cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Microwave device and circuit challenges for next generation wireless applications

The rapid deployment of next generation communications systems - both wired and wireless on a world-wide basis creates a unique opportunity for the semiconductor industry. High-speed networks require massive computing power and analog and radiofrequency devices with wide dynamic range and bandwidth. The semiconductor technologies required to implement these systems are highlighted, with particular emphasis on the technologies required to meet the demands of mobile computing applications.
Medical Residents’ and Practicing Physicians’ e-Cigarette Knowledge and Patient Screening Activities Do They Differ?

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to compare medical residents and practicing physicians in primary care specialties regarding their knowledge and beliefs about electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). We wanted to ascertain whether years removed from medical school had an effect on screening practices, recommendations given to patients, and the types of informational sources utilized. METHODS A statewide sample of Florida primary care medical residents (n = 61) and practicing physicians (n = 53) completed either an online or paper survey, measuring patient screening and physician recommendations, beliefs, and knowledge related to e-cigarettes. χ2 tests of association and linear and logistic regression models were used to assess the differences within- and between-participant groups. RESULTS Practicing physicians were more likely than medical residents to believe e-cigarettes lower cancer risk in patients who use them as an alternative to cigarettes (P = .0003). Medical residents were more likely to receive information about e-cigarettes from colleagues (P = .0001). No statistically significant differences were observed related to e-cigarette knowledge or patient recommendations. CONCLUSIONS Practicing primary care physicians are accepting both the benefits and costs associated with e-cigarettes, while medical residents in primary care are more reticent. Targeted education concerning the potential health risks and benefits associated with the use of e-cigarettes needs to be included in the current medical education curriculum and medical provider training to improve provider confidence in discussing issues surrounding the use of this product.
City, Community, and Purity: Mormonismâ€™s Evolution of Zionism and Place

Place is fundamental to societyâ€™s conception of community, both secular and religious. This paper examines and contrasts two such communities, Judaism and Mormonism, in the context of political and religious Zionism. It first introduces and explores communities of place in political theory in general. Jewish Zionism, a political and religious movement of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the role that place has played in this movement, are briefly examined. The concept of Zion within Mormon theology is then discussed, tracing its evolution within Mormonism of being, in turn, a literal city and theocratic nation-state, a community of like-minded believers, and personal spiritual purity. Finally, the adherent changes in the concept of place within Mormon community are outlined, and reasons for these changes are proposed.
Aging and the immune response to organ transplantation

An increasing number of older people receive organ transplants for various end-stage conditions. Although organ transplantation is an effective therapy for older patients (i.e., older than 65 years of age), such as in end-stage renal disease, this therapy has not been optimized for older patients because of our lack of understanding of the effect of aging and the immune response to organ transplantation. Here, we provide an overview of the impact of aging on both the allograft and the recipient and its effect on the immune response to organ transplantation. We describe what has been determined to date, discuss existing gaps in our knowledge, and make suggestions on necessary future studies to optimize organ transplantation for older people.
Reversible NLP by Linking the Grammar to the Knowledge Base

We present a new reversible architecture for natural language processing (NLP). Separate parsing and generation grammars are constructed from the same representation of the language’s linguistic resources as they are linked to objects in the knowledge base. By having two grammars, we are free to use process-specific representations and control techniques, thereby permitting highly efficient processing. At the same time, the single linguistic representation ensures the parsimony of development and competence that make reversible NLP attractive. This architecture is made possible by a construal of parsing that views the process as culminating not in a structural description but in a set of semantic objects—the same objects that the generation process starts from.
Standard median nerve ultrasound in carpal tunnel syndrome: A retrospective review of 1,021 cases

Objective Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is diagnosed with electrodiagnostic (EDx) studies. Investigations have examined US cross sectional-area (CSA) and wrist to forearm ratio (WFR) cut-offs for screening EDx abnormalities in patients with suspected CTS. The objective of this study is to determine if these US parameters are effective in a real world population.
Theory of Queues

Queuing theory models provide these benefits with at least two types of associated costs. First, users need to make a limiting set of assumptions about arrivals and service distributions. These assumptions might not apply to any reasonable approximation in some cases of interest. Making them could lead to inadvisable recommendations. Second, queuing theory models are associated with complexity and abstract concepts. These take time to understand and to apply confidently.
Suicidal ideation in non-depressed individuals: The effects of a chronic, misunderstood illness:

Chronic illness is a risk factor for suicide but is often explained with depression. Research has shown an increased suicide rate in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome, but specific risk factors have been unexplored. We qualitatively analyzed responses from 29 patients who endorsed suicidal ideation but did not meet depression criteria. Two themes were developed: (1) feeling trapped and (2) loss of self, loss of others, stigma and conflict. Myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome caused patients severe disability, restructured their lives, and inflicted serious pain. Participants emphasized that they were not depressed, but felt trapped by the lack of treatments available.
The secret of Troppau: Chaadaev and Alexander I

In 1820 Peter Chaadaev's position in society and his prospects in the military service were brilliant. A decorated veteran of the Napoleonic wars who was now aide-de-camp to General Illarion Vasil'chikov, the commander of the imperial Guard, Chaadaev was widely expected to become an adjutant to the Tsar himself. Yet in December of that year, after completing a highly confidential and highly prestigious mission, Chaadaev resigned. Early in 1821 his resignation was accepted, and he virtually disappeared from the view of society for 10 years. Ever since, rumour and conjecture have surrounded the event. Contemporaries were baffled and even alarmed by this sudden step: "The event . . . put the whole city in fear" (Dmitrii Sverbeev).1 In that age of normative behaviour, when even the "aberrations" and "excep tions" conformed to a type2, Chaadaev's decision seemed inexplicable and sinister not only to society in general but to his friends as well. This was a time of public "gestures", and it was as a "gesture" that many observers ? and, later, historians ? chose to see Chaadaev's resignation. The explanations offered by contemporaries, however, were often banal or malicious and could not be reconciled with Chaadaev's known sense of honour; nevertheless, the stories of his detractors found their way into the biographies. It is a historical commonplace that the years after the fall of Napoleon were for Russia a period of political oppression and internal
Non-Portland Rapid Setting Cements

Cements other than portland cement, either alone or in combination with portland cement, are often more suitable for specific applications. Requirements of construction or environmental conditions can place constraints on conventional practice. Rapid setting, high early-strength, and durability specifications often dictate the choice of an alternate cement system. The application of thermal analysis to selected rapid setting cement is presented in this chapter. These include the following systems: calcium aluminate cement and related pure mineral systems; magnesium oxychloride and oxysulfate cement; and magnesia-phosphate cement, precursors to the formation of hydroxyapatite.
Polyester, Polypropylene, ePTFE for Inguinal Hernias: Does It Really Matter?

Inguinal hernia repair with mesh is now the standard of care. Mesh has been studied only relatively recently for its resistance to infection, likelihood of causing postoperative morbidity, and risk of recurrence. Different mesh materials have different properties that in some cases improve outcomes or alter the surgical technique for a given mesh type. In this chapter, we review mesh type and considerations for use by surgeon.
The Topology of Metric Spaces

Let (M, d) be a metric space. Recall that the r-ball centered at x is the set $$ B_r (x) = \left\{ {y \in M\left| {d(x,y) < r} \right.} \right\} $$ for any choice of x ∈ M and r > 0. These sets are most often called open balls, open disks, or open neighborhoods, and they are denoted by the above or by B(x, r), D r (x), D(x, r), N r (x), N(x, r), among other notations. A point x ∈ M is a limit point of a set E ⊆ M if every open ball B r (x) contains a point y ≠ x, y ∈ E. If x ∈ E and x is not a limit point of E, then x is an isolated point of E. E is closed if every limit point of E is in E. A point x is an interior point of E if there exists an r > 0 such that B r (x) ⊆ E. E is open if every point of E is an interior point. A collection of sets is called a cover of E if E is contained in the union of the sets in the collection. If each set in a cover of E is open, the cover is called an open cover of 2s. If the union of the sets in a subcollection of the cover still contains E, the subcollection is referred to as a subcover for E. E is compact if every open cover of E contains a finite subcover. E is sequentially compact if every sequence of E contains a convergent subsequence. E is dense in M if every point of M is a limit point of E. The closure of E, denoted by Ē, is E together with its limit points. The interior of E, denoted by E° or int (E), is the set of interior points of E. E is bounded if for each x ∈ E, there exists r > 0 such that E ⊆ B r (x).
Scenario-Based Evaluation and Uncertainty

The following problems arise in practice: A concrete instance of the selected equity, FX or interest rate model must be chosen, by instantiating its volatility and other coefficients with plausi- ble values. For example, the Black-Scholes model dS=μS t +∂dW might be instantiated to dS = 0.05 S t + 0.3 dW. Once instantiated, models often prove too weak to represent the market dynamics adequately; in the case of Black-Scholes, this deficiency shows itself in the often cited implied volatility smile.
Self-aligned capillarity-assisted printing of top-gate thin-film transistors on plastic

Top-gate thin-film transistors (TFTs) are fabricated on plastic using a self-aligned method based on capillarity-assisted lithography and inkjet printing, offering a promising platform for high-throughput manufacturing of flexible electronic devices. Plastic substrates are imprinted with a multi-tier structure containing capillary channels and ink receivers using a precision mold. Liquid inks are sequentially delivered to the microstructured substrate by inkjet printing, and capillary action draws the inks into a multi-tier capillary channel network designed for top-gate TFTs. The combination of imprinting, inkjet printing, and capillary flow yields self-aligned multi-layered devices without requiring precise registration for inkjet printing. The printed top-gate TFTs with Ag/Cu source and drain, poly(3-hexylthiophene) semiconducting channel, ion gel dielectric, and graphene gate electrode have desirable transfer and output characteristics, with a hole mobility of 0.48 cm2 V−1 s−1, threshold voltage of −0.86 V, on/off current ratio of 104.5, and robust tolerance to bending. The top-gate geometry and careful materials selection yields devices with negligible hysteresis and sweep rate dependence, establishing the versatility and utility of this self-aligned strategy for more widespread application in printed and flexible electronics.
More than Just Facts: Promoting Civic Media Literacy in the Era of Outrage.

Amid rising concerns about “fake news,” efforts have emerged to explain the spread and impact of misinformation on youth civic engagement. These efforts have focused primarily on the role of social...
Aircraft dynamics simulation using a novel physics-based learning method

Abstract The fast and accurate prediction of flight trajectories is crucial for the real-time prognostics of the air transportation system. However, the computation costs of simulating aircraft dynamics can be expensive or even prohibitive especially for a large number of aircrafts in the airspace system. This study presents a novel physics-based learning method as a model order reduction (MOR) method for the simulation of aircraft dynamics. The idea of physics-based learning method is to integrate the underlying physics of aircraft dynamical systems into machine learning models to reduce training costs and enhance simulation performances. A recently proposed recurrent neural network (RNN) known as the deep residual RNN (DR-RNN) is used as a tool of physics-based learning. The application of the physics-based learning method is demonstrated on simulating the dynamics of a Boeing 747-100 aircraft. The results show that the DR-RNN can accurately predict aircraft responses and shows excellent extrapolation performances. Furthermore, a purely data-driven approach using the long short-term memory (LSTM) network is also used for the simulation. The comparison demonstrates that incorporating the physics of aircraft dynamics into the learning model can significantly improve prediction performances and effectively reduce training costs compared with using purely data-driven methods. Finally, it is found that the physics-based learning method exhibits superior computation efficiency compared with a classical numerical method since the physics-based learning method can use large time step sizes that violate the numerical stability condition while being explicit in time.
"nanoblocks": A Playful Method to Learn about Nanotechnology-Enabled Water and Air Treatment

Research, patents, and start-up companies using nanotechnology are growing exponentially. The general public and young students who will be the next generation work force need to properly understand and get excited by nanotechnology to ensure its public support, acceptance, and advancement. Water and air have many pollutants that are invisible to the naked eye, and the concept of selectively removing the pollutants using nanostructured materials is difficult to convey. We developed a hands-on activity where pompoms, representing pollutants in water or air, “adsorb” to adhesive blocks, representing nanostructured adsorbents. Students compete with their choice of sorbent (one large block or 8 small “nanoblocks,” both having the same unit volume) to see which sorbs/attaches more pompoms in the same period of time. Through this activity, students learn that the nanoblocks have enhanced adsorption capacity due to higher surface area to volume ratio, and therefore, the nanoblocks remove more pollutants (pompoms...
Regulation of Vaginal Microbiome by Nitric Oxide

In this review, the composition and regulation of vaginal microbiome that displays an apparent microbial diversity and interacts with other microbiota in the body are presented. The role of nitric oxide (NO) in the regulation of vaginal microflora in which lactobacillus species typically dominate has been delineated from the perspective of maintaining gynecologic ecosystem and prevention of onset of bacteriostatic vaginosis (BV) and/or sexually transmitted diseases (STD) including HIV-1 transmission. The interactions between NO and vaginal microbiome and its influence on the levels of Lactobacillus, hormones and other components are described. The recent progress, such as NO drugs, probiotic Lactobacilli and Lactobacillus microbots, that can be explored to alleviate abnormality of vagina microbiome, is also discussed. An identification of Oral-GI-Vagina axis, as well as the relationship between NO and Lactobacillus regulation in the healthy or pathological status of vagina microbiome, surely offers the advanced drug delivery option against BV or STD including AIDS.
Building an Intentional Culture of Social Justice: Increasing Understanding and Competence in the Curriculum.

This article describes one Catholic university’s efforts to strengthen its mission commitment to social justice by providing quality faculty development to a large cross-section of the full-time faculty. The purpose of this initiative is to provide faculty with the tools and knowledge necessary to embed Catholic Social Teaching in their course syllabi. We describe an initial study of syllabi that stimulated plans for a three-year initiative that would increase social justice outcomes in courses taught by one third of the full-time faculty. The story of implementation outlines the process we followed and some of the lessons we learned along the way. Assessment strategies and future directions are summarized. The story offers perspectives for other institutions with similar values and mission statements that are creatively and diligently seeking fresh and effective ways of transmitting their Catholic values to their students.
The technical aspects of rectal cancer surgery

Abstract Despite recent advances in perioperative chemoradiation for the treatment of rectal cancer, surgery remains the only curative therapy for most patients. Surgeries for rectal cancer are considered some of the most technically challenging operations for colorectal surgeons due to the anatomy of the pelvis, proximity to critical structures, and the widespread use of preoperative chemoradiation. This review will focus on the technical aspects of surgery for rectal cancer and appraise the current literature on select controversial topics.
Accuracy of Body Size Estimation in Youth with Cystic Fibrosis and Association with Health-Related Quality of Life

Accuracy of body size estimation may impact motivation to adhere to treatment recommendations and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in youth with cystic fibrosis (CF), but this has not yet been investigated. Thus, the goal of the current study was to examine accuracy of body size estimation in youth with CF, and associations with HRQOL, lung functioning, and dietary intake. Fifty-four youth diagnosed with CF (M = 13.61 years) completed the Figure Rating Scale, the Cystic Fibrosis Questionnaire–Revised, and a 24-h diet recall interview. Cohen’s Weighted Kappa Coefficient evaluated agreement between body size estimation and BMI percentile. Binary logistic regression analyses examined associations between body size accuracy and HRQOL, lung functioning, and dietary intake. A less than adequate agreement was found between youth body size estimation and BMI percentile. Most participants overestimated body size (69.8%). Body Image HRQOL, but neither lung functioning nor dietary intake, was significantly associated with body size estimation accuracy. Working with patients to improve perceptions of body size may also improve HRQOL scores and allow for discussion about treatment goals related to body size.
Predictive value of comb-push ultrasound shear elastography for the differentiation of reactive and metastatic axillary lymph nodes: A preliminary investigation.

Objectives To evaluate the predictive performance of comb-push ultrasound shear elastography for the differentiation of reactive and metastatic axillary lymph nodes. Methods From June 2014 through September 2018, 114 female volunteers (mean age 58.1±13.3 years; range 28–88 years) with enlarged axillary lymph nodes identified by palpation or clinical imaging were prospectively enrolled in the study. Mean, standard deviation and maximum shear wave elastography parameters from 117 lymph nodes were obtained and compared to fine needle aspiration biopsy results. Mann-Whitney U test and ROC curve analysis were performed. Results The axillary lymph nodes were classified as reactive or metastatic based on the fine needle aspiration outcomes. A statistically significant difference between reactive and metastatic axillary lymph nodes was observed based on comb-push ultrasound shear elastography (CUSE) results (p<0.0001) from mean and maximum elasticity values. Mean elasticity showed the best separation with a ROC analysis resulting in 90.5% sensitivity, 94.4% specificity, 0.97 area under the curve, 95% positive predictive value, and 89.5% negative predictive value with a 30.2-kPa threshold. Conclusions CUSE provided a quantifiable parameter that can be used for the assessment of enlarged axillary lymph nodes to differentiate between reactive and metastatic processes.
Perioperative risk factors associated with ICU intervention following select neurosurgical procedures.

Abstract Background/Objective Following cranial neurosurgical procedures, intensive care unit (ICU) admission is routine; however, our institution’s growing referral network has led to more frequent bed shortages. Consequently, there are increased requests to transfer our postoperative patients out of the ICU early in the monitoring window. We aimed to find risk factors to prioritize which postoperative neurosurgical patients that should remain in the unit. Patients and Methods An unmatched case-control study was conducted following retrospective chart review of patients who underwent common cranial procedures between August 2015 and June 2016 at our institution. Patients receiving postoperative ICU intervention were defined as cases. Several perioperative events were investigated for association with postoperative ICU level care. Individual risk factors were analyzed using Chi-squared tests for categorical variables (reported as odds ratio) and independent sample two tailed t-tests for continuous variables. Regression models were used for multivariate analysis. Results We identified 282 patients who met inclusion criteria, with 148 cases and 134 controls and no statistically significant differences between group demographics. Elective cases carried an odds ratio (OR 0.12, 95 % CI 0.05-0.26, p Conclusion Growing demand for ICU beds at our institution has us looking for more objective data guiding decisions on lower-risk patients who could transfer early out of the ICU in times of overcapacity. Elective endovascular aneurysm treatment and DBS are cranial procedures least likely to receive postoperative ICU level intervention. Consideration to procedural blood loss of 100 cc or more and operative time greater than 4 h should also be given as these risk factors were associated with more likely needing postoperative ICU intervention. These results should not spur drastic changes in ICU protocols, but continued quality improvement projects should investigate these correlations to add more objective data for ICU utilization.
Awareness of Cervical Cancer and Its Prevention: A Survey at Eastern University, Sri Lanka

Background: Carcinoma of cervix is a preventable illness. Early sexual debut has a strong association. Sexually transmittable Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the major causative agent. Cervical screening and vaccines hold a major role in its prevention or early detection. This study aims to assess the knowledge on the aspects of carcinoma of cervix among the students of Eastern University, Sri Lanka, to evaluate the risks of contracting the disease. Methods: A self- administered pretested questionnaire has been used. Data was analyzed using the statistical package of social science (SPSS v.18). Results: A total of 650 students were included. 59.4% reported of ‘heard about cervical cancer’; among male cohort 64.3% and female 56.6%. 55.7% of students had very poor or poor knowledge on the warning features. About 48% (n=314) of the students were not aware of the cervical screening program conducted in the health-care system. Five hundred and twenty-one students (80.2%) reported that they have never had sexual intercourse, thus having a low risk of contracting HPV while 25.2% of male (n=60) and 6.8% of female (n=28) students had high or moderate risk with the statistically significant association (Chi-sq=42.293, p=0.000) between gender and the risk of contracting HPV. About the HPV Vaccine, 17.7% of the students (n=115) had adequate knowledge. Students of the Faculty of Arts & Culture contributed the poorest score in all aspects while students of the Faculty of Health Care Sciences had been much aware of. Conclusions: The study revealed the poor status of the undergraduate students of the aspects of cervical cancer and also created awareness among the participants to know more with the necessity to develop online learning modules.
Two-Dimensional Molecular Charge Density Waves in Single-Layer-Thick Islands of a Dirac Fermion System.

Charge density waves have been intensely studied in inorganic materials such as transition metal dichalcogenides however its counterpart in organic materials has yet to be explored in detail. Here ...
Automated Retrospective Calculation of the EDACS and HEART Scores in a Multicenter Prospective Cohort of Emergency Department Chest Pain Patients

Objectives Coronary risk scores are commonly applied to emergency department patients with undifferentiated chest pain. Two prominent risk score-based protocols are the Emergency Department Assessment of Chest pain Score Accelerated Diagnostic Protocol (EDACS-ADP) and the History, ECG, Age, Risk factors, and Troponin (HEART) pathway. Since prospective documentation of these risk determinations can be challenging to obtain, quality improvement projects could benefit from automated retrospective risk score classification methodologies. Methods EDACS-ADP and HEART pathway data elements were prospectively collected using a Web-based electronic clinical decision support (eCDS) tool over a 24-month period (2018-2019) among patients presenting with chest pain to 13 EDs within an integrated health system. Data elements were also extracted and processed electronically (retrospectively) from the electronic health record (EHR) for the same patients. The primary outcome was agreement between the prospective/eCDS and retrospective/EHR data sets on dichotomous risk protocol classification, as assessed by kappa statistics (ĸ). Results There were 12,110 eligible eCDS uses during the study period, of which 66 and 47% were low-risk encounters by EDACS-ADP and HEART pathway, respectively. Agreement on low-risk status was acceptable for EDACS-ADP (ĸ = 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.72 to 0.75) and HEART pathway (ĸ = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.68 to 0.70) and for the continuous scores (interclass correlation coefficients = 0.87 and 0.84 for EDACS and HEART, respectively). Conclusions Automated retrospective determination of low risk status by either the EDACS-ADP or the HEART pathway provides acceptable agreement compared to prospective score calculations, providing a feasible risk adjustment option for use in large data set analyses.
Yield and miraculin content of nine miracle fruit (Synsepalum Dulcificum) morphotypes

Miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum) is an understudied tropical fruit species with potential as a source of natural, non-caloric sweetener. Miracle fruit berries have been consumed in Africa for over 100 years. The fruit pulp contains a protein called miraculin, a natural, non-caloric sweetener, that changes the perception of sour foods and beverages to sweet. Demand for natural, non-caloric sweeteners like miraculin is increasing due to the growing number of people affected by chronic diseases associated with high sugar consumption. Miracle fruit could play a role in reducing sugar content in some food and beverage applications, but basic plant yield data and miraculin content in the fruit is generally lacking. To overcome these limitations, fruit yield and miraculin content were analyzed for individual plants from a commercial miracle fruit farm growing nine plant morphotypes. Miracle fruit plants in general followed synchronized flowering periods with six harvest peaks within a single year with the largest yields from May to July. Total average yield ranged from 0.06 to 3.44 kg/tree/year for individual plants. The highest yielding plant morphotype was ‘Imperial’ with 2.76 kg/tree/yr. Average fruit weight ranged from 1.22–1.54 g, and pulp thickness ranged from 0.21–0.31 cm. A simplified extraction and quantification method was used to quantify miraculin from fruits. Miraculin content ranged from 0.07 for a ‘Holly’ morphotype to 1.30 mg/g of juice for a ‘Flame’ morphotype as measured by HPLC using recombinant miraculin as a protein standard. Overall, this study identified variation in both yield and miraculin content across sixty-six mature miracle fruit plants. These results will be useful for selecting superior plant types and provide foundational information supporting a new industry growing the natural, non-caloric sweetener miraculin.
Part Segmentation of Unseen Objects using Keypoint Guidance

While object part segmentation is useful for many applications, typical approaches require a large amount of labeled data to train a model for good performance. To reduce the labeling effort, weak supervision cues such as object keypoints have been used to generate pseudo-part annotations which can subsequently be used to train larger models. However, previous weakly-supervised part segmentation methods require the same object classes during both training and testing. We propose a new model to use key-point guidance for segmenting parts of novel object classes given that they have similar structures as seen objects — different types of four-legged animals, for example. We show that a non-parametric template matching approach is more effective than pixel classification for part segmentation, especially for small or less frequent parts. To evaluate the generalizability of our approach, we introduce two new datasets that contain 200 quadrupeds in total with both key-point and part segmentation annotations. We show that our approach can outperform existing models by a large margin on the novel object part segmentation task using limited part segmentation labels during training.
Identification of Fungal Species Associated With Crown and Root Rots of Wheat and Evaluation of Plant Reactions to the Pathogens in North Dakota.

Common root rot (CRR) and crown rot (CR), caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana and Fusarium species, respectively, can cause significant yield losses in cereal crops. To assess the prevalence, incidence...
Alterations in circulating extracellular vesicles underlie social stress-induced behaviors in mice

Chronic stress induces peripheral and intracerebral immune changes and inflammation, contributing to neuropathology and behavioral abnormalities relevant to psychiatric disorders such as depression. Although the pathological implication of many peripheral factors such as pro-inflammatory cytokines, hormones, and macrophages has been demonstrated, the roles of circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) for chronic stress mechanisms remain poorly investigated. Here, we report that chronic social defeat stress (CSDS)-induced social avoidance phenotype, assessed by a previously untested three-chamber social approach test, can be distinguished by multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines and EV-associated molecular signatures in the blood. We found that the expression patterns of miRNAs distinguished the CSDS-susceptible mice from the CSDS-resilient mice. Social avoidance behavior scores were also estimated with good accuracy by the expression patterns of multiple EV-associated miRNAs. We also demonstrated that EVs enriched from the CSDS-susceptible mouse sera upregulated the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the LPS-stimulated microglia-like cell lines. Our results indicate the role of circulating EVs and associated miRNAs in CSDS susceptibility, which may be related to pro-inflammatory mechanisms underlying stress-induced neurobehavioral outcomes.
Optimal iteration and its application to some problems in aerosol science and particle dynamics

Iteration is a common technique for finding the solutions to an equation. It is easy to code, straightforward to apply, readily comprehensible, and can be run indefinitely until a given accuracy is...
What's the problem with disaster? Anthropology, social work, and the qualitative slot:

On March 3, 2019, an EF4 tornado devastated the rural Alabama communities of Beauregard and Smith Station, killing 23 people and causing direct injuries to another 97. This storm was unusually deva...
An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy: Moksa and Nibbana

Key terms and teachings Asavas / Asravas: Pali and Sanskrit terms usually translated as “outflows,” that refer to the defilements or impurities that cause repeated rebirths. In the Pali texts there are three or four impurities: sense desires, the desire for continuing existence, wrong views, and ignorance. Samyojana: Pali and Sanskrit term meaning “binding” or “fetter.” The Buddhist tradition recognizes ten fetters that bind one to samsara : belief that there is an enduring individual self, unjustified doubt with respect to the Buddha and his teachings, excessive concern with rituals and monastic and ethical rules, sensuous desire, lust or craving, hatred, ill will or aversion, craving for the Form realm, craving for the Formless realm, excessive self-love, being restless or agitated, and ignorance. The first five are known as the “lower fetters” (that bind one to the Desire Realm) and the last five are known as the “higher fetters” (that bind one to the Form and Formless Realms). Upaya: Sanskrit term for “skillful means” or “skill-in-means.” Although generally associated with the Mahayana tradition and the perfections of a Bodhisattva , it also refers to the Buddha's ability to suit his teachings to the capacity of his disciples and his audiences in order to bring them to enlightenment.
NASA Aerosciences Perspective on Proposed de-Scope of Ares I-X Development Flight Instrumentation

This position paper is written as a result of a number of emails and a presentation that have recently been circulated concerning the potential reduction of Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) to be included on the Ares I-X flight test vehicle. A reduction in instrumentation has been proposed presumably to reduce project costs and relieve project schedule pressures. This proposal has generated a significant amount of discussion on both sides of the issue, primarily from those within the project. The intention here is to provide a perspective on this issue from outside the mainline project.
Effect of Exercise on Fuel Utilization and Insulin Requirements

The hormonal changes that occur during exercise are very important in control of fuel regulation. The observed changes in hormone concentrations, especially insulin, during exercise and the control of fuel regulation that is associated with these changes will be discussed in this chapter. A decrease in insulin concentration and an increase in glucagon concentration from concentrations during pre-exercise rest have been found in many studies.1–9 Other hormonal changes during exercise include elevations in growth hormone, cortisol, and catecholamines.5,6 More recent works have clarified the action of these regulatory hormones and have suggested that the decrease in insulin concentration 10–12 and the presence of glucagon 10,13,14 are essential for appropriate regulation of glucose production during exercise.
Eighteen-year follow-up report of the surveillance and prevention of an HIV/AIDS outbreak amongst plasma donors in Hebei Province, China.

There has been a clear increase in HIV-1 infection cases in recent years in Hebei Province, China, and transmission via blood is one of the risk factors in the early. This article aimed to investigate the HIV infection rate and control efficiency among the paid blood donor population over a period of 18 years. From 1995–2013, HIV/AIDS cases among former blood donors in Hebei Province were registered and closely monitored to collect data of all-cause mortality, intervention measures to prevent family transmission, disease transmission between couples as well as between mothers and infants, and HAART therapy outcomes. A total of 326 cases were identified as directly infected with HIV/AIDS during plasma donation in Hebei Province. Of these, 146 cases (44.8 %) were identified in the same year as infection; 180 cases (55.2 %) were identified 1–18 years after infection because they did not participate in the 1995 screening. The final case was identified in February 2012. By 2013, the mortality rate and survival rate of plasma donor-related HIV/AIDS was 54.9 % and 45.1 %, respectively. The identified transmission rate between couples was 11.3 % (8/71); this rate during the same year as infection was 3.3 % (1/30), and the rate 4–17 years after HIV infection was 17.1 % (7/41). Approximately 91.2 % (145/159) of married women of childbearing age did not have children after being informed of HIV infection. Only 8.8 % (14/159) of these women had children after being informed of HIV infection. The mother-to-infant transmission rate was 38.5 % (5/13). The HAART coverage rate has increased from 10.1 % (16/159) in 2003 to 83.6 % (127/152) in 2013. Since 1999, the HIV mortality rate has trended up; by 2013, the cumulative mortality rate reached 54.9 % (179/326). After HAART was initiated in China, the death rate decreased to some extent. Second generation transmission (via couple or mother-to-infant transmission) among blood donor-related HIV cases accounted for approximately 4.0 % (13/326). All first- or second-generation cases were infected with HIV-1 subtype B. In this accident of HIV-infection among plasma donors in Hebei Province, a total of 339 direct and second-generation cases have been identified over 18 years of monitoring. Favorable clinical results have been achieved using intervention measurements and antiviral therapy.
A primer on the exchange lemma for fast-slow systems

In this primer, we give a brief overview of the Exchange Lemma for fast-slow systems of ordinary differential equations. This Lemma has proven to be a useful tool for establishing the existence of homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits, especially those with many components or jumps, in a variety of traveling wave problems and perturbed near-integrable Hamiltonian systems. It has also been applied to models in which periodic orbits and solutions of boundary value problems are sought, including singularly perturbed two-point boundary value problems. The Exchange Lemma applies to fast-slow systems that have normally hyperbolic invariant manifolds (that are usually center manifolds). It enables one to track the dynamics of invariant manifolds and their tangent planes while orbits on them are in the neighborhood of a normally hyperbolic invariant manifold. The end result is a closeness estimate in the C 1 topology of the tracked manifold to a certain submanifold of the normally hyperbolic’s local unstable manifold. We review the general version of the Exchange Lemma due to Tin [24] that treats problems in which there is both fast and slow evolution on the center manifolds. The main normal form used in the neighborhoods of the invariant manifolds is obtained from the persistence theory for normally hyperbolic invariant manifolds due to Fenichel [5, 6, 7]. The works of Jones and Tin [11, 15, 24] form the basis for this work, and [15, 24] contain full presentations of all of the results stated here.
The nature of the acid transition of ribonuclease A.

Abstract The low temperature acid transition of ribonuclease A has been investigated by using optical rotatory dispersion and circular dichroism. Changes are seen in the mean residue rotation at 228 nm, suggesting some loss of organized secondary structure in the molecule. However, no parallel changes are seen in circular dichroism measurements below 230 nm, indicating that the change in conformation involves only side chain residues.
Gender Equality and Women's Solidarity Across Religious, Ethnic and Class Difference in the Kenya Constitutional Review Process

This paper examines Kenyan's women's struggle to gain new legal authority for gender equality and women's empowerment in the Kenya Constitutional Review process. Specifically it examines the efforts of the campaign to "safeguard the gains of women in the Draft Constitution," a campaign launched by a coalition of four civil society organizations in Kenya after the release of a new Draft constitution in 2002. Its focus is the 2002 Draft, the Draft's relationship to the current Kenyan Constitution and to recent constitutional proposals, from a gender perspective. The constitutional review process is part of a larger movement to democratize the Kenyan post-colonial state and one in which women have struggled to find a voice. In the absence of women's solidarity across their differences, differences exacerbated by the nature of post-colonial state, the democracy movement threatens to leave women behind in a legal and social web of beliefs and practices that subordinate them. The paper examines the history of the Kenyan women's movement, the events that led up to the formation of the campaign to "safeguard the gains of women in the Draft constitution," and the campaign's fight for gender equality within the constitution. It then analyzes the conflicts the campaign faced that magnified the differences among women and threatened to undermine their solidarity around the idea of gender equality. These conflicts included differences across religion in the form of disputes about the retention of Kadhi's courts in the constitution, disputes across ethnicity around constitutional schemes to devolve government and decentralize executive authority, and differences across class in terms of electoral representation given the apparent divide between rural and urban women.
Association of six YFP-myosin XI-tail fusions with mobile plant cell organelles

Myosins are molecular motors that carry cargo on actin filaments in eukaryotic cells. Seventeen myosin genes have been identified in the nuclear genome of Arabidopsis. The myosin genes can be divided into two plant-specific subfamilies, class VIII with four members and class XI with 13 members. Class XI myosins are related to animal and fungal myosin class V that are responsible for movement of particular vesicles and organelles. Organelle localization of only one of the 13 Arabidopsis myosin XI (myosin XI-6; At MYA2), which is found on peroxisomes, has so far been reported. Little information is available concerning the remaining 12 class XI myosins. We investigated 6 of the 13 class XI Arabidopsis myosins. cDNAs corresponding to the tail region of 6 myosin genes were generated and incorporated into a vector to encode YFP-myosin tail fusion proteins lacking the motor domain. Chimeric genes incorporating tail regions of myosin XI-5 (At MYA1), myosin XI-6 (At MYA2), myosin XI-8 (At XI-B), myosin XI-15 (At XI-I), myosin XI-16 (At XI-J) and myosin XI-17 (At XI-K) were expressed transiently. All YFP-myosin-tail fusion proteins were targeted to small organelles ranging in size from 0.5 to 3.0 μm. Despite the absence of a motor domain, the fluorescently-labeled organelles were motile in most cells. Tail cropping experiments demonstrated that the coiled-coil region was required for specific localization and shorter tail regions were inadequate for targeting. Myosin XI-6 (At MYA2), previously reported to localize to peroxisomes by immunofluorescence, labeled both peroxisomes and vesicles when expressed as a YFP-tail fusion. None of the 6 YFP-myosin tail fusions interacted with chloroplasts, and only one YFP-tail fusion appeared to sometimes co-localize with fluorescent proteins targeted to Golgi and mitochondria. 6 myosin XI tails, extending from the coiled-coil region to the C-terminus, label specific vesicles and/or organelles when transiently expressed as YFP fusions in plant cells. Although comparable constructs lacking the motor domain result in a dominant negative effect on organelle motility in animal systems, the plant organelles remained motile. YFP-myosin tail fusions provide specific labeling for vesicles of unknown composition, whose identity can be investigated in future studies.
Neurotoxic Lesions of Basolateral, But Not Central, Amygdala Interfere with Pavlovian Second-Order Conditioning and Reinforcer Devaluation Effects

Considerable evidence suggests that various discrete nuclei within the amygdala complex are critically involved in the assignment of emotional significance or value to events through associative learning. Much of this evidence comes from aversive conditioning procedures. For example, lesions of either basolateral amygdala (ABL) or the central nucleus (CN) interfere with the acquisition or expression of conditioned fear. The present study examined the effects of selective neurotoxic lesions of either ABL or CN on the acquisition of positive incentive value by a conditioned stimulus (CS) with two appetitive Pavlovian conditioning procedures. In second-order conditioning experiments, rats first received light–food pairings intended to endow the light with reinforcing power. The acquired reinforcing power of the light was then measured by examining its ability to serve as a reinforcer for second-order conditioning of a tone when tone–light pairings were given in the absence of food. Acquisition of second-order conditioning was impaired in rats with ABL lesions but not in rats with CN lesions. In reinforcer devaluation procedures, conditioned responding of rats with ABL lesions was insensitive to postconditioning changes in the value of the reinforcer, whereas rats with CN lesions, like normal rats, were able to spontaneously adjust their CRs to the current value of the reinforcer. The results of both test procedures indicate that ABL, but not CN, is part of a system involved in CSs’ acquisition of positive incentive value. Together with evidence that identifies a role for CN in certain changes in attentional processing of CSs in conditioning, these results suggest that separate amygdala subsystems contribute to a variety of processes inherent in associative learning.