cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Virtual energy center for teaching alternative energy technologies

We overview the Virtual Energy Center, a VR environment that models a real energy facility to enable virtual field trips and self-guided exploration. Our goal is to take advantage of emerging low-cost hardware and improved networks to provide students who cannot travel to the real facility with alternatives that provide comparable educational benefit. The virtual facility is augmented by visual guides and educational content to teach students about concentrating solar power technology. A teacher physically near the student can appear in the scene via depth camera imagery, allowing the teacher to walk around in a classroom setting and assist students. Additionally, work-in-progress is streaming the depth images over a network to allow students to virtually meet expert guides from the real facility. We summarize these features, some interaction-related challenges, and ongoing testing.
Introduction: Economies across Cultures — The Anthropological Approach

An Eskimo woman and her husband butcher a seal together in summer; in winter she alone butchers the meat and distributes it to the appropriate kin, for in the winter season butchering is women’s work. A Kwakiutl chief holds an extravagant potlatch; a Trobriand chief is proud of the mounds of yams rotting in his front yard; a Dani goes to all efforts to prevent her pigs from ruining the sweet potato gardens. An elderly Californian receives bags of groceries at a neighbourhood community centre while her Mundurucu counterpart holds an honoured position as a decision maker; a Mexican grandmother works simultaneously as a curer, market vendor, and head of household.1
Predicting Learning from Student Affective Response to Tutor Questions

Modeling student learning during tutorial interaction is a central problem in intelligent tutoring systems. While many modeling techniques have been developed to address this problem, most of them focus on cognitive models in conjunction with often-complex domain models. This paper presents an analysis suggesting that observing students' multimodal behaviors may provide deep insight into student learning at critical moments in a tutorial session. In particular, this work examines student facial expression, electrodermal activity, posture, and gesture immediately following inference questions posed by human tutors. The findings show that for human-human task-oriented tutorial dialogue, facial expression and skin conductance response following tutor inference questions are highly predictive of student learning gains. These findings suggest that with multimodal behavior data, intelligent tutoring systems can make more informed adaptive decisions to support students effectively.
Influence of asthma status on sleep variability in overweight/obese youth.

ABSTRACTObjective: Pediatric asthma and overweight/obesity (OV/OB) frequently co-occur and youth with both conditions exhibit poor sleep/bedtime habits. This study assessed differences in week-to-weekend bedtime/wake time variability among OV/OB youth with/without comorbid asthma, and tested whether variability predicted weekday sleep. Methods: OV/OB youth (n = 142; 28% comorbid asthma; 7–12 years) wore an Accelerometer for 5 days (2 weekend days), providing estimates of week-to-weekend bedtime/wake-time variability, weekday Total Sleep Time (TST), weekday time in bed (TIB), and weekday wake after sleep onset (WASO). Results: There were no demographic differences between groups beyond lower family income for the OV/OB+asthma group. The OV/OB+asthma group exhibited later weekday (mean OV/OB+asthma = 10:39 pm, mean OV/OB only = 10:30pm) and weekend (mean OV/OB+asthma = 11:41 pm, mean OV/OB only = 11:17pm) bedtimes, earlier weekday waketimes (mean OV/OB+asthma = 6:40 am, mean OV/OB only = 6:51 am), and simil...
Simultaneous Approximation of Function and Derivative on [0,∞] and an Application to Initial Value Problems

Convergence of the approximation of a class of functions defined on [0,∞] and their derivatives by exponomials and Laguerre functions is established. These results are used in the analysis of a new finite element type for initial value problems.
Evaluating potential water quality drivers of a fish regime shift in the Wabash River using the SWAT model.

Abstract Anthropogenic activities can have great effects on ecosystem stability. One such impact is a regime shift in the ecosystem community. Although these changes can occur naturally, many studies have shown that anthropogenic activities can also induce these changes. Possible drivers of a freshwater fish regime shift in the Wabash River in the United States that occurred in the 1990’s were investigated. Given the shift occurred over a time period of changing agricultural practices in an agriculturally-dominated watershed, we used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to evaluate the possible influence that these management changes had on the observed regime shift. The results suggest that changing fertilizer management, tillage, and precipitation, may be associated with the fish regime shift. The increase in mineral phosphorus levels in the Wabash River at the watershed outlet correlated well with the corresponding increase in benthic invertivores. Although other changes, both natural and anthropogenic, could be drivers as well, we demonstrate that a combination of climate and agricultural management practices were likely influencing the observed fish regime shift.
Peanut Shaped Bars

Recent 3-D N-body simulations have shown that the bars formed through the well-known global. instability of discs later acquire a pronounced peanut shape when seen from the side. This paper reports a new calculation of the phenomenon using a finer grid and a slightly different initial. model. The final. peanut shaped bar, when viewed from within the disc, has an appearance remarkably similar to that of the Milky Way bulge. When viewed as a distant edge-on galaxy, an observer would see cylindrical. rotation in the “bulge”.
An intensified reaction technology for high levulinic acid concentration from lignocellulosic biomass

Abstract An intensified reaction technology was investigated to achieve high concentrations of levulinic acid (LA) from eucalyptus wood. In the new process, the woody biomass was first pretreated in mild conditions to hydrolyze hemicellulose and recover xylose. The pretreated wood with a high content of cellulose was further treated under relatively severe conditions to produce LA and formic acid. The reaction solution was reused in treatment of new batches of biomass, resulting in high concentrations of LA (105 g/L) and formic acid (39 g/L), respectively. The lignin and humins were recovered as solid byproducts, which had an estimated high heating value of 25–27 MJ/kg in comparison with 18 MJ/kg of original wood. In the sequential repeated batch reactions, however, the LA yield deteriorated batch by batch. It was found out that the old LA in the reaction solution inhibited formation of new LA from glucose. In addition, some LA at high concentrations was lost due to its interactions with other intermediates and byproducts.
Atmospheric-pressure solution-cathode glow discharge: A versatile ion source for atomic and molecular mass spectrometry.

Abstract An atmospheric-pressure solution-cathode glow discharge (SCGD) has been evaluated as an ion source for atomic, molecular, and ambient desorption/ionization mass spectrometry. The SCGD consists of a direct-current plasma, supported in the ambient air in the absence of gas flows, and sustained upon the surface of a flowing liquid cathode. Analytes introduced in the flowing liquid, as an ambient gas, or as a solid held near the plasma are vaporized and ionized by interactions within or near the discharge. Introduction of acidic solutions containing metal salts produced bare elemental ions as well as H 2 O, OH − and NO 3 − adducts. Detection limits for these elemental species ranged from 0.1 to 4 ppb, working curves spanned more than 4 orders of linear dynamic range, and precision varied between 5 and 16% relative standard deviation. Small organic molecules were also efficiently ionized from solution, and both the intact molecular ion and fragments were observed in the resulting SCGD mass spectra. Fragmentation of molecular species was found to be tunable; high discharge currents led to harder ionization, while low discharge currents produced stronger molecular-ion signals. Ambient gases and solids, desorbed by the plasma from a glass probe, were also readily ionized by the SCGD. Indeed, strong analyte signals were obtained from solid samples placed at least 2 cm from the plasma. These findings indicate that the SCGD might be useful also for ambient desorption/ionization mass spectrometry. Combined with earlier results that showed the SCGD is useful for ionization of labile biomolecules, the results here indicate that the SCGD is a highly versatile ion source capable of providing both elemental and molecular mass-spectral information.
The Flesh of Images, Images of Flesh: Merleau-Ponty Forwarded

The Flesh of Images: Merleau-Ponty Between Painting and Cinema, by Mauro Carbone, is his third book in a body of work interpreting Merleau-Ponty’s ontology of Flesh: The Thinking of the Sensible: M...
Cap-n-Collar Promotes Tissue Regeneration by Regulating ROS and JNK Signaling in the Drosophila melanogaster Wing Imaginal Disc

Regeneration is a complex process that requires an organism to recognize and repair tissue damage, as well as grow and pattern new tissue. Here, we describe a genetic screen to identify novel regulators of regeneration. We ablated the Drosophila melanogaster larval wing primordium by inducing apoptosis in a spatially and temporally controlled manner and allowed the tissue to regenerate and repattern. To identify genes that regulate regeneration, we carried out a dominant-modifier screen by assessing the amount and quality of regeneration in adult wings heterozygous for isogenic deficiencies. We have identified 31 regions on the right arm of the third chromosome that modify the regenerative response. Interestingly, we observed several distinct phenotypes: mutants that regenerated poorly, mutants that regenerated faster or better than wild-type, and mutants that regenerated imperfectly and had patterning defects. We mapped one deficiency region to cap-n-collar (cnc), the Drosophila Nrf2 ortholog, which is required for regeneration. Cnc regulates reactive oxygen species levels in the regenerating epithelium, and affects c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase (JNK) signaling, growth, debris localization, and pupariation timing. Here, we present the results of our screen and propose a model wherein Cnc regulates regeneration by maintaining an optimal level of reactive oxygen species to promote JNK signaling.
High Morphological Order in a Nearly Precise Acid-Containing Polymer and Ionomer

Linear polyethylenes with functional groups at precise intervals along the backbone possess a number of remarkable properties, but the current synthetic methods that produce these precise polymers are difficult to scale up beyond the laboratory setting. When evaluating alternative synthetic routes, a critical question is how precise must the polymer microstructure be to achieve the properties of interest? As a first step in answering this question, we present morphological characterization of a nearly precise polymer—that is, an acid-containing polymer wherein the acid groups are separated by either n or n + 1 methylene groups. We find that the size scale and uniformity of the amorphous morphologies of the nearly precise acid-containing polymer and its sodium-neutralized ionomer are essentially indistinguishable from the precise polymers based on X-ray scattering. Meanwhile, the nearly precise polymer is strikingly distinct from a pseudorandom copolymer with similar average composition. This result sugges...
Evaluating the Unintended Consequences of Assessment Practices: Construct Irrelevance and Construct Underrepresentation

Construct irrelevance (CI) and construct underrepresentation (CU) are 2 major threats to validity, yet they are rarely discussed within the counseling literature. This article provides information ...
Patient-Paired Sample Congruence Between 2 Commercial Liquid Biopsy Tests.

This cohort study examines the reliability and potential utility of 2 commercially available liquid biopsy assays for reported mutations in cell-free DNA.
A Unified Mathematical Model for Nano-Liposomal Drug Delivery to Solid Tumors

Nanoparticles, such as liposomes, allow more targeted drug delivery for improved efficacy and/or reduced toxicity in both passive (e.g., Doxil) or active [e.g., thermo-sensitive liposomes (TSL)] release forms compared with unencapsulated drugs (i.e., conventional chemotherapy). Optimization and evaluation of these different drug delivery systems are experimentally challenging because of varying tissue parameters as well as limited avaiability of experimental data. Here, we present a novel unified mathematical model that can simulate various liposomal drug delivery systems and unencapsulated drugs with a single set of equations. We use this model to evaluate the chemotherapy performance of free Doxorubicin (as drug), as well as various liposomal drug delivery systems: 1) passive liposomes (Doxil) and 2) active-triggered TSL with either intravascular (TSLi) or extravascular (TSLe)-triggered release. Furthermore, we implemented a more accurate expression to consider incomplete liposomal drug release. The proposed model matches experimental in vivo results in terms of maximum drug concentration in tumor. The simulations predict better overall performance for all liposomal delivery systems than free Dox. TSLe is shown to be more efficient for less permeable and perfused tumors than other systems. The optimal release rate is lower for TSLe and Doxil than TSLi. The performance of free DOX changes a little for varying tumor characteristics such as perfusion and permeability.
Hepatitis C transmission from seropositive, nonviremic donors to non-hepatitis C liver transplant recipients.

Breakthroughs in Hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment and rising rates of intravenous drug use have led to an increase in the number of organ donors that are HCV antibody positive but serum nucleic acid test (NAT) negative. The risk of HCV transmission from the liver grafts of these donors to recipients is unknown. To estimate the incidence of HCV transmission, we prospectively followed 26 consecutive HCV antibody (n=25) or NAT (n =1) negative transplant recipients who received a liver graft from donors that were HCV antibody positive but serum NAT negative between March 2016 and March 2017. HCV transmission was considered to have occurred if recipients exhibited a positive HCV-polymerase chain reaction test by 3 months following transplantation. Drug overdose was listed as the cause of death in 15 (60%) of the donors. One recipient died eighteen days after transplantation from primary graft non-function and was excluded. Of the remaining 25 recipients, HCV transmission occurred in 4 (16%), at a median follow up of 11 months, all from donors who died of drug overdose. Three of these patients were treated with direct acting antiviral therapy, with two achieving a sustained virologic response and one an end-of-treatment response. One patient with HCV transmission died after a complicated post-operative course and did not receive antiviral therapy. Conclusions: In this prospective cohort of non-HCV liver recipients receiving grafts from HCV antibody positive/NAT negative donors, the incidence of HCV transmission was 16%, with the highest risk conferred by donors who died of drug overdose. Given the availability of safe and highly effective antiviral therapies, use of such organs could be considered to expand the donor pool. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Assessing the tree health impacts of salt water flooding in coastal cities: A case study in New York City

Abstract Hurricane Sandy was the second costliest hurricane in United States (U.S.) history. The category 2 storm hit New York City (NYC) on the evening of October 29, 2012, causing major flooding, wind damage, and loss of life. The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation (NYC Parks) documented over 20,000 fallen street trees due to the physical impact of wind and debris. However, salt water flooding may have caused additional stress to approximately 48,000 street trees located in the storm’s inundation zone. Early in the first growing season following Hurricane Sandy (June 2013), NYC Parks staff examined these street trees and found that 6,864 of the flooded trees had a significant proportion of their crown fail to leaf out. Thirty percent of those trees did not leaf out at all. The most commonly affected trees were London plane (Platanus × acerifolia) and maple species (Acer spp.). Here we show that red maple (Acer rubrum) is negatively impacted by salt water flooding but can recover over time. London plane trees, on the other hand, experience high mortality and show no signs of recovery 3 years post Sandy. We demonstrate that by 2080 a similar storm could impact almost 100,000 of NYC’s street trees. These findings have global implications for coastal urban forests as we face sea level rise and an increasing frequency and magnitude of coastal storms.
STANDARD DECISION THEORY CORRECTED

Where there are infinitely many possible basic states of the world, a standard probability function must assign zero probability to each state – since any finite probability would sum to over one. This generates problems for any decision theory that appeals to expected utility or related notions. For it leads to the view that a situation in which one wins a million dollars if any of a thousand of the equally probable states is realized has an expected value of zero (since each such state has probability zero). But such a situation dominates the situation in which one wins nothing no matter what (which also has an expected value of zero), and so surely is more desirable. I formulate and defend some principles for evaluating options where standard probability functions cannot strictly represent probability – and in particular for where there is an infinitely spread, uniform distribution of probability. The principles appeal to standard probability functions, but overcome at least some of their limitations in such cases.
Deducting the Costs of Fertility Treatment: Implications of Magdalin v. Commissioner for Opposite-Sex Couples, Gay and Lesbian Same-Sex Couples, and Single Women and Men

This Article considers whether federal tax law permits taxpayers to deduct medical expenses (or exclude flexible spending account reimbursements) for fertility treatment costs, including the costs of in vitro fertilization (IVF), egg donor, and surrogate procedures. Magdalin v. Commissioner (December 2008) calls into question the deductibility of IVF, egg donor, and surrogacy costs, and, perhaps unintentionally, the deductibility of the costs of various other types of reproductive medical care (e.g., sterilizations, birth control pills, legal abortions, and vasectomies). This Article explores the tax implications of the case for infertile and fertile taxpayers, including opposite-sex married and unmarried couples, gay and lesbian same-sex couples, and single women and men. The case indicates that the tax deductibility of fertility treatment costs turns on: (1) whether the taxpayer (or “his spouse”) has been diagnosed with “medical” infertility; (2) how we constitute “the body,” “of” “the taxpayer, his spouse, or dependents;” (3) the taxpayer’s sex, marital status, and sexual orientation; and (4) what the IRS and judges implicitly consider to be “natural” or “normal” reproduction. As the case illustrates, most legal discourse - including tax discourse - regarding assisted reproductive technologies assumes that: (1) the need for fertility treatment arises because of medical infertility; (2) women, not men, are infertile; and (3) fertility treatment is undertaken to allow an opposite-sex married couple to bear a child in the context of a traditional nuclear family. This Article also addresses the taxpayer’s argument that the status-based distinctions in section 213 are unconstitutional, discusses the circumstances in which section 213 does and does not aggregate “bodies,” and notes the ways in which law constitutes “the body,” based on notions of what is “natural” or “normal.”
Cell replacement in human lung bioengineering.

BACKGROUND As the number of patients with end-stage lung disease continues to rise, there is a growing need to increase the limited number of lungs available for transplantation. Unfortunately, attempts at engineering functional lung de novo have been unsuccessful, and artificial mechanical devices have limited utility as a bridge to transplant. This difficulty is largely due to the size and inherent complexity of the lung; however, recent advances in cell-based therapeutics offer a unique opportunity to enhance traditional tissue-engineering approaches with targeted site- and cell-specific strategies. METHODS Human lungs considered unsuitable for transplantation were procured and supported using novel cannulation techniques and modified ex-vivo lung perfusion. Targeted lung regions were treated using intratracheal delivery of decellularization solution. Labeled mesenchymal stem cells or airway epithelial cells were then delivered into the lung and incubated for up to 6 hours. RESULTS Tissue samples were collected at regular time intervals and detailed histologic and immunohistochemical analyses were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of native cell removal and exogenous cell replacement. Regional decellularization resulted in the removal of airway epithelium with preservation of vascular endothelium and extracellular matrix proteins . After incubation, delivered cells were retained in the lung and showed homogeneous topographic distribution and flattened cellular morphology. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that targeted cell replacement in extracorporeal organs is feasible and may ultimately lead to chimeric organs suitable for transplantation or the development of in-situ interventions to treat or reverse disease, ultimately negating the need for transplantation.
Pairfield fluctuations of a 2D Hubbard model

At temperatures above the superconducting transition temperature, the pairfield susceptibility provides information on the nature of the pairfield fluctuations. Here, we study the d-wave pairfield susceptibility of a 2D Hubbard model for a doping which has a pseudogap (PG) and for a doping which does not. In both cases, there will be a region of Kosterlitz–Thouless fluctuations as the transition at TKT is approached. Above this region, we find evidence for pairfield-order parameter-phase fluctuations for dopings with a PG and BCS Cooper pair fluctuations for dopings without a PG.
Using a Virtual Agency to Teach Research

ABSTRACTUse of instructional technology in social work has grown rapidly in recent years. Despite this increase, there is limited empirical investigation of its impact. In this paper we describe th...
Filtered Propagator Functional of Quantum Dissipative Path Integration

We developed a new scheme, based on Feynman’s path integral formulation of time-dependent quantum mechanics, which calculates the reduced density matrix of a one-dimensional quantum mechanical system coupled to a harmonic dissipative environment. Tracing out the bath coordinates introduces memory effects to the dynamics of the system which have finite span if the environment has a broad spectrum. By introducing a multi-time augmented reduced density vector or functional of statistically significant path segments the path integration can be reduced to matrix-vector multiplication. Monte Carlo techniques are employed to identify path segments of appreciable weight. The scheme allows iterative evaluation of the path integration with long memory kernels over long time periods. High efficiency is achieved with the aid of sorting and filtering criteria. The FORTRAN program[1] is available for either serial or shared-memory parallel execution. [1] E. Sim and N. Makri, Comput. Phys. Commun. (in press.)
9 – Eigenvalue Problems and Fourier Series

In previous chapters, we have seen that many physical situations can be modeled by either ordinary differential equations or systems of ordinary differential equations. However, to understand the motion of a string at a particular location and at a particular time, the temperature in a thin wire at a particular location and a particular time, or the electrostatic potential at a point on a plate, we must solve partial differential equations as each of these quantities depends on (at least) two independent variables. Wave equationc2uxx = utt Heat equationut = c2uxx Laplace’s equationuxx + uyy = 0 In Chapter 10, we introduce a particular method for solving these partial differential equations. In order to carry out this method, however, we introduce the necessary tools in this chapter. We begin with a discussion of boundary-value problems and their solutions.
Visualization and sequencing of accessible chromatin reveals cell cycle and post romidepsin treatment dynamics

Chromatin accessibility is a predictor of gene expression, cell division and cell type specificity. NicE-viewSeq (Nicking Enzyme assisted viewing and Sequencing) allows accessible chromatin visualization and sequencing with overall lower mitochondrial DNA and duplicated sequences interference relative to ATAC-see. Using NicE-viewSeq, we interrogated the accessibility of chromatin in a cell cycle (G1, S and G2/M) - specific manner using mammalian cells. Despite DNA replication and subsequent condensation of chromatin to chromosomes, chromatin accessibility remained generally preserved with minimal subtle alterations. Genome-wide alteration of chromatin accessibility within TSS and enhancer elements gradually decreased as cells progressed from G1 to G2M, with distinct differential accessibility near consensus transcription factors sites. Inhibition of histone deacetylases promoted accessible chromatin within gene bodies, correlating with apoptotic gene expression. In addition, reduced chromatin accessibility for the MYC oncogene pathway correlated with down regulation of pertinent genes. Surprisingly, repetitive RNA loci expression remained unaltered following histone acetylation-mediated increased accessibility. Therefore, we suggest that subtle changes in chromatin accessibility is a prerequisite during cell cycle and histone deacetylase inhibitor mediated therapeutics.
Re-defining “Disagreement”: Rationality Without Final Solutions

This chapter challenges the widespread assumption that disagreement about the nature of racism is disagreement about a matter of fact. This assumption is surely false if conventionalism provides the correct picture of meaning and definition. On conventionalism, disagreement about the correct definition of “racism” is disagreement about a norm. That is, disputes about “what racism is” are part of an ongoing process of “metalinguistic negotiation.” The object of this negotiation is a norm, a representational practice. And the method of negotiation consists of pragmatic advocacy in support of a picture about what the term “racism” ought to mean. The author concludes by defending the contention that metalinguistic negotiations can be rational.
Ventricular Assist Device Implantation for Single Ventricle

Due to the increasing number of patients with failing single ventricle physiology, there has been a growing interest in the use of ventricular assist device (VAD) in these patients. This article aims to provide the key principles, which we believe are important to achieve favorable outcomes in this population. These include: simplification of the procedure, minimization of deleterious effect of a space-occupying VAD in the thorax, and modification of physiology to improve compatibility with VAD support. Consideration of these key principles will improve the outcome of VAD support in complex single ventricle patients. Facing inevitable late deterioration, even after a series of successful single ventricle palliations, VAD support may become part of the routine single ventricle management strategy (ie, Stage 4).
Reducing DRAM Access Latency via Helper Rows

The DRAM technology advancement has seen success in memory density and throughput improvement, but less in access latency reduction. This is mainly due to the intrinsic limitation of capacitance based bit store and access mechanism. The reduction of access latency has been well explored in literature. However, the recently proposed DRAM techniques, such as RowClone and Half-DRAM, offer new opportunities to further optimise the access latency.In this paper, we propose an efficient access strategy to improve the performance of DRAM by optionally discarding the restore. When activating a new row, our technique makes a copy of the row leveraging the RowClone method. Next time when accessing the same row, the cloned row is opened for sensing but it is not restored as the data is preserved in the original row. To improve the efficiency of our proposed strategy, we further exploit three schemes to minimize the copy overhead and increase the reuse of the cloned row. Experimental results show that our proposed strategy can achieve 11% performance improvement on average.
Expression of the regulated isoform of the electrogenic Na+/HCO3− cotransporter, NBCe1, is enriched in pacemaker interstitial cells of Cajal

In this study, we show that the electrogenic Na+/HCO3− cotransporter, NBCe1/Slc4a4, is expressed in subtypes of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) responsible for electrical slow wave generation th...
Commentary: Racial Truth and Reconciliation Meet Civity in Omaha, Nebraska

In this essay, I describe a current community-based racial justice and reconciliation initiative based in and focused on Omaha, Nebraska. This initiative unfolded so as to incorporate a dialogic, deliberative democracy approach into a community’s intentional connection of the commemoration of a specific historical incident of racial violence to continuing, present-day structural racial injustice. Reflecting on this initiative offers insights into the usefulness of dialogue and deliberative democracy for addressing structural injustices such as systemic racism. Additional insights reveal equity-grounded imperatives for deliberative democracy, and democracy more generally.
Exploration of Students’ Mathematical Creativity with Actor-Oriented Transfer to Develop Actor-Oriented Creativity

The transfer of learning has been examined through various theoretical perspectives. One contemporary approach, the actor-oriented transfer (AOT) framework, was introduced to better understand the mechanisms of transfer from the learner’s (actor’s) perspective by emphasizing the need for a shift in the methodology of transfer studies. Similar to the construct of transfer, the exploration of mathematical creativity has been an ongoing quest of researchers, given that it is undeniably an important component of mathematicians’ work and crucial for the development of mathematics. Furthermore, creativity is claimed to help students with the development of knowledge and uses of such knowledge in other domains. However, explicit ways to value, enhance, and evaluate students’ mathematical creativity at the tertiary level require further investigations. This theoretical chapter examines the constructs of transfer and mathematical creativity and provides empirical examples to illustrate an implementation of AOT of students’ mathematical creativity at the tertiary level. An emerging actor-oriented creativity (AOc) construct is proposed as a way to further explorations of students’ mathematical creativity.
Skeletal Muscle Cellular Contractile Dysfunction After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Contributes to Quadriceps Weakness at Six-Month Follow-Up

Muscle dysfunction following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) may evolve from alterations in muscle contractility at the myofilament protein level. Using a prospective, within-subject case control design, we evaluated cellular-level contractility, cross-sectional area (CSA), and myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoform expression on single muscle fibers 3-weeks post ACLR, and evaluated their relationship to whole muscle strength and patient-oriented outcomes 6 months post-op. Biopsies of the vastus lateralis were performed 3-weeks post-ACLR in 11 subjects (5 female, mean age ±SD = 24.7 ± 6.5 yr, height = 172.7 ± 8.2 cm, mass = 75.7 ± 12.5 kg) following first-time ACL rupture and whole muscle strength and self-reported pain, function, and quality of life assessed 6-months post-ACLR. At 3-weeks post ACLR, force production was reduced (P<0.01) in MHC I (-36%) and IIA (-48%) fibers compared to the non-injured leg. When force production was expressed relative to CSA to account for fiber atrophy, reductions remained in MHC IIA fibers (-40%; P<0.001), but MHC I fibers showed only a trend towards being lower (-13%; P=0.09). Finally, skeletal muscle fiber functional deficits at 3-weeks post-ACLR were associated with whole muscle weakness and less favorable patient-reported outcomes at 6-month follow-up. Thus, ACLR promotes early cellular contractile dysfunction that may contribute to decreased whole muscle strength and patient function, and increased patient-reported symptoms, at 6-month follow-up. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Graphene-Ta2O5 heterostructure enabled high performance, deep-ultraviolet to mid-infrared photodetection.

Ultrafast, high sensitive, low cost photodetectors operating at room temperature sensitive from the deep-ultraviolet to mid-infrared region remain a significant challenge in optoelectronics. Achievements in traditional semiconductors using cryogenic operation and complicated growth processes prevent the cost-effective and practical application of broadband detectors. Alternative methods towards high-performance photodetectors, hybrid graphene-semiconductor colloidal quantum dots have been intensively explored. However, the operation of these photodetectors has been limited by the spectral bandwidth and response time. Here, we have demonstrated hybrid photodetectors operating from the deep-ultraviolet to the mid-infrared region with high sensitivity and ultrafast response by coupling graphene with a p-type semiconductor photosensitizer, nitrogen-doped Ta2O5 thin film. Photons with energy higher than the energy of the defect centers release holes from neutral acceptors. The holes are transferred into graphene, leaving behind ionized acceptors. Due to the advantage of two-dimensional heterostructure including homogeneous thickness, extending in a two-dimensional plane, large contact area between the N-Ta2O5 thin film and graphene, and the high mobility of carriers in graphene, holes are transferred rapidly to graphene and recirculated during the long lifetime of ionized acceptors. The photodetectors achieve a high photo-responsivity (up to 3.0 × 106 A W−1), ultrafast rise time (faster than 20 ns), and a specific detectivity (up to ∼2.2 × 1012 Jones). The work provides a method for achieving high-performance optoelectronics operating in the deep-ultraviolet to mid-infrared region.
Mechanistic gene networks inferred from single-cell data with an outlier-insensitive method.

Abstract With advances in single-cell techniques, measuring gene dynamics at cellular resolution has become practicable. In contrast, the increased complexity of data has made it more challenging computationally to unravel underlying biological mechanisms. Thus, it is critical to develop novel computational methods capable of dealing with such complexity and of providing predictive deductions from such data. Many methods have been developed to address such challenges, each with its own advantages and limitations. We present an iterative regression algorithm for inferring a mechanistic gene network from single-cell data, especially suited to overcoming problems posed by measurement outliers. Using this regression, we infer a developmental model for the gene dynamics in Drosophila melanogaster blastoderm embryo. Our results show that the predictive power of the inferred model is higher than that of other models inferred with least squares and ridge regressions. As a baseline for how well a mechanistic model should be expected to perform, we find that model predictions of the gene dynamics are more accurate than predictions made with neural networks of varying architectures and complexity. This holds true even in the limit of small sample sizes. We compare predictions for various gene knockouts with published experimental results, finding substantial qualitative agreement. We also make predictions for gene dynamics under various gene network perturbations, impossible in non-mechanistic models.
Chapter 31 Defining the mechanisms that govern immune acceptance or rejection of neural tissue

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins in normal neural tissue, and in experimental and pathological situations that are applicable to neural transplants. The chapter discusses the expression, modulation and functions of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in neural tissue, and presents some new studies of MHC expression following trauma, and MHC expression in a growing neuroblastoma cell line. The findings described in the chapter have two important implications for neural transplants: class I MHC products are not likely to be present on the neural cells in any form of normal tissue that is transplanted, and if class I MHC expression is not required for the growth or homeostasis of neural cells, then measures designed to prevent expression should not impede the growth or functioning of the neural cells within the graft. The chapter concludes that lack of class I MHC expression in neural tissue should favor the resistance of neural transplants to T cell-mediated immunity, and suggests for increased efforts to understand and modulate the immune response to neural antigens.
Integrative Analysis of Micro‐RNA, Gene Expression, and Survival of Glioblastoma Multiforme

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common type of malignant brain tumor, is highly fatal. Limited understanding of its rapid progression necessitates additional approaches that integrate what is known about the genomics of this cancer. Using a discovery set (n = 348) and a validation set (n = 174) of GBM patients, we performed genome-wide analyses that integrated mRNA and micro-RNA expression data from GBM as well as associated survival information, assessing coordinated variability in each as this reflects their known mechanistic functions. Cox proportional hazards models were used for the survival analyses, and nonparametric permutation tests were performed for the micro-RNAs to investigate the association between the number of associated genes and its prognostication. We also utilized mediation analyses for micro-RNA-gene pairs to identify their mediation effects. Genome-wide analyses revealed a novel pattern: micro-RNAs related to more gene expressions are more likely to be associated with GBM survival (P = 4.8 × 10(-5)). Genome-wide mediation analyses for the 32,660 micro-RNA-gene pairs with strong association (false discovery rate [FDR] < 0.01%) identified 51 validated pairs with significant mediation effect. Of the 51 pairs, miR-223 had 16 mediation genes. These 16 mediation genes of miR-223 were also highly associated with various other micro-RNAs and mediated their prognostic effects as well. We further constructed a gene signature using the 16 genes, which was highly associated with GBM survival in both the discovery and validation sets (P = 9.8 × 10(-6)). This comprehensive study discovered mediation effects of micro-RNA to gene expression and GBM survival and provided a new analytic framework for integrative genomics.
Decolonization of a special type: rethinking Cold War history in Southern Africa

In November 2009, a great fanfare of celebration occurred in Germany to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Built in 1961, the wall came to symbolize the tense Cold War standoff between Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union against Western Europe and the United States. It divided not only a city, but a set of competing ideologies that defined global politics over the second half of the century. November 2009 also marked the twentieth anniversary of independence for Namibia to considerably less fanfare in the global north. In November 1989 the South West Africa Peoples Organization (SWAPO) was elected to power, thus ending South African rule there which had lasted since 1920. South Africa had gained control over the territory after World War I through a mandate granted by the League of Nations, its previous colonial occupier being Germany. This coincidence of timing and historical connection is circumstantial, but it is a familiar reminder of the ways in which historical periodization and meaning continue to be shaped and defined vis-a-vis Western perspectives and criteria. In the same fashion that histories of colonization were once characterized by the perspectives of imperial powers, Cold War histories have tend to be dominated by views anchored in Soviet or American archives, with Europe serving as the primary theatre for this conflict despite more active engagements in Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and southern Africa. This special issue of Kronos : Southern African Histories speaks to this imbalance, contributing in small measure to a recent turn in Cold War studies that has sought to incorporate regional perspectives found in area studies to readdress the parameters and politics of this extended period. Departing from the influential early work of scholars like John Lewis Gaddis who helped to define the field of Cold War history in books such as The United States and the Origins of the Cold War ; 1941-1947 (1972) and Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy (1982) scholarship published over the past two decades has reached beyond an exclusive American-Soviet dynamic and a great men approach to history whether Stalin or Eisenhower, among other leaders to consider the role of social movements and popular trends, the factor of identity politics such as racial solidarity and, perhaps most significant, a broader political geography created through the global wave of decolonization after the Second World War. This change in focus can be attributed to a generational shift, as well as the end of the Cold War itself, which has resulted in the opening of archives and research areas previously unavailable. In fact, the expansion of Cold War history and diplomatic history more generally at least in the American academy has generated calls for renaming the field as 'international history' in order to move
Automated buoyancy control system for a remotely operated underwater crawler

Buoyancy systems are used in submarines and various submersible equipment such as ARGO floats but are rarely incorporated in Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). This paper presents a system for automated lifting and buoyancy control for a remotely operated sea crawler. This system, consisting of hydraulic, electric and control subsystems, allows the operator to navigate the vehicle to any desired depth. The Automated Buoyancy Control System (ABCS) controls the amount of air within each chamber supplied by compressed air cylinders. To control the ascent/descent, air valves are regulated by a control system consisting of sensors and microcontrollers.
Pragmatic trellis coded modulation: a hardware implementation using 24-sector 8-PSK

The authors present the construction and test results of a system which implements pragmatic trellis coded modulation (TCM) for rate 2/3 encoded 8-PSK (phase shift keying). Pragmatic TCM is described. This system associates each sector of a quantized phase receiver (F. Carden et al., 1988) with a pair of weights to be used as soft decision inputs of the Viterbi decoder. This system approaches 3 dB of coding gain at bit error rates of 10/sup -5/ and less. >
Gradient-based electrical properties tomography (gEPT): A robust method for mapping electrical properties of biological tissues in vivo using magnetic resonance imaging.

Purpose To develop high-resolution electrical properties tomography (EPT) methods and investigate a gradient-based EPT (gEPT) approach that aims to reconstruct the electrical properties (EP), including conductivity and permittivity, of an imaged sample from experimentally measured B1 maps with improved boundary reconstruction and robustness against measurement noise. Theory and Methods Using a multichannel transmit/receive stripline head coil with acquired B1 maps for each coil element, and by assuming negligible Bz component compared to transverse B1 components, a theory describing the relationship between B1 field, EP value, and their spatial gradient has been proposed. The final EP images were obtained through spatial integration over the reconstructed EP gradient. Numerical simulation, physical phantom, and in vivo human experiments at 7 T have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Results Reconstruction results were compared with target EP values in both simulations and phantom experiments. Human experimental results were compared with EP values in literature. Satisfactory agreement was observed with improved boundary reconstruction. Importantly, the proposed gEPT method proved to be more robust against noise when compared to previously described nongradient-based EPT approaches. Conclusion The proposed gEPT approach holds promises to improve EP mapping quality by recovering the boundary information and enhancing robustness against noise. Magn Reson Med 74:634–646, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Hole-istic medicine.

It is a mystery how some viruses are able to replicate inside the host cell, producing progeny that escape without damaging the host's plasma membrane. In a Perspective, [Joshua Zimmerberg][1] describes new research ([ Marciano et al .][2]) demonstrating that the f1 phage (a virus that infects bacteria) is able to export new progeny out of the bacterial host using a phage-encoded pIV protein, which forms a gated channel in the bacterial outer membrane. Zimmerberg compares this mechanism of export to that of other viruses and discusses what these new findings teach us about protein translocation in eukaryotic cells. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/284/5419/1475 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/284/5419/1516
O pensamento da violência em Walter Benjamin e Jacques Derrida

Este artigo examina o classico ensaio de Walter Benjamin, Zur Kritik der Gewalt , a luz de um dos momentos importantes de sua fortuna critica, o Force de loi , de Jacques Derrida. Em primeiro lugar, questiono a associacao que faz Derrida entre o ensaio de Benjamin e uma suposta “onda anti-parlamentar” no pensamento weimariano. Dai, passo a um exame da identificacao feita por Derrida entre a nocao benjaminiana de violencia divina e o conceito de Destruktion que elaboraria Heidegger alguns anos depois. Para finalizar, tiro algumas conclusoes acerca dos vinculos entre a leitura de Benjamin proposta em Force de loi e alguns postulados de outro ensaio de Derrida, "Interpretacoes em guerra", lido em Jerusalem, num coloquio realizado em 1988, durante a segunda Intifada, e marcado pela ausencia de convidados palestinos.
Improving Forecasts of International Events of Interest

The paper compares the forecasting utility of the new GDELT - Global Data on Events, Location and Tone - dataset with some early versions of the ICEWS - Integrated Conflict Early Warning System - data using several alternative methods, including random forests, ADABoost, and Bayesian model averaging. Generally we find that the GDELT data performs as well or better than the data in the original ICEWS - quite possibly due to excessive attention in ICEWS to the eliminate of false positives, Kahneman's "what you see is all there is" pathology - and that these newer methods are quite promising as forecasting methods.