cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Fibrin Cross-linking Polymer Enhances Clot Formation Similar to Factor Concentrates and Tranexamic Acid in an in Vitro Model of Coagulopathy

Transfusion of blood components and factor concentrates is clinically used to replenish clotting factors and treat coagulopathy after injury when bleeding is severe. Alternatively, direct manipulation of fibrin polymerization via synthetic cross-linking agents may also improve clot formation during coagulopathic conditions as a novel way to treat coagulopathy. We recently developed a synthetic hemostatic polymer, PolySTAT, that promotes clot formation and stabilizes fibrin network structure by cross-linking fibrin monomers. In this study, we used rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM) to monitor the effect of PolySTAT on the mechanical strength of clots during clot formation and breakdown in comparison to replacement clotting factors and antifibrinolytics under conditions of simulated trauma-induced coagulopathy (sTIC). Human recombinant activated Factor VII (rFVIIa) shortened clotting onset time and accelerated clotting rate, while tranexamic acid (TXA) eliminated clot lysis and restored maximal clot firmness.In contrast, fibrinogen and PolySTAT were both able to speed up clot formation, increase maximal firmness, and inhibit clot lysis. Furthermore, PolySTAT acted synergistically with TXA and fibrinogen, enhancing their individual effects on clot formation. Thus, manipulating fibrin clot structure by physical cross-linking with a synthetic polymer has beneficial effects on clot formation and may be a viable transfusion strategy for treatment of coagulopathy.
Modeling phonetic context with non-random forests for speech recognition.

Modern speech recognition systems typically cluster triphone phonetic contexts using decision trees. In this paper we describe a way to build multiple complementary decision trees from the same data, for the purpose of system combination. We do this by jointly building the decision trees using an objective function that has an added entropy term to encourage diversity among the decision trees. After the trees are built, the systems are built in the standard way and the emission probabilities are combined during decoding. Experiments on multiple datasets show gains from the use of multiple trees, at the expense of evaluating multiple models in test time.
Design options for polar-direct-drive targets from alpha heating to ignition

Polar direct drive (PDD) makes it possible to perform direct-drive-ignition experiments at the National Ignition Facility while the facility is configured for x-ray drive. We present the first PDD ignition-relevant target designs to include the physical effects of crossbeam energy transfer (CBET) and nonlocal heat transport, both of which substantially affect the target drive. In the PDD configuration, a multiwavelength detuning strategy was found to be effective in mitigating the loss of coupling caused by CBET, allowing for implosion speeds comparable to those of previous designs. Two designs are described: a high-adiabat alpha-burning design and a lower-adiabat ignition design.
A Problem of Pure Matter: Fascist Nihilism in A Thousand Plateaus

Were the Nazis nihilists? Did they devalue this world in favour of a higher world? Had they lost their belief in a higher world? Did they prefer to fade away in passivity rather than live?
5. A Rock, a Text, and a Tablet: Making the Song Emperor’s Terrace a Lieu de Mémoire

In a rush to promote tourism after the 2003 SARS crisis, the Hong Kong Tourist Board failed to put the Song Emperor's Terrace on a list of places that tourists are recommended to visit to "feel the local pulse." Certainly an inscribed rock cannot compete with the glamour and glitter of the "sympathy of lights" around Victoria Harbor, but undoubtedly it is as historical as the Kowloon Walled City of the late Qing just a few blocks away. This chapter adresses questions such as how do we explain the prominence of the Song Emperor's Terrace in the first half of the twentieth century vis-a-vis its obscurity today? What were, to them, the political and social meanings in remembering Southern Song loyalty? Above all, what can we learn from the Song Emperor's Terrace as a lieu de memoire that has undergone drastic changes not only in meaning but also in appearance?. Keywords:Hong Kong Tourist; lieu de memoire ; Song Emperor's Terrace
Selenophosphate — selenium donor for protein and tRNA

Monoselenophosphate has been identified as the activated selenium donor in Escherichia coli that is required for both the biosynthesis of selenocysteine in selenium-dependent enzymes and for the conversion of 2-thiouridine residues to 2-selenouridine in tRNA. Selenophosphate is generated from ATP and selenide by the selD gene product, selenophosphate synthetase.
Aspen Wood Chip and Stone Mulches for Landscape Plantings in Interior, Alaska

Abstract Five woody landscape plants were grown on five mulch treatments: 2.5 or 5 cm (1 or 2 in) crushed basaltic rock, 5 or 10 cm (2 or 4 in) of aspen wood chips and a non-mulched control, to determine the usefulness of these mulches in subarctic landscape plantings. Weed control was best, but growth and plant nutrition poorest on the wood chip mulches. White spruce, Siberian crabapple, Peking cotoneaster, and rugosa rose had low levels of leaf nitrogen on the wood chip plots, and all species except cotoneaster and lodgepole pine showed significant N deficiency symptoms after 2 years. With the exception of the roses, all species grew best on the stone mulch plots. Roses grew vigorously on the stone mulches and the unmulched soil, but were subject to winter dieback. After 3 years, their total biomass did not exceed the recumbent, spindly and nitrogen deficient roses that were growing on the wood chip mulches. Plant growth, nutrition, and weed control were best achieved on the 5 cm (2 in) stone mulch plots.
The relation between text reading fluency and reading comprehension for students with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract Deficits in reading comprehension have been well documented in individuals with autism. Researchers have begun to identify predictors of reading comprehension; we sought to add to this knowledge base by investigating the role of text reading fluency in the prediction of reading comprehension in a sample of individuals with higher functioning autism (HFASD). A comprehensive reading battery was administered to students with HFASD ( N = 68) and age- matched typically developing (TD) students ( N = 38). Significant differences were detected between the HFASD and TD samples on every reading measure, favoring the TD sample. Structural Equation Models with the HFASD indicates that text reading fluency significantly predicts reading comprehension above and beyond the contribution of other reading variables which have been shown to be significant predictors in previous studies. This finding has important implications for the treatment of reading deficits in individuals with HFASD.
Quake warnings, seismic culture

Since 1990, nearly one million people have died from the impacts of earthquakes. Reducing those impacts requires building a local seismic culture in which residents are aware of earthquake risks and value efforts to mitigate harm. Such efforts include earthquake early warning (EEW) systems that provide seconds to minutes notice of pending shaking. Recent events in Mexico provide an opportunity to assess performance and perception of an EEW system and highlight areas for further improvement. We have learned that EEW systems, even imperfect ones, can help people prepare for earthquakes and build local seismic culture, both beneficial in reducing earthquake-related losses.
Glucan Immunomodulation in Experimental E. Coli Sepsis

In spite of the increased efficacy of antibiotic therapy, sepsis, particularly with endotoxin containing gram-negative bacilli, is a serious complication in patients whose defense mechanisms have been compromised by such events as trauma, burns, hematological malignancies, x-irradiation or therapy (1,2). While a number of defects in homeostatic mechanisms have been identified in such patients, attempts to significantly alter host defense mechanisms in order to modify gram-negative sepsis have been limited, since all currently employed experimental immunotherapeutic agents profoundly increase the sensitivity of the host to endotoxins. These agents include Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (3), zymosan (4), C. parvum (5), glucan (6) and muramyl dipeptide (7).
Content and Pedagogy in Teaching About the Social Aspects of Computerization

This paper argues that university-level courses which examine the social aspects of computerization ought to be routinely available for students who plan to work as information or computing professionals. I discuss how students, especially those in information and computer science programs, can learn about the ethical issues and practical socio-technical design issues as they arise in their likely future work. There are many open choices for the content and pedagogy of such courses. I argue for an emphasis on Organizational Informatics as one central topic about the social aspects of computerization that is important for a growing fraction — arguably a majority — of information and computing professionals. My argument about the content of a first social analysis course is just one answer to the question of “what is most important for information and computer science students to learn about the social aspects of technology, and why”? I also discuss critical pedagogical approaches that help students engage the likely world of computerization as reflective practitioners. Similarly, the pedagogies that I suggest are one set of strategic choices; but they raise key questions about how technically oriented students can effectively learn complex social analytical approaches, or be motivated and to learn them, in one or two courses.
OPTICALLY EMPTY CHOROIDAL SPACES IN HIGH HYPEROPIA

Purpose To describe the progressive optical coherence tomography findings of atypical choroidal cavitation in the inner choroid. Methods Case report. Results A 29-year-old asymptomatic woman was noted to display two flat translucent whitish subretinal lesions along the superotemporal arcade of the right eye, during routine retinal examination. Cross-sectional spectral domain optical coherence tomography of the choroid illustrated two hyporeflective lesions consistent with atypical choroidal cavitation of the Sattler layer, associated with corresponding thickening and bulging of the underlying choroid. En face optical coherence tomography through the lesions illustrated hyporeflectivity at the level of the inner choroid, compatible with choroidal cavitation. Progressive enlargement of these two choroidal lesions was noted with cross-sectional and en face optical coherence tomography. Conclusion Intrachoroidal cavitation has been described in association with inferior peripapillary conus in myopic eyes. Progressive enlargement of these lesions has not been noted. The lesions reported herein are atypical for choroidal cavitation because they affect a young hyperopic woman and display progression. A common pathogenesis with myopic choroidal cavitation may be possible. These lesions may be secondary to a localized bulge in the sclera, or may be a "cavernous" space secondary to a congested choroid, that is, leaking fluid.
Magic angle spinning spheres

Magic angle spinning (MAS) is commonly used in nuclear magnetic resonance of solids to improve spectral resolution. Rather than using cylindrical rotors for MAS, we demonstrate that spherical rotors can be spun stably at the magic angle. Spherical rotors conserve valuable space in the probe head and simplify sample exchange and microwave coupling for dynamic nuclear polarization. In this current implementation of spherical rotors, a single gas stream provides bearing gas to reduce friction, drive propulsion to generate and maintain angular momentum, and variable temperature control for thermostating. Grooves are machined directly into zirconia spheres, thereby converting the rotor body into a robust turbine with high torque. We demonstrate that 9.5–mm–outside diameter spherical rotors can be spun at frequencies up to 4.6 kHz with N 2 (g) and 10.6 kHz with He(g). Angular stability of the spinning axis is demonstrated by observation of 79 Br rotational echoes out to 10 ms from KBr packed within spherical rotors. Spinning frequency stability of ±1 Hz is achieved with resistive heating feedback control. A sample size of 36 μl can be accommodated in 9.5-mm-diameter spheres with a cylindrical hole machined along the spinning axis. We further show that spheres can be more extensively hollowed out to accommodate 161 μl of the sample, which provides superior signal-to-noise ratio compared to traditional 3.2-mm-diameter cylindrical rotors.
Efficacy and Tolerability of Pharmacotherapy for Pediatric Anxiety Disorders: A Network Meta-Analysis

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of pharmacotherapy in pediatric anxiety disorders using network meta-analysis. Data sources PubMed, Cochrane Database, Web of Science, PsycNET, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched for double-blind, controlled pharmacotherapy trials in youth with anxiety disorders from 1966 to September 2017. Data selection All double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of pharmacotherapy in the treatment of pediatric patients with generalized, social, and/or separation anxiety disorders were included. Data extraction We extracted demographic, symptom severity, global improvement, discontinuation, and suicidality data. Risk of bias was assessed with the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool, and a network meta-analysis comparing the efficacy and tolerability of medications and medication classes was performed using the gemtc package (R). Results We identified 20 citations (22 RCTs, 24 treatment arms) with 2,623 patients. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were the only class that was superior in reducing anxiety (standardized mean difference: 5.2; credible interval [CrI]: [2.8 to 8.8]) and in likelihood of treatment response compared to placebo (odds ratio [OR]: 4.6; CrI: [3.1 to 7.5]). Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) and α₂ agonist treatment were associated with more frequent treatment response compared to placebo. The likelihood of treatment response was greater for SSRIs compared to SNRIs (OR: 1.9; CrI: [1.1 to 3.5]). All-cause discontinuation and treatment-emergent suicidality significantly differed among medications but not medication class. Conclusions Although multiple medications reduce anxiety in children and adolescents, treatment response, tolerability, and treatment-emergent suicidality differ among these medications and medication classes. Determining whether efficacy and tolerability differences represent true differences (or reflect differences in trial design) requires additional head-to-head medication trials and-to exclude the impact of missing treatment interventions-requires trials of medications that successfully treat anxiety in adults but that have not been evaluated in youth.
Pediatric Heart Transplant Recipients Bridged with Biventricular Assist Device Have Worse One-Year Graft Survival: An Analysis of the United Network of Organ Sharing Database

Purpose Registry data report that 15-26% of pediatric patients on the heart transplant (HT) waiting list are supported with biventricular assist devices (BiVAD), with high waitlist mortality. There are little data on post-HT outcomes for this cohort. Methods The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database was queried for patients Results Of 4904 Pediatric HT recipients, patients were grouped by no VAD support (3934, 80.2%), LVAD only (736, 15%) and BiVAD (234, 4.8%). Overall graft survival analysis indicates crossing hazard rates between groups over time (Fig. 1a) with a significant difference of graft survival at 1 year post-HT, lowest for BiVAD (p Conclusion Pre-HT BiVAD support leads to worse graft survival 1 year post-HT compared to no VAD and LVAD patients, but is not constant over time with acceptable long-term survival. Further research is needed to investigate causes of decreased graft survival in the pediatric BiVAD population early post-HT.
Emergence and Development of a Dialogic Whole-class Discussion Genre

Prior research across disciplines has established the value of dialogic, whole-class discussions. Previous studies have often defined discussions in opposition to the notorious triadic pattern called recitation, or IRE/F, focusing on variations to the teacher’s initiating question or evaluative follow-up on students’ responses. Recent scholarship has also identified variations on recitations and dialogic discussions that suggest these categories might be flexible, containing types of interaction associated with particular contexts. However, research remains to be done on how such types, or genres, of dialogic, whole-class discussion emerge and develop over time. In this article, I take up this line of inquiry, analyzing the classroom discourse of five lesson excerpts generated by a prospective teacher and his students in a US secondary History classroom between October and March. I illustrate how, over time, teacher and students repeatedly renegotiated the nature of a recitation-style textbook review activity using similar patterns of language that suggested an emergent discourse genre. These five interactions did not all lead to dialogic, whole-class discussions; I explain their relative success or failure in terms of how they constructed participants’ relationships to historical and classroom events. I argue that even failed attempts at generating dialogic discourse may be part of a developing genre.
The operative treatment of shoulder pain in patients with a concurrent diagnosis of cervical spondylosis and shoulder dysfunction.

Background: Etiology of neck and shoulder pain may be multifactorial. When surgical intervention is indicated, the choice of whether to start with spine or shoulder surgery is an important clinical decision to make based on severity of pathologies, comorbidities, and patient preference. The literature includes with very few studies exploring the incidence or results of the surgical treatment paths followed in this clinical situation. This study compares patient-reported outcomes of patients with both cervical spine and shoulder pathology who underwent intervention for cervical, shoulder, or both pathologies. Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed 154 charts at a single institution between 2009–2017 who had both cervical spine and shoulder pathology while undergoing operative intervention of one or both pathologies. For each patient, demographics, patient-perceived success, NRS pain scores, functional outcomes (Focus on Therapeutic Outcome scores and neck disability index scores), and post-operative opioid use were reported. Results: Patient-reported success (P=0.85), NRS pain score decreases (P=0.45), all functional outcomes except for final external rotation range of motion (P=0.02), and post-operative opioid use (P=0.30) were similar when comparing only cervical spine to shoulder intervention. Success (P=1.00), NRS pain score decreases (P=0.37), both functional outcomes, and post-operative opioid use (P=0.08) were all similar when comparing patients who underwent cervical then shoulder intervention to shoulder then cervical intervention. Finally, statistical significance was found when comparing reported success (P=0.0004) but not NRS decreases (P=0.18), functional outcomes, or post-operative opioid use (P=0.43) in patients who underwent both operation types versus only one. Conclusions: Similar outcomes are seen when comparing isolated surgical intervention types and order of surgeries when undergoing both interventions. Multiple surgical intervention types, regardless of order, tends to result in higher rates of patient-reported success but similar post-operative outcomes compared to one.
Irreducible restrictions of Brauer characters of the Chevalley group G2(q) to its proper subgroups

Let G2(q) be the Chevalley group of type G2 defined over a finite field with q=pn elements, where p is a prime number and n is a positive integer. In this paper, we determine when the restriction of an absolutely irreducible representation of G in characteristic other than p to a maximal subgroup of G2(q) is still irreducible. Similar results are obtained for B22(q) and G22(q).
Eddy Diffusivity in the Viscous Sublayer

An attempt is made to resolve a long standing difference in the predicted distribution of the eddy diffusivity in the viscous sublayer, where the literature shows a dependence on either the cube or the fourth power of the distance from a solid wall. The resolution suggested is that a y3 dependence prevails very close to the wall while a y4 dependence may prevail in the outer part of the viscous sublayer near the border with the outer turbulent flow. However, at high values of the Schmidt number, the overall mass-transfer rate will show behavior corresponding to the y3 dependence, and any hints of the y4 dependence would be very hard to observe experimentally.
2000 Evolution of population stability: Experiments

Abstract The theory described in Chapter 47 did not result in a simple, robust understanding of the evolution of population stability. What was needed were some straightforward experimental tests. Mueller and colleagues (Mueller et al., 2000; Mueller and Joshi, 2000 ) created large populations that exhibited unstable population dynamics. Over 68 generations these populations showed evidence of phenotypic change as they adapted to these environments, but population stability remained unchanged suggesting population stability does not directly respond to selection. Prasad et al. (2003) found that selection for rapid development reduces female fecundity as a correlated trait and this evolution also produces more stable population dynamics. Hence with the appropriate trade-offs the evolution of enhanced stability is possible.
Potential Implementation of Reactive Balance Training within Continuing Care Retirement Communities

Purpose The purpose of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of implementing reactive balance training (RBT) in continuing care retirement communities, as a part of typical practice in these facilities. Methods RBT, a task-specific exercise program, consisted of repeatedly exposing participants to trip-like perturbations on a modified treadmill to improve reactive balance, and subsequently reduce fall risk. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with retirement community residents (RBT participants) and administrators, to assess the organizational context, perceptions of evidence for falls prevention, and facilitation strategies that could improve the likelihood of implementing RBT as a falls-prevention program. Results Contextual factors such as leadership support, culture of change, evaluation capabilities, and receptivity to RBT among administrators and health leaders at the participating retirement communities could facilitate future implementation. The cost associated with RBT (e.g. equipment and personnel), resident recruitment, and accessibility of RBT for many residents were identified as primary barriers related to the intervention. Participants perceived observable health benefits after completing RBT, had increased awareness toward tripping, and greater confidence with respect to mobility. Across interviewees potential barriers for implementation regarding facilitation revolved around the compatibility and customizability for different participant capabilities that would need to be considered before adopting RBT. Conclusion RBT could fill a need in retirement communities and the findings provide areas of context, characteristics of the intervention, and facilitation approaches that could improve uptake.
Of sex, families, and psychology: A sibling-comparison analysis of the influence of adverse psychological effects on sexual and familial behaviors

Abstract A central focus of lifecourse and developmental research centers on the ways in which individual differences impact a wide swath of behavioral outcomes. While the bulk of this research has informed our understanding of how individual personality traits may influence life outcomes, relatively less attention has been paid to how the co-occurrence of multiple aspects of psychological symptomologies can affect variation in behaviors across the life course. Furthermore, broad segments of prior literature on the influence of psychological symptomologies on behavioral outcomes are subject to genetic confounding. The current study thus employed a latent measure of a single overarching psychological system tapping the co-occurrence of negative psychological symptoms – termed adverse psychological effects – within a genetically-informed methodology. Longitudinal analyses of twin dyads drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (n = 1370 [nMZ = 530; nDZ = 840]) revealed a variety of between-family effects of adverse psychological symptomologies on sexual and familial behaviors. Most of the within-family effects, however, were null. The results illustrate the importance of accounting for shared genetic and non-genetic factors in assessments of the effects of individual differences on life outcomes within the social sciences.
Steam Cycle Modular Helium Reactor

The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) project is being conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate the technical and licensing viability of high-temperature gas-cooled reacto...
State-Space Analysis of Continuous Systems

As a prelude to the state-space analysis of discrete-time systems, this chapter will introduce state-variable modeling and analysis of continuous-time systems. While many students will have been exposed to this material, we fell that a review is useful before the concepts are applied to discrete-time systems.
Anticipated guilt and pleasure in a healthy food consumption context.

Abstract Recognizing the increasing importance of healthiness in food-related businesses, this study attempted to investigate the role of consumers’ affective responses in a healthy food consumption context. To achieve its objectives, this study incorporated anticipated emotional constructs in a decision-making model and investigated the relationships among perceived healthiness, anticipated guilt and pleasure, and behavioral intentions (e.g., purchase, spreading positive word-of-mouth, and recommending the food) in a quick service restaurant setting. The results of this study suggest that anticipated pleasure positively influenced behavioral intentions and mediated the relationship between perceived healthiness and behavioral intentions, whereas anticipated guilt did not influence behavioral intentions. Additionally, this study investigated the moderating role of dietary concerns in consumers’ decision-making processes and found that the low dietary concerns group was more susceptible to anticipated pleasure compared to the high dietary concerns group. Further findings and implications are provided in the main body of the paper.
The Impact of Advanced Practice Provider Staffing on Emergency Department Care: Productivity, Flow, Safety, and Experience

Objectives We examined emergency department (ED) advanced practice provider (APP) productivity and how APP staffing impacted ED productivity, safety, flow, and experience. Methods We used 2014 to 2018 data from a national emergency medicine group. The exposure was APP coverage: APP hours as a percentage of total clinician hours at the ED-day level. Multivariable regression was used to assess the relationship between APP coverage and productivity outcomes (patients/clinician hour, relative value units [RVUs]/clinician hour, RVUs/visit, and RVUs/salary-adjusted hour), flow outcomes (length of stay and left without treatment), safety (72-hour returns, incident reports), and experience (Press-Ganey scores), adjusting for patient and facility characteristics. Results In 13.02 million patient visits in 105,863 ED-days across 94 EDs from 2014 to 2018, nurse practitioners and physician assistants managed 5.4 and 18.6% of visits independently, 74.6% by emergency physicians alone, and 1.4% jointly. APP visits had lower RVUs/visit (2.8 vs. 3.7) and lower patients/hour (1.1 vs. 2.2) compared to physician visits. Higher APP coverage (by 10%) at the ED-day level was associated with lower patients/clinician hour by 0.12 (95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.15 to -0.10) and lower RVUs/clinician hour by 0.4 (95% CI = -0.5 to -0.3). There was no impact of increasing APP coverage on RVUs/salary-adjusted hour or RVUs/visit. There was also no effect of increasing APP coverage on flow, safety, or patient experience. Conclusion In this group, APPs treated less complex visits and half as many patients/hour compared to physicians. Higher APP coverage allowed physicians to treat higher-acuity cases. We found no economies of scale for APP coverage, suggesting that increasing APP staffing may not lower staffing costs. However, there were also no adverse observed effects of APP coverage on ED flow, clinical safety, or patient experience, suggesting little risk of increased APP coverage on clinical care delivery.
Three-tier stratification for CNS COVID-19 to help decide which patients should undergo lumbar puncture with CSF analysis: A case report and literature review.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to overwhelm global healthcare systems. While the disease primarily causes pulmonary complications, reports of central nervous system (CNS) involvement have recently emerged ranging from encephalopathy to stroke. This raises a practical dilemma for clinicians as to when to pursue neuroimaging and lumbar tap with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis in COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms. We present a case of an encephalopathic patient infected with SARS-CoV-2 with no pulmonary symptoms. We propose a three-tier risk stratification for CNS COVID-19 aiming to help clinicians to decide which patients should undergo CSF analysis. The neurological examination remains an integral component of screening and evaluating patients for COVID-19 considering the range of emerging CNS complications.
Reward-related neural correlates in adolescents with excess body weight.

Abstract The functional and connectivity reward processing in adults with excessive body weight is well documented, though is relatively less researched during adolescence. Given that reward and inhibition may be highly malleable during adolescence, it is unknown how impulsive behaviors, potentially stemming from impaired inhibitory control and heightened sensitivity to rewarding cues, relate to increases in body weight in adolescents. Adolescents (N = 76; mean age = 14.10 years, SD = 1.92) with varied body mass index (BMI) performed a child-friendly monetary incentive delay task during functional magnetic resonance imaging, to study reward processing during the anticipation of rewards (cue) and reactions to feedback about rewards (feedback). Our results show that adolescents with greater BMI z-score show neural activation and ventral striatum connectivity alterations in networks implicated in reward, salience detection, and inhibitory control. These bottom-up reward and top-down inhibitory control networks, as well as interactions between these networks were prevalent during the anticipation period (when the cue is presented) as well as when receiving feedback about whether one has received a reward. Specifically, our results were mainly driven by failure to receive a reward in the feedback period, and the anticipation of a potential reward in the anticipation period. Overall, we provide evidence for heightened reward salience as well as inhibitory control deficits that, in combination, may contribute to the impulsive behaviors that lead to higher BMI in adolescents.
Automation and computer-assisted planning for chemical synthesis

The molecules of today — the medicines that cure diseases, the agrochemicals that protect our crops, the materials that make life convenient — are becoming increasingly sophisticated thanks to advancements in chemical synthesis. As tools for synthesis improve, molecular architects can be bold and creative in the way they design and produce molecules. Several emerging tools at the interface of chemical synthesis and data science have come to the forefront in recent years, including algorithms for retrosynthesis and reaction prediction, and robotics for autonomous or high-throughput synthesis. This Primer covers recent additions to the toolbox of the data-savvy organic chemist. There is a new movement in retrosynthetic logic, predictive models of reactivity and chemistry automata, with considerable recent engagement from contributors in diverse fields. The promise of chemical synthesis in the information age is to improve the quality of the molecules of tomorrow through data-harnessing and automation. This Primer is written for organic chemists and data scientists looking to understand the software, hardware, data sets and tactics that are commonly used as well as the capabilities and limitations of the field. The Primer is split into three main components covering retrosynthetic logic, reaction prediction and automated synthesis. The former of these topics is about distilling the strategy of multistep synthesis to a logic that can be taught to a computer. The section on reaction prediction details modern tools and models for developing reaction conditions, catalysts and even new transformations based on information-rich data sets and statistical tools such as machine learning. Finally, we cover recent advances in the use of liquid handling robotics and autonomous systems that can physically perform experiments in the chemistry laboratory. This Primer summarizes the most relevant aspects of chemical synthesis in this information age for those looking to understand the software, hardware and data and how these are used to enable retrosynthetic logic, reaction prediction and automation.
Education and the Constitution: Three Threats to Public Schools and the Theories That Inspire Them

Educating America’s children is no easy task. In addition to well-known socio-political challenges involving funding, teacher morale, and parental involvement, among other things, public education faces a range of threats that concern core issues of school identity, access, and order. These serious, but occasionally overlooked, threats inhere in any system of government that attempts to balance private interests and the public good. Understanding these threats requires examining the historical, theoretical, and legal foundations of attitudes towards public education, in particular, and of the public sphere, in general. After providing a brief history of public education in the United States, this article investigates the ways in which three particular theories of the liberal state — 1) neutralist; 2) aspirationalist; and 3) pluralist — conceive the purpose and purview of public education. I then demonstrate how these theoretical orientations are reflected in public education case law, revealing three distinct threats facing public schools: 1) Identity-based threats that arise when the distinctiveness of public schools, and the public sphere itself, is undermined; 2) Communitarian threats that develop when the influence of parents or other intimate associations stand between public schools and the education of students; and 3) Individualist threats that emerge when efforts to provide students the same expressive liberties as adults undermines the order of public school settings. Even though judges rarely acknowledge the theoretical underpinnings of their decisions, those decisions emerge from particular theoretical contexts, and understanding those contexts will help policymakers, lawyers, and judges better appreciate the significant challenges facing public schools.
Two-stage aerosol formation in low-temperature combustion

Abstract Low-temperature combustion is a promising strategy for reducing pollutant formation in internal combustion engines. However, there is a lack of understanding of how the chemistry governing the differences in ignition between low-temperature and conventional combustion affects the emission rates and physicochemical properties of particulate matter (aerosols). Here, we conducted combustion experiments in an atmospheric-pressure reactor controlled at constant equivalence ratio (ϕ = 2.3) and O2/N2 = 0.06, and at temperatures varied between 250 °C and 1035 °C. We used two fuels: toluene, which has high sooting propensity, and n-heptane, which has a comparatively lower sooting propensity but exhibits two-stage ignition that is not present in toluene combustion. We performed real-time measurements of aerosol size distributions, volatility, and light-absorption properties. We also performed offline molecular-size characterization. Aerosols emitted from both fuels were comprised of light-absorbing organics that are categorized as brown carbon. At the highest combustion temperature (1035 °C), the aerosol emissions from toluene combustion were a factor of 20 larger than n-heptane. The aerosol emissions from toluene combustion had more abundance of large molecular-size species, were less volatile, and were more light-absorbing than n-heptane. For both fuels, aerosol emission factors exhibited a steep drop with decreasing temperatures. However, there was a resurgence in aerosol emissions at lower temperatures with a peak at 290 °C for n-heptane combustion that was not observed for toluene. This is consistent with chemical kinetics simulations that show prominent two-stage ignition behavior for n-heptane, but not for toluene.
When Payments Go Social: The Use of Person-to-Person Payment Methods Attenuates the Endowment Effect

The current research examines how the use of Person-to-person (P2P) payment methods affects consumer behavior. P2P payments are an increasingly common way for consumers to make and accept payments. P2P platforms are positioned in the marketplace as a social payment option and allow consumers to directly exchange money with peers. We propose that because of the social positioning and unique features, consumers develop a distinct mental association between P2P payment methods and social connection, which affects their pricing decisions. Seven studies test this proposition in the context of the endowment effect. We demonstrate that when consumers anticipate using P2P, the classic endowment effect disappears. Specifically, compared to other payment options, when they use P2P sellers are willing to accept somewhat lower prices, and buyers are willing to pay somewhat more. We explain this finding by drawing on research on schema theory and spreading activation. We posit that using a P2P payment method makes concepts related to social connection more accessible, which in turn leads to convergent pricing decisions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Forensic Artifact Finder (ForensicAF): An Approach & Tool for Leveraging Crowd-Sourced Curated Forensic Artifacts

Current methods for artifact analysis and understanding depend on investigator expertise. Experienced and technically savvy examiners spend a lot of time reverse engineering applications while attempting to find crumbs they leave behind on systems. This takes away valuable time from the investigative process, and slows down forensic examination. Furthermore, when specific artifact knowledge is gained, it stays within the respective forensic units. To combat these challenges, we present ForensicAF, an approach for leveraging curated, crowd-sourced artifacts from the Artifact Genome Project (AGP). The approach has the overarching goal of uncovering forensically relevant artifacts from storage media. We explain our approach and construct it as an Autopsy Ingest Module. Our implementation focused on both File and Registry artifacts. We evaluated ForensicAF using systematic and random sampling experiments. While ForensicAF showed consistent results with registry artifacts across all experiments, it also revealed that deeper folder traversal yields more File Artifacts during data source ingestion. When experiments were conducted on case scenario disk images without apriori knowledge, ForensicAF uncovered artifacts of forensic relevance that help in solving those scenarios. We contend that ForensicAF is a promising approach for artifact extraction from storage media, and its utility will advance as more artifacts are crowd-sourced by AGP.
INHIBITION OF THE PLEUROPNEUMONIA-LIKE ORGANISM MYCOPLASMA GALLISEPTICUM BY CERTAIN POLYENE ANTIFUNGAL ANTIBIOTICS.

Lampen, J. Oliver (Rutgers, The State University, New Brunswick, N.J.), James W. Gill, Peter M. Arnow, and I. Magana-Plaza. Inhibition of the pleuropneumonia-like organism Mycoplasma gallisepticum by certain polyene antifungal antibiotics. J. Bacteriol. 86:945-949. 1963.-The growth of Mycoplasma gallisepticum, a sterol-requiring pleuropneumonia-like organism (PPLO), was inhibited by certain polyene antifungal antibiotics at the following concentrations: filipin, 0.5 mug/ml; amphotericin B, 3 mug/ml; and fungichromin, 10 mug/ml. The inhibition of the organism was due to fungicidal action of the polyenes rather than to decreased availability of the sterol. The PPLO rapidly bound nystatin (NY), but was relatively insensitive to this antifungal agent or to N-acetyl-candidin (NAC). Even with a comparatively small inoculum, 100 mug of NY per ml or 50 mug of NAC per ml, were required to inhibit growth. In contrast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, growing under similar conditions, was completely inhibited by 3 mug of NY or NAC per ml. Filipin, however, was effective against both organisms, inhibiting PPLO and yeast at 0.5 mug/ml and 3 mug/ml, respectively. The relative insensitivity of PPLO to NY was not the result of protection by the sterol present in the growth medium. These organisms, incubated for 2 hr in sterol-free buffer in the presence of 20 mug of NY per ml showed little, if any, inhibition of growth when transferred to growth medium. Under the same conditions, more than 99% of a yeast suspension was killed. It is suggested that the PPLO are primarily sensitive to the disruptive action on the cell membrane which is characteristic of the smaller polyenes (34 to 37 carbon atoms).
Exposure to bisphenol A advances puberty

Plastics and pesticides are examples of products that contain oestrogenic endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or EEDCs, which can interfere with mammalian development by mimicking the action of the sex hormone oestradiol1. For instance, the exposure of developing rodents to high doses of EEDCs advances puberty and alters their reproductive function2. Low environmental doses of EEDCs may also affect development in humans3. Effects have become apparent in humans over the past half century that are consistent with those seen in animals after exposure to high doses of EEDCs, such as an increase in genital abnormality in boys4 and earlier sexual maturation in girls5. Here we show that exposing female mouse fetuses to an EEDC at a dose that is within the range typical of the environmental exposure of humans alters the postnatal growth rate and brings on early puberty in these mice.
Mach- and hering-type lateral inhibition in vision

Abstract There seem to be two different types of lateral inhibition in vision. One occurs very close to the edge of a step in luminance distribution. This lateral inhibition produces an overshoot and undershoot, and is called the Mach-type of inhibition. A second type of inhibition covers a much larger area, and produces a gradual slope in brightness. This is called the Hering-type inhibition. Experiments indicate that these two types of inhibition show many differences. A previously described neural unit, for the description of brightness distributions produced by luminance patterns, was improved to combine both types of inhibition.
Interrelationship between substrates and inhibitors of human CYP3A and P-glycoprotein.

Purpose. CYP3A and P-gp both function to reduce the intracellular concentration of drug substrates, one by metabolism and the other by transmembrane efflux. Moreover, it has been serendipitously noted that the two proteins have many common substrates and inhibitors. In order to test this notion more fully, systematic studies were undertaken to determine the P-gp-mediated transport and inhibitory characteristics of prototypical CYP substrates.
SL(∞, R) symmetry of quantum W∞ gravity

Abstract We examine the quantum theories of W ∞ gravity and W 1+∞ gravity, and show that they respectively exhibit SL (∞, R ) and GL (∞, R ) Kac-Moody symmetries. These symmetries generalise the SL (2, R ) Kac-Moody symmetry of light-cone two-dimensional quantum gravity, found by Polyakov.
On different approaches to obtaining partial effects in binary response models with endogenous regressors

Abstract We compare three different approaches to obtaining partial effects in binary response models. Among the three approaches, we maintain that the average structural function (ASF) due to Blundell and Powell (2003, 2004) defines the marginal effect of primary interest, for it is based on the unconditional marginal distribution of the structural error. Analytical examples are provided to show that the average index function (AIF) proposed recently by Lewbel, Dong, and Yang (2012), suffers from essentially the same shortcomings as the propensity score as a basis for defining average partial effects.
Sorption and Desorption of Testosterone at Environmentally Relevant Levels: Effects of Aquatic Conditions and Soil Particle Size Fractions

AbstractSorption and desorption have been found to be critical in the fate and transport of hormones in soils. Previous study indicated that the sorption and desorption properties of soil particles of different size fractions associated with hormones were very different. However, the interaction mechanisms of hormones with these soil particles are still unclear. This study investigated the influence of aquatic conditions [e.g., temperature, hydrogen ion concentration (pH), ionic strength, soil/water ratio, organic matter] on the sorption and desorption of soil particles of three size fractions [i.e., sand (0.425–0.075 mm), silt (0.045–0.002 mm), and clay (0.6–2 μm)] associated with testosterone at environmentally relevant concentrations (i.e., 20–150 ng/L) in batch reactors. The results indicate that lower temperature will facilitate sorption but hinder desorption of testosterone onto/from all of the soil particles. Lower pH and higher organic matter content will favor the sorption of testosterone onto ...
Laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication for reactive airway disease.

Abstract Background: Surgical management for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)-induced reactive airway disease in children has been shown to be superior to medical therapy. Laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication is a safe and effective procedure in children. Methods: The authors performed a retrospective review of 24 patients who underwent a laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication for documented GERD and reactive airway disease. Results: Persistent cough was the primary symptom in 22 of 24 patients, and all but one had lipid laden macrophages on bronchoscopy. The mean length of hospital stay was 2.7 days. There were no major postoperative complications. Eighteen of 24 patients are symptom free and off all medications an average of 17 months postoperatively. The average medication burden of the 6 remaining patients was reduced from 6.8 to 2.3 medications. Conclusions: Children with reactive airway disease who do not respond to medical therapy should undergo a workup for GERD. These preliminary results suggest that laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication is a potentially effective treatment for pulmonary manifestations of GERD. J Pediatr Surg 37:1021-1023. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.