cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Parasite dispersal influences introgression rate: the case of dove wing and body lice

Organisms vary in their dispersal abilities, and these differences can have important biological consequences, such as impacting the likelihood of hybridization events. However, the factors shaping the frequency of hybridization are still poorly understood, and therefore how dispersal ability affects the opportunities for hybridization is still unknown. Here, using the ecological replicate system of dove wing and body lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera), we show that species with higher dispersal abilities exhibited increased genomic signatures of introgression. Specifically, we found a higher proportion of introgressed genomic reads and more reticulated phylogenetic networks in wing lice, the louse group with higher dispersal abilities. Our results illustrate how differences in dispersal ability can drive differences in the extent of introgression through hybridization. The results from this study represent an important step for understanding the factors driving hybridization. We expect our approach will stimulate future studies on the ecological factors shaping hybridization to further understand this important process.
Impact of module design on heat transfer in membrane distillation

Abstract Nusselt correlations originally developed for estimating heat transfer rates in heat exchangers poorly describe heat transfer in membrane distillation (MD) processes. In this work, we assess the impact of module design in bench-scale experiments, simplified treatment of heat transfer rates in MD models, and the effect of permeate flux on temperature polarization as sources of error in Nusselt correlation estimates of heat transfer rates. To test these effects, we systematically vary membrane structure, module sizes, temperatures, and Reynolds numbers to generate a large dataset (n = 240) of MD experiments. We apply this dataset to estimate the heat transfer rate for each unique membrane/module combination and compare our predictions to the classical Sieder-Tate Nusselt correlation (Nus-t). Our results show that heat transfer rates in small modules can be up to five times higher than predicted by Nus-t. The heat transfer rate decreases with increasing module size, with heat transfer in large modules adequately described by the Sieder-Tate correlation. We demonstrate that this high heat transfer rate in small modules is a result of an entrance effect, which increases fluid mixing over the membrane area. These results validate the use of Nu correlation in large membrane modules while highlighting issues with their application in small scale systems. This work also emphasizes the importance of bench-scale module design in materials evaluation and process characterization. Finally, it highlights the need for direct measurement techniques that better characterize interfacial processes in membrane systems with modeled driving forces.
The Research Assistant and AI in eScience

This paper was solicited as a "vision" talk for the 2019 eScience conference. It is based on my assessment of the role AI will have on eScience in the years ahead. While machine learning methods are already being well integrated into computing practice, this paper will look at another area: the role AI will play as an assistant to our daily research work.
Chapter 7 – Virtual Disks

Publisher Summary When configuring a virtual machine, the most important properties are memory and disks, because they have the most impact on the host. Depending on its role, the virtual machine may have one or many virtual hard disks. Most applications these days are disk I/O intensive. Virtual Server emulates different kinds of disks that are common in today's physical machines. Those can be categorized as either removable disks or hard disks. Removable disks can be CD/DVD disks or floppy disks. Virtual disks enable storage and retrieval in virtual machines. A Virtual hard disk is virtualized disk storage in a virtual machine. On the host, a virtual hard disk is just a file. The dynamically expanding virtual hard disk is expanded as needed; Virtual Server expands the file upon write requests when space in the file is insufficient. The fixed-size virtual hard disk is a fi le on the host that is of the same size as the logical size. Advantage is that Virtual Server never interferes to expand. The differencing virtual hard disk contains differences compared to content that exists on a parent virtual hard disk. The relationship with the parent is established when the differencing disk is created. The parent can be any type of virtual disk, even a differencing virtual hard disk. Disks can be converted from fixed size to dynamically expanding and vice versa. Differencing disks can be merged with their parent or merged to a new disk.
The cost of saving babies: How economists justify policies

The relationship between economic ideas and public policy is a growing area of sociological inquiry. This paper examines a unique case of economic influence on policy: use of cost-effectiveness ana...
Disease Flare During Temporary Interruption of Ibrutinib Therapy in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Background Approximately 25% of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) experience a flare of disease following ibrutinib discontinuation. A critical question is whether this phenomenon may also occur when ibrutinib is temporarily held. This study aimed to determine the frequency and characteristics of disease flares in this setting and assess risk factors and clinical outcomes. Materials and methods We identified all patients with CLL seen at Mayo Clinic between October 2012 and March 2019 who received ibrutinib. Temporary interruptions in treatment and associated clinical findings were ascertained. Results Among the 372 patients identified, 143 (38%) had at least one temporary interruption (median 1 hold, range 1-7 holds) in treatment. The median duration of interruption was 8 days (range 1-59 days) and the most common indication was periprocedural. Among the 143 patients with ≥1 hold, an associated disease flare was seen in 35 (25%) patients: mild (constitutional symptoms only) in 21 patients and severe (constitutional symptoms with exam/radiographic findings or laboratory changes) in 14 patients. Disease flare resolved with resuming ibrutinib in all patients. Predictive factors of disease flare included progressive disease at time of hold and ≥ 24 months of ibrutinib exposure. The occurrence of disease flare with an ibrutinib hold was associated with shorter event-free survival (hazard ratio 2.3; 95% confidence interval 1.3-4.1; p = .007) but not overall survival. Conclusion Temporary interruptions in ibrutinib treatment of patients with CLL are common, and one quarter of patients who held ibrutinib in this study experienced a disease flare. Resolution with resuming ibrutinib underscores the importance of awareness of this phenomenon for optimal management. Implications for practice Ibrutinib is a very effective treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) but needs to be taken continuously. Side effects, such as increased bleeding risk with procedures, require temporary interruptions in this continuous treatment. Rapid CLL progression following ibrutinib discontinuation has been increasingly recognized. This study demonstrates that similar flares in disease signs or symptoms may occur during ibrutinib holds as well. Importantly, management with restarting ibrutinib led to quick clinical improvement. Awareness of this phenomenon among clinicians is critical to avoid associated patient morbidity and premature cessation of effective treatment with ibrutinib if the flare is misidentified as true progression of disease.
Challenges and Opportunities for the Academic Mission Within Expanding Health Systems: A Qualitative Study.

OBJECTIVE To explore challenges and opportunities for surgery departments' academic missions as they become increasingly affiliated with expanding health systems. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA Academic medicine is in the midst of unprecedented change. In addition to facing intense competition, narrower margins, and decreased federal funding, medical schools are becoming increasingly involved with large, expanding health systems. The impact of these health system affiliations on surgical departments' academic missions is unknown. METHODS Semistructured interviews with 30 surgical leaders at teaching hospitals affiliated with health systems from August - December 2019. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded in an iterative process using MaxQDA software. The topic of challenges and opportunities for the academic mission was an emergent theme, analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS Academic health systems typically expanded to support their business goals, rather than their academic mission. Changes in governance sometimes disempowered departmental leadership, shifted traditional compensation models, redirected research programs, and led to cultural conflict. However, at many institutions, health system growth cross-subsidized surgical departments' research and training missions, expanded their clinical footprint, enabled them to improve standards of care, and enhanced opportunities for researchers and trainees. CONCLUSIONS Though health system expansion generally intended to advance business goals, the accompanying academic and clinical opportunities were not always fully captured. Alignment between medical school and health system goals enabled some surgical department leaders to take advantage of their health systems' reach and resources in order to support their academic missions.
Distinguishing Inflation Drivers at Shallow Magmatic Systems using Ensemble-Based Data Assimilation

In this study, synthetic numerical experiments are conducted to investigate how well the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) data assimilation approach distinguishes between two potential drivers of ground deformation at volcanic systems: pressurization and lateral reservoir expansion. Numerical models indicate that pressure-driven inflation creates larger radial displacements relative to inflation driven by lateral expansion. However, the introduction of noise can obscure these differences in simulated geodetic data. Although the EnKF does not fully reproduce the original synthetic models, it remains sensitive to changes in the magma reservoir's aspect ratio and is able to distinguish between the two inflation mechanisms. Ultimately, there remains significant non-uniqueness in how changes in reservoir pressure and size are reflected in surface deformation for any given aspect ratio, but future innovations may continue to improve filter performance.
Through the Spyglass: Towards IoT Companion App Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

The lack of mature development in smart home companion applications complicates Internet of Things (IoT) security and privacy. Companion applications offer transparency and control for smart home devices that otherwise lack displays or interfaces. We access our smart home devices through a distributed communication architecture that seamlessly integrates smart home devices, cloud-based servers, and our mobile devices. This paper seeks to better understand IoT security and privacy by studying the design flaws of this distributed communications channel for smart home devices. To understand this, we then assess the vulnerability of 20 popular smart home vendors to this attack. Our analysis discovers pervasive failures in the distributed communications channels across 16 different vendors. A successful attack allows adversaries to conceal device users, manipulate the state of locks, spoof camera images, and manipulate history log files. While our work uncovers pervasive failures, vendors can take measures to improve confidentiality and integrity in smart home devices and their applications.
Imaging Coronary Allograft Vasculopathy with Cardiac PET and Cardiac MRI

Coronary allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in heart transplant patients. It presents a diagnostic challenge as early CAV is often clinically silent, and it affects both epicardial coronary arteries and microvasculature. This review outlines the role of cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) in the diagnosis and prognosis of CAV. Relative myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) and quantitative myocardial blood flow using cardiac PET are useful in the diagnosis and prognosis of CAV. Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and quantitative measures including myocardial perfusion reserve and mean diastolic rate using CMR are useful in the diagnosis and prognosis of CAV. Cardiac PET is now established as a non-invasive imaging modality for screening and monitoring for CAV, and CMR has demonstrated promise in this application. Further investigation of these modalities is needed with larger, multicenter studies that follow patients serially to demonstrate the clinical implications of using these modalities to detect early CAV and alter therapies to improve patient outcomes.
WE-AB-204-02: Molecular-Imaging Based Assessment of Liver Complications for Yttrium-90 Microsphere Treatments: Can Existing NTCP Models Explain Clinical Outcomes?

Purpose: To evaluate weather the current radiobiological models can predict the normal liver complications of radioactive Yttrium-90 (9⁰Y) selective-internal-radiation-treatment (SIRT) for metastatic liver lesions based on the post-infusion 9⁰Y PET images. Methods: A total of 20 patients with metastatic liver tumors treated with SIRT that received a post-infusion 9⁰Y-PET/CT scan were analyzed in this work. The 3D activity distribution of the PET images was converted into a 3D dose distribution via a kernel convolution process. The physical dose distribution was converted into the equivalent dose (EQ2) delivered at 2 Gy based on the linear-quadratic (LQ) model considering the dose rate effect. The biological endpoint of this work was radiation-induce liver disease (RILD). The NTCPs were calculated with four different repair-times (T1/2_Liver_Repair= 0,0.5,1.0,2.0 hr) and three published NTCP models (Lyman-external-RT, Lyman 90Y-HCC-SIRT, parallel model) were compared to the incidence of RILD of the recruited patients to evaluate their ability of outcome prediction. Results: The mean normal liver physical dose (avg. 51.9 Gy, range 31.9–69.8 Gy) is higher than the suggested liver dose constraint for external beam treatment (∼30 Gy). However, none of the patients in our study developed RILD after the SIRT. The estimated probability of ‘no patient developing RILD’ obtained from the two Lyman models are 46.3% to 48.3% (T1/2_Liver_Repair= 0hr) and <1% for all other repair times. For the parallel model, the estimated probability is 97.3% (0hr), 51.7% (0.5hr), 2.0% (1.0hr) and <1% (2.0hr). Conclusion: Molecular-images providing the distribution of 9⁰Y enable the dose-volume based dose/outcome analysis for SIRT. Current NTCP models fail to predict RILD complications in our patient population, unless a very short repair-time for the liver is assumed. The discrepancy between the Lyman 9⁰Y-HCC-SIRT model predicted and the clinically observed outcomes further demonstrates the need of an NTCP model specific to the metastatic liver SIRT.
Patterns of Learning, Memory, and Vocal Production in the Songbird Brain

Publisher Summary The songbird provides a potential laboratory for studying sensorimotor learning on the systems level, which is not well-understood, despite great progress in understanding the role of synaptic plasticity in associative learning. The songbird vocal system has emerged as the best-developed model for the neural basis of speech acquisition because songbirds are among the very few animals that learn their vocalizations through a process of vocal imitation, as humans do. This chapter attempts to distinguish components of the learning process along several dimensions. First, a distinction must be made between new behaviors and the modification/recombination of preexisting behavior patterns. Second, song production involves the coordination of many effectors; notably, different control signals must drive respiration, multiple syringeal muscles, and other structures. Signals from the two hemispheres must be coordinated. Third, vocal learning in the juvenile period occurs at a time when many physiological systems may still be undergoing developmental plasticity and critical period phenomena, especially in altricial songbirds. Fourth, although auditory responses to the bird's own song in the vocal control pathway are undoubtedly a significant clue to sensorimotor mechanisms, they have tended to limit thinking about a larger range of perceptual and memory processes that may be essential to vocal learning and vocal communication.
Scratch Behavior of Polymers

Scratch and wear is a long existing deteriorating phenomenon occurring when two moving surfaces are in intimate contact. This problem in polymers has been emphasized because of the increasing popularity of polymers as the materials of choice in various applications. It is thus important for us to understand this phenomenon in order to engineer polymers with good scratch and wear resistance. This article focuses on the fundamental process that leads to abrasion and wear, ie, scratch behavior of polymers. The objective of this article is to highlight the importance of understanding scratch behavior of polymers by giving readers an up-to-date knowledge in this field of research. The theoretical framework concerning interfacial contacts and the experimental aspects in terms of methodology and quantitative measures is introduced. The effects of various material and testing parameters on the scratch behavior of polymers are summarized. Directions for future research are also suggested. Keywords: nanoscratch; polymer; surface deformation; scratch damage; scratch
Chapter eight Metabolic engineering of soybean for improved flavor and health benefits

Summary and Future Directions The food choices that consumers make are informed by a variety of criteria including cost, safety, environmental impact, and especially perceived health benefits and taste. Over the past several years these criteria have caused consumers to include more soyfood products in their diets. Two things are necessary for the continuation of this trend. First, the scientific community must more rigorously prove the health benefits associated with eating soybean; specifically which components of soybean cause the health benefits and the physiological mechanisms under which these benefits are obtained. These are difficult studies to carry out. In the past, some of these studies have been conducted using soyfoods that have been treated in such a way as to remove a given compound, although this typically results in the removal of many classes of compounds. Metabolic engineering of soybeans will allow the creation of beans with specific compounds (or lack there of) that can then be used to test the role these compounds play in human health. Second, soyfoods must be developed that individual consumers consider atasty part of their diet. Only foods that appeal to an individual are likely to continue to remain a part of that individual's diet, no matter how many other good properties are associated with that food. Progress in formulation of soyfoods has created foods with significantly greater acceptance. However, it may be that specific changes resulting from metabolic engineering will be required to produce new generations of tasty and healthy soyfoods.
Shape control of CdSe nanocrystals

Nanometre-size inorganic dots, tubes and wires exhibit a wide range of electrical and optical properties1,2 that depend sensitively on both size and shape3,4, and are of both fundamental and technological interest. In contrast to the syntheses of zero-dimensional systems, existing preparations of one-dimensional systems often yield networks of tubes or rods which are difficult to separate5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12. And, in the case of optically active II–VI and III–V semiconductors, the resulting rod diameters are too large to exhibit quantum confinement effects6,8,9,10. Thus, except for some metal nanocrystals13, there are no methods of preparation that yield soluble and monodisperse particles that are quantum-confined in two of their dimensions. For semiconductors, a benchmark preparation is the growth of nearly spherical II–VI and III–V nanocrystals by injection of precursor molecules into a hot surfactant14,15. Here we demonstrate that control of the growth kinetics of the II–VI semiconductor cadmium selenide can be used to vary the shapes of the resulting particles from a nearly spherical morphology to a rod-like one, with aspect ratios as large as ten to one. This method should be useful, not only for testing theories of quantum confinement, but also for obtaining particles with spectroscopic properties that could prove advantageous in biological labelling experiments16,17 and as chromophores in light-emitting diodes18,19.
Mutagenicity monitoring following battlefield exposures: Molecular analysis of HPRT mutations in gulf war i veterans exposed to depleted uranium

Molecular studies that involved cDNA and genomic DNA sequencing as well as multiplex PCR of the HPRT gene were performed to determine the molecular mutational spectrum for 1,377 HPRT mutant isolates obtained from 61 Veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, most of whom were exposed to depleted uranium (DU). Mutant colonies were isolated from one to four times from each Veteran (in 2003, 2005, 2007, and/or 2009). The relative frequencies of the various types of mutations (point mutations, deletions, insertions, etc.) were compared between high versus low DU exposed groups, (based on their urine U concentration levels), with HPRT mutant frequency (as determined in the companion paper) and with a database of historic controls. The mutational spectrum includes all classes of gene mutations with no significant differences observed in Veterans related to their DU exposures. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 56:594–608, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
What do clinicians want? Interest in integrative health services at a North Carolina academic medical center

Use of complementary medicine is common, consumer driven and usually outpatient focused. We wished to determine interest among the medical staff at a North Carolina academic medical center in integrating diverse therapies and services into comprehensive care. We conducted a cross sectional on-line survey of physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants at a tertiary care medical center in 2006. The survey contained questions on referrals and recommendations in the past year and interest in therapies or services if they were to be provided at the medical center in the future. Responses were received from 173 clinicians in 26 different departments, programs and centers. There was strong interest in offering several specific therapies: therapeutic exercise (77%), expert consultation about herbs and dietary supplements (69%), and massage (66%); there was even stronger interest in offering comprehensive treatment programs such as multidisciplinary pain management (84%), comprehensive nutritional assessment and advice (84%), obesity/healthy lifestyle promotion (80%), fit for life (exercise and lifestyle program, 76%), diabetes healthy lifestyle promotion (73%); and comprehensive psychological services for stress management, including hypnosis and biofeedback (73%). There is strong interest among medical staff at an academic health center in comprehensive, integrated services for pain, obesity, and diabetes and in specific services in fitness, nutrition and stress management. Future studies will need to assess the cost-effectiveness of such services, as well as their financial sustainability and impact on patient satisfaction, health and quality of life.
Robustness of embryonic spatial patterning in Drosophila melanogaster.

Publisher Summary Mathematical models of embryonic development can provide insights into the complex interactions between spatial variations in morphogens, signal transduction, and intracellular response in patterning processes. Mechanistic models of specific processes based on our current understanding of them provide an additional tool to help in understanding the complex regulation of development. The chapter discusses a number of different aspects of robustness in Drosophila embryonic patterning, and have shown how the models lead to new insights concerning scale-invariance in AP patterning, the role of network topology and signature in the switching network used for control of the segment polarity genes, and the role of signaling via heterodimers in dorsal–ventral (DV) patterning. The modular decomposition of DV patterning described in the chapter is based on the current understanding of the kinetic interactions between morphogens and inhibitors in the perivitelline (PV) space, and incorporates the various dimeric forms of inhibitors and signaling the bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). Scale-invariance is a basic feature of a number of developmental processes. A rather surprising result is that the robustness of DV spatial patterning can essentially be predicted from an analysis of the local dynamics. The analysis of the spatially distributed system corroborates the earlier results and provides further evidence for the selective advantage of using heterodimers for signal transduction and morphogenesis.
A weighted and integrated drug-target interactome: drug repurposing for schizophrenia as a use case

Computational pharmacology can uniquely address some issues in the process of drug development by providing a macroscopic view and a deeper understanding of drug action. Specifically, network-assisted approach is promising for the inference of drug repurposing. However, the drug-target associations coming from different sources and various assays have much noise, leading to an inflation of the inference errors. To reduce the inference errors, it is necessary and critical to create a comprehensive and weighted data set of drug-target associations. In this study, we created a weighted and integrated drug-target interactome (WinDTome) to provide a comprehensive resource of drug-target associations for computational pharmacology. We first collected drug-target interactions from six commonly used drug-target centered data sources including DrugBank, KEGG, TTD, MATADOR, PDSP Ki Database, and BindingDB. Then, we employed the record linkage method to normalize drugs and targets to the unique identifiers by utilizing the public data sources including PubChem, Entrez Gene, and UniProt. To assess the reliability of the drug-target associations, we assigned two scores (Score_S and Score_R) to each drug-target association based on their data sources and publication references. Consequently, the WinDTome contains 546,196 drug-target associations among 303,018 compounds and 4,113 genes. To assess the application of the WinDTome, we designed a network-based approach for drug repurposing using mental disorder schizophrenia (SCZ) as a case. Starting from 41 known SCZ drugs and their targets, we inferred a total of 264 potential SCZ drugs through the associations of drug-target with Score_S higher than two in WinDTome and human protein-protein interactions. Among the 264 SCZ-related drugs, 39 drugs have been investigated in clinical trials for SCZ treatment and 74 drugs for the treatment of other mental disorders, respectively. Compared with the results using other Score_S cutoff values, single data source, or the data from STITCH, the inference of 264 SCZ-related drugs had the highest performance. The WinDTome generated in this study contains comprehensive drug-target associations with confidence scores. Its application to the SCZ drug repurposing demonstrated that the WinDTome is promising to serve as a useful resource for drug repurposing.
Large Scale Structures in Reacting Mixing Layers

The role of large-scale coherent structures in the enhancement of mixing and chemical reaction in turbulent free shear flows has been investigated by analyzing direct numerical simulations of temporally growing reacting mixing layers. The streamwise vortical modes are found to enhance the reaction rate by convoluting the reaction surface and enhancing the mixing of the two species, although the relative significance of this effect is very sensitive to the species diffusivity. For certain Schmidt numbers, the effects of flame shortening are balanced by flame sheet stretching by the vortex pairing process. The behavior of the helicity density, dissipation, and enstrophy production in the braid region has been examined. There does not appear to be a simple correlation between the amplitude of the helicity density and the position of some very strong coherent structures in this flow.
Comparison of rapid tests used to detect antibiotic residues in milk

Five rapid methods for detection of antibiotics in milk were compared. The Bacillus stearothermophilus var. calidolactis disc assay was also performed on the same samples. The rapid methods were: Angenics Spot Test, Charm II, Delvotest P, Penzyme Farm, and Penzyme Lab III. Ten antibiotics (penicillin G, cephapirin, cloxacillin, ampicillin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, novobiocin, tetracycline, and gentamicin) were used individually to spike eight raw milk samples at five levels of antibiotic. Antibiotic levels were chosen that would result in zones of 16 mm on the disc assay. Only the disc assay, Charm II and Delvotest P were compared on non-beta-lactam antibiotics. A small percentage of milks with no antibiotic added tested positive with the Charm II and Penzyme Lab III. On combined data for penicillin G, cephapirin, and cloxacillin, for which all methods were compared, the percent correctly categorized as pass (below actionable) for the 16 mm zone level were: Angenics 79, 83, 100; Charm II 66, 92, 100; Delvotest P 74, 93, 100; Disc Assay 100, 74, 100; Penzyme Farm 93, 61, 92; Penzyme Lab III 81,78, 100 respectively. In most cases, the rapid methods showed greater apparent sensitivity than the disc assay and did not fail to reject milks spiked with antibiotic in excess of the 16 mm zone level.
Urinary retinol excretion in children with acute watery diarrhoea.

Children with diarrhoea due to rotavirus infection excrete retinol in urine.This study aimed at demonstrating the extent and mechanism of urinary retinol excretion in children with acute watery diarrhoea caused by pathogens other han rotavirus.Thirty-two children, aged five months o five years, hospitalized with watery diarrhoea predominantly due to enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in Bangladesh, were studied.Their serum retinol and retinol-binding protein (RBP) were low at admission and increased significantly after recovery from illness.The mean hospital stay of hese patients was four days. Forty-seven percent of the children excreted retinol in urine on day 1, and about 38% continued excreting retinol on day 3. The estimated urinary retinol loss of 3.44 μmol for he illness episode represented more than 40% of liver retinol reserve (8.25 μmol) in malnourished children. A conservative estimate of he loss would represent at least 20% of he liver reserve in relatively better-nourished children. Kidney tubular dysfunctions of increased RBP excretion significantly predicted urinary retinol excretion in children with watery diarrhoea. Key words : Diarrhoea,Acute; Diarrhoea, Infantile; Rotavirus; Rotavirus infections;Vitamin A; Vitamin A deficiency; Retinol excretion; Retinol-binding protein; Escherichia coli ; Bangladesh
Belowground fungal associations and water interact to influence the compensatory response of Ipomopsis aggregata

Although the concept that some plants benefit from being eaten is counterintuitive, there is now considerable evidence demonstrating enhanced fitness following herbivory. It has been assumed that plants growing in high resource conditions are the ones best able to compensate for herbivory. However, just the opposite has been found for dicotyledonous plants exhibiting patterns of overcompensation, with most occurring in resource-poor conditions. Long-term studies of the monocarpic biennial, scarlet gilia, Ipomopsis aggregata growing in resource-poor conditions have shown that ungulate herbivory by mule deer and elk can result in a threefold increase in plant fitness over uneaten controls. These observations led us to hypothesize that fungal associations would facilitate the compensatory response most commonly observed in this Arizona population of scarlet gilia; perhaps mutualistic associations with fungi, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, would explain the phenomenon of overcompensation altogether. Fungal removal experiments, using Captan®, a commercially available fungicide, showed that a reduction in fungal abundance altered the compensatory response following ungulate herbivory, particularly in years in which water was limited, increasing fitness compensation from equal compensation to overcompensation. A multifactorial experiment revealed that the interactive effects of water and fungicide maximized fruit production following herbivory. Our results are counter to the “modification of tolerance hypothesis” in which plants associating with mycorrhizal fungi will have higher tolerance to herbivory. It is likely that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and dark septate endophytes compete with plants for photosynthates following herbivory, thereby limiting the magnitude of compensation. Thus, fungi appear to be parasitic on scarlet gilia following ungulate herbivory.
CREAM: combined register and module assignment with floorplanning for low power datapath synthesis

This paper proposes a new technique for power optimization during high level synthesis. Specifically, we present a floorplan based combined register and module assignment algorithm, CREAM, for synthesizing low power datapath circuits. The algorithm accepts a scheduled data flow graph and assigns operations to functional units and variables to registers. The operations which have common inputs and are capable of reducing power by mapping to the same functional unit are identified. Further, variables are assigned to registers in such a manner that the unwanted or spurious computations are minimized. During variable assignment, that particular register is selected (based on the floor plan) which has a smaller interconnect length between itself and the functional unit. This optimizes the interconnect power. CREAM has been applied to some high level synthesis benchmarks and the results obtained indicate that power savings up to 43% with an area increase of up to 5.0% can be achieved.
Field emission properties of nitrogen-doped diamond films

This study explores the field emission properties of nitrogen-doped diamond grown by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition. Over 70 nitrogen-doped diamond samples were grown on silicon and molybdenum under varying process conditions. Under certain conditions, films can be grown which exhibit photoluminescence bands at 1.945 and 2.154 eV that are attributed to single substitutional nitrogen. Photoelectron emission microscopy with UV free electron laser excitation indicated a 0 or negative electron affinity. Field emission characteristics were measured in an ultrahigh vacuum with a variable distance anode technique. For samples grown with gas phase [N]/[C] ratios less than 10, damage from microarcs occurred during the field emission measurements. Samples grown at higher [N]/[C] content could be measured prior to an arcing event. Contrary to other reports on nitrogen-doped diamond, these measurements indicate relatively high threshold fields (>100 V/μm) for electron emission. We suggest that the nitroge...
Sirtuins as therapeutic targets of ALS

Sirtuins have received a lot of attention in biological functions associated with metabolism, survival development, and most recently, neurodegeneration. The versatile role of sirtuins can be readily redirected for drug discovery studies for novel treatment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as presented in this highlight, by sirtuin-mediated ketogenic responses influencing mitochondrial function.
Isolated marrow lymphoma: An entity of possible T‐cell derivation

Seven adults had a distinct clinicopathologic type of lymphoproliferative disorder of the bone marrow. All patients presented with weakness and pancytopenia; no evidence of gross extramedullary involvement was found. In 5 cases severe and prolonged bone marrow hypoplasia was associated with combination chemotherapy; 1 patient died of infection during initial therapy. In 6 of the 7 cases, clinical improvement occurred following therapy. As a terminal event, 2 patients developed a leukemic phase. Tumor cell from 4 patients were studied immunologically, and in 2 patients surface marker characteristics suggestive of T-cell tumor origin were found. In 2 cases, ultrastructural studies of lymphoid cells were compatible with a T-cell neoplasm. The above data suggest that these cases represent a distinct type of chemotherapy-sensitive lymphoma in which conservative initial treatment may induce a response without prolonged bone marrow hypoplasia.
Damage identification in nonlinear periodic structures utilizing the dynamics of intrinsic localized modes

Intrinsic localized modes (ILMs) are localized vibrational responses that may occur in a variety of nonlinear periodic systems. Many investigations have characterized the existence and stability of ILMs and they have been realized in systems representing numerous domains and length scales. Previous studies indicate that ILMs strongly interact with an impurity via attraction or repulsion from the damage location. In this research to exploit such phenomena for structural damage identification, we analyze the interaction of an ILM with multiple impurities, where a steered impurity strategically guides the ILM towards another, static impurity representative of damage. We discover and catalog the distinct phenomenological interaction types between steered ILMs and damage. For some interaction types, the ILM propagation rate temporarily exceeds a threshold, a behavior that is shown to consistently coincide with ILM interaction with damage (the static impurity). The quantitatively distinct interaction types are used to devise a method to effectively identify damage in the nonlinear periodic structure. Numerous studies are performed to assess the viability and accuracy of the proposed damage identification method and to examine its robustness to random structural heterogeneity. Beyond stiffness change, the proposed method is applicable to monitoring other system characteristics, such as changing mass or multi-field features, which may be representative of damage or static impurity.
Religious Beliefs, Diet, and Physical Activity Among Jewish Adolescents

Despite a well-documented connection between religion and mortality, the link between religion and obesity-related outcomes and behaviors has not been adequately studied, particularly among adolescents. This study examines whether self-reported religious beliefs influence decisions about physical activity and diet in a sample of Jewish adolescents (n = 351). The results show that reporting a stronger influence of religious beliefs on health behaviors is associated with behaviors related to physical activity, but not diet. In adjusted regression models, individuals who report that their religious beliefs influence decisions about being physically active “a lot” have significantly more active days per week than those who say their religious beliefs do not influence such decisions. Similar effects are seen with regard to the students’ overall amount of sedentary time. The results shed light on previously documented relationships between religion and health, provide practical implications for religious organizations and leaders, and suggest areas for future research.
Computer-Assisted Instruction—How, When and Why

This article reports the result of three years of developing CAI in Italian for college first-year courses and discusses the program's advantages and disadvantages.
Nonlinear spectroscopy, scattering and excitation trapping of exciton-polaritons in naphthalene and doped naphthalene crystals

Abstract Phase-matched two-photon excited (TPE) fluorescence and second-harmonic generation (SHG) are used to determine the transvere polariton dispersion curves and longitudinal exciton associated with the 31475 cm − a -exciton of naphthalene. Crystal angle tuning is shown to provide polariton group velocities in the range 10 6 gVp ≲ν p ≲5×10 8 cm s − . Scattering of these polaritons with phonons is completely characterized and compared with the same for the longitudinal exciton and the relatively slow polaritons (ν p ≈ 2×10 5 cm s − ) produced by one-photon excitation. Narrowing of the exciton-phonon interaction results from fast polariton motion. As a result, the semi-classical theory of nonlinear susceptibilities is shown to break down. The temperature-dependent branching ratio for SHG and two-photon absorption yield a low T residual scattering frequency of γ 0 ≈4×l0 9 s − for the polaritons in pure strain-free crystals. Macroscopic polariton coherence lengths ( l p ) are achieved at low T . A novel methodology for the study of energy transfer in doped molecular crystals is described which employs wavevector- and velocity-selected polaritons. For naphthalene doped with anthracene (trap) the donor-trap “reaction complex” radius ( a ) is ≈ 50 A with an associated scattering frequency of p ≈ 10 12 s − . It is necessary to consider scattering of the polariton (exciton) off of the trap ( p sc ) as well as actual trapping or capture ( p tr ). The ratio p sc / p tr ≈7 and p = p sc + p tr . Analysis of the data with a simple theoretical model shows that energy transfer via the phase-matched polaritons utilized is trap limited (i.e. not motion limited) with concomitant (and “tunable”) high probabilities for transmission of the polariton through the trap region. On the other hand, the energy transfer via the relatively slow polaritons (ν p ≈10 5 cm s − ) or even slower unclothed excitons is shown to be motionlimited. In this limit, the transmission probability is zero and the quasiparticle dephasing frequency (sum of the rate constants for capture and scattering) is given by the trap encounter frequency, R enc . For the intermediate regime it is necessary to write R enc p /( p + t enc −1 ) for the dephasing frequency, where t enc −1 ) is the quasiparticle escape frequency (from the trap region).
Olfactory and vomeronasal system mediation of maternal recognition in the developing rat

Olfactory-mediated arousal and maternal recognition were evaluated in neonatal rat pups. Non-nutritionally deprived pups which underwent bilateral olfactory bulbectomies on day 5, failed to distinguish between the ventral and dorsal surfaces of a nursing rat and a heating pad. They showed virtually no arousal response to any of these surfaces. In contrast, pups with unilateral bulbectomies, and sham controls, graded their arousal response, and were maximally aroused by the mother's ventral surface. Following 24 h of maternal deprivation, bilaterally bulbectomized pups displayed a modest arousal response, directed primarily towards the dorsal surface. Pups with complete vomeronasal nerve sections displayed maximal arousal responses toward the dorsal surface. However, they were far more aroused than the bilaterally bulbectomized pups. Rat pups with incomplete vomeronasal lesions graded their response like controls, with maximal responsiveness directed toward the ventral surface. Shaving the dorsal surface markedly diminished the arousal response of bilaterally bulbectomized pups, but had only modest effects on sham and unilaterally bulbectomized controls. Thus, lesions that destroyed both the main and accessory's olfactory bulb systems severely impaired the pups' ability to effectively recognize a lactating female and markedly diminished maternally-induced arousal. Selective damage to the vomeronasal-accessory olfactory system appeared to disrupt discriminative capacity, but had little effect on the magnitude of the arousal response.
EXTREMAL CAYLEY GRAPHS OF FINITE CYCLIC GROUPS

Let Γ be a finite group with a nonempty subset A. The Cayley graphCay(Γ, A) of Γ generated by A is defined as the digraph with vertex set Γ and edge set {(x,y) | x-1 y ∈ A}. Cay(Γ, A) can be regarded as an undirected graph if x-1 ∈ A for all x ∈ A. Let denote the largest integer M so that there exists a set of integers A = {±1, ±a2;…, ±ak} such that the average distance between all pairs of vertices of Cay(ℤM,A) is at most r, where ℤM is the additive group of residue classes modulo M. It is proved in this paper that It is also proved that
Domains of Quality-Based Strategies: A Functional Perspective

ABSTRACT Quality plays a critical role in acquiring and sustaining a competitive advantage. Yet, minimal attention has been paid to the role that the functional level plays in the strategic implementation of quality. We provide an initial examination of this functional process by delineating the meanings which marketing executives attach to quality corporate strategies. Through content analysis, we provide seven thematic descriptions of quality-based strategies, forming three primary domains: quality as corporate philosophy, tactical superiority, and customer-centered endeavors. Converging this qualitative inquiry with quantitative analysis, we identify positive implications for functional and organizational performance.
Physical Activity Play and Preschool Children's Peer Acceptance: Distinctions Between Rough-and-Tumble and Exercise Play

Research Findings: Two forms of exercise play (toy mediated and non-mediated) and 2 forms of rough-and-tumble (R&T) play (chase and fighting) were examined in relation to preschoolers' peer competence. A total of 148 preschoolers (78 boys, 89 Euro-Americans) were observed during free play at their university-sponsored child care center. The gender makeup of children's play companions (same gender, other gender, or mixed gender) as well as the type of play that children engaged in was recorded. Sociometric interviews assessed how well liked children were by their classmates. Analyses revealed that toy-mediated exercise play with mixed-gender and same-gender peers was associated with boys' and girls' peer acceptance. Girls' non-mediated exercise play and boys' R&T chasing was associated with peer acceptance. Boys who engaged in R&T fighting with same-gender peers were better liked by peers, whereas boys who engaged in R&T chasing with other-gender peers were not liked by peers. Practice or Policy: The resul...
A solar system survey

Abstract A survey of the ecliptic region was conducted from 1976 to 1985 to search for unusual objects in the Solar System. The results of this survey are presented here. The observed number density of asteroidal objects beyond Jupiter is approximately 1.56 × 10 −4 deg −2 .
Two and three component interpenetrating polymer networks

Two and three component interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) have been prepared from polyurethanes, epoxy resins, and acrylic copolymers using the simultaneous technique (SIN). These materials exhibited a variety of morphologies and properties dependent on the types of polymer, molecular weight of precursors, presence of charge groups, and presence of intentional grafts between the component polymer networks. In general, decreasing molecular weight of prepolymers, presence of intentional grafts, and presence of charge groups of opposite charge resulted in increased homogeneity (interpenetration). In addition, increased homogeneity resulted in enhanced mechanical properties.
Studies on the role of viruses, bacteria, and M. pneumoniae as causes of lower respiratory tract infections in children.

The etiological roles of bacteria, viruses, and mycoplasmas were assessed simultaneously in 2 different populations of children from the same geographic area. These patients, some from a typical private practice in a small town and others from a rural environment, represent groups that have not been studied extensively. The significance of the agents varied between the groups in terms of frequency, character of associated illness, and age of patients involved. The data indicate the need for long-term observations in differing epidemiological settings to provide a rational basis for prophylaxis, diagnosis, and therapy of acute respiratory diseases.