cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Arthropod-Borne Flaviviruses

Flaviviruses have evolved principally by mutational change. Human disease caused by flaviviruses is classified as either (i) central nervous system (CNS) infection, (ii) hemorrhagic fever, or (iii) fever-arthralgia with or without rash. St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) virus is a member of the Japanese encephalitis (JE) antigenic complex, and antigenic cross-reactivities between SLE virus and other members of the complex are demonstrable with polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. JE virus is the prototype of an antigenic complex that includes SLE and Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) viruses, West Nile virus (WNV), and several other flaviviruses of lesser medical importance. The host range of MVE virus and susceptibility of cell cultures are provided in this chapter. Antigenic analyses differentiate strains of WNV from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East from strains isolated in India and the Far East. WNV is one of the most widely distributed of all arboviruses. Dengue virus fever is caused by four antigenically and genetically related but distinct viruses (dengue virus types 1 to 4) are distinguished by neutralization tests. Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF)/dengue shock syndrome (DSS) is described in detail. The chapter also talks about the techniques for virus isolation and reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) from blood of acutely ill patients, and discusses the control of Aedes aegypti for dengue virus.
A More Perfect European Union?: The Transnational Networks of the European Union’s Embassy Open House in Washington, D.C.

Annually, the Delegation of the European Union (EU) in Washington, D.C., holds an embassy open house day for its 27 member nations to celebrate European culture and educate tourists on the functions of EU politics and international relations. Amidst an ongoing debt crisis and a continuing exploration of its identity as a supranational entity, “Embassy Day” affords an opportunity to see the EU as a spatial network uneasily caught in the tensions between the often nostalgic nationalism of its constituent countries and the future-oriented technocratic transnationalism of its composite alliance. By analyzing the cultural artifacts of Embassy Day from its handouts, maps, speeches, architecture, and performances, I treat Embassy Day as a “rhetorical experience” and the EU embassies as a transnational network imposed over the city space of Washington, D.C. In the process, I argue that the very fragmented nature of the open house’s complex simulation of Europe mirrors the fragmented nature of European identity it...
The Mathematics of Change and Variation from a Millennial Perspective: New Content, New Context

This chapter steps back from the front lines of mathematics education reform and looks forward within a long-term perspective. Our perspective draws upon a historical view of the long-term evolution of representations, the transformative potential of new media, and the growing challenges of meeting societal needs. We shall see that there have been enormous changes in all these factors over the past several hundred years. Our means of expressing mathematical ideas have changed and so have our expectations regarding who can learn what mathematics and at what age. We shall examine large-scale trends in content changes and in context changes for learning and using mathematics.
Maximum satisfiability using cores and correction sets

Core-guided MAXSAT algorithms dominate other methods in solving industrial MAXSAT problems. In this work, we propose a new efficient algorithm that is guided by correction sets and cores. At every iteration, the algorithm obtains a correction set or a core, which is then used to rewrite the formula using incremental and succinct transformations. We theoretically show that correction sets and cores have complementary strengths and empirically demonstrate that their combination leads to an efficient MAXSAT solver that outperforms state-of-the-art WPMS solvers on the 2014 Evaluation on industrial instances.
Critical Exponents in Isotropic Spin Systems

Critical indices for isotropic systems of $n$-dimensional spins in ($d=4\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\epsilon}$)-dimensional lattices are calculated to order $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$. All critical indices corresponding to perturbations of the spin probability distribution are given. Such perturbations might arise from the effects of external or crystal fields on the spin system.
LOCAL PRESS POLITICS

This project examines the lobbying efforts of state and regional print media associations in the United States. The analysis is primarily concerned with two aspects of newspaper association lobbying: the amount of money newspaper associations spend on lobbying efforts and the amount of information about lobbying activities those organizations disclose to the public. Those areas of inquiry are addressed through quantitative and qualitative analyses of press association websites and financial records. Using journalistic understandings of transparency as a foundation, the research considers how newspaper associations characterize their efforts to shape public policy through lobbying, what issues they emphasize as priorities on public websites, and how their online statements about public policy compare to actual money spent lobbying on behalf of newspapers. The study suggests that newspaper associations are not especially transparent about their own involvement in the governmental process. Many associations ...
Pits versus Tanks: Risks and Mitigation Options for On-Site Storage of Wastewater from Shale Gas and Tight Oil Development

In this paper, we summarize findings from a research effort aimed at understanding the sources of risk associated with on-site shale gas and tight oil wastewater storage in the United States, the gaps that exist in knowledge regarding these risks, policy and technology options for addressing the risks, and the relative merits of those options. Specifically, we (a) identify the potential risks to human and ecological health associated with on-site storage of shale gas and tight oil wastewater via a literature survey and analysis of data on wastewater spills, (b) provide a detailed description of government regulations or industry actions that may mitigate these risks to human and ecological health, and (c) provide a list of recommendations specific to wastewater storage that may help generate progress toward concrete action to make shale gas and tight oil development more sustainable and more acceptable to a skeptical public, while keeping costs down.
Lewis Base Mediated Polymorph Selectivity of Pyrite CuSe2 through Atom Transfer in Solid-State Metathesis

Preparation of metastable solid-state materials is often hindered by the limitations of traditional solid-state chemistry, namely the high temperatures required to induce solid-state diffusion. Here, we present the formation of the metastable pyrite polymorph of CuSe2 through a metathesis reaction mediated by the Lewis base, triphenylphosphine (Ph3P). The Ph3P added to the double salt-exchange reaction CuCl2 + Na2Se2 abstracts selenium from the precursor and promotes the reaction at 130–150 °C, rather than 300 °C required for the neat reaction mixture. Powder X-ray diffraction experiments indicate that substoichiometric amounts of added phosphine yield pyrite CuSe2; infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies as well as mass spectrometry corroborate the formation of Ph3PSe and Cu(Ph3P)n+ adducts, which implicates the Lewis base in facilitating atom-transfer reactions, thus lowering the activation barrier to forming the metastable pyrite polymorph of CuSe2. These results provide an example of a ...
Selection for 8-Week Body Weight under Different Dietary Protein Levels

Abstract A study was conducted to investigate the influence of low dietary protein on the genetic parameter of 6- and 8-week growth in a meat-type randombred broiler stock. Heritability estimates for 6- and 8-week body weight were obtained from the Athens Canadian (AC) randombred population when fed isocaloric diets containing 22%, 18% and 14% protein. Two generations of individual phenotypic selection for 8-week body weight resulted in similar genetic improvement under the 22% and 18% protein diets and little progress under the 14% protein diet. Carcass protein was reduced 0.3% for each 4% reduction in dietary protein. The mean percentages of carcass water, total lipid, and ash values across diets were not significantly different. Protein efficiency ratios indicated greater protein efficiency on the 14% protein diet.
Polymer/Metal Interfaces in Interconnect Structures: Moisture Diffusion and Stress Corrosion Effects

Moisture can cause a host of reliability problems at interfaces including interface debonding. Two mechanisms can be identified. First, moisture at an interface can reduce the interface bonding strength dramatically by altering the chemical bonds. Second, when an interface with a crack or a crack-like defect is under tensile stresses, stress corrosion may allow crack growth at stresses much lower than critical fracture would require. To avoid wet interfaces, wafers should be briefly baked or exposed to a plasma in situ before the next film deposition step. However, moisture can also reach interfaces by diffusion along interfaces from unprotected edges during a wet process, such as CMP, or during storage in the ambient. In this work, the effect of moisture induced interface strength reduction was utilized to determine the diffusion distance. By using a mechanical peel technique, the diffusivity of moisture along the interface between Al and a poly(arylene ether) based low-K material (PAE2) was measured to be 4–6 µm2/s. Stress corrosion was studied using a special 4-point bend technique so that both strain energy release rate and crack velocity can be obtained. It was found that the mechanism of stress corrosion at this interface is more complicated compared to that in a bulk material: while the chemical reaction took place at the crack tip, moisture diffusion was also occurring along the interface ahead of the crack tip, preconditioning the interface. There appeared to be a region that kinetics was limited by interfacial moisture diffusion and reaction, from which the reaction time for interface weakening was estimated to be ~ 10 seconds. It was also found that even for samples saturated with moisture, the relative humidity of the test environment was still very important.
Purification of tyrosine-sensitive 3-deoxy-D-arabinoheptulosonate-7-phosphate (DAHP) and tyrosyl-tRNA synthetases on agarose carrying carboxyl-linked tyrosine.

In principle any ligand-binding site with an appreciable degree of specificity can be used to purify a macromolecule by affinity chromatography. We have prepared a resin which contains covalently bound tyrosyl groups and employed it to purify one enzyme (tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase from E. coli) which interacts with the resin via its substrate-binding site and another (DAHP synthetase from yeast) which interacts via an effector-binding site. Our resin which contains a hexamethylene diamine (HMD) extension between the agarose matrix and the ligand appears to bind DAHP synthetase much more strongly than the previously used “tyrosineSepharose” which lacked such a spacer (1).
Treading Lightly on the Climate in a Problem-Ridden World

ABSTRACTPersonal carbon footprints have become a subject of major concern among those who worry about global climate change. Conventional wisdom holds that individuals have a duty to reduce their impacts on the climate system by restricting their carbon footprints. However, I defend a new argument for thinking that this conventional wisdom is mistaken. Individuals, I argue, have a duty to take actions to combat the world’s problems. But since climate change is only one of a nearly endless list of such problems, individuals’ obligations to take action as activists do not specifically require reductions in personal carbon footprints. Moreover, this is true even in spite of the fact that we are personally implicated in causing climate change. This paper also argues that many of those who decide to combat climate change by reducing their carbon footprints are likely doing more than they can justify in this regard. Although most people are not doing enough to combat world problems, a proper devotion to activis...
SOME ASPECTS OF RATIONAL AND POLYNOMIAL APPROXIMATIONS

This chapter discusses some aspects of rational and polynomial approximations. It describes the coefficients in the expansion of a given functions in infinite series of Jacobi polynomials, and more particularly in infinite series of Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind. The interest lies primarily in analytic formulas, and so discussion and development of curve fit type approximations such as best Chebyshev approximations of various types is omitted. The τ-method, to achieve rational and polynomial approximations mostly for hypergeometric functions, is an excellent example of how to get such approximations for functions defined by a differential equation. Approximations of this kind are often called economized approximations and the technique for obtaining them is often termed an economization process.
List of Delegates for the Scientific Retreat on ADHD

(1996). List of Delegates for the Scientific Retreat on ADHD. The Educational and Developmental Psychologist: Vol. 13, Special Double Issue: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, pp. 82-84.
A Novel Load Compensator for a 12-pulse Diode Converter

This paper presents a novel active current shaper, called hereinafter a load compensator (LSTATCOM), for a 12-pulse diode converter. The LSTATCOM injects compensation current through a split winding interphase reactor connected on dc bus of the 12-pulse converter. It is desired that the LSTATCOM provides sinusoidal shaping of the source currents for an output load varying over a wide range. The proposed LSTATCOM should be capable of overcoming the problems of voltage unbalance and transformer design defects. This paper develops a novel technique to make the LSTATCOM inherently capable of addressing these power quality issues. To simulate the dynamic and steady state performance of the converter with the proposed LSTATCOM, a detailed mathematical model of the system is developed. A thorough investigation of the simulation results reveals that the proposed LSTATCOM provides sinusoidal shaped source currents while keeping the system power-factor pegged at unity for a wide range of conditions.
Efficient method for extracting network information from the CIM asset model

The Common Information Model (CIM) - IEC 61970, a well-known industry standard data model, is used to describe networked physical assets in an electrical power grid. Whereas this data model can be used to represent most detailed description of grid assets, currently it has limited application in power system network modeling. This is due to a couple of reasons. Firstly, many applications only require a simplified, mathematically abstracted network model and secondly, the CIM represents only a snapshot of grid state and therefore cannot accommodate time-series data from SCADA/PMU measurements. Furthermore, the legacy software developed for applications like powerflow consume data in proprietary formats, none of which is essentially CIM. As a first step in developing a new interoperable power grid data model to satisfy grid-analytic requirements, we have investigated and used CIM as one of the data ingestion sources. In this paper, we present our work of data ingestion, abstraction and translation from CIM to Bus-Branch Model (BBM) as a part of an overall system design and implementation for grid analytics and data interoperability.
Capturing a mammalian DNA polymerase extending from an oxidized nucleotide

The oxidized nucleotide, 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2΄-deoxyguanosine (8-oxoG), is one of the most abundant DNA lesions. 8-oxoG plays a major role in tumorigenesis and human disease. Biological consequences of 8-oxoG are mediated in part by its insertion into the genome, making it essential to understand how DNA polymerases handle 8-oxoG. Insertion of 8-oxoG is mutagenic when opposite adenine but not when opposite cytosine. However, either result leads to DNA damage at the primer terminus (3΄-end) during the succeeding insertion event. Extension from DNA damage at primer termini remains poorly understood. Using kinetics and time-lapse crystallography, we evaluated how a model DNA polymerase, human polymerase β, accommodates 8-oxoG at the primer terminus opposite cytosine and adenine. Notably, extension from the mutagenic base pair is favored over the non-mutagenic base pair. When 8-oxoG is at the primer terminus opposite cytosine, DNA centric changes lead to a clash between O8 of 8-oxoG and the phosphate backbone. Changes in the extension reaction resulting from the altered active site provide evidence for a stabilizing interaction between Arg254 and Asp256 that serves an important role during DNA synthesis reactions. These results provide novel insights into the impact of damage at the primer terminus on genomic stability and DNA synthesis.
High temperature polymer degradation: Rapid IR flow-through method for volatile quantification

Abstract Accelerated aging of polymers at elevated temperatures often involves the generation of volatiles. These can be formed as the products of oxidative degradation reactions or intrinsic pyrolytic decomposition as part of polymer scission reactions. A simple analytical method for the quantification of water, CO2, and CO as fundamental signatures of degradation kinetics is required. This study describes an analytical framework and develops a rapid mid-IR based gas analysis methodology to quantify volatiles that are contained in small ampoules after aging exposures. The approach requires identification of unique spectral signatures, systematic calibration with known concentrations of volatiles, and a rapid acquisition FTIR spectrometer for time resolved successive spectra. The volatiles are flushed out from the ampoule with dry N2 carrier gas and are then quantified through spectral and time integration. This method is sufficiently sensitive to determine absolute yields of ∼50 μg water or CO2, which relates to probing mass losses of less than 0.01% for a 1 g sample, i.e. the early stages in the degradation process. Such quantitative gas analysis is not easily achieved with other approaches. This approach opens up the possibility of quantitative monitoring of volatile evolution as an avenue to explore polymer degradation kinetics and its dependence on time and temperature.
Real-Time Simulation with Powertrain-in-the-Loop 1

Abstract In this paper, we describe the setup and method for real-time simulation of Hardware-in-the-Loop systems, where the hardware includes powertrain systems. Potential issues in Powertrain-in-the-Loop Simulation setup and execution are outlined.
Hospital and Community Characteristics Associated With Pediatric Direct Admission to Hospital

Abstract Objectives One quarter of pediatric hospitalizations begin as direct admissions, defined as hospitalization without receiving care in the hospital's emergency department (ED). Direct admission rates are highly variable across hospitals, yet previous studies have not examined reasons for this variation. We aimed to determine the relationships between hospital and community factors and pediatric direct admission rates, and to evaluate the degree to which these characteristics explain variation in risk-adjusted direct admission rates. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's Kids Inpatient Database, American Hospital Association Database, and Area Health Resource File, including children Results We included 211,458 children discharged from 933 hospitals and 26 states; 20.2% were admitted directly. One-fifth of the variance in risk-adjusted direct admission rates was attributed to observed hospital and community factors. The greatest proportion of this explained variance was related to ED volume (37%), volume of pediatric hospitalizations (27%), and size of the pediatrician workforce (12%). Conclusions Direct admission rates were associated with several hospital and community characteristics, but the majority of variation in hospitals' direct admission rates was not explained by these factors. These findings suggest opportunities for diverse hospital types to develop the infrastructure and communication systems necessary to support pediatric direct admissions.
Clarity or collaboration: Balancing competing aims in bureaucratic design:

Following the Gulf oil spill and US housing meltdown, policy-makers revamped the associated administrative infrastructure in an effort to sharpen each agency’s focus, based on the perspective that ...
Targeted Sequencing Strategies in Cancer Research

Despite the rapidly decreasing cost and increasing throughput of next-generation sequencing technologies, deep targeted resequencing has maintained its importance in the sensitive detection of mutations by focusing only on targets of biomedical or clinical relevance. In this chapter, we review current as well as emerging technologies that enable the capture of specific elements from a sample. In particular, we focus on targeted resequencing in cancer research. To date, the cancer research community has sequenced over 2,500 cancer samples from 17 different tissue types by whole-exome targeted resequencing. In addition, clinically relevant targets such as known cancer genes and cancer-associated miRNAs and viruses have been sequenced selectively by targeted next-generation sequencing technologies. We expect that the use of targeted resequencing in cancer research will soon become a standard research and analysis method, and in turn further technological developments that allow for the improved extraction of genetic components will be rapidly adopted.
Torture and Public Health

In this chapter, I examine the ways in which “harsh interrogation” methods, such as indefinite detention, hooding, use of vicious brutality (such as the use of dogs), and force-feeding, function as acts of torture. Although singularly they may only be “abusive,” when used together or in tandem (“clustering”), they cross the line into torture.
Cohesive stresses and size effects in elasto-plastic and quasi-brittle materials

A novel approach to the derivation of Bažant’s size effect law is presented. Contrarily to the original Lagrangian derivation which hinged on energetic consideration, a Newtonian approach based on local stress intensity factors is presented. Through this approach, it is shown that Bažant’s size effect law is the first (and dominant) term in a series expansion for the nominal stress. Furthermore, analytical expressions forB are derived for selected specimen geometries. It is also shown that size effect is exhibited not only by quasi-brittle materials (such as concrete), but by elasto-plastic materials too. Finally, for three point bend concrete specimens, it is shown that a nonlinear fracture mechanics analysis (with non-zero tensile strength) is practically identical to a linear elastic fracture mechanics analysis with zero fracture toughness.
Distributed objects and object databases

Due to the on-going shift from centralised to decentralised computing and a general trend towards the globalisation of commercial, economic and social activities, the information systems community has been faced with strong demands to develop distributed information systems (DISs) that span wide geographical areas. Three technologies have had significant impact on the new generation of DISs — distributed object technology, object database technology and Web technology. The paper examines two of these — DOT and ODBT. Each has advantages over the other, but more importantly they complement each other, and ways of using them together are explored.
Simulations of film stress effects on mirror segments for the Lynx X-ray Observatory concept

The Lynx X-ray Observatory concept, under study for the 2020 NASA Decadal Survey, will require a telescope with ∼2 m2 of effective area and a point-spread function (PSF) with ∼0.5-arc sec half-power diameter (HPD) to meet its science goals. This requires extremely accurate thin grazing-incidence mirrors with a reflective x-ray coating. A mirror coating, such as 15-nm-thick iridium, can exhibit stress exceeding 1 GPa, significantly deforming segmented mirrors and blurring the PSF. The film stress and thickness are neither perfectly repeatable nor uniform. We use finite element analysis and ray tracing to quantify the effects of integrated stress inaccuracy, nonrepeatability, nonuniformity, and postmounting stress changes on segmented mirrors. We find that if Lynx uses segmented mirrors, it will likely require extremely small film stress (∼10 MPa) and nonuniformity (<1 % ). We show that realigning mirrors and matching complementary mirror pairs can reduce the HPD from uniform film stress by a factor of 2.3 × and 5 × , respectively. Doubling mirror thickness produces much less than the 4 × HPD reduction that would be expected from a flat mirror. The x-ray astronomy community has developed numerous methods of reducing the PSF blurring from film stress, and Lynx may require several of these in combination to achieve 0.5 arc sec HPD using segmented mirrors.
Simulation and testing results for a sub-bottom imaging sonar

The problem of detecting buried unexploded ordnance (UXO) is addressed with a sensor deployed from a shallow-draft surface vessel. This sonar system produces three-dimensional synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) imagery of both surficial and buried UXO across a range of environments. The sensor’s hardware design was based in part upon data created using a hybrid modeling approach that combined results from separate environmental scattering and target scattering models. This hybrid model produced synthetic sensor data where the sensor/environment/target space could be modified to explore the expected operating conditions. The simulated data were also used to adapt a set of existing signal processing algorithms for formation of three-dimensional acoustic imagery.Recently, the sonar system has been integrated to a test platform, and experiments have been conducted at a trial site in the Foster Joseph Sayers Reservoir near Howard, PA. This test site has been prepared with several buried man-made objects. Initial results show that fully buried targets can be detected. This research was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Defense, through the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP).
SPORTS‐LED TOURISM, SPATIAL DISPLACEMENT, AND HOTEL DEMAND

We analyze the relationship between professional sports events and concerts held in LA's Staples Center and nearby hotel performance. Government‐led economic redevelopment projects often envision sports facilities as tourist magnets. Little evidence exists supporting links between sporting events and hotel demand. An empirical analysis exploiting exogenous daily variation in the timing of games and concerts from 2002 to 2017 shows a small positive impact on room revenue at hotels within one mile and larger room revenue decrease at hotels located one to 4 miles away. The overall impact on hotel room revenue and rooms rented was not positive. Nearby hotel room rates increased during NBA and NHL work stoppages. The city granted four new hotels built very near the arena exemptions from occupancy taxes for 20–25 years; these exemptions reduced hotel tax revenues by a minimum of $4.5 million annually and may not have been needed to spur new hotel development. (JEL H26, H71, Z28)
Parametric Noise Injection: Trainable Randomness to Improve Deep Neural Network Robustness Against Adversarial Attack

Recent developments in the field of Deep Learning have exposed the underlying vulnerability of Deep Neural Network (DNN) against adversarial examples. In image classification, an adversarial example is a carefully modified image that is visually imperceptible to the original image but can cause DNN model to misclassify it. Training the network with Gaussian noise is an effective technique to perform model regularization, thus improving model robustness against input variation. Inspired by this classical method, we explore to utilize the regularization characteristic of noise injection to improve DNN's robustness against adversarial attack. In this work, we propose Parametric-Noise-Injection (PNI) which involves trainable Gaussian noise injection at each layer on either activation or weights through solving the Min-Max optimization problem, embedded with adversarial training. These parameters are trained explicitly to achieve improved robustness. The extensive results show that our proposed PNI technique effectively improves the robustness against a variety of powerful white-box and black-box attacks such as PGD, C&W, FGSM, transferable attack, and ZOO attack. Last but not the least, PNI method improves both clean- and perturbed-data accuracy, in comparison to the state-of-the-art defense methods, which outperforms current unbroken PGD defense by 1.1% and 6.8% on clean- and perturbed- test data respectively, using ResNet-20 architecture.
Sterile Basics of Compounding: Relationship Between Syringe Size and Dosing Accuracy

The purpose of this study was to investigate the accuracy and reproducibility of a 2-mL volume injection using a 3-mL and 10-mL syringe with pharmacy student compounders. An exercise was designed to assess each student's accuracy in compounding a sterile preparation with the correct 4-mg strength using a 3-mL and 10-mL syringe. The average ondansetron dose when compounded with the 3-mL syringe was 4.03 mg (standard deviation ± 0.45 mg), which was not statistically significantly different than the intended 4-mg desired dose (P=0.497). The average ondansetron dose when compounded with the 10-mL syringe was 4.18 mg (standard deviation + 0.68 mg), which was statistically significantly different than the intended 4-mg desired dose (P=0.002). Additionally, there also was a statistically significant difference in the average ondansetron dose compounded using a 3-mL syringe (4.03 mg) and a 10-mL syringe (4.18 mg) (P=0.027). The accuracy and reproducibility of the 2-mL desired dose volume decreased as the compounding syringe size increased from 3 mL to 10 mL.
ALD-Grown Metal Oxide Films for the Detection of Molecular Contaminants on Spacecraft

Abstract Mitigating molecular contamination during the assembly, integration, and testing of space systems requires quantitative and qualitative methods to detect the presence of molecular films on...
Metabolic rules of microbial community assembly

To develop a quantitative theory that can predict how microbiomes assemble, and how they respond to perturbations, we must identify which descriptive features of microbial communities are reproducible and predictable, which are unpredictable, and why. The emergent metagenomic structure of communities is often quantitatively convergent in similar habitats, with highly similar fractions of the metagenome being devoted to the same metabolic pathways. By contrast, the species-level taxonomic composition is often highly variable even in replicate environments. The mechanisms behind these patterns are not yet understood. By studying the self-assembly of hundreds of communities in replicate, synthetic habitats, we show that the reproducibility of microbial community assembly reflects an emergent metabolic structure, which is quantitatively predictable from first-principles, genome-scale metabolic models. Taxonomic variability within functional groups arises through multistability in population dynamics, and the species-level community composition is predictably governed by the mutual competitive exclusion of two sub-dominant strains. Our findings provide a mechanistic bridge between microbial community structure at different levels of organization, and show that the evolutionary conservation of metabolic traits, both in terms of growth responses and niches constructed, can be leveraged to quantitatively predict the taxonomic and metabolic structure of microbial communities.
Synthesis of the novel transporter YdhC, is regulated by the YdhB transcription factor controlling adenosine and adenine uptake.

The YdhB transcriptional factor, re-named here AdnB, homologous to the allantoin regulator, AllS, was shown to regulate ydhC gene expression in Escherichia coli, which is divergently transcribed from adnB, and this gene arrangement is conserved in many Protreobacteria. The predicted consensus DNA binding sequence for YdhB is also conserved in Entrobacterial genomes. RNA-seq data confirmed the activation predicted due to the binding of AdnB as shown by Chip-Exo results. Fluorescent polarization experiments revealed binding of YdhB to the predicted binding site upstream of ydhC in the presence of 0.35 mM adenine, but not in its absence. The E. coli MG1655, strain lacking the ydhB gene, showed a lower level of ydhC mRNA in cells grown in M9-glucose supplemented with 2 mM adenosine. Adenosine and adenine are products of purine metabolism and provide sources of ammonium for many organisms. They are utilized under nitrogen starvation conditions as single nitrogen sources. Deletion of either the ydhC or the ydhB gene leads to a substantially decreased growth rate for E. coli in minimal M9 medium with glycerol as the carbon source and adenosine or adenine as the single nitrogen source. The ydhC mutant showed increased resistance to Paromomycine, Sulfathiazole and Sulfamethohazole using Biolog plates. We provide evidence that YdhB, (a novel LysR family regulator) activates expression of the ydhC gene, encoding a novel adenosine/adenine transporter in E. coli. The YdhB binding consensus for different groups of Enterobacteria was predicted.
Impact study of demand response program on the resilience of dynamic clustered distribution systems

Natural disasters, faults, or the sudden outage of major energy resources can create resilience issues in power systems. Modern distribution systems can reconfigure due to the use of automated protection and control techniques and the proliferation of distributed generators (DGs). If there are several DGs located nearby, distribution systems can be clustered into microgrids in an emergency condition. Clustering of distribution systems offers many benefits to achieve high system resilience. Moreover, demand response (DR) is an efficient way of increasing the operation quality and improving the resilience of the power system. This study discusses the impact of DR on the resilience of dynamically-clustered distribution systems. Accounting for the DR while clustering the distribution system can be beneficial for distribution system customers from the resilience and power quality points-of-view. To this end, the distribution clustering is performed using two different objective functions to improve its resilience and voltage profile. DR is formulated as new constraints applied to the distribution system clustering optimisation problem. This study proposes a multi-objective optimisation function that is solved by using an exchange market algorithm, Pareto efficiency method, and fuzzy satisfying approach. The simulations are performed on IEEE 33-bus test system.
Application Research of Ideological and Political Education Platform Based on Computer Network

In the 21st century, China is gradually entering the information society. Young students are the main force of using the Internet in China. The ideological and political workers of students must pay attention to it. Study the characteristics and development of computer network platform, especially its impact on students' Ideological and political education. The application of computer network platform to actively explore new methods of Ideological and political education of students, constantly standardize the management of computer network technology platform, strengthen the ideological and political education of students, guide students to establish correct political outlook, world outlook, outlook on life, moral outlook, etc., improve their comprehensive quality, and make computer network really become an effective way of Ideological and political education for students.
Cognitive Style and Information Visualization—Modeling Users Through Eye Gaze Data

Information Visualizations can be regarded as one of the most powerful cognitive tools to significantly amplify human cognition. However, traditional Information Visualization systems have been designed in a manner that does not consider individual user differences, even though human cognitive abilities and styles have been shown to differ significantly. In order to address this research gap, novel adaptive systems need to be developed that are able to 1) infer individual user characteristics, and 2) provide an adaptation mechanism to personalize the system to the inferred characteristic. This paper presents a first step towards this goal by investigating the extent to which a user’s cognitive style can be inferred from their behavior with an Information Visualization system. In particular, this paper presents a series of experiments that utilize features calculated from user eye gaze data in order to infer a user’s cognitive style. Several different data and feature sets are presented, and results overall show that a user’s eye gaze data can be used successfully to infer a user’s cognitive style during information visualization usage.
Taking into account greenhouse gas emissions of electric vehicles for transportation de-carbonization

Abstract Plug-in electric vehicles pose great potentials to de-carbonize the transportation sector. To jump-start their market deployment, regulations in China, the U.S., and the European Union provide preferential treatments, including counting a single plug-in electric vehicle with multipliers (super-credits) in calculating sales-averaged emissions (regulation dilution effect) and considering zero emissions for the electric mileage by omitting electricity generation emissions (regulation leakage effect). This study quantifies greenhouse gas emission increases due to these two effects in the three markets. We show that plug-in electric vehicles sold in 2012–2025 in the three markets will result in greenhouse gas emission increases of more than 1 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through 2050 relative to the case without the two effects. The increase is 671, 280, and 143 million tonnes in China, the U.S., and the EU, respectively. The dilution effect causes an increase of 615 million tonnes, and the leakage effect 479 million tonnes. As the plug-in electric vehicle market grows, their super-credits should be gradually withdrawn, and well-to-wheels emissions need to be considered to achieve holistic greenhouse gas emission reductions. Future regulations should be carefully designed to incentivize new technologies while mitigating the risk of increasing emissions elsewhere so that the intent of environmental regulations is not compromised.
DIPS-Plus: The Enhanced Database of Interacting Protein Structures for Interface Prediction

How and where proteins interface with one another can ultimately impact the proteins' functions along with a range of other biological processes. As such, precise computational methods for protein interface prediction (PIP) come highly sought after as they could yield significant advances in drug discovery and design as well as protein function analysis. However, the traditional benchmark dataset for this task, Docking Benchmark 5 (DB5), contains only a modest 230 complexes for training, validating, and testing different machine learning algorithms. In this work, we expand on a dataset recently introduced for this task, the Database of Interacting Protein Structures (DIPS), to present DIPS-Plus, an enhanced, feature-rich dataset of 42,112 complexes for geometric deep learning of protein interfaces. The previous version of DIPS contains only the Cartesian coordinates and types of the atoms comprising a given protein complex, whereas DIPS-Plus now includes a plethora of new residue-level features including protrusion indices, half-sphere amino acid compositions, and new profile hidden Markov model (HMM)-based sequence features for each amino acid, giving researchers a large, well-curated feature bank for training protein interface prediction methods. We demonstrate through rigorous benchmarks that training an existing state-of-the-art (SOTA) model for PIP on DIPS-Plus yields SOTA results, surpassing the performance of all other models trained on residue-level and atom-level encodings of protein complexes to date.
Techno-economic evaluation of Carbfix technology for carbon storage in the US

Abstract Carbfix is a technology to permanently store captured CO2 and other sour gases from emission sources as rocks in the subsurface. CO2 charged water is injected into the basalts to promote the carbonization of CO2. The dissolution of CO2 into the aqueous phase facilitates the mineralization of CO2. It has been demonstrated that over 95% of CO2 captured and injected was turned into a rock in the subsurface in less than two years. In the original project, this technology aims to store CO2 from geothermal power plants in Iceland. However, it can be applied to the CO2 capture from a combined-cycle natural gas power plant as well. This study would like to apply this technology to store the CO2 from a combined-cycle natural gas power plant to achieve the near-zero emission target. Therefore, the CO2 storage process has to be modeled and optimized based on this technology. In this process, the water consumption is determined by the depth of the injection well, the temperature, and the water's salinity. The capital costs (injection wells, monitoring wells, injection surface facilities) and operating costs (maintenance, electricity, water cost) interact with each other. In this study, a detailed techno-economic evaluation of Carbfix technology is performed in the context of a 500 MW combined cycle power plant in the US. The sensitivity analysis is carried out with respect to water price, electricity price, equipment cost, etc. The key factors are identified based on the tornado diagram. This methodology can be integrated with the power plant and CO2 capture model to optimize the whole system simultaneously in future work.
Quantity discrimination in a spontaneous task in a poison frog.

The use of quantitative information underlies a range of animal behaviors. There are thought to be two parallel systems for judging quantity: a precise representation of small numbers of objects, typically less than 4, that can be tracked visually (object tracking system) and an imprecise system for larger quantities (approximate number system) governed by Weber's law. Using a spontaneous discrimination task with live prey, we examined the ability of the poison frog Dendrobates auratus to discriminate quantities of low (1–4) or high (4–16) numerosity over a range of ratio contrasts (0.33, 0.5, 0.67, 0.75). Similar to a previous study in treefrogs, we found that the poison frogs chose the larger quantity of flies when choosing between 1 and 3 and between 1 and 2. However, their performance was near chance when choosing between 2 and 3 and below chance when choosing between 3 and 4. When the numerosity of flies was higher, they did not discriminate between the larger and smaller quantity. Our findings are consistent with the ability of poison frogs to discriminate small quantities of objects using an object tracking system, but could also reflect a singular vs. plural discrimination. We did not find evidence of an approximate number system governed by Weber’s law, nor evidence of a speed–accuracy tradeoff. However, total set size was associated with lower accuracy and longer latencies to choose. Future studies should explore quantity discrimination in additional contexts to better understand the limits of these abilities in poison frogs.
I feel loved when other people feel loved: Cultural congruence in beliefs on love is related to well-being:

Cultural conformity in psychological constructs has been shown to play a critical role in people’s health and well-being. The more people’s individual beliefs about a construct aligns with the cult...
Pulmonary histoplasmosis

Most patients with pulmonary histoplasmosis experience a self-limited illness that rarely requires treatment. However, patients who inhale a large burden of organisms from the environment and those who are immunosuppressed may develop severe, life-threatening pneumonia. Chronic histoplasmosis occurs almost exclusively in patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Complications of pulmonary histoplasmosis are mostly related to persistent mediastinal lymphadenopathy. Mild to moderate forms of pulmonary histoplasmosis should be treated with itraconazole. Patients with severe pulmonary involvement should initially receive amphotericin B; after the patient’s condition has improved, therapy can be changed to itraconazole. Preventive measures should be used to protect workers from exposure to large numbers of Histoplasma capsulatum organisms.
Taxonomy, ecology, and phylogeny of species of Lophyra Motschulsky 1859, subgenus Eriolophyra Rivalier 1948 (Coleoptera Cicindelidae)

A key is provided for the identification of the five species of the subgenus Eriolophyra Rivalier 1948 of the genus Lophyra Motschulsky 1859 (Coleoptera Cicindelidae): L. (E.) alba (Horn 1894); L. (E.) albens (Horn 1895); L. (E.) arnoldi (Horn 1904); L. (E.) barbifrons (Boheman 1848); and L. (E.) somalia (Fairmaire 1882). The taxonomy of this subgenus is reviewed and Lophyra (Eriolophyra) barbifrons marqueza (Peringuey 1896) is placed as a synonym of L. (E.) barbifrons . Information about the ecology of species of Lophyra (Eriolophyra) is summarized: Lophyra (Eriolophyra) alba , L. (E.) albens , and L. (E.) arnoldi are associated with sandy riverine areas in southern, central, and west-central Africa, respectively, while L. (E.) barbifrons and L. (E.) somalia are associated with coastal sand beaches in southern and eastern Africa, respectively. Descriptions of adult foraging, thermoregulatory, reproductive, and defensive behaviors are provided for L. (E.) alba , based on recent observations at sites along the Letaba River in Kruger National Park, South Africa. A hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships is proposed for the five species of the subgenus Eriolophyra on the basis of adult morphological characteristics. Morphological characters suggest that this group forms a monophyletic clade within the broader complex of species allied to Lophyra .
Constitutional Choices in Taiwan: Implications of Global Trends

The current Republic of China Constitution is a modified version of that drafted on the mainland in the late 1940s. While incremental reforms in the 1990s helped to tailor the Constitution to the needs of the island of Taiwan, they also produced a number of unintended consequences that have led to a stalemate between executive and legislative branches. As President Chen Shui-bian renews his call for constitutional reform, Taiwan has an opportunity to correct these severe defects in the political system. This paper considers the design of constitutional reform in light of recent global trends and Taiwan's distinctive political and social context. It argues that Taiwan's major political cleavages are of the type best resolved by some form of presidential system. It also considers a number of other issues of constitutional design, including direct democracy, constitutional review, and other oversight bodies.