cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Methylation-specific digital karyotyping

Epigenetic alterations, including DNA methylation and histone modifications, are known to regulate various physiological and pathological processes. In mammalian cells, DNA methylation occurs at cytosines of CpG dinucleotides. Several methods have been developed for the genome-wide analysis of methylation patterns. However, none of these are quantitative or sequence-based, and the identification of the exact location of the methylated CpG is difficult. In this protocol, we describe a recently developed method--methylation-specific digital karyotyping (MSDK)--that enables comprehensive and unbiased genome-wide DNA methylation analysis. Using a combination of a methylation-sensitive mapping enzyme (for example, AscI) and a fragmenting enzyme (for example, NlaIII), short sequence tags can be obtained and uniquely mapped to genome location. The number of tags in an MSDK library reflects the methylation status of the mapping enzyme sites. Generation of MSDK libraries can be completed in 7-10 days, whereas sequencing and data analysis requires an additional 3-4 weeks.
Thorium in stone meteorites by neutron activation analysis

Radiochemical procedures for assay of Pa/sup 233/ following neutron activation of Th/sup 232/ in stone meteorites are described in detail. Eight analyses of five chondrites yielded an average concentration of (3.96 plus or minus 0.20) x 10/sup -8/g Th/g which with proper assumptions, leads to a cosmic atomic abundance of 0.026 for thorium (per 10/sup 6/ Si atoms). The thorium concentrations in two achondrites were found to differ by nearly two orders of maguitude. On comparison with uranium concentrations in stones determined by neutron activation analysis, the Th/U ratio in chondrites and achondrites agree to nearly 5 per cent, yielding an average weight ratio of about 3 to 6. (auth)
An exploratory investigation of expectancy theory in a retail channel: content and concurrent validity

Since the negotiation process between organizations occurs between individuals or boundary personnel, expectancy theory holds promise for improving our understanding of relationships between channel members. This exploratory investigation focused on examining the concepts of Vroom's general expectancy model in the context of a retail channel (furniture dealers). The primary objectives were to (1) capture the general expectancy estimate (El), salient out- comes (E21), and preferences (V1) as perceived by channel members; (2) validate the ‘expected’ relationships; and (3) evaluate the relevance of the general expectancy model for channel relationships. The results suggest that the interpersonal relationships can dominate buyers' behavior; the dollar commitment required by the deal and the corporate relationship (corporate dyad) were less salient to the buyers. The general expectancy model appears most applicable when the channel relationship has been going on for some time, or when the relationship is of gr...
Experimental Measurement of Impact Pressures Delivered by Oral Water Irrigation Devices

Water irrigation devices (WID's) are widely used in homes and dental clinics across the country for oral hygiene. There have been several reported cases of tissue damage with the use of these devices. In the present investigation, two commercially available oral water irrigation devices were evaluated using engineering techniques. The impact thrusts delivered by these devices were measured at different control settings. Both of the tested commercial oral water irrigation devices were found to exert abnormally high thrust which could cause serious damage to the sulcular epithelium and the underlying tissues. These pressures are far in excess of the pressure intensity necessary to perform the cleaning action. Moreover, the existing designs using reciprocating pumps are unsafe and are potentially dangerous, particularly with small diameter tips.
The social ecology of syphilis.

Factors affecting the transmission of syphilis can be categorized into those acting at the level of individuals (e.g., number of sex partners) and others at the level of the sociophysical environment (e.g., availability of treatment services for curable infections). In a prior study, we identified several sociophysical factors correlated with the ten-year mean syphilis rate in a regression analysis of United States counties. In the present study we used qualitative methods to investigate additional aspects of some factors in the regression, as well as to identify entirely new factors. Twelve counties with populations less than 100,000 and ten-year mean syphilis rates that were greater or less than expected by the regression model were selected for a three to five day visit. The case study protocol included observations, unstructured interviews with care providers and county residents, and a standardized questionnaire completed by state and local sexually transmitted disease control personnel pertaining to characteristics and practices of the local health department. Comparisons of the field notes and questionnaires revealed patterns of factors of the sociophysical environment that potentially affect county syphilis rates. These included access to the health department STD clinic, race relations, employment opportunities for minorities, interagency coordination, STD outreach activities, the social acceptability of discussing STDs, and intercommunity dynamics. In addition we noted the disproportionate influence of particular individuals on these factors. Some of the factors identified are readily quantifiable and could enhance the predictive power of multivariable models of county syphilis rates. The hypotheses generated by this study may also lead to a better measurement and understanding of potentially important environmental determinants of community syphilis rates, and the development of new or enhanced prevention strategies.
A unified framework for nearby and distant landmarks in bearing-only SLAM

Bearing-only SLAM describes the process of simultaneously localizing a mobile robot while building a map of the unknown surroundings, using bearing measurements to landmarks as the only available exteroceptive sensor information. Commonly, the position of map features is estimated along with the robot pose. However, consistent initialization of these positions is a difficult problem in bearing-only SLAM, in particular for distant landmarks. In previous approaches, measurements to remote landmarks often had to be discarded, thus losing valuable orientation information. In this paper, we present for the first time a unifying framework allowing for non-delayed initialization of both nearby and distant features. This is made possible by a four-element landmark parametrization, combined with a constraint-based inferred measurement
The Ties That Bind: Social Networks of Men and Women in a Kipsigis Community of Kenya

Beatrice Whiting's focus on cultural meanings implicit in everyday routines provided a focus for this study of men and women's social networks in a rural Kipsigis community of western Kenya. Using methods from social network analysis, the authors interviewed men and women of the community about the contexts of their encounters with other same-sex community members. The data were analyzed using multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis in order to discern the bases of social interaction. Results indicate that mutual helping relationships, not kinship, clan, or age, are at the core of social life in this community.
A lightweight middleware protocol for ad hoc distributed object computing in ubiquitous computing environments

Devices in ubiquitous computing environments are usually embedded, wearable, and handheld, have resource constraints, and are all connected to each other through wireless connections and other computers possibly through fixed network infrastructures, such as the Internet. These devices may form numerous webs of short-range and often low-power mobile ad hoc networks to exchange information. Distributed object computing (DOC) middleware technologies have been successful in promoting high quality and reusable distributed software for enterprise-oriented environments. In order to reap the same benefit in ubiquitous computing environments, it is important to note that the natural interactions among distributed objects in ubiquitous computing environments are quite different due to various factors, such as bandwidth constraints, unpredictable device mobility, network topology change, and context-sensitivity (or situation-awareness) of application objects. Hence, the interactions among distributed objects tend to be more spontaneous and short-lived rather than predictable and long-term. In this paper, a middleware protocol, RKF, to facilitate distributed object-based application software to interact in an ad hoc fashion in ubiquitous computing environments is presented. RKF addresses both spontaneous object discovery and context-sensitive object data exchange. Our experimental results, based on RKF's implementation and evaluation inside the object request broker of our RCSM middleware test bed, indicate that it is lightweight, has good performance, and can be easily used in PDA-like devices.
Text bundling: statistics-based data reduction

As text corpora become larger, tradeoffs between speed and accuracy become critical: slow but accurate methods may not complete in a practical amount of time. In order to make the training data a manageable size, a data reduction technique may be necessary. Subsampling, for example, speeds up a classifier by randomly removing training points. In this paper, we describe an alternate method for reducing the number of training points by combining training points such that important statistical information is retained. Our algorithm keeps the same statistics that fast, linear-time text algorithms like Rocchio and Naive Bayes use. We provide empirical results that show our data reduction technique compares favorably to three other data reduction techniques on four standard text corpora.
Aerodynamics of a Spinning Cylinder in Rarefied Gas Flows

Fig. 3 Variation of wnorm with jointe exibility parameter A Fj for a)root impulse and b ) tip impulse. disturbance structurally more critical than a control impulse of the same magnitude. Conclusions The present study has investigated the problem of the elastic response ofa genericspacevehiclewithdegradedjoints.Thesteppedbeamformulation basedonelementary beamtheoryisemployedfor extracting modal parameters of a normalized generic space vehicle. Next, the modal superposition principle is used with a low damping value for obtaining the elastic response of the vehicle to impulse excitation. The results for elastic displacement peaks are obtained for normalized rotational joint e exibilities of different magnitudes acting at different spanwise locations. The results show that locations of the joint with e exibility play an important role in determining the magnitude and location of the peak response. Further, it is found that e rst mode frequency results for various values and locations of joint e exibilities can possibly be unie ed into a single linear expression, based on the normalized stiffness distribution of the space vehicle. Finally, it is found that tip excitation is more critical than root excitation. Acknowledgment The work reported forms a part of investigations carried out for project IDYMOD-1, funded by the Structures Panel (AR&DB), Ministry of Defence, of the Government of India.
Sensitivity of National Airspace System Performance to Disturbances: Modeling, Identification from Data, and Use in Planning

We study of the sensitivity of traffic flow management (TFM) performance in the United States National Airspace System (NAS) to disturbances, such as weather-driven capacity/flow variations and gradual changes in route usage. We make the argument that these sensitivities can be roughly computed using queueing models for flow-management actions, and so postulate that performance becomes much more sensitive to disturbance in congested airspace. Next, historical data on the sensitivity of TFM performance to weather and other uncertainties is used to support the postulate of increasing sensitivity with increased congestion. Finally, we put forth the idea that performance sensitivity information can aid in planning TFM (e.g., planning airspace reconfiguration or aircraft routing), by showing that optimally- or well- designed queue banks and queue networks have very special sensitivity structures and hence that planning actions should aim to achieve these structures.
Switching integrated broadband services by sort-banyan networks

Substantial attention has recently been given to the implementation of sort-banyan networks for switching asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) transmission links in a BISDN (broadband integrated service digital network) network. The author gives a three-dimensional view of the theory and implementation of switching, as well as variations of the basic scheme. ATM switches are classified as blocking versus nonblocking, unicast versus multicast, and input queued versus output queued. Sorting networks structured by a three-dimensional interconnection topology are studied. A sorting network, when coupled with a banyan routing network structured in three dimensions, becomes a self-routing and nonblocking switching network. This three-dimensional topology allows CMOS VLSI implementations of the subnetworks and interconnection of these subnetworks at a speed of 150 Mb/s and beyond. The sorting mechanism can also be used for output conflict resolution, subsequently making the switch suitable for ATM switching. Recent enhancements, which provide features such as parallelism, trunk grouping, and modularity, are also described. These features enhance the throughput/delay performance, provide better fault and synchronization tolerance, and enable more economical growth for switch size. >
The mass loss of water drops falling in electric fields

Experiments showed that water drops of radius 0.191 cm falling for 0.2 seconds through a horizontal electric field were disrupted and lost mass if the field strength exceeded 8,500 V cm−1. As the field strength was increased above this critical value the mass loss increased rapidly and in a field of 11,500 V cm−1 the drop lost about 35 per cent of its mass; for higher values of field strength the mass loss increased more slowly. Experiments also showed that the magnitude of the mass loss was dependent upon the time of exposure of the drop to the field. For exposure times less than about 2 × 10−2 sec drops falling in a field of 11,250 V cm−1 lost no mass but as the exposure time was increased above this value the mass loss increased rapidly and for an exposure time of about 0.1 sec the mass loss was 25 per cent; for longer exposure times the mass loss increased more slowly. An assessment is made of the importance of this disruption process in modifying the concentration and size distribution of raindrops and cloud droplets inside a thundercloud.
A Look at Crosstalk in Quadrature-Carrier Modulation Systems

A method is presented for comparing the performance of different quadrature-carrier modulation techniques. It is based on the calculation of the mean-square crosstalk between adjacent digital communications channels. This method was used to determine the crosstalk of a number of constant envelope modulation schemes, including Staggered Quaternary Phase Shift Keying (SQPSK) and Minimum Shift Keying (MSK). The results, as have previous results, show the improved performance of MSK over SQPSK. By utilizing the general equation for mean-square crosstalk as a measure of performance, a search was made for constant envelope modulation methods with reduced crosstalk. A number of methods were found which have better mean-square crosstalk performance than MSK. Finally this paper presents a method for reducing degradation due to crosstalk by using mismatched windows in the standard correlation detector. An example of this technique for detection of MSK signals is analyzed.
Low-Income Hispanic and Latino High School Students’ Perceptions of Parent and Peer Academic Support

Socioeconomic status and parental support play important roles in determining academic achievement and have been positively correlated with academic success. It is important to determine if students from low-socioeconomic-status (SES) families perceive less parent support than students from middle-SES families. The participants (n = 54) were high school 9th graders who, with parental consent, completed an online survey. The survey was composed of questions from several instruments: Latino Youth Survey Questionnaire, Family Affluence Scale, and Academic Self-efficacy scale (2005). The scales measure three types of parental support: emotional support, monitoring of schoolwork/activities, and parental school involvement. Results of a 2 (ethnicity: Hispanic vs. non-Hispanic) × 2 (parent occupation: professional vs. non-professional) ANOVA revealed no significant differences in perceived parental and peer support. Only parent emotional support was found to be a consistently significant variable. A simultaneous regression analysis revealed that perceived parent emotional support was a more significant predictor (beta = .53, t = 4.03, p < .001) than perceived peer support (beta = .18, ns) in predicting academic self-efficacy scores. These findings indicate the need to emphasize to parents the importance of providing support, particularly emotional support, for their children.
Effect of Various Parameters Upon Diffusion-Controlled Dissolution of Benzoic Acid

Abstract Under stirred and sink conditions the dissolution of benzoic acid in aqueous solutions of polysorbate 80 is shown to occur in accord with the diffusion layer model. Since dissolution is diffusion controlled, the diffusion coefficients were measured by the method of quasisteady‐state cell in micellar solutions with constant and uncontrolled viscosity. The experimental diffusion coefficient is decreased as the concentration of the surfactant is increased. The effective thickness of the diffusion layer was determined, and the micellar diffusion coefficient was calculated. The micellar diffusion coefficient is decreased as the quantity of solubilized species in solution is increased, presumably due to changes in the size and weight of the solubilized species. The observed dissolution rate is described in terms of the contribution of the molecular and solubilized species to the dissolution rate. The influence of solubilization, viscosity, and diffusion coefficients on the dissolution rate is discussed.
The influence of modality on deep-reasoning questions

This study investigated the influence that modality (print versus spoken text) had on learning with deep reasoning questions. Half the participants were randomly assigned to receive deep-reasoning questions during the learning session. The other half received the same information in the absence of deep-reasoning questions. The participants who received deep reasoning questions were randomly assigned to one of two different groups. One group received deep reasoning questions as on-screen printed text while the other group received deep reasoning questions in a spoken modality via a text to speech engine. Participants who received deep reasoning questions had higher post-test scores than those who did not, a finding that replicated previous research. Additionally, learning was better for the learners who received printed text than spoken messages, a finding that is not compatible with a number of theoretical and empirical claims in the literature.
Barriers and facilitators to primary care or human immunodeficiency virus clinics providing methadone or buprenorphine for the management of opioid dependence

Background Federal initiatives aim to increase office-based treatment of opioid dependence, but, to our knowledge, factors associated with willingness to deliver this care have not been defined. The objective of this study was to describe clinics’ willingness to provide methadone hydrochloride or buprenorphine hydrochloride for opioid dependence. Methods The design of the study was a survey conducted in New York State. Two hundred sixty-one directors of primary care and/or human immunodeficiency virus specialty clinics (response rate, 61.1%) that serve Medicaid enrollees were questioned. Outcomes were willingness to provide methadone and buprenorphine. Predictors included clinic characteristics, attitudes about drug users and their treatment, and reported barriers and facilitators to treatment. Results Clinics were more willing to provide buprenorphine than methadone treatment (59.8% vs 32.6%; P Conclusions These clinics serving Medicaid enrollees were more receptive to buprenorphine than methadone treatment. Willingness to provide this care was greater in clinics offering human immunodeficiency virus services, treating more chronic pain, or affiliated with methadone programs. Accessible addiction experts and continuing medical education for training may facilitate adoption of this care.
INTRA-ANNUAL VARIATION IN FISH COMMUNITIES AND HABITAT ASSOCIATIONS IN A CHIHUAHUA DESERT REACH OF THE RIO GRANDE / RIO BRAVO DEL NORTE

ABSTRACT. Anthropogenic alterations to lotic systems are often implicated in global declines among stream-dwelling fishes. A primary step toward mediating fish declines is improving our understanding of species—environment relationships; unfortunately, such information is limited. The goal of this study was to assess relationships between fish communities and environmental variables in a relatively intact portion of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo del Norte in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. We quantified the relationship between riverine habitats and local fish communities at 7 sites in the Big Bend reach of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo del Norte during 2006. Monthly collections yielded 10,565 individuals representing 20 species, including 6 species listed as threatened or otherwise at risk. Species richness varied among sites (range 13–19) as did diversity (1 - D: 0.49–0.72) and density (16–45 fish · 100 m-2). Fish community composition indicated spatial and temporal variations, but habitat cha...
Providing transmission security for contention-based multiple access

Transmission Security for many satellite communications systems involves encryption and also techniques to deny an adversary traffic flow analysis capability. A known approach for providing traffic flow security in reservation-based multiple access systems involves the use of "dummy" bursts to fill in any gaps in the actual traffic flow. However, in contention-based systems this approach would unnecessarily limit user capacity in the channel. In this paper we present a technique that provides traffic flow security without a significant reduction in overall user network capacity. We describe how this technique can be applied to many different satellite network systems, and also to terrestrial ad-hoc radio networks that use contention-based access.
Drinking Patterns and Abstinence Among the Elderly

For almost a decade the research literature has reflected both the scarcity of new knowledge regarding alcohol use or abuse among the elderly and the need to address the problem. Current theoretical perspectives on probable trends of alcohol-related problems among older persons include historical-cohort prediction, biological and clinical geriatric expectations, and sociocultural-economic expectations. These theoretical perspectives are frequently in opposition to each other and are largely untested with appropriate data. This paper introduces the principal theoretical perspectives of alcohol use among the elderly and presents recent data from a probability sample of noninstitutionalized elderly persons regarding alcohol consumption patterns, abstinence, and the influence of increasing chronological age and economic security on alcohol consumption.
Technical Supervision and Turnover Among Engineers and Technicians Influencing Factors in the Work Environment

In a study of engineering, scientific, and technical support personnel, factors in the immediate work environment which are influenced by the behavior of the technical manager were found to affect turnover propensities. Satisfaction with supervision, higher order need fulfillment, and unit morale were found to be more important influences on retention for technical support personnel. However, for the engineering and scientific personnel, factors such as autonomy, goal congruence, and higher order need fulfillment were found to have greater influence. The results suggest the importance of management training for technical managers as a potentially effective strategy to reduce turnover.
Value Orientations From the World Values Survey How Comparable Are They Cross-Nationally?

We examine data from the World Values Survey regarding the existence of two consistent orientations in mass values, traditional versus secular/rational and survival versus self-expression. We also evaluate the empirical validity of Welzel’s revised value orientations: secular and emancipative. Over the years, a large body of work has presumed the stability and comparability of these value orientations across time and space. Our findings uncover little evidence of the existence of traditional–secular/rational or survival–self-expression values. Welzel’s two dimensions of value orientations—secular and emancipative—seem more reflective of latent value orientations in mass publics but are still imperfectly capturing these orientations. More importantly, these value orientations do not seem very comparable except among a small number of advanced post-industrial democracies. We call attention to the use of value measurements to explain important macro-level phenomena.
Scholarly development for primary care residents

Summary Background Development, evaluation and dissemination of primary care innovations are essential for the future of health care; however, primary care physicians including family physician, lag behind hospital-based physicians in research productivity. Family medicine residencies struggle to implement scholarly skills training programmes for busy family physicians. The Primary Care Scholarly Development Program (PC-SDP) aimed to empower residents to incorporate innovation with scholarship into future practice, by facilitating successful resident scholarly projects and reducing perceived barriers. Methods Educational intervention. The required PC-SDP was piloted through a family medicine residency programme in the USA. Key elements included: rigorous but achievable requirements; emphasis on Boyer's scholarship of application, teaching and discovery; resident engagement, through the support of their ‘professional passions’; basic research training; multilevel mentoring; and modest curriculum time. Evaluation. A mixed-methods longitudinal evaluation included: (1) a qualitative study of intervention class; (2) assessing the scholarly output of the intervention class versus the comparison class; and (3) a follow-up survey of both groups after 3 or 4 years. Results Data were analysed from all 25 residents in the classes of 2008 and 2009 (12 intervention; 13 comparison). Qualitative interviews of residents from the intervention group revealed that their initial feelings of trepidation about scholarly work gave way to feelings of accomplishment and confidence in their ability to integrate scholarship into busy careers. Residents in the intervention group had a greater volume of scholarly output at graduation, and follow-up surveys suggest that they value incorporating scholarship into their careers more so than physicians from the comparison group. Discussion The PC-SDP seems to foster enthusiasm for scholarship by supporting residents’ professional passions and facilitating successful projects. This may foster improved participation in scholarship in future clinical practice. Primary care physicians, including family physicians, lag behind hospital-based physicians in research productivity
Type 1 Terrors

The Food and Drug Administration has become increasingly risk averse in recent decades, as a result of its focus on protecting its reputation. Unfortunately, this risk aversion harms public health by escalating development costs and reducing the number of new drugs and other health care products available to consumers.
Arthroscopically Assisted Open Reduction–Internal Fixation of Ankle Fractures: Significance of the Arthroscopic Ankle Drive-through Sign

Standalone open reduction-internal fixation (ORIF) of unstable ankle fractures is the current standard of care. Intraoperative stress radiographs are useful for assessing the extent of ligamentous disruption, but arthroscopic visualization has been shown to be more accurate. Concomitant arthroscopy at the time of ankle fracture ORIF is useful for accurately diagnosing and managing syndesmotic and deltoid ligament injuries. The arthroscopic ankle drive-through sign is characterized by the ability to pass a 2.9-mm shaver (Smith & Nephew, Andover, MA) easily through the medial ankle gutter during arthroscopy, which is not usually possible with both an intact deltoid ligament and syndesmosis. This arthroscopic maneuver indicates instability after ankle reduction and fixation and is predictive of the need for further stabilization. Furthermore, when this sign remains positive after fracture fixation, it may guide the surgeon to further evaluate the adequacy of fixation for the possible need for further fixation of the syndesmosis or deltoid. We present the case of an ankle fracture managed with arthroscopy-assisted ORIF and describe the clinical utility of the arthroscopic ankle drive-through sign.
Exploration and Successful Experience of Modern Agriculture Building in China

This paper analyzed the great achievement,which China achieved during the period of the reform and opening up going into depth over the past two decades and more,especially in recent years.During this process,Chinese government has adopted many policies and measures to support the construction and development of modern agriculture,which made China grain harvest year by year,and kept the farmers' income growth sustained and rapid.Rural infrastructure construction has made significant progress,significant changes happened in rural areas,and the development of public utilities was rapid in rural areas.Meanwhile,detailed analyses were made to explain major constraints of building a modern agriculture in China and the problems were been pointed in this process.Although China is a developing country,compared with the developed countries,capital,talent,technology and resources are relatively scarce,many methods of China to promote modern agricultural practices,such as to build a modern agriculture in line of the local conditions,increase the powder of government support to agriculture,establish a sound modern agricultural industrial system,improve the rural land transfer system,and give full play to the role of modern agricultural demonstration zone,which would provide successful experience and enlightenment for developing countries.
Psychological aspects of genetic counseling: XII. More on counseling skills.

Three brief excerpts of genetic counseling sessions are analyzed to illustrate difficulties in applying counseling skills. Suggestions are advanced as to how genetic counselors might improve their competence in counseling practices and handle such issues as transference more effectively.
Smartphone applications to aid weight loss and management: current perspectives

The development and dissemination of smart devices has cultivated a global environment of hyperconnectivity and increased our access to information. The paralleled launch and success of the Mobile Health industry has created a market of commercially available applications or “apps” along with tools or sensors, which allow the user to receive and collect personal health information. Apps and accompanying tools now allow an individual to “self-digitize” and, pertaining to weight management, monitor their body weight, caloric intake, physical activity, and more. These products possess the ability to improve the scalability of traditional in-person weight management services considering their near ubiquity, affordability, and capability to deliver information directly and personally to the user. However, similar to the dietary supplement market, the anecdotal value of these products has driven their popularity and acceptance by the general public without requirement of scientific validation or, in the area of weight management or diet/exercise, validation of the safety and efficacy by the Food and Drug Administration prior to market launch. By conducting a literature and clinical trial search, we found remarkably few active, completed, or published studies testing the efficacy of smart device applications using randomized controlled trials. Research efforts must be focused on illuminating the efficacy of behavioral interventions and remote self-monitoring for weight loss/maintenance treatment with true, randomized controlled trials.
Novel Scoring Criteria for the Evaluation of Ocular Graft-versus-Host Disease in a Preclinical Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Animal Model.

Abstract Ocular complications occur after transplantation in 60% to 90% of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) patients and significantly impair vision-related quality of life. Ocular surface inflammation and dry eye disease are the most common manifestations of ocular GVHD. Ocular GVHD can be viewed as an excellent preclinical model that can be studied to understand the immune pathogenesis of this common and debilitating disease. A limitation of this is that only a few experimental models mimic the ocular complications after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and have focused on the acute GVHD process. To address this issue, we used a preclinical animal model developed by our group where ocular involvement was preceded by systemic GVHD to gain insight regarding the contributing immune mechanisms. Employing this "matched unrelated donor" model enabled the development of clinical scoring criteria, which readily identified different degrees of ocular pathology at both the ocular surface and adnexa, dependent on the level of conditioning before HSCT. As far as we are aware, we report for the first time that these clinical and immune responses occur not only on the ocular surface, but they also heavily involve the lid margin region. In total, the present study reports a preclinical scoring model that can be applied to animal models as investigators look to further explore GVHD's immunologic effects at the level of the ocular surface and eyelid adnexa compartments. We speculate that future studies will use this clinical scoring index in combination with what is recognized histologically and correlated with serum biomarkers identified in chronic/ocular GVHD.
The Impact of Teaching Financial Literacy to College Students

This study measures the learning outcomes and reported behavioral changes of students enrolled in a financial literacy course at a metropolitan university. A notable positive outcome is that 42 college students saved an aggregate of $30,198 in one 15-week semester. The average savings per student was $719. Many students began to save regularly, planned to start investing at a younger age, began to budget regularly, and decided that they would avoid the pitfalls of credit cards. The study results provide positive evidence for a possible solution to decrease the nation’s student loan debt, prevent money problems, and increase student retention.
Pentacyanoiron(III) pyridine derivatives as topological probes for electron transfer cytochrome C

The kinetics of oxidation of ferrocytochrome C by a series of substitute pentacyano(pyridine) iron(III) complexes is studied in an aqueous solution at 23°C, pH 7.2, μ = 0.10 mol/l (KCl). Second-order rate constants for the complexes of pyridine, 4-methylpyridine, isonicotinamide, 4-phenylpyridine, and 4-tert-butylpyridine are, respectively, (6.0 ± 0.7) x 10 7 , (1.7 ± 0.3) x 10 7 , (5.7 ± 1.5) x 10 7 , (8.2 ± 0.8) x 10 7 , and (2.8 ± 0.3) x 10 7 l mol -1 s -1 . For the same series of oxidants, the specific rates of the reaction with the aqueous ferrocyanide ion are, respectively, (1.7 ± 0.1) x 10 5 , (5.5 ± 0.2) x 10 4 , (2.8 ± 0.1) x 10 5 , (5.5 ± 0.1) x 10 4 , and (1.9 ± 0.1) x 10 4 l mol -1 s -1 . The results a interpreted in terms of the steric and hydrophobic influences of the 4-pyridine substituents on the stability of the precursor complexes to electron transfer.
Robust adaptive neural network control for PEM fuel cell

Abstract This paper presents a robust neural network adaptive control for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells (FCs). Since deviations between the partial pressure of hydrogen and oxygen in PEMFCs lead to serious membrane damage, it is desirable to have a robust and adaptive control to stabilize the partial pressure, which can significantly lengthen their lifetime. Due to inherent nonlinearities in PEMFC dynamics and variations of the system parameters, a linear control with fixed gains cannot control the PEMFC system properly. Therefore, a neural network adaptive control with feedback linearization is developed for this system. With a feedback linearization control only, the performance is deviated in the presence of unknown dynamics and disturbances. Thus, a robust adaptive neural network control is added to the feedback linearization control to reduce the deviation. Simulation results show that the proposed control can significantly enhance the output performance as well as reject the disturbances.
Vive la physique

There are revolutions in physics. We hear of asymptotic freedom and nuclear democracy. A rallying cry, or revolutionary anthem, is needed:
Longitudinal changes in psychological states in online health community members: Understanding the long-term effects of participating in an online depression community

Background: Major depression is a serious challenge at both the individual and population levels. Although online health communities have shown the potential to reduce the symptoms of depression, emotional contagion theory suggests that negative emotion can spread within a community, and prolonged interactions with other depressed individuals has potential to worsen the symptoms of depression. Objective: The goals of our study were to investigate longitudinal changes in psychological states that are manifested through linguistic changes in depression community members who are interacting with other depressed individuals. Methods: We examined emotion-related language usages using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program for each member of a depression community from Reddit. To measure the changes, we applied linear least-squares regression to the LIWC scores against the interaction sequence for each member. We measured the differences in linguistic changes against three online health communities focusing on positive emotion, diabetes, and irritable bowel syndrome. Results: On average, members of an online depression community showed improvement in 9 of 10 prespecified linguistic dimensions: “positive emotion,” “negative emotion,” “anxiety,” “anger,” “sadness,” “first person singular,” “negation,” “swear words,” and “death.” Moreover, these members improved either significantly or at least as much as members of other online health communities. Conclusions: We provide new insights into the impact of prolonged participation in an online depression community and highlight the positive emotion change in members. The findings of this study should be interpreted with caution, because participating in an online depression community is not the sole factor for improvement or worsening of depressive symptoms. Still, the consistent statistical results including comparative analyses with different communities could indicate that the emotion-related language usage of depression community members are improving either significantly or at least as much as members of other online communities. On the basis of these findings, we contribute practical suggestions for designing online depression communities to enhance psychosocial benefit gains for members. We consider these results to be an important step toward a better understanding of the impact of prolonged participation in an online depression community, in addition to providing insights into the long-term psychosocial well-being of members. [J Med Internet Res 2017;19(3):e71]
Metabolic Signatures of T-cells and Macrophages in Rheumatoid Arthritis

In most autoimmune diseases, a decade-long defect in self-tolerance eventually leads to clinically relevant, tissue-destructive inflammatory disease. The pathogenic potential of chronic persistent immune responses during the pre-clinical and clinical phase is ultimately linked to the bioenergetic fitness of innate and adaptive immune cells. Chronic immune cell stimulation, high cellular turn-over, structural damage to the host tissue and maladaptive wound healing, all require a reliable supply of nutrients, oxygen, and biosynthetic precursors. Here, we use the model system of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to discuss immunometabolism from the vantage point of T-cells and macrophages that encounter fundamentally different metabolic stress scenarios in the RA host. We outline the general principle that both insufficient nutrient supply, as well as nutrient excess generate cellular stress responses and guide immune function. ATPlow, NADPHhigh, ROSlow T-cells hyperproliferate and are forced into premature senescence. ATPhigh, ROShigh macrophages dimerize the glycolytic enzyme pyruvate kinase to amplify STAT3-dependent inflammatory effector functions. A corollary of this model is that simple nutraceutical interventions will be insufficient to re-educate the immune system in RA. Instead, interference with cell-type-exclusive and differentiation-stage-dependent metabolic setpoints will be needed to reprogram arthritogenic pathways.
Energetic 1,2,5-Oxadiazolo-Pyridazine and its N-Oxide.

Achieving an energetic compound which exhibits high performance and insensitivity is important in the field of energetic materials and remains a major challenge. Here we find that oxidation of 4,7-diaminopyridazino[4,5-c]furoxan (5) with hypofluorous acid (HOF) or a mixture of 50% hydrogen peroxide and trifluoroacetic anhydride gives rise to 6-amino-7-nitro-[1,2,5]oxadiazolo[3,4-c]pyridazine (7) and its N-oxide derivative (8). Compound 8 displays an energetic performance compared to TATB and insensitive properties (IS: 36 J and FS: >360 N). Such excellent properties make it attractive for high performance applications where insensitivity is important.
A 1920 $\times $ 1080 30-frames/s 2.3 TOPS/W Stereo-Depth Processor for Energy-Efficient Autonomous Navigation of Micro Aerial Vehicles

This paper presents a single-chip, high-performance, and energy-efficient stereo vision depth-estimation processor for micro aerial vehicles (MAVs). The proposed processor implements the state-of-the-art semi-global matching (SGM) algorithm to deliver full high-definition (HD, 1920 ${\times }$ 1080) stereo-depth outputs with a maximum of 38 frames/s throughput. Algorithm-architecture co-optimization is conducted, introducing overlapping block-based processing that eliminates very large on-chip memory and off-chip DRAM. We exploit inherent data parallelism in the algorithm by processing 128 local disparity costs and aggregating the SGM costs along four paths for all 128 disparities in parallel. A dependence-resolving scan associated with 16-stage deep pipeline is introduced to hide the data dependence between neighboring pixels in the SGM algorithm. Moreover, we propose a customized ultra-high bandwidth dual-port SRAM that utilizes the unique memory access characteristic of SGM to achieve highly energy-efficient memory access at a very high on-chip memory bandwidth of 1.64 Tb/s. The fabricated processor produces 512 levels of depth information for each pixel at full HD resolution with 30-frames/s performance, consuming 836 mW from a 0.75-V supply in TSMC 40-nm GP CMOS. We ported the design on a quadcopter MAV to demonstrate its performance in realistic real-time flight.
Rapid Synthesis and Correlative Measurements of Electrocatalytic Nickel/Iron Oxide Nanoparticles.

Electrocatalytic core-shell nanoparticles, such as nickel/iron oxides for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline electrolytes, require rapid synthesis and measurement for practical use. To meet this challenge, we investigated a novel process of adding Ni(II) species to Fe nanoparticles immediately after synthesis, which we expected to yield Ni-rich shells around Fe-rich cores. Cyclic voltammetry showed that the overpotential decreased as the molar ratio of Ni to Fe in the synthesis vessel increased from 0.2 mol Ni:1 mol Fe to 1.5 mol Ni:1 mol Fe, consistent with an increase of Ni composition. Unexpectedly, the overpotential increased abruptly at 2.0 mol Ni:1 mol Fe. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that this synthesis ratio resulted in less Ni at the nanoparticle surfaces than lower synthesis ratios. These results demonstrate the sensitivity of rapid electrochemical measurements to surface composition, and the limits of Ni(II) adsorption and reduction to rapidly form Ni-rich shells around Fe-rich cores. Cyclic voltammetry also showed that the onset of the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) correlates with the oxidation of Ni(OH)2 to NiOOH. Therefore, tuning materials to improve performance as OER catalysts also improves their performance as MOR catalysts.
Implementing PGM-free electrocatalysts in high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Abstract Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) face numerous challenges, involving the membrane nature and the active material for the cathodic reaction. A way to achieve more efficient PEMFCs is to increase their operating temperature above 373 K: High-Temperature PEMFCs (HT-PEMFCs). In this communication, we introduce for the first time the use of platinum group metal-free electrocatalysts (PGM-free) for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in HT-PEMFC, namely an iron‑nitrogen‑carbon (Fe-N-C) electrocatalyst synthesized by the sacrificial support method and discuss their performances. A cell voltage of 0.43 V was observed at 0.2 A cmgeo−2, this activity being greatly improved by increasing the back-pressure of the PEMFC (from 0.0 to 3.0 × 105 Pa), reaching a polarization of 0.65 V at 0.2 A cmgeo−2 (at 433 K, O2 at the cathode), thus proving that the main limitations of the HT-PEMFC with a Fe-N-C cathode were not induced by the intrinsic activity of the electrocatalyst, but by the transport of the oxygen throughout the electrocatalyst structure.
Noise, Hearing and Cardiovascular Function

It is known that loud noise causes a number of reactions in the human body which the recipient cannot control, in addition to the psychic shock. The blood vessels constrict, the skin pales, the pupils dilate, the eyes close, one winces, holds the breath, and the voluntary and involuntary muscles tense. Gastric secretion diminishes and the diastolic pressure increases. Adrenalin is suddenly injected into the blood stream, which increases neuromuscular tension, nervousness, irritability and anxiety.
The Bidirectionality of Judgments of Synonymy

This article reports an experiment and some observations on synonymy between sentences. The rationale derives from experimental evidence for the existence of a nonverbal, abstract semantic memory, and for the mutual deducibility of two synonymous sentences. In the first phase of the experiment, subjects ranked interpretations of proverbs in terms of their semantic distance from their proverb bases. In the second phase, different groups of subjects ranked proverbs, including the phase 1 original proverbs and some foils, in terms of their semantic distance from the interpretations. The results indicate that two synonymous sentences tend to be given similar rankings, linearly related, and that subjects are highly consensual in their rankings. It is argued that a deep structure account cannot explain the results and that, furthermore, available linguistic and psychological theories of meaning are likewise insufficient. Synonymy is discussed in terms of an event or operation which serves to restrict interpretation.