cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of Lipid Transport Involved in Organelle Biogenesis in Plant Cells

Chloroplasts are the defining organelle of photoautotrophic plant cells. Photosynthetic light reactions and electron transport are the functions of an elaborate thylakoid membrane system inside chloroplasts. The lipid composition of photosynthetic membranes is characterized by a substantial fraction of nonphosphorous galactoglycerolipids reflecting the need of sessile plants to conserve phosphorus. Lipid transport and assembly of glycerolipids play an essential role in the biogenesis of the photosynthetic apparatus in developing chloroplasts. During chloroplast biogenesis, fatty acids are synthesized in the plastid and are exported to the endoplasmic reticulum, where they are incorporated into membrane lipids. Alternatively, lipids can also be assembled de novo at the inner envelope membrane of plastids in many plants. A rich repertoire of lipid exchange mechanisms involving the thylakoid membranes, the chloroplast inner and outer envelope membranes, and the endoplasmic reticulum is emerging. Studies of t...
Extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a comparison of patients with resected proximal and distal lesions.

Purpose. Disease-specific survival (DSS) for proximal bile duct cancer has been reported to be worse than for carcinoma of the distal duct. Methods. Review of two prospectively maintained databases identified 204 patients who underwent resection for extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (proximal: n=106, 52%; distal: n=98, 48%) between December 1987 and December 2005. Patient, tumor, and treatment-related variables were reviewed. Analyses were performed to compare tumor presentation, treatment, and DSS between patients with resected proximal and distal lesions. Results. Median follow-up for the 204 resected patients was 24 months (range 1–165 months) and 56 months for those alive at last follow-up. Combined liver/bile duct resection was performed in 82% of patients with proximal lesions, and pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed in 92% of patients with distal lesions. Patients experienced similar postoperative length of stay (median: proximal, 13 days vs. distal, 13 days; p=0.64) and operative mortality (30-day: proximal, 4% vs. distal, 3%; p=1.0, Fishers). Margin positive rates were similar (proximal, 23% vs. distal, 15%; p=0.20). Estimated five-year DSS for all patients was 35%. Tumor location (proximal vs. distal) was not associated with five-year estimated DSS (proximal, 29% vs. distal, 43%; p=0.44). Factors associated with five-year DSS included stage at presentation (node negative, 42% vs. node positive, 22%; p=<0.001), differentiation (papillary, 53% vs. non-papillary, 27%; p=0.01), and margin status (margin negative 42% vs. margin positive 27%; p<0.001). Conclusions. These results suggest that patients with resected proximal and distal cholangiocarcinoma will experience similar operative outcomes and DSS.
Security for object-oriented database systems

A design approach for a secure multilevel object-oriented database system is proposed by which a multilevel object-oriented system can be implemented on a conventional mandatory security kernel. Each object is assigned a single security level that applies to all its contents (variables and methods). The informal security policy model includes properties such as compatibility of security level assignments with the class hierarchy. After discussing the essential features of a general object system model, and then extending the object model to incorporate mandatory label-based security, it is shown how typical database security and integrity policies can be supported by this model, with special attention to inference problems and integrity constraints. The representation of integrity constraints and classification constraints are illustrated. >
Analysis of the radiation patterns of reflector antennas

The development and application of a numerical technique for the rapid calculation of the far-field radiation patterns of a reflector antenna from either a measured or computed feed pattern are reported. The reflector is defined by the intersection of a cone with any surface of revolution or an offset sector of any surface of revolution. The feed is assumed to be linearly polarized and can have an arbitrary location. Both the copolarized and the cross polarized reflector radiation patterns are computed. Calculations using the technique compare closely with measured radiation patterns of a waveguide-fed offset parabolic reflector. The unique features of this technique are the freedom from restrictive feed assumptions and the numerical methods used in preparing the aperture plane electric field data for integration.
Certified Nurse-Midwives’ Experiences with Gestational Weight Management

Excessive gestational weight gain is associated with fetal metabolic reprogramming and subsequent childhood obesity, as well as maternal recalcitrant obesity and its successive morbidities. We conducted a review of the literature and an explorative, descriptive study of the techniques and strategies used by a subset of certified nurse-midwives to help women achieve optimal gestational weight gain. We also identified barriers to this outcome. With more effective management approaches to gestational weight gain, adverse maternal and neonatal health outcomes could potentially be prevented. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nwh.2015.12.007.
Properties of amorphous silicon-germanium films and devices deposited at higher growth rates

We report on the growth and properties of amorphous Silicon-Germanium [a–(Si,Ge):H] films and devices fabricated at growth rates of ∼ 5 A/sec using a remote ECR plasma growth process. The films and devices were made using mixtures of germane and silane along with dilution with hydrogen and helium. The addition of He to the gas mixture significantly increased the growth rates. It was found that hydrogen was always necessary in order to achieve the best film and device properties. Films and devices were made across the entire bandgap range, from a-Si to a-Ge. High ratios of photo/dark conductivity and low values of Urbach energy ( > 50 meV) indicate good film properties. The defect densities were measured using space charge limited current techniques. The defect densities were in the range of 1-2 x 10 16 /cm 3 –eV, about 5 times higher than for a-Si:H. Electron mobility-lifetime products were measured and found to be in the range of 2-4 x 10 -7 cm 2 /V, even for low gap materials (1.35 eV). Single and graded gap devices were fabricated in these materials. Device fill factors of ∼ 70% were obtained in graded gap devices.
Effects of enantiomers of β2-agonists on ACh release and smooth muscle contraction in the trachea

The β2-agonists currently used as bronchodilators are racemic mixtures of R- and S-enantiomers. In the present study, we examined the effects of enantiomers of the β2-agonists albuterol and formote...
EMI Reduction in DC-Fed Electric Drives by Active Common-Mode Compensator

A novel common-mode (CM) EMI active filter for dc-fed motor drives is proposed. The active filter performs both the compensation of the CM voltage at the motor input and the mitigation of the leakage high-frequency CM currents, thus increasing the drive reliability and the vehicle electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). The filter scheme is based on a voltage feedback action and also includes a feed-forward action by exploiting a suitably estimated CM current. An optimized design of the CM voltage detection/injection systems is implemented. Moreover, the active filter is supplied by a smaller voltage than the dc link value; this permits a more performing amplifier to be used. The active filter behavior is analyzed theoretically and its performance is assessed by experiments. The realized prototype shows a good efficiency and compactness.
Young Ischemic Stroke in Association with Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome

Background Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is a serious and potentially fatal complication of medical ovarian stimulation. Uncommonly, it is associated with thromboembolic complications with venous thrombosis being more common than arterial thromboembolic events. We present a case of cerebral infarction in the setting of severe OHSS secondary to in vitro fertilization treatment with no residual neurological deficits. Materials and Methods We also performed a review of previously published ischemic cerebral infarction and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) cases associated with OHSS to evaluate common patterns in presentations, commonly affected central nervous system sites, trends for therapeutic options in these cases, and outcomes. Conclusion We have included 27 cases of ischemic cerebral infarction and 7 cases of CVST previously published in English literature. We have included cases of central retinal artery occlusion in the ischemic cerebral infarction group, and central retinal vein occlusion in the CVST group. Mean ages of presentation were 31 ± 4.84 and 34 ± 4.90 years for ischemic cerebral infarction and CVST, respectively. Ischemic strokes commonly affect large cortical areas with unilateral weakness, aphasia, unilateral sensory changes, and visual field deficits being the common presentations. Middle cerebral artery (n = 7) is the common site of vascular occlusion where vascular imaging has been reported, followed by internal carotid artery occlusion (n = 5). OHSS cannot be considered a direct risk for pathogenesis, but OHSS is frequently associated with hyperviscosity, which may add to the risk factors.
Nonstenotic carotid plaques Stroke causation or guilt by association

Acute cerebral infarctions occur across a broad spectrum of size, location, and multiplicity, in association with a wide variety of medical conditions. Several classification schemes have proposed rules based on such descriptive information to derive a cause for ischemic stroke in individual patients.1–3 These designations of cause are rarely based on direct observation (e.g., embolus occurring during arteriography) and most commonly are based on a pathophysiologic inference from an associated condition (e.g., cortical infarction occurring in a person with atrial fibrillation) without direct evidence in the individual case. Which associated conditions are considered causative varies among classification schemes and thus the designation of patients as stroke of undetermined cause (cryptogenic) differs as well.1–4 It should therefore not come as a surprise that examination of 3 of these causative classification schemes demonstrates that they are not in agreement as to the importance of carotid artery atherosclerosis of <50% stenosis in causing stroke.1–3
Demonstration of a Solar Reactor for Carbon Dioxide Splitting via the Isothermal Ceria Redox Cycle and Practical Implications

The performance of a 4.4 kW solar receiver/reactor to split carbon dioxide via the isothermal cerium dioxide thermochemical redox cycle is characterized during steady-state operation in a high-flux solar simulator. The solar reactor is the first to implement the isothermal redox cycle. Design innovations for continuous fuel production and gas-phase heat recuperation distinguish it from prior works. During steady-periodic operation at 1750 K, 360 mL min–1 of CO is produced continuously over 45 redox cycles, and up to 95% of the sensible heat of the process gases is recovered. The solar-to-fuel efficiency is 1.64% without consideration of the energy costs of producing nitrogen used as a sweep gas during reduction. With inclusion of the solar energy required to produce N2 via cryogenic separation, the efficiency is 0.72%. On the basis of the thermodynamic limitations of the cycle and the limited opportunity for increasing reactor efficiency beyond 2%, we conclude that the isothermal approach to split CO2 or ...
Afghanistan Environment and Development Issues

Environment and development issues are a highly serious situation in Afghanistan because of centuries of despoliation. Beginning with the disruptions to the land-ownership records caused by the total misrule of the communists and Taliban in the 1980s and 1990s, a path back to normalcy has been the difficult reestablishment of proper cadastral or property-ownership information. Sharing of the critically essential water in Afghanistan is another major issue that is being addressed in a variety of ways. Issues with the extractive mineral resources and associated environmental problems are also of great concern and new legislation has been developed to control any potential problems.
Bridging of double-stranded breaks by the nonhomologous end-joining ligation complex is modulated by DNA end chemistry

The nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway is the primary repair pathway for DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) in humans. Repair is mediated by a core complex of NHEJ factors that includes a ligase (DNA Ligase IV; L4) that relies on juxtaposition of 3΄ hydroxyl and 5΄ phosphate termini of the strand breaks for catalysis. However, chromosome breaks arising from biological sources often have different end chemistries, and how these different end chemistries impact the way in which the core complex directs the necessary transitions from end pairing to ligation is not known. Here, using single-molecule FRET (smFRET), we show that prior to ligation, differences in end chemistry strongly modulate the bridging of broken ends by the NHEJ core complex. In particular, the 5΄ phosphate group is a recognition element for L4 and is critical for the ability of NHEJ factors to promote stable pairing of ends. Moreover, other chemical incompatibilities, including products of aborted ligation, are sufficient to disrupt end pairing. Based on these observations, we propose a mechanism for iterative repair of DSBs by NHEJ.
Dynamic Research Support for Academic Libraries

Libraries have long stood on the shifting sands of change. The key to survival has been to understand that change and meet it at the point of need. Starr Hoffman’s work provides a road map to that change as academic reference librarians make the shift to academic research support librarians. She emphasizes that the traditional role focused on discovery and instructional services has moved into the realm of a broader encompassment of exploration, learning, and collaboration. This evolving world of interdisciplinary cooperation across departments and disciplines in academia places librarians to use our essential expertise in collection development, metadata, reference, and instruction to meet the needs of our subject-based faculty colleagues. No matter what the library size or budget, librarians can contribute. Hoffman’s book is a valuable guide.
The Labor Market Imperative for CTE: Changes and Challenges for the 21st Century

The labor market in the United States is evolving in unexpected ways following the 2007 recession. Career and technical education (CTE) has historically linked young people to the workplace. In this article we examine the U.S. labor market and provide multiple perspectives on its growth and direction and implications for future directions for CTE. We examine the often conflicting data-based arguments and suggest that in a future increasingly dominated by robotics and artificial intelligence, new entrants to the workforce will require very strong social, employability, and work-readiness skills that reflect the behavioral, attitudinal, and character traits highly valued in the workplace and in society. These noncognitive, nontechnical skills can be developed in the CTE classroom, but require both new technical content in these classrooms and changes in how CTE teachers deliver their curriculum.
Perioperative Management of the Patient with Chronic Kidney Disease, Hypertension, or End-Stage Renal Disease

Perioperative management of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) may be complicated by alterations in fluid and electrolyte balance, acid–base homeostasis, volume status, and drug metabolism, often occurring in the setting of coexisting comorbidities such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus. CKD may exist in over 20 million Americans and acts as a “risk multiplier” for morbidity, mortality, and cost in the perioperative period – including orthopedic surgery. This chapter will focus on the perioperative medical and anesthesia management of patients with CKD and ESRD as we highlight the impact of kidney disease patient management. Selected issues related to management of dialysis patients as well as the kidney transplant recipient will be discussed.
Neurologic Complications of Female Reproductive Tract Cancers

Malignancies of the female reproductive tract can cause direct and indirect complications on the central and peripheral nervous system. Direct effects include malignant cell infiltration of the brain, spinal cord, nerve roots and plexi, and peripheral nerves, as well as compression of surrounding structures by the tumor itself or regional lymph nodes. With the exception of choriocarcinoma, gynecologic cancers, however, are regarded as “neurophobic” due to their low metastatic potential to the central nervous system (CNS). The most common gynecologic tumors to cause CNS metastases are chorio-, ovarian, and endometrial carcinoma. Indirect effects of gynecologic cancers include paraneoplastic syndromes, particularly paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration and anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, and complications of cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy-related peripheral neuropathy, surgery-induced peripheral nerve, and radiation-induced plexopathy. This chapter reviews the epidemiology, clinical features, treatment, and prognostic data of some of the most common metastatic, paraneoplastic, and treatment-related complications of gynecologic cancers.
Speeding up tone mapping operators: Exploiting parallelism for real-time, high dynamic range video

Tone mapping operators map high dynamic range images so that they can be displayed with a high dynamic range appearance in a limited range medium. However, due to their large computational complexity, sequential implementation of these operators on CPU cannot achieve the frame rate needed for real-time video image processing. In this paper, we revisit these operators to simplify them so that we can speed up their execution and to exploit their parallelism on compute, graphical processing unit (compute-GPU). We offer implementations of these operators that achieve significant speedups. For example, for a 1080×1920 pixels image, our simplified Reinhard's global tone mapping implementation executes on a compute-GPU in 0.429 milliseconds, which is nearly a speedup factor of 700 over CPU sequential implementation in OpenCV. We also offer implementations of local tone mapping operators that take advantage of shared memory on compute-GPU to minimize operators' execution time.
Limits on normal cochlear 'third' windows provided by previous investigations of additional sound paths into and out of the cat inner ear.

Abstract While most models of cochlear function assume the presence of only two windows into the mammalian cochlea (the oval and round windows), a position that is generally supported by several lines of data, there is evidence for additional sound paths into and out of the inner ear in normal mammals. In this report we review the existing evidence for and against the ‘two-window’ hypothesis. We then determine how existing data and inner-ear anatomy restrict transmission of sound through these additional sound pathways in cat by utilizing a well-tested model of the cat inner ear, together with anatomical descriptions of the cat cochlear and vestibular aqueducts (potential additional windows to the cochlea). We conclude: (1) The existing data place limits on the size of the cochlear and vestibular aqueducts in cat and are consistent with small volume-velocities through these ducts during ossicular stimulation of the cochlea, (2) the predicted volume velocities produced by aqueducts with diameters half the size of the bony diameters match the functional data within ±10 dB, and (3) these additional volume velocity paths contribute to the inner ear's response to non-acoustic stimulation and conductive pathology.
Katniss in Fallujah: War Stories, Post-War, and Post-Sovereign Peace in Fan Fiction

Fan writings show how popular culture, politics, international relations, and young people’s lives and aspirations are interwoven, and there are explicit references to historical and contemporary wars, including to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and some are written by former combatants. Through the act of writing about armed conflict and its aftermath, fan writers are imaginatively travelling across national borders and erasing the boundaries between the real and not real. They are engaging new political possibilities for alliances and breaking taboos about reconciliation. The first of two chapters about fan fiction, this chapter explores fan fiction as a space within which war play can occur in a way that, rather than reinforcing militarism and xenophobia, makes ‘peace’ pleasurable instead.
Switching diffusion with past dependent switching and countable switching space: Existence and uniqueness of solutions, recurrence, and weak stabilization

This work is an extension of our recent paper published in SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization. Starting with the setup in [11], this paper focuses on positive recurrence and weak stabilization of regime-switching diffusion consisting of continuous and discrete components, in which the discrete component switches in a countably infinite set and its switching rates at current time depend on the past value of the continuous component. After presenting the existence and uniqueness of solutions of switching diffusions, the paper departs from [11] and concentrates on recurrence and related issues. Assuming that the system is linearizable, this work provides more feasible conditions on the coefficients of the systems for positive recurrence. Then we obtain linear feedback controls for weak stabilization. Some illustrative examples are also given.
John Adams: Directed by Tom Hooper. Produced by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, Kirk Ellis, Frank Doelger, David Coatsworth, and Steve Shareshian. HBO, 2008, 501 min.

John Adams, the second president of the United States, vividly comes to life in the 2008 Home Box Office (HBO) miniseries of the same name. The seven-episode production spans his political career a...
Online physician review websites poorly correlate to a validated metric of patient satisfaction.

Abstract Background Physician review websites such as Vitals and Healthgrades are becoming an increasingly popular tool for patients to choose providers. We hypothesized that the scores of these surveys poorly represent the true value of patient satisfaction when compared to a validated survey instrument. Methods Answers from Vitals and Healthgrades online surveys were compared to the Press Ganey Medical Practice Survey (PGMPS) for 200 faculty members at a university hospital for FY15. Weighted Pearson's correlation was used to compare Healthgrades and Vitals to PGMPS. Results While statistically significant, both Vitals and Healthgrades had very low correlations with the PGMPS with weighted coefficients of 0.18 (95% confidence interval: 0.02-0.34, P = 0.025) and 0.27 (95% confidence interval: 0.12-0.42, P Conclusions Online physician rating websites such as Vitals and Healthgrades poorly correlate with the PGMPS, a validated measure of patient satisfaction. Patients should be aware of these limitations and, consequently, should have access to the most accurate measure of patient satisfaction.
Montana at the Crossroads

Everyone who works in Indian law is familiar with Montana v. United States. In that case, the Court stripped tribes of territorial sovereignty over civil matters, restricting tribal authority over nonmembers on fee lands to situations of consent or impacts on core tribal governmental interests. Nonetheless, the Court in Montana recognized full tribal authority over nonmembers on tribal lands. What the Court did to tribal sovereign authority in Montana, however, arguably pales beside what the Court may now do to Montana - at least if Justice Souter has his way. In his recent Indian law opinions, Justice Souter has proposed the most sweeping changes to federal Indian law in 25 years, attempting to rewrite Montana to make tribal authority over nonmembers on tribal lands a case-by-case question for the federal courts. Justices Kennedy and Thomas have joined Justice Souter in these opinions. With two new justices now on the Court - Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts - it is possible that Justice Souter could pick up the votes of those justices as well. If he does, his view becomes the majority view, and tribal governmental authority over nonmembers is in danger of being reduced to less than a landowner's right to redress trespass.
The effect of drug sampling policies on residents' prescribing.

Background and Objectives: Many clinical educators feel that the availability of drug samples has an influence on the prescribing habits of residents. Therefore, many programs limit the availability of samples. This study compares the prescriptions written in three family practice residency programs with different policies on availability of drug samples. Methods: We used a prospective observational design to compare three programs of similar size and curriculum but which differed in sampling policies. One program had no limitation of samples, one program limited samples to specifically approved drugs, and one program did not permit drug samples in the clinic. Carbonless duplicate prescriptions were collected and collated over the first 5 months of 1996, and prescribing of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) was monitored. Results: There was a greater percentage of generic prescriptions and use of preferred NSAIDs but no decrease in the “cost per prescription” in the programs that limited or eliminated samples when compared to the program with an “open” sample policy. There was no statistically significant difference between the program with no samples and the program that permitted only approved drugs. Conclusions: The elimination or control of available drug samples is associated with differences in the prescriptions written by family practice residents, but this effect is fairly small.
Comparison of comorbidity to socioeconomic status in patients with non-small cell lung cancer in a safety net population.

e18070Background: We have previously studied survival rates of patients in our inner city hospital with non-small cell lung cancer and have found poorer outcomes in our population when compared to ...
ADMINISTRAÇÃO DE SERVIÇOS: UMA ANÁLISE DO PENSAMENTO ESTRATÉGICO DOS PROFISSIONAIS NO RAMO ODONTOLÓGICO DE FREDERICO WESTPHALEN/RS

O presente artigo trata do ramo da prestacao de servicos teve por finalidade analisar e compreender o pensamento estrategico dos profissionais no ramo odontologico de Frederico Westphalen – RS. Tambem pretendeu verificar como foram concebidas estas estrategias pelo prestador de servico autonomo ou administrador da clinica odontologica no municipio de Frederico Westphalen – RS. Entre os objetivos deste artigos foi de buscar entender na visao de um profissional formado para exercer a pratica odontologica, quais estrategias competitivas sao usadas para a boa gestao e eficacia do empreendimento e, se nao as usam, identificar e analisar a construcao do conhecimento administrativo e de planejamento destes gestores visto que, apesar de possuirem em conjunto com sua formacao para odontologista materias de gestao, o foco da formacao ainda e voltado para a prestacao do servico e nao na capacidade administrativa que este profissional precisa ter somado com a especializacao. Quanto a metodologia, o artigo e de natureza aplicada e a abordagem do problema foi qualitativa e quantitativa. Quanto aos objetivos e fins e uma pesquisa descritiva e exploratoria e quanto aos meios e procedimentos tecnicos ela caracteriza-se por ser uma pesquisa de campo. Para a analise, foram aplicados questionarios para obter informacoes dos gestores das clinicas e empresas odontologicas a respeito dos metodos utilizados para gestao, nivel de conhecimento administrativo estrategico e quais ferramentas sao usadas. A analise quantitativa foi atraves de graficos conforme respostas produzidas pelos entrevistados.O trabalho de campo restringe-se as clinicas odontologicas instaladas e cadastradas no municipio de Frederico Westphalen – RS.
Nicotine impairs intra-substance tendon healing after full thickness injury in a rat model.

Nicotine is harmful to many bodily systems; however, the effects of nicotine on intra-substance tendon healing remain largely unexplored. The purpose of this study was to examine the functional, structural, and biomechanical effects of nicotine on the healing of Achilles tendons in rats after an acute full-thickness injury. Sixty Sprague-Dawley rats were enrolled in this study. Half were exposed to 0.9% saline and half to 61 ng/mL of nicotine for 3 months via subcutaneous osmotic pumps. At 3 months, all rats underwent blunt full thickness transection of the left Achilles tendon and were immobilized for one week in plantarflexion. In-vivo assays were conducted prior to injury, at 21 days, and at 42 days post-injury and included the following: Functional limb assessment, passive joint mechanics, and vascular evaluation. Rats were sacrificed at 21 and 42 days for biomechanical testing and histologic evaluation. Rats exposed to nicotine demonstrated decreased vascularity, greater alteration in gait mechanics, and increased passive ROM of the ankle joint. Biomechanically, the nicotine tendons failed at lower maximum loads, were less stiff, had smaller cross-sectional areas and had altered viscoelastic properties. Histologically, nicotine tendons demonstrated decreased vessel density at the injury site. This study demonstrates that nicotine leads to worse functional outcomes and biomechanical properties in tendons. The decreased vascularity in the nicotine group may suggest an underlying mechanism for inferior tendon healing. Patients should be counseled that using nicotine products increase their risk of poor tendon healing and may predispose them to tendon re-rupture. © 2018 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res.
The Case for Radiocarbon Dating and Bayesian Analysis in Historical Archaeology

Few historical archaeologists working on sites that postdate A.D. 1500 employ radiocarbon dating throughout the course of their research. We argue that historical archaeologists underutilize radiocarbon dating, and present the case for its use and Bayesian modeling of the dates. We illustrate these methods with a simulated hypothetical example and an archaeological example from the mission period in the American Southeast. Our work shows that through the careful consideration of sample selection and the integration of prior knowledge regarding the archaeological record, one can dramatically increase the precision of radiocarbon dating on samples from historical sites, which can play an important role in secondary research question formulation and sampling across historical sites.
Romantic Relationships in Young Adulthood: Parental Divorce, Parent-child Relationships during Adolescence, and Gender

The current study aimed to examine the role of parent-child relationships during adolescence as a mediator between earlier parental divorce and children's romantic relationships in emerging adulthood. In addition, the study aimed to examine how this proposed mediation model would work differently among the four dyads of parent-child based on their gender (e.g., father-daughter vs. mother-son). The data for this study came from a 22-year 9-wave investigated longitudinal study, which began when the participants were in the sixth grade. The study was designed to investigate transitions during adolescence and young adulthood. Analyses for the current study were based on waves 6 and 8. At Wave 6, participants were in 12th grade and at Wave 8, participants were approximately 24 years old. The sample for the current study was 520 (female = 311 and male = 209) from 'always-married' and 154 (female = 107 and male = 47) from 'divorced' families. In order to examine the mediation model for each female and male adolescents, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) was tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) - LISREL Version 8.80. The results showed that there was no overall direct mediation model; however, the mediation model worked differently for the four dyads of parent-child. For example, it was found that there was an indirect effect of parental divorce through relationships with fathers on daughters' romantic relationships but not for sons. Implications, limitations, and future research recommendations are discussed.
Customized head molds reduce motion during resting state fMRI scans.

Abstract Head motion causes artifacts in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, a problem especially relevant for task-free resting state paradigms and for developmental, aging, and clinical populations. In a cohort spanning 7–28 years old (mean age 15) we produced customized head-anatomy-specific Styrofoam molds for each subject that inserted into an MRI head coil. We scanned these subjects under two conditions: using our standard procedure of packing the head coil with foam padding about the head to reduce head motion, and using the customized molds to reduce head motion. In 12 of 13 subjects, the molds reduced head motion throughout the scan and reduced the fraction of a scan with substantial motion (i.e., volumes with motion notably above baseline levels of motion). Motion was reduced in all 6 head position estimates, especially in rotational, left-right, and superior-inferior directions. Motion was reduced throughout the full age range studied, including children, adolescents, and young adults. In terms of the fMRI data itself, quality indices improved with the head mold on, scrubbing analyses detected less distance-dependent artifact in scans with the head mold on, and distant-dependent artifact was less evident in both the entire scan and also during only low-motion volumes. Subjects found the molds comfortable. Head molds are thus effective tools for reducing head motion, and motion artifacts, during fMRI scans.
Undergraduate Engineering Education and the Game-Based Learning Methods to Promote a Culture of Laboratory Safety

This full paper supports areas in the innovative practice category about engineering education and how it has been challenged with integrating labs and experimental practices for student-learning in a traditional setting. The study was created to integrate gamification in the classroom and lab environments for experimental learning with regard to policy that supports safety instructional training within engineering education. Our objective was to identify an approach to promote engineering policies using app development techniques for gamifying lab and classroom practices. This approach also promoted awareness among participants in order to ensure a safety culture designed for learning methods. The gamification techniques were deployed to support engineering courses based on tools involving instructional expectations, policies and procedures. The safety instructional policy was encouraged in student learning by implementing an interactive learning process that identifies specific instructional tools for classroom and lab assessment. This concept of gamification was introduced to engineering practices in order to integrate set policies and course procedures for interactive learning within approach for building a mindset in an educational environment. The gamification concept was used to promote a safety culture and has improved the quality of learning by engaging students in meaningful practices. The concept has also reinforced safety standards for undergraduate engineering students in course and lab instructions. The course and lab instructions were implemented for the purpose of managing and promoting awareness among participants as a systematic approach to foster safe practices in engineering education. Overall, gamification has engaged undergraduate engineering students both inside and outside the educational environment. The undergraduate engineering students would often overlook, ignore or misinterpret the safety practices due to the lack of awareness and safety importance. The gamified approach has identified common malpractices concerning safety instructional policy and guidelines for classroom and lab operation. Gamification of safety instructional policy has created self-awareness to undergraduate engineering students and the influence of safety training procedures was mapped to student-learning outcomes. This technique has had an impact on students, faculty, staff and other support personnel in interacting with classroom and lab equipment through the understanding of operational guidelines and procedures that support engineering education.
Crystal structures of (I) 2-(9,9-dipropylfluorene-2-yl)-9,9- dipropylfluorene and (II) 2-(1,1-dimethylpropyl)-7- {4-[(1,1-dimethylpropyl)-9,9-diethylfluoren-2-yl]phenyl}-9,9-diethylfluorene and (III) 2-(4-ethylphenyl) -7-[7-(ethylphenyl)-9,9-dipropylfluoren-2-yl]-9,9-dipropylfluorene

The crystal structures of the three fluorene related molecules, (I) 2-(9,9-dipropylfluorene-2-yl)-9,9-dipropylfluorene, [Exalite 384, C38H42], (II) 2-(1,1-dimethylpropyl)-7-{4-[(1,1-dimethylpropyl)-9,9-diethylfluoren-2-yl] phenyl}-9,9-diethylfluorene, [Exalite 404, C50 H58], and (III) 2-(4-ethylphenyl)-7-[7-(ethylphenyl)-9,9-dipropylfluoren-2-yl]-9,9-dipropylfluorene, [Exalite 416, C54H58], have been determined. Structural details reveal a novel new bonding arrangement at the C2 atoms of symmetry-related fluorene moieties in all three molecules producing a linear type array with an inversion center connecting adjacent asymmetric units within each molecule. Exalite 384 is monoclinic, space group P21/c with a = 9.002(2) A, b = 16.275(4) A, c = 10.525(1) A, β = 103.05(1)○, and V = 1502.1(5) A3 with Z = 4, for d calc = 1.103 g/cm3. Exalite 404 is triclinic, space group P1 with a = 10.383(1) A, b = 13.404(2) A, c = 7.7007(9) A, α = 105.296(9)○, β = 104.23(1)○, γ = 73.707(9)○, and V = 974.9(2) A3 with Z = 2, for d calc = 1.141. Exalite 416 is monoclinic, space group P21/c with a = 15.99(10) A, b = 11.178(8) A, c = 23.766(4) A, β = 104.21(4)○, and V = 4117(4) A3 with Z = 4, for d calc = 1.141 g/cm3.
Do Caregiver Experiences Shape End-of-Life Care Perceptions? Burden, Benefits, and Care Quality Assessment

Abstract Context Researchers, hospices, and government agencies administer standardized questionnaires to caregivers for assessing end-of-life care quality. Caregiving experiences may influence end-of-life care quality reports, which have implications for caregiver outcomes, and are a clinical and policy priority. Objectives This study aims to determine whether and how caregivers' end-of-life care assessments depend on their burden and benefit perceptions. Methods This study analyzes data from 391 caregivers in the 2011 National Study of Caregiving and their Medicare beneficiary care recipients from the 2011–2016 National Health and Aging Trends Study. Caregivers assessed five end-of-life care aspects for decedents. Logistic regression was used and predicted probabilities of caregivers positively or negatively assessing end-of-life care based on their burden and benefit experiences calculated. Analyses adjusted for caregiver and care recipient demographic and health characteristics. Results No or minimal caregiving burden is associated with ≥0.70 probability of caregivers reporting they were always informed about the recipient's condition and that the dying person's care needs were always met, regardless of perceived benefits. High perceived caregiving benefit is associated with ≥0.80 probability of giving such reports, even when perceiving high burden. Conclusion Caregiver burden and benefit operate alongside one another regarding two end-of-life care evaluations, even when years elapse between caregiver experience reports and care recipient death. This suggests that caregiver interventions reducing burden and bolstering benefits may have a positive and lasting impact on end-of-life care assessments.
An Application of Nested Control Synthesis for Wind Farms

Abstract In this paper, we apply new nested-system synthesis methods for decentralized control to wind turbine arrays. We extend single-turbine modeling and analysis to incorporate turbine coupling caused by wake turbulence effects. Simulation results are provided for validation.
A technique for eyelid margin repair without use of marginal sutures.

To describe and evaluate a novel technique for eyelid margin repair without the use of marginal sutures. A retrospective chart review of patients who underwent primary repair of full-thickness lid ...
Two cryptosporidia species encode active creatine kinases that are not seen in other apicomplexa species

Abstract A gene encoding creatine kinase was identified in two cryptosporidia species, Cryptosporidium muris and C. andersonii. They were syntenic and shared 91% identity 94% identity at the amino acid level and nucleotide levels respectively. The C. muris creatine kinase was characterized biochemically and shown to phosphorylate both creatine and glycocyamine with a 20-fold greater preference for creatine. The observed catalytic turnover with creatine was kcat = 30 s−1 with a catalytic efficiency of 15.4 mM−1 s−1. These values were within the range observed for other creatine kinases. A search of all the apicomplexa genomes available on EuPathDB did not reveal any other phosphagen kinase genes raising the possibility of horizontal gene transfer. However, no definitive conclusion could be drawn regarding this hypothesis given the massive amount of gene loss in the apicomplexa species which are primarily parasitic species. The implications of a creatine kinase in the parasites' infection cycle are discussed.
The Immune System and Its Contribution to Variability in Regenerative Medicine

The immune system plays a critical role in directing tissue repair and regeneration outcomes. Tissue engineering technologies that are designed to promote new tissue growth will therefore be impacted by immune factors that are present in patients both locally at the site of intervention and systemically. The immune state of patients can be influenced by many factors, including infection, nutrition, and other disease comorbidities. As a result, the immune state is highly variable and may be a source of variability in tissue-engineered products in the clinic, which is not found in preclinical models. In this review, we will summarize key immune cells and evidence of their activity in tissue repair and potential in tissue engineering systems. We also discuss how clinical translation of tissue engineering strategies, in particular stem cells, helped elucidate the importance of the immune system. With increased understanding of the immune system's role in repair and tissue engineering systems, it will likely become a therapeutic target and component of future therapies.
Performance Characteristics of Long Axial Field-of-View PET Scanners With Axial Gaps

The introduction of long (>60 cm) axial field-of-view (LAFOV) PET systems has shown their potential for clinical and research applications. LAFOV scanners are expensive, so there is interest in designing systems with longer axial coverage while mitigating cost by introducing detector gaps. We used measurements on the PennPET Explorer (64-cm axial field-of-view (AFOV) prototype) and simulations of scanners up to 143-cm long to assess scanner performance with axial gaps introduced by varying the number of detector rows in each ring. Removing detectors reduces the total sensitivity and results in a nonuniform axial noise profile. Axial resolution shows small (<0.5 mm) loss from the edge of the AFOV to the center, even for a 143-cm AFOV scanner with an unrestricted acceptance angle. The presence of large axial gaps increases the variability in axial resolution and contrast recovery across the AFOV compared to a system without gaps. More modest axial gaps show less variable behavior. The results suggest that designs where the gap is no larger than one-half of the width of a detector ring may be preferred, although the optimal choice of scanner design with the tradeoffs of performance and AFOV will depend on its intended usage.
The Opium of God’s People: Latin American/Hispanic Theology, Popular Religiosity, and the Challenge of Narcotrafficking:

The manipulation of popular religiosity by drug trafficking at the epicenter of the world drug market represents a challenge for Latin American theology. How might it reflect on popular religiosity...
Real-Time Driving Distraction Recognition Through a Wrist-Mounted Accelerometer.

ObjectiveWe propose a method for recognizing driver distraction in real time using a wrist-worn inertial measurement unit (IMU).BackgroundDistracted driving results in thousands of fatal vehicle ac...
Multilevel Stein variational gradient descent with applications to Bayesian inverse problems.

This work presents a multilevel variant of Stein variational gradient descent to more efficiently sample from target distributions. The key ingredient is a sequence of distributions with growing fidelity and costs that converges to the target distribution of interest. For example, such a sequence of distributions is given by a hierarchy of ever finer discretization levels of the forward model in Bayesian inverse problems. The proposed multilevel Stein variational gradient descent moves most of the iterations to lower, cheaper levels with the aim of requiring only a few iterations on the higher, more expensive levels when compared to the traditional, single-level Stein variational gradient descent variant that uses the highest-level distribution only. Under certain assumptions, in the mean-field limit, the error of the proposed multilevel Stein method decays by a log factor faster than the error of the single-level counterpart with respect to computational costs. Numerical experiments with Bayesian inverse problems show speedups of more than one order of magnitude of the proposed multilevel Stein method compared to the single-level variant that uses the highest level only.
A Vector Processor for Mean Field Bayesian Channel Estimation

Physical layer signal processing algorithms in the wireless domain are seeing increased use of machine learning algorithms, especially Bayesian methods. This work presents the hardware architecture and implementation of a vector processor for one such application, Bayesian channel estimation (CE) (BCE). The BCE vector processor supports a generic instruction set with a supplement of specialized instructions to realize Bayesian algorithms in the signal processing context. The vector processor is designed to work as an accelerator in a system-on-chip (SoC) with an AHB/AXI bus interface or as stand-alone unit. The vector processor achieves more than $4\times $ improvement in performance when compared with a traditional CE algorithm running on a commercial vector processor. To the best of authors knowledge, this is a first known hardware implementation of a variational Bayesian inference algorithm for a wireless communication application.