cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Factorial Hidden Restricted Boltzmann Machines for noise robust speech recognition

We present the Factorial Hidden Restricted Boltzmann Machine (FHRBM) for robust speech recognition. Speech and noise are modeled as independent RBMs, and the interaction between them is explicitly modeled to capture how speech and noise combine to generate observed noisy speech features. In contrast with RBMs, where the bottom layer of random variables is observed, inference in the FHRBM is intractable, scaling exponentially with the number of hidden units. We introduce variational algorithms for efficient approximate inference that scale linearly with the number of hidden units. Compared to traditional factorial models of noisy speech, which are based on GMMs, the FHRBM has the advantage that the representations of both speech and noise are highly distributed, allowing the model to learn a parts-based representation of noisy speech data that can generalize better to previously unseen noise compositions. Preliminary results suggest that the approach is promising.
A Discussion of Postpartum Sterilization

100 hospitals were surveyed for their opinions regarding female ster ilization. Some of the primary indications cited for sterilization were: 1) selected cases of organic heart disease 2) selected cases of multiple cesarean sections 3) some cases of severe chronic pyelonephritis and 4) multiparity with severe chronic hypertensive vascular disease. The respondents were about equally divided on whether socioeconomic reasons were sufficient indications for sterilization. Sterilization of women under 30 years of age was almost universally disapproved of. 43% of the hospitals felt that there were potential future physical or mental risks to the postpartum sterilization patient. Most of the hospitals exercised some staff control over postpartum sterilizations usually through the written approval of 3 staff members or by a special staff committee. The average percentage of postpartum sterilizations to live births was 1.7%. 19 of 78 hospitals felt they were performing too many postpartum sterilizations.
Transnationality and diaspora advocacy: lessons from disaster

ABSTRACTA number of catastrophic disasters in the last decade have raised questions about their transnational impacts and about the role of the diaspora. The 2010 Haiti earthquake, the focus of our study, provided a lens to further our understanding of evolving conceptualizations about transnationalism, transmigrants, and social capital. We hypothesize that sustained ‘intensive transnationalism’ by diaspora and linking forms of social capital between diaspora, other civil society organizations and advocacy groups, and government institutions are critical during post-disaster recovery in affected nation states and in countries to which survivors turn for refuge. We conducted 103 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a wide range of civil society actors in South Florida, Boston, New York, Atlanta, and Washington DC between June 2010 and June 2015. We found that linking forms of social capital were more important after the earthquake than in previous disasters. Overall, the longevity and variety of Haiti...
Still searching for the engram

For nearly a century, neurobiologists have searched for the engram—the neural representation of a memory. Early studies showed that the engram is widely distributed both within and across brain areas and is supported by interactions among large networks of neurons. Subsequent research has identified engrams that support memory within dedicated functional systems for habit learning and emotional memory, but the engram for declarative memories has been elusive. Nevertheless, recent years have brought progress from molecular biological approaches that identify neurons and networks that are necessary and sufficient to support memory, and from recording approaches and population analyses that characterize the information coded by large neural networks. These new directions offer the promise of revealing the engrams for episodic and semantic memories.
GRANULAR FLOW MODULE MINI FACILITY CAPABILITIES FOR GRANULAR FLOW EXPERIMENTS ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

The Granular Flow Module (GFM) is a multi-user mini-facility initially planned to accommodate the needs of three Principal Investigators (Pis) studying the flow of granular materials (simple spheres) in microgravity. The minifacility is being designed to operate in the Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) or the Shared Accommodation Rack (SAR) of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF). There are two science configurations being designed to accommodate the science teams. The first is a Pi-specific annular Couette cell, with the spheres contained between two concentric cylinders. Anticipated diagnostic capabilities include normal and high-speed video imaging through an optical cover, as well as measurements of the rotational speed, ambient pressure and temperature. The second is a Pi-specific annular Couette cell with a rotating end cap, and stress measurement sensors in the other endcap and cylinders.
Examining Resistance to Information System Implementation

AbstractDuring the start of a recent fiscal year, Teamware Corporate Commercial Operations created a new vision for its Operations Account Management team, challenging them to play a more strategic role in enabling revenue and providing operational expertise beyond the primarily transactional work they carried out. An essential component of this strategy would involve implementing and using the Essentrix™ customer relationship management (CRM) module. This case offers a study of the CRM implementation effort through its various stages, focusing on the resistance displayed by the Operations Account Management team and how management and the project champions attempted to use their impact and influence to overcome the resistance to the module. Resistance to IS system installation is ubiquitous and understanding, minimizing and overcoming this resistance is vital to the successful management of organizational IS/IT.Although future challenges remain, Teamware management continues to focus on the factors that ...
Network Adaptability from Disaster Disruptions and Cascading Failures

This tutorial will cover a telecom backbone network’s adaptability to survive disasters. Topics include: disaster preparedness (risk-aware provisioning); content connectivity (vs. network connectivity); service survivability; etc. by exploiting dynamic re-provisioning, multipath routing, and data replication. Article not available.
Magnetic Block Ionomer Complexes for Potential Dual Imaging and Therapeutic Agents

Magnetic block ionomer complexes (MBICs) containing a combination of therapeutic and imaging agents are of great interest for delivering drugs and tracking their biodistribution with magnetic resonance imaging. With an aim to develop nanocarriers with high drug loadings that integrate magnetic nanoparticles into one system, we herein report antibiotic-laden MBICs based on assembly of poly(ethylene oxide-b-acrylate) (PEO-b-PAA) ionomers with nanomagnetite and gentamicin. The polymer was bound to the magnetic nanoparticle surfaces via ligand adsorption of the PAA block, thereby creating a double corona structure with a nonionic PEO shell and an ionic region rich in PAA. The portion of carboxylates that were not bound to the magnetite provided binding sites for drug loading via ionic complexation. PEO was chosen as a block copolymer segment to improve biocompatibility and aid in dispersion through interparticle steric repulsion. Intensity average diameters increased from 34 to 62 nm upon adding the drug, sug...
Church and State Relations in Early Eighteenth-Century England

The bishops of the English church have historically had both an ecclesiastical and a political responsibility. The medieval bishop had often served an apprenticeship in the royal household and almost as often continued to hold an office of state after his consecration. The Caroline bishops had been intimately involved in church-state relations. This background, as well as the prob lems of eighteenth-century England, was the heritage of the Hanoverian prelacy, whose bench included alongside servile poli ticians archbishops like William Wake, who "as primate and metropolitan . . . upheld worthily the dignity of the chair of St. Augustine," and bishops like Edmund Gibson of London and White Kennet of Peterborough, who "would have been eminent in any age of the church."1 The traditional Whig interpretation of the Revolution settle ment, which followed the flight of James II, conjoined in one corpus the Protestant Succession, the Church Establishment, and the Toleration Act. Although only one of several theories on church-state relations which were widely circulated in the first half of the eighteenth century in England, it was the accepted principle of the Whig leaders of the Established Church during the decade between 1727 and 1737, which might be taken for closer examination as an especially critical decade for church state relations in early Hanoverian England. For Edmund Gibson, bishop of London, the Whig interpretation of the Revo lution settlement was "the true way to support the Protestant Succession and to maintain a good understanding between ye Church and ye Dissenters; we defending them in ye full enjoy ment of their Toleration, and they thankful to us and content with the state of things as settled between ye Church and them at the Revolution." This was the "clear Church Whig bottom" upon which Gibson had accepted his position as chief
Adduct Studies and Reactivity of trans-[(C2F5)2MeP]2Pt(Me)X (X = O2CCF3, OTF, OSO2F)

The comparative reactivity properties of previously reported trans-(dfmp)2Pt(Me)X (dfmp = (C2F5)2MeP; X = O2CCF3, OTf, OSO2F) with small molecules are presented. Anionic ligand displacement by CO d...
Immigrant Cities as Reservations for Low Wage Labor

Exploring the mid-sized cities of the Northeast United States, where immigrants make their homes but export their labor.
Experimental river delta size set by multiple floods and backwater hydrodynamics

River deltas worldwide are currently under threat of drowning and destruction by sea-level rise, subsidence, and oceanic storms, highlighting the need to quantify their growth processes. Deltas are built through construction of sediment lobes, and emerging theories suggest that the size of delta lobes scales with backwater hydrodynamics, but these ideas are difficult to test on natural deltas that evolve slowly. We show results of the first laboratory delta built through successive deposition of lobes that maintain a constant size. We show that the characteristic size of delta lobes emerges because of a preferential avulsion node—the location where the river course periodically and abruptly shifts—that remains fixed spatially relative to the prograding shoreline. The preferential avulsion node in our experiments is a consequence of multiple river floods and Froude-subcritical flows that produce persistent nonuniform flows and a peak in net channel deposition within the backwater zone of the coastal river. In contrast, experimental deltas without multiple floods produce flows with uniform velocities and delta lobes that lack a characteristic size. Results have broad applications to sustainable management of deltas and for decoding their stratigraphic record on Earth and Mars.
Towards Systematic Data Center Design.

Data centers are changing fast. The rapid increase of reliance on cloud computing, particularly in the context of “big data” applications, inevitably leads to the following fact: data centers must constantly update and adapt to the increased user requirements. This fact becomes more evident if we consider today’s cloud environments. The users of these environments have very strict requirements: they expect to have access to specific hardware resources (IOPs, memory capacity, number of CPU cores, network bandwidth), they demand data availability and durability guarantees, defined quantitatively in Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) [1, 2], and they will soon expect to get concrete performance guarantees defined in performance-based SLAs (e.g. [4,5]). Given these user expectations, the natural question to ask is the following: “How should we design the data centers of the future?” Data center design is a tedious and expensive process. Typically, data center designers determine the hardware setup based on the software that will be deployed, and the expected workload characteristics. For example, in an environment where high availability is important, the data is replicated (e.g., three or five times), and storage is provisioned to accommodate the number of copies. This process leads to an iterative approach to data center design: the software configuration is determined first and then the hardware setup (or vice versa). However, such approaches may not always be optimal since they ignore important interactions between these two components [3]. What we propose is an integrated approach that explores the hardware/software interdependencies during the data center design process. We believe that the most cost-effective, extensible and efficient way of performing integrated data center design is to use a “wind tunnel” to simulate the entire space of hardware/software co-design. The “wind tunnel” can be used to explore, experiment, and compare design choices, and to reason about the statistical guarantees that these design choices can provide. There are a lot of interesting research challenges involved in the process of designing, building and using the simulation-based “wind tunnel”. Designing lan-
Research and evaluation in out-of-hospital emergency medical services.

hen people dial 9-1-1 to request assistance for a medical emergency, they expect the responding paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to provide safe, competent, and effective care. Competent practice in medicine and health care should be based on evidence that is substantiated by research. Such is far from the case for out-of-hospital emergency medical services (EMS), whose practitioners commonly utilize protocols and interventions that have limited substantiation from research. Instead, much of the EMS care delivered is based on expert opinion and consensus or has been taken directly from the hospital to the street with no investigation. The gaps in EMS knowledge and the structural barriers to filling those gaps have been well-documented. 1-3 Investigators in North Carolina have a good track record in EMS research and are working toward filling those gaps. Research in EMS in North Carolina will be even better once investigators access a new statewide population-based data system that the state Office of EMS has implemented. There are, however, many more steps to take to allow EMS research to fill the gaps in knowledge. Gaps in Knowledge
Debates over Just War and Jihad: Ideas, Interpretations, and Implications across Cultures

Is there a clash of cultures or civilizations between the West and the world of Islam? When looked at from one perspective, this is a meaningless question, the wrong question to ask. For both cultures are quite complex, including varieties of forms of religion, variations in local or regional attitudes and customs, differing views on the best way to achieve cultural ideals, and many other factors. Moreover, the lines of difference between the two cultures have blurred as they have interacted over history and continue to interact in the present. For example, what does it mean to talk of a clash of civilizations in the contemporary United States, where the number of Muslims is greater than the number of members of some well-established Protestant Christian denominations, where Muslims have risen to professional and business prominence, where Muslim immigrants and their children and grandchildren have assimilated into American culture and participate broadly in American life, and where Muslim names have proliferated across the population? There is no necessary or inevitable clash of civilizations or cultures here, and to ask whether there is one seems a misplaced question.
Philip Morris research on precursors to the modern e-cigarette since 1990

Background Use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) is increasing rapidly. Chinese pharmacist Hon Lik is frequently cited as inventing the modern e-cigarette in 2003. However, tobacco companies have developed electronic nicotine delivery systems since at least 1963. Methods We searched the University of California San Francisco Truth (formerly Legacy) Tobacco Industry Documents beginning with the terms ‘electric cigarette’ and ‘electronic cigarettes’, ‘e-cigarette’, ‘smokeless cigarettes’, ‘nicotine aerosol’, ‘tobacco aerosol’, and ‘vaping’ and then expanded the search using snowball sampling. We focused our analysis on Philip Morris (PM) documents discussing technology that aerosolised a nicotine solution because these devices resembled modern e-cigarettes. Over 1000 documents were reviewed; 40 were included in the final analysis. Results PM started developing a nicotine aerosol device in 1990 to address the health concerns and decreased social acceptability of smoking that were leading smokers to switch to nicotine replacement therapy. PM had developed a capillary aerosol generator that embodied basic e-cigarette technology in 1994, but in the mid-to-late 1990s focused on applying its aerosol technology to pharmaceutical applications because of uncertainty of how such products might affect potential Food and Drug Administration regulation of tobacco products. In 2001, PM resumed its work on a nicotine aerosol device, and in 2013, NuMark (a division of Altria, PM9s parent company) released the MarkTen, a nicotine aerosol device. Conclusions Rather than a disruptive technology, PM developed e-cigarette technology to complement, not compete with, conventional cigarettes and evade tobacco control regulations.
TNF-alpha inhibitor associated myelopathies: A neurological complication in patients with rheumatologic disorders.

Abstract Objectives Tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors (TNFα-I) are biological agents used in the treatment of rheumatologic disorders. TNFα-I have been associated with demyelinating disorders mimicking multiple sclerosis. The goal of this report is to illustrate cases of myelopathy which developed during the use of TNFα-I. Methods We describe the clinical, neuroimaging and laboratory features of 4 cases of myelopathy associated with TNFα-I. Results The mean period of TNFα-I exposure was 27 [12–36] months. Three of the four patients exhibited active inflammatory myelopathy as the spinal cord MRI lesions enhanced with gadolinium and CSF pleocytosis or oligoclonal bands were present. All patients had normal brain MRIs at the time of presentation. Conclusions TNFα-I may play a role in the development of myelopathies in absence of brain involvement or other features of demyelinating disease. TNFα-I associated myelopathy should be considered in patients with history of treatment with TNFα-I who exhibit symptoms of myelopathy.
Complementary Factors Influencing U.S. Consumers’ Intentions to Connect Their Tablets to Hotel Networks: The Roles of Hedonic Motivations, Trust, and Heuristics

Several information security-related events (e.g., data breaches, discovery of system vulnerabilities) prompted hotels to take measures to strengthen the security of their systems. The ubiquitous Internet connection and its corresponding infrastructure represents a potential ground for cyber attacks that could threaten guests’ privacy and the integrity of the data they exchange while connecting their tablets to hotel networks. Such problems are exacerbated in international travel due to the heterogeneity of hotel practices, national cyber-activity initiatives, and the Internet and e-commerce infrastructure. Grounded in information system and social psychology theory, this study developed a conceptual model that explains consumers’ intentions to connect their tablets to hotel networks. Using data collected from 1017 U.S. consumers who stayed in hotels abroad, this study found that trust in the system, heuristics, and hedonic motivation are significant predictors of intentions, and that privacy assurance strongly influences consumers’ perceptions of trust.
Trends in size of tropical deforestation events signal increasing dominance of industrial-scale drivers

Deforestation continues across the tropics at alarming rates, with repercussions for ecosystem processes, carbon storage and long term sustainability. Taking advantage of recent fine-scale measurement of deforestation, this analysis aims to improve our understanding of the scale of deforestation drivers in the tropics. We examined trends in forest clearings of different sizes from 2000–2012 by country, region and development level. As tropical deforestation increased from approximately 6900 kha yr−1 in the first half of the study period, to >7900 kha yr−1 in the second half of the study period, >50% of this increase was attributable to the proliferation of medium and large clearings (>10 ha). This trend was most pronounced in Southeast Asia and in South America. Outside of Brazil >60% of the observed increase in deforestation in South America was due to an upsurge in medium- and large-scale clearings; Brazil had a divergent trend of decreasing deforestation, >90% of which was attributable to a reduction in medium and large clearings. The emerging prominence of large-scale drivers of forest loss in many regions and countries suggests the growing need for policy interventions which target industrial-scale agricultural commodity producers. The experience in Brazil suggests that there are promising policy solutions to mitigate large-scale deforestation, but that these policy initiatives do not adequately address small-scale drivers. By providing up-to-date and spatially explicit information on the scale of deforestation, and the trends in these patterns over time, this study contributes valuable information for monitoring, and designing effective interventions to address deforestation.
Aesthetic Truth as the Mimesis of False Consciousness in Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory

Adorno makes the notion of truth content into the central term of his Aesthetic Theory. He understands the truth content of artworks not as a message that could be translated into propositional form but as experience that derives from their objective form of presentation. The artwork’s truth is to be glanced in the effect that it has on consciousness. This leads to an emphasis on the crucial role of false consciousness in Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory. Artworks embody, mime, and determinately negate false consciousness. Adorno defines false consciousness in a series of works such as Mimima Moralia and Critical Models as a set of attitudes and modes of experience that emerge out of late capitalism and lead to the potential of fascism such as the separation of pleasure and work, political sadism, and the removal of thinking from products of sensible intuition. In his theory of the artwork, he demonstrates the ways in which aesthetic forms work against such patterns of false consciousness.
Late Bayesian inference in sensorimotor behavior

Sensorimotor skills rely on performing noisy sensorimotor computations on noisy sensory measurements. Bayesian models suggest that humans compensate for measurement noise and reduce behavioral variability by biasing perception toward prior expectations. Whether the same holds for noise in sensorimotor computations is not known. Testing human subjects in tasks with different levels of sensorimotor complexity, we found a similar bias-variance tradeoff associated with increased sensorimotor noise. This result was accurately captured by a model which implements Bayesian inference after - not before - sensorimotor transformation. These results indicate that humans perform "late inference" downstream of sensorimotor computations rather than, or in addition to, "early inference" in the perceptual domain. The brain thus possesses internal models of noise in both sensory measurements and sensorimotor computations.
Dual Targeting Nanoparticle Stimulates the Immune System To Inhibit Tumor Growth

We describe the development of a nanoparticle platform that overcomes the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. These nanoparticles are coated with two different antibodies that simultaneously block the inhibitory checkpoint PD-L1 signal and stimulate T cells via the 4-1BB co-stimulatory pathway. These “immunoswitch” particles significantly delay tumor growth and extend survival in multiple in vivo models of murine melanoma and colon cancer in comparison to the use of soluble antibodies or nanoparticles separately conjugated with the inhibitory and stimulating antibodies. Immunoswitch particles enhance effector-target cell conjugation and bypass the requirement for a priori knowledge of tumor antigens. The use of the immunoswitch nanoparticles resulted in an increased density, specificity, and in vivo functionality of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells. Changes in the T cell receptor repertoire against a single tumor antigen indicate immunoswitch particles expand an effective set of T cell clones. Our da...
Abstract 20874: Left Ventricular Unloading With Percutaneous Ventricular Assist Device is Comparable to Direct Left Ventricular Vent During Extracorporeal Life Support

Introduction: Patients supported with extracorporeal life support (ECLS) can experience severe complications from increased left ventricular afterload. The Impella percutaneous ventricular assist d...
Fast-food kids: French fries, lunch lines, and social ties

In an early scene of the 2004 teen comedy Mean Girls, transfer student Cady is given a tour of her new school in the suburbs of Chicago. Before she enters the cafeteria, her new friend and tour gui...
Reproducibility assessment for a broad spectrum drug screening method from urine using liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Abstract During the reproducibility validation for a time-of-flight (TOF) high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) method set up to detect 61 drugs of abuse commonly encountered in the toxicology laboratory, it was noticed that, a number of compounds were not identified correctly during the between run analysis; the most difficult compounds to identify were norpropoxyphene, morphine, norbuprenorphine, nortriptyline, EDDP and tramadol. In subsequent patient comparison studies, screening a panel of 338 analytes, the TOF-HRMS method correctly identified 211 analytes over two runs, but did not identify 127. A total of 11 false positive results were identified by manual review of the data to be the result of confirmation ion signal-to-noise ratio(s)
Integrin αEβ7: Molecular Features and Functional Significance in the Immune System

Alpha E beta 7 (αEβ7) is an α-I domain-containing integrin that is highly expressed by a variety of leukocyte populations at mucosal sites including intraepithelial T cells, dendritic cells, mast cells, and T regulatory cells (Treg). Expression depends largely or solely on transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) isoforms. The best characterized ligand for αEβ7 is E-cadherin on epithelial cells, though there is evidence of a second ligand in the human system. An exposed acidic residue on the distal aspect of E-cadherin domain 1 interacts with the MIDAS site in the αE α-I domain. By binding to E-cadherin, αEβ7 contributes to mucosal specific retention of leukocytes within epithelia. Studies on αE knockout mice have identified an additional important function for this integrin in allograft rejection and have also indicated that it may have a role in immunoregulation. Recent studies point to a multifaceted role for αEβ7 in regulating both innate and acquired immune responses to foreign antigen.
Adolescent attitudes and beliefs about sexual behavior

Four hundred and fifty-one teenagers responded to a sexual attitude survey. Results focus on attitudes and values related to sexual activity and to parental and school involvement and responsibility for sex education. Findings are reported as they relate to six important sexual decisions: to have intercourse or not? to have children or not? to use contraceptives or not? to have an abortion or not? to give the baby up for adoption or not? and to marry or not? Lack of communication, feelings that parents were unaware of their teenagers' sexual behavior, and uncertainty and confusion about their sexual feelings also surfaced.
Price Adjustment in a Competitive Market and the Securities Exchange Specialist

Publisher Summary It is commonplace that the theory of pure competition is incomplete. Essentially, as each trader in the economy is a price-taker, the theory cannot explain the determination of prices, except by appeal to devices exogenous to the theory, for example, tâtonnement processes or, to use more colorful terminology, the invisible hand. This chapter discusses the behavior of a price-maker in a competitive market as a preliminary step to a more complete analysis of pure competition. The chapter presents a study in which the stability of the system is observed by invoking the invisible hand, that is, by examining properties of some ad hoc price adjustment process in which, with some exceptions, trading is not allowed until equilibrium is achieved.
Knee extension rate of velocity development affects walking performance differently in men and women.

Abstract Purpose Acceleration capacity affects physical function, but whether it differentially affects men versus women or weak versus strong individuals is less known. We investigated whether knee extension rate of velocity development (RVD, a measure of acceleration) is associated with walking performance independent of peak torque and whether the relationships differ in men versus women and in weak versus strong individuals. Methods Relationships of RVD with walking performance were assessed in 326 women and 365 men aged 26–96 years enrolled in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Tests included knee extension peak torque and RVD assessed during a 180°·s−1 isokinetic strength test and four walking performance measures (usual-paced and fast-paced 6 m walks and 2.5 min usual-paced and 400 m fast-paced walks). Sex-stratified linear regression models were adjusted for age, race, height, appendicular lean mass, fat mass, peak torque, knee pain, and RVD*peak torque interaction. Results In men, RVD was not independently associated with any walking performance measure (p > 0.05), and, for the 6 m-usual walk only, there was a significant RVD*peak torque interaction (p Conclusion RVD is associated with walking performance in women, but less in men, and is most related to performance when strength is low. Strategies to accomplish motor tasks may be sex-specific. Future studies are needed to understand the mechanisms underlying such sex differences.
Usability of non-standard lower anchor configurations for child restraint system (CRS) installation.

AbstractObjectives: The objective of this study was to determine whether the amount of tension required for proper child restraint system (CRS) installation varies with lower anchor spacing and to ...
Test of the Social Buffering Hypothesis in the Context of Religious Disagreements

This article examines the social buffering hypothesis of cultural humility in the context of religious offenses. In this study, participants (N = 244) rated their cultural humility in terms of diff...
Drosophila Myoblast Fusion: Invasion and Resistance for the Ultimate Union

Cell-cell fusion is indispensable for creating life and building syncytial tissues and organs. Ever since the discovery of cell-cell fusion, how cells join together to form zygotes and multinucleated syncytia has remained a fundamental question in cell and developmental biology. In the past two decades, Drosophila myoblast fusion has been used as a powerful genetic model to unravel mechanisms underlying cell-cell fusion in vivo. Many evolutionarily conserved fusion-promoting factors have been identified and so has a surprising and conserved cellular mechanism. In this review, we revisit key findings in Drosophila myoblast fusion and highlight the critical roles of cellular invasion and resistance in driving cell membrane fusion.
Spectrum Occupancy for 802.11a/n/ac Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Networks

Given the increasingly overcrowded 2.4 GHz spectrum band, there is a growing interest in utilizing the frequency spectrum in the less congested 5 GHz bands. Notably, Wi-Fi is one of the leading causes of interference in the 5 GHz bands; therefore, examining its spectrum occupancy is important for developing technologies and planning spectrum use in those bands. This paper provides experimental measurements of Wi-Fi spectrum occupancy in the 5 GHz band. Duty cycle (i.e., channel utilization) is used to measure Wi-Fi spectrum occupancy. The results of this paper are important for the study of wireless coexistence of homogeneous and heterogeneous networks in the 5 GHz spectrum. As the duty cycle increases, there is a higher possibility for other wireless devices to hold back from transmission or to increase the number of errors in transmission. The work presented herein provides duty cycle measurements for single pair, as well as two- and three-pair homogeneous and heterogeneous Wi-Fi networks. Duty cycle measurements are presented for 802.11a, n, and ac networks at various throughput levels. Measurements were obtained using a tool developed in the frequency domain. Results show that an 802.11a network achieves lower duty cycle and throughput values than 802.11n and ac. Moreover, 802.11ac achieves a lower duty cycle than 802.11n for a higher throughput. Findings demonstrate that duty cycle may reach up to 98.14% when three 802.11ac pairs share the same frequency channel.
Narrative and the Literary Imagination

This paper attempts to reconcile two apparently opposed ways of thinking about the imagination and its relationship to literature, one which casts it as essentially concerned with fiction-making and the other with culture-making. The literary imagination’s power to create fictions is what gives it its most obvious claim to “autonomy”, as Kant would have it: its freedom to venture out in often wild and spectacular excess of reality. The argument of this paper is that we can locate the literary imagination’s complementary power of cultural articulation in this fictional activity. The suggestion is that we should conceive of the literary imagination as expressing its interests in culture not mimetically but by producing a certain kind of meaning. This meaning is irreducibly narratological, and understanding it helps us to see the role of narrative in bringing into harmony the literary imagination’s interests in both the imaginary and the real.
Autonomous Waypoint Planning, Optimal Trajectory Generation and Nonlinear Tracking Control for Multi-rotor UAVs

A framework for autonomous waypoint planning, trajectory generation through waypoints, and trajectory tracking for multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is proposed in this work. Safe and effective operations of these UAVs is a problem that demands obstacle avoidance strategies and advanced trajectory planning and control schemes for stability and energy efficiency. To address this problem, a two-level optimization strategy is used for trajectory generation, then the trajectory is tracked in a stable manner. The framework given here consists of the following components: (a) a deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based algorithm for optimal waypoint planning while minimizing control energy and avoiding obstacles in a given environment; (b) an optimal, smooth trajectory generation algorithm through waypoints, that minimizes a combinaton of velocity, acceleration, jerk and snap; and (c) a stable tracking control law that determines a control thrust force for an UAV to track the generated trajectory.
Compassion versus manipulation; narratives versus rational arguments: a PD radar to chart the terrain of public diplomacy

Public diplomacy (PD) as a field of practice and as scholarly subject appears to be extremely fragmented. The goal of the current research is to develop a dual framework, named a PD Radar, in an attempt to bring coherence, interconnectedness, and systematicity to our understanding of the terrain of PD practices and theories. The main framework of the PD Radar consists of two crossing axes representing ethics (compassion and manipulation) and efficacy (narratives and rational arguments), and five concentric circles that represent goals of PD, power of PD, “worldviews” underlying PD practices, and relevant theories. The sub-framework depicts basic components of a PD program and their relationship to the main framework. The PD Radar is a descriptive and normative model. It can be used to evaluate a PD program, PD tendency of a nation, and PD trends in the world.
Understanding white racial sovereignty: doing research on race and inequality in the Trump era (and beyond)

This essay concerns the political and social psychological roots of the White American electorate’s decision to elect Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States in 2016. The author ...
Multiple Scattering: Interaction of Time-Harmonic Waves with N Obstacles

The interaction of waves with obstacles is an everyday phenomenon in science and engineering, arising for example in acoustics, electromagnetism, seismology and hydrodynamics. The mathematical theory and technology needed to understand the phenomenon is known as multiple scattering, and this book is the first devoted to the subject. The author covers a variety of techniques, describing first the single-obstacle methods and then extending them to the multiple-obstacle case. A key ingredient in many of these extensions is an appropriate addition theorem: a coherent, thorough exposition of these theorems is given, and computational and numerical issues around them are explored. The application of these methods to different types of problems is also explained; in particular, sound waves, electromagnetic radiation, waves in solids and water waves. A comprehensive bibliography of some 1400 items rounds off the book, which will be an essential reference on the topic for applied mathematicians, physicists and engineers.
Sleep Dysfunction and Intestinal Dysbiosis

Abstract Sleep dysfunction and circadian rhythm disruption is a concerning epidemic that has direct pathologic consequences on a number of disease states. Emerging data have demonstrated sleep dysfunction to promote inflammation and propagate disease states marked by an inflammatory component (e.g., gastroesophageal reflux, irritable bowel syndrome inflammatory bowel disease chronic liver disease, colorectal cancer, etc.). It has been proposed that sleep dysfunction promotes inflammation via a “two-hit” insult. The first is the upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines (e.g., tumor-necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6, and interleukin-6) as a direct consequence of sleep dysfunction. The second is the relationship between sleep disruption and its direct link to changes in the commensal microbiome. This chapter focuses on the mechanistic link between sleep dysfunction and intestinal dysbiosis.
Two-dimensional magnetic monopole gas in an oxide heterostructure.

Magnetic monopoles have been proposed as emergent quasiparticles in pyrochlore spin ice compounds. However, unlike semiconductors and two-dimensional electron gases where the charge degree of freedom can be actively controlled by chemical doping, interface modulation, and electrostatic gating, there is as of yet no analogue of these effects for emergent magnetic monopoles. To date, all experimental investigations have been limited to large ensembles comprised of equal numbers of monopoles and antimonopoles in bulk crystals. To address these issues, we propose the formation of a two-dimensional magnetic monopole gas (2DMG) with a net magnetic charge, confined at the interface between a spin ice and an isostructural antiferromagnetic pyrochlore iridate and whose monopole density can be controlled by an external field. Our proposal is based on Monte Carlo simulations of the thermodynamic and transport properties. This proposed 2DMG should enable experiments and devices which can be performed on magnetic monopoles, akin to two-dimensional electron gases in semiconductor heterostructures. Heterostructure interfaces have physical properties distinct from bulk materials, providing the basis for many electronic devices. Miao et al. propose a spin ice heterostructure that can host a two-dimensional gas of emergent magnetic monopoles with a net magnetic charge.
Innovation Shocks and Knowledge Creation of Emerging Technologies: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment

This study explores how innovation shocks – sudden and exogenous breakthrough events – shape the evolution of emerging technologies by influencing the knowledge creation of individuals. Drawing on ...
Salivary cystatin SN is a factor predicting iron bioavailability after phytic acid rich meals in female participants.

Phytic acid is an inhibitor of iron bioavailability, but it has been suggested that individuals may adapt to phytic acid over time, and that the salivary protein, cystatin SN, may be involved. This...
A Rodent Model of Sulfur Mustard Hematologic Toxicity for the Efficacy Evaluation of Candidate Medical Countermeasures.

Introduction While exposure to sulfur mustard (SM) is commonly associated with the production of vesicating dermal, ocular, and respiratory injuries, systemic damage to bone marrow and lymphatic tissue can decrease critical immune cell populations leading to higher susceptibility to life-threatening infection and septicemia. There are currently no approved medical countermeasures for SM-induced myelosuppression. An intravenous SM challenge model was developed in adult rats as a preliminary proof-of-principle platform to evaluate the efficacy of candidate immunostimulants. Materials and methods Adult male and female Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to SM through tail vein injection. Toxicity progression was monitored through clinical observations, body weights, body temperatures, hematology, serum clinical chemistry, and flow cytometry of blood and bone marrow samples. Results Following SM exposure, overt toxicity progression was characterized by weight loss, changes in body temperature, and manifestation of toxic clinical signs (diarrhea, lethargy, hunched posture, rough hair coat, respiratory distress, and death). Drastic alterations in complete blood cell profiles included an early-onset lymphopenia followed by a delayed-onset neutropenia and thrombocytopenia. Only transient changes in serum clinical chemistry parameters were observed. Flow cytometry analysis of circulating blood revealed that B-cells were more predominantly affected by SM exposure than T-cells. Challenge with SM resulted in loss of hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cell populations in the bone marrow. Conclusions The small animal model developed in this study replicates many key aspects of human SM exposures and should serve as a relevant, rapid, and cost-effective platform to screen candidate medical countermeasures for SM-induced hematologic toxicity.
From the Editor: Transitions

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many readers of this Journal, and to say congratulations to Dr. Shulamith Lala Ashenberg Straussner, founding editor for 20 years of the Journal, ...
Perspective: Early diagnosis and treatment of postoperative recurrent cerebrospinal fluid fistulas/ dural tears to avoid adhesive arachnoiditis.

Background Intraoperative traumatic cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) fistulas/dural tears (DT) occur in up to 8.7-9.5% of primary lumbar surgical procedures. Further, they recur secondarily in between 8.1% and 17% of cases. It is critical to diagnose and treat these recurrent lumbar DT early (i.e. within 3-4 weeks of the index surgery) to avoid the evolution of adhesive arachnoiditis (AA), and its' permanent neurological sequelae. Methods Postoperative lumbar CSF fistulas/DT should be diagnosed on postoperative MR scans, and confirmed on Myelo-CT studies if needed. They should be definitively treated/occluded early on (e.g. within 3-4 postoperative weeks) to avoid the evolution of AA which can be readily diagnosed on MR studies, and corroborated, if warranted, on Myelo-CT examinations. The most prominent MR/Myelo-CT findings include; nerve roots aggregated in the central thecal sac, nerve roots peripherally scarred/adherent to the surrrounding meningeal wall ("empty thecal sac sign"), soft tissue masses in the subarachnoid space, and/or multiple loculated/scarred compartments. Results Percutaneous interventional procedures (i.e. epidural blood patches, injection of fibrin glue (FG)/fibrin sealants (FS)) are rarely effective for treating postoperative recurrent lumbar CSF fistulas. Rather, direct surgical occlusion is frequently warranted including the use of; an operating microscope, adequate surgical exposure, 7-0 Gore-Tex sutures, muscle/dural patch grafts or suture anchors, followed by the application of microfibrillar collagen, and fibrin sealant/glue. Conclusion Lumbar AA most commonly results from the early failure to diagnose and treat recurrent postoperative CSF fistulas. Since the clinical course of lumbar AA is typically one of progressive neurological deterioration, avoiding its' initial onset is key.
Abstract P172: Impairment Of Estrogen Protective Effect Contributes To Maternal Gestational Hypertension-induced Sensitization Of Hypertensive Response To Post-weaning High Fat Diet In Female Adult Offspring

Obesity/high fat diet (HFD) is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases including hypertension. Recent evidence indicates that maternal gestational hypertension (MGHT) induces hypertensive respons...
AC electric field-assisted fabrication of ice-templated alumina materials and remarkable enhancement of compressive strength

Abstract A novel methodology was developed that uniquely employs alternating current (AC) electric field to fabricate ice-templated ceramics. In the methodology, AC field was applied to an aqueous ceramic suspension, and then ice-templating was performed. Field application to an aqueous ceramic suspension resulted in a net motion of ceramic particles due to DC voltage generation. Suspension concentration increased near one of the electrodes, which was controllable through AC frequency and field duration. Density of the very bottommost regions in sintered materials increased with field duration, attributed to increased local suspension concentration. In sintered materials, the thickness of non-templated region increased with field duration, whereas templated microstructure turned increasingly dendritic with field duration, suggesting a strong influence of AC field on the growth characteristics of ice crystals. AC-field assisted materials exhibited remarkably enhanced compressive strength without any change in porosity. This work contributes to advancing the ice-templating technology using externally energized fields.
Using Team Innovation and Networking to Respond to Rapid Changes in the Academy.

When COVID-19 shuttered schools across the nation, it propelled higher education institutions into uncharted territories. Institutions had to make rapid decisions in a short period of time with limited information or direction. In these uncertain and challenging times, members of the academy reached out to one another to discuss, share, and learn from one another. What began with a few members of the Student Services Personnel Special Interest Group (SIG) grew to many members who banded together through open discussions to utilize a team approach to innovative problem-solving. Working together through open discussions created a setting that promoted diverse ideas, multiple perspectives, and a depth of knowledge to address some of the most challenging issues pharmacy education has had to overcome. When partnering together, institutions had a much greater resource of knowledge and support that could be leveraged to broadly benefit the academy.