pressure resulted in the macroevolution of cardenolide defense, especially against unspecialized herbivores. Nonetheless, trade-offs persist in the extent to which this defense is allocated constitutively or is inducible among genotypes within each species.
CytoConverter: a web-based tool to convert karyotypes to genomic coordinates.

Cytogenetic nomenclature is used to describe chromosomal aberrations (or lack thereof) in a collection of cells, referred to as the cells’ karyotype. The nomenclature identifies locations on chromosomes using a system of cytogenetic bands, each with a unique name and region on a chromosome. Each band is microscopically visible after staining, and encompasses a large portion of the chromosome. More modern analyses employ genomic coordinates, which precisely specify a chromosomal location according to its distance from the end of the chromosome. Currently, there is no tool to convert cytogenetic nomenclature into genomic coordinates. Since locations of genes and other genomic features are usually specified by genomic coordinates, a conversion tool will facilitate the identification of the features that are harbored in the regions of chromosomal gain and loss that are implied by a karyotype. Our tool, termed CytoConverter, takes as input either a single karyotype or a file consisting of multiple karyotypes from several individuals. All net chromosomal gains and losses implied by the karyotype are returned in standard genomic coordinates, along with the numbers of cells harboring each aberration if included in the input. CytoConverter also returns graphical output detailing areas of gains and losses of chromosomes and chromosomal segments. CytoConverter is available as a web-based application at https://jxw773.shinyapps.io/Cytogenetic__software/ and as an R script at https://sourceforge.net/projects/cytoconverter/ . Supplemental Material detailing the underlying algorithms is available.
Evaluation of the impact of calorie labeling on McDonald’s restaurant menus: a natural experiment

The long-term effect of calorie labeling on fast-food purchases is unclear. McDonald’s voluntarily labeled its menus with calories in 2012, providing an opportunity to evaluate this initiative on purchases. From 2010 to 2014, we collected receipts from and administered questionnaires to 2971 adults, 2164 adolescents, and 447 parents/guardians of school-age children during repeated visits to 82 restaurants, including McDonald’s and five control chains that did not label menus over the study period in four New England cities. In 2018, we analyzed the data by using difference-in-differences analyses to estimate associations of calorie labeling with calories purchased (actual and estimated) and predicted probability of noticing calorie information on menus. Calorie labeling at McDonald’s was not associated with changes in calories purchased in adults (change = − 19 cal pre- vs. post-labeling at McDonald’s compared to control chains, 95% CI: − 112, 75), adolescents (change = − 49 cal, 95% CI: − 136, 38), or children (change = 13 cal, 95% CI: − 108, 135). Calorie labeling generally increased the predicted probability of noticing calorie information, but did not improve estimation of calories purchased. Calorie labeling at McDonald’s was not associated with changes in calories purchased in adults, adolescents, or children. Although participants were more likely to notice calories on menus post-labeling, there was no improvement in ability to accurately estimate calories purchased.
Hacksaw: biometric-free non-stop web authentication in an emerging world of wearables

The currently deployed web authentication model, involving only entry-point authentication of users, does not do anything to protect against account takeover attacks. Once the attacker has compromised the entry-point authentication method, such as by learning a user's password or even two-factor authentication credentials via widely exploited mechanisms such as phishing and password database breaches, or has hijacked a login session, he can fully access and abuse the user's account and associated services. To respond to this critical vulnerability, we introduce the notion of non-stop post-entry authentication, to be integrated with any entry-point authentication method, using which the web service can proactively authenticate the user throughout the login session invisibly in the background without explicit user involvement and without the need for storing user-specific templates (like in biometric systems) thereby preserving user privacy. We design a transparent and privacy-preserving non-stop authentication system, called Hacksaw, using a wrist-worn personal wearable device that authenticates the user continually by correlating the input events on the website (e.g., keyboard and mouse activities) with the user's corresponding hand movements captured via the device's motion sensors. Specifically, at its core, Hacksaw's correlation algorithm computes the cosine similarity of the hand gesture with the stored generic (i.e., non user-specific) templates of input gestures. We build an instance of Hacksaw's implementation on an Android smartwatch as the wearable and desktops/laptops as the client terminals, and comprehensively evaluate it under benign and adversarial settings. Our results suggest that Hacksaw can keep the legitimate users logged into their accounts for long durations, while promptly detecting or automatically deauthenticating remote and proximity attackers attempting to take over the users' account following the compromise of the initial login credentials or hijacking of the login session. Given that wrist-worn wearable devices are already increasingly used in many domains of daily lives (including security applications), we believe that Hacksaw can be incorporated to the current web authentication model, especially to sensitive web services such as banking or e-commerce, to significantly improve its security against online fraud, without additional effort from the users and without degrading user privacy.
Ridge Regression Revisited: Debiasing, Thresholding and Bootstrap.

The success of the Lasso in the era of high-dimensional data can be attributed to its conducting an implicit model selection, i.e., zeroing out regression coefficients that are not significant. By contrast, classical ridge regression can not reveal a potential sparsity of parameters, and may also introduce a large bias under the high-dimensional setting. Nevertheless, recent work on the Lasso involves debiasing and thresholding, the latter in order to further enhance the model selection. As a consequence, ridge regression may be worth another look since -- after debiasing and thresholding -- it may offer some advantages over the Lasso, e.g., it can be easily computed using a closed-form expression. % and it has similar performance to threshold Lasso. In this paper, we define a debiased and thresholded ridge regression method, and prove a consistency result and a Gaussian approximation theorem. We further introduce a wild bootstrap algorithm to construct confidence regions and perform hypothesis testing for a linear combination of parameters. In addition to estimation, we consider the problem of prediction, and present a novel, hybrid bootstrap algorithm tailored for prediction intervals. Extensive numerical simulations further show that the debiased and thresholded ridge regression has favorable finite sample performance and may be preferable in some settings.
Culex pipiens and Culex restuans egg rafts harbor diverse bacterial communities compared to their midgut tissues

The bacterial communities associated with mosquito eggs are an essential component of the mosquito microbiota, yet there are few studies characterizing and comparing the microbiota of mosquito eggs to other host tissues. We sampled gravid female Culex pipiens L. and Culex restuans Theobald from the field, allowed them to oviposit in the laboratory, and characterized the bacterial communities associated with their egg rafts and midguts for comparison through MiSeq sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Bacterial richness was higher in egg rafts than in midguts for both species, and higher in Cx pipiens than Cx. restuans. The midgut samples of Cx. pipiens and Cx. restuans were dominated by Providencia. Culex pipiens and Cx. restuans egg rafts samples were dominated by Ralstonia and Novosphingobium, respectively. NMDS ordination based on Bray-Curtis distance matrix revealed that egg-raft samples, or midgut tissues harbored similar bacterial communities regardless of the mosquito species. Within each mosquito species, there was a distinct clustering of bacterial communities between egg raft and midgut tissues. These findings expand the list of described bacterial communities associated with Cx. pipiens and Cx. restuans and the additional characterization of the egg raft bacterial communities facilitates comparative analysis of mosquito host tissues, providing a basis for future studies seeking to understand any functional role of the bacterial communities in mosquito biology.
Overcoming Barriers for Clinical Research of Acupuncture

Acupuncture is increasingly being used in the management of a wide range of symptoms. Despite decades of acupuncture research, a significant gap remains in translating evidence into specific and clear clinical guidelines for acupuncture practice. In this article, the authors discuss the gap between acupuncture research and clinical practice and exploring options to overcome the limitations of current clinical research of acupuncture.
The Iowa Resistance to Sleeplessness Test (iREST).

Abstract Introduction Despite considerable individual differences in the vulnerability vs resistance to effects of sleep loss, there is no practical self-report tool to predict these differences across domains and only limited evidence whether they are general or domain-specific. To address this need, we developed the Iowa Resistance to Sleeplessness Test (iREST). Methods A construct-validation approach was employed. During the substantive phase, self-report items were generated to capture vulnerability vs resistance to sleep loss across various psycho-behavioral domains. During the structural phase, analyses identified the underlying factor structure and examined reliability of individual scale scores. Finally, the external phase used convergent and discriminant analyses to evaluate the factors in light of related sleep and personality measures, and tested criterion validity of the scale scores in predicting neurocognitive and affective responses to experimental sleep restriction (Total N = 1018). Results Analyses yielded discriminant and reliable scale scores that reflected resistance across cognitive, affective, and somatic responses, while also marking a general resistance factor. Convergent and discriminant probes revealed moderate associations of scale scores with daytime sleepiness and sleep-related distress, but small to negligible associations with other measures of sleep behavior, perceptions, and personality. Critically, criterion analyses yielded validity evidence for predicting cognitive and affective impairments in response to experimental sleep loss. Conclusion Scores on the iREST show validity in capturing cognitive and affective resistance to moderate sleep loss among young adults, supporting its further exploration as a practical tool for predicting behavior due to lost sleep.
Unveiling stimulation fluid-driven alterations in shale pore architecture through combined interpretation of TD-NMR and multi-component gas adsorption

Abstract The hydraulic fracturing stimulation process can alter petrophysical and flow properties of the shale matrix in unconventional reservoirs. These alterations can result from interactions with native and exogenous fluids, and can be detrimental to reservoir productivity. Different experimental procedures have been proposed to study reactive processes and thereby understand the aforementioned interactions. Most published works do not consider the rock initial saturation with formation fluid, or the effect of organic matter (OM). To gain insights into these effects, two reactive experimental sets, differing in experimental conditions, were conducted. In the first set, at 125 °C and 45 MPa, a stimulation fluid surrogate was put in contact with Baxter Shale samples, previously saturated and equilibrated with synthetic formation fluid. A baseline consisted of exposure to formation fluid exclusively. In the second set, at 0.08 MPa and 25 °C, contact with stimulation fluid took place as in the first set. Two additional assays in this second set either skipped the initial formation fluid saturation or removed the OM, respectively. Petrophysical properties analyses, focused on the pore architecture, relied on the combined interpretation of gas adsorption and Time-Domain Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (TD-NMR). Results show that the presence of the formation fluid significantly restricts pore space accessibility to the stimulation fluid and mitigates the pore-architecture alteration to the macro-pore region. Mineral dissolution and precipitation dominate over surface or wettability alteration. Next, results suggest that the OM restricts accessibility to some pores. Ultimately, the equilibration process with synthetic formation fluid drives mainly surface alteration, unhindered by OM.
Particle transport constraints via Bayesian spectral fitting of multiple atomic lines

Optimized operation of fusion devices demands detailed understanding of plasma transport, a problem that must be addressed with advances in both measurement and data analysis techniques. In this work, we adopt Bayesian inference methods to determine experimental particle transport, leveraging opportunities from high-resolution He-like ion spectra in a tokamak plasma. The Bayesian spectral fitting code is used to analyze resonance (w), forbidden (z), intercombination (x, y), and satellite (k, j) lines of He-like Ca following laser blow-off injections on Alcator C-Mod. This offers powerful transport constraints since these lines depend differently on electron temperature and density, but also differ in their relation to Li-like, He-like, and H-like ion densities, often the dominant Ca charge states over most of the C-Mod plasma radius. Using synthetic diagnostics based on the AURORA package, we demonstrate improved effectiveness of impurity transport inferences when spectroscopic data from a progressively larger number of lines are included.
Crystal structure and physical properties of Ba2Nb3S8I: A new misfit-layered transition-metal dichalcogenide superconductor

Abstract Single crystals of Ba2Nb3S8I have been grown using iodine-vapor transport in fused-quartz tubes. The crystals form as flakes with typical areas of 5–10 mm2 and thicknesses of 5–11 μm. The crystal structure was determined using single-crystal x-ray diffraction with the aid of an APEX II CCD diffractometer. The structure shows trigonal symmetry with space group P31c and lattice parameters a = b = 10.0156(5) A and c = 25.1414(15) A. Compositional analysis via x-ray spectroscopy confirms the presence of iodine. Superlattice reflections are evident in x-ray precession images. Measurements of the electrical resistivity reveal a metallic temperature dependence and superconductivity near 1 K. Polycrystalline samples of Ba2Nb3S8I were made in order to have samples large enough for other bulk physical properties measurements. Magnetic susceptibility reveals antiferromagnetism below 275 K. The coexistence of antiferromagnetism and superconductivity is surprising. Specific heat measurements reveal the electronic coefficient γ = 3.95(66) mJ/mol K2. The jump in the specific heat at the superconducting transition temperature T c ( Δ C / γ T c = 1.4(2)) and the energy gap associated with the superconducting state ( E g = 0.405(17) meV) agree well with BCS theory.
A continental forearc serpentinite diapir with deep origins: Elemental signatures of a mantle wedge protolith and slab-derived fluids at New Idria, California

Abstract The New Idria serpentinite body in central California has been interpreted as a diapir that was hydrated at depth in the forearc mantle wedge by aqueous fluids released from the subducted slab. This interpretation is primarily based on structural relationships and petrographic analyses of high-grade metabasaltic tectonic blocks entrained within the serpentinite. The geochemistry of the New Idria serpentinites is largely unknown other than a few boron isotope analyses that are consistent with slab-derived fluid compositions, but not definitive. In this contribution, we present whole-rock elemental analyses and petrographic examinations of a suite of ten serpentinite samples to constrain the tectonic origin of the New Idria serpentinite body. Major, minor, and trace element relationships reflect the signatures of depleted peridotitic protoliths typically associated with serpentinites from mantle wedge settings. These include high MgO/SiO2 vs. low Al2O3/SiO2, high MgO vs. low TiO2, Cr-rich chromites, and enriched Zr/Nb and Hf/Nb ratios. Unlike in abyssal serpentinites, U is not fluid-mobile and is strongly coupled to Th, with a U-Th relationship that is best explained by melt–rock interaction. Rare earth element fractionation trends are also consistent with melt-rock interaction. Fluid-mobile element (FME) concentrations (Cs, Ba, and Rb) are consistent with a slab-derived signature and are notably enriched, featuring some of the highest Cs and Ba concentrations ever reported in serpentinites. No petrographic or geochemical evidence was found to suggest that these enriched FME signatures resulted from systematic post-serpentinization fluid-rock processes or pre-serpentinization melt-rock interactions. In aggregate, the geochemical signatures of the New Idria serpentinites suggest a highly depleted mantle wedge protolith overprinted by melt-rock interactions and subsequent serpentinization by a slab-derived fluid, consistent with the forearc diapir hypothesis. Although subduction at New Idria ended around 25 Ma, geophysical evidence and simple geodynamic calculations suggest that the timing of the proposed diapiric rise plausibly coincides with the final stages of subduction in central California.
Regulatory T cells promote innate inflammation after skin barrier breach via TGF-β activation

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) use multiple mechanisms to attenuate inflammation and prevent autoimmunity. Tregs residing in peripheral (i.e., nonlymphoid) tissues have specialized functions; specifically, skin Tregs promote wound healing, suppress dermal fibrosis, facilitate epidermal regeneration, and augment hair follicle cycling. Here, we demonstrated that skin Tregs were transcriptionally attuned to interact with their tissue environment through increased expression of integrin and TGF-β pathway genes that influence epithelial cell biology. We identified a molecular pathway where skin Tregs license keratinocytes to promote innate inflammation after skin barrier breach. Using a single-cell discovery approach, we identified preferential expression of the integrin αvβ8 on skin Tregs Upon skin injury, Tregs used this integrin to activate latent TGF-β, which acted directly on epithelial cells to promote CXCL5 production and neutrophil recruitment. Induction of this circuit delayed epidermal regeneration but provided protection from Staphylococcus aureus infection across a compromised barrier. Thus, αvβ8-expressing Tregs in the skin, somewhat paradoxical to their canonical immunosuppressive functions, facilitated inflammation acutely after loss of barrier integrity to promote host defense against infection.
The “thinking meme” meme: Person and organism metaphors in Daniel Dennett’s theory of cultural evolution

Abstract After a brief flurry of attention following its introduction by Dawkins (1976), the concept of memes has largely disappeared from mainstream social and cognitive science discourse. A significant exception is Dennett’s (1995; 2017) writings on the philosophy of mind. In his most recent book, Dennett (2017) develops what he presents as a comprehensive account of cultural evolution, based on the claims that memes, defined as a “way of behaving (roughly) that can be copied, transmitted, remembered, taught…,” develop through evolutionary processes more or less identical to the processes through which biological organisms and their genes evolve, and that both memes and genes are active agents in their own evolution. Although Dennett presents some very interesting ideas about the co-evolution of culture and human brains, he couches his argument in a system of personification, organism, war, and object metaphors that implicitly assign mental activities including intending, competing, and planning to memes. In this paper I analyze Dennett’s metaphors and argue that they effectively distract attention from the psychological and cultural processes that actually determine whether a behavior pattern (i.e. a meme) is learned, remembered, and reproduced (none of which Dennett acknowledges). I then show how the substance of Dennett’s argument can be rephrased in language that avoids the obfuscating effect of his metaphors. In addition to countering a common metaphor-based misconception in evolution theory, this analysis illustrates the importance of close attention to the entailments of conceptual metaphors used as theoretical arguments.
NDE Applications of Radio Wave Emission from Stress and Fracture

It is well-known [1], [2] that when materials are fractured, substantial local electric fields are generated. These fields are capable of accelerating charged particles from the nascent interfaces, giving rise to a class of phenomena known as “exo-emission” or “fracto-emission”. The released “exo-particles”, consisting of electrons, ions, and charged clusters or fragments, can be collected and analyzed directly. Usually, such experiments are performed under conditions of high or ultra-high vacuum. This type of particle emission has been extensively studied previously, most notably by Dickinson and his co-workers [2] — [7]. Except for previous studies of fracturing rock, performed in connection with early-warning detection of earthquakes [8], [9], and the work of Dickinson, little has been done to characterize the radio wave emission that attends material fractures. Furthermore, no previous studies of radio wave emission from the elastically or plastically strained materials have been reported. Early qualitative studies of the visible light and radio wave emission from delaminating layers of adhesively bonded polymers and metals were reported by Derjagun and his co-workers. Emission during deformation suggests itself as a possible method for diagnosing the state of dynamic material strain in situations where contact methods are not feasible or are undesirable. Examples of such potential applications are too numerous to delineate here; they include the detection of high speed particle impacts on spacecraft structures, dynamic test of radioactive, extremely hot or cold structures, and others. We also note that for the elucidation of the detailed mechanism of fracture, radio-wave emission may have advantages over other methods since, unlike acoustic or ultrasonic methods, the speed of propagation of the detected signal is much greater than the speed of the propagating crack-front in the material, so little or no deconvolution is required.
N-Person Cooperative Games

In the previous chapter, we studied cooperative games in which the players could coordinate their strategies but could not share payoffs. In the games considered in this chapter, the players are permitted to cooperate fully. Sets of players (called coalitions) cannot only make binding agreements about joint strategies, but can also agree to pool their individual payoffs and then redistribute the total in a specified way. In order for this latter kind of cooperation to be possible, we must assume that the payoffs are in some transferable quantity, such as money. The number of players is not explicitly restricted to be greater than two, but might as well be—the case of two players turns out either to be trivial or to have been covered in our earlier work.
Vinblastine and microtubules: II. Characterization of two protein subunits from the isolated crystals†

The crystalloid inclusion bodies induced by treatment of sea urchin eggs with the dimeric alkaloid vinblastine sulfate have been isolated and characterized. The crystals contain equimolar amounts of two protein components which are separable on the basis of charge using urea/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis indicates that both components have a molecular weight of 55,000. Amino-acid analyses indicate that the component polypeptide chains are similar but chemically different. On the basis of electrophoretic mobility, molecular weights, amino-acid compositions and drug-binding characteristics, the protein components of the crystals appear to be microtubule subunits. These findings further support the idea that cytoplasmic microtubules are heteropolymers.
A Double Dactyl to You

1. Howard Kirschenbaum, Sidney B. Simon, and Rodney W. Napier, Wad-/a-Get. The Grading Game in American Education. (New York, Hart Publishing Co., Inc., 1971). 2. Arthur D. Roberts, and Robert K. Gable, "The Minicourse: Where the Affective and Cognitive Meet," Phi Delta Kappan, 54, (May 1973): 621-23. 3. J. Lloyd Trump, "On Humanizing Schools," NASSP Bulletin, 54, (February 1972): 9-16. 4. Op. Cit.
A topological characterization of protein structure

We develop an objective characterization of protein structure based entirely on the geometry of its parts. The three-dimensional alpha complex filtration of the protein represented as a union of balls (one per residue) captures all the relevant information about the geometry and topology of the molecule. The neighborhood of a strand of contiguous alpha carbon atoms along the back-bone chain is defined as a “tube” which is a sub-complex of the original complex that has been sub-divided. We then define a retraction for the tube to another complex that is guaranteed to be a 2-manifold with boundary. We capture the topology of the retracted tube by computing the most persistent connected components and holes in the entire filtration. A “motif” for a 3D structure is characterized by the number of persistent 0- and 1-cycles, and the relative persistences of these cycles in the filtration of the “tube” complex. These motifs represent non-random, recurrent, tertiary interactions between parts of the protein back-bone chain that characterize the overall structure of the protein. A basis set of 1300 motifs are identified by analyzing the alpha complex filtrations of several proteins. Any test protein is represented by the number of times each motif from the basis set occurs in it. Preliminary results from the discrimination of protein families using this representation are provided.
Optimal control mechanisms in human arm reaching movements

In this paper, the continuous-time optimal stationary control theory is employed to model the human motor control system in the presence of signal-dependent noise. The control scheme is based on Phillis's earlier work [36], and is simulated and compared with human data. The control model is compatible with some important observations, such as the asymmetry of the velocity profiles and the overshoot phenomenon. The infinite-horizon optimal control model advocated here differs from previous methods in not requiring a priori knowledge of a finite stopping time, but focuses on minimization of the variance in steady state. It is hypothesized that selecting appropriate weighting matrices in the cost function plays a key role in planning arm movement trajectories in the central nervous system, while the stopping time is not necessary to be known in planning movements.
Do too many cooks always spoil the stew? An experimental analysis of rent-seeking and the role of a strategic buyer

Laboratory methods are used to evaluate the effects of institutional arrangements and rent-defending activity on rent-seeking auction outcomes. In part, Nash equilibrium predictions are a useful behavioral guide: As predicted, more rents are dissipated in perfectly-discriminating auctions, where the high-bidder wins, than in lotteries, where relative bids determine the chance of winning. Also as predicted, the introduction of a rent-defending buyer reduces social costs. Nevertheless, the social costs of rent-seeking consistently exceed predicted levels. Moreover, individual bidding, especially by buyers, deviates markedly from Nash predictions.
Information Structure in Discourse: Towards an Integrated Formal Theory of Pragmatics

A framework for pragmatic analysis is proposed which treats discourse as a game, with context as a scoreboard organized around the questions under discussion by the interlocutors. The framework is intended to be coordinated with a dynamic compositional semantics. Accordingly, the context of utterance is modeled as a tuple of different types of information, and the questions therein — modeled, as is usual in formal semantics, as alternative sets of propositions — constrain the felicitous flow of discourse. A requirement of Relevance is satisfied by an utterance (whether an assertion, a question or a suggestion) iff it addresses the question under discussion. Finally, it is argued that the prosodic focus of an utterance canonically serves to reflect the question under discussion (at least in English), placing additional constraints on felicity in context. http://dx.doi.org/10.3765/sp.5.6 BibTeX info
Specific immunotherapy for latex allergy

Reason for withdrawal from publication Protocol withdrawn from Issue 4, 2017 as the authors were unable to complete the review.
Apolipoproteins of HDL can directly mediate binding to the scavenger receptor SR-BI, an HDL receptor that mediates selective lipid uptake.

The class B type I scavenger receptor, SR-BI, binds HDL, mediates selective uptake of HDL cholesteryl esters by cultured cells, and its expression is coordinately regulated with steroidogenesis in several endocrine tissues (adrenal, ovary, testes). SR-BI can also bind LDL and anionic phospholipids, which raised the possibility that HDL apolipoproteins might not participate directly in HDL binding. We have examined the ability of individual human HDL apolipoproteins (apoA-I, apoA-II, and apoC-III) reconstituted into phospholipid/unesterified cholesterol complexes to bind to murine SR-BI (mSR-BI) expressed in stably transfected cultured cells. All three apolipoprotein/phospholipid/unesterified cholesterol complexes specifically associated with mSR-BI expressing cells with high affinity and competed for the binding of HDL, while apolipoprotein-free complexes did not. Furthermore, lipid-free forms of these soluble apolipoproteins also competed for HDL and apolipoprotein/ phospholipid/cholesterol complex association with mSR-BI, but locust high density lipophorin and bovine serum albumin were not effective competitors.Thus, all three of the HDL apolipoproteins (apoA-I, apoA-II, and apoC-III) tested can directly mediate binding to mSR-BI, and this multiligand apolipoprotein receptor may be responsible for at least some of the multilipoprotein and apolipoprotein binding activity previously observed in cells and tissues.
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY SURVEY OF PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGISTS’ PRACTICE PATTERNS FOR THE TREATMENT OF MOOD DISORDERS

Background Optimal successive treatment decisions are not well established after an initial medication nonresponse in major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder. While practice guidelines offer consensus-based expert treatment recommendations, little is known about "real world" pharmacology decision making by practicing psychopharmacologists. Materials and Methods We surveyed via Internet the national membership of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology (ASCP) to study preferred pharmacotherapy strategies and factors that influence medication choices for patients with mood disorders. Results Surveys were returned by 154/752 ASCP members (21%). After nonresponse to a serotonin reuptake inhibitor in major depressive disorder, participants equally favored switching within or across antidepressant classes. After a partial response, adjunctive bupropion was the preferred intervention, followed by changing antidepressant classes. Atypical antipsychotic augmentation was only a fourth-line consideration, even though moderate or marked efficacy was perceived in most instances with olanzapine, aripiprazole, and quetiapine. Respondents favored avoiding antidepressants in bipolar I patients with mixed/cycling features or prior antidepressant-associated mania/hypomania. In rapid cyclers, they advocated antidepressant cessation and preferred the use of atypical antipsychotics and lamotrigine. Conclusions Participating psychopharmacologists treating adults with mood disorders report prescribing medications that largely mirror the evidence base with only a few notable exceptions, in consideration of the characteristics of definable clinical subpopulations.