cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An investigation of static versus dynamic scheduling

Two techniques for instruction scheduling, dynamic and static scheduling, are investigated. A decoupled access execute architecture consists of an execution unit and a memory unit with separate program counters and separate instruction memories. The very long instruction word (VLIW) architecture has only one program counter and relies on the compiler to perform static scheduling of multiple units. To idealize the comparison, the VLIW architecture considered had only two units. The instruction sets and execution times for the two architectures were made as nearly the same as possible. The execution times were compared and analyzed to compare the capabilities of static and dynamic instruction scheduling. Both regular and irregular programs were constructed and optimized by hand for each architecture. >
Fe oxidation processes at Meridiani Planum and implications for secondary Fe mineralogy on Mars

Fe oxidation processes may have occurred during groundwater-mediated diagenesis in Meridiani Planum sediments. To address this question, melanterite oxidation experiments were conducted at epsomite saturation as a function of pH. Results show that schwertmannite is initially formed from acidic Fe oxidation and that its formation and aging to mixtures of jarosite and nanocrystalline goethite is strongly controlled by pH over the range b <2.0-4.0. The pH is controlled in turn by Fe oxidation and Fe3+ hydrolysis. In one 77-d oxidation experiment, nanocrystalline hematite was tentatively identified by MC6ssbauer spectroscopy. Accordingly, aging experiments with synthetic nanocrystalline goethite were conducted (1) to further resolve the formation mechanisms of Fe-phases identified from oxidation experiments and (2) to test whether low water activity (aw) controls the thermodynamically favored goethite to hematite transition at low temperature. MC6ssbauer spectroscopy and total X-ray scattering show no observable changes after 4 months of aging, and instead, these results point to a jarosite precursor for the tentatively identified hematite. On the basis of these results, we suggest that the oxidation and maturation of initially formed Fe2+-bearing saline minerals may account in large part for the distribution of secondary Fe minerals at the Martian surface, contributing to the association of Fe oxides and Mg/Ca sulfates observed from orbital surface analyses. We hypothesize that oxidation of Fe2+ sulfates at low temperature could account for sustained diagenetic acidity in addition to much of the observed Fe mineralogy in Meridiani Planum outcrop rocks. The origin of the gray crystalline hematite at Meridiani, however, is deserving of further experimental work to test this mechanism. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.
Related Energy Application of FRRPP Products

Multifunctional multipolymeric surfactant mixtures which can be produced from the FRRPP process are capable of efficiently recovering trapped oil from subterranean sources. A typical oil reservoir, shown in Figure 5.1.1, is an anticline (inverted-dome) rock formation wherein the oil is trapped within the open-pore rock formation from sandstone or carbonate material bound by impermeable rock on top and brine in porous rock at the bottom. Immediately above the oil bank could be a layer of natural gas at high pressure, since this formation is originally underground where the pressures could at least be that of the ground overbearing material. Other oil bank formations cited in the literature include salt formations, reefs, etc.
RELATIONSHIPS OF ASCORBIC ACID TO PREGNANCY, AND ORAL CONTRACEPTIVE STEROIDS*

The 1974 RDA is 60 mg per day for pregnant women and 80 mg per day for lactating women. In the present study an attempt was made to simulate this intake in the guinea pig and study reproduction performance in relation to guinea pigs fed chronically low and high levels. In animals that conceived and carried the young to term, all 3 dietary levels of ascorbic acid appeared to be adequate for maintaining viability of fetuses and of offspring, and for growth of offspring during the nursing period. The chronically low intake level was not adequate for growth after weaning. The control group was superior to the chronically low-intake group but inferior to the high-intake group in conceiving, producing litters, and carrying litters to term. The level of intake in the control group was inadequate to maintain tissue stores. Even the high intake was inadequate to maintain some tissues at saturation levels. The results suggest that the requirement for ascorbic acid during pregnancy and lactation has been markedly underestimated.
The Effects of Bystander Sex and Visibility of Victim on Intended Helping

Two studies involving imagined emergencies were conducted with a dependent measure of intended helping. Manipulations included sex of bystander and victim, and visibility of victim. The hypothesis that greater visibility of victims would elicit greater intended helping was confirmed; however, the effect was attributable to male bystanders only. Discussion centered on “personalism” and sex-role factors as mediators of the level of intended helping. The validity of using imagined situations was also discussed.
Maternal inheritance and exploratory-boldness behavioural syndrome in zebrafish

Correlated behavioural traits (behavioural syndromes) influence ecological interactions and, in turn, how natural selection shapes the evolution of behaviour. A major axis of intraspecific behavioural variation is the exploratory-boldness behavioural syndrome. Here, we describe how we sorted wild-caught zebrafish (Danio rerio) for increasing exploratory tendency using a serial open field maze. We then transferred test fish to a predator-inspection apparatus. Highly exploratory individuals spent more time near a novel predator than non-exploratory individuals, showing behavioural consistency indicative of an exploratory-boldness behavioural syndrome. We then bred the zebrafish to create F1 offspring from four crosses: (1) exploratory × exploratory, (2) non-exploratory × non-exploratory, (3) exploratory females × non-exploratory males and (4) non-exploratory females × exploratory males. F1 offspring were tested in a miniature serial open-field maze similar to the one used to sort the adults. Offspring of exploratory females were always highly exploratory regardless of the behavioural traits of the father suggesting that maternal effects may influence expression of exploratory-boldness behavioural syndrome in zebrafish.
A Careful Look at Binding Site Reorganization in the even-skipped Enhancers of Drosophila and Sepsids

lines wherever BLAST finds a short stretch of sequence similarity (forward- and reverse-strand hits are distinguished by the direction of the line). The name ‘‘homology plot’’ is a misnomer, as most of the hits they display have BLAST scores too low to confirm the evolutionary relationship implied by the term homology—so we will use the more appropriate term ‘‘twodimensional similarity plot.’’ Nonetheless, these plots, and the more commonly used dot plots [3], are an excellent tool for identifying potential regions of homology between distantly related species. Indeed, our initial discovery of the sepsid-Drosophila–conserved noncoding blocks was based on dot plots we generated to compare our newly identified enhancers to their D. melanogaster orthologs. These dot plots, as well as two-dimensional similarity plots for each enhancer, are shown in Figure S1. Crocker and Erives cite the presence of multiple hits along a single diagonal in similarity plots of the D. melanogaster and Themira putris stripe 2 enhancers to argue that there is conservation of the global organization of this enhancer. However, they overemphasize the significance of this observation by displaying only a portion of the enhancer, placing reverse-strand hits in a separate panel, and augmenting ondiagonal hits with blue lines that are longer than the hits themselves. A more straightforward way to visualize these data is to plot each enhancer in parallel, with regions of similarity connected by bars whose width represents the size of the matched region and whose color
An Efficient Method for Evaluating Analog Circuit Performance Bounds Under Process Variations

The continued scaling of the minimum feature size of contemporary chips has made circuit performance increasingly susceptible to the process variations. Many approaches have been proposed to estimate the circuit performance bounds with respect to process or circuit parameter variations in the recent years. The Monte Carlo method is the most popular one among them. However, this method usually produces underestimated results and needs a large number of simulation runs to achieve an accurate estimation. The approach based on Kharitonov's method has been recently proposed. This method requires all coefficient variations in the system transfer function to be independent from each other. Unfortunately, most real circuits do not satisfy this constraint. Therefore, it tends to overestimate the performance bounds in real application due to the parameter-independent requirement. This short paper proposes an optimization approach on a transfer function of a linear circuit to evaluate the performance bounds under process variations. The magnitude and phase bounds of a linear system can be calculated by the proposed method at each frequency point. Furthermore, the parameter-independent requirement in Kharitonov's method is resolved by the proposed method. The proposed method has been applied to a CMOS two-stage amplifier. The experimental result shows that it evaluates the magnitude and phase bounds of a linear system accurately in much less computation time as compared with the Monte Carlo method. All experimental results were carried out using a standard 0.35-μm CMOS process technology.
Mutations in the Escherichia coli surE gene increase isoaspartyl accumulation in a strain lacking the pcm repair methyltransferase but suppress stress‐survival phenotypes

The Escherichia coli surE gene is co-transcribed with pcm, encoding the l-isoaspartyl protein repair methyltransferase, and is highly conserved among both the Eubacteria and the Archaea; however, no biochemical function has yet been identified for this gene. Isoaspartyl accumulation during stationary phase was much higher in a pcm surE double mutant than in either single mutant, suggesting that the two genes may represent two parallel pathways by which E. coli can respond to protein damage. A null mutation in surE also suppressed stress-survival defects previously observed in a pcm mutant strain, providing further evidence for an interaction between the two gene products.
Object-oriented software evolution

The authors review propagation patterns for describing object-oriented software at a higher level of abstraction than one used by today's programming languages. A propagation pattern defines a family of programs from which one can select a member by giving a class dictionary graph that details the structure of behavior through part-of and inheritance relationships between classes. Three concepts are introduced: evolution histories, growth-plans and a propagation-directive calculus. Evolution histories describe a sequence of development phases of an object-oriented program, each phase being executable and therefore testable. To keep the programs flexible and short, they are described in terms of propagation patterns. Each phase of an evolution history is tested in small steps that are constrained by class dictionary graphs belonging to a growth-plan. Propagation directives are useful for describing both propagation patterns and growth-plans and are therefore endowed with sufficient expressiveness by being given a formal calculus applicable to object-oriented programming in general. A propagation directive is a succinct description of a family of submodels for a given family of data models. >
FMCW sparse array imaging and restoration for microwave gauging

Abstract. The application of imaging radar to microwave level gauging represents a prospect of increasing the reliability of target detection. The aperture size of the used sensor determines the underlying azimuthal resolution. In consequence, when FMCW-based multistatic radar (FMCW: frequency modulated continuous wave) is used, the number of antennas dictates this essential property of an imaging system. The application of a sparse array leads to an improvement of the azimuthal resolution by keeping the number of array elements constant with the cost of increased side lobe level. Therefore, ambiguities occur within the imaging process. This problem can be modelled by a point spread function (PSF) which is common in image processing. Hence, an inverse system to the imaging system is needed to restore unique information of existing targets within the observed radar scenario. In general, the process of imaging is of ill-conditioned nature and therefore appropriate algorithms have to be applied. The present paper first develops the degradation model, namely PSF, of an imaging system based on a uniform linear array in time domain. As a result, range and azimuth dimensions are interdependent and the process of imaging has to be reformulated in one dimension. Matrix-based approaches can be adopted in this way. The second part applies two computational methods to the given inverse problem, namely quadratic and non-quadratic regularization. Notably, the second one exhibits an ability to suppress ambiguities. This can be demonstrated with the results of both, simulations and measurements, and enables sparse array imaging to localize point targets more unambiguously.
Design of a FPGA-Based Parallel Architecture for BLAST Algorithm with Multi-hits Detection

In this paper, a design of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-based parallel architecture for Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) Algorithm with multi-hits Detection is proposed. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool algorithm is a heuristic biological sequence alignment algorithm and has been widely used in the computational biology domain. The architecture contains several different blocks. Each block will perform a different step of National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) BLAST family algorithms in parallel. The most appealing and distinguishing features of this architecture are the Multiple Hits Finder Array and Hits Combination Block. In the hits detection stage, we apply a Multiple Hits Finder Array approach to realize the multi-hits in one clock cycle. Then the multiple overlapping hits are merged together in the Hits Finder Block to reduce memory consumption and save implementation time. The parallel design makes this FPGA-based BLAST algorithm implementation much faster than an equivalent software program would in a PC. Multiple Hits Finder Array architecture prototype is implemented and the storage expense and synthesis performance of the prototype are discussed.
Evolutionary computing for mission-based test and evaluation of unmanned autonomous systems

Test and evaluation may be viewed as a technology enabler for the successful deployment of unmanned vehicles and robots in all their envisioned applications. It is however a challenging endeavor, considering that roboticists and developers are not used to thinking of comprehensive test and evaluation as an integral part of robot development. Moreover, the community who has conducted test and evaluation up to this date does not possess the tools to cope with the growing complexity of unmanned and autonomous systems. This paper proposes an approach to one of the hardest problems in testing and evaluation of robots: mission-based test planning. This approach relies on constructive simulation tools and on evolutionary computing techniques for searching in high dimensional spaces of possible test scenarios. The goal of the test planner is to generate a set of tests that make highly efficient use of resources to unveil weaknesses of the system under test in a context of a specific mission.
Brainstem nitrergic innervation of the mouse visual thalamus

Ascending sensory information flowing through the visual thalamus is dynamically regulated by a number of modulatory influences. An important part of this ascending modulation is a cholinergic projection from the parabrachial region of the brainstem (PBR). In addition to containing cholinergic fibers, this projection has been identified in some species as the exclusive extrinsic source of fibers containing the neuronal form of nitric oxide synthase (nNOS). In this study, we examined the nitrergic innervation to the adult mouse visual thalamus. Retrograde tract-tracing with fluorescent microspheres was combined with nNOS and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunocytochemistry, and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemistry to identify the source of nitrergic innervation. Double-labeling revealed that only two regions of the mouse brain contained nitrergic neurons that projected to the visual thalamus: the pedunculopontine tegmentum and, to a lesser extent, the lateral dorsal tegmentum (LDT). Though the LDT projected heavily to the mouse visual thalamus, very few of the retrogradely labeled neurons in that region colocalized NADPH-d. These observations suggest that the parabrachial brainstem region is the primary source of nitrergic fibers in the mouse visual thalamus, similar to that found in cat and monkey. Such similarity suggests that the presence of nNOS in presynaptic terminal fields of the visual thalamus is an important conserved property of thalamic physiology and that the mouse is a valid model for studies of nNOS functions in the brain.
WHAT SIN IS: A DIFFERENTIAL ANALYSIS

Sin is clearly evil, but what differentiates sin from evil? The idea that sin is moral evil is widely held, but important theological arguments have been posed against it. Theologians who reject sin moralism have, however, found it hard to distinguish sin from evil—partially because they share hidden assumptions with sin moralists. Helped by a philosophical theology of deep responsibility, I propound sin responsibilism: sin is culpable evil. This analysis of sin is open to multiple accounts of sin's relation to morality or theories of responsibility, and thus of sin's scope—but I defend a non-moralistic, compatibilist sin responsibilism.
Tracing subarctic Pacific water masses with benthic foraminiferal stable isotopes during the LGM and late Pleistocene

Abstract As the largest ocean basin, the Pacific helps to set the global climate state, since its circulation affects mean ocean properties, air–sea partitioning of carbon dioxide, and the distribution of global oceanic poleward heat transport. There is evidence that during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) the subarctic Pacific contained a better-ventilated, relatively fresh intermediate water mass above ~2000 m that may have formed locally. The source and spatial extent of this water mass is not known, nor do we know how formation of this water mass varied during Pleistocene glaciations with different orbital and ice sheet boundary conditions. Here we present a 0.5 My multi-species benthic stable isotope record from Site U1345 (1008 m) on the northern Bering slope and a 1.0 My record from U1339 (1868 m) from the Umnak Plateau in the southeastern basin. We find that the relatively well-ventilated low-δ18O intermediate water reaches 1000 m in the Bering Sea during MIS2, but that the hydrographic divide between this water mass and poorly-ventilated deep water was shallower than 1000 m for earlier glaciations. We also compare Bering Sea piston core and IODP Expedition 323 Uvigerina data from the Holocene and LGM with the modern hydrography, and to previously published profiles from the Okhotsk Sea and Emperor Seamounts. We find that the carbon and oxygen stable isotope signatures of well-ventilated water in the Bering and Okhotsk Seas are distinct, suggesting that there may have been intermediate water formation in both basins during the LGM.
Effects of diatomite (DE) application on physical properties of soils subjected to freeze-thaw cycles

Abstract Freezing and thawing (FT) is a natural and inevitable process and has great importance on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil. Protecting the soil structure from the detrimental effects of FT is of great importance for soil conservation. Use of diatomite (DE) as a soil amendment is new and no attention has been given to the potential effect of DE on soil properties modified by the freezing-thawing process. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the possible effects of DE applications (0, 10, 20, and 30% volume/volume) on the bulk density (BD), aggregate stability (AS) and saturated hydraulic conductivity ( k s ) of soils with different textures subjected to different numbers of freeze-thaw cycles. Application of diatomite decreased BD of soils subjected to the same number of freeze-thaw cycles. As compared to the control (0% DE) of the same number of freeze-thaw cycles, the decreasing rates in BD values at 30% DE application dose were 10.7, 6.1, 9.1 and 9.7% for 0, 3, 6 and 9 cycles of Soil I, respectively. These values were 8.2, 6.4, 7.2 and 3.3% for Soil II and 4.2, 7.1, 2.0 and 7.7% for Soil III. Diatomite applications significantly increased AS of all soils. Correlation coefficients between DE application and AS were found as 0.743 ** , 0.725 ** and 0.737 ** for Soil I, II and III, respectively. Effects of experimental factor freeze-thaw on aggregate stability showed differences depending on soil type and amount of DE applied. Correlation coefficients between AS and FT cycles were found as −0.372 ** , −0.571 ** and −0.079 for Soil I, II and III, respectively. The increase of DE rate reduced the negative effect of freeze-thaw on aggregate stability of all soils subjected to same number of FT cycles, as compared to the controls. Diatomite applications significantly decreased the hydraulic conductivity, probably due to the increase of colloidal fraction and clogging of macropores. Results obtained have shown that DE application not only decreased the bulk density, but also improved the aggregate stability of soils subjected to the same number of freeze-thaw cycles.
Electrochemical Characterization of Layer-By-Layer Assembled Ferrocene-Modified Linear Poly(ethylenimine)/Enzyme Bioanodes for Glucose Sensor and Biofuel Cell Applications

Ferrocenylhexyl- and ferrocenylpropyl-modified linear poly(ethylenimine) (Fc-C6-LPEI, Fc-C3-LPEI) were used with periodate-modified glucose oxidase (p-GOX) in the layer-by-layer assembly of enzymatic bioanodes on gold. Fc-C6-LPEI/p-GOX and Fc-C3-LPEI/p-GOX films of 16 bilayers were capable of generating up to 381 ± 3 and 1417 ± 63 μA cm(-2), respectively, in response to glucose. These responses are greater than those of analogous bioanodes fabricated using conventional cross-linking techniques and are extremely high for planar, low surface area, single-enzyme electrodes. (Fc-C3-LPEI/p-GOX)8 films generated 86 ± 3 μW cm(-2) at pH 7.0 and 149 ± 7 μW cm(-2) at pH 5.0, when poised against an air-breathing platinum cathode in a compartment-less biofuel cell. An increase in power output with decreasing pH was shown to be a result of increases in the platinum cathode performance, indicating it is the rate-limiting electrode in the biofuel cells. The effect of fabrication wash time on the buildup of material at the electrode's surface was probed using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and constant potential amperometry. The use of electrochemical techniques as a diagnostic tool for studying the material deposition process is discussed. CV peak separation (ΔE), surface coverage of the electroactive ferrocene (ΓFc), and amperometric sensitivity of the enzyme to glucose (Jmax), studied as a function of numbers of bilayers, showed that physisorption of materials onto the surface results from initial patchy deposition, rather than in distinctly uniform layers.
Inhalation by design: novel tertiary amine muscarinic M₃ receptor antagonists with slow off-rate binding kinetics for inhaled once-daily treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A novel tertiary amine series of potent muscarinic M3 receptor antagonists are described that exhibit potential as inhaled long-acting bronchodilators for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Geminal dimethyl functionality present in this series of compounds confers very long dissociative half-life (slow off-rate) from the M3 receptor that mediates very long-lasting smooth muscle relaxation in guinea pig tracheal strips. Optimization of pharmacokinetic properties was achieved by combining rapid oxidative clearance with targeted introduction of a phenolic moiety to secure rapid glucuronidation. Together, these attributes minimize systemic exposure following inhalation, mitigate potential drug–drug interactions, and reduce systemically mediated adverse events. Compound 47 (PF-3635659) is identified as a Phase II clinical candidate from this series with in vivo duration of action studies confirming its potential for once-daily use in humans.
Intelligence-led policing and transnational environmental crime: A process evaluation

Transnational environmental crime (TEC) threatens human health and the natural environment. Its complexity also poses a challenge for regulation and enforcement. In the current paper, we present a process evaluation of one attempt to use innovations in policing to improve TEC enforcement. Specifically, we assess the implementation of intelligence-led policing (ILP) in the Environment Agency’s Securing Compliant Waste Exports Project. We find that the team was able to fully implement the UK National Intelligence Model to address illegal exports of hazardous waste, including combining regulatory and enforcement data to generate actionable intelligence. Future research should examine the implementation of ILP in other contexts and to address other forms of TEC to evaluate the generalizability of these results.
State-level and system-level opioid prescribing policies: The impact on provider practices and overdose deaths, a systematic review

Objective: In response to persistent public health concerns regarding prescription opioids, many states and healthcare systems have implemented legislation and policies intended to regulate or guide opioid prescribing. The overall impact of these policies is still uncertain. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the existing evidence of provider-level and patient-level outcomes preimplementation and postimplementation of policies and legislation constructed to impact provider prescribing practices around opioid analgesics. Design: A systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Web of Science, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews was conducted to identify studies evaluating the impact of opioid prescribing policies on provider-level and patient-level outcomes. The systematic review was conducted in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Results: Eleven studies were included in the review. A meta-analysis was not possible due to between-study heterogeneity. Six of the studies assessed state-level policies, and five were at the level of the healthcare system or hospital. Studies showed temporal associations between policy implementation and reductions in opioid prescribing, as well as opioid-related overdoses. Results were mixed regarding the impact of policies on misuse. The majority of the studies were judged to be of low quality based on the GRADE criteria. Conclusions: There is low to moderate quality evidence suggesting that the presence of opioid prescribing policy will reduce the amount and strength of opioid prescribed. The presence of these policies may impact the number of overdoses, but there is no clear evidence to suggest that it reduces opioid misuse.
Mapping Changes in Desert Pavement Surfaces of the Lower Colorado Desert of Southern California using Landsat Time Series Analysis

Potential disturbance of desert soils from renewable energy development in southern California is receiving increasing attention due to potential impacts on air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. This study was designed to quantify and map, for the first time, changes in desert pavement surface area using 20 years of Landsat satellite image data across the Lower Colorado Desert. Landsat-derived maps of geomorphic surface classes from 1990 to 2014 for the Lower Colorado Desert area showed that a relatively stable area of around 1920 km 2 was covered by well-developed desert pavements prior to 2014. Based on 2014 Landsat imagery, coverage of well-developed pavements within solar energy development boundaries of the Lower Colorado Desert area totaled to 421 km 2 , the majority of which (>82%) were located in eastern Riverside County. If disturbed as a result of construction activities, these desert pavements could become a source of dust from exposure of the underlying fine particle layer.
2.35 – The Role of Sleep in Memory Consolidation

We spend roughly one-third of our lives sleeping, yet in spite of decades of scientific inquiry, the function of sleep remains an enigma. While it was once believed that sleep was a state of neurological inactivity, we now know that the sleeping brain can be equally, and sometimes more, active than the brain in its awake state. The theory that sleep plays a role in the formation and consolidation of memories has garnered substantial support in recent years. This chapter reviews this evidence as it pertains to human sleep and memory.
Childhood Markers of Health Behavior Relate to Hippocampal Health, Memory, and Academic Performance.

There has been an increasing body of evidence that a variety of factors, including physical activity, nutrition, and body composition, have a relationship with brain structure and function in school-aged children. Within the brain, the hippocampus is particularly sensitive to modulation by these lifestyle factors. This brain structure is known to be critical in learning and memory, and, we suggest, for progress in the classroom. Accordingly, the aims of this article include (1) examining the role of hippocampus and hippocampal-dependent memory in supporting academic performance; (2) reviewing the literature related to the associations between hippocampal-dependent memory and a number of lifestyle factors, including physical activity, nutrition, and body composition; and (3) discussing the implications of these findings in an educational setting. The findings discussed suggest that, through interventions that target these lifestyle factors, it may be possible to improve hippocampal function and academic performance in school-aged children.
M Protein Expression Is Not Required for Resistance to Phagocytosis of Type 18 Group A Streptococci

The major determinant of virulence of group A streptococci is the ability to resist phagocytosis by polymorphonuclear leukocytes. It has long been held that the M protein of group A streptococci is the surface component that is primarily responsible for conferring this property upon the organisms. Many highly virulent group A streptococci also express a hyaluronic acid capsule, which could contribute to the ability of the organism to resist phagocytic killing by forming a physical barrier between complement deposited close to the cell wall and the phagocyte. Previous studies by Wessels and his colleagues used transposon mutagenesis to inactivate the hyaluronate synthase gene (has) of type 18 streptococci (3). The unencapsulated mutant grew less well in human blood than the parent strain, despite the expression of M protein on its surface (3). The present studies were performed to directly determine the role of M protein in resistance to phagocytosis of type 18 streptococci.
EPIGRAMMATIC SALES SCENARIOS AND EVALUATIONS: INCORPORATING THE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING APPROACH TO RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND GRADING OF SALES PRESENTATIONS

Scenario development can be a challenge as actual situations have to be developed while incorporating an opportunity for the students to practice the concepts taught in the classroom. This paper presents sales scenarios utilizing the experiential learning approach where students are exposed to real-world scenarios, which prepare them to graduate with a skill set of business-ready practitioners, while still being in a “protected environment.” Professors have the opportunity to develop social capital among the community as well. The paper also presents an evaluation sheet that serves as a standardized template for each presentation thus supporting assessment quality and consistency.
Multi-corpus Personalized Recommendations on Google Play

Google Play is a seamless approach to digital entertainment on all of your devices. It gives you one place to find, enjoy and share your favorite entertainment, from apps to movies, music, books and more, on the web or any device. With more than 1 billion active users in 190+ countries around the world, Play is an important distribution platform for developers to build a global audience. More than 50 billion apps-have been downloaded from Google Play. However, generating personalized recommendations for different kind of content is a complex technical and product problem. Each of Play verticals (apps, games, books, movies, music) has different business goals, metrics to optimize, and user behavior. In this talk, we'll present an overview of how Play recommendations work across these verticals, how we evaluate our results, and the impact of deep neural networks in improving recommendations.
Stanley on Ideology

ABSTRACT: I explore Jason Stanley's notion of ideology. After preliminary remarks on ideology and coercion in social reproduction, I offer a restatement of Stanley's position on ideology, examining his notion of epistemic harm. I then examine the role of emotion in his thinking as that which binds beliefs to agents, and conclude with an argument for a notion I call "affective ideology" that enables us to connect ideology with the use of force in "coercive social reproduction."
Epigenetic causes of intellectual disability—the fragile X syndrome paradigm

Abstract Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the leading cause of inherited intellectual disability, is a paradigm of epigenetic disregulation, inducing gene silencing. FXS is caused by so-called “full mutation” of the FMR1 gene, consisting of a CGG triplet expansion over 200 repeats in the 5’-UTR of the gene and subsequent epigenetic modifications resulting in block of transcription and absence of FMRP. Cytosine methylation is key to the silencing of the gene, as proven by the demonstration that FMR1 activity can be restored in vitro by treating FXS cells with the demethylating agent 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine. This concept is strengthened by the existence of rare carriers of a full mutation, who are unable to methylate the expanded CGGs and are capable of transcribing and translating FMR1 and therefore rescued them from manifesting FXS. Detailed knowledge of this exceptional condition could open the way to a FXS treatment modality, based on reactivation of the mutant gene, through removal of the epigenetic block.
Healthcare Costs Reduced After Incorporating the Results of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Z0011 Trial into Clinical Practice

The purpose of our study was to quantitate the changes in axillary lymph node dissection (ALND), frozen section (FS), and the impact on costs after the publication of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG) Z0011 trial. We compared axillary nodal management and cost data in breast cancer patients who met Z0011 criteria and were treated with lumpectomy and sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) biopsy from 2007 to July 2013. Of 800 patients, 67 (13.5%) and 34 (12.5%) patients in the pre- and post-Z0011 era had 1-2 positive SLN. ALND decreased from 78% to 21% (p < 0.001) after publication of Z0011. The mean overall cost of SLN biopsy was $41,059 per patient, while SLN biopsy with completion ALND was $50,999 (p < 0.001). Intraoperative FS use decreased from 95% to 66% (p = 0.015). Omitting the FS decreased mean costs from $4,319 to $2,036. The application of Z0011 resulted in an overall mean cost savings of $571,653 from 2011 to July 2013. ACOSOG Z0011 significantly impacted axillary management resulting in a 20% reduction in the mean overall cost per patient by omitting ALND. In these patients, intraoperative FS analysis had poor sensitivity (56%) and doubled the cost of pathologic examination. Fewer ALND and intraoperative FS were performed after the publication of ACOSOG Z0011. Eliminating FS and ALND in patients who met Z0011 criteria, results in significant cost savings.
Thirteen-Year Visit

David is brought into the clinic for his school checkup by his mother, Mrs. Horowitz. They live in a bustling section of a big city in a community with many resources that meet their religious and cultural needs. David weighs 29.85 kilo (65.75 pounds) and stands 137.6 cm tall (54.25 in.) and is in the 5th percentile. His BMI is 15.8, which is in the 7th percentile. His blood pressure is 101/59. His tanner stage is 2. David has told his mother that he is embarrassed about being shorter than the girls as his bar mitzvah is approaching. He is also nervous about performing the readings in the temple in their community in front of friends and relatives and the big party afterward to celebrate. David is a quiet young man and is looking forward to his party. He has carefully selected the activities that he and his friends will be playing with the DJ and is concerned that some of his school friends might be disappointed in the kosher food that will be served.
CASPER — Configurable design space exploration of programmable architectures for machine learning using beyond moore devices

This research proposes a novel approach with vertical design space exploration (DSE) of several levels of configurable architecture design using Beyond Moore devices. ferrimagnets, Multistate Electrostatically Formed Nanowire transistors (MSET), and Magnetoresistive Random Access Memories (MRAM) are first set of devices used to explore the architectural space. Machine Learning (ML) and other scientific applications are accelerated using these architectures.
Anti-De Sitter Fragmentation

Some general aspects of the AdS 2/CFT1 correspondence, previously discussed in hep-th/9812073, are summarized. The majority of this summary is devoted to the question of where the CFT1 should live. Almost as a byproduct, the decay—or fragmentation—of AdS 2 is also discussed.
An MRI-based automated myocardium boundary detection technique using Displacement Encoding with Stimulated Echoes (DENSE) images

Displacement Encoding with Stimulated Echoes (DENSE) is a Magnetic Resonance (MR) elastography technique developed to encode phase information from myocardial tissue displacement, which occur during the mixing period of the sequence and is stored in the longitudinal magnetization direction for prolonged periods. While there exists a number of semi-automated algorithms for processing phase data in complex DENSE images, with displacements retrieved for Left Ventricular (LV) strain analysis, there remains a need for fast, sophisticated techniques that address myocardial segmentation in DENSE images. This study proposes a novel, automated technique for detecting myocardial boundaries, using the DENSE phase data and image quantization via thresholding, which can significantly expedite the strain computation process.
Exploration of millennials' perception of spending on cities, mass transit, and highways

Abstract In light of declining spending and increasing backlogs for cities and transportation agencies, this study compares the perception of millennials with the perception of older generations regarding public spending on cities, mass transit, and highways in the US national context. The study focuses on millennials because past studies have often depicted them as distinct, optimistic, more favorable to cities and mass transit, and less enthusiastic about cars and driving. By using data from the General Social Survey for the period 1984 to 2016, the study compares the millennials' perception of spending with the perception of all others as well as with the perception of the same age cohort from the two previous generations. The first set of comparison examines how different the millennials' perceptions are relative to the rest of society, whereas the second set examines if the millennials brought forth a generational shift in perception of public spending on cities, transit, and highways. Tukey's range tests as well as generalized mixed ordinal logit models, linear models, and binary logit models were used. The analyses consistently showed that the millennial's perception of spending is no different from society as a whole regarding spending on cities and mass transit, but they are less supportive of spending for highways. Because no difference was found between their perceptions and the perceptions of people in the same age cohort from the two previous generations, the study concludes that the millennials did not bring forth a generational shift in perception of spending.
Restoring Vasculogenic Potential of Endothelial Cells from Diabetic Patients Through Spheroid Formation

Diabetes is an emerging epidemic in the developing world and represents a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Among other issues, patients with diabetes suffer from diminished endothelial cell (EC) function, which contributes to impaired vasculogenesis and recovery from ischemic insult. The formation of cells into three-dimensional spheroids promotes cell survival and activates key signaling pathways through the upregulation of cell–cell contacts, providing an opportunity to overcome shortcomings associated with individual autologous cells. We hypothesized that forming human microvascular endothelial cells (HMVECs) from diabetic patients into spheroids would restore their vasculogenic potential following upregulation of these cell–cell interactions. HMVEC spheroids were formed and suspended in fibrin gels to quantify vasculogenic potential. Individual HMVECs from diabetic patients exhibited similar proliferative and chemotactic potential to cells from healthy donors but reduced tubulogenesis. HMVEC spheroids formed from diabetic donors formed more sprouts than spheroids from healthy donors, and more sprouts than individual cells from either population. Compared to cells from healthy donors, sprout formation was more efficiently abrogated in HMVECs from diabetic patients by blocking matrix metalloproteinase activity. This study demonstrates a promising approach for restoring the diminished vasculogenic potential of endothelial cells in diabetic patients.
Evaluation of Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension for Lung Transplantation

The process of lung transplantation is complex, time-consuming, and varies considerably among transplant centers. In part because a donated organ is considered a gift from society and is a limited resource, physicians involved in transplant evaluation have the responsibility beyond giving patients a “second chance.” Putting it in another way, it is not enough to offer a transplant to a patient simply because the patient would die without one. At the level of societal interests, transplantations should be distributed in a way that the largest number of patients can benefit for the longest duration. Because of the shortage of available organs, there is a conflict with the traditional expectations of individual physicians and patients, when the primary obligation of a physician is to do the best for his/her individual patients. For example, if the only treatment available has only 10% chance of curing a dying patient, it is reasonable for the physician to give the drug to the patient, when the alternative is death. In the transplant community, the question may be: Is it right to give the organ to a patient with 10% chance of living after surgery, or should another dying patient with 80% chance of posttransplant survival receive that organ instead? As long as there is a shortage of organs, transplant physicians need to balance the needs of society with individual interests. For the same reasons, transplant evaluation is more extensive and detailed than most other surgeries. Typically, a transplant evaluation includes assessment of medical risks and benefits, psychosocial suitability (e.g. compliance), and financial conditions (whether the patient can afford costly ongoing treatment and monitoring after transplant surgery to ensure long-term success). It is clear that the presence of pulmonary hypertension, primary or secondary, has significant implications for transplantation and its outcome, and should be a factor in deciding on transplant suitability.
A Picaresque Approach to Set Theory Genealogy

The relation between thesis advisor and doctoral student can be used to draw up academic genealogies. This article discusses brief genealogies for many of the participants (mainly set theorists) of the conferences in Curacao in 1995 and Barcelona in 1996 and of the contributors to this volume. It includes a partial list of students of A. Mostowski, some stories of mathematical beginnings and references for those interested in further study.
Elevated endotracheal tube cuff pressure in the pediatric emergency department.

Abstract Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate endotracheal tube cuff pressure after emergency intubation and identify variables associated with an elevated cuff pressure. Methods This was a prospective cohort study of intubated patients in the emergency department of Nationwide Children's Hospital. The primary study outcome, cuff pressure, was measured via manometer. Clinical details related to the intubation were collected and analyzed as secondary outcomes. Results Of the 104 patients enrolled, cuff pressure was 30 cmH2O in 59 (57%); exceeding the recommended safe upper limit. The average cuff pressure was 38 cmH2O for the entire cohort. Patients who had their endotracheal tube cuff inflated by a respiratory therapist tended to be exposed to a lower cuff pressure. Conclusions More than half of patients in this study were exposed to a cuff pressure greater than the safe upper limit. Our analysis of secondary outcomes suggests that patient care could be improved by having certified respiratory therapists inflate the endotracheal tube cuffs of intubated children.
From pentagonal geometries to two-dimensional materials

Abstract Hexagons are dominating building blocks in the atomic structures of existing and predicted two-dimensional (2D) materials. A wealth of properties possessed by numerous 2D materials are attributed to their hexagonal, structural units. Although many review articles exist for 2D hexagonal materials, this review focus on a less common building block, pentagon, of 2D materials. We start with introducing 15 types of convex pentagons that can tile an infinite plane without creating a gap. We connect one of these pentagonal geometries (type 2 pentagon) with 2D materials via density functional theory (DFT) calculations, resulting in predictions of 2D pentagonal materials that could be synthesized in experiments. We summarize the experimental and theoretical efforts in this burgeoning subfield of 2D materials research. We also suggest several issues that DFT calculations can continue to address to develop the subfield. We expect this brief review to stimulate further experimental and computational interests in synthesizing and designing new 2D pentagonal materials.
Risk of Atrial Fibrillation in Black Versus White Medicare Beneficiaries With Implanted Cardiac Devices.

Background Black individuals in the United States experience higher rates of ischemic stroke than other racial groups but have lower rates of clinically apparent atrial fibrillation (AF). It is unc...