cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The mammalian brain glucose transport system.

Glucose is an essential substrate for brain oxidative metabolism (1,2). Circulating glucose crosses the blood-brain barrier and accesses the brain parenchymal cells. Glucose, being a polar substance, crosses lipid bilayers of cell plasma membranes (3,4) by a saturable stereo-specific carrier system (2,5,6,7). This carrier system consists of a family of closely related membrane associated glycoproteins termed the glucose transporters (GTs) (8–15). In most tissues examined, the facilitative type of GTs transport glucose intracellularly. Besides intracellular transport, these GTs are capable of transcellular transport and transport of glucose outside the cell (16). Structurally they consist of 12 transmembraneous domains with the amino and carboxyl termini facing the cytoplasmic surface of the cell, and a glycosylation site on the exofacial domain located between the first and second transmembraneous segments (8,16). While there is considerable primary sequence homology between the different GT isomers, their tissue specific expression and Km varies based on the individual tissue’s glucose needs and function of the specific GT (16). Typically the facilitative GTs are classified into five major types: Glut 1 (erythrocyte/Hep G2/rat brain type; Km - 1–2 mM) (8,9) and Glut 3 (fetal skeletal muscle/brain/placenta type; Km - ?) (10) are the insulin-insensitive types, present almost ubiquitously in most tissues examined and are responsible mainly for the basal transport of glucose. Glut 2 (liver/pancreatic beta islet cell type; Km - 15 mM) is capable of bidirectional transfer of glucose and mainly located in hepatocytes and the pancreatic beta islet cells (11,12).
Blood, Soil, and Tears

The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution grants citizenship to every child born on US soil. While most Americans think this 150 year old formulation is permanent, it is actually open to change. We explore the legal debate over the current formulation of US citizenship. Using the research design of the exemplar case study, we undertake a conceptual metaphor-based critical discourse analysis of three contending contemporary legal stances regarding US citizenship. In the light of four current court cases, some legal theorists argue that the formulation is both undemocratic and inadequate, and should be amended to address 21st century national concerns. Others argue to retain the current formulation in spite of these concerns. Our study reveals that the rival stances are argued in terms of irreconcilable conceptual metaphors, and each legal stance in itself is deficient to address these current concerns.
The Use of Criminal Profilers in the Prosecution of Serial Killers

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the concept of criminal profiling in terms of serial killers in the United States. The research provided in this paper was found using the most recent research available on the topic. The FBI’s Behavioral Unit, or National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC), is the current leading law enforcement agency that investigates these types of crimes. They utilize definitions, typographies, and motives to create a criminal profile to investigate serial killings. Ultimately, these profiles are inadequate because they are inconclusive and exclude multiple suspects that are potentially dangerous. Therefore, criminal profiling should be merely utilized as an investigative tool, rather than a prosecutorial tool. Ultimately, the F.B.I.’s NCAVC must create a universal definition, as well as a more detailed list of typographies to help law enforcement more accurately identify and investigate serial killers.
Platelet factor 4 increases bone marrow B cell development and differentiation

Platelet factor 4 (PF4) is a megakaryocyte-/platelet-derived chemokine with diverse functions as a regulator of vascular and immune biology. PF4 has a central role in vessel injury responses, innate immune cell responses, and T-helper cell differentiation. We have now discovered that PF4 has a direct role in B cell differentiation in the bone marrow. Mice lacking PF4 (PF4-/- mice) had fewer developing B cells in the bone marrow beginning after the pre-pro-B cell stage of differentiation. In vitro, PF4 increased the differentiation of hematopoietic progenitors to B cell lineage cells, indicating that PF4 has a direct effect on B cell differentiation. STAT5 activation is essential in early B cell development and PF4 increased the phosphorylation of STAT5. Taken together, these data demonstrate that PF4 has an important role in increasing B cell differentiation in the bone marrow environment.
Natural Antioxidants of Soybeans and Other Oil-Seeds

Most food grade proteins derived from animal sources do not lend themselves to incorporation into certain formulated and synthesized food products without major preparative procedures. Animal proteins are, also, steadily increasing in cost and are becoming less available. In many cases oil-seed products extend, supplement, or replace more costly ingredients without detracting from the quality of the finished food. Oil-seed proteins may also be used to supplement or replace foods from other plant sources in order to enhance their nutritional value or alter their sensory characteristics.
Techniques for Stainless Steel Microscopy

It is not the intent of this chapter to be a treatise on basic preparation techniques for specimens except as certain of them apply, or are peculiar to, stainless steels. There are many books that cover all of the basic principles and general laboratory techniques of metallography; a representative sampling may be found in References 1 through 6.
The “Azores Geosyndrome” and Plate Tectonics: Research History, Synthesis, and Unsolved Puzzles

The Azores volcanic archipelago, the Azores Plateau (AP) and the Azores triple junction (ATJ) between the Eurasia, North America and Nubia plates occupy the summit of a regional feature we refer to as the ‘Azores Geosyndrome’. Included are anomalies in crustal thickness, rock composition, basement depth, plate boundary morphology, seismicity, gravity and geoid, and upper mantle seismic velocity structure, and there are many similarities between the Azores and Iceland geosyndromes. The location of the Azores in the central North Atlantic, technological advances in marine geophysics as well as logistic, geomilitary and geopolitical motivations and advanced research of island geology/volcanology have contributed to make the ATJ the most studied oceanic triple plate junction. However, a unified understanding of the Azores Geosyndrome awaits future deep crustal boreholes (particularly on the AP) and regional sea-floor seismometer arrays to resolve the seismic velocity structure below the AP down to the middle and perhaps lower mantle. Whereas a deep mantle plume appears unlikely to exist below the Azores, it cannot yet be excluded (see O’Neill and Sigloch, Chapter “ Crust and Mantle Structure Beneath the Azores Hotspot—Evidence from Geophysics”, and Moreira et al., Chapter “ Noble Gas Constraints on the Origin of the Azores Hotspot”). What is already clear is that the development and evolution of the Azores Geosyndrome has involved dynamic interactions among the North America-Nubia-Eurasia plates and at least the uppermost mantle below those plates—even far from the ATJ area. The plate boundary reorganization that resulted in the triple plate junction jumping from the end of King’s Trough south to create the ATJ was largely complete by Chron 6C (23 Ma) and coincided within dating uncertainties with the jump of the spreading plate boundary from the Norway Basin to the new Kolbeinsey Ridge just north of Iceland. Major geological changes in the Pyrenees and Alpine Tethys region at that time have long been known. In fact, the Palaeogene-Neogene boundary, a time of global change in planktonic biogeography, is placed at 23.0 Ma, in the upper part of C6C. Why the ATJ developed where it did and not elsewhere along the MAR suggests the lithosphere and subjacent mantle had already created a region of plate weakness. The subsequent development of the AP, largely via Mid-Atlantic Ridge spreading, produced a thick crust and more fertile mantle lithosphere-particularly from ca. 12 to 8 Ma. This mantle lithosphere was and continues to be relatively weak and fertile, favouring transtensional fissuring, formation of central volcanoes, as well as oblique hyperslow spreading along the Terceira Rift—particularly in the last 1.5 Ma.
Unified representation of the C3, C4, and CAM photosynthetic pathways with the Photo3 model

Abstract Recent interest in crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis has resulted in new, physiologically based CAM models. These models show promise, yet typically are not developed with a basis that is compatible with widely used models of C3 and C4 photosynthesis. Indeed, most efforts to assess the potential of CAM still rely on empirically based environmental productivity indices, which makes uniform comparisons between CAM and non-CAM species difficult. In order to represent C3, C4, and CAM photosynthesis in a consistent, physiologically based manner, we introduce the Photo3 model. Photo3 unites a common photosynthetic and hydraulic core with components depicting the circadian rhythm of CAM photosynthesis and the carbon-concentrating mechanism of C4 photosynthesis. This work allows consistent comparisons of the three photosynthetic types for the first time. It also allows the representation of intermediate C3-CAM behavior through the adjustment of a single model parameter. Model simulations of Opuntia ficus-indica (CAM), Sorghum bicolor (C4), and Triticum aestivum (C3) capture the diurnal behavior of each species as well as the cumulative effects of long-term water limitation. These results show the model's potential for evaluating the tradeoffs between C3, C4, and CAM photosynthesis, and for better understanding CAM productivity, ecology, and climate feedbacks.
Irradiation and heating effects on microbiological, physicochemical, and sensory characteristics of ground pork

Radiation resistance of Listeria monocytogenes Scott A in ground pork, packaged in air and under vacuum, was studied at the irradiation temperatures of 2°C (refigerated) and 48''C (heated). More survivors of L. monocytogenes Scott A were found when cells were irradiated and recovered, under vacuum, than in air. Within the dose-range studied (0 to 1.5 kGy), irradiation of ground pork at 48°C resulted in overall less survivors than when irradiation was carried out at 2°C. The rate of listerial destruction, as determined by the reciprocal of the slopes of survival ^ Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University. Ames, lA ^ To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dr. D. G. Olson, 194 Meat Laboratory, Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University, Ames, lA 50011, Phone (515) 294-1055 curves; however, appeared to be greatest for samples that were air-packed and irradiated at 2°C. D-values of L monocytogenes Scott A were found to be 0.31, 0.35,0.37, 0.42 kGy for refrigerated/air, heated/air, refrigerated/vacuum, and heated/vacuum treatments respectively. An overall cell injury was found to be 3.7%. Healthy and injured cells appeared to respond to irradiation in a similar pattern. When irradiation was performed at 48°C, the rate of listerial destruction followed the first order of kinetic and exhibited straight lines on semi-logarithmic plots. L. monocytogenes inoculated in ground pork and irradiated at 2°C appeared to exhibit shoulders on its survival curves.
Does Health Aid Reduce Infant and Child Mortality from Diarrhoea in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Achieving sustained improvements in health outcomes remains a challenge for sub-Saharan Africa, where diarrhoea remains a leading cause of death in children under the age of five. This paper examin...
Primary plasma cell leukemia: autologous stem cell transplant in an era of novel induction drugs

Primary plasma cell leukemia (pPCL) is a rare and aggressive variant of multiple myeloma (MM) with poor long-term survival after cytotoxic chemotherapy. Many novel drugs have revolutionized the treatment algorithms for MM. The impact of targeted therapy, both pre- and post-autologous stem cell transplant (auto-HCT) remains an area of ongoing interest. In this study, we report outcomes post auto-HCT for pPCL and the impact of maintenance therapy posttransplant with novel agents.
Energy Management System in DC Micro-Grids of Smart Ships: Main Gen-Set Fuel Consumption Minimization and Fault Compensation

This paper proposes an energy management system (EMS) of the electrical system of a luxury ship (yacht). Starting from the analysis of the current configuration of the electric system, it proposes some solutions for its improvement, aiming at the reduction of the fuel consumption of the diesel engine (DE) driven permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSG) and, therefore, at the reduction of the related ship polluting emissions. From the architectural side, a dc electrical distribution on-board has been adopted in place of the existing ac. Moreover, the dc micro-grid has been integrated with renewable energy sources (RES) based generators, as well as an energy storage system (ESS). From the management point of view, the proposed EMS governs the ship electric system in three working conditions: 1) regular operation; 2) DE driven PMSG fault/outage; 3) overload. During regular operation, the EMS implements the variable speed paradigm of the DE driven PMSGs on-board, permitting a reduction of the fuel consumption, and the related polluting emissions. In this phase, the ESS is exploited to minimize the speed and power transients of the DE. In case of a fault of one of the DE driven PMSGs, the ESS compensates the power missing for the entire duration of the cold start up of the auxiliary generator. In case of big overload, the ESS provides the exceeding power with respect to the rated one, thus avoiding potential micro-grid instability problems. This paper proposes also a stability analysis of the entire on-board dc micro-grid.
Temporal Control of Appetite by AgRP Clocks.

Neuronal control of diurnal appetitive drive is not well understood. In this issue, a study by Cedernaes et al. (2019) elucidates a key role of AgRP neuronal clocks and delineates the cell-type-specific transcriptional landscape in the temporal regulation of hunger.
Brain activity sensitive to visual congruency effects relates to divergent thinking

The present study used functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI) to examine the role of focused attention in divergent thinking and real-life creativity. Participants completed a Navon task, on which the stimuli consisted of a large letter made up of the smaller version of the same (congruent), or a different (incongruent) letter. Participants were cued to identify a letter at either the local or at the global level. A smaller congruency effect - how much faster people responded on the congruent than on the incongruent trials - was an index of focused attention. Overall, larger behavioral congruency effect was accompanied with increased activation in the anterior superior temporal gyrus (aSTG), and with increased activation in the left precuneus. Individual differences in divergent thinking, however, were associated with smaller behavioral congruency effect, as well as with smaller right aSTG increase on the incongruent versus congruent targets, suggesting that people with better performance on the divergent thinking tests have more focused attention. Real-world creativity was not associated with the congruency effect, or with any of the regions implicated in the congruency effect. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Effects of age and diet on the development of the pancreas and the synthesis and secretion of pancreatic enzymes in the young pig.

Effects of age and diet composition on amylase, trypsin and chymotrypsin activities in the pancreas and intestinal contents, pancreas weights and body weights were determined from birth to 56 d. A total of 120 pigs, five to seven pigs/litter from 18 litters, were slaughtered at birth, 14, 27, 29, 31, 42 and 56 d. Litters were allotted to dietary treatments (corn-soy, A; corn-soy + 20% dried whey, B; corn-soy + 5% lard, C) and offered these diets as creep feed at 14 d. All pigs were weaned at 28 d, placed in elevated nursery pens and fed their respective diets. Total activities of amylase, trypsin and chymotrypsin in the pancreas and small intestine increased (P less than .05) with age. Both trypsin and amylase activities, measured per kilogram body weight or gram pancreas weight, were low at 29 d in the intestine and increased to 56 d. Pigs on diet B had the highest level of trypsin and chymotrypsin in the intestinal contents (P less than .05). Trypsin activity in the pancreas (units/kg body weight) was lowest (P less than .05) for pigs on diet B and highest (P less than .05) for those on diet C (units/g pancreas and units/kg body weight). Amylase activity (units/kg body weight) was lower (P less than .05) in the pancreas for pigs on diet B than for those on diets A and C. Pigs on diet A had lower (P less than .01) intestinal amylase activities than those on diets B and C. Enzyme activities in the intestinal contents and pancreas were low following weaning. In the pancreas, activities decreased at 31 d.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Improvement and evaluation of the Iowa Flood Center Hillslope Link Model (HLM) by calibration-free approach

Abstract This study evaluates the performance of Iowa Flood Center’s real-time distributed hydrologic model, Hillslope-Link Model (HLM). The HLM provides information about current and future streamflow conditions for over 1000 locations in Iowa, including small communities and stream gauge locations. The HLM uses a calibration-free approach in which a system of ordinary nonlinear differential equations represents the processes of rainfall to runoff translation as well as the transport of water in the river network. The authors developed a comprehensive evaluation framework to improve the model performance through modification of its structure, and not by parameter calibration. The authors explored modifications to the runoff generation modeling, and to the approach for routing water in channels. Model performance was assessed using different metrics: Nash Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE); Kling Gupta efficiency (KGE); mean absolute error of river stages (MAE); percent bias (PB); annual peak difference; ratio of hits, misses and false alarms, and timing difference. The inclusion of an interflow component alleviated problems of volume underestimation. Timing of model simulations was found to be more accurate when the routing component considered the channel stream order. In the study, effect of rainfall input on the model performance was verified with Stage IV, which includes bias adjustment using gauge information, and a radar rainfall product created in real-time by IFC without bias correction. Open-loop simulations obtained with Stage IV and IFC rainfall show similar performance. Out of all the simulations obtained with Stage IV, 88% have NSE > 0; 95% have KGE > 0; 65% have MAE 40%; average peak estimation errors are below 5% at large basins and below 20% at small basins; and the average timing difference is smaller than three hours. The characteristics of landforms and the impact of agricultural practices in the region are related to the spatial distribution of model performance. The study provides the basis for future improvements of the model.
Immigrant Status, Resilience, and Perceived Oral Health Among Chinese Americans in Hawaii:

Objectives:This study aims to examine the associations among immigrant status, resilience, and perceived oral health for Chinese American older adults in Hawaii.Method:Data derived from 430 Chinese...
Doping of Aluminum Nitride and the Impact on Thin Film Piezoelectric and Ferroelectric Device Performance

Recently, the substitutional doping of scandium (Sc) for aluminum (Al) to form aluminum scandium nitride (AlScN) has been studied to enhance the piezoelectric properties and introduce ferroelectric properties into aluminum nitride (AlN) based material systems. The properties achieved to date have profound implications for the performance of piezoelectric filters, and energy harvesters, and for scaling the bit density of ferroelectric memories. This paper reviews the piezoelectric and ferroelectric performance that has been demonstrated, and the impact of the material properties on the performance of piezoelectric and ferroelectric devices.
Underrepresentation of functional conditions of the lower urinary tract in adults in US federal research funding.

Aims Evaluation and treatment of functional conditions of the lower urinary tract (fcLUT), a subset of benign urinary tract conditions, is highly subjective due to overlapping symptomatology. Despite high prevalence and socioeconomic cost, there has been little improvement in their treatment and lack of progress in understanding their pathophysiology. This study investigates trends in quantity, monetary amounts, and awardees' characteristics of federally funded research awards for fcLUT compared to nonurologic benign conditions (NUBCs) and urologic malignancies. Methods Data were extracted from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and federal RePORTER databases in December 2019. We identified currently active awards in fcLUT, NUBC, and malignant urologic conditions and the associated demographic features of awardees. The authors also examined temporal funding trends for such awards. Results These database searches revealed that there are consistently fewer awards and funding dollars for the study of fcLUT compared to other benign conditions with similar prevalences. While most research topics have received increased funding in awards and overall funding dollars over time, fcLUT funding has remained relatively flat. Urologists are also underrepresented; only 11 of the 86 recipients of NIH R01 awards to study fcLUT have clinical training in urology. Conclusions Even when compared to NUBC, funding for the study of fcLUT remains low and has stagnated over time. Further, investigators who are clinicians in the field of urology are in the minority of those doing this study. Given the need for clinical perspectives in fcLUT research, the lack of urologist representation will inhibit discovery and translational advances.
Recovery of Small-Strain Stiffness Following Blast-Induced Liquefaction Based on Shear Wave Velocity Measurements

Changes in soil fabric following liquefaction have been studied using various in situ methods that often return inconclusive or conflicting observations. The time–rate variation of stiffness, when ...
In search of Africa(s): universalism and decolonial thought: by Souleymane Bachir Diagne and Jean-Loup Amselle, translated by Andrew Brown, Cambridge and Medford, Polity Press, 2020, 240 pp., $24.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1509540297

First published in French in 2018, this co-written book is a fruitful dialogue between two contemporary thinkers about questions of race, identity, and culture in Africa and beyond. Senegalese phil...
A Rationally Designed ICAM1 Antibody Drug Conjugate for Pancreatic Cancer.

Outcomes for pancreatic cancer (PC) patients remain strikingly poor with a 5-year survival of less than 8% due to the lack of effective treatment modalities. Here, a novel precision medicine approach for PC treatment is developed, which is composed of a rationally designed tumor-targeting ICAM1 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) with optimized chemical linker and cytotoxic payload, complemented with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based molecular imaging approach to noninvasively evaluate the efficiency of ICAM1 ADC therapy. It is shown that ICAM1 is differentially overexpressed on the surface of human PC cells with restricted expression in normal tissues, enabling ICAM1 antibody to selectively recognize and target PC tumors in vivo. It is further demonstrated that the developed ICAM1 ADC induces potent and durable tumor regression in an orthotopic PC mouse model. To build a precision medicine, an MRI-based molecular imaging approach is developed that noninvasively maps the tumoral ICAM1 expression that can be potentially used to identify ICAM1-overexpressing PC patients. Collectively, this study establishes a strong foundation for the development of a promising ADC to address the critical need in the PC patient care.
Entry Level Value versus Career Value of Mis Courses: Faculty Expectations versus Alumni Perceptions

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the expectations of faculty who designed an MIS curriculum and the evaluations of the alumni regarding the situational value, i.e...
Federated Functional Gradient Boosting.

In this paper, we initiate a study of functional minimization in Federated Learning. First, in the semi-heterogeneous setting, when the marginal distributions of the feature vectors on client machines are identical, we develop the federated functional gradient boosting (FFGB) method that provably converges to the global minimum. Subsequently, we extend our results to the fully-heterogeneous setting (where marginal distributions of feature vectors may differ) by designing an efficient variant of FFGB called FFGB.C, with provable convergence to a neighborhood of the global minimum within a radius that depends on the total variation distances between the client feature distributions. For the special case of square loss, but still in the fully heterogeneous setting, we design the FFGB.L method that also enjoys provable convergence to a neighborhood of the global minimum but within a radius depending on the much tighter Wasserstein-1 distances. For both FFGB.C and FFGB.L, the radii of convergence shrink to zero as the feature distributions become more homogeneous. Finally, we conduct proof-of-concept experiments to demonstrate the benefits of our approach against natural baselines.
Maternal Intervention to Prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV: Moving Beyond Antiretroviral Therapy

Widespread availability of antiretroviral therapy among pregnant women living with HIV has greatly reduced the rate of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV across the globe. However, while Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS has set targets to reduce the annual number of new pediatric HIV infections to fewer than 40,000 in 2018 and fewer than 20,000 in 2020, progress towards these targets has plateaued at an unacceptably high global estimate of greater than 160,000 children newly infected with HIV in 2018. Moreover, it has become clear that expansion of maternal antiretroviral therapy alone will not be sufficient to close the remaining gap and eliminate MTCT of HIV. Additional strategies such as maternal or infant passive and/or active immunization that synergize with maternal antiretroviral therapy will be required to end the pediatric HIV epidemic. In this review, we outline the landscape of existing maternal interventions and emerging maternal immune-based approaches to prevent MTCT of HIV.
Robotic-Assisted Digital Exoscope for Resection of Cerebral Metastases: A Case Series.

BACKGROUND Surgical resection is the primary treatment for cerebral metastases with safe complete resection as the goal. The robotically assisted digital surgical exoscope is a novel system with advanced visualization methods with recent applications in neurosurgery. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the outcomes for patients with cerebral metastases undergoing resection with the surgical exoscope. METHODS Data were retrospectively collected from patients with cerebral metastases where resection was achieved with using the surgical exoscope from 2016 to 2020. Demographics, clinical, imaging, and operative and outcome findings were collected. The relationship between perioperative data and discharge disposition as well as progression-free survival (PFS) and 12 mo overall survival (OS) was assessed. RESULTS A total of 31 patients (19 males) with a median patient age 63 yr (range 38-80) were included. Average pre- and postoperative volumes were 18.1 cc and 0.75 cc, respectively. Mean depth of the resected lesions was 0.6 cm (range 0-3.6 cm). Complete resection was achieved in 64.5% of patients. The mean extent of resection was 96.7%, with 71.0% achieving PFS at 6 mo. Overall PFS rate was 58.1% and the OS rate at 12 mo was 83.9%. Neurological complications included motor (35.5%) and sensory (12.9%) deficits, with 12 patients reporting no postoperative symptoms. CONCLUSION The surgical exoscope can delineate tumor tissues with high resolution, as shown by a gross total resection achieved for the majority of cases in our series. Postoperative complications and patient outcomes were similar to those reported with use of the operative microscope. Use of the exoscope can provide optimal visualization and delineation of cerebral metastases.
Prevalence and outcomes of twin pregnancies in Botswana: a national birth outcomes surveillance study.

Objectives This study aims to evaluate the prevalence and outcome of twin pregnancies in Botswana. Setting The Tsepamo Study conducted birth outcomes surveillance at 8 government-run hospitals (~45% of all births in Botswana) from August 2014 to June 2018 and expanded to 18 hospitals (~70% of all births in Botswana) from July 2018 to March 2019. Participants Data were collected for all live-born and stillborn in-hospital deliveries with a gestational age (GA) greater than 24 weeks. This analysis included 117 593 singleton and 3718 twin infants (1859 sets (1.6%)) born to 119 477 women between August 2014 and March 2019 and excluded 73 higher order multiples (23 sets of triplets and 1 set of quadruplets). Outcomes measured Our primary outcomes were preterm delivery ( Results Women with twin pregnancies had a similar median number of antenatal care visits (9 vs 10), but were more likely to deliver in a tertiary centre (54.8% vs 45.1%, p Conclusion Adverse birth outcomes are common among twins in Botswana, and are often severe. Interventions that allow for earlier identification of twin gestation and improved antenatal management of twin pregnancies may improve infant and child survival.
Systematic Differences in Trigonometric Parallaxes from Different Observatories

Systematic differences in trigonometric parallaxes between Allegheny Observatory and Yale Observatory, between Allegheny Observatory and McCormick Observatory and between the Cape Observatory and Yale Observatory have been investigated for stars common to each pair. The differences found correlate with right ascension, naturally suggesting some sort of annual influence. It is proposed that these differences are related to differences in the annual temperature cycle between observatories, possibly through the mechanism of temperature dependent decentering of the telescope objectives. A dependence upon spectral type was also discovered in the differences between the relative parallaxes from Allegheny and from Yale. Further work is needed to clarify the nature of these systematic effects and to insure that they do not significantly bias available trigonometric parallaxes.
Health lifestyles and the absence of the Russian middle class

This paper examines the pivotal role of social stratification in Russia's health crisis. The primary level causal factor is increased mortality from heart disease and alcohol-related poisonings and accidents. In order to understand the origin of the primary causes, it is necessary to look further for secondary level factors. Whereas policy and stress are important, the leading secondary determinant is negative health lifestyles. The question then arises: What is the source of this lifestyle? This question necessitates a search for tertiary level causes and the absence of a strong middle class in Russia is identified. In Western society, the middle class, especially the upper middle class, is the social carrier of positive health lifestyles across class boundaries. The Russian middle class has not initiated positive health lifestyles countering the predominately negative health lifestyle practices because a middle class similar to that in the West does not exist. Russia needs a civil society in which a similarly stable and empowered middle class can promote positive health lifestyles within its own stratum and elsewhere in the class structure; until this happens, the health situation in that country may not stabilise for the better.
Can we use technology to train inspectors to be more systematic

Inspection quality is dependent on the ability of inspectors to weed out defective items. When inspection is visual in nature, humans play a critical role in ensuring inspection quality with training identified as the primary intervention strategy for improving inspection performance. However, for this strategy to be successful, inspectors must be provided with the needed tools to enhance their inspection skills. In this article we outline efforts pursued at Clemson University, focusing on the development of computer-based training systems for inspection training and discuss the results of some of the research briefly.
A Comparison of Search Strategies for Geometric Branch and Bound Algorithms

Over the last decade, a number of methods for geometric matching based on a branch-and-bound approach have been proposed. Such algorithms work by recursively subdividing transformation space and bounding the quality of match over each subdivision. No direct comparison of the major implementation strategies has been made so far, so it has been unclear what the relative performance of the different approaches is. This paper examines experimentally the relative performance of different implementation choices in the implementation of branch-and-bound algorithms for geometric matching: alternatives for the computation of upper bounds across a collection of features, and alternatives the order in which search nodes are expanded. Two major approaches to computing the bounds have been proposed: the matchlist based approach, and approaches based on point location data structures. A second issue that is addressed in the paper is the question of search strategy; branch-and-bound algorithms traditionally use a "best-first" search strategy, but a "depth-first" strategy is a plausible alternative. These alternative implementations are compared on an easily reproducible and commonly used class of test problems, a statistical model of feature distributions and matching within the COIL-20 image database. The experimental results show that matchlist based approaches outperform point location based approaches on common tasks. The paper also shows that a depth-first approach to matching results in a 50-200 fold reduction in memory usage with only a small increase in running time. Since matchlist-based approaches are significantly easier to implement and can easily cope with a much wider variety of feature types and error bounds that point location based approaches, they should probably the primary implementation strategy for branch-and-bound based methods for geometric matching.
Elements of an Undergraduate Introductory Materials Engineering Course: Successful Implementation for Students Learning

The major emphasis of a Materials Engineering course is to provide a broad level of information on different materials used in industries for various engineering applications. In our institution, working on quarter systems, this course becomes very aggressive and challenging in the amount of information that needs to be presented to the students within a 10weeks-time frame. This course involves different laboratory practices, besides regular class lectures, to obtain knowledge on various material properties to reinforce classroom theories. In addition, to increase exposure to different types of materials and material uses, students in the class are required to research an open topic, which is related to this class. Students have to prepare a brief written report and share what they have learned with the class giving an oral presentation. While a course in Engineering Materials is a common offering in many universities, the authors of this paper present the pedagogical approaches undertaken to successfully implement the course objectives to the undergraduate Engineering and Engineering Technology students. The topics and techniques applied to teach Engineering Materials to enhance student learning outcomes are addressed in this paper.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Deployment of Agent Technologies in Industrial Applications

This paper summarizes lessons learned from real-life deployment of multi-agent systems developed by Rockwell Automation in the area of industrial applications. We mainly focus on fault tolerance, scalability, and reconfiguration aspects in both the design and runtime parts of the system life cycle. We also describe the tools that were essential for testing and debugging the entire distributed system
Difference equations and quantized discriminants for q-orthogonal polynomials

We show that orthogonal polynomials on generalized q-linear grid have raising and lowering operators and satisfy a second-order q-difference equation. It is shown that for a general class of weight functions on general q-linear grids, the functions of the second kind and the orthogonal polynomials are linear independent solutions of the same second-order q-difference equation. We introduce q-analogues of the discriminant and evaluate the quantized discriminant for general q-orthogonal polynomials in terms of the recursion coefficients. The q-discriminants of the discrete q-Hermite and little q-Jacobi polynomials, as well as a generalized discriminant of the continuous q-Jacobi polynomials, are given explicitly. A q-analogue of the Freud weights is introduced and we derive the second-order q-difference equation they satisfy.
Characterization of a full-length cDNA for rabbit factor X

Abstract A 300 bp probe generated by the PCR was derived from rabbit genomic DNA using primers from a highly conserved region of the DNA for human factor X (HFX). The probe was used in northern blot analysis of liver RNA to demonstrate an mRNA species of 1.6 kb for the rabbit factor X and subsequently for isolation and characterization of the cDNA for rabbit factor X (RFX) from a lambda Zap II cDNA library generated from rabbit liver mRNA. The cDNA contains 22 bases upstream from the 5′-translation initiation codon, 1470 nucleotides of open reading frame, a stop codon and a 3′ poly (A) tail. The cDNA codes for a 40-residue signal/propeptide region, followed by a 447-residue mature protein. The deduced amino acid sequence shows a high degree of homology with the sequence of HFX. Inhibitory peptides derived from interactive sites of HFX for activators, cofactor and substrate exerted degrees of inhibition of RFX activation which showed a dependence on extent of homology with the corresponding regions of RFX. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd
Analysing networks containing current conveyors

The (second generation) current conveyor is a building block that can be used to design linear circuits. Current conveyors have been used to design oscillators, filters and simulated inductors. This paper presents a simple procedure for analysing circuits that contain current conveyors. The procedure is well suited for manual calculations. It is also easily programmed and is compatible with a previously published algorithm for the computer analysis of linear networks. An important feature of the procedure is that it can be used to analyse networks containing non-ideal current conveyors.
Estimation of p(y<x) in the gamma case

We consider estimation of P(Y<X) when X˜Γr(M,λ) and Y˜Γ(N,μ) are independent with M and N known. A concise representation of the UMVUE and several representations for the MLE are derived. Closed-form exact expressions of both MSE's and the bias of the MLE are obtained. Large-sample results are given and numerical comparison of the two point estimators is made. Confidence intervals are given.
Assessment of Spine Bone Mineral Density in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: Impact of Scan Projection

Abstract Although children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) are at risk for vertebral fractures, recent conventional posterior-anterior (PA) spine dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry studies reported minimal areal bone mineral density (aBMD, g/cm 2 ) deficits. Width-adjusted BMD (WA-BMD, g/cm 3 ) represents the bone mineral content (BMC) from the lateral projection, excluding the dense cortical spinous processes, divided by the estimated vertebral body volume based on paired PA-lateral bone dimensions. Therefore, WA-BMD may be more sensitive to JIA effects on the predominantly trabecular vertebral body. Age- and sex-specific Z-scores for spine aBMD and WA-BMD were generated in 84 JIA subjects compared with healthy controls, aged 5–21yr. JIA was associated with lower mean WA-BMD Z-scores (−0.78, 95% CI: −1.03, −0.53; p p p p
Anti-troponin-T monoclonal antibody crossreacts with all muscle types

Monoclonal antibodies to troponin-T were produced by the hybridoma technique. Culture supernatants were initially screened using an enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA). Positive clones were subcloned twice and further characterized. One of these, 7/H3:C9:D10, produced antibodies against troponin-T; immunoblotting experiments indicated its specificity for only troponin-T when challenged with a variety of striated muscle myofibrillar proteins. Indirect immunofluorescence staining with the antibody shows specific I-band staining in both adult and embryonic skeletal and cardiac muscle of various vertebrate species. In addition, intense but diffuse cytoplasmic staining was seen in chicken gizzard smooth muscle. Our results suggest that troponin-T contains an antigenic determinant that is common to both striated and smooth muscle.
An Efficient $(n,k)$ Information Dispersal Algorithm Based on Fermat Number Transforms

The (n,k) information dispersal algorithm (IDA) is a coding technique converting a digital source file into n small digital files (shadows), and the receipt of any k out of the n shadows can losslessly reconstruct the source file. This paper presents an encoding and two decoding algorithms of (n,k) IDA via the fast Fermat number transform (FNT). The proposed encoding algorithm requires O(nlog k) arithmetic operations, and the two decoding algorithms have complexities O(nlog k) and O(klog2 k) for a reasonably large file. As compared with existing work, the proposed algorithms generate significant improvement in the throughput in the low code rate k/n ≤ 1/2 settings.
Multiple binding sites for local anesthetics on reconstituted acetylcholine receptor membranes

Using electron spin resonance spectroscopy and a spin-labeled analog of a tertiary amine local anesthetic, we have identified several populations of the local anesthetic within reconstituted lipid membranes containing purified acetylcholine receptors. These populations represent the local anesthetic interacting with membrane lipid and with the acetylcholine receptor. The data also suggest the existence of at least two classes of binding sites for the local anesthetic on the acetylcholine receptor.
A compact, effective descriptor for video copy detection

Large scale video copy detection tasks require a compact and computational-efficient descriptor that is robust to various transformations that are typically applied to generate copies. In this paper, we propose a new frame-level descriptor for such a task. The descriptor encodes the internal structure of a video frame by computing the pair-wise correlations between geometrically pre-indexed blocks. It is conceptually simple, small in size, and fast to compute. Experiments using the MUSCLE VCD benchmark show its superior performance compared to existing approaches.
Oxindole alkaloids from Gelsemium elegans

Abstract Four new oxindole alkaloids, 20-hydroxydihydrorankinidine, N -desmethoxyhumantenine, 15-hydroxyhumantenine and gelsemoxonine have been isolated from Gelsemium elegans , and their structures assigned by spectral and X-ray crystallographic analyses.
METABOLISM IN VIVO OF STEROIDS BY THE CANINE TESTES.

Abstract The formation of testosterone in vivo has been investigated in anesthetized dogs by infusing radioactive steroids via the left spermatic artery and isolating radioactive testosterone in venous blood obtained from the left spermatic vein. The data from such experiments indicate that the formation of 17α-hydroxypregnenolone and the metabolism of this steroid to testosterone is a major route in the biosynthesis in vivo of testosterone from pregnenolone by the canine testis. 1. 1. When an equal amount of [4 −14 C]progesterone and 17α-hydroxy[7α- 3 H]pregnenolone were infused at a constant rate by the spermatic artery, the concentration of 3 H in isolated spermatic vein testosterone was from 3–8 times that of 14 C. 2. 2. When [7α- 3 H]prenenolone was infused by the left spermatic artery for 5 min, more [ 3 H]17α-hydroxypregnenolone than [ 3 H]progesterone was found in the left testis at the end of this infusion. 3. 3. The problem of preferred metabolism to testosterone in vivo by testicular tissue is discussed.
The effect of ventilation on spectral analysis of heart rate and blood pressure variability during exercise

Heart rate variability (HRV) and systolic blood pressure variability (BPV) during incremental exercise at 50, 75, and 100% of previously determined ventilatory threshold (VT) were compared to that of resting controlled breathing (CB) in 12 healthy subjects. CB was matched with exercise-associated respiratory rate, tidal volume, and end-tidal CO(2) for all stages of exercise. Power in the low frequency (LF, 0.04-0.15 Hz) and high frequency (HF, >0.15-0.4 Hz) for HRV and BPV were calculated, using time-frequency domain analysis, from beat-to-beat ECG and non-invasive radial artery blood pressure, respectively. During CB absolute and normalized power in the LF and HF of HRV and BPV were not significantly changed from baseline to maximal breathing. Conversely, during exercise HRV, LF and HF power significantly decreased from baseline to 100% VT while BPV, LF and HF power significantly increased for the same period. These findings suggest that the increases in ventilation associated with incremental exercise do not significantly affect spectral analysis of cardiovascular autonomic modulation in healthy subjects.
Sudden Infant Apnea and Insidious Hydrocephalus

Hydrocephalus secondary to intracranial-intraventricular hemorrhage is a common complication in the clinical course of the high-risk preterm newborn. Hydrocephalus in this population may be insidious without obvious intracranial hypertension. Apnea and respiratory arrest continue to cause concern following nursery discharge of the high-risk preterm newborn. We report a child who presented to the neonatology service with episodes compatible with serious sudden cardiorespiratory arrest. Insidious “non-hypertensive” hydrocephalus was documented as being responsible for these episodes, which resolved with treatment of the hydrocephalus. The perinatal neurosurgical consultant should be aware of this syndrome and instruct the parents and the pediatricians of these infants, who at the time of discharge are asymptomatic but have ventricular enlargement on neuro-imaging studies. The information presented here is of current importance, since most neonatologists are unaware of the syndrome of insidious hydrocephalus.