cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Child health nurses miss opportunities to tackle obesity.

Commentary on: Laws R, Campbell KJ, van der Pligt P, et al. Obesity prevention in early life: an opportunity to better support the role of Maternal and Child Health Nurses in Australia. BMC Nurs 2015;14:26.[OpenUrl][1][CrossRef][2][PubMed][3] Researchers and funding agencies have historically endorsed highly structured and scientifically rigorous interventions to prevent childhood obesity.1 In this model, children and families who enrol in family-based obesity interventions typically receive a standardised … [1]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DBMC%2BNurs%26rft.volume%253D14%26rft.spage%253D26%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1186%252Fs12912-015-0077-7%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F25972765%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [2]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1186/s12912-015-0077-7&link_type=DOI [3]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=25972765&link_type=MED&atom=%2Febnurs%2F19%2F1%2F14.atom
Who’s on the Clean-Up Crew ?

Most of our citizens are quite familiar with the solid waste collection system that they use. Few, however, really know what happens to the wastes after they have been collected in their community. And it is the rare individual that actually has visited the disposal facilities used by his community to personally judge the character and environmental effect of these operations.
Omega-3 and -6 fatty acids allocate somatic and germline lipids to ensure fitness during nutrient and oxidative stress in Caenorhabditis elegans

Animals in nature are continually challenged by periods of feast and famine as resources inevitably fluctuate, and must allocate somatic reserves for reproduction to abate evolutionary pressures. We identify an age-dependent lipid homeostasis pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans that regulates the mobilization of lipids from the soma to the germline, which supports fecundity but at the cost of survival in nutrient-poor and oxidative stress environments. This trade-off is responsive to the levels of dietary carbohydrates and organismal oleic acid and is coupled to activation of the cytoprotective transcription factor SKN-1 in both laboratory-derived and natural isolates of C. elegans. The homeostatic balance of lipid stores between the somatic and germ cells is mediated by arachidonic acid (omega-6) and eicosapentaenoic acid (omega-3) precursors of eicosanoid signaling molecules. Our results describe a mechanism for resource reallocation within intact animals that influences reproductive fitness at the cost of somatic resilience.
Paralytic and Plasmatocyte Spreading Peptide From Manduca sexta

A family of hemolymph peptides with diverse biological activities has been identified in several Lepidopteran species. These peptides can cause rapid paralysis (Skinner et al., 1991), block growth and development (Hayakawa, 1991), and stimulate plasmatocyte spreading and aggregation (Clark et al., 1997). The 23-residue peptides are produced from larger inactive precursors in plasma. The precursor proteins are rapidly converted by a specific proteolysis to active molecules upon bleeding and perhaps after parasitization or infection.
Fibrosarcoma of the chest wall following resection and irradiation of carcinoma of the breast.

The case of a patient who developed a fibrosarcoma of her chest wall four years after radical mastectomy and two courses of radiation therapy for carcinoma of the breast is presented. In spite of radical surgical extirpation the sarcoma recurred on several occasions, eventually metastasized, and was responsible for the patient’s death. The microscopic appearance of this tumor and its growth pattern at autopsy is evidence against its being a peculiar variant of carcinoma with a pseudosarcomatous growth pattern. The possible role of irradiation in induction of the sarcoma is discussed.
STURM UND DRANG AND THE EVOLUTIONARY SYNTHESIS.

This, the 40th anniversary of the journal Evolution, is a fitting time to reflect on the state of evolutionary biology. Many biologists have offered such reflections in the last few years, and, especially since the infamous Chicago Macroevolution Conference of 1980 (Levinton and Futuyma, 1982), many have declared the field to be in a sorry state. My assessment is more positive. I will develop the theses that many of the criticisms of evolutionary theory are unwarranted and that, although evolutionary biology suffers from some serious schisms, these nevertheless present exciting challenges to the development of our field. Before taking arms against the sea of troubles that we supposedly are in (to borrow Hamlet's mixed metaphor), let us note the strength of our forces. Paul Harvey (1987) recently wrote that "Evolutionary biologists have every right to be thrill crazy," because "their synthetic theory continues to survive challenges from all directions." I believe that he is absolutely right and that the field has never been more vital, more exciting, more successful than it is today. A person reviewing the field in, say, 1979 and again in 1986 would find that in this brief period there has been subst-antial advance on almost all
Ol' Abner Has Done It Again

(1992). Ol' Abner Has Done It Again. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 99, No. 9, pp. 845-845.
ASSISTments Dataset from Multiple Randomized Controlled Experiments

In this paper, we present a dataset consisting of data generated from 22 previously and currently running randomized controlled experiments inside the ASSIStments online learning platform. This dataset provides data mining opportunities for researchers to analyze ASSISTments data in a convenient format across multiple experiments at the same time. The data preprocessing steps are explained in detail to inform researchers about how this dataset was generated. A list of column descriptions is provided to define the columns in the dataset and a set of summary statistics are presented to briefly describe the dataset.
Analysis and Choice of Communication Protocol of Wireless Public Network in Distribution Automation

Characteristics of UDP and TCP network protocols are introduced,and the data transmission of wireless communication in distribution automation are described.Based on the application of wireless public network communication in distribution automation,two protocols are compared from effectiveness,reliability and transmission flow,which provides a reference to the construction of wireless public network communication system in distribution automation.
Study on the calcification of permanent molars enamel in pits and fissures

AIM:To study the calcification by detecting and comparing the microhardness(MH)of the fissure enamel of the unerupted,young and mature permanent molars.METHODS:Ten unerupted,11 young and 15 mature permanent molars without caries determined by DIAGNOdent and microradiography were enrolled.The fissure was divided into the upper,the middle and the bottom parts.The MH in 50 μm and 100μm layer under the fissure enamel surface of the upper,the middle and the bottom of fissure were examined.RESULTS:The MH in 50μm layer of the upper fissure enamel of young and mature permanent molars was significantly bigger than that of their bottom and the bottom of unerupted permanent molars.There was no difference among The MH of 50μm layer of the bottom enamel of unerupted,young and mature permanent molars.The MH in 50μm layer of the upper fissure enamel of young and mature permanent molars was significantly bigger than that of unerupted permanent molars.There was no difference among the MH of unerupted,young and mature permanent molars in 100μm layer of the buccal and the upper fissure enamel.CONCLUSION:After eruption there is a remineralization in the upper fissure enamel surface of young and mature permanent molars and there is not obvious change in the bottom fissure enamel.
Bicarbonate transport along the loop of Henle effects of adrenal steroids

The role of adrenal steroids in the regulation of bicarbonate absorption in the loop of Henle was studied by in vivo microperfusion. Bicarbonate transport (JHCO3) was measured by microcalorimetry and fluid reabsorption by [14C]inulin, 7-10 days after surgery, in 1) sham-operated control rats, 2) adrenalectomized (Adx) rats, 3) Adx rats receiving dexamethasone (1.2 micrograms.100 g body wt-1.24 h-1) and a low dose of aldosterone (0.5 micrograms.100 g body wt-1.24 h-1), 4) Adx rats receiving dexamethasone, 5) Adx rats receiving a low dose of aldosterone, and 6) Adx rats receiving a high dose of aldosterone (1.0 micrograms.100 g body wt-1.24 h-1). JHCO3 along the loop of Henle was decreased by 40% in Adx rats. JHCO3 was increased by dexamethasone alone and by dexamethasone plus a low dose of aldosterone to rates observed in fully supplemented Adx rats. Aldosterone given alone at a low physiological dose had no effect, but, when administered at a high dose, returned JHCO3 to normal.
Renal cancer therapeutics: now what?

The development of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway inhibitors and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors for the treatment of renal cancer is a real success story.
Inflation and cyclotron motion

We consider, in the context of a braneworld cosmology, the motion of the Universe coupled to a four-form gauge field, with constant field strength, defined in higher dimensions. It is found, under rather general initial conditions, that in this situation there is a period of exponential inflation combined with cyclotron motion in the inflaton field space. The main effect of the cyclotron motion is that slow roll conditions on the inflaton potential, which are typically necessary for exponential inflation, can be evaded. There are Landau levels associated with the four-form gauge field, and these correspond to quantum excitations of the inflaton field satisfying unconventional dispersion relations.
The Python ARM Radar Toolkit (Py-ART), a Library for Working with Weather Radar Data in the Python Programming Language

The Python ARM Radar Toolkit is a package for reading, visualizing, correcting and analysing data from weather radars. Development began to meet the needs of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility and has since expanded to provide a general-purpose framework for working with data from weather radars in the Python programming language. The toolkit is built on top of libraries in the Scientific Python ecosystem including NumPy, SciPy, and matplotlib, and makes use of Cython for interfacing with existing radar libraries written in C and to speed up computationally demanding algorithms. The source code for the toolkit is available on GitHub and is distributed under a BSD license.
Zonal dislocations mediating {101¯1}〈101¯2¯〉 twinning in magnesium

Abstract The twin boundary (TB) interfacial structure and the configuration of zonal twinning dislocations for { 1 0 1 ¯ 1 } 〈 1 0 1 ¯ 2 ¯ 〉 twin growth in magnesium have been investigated by using molecular dynamics simulations and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The simulation results show that twin growth is initially dominated by the motion of existing TB steps. After these steps, the twin growth is mediated by the nucleation and glide of new zonal dislocations at the TBs. The steps and the twinning dislocations have Burgers vectors of 1bT, 2bT and 4bT, where b T = 1 4 · 1 2 〈 1 0 1 ¯ 2 ¯ 〉 is the Burgers vector of the elementary twinning dislocation. The favorable zonal dislocation is 2bT, which can be viewed as the 1 2 · 1 2 〈 1 0 1 ¯ 2 ¯ 〉 matrix dislocation spreading over two { 1 0 1 ¯ 1 } layers to accomplish the twinning relationship across the TB. The connection established between the twinning and the dislocation slip in the matrix is supported by TEM observations.
Heightened cortical excitability in aged rodents with memory impairment

Elevated excitability in the hippocampus has emerged as a key contributor to reduced memory function in aging and in cognitive impairment prodromal to Alzheimer's disease. Here, we investigated the relationship between neural activity and memory in the hippocampus and a connectional cortical network using an aged rat model of individual differences for memory impairment. The expression of cFos was used as a measure of pharmacologically induced neural activity. Aged memory-impaired rats exhibited elevated cFos relative to young adult and aged unimpaired rats in the CA3 subfield of the hippocampus and in several cortical regions including the retrosplenial, parietal, and orbitofrontal cortices. Strong correlations between cFos intensity and task performance across the activated network showed a tight coupling between excitability and cognitive phenotype in aging. Elevated neural excitability extending beyond the hippocampus to interconnected posterior cortex (retrosplenial/parietal) was reduced by treatment with levetiracetam, a therapeutic with behavioral efficacy that has previously translated from rodent models of age-related impairment and Alzheimer's disease to humans with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.
Of Trees and People: The Changing Entanglement in the Israeli Desert

This article portrays the shift experienced in the role of acacia trees during environmental–political struggles as the entanglement of trees and people. Drawing on a four-year ethnographic study a...
Vascular access type and changes in inflammatory markers in incident dialysis patients: A pilot study

PURPOSE To determine the association between the initial hemodialysis (HD) vascular access type and short-term changes in inflammation markers. METHODS This is a prospective, observational study in incident chronic kidney disease (CKD) (stages 4 and 5) patients receiving their first HD vascular access. Serum samples were obtained pre-access placement, and 1 week, and 1 month post-access insertion. Samples were tested for high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) using ELISA. Patients with known inflammatory states (infection, malignancy, connective tissue disorders, organ transplantation and those on immune modulating agents) were excluded. The hsCRP and IL-6 values were transformed into logarithmic scale. Chi-square analysis, independent and paired t-tests were performed where appropriate, and a two-way ANOVA with time as a repeated measure was also performed. Significance was determined at p=0.05. RESULTS One-month follow-up data was obtained in 48 patients (arteriovenous fistula (AVF), n=10; tunneled catheter (TC), n=28; arteriovenous graft (AVG), n=10). A significant increase in both hsCRP (p <0.05) and IL-6 (p=0.02) occurring 1 week after TC insertion was observed. Elevation of the IL-6 levels appeared to be sustained 1 month after TC insertion, although this finding was not statistically significant (p=0.68), whereas the hsCRP levels returned to baseline within 1 month. After AVG insertion only the hsCRP levels rose significantly (p=0.01) after 1 week and returned to baseline within 1 month. In the AVF group, inflammatory markers did not change for any time period. CONCLUSIONS In CKD patients, TC and AVG insertion result in a transient state of inflammation 1 week post-operatively, which is not observed after AVF surgery. Whether this is a persistent phenomenon after TC insertion requires a larger, longitudinal study.
A Configurable Enhanced T/sup 2/RAM Macro for System-Level Power Management Unified Memory

TTRAM can provide high speed, low power and high density with CMOS compatible SOI process. However it is difficult to handle as the unified memory required for advanced SoC because it needs the simple control sensing operation for memory compiler, higher cell efficiency, and lower voltage operation for dynamic frequency and voltage control. The enhanced TTRAM (ET2RAM) can solve these issues and the key technologies provide 0.5V memory operation, compact and higher sensitivity sense amplifier, and programmable multi-bank array
Wodehouse’s Choice

Women were not alone in facing fundamentally incompatible demands of traditional gender roles and religious faith. Catholic men were asked to submit to social, religious, and governmental authority in ways that challenged their understandings of masculinity and restructured their relationships with the Catholic Church, government, other men, and women. The story of Francis Wodehouse, “The Man with Brass Bowels,” introduces the frustration that many Catholic men experienced trying to fulfill their personal, familial, economic, social, religious, and political responsibilities as men. Men experimented with options, from finding innovative ways to husband their wealth and cross-dressing to avoid the authorities, to constructing elaborate rationales for how to lie to the authorities while still remaining “true” men. Eventually, men such as Wodehouse redefined masculinity along lines that allowed them to be good men, Catholics, and subjects, but only after it became clear that traditional definitions of manhood no longer worked for many Catholic men.
Farm size and productivity growth in the United States Corn Belt

Abstract In recent decades, agricultural production in the U.S. has continued to shift to large-scale operations, raising concerns about the economic viability of small and midsized farms. To understand whether economies of size provided an incentive for the consolidation of production, the study estimates the total factor productivity (TFP) of five size classes of grain-producing farms in the U.S. Heartland (Corn Belt) region. Using quinquennial Agricultural Census data from 1982 to 2012 the study also compares TFP growth rates across farm sizes to gain insight into whether observed productivity differences are likely to persist. The finding of a strong positive relationship between farm size and TFP suggests that consolidation of production has contributed to recent aggregate productivity growth in the crop sector. The study estimates the extent to which sectoral productivity growth can be attributed to structural change versus other factors including technological change. The study also explores some tradeoffs associated with policies that raise the productivity of small versus large farms.
Grassmannian Fixed Point Ratios

We provide estimates for the fixed point ratios in the permutation representations of a finite classical group over a field of order q on k-subspaces of its natural n-dimensional module. For sufficiently large n, each element must either have a negligible ratio or act linearly with a large eigenspace. We obtain an asymptotic estimate in the latter case, which in most cases is q−dk where d is the codimension of the large eigenspace. The results here are tailored for our forthcoming proof of a conjecture of Guralnick and Thompson on composition factors of monodromy groups.
Comments on “Rationing Medical Care: Processes for Defining Adequacy”

Mary Ann Baily begins her paper by setting out, in general terms, the idea of a “decent minimum approach” to providing health care. She goes on to argue for defining the “decent minimum” as the level that should be (but not the level that is) chosen by the middle class, and to discuss reasons why it should and ways in which it could be made available to everyone.
Application of GAPS Model to Improve Textile and Apparel Industry's Sustainable Practices

There seems to be a disconnect between the textile and apparel industry (TAI) practices and consumer needs related to sustainability. To address these issues of disconnect between TAI and consumers, with a goal of meeting consumers' sustainability needs carried out by TAI, in the present conceptual study, the GAPS model (Levy, Weitz, & Grewal, 2014) for improving retail customer service quality will be applied to analyze the TAI's sustainable practices. Drawing extant literature on service quality GAPS model and the TAI sustainability practices, we propose a conceptual model. This model will be tested to analyze the sustainable practices of TAI firms. A quantitative survey will be developed asking specific questions related to each of the four gaps to TAI managers. Results will lead us to identify the GAPS and suggest intervention programs for TAI firms to be successful in implementing sustainability practices.
Auxiliary Maximum Likelihood Estimation for Noisy Point Cloud Registration

We establish first a theoretical foundation for the use of Gromov-Hausdorff (GH) distance for point set registration with homeomorphic deformation maps perturbed by Gaussian noise. We then present a probabilistic, deformable registration framework. At the core of the framework is a highly efficient iterative algorithm with guaranteed convergence to a local minimum of the GH-based objective function. The framework has two other key components – a multi-scale stochastic shape descriptor and a data compression scheme. We also present an experimental comparison between our method and two existing influential methods on non-rigid motion between digital anthropomorphic phantoms extracted from physical data of multiple individuals.
Adducing Social Science Evidence in Constitutional Cases

Social science evidence is the “new normal” in Charter litigation in Canada. Yet, the road is not smooth for the use of social science evidence in courts. How to effectively use such evidence remains an under-studied area. This paper explores the dynamics, strategies, and best practices associated with ad- ducing such evidence, using a qualitative, comparative perspective and examining cases from Canada, the United States, and South Africa. The paper argues that there are clear lessons emerging, in Canada and elsewhere, for how to effectively use social science evidence in constitutional cases. By analyzing scholarship and case studies in this area, the paper unpacks some of the dynamics and strategies at play for using social science evidence in courts. It puts forward five lessons, explaining that counsel who wish to harness social science evidence in Charter litigation should: (1) employ a group approach to constitutional litigation that brings together affected persons, community organizations, academics, and other experts; (2) present social science evidence early on in litigation and with the most reliable experts available; (3) ensure that social science evidence will withstand scrutiny under the applicable rules of evidence; (4) consider alternative strategies where social science evidence is weak, contested, or complex; and (5) prepare for a future where the importance of social science evidence in Charter cases increases.
Seismic response to paleo-sand dunes in the Nugget Sandstone Formation, southwestern Wyoming

AbstractWe have analyzed a 3D seismic survey acquired for a carbon sequestration project on top of the Moxa Arch in southwestern Wyoming. We observed a zone of discontinuous reflectors on vertical ...
Grocery shopping preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic

Considering the temporary closure of many food-away-from-home establishments, consumer expenditure on groceries during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased. While grocery shopping is an essential activity, not much is known about the dynamic relationship of the COVID-19 pandemic to the behavior of grocery shoppers. With an objective to inform variability in the behavior of grocery shoppers under various scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted an online framed choice experiment to elicit preferences for purchasing methods, time windows, minimum order requirements, and fees. The manipulating factor relates to the trend in the COVID-19 pandemic, where we consider three scenarios: an increasing, decreasing, or constant number of new cases in the past two-week period. Using 32,400 choice decisions from a representative sample of 900 grocery shoppers in the United States, we conclude that the trend in the COVID-19 pandemic causes significant differences in grocery shopping preferences. In situations where COVID-19 is spreading at an increasing rate, consumers are generally less willing to shop inside the grocery store. When COVID-19 is spreading at a decreasing rate, the relative importance of the purchasing method attribute is lower in its entirety. We use our findings to inform recommendations for practitioners and policymakers.
Gradient-Based Empirical Risk Minimization using Local Polynomial Regression.

In this paper, we consider the problem of empirical risk minimization (ERM) of smooth, strongly convex loss functions using iterative gradient-based methods. A major goal of this literature has been to compare different algorithms, such as gradient descent (GD) or stochastic gradient descent (SGD), by analyzing their rates of convergence to $\epsilon$-approximate solutions. For example, the oracle complexity of GD is $O(n\log(\epsilon^{-1}))$, where $n$ is the number of training samples. When $n$ is large, this can be expensive in practice, and SGD is preferred due to its oracle complexity of $O(\epsilon^{-1})$. Such standard analyses only utilize the smoothness of the loss function in the parameter being optimized. In contrast, we demonstrate that when the loss function is smooth in the data, we can learn the oracle at every iteration and beat the oracle complexities of both GD and SGD in important regimes. Specifically, at every iteration, our proposed algorithm performs local polynomial regression to learn the gradient of the loss function, and then estimates the true gradient of the ERM objective function. We establish that the oracle complexity of our algorithm scales like $\tilde{O}((p \epsilon^{-1})^{d/(2\eta)})$ (neglecting sub-dominant factors), where $d$ and $p$ are the data and parameter space dimensions, respectively, and the gradient of the loss function belongs to a $\eta$-Holder class with respect to the data. Our proof extends the analysis of local polynomial regression in non-parametric statistics to provide interpolation guarantees in multivariate settings, and also exploits tools from the inexact GD literature. Unlike GD and SGD, the complexity of our method depends on $d$ and $p$. However, when $d$ is small and the loss function exhibits modest smoothness in the data, our algorithm beats GD and SGD in oracle complexity for a very broad range of $p$ and $\epsilon$.
Honor and Seeking Mental Health Services: The Roles of Stigma and Reputation Concerns:

Prior research has indicated the extent to which living in a culture of honor can elicit aggressive behaviors in response to insult. Recent work has extended this research to the realm of mental he...
Extracardiac imaging findings in COVID-19-associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is an emerging syndrome that presents with a Kawasaki-like disease and multiorgan damage in children previously exposed to COVID-19. To review the extracardiac radiologic findings of MIS-C in a group of children and young adults with a confirmed diagnosis of MIS-C. In a retrospective study from April 1, 2020, to July 31, 2020, we reviewed the imaging studies of 47 children and adolescents diagnosed with MIS-C, 25 females (53%) and 22 males (47%), with an average age of 8.4 years (range 1.3–20 years). Forty-five had chest radiographs, 8 had abdominal radiographs, 13 had abdominal US or MRI, 2 had neck US, and 4 had brain MRI. Thirty-seven of 45 (82%) patients with chest radiographs had findings, with pulmonary opacities being the most common finding (n=27, 60%), most often bilateral and diffuse, followed by peribronchial thickening (n=26, 58%). Eight patients had normal chest radiographs. On abdominal imaging, small-volume ascites was the most common finding (n=7, 54%). Other findings included right lower quadrant bowel wall thickening (n=3, 23%), gallbladder wall thickening (n=3, 23%), and cervical (n=2) or abdominal (n=2) lymphadenopathy. Of the four patients with brain MRI, one had bilateral parieto-occipital abnormalities and another papilledema. The diagnosis of MIS-C and its distinction from other pathologies should be primarily based on clinical presentation and laboratory evidence of inflammation because imaging findings are nonspecific. However, it should be considered in the setting of bilateral diffuse pulmonary opacities, peribronchial thickening, right lower quadrant bowel inflammation or unexplained ascites in a child presenting with Kawasaki-like symptoms and a history of COVID-19 infection or recent COVID-19 exposure.
Acute Peptic Ulcer Disease Caused by Non-Helicobacter pylori-Helicobacter.

Human infection by Non-Helicobacter pylori-Helicobacter is rare and most commonly transmitted through direct contact with animals. The clinical presentation in most cases is chronic epigastric abdominal pain and it usually leads to chronic gastritis. We present an uncommon case of a patient with acute onset abdominal pain secondary to acute peptic ulcer disease caused by Helicobacter heilmannii who underwent successful treatment. We also conducted a review of the literature to understand the epidemiology, etiology, clinical presentation, and the best diagnostic and treatment modalities for Non-H. pylori-Helicobacter infections.
Waiving States' Sovereign Immunity from Suit in Their Own Courts: Purchased Waiver and the Clear Statement Rule

In recent years, the Supreme Court has expanded the Eleventh Amendment concept of state sovereign immunity to limit the extent to which individual litigants may assert federal rights against states in federal court. In its 1998 term, the Supreme Court extended the sovereign immunity doctrine to shield states from federal claims asserted by individuals in state courts as well. While the Court has carved out exceptions to the sovereign immunity doctrine, it has consistently held that if Congress wishes to make states liable in federal court through one of those exceptions, it must do so by clearly expressing its intent to abrogate states' sovereign immunity. This Note focuses on one of the exceptions to sovereign immunity-the constructive waiver of sovereign immunity that sometimes occurs when states accept federal funds-and argues that the clear statement requirement should not be applied to federal funding legislation that seeks to provide individual claimants a right to sue their state in state court.
Female Representation and Academic Leadership in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Despite increasing the numbers of women entering the field, underrepresentation of women in otolaryngology has been reported. In the subspecialty of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery (FPRS), female representation and academic leadership have not been formally characterized. Our study aims to identify female representation and academic leadership roles in FPRS. STUDY DESIGN Cross sectional analysis. METHODS Analysis was performed using the 2020 American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) membership directory. Board-eligible and board-certified FPRS surgeons were included. Data regarding academic rank, leadership position, academic productivity, and years in practice were collected from publicly available departmental websites. Academic productivity was measured using h-index. RESULTS Of 1,421 members queried in the 2020 AAFPRS membership directory, 13.0% were female and 86.9% were male. Most practitioners (87.0%) work in a private practice setting, but of the 13.0% of academic FPRS surgeons, 25.9% were female. Most female facial plastic surgeons in academic practice were Assistant Professors (72.9%), whereas ranks were evenly distributed among male FPRS surgeons. Three (4.3%) of 69 AAFPRS fellowship directors were women, and 1 (1.8%) of 56 present or past AAFPRS presidents was female. Female FPRS surgeons had fewer years in practice and lower h-indices compared with male surgeons. CONCLUSIONS Female FPRS surgeons hold fewer academic leadership positions and have lower academic productivity in comparison to male FPRS surgeons. Future studies are needed to elucidate the etiology of these gender differences. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Cross-sectional analysis Laryngoscope, 2021.
Identifying common transcriptome signatures of cancer by interpreting deep learning models

Cancer is a set of diseases characterized by unchecked cell proliferation and invasion of surrounding tissues. The many genes that have been genetically associated with cancer or shown to directly contribute to oncogenesis vary widely between tumor types, but common gene signatures that relate to core cancer pathways have also been identified, signifying that cancer cases display common hallmark molecular features. It is not clear however whether there exist additional sets of genes or transcriptomic features that are less well known in cancer biology but that are also commonly deregulated across several cancer types. Here, in order to agnostically identify transcriptomic features that are commonly shared between cancer types, we used RNA-Seq datasets encompassing thousands of samples from 19 healthy tissue types and 18 solid tumor types to train three feed-forward neural networks, based either on protein-coding gene expression, lncRNA expression or splice junction use, to distinguish between healthy and tumor samples. All three models achieve high precision, recall and accuracy on test sets derived from 13 datasets used during training and on an independent test dataset, indicating that our models recognize transcriptome signatures that are consistent across tumors. Analysis of attribution values extracted from our models reveals that genes that are commonly altered in cancer by expression or splicing variations are under strong evolutionary and selective constraints, suggesting that they have important cellular functions. Importantly, we found that genes composing our cancer transcriptome signatures are not frequently affected by mutations or genomic alterations and that their functions differ widely from the genes genetically associated with cancer. Finally, our results also highlighted that deregulation of RNA-processing genes and aberrant splicing are pervasive features across a large array of solid tumor types. The transcriptomic features that we highlight here define cancer signatures that may reflect causal variations or consequences of disease state, or a combination of both.
The Ethics of Belief

The ethics of belief is concerned with the question what we should believe. According to evidentialism, one should believe something if and only if one has adequate evidence for what one believes. According to classic pragmatism, other features besides evidence, such as practical reasons, can make it the case that one should believe something. According to a new kind of pragmatism, some epistemic notions may depend on one’s practical interests, even if what one should believe is independent of one’s practical reasons. In this paper I recount and briefly assess the debate between evidentialism and pragmatism.
State and Parameter Estimation for Biochemical Processes

In order to improve the productivity of a fermentation process, it is necessary to obtain reliable on-line data for all the important variables involved. Some of these are obtained by direct measurement and others are estimated. In the estimated variables, the model used to predict its behavior is usually known with a certain degree of precision. However, the parameters of the model may vary with time. In our work, we propose a general methodology to process all on-line real time information plus off-line data for estimation of system states and uncertain parameters. The addition of parameter estimation will increase the order of the computational matrix and memory requirements, so an optional multichannel scheme to decouple parameter from state estimation is presented. This methodology is applied to a fermentation process and the results of several experiments are presented.
Negative Co-dominant Inhibition of recA Protein Function: Biochemical Properties of the recA1, recA13 and recA56 Proteins and the Effect of recA56 Protein on the Activities of the Wild-type recA Protein Function in Vitro

We have investigated the biochemical properties of several Escherichia coli mutant recA proteins that display a null phenotype. These are the recA1, recA13 and recA56 proteins, each of which carries a single missense mutation. These proteins all share a common defect which is the inability to adopt the high affinity DNA binding state normally elicited by the nucleotide cofactor ATP. Consequently, other than the ability to bind ssDNA, they possess none of the in vitro enzymatic activities of recA protein. However, each protein has characteristics that are unique, leading to the conclusion that the observed mutant phenotypes arise through fundamentally different mechanisms. Despite the magnitude of these defects, the recA56 protein is able to differentially inhibit various activities of wild-type recA protein. Incorporation of recA56 protein into a presynaptic filament with the wild-type recA protein does not affect the ability of the wild-type protein to hydrolyze ATP, as judged by the turnover number (kcat), provided that the ssDNA concentration is not limiting; however, the affinity of wild-type recA protein for ATP is lowered by the presence of recA56 protein. Similarly, the ability to cleave lexA protein is only modestly inhibited. However, both the ability to compete with SSB protein for ssDNA binding sites and the DNA strand exchange activity of wild-type recA protein are severely inhibited by the presence of recA56 protein. These results suggest that individual monomeric components of the recA protein-DNA filament are translated through protein-protein contacts to become macroscopic properties of the filament.
Stress Effects in Ferroelectric Ceramics

Electromechanical transducers made of ferroelectric ceramic materials such as those based on barium titanate (BT) or on various lead zirconate titanate (PZT) compositions have become widely used for a variety of applications over the past 25 years [1]. Most of these applications utilize the linear piezoelectric effect for the conversion between electrical and mechanical energy, and one of the prime advantages of the BT or PZT materials is that their piezoelectric coupling coefficients are large. Another kind of application of ferroelectric ceramics — one that is perhaps not as generally familiar — is based on non-linear and non-reversible processes that can take place in these materials. One example of this kind of application is the single-shot, shock-activated power supply [2,3]. In this device, electrical energy is stored in a ferroelectric element by the initial poling process, and the passage of a shock wave through the material releases part or all of this stored energy (into an external electrical load) by actually destroying (non-reversibly) the State of initial polarization. There are two important mechanisms by which the destruction of polarization may occur. The first is by domain reorientation processes [4] whereby the directions of the polarization vectors in the individual ferroelectric domains change from one preferred crystallographic axis to another in response to the external stress. This process tends to randomize the domains and dramatically reduce the net polarization of the ceramic. The second possible mechanism for shock-induced depoling is a structural phase transition [3,5] induced by the stress behind the shock front, which transforms the material into a non-ferroelectric State. When such a transformation occurs, the polarizations of the individual crystallites of the ceramic become zero, so that all of the initial poling energy is released.
Proliferative response of rabbit lymphoid cells: I. Neonatal development of responsiveness to anti-allotype sera and to phytohemagglutinin

Abstract A study was made of the proliferative response of lymphoid cell populations from neonatal rabbits to PHA and to antiserum to an allotypic immunoglobulin determinant. Stimulation of DNA synthesis by PHA was obtained with peripheral blood leukocytes and spleen cells from most of the immature rabbits, although the response was lower than with cells from adult animals. Proliferation of lymphoid cells from spleen or blood of b 4, 5 rabbits by anti-b 5 was stimulated in all experiments with cells taken from rabbits older than 3 weeks, and was unaffected in most experiments with rabbits below this age. Lymphoid cells from the appendix also failed to respond to anti-b 5 at this age but did show reactivity to PHA. Thymocytes did not show a significant response to anti-b 5 at any age, even when taken from homozygous b 5 rabbits, but showed somewhat enhanced proliferation in the presence of PHA. Bone marrow cells from either heterozygous or homozygous b 5 rabbits rarely responded to anti-b 5 or PHA. Responsiveness of spleen cells from immature rabbits to anti-b 5 did not appear to be increased by induction of an immune response to sheep erythrocytes, and was also unrelated to the level of immunoglobulin production. It is concluded that cells responsive to anti-b 5, as detected by the methods used, slowly appear in peripheral lymphoid organs during the process of maturation of the immune apparatus after birth. The number of cells responsive to PHA also increases with age of the rabbits.
Developmental biology. Legs to wings and back again.

How do arms or wings (forelimbs) become different from legs (hindlimbs)? It all hinges on the expression of specific transcription factors in the embryonic fore- or hindlimb buds. Expression of the Tbx5 protein in the chick results in the development of wings, whereas the Tbx4 protein specifies legs. Misexpression of these proteins generates wing-like legs and leg-like wings, respectively, and should tell us much about the mechanisms by which these proteins act.
A synthetic aperture radar–based model to assess historical changes in lowland floodplain hydroperiod

[1] The hydrology of riparian wetlands worldwide has been altered extensively owing to the construction and operation of dams. We developed a model for the Roanoke River floodplain (United States) to simulate flood extent and duration based on a power law correlation between inundation area A, as mapped from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, and river discharge Q. Model fit was 0.955 for the upper portion of the study area and 0.789 for the tidally influenced lower section. We then compared hydroperiod simulated for predam (1912–1949) and postdam (1965–1995) periods. Topographically wet areas are now flooded longer than before damming, and dry areas are now drier. Similarly, hydrologically wet years experience longer floods, whereas the driest years are drier. Most importantly, spring hydroperiod regimes are now wetter than prior to damming. Our results suggest that the intermediate zone of the hydrologic gradient has been squeezed to either wetter or drier conditions. The model presented represents a simple but effective empirical method to simulate hydroperiod regimes at the landscape scale in large lowland systems where the data necessary to develop more complex physical models are not available.
Detection of isolates of Alternaria alternata with multiple-resistance to fludioxonil, cyprodinil, boscalid and pyraclostrobin in California pistachio orchards

Abstract In this study, 229 isolates of Alternaria alternata collected from commercial pistachio orchards with (n = 198) and without (n = 31) a prior history of Switch (cyprodinil + fludioxonil) applications were examined for their sensitivity to fludioxonil and cyprodinil using in vitro mycelial growth assays. The 50% effective dose (EC50) values for the baseline isolates for cyprodinil and fludioxonil ranged from 0.001 to 1.184 μg/mL (average = 0.214) and from 0.010 to 4.875 μg/mL (average = 0.770), respectively. Out of 72 isolates assayed from the exposed population, 93% had EC50 values for fludioxonil ranging from 0.001 to 5.370 μg/mL (average = 0.472), but five isolates were highly resistant to this fungicide (EC50 > 100 μg/mL). About 98.55% of these isolates were sensitive to cyprodinil (0009 10 μg/mL). No cross-resistance relationship between cyprodinil and fludioxonil was observed (P = 0.2925, r = −0.1074). To determine the occurrence of multiple resistances, the radial growths of 126 isolates, collected from orchards with a history of Switch, Pristine, and strobilurin exposures, were measured on agar media amended with a single discriminatory dose of 10 μg fungicide/mL. High proportions of these isolates were resistant to boscalid (86.3%) and pyraclostrobin (92.9%). Most isolates were still sensitive to fludioxonil (77.8%) and cyprodinil (89.7%), but some were found to be independently or simultaneously resistant to all fungicides tested. Under conditions of excessive exposure to Switch resistant phenotypes may develop in A. alternata populations and ultimately affect fungicide performance. Therefore, monitoring studies must be continued and strict adherence to anti-resistance strategies followed and implemented in at risk orchards.
Sampling schemes for reconstruction of multidimensional signals from multiple level threshold crossing

Two intermediate sampling schemes are developed which bridge the gap between Nyquist sampling and one-level crossing representation by enabling signals to be recovered from multiple-level threshold crossings. To this end, semi-implicit and implicit sampling strategies and their corresponding reconstruction algorithms are derived. A preliminary investigation of the quantization characteristics of some of the proposed sampling and reconstruction schemes, is included. >
Preparation and use of HIV-1 infected primary CD4+ T-cells as target cells in natural killer cell cytotoxic assays.

Natural killer (NK) cells are a vital component of the innate immune response to virus-infected cells. It is important to understand the ability of NK cells to recognize and lyse HIV-1 infected cells because identifying any aberrancy in NK cell function against HIV-infected cells could potentially lead to therapies that would enhance their cytolytic activity. There is a need to use HIV-infected primary T-cell blasts as target cells rather then infected-T-cell lines in the cytotoxicity assays. T-cell lines, even without infection, are quite susceptible to NK cell lysis. Furthermore, it is necessary to use autologous primary cells to prevent major histocompatibility complex class I mismatches between the target and effector cell that will result in lysis. Early studies evaluating NK cell cytolytic responses to primary HIV-infected cells failed to show significant killing of the infected cells 1,2. However, using HIV-1 infected primary T-cells as target cells in NK cell functional assays has been difficult due the presence of contaminating uninfected cells 3. This inconsistent infected cell to uninfected cell ratio will result in variation in NK cell killing between samples that may not be due to variability in donor NK cell function. Thus, it would be beneficial to work with a purified infected cell population in order to standardize the effector to target cell ratios between experiments 3,4. Here we demonstrate the isolation of a highly purified population of HIV-1 infected cells by taking advantage of HIV-1's ability to down-modulate CD4 on infected cells and the availability of commercial kits to remove dead or dying cells 3-6. The purified infected primary T-cell blasts can then be used as targets in either a degranulation or cytotoxic assay with purified NK cells as the effector population 5-7. Use of NK cells as effectors in a degranulation assay evaluates the ability of an NK cell to release the lytic contents of specialized lysosomes 8 called "cytolytic granules". By staining with a fluorochrome conjugated antibody against CD107a, a lysosomal membrane protein that becomes expressed on the NK cell surface when the cytolytic granules fuse to the plasma membrane, we can determine what percentage of NK cells degranulate in response to target cell recognition. Alternatively, NK cell lytic activity can be evaluated in a cytotoxic assay that allows for the determination of the percentage of target cells lysed by release of 51Cr from within the target cell in the presence of NK cells.
Dysprosium-doped cadmium oxide as a gateway material for mid-infrared plasmonics

The study of the electronic, thermal and optical properties of dysprosium-doped cadmium oxide reveals high electron mobility, rendering the material suitable for plasmonic applications in the mid-infrared region.