cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Benchmarking the MRNet distributed tool infrastructure: lessons learned

Summary form only given. MRNet is an infrastructure that provides scalable multicast and data aggregation functionality for distributed tools. While evaluating MRNet's performance and scalability, we learned several important lessons about benchmarking large-scale, distributed tools and middleware. First, automation is essential for a successful benchmarking effort, and should be leveraged whenever possible during the benchmarking process. Second, micro-benchmarking is invaluable not only for establishing the performance of low-level functionality, but also for design verification and debugging. Third, resource management systems need substantial improvements in their support for running tools and applications together. Finally, the most demanding experiments should be attempted early and often during a benchmarking effort to increase the chances of detecting problems with the tool and experimental methodology.
Mechanical Properties and Chemical Reactivity in Mullite—Glass Systems

Mullite-glass systems were studied by vacuum hot-pressing sized mullite crystal particles with known glass compositions. During the hot-pressing at relatively low temperatures, significant chemical reactivity was observed between mullite and a soda borosilicate glass. This reaction led to the precipitation of a silica-rich crystalline phase in the glass matrix and to a change in the mullite structure as evidenced by the X-ray diffraction pattern. Wetting studies at elevated temperatures indicated an interfacial chemical reaction. The modulus of rupture increased when the second crystalline phase was present. Increased volume fraction of the crystalline phase and development of a stronger interfacial bond between mullite and glass may be the primary factors responsible for the increase in mechanical strength.
Conserving a wetland butterfly: quantifying early lifestage survival through seasonal flooding, adult nectar, and habitat preference

Conservation of once thought extinct populations of Lycaena xanthoides in western Oregon will require specific information of how the butterfly interacts with its now rare wetland habitat. Three experiments were conducted to yield information di- rectly applicable to wetland restoration work: (1) to quantify the survival of L. xanthoides eggs laid on inundated plants, (2) to quantify adult nectar prefer- ences, (3) to investigate the role of adult resources and how butterflies assess habitat quality. Survival of eggs laid on inundated plants was nearly seven times lower than the survival of eggs laid on uninundated plants, indicating that eggs laid on plants that are seasonally flooded are a population sink. Adult L. xanthoides preferred an endemic native nectar plant, Grindelia integrifolia · nana, as an adult resource and used it approximately 88% of the time while other butterfly species preferred to nectar on the non-native Mentha pulegium. Adult L. xanthoides had a significantly greater short-term recapture rate in two restored study sites that had a high relative amount of Grindelia integrifolia · nana compared to a degraded site that lacked the preferred nectar source. Based on the re- sults from the three small experiments, restoration of wetlands for L. xanthoides should concentrate plant- ings of host plant in non-flooded areas and propagate conspicuous patches of the preferred nectar plant.
A two-year experience with the Falope ring sterilization procedure.

The use of cautery laparoscopic sterilization procedures has two major disadvantages: (1) occasional inadvertent thermal injury to organ structures other than the Fallopian tube 1, 2 and (2) the inability to limit the injury to the Fallopian tube in a manner that might allow subsequent reconstructive surgery. In an effort to avoid the use of thermal energy to effect female sterilization, the Falope ring laparoscope was developed. 3 From October, 1973, through September, 1975, 4,390 sterilization procedures were completed employing this approach; 902 cases have been completed at the Woman's Clinic of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, 1,741 cases were completed by gynecologists in various cities in the United States, and 1,747 procedures were completed by physicians in various locations throughout the world sponsored by the International Fertility Research Program.
A Vulnerability Evaluation of U.S. Platinum Customers

The availability of adequate supplies of strategic minerals is becoming an increasing concern for customers. Countries such as the U.S. are perceived to be highly vulnerable in this respect. To determine to what extent such U.S. customers are vulnerable, the case of platinum was studied. Vulnerability criteria were identified, quantified and incorporated into a composite vulnerability index. U.S. platinum customers were rated as being rather highly vulnerable, according to tentative findings. Some avenues for further research are suggested.
Does God play dice? A discussion of some interpretations of quantum mechanics

Three interpretations of quantum mechanics are re-examined: the orthodox or «Copenhagen» interpretation, the expanding-worlds interpretation and the interpretation that is generally named statistical. It is concluded that the first two interpretations introduce unnecessary conceptual difficulties, and that it is consequently preferable to accept the statistical interpretation.
Identifying Social Deliberative Behavior from Online Communication — A Cross-Domain Study

In this paper we describe automatic systems for identifying whether participants demonstrate social deliberative behavior within their online conversations. We test 3 corpora containing 2617 annotated segments. With machine learning models using linguistic features, we identify social deliberative behavior with up to 68.09% in-domain accuracy (com- pared to 50% baseline), 62.17% in-domain precision, and 84% in-domain recall. In cross-domain identification tasks, we achieve up to 55.56% cross-domain accuracy, 59.84% cross-domain precision, and 86.58% cross-domain recall. We also discover linguistic characteristics of social deliberative behavior. In the context of identifying social deliberative be- havior, we offer insights into why certain machine learning models generalize well across domains and why certain domains pose great challenges to machine learning models.
Beyond muscles: The untapped potential of creatine

Creatine is widely used by both elite and recreational athletes as an ergogenic aid to enhance anaerobic exercise performance. Older individuals also use creatine to prevent sarcopenia and, accordingly, may have therapeutic benefits for muscle wasting diseases. Although the effect of creatine on the musculoskeletal system has been extensively studied, less attention has been paid to its potential effects on other physiological systems. Because there is a significant pool of creatine in the brain, the utility of creatine supplementation has been examined in vitro as well as in vivo in both animal models of neurological disorders and in humans. While the data are preliminary, there is evidence to suggest that individuals with certain neurological conditions may benefit from exogenous creatine supplementation if treatment protocols can be optimized. A small number of studies that have examined the impact of creatine on the immune system have shown an alteration in soluble mediator production and the expression of molecules involved in recognizing infections, specifically toll-like receptors. Future investigations evaluating the total impact of creatine supplementation are required to better understand the benefits and risks of creatine use, particularly since there is increasing evidence that creatine may have a regulatory impact on the immune system.
Starting Smaller; Staying Smaller: America’s Slow Leak in Job Creation

Although understandable in light of its traumatic impact, the Great Recession of 2007–2009 may be distracting attention from a more fundamental troubling economic trend. The United States appears to be suffering from a long-term leak in job creation that pre-dates the 2007–2009 recession and has the potential to persist for an unknown time. The heart of the problem is a pullback by newly created businesses, the economy’s most critical source of job creation, which are generating substantially fewer jobs than one would expect based on past experience.
Induction of activating transcription factor 3 limits survival following infarct-induced heart failure in mice

Numerous fibrotic and inflammatory changes occur in the failing heart. Recent evidence indicates that certain transcription factors, such as activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), are activated during heart failure. Because ATF3 may be upregulated in the failing heart and affect inflammation, we focused on the potential role of ATF3 on postinfarct heart failure. We subjected anesthetized, wild-type mice to nonreperfused myocardial infarction and observed a significant induction in ATF3 expression and nuclear translocation. To test whether the induction of ATF3 affected the severity of heart failure, we subjected wild-type and ATF3-null mice to nonreperfused infarct-induced heart failure. There were no differences in cardiac function between the two genotypes, except at the 2-wk time point; however, ATF3-null mice survived the heart failure protocol at a significantly higher rate than the wild-type mice. Similar to the slight favorable improvements in chamber dimensions at 2 wk, we also observed greater cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and more fibrosis in the noninfarcted regions of the ATF3-null hearts compared with the wild-type. Nevertheless, there were no significant group differences at 4 wk. Furthermore, we found no significant differences in markers of inflammation between the wild-type and ATF3-null hearts. Our data suggest that ATF3 suppresses fibrosis early but not late during infarct-induced heart failure. Although ATF3 deficiency was associated with more fibrosis, this did not occur at the expense of survival, which was higher in the ATF3-null mice. Overall, ATF3 may serve a largely maladaptive role during heart failure.
Synthesis Study of Superconducting YBa2Cu3O7−x Powders from Metal-Alkoxides

We have synthesized orthorhombic phase YBa2Cu3O7−x superconductors by using metal alkoxides. Cu (II) ethoxide was first partially dissolved in toluene, followed by the addition of Ba-methoxyethoxide and Y-methoxyethoxide in methoxyethanol to further enhance the solution solubility. A homogeneous gel-like paste was obtained both by adding water to the stock solution and by exposing it to the atmosphere. The gels were then vacuum dried and fired at 800 and 850°C in flowing O2. The superconducting transition temperature was 90 +K.
QT PROLONGATION IS ASSOCIATED WITH MORTALITY IN END STAGE LIVER DISEASE PATIENTS

QT prolongation is associated with increased risk of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Previous studies have suggested increased prevalence of QT prolongation in end stage liver disease (ESLD) patients. We aimed to determine the prevalence of QT prolongation in a large series of
Interconnections Between RNA-Processing Pathways Revealed by a Sequencing-Based Genetic Screen for Pre-mRNA Splicing Mutants in Fission Yeast.

Pre-mRNA splicing is an essential component of eukaryotic gene expression and is highly conserved from unicellular yeasts to humans. Here, we present the development and implementation of a sequencing-based reverse genetic screen designed to identify nonessential genes that impact pre-mRNA splicing in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, an organism that shares many of the complex features of splicing in higher eukaryotes. Using a custom-designed barcoding scheme, we simultaneously queried ∼3000 mutant strains for their impact on the splicing efficiency of two endogenous pre-mRNAs. A total of 61 nonessential genes were identified whose deletions resulted in defects in pre-mRNA splicing; enriched among these were factors encoding known or predicted components of the spliceosome. Included among the candidates identified here are genes with well-characterized roles in other RNA-processing pathways, including heterochromatic silencing and 3ʹ end processing. Splicing-sensitive microarrays confirm broad splicing defects for many of these factors, revealing novel functional connections between these pathways.
Idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis and coronary atherosclerosis. Results of coronary artery bypass alone and myectomy combined with coronary artery bypass.

Twenty-one patients with combined coronary artery disease and idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis (IHSS) have had coronary artery bypass grafting alone (Group I, n =7) or in combination with left ventricular septal myectomy (Group II, n = 14). Patients ranged in age from 46 to 73 years (mean 59 years). There were no operative deaths, but one Group I patient died 16 months after operation. Patients in Group I have had continuing symptoms after the operation, whereas Group II patients have had consistent relief of symptoms. Patients with documented IHSS and coronary atherosclerosis should undergo combined coronary bypass and septal myectomy if symptoms recur with medical management.
Passive reconstruction of non-target-specific discrete-time LTI systems

Much of the existing literature on the reconstruction of a system's dynamical structure functions has focused on learning the structure of a system using experiments in which each measured state must be perturbed independently. This work develops a reconstruction procedure that does not require multiple targeted experiments, instead determining the structure of the network when inputs are drawn from a Gaussian distribution and are active simultaneously. Although similar reconstruction procedures exist in the literature, this algorithm removes the restriction of target specificity, which states that each input must independently affect a measured state in the system. This allows for the reconstruction procedure to be applied to a larger number of networks that were previously not reconstructible because of their inherent structure. Furthermore, this is the first reconstruction procedure on the dynamical structure function to operate in the time-domain, rather than the frequency domain, in order to avoid the overhead and inaccuracies that could be introduced through transformations.
Application of the Bethesda Classification for Thyroid Fine-Needle Aspiration: Institutional Experience and Meta-analysis.

Context.—Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsies have been an important component in the preoperative evaluation of thyroid nodules. Until the introduction of the Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology (BSRTC) in 2008, individual institutions had developed their own diagnostic categories. The BSRTC proposed 6 categories in an attempt to standardize reporting of thyroid FNA. Objective.—To present a 15-year experience of thyroid FNA at one institution, including data before and after introduction of the BSRTC. The risk of malignancy is compared with the meta-analysis of high-quality published data. Data Sources.—Data sources were PubMed, a manual search of references, and institutional data. Conclusions.—The diagnostic categories developed at our institution were similar to those proposed by the BSRTC, with best fit into the 6 categories easily accomplished and reported in the final 2 years of the study. Significant differences were noted in the frequencies of cases in diagnostic categories Benig...
Vacuum Baking of Shuttle/Centaur Components

A variation of the Centaur launch vehicle will be used as a high-performance upper stage to launch spacecraft from the Space Shuttle cargo bay into geosynchronous orbit. As an element of the Shuttle payload, Centaur must be designed to avoid contaminating sensitive spacecraft surfaces. Nonmetallic materials used in structural and electronic applications can exhibit high rates of outgassing in a space vacuum and contaminate critical spacecraft surfaces of varying temperatures as condensation occurs. Judicious material selection, per NASA specifications, is used to control instances of such contamination. Vacuum baking is permitted by NASA Specification SP-R-0022 to "bake out" potential sources of organic contamination. Most Shuttle/Centaur missions are planned for spacecraft having surfaces of various temperatures in locations that are susceptible to condensation of organic outgassing products. To determine the extent of potential contamination, General Dynamics has initiated a test program with the White ...
Validation of electrical stimulation models: intracellular calcium measurement in three-dimensional scaffolds

Electrical stimulation is used to enhance neuron growth, and the role of neuronal intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) is an area of research interest. Widely varying stimulation parameter...
Range Expansion of the Eastern Fox Squirrel within the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area (2005 – 2014) and Projections for Continued Range Expansion

Abstrac Monitoring the spread and distribution of introduced species in an area can be challenging due to a variety of issues. Range expansion may exceed expected rates if the area of introduction is more suitable than expected, and may be slowed by an area in which it is difficult to establish a population. The species of interest in this study is the Eastern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger rufiventer) and the focus of the study is the spread of the species in Southern California. Previous studies have shown a steady and continuous spread from main points of introduction in Southern California and the species is now considered well established in the region. In this study, we collected and mapped new location data within Southern California. We discuss the spread of the Eastern Fox Squirrel in this area from 2005 through 2014 and include habitat suitability models to project the potential future distribution of the species. Results show that the Eastern Fox Squirrel has spread east into Rancho Cucamonga, int...
Behind the Numbers: Sensitivity Analysis in Cost-Effectiveness Modeling.

We described the different information provided by deterministic versus probabilistic sensitivity analysis.
Distance to veterans administration medical centers as a barrier to specialty care for homeless women veterans

Homeless women Veterans have a high prevalence of chronic mental and physical conditions that necessitate frequent healthcare visits, but travel burdens to specialty services may be overwhelming to navigate for this population, especially for those in rural settings. Access to specialty care is a key priority in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and understanding the geographic distribution and rural designation of this population in relation to medical centers (VAMC) can assist in care coordination. We identified 41,747 women Veterans age 18-44y with administrative evidence of homelessness in the VHA anytime during 2002-2015. We found 7% live in rural settings and 29% live >40miles from a VAMC. The mean travel distance for homeless women Veterans with a rural designation to a VAMC specialty center was 107 miles. Developing interventions to overcome this travel burden and engage vulnerable Veterans in necessary care can improve overall health outcomes for this high-risk population.
Schur rings and association schemes whose thin residues are thin

Abstract The thin residue is an important concept in the theory of association schemes. Association schemes whose thin residues are thin have been studied in several papers. In this paper we construct a new class of association schemes whose thin residues are thin, and give a characterization of their automorphism groups. In particular, we give a formula for the order of the automorphism group, and a necessary and sufficient condition under which the association scheme is Schurian. Schur rings are used as a tool in our approach.
Reverse Engineering Gene Networks: A Comparative Study at Genome-scale

Motivation: Reverse engineering gene networks from expression data is a widelymstudied problem, for which numerous mathematical models have been developed. Network reconstruction methods can be used to study specific pathways, or can be applied at the whole-genome scale to analyze large compendiums of expression datasets to uncover genome-wide interactions. However, few methods can scale to such large number of genes and experiments, and to date, genome-scale comparative assessment of network reconstruction methods has largely been limited to simpler organisms such as E. coli. Results: In this paper, we analyze 11,760 microarray experiments on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana drawn from public repositories. We generate genome scale networks of Arabidopsis using three different methods -- Pearson correlation, mutual information, and graphical Gaussian modeling -- and analyze and compare these networks to test for their robustness in successfully recovering relationships between functionally related genes. We demonstrate that functional grouping of microarray experiments into different tissue types and experimental conditions is important to discover context-specific interactions. Our comparisons include benchmarking against experimentally confirmed interactions, the Arabidopsis network resource AraNet, and study of specific pathways. Our results show that networks generated by the mutual information based method have better characteristics in terms of functional modularity as measured by both connected component and sub-network extraction analysis with respect to gene sets selected from brassinosteroid and stress regulation pathways. Availability: The classification datasets and constructed genome-scale networks are publicly available at the location http://alurulab.cc.gatech.edu/arabidopsis-networks
Adsorption and Phase Behavior of Pure/Mixed Alkanes in Nanoslit Graphite Pores: An iSAFT Application

The prediction of fluid phase behavior in nanoscale pores is critical for shale gas/oil development. In this work, we use a molecular density functional theory (DFT) to study the effect of molecular size and shape on partitioning to graphite nanopores as a model of shale. Here, interfacial statistical associating fluid theory (iSAFT) is applied to model alkane (C1 – C8) adsorption/desorption/phase behavior in graphite slit pores for both pure fluids and mixtures. The pure component parameters were fit to the bulk saturated liquid density and vapor pressure data in selected temperature ranges. The potential of interaction between the fluid and graphite is modeled with a Steele 10-4-3 potential that is fit to the potential of mean force from single-molecule simulations. Good agreement is found between theory and molecular simulation for the density distributions of pure components in slit pores. The critical properties of methane, ethane, and their mixtures as well as the shift in bubble point and dew point...
Innovation with field experiments: Studying organizational behaviors in actual organizations

Abstract Organizational scholarship centers on understanding organizational context, usually captured through field studies, as well as determining causality, typically with laboratory experiments. We argue that field experiments can bridge these approaches, bringing causality to field research and developing organizational theory in novel ways. We present a taxonomy that proposes when to use an audit field experiment (AFE), procedural field experiment (PFE) or innovation field experiment (IFE) in organizational research and argue that field experiments are more feasible than ever before. With advances in technology, behavioral data has become more available and randomized changes are easier to implement, allowing field experiments to more easily create value—and impact—for scholars and organizations alike.
Plastic toys as a source of exposure to bisphenol-A and phthalates at childcare facilities

Infants and toddlers are constantly exposed to toys at childcare facilities. Toys are made of a variety of plastics that often use endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates as their building blocks. The goal of this study was to assess the non-dietary exposure of infants and toddlers to BPA and phthalates via leaching. We have successfully developed wipe tests to evaluate the leachability of BPA and phthalates from toys used at several day care facilities in Philadelphia. Our studies have shown an average leaching of 13-280 ng/cm2 of BPA and phthalates. An estimate of total exposure of infants to BPA and phthalates is reported. The leaching of the chemicals was observed to be dependent on the washing procedures and the location of the day care facilities. Using bleach/water mixture two or more times a week to clean the toys seems to reduce the leaching of chemicals from the toys. There is a huge data gap in the estimated intake amounts and reported urinary concentrations; this is the first study that provides valuable information to address these data gaps in the existing literature.
Anesthesia for Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis

Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) in an important differential diagnosis in the vomiting infant and remains the most common condition that requires surgical treatment in this age group.
Cell Death: Defining and Misshaping Mammalian Embryos

Cell death has long been known to be a normal part of embryonic development, typically sculpting the body, removing vestigial or sexually incongruent tissues, generating lacunae and separation of tissue layers, and playing other important roles in morphogenesis. The germ line manifests considerable death of supporting cells, presumptively defective cells, and oocytes that may initiate but not complete maturation, and the differentiation of spermatocytes involves apoptosis-like activity. Most of the deaths are apoptotic. Although in nonmammalian embryos one does not encounter nonpathological deaths before the maternal-zygotic transition, in mammalian embryos spontaneous cell death begins at the end of compaction. Many embryonic defects are associated with abnormal patterns of cell death. However, it is usually not clear whether the abnormality is a cause or result of the defect.
An Introduction to the Theory of Continuous Lattices

The theory of continuous lattices traces its beginnings to the work of Dana Scott and of Jimmie Lawson. In the late 1960’s, Scott was looking for mathematical models of the λ-calculus of Church and Curry. Since this logic is type free, any such model would have to allow elements to represent functions as well as sets. This led Scott to look for cartesian closed categories, and for objects in such a category which are isomorphic to their own function space of self-maps. He found such a category and such an object by first considering certain T 0-spaces, which he called injective. A T 0-space I is injective if, given any pair of T 0-spaces X ⊂ Y and any continuous function f : X → I, there is an extension f′ : Y → I for f. (Here, X ⊂ Y means X is a subspace of Y.) An example of an injective space is the so-called Sierpinski space 2 = {0,1} endowed with the topology making {1} open, but {0} not open. In fact, the injective spaces are characterized by the fact that they are precisely the retracts of products of copies of the Sierpinski space. It turns out that the category of injective spaces and continuous maps between them is exactly the category for which Scott was searching, but to see this more clearly, we first translate this situation into an order-theoretic setting. This is accomplished by defining the specialization order on a topological space X, whereby x ≤ y if and only if every open set containing x must also contain y. Said another way, x ≤ y iff y ∈ {x}¯. While this order is always reflexive and transitive, it is antisymmetric precisely when X is a T 0-space. Now, under this order, the injective spaces correspond to objects which Scott called continuous lattices, and the continuous functions between the injective spaces can be characterized in completely algebraic terms. We clarify this aspect below.
Linearizing a 128 Msample/S ADC

We describe a 128 Msample/s 12-bit analog-to-digital converter IC that has special circuitry on-chip to reduce the nonlinearities that make most ADCs unsuitable for highdynamic-range spectrum analysis and digital receiver applications. Dither, dynamic element matching, and output data scrambling combine to achieve 0.05-LSB DNL.
Selecting against difference: assisted reproduction, disability and regulation.

I. THE “PROBLEM” AT HAND 401 II. THE ASSISTED REPRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES INDUSTRY (ARTS) 403 III. HUMAN FLOURISHING, DISABILITY AND REGULATION 405 IV. PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES 407 V. CONCLUSION 409
Ultrathin wavy Rh nanowires as highly effective electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation reaction with ultrahigh ECSA

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) have received tremendous research interests because of the facile storage of liquid methanol vs. hydrogen. However, the DMFC today is severely plagued by the poor kinetics and rather high overpotential in methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). Here we report the investigation of the ultrathin Rh wavy nanowires as a highly effective MOR electrocatalyst. We show that ultrathin wavy Rh nanowires can be robustly synthesized with 2–3 nm diameters. Electrochemical studies show a current peak at the potential of 0.61 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), considerably lower than that of Pt based catalysts (~ 0.8–0.9 V vs. RHE). Importantly, with ultrathin diameters and favorable charge transport, the Rh nanowires catalysts exhibit an ultrahigh electrochemically active surface area determined from CO-stripping (ECSACO) of 144.2 m2/g, far exceeding that of the commercial Rh black samples (20 m2/g). Together, the Rh nanowire catalysts deliver a mass activity of 722 mA/mg at 0.61 V, considerably higher than many previously reported electrocatalysts at the same potential. The chronoamperometry studies also demonstrate good stability and CO-tolerance compared with the Rh black control sample, making ultrathin Rh wavy nanowires an attractive electrocatalyst for MOR.
Long-term monitoring of the throughput in Las Cumbres Observatory's fleet of telescopes

The Las Cumbres Observatory operates a fleet of robotically controlled telescopes currently two 2m, nine 1m, and ten 0.4m telescopes, distributed amongst six sites covering both hemispheres. Telescopes of an aperture class are equipped with an identical set of optical imagers, and those data are subsequently processed by a common pipeline (BANZAI). The telescopes operate without direct human supervision, and assessing the daily and long-term scientific productivity of the fleet of telescopes and instruments poses an operational challenge. One key operational metric of a telescope/instrument system is throughput. We present a method of long-term performance monitoring based on nightly science observations: For every image taken in matching filters and within the footprint of the PANSTARRS DR1 catalog we derive a photometric zeropoint, which is a good proxy for system throughput. This dataset of over 250000 data points enables us to answer questions about general throughput degradation trends, and how individual telescopes perform at the various sites. This particular metric is useful to plan the effort level for on-site support and to prioritize the cleaning and re-aluminizing schedule of telescope optics and mirrors respectively.
Streams of the Mariana Islands

Abstract This article provides a review of the flowing water, or lotic, ecosystems found in the Mariana Islands, with a particular emphasis on perennial streams. The geology, hydrology, and biota of these streams is discussed for the islands of Guam, Rota and Saipan, the only islands in the archipelago which possess perennial stream ecosystems. Current integrity and future conservation of these ecosystems is also evaluated in the context of human-mediated stressors such as wildland fire, aquatic invasive species and climate change. A provisional assessment is provided as to how the condition of such streams may change over time based on future climate scenarios.
SNP eQTL status and eQTL density in the adjacent region of the SNP are associated with its statistical significance in GWA studies

Over the relatively short history of Genome Wide Association Studies (GWASs), hundreds of GWASs have been published and thousands of disease risk-associated SNPs have been identified. Summary statistics from the conducted GWASs are often available and can be used to identify SNP features associated with the level of GWAS statistical significance. Those features could be used to select SNPs from gray zones (SNPs that are nominally significant but do not reach the genome-wide level of significance) for targeted analyses. We used summary statistics from recently published breast and lung cancer and scleroderma GWASs to explore the association between the level of the GWAS statistical significance and the expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) status of the SNP. Data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression Project (GTEx) were used to identify eQTL SNPs. We found that SNPs reported as eQTLs were more significant in GWAS (higher -log10p) regardless of the tissue specificity of the eQTL. Pan-tissue eQTLs (those reported as eQTLs in multiple tissues) tended to be more significant in the GWAS compared to those reported as eQTL in only one tissue type. eQTL density in the ±5 kb adjacent region of a given SNP was also positively associated with the level of GWAS statistical significance regardless of the eQTL status of the SNP. We found that SNPs located in the regions of high eQTL density were more likely to be located in regulatory elements (transcription factor or miRNA binding sites). When SNPs were stratified by the level of statistical significance, the proportion of eQTLs was positively associated with the mean level of statistical significance in the group. The association curve reaches a plateau around -log10p ≈ 5. The observed associations suggest that quasi-significant SNPs (10− 5 < p < 5 × 10− 8) and SNPs at the genome wide level of statistical significance (p < 5 × 10− 8) may have a similar proportions of risk associated SNPs. The results of this study indicate that the SNP’s eQTL status, as well as eQTL density in the adjacent region are positively associated with the level of statistical significance of the SNP in GWAS.
Home Noninvasive Mechanical Ventilation in Pediatric Patients: Current Characteristics and Practical Advice

Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) has become more preferable as long-term supportive therapy in recent years, and use of invasive ventilation via tracheostomy has decreased. Long-term/home NIV has been used in many different diseases that cause chronic respiratory pump failure. Airway disorders, neuromuscular disorders, and central nervous system disorders are main conditions that cause respiratory insufficiency or sleep disordered breathing in infants and children. There are two main types of NIV: continuous positive airway pressure and bilevel positive airway pressure. Home NIV system consists of the following components: ventilation machine, ventilation interface, expiratory system, and humidification system. NIV treatment in children in acute settings and in long-term use is usually a challenging situation, and besides device and interface choice, settings of device should be set and adapted individually considering clinical benefit and compliance of the patient. NIV treatment is almost always initiated in hospital, and goals of hospital admission are to determine the needs of the patient; to adapt the patient to NIV treatment; to identify the best ventilator, mode, interface, and settings for patient; to follow the short-term beneficial effects of NIV on the patient; and to train the caregiver of the patient. The underlying diseases that cause chronic respiratory failure in children are generally complex and usually connected to multiple disabilities which require multidisciplinary medical team follow-up. Children on home NIV therapy must be followed by multidisciplinary medical team concerning course of underlying disease, infection prophylaxis, adequate nutrition, mechanical ventilation assessment, and pulmonary physiotherapy. Complications of home NIV therapy are skin ulcer, eye irritation, gastric distention, gastroesophageal reflux, midface hypoplasia, nose bleeding, nasal congestion, rebreathing of exhaled gases, and pneumothorax. Children requiring long-term NIV should be evaluated regularly for tolerance and efficacy and also the need to continue or discontinue NIV.
Quantification of Aerosol Particle Concentrations During Endoscopic Sinonasal Surgery in the Operating Room

BackgroundRecent indirect evidence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission during endoscopic endonasal procedures has highlighted the dearth of knowledge surrou...
Comparison of performance of F1 Romanov crossbred ewes with wool and hair breeds during fall lambing and body weight and longevity through six production years.

The objective of this study was to evaluate wool (Dorset and Rambouillet) and hair (Dorper, Katahdin, and White Dorper) breeds for their ability to complement Romanov germplasm in an annual fall lambing system by estimating direct maternal grandsire and sire breed effects on economically important lamb and ewe traits. After 3 yr of evaluation under spring lambing, ewes of the five F1 types were transitioned to spring mating, exposed to composite terminal sires, and evaluated under a barn lambing system at 4, 5, and 6 yr of age. A total of 527 first generation crossbred (F1) ewes produced 1,151 litters and 2,248 lambs from 1,378 May exposures. After accounting for differences in dam age, birth type, and sex, lamb survival to weaning was unaffected by maternal grandsire breed (P = 0.30). However, lambs born to 50% Dorset (16.8 ± 0.21 kg) or 50% White Dorper ewes (16.8 ± 0.28 kg) were heavier at weaning than those born to 50% Katahdin dams (13.8 ± 0.32 kg; P < 0.001). Additionally, lambs born to 50% Dorset ewes were heavier than those born to 50% Rambouillet (16.0 ± 0.22 kg) and 50% Dorper ewes (15.7 ± 0.33; P ≤ 0.03), but no other pairwise maternal grandsire breed differences were observed (P ≥ 0.06). Ewe body weight (n = 3,629) was recorded prior to each of six possible mating seasons and, across ages, was greatest for Dorset- and Rambouillet-sired ewes (56.7 ± 0.44 and 56.5 ± 0.45 kg, respectively), intermediate for Dorper- and White Dorper-sired ewes (54.7 ± 0.78 and 54.1 ± 0.64 kg, respectively), and least for Katahdin-sired ewes (51.5 ± 0.45 kg). Fertility after spring mating (0.80 ± 0.03 to 0.87 ± 0.02), litter size at birth (1.46 ± 0.09 to 1.71 ± 0.07), and litter size at weaning (1.25 ± 0.06 to 1.46 ± 0.06) were not impacted by sire breed (P ≥ 0.16). Ewe longevity, assessed as the probability of being present after 6 production years, was also not affected by sire breed (0.39 ± 0.03 to 0.47 ± 0.03; P = 0.44). Rambouillet-sired ewes weaned more total weight of lamb (21.5 ± 0.94 kg) than Katahdin-sired ewes (17.8 ± 0.94 kg; P = 0.05), but no other sire breed differences were detected (P ≥ 0.07). Results demonstrated that incorporating the Romanov into a crossbreeding system is a practical means of improving out-of-season ewe productivity.
Do Cattell-Horn-Carroll Cognitive Abilities Predict Reading Achievement Similarly for Black Children as for Other Racial/Ethnic Groups?

Racial/ethnic bias in the prediction of students’ educational potential was questioned in the Larry P. Vs. Riles case. The construct and predictive validity of the Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ IV; Schrank et al. 2014b) have not been examined for racial/ethnic bias. This study extended Keith’s (1999) examination of bias across racial/ethnic groups for general and specific cognitive abilities predicting reading achievement. It employed a higher-order model of cognitive abilities based on Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory and a three-factor reading achievement model adapted from Niileksela et al. (2016). Using samples of 9- to 13-year-old Black, Hispanic, and White children from the WJ IV norming sample, models representing CHC cognitive abilities and reading demonstrated invariance across groups. Despite the fact that the models where CHC broad abilities predicted reading achievement were a poor fit, results indicated similar predictive relations for Black children as for other racial/ethnic groups. The CHC cognitive models employed are not acceptable to predict reading for Black children—and all children—within this age range.
Teachers' Attempts to Respond to Students' Lived Experiences

How science teachers attend to key features of teaching scientific phenomena and the overlap with students’ lives is the focus of this study. Our conceptual framework is informed by work on resourc...
Direct nuclear-pumped lasers using the He-3/n,p/H-3 reaction

A description is presented of experimental results concerning a specific class of direct nuclear-pumped lasers classified as 'volumetric nuclear lasers'. In the considered laser system a fissioning gas, He-3, is mixed with the lasing gas to form a homogeneous mixture, resulting in uniform volume excitation. In typical volumetric nuclear lasers a fast-burst reactor is used as a source of neutrons which penetrate a polyethylene moderator. Here the fast neutrons are thermalized. After thermalization, neutrons scatter into the laser cell. Nuclear reactions produce a proton of 0.56 MeV and a tritium ion of 0.19. These ions produce secondary electrons which pump the laser medium creating a population inversion. The results reported demonstrate direct nuclear pumping of He-3-Ar, Xe, Kr, and Cl with the considered system.
Electronic Computer in Highway Engineering

Electronic computers, their functional components, and operation; procedure for use in solution of engineering problems and especially highway engineering problems.
Gaming Under Biopolitical Sovereign Power: The Chronotope of the Abject in The Binding of Isaac

This article argues that a spatiotemporal approach to abjection in video games helps scholars understand how confronting the abject in gameplay maps onto biopolitical conditions of living and gaming under sovereign state power. By means of a slow reading of The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth , this essay offers the chronotope of the abject as a flexible, interpretive tool to account for game narrative, mechanics, and iconography that map onto out-of-game lived realities. Drawing upon Kristeva’s psychoanalysis and Agamben’s philosophy of politics, I adapt Bakhtin’s chronotope of the threshold to the mutable video game medium in order to take up the threshold concepts of the abject, life/death, responsibility/ethics, and reading/writing presented in the game. Through the chronotope, I also reconsider this game’s critical response and relation to a Christian cosmology. Ultimately, the chronotope opens up a threshold space through which more just and equitable chronotopic relations might emerge.
A reproducible radiation delivery method for unanesthetized rodents during periods of hind limb unloading

Exposure to the spaceflight environment has long been known to be a health challenge concerning many body systems. Both microgravity and/or ionizing radiation can cause acute and chronic effects in multiple body systems. The hind limb unloaded (HLU) rodent model is a ground-based analogue for microgravity that can be used to simulate and study the combined biologic effects of reduced loading with spaceflight radiation exposure. However, studies delivering radiation to rodents during periods of HLU are rare. Herein we report the development of an irradiation protocol using a clinical linear accelerator that can be used with hind limb unloaded, unanesthetized rodents that is capable of being performed at most academic medical centers. A 30.5 cm×30.5 cm×40.6 cm30.5 cm×30.5 cm×40.6 cm rectangular chamber was constructed out of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) sheets (0.64 cm thickness). Five centimeters of water-equivalent material were placed outside of two PMMA inserts on either side of the rodent that permitted the desired radiation dose buildup (electronic equilibrium) and helped to achieve a flatter dose profile. Perforated aluminum strips permitted the suspension dowel to be placed at varying heights depending on the rodent size. Radiation was delivered using a medical linear accelerator at an accelerating potential of 10 MV. A calibrated PTW Farmer ionization chamber, wrapped in appropriately thick tissue-equivalent bolus material to simulate the volume of the rodent, was used to verify a uniform dose distribution at various regions of the chamber. The dosimetry measurements confirmed variances typically within 3%, with maximum variance <10% indicated through optically stimulated luminescent dosimeter (OSLD) measurements, thus delivering reliable spaceflight-relevant total body doses and ensuring a uniform dose regardless of its location within the chamber. Due to the relative abundance of LINACs at academic medical centers and the reliability of their dosimetry properties, this method may find great utility in the implementation of future ground-based studies that examine the combined spaceflight challenges of reduced loading and radiation while using the HLU rodent model.
A First Step for Semiconductor Quantum Device Modeling with Incoherent Scattering

The general form of the Hamiltonian considered here is H = H 0+H pop+H IR where H 0 contains the kinetic energy, the effects of band structure, and the Hartree potential. The two terms to the right represent the potential felt by the electrons due to polar optical phonons and interface roughness, respectively. The scattering terms are included through self-energies. Further, H 0 = H o D * H o L * H o R, which represent the Hamiltonian of the device, the left contact, and the right contact, respectively. The effects of the left and right contacts, H o L * H o R, will also be taken into account through a self energy, ΣUB. The Hamiltonian matrix is written in terms of the basis \( \left \langle r|K,n \right \rangle=e^{ik\cdot r_t}\phi_{i}(z)/\sqrt{A} \) where k is the transverse wave vector, Фi. (z) is a localized (Wannier) function localized around site ‘i’, and ‘A’ is the cross sectional area. Only nearest neighbor matrix elements are retained.
Regulation by TSLRIC: Economic Effects on Investment and Innovation

A number of countries have adopted policies to cause dominant network providers to unbundle their networks to provide network elements to new competitors. Two important questions arise with respect to these policies: the degree of network disaggregation that unbundling will cause and the regulated price of the unbundled elements. Economic principles suggest that only the “essential facility” elements of the network, which cannot be economically reproduced in the short term by new competitors, should be unbundled by regulation.1 It is these essential facility elements that provide the barriers to competition by new entrants. However, if unbundling goes beyond these essential facility elements, new entrants will not have an economic incentive to invest in their own networks. Thus, economic analysis leads to the recommendation that the local network should be unbundled with respect to its essential facility elements, at least in the short run, but that other networks such as long distance and wireless networks should not be unbundled since they do not contain essential facility elements.2 Overall, long distance and wireless networks should not be regulated so long as competitive entry is sufficient to keep prices at competitive levels.3
Amino acid starvation in an Escherichia coli auxotroph. III. Incorporation of 32P into ribonucleic acid and other cell components.

Abstract During amino acid starvation in leucine and proline auxotrophs of E. coli, although net protein and RNA synthesis have ceased, there is continuing incorporation of 32P into RNA nucleotides. The turnover rate approximates 10% per hour initially and is nearly equal in the debris fraction, the ribosomes, and the soluble supernatant. Both early and late in starvation and in each centrifugal fraction the specific radioactivities of the four RNA nucleotides are approximately equal. These findings are discussed with reference to the interrelation of RNA and protein synthesis and the cessation of both during amino acid starvation.