cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Research of BIT Methods for Airborne Primary Flight Control Computer

In allusion to large civil aircraft primary flight control computer system complexity,a wide range of computer failure,detecting difficulty and many other issues.The various components of Primary Flight Control Computer functions and failure modes are analyzed.The test content of primary flight control system BIT at different stages during the mission are researched.The mainflight control computer's core components are given a specific test method and related circuits to achieve self-test.Studies have shown that these self-test methods can efficiently and accurately detect the core component of the primary flight control computers when the flight control system occurred failure during operation,thereby increasing the reliability of the main flight control computer.
Pernicious anemia and related anemias treated with vitamin B12.

Eleven cases treated with vitamin B 12 have been presented. Eight patients with pernicious anemia in relapse responded hematologically. Two patients with mild neurologic involvement were relieved by therapy with B 12 alone. Consideration of the quantities of the crystalline vitamin required to promote maximal erythropoiesis in pernicious anemia indicates that less than about 0.75 µg. daily in doses at intervals of several days will not suffice to establish and maintain blood values as high as does adequate treatment with liver extract. Parenteral daily doses of 1.0 µg. promoted good erythropoiesis in one patient, although it appears that the maximum rate of hemopoiesis may require the initial average daily dose of approximately 3.0 µg. The reticulocyte count is an unreliable quantitative criterion of activity or adequacy of therapy. It is suggested that hemopoietic factors in addition to PGA and B 12 may be required by some patients to obtain maximal erythrocyte levels. Vitamin B 12 , as well as PGA, effects a reduction in the fecal urobilinogen output of patients with pernicious anemia. The significance of this finding is discussed. No change in urinary excretion of pteroylglutamate or of porphyrin was detected in patients treated with vitamin B 12 .
Leukemoid Reaction in a Patient with Bladder and Prostatic Cancer

AbstractLeukemoid reactions often are seen in patients with underlying malignancies but they have been reported infrequently in patients with urological malignancies. We report reactive leukocytosis and thrombocytosis in a patient with bladder and prostatic carcinoma. Both hematological abnormalities resolved with definitive surgical therapy. We also review other reported cases of leukemoid reactions in patients with urological malignancies.
Lung biopsy with local anesthesia: Report on 100 cases with the use of a recently introduced technique

A new technique for taking lung, pleural, and pericardial samples, under local anesthesia if required, is described. In the series presented in this article there have been no deaths, and complications which have been discussed are minimal. The experience gained in the use of this technique confirms that it is safe and provides a very high percentage of success in obtaining the required samples.
Dietary Intake Among US Adults, 1999-2012

Importance Most studies of US dietary trends have evaluated major macronutrients or only a few dietary factors. Understanding trends in summary measures of diet quality for multiple individual foods and nutrients, and the corresponding disparities among population subgroups, is crucial to identify challenges and opportunities to improve dietary intake for all US adults. Objective To characterize trends in overall diet quality and multiple dietary components related to major diseases among US adults, including by age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, and income. Design, Setting, and Participants Repeated cross-sectional investigation using 24-hour dietary recalls in nationally representative samples including 33 932 noninstitutionalized US adults aged 20 years or older from 7 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cycles (1999-2012). The sample size per cycle ranged from 4237 to 5762. Exposures Calendar year and population sociodemographic subgroups. Main Outcomes and Measures Survey-weighted, energy-adjusted mean consumption and proportion meeting targets of the American Heart Association (AHA) 2020 continuous diet scores, AHA score components (primary: total fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish and shellfish, sugar-sweetened beverages, and sodium; secondary: nuts, seeds, and legumes, processed meat, and saturated fat), and other individual food groups and nutrients. Results Several overall dietary improvements were identified ( P Conclusions and Relevance In nationally representative US surveys conducted between 1999 and 2012, several improvements in self-reported dietary habits were identified, with additional findings suggesting persistent or worsening disparities based on race/ethnicity, education level, and income level. These findings may inform discussions on emerging successes, areas for greater attention, and corresponding opportunities to improve the diets of individuals living in the United States.
Oxygenated CdS Buffer Layers Enabling High Open-Circuit Voltages in Earth-Abundant Cu2BaSnS4 Thin-Film Solar Cells

Earth-abundant Cu2BaSnS4 (CBTS) thin films exhibit a wide bandgap of 2.04–2.07 eV, a high absorption coefficient > 104 cm−1, and a p-type conductivity, suitable as a top-cell absorber in tandem solar cell devices. In this work, sputtered oxygenated CdS (CdS:O) buffer layers are demonstrated to create a good p–n diode with CBTS and enable high open-circuit voltages of 0.9–1.1 V by minimizing interface recombination. The best power conversion efficiency of 2.03% is reached under AM 1.5G illumination based on the configuration of fluorine-doped SnO2 (back contact)/CBTS/CdS:O/CdS/ZnO/aluminum-doped ZnO (front contact).
Multiple surface wetting events in the greater Meridiani Planum region, Mars: Evidence from valley networks within ancient cratered highlands

Morphological characterization of valley networks in three exposures of ancient cratered highlands (Nhc1) in the greater Meridiani Planum region yields insight into the Martian aqueous history. From our mapping, key regional differences are apparent in fine-scale valley network attributes including morphologic type, planimetric form, density, and links to candidate paleolakes. This information, combined with crater retention age (inferred exposure age), provides new details on the relative timing and nature of aqueous processes in the region. Newly identified pitted-type valley networks have morphological similarity to terrestrial pitted landforms in an evaporite setting. We interpret the pitted valley networks to reflect late-stage groundwater processes concentrated along the former fluvial conduits. Evidence from this study indicates that localized reactivation of valley networks occurred during or after exhumation of eastern Nhc1 unit.
An Adaptive Learning Model for Competing Firms in an Industry

In an industry of competing firms the market price function is not completely known, however based on repeated price information the firms are able to continuously adjust their beliefs. Under simplifying conditions, it is shown that these beliefs converge to the true price function as time goes to infinity, that is, successful learning can be achieved. The same result holds if there is continuously distributed delay in the price information, if the weighting function is exponential, however in the case of fixed delays stability may be lost if the delay is sufficiently large.
Research Challenges in Toughness Development of Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites

This paper presents a discussion of the research challenges in fiber reinforced cementitious composites within the context of the Performance-Processing-Property-Structure framework. Specific examples on the inter-relationships between two types of quasi-brittleness and the material structure are described, and their links to pseudo-ductility and processing conditions are briefly mentioned. The need to bring the disciplines of micromechanics and materials processing closer together underlines a fundamental challenge to the research community in advancing the engineering design of high performance fiber reinforced cementitious composites.
Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: Pediatric Team-Based Learning Module.

Introduction Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is an autoimmune disease that impacts roughly 200,000 youths in the United States. Many patients have limited access to specialist care. Therefore, gene...
Strategies for reducing particle defects in ALD TiN and RFPVD Ti processes CFM: Contamination free manufacturing

Generation of particle defects in semiconductor manufacturing is inevitable, but it has to be minimized for high IC yield. There are various causes for the generation of particle defects, depending upon semiconductor manufacturing processes. This work discusses various strategies, such as clean on go, idle paste, kit hardware selection that help to reduce the generation of defects in metal thin films processes, such as ALD TiN and RFPVD Ti. Using optimized periodic paste, ALD TiN particle failure rate was reduced from 20% to less than 5%. The median defect count was also reduced by half. It was also found that by implementing idle pasting, defect failure rate of RFPVD Ti processes can be reduced significantly. This work will also discuss hardware induced particle defect and solutions to reduce them.
Design and implementation of a low-cost intelligent device to standby mode consumption reduction in already existing electrical equipment

Since the last years of the 20th century, researchers and institutions related to electrical engineering have been trying to reduce the standby mode consumption. Even if a great number of studies have been carried out, a large part of them deals with complex structures which are out of the reach of most electronic device users or suggests improvements in the electronic circuits of the devices which will be further released. There are few solutions aiming at the mitigation of the standby mode consumption from old electronic devices or from those which are already in the market. Therefore, this paper proposes a simple and cheap solution to reduce the standby mode problem in already existing electrical equipment, preserving users’ comfort and convenience. The proposed solution differs from standby killer devices for acting over many audio and video devices at the same time and for having as reactivation element the level of electrical current consumed by a television. In order to evaluate the proposed solution, two analyses were performed: an economic benefit evaluation, and its influence on entire electrical system, considering a large adoption of the proposed device.
Invited paper: Resource sharing in feed forward neural networks for energy efficiency

Exploiting resource reusability and low precision in neural networks is a promising approach to achieve energy efficient computational platforms. This research presents two generalizable approaches to reuse resources in feed-forward neural networks and demonstrated on extreme learning machines. In the first approach, coalescing, a single stack of neuronal units perform both feature extraction and classification tasks through shared resources. In the second approach, folding, the neurons in a high-dimension feedforward layer are folded to execute multiple-tasks. The folding technique can also be combined with low precision modules. The proposed design techniques are validated for a classification task on binary (Australian credit and Diabetes corpus) and multi-class (MNIST) dataset. The total power consumption is measured to be 3.65 mW on TSMC 65nm technology node, while yielding an accuracy of 91.7% for MNIST.
Stroke in Adults With Coarctation of the Aorta: A National Population‐Based Study

Background Adults with repaired coarctation of the aorta (CoA) have reduced long‐term survival compared with the general population. This study aimed to determine whether CoA is independently associated with premature ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in the contemporary era. Methods and Results This was a cross‐sectional study utilizing the National Inpatient Sample database from 2005 to 2014. We hypothesized that patients with CoA are hospitalized with ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke at a younger age compared with the general population. To test this hypothesis, we compared the age at stroke in patients with and without a diagnosis of CoA using simple and multivariable weighted linear regression. Among 4 894 582 stroke discharges, 207 had a diagnosis of CoA. Patients with CoA had strokes at significantly younger age compared with patients without CoA: 18.9 years younger for all‐cause stroke ( P P P P =0.50). However, CoA patients had a higher proportion of subarachnoid hemorrhage (11.8% versus 4.8%, P =0.039) than those without CoA. Among patients who had a hemorrhagic stroke, the prevalence of unruptured intracranial aneurysms was higher in patients with CoA compared with those without CoA (23.3% versus 2.5%, P =0.002). Conclusions Patients with CoA have both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes at significantly younger ages compared with the general population.
Addressing Barriers to Recruitment and Retention in the Implementation of Parenting Programs: Lessons Learned for Effective Program Delivery in Rural and Urban Areas

Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of family-based programs for reducing adolescent risk behaviors and promoting adolescent health; however, parent engagement, specifically in terms of recruitment and retention, remains a consistent challenge. Recruitment rates for family-based prevention programs range from 3 to 35%, while, on average, 28% of caregivers drop out before program completion. Thus, engagement of parents in prevention programming is of utmost concern to ensure families and youth benefit from implementation of family-based programs. In this manuscript, two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded projects share their experiences with engagement of parents in violence prevention programs. Problems related to parent engagement are reviewed, as are structural, attitudinal, and interpersonal barriers specific to recruitment and retention. Examples of successful implementation strategies identified across urban and rural sites are also analyzed and lessons learned are provided.
Structural Studies of Protein-Protein Interactions Using Proteolytic Footprinting and MALDI/MS

With the advent of modern ionization techniques such as electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI), mass spectrometry has become increasingly used in the study of molecular complexes of biomolecules. Applications have included observation of non-covalent complexes by ESI [1], information about protein folding from components of complexes that, by themselves, were beyond the mass range of the MS [2], the use of affinity techniques with MS [3], and the use of MS with proteolytic footprinting to define the region of contact between molecules in a non-covalent complex [4]. Mass spectrometry is especially well suited for use with proteolytic footprinting [5] because, with a suitable choice of reagents and enzymes, the area of contact between members of the complex can be narrowly defined.
Hydrogen solubilities and permeabilities in fcc Pd–Al and (Pd0.77Ag0.23)1−xAlx alloys (393–523 K)

Abstract Hydrogen isotherms have been measured for the Pd 0.98 Al 0.02 , Pd 0.96 Al 0.04 , and Pd 0.0.94 Al 0.06 alloys in the temperature range from 393 to 523 K. From these equilibrium data, the standard partial thermodynamic parameters at infinite dilution of H, ΔH H ∘ and ΔS H ∘ , have been determined; the former becomes slightly more positive and the latter more negative, with increase of atom fraction Al, X Al . H diffusion parameters have been determined from the permeability of H through Pd –Al alloy membranes (393–523 K). D H * decreases and E D * increases with increase of X Al while the pre-exponential factors, D H ∘ , * , do not change significantly where the asterisk refers to conditions of infinite dilution of H. The dependence of D H and E D on H content have been determined for several of the Pd –Al alloys and the former decreases and the latter increases with H content. Similar data have been determined for the ternary alloys, ( Pd 0.77 Ag 0.23 ) 0.98 Al 0.02 and ( Pd 0.77 Ag 0.23 ) 0.96 Al 0.04 alloys.
Diagnostic Advances in Urine Cytology

The utility of urine cytology has shifted from the identification of red blood cells, crystals, or parasites to its currently used role of detection of cancer cells exfoliated in urine samples. A variety of ancillary tests have been developed to complement the diagnostic ability of urine cytology. Furthermore, urine testing will continue to evolve as the pathogenesis of genitourinary tract diseases in depth is understood. This article focuses on the diagnostic advances in urine cytology from the cytomorphological perspective, past and current reporting schemes, and the application of ancillary testing in urine samples.
Sex may influence environmental diphenhydramine accumulation in Round Stingrays.

Abstract Despite the amount of treated wastewater discharged into the Southern California Bight, few studies have examined pharmaceutical compounds in local biota. The Round Stingray (Urobatis halleri) was selected as a representative elasmobranch species to perform an exploratory study on environmental pharmaceutical exposure. Archived liver samples of males and females from juvenile to adult size classes from several locations (n = 53) were examined for 18 pharmaceutical and illicit drug compounds using isotope-dilution LC-MS/MS. Very few compounds were detected in stingray livers, with diphenhydramine as the only pharmaceutical above quantitation limits. Only stingrays collected from the urban site (mainland California) had detectable levels of diphenhydramine compared to no detections in reference stingrays (offshore island). Sex and sampling location substantially influenced both detection rate and concentrations. Our results suggest that aspects of species' ecology and physiology should be considered for future studies investigating pharmaceutical exposure in elasmobranchs.
Burnout in Surgery Viewed Through the Lens of Psychological Safety.

Midway through a complex abdominal operation, a surgical attending, known for explosive tirades and the occasional flying forceps, noticed the bare handle of the overhead light was stained with blood. As each team member changed their gloves, he demanded to know where the sterile cover was and who h
Capturing and Explaining Sensory Differences Among Organically Grown Vegetable-Soybean Varieties Grown in Northern California

Vegetable soybean (VS), known as edamame, is appreciated for its robust flavor and exceptional nutrient content. Although the United States is one of the world's leading producers of soy, only a fraction is harvested as edamame. Research involving varietal differences is very limited, particularly among U.S. consumers. Sensory attributes of three VS varieties grown in Northern California (with organic methods) were assessed: Giant Midori (GM), ButterBean (BB), and Kuroshinja (KU). Participants (n = 74) rated four characteristics: flavor, texture, appearance, and overall liking on unlabeled, 11-point hedonic scales and were asked if they would purchase the variety. A small portion of these participants would again evaluate the varieties, using free choice profiling (FCP) methodology. After these evaluations, texture analyzer, colorimeter, and high-performance liquid chromatography (free amino acids, sugars, and isoflavones) testing were performed. Among tested varieties, distinct differences in quality were found, with GM preferred first, followed by KU, and BB. GM was significantly harder, a more intense green, had more free sugars and isoflavones and fewer free amino acids, whereas KU and BB trended to be the opposite. Analyzing FCP data with a General Procrustes Analysis, varieties were separated in different factors for flavor and texture, but not appearance. Although repeated, and larger trials are needed, our study signifies that consumers are able to detect differences among VS varieties. Further research may influence producers to grow the variety likely to be most profitable and marketable.
Measuring the quality of inpatient specialist consultation in the intensive care unit: Nursing and family experiences of communication.

RATIONALE Critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) often require the care of specialist physicians for clinical or procedural expertise. The current state of communication between specialist physicians and families and nurses has not been explored. OBJECTIVES To document the receipt of communication by nurses and family members regarding consultations performed on their patient or loved one, and to quantify how this impacts their overall perceptions of the quality of specialty care. METHODS Prospective survey of 60 adult family members and 90 nurses of 189 ICU patients who received a specialist consultation between March and October of 2015 in a single academic medical center in the United States. Surveys measured the prevalence of direct communication-defined as communication conducted in person, via telephone, or via text-page in which the specialist team gathered information about the patient from the nurse/family member and/or shared recommendations for care-and perceived quality of care. RESULTS In about two-thirds of family surveys (40/60) and one-half of nurse surveys (75/160), respondents had no direct communication with the specialist team that performed the consultation. Compared to nurses who had no direct communication with the specialists, those who did were 1.5 times more likely to rate the consultation as "excellent" (RR 1.48, 95% CI 1.2-1.8, p<0.001). Nearly 40% (22/60) of families knew so little about the consultation that they felt incapable of evaluating it. CONCLUSIONS Most ICU families and nurses have no interaction with specialist providers. Nurses' frequent exclusion from conversations about specialty care may pose safety risks and increase the likelihood of mixed messages for patients and families, most of whom desire some interaction with specialists. Future research is needed to identify effective mechanisms for information sharing that keep nurses and families aware of consultation requests, delivery, and outcomes without increasing the risk of mixed messages.
Understanding Cyberbullying on Instagram and Ask.fm via Social Role Detection

Cyberbullying is a major issue on online social platforms, and can have prolonged negative psychological impact on both the bullies and their targets. Users can be characterized by their involvement in cyberbullying according to different social roles including victim, bully, and victim supporter. In this work, we propose a social role detection framework to understand cyberbullying on online social platforms, and select a dataset that contains users’ records on both Instagram and Ask.fm as a case study. We refine the traditional victim-bully framework by constructing a victim-bully-supporter network on Instagram. These social roles are automatically identified via ego comment networks and linguistic cues of comments. Additionally, we analyze the consistency of users’ social role within Instagram and compare users’ behaviors on Ask.fm. Our analysis reveals the inconsistency of social roles both within and across platforms, which suggests social roles in cyberbullying are not invariant by conversation, person, or social platform.
Switching Delay Analysis for Two Neuronal Toggle Switch Designs: Direct and Staged Mutual Inhibition

Direct Mutual Inhibition is known to be the primary mechanism behind bi-stabile behavior in biological neuronal networks to implement a neuronal toggle switch, similar to flip-flops in electronics. With a view to enabling the implementation of this pervasive behavior in neuromorphic computing, we have previously used computational models to conclude that direct mutual inhibition suffers from a common mode failure, and have proposed an alternative design, staged mutual inhibition, that ensures correct switching. In this work, we provide further analysis for these two designs with respect to switching delay as a performance metric, similar to hold-time considerations in electronics. Our timing analysis shows that staged mutual inhibition incurs slightly larger delay compared with direct mutual inhibition, which is attributed to its more sophisticated design. We perform simulations to validate our quantitative delay analysis.
Comparing Buprenorphine-Prescribing Physicians Across Nonmetropolitan and Metropolitan Areas in the United States

PURPOSE Although there is a tremendous need to increase the use of buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder in rural areas, little is known about current rural/urban differences in treatment practices. We aimed to examine physician characteristics, treatment practices, and concordance with treatment guidelines among buprenorphine prescribers across different locations of practice. METHODS A national random sample of buprenorphine physician prescribers was surveyed (n = 1,174, response rate = 33%) from July 2014 to January 2017. Analyses examined buprenorphine treatment across locations of practice (categorized as nonmetropolitan, small metropolitan, and large metropolitan). RESULTS Among buprenorphine prescribers surveyed, 11.2% (n = 132) practiced in nonmetropolitan/rural areas, 32.5% (n = 382) in small metropolitan areas, and 56.2% (n = 660) in large metropolitan areas. Buprenorphine prescribers in nonmetropolitan areas were much more likely to be primary care physicians, accept Medicaid, and less likely to work in an individual practice. Overall, buprenorphine prescribers across the rural/urban continuum were similar in many of their treatment practices, including induction, frequency of visits, dosing, and use of psychosocial treatment, which were generally consistent with buprenorphine treatment recommendations. CONCLUSIONS There are important differences in characteristics of buprenorphine prescribers in nonmetropolitan areas compared with more urban areas, including the fact that the majority of nonmetropolitan physicians are primary care physicians. Although treatment access in rural areas is an ongoing challenge, buprenorphine treatment practices are similar. Understanding buprenorphine prescribers and their treatment practices may help inform tailored strategies to address treatment needs in different locations.
Using Phonetic Posteriorgram Based Frame Pairing for Segmental Accent Conversion

Accent conversion AC aims to transform non-native utterances to sound as if the speaker had a native accent. This can be achieved by mapping source speech spectra from a native speaker into the acoustic space of the target non-native speaker. In prior work, we proposed an AC approach that matches frames between the two speakers based on their acoustic similarity after compensating for differences in vocal tract length. In this paper, we propose a new approach that matches frames between the two speakers based on their phonetic rather than acoustic similarity. Namely, we map frames from the two speakers into a phonetic posteriorgram using speaker-independent acoustic models trained on native speech. We thoroughly evaluate the approach on a speech corpus containing multiple native and non-native speakers. The proposed algorithm outperforms the prior approach, improving ratings of acoustic quality 22% increase in mean opinion score and native accent 69% preference while retaining the voice quality of the non-native speaker. Furthermore, we show that the approach can be used in the reverse conversion direction, i.e., generating speech with a native speaker's voice quality and a non-native accent. Finally, we show that this approach can be applied to non-parallel training data, achieving the same accent conversion performance.
Lattice Walks in Higher Dimensions

We now explore the possibility of counting paths in higher-dimensional analogs of corridors, using more general types of transition operators. Then Theorem 2.1 and Formula 2.29 become special cases of a more general construction.
Quantifying Neurodegenerative Progression With DeepSymNet, an End-to-End Data-Driven Approach

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide and is one of the leading sources of morbidity and mortality in the aging population. There is a long preclinical period followed by mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Clinical diagnosis and the rate of decline is variable. Progression monitoring remains a challenge in AD, and it is imperative to create better tools to quantify this progression. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is commonly used for patient assessment. However, current approaches for analysis require strong a priori assumptions about regions of interest used and complex preprocessing pipelines including computationally expensive non-linear registrations and iterative surface deformations. These preprocessing steps are composed of many stacked processing layers. Any error or bias in an upstream layer will be propagated throughout the pipeline. Failures or biases in the non-linear subject registration and the subjective choice of atlases of specific regions are common in medical neuroimaging analysis and may hinder the translation of many approaches to the clinical practice. Here we propose a data-driven method based on an extension of a deep learning architecture, DeepSymNet, that identifies longitudinal changes without relying on prior brain regions of interest, an atlas, or non-linear registration steps. Our approach is trained end-to-end and learns how a patient's brain structure dynamically changes between two-time points directly from the raw voxels. We compare our approach with Freesurfer longitudinal pipelines and voxel-based methods using the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. Our model can identify AD progression with comparable results to existing Freesurfer longitudinal pipelines without the need of predefined regions of interest, non-rigid registration algorithms, or iterative surface deformation at a fraction of the processing time. When compared to other voxel-based methods which share some of the same benefits, our model showed a statistically significant performance improvement. Additionally, we show that our model can differentiate between healthy subjects and patients with MCI. The model's decision was investigated using the epsilon layer-wise propagation algorithm. We found that the predictions were driven by the pallidum, putamen, and the superior temporal gyrus. Our novel longitudinal based, deep learning approach has the potential to diagnose patients earlier and enable new computational tools to monitor neurodegeneration in clinical practice.
Construction of a new integrating vector from actinophage ϕOZJ and its use in multiplex Streptomyces transformation

Streptomyces and other closely-related actinobacteria are important sources of bioactive molecules. Streptomyces synthetic biology and genetics empower therapeutic and agrichemical development through strain improvement and biosynthetic understanding. Such efforts rely on the availability of developed molecular toolsets. Among these tools, vectors that enable combinatorial chromosomal manipulations are particularly desirable. Towards developing tools for facile multiplex engineering, we herein describe the development of new integrating vectors derived from BD1 subgroup actinophage OzzyJ (ϕOZJ). By demonstrating the transformation of several Streptomyces spp. using ϕOZJ-derived vectors, we reveal their potential for strain engineering. We further report the development of new ϕC31 and ϕBT1-based vectors having orthogonal resistance, replication and integration features for concomitant transformation with our ϕOZJ-derived vectors. Importantly, the resulting compatible vector panel enabled us to demonstrate the transfer of up to three plasmids each into Streptomyces venezuelae, Streptomyces roseosporus and Streptomyces pristinaespiralis during a single conjugation experiment. To our knowledge this is the first documentation of conjugation-mediated multiplex plasmid transformation, a useful approach for rapid combinatorial strain development.
Kinematics of δ → α and α → δ martensitic transformation in plutonium alloys

Determination of invariant-plane-strain crystallographic solutions for martensitic transformation between the f.c.c. δ and monoclinic α phases in plutonium alloys, using three possible lattice correspondences and 53 possible lattice-invariant shear systems, identifies the most probable δ-α lattice correspondence. The operative lattice-invariant shear systems are predicted by comparison of both shape strain magnitudes and computed interfacial energies. For the δ → α transformation, twinning on (001)[100]α is favored, giving a (0.817, 0.538, 0.208)δ habit and a [0.947, 0.269, 0.174]δ shape strain of magnitude m1 = 0.324. The α → δ transformation favors slip on (111)[101]δ, giving a (0.255, 0.844, 0.471)α habit and [0.822, 0.446, 0.355]α shape strain of magnitude m1 = 0.417. Consideration of the independence of crystallographic solutions as deformation modes indicates that deformation of the monoclinic α phase via α → δ transformation plasticity will require the operation of more than one lattice correspondence, and will likely require additional deformation mechanisms to provide a sufficient number of independent deformation systems to accommodate an arbitrary shape deformation.
Archive as Pedagogy: Oral History and a Journal of the Plague Year

In March 2020, the COVID-19 Oral History Project, based at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), teamed up with A Journal of the Plague Year: An Archive of COVID-19 (JOTPY), ba...
ALD1 accumulation in Arabidopsis epidermal plastids confers local and non-autonomous disease resistance.

The Arabidopsis plastid-localized ALD1 protein acts in the lysine catabolic pathway that produces infection-induced pipecolic acid (Pip), Pip derivatives, and basal non-Pip metabolite(s). ALD1 is indispensable for disease resistance associated with Pseudomonas syringae infections of naive plants as well as those previously immunized by a local infection, a phenomenon called systemic acquired resistance (SAR). Pseudomonas syringae is known to associate with mesophyll as well as epidermal cells. To probe the importance of epidermal cells in conferring bacterial disease resistance, we studied plants in which ALD1 was only detectable in the epidermal cells of specific leaves. Local disease resistance and many features of SAR were restored when ALD1 preferentially accumulated in the epidermal plastids at immunization sites. Interestingly, SAR restoration occurred without appreciable accumulation of Pip or known Pip derivatives in secondary distal leaves. Our findings establish that ALD1 has a non-autonomous effect on pathogen growth and defense activation. We propose that ALD1 is sufficient in the epidermis of the immunized leaves to activate SAR, but basal ALD1 and possibly a non-Pip metabolite(s) are also needed at all infection sites to fully suppress bacterial growth. Thus, epidermal plastids that contain ALD1 play a key role in local and whole-plant immune signaling.
The Future of Supreme Court Reform

This Essay seeks to examine the prospects for Supreme Court reform — in both the short and the long term. Although the current political balance of power makes major structural reform unlikely, we argue that there are a number of more modest reforms that Congress, the Executive Branch, and even the Supreme Court itself could adopt. This kind of “skinny” Court reform is worthy of serious consideration, even if it does not solve all the problems that proponents of reform hope to address. Looking to the long term, we argue that the factors which generated a surge of interest in Court reform in the last three years are unlikely to disappear, and there are realistic scenarios in which structural reform of the Court begins to look possible once more.
Acoustic Transmission in a Low Mach Number Liquid Flow

The finite element method is used to solve the partial differential equations describing steady-state two-dimensional acoustic velocity potential due to a piston source on a body in a low Mach number (M ≤ 0.3) liquid flow. Both the acoustic and hydrodynamic fields are assumed to be inviscid and irrotational. The steady-state hydrodynamic field is computed using the boundary element method applied to the Laplace equation for incompressible flow. Steady-state pressures, obtained from the hydrodynamic solution, are used along with an equation of state to compute the local density. The local speed of sound is computed as a function of the steady-state pressures using an empirical expression along with the assumptions of constant temperature and salinity. Far-field acoustic beam patterns are obtained using the finite element solution to the acoustic velocity potential on the computational domain boundary, and a special form of the Helmholtz integral applicable to acoustic propagation in a moving homogeneous medium. The case of a piston source located symmetrically about the hydrodynamic stagnation point on a rigid body is investigated as a function of Mach number, transmit frequency, and transmit angle. The far-field beam patterns were found to exhibit a strong Mach number dependence, with increases in both main lobe beam width and side lobe levels over the M = 0 case. Additionally, at the high Mach numbers, the beam width does not exhibit the classical monotonic decrease with frequency and was found to reach a minimum value. Further increases in frequency resulted in a monotonic increase in beam width. It was also found that for transmission off the main response axis, the far-field main lobe angle is greater than the specified transmit angle. These effects are due to an effectively inhomogeneous and anisotropic medium as a result of the sound speed and flow velocity gradients within the fluid.
Quantifying the Distorting Effect of Rapid Guessing on Estimates of Coefficient Αlpha

An underlying threat to the validity of reliability measures is the introduction of systematic variance in examinee scores from unintended constructs that differ from those assessed. One construct-...
Preliminary Analysis of Blunt Ballistic Impacts to the Abdomen

Law enforcement agencies, as well as military personnel, are relying on nonlethal technology to diffuse potentially life-threatening situations without the use of lethal force. However, a standardized method for testing the health effects of these non-lethal devices has not been established. In recent studies, the abdominal region has been cited as the area most impacted during the deployment of kinetic energy rounds [1]. In the current study, the first phase of biomechanical testing involved the determination of biomechanical corridors. A total of six post-mortem human subjects were tested. An impact condition of a 45 g mass at 60 m/s resulted in 4,741 N of force generated with 22 mm of deflection. The second phase involved the determination of a valid injury criterion based on a pre-established tolerance of injury in a porcine model. Injuries observed were classified according to AIS. Logistic regression analysis of the injury data, in combination with an empirically derived criterion, facilitated this process. The predictive ability of several key injury criteria was evaluated.
“I can't find anything”: Towards establishing a continuum in curriculum‐integrated library instruction

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the efforts of library faculty at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus Library to design and implement a continuum of curriculum‐integrated, outcomes‐assessed library instruction in undergraduate writing‐intensive courses.Design/methodology/approach – The literature review investigates various course‐integrated curriculum designs, how contemporary students learn, the challenges they face in academic research, and the significance of collaboration between library and teaching faculty in facilitating curriculum‐integrated library instruction (LI). Various components of LI design are examined, along with LI development in collaboration with other academic departments. The integration of new LI into a lower‐level undergraduate composition course as well as a pre‐existing LI component to an upper‐level undergraduate writing‐intensive course is explored.Findings – The initial curriculum‐spanning continuum approach envisioned by the library and English depar...
Active Gaming Among High School Students--United States, 2010.

Abstract Objectives: Our study is the first to describe the prevalence and correlates (demographics, body mass index [BMI], sedentary behaviors, and physical activity) of high school youth who report active videogame playing (active gaming) in a U.S. representative sample. Materials and Methods: The National Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Study of 2010 provided data for this study. Active gaming was assessed as the number of days in the 7 days prior to the survey that students in grades 9–12 (14–18 years of age) reported participating in active videogames (e.g., “Wii™ Fit” [Nintendo, Kyoto, Japan], “Dance Dance Revolution” [Konami, Osaka, Japan]). Students reporting ≥1 days were classified as active gamers. Logistic regression was used to examine the association among active gaming and demographic characteristics, BMI, sedentary behaviors, and physical activity. Results: Among 9125 U.S. high school students in grades 9–12 surveyed, 39.9 percent (95 percent confidence interval=37.9 percent, 42.0 per...
Si and Si-compatible photodetectors

We report photodiodes fabricated on Ge grown on Si substrate. At 2 V bias these photodiodes exhibited 28 mA/cm/sup 2/ dark current, 0.57 A/W responsivity, and 4 GHz bandwidth. Monolithic fabrication of Ge PIN photodiodes with Si MOSFETs is also described.
Child abuse: early case finding in the emergency department

In a 2-week survey of all children under 6 years of age seen in an emergency department for accidents, 7 of 69 cases were suspected of having injuries due to maltreatment. These judgments were made by the investigators systematically reviewing the medical records of these children and their parents. In a second 2-week survey conducted 6 months later, a similar incidence (7 of 87) of abuse was suspected by the investigators. These latter families also were evaluated by a home visit, and an additional 3 accidents were judged to reflect abuse and 10 further cases were thought to reflect gross neglect. Empirically, certain types of injuries were found to be most commonly associated with childhood abuse. These findings are discussed in terms of the preventive function and role of an emergency department.
Effects of Strong Ion-Pairing on the Electrochemical Reduction of Cyclooctatetraene in Tetrahydrofuran in the Presence of Lithium Ion. Peak Coalescence Does Not Imply Potential Inversion

The first study of the voltammetric reduction of cyclooctatetraene (COT) in tetrahydrofuran (THF) in the presence of lithium ion is reported. A single wave is observed at −2.23 V vs. Ag/0.1 M AgNO3. Density functional calculations have been carried out on a variety of COT/Li/THF species in order to clarify the nature and role of ion pairing in this system. The dominant species in solution are the COT/Li/(THF)2 anion radical and the COT/Li2/(THF)4 dianion. Computer simulations have been carried out to further understand the effects of ion pairing on the reduction. The simulations show that coalescence of two waves into one can occur in the presence of strong ion pairing even when the second reduction potential is negative of the first.
Critical Role of STAT5 Transcription Factor Tetramerization for Cytokine Responses and Normal Immune Function

Cytokine-activated STAT proteins dimerize and bind to high-affinity motifs, and N-terminal domain-mediated oligomerization of dimers allows tetramer formation and binding to low-affinity tandem motifs, but the functions of dimers versus tetramers are unknown. We generated Stat5a-Stat5b double knockin (DKI) N-domain mutant mice in which STAT5 proteins form dimers but not tetramers, identified cytokine-regulated genes whose expression required STAT5 tetramers, and defined dimer versus tetramer consensus motifs. Whereas Stat5-deficient mice exhibited perinatal lethality, DKI mice were viable; thus, STAT5 dimers were sufficient for survival. Nevertheless, STAT5 DKI mice had fewer CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells, NK cells, and CD8(+) T cells, with impaired cytokine-induced and homeostatic proliferation of CD8(+) T cells. Moreover, DKI CD8(+) T cell proliferation after viral infection was diminished and DKI Treg cells did not efficiently control colitis. Thus, tetramerization of STAT5 is critical for cytokine responses and normal immune function, establishing a critical role for STAT5 tetramerization in vivo.
Visuo-motor control: when the brain loses track of the eyes.

Summary In single-units studies, neuronal signals are recorded to assess their significance and, hopefully, their role in controlling behavior. A new study of neuronal signals associated with eye position helps to explain not only how the system normally works, but also how it sometimes fails.
Gastropod shells: A potentially limiting resource for hermit crabs

Abstract The availability of gastropod shells to hermit crabs in the Newport River Estuary, Beaufort, N.C. has been assessed by determining the numbers of usuable shells occurring in characteristic subtidal habitats and by measuring shell size adequacy. The proportion of useable shells occupied by hermit crabs ranged from 58–99 % and many of the shells not used by hermit crabs were judged unavailable because they were occupied by sipunculids or only uncovered by the dredge. The shell adequacy index (shell size occupied/shell size preferred) was significantly below 1.0 for the largest species (Pagurus pollicaris Say) in the one location where sufficient numbers were collected and for the next largest species (P. longicarpus Say) in three of the four locations where it was collected. The shell size adequacy index for the smallest species (P. annulipes Stimpson) did not differ significantly from 1.0 in either of the two locations in which it was found. These observations suggest that the availability of gastropod shells plays a significant role in limiting the abundance of at least the larger hermit crabs.
Essential role of membrane ATPase or coupling factor for anaerobic growth and anaerobic active transport in Escherichia coli.

Abstract Mutants of Escherichia coli defective in coupling electron transport to synthesis of ATP ( unc − ) were isolated and screened for Mg 2+ -ATPase activity using a rapid and sensitive Millipore filtration assay. An episome (F′16) carrying ATPase genes was used to map the unc − mutations near the ilv (isoleucine-valine) operon. Mutants missing membrane ATPase activity do not multiply anaerobically on glucose as energy source unless supplied with exogenous electron acceptors such as NO 3 − . Likewise, in the absence of exogenous electron acceptors anaerobic active transport of proline is blocked. These observations suggest that membrane ATPase has an essential role in membrane functions linked to glycolysis and thus may play an important role in energy conversion in the anaerobic membrane.