cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lipoglycans from Mycoplasmas

Lipoglycans , distinguishable from bacterial lipopolysaccharides, are associated with the cytoplasmic membranes of several genera of Mollicutes, namely Acholeplasma, Mycoplasma neurolyticum , Anaeroplasma , and Thermoplasma. Structurally, the lipoglycans are long heteropolysaccharides covalently linked to a lipid. The exact structures of three have been determined. Thermoplasma oligosaccharide is attached to a diglycerol tetraether ; A. granularum to a diacyl glycerol. The lipoglycan from A. axanthum is unique by its possession of glycerol phosphate and galactose phosphate side chains and the occurrence of fatty acids in N-acyl linkages. Only one molecular species of lipoglycan occurs in a given species. These lipoglycans possess a variety of biological activities. The terminal three sugar residues define their antigenic specificity; they attach to specific receptors on mammalian cells; they exhibit pyrogenicity in rabbits and clot Limulus lysate; they stimulate the production of IgM antibody both in vivo and in vitro; they modulate the immune response to T-cell dependent antigens; they exhibit immunosuppressive and immunostimulatory activities.
Measurement of localized corrosion rates at inclusion particles in AA7075 by in situ three dimensional (3D) X-ray synchrotron tomography

In situ X-ray synchrotron tomography was used to measure the localized corrosion rate of Mg2Si particles present in 7075 aluminum alloys in deionized ultra-filtered (DIUF) water. The evolution of hydrogen bubbles was captured as a function of time and the measured volume was used to calculate the local corrosion rate of Mg2Si particles. It was shown that in the absence of chloride ions, stress was needed to create fresh particle surfaces, either by fracture or debonding, to initiate corrosion at the particles.
Synthesis and evaluation of 5,6-disubstituted thiopyrimidine aryl aminothiazoles as inhibitors of the calcium-activated chloride channel TMEM16A/Ano1

Transmembrane protein 16A (TMEM16A), also called Ano1, is a Ca(2+) activated Cl(-) channel expressed widely in mammalian epithelia, as well as in vascular smooth muscle and some tumors and electrically excitable cells. TMEM16A inhibitors have potential utility for treatment of disorders of epithelial fluid and mucus secretion, hypertension, some cancers and other diseases. 4-Aryl-2-amino thiazole T16Ainh-01 was previously identified by high-throughput screening. Here, a library of 47 compounds were prepared that explored the 5,6-disubstituted pyrimidine scaffold found in T16Ainh-01. TMEM16A inhibition activity was measured using fluorescence plate reader and short-circuit current assays. We found that very little structural variation of T16Ainh-01 was tolerated, with most compounds showing no activity at 10 μM. The most potent compound in the series, 9bo, which substitutes 4-methoxyphenyl in T16Ainh-01 with 2-thiophene, had IC50 ∼1 μM for inhibition of TMEM16A chloride conductance.
Radiographic Imaging and Ultrasound in Early Trauma Management: Damage Control Radiology for the Anesthesiologist

The role of radiographic imaging and ultrasound (US) in decision-making during the early management of the polytrauma patient has increased significantly in the last decade based on technological advancements and ongoing research. With the introduction of faster and more capable computed tomography scanners as well as portable US machines, individuals responsible for the care of the trauma patient have more information than ever to guide perioperative care and operative decisions. This has led to the implementation of Damage Control Radiology (DCRad) in the early resuscitation and treatment of these patients. In this review, we focus on the current literature surrounding applications of US and other radiographic imaging in the early management of the trauma patient. This includes reviews of the Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) and Extended-FAST (E-FAST) exams with an emphasis on their applicability, sensitivity, and specificity in the setting of blunt and penetrating trauma as well as their ability to predict the need for an operative intervention. Additionally, we will briefly review the role of US for airway management, and vascular access. Relevant to anesthesiologists managing patients with potential cervical spine injury, we will also review recommendations regarding radiographic clearance of the cervical spine in the obtunded patient. Finally, we will discuss early detection and management of patients with blunt cerebrovascular injury in the early perioperative period.
MIMO communications using offset modulations

This paper explores the use of offset QPSK in a space-time coded multi-input multi-output channel by demonstrating its use with the 2 × 1 Alamouti space-time code. It is shown that the desirable orthogonalization produced by the Alamouti space-time code when used with non-offset QPSK does not carrier over to the case of offset QPSK. A least-squares detector is formulated whose performance is shown to be very close to optimal for slowly varying channel gains in an AWGN environment. The basic trellis structure of the detector is presented and applied to unshaped offset QPSK and shaped offset QPSK.
VALIDITY OF SELF-REPORTS AND DESCRIPTIVE AND ANALYTICAL CONCLUSIONS: THE CASE OF CIGARETTE SMOKING BY ADOLESCENTS AND THEIR MOTHERS

Biochemical and self-report measures of cigarette smoking were obtained from a study population of eight-grade students who were enrolled in the Guilford County, North Carolina, school system during May 1980 and their mothers. A group of 386 adolescents provided self-reports before awareness of the biochemical evaluation, while a group of 1439 mothers encompassed unaware and aware observational conditions. Substantial crude agreement was found between carbon monoxide in alveolar air and questionnaire responses on recency of smoking, and the biochemical and self-report measures yielded similar descriptive estimates of smoking. Sensitivity and specificity for mothers, and specificity for the adolescents, exceeded 90%. Although only 64% of the adolescents classified as smokers according to the biochemical measure reported that they were smokers, most correlates of their smoking behavior were the same regardless of the measure that was used.
Impact of Predaceous Insects on Filbert Aphid, Myzocallis coryli (Homoptera: Aphididae)

Impact of predaceous insects on populations of filbert aphid, Myzocallis coryli (Goetze), in the field was determined by chemical and mechanical exclusion methods. Filbert trees from which predators were excluded had significantly higher aphid populations than trees with predators. Feeding potential of one coccinellid, Adalia bipunctata (L.), and three mirids, Deraeocoris brevis (Uhler), Heterotoma meriopterum (Scopoli), and Compsidolon salicellum (Herrich-Schaeffer), was determined in the laboratory. Predators consumed from 5 to 65 aphids daily, with the coccinellid consuming more than the mirids. Data show that the predator complex is an important factor regulating aphid populations in filbert orchards of Oregon.
Relationship Between Trichome Density in Tomato and Parasitism of Heliothis spp. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Eggs by Trichogramma spp. (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

During 1984 through 1986, eggs of Heliothis zea (Boddie) and H. virescens (F.) were collected from field-grown tomato accessions varying in levels of glandular trichome-based resistance to Manduca sexta (L.) (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) and Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Eggs were subsequently held in the laboratory to determine levels of egg parasitism, mortality, and hatch. Parasitism of eggs by Trichogramma petiosum Riley and T. exiguum (Pinto and Platner) was greatest on the Lycopersicon esculentum (Mill) cultivar susceptible to M. sexta and was lowest on all backcross lines ( L. esculentum × PI 134417) × PI 134417) and the highly resistant L. hirsutum f. glabratum C. H. Muller (PI 134417). Regression analyses indicated that trichome density accounted for the greatest proportion of variance in Trichogramma spp. parasitism of eggs. However, because the methyl ketones 2-tridecanone and 2-undecanone, which contribute to the insect resistance of PI 134417, occur in the glandular trichome tips, their effects on parasitism by Trichogramma could not be separated from the effects of trichome density in this study. Egg density, canopy volume, and number of stem terminals per plot were unrelated to the percentage of parasitism by the Trichogramma studied here.
Pulmonary hemodynamics and gas exchange properties during progressive edema.

In this investigation we have studied the effect of increments of pulmonary edema on pulmonary hemodynamics, and physiological and hemodynamic shunt in an isolated lung preparation. Hemodynamic shu...
Evaluation of Occupational Health Intervention for Migrant Workers

[Objective]To evaluate changes in knowledge of occupational health among migrant workers in private enterprises in Cixi City before and after an intervention program,and to provide basis for developing health promotion strategies.[Methods]Two hundred migrant workers from each of 2 private enterprises were selected by stratified random sampling strategy.An intervention on enterprise health policy,supportive environment,health education,and health services was implemented from November 2010 till December 2011.A questionnaire survey on awareness of occupational health was performed before and after the one-year intervention,including knowledge of occupational diseases,occupational hazards,occupational health protection,occupational health examination,and relevant laws and regulations.[Results]The proportion of the migrant workers with correct understanding of occupational diseases rose from 70.25% before the intervention to 90.71% after the intervention(P0.05).The overall awareness rate of occupational health increased from 61.47% before the intervention to 86.38% after the intervention(P 0.05).The occupational health awareness rate in migrant workers with junior high school education level increased from49.41% to 85.93%(P0.05).[Conclusion]Enterprises' policy of occupational health plays an important role in preventing the occupational hazards among migrant workers.Education and training are effective ways,such as a 10-minute class of occupational heath before regular safety meetings.
A parametric study of NO2 emission from turbulent H2 and CH4 jet diffusion flames

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emission levels of fuel jets were experimentally studied for H2, H2/He mixtures, a H2/He/CH4 mixture, and CH4. The study was undertaken to understand the dependence of NO2 emission in turbulent diffusion flames on parameters other than the widely known effects of rapid mixing. These parameters are fuel types (CH4 vs H2), the initial NO level, and the flame temperature. The fuel mixtures were chosen such that these factors could be investigated independently. In all the flames studied, NO2/NOx increases with decreasing NO concentration in the flame and with decreasing adiabatic flame temperature. The CH4 fuel demonstrates a qualitatively different influence on the NO2/NOx ratio than H2. Its effects are most pronounced when the flame blowout limit is approached. Adding a small amount of CH4 to the H2 flames also qualitatively affected the NO2/NOx ratio.
Brain Tissue Oxygen Monitoring and the Intersection of Brain and Lung: A Comprehensive Review

Traumatic brain injury is a problem that affects millions of Americans yearly and for which there is no definitive treatment that improves outcome. Continuous brain tissue oxygen (PbtO2 ) monitoring is a complement to traditional brain monitoring techniques, such as intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure. PbtO2 monitoring has not yet become a clinical standard of care, due to several unresolved questions. In this review, we discuss the rationale and technology of PbtO2 monitoring. We review the literature, both historic and current, and show that continuous PbtO2 monitoring is feasible and useful in patient management. PbtO2 numbers reflect cerebral blood flow and oxygen diffusion. Thus, continuous monitoring of PbtO2 yields important information about both the brain and the lung. The preclinical and clinical studies demonstrating these findings are discussed. In this review, we demonstrate that patient management in a PbtO2 -directed fashion is not the sole answer to the problem of treating traumatic brain injury but is an important adjunct to the armamentarium of multimodal neuromonitoring.
Composing Disability: Diagnosis, Interrupted

Writing is central both to the medical diagnostic codification of disability and to disabled people's efforts to interrupt, complicate, or disrupt dominant medical narratives. This Symposium, like the George Washington University conference from which it takes its name, creates space for diverse modes and genres of claiming authority regarding diagnosis and its cultural and material effects. "Queer" and "crip" interrogations of diagnosis illuminate its status as a cultural phenomenon, embracing culturally disavowed embodiments and embodied experiences as tools for diagnosing inegalitarian social relations and opportunities for cultural interventions. This Symposium traces the workings of diagnostic normativity manifested in experiences such as "disruptive deafness," unstable bodily materialities, pathologized grief and other forms of affective distress, and "surgical assemblages." It presents a diverse array of compositions, articulated on each writer's own terms, addressing a range of embodied experiences through multiple genres and voices, ranging from conversation transcript to scholarly essay, poetry, graphic memoir, and personal essay. Here, laypersons interrupt monologic medical diagnosis, claiming space to compose themselves. Together, the authors trace instances of corporeal "correction" back to the noxious agents, both environmental and political, that consistently breach the boundaries of corporeality.
Increased Bone Fracture After SCI: Can Exercise Reduce Risk?

Bone density decreases rapidly in spinal cord injured (SCI) individuals to approximately 60 % of normal bone mass within the first 3 years after injury. The loss of bone mass, called disuse osteoporosis, results in low energy fractures, which are prevalent and extremely debilitating in this population. Bones are sensitive to their mechanical environment, promoting formation under high loads and resorption under low loads. In the SCI population, bone becomes osteoporotic solely due to the lack of mechanical stimulus. The bone loss after injury is site specific, occurring particularly at sites rich in trabecular bone, such as proximal tibia and distal femur. Harnessing the mechanosensitivity of human bone has been the central idea of therapeutic interventions to maintain bone mass and ensure bone strength in the SCI population. Numerous studies have investigated activities based training exercises such as passive weight bearing, gait training, isometric functional electrical stimulation (FES), cycling loading, FES-cycling, and FES-rowing. Only a few of these interventions have been effective in maintaining bone health and none of them have led to promoting bone formation. The most promising results in mechanical loading therapies for maintaining bone health are in acute patients. Mechanical interventions in the early stages post-injury might take advantage of the bone’s ability in young, acute SCI individuals to adapt to mechanical load.
Can longitudinal generalized estimating equation models distinguish network influence and homophily? An agent-based modeling approach to measurement characteristics

Connected individuals (or nodes) in a network are more likely to be similar than two randomly selected nodes due to homophily and/or network influence. Distinguishing between these two influences is an important goal in network analysis, and generalized estimating equation (GEE) analyses of longitudinal dyadic network data are an attractive approach. It is not known to what extent such regressions can accurately extract underlying data generating processes. Therefore our primary objective is to determine to what extent, and under what conditions, does the GEE-approach recreate the actual dynamics in an agent-based model. We generated simulated cohorts with pre-specified network characteristics and attachments in both static and dynamic networks, and we varied the presence of homophily and network influence. We then used statistical regression and examined the GEE model performance in each cohort to determine whether the model was able to detect the presence of homophily and network influence. In cohorts with both static and dynamic networks, we find that the GEE models have excellent sensitivity and reasonable specificity for determining the presence or absence of network influence, but little ability to distinguish whether or not homophily is present. The GEE models are a valuable tool to examine for the presence of network influence in longitudinal data, but are quite limited with respect to homophily.
Observation of covalent and electrostatic bonds in nitrogen-containing polycyclic ions formed by gas phase reactions of the benzene radical cation with pyrimidine

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polycyclic aromatic nitrogen heterocyclics (PANHs) are present in ionizing environments, including interstellar clouds and solar nebulae, where their ions can interact with neutral PAH and PANH molecules leading to the formation of a variety of complex organics including large N-containing ions. Herein, we report on the formation of a covalently-bonded (benzene·pyrimidine) radical cation dimer by the gas phase reaction of pyrimidine with the benzene radical cation at room temperature using the mass-selected ion mobility technique. No ligand exchange reactions with benzene and pyrimidine are observed indicating that the binding energy of the (benzene·pyrimidine)˙+ adduct is significantly higher than both the benzene dimer cation and the proton-bound pyrimidine dimer. The (benzene·pyrimidine)˙+ adduct shows thermal stability up to 541 K. Thermal dissociation of the (C6D6·C4H4N2)˙+ adduct at temperatures higher than 500 K produces C4H4N2D+ (m/z 82) suggesting the transfer of a D atom from the C6D6 moiety to the C4H4N2 moiety before the dissociation of the adduct. Mass-selected ion mobility of the (benzene·pyrimidine)˙+ dimer reveals the presence of two families of isomers formed by electron impact ionization of the neutral (benzene·pyrimidine) dimer. The slower mobility peak corresponds to a non-covalent family of isomers with larger collision cross sections (76.0 ± 1.8 A2) and the faster peak is consistent with a family of covalent isomers with more compact structures and smaller collision cross sections (67.7 ± 2.2 A2). The mobility measurements at 509 K show only one peak corresponding to the family of stable covalently bonded isomers characterized by smaller collision cross sections (66.9 ± 1.9 A2 at 509 K). DFT calculations at the M06-2X/6-311++G** level show that the most stable (benzene·pyrimidine)˙+ isomer forms a covalent C-N bond with a binding energy of 49.7 kcal mol-1 and a calculated collision cross section of 69.2 A2, in excellent agreement with the value obtained from the faster mobility peak of the (benzene·pyrimidine)˙+ dimer. Formation of a C-N covalent bond displaces a hydrogen atom from a C-H bond of the benzene cation which is transferred to the second pyrimidine nitrogen atom, thus preserving the pyrimidine π system and yielding the most stable (benzene·pyrimidine)˙+ isomer. The calculations also show less stable non-covalent electrostatically bonded perpendicular isomers of the (benzene·pyrimidine)˙+ dimer with a binding energy of 19 kcal mol-1 and a calculated collision cross section of 74.0-75.0 A2 in excellent agreement with the value obtained from the slower mobility peak of the (benzene·pyrimidine)˙+ dimer.
Increasing Binding Efficiency via Reporter Shape and Flux in a Viral Nanoparticle Lateral-Flow Assay

To identify factors controlling the performance of reporter particles in a sensitive lateral-flow assay (LFA), we investigated the effect of the flux and shape of filamentous bacteriophage (phage) on the performance of phage LFAs. Phage of three different lengths and diameters were modified with biotin and AlexaFluor 555 as binding and read-out elements, respectively. The binding efficiencies of the functionalized phage were tested in a fibrous glass LFA membrane modified with avidin. The total binding rate, quantified using real-time particle counting and particle image velocimetry, decreased monotonically with the average bulk flux of phage through the membrane. At the pore scale, more phage bound in regions with faster local flow, confirming that both average and local flux increased binding. The number of bound phage increased with the aspect ratio of the phage and scaled with the phage surface area, consistent with a binding interaction controlled by the number of recognition elements on the surface....
Training Programs for Inspection

Training is a neglected area for improvement of industrial inspection performance. Previous work shows that training can be effective but provides the reader with general principles rather than det...
Predicting Efficiency of a Turbine Driven by Pulsing Flow

One of the challenges of integrating pressure gain combustion into a gas turbine engine is that a turbine driven by pulsing flow experiences a decrease in efficiency. Computational fluid dynamic simulations validated with experiments showed that pulse amplitude is the driving factor for decreased turbine efficiency and not the pulsing frequency. A quadratic correlation between turbine efficiency and corrected pulse amplitude is presented. Incidence variation is shown to cause the change in turbine efficiency and a correlation between corrected incidence and corrected amplitude is shown to predict turbine efficiency.Copyright © 2017 by ASME
Gas anxiety and the charging choices of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle drivers

Abstract Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) can provide many of the benefits of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), such as reduced petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, without the “range anxiety” that can accompany driving a vehicle with limited range when there are few charging opportunities. However, evidence indicates that PHEVs are often plugged in more frequently than BEVs in practice. This is somewhat paradoxical: drivers for whom plugging in is optional tend to do so more frequently than those for whom it is necessary. This has led to the coining of a new term – “gas anxiety” – to describe the apparent desire of PHEV drivers to avoid using gasoline. In this paper, we analyze the variables influencing the charging choices of PHEV owners, testing whether drivers express preferences consistent with the concept of gas anxiety. We analyze data collected in a web-based stated preference survey using a latent class logit model. The results reveal two classes of decision-making patterns among the survey respondents: (1) those who weight the cost of gasoline and the cost of recharging approximately equally (the cost-minimizing class), and (2) those who weight the cost gasoline more heavily than the cost of recharging (the gas anxiety class). Respondents in the gas anxiety class expressed a willingness to recharge at a charging station even when doing so would cost approximately four times as much as the cost of the gasoline avoided. While the gas anxiety class represents the majority of our sample, more recent PHEV adopters are more likely to be in the cost-minimizing class. Looking forward, this suggests that public charging station operators may need to price charging competitively with gasoline on a per-mile basis to attract PHEV owners.
Human ecodynamics: A perspective for the study of long-term change in socioecological systems

Abstract Human ecodynamics (H.E.) refers to processes of stability, resilience, and change in socio-ecological relationships or systems. H.E. research involves interdisciplinary study of the human condition as it affects and is affected by the rest of the non-human world. In this paper, we review the intellectual history of the human ecodynamics concept over the past several decades, as it has emerged out of classical ecology, anthropology, behavioral ecology, resilience theory, historical ecology, and related fields, especially with respect to the study of long-term socioecological change. Those who study human ecodynamics reject the notion that humans should be considered external to the environments in which they live and have lived for millennia. Many are interested in the resilience and sustainability of past human-natural configurations, often striving to extract lessons from the past that can benefit society today. H.E. research, involving the study of paleoenvironments and archaeology, has taken shape around a series of methodological advances that facilitate the study of past chronology, paleoecology, paleodemography, mobility, trade, and social networks. It is only through integrated study of 'coupled human-natural systems'—'socio-ecosystems'—that we can hope to understand dynamic human-environmental interactions and begin to manage them for sustainable goals. Local and traditional or Indigenous knowledge provides another important influence to human ecodynamics research, and we explore how such knowledge can provide both expert witness into the operation of socioecological systems and insight into the human/cultural dimensions of those systems. Ultimately, we conclude that human ecodynamics is more encompassing than a number of related approaches and can provide a nexus for productive research. Through its interdisciplinary breadth, the framework unites scholarship that tends to be more isolated to address complex problems that are best tackled with diverse perspectives.
What Does a Resident Do ‘on Call’?

A fourteen-day sample of psychiatric residents’ “on call” activities, between the hours of midnight and 8:00 A.M. was taken to evaluate the “on call” requirement as a training experience. Data collected by residents revealed significant differences between calls for assistance originating from the evaluation services and calls from inpatient units. Differences are discussed in terms of training value and experience for the residents.
Reconciling the Entomological Hazard and Disease Risk in the Lyme Disease System

Lyme disease (LD) is a commonly cited model for the link between habitat loss and/or fragmentation and disease emergence, based in part on studies showing that forest patch size is negatively related to LD entomological risk. An equivalent relationship has not, however, been shown between patch size and LD incidence (LDI). Because entomological risk is measured at the patch scale, while LDI is generally assessed in relation to aggregate landscape statistics such as forest cover, we posit that the contribution of individual patches to human LD risk has not yet been directly evaluated. We design a model that directly links theoretical entomological risk at the patch scale to larger-scale epidemiological data. We evaluate its predictions for relative LD risk in artificial landscapes with varying composition and configuration, and test its ability to predict countywide LDI in a 12-county region of New York. On simulated landscapes, we find that the model predicts a unimodal relationship between LD incidence and forest cover, mean patch size, and mean minimum distance (a measure of isolation), and a protective effect for percolation probability (a measure of connectivity). In New York, risk indices generated by this model are significantly related to countywide LDI. The results suggest that the lack of concordance between entomological risk and LDI may be partially resolved by this style of model.
Illicit Superstructures: Banking, Middlemen, and Transport

In our complicated world, we must begin to dissect the manner in which illicit goods make their way around the world. We must also try to understand how these groups manage to hide/wash their money from law enforcement and the government. It is important to understand why, after more than 40 years since Nixon declared the war on drugs, drugs still manage to find their way into the United States not to mention other consumer-countries around the world. This chapter will discuss features of the international system that allow for the proliferation of illicit goods around the globe.
Giving All Children a Good Start: The Effects of an Embedded Multimedia Intervention for Narrowing the Vocabulary Gap Before Kindergarten

This chapter describes key principles for helping children to acquire oral vocabulary development. It then highlights the effects of an embedded multimedia intervention on low-income children’s developing vocabulary and conceptual knowledge. It argues that media can have a synergistic effect on children’s learning when well crafted to promote achievement.
Pulse Shape, Filtering, and Arraying

We now have enough understanding to say something about signals which are optimum in some sense and about signal-to-noise ratios in various types of digital transmission. We will find that variational techniques permit us to match pulses optimally to channel transfer functions. This is useful when we can do something about the pulses but cannot modify the channel, which may be provided by a common carrier. We shall also study optimal signal combining techniques to combat fading. This is one instance of antenna arraying. Reference 1 contains a good summary of variational techniques which will suffice for most applications in engineering and science. Chapter 6 of that book is especially relevant to this chapter.
Fitting Regression Models with No Intercept Term

The no-intercept model "Y = (X + error" is applicable in many practical situations. This article describes some of these applications, discusses special considerations in fitting the no-intercept model to data and indicates possible pitfalls. ..
Neoadjuvant androgen deprivation therapy and enzalutamide: Imaging and pathological responses.

5082Background: Neoadjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (nADT) with abiraterone and prednisone for localized disease leads to pathological complete response (pCR) rates of up to 10%. In this study...
Are there sex effects for speech intelligibility in American English? Examining the influence of talker, listener, and methodology

Talker and listener sex in speech processing has been largely unknown and under-appreciated to this point, with many studies overlooking the possible influences. In the current study, the effects of both talker and listener sex on speech intelligibility were assessed. Different methodological approaches to measuring intelligibility (percent words correct vs. subjective rating scales) and collecting data (laboratory vs. crowdsourcing) were also evaluated. Findings revealed that, regardless of methodology, the spoken productions of female talkers were overall more intelligible than the spoken productions of male talkers; however, substantial variability across talkers was observed. Findings also revealed that when data were collected in the lab, there was an interaction between talker and listener sex. This interaction between listener and talker sex was not observed when subjective ratings were crowdsourced from listener subjects across the USA via Amazon Mechanical Turk, although overall ratings remained similar. This possibly suggests that subjective intelligibility ratings may be vulnerable to bias, and such biases may be reduced by recruiting a more heterogeneous subject pool. Many studies in speech perception do not account for these talker, listener, and methodology effects. However, the present results suggest that researchers should carefully consider these effects when assessing speech intelligibility in different conditions, and when comparing findings across studies that have used different subject demographics and/or methodologies.
Chapter Twenty-Four – Astroviruses

This chapter discusses Astrovirus, basic microbiology, natural history of the organism, clinical features, and epidemiology of waterborne outbreaks, including transmission, distribution and persistence in the environment, removal by treatment, and waterborne outbreaks. The role of Astrovirus in enteric disease has been less understood. Astroviruses are endemic in most communities world-wide and mostly infect young children and babies, although they have been associated with disease in the elderly. They appear to have a very low pathogenicity for adults. Generally, astroviruses cause only a mild or symptomless infection, but reported incidences are second only to rotaviruses as causing infantile gastroenteritis. Person-to-person spread by the fecal–oral route is thought to be the most common route of transmission. Food, water and fomites have been implicated in Astrovirus disease, which suggests that astroviruses persist in the environment. One outbreak caused by Astrovirus in a public water supply has been reported. There is evidence to suggest that zoonotic transmission of Astrovirus, or recombination between human and animal strains of astrovirus, can occur.
Biomimetic strategies to produce catalytically reactive CuS nanodisks

Copper sulfide materials have diverse applications from cancer therapy to environmental remediation due to their narrow bandgap and easily tuned plasmon. The synthesis of these materials often involves toxic reagents and harsh conditions where biomimetic methods may provide opportunities to produce these structures under sustainable conditions. To explore this capability, simple amino acids were exploited as biological ligands for the ambient synthesis of CuS materials. Using an aqueous-based approach, CuS nanodisks were prepared using acid-containing amino acid molecules that stabilize the materials against bulk aggregation. These structures were fully characterized by UV-vis analysis, transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, atomic force microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, and X-ray diffraction, which confirmed the formation of CuS. The materials possessed a vibrant plasmon band in the near IR region and demonstrated enhanced photocatalytic reactivity for the advanced oxidation of organic dyes in water. These results demonstrate a room temperature synthetic route to optically important materials, which could have important application in catalysis, optics, nanomedicine, etc.
Observation of Two-Dimensional Phases Associated with Defect States on the Surface of Ti O 2

Surface electronic states associated with defects produced by Ar-ion bombardment of Ti${\mathrm{O}}_{2}$ crystals have been studied by ultraviolet-photoemission, electron-energy-loss, and Auger spectroscopy and low-energy-electron diffraction. Evidence is given for three distinct phases dependent upon the extrinsic surface-defect concentration. Phase I contains isolated surface states 0.7 eV below the conduction band, phase II is associated with the creation of ${\mathrm{Ti}}^{3+}$ pairs, and phase III consists of a surface layer of ordered ${\mathrm{Ti}}_{2}$${\mathrm{O}}_{3}$.
Sustainable Consumer Choices: An Outreach Program Exploring the Environmental Impact of Our Consumer Choices Using a Systems Thinking Model and Laboratory Activities.

A summer workshop was offered to inner-city high school students to explore the sustainability of their consumer choices using a systems thinking model. Students learned about related environmental...
HIV Conspiracy Theory Belief or Institutional Mistrust? A Call for Disentangling Key Concepts

Researchers studying the mental health implications of HIV continue to conflate institutional mistrust (i.e., medical and/or governmental) with HIV conspiracy theory belief despite a multitude of e...
Lichen sclerosus among women in the United States.

Abstract Background Vulvar lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic dermatosis for which the true prevalence is not well established. LS remains an underrecognized and undertreated disease, and treatment patterns and differences among various specialties that care for patients with LS are largely unknown. Objective This study sought to determine the prevalence of diagnosed vulvar LS, demographic characteristics, and diagnostic and treatment patterns in the United States. Methods A database comprising >21.7 million women with commercial insurance in the United States was analyzed, and the largest cohort of patients with LS in the United States to date was identified. Results We found that obstetricians/gynecologists are diagnosing and managing approximately half of women with LS, and regardless of specialty, the majority of providers are appropriately prescribing high-potency topical steroids. Conclusion Our results suggest that LS may truly be underrecognized and underdiagnosed, especially in younger women.
Induced dipole-dipole forbidden transitions in rare-earth elements and their prospects for quantum information processing

In this paper we discuss the prospects of quantum information processing involving forbidden transitions in the inner shell of the rare-earth elements. We shall derive the selection rule for such transitions and investigate the prospects for rare-earth based quantum information procession that employ dipole-dipole forbidden transitions. The long decoherence time, degree of entanglement, lossless interconnectivity of these transitions will be model and their impact on quantum information processing will be examined.
Diet and gut microbiome interactions in gynecologic cancer

Over the last decade, there has been a dramatic surge in research exploring the human gut microbiome and its role in health and disease. It is now widely accepted that commensal microorganisms coexist within the human gastrointestinal tract and other organs, including those of the reproductive tract. These microorganisms, which are collectively known as the "microbiome", contribute to maintaining host physiology and to the development of pathology. Next generation sequencing and multi-'omics' technology has enriched our understanding of the complex and interdependent relationship that exists between the host and microbiome. Global changes in the microbiome are known to be influenced by dietary, genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Accumulating data have shown that alterations in the gut microbiome contribute to the development, prognosis and treatment of many disease states including cancer primarily through interactions with the immune system. However, there are large gaps in knowledge regarding the association between the gut microbiome and gynecologic cancers, and research characterizing the reproductive tract microbiome is insufficient. Herein, we explore the mechanisms by which alterations in the gut and reproductive tract microbiome contribute to carcinogenesis focusing on obesity, hyperestrogenism, inflammation and altered tumor metabolism. The impact of the gut microbiome on response to anti-cancer therapy is highlighted with an emphasis on immune checkpoint inhibitor efficacy in gynecologic cancers. We discuss dietary interventions that are likely to modulate the metabolic and immunologic milieu as well as tumor microenvironment through the gut microbiome including intermittent fasting/ketogenic diet, high fiber diet, use of probiotics and the metabolic management of obesity. We conclude that enhanced understanding of the microbiome in gynecologic cancers coupled with thorough evaluation of metabolic and metagenomic analyses would enable us to integrate novel preventative strategies and adjunctive interventions into the care of women with gynecologic cancers.
Sex Differences in the Association between Household Income and Children’s Executive Function

The study aimed to investigate sex differences in the boosting effects of household income on children's executive function in the US. This is a cross-sectional study using data from Wave 1 of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Wave 1 ABCD included 8608 American children between ages 9 and 10 years old. The independent variable was household income. The primary outcome was executive function measured by the stop-signal task. Overall, high household income was associated with higher levels of executive function in the children. Sex showed a statistically significant interaction with household income on children's executive function, indicating a stronger effect of high household income for female compared to male children. Household income is a more salient determinant of executive function for female compared to male American children. Low-income female children remain at the highest risk regarding poor executive function.
Conformational dynamics of auto-inhibition in the ER calcium sensor STIM1

The dimeric ER Ca2+ sensor STIM1 controls store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) through the tightly regulated interaction of its CRAC activation domain (CAD) with Orai1 channels in the plasma membrane. STIM1 in resting cells is autoinhibited by the association of its CC1 domain with CAD. Using single-molecule Foerster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) and protein crosslinking approaches, we show that CC1 interacts with CAD in a domain-swapped configuration with an orientation predicted to sequester the Orai-binding region adjacent to the ER membrane. The Stormorken disease mutation R304W activates STIM1 by releasing CC1 from CAD, while STIM1 activation by ER Ca2+ depletion brings the two CC1 domains together along their entire length. These findings reveal a massive structural change underlying STIM1 activation, in which CAD is flipped by 180o and propelled >10 nm towards the plasma membrane to activate Orai1 and SOCE.
Powell's Perilous Situation

In February 2018, Jay Powell replaced Janet Yellen as chair of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve (the Fed). Powell, a board member at the Fed since May 2012, knew that his job was to normalize US monetary policy, which had been exceptionally expansionary for a full decade. He also knew that short rates had been too low for too long—the federal funds rate had been near 0% for seven years and even now was at a historically low level of just 1.25%—perhaps sowing the seeds for future financial crises. Powell faced at least three pressing questions: How, after the Fed's balance sheet had expanded fourfold in a few short years, should the Fed guide the public through the eventual unwinding of its $4.4 trillion balance sheet? Relatedly, when should it begin to sell some of its $2.46 trillion in Treasury holdings? Could the US economy—and, indeed, the global economy—weather a substantial tightening phase, or would the US economy falter and force the Fed to reverse course? The focus of this case is on factors affecting the current and prospective levels of US long-term interest rates. The case also presents a brief history of Fed policy and asks the reader to consider the best course of action for the Fed to take. This case was written as an updated version of “Janet Yellen: Navigating Uncharted Waters” (GEM-0134), and may be used in its place. It is used at Darden in the second-year elective, “Global Financial Markets.” It would also be suitable for any macro or international macroeconomics course. Excerpt UVA-GEM-0156 Rev. Jan. 25, 2019 Powell's Perilous Situation We shouldn't underestimate how perilous the situation is. You have massive tax cuts and [a] potentially very large increase in federal spending coming; when the unemployment rate is already very low and inflation is already rising—which is a largely unprecedented situation…This point in the cycle is the most difficult for monetary policymakers to manage. —Seth Carpenter, UBS Chief US Economist In January 2019, Jay Powell, one year into his term as chair of the Board of Governors of the USFederal Reserve (the Fed), must have felt he was dealt a bad hand. Powell followed Janet Yellen, a highly successful Fed chair who, during her four-year reign, started to tighten the Fed's extraordinarily loose monetary policy (a remnant of the global financial crisis, or GFC) and got closer to the Fed's 2% inflation target as nine million Americans became employed, the unemployment rate fell to a historically low 4%, and economic growth was poised to perform better than any year since 2005. And during Yellen's regime, the stock market increased by 70% and the 10-year Treasury yield—arguably the most important price in the global economy—was no higher than when her term began (Figure 1). . . .
Integration of visual landmark cues in spatial memory

Over the past two decades, much research has been conducted to investigate whether humans are optimal when integrating sensory cues during spatial memory and navigational tasks. Although this work has consistently demonstrated optimal integration of visual cues (e.g., landmarks) with body-based cues (e.g., path integration) during human navigation, little work has investigated how cues of the same sensory type are integrated in spatial memory. A few recent studies have reported mixed results, with some showing very little benefit to having access to more than one landmark, and others showing that multiple landmarks can be optimally integrated in spatial memory. In the current study, we employed a combination of immersive and non-immersive virtual reality spatial memory tasks to test adult humans’ ability to integrate multiple landmark cues across six experiments. Our results showed that optimal integration of multiple landmark cues depends on the difficulty of the task, and that the presence of multiple landmarks can elicit an additional latent cue when estimating locations from a ground-level perspective, but not an aerial perspective.
Oncogenic Viruses as Entropic Drivers of Cancer Evolution

Viral infection is an indisputable causal factor for nearly 17% of all human cancers. However, the diversity and complexity of oncogenic mechanisms raises new questions as to the mechanistic role of viruses in cancer. Classical viral oncogenes have been identified for many tumor-associated viruses. These oncogenes can have multiple oncogenic activities that may or may not be utilized in a particular tumor cell. In addition, stochastic events, like viral mutation and integration, as well as heritable host susceptibilities and immune deficiencies are also implicated in tumorigenesis. A more contemporary view of tumor biology highlights the importance of evolutionary forces that select for phenotypes better adapted to a complex and changing environment. Given the challenges of prioritizing singular mechanistic causes, it may be necessary to reconsider concepts from evolutionary theory and systems biology to better understand viral cancer-driving forces. Here, we propose that viral infection provides a biological ‘entropy’ that increases genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity, accelerating the main driving forces of cancer cell evolution. Viruses can also alter the evolutionary selection criteria by altering the tumor microenvironment and immune signaling. Utilizing concepts from cancer cell evolution, population genetics, thermodynamics, and systems biology may provide new perspectives on viral oncogenesis and help identify more integrative therapeutic strategies for treating viruses and cancer.