cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Reproductive Cycle of the Female Mountain Beaver

Since the mountain beaver, Aplodontia rufa , is conceded to be the most primitive living rodent, it is particularly important to know the pattern of reproduction in this species. The literature, however, contains limited information on this animal's reproduction. Asdell's review (1946) contains one brief reference to Aplodontia . Scheffer (1929) presented the fullest account of reproduction of this species, and Hubbard (1922) gave valuable reproductive data amid inaccuracies. There are excellent but limited descriptions of the anatomy of Aplodontia , including the reproductive tracts, by Tullberg (1896, 1899), and Pfeiffer (1956) has described the gross and microanatomy of the male reproductive tract, including age and seasonal fluctuations. Harvey (1956) has compared the morphogenesis of fetal membranes of Aplodontia with those of Ochotona . The purpose of this paper is to outline some of the major anatomical and physiological features of the reproductive cycle of the female. Methods .—Animals were trapped by the author in steel-jaw traps set in runways. In addition, a large number of specimens from the Seattle, Washington, area were supplied by Dr. V. B. Scheffer, who preserved the carcasses in 10 per cent formalin for shipment to Berkeley. Two hundred and eighty-nine animals were obtained from various localities as follows: View this table: The reproductive tracts of all animals were removed ajid the different organs measured to the nearest 0.5 mm. Specimens were fixed either in 10 per cent formalin or Bouin's fluid, treated in the usual manner, and stained with hema-toxylin and eosin. In addition to the study of dead specimens, several live animals were observed in the laboratory for prolonged periods. Young animals grew well and adults gained weight during captivity even after they had been injured in the traps. They have also recovered …
From "Sharp Elder Brother" Event See Contemporary Social Care

With the development of times as well as media competition intensifies,some news media in the news report,in order to seek business interests,often showed a lack of respect,care about people of the humanities concern spirit.Only through to these problems caused by the reflection of the media attention humanistic care,just may make the media get lasting of credibility.
Comprehensive Evaluation on Establishment of Automatic Dispatch System Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process

On the basis of studying and analyzing status quo and problems of automatic dispatch system in Guangdong power gird,the paper ascertains basic principle for establishment of comprehensive evaluation index,under the guidance of which comprehensive evaluation index system of local automatic dispatch system is concluded by refinement of evaluation index.The overall index system is calculated using analytic hierarchy process and weight of index system is concluded,and model for comprehensive evaluation of automatic dispatch system is established.
The Uses of Diagnostic Ultrasound in the Thorax

Modern real-time gray scale ultrasonography has contributed new diagnostic and therapeutic information in patients with diseases of the lungs and pleura. This article will discuss the ways in which ultrasound is most clinically useful in patients with thoracic disease.
Nanometer-scale III–V CMOS

In the last few years, as Si electronics faces mounting difficulties to maintain its historical scaling path, transistors based on III–V compound semiconductors have emerged as a credible alternative. To get to this point, fundamental technical problems had to be solved though there are still many challenges that need to be addressed before the first non-Si CMOS technology becomes a reality. Among them, harnessing the outstanding electron transport properties of InGaAs, the leading n-channel material candidate, towards a high-performance nanoscale MOSFET has proven difficult: contact resistance, off-state characteristics, reliability and Si integration remain serious problems. Introducing a new material system is not the only challenge, scalability to sub-10 nm gate dimensions also demands a new 3D transistor geometry. InGaAs FinFETs, Trigate MOSFETs and Nanowire MOSFETs have all been demonstrated but their performance is still disappointing. To compound the challenge, a high-performance nanoscale p-type transistor is also required. Among III–Vs, InGaSb is the most promising candidate. Planar MOSFETs have been demonstrated but more advanced geometries remain elusive. This talk will review recent progress as well as challenges confronting III–V electronics for future CMOS logic applications.
Demographics of Cancer in the Reproductive Age Female

Cancer in reproductive age women represents a significant source of morbidity and mortality. The treatment of cancer in this age group whether it entails chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or surgical resection often results in survivors with impaired or absent reproductive potential without assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Although primary treatment goals are swift diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of the primary malignancy, a strong factor in long-term emotional well-being of cancer survivors is the ability to parent a child. To achieve this goal requires a working knowledge of common malignancies faced in this age group, their treatments at various stages of disease, the treatment’s impact on fertility, and the therapeutic options available to patients for fertility preservation and restoration. Ultimately, a collaborative, multidisciplinary team approach will provide optimal management. This chapter reviews the epidemiology of common cancers in women of reproductive age and includes: breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, cervical cancer, uterine cancer, and ovarian cancer. Their prevalence and common treatment strategies are discussed.
Development of immune-biomarkers of pulmonary tuberculosis in a rabbit model

Tuberculosis (TB) causes extensive morbidity and mortality worldwide with approximately 10 million new cases of active disease emerging mostly from a pool of two billion individuals latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) every year. The underlying host immune responses that drive M. tb infection to active disease or latency are not well understood. We propose that identification and characterization of host immune biomarkers will be helpful to better understand the mechanisms that drive this process, and may, in addition, lead to the development of better diagnostic tools for TB. We have previously reported the profiles of plasma immune biomarkers in pulmonary TB patients in endemic countries, and in M. tb-infected nonhuman primates. However, biomarker profiling for a cost-effective and user-friendly animal model relevant to human disease, such as rabbit, has not been developed. One challenge in the analysis of circulating cytokines/chemokines for rabbit model of TB is the limited availability of validated immune-reagents. Here we report the use of a commercially available multiplex microbead human cytokine/chemokine panels as development platform for rabbit immune reagents. The results demonstrate their utility to determine circulating analytes and define their profiles related to TB in the rabbit model. In addition, we report the profiles of circulating anti-M. tb antibodies in the plasma of rabbits with active pulmonary TB. These studies show that the pattern of expression of circulating immune biomarkers correlate with TB pathology in rabbits, and are similar to those defined in pulmonary TB patients.
Post-Chemotherapy Secondary Brain Tumors in Infants

The longterm outcome of 198 infants with malignant brain tumors treated postoperatively with prolonged chemotherapy (vincristine, cyclophosphamide, cisplatinum, and etoposide) is evaluated by a Pediatric Oncology Study Group.
An Alternative Plane Wave Decomposition of Electromagnetic Fields Using the Spherical Wave Expansion Technique

In this letter, we expand electromagnetic fields into plane waves by first employing a spherical wave expansion (SWE) and determining the coefficients of the plane wave expansion in terms of spherical wave functions. This allows for a more general and computationally efficient approach compared to the traditional plane wave expansion. Our technique consists of two main parts. First, SWE is used to express any electromagnetic field, which can be specified analytically or by numerical data. The unknown SWE coefficients are obtained using a numerical technique. Then, the spherical vector wave functions are converted into a series of plane waves. Results demonstrate excellent numerical accuracy and efficiency. The method can be applied to both antenna and scattering problems.
Fundamental limits of location privacy using anonymization

In [1]–[3], the concept of perfect location privacy is defined and sufficient conditions for achieving it were obtained when anonymization is used. In this paper, necessary conditions for perfect privacy are obtained. Specifically, we prove that the previous sufficient bounds are tight, and thus we obtain the threshold for achieving perfect location privacy using anonymization. First, we assume that a user's current location is independent from her past locations. Using this i.i.d model, we show that if the adversary collects more than equation anonymous observations, then the adversary can successfully recover the users' locations with high probability. Here, n is the number of users in the network and r is the number of all possible locations that users can go to. Next, we model users' movements using Markov chains to better model real-world movement patterns. We show similar results if the adversary collects more than equation observations, where |E| is the number of edges in the user's Markov chain model.
Worth the Wait?: The Effect of Responsiveness on Interpersonal Attraction Among Known Acquaintances

As users adopt new communication technologies, they also develop new norms and expectations about responsiveness: the time it takes an interaction partner to respond to a message. Prior work suggests violation of responsiveness expectations can lead to negative evaluations, but this has not been studied within the modern communication ecosystem, where ubiquitous mobile devices and connectivity enable constant contact with friends and colleagues. We present results from a lab-based experiment examining how violation of such expectations can affect interpersonal attraction. In studying pairs of known acquaintances, we find that low-responsive partners are rated lower in social attraction than high-responsive partners. We also provide an exploratory analysis of chat logs from the experiment which indicates that responsiveness behavior is part of an interactive process where parties involved negotiate for each other’s attention over time.
Calcium receptor signaling and citrate transport

The calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) in the distal nephron decreases the propensity for calcium stones. Here we investigate if the apical CaSR in the proximal tubule also prevents stone formation acting via regulation of apical dicarboxylate and citrate transport. Urinary citrate, partially reabsorbed as a dicarboxylate in the proximal tubule lumen, inhibits stone formation by complexing calcium. We previously demonstrated a novel apical calcium-sensitive dicarboxylate transport system in OK proximal tubule cells. This calcium-sensitive process has the potential to modulate the amount of citrate available to complex increased urinary calcium. Using isotope labeled succinate uptake in OK cells along with various pharmacologic tools we examined whether the CaSR alters apical dicarboxylate transport and through which signal transduction pathways this occurs. Our results indicate that in the proximal tubule CaSR adjusts apical dicarboxylate transport, and does so via a CaSR → Gq → PKC signaling pathway. Thus, the CaSR may decrease the propensity for stone formation via actions in both proximal and distal nephron segments.
Clinically available glutamate receptor antagonists in neuropathic pain states

It is the challenge of clinical scientists to elucidate the complex relationships between etiology (for example, metabolic neuropathies, postherpetic neuralgia), symptoms (burning pain, shooting pain, dynamic vs. static allodynia) and mechanisms (changes in membrane excitability, peripheral transduction, peripheral sensitization, central sensitization, disinhibition). Decades of empirical treatment of patients with neuropathic pain can now begin to be replaced by an approach based on targeting specific mechanisms with specific treatments [1]. The identification of new targets and the development of novel selective compounds that target the particular mechanisms should allow for an approach whereby we can modulate, for example, abnormal inputs from the periphery (as with sodium channel blockers, sympathetic blockers and NK1 receptor antagonists), the firing of spinothalamic neurons (as with opioids, antidepressants, gabapentinoids, and clonidine), and excitation at the primary afferent-spinothalamic neuron synapse (as with NK1 receptor antagonists and NMDA receptor antagonists).
A Stacked Approach to Reading Intervention: Increasing 2nd- and 3rd-Graders' Independent Reading Levels with an Intervention Program.

ABSTRACTFifty 2nd- and 3rd-grade students identified as experiencing difficulty reading were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. In the experimental group, students received a reading intervention called Read Two Impress for a total of 360 min. Students in the control continued to receive regular instruction from their teacher. A 2 × 3 repeated measure analysis of variance revealed significant main effects, and a post hoc analysis of mean difference effects size showed that students who received the intervention experienced a medium effect (d = .71) on their independent reading levels, whereas the control group experienced a small effect (d = .40). Both groups showed a slight decrease 2 months after the completion of the study. Implications for instruction are also discussed.
The Nordic Model and Structural Change: Lessons from the Collapse of Saab Automobile AB

The case of Saab and Trollhattan shows one way that societies can harness the productive side of creative destruction while mitigating the harm it causes.
Can Math Competency Predict Success in Nursing School

Abstract Nursing research into math competency and the impact it has on success in nursing school has produced mixed results. This retrospective comparative study investigated whether math coursework predicted program completion in an associate degree nursing program. Review of student transcripts (n=473) found that how a student performed in calculus and precalculus courses, and a student’s overall total math GPA was associated with program completion. Grades in algebra & trigonometry or statistics courses had no effect on graduation rates.
Emergency care: Operationalizing the practice through a concept analysis.

Background and purpose Current uses of emergency care are ambiguous and lack clarity, leading to imprecise use of the term in nursing practice. An explicit definition of emergency care is necessary to build and advance the field. An empirically driven definition of emergency care is lacking in the refereed literature. The purpose of this article was to present an in-depth inquiry of emergency care that contributes to the advancement of knowledge and to articulate a defensible definition of emergency care. Methods This concept analysis was performed using the eight-step approach of Walker and Avant. A database search within the disciplines of nursing, medicine, education, and social sciences was conducted using the keyword emergency care. Databases of refereed literature were reviewed. Additional searches of nonrefereed literature, such as dictionaries and thesauri, were also examined. Conclusions Based on this concept analysis, the attributes of emergency care include the immediate evaluation and treatment of an unexpected illness or injury. Emergency care is not specific to a setting or location. Antecedents to emergency care consist of a precipitating event, recognition that medical help is required, and access to emergency care. A model, borderline, related, and contrary cases of emergency care are presented. Implications for practice The identification of emergency care attributes in this concept analysis contributes to the body of knowledge in emergency care and clarifies the ambiguity of the concept to prompt developments in practice, theory, and research with implications for emergency nurse practitioner clinical education, and scope of practice regulation.
Comparative De Novo Transcriptome Assembly of Notophthalmus viridescens RNA-seq Data using Two Commercial Software Programs.

Background and purpose The reduction of cost and ease of using core laboratories or commercial sequencing companies have allowed biomedical and health researchers alike to employ reference-based genomic or transcriptomic sequencing (RNA-seq) projects to expand their work. Non-reference based data analysis, in cases of inexperienced researchers, become more challenging despite the availability of many open source and commercial software programs. Methods We performed de novo assembly of RNA-seq data obtained from a non-model organism (Eastern Newt skin) to compare data output of two commercially available software workflows. Results Our results show that the software packages performed satisfactorily albeit with differences in how the annotated and novel transcripts were identified and listed. Conclusion Overall, we conclude that the use of commercial software platforms has a clear advantage to that of open source programs because of convenience with data analysis workflows. One caveat is that users need to know the software's basic algorithm and technical approach, in order to determine the precision and validity of the data output. Thus, it is imperative that researchers fully evaluate the software according to their needs to determine their suitability.
Decision-Making in Cleft-Related Surgery: A Qualitative Analysis of Patients and Caregivers:

Objective:Preference-sensitive surgical decisions merit shared decision-making, as decision engagement can reduce decisional conflict and regret. Elective cleft-related procedures are often prefere...
Highly Directive Leaky-Wave Antennas Based on PT-Symmetric Metasurfaces

We present here parity-time (PT)-symmetric metasurfaces that effectively form an artificial channel (or metachannel) with exotic zero-or low-index characteristics. We show that this PT-synthetic metachannel locked at the coherent perfect absorber-laser (CPAL) point can support an almost nonattenuated fast-wave propagation, thus resulting in a highly directive radiation leakage. Further, the directive beam can be steered from broadside to end-fire by varying the gain-loss parameter (or non-Hermiticity) of the PT system.
Visual word recognition: Evidence for a serial bottleneck in lexical access

Reading is a demanding task, constrained by inherent processing capacity limits. Do those capacity limits allow for multiple words to be recognized in parallel? In a recent study, we measured semantic categorization accuracy for nouns presented in pairs. The words were replaced by post-masks after an interval that was set to each subject's threshold, such that with focused attention they could categorize one word with ~80% accuracy. When subjects tried to divide attention between both words, their accuracy was so impaired that it supported a serial processing model: on each trial, subjects could categorize one word but had to guess about the other. In the experiments reported here, we investigated how our previous result generalizes across two tasks that require lexical access but vary in the depth of semantic processing (semantic categorization and lexical decision), and across different masking stimuli, word lengths, lexical frequencies and visual field positions. In all cases, the serial processing model was supported by two effects: (1) a sufficiently large accuracy deficit with divided compared to focused attention; and (2) a trial-by-trial stimulus processing tradeoff, meaning that the response to one word was more likely to be correct if the response to the other was incorrect. However, when the task was to detect colored letters, neither of those effects occurred, even though the post-masks limited accuracy in the same way. Altogether, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that visual processing of words is parallel but lexical access is serial.
The Role of Culture in Shaping Health Perceptions and Behaviors of Resettled Karen Refugees.

Introduction: While the many health vulnerabilities and challenges experienced by refugees have been previously documented, few studies have addressed the strengths-focused response strategies that...
Integrating host immune status, Labyrinthula spp. load and environmental stress in a seagrass pathosystem: Assessing immune markers and scope of a new qPCR primer set

Recent trends suggest that marine disease outbreaks caused by opportunistic pathogens are increasing in frequency and severity. One such malady is seagrass wasting disease, caused by pathogens in the genus Labyrinthula. It is suspected that pathogenicity is intimately linked to the ability of the host to initiate defense responses; however, supportive evidence is lacking. To address this, we developed two techniques, including 1) a new qPCR-based pathogen detection method, and 2) an immune profiling panel via four host-biomarker assays (measuring peroxidase, exochitinase, polyphenol oxidase, and lysozyme activities). These techniques were then used to experimentally investigate the impact of environmental stressors (namely, elevated temperature and salinity) on host immunity and how immune status might affect susceptibility to Labyrinthula infection. In the first experiment, we subjected individual turtlegrass (Thalassia testudinum) shoots to short-term (7 d) abiotic stressors alone. In a second experiment, the same abiotic stressor conditions were followed by pathogen exposure (7 additional d), simulating a scenario where we attempt to isolate the impact of environmental stressors on the host seagrass species by removing the stressor as the pathogen is introduced. The qPCR assay successfully quantified the abundance of Labyrinthula spp. cells from both pure cultures and seagrass tissues across a broad range of predominately pathogenic strains, with high sensitivity. Immune enzyme assays revealed that all four biomarkers were constitutively active in turtlegrass individuals, but specific activities were largely unaffected by the chosen abiotic stressor conditions. We also identified positive correlations between pathogen load and two biomarkers (peroxidase, exochitinase), regardless of abiotic stress treatment, further demonstrating the potential utility of these biomarkers in future applications.
Growth performance and apparent total tract nutrient digestibility of limit-fed diets containing wet brewer's grains to Holstein heifers

The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth performance and apparent total tract nutrient digestibility of Holstein heifers limit-fed diets containing different amounts of wet brewer's grains (WBG). A 12-wk randomized complete block study was conducted using 30 yearling Holstein heifers [378 ± 27 d of age, and body weight (BW) of 357.8 ± 27.6 kg (mean ± SD)]. Treatments were 0%, 10% and 20% of WBG on a dry matter (DM) basis and diets were formulated to be limit-fed for dry matter intake (DMI) at 2.35% of BW and provided 15% crude protein (CP) and 2.27 Mcal metabolizable energy/kg of DM. Dry matter intake was recorded daily, while BW and skeletal measurements were measured every 2 wk. During week 12, fecal samples were collected directly from the rectum over four consecutive days and composited by heifer to determine apparent total tract nutrient digestibility using acid detergent insoluble ash as a marker. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS. Dry matter intakes, BW, and average daily gain were not different among treatments (P = 0.2, P = 0.4, and P = 0.6, respectively). Dry matter intakes ranged from 8.6 to 9.0 kg/d. Average BW were 404.4, 411.5, and 409.3 kg for heifers fed the 0%, 10%, and 20% WBG diets, respectively. Average daily gains were 1.03, 1.04, and 0.96 kg/d for heifers fed the 0%, 10%, and 20% WBG diets respectively. Skeletal measurements and body condition scores (BCS) were not different among treatments except for the change in heart girth (P < 0.01) and initial BCS (P < 0.01). Apparent total tract digestibilities of DM, organic matter, CP, fat, and hemicellulose were greater or tended to be greater in heifers fed 0% and 20% WBG treatments than heifers fed 10 % WBG (P = 0.04, P = 0.04, P = 0.06, P = 0.06, and P = 0.01, respectively). Neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, and fat digestibilities were similar among treatments (P = 0.2, P = 0.3, and P = 0.3, respectively). During the digestibility phase, DMI tended to be greater (P = 0.08) for the 10% WBG treatment. These results demonstrate that limit-feeding heifers with diets containing up to 20% WBG could replace soybean- and corn-based concentrates in diets without adverse consequences to the heifer growth performance.
Adverse event profile differences between rituximab and ocrelizumab: Findings from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting Database.

Background:Rituximab and ocrelizumab are anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies that have shown a marked reduction in multiple sclerosis (MS) inflammatory activity. However, their real-world safety profil...
Leading the Way to Zero, and Maintaining It: Respiratory-Driven VAP Pre Swarms

Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) can prolong ventilator days, increase mortality rate, and directly influence patient outcomes. VAP prevention bundles have proven effective in decreasing the VAP rate, however VAP remains one of the most common causes of nosocomial infections and death in the ICU. Current challenges in the management of VAP involve complexity of, the absence of effective preventative strategies, and the rise in antibiotic resistance.1 From 1/1/2016 to 12/21/2017, our VAP rate in the PICU ranged from 6.5-1.4 per 1,000 ventilator days. In 2018, we implemented VAP bundle elements and saw a decline in our VAP rate to 0/1,000 vent days in 2018. With an increase in our rate to 1.4 at the end of first quarter 2019, our PICU set out to address patients with a high-risk of developing a VAP to maintain our rate of zero. Methods: An IRB approved retrospective study showed that our VAP rate of 0 in 2018 was ended by a patient who had many difficulties completing elements of our VAP bundle. The interdisciplinary VAP Prevention Team (RT, MD, IP, RN) implemented a pre-swarm process on patients determined to be high-risk for developing a VAP. VAP pre-swarm screening were respiratory-driven and performed on every mechanically ventilated patient upon arrival to the ICU and once every shift by the bedside PICU RT. Patients identified by the RT as high risk during the VAP pre-swarm initiated the VAP Prevention Team to meet, discuss the patient case, highlight their risk and identify mitigation strategies. VAP rate was analyzed again from Q2 2019 to Q2 2020 after the pre-swarm process was in place for one year. Results: PICU 2018 rolling VAP rate was 0/1000 ventilator days with an increase to 1.4 after Q1 2019. After implementation of the RT-driven VAP pre-swarm identification process, the VAP rate in our PICU from 4/1/2019-4/1/2020 decreased to 0 and has been maintained in 2020 as of the time of publication. See Figure 1 for quarterly data. Conclusions: A respiratory-driven pre-swarm identification process increased awareness and aided in a more proactive approach to decreasing VAP in our PICU. Further research must be done to evaluate ongoing effectiveness in conjunction with already-established prevention techniques.
Evolution of the prevalence of pre-residency peer-reviewed publications among incoming junior residents.

Pre-residency peer-reviewed publications (PRP) have been associated with subsequent resident choice of academic versus private practice career. The evolution of PRP prevalence among radiation oncology resident classes has yet to be examined. A list of radiation oncology residents from the graduating classes of 2016 and 2022 were obtained, and PRP was compiled as the number of publications a resident had listed in PubMed as of the end of the calendar year of residency application. Statistical analysis was conducted using Fisher’s exact test. Analysis of 163 residents from the 2016 class compared with 195 from the 2022 class revealed that the proportion of residents with zero PRP decreased from 46.6% to 23.6% between the 2016 to 2022 classes (p 0.05) and with at least two PRP increased from 35.6% to 57.4% (p
Literacy-supporting skills in college students with specific reading comprehension deficit and developmental language disorder

Specific reading comprehension deficit (S-RCD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) are both commonly occurring developmental disorders of language. The ways in which these disorders do and do not overlap during childhood are a matter of debate (Nation & Norbury, 2005). Moreover, in both populations, the challenges faced by individuals in adulthood are understudied. Here, we combined data across cohorts of college students, and classified individuals with only S-RCD (n = 20), only DLD (n = 55), and co-occurring S-RCD and DLD (n = 13). Individuals with good language and reading skills, who matched those with S-RCD on decoding, comprised our typical language and reading group (TD; n = 20). Beyond the measures used for classification, group-level differences were identified in sentence-level reading fluency, phonological processing, verbal working memory, and rapid automatized naming. We found that skill profiles differed across groups; however, we found no evidence of weaknesses beyond the core deficit in reading comprehension observed in those with only S-RCD. In contrast, when S-RCD co-occurs with DLD, weaknesses are observed in phonological processing, as well as reading fluency and verbal working memory. These findings suggest that some adults with S-RCD have co-occurring DLD as a core weakness. These findings, as well as differences between individuals with S-RCD and DLD, are further discussed.
High Throughput Nanopore Sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 Viral Genomes from Patient Samples

ABSTRACT In late 2019, a novel coronavirus began spreading in Wuhan, China, causing a potentially lethal respiratory viral infection. By early 2020, the novel coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, had spread globally, causing the COVID-19 pandemic. The infection and mutation rates of SARS-CoV-2 make it amenable to tracking movement and evolution by viral genome sequencing. Efforts to develop effective public health policies, therapeutics, or vaccines to treat or prevent COVID-19 are also expected to benefit from tracking mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Here we describe a set of comprehensive working protocols, from viral RNA extraction to analysis using online visualization tools, for high throughput sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 viral genomes using a MinION instrument. This set of protocols should serve as a reliable ‘how-to’ reference for generating high-quality SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences with ARTIC primer sets and next- generation nanopore sequencing technology. In addition, many of the preparation, quality control, and analysis steps will be generally applicable to other sequencing platforms.
Residential Floor Failures from Dynamic Occupant Loading

AbstractDynamic occupant action amplifies demands on structures compared to static loads and is often neglected in design. This paper focuses on 15 light-frame floor collapses caused by dynamic amp...
Work and family conflict: Can home-based teleworking make a difference?

Research has shown that, when employees’ work-family conflict levels are reduced, performance in the workplace can increase. How to reduce these levels, however, is a complex task. The purpose of this empirical study was to investigate the differences in work-family conflict between full-time worksite employees and full-time teleworking employees (individuals who teleworked from home at least two days per week). Employees (n = 308) in seven for-profit companies in Minnesota were sampled and surveyed using a slightly revised version of the Carlson and Kacmar (2000) work-family conflict scale. The findings indicate that teleworkers had lower levels of overall work-family conflict as well as most of the other work-family conflict variables explored (i.e., strain-based, time-based, work interference with family, family interference with work)
A Mental Ethnography Perception, Dreams, Hallucinations, Trance, Understanding, Reality formation and Need in Thought: Conclusions from Research in LSD

In the 1960s and 1970s LSD began to be used as a potential therapeutic agent by a number of researchers. The author participated in a number of studies of perception, including sensory deprivation and psychotropic drugs, some of recent manufacture or discovery and some of primitive or traditional societies. This paper summarizes the experiences and research of the author from that time and a re-evaluation in light of recent scientific work and social use of such drugs. This is placed in context by an analysis of the physiological aspects of hallucinations, delusions, visions and dreams, as well as cross cultural data on dreams, dreaming and drug use and the social value of hallucinations, dreams and visions. Some of the material used in this report is derived from unpublished scientific research from Dr. Robert Mogar’s laboratory and related field research by the author.
The Glimm Difference Scheme

We consider a general system of conservation laws $$ {{u}_{t}}{\text{ + }}f{{(u)}_{x}} = 0,\quad x \in R,\;\quad t > 0, $$ (19.1) where u = (u 1,⋯,u n), with initial data $$ u(x,0) = {{u}_{0}}(x),\quad x \in R. $$ (19.2) The system (19.1) is assumed to be hyperbolic and genuinely nonlinear in each characteristic field, in some open set U ⊂ ℝn (see Definition 17.7). We let λ1(u) 0.
Ending the Apartheid of the Closet: Sexual Orientation in the South African Constitutional Process

Without precedent in domestic or foreign law, the South African Constitution secured equal protection and benefit of law for its gay and lesbian citizens. This article suggests a three-part explanation, positing the interrelation of an historic, an ideological, and a procedural element. The stage for this unprecedented protection was set by the unique history of South Africa: the rise of gay and lesbian visibility contemporaneously with the post-apartheid reformulation of the country as a human rights state. Justification was provided by the examination of sexual orientation protections as a presumptive corollary of the ANC anti-discrimination ideology, and an autocratic constitutional drafting process codified progressive human rights standards despite uncertain claims of public support and ambiguous international law precedent. While the constitutional drafting process was far from perfect, there are several ways in which inclusion of sexual orientation protections reflected some of the best aspects of the constitutional process. It reflected a commitment to human rights broadly defined, reflected liberal and progressive interpretation of international and foreign legal precedent, and represented a dramatic denial of the politics of division and acceptance of difference. Furthermore, while the efforts of gay rights advocates in the South African constitutional process offer little direct application in other countries, they set an important legal precedent. The human rights decisions of the South African Constitution are uniquely valued because of the nation's history. Hence, inclusion of gay rights discourse as a "universally accepted fundamental human right" ratifies the aspirations of gay and lesbian activists world wide and affirms South African claims that their Constitution creates a nation that "belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity."
Violence and Intransitive Writing in Uwe Timm's Der Freund und der Fremde

This essay examines the connection between the eulogizing elements of Der Freund und der Fremde and the author’s response to the violent and tragically early death of his friend Benno Ohnesorg. With interpretations of violence as inherently transitive and autobiographical writing as potentially intransitive, I examine the place of the violent act that killed Ohnesorg in a writing process that, though ostensibly about a third person, must become distinctly autobiographical before it can proceed. Timm’s unusual autobiographical approach to Ohnesorg’s biography is the direct consequence of the dichotomous views of Ohnesorg as student protestor and victim. By disarticulating Ohnesorg from his student movement iconography Timm interprets his friend’s death as an absurd event, in Camus’s sense of the term, while focusing on Ohnesorg’s existence as an aesthetic one. Moreover, the essay demonstrates that Timm makes an astonishing discovery in as far as his friend adhered to an approach to writing that they both at one time held in common. The absence of evidence of Ohnesorg’s writing indicates that he practiced “intransitive writing” in the truest sense of Roland Barthes’s notion of this concept.
Nationalism and the Struggle for LGBTQ Rights in Serbia, 1991-2014

Serbian ethno-nationalists have long used homophobia to marginalize political dissent and legitimize their claim to power. Effectively accepting this traditional narrative, the 1990s pro-democracy movement pursued a broad social coalition to challenge authoritarian president Slobodan Milosevic. Only international actors supported LGBTQ issues, but this backing had the contrary effect of associating the nascent LGBTQ movement with “foreign interests.” Nonetheless, activists slowly built organizational capacity, and capitalized on the pro-EU political shift in the late 2000s. With EU membership conditioned upon enforcement of a human rights regime that included sexual minorities, activists finally made strides toward legal protection and government recognition.
Designing a Global Supply Chain: Opportunities and Challenges

To remain competitive, most firms must develop global supply chains for sourcing, marketing, or both. This article discusses the rationale for developing global supply chains. Following the review, the article describes the challenges in global supply chain development and the stages that firms evolve through. The final section of the article describes the major differences between domestic and global supply chains and the management changes that need to be made. Keywords: global logistics; global trade; international logistics; global supply chain
Secondary crater fields from 24 large primary craters on Mars: Insights into nearby secondary crater production

[1] Crater statistics are used across a wide variety of applications on planetary surfaces, one of the most notable being estimating relative and absolute ages of those surfaces. This requires an assumed cratering rate over time and that craters be randomly distributed. Secondary craters - craters that form from the ejecta of an impact event - belie this assumption by creating greater crater density in a local area at a single time, significantly affecting crater statistics. There has been substantial debate over the relative importance of secondary craters, and our findings in this Mars study indicate that these events can be very significant and cannot be ignored when age-dating surfaces. We have analyzed secondary crater fields found close to 24 primary craters on Mars. Among other findings such as terrain control over secondary crater field characteristics, we conclude that a single large impact event (>100 km) can significantly affect crater statistics at the ∼1–5-km-diameter level over a non-trivial fraction of a planetary surface (minimum secondary crater diameters examined were ∼0.9 km; the minimum primary crater diameter was ∼20 km). We also suggest a potential way to avoid significant contamination by the majority of secondary craters that occur close to the primary impact event without the need to manually classify every crater as primary or secondary. Our findings are specific to Mars, but further work may show the patterns are applicable to other solid bodies.
Multistage membrane separation processes for the continuous fractionation of solutes having similar permeabilities

A new cascade configuration for the continuous membrane fractionation of solutes having similar permeabilities is proposed. In this scheme, solute selectivity is amplified by combining a concentrator and several mass exchangers (e.g., a reverse osmosis unit and hollow fiber dialyzers) to achieve a desired degree of separation. Separation efficiency of the new cascade is compared with that of a conventional counter-current cascade.
Gastric Helicobacter pylori infection as a cause of idiopathic parkinson disease and non-arteric anterior optic ischemic neuropathy

The mechanisms of pathogenesis for both idiopathic Parkinson disease and non-arteritic anterior optic ischemic neuropathy are unknown. A study has shown that, in both diseases, there is a higher prevalence of gastrointestinal ulcers than in age- and sex-matched controls or than in the reported rates for the general population. It is proposed that gastric Helicobacter pylori infection may be a cause of both these diseases.
Simplified calculation of folding energies and residue coordination numbers in random heteropolymers.

I develop a formalism for calculating effective pair and higher-order interactions between residues in random heteropolymers that approximately predict the folding enthalpy and the coordination numbers of individual residues. In a simple model heteropolymer with additive couplings between residues, the folding enthalpy is written in terms of two-, three-, and four-body interactions between residues. The coordination numbers are expressed in terms of interactions between up to three residues. Application to a 6{times}6 square model shows that the folding enthalpy is obtained to an accuracy of better than 1{percent}. The coordination numbers are obtained with a rms error of 1.2 neighbors. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}
Fatigue in Adolescents

It is the rare adolescent who does not complain of fatigue at some point during the teen years. For most, their schedules and lifestyles lead to sleep deficits on a regular basis, with the occurrence of minor viral illnesses often exacerbating the situation. By and large, adolescents continue to function in their daily activities despite whatever fatigue they are experiencing. When the complaint of fatigue is raised by the patient or parent in the physician’s office, it implies theremay be something out of the ordinary about the degree of fatigue being experienced by that adolescent, and the complaint becomesworthy of attention. It can be the symptom of an underlying medical condition, a psychological or psychiatric difficulty, or a specific sleep disorder. This review provides a framework for evaluating the complaint of fatigue in adolescents and offers approaches to management. This communication is based on the author’s personal experience in the clinical management of fatigue in adolescents and draws from the growing literature on the subject. Two particularly useful recent references on this topic are the December 2010 edition of Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews on Sleep and Sleep Disorders in Adolescents1 and the June 2011 edition of Pediatric Clinics of North America, which provides a Pediatric Sleep Medicine Update.2
HIV-1 protein gp120 crosses the blood-brain barrier: role of adsorptive endocytosis

HIV-1 infects the brain and leads to AIDS dementia complex. The viral coat glycoprotein, gp120, may facilitate the passage of HIV-1 and HIV-infected immune cells across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Since the endothelial cells of the BBB do not possess the CD4 or galactosylceramide binding sites used by gp120 to induce HIV-1 uptake into other cell types, how gp120 mediates entry into brain is unknown. We postulate that gp120 crosses the BBB and does so by acting as a weak lectin to induce adsorptive endocytosis (AE) in a fashion similar to other glycoproteins like wheatgerm agglutinin (WGA). We found in vivo that gp120 crosses the BBB and its passage is enhanced 18.7-fold by WGA. In vitro studies confirm that WGA enhances uptake of gp120 by brain endothelia; most of the uptake is membrane-associated, as expected in AE. Uptake is not dependent on clatharin, caveolae, calcium channels, or endosomal acidification. Our results suggest that gp120 crosses the BBB and does so by acting as a lectin to induce AE.
Concurrent grandparent death and birth of schizophrenic offspring: an intriguing finding.

The finding, in the following study, of grandparent death within +/- two years of birth of 41 per cent of schizophrenics (N = 70), a rate significantly higher than that in psychiatric (N = 45) and normal (N = 25) control groups, raises the possibility that this family stress factor may contribute to the development of schizophrenia. The implications are considered regarding the likelihood that the concurrent stresses of the death and the birth, two major events in the family life cycle, could confound and impede mourning and parenting processes. Two hypotheses are suggested: (a) that a bereaved parent may be emotionally unavailable to spouse and infant, and (b) that attention to the child may block mourning and absorb painful feelings, with the child assuming a special replacement role. The dysfunctional potential is related to other interacting variables, including biological factors, mourning resolution, and the family system. Further study is called for. Language: en
Improving the accuracy of water and bottom properties derived from remote sensing reflectance via artificial neural network

Artificial neural network has been proven a useful technique for deriving water and bottom properties from remote sensing upwelling radiance. Conventionally, a neural network is trained to minimize the overall mean square error of desired products. The approach does not explicitly take into account the change of spectral shapes of upwelling radiance. In this study, we have created four groups of training sets, two groups with ratios of Rrs( λi) to Rrs(557), and the others without. Ratios of Rrs( λi) to Rrs(557) for λi of 409nm, 438nm, 488nm, 507nm, 616nm, 665nm, 683nm, 712nm, 750nm and 779nm have been used as additional inputs in the training of neural networks. Trained neural networks were then applied to an independent testing set which was created for optically different coastal waters. The inclusion of 10 spectral ratios in the training significantly improves the accuracy of derived water depth H, backscattering coefficient bb(438) and the absorption coefficient a(438). The accuracy of the derived coefficients is 86%, 94% and 92%. Our results clearly show the importance for including spectral ratios in the neural network training process. Remote sensing upwelling radiance over the identified 11 spectral channels provides adequate information for the retrieval of water optical property coefficients when an artificial neural network approach is used.