cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
MICRODON FALCATUS WILLISTON (DIPTERA: SYRPHIDAE): A REDESCRIPTION, WITH LECTOTYPE DESIGNATION AND NEW SYNONYMS

Microdon falcatus Williston 1887 (Diptera: Syrphidae) is redescribed. A lectotype is designated for the name and three new synonyms are proposed (Microdon aquilinus Giglio-Tos 1892, Microdon hondanaria Hull 1940, and Microdon mellogutta Hull 1943).
The role of life stress and social support in the adjustment of sexually victimized pregnant and parenting minority adolescents

Associations among sexual victimization and the psychosocial functioning of African American and Latina pregnant and parenting adolescents were examined. Forty-seven (17.7%) of the 265 participants reported histories of sexual victimization, most of which was unwanted sexual intercourse. The victimized adolescents reported higher levels of depression, anxiety, and life stress and, although the two groups reported no differences in their levels of social support, support was found to be differentially related to depression and anxiety in the two groups. In particular, victims derived benefits from social support at low levels of stress, but social support provided no protection against depression and anxiety at average or high levels of stress. For nonvictims, social support provided no benefits at low levels of stress, but protected against depression and anxiety at moderate levels of stress and against depression at high levels of stress. Implications of these findings for research, theory, and intervention are discussed.
Cs-substituted tungstophosphoric acid salt supported on mesoporous silica

Abstract In this paper, we describe the characterization and catalytic properties of mesoporous silica supported Cs-substituted tungstophosphoric acid salt (Cs-TPA/MS) with improved dispersion of the active clusters compared to materials described previously in the literature. In particular, transmission electron micrographs and the activity results for a model alkylation reaction are presented as evidence for the enhanced dispersion and performance. In addition, we demonstrate improvements in the physical and thermal stability of these materials with Cs-substitution using various characterization techniques.
Do universal codon-usage patterns minimize the effects of mutation and translation error?

Background: Do species use codons that reduce the impact of errors in translation or replication? The genetic code is arranged in a way that minimizes errors, defined as the sum of the differences in amino-acid properties caused by single-base changes from each codon to each other codon. However, the extent to which organisms optimize the genetic messages written in this code has been far less studied. We tested whether codon and amino-acid usages from 457 bacteria, 264 eukaryotes, and 33 archaea minimize errors compared to random usages, and whether changes in genome G+C content influence these error values. Results: We tested the hypotheses that organisms choose their codon usage to minimize errors, and that the large observed variation in G+C content in coding sequences, but the low variation in G+U or G+A content, is due to differences in the effects of variation along these axes on the error value. Surprisingly, the biological distribution of error values has far lower variance than randomized error values, but error values of actual codon and amino-acid usages are actually greater than would be expected by chance. Conclusion: These unexpected findings suggest that selection against translation error has not produced codon or amino-acid usages that minimize the effects of errors, and that even messages with very different nucleotide compositions somehow maintain a relatively constant error value. They raise the question: why do all known organisms use highly error-minimizing genetic codes, but fail to minimize the errors in the mRNA messages they encode?
Characterization of silver impurities in mercuric iodide and their relationship to γ-ray-detector performance

Abstract Red mercuric iodide (α-HgI 2 ) has been studied extensively for use as a room-temperature radiation-detector material. Although it has several properties which make it an extremely attractive material for such applications, it has not seen large-scale deployment, particularly in the commercial market, because of several continuing problems. These problems arise, in part, from some of the intrinsic properties of the material. However, the primary limiting factors at this point are related to the phenomena of incomplete charge collection and device polarization. This paper examines one purported cause for both the carrier trapping and the device instability. In particular, silver is an elemental impurity that is known to exist in typical HgI 2 . Leakage-current experiments demonstrate how this electrically active impurity is mobile in bulk HgI 2 . Detector characterization shows how the presence of the silver degrades the performance and affects the spectral properties of the device over time. These results are combined with related work on impurities in HgI 2 to develop a picture of the effects of silver on detectors and the processing requirements for detector fabrication.
Epidemiology and Natural History of Thoraco-Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms

In spite of their rarity, thoraco-abdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) present unique challenges. From a cellular perspective, TAAAs are associated with apoptosis of smooth muscle cells along with derangements in the molecular structure of elastin, collagen, and fibrillin. The risk of rupture increases with aortic diameter, with a dramatic increase at diameters >7.2 cm. Data from tertiary centers suggest TAAAs comprise 6% of all thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs). Genetics play an important role in aortic aneurysms. Ascending aortic aneurysms (AAAs) cluster in families, but TAAAs occur in families with a history of AAA. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension are associated with an increased risk of TAAAs rupture. Smoking is linked to the rate of aneurysm growth. We have just begun to understand the behavior of TAAA. Continued study will permit better identification of patients at risk of TAAA and the optimal timing of intervention.
Effect of electrode loss on the dynamic range of linearized directional coupler modulators

Numerical simulations were used to study the effect of electrode loss on the two-tone spur-free dynamic range (SFDR) of analog photonic links with linearized directional coupler modulators. Radio-frequency loss in the traveling wave electrode significantly limits the frequency bandwidth over which this class of electrooptic modulator can effectively enhance the SFDR
Proteorhodopsin photosystem gene clusters exhibit co-evolutionary trends and shared ancestry among diverse marine microbial phyla.

Summary Since the recent discovery of retinylidene proteins in marine bacteria (proteorhodopsins), the estimated abundance and diversity of this gene family has expanded rapidly. To explore proteorhodopsin photosystem evolutionary and distributional trends, we identifiedandcompared16differentproteorhodopsincontaining genome fragments recovered from naturally occurring bacterioplankton populations. In addition to finding several deep-branching proteorhodopsinsequences,proteorhodopsinswerefoundin novel taxonomic contexts, including a betaproteobacterium and a planctomycete. Approximately one-third of the proteorhodopsin-containing genome fragments analysed, as well as a number of recently reported marine bacterial whole genome sequences, contained a linked set of genes required for biosynthesis of the rhodopsin chromophore, retinal. Phylogenetic analyses of the retinal biosynthetic genes suggested their co-evolution and probable coordinated lateral gene transfer into disparate lineages, including Euryarchaeota,Planctomycetales,andthreedifferentproteobacterial lineages. The lateral transfer and retention of genes required to assemble a functional proteorhodopsin photosystem appears to be a coordinated and relatively frequent evolutionary event. Strong selection pressure apparently acts to preserve these light-dependent photosystems in diverse marine microbial lineages.
Debugging distributed programs using controlled re-execution

Distributed programs are hard to write. A distributed debugger equipped with the mechanism to re-execute the traced computation in a controlled fashion can greatly facilitate the detection and localization of bugs. This approach gives rise to a general problem, called predicate control problem, which takes a computation and a safety property specified on the computation, and outputs a controlled computation that maintains the property.We define a class of global predicates, called region predicates, that can be controlled efficiently in a distributed computation. We prove that the synchronization generated by our algorithm is optimal. Further, we introduce the notion of an admissible sequence of events and prove that it is equivalent to the notion of predicate control. We then give an efficient algorithm for the class of disjunctive predicates based on the notion of an admissible sequence.
Harmonization of International Legal Structure for Fostering Professional Services: Lessons from Early U.S. Federal-State Relations

In the current global marketplace, liberalization of trade in professional services (“services”) presents one of the biggest challenges and profitable opportunities for the international community. Changes in technology and state privatization polices over the past half century have made services the fastest growing sector in international trade. Despite such a transformation, the potential for further innovation and expansion in the services industries is in jeopardy. In response to public policy and regulatory concerns and political pressures to protect domestic jobs and industries, states have adopted a plethora of state-initiated discriminatory and restrictive policies against trade in services. Because existing international legal mechanisms are ill-equipped to resolve these issues, this paper proposes the formation of a unified international legal structure for services as a solution. In advancing this proposal, this paper examines the evolution of United States federalism and its impact on trade liberalization among states and the European Community’s Trademark regime to demonstrate that a harmonized legal system is the optimal framework for responding to changes in the economy and technology - challenges similar to those currently faced by services trade liberalization.
Harmaline Tremor: Underlying Mechanisms in a Potential Animal Model of Essential Tremor

Background: Harmaline and harmine are tremorigenic b-carbolines that, on administration to experimental animals, induce an acute postural and kinetic tremor of axial and truncal musculature. This drug-induced action tremor has been proposed as a model of essential tremor. Here we review what is known about harmaline tremor. Methods: Using the terms harmaline and harmine on PubMed, we searched for papers describing the effects of these b-carbolines on mammalian tissue, animals, or humans. Results: Investigations over four decades have shown that harmaline induces rhythmic burst-firing activity in the medial and dorsal accessory inferior olivary nuclei that is transmitted via climbing fibers to Purkinje cells and to the deep cerebellar nuclei, then to brainstem and spinal cord motoneurons. The critical structures required for tremor expression are the inferior olive, climbing fibers, and the deep cerebellar nuclei; Purkinje cells are not required. Enhanced synaptic norepinephrine or blockade of ionic glutamate receptors suppresses tremor, whereas enhanced synaptic serotonin exacerbates tremor. Benzodiazepines and muscimol suppress tremor. Alcohol suppresses harmaline tremor but exacerbates harmaline-associated neural damage. Recent investigations on the mechanism of harmaline tremor have focused on the T-type calcium channel. Discussion: Like essential tremor, harmaline tremor involves the cerebellum, and classic medications for essential tremor have been found to suppress harmaline tremor, leading to utilization of the harmaline model for preclinical testing of antitremor drugs. Limitations are that the model is acute, unlike essential tremor, and only approximately half of the drugs reported to suppress harmaline tremor are subsequently found to suppress tremor in clinical trials.
Miniature universal testing platform: from extensional melt rheology to solid-state deformation behavior

Described is a detachable fixture for a rotational rheometer, the Sentmanat Extensional Rheometer Universal Testing Platform, which incorporates dual wind-up drums to ensure a truly uniform extensional deformation during uniaxial extension experiments on polymers melts and elastomers. Although originally developed as an extensional rheometer, this highly versatile miniature test platform is capable of converting a conventional rotational rheometer host system into a single universal testing station able to characterize a host of physical properties on a variety of polymer melts and solid-state materials over a very wide range of temperatures and kinematic deformations and rates. Experimental results demonstrating these various testing capabilities are presented for a series of polymers of varying macrostructure and physical states.
FIVE AUTHORS REPLY

We appreciate the interest of Smits et al. (1) in our study (2). They raised an interesting point regarding possible “index event bias,” which is essentially a form of collider stratification bias that becomes possible when studying recurrent conditions. This can result in bias toward the null in crude associations between the risk factor of interest and disease outcome. One of the strengths of our study was our ability to adjust for multiple possible risk factors; however, the ability to adjust for unknown risk factors is a limitation in all epidemiologic studies and not only in this setting. Further, we agree with a point made by the authors in a prior publication (3); namely, the methods currently available to address index event bias in research related to the causal etiology of recurrent events are lacking, and additional methodological work is still needed to adequately address this issue.
A new evaluation measure using compression dissimilarity on text summarization

Evaluation of automatic text summarization is a challenging task due to the difficulty of calculating similarity of two texts. In this paper, we define a new dissimilarity measure --- compression dissimilarity to compute the dissimilarity between documents. Then we propose a new automatic evaluating method based on compression dissimilarity. The proposed method is a completely "black box" and does not need preprocessing steps. Experiments show that compression dissimilarity could clearly distinct automatic summaries from human summaries. Compression dissimilarity evaluating measure could evaluate an automatic summary by comparing with high-quality human summaries, or comparing with its original document. The evaluating results are highly correlated with human assessments, and the correlation between compression dissimilarity of summaries and compression dissimilarity of documents can serve as a meaningful measure to evaluate the consistency of an automatic text summarization system.
Vertical electrical sounding for the investigation of kaolin deposits in Ozanogogo area of Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria

The Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) was used to determine the existence, thickness and quantity of Kaolin in Ozanogogo in Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. The Schlumberger electrode configuration was adopted for data collection. The method involves depth control in which electrode spacing is increased to obtain information from greater depth at a given surface location. The linear filter method was used in the interpretation of the resistivity soundings. Some boreholes were logged so as to correlate the surface resistivity survey with well logging. The result indicates that kaolin deposit of thickness ranging from 0.5m - 44.1m. These results are in agreement with borehole data. The quantity of Kaolin in Ozanogogo shows that there exists a very large quantity of Kaolin deposits for commercial purpose.
Life History of Aeropedellus clavatus (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in the Alpine Tundra of Colorado

Aeropedellus clavatus (Thomas), an alpine and boreal grasshopper, is resident at higher altitudes in the Colorado Rockies than any other acridian. A 5-season study of an alpine population sampled at 12,800 and 13,100 ft above sea level on Mount Evans, Colorado, involving 2838 specimens (including 1734 juveniles), revealed various adaptations to an alpine habitat: an abbreviated life cycle—only 4 juvenile instars; hatching while ice and snow are still present in the immediate surroundings, and sexual maturity reached in approximately 6 weeks thereafter; oviposition in basal portions of sedges and grasses; diapause apparently involving more than 1 season; feeding predominantly on sedges and grasses. The eggs and egg pods, and the various stages in development of both sexes, are described and illustrated.
Microalbuminuria: do we need a new threshold?

Microalbuminuria (30–300 mg of albumin/24 h) is a well-known independent risk factor for kidney and cardiovascular disease and of mortality in diabetic, hypertensive and in the general population. However, recent studies indicate that increased risk is observed at levels of albuminuria much lower than those currently employed to define microalbuminuria. Such low levels were shown to predict heart disease and death, independent of age, sex, renal function, diabetes, hypertension and lipids, in subjects with cardiovascular disease, hypertension and in the general population; as well as to predict progression to hypertension. Correction of obesity and metabolic derangements lowered levels of albuminuria below 30 mg/24 h to levels not associated with increased risk (5–7 mg/24 h). Despite the lack of outcome studies, there is substantial evidence to indicate that the threshold for defining microalbuminuria (that is, albuminuria associated with increased risk) should be lowered by nearly three to four-fold from the currently defined threshold. It would be advisable that clinical scores and future guidelines would consider including microalbuminuria at the lower rates as an independent risk factor, and as an indication for implementing early intervention. Unfortunately, and despite the abundance of evidence, albuminuria measurements are still underutilized in clinical practice.
INTRASPECIFIC LITTER SIZE VARIATION IN MICROTUS CALIFORNICUS II. VARIATION BETWEEN POPULATIONS.

Spatial variation in the environment constitutes an important selective force on many organisms. A frequent response to this environmental variation is the development of patterns of intraspecific variation, which may lead to differences between populations in numerous features. Patterns of interpopulation variation in litter size can be used to study the effects of spatial variation on the phenotype. In general, litter sizes of small mammals increase with latitude (Lord, 1960), and in an apparently analogous fashion, with altitude (Dunmire, 1960; Fleming and Rauscher, 1978; Bronson, 1979). Patterns of litter size variation across other kinds of habitat gradients or between contrasting habitats over short geographic distances are less well known. Significant litter size differences have been reported between populations of the house mouse, Mus musculus, and the Norway rat, Rattus norvegicus, inhabiting open fields and corn-ricks (Laurie, 1946; Leslie et al., 1952). Kaneko (1978) has demonstrated litter size differences between populations of Microtus montbelli inhabiting cultivated rice fields and cypress plantations. Another microtine, Ondatra zibethicus, has been found by Errington et al. (1963) to have different litter sizes in different habitats. Most authors attribute these patterns to nutritional differences, but data are generally lacking. A large literature on the adaptive basis of different litter sizes in different environments is most attentive to the patterns of litter size variation with altitude and
Abstract IA28: New targeted approaches for high-risk pediatric malignancies

While significant progress has been made in treating many pediatric malignancies, cancer remains the leading cause of death from disease in children. A number of childhood cancer subtypes remain particularly recalcitrant to dose-intensified cytotoxic treatment suggesting that new approaches are needed. Initial optimism that massively parallel sequencing efforts would reveal imminently targetable lesions has been tempered by a major finding that pediatric cancers often have simple genomes. While a signature mutation is frequently present, the product is often considered a difficult drug target, such as an aberrant transcription factor. Thus, the hope that cancer can be treated with combinations of drugs targeting specific gene mutations is unlikely to be imminently viable for most pediatric cancers. We hypothesized that while there is a notable paucity of events in easily druggable enzymes, a small number of sentinel lesions in an otherwise quiet genome may enable the discovery of synthetic lethal relationships with these key genetic events. Thus, we are applying unbiased approaches to identify key dependencies in pediatric cancers using functional genomic screening (shRNA and CRISPR) and chemical genomic screening. The primary goal is to connect key genetic lesions or disease lineages to new gene targets or small-molecule perturbations in the highest risk subtypes of pediatric cancers. Illustrative examples of our early findings will be presented. Citation Format: Kimberly Stegmaier. New targeted approaches for high-risk pediatric malignancies. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Pediatric Cancer Research: From Mechanisms and Models to Treatment and Survivorship; 2015 Nov 9-12; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(5 Suppl):Abstract nr IA28.
A One-Pot/Single-Analysis Approach to Substrate Scope Investigations Using Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography (GC×GC)

A representative substrate scope investigation for an enantioselective catalytic ketone-reduction has been performed as a single reaction on a mixture containing equimolar amounts of nine (9) prototypical compounds. The resulting analyte pool containing 18 potential products from nine different reactions could all be completely resolved in a single chromatographic injection using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) with time-of-flight mass spectrometry, allowing for simultaneous determination of percent conversion and enantiomeric excess for each substrate. The results obtained for an enantioselective iron-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation using this one-pot/single-analysis approach were similar to those reported for the individualized reactions, demonstrating the utility of this strategy for streamlining substrate scope investigations. Moreover, for this particular catalyst, activity and selectivity were not greatly affected by the presence of other ketones or enantioenriched reduced products. This approach allows for faster and greener analyses that are central to new reaction development, as well as an opportunity to gain further insights into other established transformations.
Analysis on the Situation of Iodine Deficiency Disorders in Tianshui City

OBJECTIVE Understanding the dynamics of iodine deficiency disorders increase and decrease tendency and prevention present situation. METHODS The surveillance was carried out by children's IQ and thyroid check, salty and urine iodine content determination,and health education knowledge questionnaire survey in the city in randomly selected monitoring points. RESULTS Total goiter rate of children were 10.0%. Residents of households qualified iodized salt consumption rate were 98.1%. The median urinary iodine of the children and the childbearing years women were 353.86 μg/L and 212.99 μg/L,respectively. Children's IQ average was 98.9. IDD knowledge questionnaire fifth-grade students and housewives passing an examination rate respectively is 6.8% and 57.8%. CONCLUSION Three indicators including goiter rate of children and residents qualified iodized salt consumption rate and the median urinary iodine of children reached a basic standards of the elimination of iodine deficiency disorders,but the prevention knowledge's about iodine deficiency disorders is not very enough,and key crowd knowing rate is low and the iodine deficiency completely had still not eliminated to the key crowd's harm.
Operating modes of photovoltaic/energy-storage hybrid system and its control strategy

The operating modes of photovoltaic/energy-storage hybrid system are analyzed,including whole system mode,energy storage bypass mode and energy storage support mode.Its topology is proposed with the flow direction control,which is verified by the simulation with the operational data of a 100 kWp photovoltaic system.The integration of photovoltaic system and energy storage system increases the system controllability and grid-connection flexibility,improves the system output characteristics of load response,and reduces greatly the system requirements for grid power transmission capacity.
Clinical analysis of composite sequential bypass graft for treatment of chronic limb ischemia

Objective To evaluate the outcome of composite sequential bypass in treatment of chronic lower extremity ischemia.Methods The clinical data of 25 patients with chronic lower limb ischemia who underwent composite sequential bypass reconstruction,in a 3-year period,were retropectively analyzed.The composite vessel consisted of PTFE vassular prosthesis and autologous vein.The proximal end of PTFE was anastomosed to the common femoral artery,and the distal end to the isolated popliteal artery.The autologous vein exited from the lower end of PTFE vessel and was anastomosed to the tibial or peroneal artery in the leg.Results The venous reconstructions had the inflow taken from the distal PTFE artery(above knee in 5 and below knee in 20).The outflow involved the peroneal artery in 12(48%),the posterior tibial artery in 8(32%),and the anterior tibial artery in 5(20%).Primary patency,secondary patency and limb salvage were 61%,68% and 73% at 3 year,respectively.Conclusions Composite sequential reconstruction using an isolated popliteal segment as supporting point for the distal reconstruction has high long-term patency rate and good effect of limb savage,it is an acceptable option in patients presenting with serious limb ischemia without enough venous conduit for distal bypass.
Relationships Between Family and Community Factors on Delinquency and Violence among African American Adolescents: A Critical Review

Among the most powerful antecedents to delinquency and violence are the family of origin and the community context in which the adolescent lives. Additionally, it is recognized that family and comm...
Model predictive control of thermal effects of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet for biomedical applications

This paper investigates the application of model predictive control (MPC) for regulating the thermal effects of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ). The control objective is to deliver a predetermined thermal dosage to a target surface without inducing any thermal damage. To this end, a nonlinear thermal model is developed for the APPJ under study, and a MPC strategy is designed through repeated linearization of the nonlinear model along the operating trajectory. The performance of the MPC strategy is demonstrated in simulations.
Multimedia Learning: PRINCIPLES FOR REDUCING EXTRANEOUS PROCESSING IN MULTIMEDIA LEARNING

Consider the following situation. You are interested in how lightning storms develop, so you go to an online encyclopedia and click on a movie icon labeled “How Lightning Works.” You watch a three-minute narrated animation that explains the steps in lightning formation. The lesson includes many interesting facts about lightning, such as the fact that each year 150 Americans die from being struck by lightning, and has many interesting video clips, such as ten-second segments showing various lightning storms. To increase your enjoyment, the lesson has an instrumental music loop playing in the background. Your attention is drawn to the many interesting features of the lesson, such as the interesting facts and video clips, so you do not pay much attention to some of the essential information about the steps in lightning formation. On a subsequent retention test, you can remember parts of some of the sentences about lightning formation, and on a transfer test, you are not able to apply what was presented to solving new problems. What is extraneous processing overload? This situation is an example of extraneous processing overload – that is, a situation in which the cognitive processing of extraneous material in the lesson is so demanding that there is little or no remaining cognitive capacity to engage in essential or generative processing. Extraneous processing overload is likely to occur when the lesson contains attention-grabbing extraneous material or when the lesson is designed in a confusing way.
The Association Between Patient-Reported and Objective Oral Anticancer Medication Adherence Measures: A Systematic Review .

Problem Identification Oral anticancer medication (OAM) use has been steadily increasing, leading to several patient benefits. A notable challenge for nurses is accurate monitoring of patient OAM regimens because nonadherence is associated with poor health outcomes and decreased survival. Currently, no gold standard measure of OAM adherence exists. The authors conducted a systematic review of the association between objective and patient-reported measures of OAM adherence.
Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism

(1986). Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 258-260.
Sensory evaluation of gluten-free quinoa whole grain snacks.

Abstract Sensory evaluation of quinoa gluten-free whole grain low fat and salt snacks was conducted. The snacks were Quinoa, Quinoa-Cayenne Pepper, Quinoa-Ginger and Quinoa-Turmeric. Cayenne pepper, ginger and turmeric are common spices that contain health promoting nutrients. Cayenne pepper has been associated with enhancing heat production. Ginger has been reported to improve blood flow and prevent joint pains. Turmeric has been observed to have wound healing potential. All the snacks contained 6% corn oil and 2% salt. Snack dough was prepared using 120 mL water for 100 g dry ingredients. About 20 g of snack dough was placed on center of preheated KrumKake Express Baker and cooked for 2 min. Seventy in-house volunteers judged Color/Appearance of Quinoa, Quinoa-Cayenne Pepper and Quinoa-Ginger snacks significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher than Quinoa-Turmeric snacks. Odor/Aroma of Quinoa-Ginger snacks was significantly higher than other snacks tested. Texture/Mouth-feel of Quinoa-Cayenne Pepper, Quinoa-Ginger and Quinoa-Turmeric snacks was similar and significantly higher than Quinoa snacks. Taste/Flavor and Acceptance was similar in four kinds of snacks tested. Water activity of all the snacks tested ranged from 0.41–0.55 suggesting that these snacks were crispy with good antimicrobial stability. These snacks would be quite filling due to their expansion of 2.6–3.1 times due to high porosity. Acceptance of snacks tested was Quinoa 79%, Quinoa-Cayenne Pepper 77%, Quinoa-Ginger 73% and Quinoa-Turmeric 70%. These snacks contained only 3–4 ingredients and could be made in any house kitchen or commercial production. Acceptance of 70–79% is very desirable. These healthy nutritious gluten-free quinoa snacks offer choice for all including vegetarians and individuals hypersensitive to gluten.
Personalized Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy: A Call for Greater Precision

Nanotechnology has brought about the advent of personalized medicine in the era of targeted therapeutic strategies for cancer therapy. The ability to exploit tumor features for therapeutic gain has made it possible to manufacture more effective nanomedicines for cancer treatment. However, known obstacles, including the inability to overcome pathophysiological barriers of tumors, have impeded disease management. In spite of this, recent efforts have been made to develop more functionalized nanosystems that utilize the active-targeting approach. This article reviews the FDA-approved cancer drug delivery systems in the general framework of personalized nanomedicine. We discuss the latest efforts in the development of functionalized nano-systems, and summarize relevant ongoing preclinical and clinical trials.
High Strength Underwater Bonding with Polymer Mimics of Mussel Adhesive Proteins

When it comes to underwater adhesion, shellfish are the true experts. Mussels, barnacles, and oysters attach to rocks with apparent ease. Yet our man-made glues often fail when trying to stick in wet environments. Results described herein focus on a copolymer mimic of mussel adhesive proteins, poly(catechol-styrene). Underwater bonding was examined as a function of parameters including polymer molecular weight and composition. In doing so, several surprising results emerged. Poly(catechol-styrene) may be the strongest underwater adhesive found to date. Bonding even exceeded that of the reference biological system, live mussels. Adhesion was also found to be stronger under salt water than deionized water. Such unexpected findings may contradict an earlier proposal in which charged amino acids were suggested to be key for mussel adhesive function. Taken together, these discoveries are helping us to both understand biological adhesion as well as develop new materials with properties not accessed previously.
Dynamical Heating of the Arctic Atmosphere during the Springtime Transition

AbstractThe Arctic undergoes an abrupt transition from the quasi-steady climate of winter to a period of rapid warming in spring. To explore the atmospheric dynamics of this transition, an extended simulation using a global atmospheric model driven by a fixed repeating annual cycle of sea surface temperatures and sea ice cover is analyzed. The model reproduces the timing, structure, and interannual variability of the observed spring onset, thus providing a platform for addressing its dynamics. It is found that atmospheric eddy heat fluxes across the Arctic boundary, highly variable in winter but much less so in spring, shape the transition and determine its timing. Together with the rapid springtime increase of solar heating, the decreased variability in dynamical heating creates the abrupt appearance of the spring transition. Perpetual season simulations for winter, early spring, and late spring further reveal the dynamics of seasonally varying dynamical heating. The eddy heat flux is less variable in sp...
Bridging the Gap with New Strategies in Acute ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction: Bolus Thrombolysis, Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa Inhibitors, Combination Therapy, Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, and “Facilitated” PCI

Achieving early reperfusion with thrombolytic agents or primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the cornerstone of current therapy. Two advances in pharmacologic therapy are: (1) bolus thrombolysis, which simplifies therapy, reduces door-to-needle time, and reduces the potential for medication errors, and (2) Low-dose fibrinolytic therapy combined with a glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa inhibitor which can achieve higher rates of reperfusion than fibrinolytic therapy alone. In addition, the IIb/IIIa inhibitor as part of the reperfusion regimen will support any acute-phase interventions that are performed. The combination of fibrinolytic therapy and GP IIb/IIIa inhibition to “facilitate” PCI is being examined in TIMI-14, SPEED, and GUSTO IV. Early findings in the SPEED trial have shown promising results with “facilitated” PCI when patency is achieved before PCI is attempted. Results of these trials will further define the role of combination therapy in facilitating mechanical interventions.
Pathways of Ethanol Metabolism and Related Pathology

In ADH-mediated oxidation of ethanol, hydrogen is transferred from the substrate to the cofactor nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), converting it to the reduced form (NADH) (Fig. 1). As a net result, ethanol oxidation by ADH generates an excess of reducing equivalents as free NADH in hepatic cytosol, primarily because the metabolic systems involved in NADH removal are not able to fully offset the accumulation of NADH. The acetaldehyde produced in this reaction is converted to acetate by aldehyde dehydrogenase, which is also associated with reduction of NAD to NADH. The large amounts of reducing equivalents produced overwhelm the hepatocyte’s ability to maintain redox homeostasis and a number of metabolic disorders ensue, including changes in protein, carbohydrate (hypoglycemia) and uric acid metabolism (Lieber, 1982). This redox mechanism also affects lipids: 1) ethanol oxidation provides reducing equivalents and two carbon units for lipid synthesis, 2) the more reduced redox state inhibits the oxidation of fatty acids and diverts them into esterification which is further enhanced by the increased concentration of sn-glycerol-3-phosphate, 3) ethanol affects the amount of fatty acids transported from the adipose tissue into the liver (Lieber et al., 1959; Lieber and Schmid, 1961; Lieber, 1982). A characteristic feature of liver injury in the alcoholic is the predominance of steatosis and other lesions in the perivenular (also called centrilobular) zone or zone 3 of the hepatic acinus. The mechanism for this zonal selectivity of the toxic effects involves several distinct and not mutually exclusive mechanisms: one hypothesis postulates that ethanol can produce hypoxic damage of perivenular hepatocytes whereas another postulates that relative hypoxic conditions normally prevailing in the perivenular zone enhance the metabolic toxicity of ethanol. Furthermore, the selective presence and induction of enzymes of alcohol metabolism in the perivenular zone is also contributory.
Eddy Correlation Flux Measurement System Handbook

The eddy correlation (ECOR) flux measurement system provides in situ, half-hour measurements of the surface turbulent fluxes of momentum, sensible heat, latent heat, and carbon dioxide (CO2) (and methane at one Southern Great Plains extended facility (SGP EF) and the North Slope of Alaska Central Facility (NSA CF). The fluxes are obtained with the eddy covariance technique, which involves correlation of the vertical wind component with the horizontal wind component, the air temperature, the water vapor density, and the CO2 concentration. The instruments used are: • a fast-response, three-dimensional (3D) wind sensor (sonic anemometer) to obtain the orthogonal wind components and the speed of sound (SOS) (used to derive the air temperature) • an open-path infrared gas analyzer (IRGA) to obtain the water vapor density and the CO2 concentration, and • an open-path infrared gas analyzer (IRGA) to obtain methane density and methane flux at one SGP EF and at the NSA CF. The ECOR systems are deployed at the locations where other methods for surface flux measurements (e.g., energy balance Bowen ratio [EBBR] systems) are difficult to employ, primarily at the north edge of a field of crops. A Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) has been installed collocated withmore » each deployed ECOR system in SGP, NSA, Tropical Western Pacific (TWP), ARM Mobile Facility 1 (AMF1), and ARM Mobile Facility 2 (AMF2). The surface energy balance system consists of upwelling and downwelling solar and infrared radiometers within one net radiometer, a wetness sensor, and soil measurements. The SEBS measurements allow the comparison of ECOR sensible and latent heat fluxes with the energy balance determined from the SEBS and provide information on wetting of the sensors for data quality purposes. The SEBS at one SGP and one NSA site also support upwelling and downwelling PAR measurements to qualify those two locations as Ameriflux sites.« less
ConfChem Conference on Mathematics in Undergraduate Chemistry Instruction: The Chem-Math Project

From 2005 to 2010, I conducted 80 min recitations for ∼20% of the general chemistry population who were identified and placed as underprepared or at-risk in the first semester, or who elected it as their assigned “group-learning experience” in the second semester. Action-research was used to determine the extent of mathematics remediation needed, the effectiveness of pedagogical techniques used, and the increase in students’ skills and confidence in course success as a result of our work together. Data for analysis included recorded student dialogue and individual interviews, survey data, students’ work on paper, and photos of group work on white-boards. This report summarizes paper 6 of the 8 invited papers to the ConfChem online conference on Mathematics in Undergraduate Chemistry Instruction, held from October 23 to November 27, 2017, and hosted by the ACS DivCHED Committee on Computers in Chemical Education (CCCE).
School-Based Bullying and Teen Dating Violence Prevention Laws: Overlapping or Distinct?

The most recent legislative attempts to curb violence in schools have been school-based dating violence prevention laws. In the previous decade, there was an increase in legislation designed to pre...
A hierarchical, fuzzy inference approach to data filtration and feature prioritization in the connected manufacturing enterprise

In manufacturing, the technology to capture and store large volumes of data developed earlier and faster than corresponding capabilities to analyze, interpret, and apply it. The result for many manufacturers is a collection of unanalyzed data and uncertainty with respect to where to begin. This paper examines big data as both an enabler and a challenge for the connected manufacturing enterprise and presents a framework that sequentially tests and selects independent variables for training applied machine learning models. Unsuitable features are discarded, and each remaining feature receives a crisp numeric output and a linguistic label, both of which are measures of the feature’s suitability. The framework is tested using three datasets employing time series, binary, and continuous input data. Results of filtered models are compared to results obtained by base, unfiltered sets of features using a proposed metric of performance-size ratio. Framework results outperform base feature sets in all tested cases, and the proposed future research will be to implement it in a case study in the electronic assembly manufacture.
Proceedings of the forty-first annual ACM symposium on Theory of computing

The papers in this volume were presented at the 41st Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC 2009), held in Bethesda, Maryland, May 31 -- June 2, 2009. The Symposium was sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT). This volume also contains a short essay related to the Les Valiant celebration day held on May 30 before the conference to honor the work and career of Les Valiant. The submitted papers in many cases represent reports of continuing research. It is expected that most of them will appear in a more polished and complete form in scientific journals. In response to the Call for Papers, a record 329 submissions were received by the November 17, 2008 deadline, of which 8 were eventually withdrawn. Although the submissions were not formally refereed, each received careful consideration. The committee held a series of on-line discussions, as well as a physical meeting January 29-30, in Cambridge, MA, attended by 23 of the 24 program committee members. A total of 77 papers were selected for inclusion in the program. Of these, the committee chose two recipients for the Best Paper Award: "A Constructive Proof of the Lovasz Local Lemma" by Robin Moser, and "Public-Key Cryptosystems from the Worst-Case Shortest Vector Problem" by Chris Peikert. The committee also awarded the Danny Lewin Best Student Paper award to the former paper by Moser.
Thoracic wall ischemia after repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm requiring large microvascular soft tissue reconstruction

Abstract A 67-year-old man presented to the vascular service with a Crawford extent I thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm. He underwent open thoracoabdominal aortic replacement from just distal to the left subclavian artery to just proximal to the origin of the superior mesenteric artery under deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. His postoperative course was complicated by thoracic wall ischemia, resulting in a life-threatening defect of the chest wall that exposed lung parenchyma and the aortic graft. Successful microvascular soft tissue reconstruction was performed using an anterolateral thigh flap and arteriovenous loop. This is a case report of a large chest wall defect resulting from thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair. This case highlights the feasibility of microvascular reconstruction techniques to repair even the largest defects.
Decentralized Optimization Over Time-Varying Directed Graphs With Row and Column-Stochastic Matrices

In this article, we provide a distributed optimization algorithm, termed as TV- $\mathcal {AB}$ , that minimizes a sum of convex functions over time-varying, random directed graphs. Contrary to the existing work, the algorithm we propose does not require eigenvector estimation to estimate the (non- $\mathbf {1}$ ) Perron eigenvector of a stochastic matrix. Instead, the proposed approach relies on a novel information mixing approach that exploits both row- and column-stochastic weights to achieve agreement toward the optimal solution when the underlying graph is directed. We show that TV- $\mathcal {AB}$ converges linearly to the optimal solution when the global objective is smooth and strongly convex, and the underlying time-varying graphs exhibit bounded connectivity, i.e., a union of every $C$ consecutive graphs is strongly connected. We derive the convergence results based on the stability analysis of a linear system of inequalities along with a matrix perturbation argument. Simulations confirm the findings in this article.
Legislature Mulls Change of Article 8; Corporate Law

A major revision of Article 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code was passed by the New York Assembly on July 2, 1996, but did not receive Senate consideration prior to adjustment. In light of the strong support given Proposed Article 8 by the banking and securities industries, the New York State Legislature will probably give serious consideration to passage when the next legislative session begins. Although the supporters of Proposed Article 8 have stoutly maintained that it is primarily a clarification of the existing Article 8 and that the proposed changes are insignificant, the proposal actually includes major changes that should be of concern to all investors in America’s securities markets. Without significant amendments to Proposed Article 8, investors would be profoundly disadvantaged.