cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development of an Internet-Accessible Image/Video Sensor Web Testbed

Image/Video Sensor Networks are emerging applications for sensor network technologies, allowing visual data to be returned to interested observers. In this paper, we present a complete Image/Video Sensor Web design and implementation experience, in which an Internet-Accessible Image/Video Sensor Web Testbed is build. Selected experiment designs and results for multi-hop image/video sensor network applications are also presented to illustrate the operation and effectiveness of using the testbed to study Image/Video Sensor Network related problems
Usage of the ACT 3D Robot in a Brain Machine Interface for Hand Opening and Closing in Stroke Survivors

At six months after brain injury, about 65% of stroke survivors have been shown to be unable to incorporate the affected hand into activities of daily living (ADL). Using a reliable brain-machine-interface (BMI) together with neural electronic stimulation (NES) is a possible solution for the restoration of hand function in severely impaired hemiparetic stroke survivors. However, discoordination, i.e. the abnormal coupling between adjacent joints, causes an expected reduction in the performance of BMI algorithms. In this study, we test whether the active support of an ACT3D robot can increase the performance of two brain-machine-interface (BMI) algorithms in separating the subject's intention to open or close the impaired hand during reach. Improvement in recognition rate was obtained in 4 chronic hemiparetic stroke subjects when support from the robot was available. Further analysis on one subject suggests that such an improvement is related to quantitative changes in cortical activity. This result suggests that the ACT3D robot can be used to train severely impaired stroke subjects to use a BMI-controlled NES device.
Unmet needs in long-term care and their associated factors among the oldest old in China

With a rapidly aging population and a decline in the availability of family caregivers, the number of elders in China who have unmet long-term care needs is increasing. Because unmet needs often have negative consequences, it is increasingly important to identify factors associated with unmet needs. Utilizing Andersen’s behavioral model of health services use, this study examines the roles of predisposing factors (demographics), enabling factors (resources), and need (e.g., illness level) in long-term care among the oldest old in China. Data from three waves (2005, 2008, and 2011) of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) were analyzed. Four sequential, logistic regression models were designed to investigate how predisposing factors, enabling factors, and need were associated with unmet needs in long-term care. Logistic regression analyses reveal that the significant factors for both rural and urban residents were economic status, someone other than a family member as the primary caregiver, caregivers’ willingness to provide care, timely medication, self-rated health, and self-rated life satisfaction. Significant factors among only urban residents were age, a son/daughter-in-law as the primary caregiver, activities of daily living (ADL) disabilities expectation of access to community-based care services, and optimism. Significant factors among only rural residents were gender and cognitive function. The risk of having unmet needs associated with ADL disabilities in long-term care is largely determined by the oldest old’s economic status and caregivers’ willingness to provide care for both rural and urban residents. Given that the availability of informal caregivers—mainly family members—is declining, it is crucial to provide financial assistance to the oldest old, to increase formal services such as paid home service and community-based care services, and to reduce family caregivers’ burden in order to reduce the unmet needs of the oldest old in China.
Research Note: The Creation of Capabilities in New Ventures—A Longitudinal Study:

The role of the organization's resources and capabilities in its competitive advantage, and, by extension, its performance, has become a topic of renewed interest. Although the importance of capabilities is the basis of much of this research, there is little work which investigates how capabilities are actually created. This paper empirically assesses the role of management in the creation of capability within organizations over time. Of five hypotheses, two were fully supported, and partial support was found for a third. We find that managerial advocacy in the form of specialized directors of sub-units, and the number of executives on the top management team, influence capability creation as does the existence of formalized rules related to resource allocation. CEO background was found to have no effect. The results present the initial outlines of how competencies might be created and suggest avenues for further inquiry.
Robust solution of perturbed dynamical equations from within a convex restraint set

In [1] and [2], the notion of "robust solution" was defined for a system of perturbed linear dynamical equations. Heuristically speaking, a robust solution (input) x(\cdot) is one for which the dependent variable (output) can be guaranteed to lie in a certain interval-independently of nature's choice of perturbation within given bounds. In this paper, we go beyond the results of [1] and [2] by developing criteria for robustness in the presence of a solution restraint set X , a compact-convex subset of Rmfrom which x(t) must be chosen. Our new results are shown to degenerate into those of [1] and [2] as X becomes "large."
RENAL DEPOSITION OF SOLUBLE IMMUNE COMPLEXES IN MICE BEARING B-16 MELANOMA : CHARACTERIZATION OF COMPLEXES AND RELATIONSHIP TO TUMOR PROGRESS

Histologic and immunofluorescence studies of the kidneys of mice bearing a progressive melanoma show a proliferative glomerulonephritis associated with immune complex deposition in the mesangium and along the glomerular basement membrane This immune complex disease is distinct from the age-associated disease of the C57BL/6J host strain and the complexes can be shown to consist of soluble tumor antigen and antitumor antibody. Furthermore, the intensity of IgG complex deposition correlates directly with tumor progress (size and metastases) and inversely with mononuclear leukocyte infiltration of the tumor. In vitro assays for lymphocyte cytotoxicity and humoral antibody were found to be less reliable indicators of tumor progress. The possible role of circulating soluble tumor antigen in modifying the immune response to tumors is discussed.
A syndrome resembling progressive systemic sclerosis after bone marrow transplantation

Six long term survivors of bone marrow transplants developed a syndrome similar to progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS). Cutaneous involvement (6/6), pulmonary disease (6/6), musculoskeletal involvement (4/6), keratoconjunctivitis/positive Schirmer's test (4/6), Raynaud's phenomenon (2/6), and renal and cardiac disease (1/6) were similar to findings in PSS patients. T and B lymphocyte counts and functions were also similar. This PSS-like syndrome, including visceral involvement, after bone marrow transplantation lends support to an immunologic hypothesis of the pathogenesis of progressive systemic sclerosis.
Repeatability study of an electrothermally actuated micromirror

With their large scan range and low drive voltages, electrothermally-actuated micromirrors have great potential in optical biomedical imaging applications, but the repeatability and reliability of such micromirrors are not well understood. This paper reports the conditions for achieving repeatability of the embedded resistive heater and the mirror tilt angle of an electrothermal bimorph micromirror. The upper limit of the actuation voltage that does not degrade the embedded heater performance has been established.
Model-oriented Configuration Management for Relational Database Applications

The ability to manage the evolution of a database application is crucial for a successful database development process. However, existing software configuration management (SCM) approaches for databases in database management systems (DBMSs) are still limited to providing version control functionality for the rollback to a previous state of the database itself. Modifications made to design diagrams such as entity-relationship diagrams (ERDs) or to specifications and documentation are not well managed over time by an DBMS. Key limitations of existing versioning approaches for databases include their inadequacy in efficiently representing, storing, and connecting fine-grained, structural changes to both design artifacts and data records. In this paper, we describe McmDB, an SCM-centered relational DBMS, that distinguishes itself from existing systems by its ability to manage design changes in an ERD and its schema constructs, and to maintain consistent configurations among those constructs and versions of data records. The logical connections among design specifications and elements of an ERD are versioned as well.
Inducible, but Not Constitutive, Resistance of Gonococci to Hydrophobic Agents Due to the MtrC-MtrD-MtrE Efflux Pump Requires TonB-ExbB-ExbD Proteins

The MtrC-MtrD-MtrE efflux pump possessed by Neisseria gonorrhoeae is very similar to the MexA-MexB-OprM efflux pump of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Because the antimicrobial resistance property afforded by the MexA-MexB-OprM efflux pump also requires the TonB protein, we asked whether a similar requirement exists for the gonococcal efflux pump. Unlike earlier studies with P. aeruginosa, we found that constitutive levels of gonococcal resistance to hydrophobic antimicrobial agents (i.e., Triton X-100 [TX-100]) did not require the TonB, ExbB, or ExbD protein. However, inducible levels of TX-100 resistance in gonococci had an absolute requirement for the TonB-ExbB-ExbD system, suggesting that such resistance in gonococci has an energy requirement above and beyond that required for constitutive pump activity.
Open Design Challenges for Interactive Emergent Narrative

We introduce a research framework for the design of interactive experiences in the domain of emergent narrative, an application area of computational narrative in which stories emerge bottom-up from the behavior of autonomous characters in a simulated storyworld. Prior work in this area has largely concerned the development and tuning of the simulations themselves from which interesting stories may reliably emerge, but this approach will not necessarily improve system performance at its most crucial level—the actual interactive experience. Looking to completed experiences, namely simulation games like Dwarf Fortress and The Sims, we identify a series of shortcomings that yield four design challenges at the level of interaction: modular content, compositional representational strategies, story recognition, and story support. In this paper, we motivate and discuss each of these design challenges and, for each, summarize prior work and propose new approaches that future work might take.
Potentiation of Striated Muscle Contraction by Piperidylmethylandrostane.

SummaryThe potentiating effect of piperidylmethylandrostane on twitch response of intact, striated, anterior tibial muscle was shown to occur following both direct stimulation of the muscle and indirect stimulation via its motor nerve. By use of the microelectrode technic evidence was obtained which indicates that the potentiating effect is accompanied by an increase in conduction time of indirectly induced cell depolarization, and an increased duration of transmembrane and surface potentials of single muscle cells.
Infrequency of Pineal Atrophy among Birds and Its Relation to Nocturnality

A recent resurgence of interest in the vertebrate pineal organ or epiphysis cerebri has provided new evidence of its systematic diversity, as well as of its probable functional significance in birds (Ralph 1970). Although embryologically derived from the roof of a part of the brain, the diencephalon, the pineal organ has a different and unique structure and composition. Microscopic and physiological studies have shown that, in general through the vertebrate series, as pineal photoreceptoral activity decreases, an apparent secretory capacity increases (Quay 1970b). Among birds only abortive or vestigial photoreceptors have been identified so far in electron microscopic studies of the pineal organ (Oksche and Vaupel-von Harnack 1966; Collin 1966a, b, 1967, 1968; Renzoni et al. 1968; Bischoff 1969; Oksche et al. 1969; Oksche and Kirschstein 1969; and others). Similarly, electrophysiological investigations have been unsuccessful in detecting a direct response to light by avian pineals (Morita 1966; Ralph and Dawson 1968). Nevertheless, rapid biochemical changes occur in avian pineal organs in close correlation with the daily timing of environmental illumination (Axelrod et al. 1964; Quay 1966, 1970a; Ralph et al. 1967; Hedlund and Ralph 1968; Lauber et al. 1968; Sayler and Wolfson 1969). These changes are thought to be most likely mediated by the nervous system and the innervation of the pineal following photoreception by the lateral eyes. The pineal biochemical changes have been postulated most commonly to be related to a pineal endocrine secretory activity which may have some physiological significance in relation to adaptation to photoperiod, either on a short-term or seasonal basis. How-
The Future for a New Directorate

scarcely visible and it is quite peripheral to their interests and needs. As a consequence, Foundation support for the biosciences has virtually no relevance for the vast bulk of social science. Given that lack of substantive relevance, it is totally unreasonable to expect a professional staff of bioscientists to be effective spokespersons for social science units whose several budgets combined are less than one-sixth of the total budget for their directorate. Whether or not there is an immediate change in the Foundation's support for the social sciences, there must be a significant reorganization of the Foundation's internal structure. I speak on behalf of scores of social scientists, political scientists in particular, who believe these changes are needed and are important. Political science in its many manifestations is vitally interested in the functioning of our political processes and our governmental structures. But support for research that increases our understanding of these things does not fare well in the private sector. There is little immediate commercial value in our research results to attract business or commercial enterprises, nor their leaders who dominate the boards of private foundations. By the very nature of our basic research, it does not promise the immediate amelioration of societal ills that often attracts private philanthropy. Political science and political scientists have had an impact on the organization of politics and government, and they have contributed much to various debates on public policy. But the output of the research of political science is entirely a public good; political science is almost totally dependent on public support for its basic research; and NSF is the prime source of such support. Over the past ten years the Foundation has been responsive and creative on our behalf. As examples, the sustained support for the National Election Studies and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research has made possible research of a quality and scope scarcely imagined twenty years ago. On behalf of the American Political Science Association and the Western Political Science Association, I commend plans to create a new Directorate for the Social and Behavioral Sciences to enable the Foundation to serve our future needs even better.
Digital family portraits: support for aging in place

As people age there is an overwhelming desire to remain in the familiar surroundings of the family home, what is called Aging in Place. But inevitable changes that occur in their lives force the aging adults and their families to consider a move to some form of institutional living. Living at a distance from one another, the adult child attempts to maintain peace of mind concerning the well-being of their aging parents but finds it to be a difficult task. I propose to address this problem by first proposing that technology can help minimize the anxieties experienced by the adult child concerning their aging parent's well being by appropriately presenting information on the aging parent's daily life. This technological design concept does not require that the aging parent input, or for that matter, do anything other than live their lives as they normally live them. Further, this technology provides this information in a manner that is continuously available to the adult child for either opportunistic or planned perusal. As a single instance of the technological design concept proposed above, the Digital Family Portrait embeds well-being related information into an item commonly found in homes, the picture in a picture frame. The Digital Family Portrait was first tested in a wizard-of-oz field trial, then redesigned based on the outcome of this initial field trial coupled with the results of two lab-based studies and a further informal evaluation. The redesigned Digital Family Portrait was built and installed in the home of an adult child while the sensors to drive it were installed in an aging parent's home. A field trial of this installation lasting for one year was conducted. The result of this field trial was to find that the Digital Family Portrait was an acceptable means of resolving certain peace of mind issues for the adult child while not raising privacy. It was found to be used in a socially acceptable manner by the adult child while the aging parent to reported feeling "less lonely."
Aircraft design using collaborative optimization

Collaborative optimization is a recently developed method for solving multidisciplinary design problems. It preserves a degree of disciplinary autonomy and allows parallel optimization. In this paper collaborative optimization is applied to two aircraft design problems to illustrate its implementation and performance characteristics. The first example, a relatively simple wing design problem, is solved using both collaborative and sequential optimization. The results are compared with those obtained using a direct, single-level optimization strategy. Collaborative optimization is shown to converge to the correct solution, while sequential disciplinary suboptimization converges to a nonoptimal result. The second example, an aircraft sizing problem, involves static aeroelastic feedback between disciplines and more complex analysis codes within the subproblems. The complete problem, in forty-five design variables and twenty-six constraints, was solved using both collaborative and single-level optimization. Both methods converge to the correct solution. The performance of the optimization strategy and the effect of increasing problem dimensionality is discussed.
Continuous spinal anesthesia for cancer and chronic pain.

Background and Objectives. The use of spinal opioids for intractable pain is limited by development of tolerance and opioid resistance of some types of pain. Methods. The literature regarding clinical experience with spinal mu opioid agonists for chronic and cancer pain was reviewed. Experimental use of intrathecal non-mu opioid agonists and non-opioid agonists and antagonists was also reviewed. Results. Intrathecal mu agonists, particularly morphine, are effective for most patients with cancer pain, though in some patients rapid tolerance or marked resistance develop. Varied results are seen among chronic pain patients. Delta opioid agonists and a variety of non-opioid agonist analgesics are effective in standard analgesic testing paradigms, and some agents are effective in clinical trials. NMDA and NK-1 receptor antagonists are effective in models that produce sensitization of spinal dorsal horn neurons. Conclusions. A number of new agents appear to have promise as intrathecal drugs for patients with intractable chronic and cancer pain.
A Fermi gas of atoms

WHEN the 2001 Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman from JILA in Boulder, Colorado, and to Wolfgang Ketterle from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they were recognized for creating and studying Bose–Einstein condensates – dilute gases of atoms that are all in the same quantum state. Their remarkable achievement enabled "quantum gases" to be studied experimentally for the first time, and jump-started new sub-fields of research, including gaseous superfluidity, atom lasers and matter–wave optics.
Impact of nurse navigation on timeliness of diagnostic medical services in patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer.

Background The Summa Cancer Institute in Akron, Ohio, sought to improve access to and the timeliness of lung cancer care by hiring an oncology-certified nurse navigator. The nurse navigator was charged with coordinating diagnostic procedures and specialty oncology consultations, and with facilitating a multidisciplinary thoracic oncology tumor board. Objective To test the hypothesis that nurse navigation would improve the timeliness of and access to diagnostic medical services among men and women with newly diagnosed lung cancer. Methods A conducted a retrospective review of 460 patients with lung cancer to evaluate access to care and the timeliness of the care received in the non-navigated and nurse-navigated cohorts. Results During December 2009-September 2013, the time between the suspicion of cancer on chest X-ray to treatment was 64 days. During October 2013-March 2014, the nurse navigator helped reduce that timespan to 45 days (𝑃 Limitations Long-term follow-up on clinical outcomes remains premature. Conclusion This finding attests to the successful implementation of nurse navigation to improve access and timeliness of lung cancer care in a community oncology practice.
Fast Method for Computing Chemical Potentials and Liquid–Liquid Phase Equilibria of Macromolecular Solutions

Chemical potential is a fundamental property for determining thermodynamic equilibria involving exchange of molecules, such as between two phases of molecular systems. Previously, we developed the fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based method for Modeling Atomistic Protein-crowder interactions (FMAP) to calculate excess chemical potentials according to the Widom insertion. Intermolecular interaction energies were expressed as correlation functions and evaluated via FFT. Here, we extend this method to calculate liquid–liquid phase equilibria of macromolecular solutions. Chemical potentials are calculated by FMAP over a wide range of molecular densities, and the condition for coexistence of low- and high-density phases is determined by the Maxwell equal-area rule. When benchmarked on Lennard-Jones fluids, our method produces an accurate phase diagram at 18% of the computational cost of the current best method. Importantly, the gain in computational speed increases dramatically as the molecules become more compl...
Japan and Latin America

Latin America and the Caribbean basin is a region of vital geoeconomic importance for Japan’s Third World strategy. Although a large percentage of every country in the region remains mired in poverty, the approximately 350 million inhabitants are on average more affluent than in other developing regions, thus presenting relatively larger mass national consumer markets. Also the Latin American countries have a higher level of industrialisation, thus presenting Japanese firms with more potential buyers of sophisticated capital goods. Latin American countries are generally more open to foreign investment, and most of them particularly welcome Japanese investments to offset the historic domination by American investments. The Amazon Basin and other South American countries provide rich treasure troves of natural resources which Japanese mining, logging and oil firms are busily trying to develop. Finally, Japanese corporations can tap into the skills and connections of the approximately one million descendants of Japanese in Latin America who had immigrated from Japan earlier in the twentieth century, some of whom still speak Japanese and can serve as business intermediaries. About one million live in Brazil, followed by 70 000 in Peru, 12 000 in Mexico, 11 000 in Bolivia, 8000 in Paraguay, 2300 in Chile and 1000 in Venezuela.
Ammonium hydrogen bis­[4-(2-phenyl-2H-tetra­zol-5-yl)benzoate]

The title salt, NH4+·H+·2C14H9N4O2−, is composed of an ammonium cation with a strong inter­molecular negatively charge-assisted hydrogen-bonded acid/conjugate base-pair monoanion. The carb­oxy­lic acid H atom is located on an inversion center, while the N atom of the ammonium cation is located on a twofold rotation axis. In the crystal, the N—H bonds of each ammonium cation act as donors with carboxyl­ate O-atom acceptors to form chains along the a-axis direction. The chains are linked by offset π–π inter­actions [inter­centroid distances = 3.588 (2) and 3.686 (2) A], forming layers parallel to the ab plane.
Restriction of Postoperative Joint Loading in a Murine Model of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Botulinum Toxin Paralysis and External Fixation.

Control of knee motion in small animal models is necessary to study the effect of mechanical load on the healing process. This can be especially challenging in mice, which are being increasingly used for various orthopedic reconstruction models. We explored the feasibility of botulinum toxin (Botox; Allergan, Dublin, Ireland) paralysis and a newly designed external fixator to restrict motion of the knee in mice undergoing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Nineteen C57BL/6 mice were allocated to two groups: (1) Botox group (n = 9) and (2) external fixator group (n = 10). Mice in Botox group received two different doses of Botox: 0.25 unit (n = 3) and 0.5 unit (n = 6). Injection was performed 72 hours prior to ACL reconstruction into the quadriceps, hamstring, and calf muscles of the right hind leg. Mice in external fixator group received an external fixator following ACL reconstruction. Mice were monitored for survival, tolerance, and achievement of complete knee immobilization. All mice were meant for sacrifice on day 14 postoperatively. No perceptible change in gait was observed with 0.25 unit of Botox. All mice that received 0.5 unit of Botox had complete hind limb paralysis documented by footprint analysis 2 days after injection but failed to tolerate anesthesia and were euthanized 24 hours after operation due to their critical condition. In contrast, the external fixator was well tolerated and effectively immobilized the limb. There was a single occurrence of intraoperative technical error in the external fixator group that led to euthanasia. No mechanical failure or complication was observed. Botox paralysis was not a viable option for postoperative restriction of motion and joint loading in mice. However, external fixation was an effective method for complete knee immobilization and can be used in murine models requiring postoperative control of knee loading. This study introduces a robust research tool to allow control of postoperative joint loading in animal models such as ACL reconstruction, permitting study of the effects of mechanical load on the biologic aspects of tendon-to-bone healing.
qfasar: quantitative fatty acid signature analysis with R

Summary Knowledge of predator diets provides essential insights into their ecology, yet diet estimation is challenging and remains an active area of research. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) is a popular method of estimating diet composition that continues to be investigated and extended. However, software to implement QFASA has only recently become publicly available. I summarize a new R package, qfasar, for diet estimation using QFASA methods. The package also provides functionality to evaluate and potentially improve the performance of a library of prey signature data, compute goodness-of-fit diagnostics, and support simulation-based research. Several procedures in the package have not previously been published. qfasar makes traditional and recently published QFASA diet estimation methods accessible to ecologists for the first time. Use of the package is illustrated with signature data from Chukchi Sea polar bears and potential prey species.
Experimental and statistical methods to evaluate antibacterial activity of a quaternary pyridinium salt on planktonic, biofilm-forming, and biofilm states

AbstractRobust evaluation and comparison of antimicrobial technologies are critical to improving biofilm prevention and treatment. Herein, a multi-pronged experimental framework and statistical models were applied to determine the effects of quaternary pyridinium salt, 4-acetyl-1-hexadecylpyridin-1-ium iodide (QPS-1), on Streptococcus mutans in the planktonic, biofilm-forming and biofilm cell states. Minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations (MIC and MBC, respectively) were determined via common methods with novel application of statistical approaches combining random effects models and interval censored data to estimate uncertainties. The MICs and MBCs for planktonic and biofilm-forming states ranged from 3.12 to 12.5 μg ml−1, with biofilm values only ≈ 8 times higher. Potent anti-biofilm activity and reactive structural features make QPS-1 a promising antibacterial additive for dental and potentially other biomedical devices. Together, the experimental framework and statistical models provide e...
The long-term effects of Medicaid managed care on obstetrics care in three California counties

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the long-term effects of Medicaid managed care (MMC) on obstetric service use and program costs in California. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Longitudinal administrative data on Medi-Cal enrollment and claims and encounters related to pregnancy and delivery services were gathered from three counties--two long-standing MMC counties and one traditional fee-for-service Medicaid county--in California between 1987 and 1992. STUDY DESIGN: We studied Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) beneficiaries with live singleton vaginal deliveries with associated hospital stays of 14 days or less. Effects of managed care were examined with respect to prenatal visits, length of stay for delivery, maternal postpartum readmission rates, and total program expenditures. Multivariate analyses examined how the relative effect of managed care on service use and program expenditures in each MMC county evolves over time in comparison to fee-for-service. We controlled for length of Medi-Cal enrollment prior to delivery, data censoring, and individual characteristics such as race and age. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Prenatal care use is consistently lower in the MMC counties, although all three counties' prenatal care provision is well below the national standard. Drastic increases in one-day-stay deliveries were found: up to almost 50 percent of deliveries in MMC counties were one-day stays. Program cost savings associated with MMC enrollment are unambiguous. CONCLUSIONS: MMC cost savings might have come at the expense of reduced provision of prenatal care and shorter delivery length of stay. Future studies should verify any possible causal link and the effects on maternal and infant health outcomes.
National Service and the All-Volunteer Force: A Response to Hauser’s “Why America Should Restore the Draft”

In “Midlife Crisis? The All-Volunteer Force at Forty,” we illustrated the regional and partisan imbalance in today’s all-volunteer force (AVF), and we argued that restoring the draft is neither an effective nor a practicable policy solution to this problem. In response, Colonel Hauser has argued for restoring the draft, substantially increasing the number of U.S. ground forces and reinvigorating Congressional foreign policy-making. In this article, we question the practicability of Colonel Hauser’s proposals, and we argue that a restored draft would not improve national character, facilitate sounder foreign policy decisions, or reduce costs relative to an AVF.
Common Themes and Future Directions for Self-Concept Clarity Research

In this chapter, we reflect on the chapters contained in this volume. We document several themes that emerged across multiple chapters. Themes apparent in the current self-concept clarity literature include the centrality of the person in context in understanding the origins and effects of self-concept clarity and the potential benefits of higher levels of self-concept clarity. Common themes in the future directions proposed by individual chapter authors are also reviewed, such as the need to further develop theory and understanding as well as testing the extent to which the self-concept clarity construct and findings generalize beyond individualistic or unitary conceptions of the self.
Analysis of immunobiologic markers in primary and recurrent glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) generates a varied immune response and understanding the immune microenvironment may lead to novel immunotherapy treatments modalities. The goal of this study was to evaluate the expression of immunologic markers of potential clinical significance in primary versus recurrent GBM and assess the relationship between these markers and molecular characteristics of GBM. Human GBM samples were evaluated and analyzed with immunohistochemistry for multiple immunobiologic markers (CD3, CD8, FoxP3, CD68, CD163, PD1, PDL1, CTLA4, CD70). Immunoreactivity was analyzed using Aperio software. Degree of strong positive immunoreactivity within the tumor was compared to patient and tumor characteristics including age, gender, MGMT promoter methylation status, and ATRX, p53, and IDH1 mutation status. Additionally, the TCGA database was used to perform similar analysis of these factors in GBM using RNA-seq by expectation-maximization. Using odds ratios, IDH1 mutated GBM had statistically significant decreased expression of CD163 and CD70 and a trend for decreased PD1, CTLA4, and Foxp3. ATRX-mutated GBMs exhibited statistically significant increased CD3 immunoreactivity, while those with p53 mutations were found to have significantly increased CTLA4 immunoreactivity. The odds of having strong CD8 and CD68 reactivity was significantly less in MGMT methylated tumors. No significant difference was identified in any immune marker between the primary and recurrent GBM, nor was a significant change in immunoreactivity identified among age intervals. TCGA analysis corroborated findings related to the differential immune profile of IDH1 mutant, p53 mutant, and MGMT unmethylated tumors. Immunobiologic markers have greater association with the molecular characteristics of the tumor than with primary/recurrent status or age.
Religiosity as a Protective Factor of Psychological Well-being among Older Black, White and Asian Christians in the United States

Research suggests that older adults in stressful situations are more likely to use spiritual coping resources than other age groups in order to cultivate meaning in their lives in general as well as in difficult life situations. Based on the stress and coping framework, this study examines the role of religiosity in terms of spiritual connectedness as well as church attendance in predicting depressive symptoms among U.S. older Asian, Black, and White Christians in the context of functional limitations. Our findings suggest that older American Christians are not a homogenous group. Specifically, older Asians, when compared with Whites, reported more frequent church attendance but lower levels of spiritual connectedness, and higher levels of functional limitations and depressive symptoms. In the additive model, spiritual connectedness did not independently explain the variance in depressive symptoms for any racial group. In the interaction model, church attendance was found to be a robust factor in accounting for lower levels of depressive symptoms only for Asians, and spiritual connectedness moderated the negative impact of functional limitations on depressive symptoms only for the Black Christian sample. This finding provides support to the argument that although Blacks struggle with health difficulties, they are more likely than Whites to seek solace from religion through a personal sense of spiritual connectedness with a supernatural, omnipotent God. Among the older Asian Christians, this and other literature suggest a rather stable trend of improved depressive symptoms with higher levels of religious involvement among this population.
Theory and Practice I, 1870–1883

This chapter focuses on the early years in which Morley assumed responsibility for parenting his wife’s two children from a previous relationship as well as his nephew, whom he adopted. It documents how Morley attempted to put theory, which he formulated in his writings of the previous decade, into practice. Unearthing new details about the family’s second residence, the chapter also shows, by reconstructing the spaces of his home, how Morley’s liberal ideas were lived and elaborated within a physical environment.
Evapotranspiration is resilient in the face of land cover and climate change in a humid temperate catchment

In temperate humid catchments, evapotranspiration returns more than half of the annual precipitation to the atmosphere, thereby determining the balance available to recharge groundwaters and support stream flow and lake levels. Changes in evapotranspiration rates and, therefore, catchment hydrology could be driven by changes in land use or climate. Here, we examine the catchment water balance over the past 50 years for a catchment in southwest Michigan covered by cropland, grassland, forest, and wetlands. Over the study period, about 27% of the catchment has been abandoned from row‐crop agriculture to perennial vegetation and about 20% of the catchment has reverted to deciduous forest, and the climate has warmed by 1.14 °C. Despite these changes in land use, the precipitation and stream discharge, and by inference catchment‐scale evapotranspiration, have been stable over the study period. The remarkably stable rates of evapotranspirative water loss from the catchment across a period of significant land cover change suggest that rainfed annual crops and perennial vegetation do not differ greatly in evapotranspiration rates, and this is supported by measurements of evapotranspiration from various vegetation types based on soil water monitoring in the same catchment. Compensating changes in the other meteorological drivers of evaporative water demand besides air temperature—wind speed, atmospheric humidity, and net radiation—are also possible but cannot be evaluated due to insufficient local data across the 50‐year period. Regardless of the explanation, this study shows that the water balance of this landscape has been resilient in the face of both land cover and climate change over the past 50 years.
Visual Literacy and the Digital Native: An Examination of the Millennial Learner

AbstractThe so-called millennial learners who currently populate college classrooms are purportedly digital natives whose repeated exposure to a host of new technologies has allegedly resulted in enhanced skills in several areas, including those related to technology and visual communication. By extension, the argument has been made that digital natives have a significant degree of visual literacy. This article reports the results of an empirical study that examines these claims by assessing post-secondary students’ use of visually-oriented technologies and their interpretation of visual material. The survey data suggest that participants are not particularly adept at producing and interpreting visual communication.
The Effects of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation Stretching on Post-Exercise Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness in Young Adults

Until recently, the scientific community believed that post-exercise stretching could reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), but recent reviews of studies on the topic have concluded that pre- or post-exercise static stretching has no effect on mitigating DOMS. However, the effect of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) post-exercise stretching on preventing DOMS has not been adequately studied. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of post-exercise PNF stretching on DOMS. Young adult participants (N=57) were randomly assigned to a PNF stretching group (n=19), a static stretching group (n=20), and to a no-stretching control group (n=18). All participants completed exercise designed to induce DOMS prior to post-exercise experimental stretching protocols. Participants rated their soreness level on a pain scale 24 and 48 hours post-exercise. A 3 × 2 mixed ANOVA showed there was an effect for time (p<.01). Post hoc testing revealed that DOMS pain significantly decreased (p<.05) from 24 to 48 hours post-exercise for the PNF and control groups, but not for the static stretching group. Other analyses revealed a significant correlation (r=.61, p<.01) between the pre- and post-exercise stretch scores and the 48 hour post-exercise pain score for the PNF group. Consistent with the results of previous research on post-exercise static stretching, these results indicate that post-exercise PNF stretching also does not prevent DOMS. However, the correlation analysis suggests it is possible the pre-stretch muscle contractions of the post-exercise PNF protocol may have placed a load on an already damaged muscle causing more DOMS for some participants.
Body—Soul—Consciousness Integration

Whether man’s consciousness arises from his bodily condition or is an active entity in itself vis-a-vis the world and the body are questions of crucial importance to which many, and sometimes contradictory answers have been given. Science itself has contributed to both the confusion and the attempted elucidation of the problem.
Correction: Photoelectrochemical study of carbon-modified p-type Cu2O nanoneedles and n-type TiO2−x nanorods for Z-scheme solar water splitting in a tandem cell configuration

Nanostructured photoelectrodes with a high surface area and tunable optical and electrical properties can potentially benefit a photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting system. The PEC performance of a nanostructured photoelectrode is usually quantified in a standard three-electrode configuration under potential-assisted conditions because of the additional overpotentials for the two half-reactions of water splitting. However, it is a necessity to fully recognize their potential to split water under unassisted conditions by designing a tandem cell that can provide sufficient voltage to split water. Herein, we present a tandem cell consisting of carbon-modified cuprous oxide (C/Cu2O) nanoneedles and oxygen-deficient titanium dioxide (TiO2−x) nanorods for unassisted solar water splitting. The synthesized photoelectrodes were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. The tandem cell performance was analyzed by measuring the current–voltage responses in various photoelectrode configurations to validate the collective contributions of both photoelectrodes to unassisted solar water splitting. The PEC properties of C/Cu2O nanoneedles coupled with TiO2−x nanorods in a tandem configuration exhibited a photocurrent density of 64.7 μA cm−2 in the absence of any redox mediator and external bias. This photocurrent density can be further enhanced with an application of external bias. Moreover, the heterojunction formed by the above-mentioned nanostructured photoelectrodes in intimate contact and in the absence of water exhibited 2 μA cm−2 UV photoresponsivity at 1.5 V with promising rectifying characteristics of a diode.
Intellectual Evaluation and Social Labeling: An Assessment Proposal for Institutionalized Delinquents.

Intellectual assessment of institutionalized delinquents is discussed as a social labeling process. A three-step hierarchical evaluation schema is proposed to maximize the accuracy and efficiency o...
Social media advertising: The role of personal and societal norms in page like ads on Facebook

Considering advertisers’ and marketers’ increasing interest in social media advertising, this study focuses on one of the most distinctive characteristics: consumers’ normative perceptions in respo...
Phase transitions in stable nanocrystalline alloys

Grain boundary segregation can reduce the driving force for grain growth in nanocrystalline materials and help retain fine grain sizes. However, grain boundary segregation is enthalpically driven, and so a stabilized nanocrystalline state should undergo a disordering process as temperature is increased. Here we develop a Monte Carlo-based simulation that determines the minimum free energy state of an alloy with a strong tendency for grain boundary segregation that considers both different grain sizes and a large solute configuration space. We find that a stable nanocrystalline alloy undergoes a disordering process where grain boundary segregated atoms dissolve into the adjacent grains and increase the grain size as a function of temperature. At a critical temperature, the single crystal state becomes the most preferred. Using this method, we are able to determine how the grain size changes as a function of temperature and produce equilibrium phase diagrams for nanocrystalline alloys.
The Cryo-EM Structure of a Pannexin 1 Channel Reveals an Extracellular Gating Mechanism

Pannexins are large-pore forming channels responsible for ATP release under a variety of physiological and pathological conditions. Although predicted to share similar membrane topology with other large-pore forming proteins such as connexins, innexins, and LRRC8, pannexins have minimal sequence similarity to these protein families. Here, we present the cryo-EM structure of a pannexin 1 (Panx1) channel at 3.0 A. We find that Panx1 protomers harbor four transmembrane helices similar in arrangement to other large-pore forming proteins but assemble as a heptameric channel with a unique gate formed by Trp74 in the extracellular loop. Mutating Trp74 or the nearby Arg75 disrupt ion selectivity whereas altering residues in the hydrophobic groove formed by the two extracellular loops abrogates channel inhibition by carbenoxolone. Our structural and functional study establishes the extracellular loops as the unique structural determinants for channel gating and inhibition in Panx1 thereby providing the founding model to study pannexins.
The Pathway Less Traveled: Engineering Biosynthesis of Nonstandard Functional Groups

The field of metabolic engineering has achieved biochemical routes for conversion of renewable inputs to structurally diverse chemicals, but these products contain a limited number of chemical functional groups. In this review, we provide an overview of the progression of uncommon or ‘nonstandard’ functional groups from the elucidation of their biosynthetic machinery to the pathway optimization framework of metabolic engineering. We highlight exemplary efforts from primarily the last 5 years for biosynthesis of aldehyde, ester, terminal alkyne, terminal alkene, fluoro, epoxide, nitro, nitroso, nitrile, and hydrazine functional groups. These representative nonstandard functional groups vary in development stage and showcase the pipeline of chemical diversity that could soon appear within customized, biologically produced molecules.
In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy: A Powerful Tool for the Characterization of Carrier-Selective Contacts

The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of an in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique used to study the thermal stability of various transition metal oxide-based contacts used as carrier-selective contacts in silicon solar cells. In the present work, MoO x /Al and WO x /Al were investigated as hole-selective rear contacts using a combination of in situ TEM and transmission line measurements (TLM).