cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dual-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser arrays fabricated by nonplanar wafer bonding

A dual-wavelength 1550 nm and 1530 nm VCSEL array is fabricated using two separate and distinct active regions integrated on a common mirror by nonplanar wafer bonding.
Given the Benefits of Breastfeeding, what Contraindications Exist?

Breastfeeding is not contraindicated in association with environmental hazards in the United States under ordinary circumstances. Unusual massive exposure should be assessed on an individual basis. In the face of any possible contraindication to breastfeeding, the tremendous benefits of being breastfed should be compared with the theoretic risk for the hazard involved and a decision made on an individual basis.
Augmented Production of Extracellular Superoxide by Blood Isolates of Enterococcus faecalis

To assess the frequency of extracellular superoxide (O 2 - ) production by enterococci, multiple species were surveyed in a whole organism assay for their ability to reduce ferricytochrome c in a superoxide dismutase-inhibitable fashion. For stool and clinical enterococcal isolates and 12 type strains, only Enterococcus faecalis (87/91 isolates and ATCC 19443), Enterococcus faecium (5/13 isolates), Enterococcus casseliflavus (ATCC 25788), and Enterococcus gallinarum (ATCC 35038) produced extracellular O 2 - . Among 106 strains comprising 13 species of enteric gram-negative bacilli and gram-positive cocci, only Lactococcus lactis subspecies lactis produced extracellular O 2 - . Mean (±SE) rates of extracellular O 2 - production in vitro by E. faecalis for isolates associated with bacteremia and endocarditis and for isolates from stool were 2.4 ± 0.2, 1.9 ± 0.2, and 1.5 ± 0.3 nmol of O 2 - min -1 10 9 cfu -1 , respectively (P =.025, analysis of variance), suggesting an association between invasiveness and extracellular O 2 - production.
Transient current in a quantum dot subject to a change in coupling to its leads

The time-dependent non-crossing approximation is used to calculate the transient currents through a quantum dot in the Kondo regime subject to a sudden change in its coupling to the leads. The currents are found to display transient non-universal behaviour immediately after the perturbation and then to follow a slow universal increase toward equilibrium. The timescales for the approach to equilibrium are shown to be the same as those recently identified in a study of transient currents in a quantum dot subject to a sudden change in the energy of the dot level (Plihal et al 2005 Phys. Rev. B 71 165321). We present improved numerical algorithms which enable relatively fast calculation of the transient response of quantum dots to sudden perturbations.
Neonatal Transport: The Family Perspective

will primarily focus on how health care providers can work together to improve and enhance the experiences for parents surrounding transport of their infant. Neonatal transport can occur for many reasons: the need for a higher acuity of care, for specialized care (resources unavailable in the current setting such as procedures or surgical interventions), for back-transport (closer to home), and for bed availability (to meet the needs of another infant requiring a higher acuity of care). Each of these transport scenarios may require a somewhat different approach when it comes to assisting parents. We will address these scenarios, reviewing issues previously identified in the literature and by parents and providing suggestions and recommendations on how to make transfers most positive for parents and their infants. Some issues and recommendations identified are applicable to transport situations across these scenarios. In past studies parents were often noted as feeling a loss of control, as if their being left “out of the loop” related to the transport of their infant. They also felt they did not receive updates and information they desired in a timely manner, if at all. 3–5 During our review of the literature, it became evident that communication is the key to improving negative experiences for families related to transport. Promotion of the parenting role as early as possible is a must and should continue to be a primary
Pathology, classification and pathogenesis of lupus glomerulonephritis

Abstract Systemic lupus erythematosus is a common cause of glomerulonephritis. Despite improvements in the management of lupus nephritis, about 10–30% of these patients develop end-stage kidney disease within 15 years. The renal biopsy provides crucial information to the clinician, as the choice of treatment is guided by the histopathologic findings. The light microscopic appearances and clinical features of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus can vary considerably, reflecting the many patterns of histopathologic injury seen in this glomerulonephritis. This review illustrates the glomerular pathology and pathogenesis of lupus glomerulonephritis, and will focus on the most recent classification, the International Society of Nephrology/Renal Pathology Society (ISN/RPS) 2003 Classification of Lupus Nephritis.
The elastin-laminin receptor functions as a mechanotransducer in vascular smooth muscle.

Laminin and elastin, two major constituents of the extracellular matrix, bind to cells via the elastin-laminin receptor (ELR), a receptor distinct from integrins. Despite the ubiquitous nature of e...
Assessing the New Performance Management

This article reviews the findings of three recent surveys concerning the use of performance measurement in the government of the United States. It reveals that, although many governments have reported performance information, they are experiencing some difficulties in using performance measurement in their management activities. It finds that public officials have difficulties to develop specific performance indicators in measuring broad organizational goals and objectives. They may not be able to interpret the meaning of performance information and specify the outcomes due to their programs. This study also finds that performance information is more likely to be used as a manage-rial tool rather than a budgeting tool. The authors call for the further evaluation of the barriers in the implementation of performance measurement.
[29] (with P. R. Garabedian) On existence theorems of potential theory and conformal mapping

This is the second Garabedian–Schiffer paper, following (Schiffer and Garabedian, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., 65, 187–238, 1949) by just a year in date of publication. The setting is again multiply connected plane domains, and the questions addressed are some of the most fundamental existence theorems in conformal mapping and potential theory. Specifically, in this one paper, the authors present new proofs of the existence of the mapping onto a parallel slit plane, of Green’s function for Laplace’s equation, and of the extremal function for a generalization of Schwarz’s lemma. The arguments make thorough use of the Bergman kernel and its relatives and provide a common approach to the different problems. Moreover, the existence of the kernel itself, also independently shown here as the solution of an extremal problem, is fairly considered to be less deep than previous proofs of the existence results that the paper aims for, a point made by the authors. If the kernel played a supporting role in Schiffer and Garabedian (Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., 65, 187–238, 1949), here it takes center stage.
Recreational drug use and RCVS: should toxicity screens become standard in RCVS diagnostics? (P2.284)

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate urine toxicology screen usage in RCVS patients BACKGROUND: Reversible Cerebral Vasoconstrictive Syndrome (RCVS) is characterized by a reversible segmental vasoconstriction of the intracranial vessels. RCVS has a variable presentation including headache, stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, intracerebral hemorrhage, seizures, reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy, and illicit drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, and heroin have been suggested as etiologic factors. However, regardless of this association, urine drug screens are not commonly performed in the diagnostic workup of RCVS. This study evaluated confirmed cases of RCVS for prevalence of illicit drug use. DESIGN/METHODS: A retrospective chart review of 6 patients meeting the criteria for RCVS from our institution dated 2008-2014 was conducted to evaluate for appropriate drug screening. All patients had Primary Angiitis of the CNS ruled out with appropriate blood tests and CSF. RESULTS: All patients were treated with nimodipine on discharge and 2 patients received intra-arterial therapy with verapamil. All patients showed complete reversal of vasoconstriction on repeat angiograms. Two of the six patients received urine toxicology tests on admission for RCVS, and another two received urine toxicology tests on later admissions. Both patients who received this test on admission tested positive for marijuana, opiates, and benzodiazepines. Of the patients who underwent testing on later admissions, one tested positive for marijuana use and one tested negative. The duration of drug use in these patients was not known. CONCLUSIONS: As we transition into a new culture of researching marijuana derivatives to treat a multitude of neurologic diseases including pain syndromes, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis we must also consider the vasoactive properties of the substance and potential vascular complications. This also raises the importance of improving drug screening in such patients with high suspicion of RCVS on admission and identifying high risk patients to prevent further vascular complications. Study Supported by: Disclosure: Dr. Mirchandani has nothing to disclose. Dr. Khan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Wajnsztajn has nothing to disclose.
Simplified derivations of time-weighted quadratic functionals used in optimal control and filtering applications:

In this article, we present simple alternative derivations for efficient evaluation of a matrix integral that has applications in optimal control and filtering, stability, controllability, observab...
Erfolgsmessung bei Markentransfers — Defizite und konzeptionelle überlegungen

Markentransfers verkorpern im Vergleich zum Aufbau einer neuen Marke oftmals die okonomisch sinnvollere Alternative zumal sie eine bessere Kapitalisierung starker Marken ermoglichen. Sie spielen infolgedessen eine prominente Rolle im Rahmen der Markenfuhrung und stellen einen wichtigen Erkenntnisgegenstand der Marketingwissenschaft dar. Sowohl im Rahmen der empirischen Forschung als auch in der Unternehmenspraxis kommt vor diesem Hintergrund der Messung des Markentransfererfolges zentrale Bedeutung zu. Ungeachtet dessen bestehen im Hinblick auf die Erfolgsmessung bei Markentransfers erhebliche Defizite. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden diese Defizite skizziert und es werden konzeptionelle uberlegungen zur Messung des Markentransfererfolges angestellt.
Mechanics of C60 in nanotubes

A modeling study of C60 in nanotubes is presented, with focus on a new approach. We report on the elastic properties, energetics, and certain tribological issues, for C60 inside (n, n) nanotubes, with n ranging from 5 to 10. A new combined molecular dynamics/continuum approach with account of both the nonbonded and bonded interactions was used. The elastic properties of the nanotube were analytically derived on the basis of the Tersoff-Brenner potential. The derived Young's modulus is consistent with experimental values. We have computed the case where the C60 has zero initial velocity and is “sucked” into the (10, 10) or (9, 9) tubes due to the sharp force gradient present from the deep attractive potential at the tube inlet; C60 then oscillates back and forth inside the (10, 10) and (9, 9) nanotubes. C60 seems to make a perfect nanobearing system when in the (10, 10) tube. In a separate modeling study, C60 was fired on axis at high velocity (from 400 up to 1600 m/s) toward the six different armchair nan...
Effects of therapy on carcinoembryonic antigen activity in the urines of patients with cancer of the bladder.

Carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) levels were quantitated in specimens of urine for 16 patients with invasive transitional-cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder. Four of the patients had received x-irradiation to the bladder and four had been treated with the radiomimetic agent, thiotepa. Urinary CEA levels in these patients (3.7 +/- 2.4 ng/ml) were significantly lower (t = 6.17, P less than .001) than levels from a similar group of eight patients who had not been treated with radiotherapy (20.3 +/- 8.7 ng/ml). These results suggest that "false-negative" urinary CEA levels may, in some cases, be associated with previous radiotherapy.
Endophytic Fungus and Tall Fescue Utilization by Ruminants 12

Summary Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) is a high yielding cool season grass currently grown on approximately 14 million hectares in the United States. It is a highly adaptable grass with excellent major compositional characteristics during much of the year: however, performance of cattle grazing tall fescue has been quite variable. Reduced performance, frequently observed during the hot summer grazing period, is referred to as summer syndrome, summer slump, or summer fescue toxicosis. The syndrome is characterized by reduced gains, increased body temperature and respiration rate, excess salivation, long rough hair coat and decreased milk production in cows. Research seeking to identify the anti-quality components of tall fescue has been in progress almost since its introduction as a major grass species in this country. One of the major research accomplishments in the tall fescue area was identification of the endophytic fungus Acremonium coenophialum. The toxin(s) produced by the endophyte-plant relationship are detrimental to cattle performance. Yearling cattle grazing endophyte infected tall fescue during the spring-summer season had decreased gains, increased body temperature and respiration rate, and decreased serum prolactin. Reduced performance was also observed in calves grazing endophyte infected fescue during the late fall. Other reported ill effects were lowered milk production in dairy cows, decreased conception rates of beef cows, and reduced weaning weights of calves nursing beef cows. Seed from endophyte-infected fescue was shown to be very toxic to cattle. Also, the toxin(s) remained biologically active in hay stored for three years. Fractionation of tall fescue extracts have revealed several biologically active compounds, but the toxin(s) remain to be verified in cattle. Endophyte-free tall fescue can be selected for improved nutritive value, yield, persistence, disease resistance, and low diazaphenan-threne alkaloids. Its utilization offers a great potential for improved productivity of cattle consuming tall fescue.
Radical Nephrectomy, Bench Surgery and Autotransplantation in the Potentially Malignant Renal Mass

AbstractAutotransplantation is an accepted technique for the preservation of renal function in many complicated urological problems. This case represents the first use of this technique in the diagnosis and management of an avascular, solid, potentially malignant renal mass.
Analytical politics: The spatial model of Downs and Black: One policy dimension

You will be safest in the middle. (“Publius Ovidius Naso,” or “Ovid,” Metamorphoses , Book II, no. 137) The idea of spatial competition comes from Hotelling (1929) and Smithies (1941), who used “space” to describe firms' need to be near markets. Spatial theory was adapted for analytical politics by two pioneers: Anthony Downs, in An Economic Theory of Democracy (1957), and Duncan Black, in The Theory of Committees and Elections (1958). They uncovered two of the most important theoretical contributions of analytical political theory: Political power lies at the “middle” of the distribution of citizens effectively enfranchised by the society's political institutions. The stability of political systems is a variable, or subject of analysis. Stability depends on the distribution and nature of citizens' preferences, as well as the rules used to add up these preferences for social choices. The contribution of the spatial theorists who have built on the work of Downs and Black has been to state these two principles of political power very precisely. Most importantly, analytical politics works to distinguish situations where the principles are true, false, or conditionally true based on other variables outside the model. The two principles themselves, however, have been recognized by political theorists for more than two thousand years. The first spatial theorist: Aristotle Aristotle (384–322 B.C.) was a student of Plato, a tutor to Alexander the Great, and a great thinker. One of his accomplishments has gone unnoted, however, until now: Aristotle was the first spatial theorist.
Data-mining for sulfur and fluorine: an evaluation of pharmaceuticals to reveal opportunities for drug design and discovery.

Among carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, sulfur and fluorine are both leading constituents of the pharmaceuticals that comprise our medicinal history. In efforts to stimulate the minds of both the general public and expert scientist, statistics were collected from the trends associated with therapeutics spanning 12 disease categories (a total of 1969 drugs) from our new graphical montage compilation: disease focused pharmaceuticals posters. Each poster is a vibrant display of a collection of pharmaceuticals (including structural image, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval date, international nonproprietary name (INN), initial market name, and a color-coded subclass of function) organized chronologically and classified according to an association with a particular clinical indication. Specifically, the evolution and structural diversity of sulfur and the popular integration of fluorine into drugs introduced over the past 50 years are evaluated. The presented qualitative conclusions in this arti...
Privacy and Transparency

In this essay I argue that it is logically and practically possible to secure the right to privacy under conditions of increasing social transparency. The argument is predicated on a particular analysis of the right to privacy as the right to the personal space required for the exercise of practical rationality. It also rests on the distinction between the unidirectional transparency required by repressive governments and the increasing omnidirectional transparency that liberal information societies are experiencing today. I claim that a properly administered omnidirectional transparency will not only enhance privacy and autonomy, but can also be a key development in the creation of a society that is more tolerant of harmless diversity and temperate in its punishment of anti-social behaviors.
Introduction to Eye Monitoring

Scientific study of human eye movements began in the late 19th century, and employed a variety of measurement techniques. Many systems, such as that of Delabarre [122] were mechanical, while others like Dodge and Cline [132] used photography. Since their inception, eye monitoring systems have not been considered important innovations in-and-of themselves, but rather tools that allow scientists to study the gaze behavior of experimental subjects. While much information concerning basic mechanisms can be gleaned from responses to controlled laboratory studies, there is also much interest in behaviors occurring in the “real world”. Over time, technological advances have allowed eye monitoring systems to emerge from the laboratory, and today the use of eye tracking in the study of the performance of everyday tasks is routine in a number of applied disciplines [522].
Reformed preaching in the age of enlightenment: a comparison of Jonathan Erskine's “enlightened evangelicalism” with Geneva's “reasonable calvinism”

In 1764, the Scotsman James Boswell visited Geneva during his trek on the Grand Tour through Europe. Although Boswell was eager, like so many at that time, to meet the philosophes Voltaire and Jean...
Pubertal Development, Emotion Regulatory Styles, and the Emergence of Sex Differences in Internalizing Disorders and Symptoms in Adolescence

Adolescence marks the emergence of sex differences in internalizing symptoms and disorders, with girls at increased risk for depression and anxiety during the pubertal transition. However, the mechanisms through which puberty confers risk for internalizing psychopathology for girls, but not boys, remain unclear. We examined two pubertal indicators (pubertal status and timing) as predictors of the development of emotion regulation styles (rumination and emotional clarity) and depressive and anxiety symptoms and disorders in a three-wave study of 314 adolescents. Path analyses indicated that early pubertal timing, but not pubertal status, predicted increased rumination, but not decreased emotional clarity, in adolescent girls, but not boys. Additionally, rumination mediated the association between early pubertal timing and increased depressive, but not anxiety, symptoms and disorder onset among adolescent girls. These findings suggest that the sex difference in depression may result partly from early maturing girls' greater tendency to develop ruminative styles than boys.
McDonaldization in Households

Using data collected over three years and mimicking the methodology of Arnold et al. (2012) in Los Angeles, a study in Texas was conducted in which 66 families opened their homes and allowed video, survey data, and pictorial evidence to be collected. These data are used to determine if McDonaldization has spread from the public sphere into the private sphere by determining if the four factors of McDonaldization: predictability, calculability, efficiency, and control are present, and if so, in what ways they are represented. Ultimately, every single household studied showed instances of all four factors of McDonaldization, thus heavily supporting the hypothesis that McDonaldization has encroached into the private sphere. This phenomenon will be explained by using McDonaldization either as a rational means to pursue individualistic self-actualization as described through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs or as a means by corporations to extend their own factor of control into the private sphere and thus influence consumers. Finally, the fifth factor of McDonaldization, irrationality emerging from rationality, was examined with examples provided.
Compressive sensing of block-sparse signals recovery based on sparsity adaptive regularized orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm

The structure of block sparsity in multi-band signals is prevalent. Among the block-sparse signal problems for compressive sensing, the most presenting recovery algorithms require block sparsity as prior information, whereas it may not be available in many practical applications. In this paper, a block sparsity adaptive regularized orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm (BAROMP) for compressive sensing is presented. The proposed algorithm could guarantee the accuracy of recovery by both the adaptive process which chooses the candidate set automatically and the regularization process which decides the atoms in the final support set. The simulation results show that the recovery probability of BAROMP which does not require sparsity as prior information is near to BROMP.
Scalar Implicatures, Presuppositions, and Discourse Particles: Colloquial Russian –to , že , and ved’ in Combination

This paper tackles the problem of interaction between multiple discourse particles in the same utterance. It examines how presuppositions and/or implicatures contributed by individual particles are combined to account for connotations which arise in utterances containing multiple particles. The subject of study is free combinations of set-evoking colloquial Russian particles –to, že, and ved’. The data are drawn from constructed minimal discourses. The study integrates the theories of information structure (Vallduvi, The informational component, 1992), scalar implicatures (Hirschberg, A theory of scalar implicature, 1985/1991), and discourse organization (Buring, On D-trees, beans, and B-accents, 2000). The current approach to decomposing the meaning of particles by examining them in combination sheds new light on the context-independent interpretations of the particles and makes another step toward understanding their complex roles in discourse.
Abstract TP149: Utilization of a Robotic Exoskeleton to Provide Increased Mass Practice for Gait Training and its Impact on Discharge Destination for Individuals With Acute Stroke

Introduction: Mass practice of task-specific activity, such as repeated stepping for gait retraining, is an integral part of acute stroke rehabilitation. New technologies including the use of a rob...
Comparison of Propulsion Options for Human Exploration of Mars

NASA continues to advance plans to extend human presence beyond low-Earth orbit leading to human exploration of Mars. The plans being laid out follow an incremental path, beginning with initial flight tests followed by deployment of a Deep Space Gateway (DSG) in cislunar space. This Gateway, will serve as the initial transportation node for departing and returning Mars spacecraft. Human exploration of Mars represents the next leap for humankind because it will require leaving Earth on a long mission with very limited return, rescue, or resupply capabilities. Although Mars missions are long, approaches and technologies are desired which can reduce the time that the crew is away from Earth. This paper builds off past analyses of NASA's exploration strategy by providing more detail on the performance of alternative in-space transportation options with an emphasis on reducing total mission duration. Key options discussed include advanced chemical, nuclear thermal, nuclear electric, solar electric, as well as an emerging hybrid propulsion system which utilizes a combination of both solar electric and chemical propulsion.
Understanding the Connections Between Climate Change and Conflict: Contributions From Geography and Political Ecology

The connections between climate change and conflict inherently raise questions related to space, scale, and nature-society relations, all themes central to modern geographic thought. The geographic and political ecological literature—and the literature informed by geography and political ecology—generally explores the relationship between climate change and conflict through case studies, employing a wide range of methods that enable understandings not accessible through exclusively large-n quantitative studies. As a result, this literature focuses on questions and challenges that are generally overlooked in the wider climate-conflict literature, including the importance of spatial and temporal scale and the ways in which vulnerability and resilience frame this relationship. This literature uniquely challenges the dominant “threat multiplier” framing of climate change’s impact on climate, questioning this narrative’s unidirectional flow from climate vulnerability to conflict, exploring how climate change can create opportunities for peacebuilding as well as conflict, and identifying how climate adaptation activities can themselves become catalysts for conflict. While geographic and political ecological lenses on the relationship between climate change and conflict do not have all the answers needed to address the challenges and opportunities presented by this relationship, the framings these lenses offer are essential to building meaningful, actionable understandings going forward.
Concurrent Sweet's syndrome and myopericarditis following mesalamine therapy.

Mesalamine, or 5-aminosalicylic acid, is a frequently used medication for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We report the case of a 40-year-old woman recently diagnosed with IBD and started on mesalamine, who presented with new onset tender skin lesions 3 days following medication administration. One day following the onset of skin lesions, the patient developed acute chest pain, shortness of breath, ECG changes, troponemia, C-reactive protein elevation and pericardial enhancement on cardiac MRI consistent with myopericarditis. Subsequent skin biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of Sweet’s syndrome. On cessation of the drug, both the skin lesions and the cardiac symptoms resolved in combination with anti-inflammatory therapy. While mesalamine has been previously associated with myocarditis and pericarditis, to our knowledge this is the first case of coexisting Sweet’s syndrome with myopericarditis in the context of mesalamine therapy.
Federal funding for syringe exchange in the US: Explaining a long-term policy failure

Abstract Background The United States prohibited federal funding for syringe exchange programs for people who inject drugs nearly continuously from 1988 to 2015, despite growing scientific evidence, diminishing AIDS-related controversy, and tens of thousands of deaths from injection-related AIDS. This study investigates the political and institutional bases of this long-term failure to support lifesaving public policy. Methods This study draws on national, regional, and local media coverage, archival sources, and semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 6 long-time syringe exchange researchers and activists from California. I use case-oriented process tracing methods to explain the persistence and reform of the federal funding ban. Results Though previous studies focus on the symbolic clash between conservative morality and empirical science, I find that changing demographic and regional inequalities in the effects of the AIDS epidemic and dynamics produced by the federal structure of US government were more important factors in the creation and persistence of the funding ban. Conclusion The persistence and eventual repeal of the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange was a product of the changing demographic, geographic, and political effects of the AIDS epidemic within the federal structure of US government, rather than a consequence of intractable morality politics. These contextual dynamics continue to shape AIDS and public health policy at all levels of government.
Developing and Using Distractor-Driven Multiple-Choice Assessments Aligned to Ideas About Energy Forms, Transformation, Transfer, and Conservation

This chapter presents a summary of middle and high school students’ understanding of energy and the differences and similarities in the ideas that the middle and high school students hold. The student data are a result of the field testing of items aligned to ideas about forms of energy, energy transformations, energy transfer, and conservation of energy that were administered to 23,744 middle and high school students in 48 states across the U.S. between 2009 and 2010. Rasch modeling was used to analyze the data, and the data had a good fit to the model. Analysis of covariance, controlling for gender and English as the student’s primary language, showed a steady increase in student understanding of key energy concepts between 7th and 12th grades. Option probability curves provided additional information about the progression of students’ understanding of energy concepts and the persistence of a number of energy-related misconceptions.
Servomechanisms and Oscillatory Phenomena

The activity of some enzymes is modulated by binding of a ligand to the enzyme at a so-called allosteric site, which is distinct from the catalytic site. Such ligands often are dissimilar to the substrate. They induce a conformational change of enzyme structure which increases or decreases enzyme activity. Thus, the intracellular concentration of a particular metabolite may regulate the rate of a metabolic pathway in accordance with the organism’s needs. Usually, the final product of the pathway modifies (with a variable degree of cooperativity) the activity of the enzyme catalyzing the first committed step of the pathway. In many instances, however, the product of one metabolic sequence modulates the flux through a separate but related sequence. In both instances, the metabolic regulation encountered is termed feedback inhibition. It is an essential mechanism for maintaining the biochemical steady-state, since it prevents—or rapidly corrects—the undue accumulation of a given metabolite. The converse of feedback inhibition is feedforward activation—the stimulation of enzyme activity by a metabolite. While negative feedback may correct for an overshoot in the response of a pathway to a perturbation, positive feedback may result in a propagation phenomenon. It, too, represents a regulatory pattern which ensures constancy of the biochemical environment but through a more complicated mechanism which involves an initial destabilization of the system.
Community Businesses as Social Units in Post-Disaster Recovery:

With global climate change and rapid development in environmentally vulnerable areas, communities are increasingly looking for ways to manage, adapt to, and mitigate adverse impacts from disaster e...
Silicon Carbide Crystals — Part I: Growth and Characterization

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the growth and characterization of Silicon Carbide (SiC) Crystals. Recent developments in SiC bulk growth and epitaxial film technology have greatly advanced the SiC-based device technology. The modified Lely method has become a standard process for industrial production of SiC boules. This has been made possible by optimizing the crystal growth technology in conjunction with modeling and computer simulation. The defects, particularly micropipes, have been significantly reduced by improving the growth technique, optimizing the process parameters, and developing better understanding of the defect generation and propagation. Defects present in the SiC crystals have been characterized using X-ray topography, and microscopy-based techniques such as chemical etching, AFM, SEM, TEM, reflection and transmission optical microscopy. Even though many of these techniques are used in a complementary manner to obtain detailed information on defects present in the crystal, X-ray topography, particularly SWBXT, is quite superior to other methods in revealing defects present in the SiC crystals.
Impact of initial imaging with gallium-68 dotatate PET/CT on diagnosis and management of patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs): A sequential case series.

379Background: Somatostatin analogue functional imaging with Ga-68 Dotatate PET/CT has demonstrated superiority in lesion detection in patients with NETs. The effect of this novel imaging modality ...
Sternal fractures in children: An analysis of the National Trauma Data Bank.

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe the epidemiology and evaluate the clinical significance of traumatic sternal fractures. Methods Patients age ≤ 18 years with sternal fractures in the National Trauma Database research datasets from 2007-2014 were identified. Patient demographics, injuries, procedures, and outcomes were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results Three thousand one hundred sixty patients with sternal fracture were identified. Ninety percent of injuries occurred in patients between 12 and 18 years old. Median injury severity score (ISS) was 17 [9,29]. Exploratory thoracotomy was performed in 1%. Thirty-nine percent were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). On multivariate regression, predictors of ICU stay > 1 day were increasing ISS, lack of the use of protective devices, decreasing Glasgow Coma Score (GCS), tachycardia, and pulmonary contusion. Median hospital length of stay was 4 [2, 9] days. In-hospital mortality was 8%. Predictors of mortality were lower GCS, increasing ISS, decreasing oxygen saturation, hypotension, and cardiac arrest. Use of protective devices and seat belts did not affect mortality. Conclusion Sternal fractures in patients increase in incidence with age, and poor outcomes are impacted by associated injuries and complications. The presence of a sternal fracture should trigger a careful diagnostic evaluation. Level of Evidence III Study Type Treatment Study
Management and Outcomes of Spontaneous Pneumomediastinum in Children.

Objectives Management of spontaneous pneumomediastinum in the pediatric population is highly variable. There are limited data on the use of diagnostic tests and the need for admission. Our objectives were to characterize the management of pediatric spontaneous pneumomediastinum, determine the diagnostic yield of advanced imaging, and describe the patients' outcomes. Methods This is a retrospective cohort study of all patients presenting to a single tertiary pediatric emergency department between January 2008 and February 2015 diagnosed with pneumomediastinum. Patients were identified using 2 complementary strategies: International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision billing codes and a keyword search of the hospital radiology database. Results We identified 183 patients with spontaneous pneumomediastinum. The mean age was 12.8 ± 4.8 years. Diagnosis was established by chest radiograph (CXR) in 165 (90%) patients, chest computed tomography in 15 (8%), neck imaging in 2 (1%), and abdominal imaging in 1. After diagnosis, many patients underwent additional studies: repeat CXR (99, 54%), chest computed tomography (53, 29%), esophagram (45, 25%), and laryngoscopy (15, 8%). Seventy-eight percent of patients (n = 142) were admitted with a median length of stay of 27 hours (18.4-45.6 hours). Six patients returned to the emergency department within 96 hours for persistent chest pain; 2 were admitted, and 1 was found to have worsening pneumomediastinum on CXR. We performed a secondary analysis on 3 key subgroups: primary spontaneous pneumomediastinum (64, 35%), secondary gastrointestinal-associated pneumomediastinum (31, 17%), and secondary respiratory-associated pneumomediastinum (88, 48%). No patients in the study received an invasive intervention for pneumomediastinum. In all patients, further studies did not yield additional diagnostic information. Conclusions Our data suggest that patients with spontaneous pneumomediastinum who are clinically well appearing can be managed conservatively with clinical observation, avoiding exposure to radiation and invasive procedures.
How Much is Too Much? The Effect of Offline Call Intensity on Online Purchase of Digital Services

Use a unique dataset collected from a large classified ads website, we empirically examine the effect of the offline call intensity on the online consumer purchase probability of digital services and the carryover effect of the call intensity. We find that the online consumer purchase probability is increasing in the call intensity but at a decreasing rate. We further demonstrate that the decreasing rate is sizable enough that the relationship between the online consumer purchase probability and the call intensity is an inverted U‐shaped curve. In addition, there exists a strong carryover effect where the online call intensity in the past 4 weeks does not fade away but has a positive effect on recent consumer purchases. Our estimations show that both too much and too little call intensity will result in considerably worse outcomes. As compared with the call intensity at the optimal level, too much call intensity potentially reduces the online consumer purchase probability by 29.11%, and too little call intensity potentially reduces the online consumer purchase probability by 54.90%. Furthermore, making calls every week for 4 weeks can increase consumer purchase probability by 10.69 times as compared with just initiating calls with the consumers.
Industry-Level Returns to Scale and Investor Flows in Asset Management

This paper provides new evidence about returns to scale in asset management, and their connection with capital flows to funds by investors. Equity mutual funds have diminishing returns to scale at the industry level, while hedge and fixed income funds have increasing returns to scale. The flow-performance relation is convex (concave) when the funds operate under decreasing (increasing) returns to scale. Passive funds are unaffected by scale effects. These results are consistent with the predictions of Magkotsios (2018).
Discovery of IAP-recruiting BCL-XL PROTACs as potent degraders across multiple cancer cell lines.

Abstract Targeting BCL-XL via PROTACs is a promising strategy in reducing BCL-XL inhibition associated platelet toxicity. Recently, we reported potent BCL-XL PROTAC degraders that recruit VHL or CRBN E3 ligase. However, low protein expression or mutation of the responsible E3 ligase has been known to result in decreased protein degradation efficiency of the corresponding PROTACs. To overcome these mechanisms of resistance, PROTACs based on recruiting alternative E3 ligases could be generated. Thus, we designed and synthesized a series of PROTACs that recruit IAP E3 ligases for BCL-XL degradation. Among those PROTACs, compound 8a efficiently degrades BCL-XL in malignant T-cell lymphoma cell line MyLa 1929 while CRBN-based PROTACs that have high potency in other cancer cell lines show compromised potency, likely due to the low CRBN expression. Moreover, compared with the parent compound ABT-263, PROTAC 8a shows comparable cell killing effects in MyLa 1929 cells whereas the on-target platelet toxicity is significantly reduced. Our findings expand the anti-tumor spectra of BCL-XL degraders and further highlight the importance of selecting suitable E3 members to achieve effective cellular activity.
Ensuring renewable energy utilization with quality of service guarantee for energy-efficient data center operations

Abstract The reduction of greenhouse emissions is becoming a major goal of energy-intensive industries, such as data centers, and there have been significant efforts to achieve sustainable operations by meeting electricity consumption using renewable energy generations. Specifically, it has been a common practice for data centers to use renewable energy via on-site solar power generation to directly offset electricity consumption by renewable energy to contribute to environmental sustainability. However, the introduction of intermittent and non-dispatchable renewable energy generations for powering data centers that generally host time-varying workloads presents a significant challenge, and thus, this study mainly focuses on how to improve renewable energy utilization for data center operations considering the integration of co-located solar power generation and battery energy storage. The main objective is to develop a mathematical optimization model for energy-efficient and sustainable data center operations to minimize energy cost while ensuring the desired level of renewable energy utilization and the required quality of service guarantee. In particular, this study proposes a two-stage stochastic program integrated with an expected-value constraint and a chance constraint, and an integer programming and sampling-based approach are adopted to solve the problem to investigate optimal data center operations. The comprehensive numerical experiments are conducted to evaluate the proposed model compared with benchmark models for various parameter settings, and the results show that the proposed model can be successfully implemented to enable data centers to achieve the desired renewable energy utilization while improving energy efficiency.
The Political (Mis)representation of Immigrants in Voting

Who is a member of the political community? What barriers to inclusion do immigrants face as outsiders to this political community? This essay describes several barriers facing immigrants and naturalized citizens that impede their political belonging. It critiques these barriers not on the basis of immigrants’ rights, but on the basis of the rights of semi-citizenship. By placing naturalization backlogs, voting restrictions, and reapportionment battles in the historical context of voter suppression, it provides a descriptive and normative account of the political misrepresentation of immigrants.
3D/2D passivation as a secret to success for polycrystalline thin-film solar cells

Summary Polycrystalline photovoltaic materials offer low costs and good scalability; however, grain boundaries in these materials are extended defects, which can drastically increase carrier recombination. Interestingly, three leading polycrystalline thin-film technologies—cadmium telluride (CdTe), CuIn1-xGaxSe2 (CIGS), and perovskite solar cells (PSCs)—passivate absorber surfaces in the same way: via formation of low-dimensional, typically two-dimensional (2D), van der Waals materials. This has primarily occurred serendipitously through process optimization, but in some cases, 2D capping layers are intentionally incorporated to improve device performance. Here, evidence compiled from the literature, supplemented with new data where necessary, is presented to illustrate the existence of 3D/2D interfaces in CdTe, CIGS, and PSCs, and their correlation with improved passivation and device performance. This suggests that 3D/2D passivation might be a heretofore unappreciated key to successful polycrystalline thin-film photovoltaics. Finally, the desired attributes of successful low-dimensional layers are presented with rational design strategies for next-generation polycrystalline solar cells.
Technical perspective: Tracking pandemic-driven internet traffic

The Internet is a research experiment that "escaped from the lab" to become a critical global communications infrastructure during our lifetimes. Over the past year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet has supported friends and families staying in touch and supporting each other, remote work and learning, and the global collaboration of experts designing much-needed treatments and vaccines. As challenging as the past year (and more) has been, the Internet has made it possible for many important aspects of life, work, and culture to continue. The following paper offers a detailed look at how Internet traffic changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper is distinctive in analyzing traffic measurements from multiple networks--ISPs, three major Internet exchange points, a mobile provider, and a university network--across a long period of time.
Rapid Method to Determine Labeling Specificity of Radioactive Enteroviruses

The specificity of labeling enteroviruses with 32P-labeled NaH2PO4 or 14C-leucine can be determined by comparing the percent adsorption of infective particles and radioactivity to membrane (Millipore) filters.
The Perils of Globalization and the World Trading System

Part I will be a brief reminder of the policy objectives and implications of the international economic system. Part II will overview the world trading system’s need for a cooperative international mechanism or institution. Part III will examine the characteristics needed for a successful institution of this type, which might be the WTO. Part IV will explore some problems connected with the current situation related to the needed characteristics. THE PERILS OF GLOBALIZATION AND THE WORLD TRADING SYSTEM Professor John H. Jackson*
The Effect of Fuel Injection Rate and Timing on the Physical, Chemical, and Biological Character of Particulate Emissions from a Direct Injection Diesel

Formation of pollutants from diesel combustion and methods for their control have been reviewed. Of these methods, fuel injection rate and timing were selected for a parametric study relative to total particulate, soluble organic fraction (SOF), sulfates, solids and NO and NO/sub 2/ emissions from a heavy-duty, turbocharged, after-cooled, direct-injection (DI) diesel. Chemical analyses of the SOF were performed at selected engine conditions to determine the effects of injection rate and timing on each of the eight chemical subfractions comprising the SOF. Biological character of the SOF was determined using the Ames Salmonella/microsome bioassay. 54 refs.
Monads for natural language semantics

Accounts of semantic phenomena often involve extending types of meanings and revising composition rules at the same time. The concept of monads allows many such accounts -- for intensionality, variable binding, quantification and focus -- to be stated uniformly and compositionally.