cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The short form of CheA couples chemoreception to CheA phosphorylation.

Abstract Escherichia coli cells express two forms of the chemotaxis-associated CheA protein, CheAL and CheAS, as the result of translational initiation at two distinct in-frame initiation sites in the gene cheA. The long form, CheAL, plays a crucial role in chemotactic signal transduction. As a histidine protein kinase, it first autophosphorylates at amino acid His-48; then, it phosphorylates two other chemotaxis proteins, CheY and CheB. The short form, CheAS, lacks the amino-terminal 97 amino acids of CheAL and, therefore, does not contain the site of autophosphorylation. However, it does retain a functional kinase domain. As a consequence, CheAS can mediate transphosphorylation of kinase-deficient CheAL variants. Here we demonstrate in vitro that CheAS also can mediate transphosphorylation of a CheAL variant that lacks the C-terminal segment, a portion of the protein which is thought to interact with CheW and the chemoreceptors. The presence of CheW and the chemoreceptor Tsr enhances this activity and results in modulation of the transphosphorylation rate in response to the Tsr ligand, L-serine. Because CheAS can mediate this activity, it can restore chemotactic ability to Escherichia coli cells that express this truncated CheAL variant.
The effect of open-loop gain on the radiated emissions from the power-supply lead of an oscillator

The effect of open-loop gain on the spectrum of the supply current drawn by a feedback oscillator is analyzed numerically using a simple harmonic balance technique to determine the steady-state waveforms. It is demonstrated that boosting the open-loop gain increases the spectral bandwidth occupied by the power-supply current. An oscillator must be designed to have sufficient small-signal open-loop gain at the fundamental frequency to ensure reliable oscillation under worst-case conditions and to achieve any noise or time-jitter requirements. However, an unnecessarily large open-loop gain increases the possibility of excessive radiated emissions from the power-supply lead of the circuit and raises the demands on the supply-lead filtering when the circuit is installed in a system. >
Position-sensing detector for logical operations using incoherent light

The application of a position-sensing detector to optical logic operations has been introduced and experimentally demonstrated for the first time. We describe some possible architectures for all 16 two-input Boolean gates as well as for multi-input gates.
Effect of prior creep at 1365 K on the room temperature tensile properties of several oxide dispersion strengthened alloys

A study was undertaken to determine if oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) Ni-base alloys in wrought bar form are subject to a loss of room temperature tensile properties after elevated temperature creep similar to that found in a thin gage ODS alloy sheet. The bar products evaluated included ODS-Ni, ODS-NiCr, and advanced ODS-NiCrAl types. Tensile type test specimens were creep exposed in air at various stress levels at 1365 K and then tensile tested at room temperature. Low residual tensile properties, change in fracture mode, the appearance of dispersoid free bands, grain boundary cavitation, and/or internal oxidation in the microstructure were interpreted as creep degradation effects. This work has shown that many ODS alloys are subject to creep damage. Degradation of tensile properties occurs after very small amounts (≲0.2 pct) of creep strain; ductility being the most sensitive property. The amount of degradation is dependent on the creep strain and is essentially independent of the alloy system. All the ODS alloys which were creep damaged possessed a large grain size (>100 μm). Creep damage appears to be due to diffusional creep which produces dispersoid free bands around boundaries acting as vacancy sources. Low angle and, possibly, twin boundaries were found to act as vacancy sources. The residual tensile properties of two alloys were not affected by prior creep parallel to the extrusion axis. One of these alloys, DS-NiCr(S), was single crystalline. The other alloy, TD-Ni, possessed a small, elongated grain structure which minimized the thickness of the dispersoid free bands produced by diffusional creep.
Distribution system modeling with distributed harmonic sources

A method of analyzing distribution-system harmonic levels caused by distributed harmonic sources along feeders is proposed and investigated. Feeder and voltage predictions were compared with the actual measurements, with good results. The proposed feeder models are used to form a distribution-system model capable of studying capacitor switching and sensitivity analysis. Switching studies on one system successfully predicted the change in voltage level due to the removal of capacitance. The results indicate that the method can be used to complement harmonic measurements to minimize the measurement requirements and to provide insight into the harmonic propagation. It is concluded that the proposed method yields reasonable accuracy while minimizing data requirements and computational effort. >
Partisan Priorities and Public Budgeting

We explore budget data from twenty-nine Western countries from 1948 to 2012 to investigate the impact of partisan control of government on spending patterns. We use a variety of empirical methods, but the central element of analysis is to code spending allocations as "consistent" or "inconsistent" based on the partisanship of the majority party in government. Looking across the board, we show that inconsistent allocations occur at almost exactly the same rate as consistent ones. The implication is that budgets are best understood not as an expression of partisan priorities but as a reaction to changing contextual circumstances.
Fast speaker adaptation: some experiments on different techniques for codebook and HMM parameters estimation

A set of techniques to perform fast speaker adaptation for a large vocabulary, natural-language, speech recognition system are presented. The experimentation has been carried out using a 20000-word, real-time, natural-language speech recognizer for the Italian language. To perform speaker adaptation within the framework of the probabilistic approach to speech recognition two different problems must be addressed: codebook adaptation and hidden Markov model parameters adaptation. The basic idea is to use a set of data collected from several different speakers as a source of a priori knowledge with a small speech sample provided by the new speaker to perform the adaptation task. Several different techniques for codebook adaptation have been tried and discussed. >
DNA methylation in haematological malignancies: the role of decitabine

Normal cell development and function is dependent upon controlled gene expression. DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that can play an important role in the control of gene expression. DNA methylation at cytosine residues in gene promoter CpG sequences is known to inhibit gene transcription. Inappropriate inhibition of the transcription of tumour suppressor genes, genes that inhibit angiogenesis and metastasis and genes involved in DNA repair by uncontrolled methylation, can lead to unregulated growth and proliferation of a cell and carcinogenesis. Promoter hypermethylation affecting the p16 gene, resulting in gene silencing, has been shown to occur in many human solid tumours and a ‘hypermethylation profile’ in some leukaemias has been defined. The molecular mechanisms by which aberrant DNA methylation takes place during carcinogenesis are still not clear. However, the large number of target genes (involved in tumorigenesis) that are silenced by aberrant methylation suggests that inhibition of...
Effect of select antioxidants on malondialdehyde modification of proteins

Abstract To determine whether commonly used antioxidants alter malondialdehyde (MDA) modification of proteins, a known mechanism of free radical–related tissue injury, we studied the effect of adding 1 mg/mL of pycnogenol, 5 mM of α-tocopherol, 5 mM of ascorbate, and 0.2 mg/mL of an ethanol equivalent of red and white wine on MDA-protein content of endothelial cells in culture. The addition of pycnogenol but not of the other antioxidants was associated with significant reduction in MDA-protein content compared with controls (0.521 ± 0.041 in arbritrary units versus 1.011 ± 0.021, P
Effects of colchicine on risk of cardiovascular events and mortality among patients with gout: a cohort study using electronic medical records linked with Medicare claims

Background Colchicine may have beneficial effects on cardiovascular (CV) disease, but there are sparse data on its CV effect among patients with gout. We examined the potential association between colchicine and CV risk and all-cause mortality in gout. Methods The analyses used data from an electronic medical record (EMR) database linked with Medicare claims (2006–2011). To be eligible for the study cohort, subjects must have had a diagnosis of gout in the EMR and Medicare claims. New users of colchicine were identified and followed up from the first colchicine dispensing date. Non-users had no evidence of colchicine prescriptions during the study period and were matched to users on the start of follow-up, age and gender. Both groups were followed for the primary outcome, a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke or transient ischaemic attack. We calculated HRs in Cox regression, adjusting for potential confounders. Results We matched 501 users with an equal number of non-users with a median follow-up of 16.5 months. During follow-up, 28 primary CV events were observed among users and 82 among non-users. Incidence rates per 1000 person-years were 35.6 for users and 81.8 for non-users. After full adjustment, colchicine use was associated with a 49% lower risk (HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.30 to 0.88) in the primary CV outcome as well as a 73% reduction in all-cause mortality (HR 0.55, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.85, p=0.007). Conclusions Colchicine use was associated with a reduced risk of a CV event among patients with gout.
A Database Containing Material Parameters for Laser Oscillator Components

When designing a laser system, material properties and nonlinear properties, as well as laser properties become important to design components, such as spectral selectors and Q-switches. A database, LASERS, which is being developed by NASA's Langley Research Center, Flight Electronics Division, contains a catalog of physical parameters of many materials. Laser properties included in the database are the energy levels and the lifetimes of various energy manifolds. The database also contains tables for the index of refraction, the Sellmeier coefficients, the change in index of refraction with temperature, nine (9) thermal and mechanical properties, the damage threshold, the nonlinear coefficients, the photo-elastic coefficients, the electro-optical coefficients, the velocity of sound, and the relative dielectric coefficients. Information for laser materials, isotropic and birefringent materials, and nonlinear materials is included in the database and is accessible in a user-friendly fashion using preprogrammed macros.
Academic Laboratory Medicine at 50 Years and Getting Stronger

The Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists (ACLPS) was founded 50 years ago, and this important anniversary will be celebrated at this year’s annual meeting (May 28-30, 2015), held at and sponsored by the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the University of Minnesota, an institution that was also instrumental in the early development and nurturing of ACLPS. The mission of ACLPS is to encourage and promote the highest standards of service, education, scholarship, and research in academic laboratory medicine. Over the past 50 years, ACLPS and its members have been at the heart of facing the challenges of rapid technologic development, scientific advances, and the changing medical landscape of disease and our approach to diagnosis and therapy. The academic laboratorians (ie, specialists in clinical pathology) have been at the forefront of bridging research assays into clinical laboratory tests, long before the term translational …
How little do we need for 3-D shape perception?

How little do we need to perceive 3-D shape in monocular natural images? The shape-from-texture and shape-from-shading perspectives would motivate that 3-D perception vanishes once low-level cues are disrupted. Is this the case in human vision? Or can top – down influences salvage the percept? In this study we probe this question by employing a gauge-figure paradigm similar to that used by Koenderink et al (1992, Perception & Psychophysics52 487 – 496). Subjects were presented degraded natural images and instructed to make local assessments of slant and tilt at various locations thereby quantifying their internal 3-D percept. Analysis of subjects' responses reveals recognition to be a significant influence thereby allowing subjects to perceive 3-D shape at high levels of degradation. Specifically, we identify the ‘medium-blur’ condition, images approximately 32 pixels on a side, to be the limit for accurate 3-D shape perception. In addition, we find that degradation affects the perceived slant of point-es...
Monocarboxylate transporter 1 contributes to growth factor-induced tumor cell migration independent of transporter activity

// Alana L. Gray 1, 2 , David T. Coleman 1, 2 , Runhua Shi 1, 2 , James A. Cardelli 1, 2 1 Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center–Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, USA 2 Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, Shreveport, LA, USA Correspondence to: Alana L. Gray, email: agray@lsuhsc.edu Keywords: MCT1, HGF, EGF, cancer, motility Received: January 26, 2016 Accepted: March 31, 2016 Published: April 26, 2016 ABSTRACT Tumor progression to metastatic disease contributes to the vast majority of incurable cancer. Understanding the processes leading to advanced stage cancer is important for the development of future therapeutic strategies. Here, we establish a connection between tumor cell migration, a prerequisite to metastasis, and monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1). MCT1 transporter activity is known to regulate aspects of tumor progression and, as such, is a clinically relevant target for treating cancer. Knockdown of MCT1 expression caused decreased hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-induced as well as epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced tumor cell scattering and wound healing. Western blot analysis suggested that MCT1 knockdown (KD) hinders signaling through the HGF receptor (c-Met) but not the EGF receptor. Exogenous, membrane-permeable MCT1 substrates were not able to rescue motility in MCT1 KD cells, nor was pharmacologic inhibition of MCT1 able to recapitulate decreased cell motility as seen with MCT1 KD cells, indicating transporter activity of MCT1 was dispensable for EGF- and HGF-induced motility. These results indicate MCT1 expression, independent of transporter activity, is required for growth factor-induced tumor cell motility. The findings presented herein suggest a novel function for MCT1 in tumor progression independent of its role as a monocarboxylate transporter.
Salvage therapy for germ cell tumors

Testicular cancer has become a model for a curable neoplasm. Approximately 70% of patients with disseminated disease will be cured with first-line chemotherapy regimens like cisplatin/etoposide/bleomycin. The concept of salvage therapy is simply to use active drugs not previously used in combination with cisplatin, the most active single agent. This strategy can be used with curative intent if the patient did not exhibit progressive disease during his initial cisplatin combination chemotherapy. Vinblastine/ifosfamide/cisplatin will cure approximately 25% of patients when used as second-line therapy. The cure rate for extragonadal presentation is extremely low, however. High-dose chemotherapy with carboplatin and etoposide with autologous bone marrow transplantation can cure 15% to 20% of patients whose disease progressed during prior cisplatin combination chemotherapy, or when the regimen is used as third-line or later chemotherapy. We are currently evaluating autologous bone marrow transplantation as initial salvage therapy.
Regulation of body weight and metabolism by tanycyte-derived neurogenesis in young adult mice

The hypothalamus controls many homeostatic and instinctive physiological processes, including the sleep-wake cycle, food intake, and sexually dimorphic behaviors. These behaviors are regulated by environmental and physiological cues, although the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie these effects are still poorly understood. Recently, it has become clear that both the juvenile and adult hypothalamus exhibit neurogenesis, which modifies homeostatic neural circuitry. In this manuscript, we report data addressing the role of sex-specific and dietary factors in controlling neurogenesis in the mediobasal hypothalamus. We report that a high fat diet (HFD) activates neurogenesis in the median eminence (ME) of young adult female, but not male mice, and that focal irradiation of the ME in HFD-fed mice reduces weight gain in females, but not males. These results suggest that some physiological effects of HFD are mediated by sexually dimorphic neurogenesis in the ME. We present these findings in the context of other studies on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate neurogenesis in postnatal and adult hypothalamus.
Hyperion 5113/A Infrasound Sensor Evaluation

Sandia National Laboratories has tested and evaluated an infrasound sensor, the 5113/A manufactured by Hyperion. These infrasound sensors measure pressure output by a methodology developed by the University of Mississippi. The purpose of the infrasound sensor evaluation was to determine a measured sensitivity, transfer function, power, self-noise, and dynamic range. The 5113/A infrasound sensor is a new revision of the 5000 series intended to meet the infrasound application requirements for use in the International Monitoring System (IMS) of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).
A comparison between traditional and measurement-error growth models for weakfish Cynoscion regalis

Inferring growth for aquatic species is dependent upon accurate descriptions of age-length relationships, which may be degraded by measurement error in observed ages. Ageing error arises from biased and/or imprecise age determinations as a consequence of misinterpretation by readers or inability of ageing structures to accurately reflect true age. A Bayesian errors-in-variables (EIV) approach (i.e., measurement-error modeling) can account for ageing uncertainty during nonlinear growth curve estimation by allowing observed ages to be parametrically modeled as random deviates. Information on the latent age composition then comes from the specified prior distribution, which represents the true age structure of the sampled fish population. In this study, weakfish growth was modeled by means of traditional and measurement-error von Bertalanffy growth curves using otolith- or scale-estimated ages. Age determinations were assumed to be log-normally distributed, thereby incorporating multiplicative error with respect to ageing uncertainty. The prior distribution for true age was assumed to be uniformly distributed between ±4 of the observed age (yr) for each individual. Measurement-error growth models described weakfish that reached larger sizes but at slower rates, with median length-at-age being overestimated by traditional growth curves for the observed age range. In addition, measurement-error models produced slightly narrower credible intervals for parameters of the von Bertalanffy growth function, which may be an artifact of the specified prior distributions. Subjectivity is always apparent in the ageing of fishes and it is recommended that measurement-error growth models be used in conjunction with otolith-estimated ages to accurately capture the age-length relationship that is subsequently used in fisheries stock assessment and management.
Examination of Endogenous Peptides in Medicago truncatula Using Mass Spectrometry Imaging

Plant science is an important, rapidly developing area of study. Within plant science, one area of study that has grown tremendously with recent technological advances, such as mass spectrometry, is the field of plant-omics; however, plant peptidomics is relatively underdeveloped in comparison with proteomics and metabolomics. Endogenous plant peptides can act as signaling molecules and have been shown to affect cell division, development, nodulation, reproduction, symbiotic associations, and defense reactions. There is a growing need to uncover the role of endogenous peptides on a molecular level. Mass spectrometric imaging (MSI) is a valuable tool for biological analyses as it allows for the detection of thousands of analytes in a single experiment and also displays spatial information for the detected analytes. Despite the prediction of a large number of plant peptides, their detection and imaging with spatial localization and chemical specificity is currently lacking. Here we analyzed the endogenous p...
Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Considerations in Elderly Population

Physiological changes with age may alter absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of drugs in the elderly population. Reduced elimination and prolonged half-life are most commonly observed pharmacokinetic changes in older patients whereas altered sensitivity to drugs and change in receptor affinity are major pharmacodynamic changes. These potential changes should be considered in designing dosage regimen to elderly population during clinical and pharmaceutical development as well as prescription. Understanding and managing these age-related pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics changes is an important factor for the benefit to risk ratio of a new drug product. The physiological changes affecting pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of drugs and their clinical implications are discussed here.
Practical Considerations of the Democratic Party in the Post-War Period: Electoral Trends from 1932-1960

In the 1960s, a Democratic President turned away from his traditional southern base and decisively shifted the party to a racially liberal position. What drove the Democrats to make such a drastic shift in positions? Was this change a response to the moral dilemma posed by the civil rights movement or recognition of their precarious electoral situation and existing trends? This paper will examine trends from the 1930s to 1960 to argue that political context was changing for the Democrats as they recognized that they were losing the formerly dependable South and facing a precarious situation in the North. This paper will also argue that states with large Electoral College delegations, small margins of victory and growing Black populations became the focus of Democratic electoral strategy as the New Deal coalition deteriorated during the post-war era. Therefore, beyond the changes brought by the civil rights movement, the political context and strategic calculations of this period made the issues of Black voters important to the Democratic Party and shifted the direction of the party for decades to come.
Participatory ergonomics for healthcare process redesign: the example of family-centered rounds

We describe a participatory ergonomics project aimed at redesigning the complex healthcare process of family-centered rounds (FCR) in a pediatric hospital. The participatory process involved 10 representative FCR stakeholders (e.g., physician, nurse, parent) over a period of 10 months. This participatory ergonomics project demonstrated how human factors and ergonomics principles (e.g., usability, shared mental model) could be integrated into the redesign of complex healthcare processes. Several challenges needed to be overcome to facilitate participation and collaboration among a diverse group of stakeholders, such as identifying the optimal number and type of stakeholders, and scheduling and organization of meetings.
Shifting landscapes. Heterogeneous conceptions of land use and tenure in the Lima valley

This essay argues that Andean and Spanish agents both brought a spectrum of understandings of land tenure and land use to their colonial interactions. After a critical survey of what is known about practices in the Andes and Iberia prior to conquest, it turns to specific cases of property conflict and entangled definitions in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries in the Rimac Valley, Peru. There heterogeneous definitions of both use and tenure often coexisted, either as forms that communities and individuals could shift between depending upon venue or listener, or as multiple hybrid varieties that eventually produced a common language of property. Finally, the case of urban property, new to the indigenous Rimac Valley, is discussed with an eye to the learning curve wherein indigenous homeowners came to an understanding of the meaning of their lots. These cases, taken together, demonstrate that, rather than supplanting or conflicting, indigenous and Spanish agents often constructed an entangled lan...
ZMapp: The Ethics of Decision Making

Ebola’s Curse: 2013–2016 Outbreak in West Africa , a timely, needed and well-presented book by Michael Oldstone and Madeleine Rose Oldstone, unlocks the mysteries of the largest outbreak of one of the world’s most fearsome viruses. What is Ebola? Why did this happen? Here you will find the answers to these questions, while meeting fascinating people thrust into a situation as dramatic as any that could be imagined in a blockbuster novel or movie.
Value the Recent Past: Approximate Causal Consistency for Partially Replicated Systems

In wide-area distributed systems, data replication provides fault tolerance and low latency. Causal consistency in such systems is an interesting consistency model. Most existing works assume the data is fully replicated because this greatly simplifies the design of the algorithms to implement causal consistency. Recently, we proposed causal consistency under partial replication because it reduces the number of messages used under a wide range of workloads. One drawback of partial replication is that its meta-data tends to be relatively large when the message size is small. In this paper, we propose an algorithm Approx-Opt-Track which provides approximate causal consistency whereby we can reduce the meta-data at the cost of some violations of causal consistency. The amount of violations can be made arbitrarily small by controlling a tunable parameter, that we call credits . We present the analytic data to show the performance of Approx-Opt-Track. We then give simulation results to show the potential benefit of Approx-Opt-Track, viz., its ability to provide almost the same guarantees as causal consistency, at a smaller cost.
Novel Compensatory Mechanisms Enable the Mutant KCNT1 Channels to Induce Seizures

Mutations in the sodium-activated potassium channel (KCNT1) gene are linked to epilepsy. Surprisingly, all KCNT1 mutations examined to date increase K+ current amplitude. These findings present a major neurophysiological paradox: how do gain-of-function KCNT1 mutations expected to silence neurons cause epilepsy? Here, we use Drosophila to show that expressing mutant KCNT1 in GABAergic neurons leads to seizures, consistent with the notion that silencing inhibitory neurons tips the balance towards hyperexcitation. Unexpectedly, mutant KCNT1 expressed in motoneurons also causes seizures. One striking observation is that mutant KCNT1 causes abnormally large and spontaneous EJPs (sEJPs). Our data suggest that these sEJPs result from local depolarization of synaptic terminals due to a reduction in Shaker channel levels and more active Na+ channels. Hence, we provide the first in vivo evidence that both disinhibition of inhibitory neurons and compensatory plasticity in motoneurons can account for the paradoxical effects of gain-of-function mutant KCNT1 in epilepsy.
VSAT and Mobile-Satellite Systems

The satellite systems considered in the previous chapters basically involved satellite transmissions to earth stations with moderate or large size antennas. One of the future challenges is the application of satellites to communicate directly with small, low-cost terminal stations. These stations have been given the acronym VSAT—for very-small-aperture terminals—and refer to ground stations that operate with antenna apertures around 1 m or less. VSATs can be fixed terminals with a specific location and orientation relative to the satellite, or can be associated with mobile terminals placed on moving vehicles, such as autos, trucks, ships, or planes. Since the communication characteristics of a fixed-point VSAT differs from those associated with mobile terminals, the former will be simply referred to as VSATs, while the mobile terminals will be separately addressed.
The Political Dynamics of Mayoral Engagement in Public Education

Hill, P. T., & Celio, M. B. (1998). Fixing urban schools. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. Howell, W. (Ed.). (2005). Besieged: School boards and the future of education politics. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. Kirst, M. W. (2002). Mayoral influence, new regimes, and public school governance. Philadelphia: Consortium for Policy Research in Education. Kirst, M., & Bulkley, K. (2003). Mayoral takeover: The different directions taken in different cities. In J. Cibulka & W. Boyd (Eds.), A race against time: The crisis in urban schooling. Westport, CT: Praeger. Kirst, M. W., & Wirt, F. (2005). The political dynamics of American education. Berkeley, CA: McCutchan. National League of Cities. (2002). Improving public schools: Action kit for municipal leaders. Washington, DC: Author. Smith, H. (2005). Using community assets to build an “education system.” Voices in Urban Education Reform, 7, 25–35. Stone, C., Henig, J., Jones, B., & Pierannunzi, C. (2001). Building civic capacity: The politics of reforming urban schools. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. Tyack, D. (1974). The one best system: A history of American urban education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Usdan, M. D. (1994, January 1). The relationship between school boards and general purpose government. Phi Delta Kappan, 75, 374–378. Wong, K. K. (2005). The political dynamics of mayoral engagement in public education. Unpublished paper, Brown University. Wong, K. K., & Shen, F. (2003a). Big city mayors and school governance reform: The case of school district takeover. Peabody Journal of Education, 78, 5–32. Wong, K. K., & Shen, F. (2003b). Measuring the effectiveness of city and state takeover as a school reform strategy. Peabody Journal of Education, 78, 89–119.
Induced polarization as a monitoring tool for in-situ microbial induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) processes

Abstract Microbial induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a promising soil stabilization method performed by stimulating soil microbes that are naturally occurring and ubiquitous in soil systems. The precipitated carbonate acts as a cementation agent to bind loose soil at grain to grain contacts. MICP has been extensively tested and proven in laboratory environments, as well as in limited field trials; however, long term field applications still remain challenging, partly due to quality control and monitoring issues. Induced polarization (IP), an established geophysical method in mineral exploration, is a prime candidate for MICP monitoring and characterization. This study presents the geophysical results of a 15-day field-scale MICP project. The MICP treatment involved the injection of molasses (carbon source for microbial proliferation) and urea in a Ca2+ rich aquifer. IP monitoring successfully delineated, spatially and temporally, the propagation of MICP in the treatment area, while common resistivity measurements failed to capture any MICP related changes. Reduced hydraulic conductivity in the treatment area versus untreated area, further supports that MICP has changed the physical properties of the subsurface. Furthermore, conventional geochemical monitoring as well as X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed carbonate precipitation in samples from discrete wells in the treatment area.
Hepatocyte Transplantation: Quo Vadis?

Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) has been effective in managing end-stage liver disease since the advent of cyclosporine immunosuppression therapy in 1980. The major limitations of OLT are organ supply, monetary cost, and the burden of lifelong immunosuppression. Hepatocyte transplantation, as a substitute for OLT, has been an exciting topic of investigation for several decades. HT is potentially minimally invasive and can serve as a vehicle for delivery of personalized medicine through autologous cell transplant after modification ex vivo. However, 3 major hurdles have prevented large-scale clinical application: (1) availability of transplantable cells; (2) safe and efficient ex vivo gene therapy methods; and (3) engraftment and repopulation efficiency. This review will discuss new sources for transplantable liver cells obtained by lineage reprogramming, clinically acceptable methods of genetic manipulation, and the development of hepatic irradiation–based preparative regimens for enhancing engraftment and repopulation of transplanted hepatocytes. We will also review the results of the first 3 patients with genetic liver disorders who underwent preparative hepatic irradiation before hepatocyte transplantation.
First Fruits Celebrations among the Nguni Peoples of Southern Africa: An Ethnoastronomical Interpretation

Le present article traite de la celebration des fruits des peuples Nguni, en Afrique du Sud. L'auteur s'interesse particulierement aux elements touchant a l'astronomie, elements tangibles et symboliques utilises lors de ces fetes. Il cherche a rassembler du materiel tenant au nom de leurs etoiles, a leur terminologie celeste, a leur calendrier, a leur mythologie. Il pense que les Nguni peuvent avoir introduit leurs connaissances astronomiques dans leurs rites.
Use of magnetic fields and nanoparticles to trigger drug release and improve tumor targeting

Drug delivery strategies aim to maximize a drug's therapeutic index by increasing the concentration of drug at target sites while minimizing delivery to off-target tissues. Because biological tissues are minimally responsive to magnetic fields, there has been a great deal of interest in using magnetic nanoparticles in combination with applied magnetic fields to selectively control the accumulation and release of drug in target tissues while minimizing the impact on surrounding tissue. In particular, spatially variant magnetic fields have been used to encourage accumulation of drug-loaded magnetic nanoparticles at target sites, while time-variant magnetic fields have been used to induce drug release from thermally sensitive nanocarriers. In this review, we discuss nanoparticle formulations and approaches that have been developed for magnetic targeting and/or magnetically induced drug release, as well as ongoing challenges in using magnetism for therapeutic applications. This article is categorized under: Diagnostic Tools > in vivo Nanodiagnostics and Imaging Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease.
Polarization, thin-film optics, ellipsometry, and polarimetry: Retrospective

As plenary speaker at the 2019 ICSE-8 Conference in Barcelona, Spain, the author was invited to review several of his published contributions to polarization optics of interfaces and thin films, ellipsometry, and polarimetry over the past 50 years. This paper is an abridged account of his oral presentation. The author reconsiders the reflection of p- and s-polarized and unpolarized light at dielectric-dielectric and dielectric-conductor interfaces and obtains interesting results. For example, the author shows how the retrieval of the reflection phase shift of s-polarized light from p and s intensity reflectance data enables the determination of the complex dielectric function of an absorbing medium on a wavelength-by-wavelength basis without ellipsometry or Kramers–Kronig analysis. Novel achromatic and angle-insensitive single- and four-reflection wave retarders are presented that are particularly suited for the near IR. The author also shows how binary-thickness thin-film optical coatings on a high-index substrate can generate binary spatial and temporal polarization modulation by reflection. Finally, O'Bryan's 1936 vacuum ellipsometer is revisited and the author shows how it can be adapted for the measurement of the optical properties of absorbing liquids using attenuated total reflection spectroscopic ellipsometry.As plenary speaker at the 2019 ICSE-8 Conference in Barcelona, Spain, the author was invited to review several of his published contributions to polarization optics of interfaces and thin films, ellipsometry, and polarimetry over the past 50 years. This paper is an abridged account of his oral presentation. The author reconsiders the reflection of p- and s-polarized and unpolarized light at dielectric-dielectric and dielectric-conductor interfaces and obtains interesting results. For example, the author shows how the retrieval of the reflection phase shift of s-polarized light from p and s intensity reflectance data enables the determination of the complex dielectric function of an absorbing medium on a wavelength-by-wavelength basis without ellipsometry or Kramers–Kronig analysis. Novel achromatic and angle-insensitive single- and four-reflection wave retarders are presented that are particularly suited for the near IR. The author also shows how binary-thickness thin-film optical coatings on a high-index...
Comparison of Somatic and Germline Variant Interpretation in Hereditary Cancer Genes

PURPOSETo compare the classification of genetic variants reported on tumor genomic profiling (TGP) reports with germline classifications on clinical test results and ClinVar. Results will help to i...
Feature Selection and Classification Reveal Key lncRNAs for Multiple Cancers

Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) plays key roles in tumorigenesis. Misexpression of lncRNA can lead to changes in expression profiles of various target genes, which are involved in cancer initiation and progression. So, identifying key lncRNAs for a cancer would help develop the cancer therapy. Usually, to identify key lncRNAs for a cancer, expression profiles of lncRNAs for normal and cancer samples are required. But, this kind of data are not available for all cancers. In the present study, a computational framework is developed to identify cancer specific key lncRNAs using the lncRNA expression of cancer patients only. The framework consists of two state-of-the-art feature selection techniques - Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE) and Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO); and five machine learning models - Naive Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbor, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and Deep Neural Network. For experiment, expression values of lncRNAs for 8 cancers - BLCA, CESC, COAD, HNSC, KIRP, LGG, LIHC, and LUAD - from TCGA are used. The combined dataset consists of 3,656 patients with expression values of 12,309 lncRNAs. Important features or key lncRNAs are identified by using feature selection algorithms RFE and LASSO. Capability of these key lncRNAs in classifying 8 different cancers is checked by the performance of five classification models. This study identified 37 key lncRNAs that can classify 8 different cancer types with an accuracy ranging from 94% to 97%. Finally, survival analysis supports that the discovered key lncRNAs are capable of differentiating between high-risk and low-risk patients.
Forming of Materials with Cubic Crystal Structure

Abstract Generally, the plastic behavior of orthotropic metallic materials with cubic crystal structure is modelled with yield criteria that predict the same response in tension and compression. One drawback associated to using orthotropic yield criteria for simulation of forming processes is related to the uncertainties introduced by the methods used for parameter identification. Very recently, it was shown that advanced non-quadratic criteria such as Yld91 can be represented as polynomials in terms of stress components. Using this equivalent expression, the anisotropy coefficients involved in Yld91 can be obtained using analytical formulas in terms of only experimental flow stresses, or alternatively in terms of only Lankford coefficients for three orientations. In this paper, the predictive capabilities of Hill, Yld 91 and Cazacu calibrated using different identification procedures, either analytical or by numerical minimization are discussed. Moreover, simulation results of deep drawing are presented.
Delays from neoadjuvant chemotherapy to interval debulking surgery and survival in ovarian cancer.

Introduction Delays from primary surgery to chemotherapy are associated with worse survival in ovarian cancer, however the impact of delays from neoadjuvant chemotherapy to interval debulking surgery is unknown. We sought to evaluate the association of delays from neoadjuvant chemotherapy to interval debulking with survival. Methods Patients with a diagnosis of stage III/IV ovarian cancer receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy from July 2015 to December 2017 were included in our analysis. Delays from neoadjuvant chemotherapy to interval debulking were defined as time from last preoperative carboplatin to interval debulking >6 weeks. Fisher’s exact/Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used to compare clinical characteristics. The Kaplan–Meier method, log-rank test, and multivariate Cox Proportional-Hazards models were used to estimate progression-free and overall survival and examine differences by delay groups, adjusting for covariates. Results Of the 224 women, 159 (71%) underwent interval debulking and 34 (21%) of these experienced delays from neoadjuvant chemotherapy to interval debulking. These women were older (median 68 vs 65 years, P=0.05) and received more preoperative chemotherapy cycles (median 6 vs 4, P=0.003). Delays from neoadjuvant chemotherapy to interval debulking were associated with worse overall survival (HR 2.4 95% CI 1.2 to 4.8, P=0.01), however survival was not significantly shortened after adjusting for age, stage, and complete gross resection, HR 1.66 95% CI 0.8 to 3.4, P=0.17. Delays from neoadjuvant chemotherapy to interval debulking were not associated with worse progression-free survival (HR 1.55 95% CI 0.97 to 2.5, P=0.062). Increase in number of preoperative cycles (P=0.005) and lack of complete gross resection (P Discussion Delays from neoadjuvant chemotherapy to interval debulking were not associated with worse overall survival after adjustment for age, stage, and complete gross resection.
Vaccination and the Effect on Custody When One Parent Opts Out

When it comes to personal and religious beliefs involving their children, parents are presumed to act in the best interests of their children. When a couple separates and requests the court’s intervention in determining the best interest of the child, virtually every decision comes under scrutiny. Vaccination can become a highly contested issue in custody cases. Whether former agreements to forego vaccinations will be upheld depends on the reasons behind the decision and the parent's change of heart. Courts examine the reasons behind a parent’s refusal to vaccinate and determine the credibility of a parent’s change of heart when the decision was made jointly and based on religious beliefs. Ultimately, courts must balance the freedom of religion with the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their child as they see fit and the best interest of the child. This article examines how the courts address a dispute over vaccination, the history of vaccination, its effects on the decline in disease, vaccine safety, the risks associated with vaccination, objections to vaccination, and the effect on custody in family court when one parent opts out.
Assessing the Relationship between Lifestyle Routine Activities Theory and Online Victimization Using Panel Data

Prior research suggests lifestyle routine activities theory (LRAT) applies to online environments, however, the use of cross-sectional designs may limit the ability to determine whether LRAT behavi...
Interdisciplinary Collaborations Required: Teaching Health Educators Infectious Disease Dynamics

Infectious diseases, including zoonotic infectious diseases, are some of the leading causes of the global burden of diseases. Public health education/promotion specialists are specifically trained ...
Risk-Averse Equilibrium for Autonomous Vehicles in Stochastic Congestion Games.

The fast-growing market of autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and fleets in general necessitates the design of smart and automatic navigation systems considering the stochastic latency along different paths in the traffic network. The longstanding shortest path problem in a deterministic network, whose counterpart in a congestion game setting is Wardrop equilibrium, has been studied extensively, but it is well known that finding the notion of an optimal path is challenging in a traffic network with stochastic arc delays. In this work, we propose three classes of risk-averse equilibria for an atomic stochastic congestion game in its general form where the arc delay distributions are load dependent and not necessarily independent of each other. The three classes are risk-averse equilibrium (RAE), mean-variance equilibrium (MVE), and conditional value at risk level $\alpha$ equilibrium (CVaR$_\alpha$E) whose notions of risk-averse best responses are based on maximizing the probability of taking the shortest path, minimizing a linear combination of mean and variance of path delay, and minimizing the expected delay at a specified risky quantile of the delay distributions, respectively. We prove that for any finite stochastic atomic congestion game, the risk-averse, mean-variance, and CVaR$_\alpha$ equilibria exist. We show that for risk-averse travelers, the Braess paradox may not occur to the extent presented originally since players do not necessarily travel along the shortest path in expectation, but they take the uncertainty of travel time into consideration as well. We show through some examples that the price of anarchy can be improved when players are risk-averse and travel according to one of the three classes of risk-averse equilibria rather than the Wardrop equilibrium.