cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Suitability of Transgenic Glyphosate-Resistant Soybeans to Green Cloverworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Host plant suitability to green cloverworm, Hypena scabra (F.), was evaluated on two conventional soybean varieties (Stine 2499-0 and 2972-2) and two RoundUp Ready Soybeans (Stine 2506-4 and 2892-4) with and without exposure to glyphosate. No differences among treatments were detected on developmental time and survivorship. Developmental time from first instar to adult ranged from 24.7 to 25.5 d, and survivorship ranged from 86 to 96%. No sex bias was observed among treatments (proportion of females ranged from 0.41 to 0.50). Morphological differences were observed between sexes; males had a longer and wider thorax, longer wings, and longer body. Females had longer and wider abdomens. Although treatments did not affect size (calculated with principal component analyses), significant differences were observed between males and females. These results suggest that soybean genetic differences (between conventional varieties and analogous transgenic varieties) or plant stress (induced by glyphosate metabolization) do not affect the plant suitability to H. scabra.
Metabolic Surgery to Treat Type 2 Diabetes: Clinical Outcomes and Mechanisms of Action

Several gastrointestinal (GI) operations that were designed to promote weight loss can powerfully ameliorate type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Although T2DM is traditionally viewed as a chronic, relentless disease in which delay of end-organ complications is the major treatment goal, GI surgery offers a novel endpoint: complete disease remission. Ample data confirm the excellent safety and efficacy of conventional bariatric operations—especially Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding—to treat T2DM in severely obese patients. Use of experimental procedures as well as conventional bariatric operations is increasingly being explored in less obese diabetic patients, with generally favorable results, although further assessment of risk:benefit profiles is needed. Mounting evidence indicates that certain operations involving intestinal diversions improve glucose homeostasis through varied mechanisms beyond reduced food intake and body weight, for example by modulating gut hormones. Research to elucidate such mechanisms should facilitate the design of novel pharmacotherapeutics and dedicated antidiabetes GI manipulations. Here we review evidence regarding the use and study of GI surgery to treat T2DM, focusing on available published reports as well as results from the Diabetes Surgery Summit (DSS) in Rome and the World Congress on Interventional Therapies for T2DM in New York City.
The Exxon Valdez Oil-spill: Ecological and Social Consequences

Major oil-spills, such as occurred following the grounding of the tanker Exxon Valdez in March 1989 in Prince William Sound, Alaska, account for only a small fraction of the total anthropogenic input of petroleum to the marine environment. Yet major spills can result in significant and even acute impacts, trigger ecological changes requiring decades for recovery, and command considerable public attention. Thus catastrophic oil-spills in general, and the Exxon Valdez spill in particular, differ from other chronic human alterations of coastal marine systems.Estimates of the fate of the 38,000 metric tons of crude oil lost by the Exxon Valdez are imprecise, but perhaps 30–40% evaporated, 10–25% was recovered, and the rest remains in the marine environment. Roughly 1,500 km of coastline were oiled in varying degrees. Much of this coastline consists of gravel beaches into which oil penetrated to depths as great as 1 m.The ecological effects of the spill on the marine environments of Prince William Sound and adjacent coastal areas of the Gulf of Alaska were extensive, but natural recovery, aided by clean-up efforts, is expected. Judging by the consequences of other oil-spills affecting rocky shorelines, as well as previous natural and anthropogenic disturbances to Prince William Sound, it appears likely that most affected biotic communities and ecosystems will recover to approximately their pre-spill functional and structural characteristic within from five to twenty-five years.This oil-spill had major social effects. Many individuals, whether personally present or viewing the spill around the world on television, were saddened by the environmental damage, and felt that an important public trust had been broken. These feelings, together with dissatisfaction with the results of early clean-up efforts, gave rise to popular sentiment in favour of every possible clean-up and mitigation effort — regardless of cost, effectiveness, or possible negative consequences.The response to the Exxon Valdez oil-spill by government and the oil industry revealed serious inadequacies in the plans and institutions for dealing with major marine oilspills in the United States. Attempts to recover spilled oil, and to respond to the spill's environmental consequences, were hampered by a low level of preparedness and lack of clear agreement about the goals of response efforts. Attempts are under way to improve oil-spill prevention and response capabilities in Alaska and the rest of the United States. However, these efforts are not yet complete, and it remains to be seen whether an improved response will be made to the next major oil-spill.
An Eighteenth-Century American Tailor: Myth and Reality, as Seen Through One Tailor's Surviving Records

One eighteenth-century American tailor's papers are analyzed to test a stereotype of a pre- Revolutionary personal clothier. This stereotype includes drafting technology based on measuring tape and models, while simultaneously assuming skills learned through apprenticeship, and a low socio-economic position for the tailor craftsman. In fact, Edward Marrett's (1713-1780) records did not completely support this stereotype regarding technology or socio-economic position. While not supporting the concept of tailoring education through apprenticeship the records did depict American tailoring as different from 18th c. European as portrayed in lithographs. The records further point to a higher social position than expected, suggesting tailors were not socio-economically stratified. Lastly, the evidence indicates at least American 18th c. tailors may have already made the transition to the dual methods of cutting-direct drafting and using blocks-thought to be a nineteenth-century development.
AMBERCUBE MD, parallelization of AMBER's molecular dynamics module for distributed-memory hypercube computers

A fully functional parallel version of the molecular dynamics (MD) module of AMBER3a has been implemented. Procedures parallelized include the calculation of the long-range nonbonded Coulomb and Lennard–Jones interactions, generation of the pairlist, intramolecular bond, angle, dihedral, 1-4 nonbonded interaction terms, coordinate restraints, and the SHAKE bond constraint algorithm. As far as we can determine, this is the first published description where a distributed-memory MIMD parallel implementation of the SHAKE algorithm has been designed to treat not only hydrogen-containing bonds but also all heavy-atom bonds, and where “shaken” crosslinks are supported as well. We discuss the subtasking and partitioning of an MD time-step, load balancing the nonbonded evaluations, describe in algorithmic detail how parallelization of SHAKE was accomplished, and present speedup, efficiency, and benchmarking results achieved when this hypercube adaptation of the MD module AMBER was applied to several variant molecular systems. Results are presented for speedup and efficiency obtained on the nCUBE machine, using up to 128 processors, as well as benchmarks for performance comparisons with the CRAY YMP and FPS522 vector machines. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Strong response to anuran chemical cues by an extreme dietary specialist, the eastern hog-nosed snake (Heterodon platirhinos)

Squamate reptiles use the lingual-vomeronasal system to identify food using only chemical cues. In lizards, most of which are dietary generalists that consume a wide variety of arthropods and other small animals, correlated evolu- tion has occurred between addition of plants to the diet and responsiveness to plant chemical cues. In snakes, many of which are dietary specialists, several studies have detected differences in response strength among populations that corre- spond to the importance of prey types in different geographic locations. In one species of Thamnophis Fitzinger, 1843, such variation in responsiveness has been demonstrated to have a genetic basis. We studied tongue-flicking and biting re- sponses to chemical cues from a range of potential prey types by nine ingestively naive hatchlings of the eastern hog- nosed snake (Heterodon platirhinos Latreille in Sonnini and Latreille, 1801), which is an extreme toad specialist that less frequently eats other anurans. The snakes responded most strongly to chemical cues from the southern toad (Bufo terrestris (Bonnaterre, 1789)), as indicated by significantly greater tongue-flick rate. Only two individuals bit in response to chemi- cals cues, both to the toad cues. Elevated tongue-flick rates were also elicited by chemical cues from the green frog ( Rana clamitans Latreille in Sonnini de Manoncourt and Latreille, 1801), but the mean rate for frog cues was less than for toad cues. Responses to other potential prey types did not differ from those of the control stimuli. Our findings are consistent with those of several other investigators in showing close correspondence between the inclusion and importance of dietary items and the intensity of chemosensory investigation in snakes. Studies of diverse dietary specialists are needed to estab- lish the generality of this relationship in snakes and to demonstrate that diet and chemosensory responses to food cues co- evolve.
An efficient long-time integrator for Chandrasekhar equations

A drawback of using Chandrasekhar equations for regulator problems is the need to perform long-time integration of these equations to reach a steady state. Since the equations are stiff, this long-time integration frequently defeats the computational advantages the Chandrasekhar equations have over solving the algebraic Riccati equations. In this paper, we present a strategy for approximating the long-time behavior of the Chandrasekhar equations. Our approach leverages recent developments in building accurate, empirical, reduced-order models for high-order systems. The aim here is to build a reduced-order model for the Chandrasekhar equations that is accurate near the steady state gain. We then assemble a corresponding low-dimensional Riccati equation that can be solved easily. For this study, we use the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) to generate the reduced-order model. A heuristic for building a suitable input collection for POD is proposed. Numerical experiments using a 2D advection-diffusion-reaction (ADR) equation demonstrate the computational feasibility of our approach.
Development and Specification of a Reference Model for Agent-Based Systems

Agent-based systems have been the object of intense research over the past decade. While great theoretical progress has been made, the software frameworks for creating agent-based systems offer considerable variability in their capabilities and functionality. This paper introduces a reference model for agent-based systems. The purpose of a reference model is to provide a common conceptual basis for comparing systems and driving the development of software architectures and other standards. The Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents and other groups have advanced a number of agent standards, yet, to date, no comprehensive reference model has been presented for software systems composed of agents. This paper provides an overview of a reference model for agent-based systems. The agent systems reference model is the result of a multiyear effort studying software systems built with agents and software frameworks for implementing these systems. As part of this study, the team applied software reverse engineering techniques to perform static and dynamic analysis of operational agent-based systems. This analysis enabled identification of key common concepts across over one dozen different agent frameworks. To demonstrate its applicability, the reference model is then used to analyze a number of complete agent-based software systems. It is the belief of the authors that the reference model will be an essential prerequisite for future transition, deployment, and integration of agent-based systems.
Demo abstract: Towards continuous tracking: Low-power communication and fail-safe presence assurance

Long-term fine-grained continuous tracking is still not feasible with today's algorithms and protocols. There are two main obstacles. The first is the need for efficient, low-power communication protocols. Many current protocols employ energy-expensive methods to achieve reliable communication for arbitrary traffic situations. The second challenge is the lack of a robust presence detection algorithm that differentiates between ambient packet loss and packet loss due to missing items. We will demonstrate a continuous tracking system using a simple communication protocol, Uni-HB, with the detection algorithms that we designed to yield low false alarm rates while achieving timely loss notification.
The elusive concept of brain network. Comment on "Understanding brain networks and brain organization" by Luiz Pessoa.

As the poet John Donne said of man -“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” - so the neuroscience research community now says of brain areas. This is the topic that Luiz Pessoa expands upon in his thorough review of the paradigm shift that has occurred in much of brain research, especially in cognitive neuroscience [1]. His key point is made explicitly in the Abstract: “I argue that a network perspective should supplement the common strategy of understanding the brain in terms of individual regions.” In his review, Pessoa covers a large range of topics, including how the network perspective changes the way in which one views the structure-function relationship between brain and behavior, the importance of context is ascertaining how a brain region functions, and the notion of emergent properties as a network feature. Also discussed is graph theory, one of the important mathematical methods used to analyze and describe network structure and function.
Pulsatile tinnitus and an unusual ossicular anomaly.

European Annals of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Diseases - Vol. 132 - N° 4 - p. 239-241
Partial Cystectomy for Primary Bladder Tumors in Contemporary Patients with Diverse Tumor Locations

Abstract Introduction Partial cystectomy use has historically been limited by stringent selection criteria. We compared outcomes following partial cystectomy at our institution with those in other contemporary series. Also, we specifically characterized outcomes in patients with tumors in bladder locations traditionally considered unamenable to partial cystectomy. Methods Patients who underwent partial cystectomy for primary bladder cancer from 1990 to 2012 were identified from our database. Clinical and pathological data were reviewed. Survival analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier methods. Cox regression was done to identify factors associated with survival and recurrence. Results A total of 55 patients were included in analysis. Five-year overall, disease specific and recurrence-free survival was 70.3%, 77.0% and 39.4%, respectively. When controlling for clinical and pathological covariates, lymphovascular invasion predicted decreased recurrence-free survival (HR 10.6, p = 0.025). Perioperative morbidity and mortality rates were 4% and 5%, respectively. In 8 patients (15%) trigone tumors required ureteral reimplantation. Two of the 8 patients (25%) experienced complications, including hydronephrosis and bladder neck contracture, which were treated conservatively. Cancer recurred in 2 of the 8 patients (25%) and both were treated successfully. None of the 8 patients died of bladder cancer. Conclusions Patients treated with partial cystectomy for primary bladder cancer had satisfactory cancer control and favorable perioperative morbidity consistent with other contemporary reports. Patients with tumors in the bladder trigone, historically considered poor candidates for partial cystectomy, also had good oncologic outcomes without significant complications related to reimplantation. Our data further support partial cystectomy in select patients with bladder cancer.
Modeling of Laser Materials Processing

This chapter summarizes the results of heat, momentum, and mass transfer for various types of processes to show the importance of transport phenomena in laser-aided materials processing. Various models for studying laser heat treatment, and fluid dynamics in laser melted weld pool are presented. Also, the mixing of externally added solute particles in laser melted pool is examined for laser surface alloying processes. A one-dimensional model is presented to study the rapid solidification phenomena during laser cladding and to obtain the nonequilibrium phase diagram. The heat and mass transfer equations are solved to model the laser chemical vapor deposition of films. An axisymmetric model for laser-induced materials damage is also discussed. Finally, this chapter describes some of the unique measurement techniques using visualization and laser spectroscopy recently developed for model verification.
THE GENETIC STRUCTURE OF HOST PLANT ADAPTATION IN A SPATIAL PATCHWORK: DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABILITY AMONG RECIPROCALLY TRANSPLANTED PEA APHID CLONES.

Populations of insect herbivores that feed on several host plant species may experience different selective forces on each host. When the hosts cooccur in a local area, herbivore populations can provide useful models for the study of evolutionary mechanisms in patchy environments. A first step in such a study involves determination of the genetic structure of host adaptation in the region: how is genetic variation for host use structured within and between subpopulations of herbivores on each host? The structure of genetic variation for host use reveals patterns of local adaptation, probable selective consequences of migration between hosts, and the potential for further evolution. To estimate the population structure of host adaptation in a patchwork, 7-11 pea aphid clones were collected at the beginning of the summer from each of two alfalfa and two red clover fields within a very localized area (about 15-20 km2 ). Using a reciprocal transplant in the field, replicates of these 35 clones were allowed to develop individually on each of the two crops. A complete life table was made for each replicate. Individual fitness was calculated from the life tables as the expected rate of population increase; longevity, age at first reproduction, and total fecundity were also measured for each clonal replicate. Currently, experimental estimates of genetic variation in complete life tables are virtually nonexistent for natural populations, even for single environments (Charlesworth, 1987); field studies are even less common. Because clones from each of two source crops were tested reciprocally on both hosts, variation in relative genotypic fitness on alfalfa and clover could be partitioned among clones within source crops, between fields of the same crop, and between source crops (alfalfa or red clover), providing a view of population structure. Significant clonal variation in relative performance on alfalfa and red clover was found: clones tended to have higher fitness on the crop from which they had been collected (the "home" crop) than they did on the "away" crop, suggesting local adaptation in response to patchy patterns of selection. Clonal variability within collections from the two crops suggests the potential for changes in the genetic constitution of these aphid populations within established fields as a result of clonal selection during the summer season. Significantly negative genetic correlations across crops were found for fitness and its major components. The possibility that these negative cross-environment correlations could act as evolutionary constraints on adaptation to the patchwork is considered.
The evolving classification of soft tissue tumours – what’s next?

With the advent of the new format for WHO tumor classifications, there have been major changes in each of the most recent volumes (2002 and 2013) concerning soft tissue neoplasms. Perhaps foremost has been the disappearance of ‘malignant fibrous histiocytoma’ and ‘hemangiopericytoma’. In 2013 the category of undifferentiated sarcomas was introduced and a very large amount of new genetic data across many tumor types was incorporated. Even since the completion of the latest volume (which was published almost a year after the consensus meeting at which the content was finalised), there have been important new findings in solitary fibrous tumour, a subset of rhabdomyosarcomas and among round cell sarcomas. Increasing genetic overlap among seemingly distinct tumour types is emerging and, in the future, the relative importance of phenotype versus genotype will need to be determined. There also remain opportunities to address significant nomenclatural problems.
LQR Using Second Order Voctor Form for a Membrane with Bimorph Actuators

A square membrane structure with clamped edges and four piezoelectric bimorph actuators is modeled using Kirchhoff’s plate theory. Using weak form Finite Element Method (FEM) a linear time invariant (LTI) model of the membrane-actuator system has been generated in second order vector form. Linear Quadratic Regulators (LQRs) have been developed to suppress membrane vibrations using both first order vector form and second order vector form. Closed loop system eigenvalues and responses to initial conditions have been compared to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of using the second order vector form to develop these controllers.
Evaluation of residual urine.

Indications that residual urine determination is necessary can often be discovered, after careful history taking, by assessing the appearance of a patient's bladder, percussing it, and feeling it. ...
Nephrotoxic Responses to Multiple Chemical Exposure

Contemporaneous exposure to more than one chemical represents a practical toxicological problem. The scientific community has long examined the effects of various single toxic agents on renal function in well-controlled laboratory experiments. These studies have given us insights into tubular sites of action of specific chemicals, mechanisms of actions (at least in some instances) and an understanding of the breadth of chemical substances which can produce damage to the kidney. Taken together, these investigations have been extremely valuable in describing, and provided part of the basis for an understanding of the chemically-induced nephrotoxic response resulting in acute renal failure. Perhaps most noteworthy are studies on the heavy metals, but a variety of organic compounds have also been studied almost as thoroughly. None of these studies, however, no matter how carefully conceived and conducted help the toxicologist address the “real world” problem. In fact, human exposure to toxic chemicals rarely occurs with a single substance, but rather to multiple substances. This is true with environmental exposures as well as those encountered in the industrial setting.
Perceived burdensomeness is associated with low-lethality suicide attempts, dysfunctional interpersonal style, and younger rather than older age.

Objectives Perceived burdensomeness is thought to contribute to suicide risk. However, suicidal behavior is clinically and psychologically heterogeneous. Does a high level of perceived burdensomeness differentiate medically serious suicidal acts, most closely resembling death by suicide, from less serious ones? How is perceived burdensomeness related to dysfunctional personality dimensions implicated in suicide? We sought to answer these questions in a cross-sectional, case–control study of adults, aged 42 years or older (n = 165). Methods Participants were suicidal depressed with history of high-lethality and low-lethality attempts, depressed with serious suicidal ideation, depressed non-suicidal, and psychiatrically healthy controls. Following detailed clinical characterization, we assessed perceived burdensomeness, the Big Five, impulsivity, and anger rumination. Results Low-lethality attempters reported the highest levels of perceived burdensomeness, followed by ideators, high-lethality attempters, non-suicidal depressed, and healthy controls. Group differences were robust to confounders, including demographics, severity of depression, and physical illness burden. In suicide attempters, perceived burdensomeness scaled positively with neuroticism, impulsivity, and anger and negatively with extraversion, conscientiousness, and age. Conclusions Our findings suggest that perceived burdensomeness is most prominent in a subgroup of younger individuals with lower-lethality suicide attempts and a dysfunctional interpersonal style. Older adults with high-lethality attempts are surprisingly more resilient to the feelings of burdensomeness. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Piezoelectric and dielectric properties of Pb(Zr,Ti)O 3 ferroelectric bilayers

The dielectric and piezoelectric properties of an epitaxial $\mathrm{PbZ}{\mathrm{r}}_{0.8}\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{i}}_{0.2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}/\mathrm{PbZ}{\mathrm{r}}_{0.6}\mathrm{T}{\mathrm{i}}_{0.4}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ ferroelectric bilayer film were studied. Time-resolved synchrotron x-ray microdiffraction provided access to layer-specific structural information during electric-field-induced changes. The observed dielectric and electromechanical responses are consistent with a weak electrostatic polarization coupling and can be described using a thermodynamic model of epitaxial ferroelectric bilayers. The weak electrostatic coupling between ferroelectric layers can enable unusual tail-to-tail and head-to-head polarization configurations. X-ray measurements of the piezoelectric response of the ferroelectric bilayer at a microsecond time scale confirmed a possible tail-to-tail polarization domain configuration.
Analgesia and Conscious Sedation

When performed in concert, analgesia and conscious sedation allow the performance of procedures that may be otherwise poorly tolerated by patients of all ages. Herein is provided a brief summary of the medications and techniques required to perform sedation and analgesia in a safe and effective manner. Additionally, techniques of regional anesthesia, avoidance of complications in sedation and analgesia, and special circumstances including malignant hyperthermia and operating room fires are discussed.
Studying up in critical NGO studies today: reflections on critique and the distribution of interpretive labour

Drawing on work with a human rights NGO in Malawi, this article considers the politics of anthropological knowledge production in Africa in the wake of Laura Nader’s classic essay. First, I briefly elaborate on the role of scalar metaphors (namely ‘studying up’) in the anthropologist’s toolkit, with special focus on how such metaphors might stabilize a normative mode of critique as negative orientation to objects of study. I then analyse two vignettes drawn from my collaboration with an NGO to show how activists and peer educators interpret and analyse their circumstances – studying ‘up, down, and sideways’ – to navigate local landscapes through which increasingly diverse resources, people, and ideas circulate. Throughout, I analyse my dual role as critic and participant in the apparatus, and conclude by suggesting that the enduring power of ‘studying up’ lies in its invitation to view social problems – in Africa or elsewhere – from various angles, and to learn from our interlocutors how individuals and c...
Delivery, installation, on-sky verification of the Hobby Eberly Telescope wide field corrector

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET)†, located in West Texas at the McDonald Observatory, operates with a fixed segmented primary (M1) and has a tracker, which moves the prime-focus corrector and instrument package to track the sidereal and non-sidereal motions of objects. We have completed a major multi-year upgrade of the HET that has substantially increased the pupil size to 10 meters and the field of view to 22 arcminutes by deploying the new Wide Field Corrector (WFC), new tracker system, and new Prime Focus Instrument Package (PFIP). The focus of this paper is on the delivery, installation, and on-sky verification of the WFC. We summarize the technical challenges encountered and resolutions to overcome such challenges during the construction of the system. We then detail the transportation from Tucson to the HET, on-site ground verification test results, post-installation static alignment among the WFC, PFIP, and M1, and on-sky verification of alignment and image quality via deploying multiple wavefront sensors across 22 arcminutes field of view. The new wide field HET will feed the revolutionary new integral field spectrograph called VIRUS, in support of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX), a new low resolution spectrograph (LRS2), an upgraded high resolution spectrograph (HRS2), and later the Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF).
Comparative Dietary Diversity and Trophic Ecology of Two Estuarine Mesopredators

Quantifying the trophic dynamics of mesopredators in coastal habitats is an essential precursor to understanding their role in linking multiple trophic levels. Traditional dietary analyses may miss key aspects of a species’ feeding ecology and may thus fail to identify trophic linkages between predators and economically important prey populations. We applied stomach content and stable isotope analyses to estimate diet and trophic dynamics and investigated intraspecific dietary diversity of bonnetheads (Sphyrna tiburo) and red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). Both juvenile and adult bonnetheads and juvenile red drum had diets comprised mainly of crustaceans, notably portunid crabs and penaeid shrimp, with varying degrees of dietary and isotopic niche overlap. Juvenile and adult bonnetheads had high dietary and isotopic niche overlap, whereas the degree of overlap between bonnetheads and red drum varied. Our findings indicate that bonnetheads are dietary specialists whereas red drum are dietary generalists. Further analysis identified intraspecific variability in the diet of each species; adult bonnetheads had the highest prey diversity whereas red drum had the lowest. We show that dietary and isotopic niche overlap and intraspecific variation in diet exist among juvenile and adult bonnetheads and juvenile red drum, though to varying degrees. Our findings demonstrate the importance of fully examining the trophic ecology of species that share habitats and resources, both at individual and population levels.
Analysis of the effect of networking on computer-assisted collaborative writing in a fifth-grade classroom

This study examined the effects of a computer-mediated telecommunications learning environment on the writing of fifth grade students. The students in experimental and control groups used word processing to write four texts collaboratively with a partner during an eight week period. In the experimental group, a telecommunication network was designed to allow the students to send their work to a distant audience of readers who responded to their writing. The experimental group received a written response from a reader via the network for each of the four writings submitted. The control group wrote for the classroom teacher. The first goal was to investigate the effect of the computer-mediated telecommunications network audience on the quality of the written product. The second goal was to investigate the effect of same sex writing partners on the quality of written product. The third goal was to investigate changes in attitude of the males and females toward selected attitude composites. Findings of this study suggest that writing for the purpose of communicating to a distance audience had a positive effect on the quality of writing of the experimental group. Results also suggest females used the computer technology when the environment was cooperative and they had equal access to the equipment. There is also evidence that writing to communicate to a distance audience may have contributed to the males in the experimental group scoring significantly higher on the writing assignments than the males in the control.
Sema-1a Reverse Signaling Promotes Midline Crossing in Response to Secreted Semaphorins

Commissural axons must cross the midline to form functional midline circuits. In the invertebrate nerve cord and vertebrate spinal cord, midline crossing is mediated in part by Netrin-dependent chemoattraction. Loss of crossing, however, is incomplete in mutants for Netrin or its receptor Frazzled/DCC, suggesting the existence of additional pathways. We identified the transmembrane Semaphorin, Sema-1a, as an important regulator of midline crossing in the Drosophila CNS. We show that in response to the secreted Semaphorins Sema-2a and Sema-2b, Sema-1a functions as a receptor to promote crossing independently of Netrin. In contrast to other examples of reverse signaling where Sema1a triggers repulsion through activation of Rho in response to Plexin binding, in commissural neurons Sema-1a acts independently of Plexins to inhibit Rho to promote attraction to the midline. These findings suggest that Sema-1a reverse signaling can elicit distinct axonal responses depending on differential engagement of distinct ligands and signaling effectors.
Trans-synaptic Retrograde Degeneration in the Human Visual System: Slow, Silent, and Real

Degeneration of neuron and axons following injury to cells with which they synapse is termed trans-synaptic degeneration. This phenomenon may be seen in postsynaptic neurons (anterograde) or in presynaptic neurons (retrograde). Retrograde trans-synaptic degeneration (RTSD) of the retinal ganglion cells and retinal nerve fiber layer following injury to the occipital lobe has been well documented histologically in animal studies, but its occurrence in the human retina was, for many years, felt to be limited to cases of neonatal injury during a critical period of neuronal development. Over the last decade, imaging techniques such as MRI and optical coherence tomography have allowed us to visualize and quantify RTSD and analyze its time course and relationship to degree of vision loss and age of cortical injury. A deeper understanding of RTSD in the human visual system may allow us to interfere with its occurrence, potentially allowing for greater recovery following visual cortex injury.
Applying a deep learning based CAD scheme to segment and quantify visceral and subcutaneous fat areas from CT images

Abdominal obesity is strongly associated with a number of diseases and accurately assessment of subtypes of adipose tissue volume plays a significant role in predicting disease risk, diagnosis and prognosis. The objective of this study is to develop and evaluate a new computer-aided detection (CAD) scheme based on deep learning models to automatically segment subcutaneous fat areas (SFA) and visceral (VFA) fat areas depicting on CT images. A dataset involving CT images from 40 patients were retrospectively collected and equally divided into two independent groups (i.e. training and testing group). The new CAD scheme consisted of two sequential convolutional neural networks (CNNs) namely, Selection-CNN and Segmentation-CNN. Selection-CNN was trained using 2,240 CT slices to automatically select CT slices belonging to abdomen areas and SegmentationCNN was trained using 84,000 fat-pixel patches to classify fat-pixels as belonging to SFA or VFA. Then, data from the testing group was used to evaluate the performance of the optimized CAD scheme. Comparing to manually labelled results, the classification accuracy of CT slices selection generated by Selection-CNN yielded 95.8%, while the accuracy of fat pixel segmentation using Segmentation-CNN yielded 96.8%. Therefore, this study demonstrated the feasibility of using deep learning based CAD scheme to recognize human abdominal section from CT scans and segment SFA and VFA from CT slices with high agreement compared with subjective segmentation results.
Jet observables and stops at a 100 TeV collider

A future proton-proton collider with center of mass energy around 100 TeV will have a remarkable capacity to discover massive new particles and continue exploring weak scale naturalness. In this work we will study its sensitivity to two stop simplified models as further examples of its potential power: pair production of stops that decay to tops or bottoms and Higgsinos; and stops that are either pair produced or produced together with a gluino and then cascade down through gluinos to the lightest superpartner (LSP). In both simplified models, super-boosted tops or bottoms with transverse momentum of order TeV will be produced abundantly and call for new strategies to identify them. We will apply a set of simple jet observables, including track-based jet mass, $N$-subjettiness and mass-drop, to tag the boosted hadronic or leptonic decaying objects and suppress the standard model as well as possible supersymmetric (SUSY) backgrounds. Assuming 10% systematic uncertainties, the future 100 TeV collider can discover (exclude) stops with masses up to 6 (7) TeV with $3\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{ab}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ of integrated luminosity if the stops decay to Higgsinos. If the stops decay through gluinos to LSPs, due to additional SUSY backgrounds from gluino pair production, a higher luminosity of about $3\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{ab}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ is needed to discover stops up to 6 TeV. We will also discuss how to use jet observables to distinguish simplified models with different types of LSPs. The boosted top or bottom tagging strategies developed in this paper could also be used in other searches at a 100 TeV collider. For example, the strategy could help discover gluino pair production with gluino mass close to 11 TeV with $3\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{ab}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ of integrated luminosity.
Contested spaces and subjectivities of transit: Political ecology of a bus rapid transit development in Oakland, California

Abstract In this paper we argue that political ecology, a critical subdiscipline of geography, can contribute important insights for transportation geographers and planners. Specifically, political ecology's attendance to environmental subjectivities helps explain why some groups traditionally assumed to be in favor of mass transit resist the projects developed in part to benefit them. Based on qualitative research conducted in Oakland, California between 2011 and 2012, this paper ultimately argues that a political ecology lens helps highlight how environmental and transit subjectivities – identities developed from everyday interactions with mobile and built environments – shape dispositions towards, and the politics around, mass transit projects. This insight is important as it reveals how interactions with the built environment, and the subjectivities these interactions engender, can be overlooked in the context of transportation interventions, especially when these subjectivities are in tension with transit planners' working assumptions and worldviews.
Retrieval of Inferior Vena Cava Filters

The introduction of retrievable devices in 2003 lead to an exponential rise in the use of IVC filters. However, most IVC filters placed were not retrieved. Due to increasing rates of late adverse events, the FDA in 2010 issued an alert, urging physicians to retrieve these filters once protection from PE is no longer needed. IVC filter retrieval is a technically simple endovascular procedure when performed in a timely fashion. Prolonged indwelling time and tilted configuration can significantly increase the complexity of the procedure and sometimes make endovascular retrieval impossible. A variety of tools and techniques have been described for challenging cases and are collectively referred to as advanced endovascular techniques. Recently, minimally invasive robotic and laparoscopic techniques were described in specialized centers. Finally, open surgical removal via laparotomy remains a safe option if minimally invasive techniques are not possible. The following chapter gives an overview of the different modalities of IVC filter removal and their outcomes.
Incidence Trends of Esophageal and Gastric Cancer Subtypes by Race, Ethnicity, and Age in the United States, 1997-2014.

Background & Aims There is limited information on contemporary incidence rates and trends, by race, ethnicity, and age, for major subtypes of esophageal and gastric cancer in the United States. We examined the most recent nationwide incidence data for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA), and gastric non-cardia adenocarcinoma (GNCA) by race, ethnicity, and age in the United States. Methods Average contemporary incidence rates (2010–2014) and annual percent changes in rates (from 1997 through 2014) by race, ethnicity, and age were calculated for each cancer subtype using nationwide data compiled by the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. Results From 1997 through 2014, overall esophageal squamous cell carcinoma incidence rates continuously decreased in both sexes and all racial and ethnic groups, although rates remained stable among younger non-Hispanic white women. Overall, EAC incidence rates decreased or stabilized during the most recent time period (2006–2007 through 2014) in men and women, after increasing from 1997 through 2006 and 2007. However, EAC incidence rates continued to increase from 1997 through 2014 in several subpopulations, including non-Hispanic white men younger than 50 years, non-Hispanic white women younger than 70 years, and Asian/Pacific Islander men (all ages combined). Overall GCA incidence rates increased among non-Hispanic whites, but decreased among Hispanics (men only) and Asian/Pacific Islanders. Although overall GNCA rates decreased in both sexes and all racial and ethnic groups, rates increased in younger age groups among men (all races and ethnicities combined) and non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, and Hispanic women. Conclusions Using high-quality nationwide population-based data, we found increasing incidence trends for EAC, GCA, and GNCA in several subpopulations in the United States.
Esophagitis in infants. Morphometric histological diagnosis and correlation with measures of gastroesophageal reflux.

To assess the incidence of histological esophagitis in infants <2 yr old with symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux, 35 infants were studied with esophageal suction biopsy and pH probe monitoring. Intraepithelial and lamina propria inflammatory cells, basal cell layer thickness, and papillary height were quantitated. Distal esophageal sections from infant sudden death trauma victims were used to provide normal morphometric control values. The upper limit of normal for each of the four histological parameters of esophagitis was defined as the mean plus three standard deviations. The values thus derived were similar to established adult normal values. Seventy-seven percent of the patients had at least one abnormal histological parameter (intraepithelial eosinophils or neutrophils, thickened basal cell layer, or increased papillary height) and were thus considered to have esophagitis. These measures of esophagitis all correlated well with each other, providing an internal consistency to the histological interpretation. Lamina propria eosinophilia correlated highly with intraepithelial eosinophils (r = 0.98) and was found to have a sensitivity of 41% and specificity of 89% for diagnosing histological esophagitis, defined as abnormality of any of the four histological parameters. Ninety-three percent of the patients with histological esophagitis had significant reflux as determined by pH probe monitoring. However, there was generally poor correlation between the severity of the esophagitis as quantitated by morphometric parameters and severity of the reflux as measured by pH monitoring. Esophageal suction biopsies, which provide adequate specimens for morphometric interpretation, are appropriate for diagnosing reflux esophagitis in infants.
Inflammatory biomarkers in HIV-infected veterans with non-small cell lung cancer receiving anti–PD-1 immunotherapy.

e21110Background: Anti-programmed cell death (anti–PD-1) response in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) varies greatly. Higher neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) or lower adva...
In Vitro Assembly of Diverse Bacterial Microcompartment Shell Architectures

Bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) are organelles composed of a selectively permeable protein shell that encapsulates enzymes involved in CO2 fixation (carboxysomes) or carbon catabolism (metabolosomes). Confinement of sequential reactions by the BMC shell presumably increases the efficiency of the pathway by reducing the crosstalk of metabolites, release of toxic intermediates, and accumulation of inhibitory products. Because BMCs are composed entirely of protein and self-assemble, they are an emerging platform for engineering nanoreactors and molecular scaffolds. However, testing designs for assembly and function through in vivo expression is labor-intensive and has limited the potential of BMCs in bioengineering. Here, we developed a new method for in vitro assembly of defined nanoscale BMC architectures: shells and nanotubes. By inserting a "protecting group", a short ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) domain, self-assembly of shell proteins in vivo was thwarted, enabling preparation of concentrates of shell building blocks. Addition of the cognate protease removes the SUMO domain and subsequent mixing of the constituent shell proteins in vitro results in the self-assembly of three types of supramolecular architectures: a metabolosome shell, a carboxysome shell, and a BMC protein-based nanotube. We next applied our method to generate a metabolosome shell engineered with a hyper-basic luminal surface, allowing for the encapsulation of biotic or abiotic cargos functionalized with an acidic accessory group. This is the first demonstration of using charge complementarity to encapsulate diverse cargos in BMC shells. Collectively, our work provides a generally applicable method for in vitro assembly of natural and engineered BMC-based architectures.
Establishing the relationship between urban land-cover configuration and night time land-surface temperature using spatial regression

Studies suggest that urban form can influence microclimate regulation. Remote sensing studies have contributed to these findings through analysis of high-resolution land cover maps, landscape ecolo...
Ventilation Prevents Blood Gas Changes During Local-anesthetic-induced Convulsions in Paralyzed Cats

Lightly anesthetized, ventilated, paralyzed cats had convulsions induced by lidocaine (n = 40) or bupivacaine (n = 45). The mean control arterial Po2 (Fio2 ⋍ 0.3) was 176 torr; the lowest Po2 anytime thereafter was never less than 120 torr. At the onset of convulsions, arterial pH was 0.04 (bupivacaine group) to 0.06 (lidocaine group) units less than control; Pco2 was 1.1 (bupivacaine group) to 2.1 (lidocaine group) torr greater than control; plasma bicarbonate ion concentration decreased 1.1 (bupivacaine group) to 1.4 mmol/L (lidocaine group). To yield long-lasting seizures, local anesthetic infusion was continued until twice the convulsant dose (bupivacaine 10.6 mg/kg, lidocaine 56.0 mg/kg) had been given. Some 15 minutes later, arterial Pco2 and pH had not changed significantly from threshold ictal values. We conclude that adequate alveolar ventilation will maintain acid-base balance and aid survival after massive overdoses of amide local anesthetics.