cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pathological characteristic of pancreatic tissue injury in pediatric death cases with critical illness

Objective To observe the pathological characteristic of pancreatic tissue injury in pediatric death cases with critical illness.Methods The clinical and anatomical data of pediatric death cases with critical illness were retrospectively reviewed.The histopathological features of pancreatic were evaluated and scored in all cases.The relationships of pancreatic tissue injury with sepsis,shock,anoxia were analyzed according to clinical records.Results A total of 44 pediatric death cases with critical illness were collected.Among them,27 cases(61.4%)were found pancreatic injury,mainly lymphocyte infiltration in 25 cases(92.6%).According to clinical records,18 cases(75.0%)had pancreatic tissue injury in 24 sepsis cases and their mean pathological score was 4.48 ± 1.69;9 cases(45.0%)had pancreatic tissue injury in 20 non-sepsis cases and their mean pathological score was 3.07 ± 1.24.Both the incidence of pancreatic injury and pathological scores between sepsis and non-sepsis cases were significantly difference(P all 0.05).Fifteen cases(78.9%)had pancreatic tissue injury in 19 shock cases,and 12 cases(48%)had pancreatic tissue injury in 25 non-shock cases.The incidence of pancreatic tissue injury between shock and non-shock cases was significantly different(P 0.05).Seven cases(58.3%)had pancreatic tissue injury in 12 anoxia cases,and 20 cases had pancreatic tissue injury in 32 non-anoxia cases.The incidence of pancreatic tissue injury between anoxia and non-anoxia cases was not significantly different(P 0.05).Conclusions There were different-degree of pancreatic tissue injury in pediatric death cases with critical illness,which primary change was inflammatory.Sepsis and shock cause pancreatic tissue injury,and anoxia were not associated with pancreatic tissue injury.
Elucidating the Surface Reaction Mechanisms During Atomic Layer Deposition of LixAlySizO by in Situ Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy

Reaction mechanisms in the atomic layer deposition (ALD) of LixAlySizO (LASO) using a LiOC(CH3)3/H2O–Al(CH3)3/H2O–Si(OCH2CH3)4/H2O chemistry were studied via in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) at 225 °C. ALD deposition of Al2O3 using an Al(CH3)3/H2O chemistry and LiOH using a LiOC(CH3)3/H2O chemistry demonstrated ideal ALD growth. ALD deposition of SiO2 alone by Si(OCH2CH3)4/H2O chemistry was unsuccessful; however, incorporation of the same Si(OCH2CH3)4/H2O chemistry in between ALD processes of Al2O3 and LiOH resulted in ALD deposition of LixAlySizO. The as-deposited ALD LASO film with a composition of Li0.40Al0.32Si0.28O on a Si(100) substrate was amorphous but crystallized into β-LiAlSiO4 upon rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 900 °C under N2. The ionic conductivity of as-deposited, amorphous ALD Li0.40Al0.32Si0.28O was as high as 1.62 × 10–6 S/cm at 361 °C with an activation energy of Ea = 0.70 eV.
Teaching Entering Graduate Students the Role of Journal Articles in Research.

Graduate students need to understand the role of technical articles in research and to become familiar with the journal submission process. Although this knowledge is important to their careers, it is rarely included in coursework. To correct this, class discussion on the role of technical articles in research as well as the submission process has been implemented in a graduate level chemical engineering thermodynamics course. Assessment results for this approach are presented.
Constrained desires: The romantic partner preferences of college-educated Latinas

Research suggests education is a strong predictor of interracial relationships yet few studies have examined the processes that inform partner preferences among the highly educated. We address romantic partner preferences via interviews with college-educated Latinas in the western United States. Among our findings, respondents stated a strong preference for dating “in” versus dating “out,” even if it meant dating Latinos with less education, which we term dating “down.” These preferences were shaped by limited substantive opportunities to date college-educated Latinos and a desire to find partners who shared their cultural values and experiences. The findings also point to racialized constraints Latinas experience in predominantly white spaces that limit prospects to date non-Latinos, especially whites. Examining how highly educated Latinas rationalize partner preferences helps us understand the mechanisms at play in romantic relationship formation and elucidates Latinas’ agency in negotiating their idealized preferences in contexts where the pool of highly educated Latinos is small.
Plague: Death, Disaster, and the Rinascita of Civiltà (c. 1325–c. 1425)

Apocalypse Now: Portraying the Plague and the Breakdown of Civilta I say, then, that there had passed 1348 years after the incarnation of the Son of God, when in the famous city of Florence … there struck the deadly plague ( mortifera pestilenza ). Whether caused by the stars or the wrath of God to correct the sins of humanity, it had appeared a few years earlier in the East, killing an infinite number. Moving terribly to the West …. [when it arrived in Florence] it appeared in a different form. In the East if anyone had blood coming from their nose, it was a sure sign of death; but [in Florence] instead in both men and women it began either in the groin or under the armpits with certain swellings, some of which grew to approximately the size of an apple, others to that of an egg. They were called by common people gavoccioli (plague sores). From those two parts of the body quickly they grew and spread over the whole body. After a while, however, the nature of this disease changed with black spots or livid patches which appeared in great number on the arms, the thighs and all over the body, some were large and distant from each other, others small and close together. As the plague sores were a certain sign of death, so were these later symptoms…. Actually virtually everyone within about three days of the appearance of these signs died and most without a fever or other symptoms…. Oh how many great palaces, beautiful houses, noble residences once full of families, of lords and ladies became vacant…. Oh how many important families, very rich inheritances, famous fortunes, were left without their just heirs! [Boccaccio, Decameron , Day I Introduction]
Abstract LB-037: Upregulation of Rab, a member of the Ras gene family, is associated with accelerated lung tumor progression in mice exposed in utero to secondhand smoke

Rationale: While second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure is responsible for more than 7,000 lung cancer deaths annually among US nonsmokers, it is unclear whether there is an association between in utero SHS and lung cancer. We have reported that lungs of mice exposed in utero to SHS and as adults to ovalbumin exhibited up-regulation of miR-155-5p, miR-21-3p and miR-18a-5p and down-regulation of 16 tumor suppressor genes, all predicted targets of these 3 miRNAs, which have been characterized as oncogenic miRNAs. In this pilot study, we investigated whether in utero SHS exposure promotes an oncogenic milieu in lungs of adult mice. Methods: Pregnant Balb/c mice were exposed from gestational days 6 - 19 to 10 mg/m3 of SHS or filtered air. From 16-19 weeks of age, male offspring were treated with 4 weekly intraperitoneal injections of urethane (1 g/kg) or saline. At 44 weeks of age, mice were sacrificed. Broncho-alveolar lavage fluids (BALF) were collected for assessment of inflammatory responses and oxidative stress. Tumors were analyzed for number, size, volume, and histopathological classification. Lung RNA sequencing was also performed. Results: In utero SHS-adult urethane (SU) treatment significantly (p Citation Format: Alexandra Noel, Rui Xiao, Zakia Perveen, Viviana Le Donne, Daniel B. Paulsen, Arthur L. Penn. Upregulation of Rab, a member of the Ras gene family, is associated with accelerated lung tumor progression in mice exposed in utero to secondhand smoke. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-037.
Informant Witnesses and the Risk of Wrongful Convictions

Several studies in the last two decades have revealed that false criminal informant testimony is a leading factor in wrongful convictions, along with false confessions, eyewitness misidentification, and faulty forensic science. Although a great deal more remains to be done, many jurisdictions have implemented evidence-based reforms to these last three categories of evidence. Policy about criminal informants, however, seems to be stubbornly stagnant, and relevant social science is virtually nonexistent. This Article questions the relative lack of attention to informant testimony and suggests that the dangers posed by informant testimony are both greater and different than previously thought. Unlike much of the prior literature on the subject, this Article carefully distinguishes between jailhouse informants and other types of informant witnesses, especially accomplices. Although both categories of informants pose some of the same risks to the reliability of proceedings, accomplice witnesses pose additional risks — many enabled by rules of evidence, trial practices, and psychological phenomena — that have not yet been fully appreciated in the literature. After identifying these concerns, this Article concludes with recommendations for reform — and areas requiring further study — with the aim of developing a set of evidence-based best practices for the use of informant testimony.
Managing skilled migration

No abstract available. (Published: 17 October 2016) This paper is part of the Special Issue: Book symposium on Debating Brain Drain: May Government Restrict Emigration? More papers from this issue can be found at http://www.ethicsandglobalpolitics.net Citation: Ethics & Global Politics, Vol. 9, 2016, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/egp.v9.33502
Landau levels for an electromagnetic wave

In this paper we show that the frequencies of propagating electromagnetic waves (photons) in a rotating dielectric medium obey Landau quantization. We show that the degeneracy of right and left helicities of photons is broken on the lowest Landau level. In homogeneous space this level is shown to be helical; i.e., left and right helical photons counterpropagate. This leads to a helical vortical effect for photons, which can be understood as an inverse of the optical torque.
Metadiscourse and Identity Construction in Teaching Philosophy Statements: A Critical Case Study of Two MATESOL Students

Drawing on Hyland's (2005) metadiscourse framework, the researchers investigated how two English as a second or foreign language instructors constructed their identity in a teaching philosophy statement written for a master's in TESOL (MATESOL) course. Analyses revealed that both instructors employed almost all metadiscourse resources in the model to construct the identity of a competent graduate student and that of a knowledgeable and reflective teacher. In addition, their identity construction reinforced the writing conventions associated with the imagined community (Norton, 2013) of graduate student teachers while also affording them the opportunity to exercise some degree of teacher agency. Findings offer insights into how linguistic resources can be mobilized to construct a strong and unique teaching philosophy statement.
The distribution of ammonia on Jupiter from a preliminary inversion of Juno Microwave Radiometer data

The Juno microwave radiometer measured the thermal emission from Jupiter's atmosphere from the cloud tops at about 1 bar to as deep as a hundred bars of pressure during its first flyby over Jupiter (PJ1). The nadir brightness temperatures show that the Equatorial Zone is likely to be an ideal adiabat, which allows a determination of the deep ammonia abundance in the range 362^(+33)_(-33) ppm. The combination of Markov chain Monte Carlo method and Tikhonov regularization is studied to invert Jupiter's global ammonia distribution assuming a prescribed temperature profile. The result shows (1) that ammonia is depleted globally down to 50–60 bars except within a few degrees of the equator, (2) the North Equatorial Belt is more depleted in ammonia than elsewhere, and (3) the ammonia concentration shows a slight inversion starting from about 7 bars to 2 bars. These results are robust regardless of the choice of water abundance.
Modeling Heterogeneity in Healthcare Utilization Using Massive Medical Claims Data

ABSTRACTWe introduce a modeling approach for characterizing heterogeneity in healthcare utilization using massive medical claims data. We first translate the medical claims observed for a large study population and across five years into individual-level discrete events of care called utilization sequences. We model the utilization sequences using an exponential proportional hazards mixture model to capture heterogeneous behaviors in patients’ healthcare utilization. The objective is to cluster patients according to their longitudinal utilization behaviors and to determine the main drivers of variation in healthcare utilization while controlling for the demographic, geographic, and health characteristics of the patients. Due to the computational infeasibility of fitting a parametric proportional hazards model for high-dimensional, large-sample size data we use an iterative one-step procedure to estimate the model parameters and impute the cluster membership. The approach is used to draw inferences on util...
Twelve Questions for the Theory of Affective Pragmatics

I want to sincerely thank my commentators for their critical analyses of my work. I have learned a lot from their commentaries, both about the virtues and about the flaws of my theory of affective ...
Electrical Characteristics of 10-kV 4H-SiC MPS Rectifiers with High Schottky Barrier Height

This paper reports the study of the fabrication and characterization results of 10-kilo-volt (kV) 4H-SiC merged PiN/Schottky rectifiers. A metal contact process was developed to make the Schottky contact on n-type SiC and ohmic contact on p-type SiC at the same time. The diodes with different Schottky contact width were fabricated and characterized for comparison. With the improvement quality of the Schottky contact and the passivation layer, the devices show low leakage current up to 10 kV. The on-state characteristics from room temperature to elevated temperature (423 K) were demonstrated and compared between structures with different Schottky contact width.
Renal mass biopsy for the small renal mass

Opponents of premanagement biopsy of small renal masses are not difficult to find. Many urologists contend that the benefits of biopsy do not outweigh the risks, arguing that the results do not influence management substantially and that the most useful information from renal mass biopsy can be attained with advanced imaging. In this article, we develop the counter arguments and demonstrate that renal mass biopsy should be implemented into the small renal mass management algorithm.
Evaluation of a Mindful Eating Intervention Curriculum Among Elementary School Children and their Parents.

Foodie U, a pilot mindful eating intervention curriculum, was developed to foster healthy food behaviors among third-fifth grade children and their parents from a low-income school. The curriculum consisted of two parent workshops, six monthly classroom activities, and six take home activities with parents.
Design and rotor shape modification of a multiphase high speed permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motor for stress reduction

This paper presents the design and a novel rotor shape of a 3 kW, 25000 rpm permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motor (PMa-SynRM) based on a low speed benchmark model. Multiphase PMa-SynRM can operate with low torque ripple, reduced magnet volume and extended field weakening region which makes it a potential candidate for high speed motor design. However, the challenge of high speed PMa-SynRM design lies in the mechanical stress developed in the rotor which makes it completely different from operating it at low speed region. To manage the stress in high speed design, stress equation has been developed for PMa-SynRM and included in the objective function (OF) along with other parameters. For high speed design, a low speed benchmark model of 3 kW, 1800 rpm, 5 phase PMa-SynRM has been considered as a benchmark model. With lumped parameter model (LPM) and differential evolution strategy (DES), initial design of high speed PMa-SynRM was developed. High speed design showed reduced torque ripple and cogging torque compared with low speed model in finite element analysis (FEA). To understand the impact of including stress in the design objective function, stress analysis has been done for two high speed PMa-SynRM models; one with stress included in OF and another without stress in OF. From simulation, it was observed that, in the design including stress in objective function, stress has been reduced by 30.14%. To reduce stress further, mini flux barrier (FB) has been added in the rotor without affecting reluctance torque. Again, with DES, dimension of min FB has been optimized. Simulation results showed 15.73% improvement in stress by adding the optimized mini flux barrier.
a-Factor Analogues Containing Alkyne- and Azide-Functionalized Isoprenoids Are Efficiently Enzymatically Processed and Retain Wild-Type Bioactivity

Protein prenylation is a post-translational modification that involves the addition of one or two isoprenoid groups to the C-terminus of selected proteins using either farnesyl diphosphate or geranylgeranyl diphosphate. Three crucial enzymatic steps are involved in the processing of prenylated proteins to yield the final mature product. The farnesylated dodecapeptide, a-factor, is particularly useful for studies of protein prenylation because it requires the identical three-step process to generate the same C-terminal farnesylated cysteine methyl ester substructure present in larger farnesylated proteins. Recently, several groups have developed isoprenoid analogs bearing azide and alkyne groups that can be used in metabolic labeling experiments. Those compounds have proven useful for profiling prenylated proteins and also show great promise as tools to study how the levels of prenylated proteins vary in different disease models. Herein, we describe the preparation and use of prenylated a-factor analogs, a...
"It Was My Understanding That There Would Be No Math": Using Thematic Cases to Teach Undergraduate Research Methods.

Undergraduates frequently approach research methods classes with trepidation and skepticism, owing in part to math-phobia and confusion over how methodology is relevant to their interests. These se...
Electrochemical Functional-Group-Tolerant Shono-type Oxidation of Cyclic Carbamates Enabled by Aminoxyl Mediators.

An electrochemical method has been developed for α-oxygenations of cyclic carbamates by using a bicyclic aminoxyl as a mediator and water as the nucleophile. The mediated electrochemical process enables substrate oxygenation to proceed at a potential that is approximately 1 V lower than the redox potential of the carbamate substrate. This feature allows for functional-group compatibility that is inaccessible with conventional Shono oxidations, which proceed by direct electrochemical substrate oxidation. This reaction also represents the first α-functionalization of non-activated cyclic carbamates with oxoammonium oxidants.
Philosophia, Historia, Mathematica: Shifting Sands in the Disciplinary Geography of the Seventeenth Century

Something very important happened in our knowledge of the physical world in the seventeenth century. A number of very smart people made discoveries about the natural world that fundamentally changed our way of looking at things. But as important as the individual accomplishments of individual seventeenth-century scientists were, an important part of the story lies in the disciplinary and institutional history of that important century. What was new and important was not only Copernicus and Kepler, Descartes and Galileo, Leibniz and Newton, but the changes that happened in the larger framework in which they work.
Recurrent and De Novo Diseases After Renal Transplantation

Although renal transplantation can restore excellent kidney function to the recipient, it often does not remove the underlying cause of kidney failure. Virtually all primary and secondary renal diseases affecting glomerular, tubulointerstitial, and/or vascular structures can recur after transplant, and some may also develop de novo following transplantation. The first case of disease recurrence in the allograft was noted following the first successful renal transplant (between identical twins) in 1954. Over the next few decades, numerous case series reported the occurrence of various forms of recurrent and de novo disease following kidney transplant. Concurrent with these reports, the introduction of new induction and maintenance immunosuppressive medications led to an improvement in long-term allograft survival rates. As transplant outcomes improved, recurrent and de novo diseases have assumed greater importance as a cause of renal allograft dysfunction and failure. This chapter will discuss recurrent and de novo diseases following kidney transplant.
Bike Lanes, Not Cars: Mobility and the Legal Fight for Future Los Angeles

In 2015, the City of Los Angeles adopted the controversial Mobility Plan 2035. The Plan restructures city transportation planning by emphasizing alternatives to cars for the next twenty years. Predictably, bike lanes became its most polemic aspect. The Plan envisions dramatic increases in bike lanes throughout car-obsessed Los Angeles. This bike lane increase was challenged in court, with objectors claiming that eliminating car lanes would increase congestion and compromise air quality. These arguments are ironic, since environmental justifications typically motivate bike projects. The Mobility Plan illustrates how law supports and challenges bike lane projects. This Article argues that although this bike lane fight regards inches and miles of road space, the fight is primarily centered on how Angelinos will live in the future. As bike advocates attain popular and policy successes, they must confront legal contests driven by car-centric interests. Los Angeles shows how city planning achievements open a path for bike lane opposition armed with city governance, environmental, transportation, and land use doctrines.
Using Placebo Beverages in Group Alcohol Studies.

BACKGROUND Placebo beverage conditions remain a key element in the methodological toolkit for alcohol researchers interested in evaluating pharmacological and nonpharmacological factors influencing the effects of alcohol consumption. While interest in experimentally examining alcohol in social context is on the rise, there has been little research examining the effectiveness of placebo manipulations in group settings, when just 1 suspicious participant could potentially jeopardize the effect of the placebo on group members. Moreover, research has rarely considered the association between individual difference factors (e.g., gender) and placebo manipulation effectiveness. The present study, using an uncommonly large sample of placebo-consuming participants, was well suited to investigate fundamental questions regarding placebo efficacy that have not been assessed previously. Specifically, we aimed to examine placebo efficacy and general processes of placebo functioning in a group context. We also assessed potential associations between a variety of individual difference factors and placebo response. METHODS A total of 240 participants (50% male) consumed placebo beverages during a triadic drinking period (across 80 three-person groups). Participants reported their subjective intoxication, stimulation, and sedation 8 minutes following drink consumption and estimated the alcohol content of their drink at the end of the study. RESULTS Participants consuming placebo beverages in groups were nearly universal in reporting that they had consumed alcohol (>99%) and had experienced an increase in feelings of intoxication [t(239) = 22.03, p < 0.001] and stimulation [t(239) = 5.53, p < 0.001], levels that were similar to those observed in prior studies conducted with participants drinking placebos in isolation. Further, participants' placebo responses were independent of their 2 group members and were largely unaffected by a variety of individual difference factors. CONCLUSIONS Placebo response generally operated independently of group-member influences, suggesting that researchers can successfully conduct placebo beverage studies utilizing group drinking designs.
Identifying Structural Determinants of Mesomorphism from Focused Libraries of Tripedal Mesogens Prepared via the Passerini Three-Component Reaction

Heterolithic tripedal mesogens are branched, multifunctional molecules that exhibit liquid crystalline properties. The liquid crystalline phase behavior of heterolithic tripedal mesogens can be challenging to predict from the structures of the different branches. To elucidate the structural basis for smectic mesomorphism in the first examples of heterolithic ABC tripedal mesogens, we synthesized and characterized six homolithic, three heterolithic AB2, and seven heterolithic ABC tripedes. The synthesis strategy took advantage of the Passerini three‐component reaction to elaborate focused compound libraries in a combinatorial and high throughput manner. The phase behavior of the tripedes was characterized by a combination of polarized optical microscopy (POM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and powder X‐ray diffraction techniques. We show that one end‐group of the heterolithic mesogens is responsible for the emergence of smectic mesomorphism in the presence of other groups that prefer nematic mesomorphism. Understanding how these structurally complex, non‐conventional mesogens self‐organize in liquid crystalline mesophases is significant for designing functional materials with predictable hierarchical order.
RFIC IP Redesign and Reuse Through Surrogate Based Machine Learning Method

This paper presents an efficient approach for RFIC design optimization and explores the potential to reuse state of the art Intellectual Property(IP) across different technology nodes. This is treated as a transistor circuit level optimization problem. A solution is presented based on Surrogate Model with candidate sample and Nu-Support Vector Machine (SVM) for inductor model fitting. In this paper, two design examples, a 9.6GHz VCO with Inductor Co-Optimization and a 79GHz Mixer, are demonstrated with the proposed design flow and both achieve promising performance results than manual design. The proposed approach can be used in any RF circuit block to help accelerate design automation and IP redesign/reuse.
Machine Learning: Any Image Reconstruction Algorithm Can Learn by Itself

In the traditional machine learning sense, a neural network structure with single or multiple layers is required and the weights at the neurons are learned from training sets. The main application of machine learning is pattern classification. The author’s main research area is image reconstruction. Any image reconstruction or image processing algorithm has some parameters to be adjusted according to the tasks. For example in Bayesian algorithms, the weighting factor for the Bayesian influence and some thresholds for non-linear constraints are tedious and time-consuming to determine. In this preliminary research, we argue that any image reconstruction algorithm or any image processing algorithm can learn to find its optimal parameters by using the training sets. The neural network structure is not necessary.
Privacy-Preserving Keyword Search Schemes over Encrypted Cloud Data: An Extensive Analysis

Big Data has rapidly developed into a hot research topic in many areas that attracts attention from academia and industry around the world. Many organization demands efficient solution to store, process, analyze and search huge amount of information. With the rapid development of cloud computing, organization prefers cloud storage services to reduce the overhead of storing data locally. However, the security and privacy of big data in cloud computing is a major source of concern. One of the positive ways of protecting data is encrypting it before outsourcing to remote servers, but the encrypted significant amounts of cloud data brings difficulties for the remote servers to perform any keyword search functions without leaking information. Various privacy-preserving keyword search (PPKS) schemes have been proposed to mitigate the privacy issue of big data encrypted on cloud storage. This paper presents an extensive analysis of the existing PPKS techniques in terms of verifiability, efficiency and data privacy. Through this analysis, we present some valuable directions for future work.
Development of a Computational Fluid Dynamics Model for Scaling-up Ambr Bioreactors

It is known that process scaling-up has always been a challenge in biopharmaceutical and food industry. In recent years, newly emerging microscale bioreactors like Ambr15 and Ambr250 have attracted significant attention for that they can provide high throughput and accelerate upstream process development. In this work, we developed the first multiphase Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model for an in-depth characterization of Ambr bioreactor systems. A number of advanced computational methods, including Reynolds stress turbulence model, population balance model, multiple reference frame (MRF), sliding mesh (SM) and user defined functions (UDFs), were integrated for the first time to systematically study the gas-liquid mixing in Ambr250 bioreactor. We provided detailed comparison between MRF and SM method, demonstrated the limitation of MRF for predicting bubble distribution in asymmetric reactors. Characteristics of hydrodynamics, mass transfer, turbulent dissipation and bubble size distribution were predicted from our CFD models and validated by existing experimental data for a variety of operating conditions for both the Ambr15 and Ambr250 bioreactors. The predicted kLa value ranges are 0.18–7.90 h-1 and 2.15–11.52 h-1 for Ambr250 and Ambr15, respectively. This work thus provides a superior framework for the computational modeling of microscale stirred bioreactors.
Effects of temperature and salinity on body fluid dynamics and metabolism in the estuarine diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin)

The diamondback terrapin is the only temperate turtle species that exclusively inhabits estuarine habitats. Morphological, behavioral and physiological features contribute to the terrapin9s ability to regulate body fluid osmotic pressure in a euryhaline environment. Low integument permeability combined with aquatic-terrestrial shuttling behavior limits passive exchange of water and salts with the environment, and terrapins regulate active uptake of salts via alterations in drinking and feeding behavior. The lachrymal salt gland facilitates excretion of excess sodium (Na + ) and chloride (Cl − ) ions through active transport mechanisms. We investigated body fluid dynamics, oxygen consumption ( V O 2 ), and osmotic status of terrapins exposed to an acute increase in salinity (12 to 35 psu) at 10°C and 25°C to gain insight into the relative importance of behavioral vs. physiological osmoregulatory adjustments over a range of seasonally-relevant temperatures. Linear mixed models were used to evaluate the effects of experimental temperature, salinity, and mass. Overall, temperature effects were stronger than salinity effects. Terrapins acclimated to 25°C had significantly lower blood osmolality and Na + , and higher water turnover rates, daily water flux (DWF), and V O 2 compared with terrapins acclimated to 10°C. Salinity effects were restricted to DWF, which significantly decreased in response to acute exposure to 35 psu. Our results support the notion that behavioral adjustments predominate in the osmoregulatory strategy of terrapins.
Using Statistical Modeling to Understand and Predict Pediatric Stem Cell Function

Background: Congenital heart defects are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children, and despite advanced surgical treatments, many patients progress to heart failure. Currently, transp...
The Use of Screening for the Control of an Endemic Disease

We employ recent results on robust control of uncertain dynamical systems to deduce a screening policy for use by a public health authority in the control of an infectious disease such as gonorrhea.
Blastocyst Transfer For Everyone

One of the hardest questions in medicine is “What does it mean to do right by our patients?” When it comes to deciding whether patients should have only blastocyst transfers, this is not as clear cut as it would seem. At first glance, transferring only blastocysts makes sense if wishing to maximize fecundity while following current standards for the number of embryos to transfer [Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and Practice Committee of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (Fertil Steril 107(4):901–3, 2017)]. Though a case can be made for this approach resulting in the best outcomes, what may be right for the patient may not always be the approach that leads to the highest fecundity per transfer. Several factors such as patient autonomy, lab capabilities, and cost-effectiveness may result in circumstances where a cleavage-stage transfer may be reasonable. Patients are heterogeneous in their diagnoses and desires, so a one-size-fits-all approach is difficult to justify, even if one size will fit most. By reviewing core considerations for blastocyst relative to cleavage-stage transfer, it is easier for clinicians to delineate their personal balance between the ideal and the real, which helps their patients find this balance as well.
Mild and Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury and Repeated Stress Affect Corticosterone in the Rat

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors suffer from a range of morbidities, including post-traumatic endocrinopathies that can cause physical and mental changes in patients, greatly compromising qua...
Network measures of advice-seeking and resource sharing are related to well-being in recovery homes.

Abstract Background There is a need to better understand the extent to which social capital (reflected in social networks tapping friendship, financial support, advice/informational support) can aid recovery for those residents living in abstinence-based recovery homes. Methods Social network characteristics of 42 recovery homes (Oxford Houses) were examined, including friendship, willingness to loan money, and advice-seeking to assess the extent to which house network patterns were related to house-level resident measures of proximal recovery outcomes of well-being (e.g. social support, self-esteem, stress) and financial health (e.g. earned wages). Results We found that the density of the willingness to loan money network within a house was positively associated with house-level earned wages, social support, and self-esteem, and negatively associated with stress. Conversely, the density of house advice-seeking relationships was positively related to house-level stress. Conclusions Houses in which residents are willing to share resources with other members who may be in need showed higher rates of well-being at the house-level. Advice-seeking in itself may signal stress, as stress may motivate residents to seek advice from more peers. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Dielectric-Clad Circuit TWT with TM 01 Mode Interaction

The TM 01 mode of the dielectric-clad cylindrical waveguide circuit was analyzed to obtain the dispersion and interaction impedance for TWT analysis. The Pierce parameters were modified for analysis with intense relativistic electron beams. A computer code was written for the complete analysis of gain versus frequency including launching loss and sever regions. The results indicate the possibility of achieving bandwidth exceeding one octave and peak power levels of one gigawatt near 600 kilovolts using this simple interaction structure.
Chapter 6 Injection of Dislocations into Strained Multilayer Structures

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the injection of dislocations into strained multilayer structures. With the demonstration of the potential of strained multilayer structures for electronic applications such as quantum well structures, there has been a renewed interest in the interface structure. The chapter is restricted to oriented single or multilayers with planar interfaces pertinent to the proposed electronic applications. An oriented overgrowth layer is said to have an epitaxial or endotaxial orientation with respect to the substrate layer and the interface is identified by the crystallographic habit places of the two adjoining crystals. If there is one-to-one atom matching at the interface, the interface is coherent or, in the recent alternate terminology in condensed matter physics, commensurate. Thin strained layers tend to be stable in the coherent state, both thermodynamically and kinematically, while thicker layers become unstable with respect to misfit dislocation injection. Equilibrium arrays of misfit dislocations in layer structures are treated in the Volterra dislocation model. Long-range interactions lead to deviations from the early dipole results for the equilibrium critical layer thickness and have the important consequence that asymmetrical arrays are favored for the regime of a small ratio of layer thickness to misfit dislocation spacing.
Justice to Charity

Despite what one may be led to believe by breathless reports in the media, the acme of misery in America is not the woes, financial and otherwise, of Donald Trump and Michael Jackson. People lose their jobs, have their assets drained by reversals of fortune, suffer from illiteracy, malnutrition, lack of shelter, and other mishaps. The circumstances in which they find themselves are genuinely distressing. It would be an odd understanding indeed that failed to find these circumstances directly relevant to what morality asks of us. If morality is to count for anything, then surely it must take notice of exigent need. This is not merely the deliverance of a late twentieth-century Western moral consciousness massaged by the blessings of comparative affluence and graced with a newfound awareness of social justice. All traditional ethical codes of which I am aware, sacred and secular, demand that one take the distress of one's neighbor as bearing on one's own activities. “Am I my brother's keeper?” is the question; the well-nigh universal answer is “Yes.” The disposition to be moved by and respond to distress is the virtue of charity.
An 8 Ghz MMIC Preamplifier

A monolithic GaAs low-noise 8 GHz preamplifier has been designed and fabricated on a 2.0 mm square chip. Measured gain, VSWR,and noise performance are described and compared to predicted values.
A Transnational Sufi Festival: The Gammu of Tivaouane in Senegal

The Mawlīd al-Nabī is the Celebration of the Birthday of Prophet Muhammad on the twelfth night of Rabi’al-Awwal, the third lunar month of the Muslim calendar. This festival is organized all around the Muslim world, and in Senegal, the most visible celebration (gammu in Wolof) is organized by the Sy Tijāniyya in Tivaouane. The ritual performance borrows from three sources: relics of a colonial past through an “official ceremony,” an intense moment of Sufi rituals during the night in the mosques, and the ordinary holiday during which pilgrims do regular activities. The gammu highlights the intricacies between traditional/modern, sacred/profane, local/global in the Senegalese secular state. Additionally, we will see how conflicts of succession around the Caliphate have affected the organization of the event. The majority of practitioners are from Senegal though pilgrims come from neighboring countries. Some come from North Africa, mainly Morocco, and a few from America and Europe. How does this transnational flux change the image of the gammu? My paper will focus on the tensions between repetition of the gammu, the improvisations in the ceremonies, and its reinterpretation by the marabouts and their followers in Senegal and the diaspora.
Pitfalls in Calculating Scattering by Small Particles

Comparisons between measured extinction on small particle systems and the same quantity derived from scattering calculations using bulk optical constants often show substantial disagreements. Based on such comparisons, certain pitfalls which have been recognized in such a process, as it applies to the modelling of interstellar dust properties, are pointed out. Illustrations are taken from laboratory work on SiC, graphitic carbon, and olivine-type silicates.
Spatial distribution of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) inferred from stable isotopes and priority organic pollutants.

Abstract Differences in priority organic pollutants (POPs), analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ34S, and δ15N; analyzed by isotope ratio-mass spectrometry), divide 77 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from the Florida Gulf Coast into three distinct groups. POP levels reflect human population and historical contamination along the coast. In the least disturbed site, concentrations of ΣPOP in male dolphins were 18,000 ng g− 1 ± 6000 (95% confidence interval here and throughout); in the intermediate bay, males had ΣPOP concentrations of 19,000 ng g− 1 ± 10,000. St Andrews Bay was home to dolphins with the highest ΣPOP concentrations: 44,000 ng g− 1 ± 10,300. δ34S and δ15N, differed significantly between St. George Sound dolphins and those frequenting each of the other two bays, but not between St. Andrews and St. Joseph Bays. ΣPOP concentrations were statistically higher in dolphins frequenting St. Andrews Bay, but were not significantly different between dolphins occupying St. Joseph Bay and St. George Sound. Thus, using either POP or isotope values alone, we would only be able to identify two dolphin groups, but when POP and isotope data are viewed cumulatively, the results clearly define three distinct communities occupying this region.
Isolation of sea urchin embryo cell surface membranes on polycationic beads.

Blastula cell surface membranes of the sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, were isolated on polycationic beads by a method modified from Jacobson and Branton (1977) and Jacobson (1980). This study represents the first application of this procedure to an embryonic system. Embryo cells were attached to polylysine-coated polyacrylamide beads and lysed, leaving the embryo cell surface membranes still attached to the beads, and cytoplasmic particles were washed free of the exposed inner surfaces of the membranes. Cell surface membrane sheets were desorbed from the beads and collected by centrifugation. Approximately 8% and 5% of the cell surface membranes of dissociated embryo cells were recovered on the beads and in the membrane pellet, respectively. Specific activities of [3H]concanavalin A-binding and of the cell surface marker enzymes, alkaline phosphatase and Na+/K+ ATPase, were 16-, 19-, and 32-fold higher, respectively, in the cell surface membrane fraction than in the embryo cell homogenate. Membranes were relatively free of cytoplasmic contaminants as judged from electron micrographs and enzyme analysis. Activities in the membrane fraction of the cytoplasmic marker enzymes, cytochrome c oxidase, catalase, acid phosphatase, NADP- and NADPH-cytochrome c reductase, and acetylcholinesterase, were substantially less than homogenate levels. The entire procedure can be completed in 4 h. Since this cell surface membrane isolation technique relies only on the tendency of a negatively charged cell to adhere to a positively charged surface, it is less likely than most other methods to exhibit species and developmental stage specificity and should prove useful in the study of the developmental role of embryonic stage-specific membrane components.
The ontogeny of cardiac and neural A1 adenosine receptor expression in rats.

Abstract To provide insights into the sites and mechanisms of adenosine action during fetal life, the ontogeny of A1 adenosine receptor (A1AR) expression was studied in rats. Using in situ hybridization and receptor binding assays, AJAR expression was examined at gestational days (GD) 8, 11, 14, 17, and 21. At GD 8, A1AR mRNA expression was detected in the myocardium but not in other fetal structures. At GD 11, A1AR mRNA was present in the atria, but not in the ventricles or neural structures. At GD 14, A1AR mRNA was present in the atria and the pontine neuroectoderm, the thalamus, and the ventral horn of the spinal cord. At GD 14, A1ARs were first detectable using [3H]DPCPX (8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine). Functional binding sites were highest in the atria and present at low levels in brain. When GD 17 was reached, patterns of A1AR expression in the brain were similar to those observed in adult animals. Sites of heavy labeling included the spinal cord, medulla, pons, midbrain, thalamus, and the hippocampus. When pre- and postnatal tissue concentrations of A1ARs were compared, cardiac A1AR receptor concentrations were similar. However, postnatal brain AJAR levels were considerably greater than in fetuses. These data identify the atria as a prominent site of fetal AJAR expression and show that the A1AR gene is one of the earliest expressed G protein-coupled receptor genes in the heart. A1AR expression in brain lags behind cardiac expression in early stages of gestation and exceeds cardiac A1AR expression with progressive maturation. A1ARs may therefore influence the heart and brain during critical periods of fetal development.
Analytical performance of the AtheNA MultiLyte ANA II assay in sera from lupus patients with multiple positive ANAs.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the precision and accuracy of a commercial multiplexed kit for the measurement of 9 anti-nuclear antibodies (ANAs; anti-SS/A, anti-SS/B, anti-Sm, anti-RNP, anti-Jo-1, anti-Scl-70, anti-dsDNA, anti-Centromere B, and anti-Histone), and to compare these results to a subset of ANAs measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and immunodiffusion (ID). Sera were obtained from 22 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, twelve controls and five others (commercial source) with various autoimmune diseases. ANA results from the AtheNA MultiLyte® ANA II Assay (AtheNA) were compared to ELISA results (controls) and patients (ID). The AtheNA interassay coefficients of variation (CVs, N = 39, performed in duplicate; replicated 3×) ranged from 6.2% to 16.7% (mean = 9.8%), while the intra-assay CVs ranged from 5.8% to 14.3% (mean = 10.8%). Compared to results for SLE cases and controls, the sensitivity of AtheNA ranged from 85.7% to 100% (mean = 97.1%), while diagnostic specificity ranged from 16.7% to 100% (mean = 71.6%). There was significant agreement (P values ranging from 0.0001 to 0.03) when analytes coanalyzed by AtheNA and ELISA/ID were evaluated using Cohen’s kappa (κ values ranging from 0.376 to 1.000). No false positive ANA results were observed for either the control or commercial source autoimmune disease sera. These results indicate that the AtheNA assay is a precise and accurate alternative for performing multiple ELISAs or IDs in the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases, especially when the number of sera to be tested is large, such as in clinical screening or epidemiologic studies. It also appears that the AtheNA assay identifies positive ANA specificities which are missed by ID techniques, suggesting that it may have greater analytical sensitivity for some ANAs.