cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Mystery of Capital and Inequality of Outcome in Formal Property Ownership

Hernando DeSoto has argued that economic development is linked to creating accessible representations of property so that more people can own property and engage in market transactions. He asserts that less developed countries fail to advance economically because they do not make it easy to access and prove title. The implication is that economic development problems can be solved by creating legal infrastructure that makes deeds, mortgages, and title information accessible, predictable, stable, and transparent. This essay, prepared for a forthcoming book on "Economic and Social Inequality" being edited by Jordon & Olgetree, raises questions about DeSoto's primary thesis. It does this by asking questions about disparities in economic outcome in a country such as the United States. The United States has the entire legal infrastructure that DeSoto finds missing in the developing world and yet we find that economic outcomes vary significantly between and among racial groups. A key area in which this is true is that of housing.One conclusion to be drawn from this state of affairs is that while DeSoto's work presents a good starting point for thinking about the relationship between property law systems and development, it is not a cure-all because the presence of a stable, predictable, transparent, and generally accessible property law system does not ensure economic success for everyone working hard to achieve it. Similarly, in the developing world that DeSoto addresses it is not as if there are no legal forms for deeds, mortgages, and title records. The key is accessibility, and so attention must be paid to disparities in accessibility. Perhaps DeSoto is correct with respect to the need for property law representations and infrastructure as the initial conditions for major economic gains in a developing country, but the question remains as to other steps that need to be taken beyond those outlined by DeSoto when dealing with continuing evidence of inequality of outcome in a mature and developed market economy such as that of the United States.
Dysplasia of the anal transitional zone after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis: results of prospective evaluation after a minimum of ten years.

PURPOSE: Stapling of the ileal pouch-anal anastomosis with preservation of the anal transitional zone remains controversial because of concerns about the potential risk of dysplasia and cancer. The natural history and optimal treatment of anal transitional zone dysplasia ten or more years after surgery are unknown. This study establishes the risk of dysplasia in the anal transitional zone and the outcome of a conservative management policy for anal transitional zone dysplasia, with a minimum of ten years' follow-up after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. METHODS: A total of 289 patients undergoing anal transitional zone-sparing stapled ileal pouch-anal anastomosis for inflammatory bowel disease between 1986 and 1990 were studied. Patients undergoing anal transitional zone-sparing ileal pouch-anal anastomosis who were studied with serial anal transitional zone biopsies for at least ten years postoperatively were included (n = 178). Median follow-up was 130 (range, 120-157) months. RESULTS: Anal transitional zone dysplasia developed in 8 patients 4 to 123 (median, 9) months after surgery. There was no association with gender, age, preoperative disease duration, or extent of colitis, but the risk of anal transitional zone dysplasia was significantly associated with cancer or dysplasia as a preoperative diagnosis or in the proctocolectomy specimen. Dysplasia was high grade in two patients and low grade in six. Two patients with low-grade dysplasia on two or more occasions after detection of low-grade dysplasia underwent completion mucosectomy and perineal pouch advancement with neo-ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. One patient with high-grade dysplasia on two occasions was to undergo completion mucosectomy, but this was not technically feasible. Partial mucosectomy with vigorous anal transitional zone biopsy was performed with close postoperative surveillance. Biopsies were negative for dysplasia. The second recently diagnosed patient with high-grade dysplasia underwent examination under anesthesia with negative anal transitional zone biopsies and will be kept under close surveillance. No cancer in the anal transitional zone was found during the study period. The 4 other patients with low-grade dysplasia on 1 or 2 occasions were treated expectantly and have been dysplasia free for a median of 119 (range, 103-133) months. CONCLUSIONS: Anal transitional zone dysplasia after stapled ileal pouch-anal anastomosis is infrequent and is usually self-limiting. Anal transitional zone preservation did not lead to the development of cancer in the anal transitional zone with a minimum of ten years of follow-up. Long-term surveillance is recommended to monitor dysplasia. If repeat biopsy confirms persistent dysplasia, mucosectomy with perineal pouch advancement and neo-ileal pouch-anal anastomosis is recommended.
Walkingsticks: An Unusual Pest on Sour Cherry

Early in July 1959, a request was received at the Peninsular Branch Experiment Station in Door County, Wisconsin, from a cherry grower asking for a recommendation for chemical control of walkingsticks on cherry. This unusual request was further compounded by the fact that the problem was not one caused by feeding on the foliage, but one related to cherry pickers during harvest. The grower had extensive acreage in orchards and annually contracted for Jamaican labor to help harvest the fruit. The Jamaican workers were superstitious about the walkingsticks and were reluctant and sometimes even refused to work in infested orchards. Although close to harvest, the grower wanted to spray the orchards with a safe, effective, nonpersistent, insecticide, to reduce the walkingstick population and thus help quiet the fear of the pickers.
Calmodulin and S100A1 fine tune skeletal muscle E-C coupling. Focus on "Modulation of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release in skeletal muscle expressing ryanodine receptor impaired in regulation by calmodulin and S100A1".

the force of skeletal muscle contraction is controlled by the amount of Ca2+ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) via the ryanodine receptor (RyR1). The RyR1 is activated during excitation-contraction coupling (ECC) by plasmalemmal voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel activation, via a mechanical
EVALUATION OF ADVANCED SWEETPOTATO GENOTYPES FOR RESISTANCE TO SOIL INSECT PESTS,2010

The field experiment described herein was an evaluation of advanced sweetpotato genotypes developed by USDA-ARS at the U.S. Vegetable Laboratory (USVL), Charleston, SC in 2013. A major objective of the sweetpotato breeding program at the USVL is to produce advanced germplasm with resistance to soil insect pests. Cuttings of two insect-susceptible check cultivars (‘Beauregard’ and ‘SC1149-19’), two insect-resistant check cultivars (‘Charleston Scarlet’ and ‘Ruddy’), two commercial varieties (‘Covington’ and ‘Liberty’), and 24 advanced genotypes …
Outcomes and complications of gamma knife radiosurgery for skull base meningiomas.

Objective To review the outcomes and complications of meningiomas treated with gamma knife radiosurgery (GKRS) as a primary treatment as well as an adjunct therapy. Materials and Methods We performed a retrospective review (2000-2013) of 136 patients with meningiomas who received GKRS. Of 136 patients, 68 patients had recurrent or residual tumors after microsurgical resection, and the other 68 patients received GKRS alone. The study population was evaluated clinically and radiographically after GKRS treatment. Results GKRS in meningiomas showed significant variations in tumor growth control (decreased in 69 patients [50.7%], arrested growth in 47 patients [34.6%], and increased tumor size in 20 patients [14.7%]). Progression-free survival rates after GKRS at 3, 5, and 10 years were 98%, 95% and 85%, respectively. Overall improvement of signs and symptoms after GKRS was 30% (71% versus 41%) compared with pretreated sign and symptoms (p = 0.0001). The Karnofsky performance scale was significantly improved after GKRS compared with the pretreated status (92 versus 80). Twenty patients (14.7%) required resection after initial GKRS. Conclusion These study findings revealed that GKRS offers a high rate of tumor control, preservation of multiple nerve functions, and a good quality of life in both new and recurrent patients with meningiomas.
Ultrafast carrier dynamics, optical amplification, and lasing in nanocrystal quantum dots

Semiconductor materials are widely used in both optically and electrically pumped lasers. The use of semiconductor quantum wells (QWs) as optical-gain media has resulted in important advances in laser technology. QWs have a two-dimensional, step-like density of electronic states that is nonzero at the band edge, enabling a higher concentration of carriers to contribute to the band-edge emission and leading to a reduced lasing threshold, improved temperature stability, and a narrower emission line. A further enhancement in the density of the band-edge states and an associated reduction in the lasing threshold are in principle possible using quantum wires and quantum dots (QDs), in which the confinement is in two and three dimensions, respectively. In very small dots, the spacing of the electronic states is much greater than the available thermal energy (strong confinement), inhibiting thermal depopulation of the lowest electronic states. This effect should result in a lasing threshold that is temperatureinsensitive at an excitation level of only 1 electron-hole (e-h) pair per dot on average. Additionally, QDs in the strongconfinement regime have an emission wavelength that is a pronounced function of size, adding the advantage of continuous spectral tunability over a wide energy range simply by changing the size of the dots.
Cardiac Response to Participation in Selected Individual and Dual Sports as Determined by Telemetry

Abstract Cardiac response to participation in tennis, badminton, golf, archery, and bowling was obtained by telemetering heart rates during exercise. These heart rates, together with rectal temperatures and recovery heart rates, were studied in an attempt to determine the relative strenuousness of these sports and to classify them according to work load. Tennis and badminton proved to be significantly more strenuous than golf, archery, and bowling and were classified as moderate work. Golf was significantly more strenuous than archery and bowling, but none of these required a mean heart rate higher than 106 and were consequently classified as light work. Heart rates recorded at the end of 20 min. were compared with those recorded at the end of the game or match in question. In every case except golf, which was played over a 2-hr. period, results of the 20-min. sample were similar to those of the total game. Rectal temperatures, taken at rest, at the end of 20 min. and upon completion of the game, followed...
Economic Considerations of Aggressively Treating the Influenza Virus in Equines

OF THESIS ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS OF AGGRESSIVLEY TREATING THE INFLUENZA VIRUS IN EQUINES The equine influenza virus is a significant cause of respiratory disease in horses. Even though horses generally recover from this virus, sometimes horses with equine influenza develop secondary bacterial infections which can cause severe pneumonia, thereby increasing recovery times. Owners and managers are faced with the decision of whether to delay preventative treatment in hopes of the horse avoids contracting a secondary bacterial infection (“wait and see”) or aggressively treat the horse with an antibiotic in hopes of avoiding a serious infection (“treat now”). From a decision making standpoint, the economic considerations include explicit treatment costs as well as nonmonetary costs the owner or manager bear when caring for an ill horse. This study investigating horse owner/manager preferences for treatment alternatives is approached in two parts. The first part of the study collects data from field practitioners to estimate the cost of treatment strategies under different scenarios. The second part consists of a questionnaire presented to horse owners and managers and includes four choices between alternative treatment strategies. Analyzing the data using a conjoint analysis approach, respondents’ willingness to pay for different elements of a treatment strategy are estimated. Based on treatment strategies and demographic interactions, a respondent was willing to pay to cover the cost of a horse who became ill with the equine influenza, but individual price sensitivities suggested horse owners and managers are willing to “treat now” versus “wait and see” in order to not see their horse feel poorly and miss training time.
A comic author’s marketing techniques

What happens when an author undertakes a supplementary marketing campaign to university librarians? S. S. Hanna, the author of a comic account of finding a publisher, added to the efforts of the Iowa State University Press some communications of his own. The details of his campaign, and some of its results, are offered.
Information and Communication Technology Offshoring Logistics Success: A Social Exchange Perspective

As emerging countries continue to enhance the education of their workforce and modernize their infrastructures, the opportunities the information and communication technology offshoring increase. This research offers a perspective on the client–vendor relationship using social exchange theory. Our findings show that partnership mediates the relationships between communication, lack of trust, shared values, and offshoring logistics success. In addition, shared values increase trust, whereas power and partnership influence the success of offshoring logistics.
AUTHOR ATTRIBUTION EVALUATION WITH NOVEL TOPIC CROSS-VALIDATION

The practice of using statistical models in predicting authorship (so-called author attribution models) is long established. Several recent authorship attribution studies have indicated that topic-specific cues impact author attribution machine learning models. The arrival of new topics should be anticipated rather than ignored in an author attribution evaluation methodology; a model that relies heavily on topic cues will be problematic in deployment settings where novel topics are common. We develop a protocol and test bed for measuring sensitivity to topic cues using a methodology called novel topic cross-validation. Our methodology performs a cross-validation where only topics unseen in training data are used in the test portion. Analysis of the testing framework suggests that corpora with large numbers of topics lead to more powerful hypothesis testing in novel topic evaluation studies. In order to implement the evaluation metric, we developed two subsets of the New York Times Annotated Corpus including one with 15 authors and 23 topics. We evaluated a maximum entropy classifier in standard and novel topic cross validation in order to compare the mechanics of the two procedures. Our novel topic evaluation framework supports automatic learning of stylometric cues that are topic neutral, and our test bed is reproducible using document identifiers available from the authors.
Differentially Private Location Protection for Worker Datasets in Spatial Crowdsourcing

Spatial Crowdsourcing (SC) is a transformative platform that engages individuals in collecting and analyzing environmental, social, and other spatio-temporal information. SC outsources spatio-temporal tasks to a set of workers , i.e., individuals with mobile devices that perform the tasks by physically traveling to specified locations. However, current solutions require the workers to disclose their locations to untrusted parties. In this paper, we introduce a framework for protecting location privacy of workers participating in SC tasks. We propose a mechanism based on differential privacy and geocasting that achieves effective SC services while offering privacy guarantees to workers. We address scenarios with both static and dynamic (i.e., moving) datasets of workers. Experimental results on real-world data show that the proposed technique protects location privacy without incurring significant performance overhead.
Why Hire Your Rival? The Case of Bank Debt Underwriting

This paper examines the previously undocumented debt underwriting relationship for banks. Publicly-traded investment and commercial banks (“banks”) are unique in that they are the only firms capable of underwriting their own securities. Banks, however, hire a rival in nearly 30% of their debt issuances and do so extensively across bank size, quality, and type. The decision to use a rival is related to expertise, information sharing, as well as our newly-proposed bank-specific (distribution networks, capacity, and ranking) motivations and is costly to issuers. These results provide new evidence of banks’ underwriter choice and the pervasive use of rivals.
Failure of Diplomacy and the Anglo-Burmese Wars

Bodawpaya died in 1819, and was succeeded by his grandson Bagyidaw (1819–1837). Bagyidaw was by no means a strong and aggressive king; he had no personal dream of empire, but circumstances forced him first to expand the Burmese empire and then cause its downfall. The Burmese before Bagyidaw had never annexed kingdoms consisting of other races, and therefore their empires were always composed of the kingdom of Burma and kingdoms paying tribute to it. The Burmese, of course, included Pegu and Arakan in their kingdom, as they considered the Mons and the Arakanese as belonging to the same racial group as themselves, but they allowed the Shan states to remain under their own chieftains, who were given the status of kings of the sunset, that is, kings of the second class. On those occasions when the Burmese held Siam, they held it merely as a tributary state. The same was true of Manipur and also of the Ahom kingdom of Assam. In fact, both Siam and Assam were considered to be Shan kingdoms, because the Shans, the Siamese and the Assamese were racially Tais and the Burmese knew them all as Shans. Under Bodawpaya, Manipur was part of the Burmese empire, but merely as a tributary state. Towards the end of Bodawpaya’s reign, chaotic conditions prevailed in the kingdom of Assam as a result of rebellions and struggles for the throne, and one of the contending parties approached the East India Company for support, but the British decided not to interfere. Bodawpaya watched the situation very carefully, and in 1817 he became anxious lest the British should take over the kingdom.
System Performance Evaluation of DWDM Networks Using Cascaded In-Line Amplification

The erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) has enabled the development of dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems. To determine system performance, several parameters must be considered, fiber length between EDFAs, fiber loss per km, and the number of in-line EDFAs over the span. As the signal travels over a long distance, the energy of the pulse will decrease with distance. This energy loss is caused by nonlinear effects introduced by the fiber. Using cascaded in-line amplification (CIA) stages in conjunction with non-return to zero (NRZ) and optical soliton signaling formats, the effects of optical fiber nonlinearities in DWDM networks can be minimized.
Decreased rates of shoulder dystocia and brachial plexus injury via an evidence-based practice bundle.

Objective To evaluate whether a standardized approach to identify pregnant women at risk for shoulder dystocia (SD) is associated with reduced incidence of SD and brachial plexus injury (BPI). Methods Between 2011 and 2015, prospective data were collected from 29 community-based hospitals in the USA during implementation of an evidence-based practice bundle, including an admission risk assessment, required “timeout” before operative vaginal delivery (OVD), and low-fidelity SD drills. All women with singleton vertex pregnancies admitted for vaginal delivery were included. Rates of SD, BPI, OVD, and cesarean delivery were compared between a baseline period (January 2011–September 2013) and an intervention period (October 2013–June 2015), during which there was a system-wide average bundle compliance of 90%. Results There was a significant reduction in the incidence of SD (17.6%; P=0.028), BPI (28.6%; P=0.018), and OVD (18.0%; P<0.001) after implementation of the evidence-based practice bundle. There was a nonsignificant reduction in primary (P=0.823) and total (P=0.396) cesarean rates, but no association between SD drills and incidence of BPI. Conclusion Implementation of a standard evidence-based practice bundle was found to be associated with a significant reduction in the incidence of SD and BPI. Utilization of low-fidelity drills was not associated with a reduction in BPI.
Tapir: Embedding Fork-Join Parallelism into LLVM's Intermediate Representation

This paper explores how fork-join parallelism, as supported by concurrency platforms such as Cilk and OpenMP, can be embedded into a compiler's intermediate representation (IR). Mainstream compilers typically treat parallel linguistic constructs as syntactic sugar for function calls into a parallel runtime. These calls prevent the compiler from performing optimizations across parallel control constructs. Remedying this situation is generally thought to require an extensive reworking of compiler analyses and code transformations to handle parallel semantics. Tapir is a compiler IR that represents logically parallel tasks asymmetrically in the program's control flow graph. Tapir allows the compiler to optimize across parallel control constructs with only minor changes to its existing analyses and code transformations. To prototype Tapir in the LLVM compiler, for example, we added or modified about 6000 lines of LLVM's 4-million-line codebase. Tapir enables LLVM's existing compiler optimizations for serial code -- including loop-invariant-code motion, common-subexpression elimination, and tail-recursion elimination -- to work with parallel control constructs such as spawning and parallel loops. Tapir also supports parallel optimizations such as loop scheduling.
The EXERRT trial: “EXErcise to Regadenoson in Recovery Trial”: A phase 3b, open-label, parallel group, randomized, multicenter study to assess regadenoson administration following an inadequate exercise stress test as compared to regadenoson without exercise for myocardial perfusion imaging using a SPECT protocol

This study assessed the non-inferiority and safety of regadenoson administration during recovery from inadequate exercise compared with administration without exercise. Patients unable to achieve adequate exercise stress were randomized to regadenoson 0.4 mg either during recovery (Ex-Reg) or 1 hour after inadequate exercise (Regadenoson) (MPI1). All patients also underwent non-exercise regadenoson MPI 1-14 days later (MPI2). The number of segments with reversible perfusion defects (RPDs) detected using single photon emission computerized tomography imaging was categorized. The primary analysis evaluated the majority agreement rate between Ex-Reg and Regadenoson groups. 1,147 patients were randomized. The lower bound of the 95% confidence interval of the difference in agreement rates (−6%) was above the −7.5% non-inferiority margin, demonstrating non-inferiority of Ex-Reg to Regadenoson. Adverse events were numerically less with Ex-Reg (MPI1). In the Ex-Reg group, one patient developed an acute coronary syndrome and another had a myocardial infarction following regadenoson after exercise. Upon review, both had electrocardiographic changes consistent with ischemia prior to regadenoson. Administering regadenoson during recovery from inadequate exercise results in comparable categorization of segments with RPDs and with careful monitoring appears to be well tolerated in patients without signs/symptoms of ischemia during exercise and recovery.
Three Decades of Follow-up of Adults After Recovery From Invasive Pneumococcal Pneumonia

Abstract Background Streptococcus pneumoniae infection is the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia in adults. Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) carries a high case fatality rate. We investigated the lifespan of adults who recovered from IPD during a 32-year follow-up. Materials and Methods We determined whether adults discharged after an episode of IPD from hospitals affiliated with the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine in Huntington, West Virginia from 1983-2003 were alive on June 30, 2014. Lifespan was assessed by Kaplan-Meier methodology, Cox proportional hazards multivariate analysis, life expectancy using life tables for West Virginia, years of potential life lost and serotype occurrence. Results The study group comprised 155 adults who survived IPD. They had a mean age at discharge of 64.6 years, mean lifespan after IPD of 7.1 years, mean expected lifespan after IPD of 17.0 years, mean age at death of 71.6 years and a mean life expectancy of 81.6 years. Only 14 (9.0%) patients lived longer than their life expectancy. Of the 13 comorbid diseases analyzed, cancer and neurologic diseases and the number of comorbid diseases suffered by each patient were the significant variables associated with survival. The mean years of potential life lost was 9.936 years. Only serotype 12 of 31 serotypes recovered occurred more often in patients who survived for 11 or more years after discharge (relative risk = 3.44, 95% CI: 1.19-9.95). Conclusions The fact that most adult patients who recovered from IPD died before their documented life expectancy argues for the pernicious severity of IPD and the importance of immunization of adults with pneumococcal vaccines.
The Role of Bioenergy in Mitigating Climate Change

The combustion of fossil fuels drive the steady increase in greenhouse gases (GHG) and global temperatures observed in recent decades. The realization of adverse effects of increase in GHG emissions on the environment, the desire to limit atmospheric CO2 concentration at 450 ppm or lower and limit global temperature increase to ≤2 °C, combined with increasing energy needs have made the quest for sustainable and environmentally benign sources of energy for industrial economies and consumer societies a high priority since 1980s. To limit atmospheric CO2 concentration at 450 ppm, a total CO2 emission reduction of 50–85% is required by 2050. As a result, there are a renewed interests in carbon-neutral or carbon-negative renewable energy sources. Among the renewable energy sources, biofuels are considered as an attractive fuel sources for replacing fossil fuels. Bioenergy is important for many sectors and mitigation perspectives as well as from the perspective of developmental goals such as energy security and rural development. It is argued that increasing the contribution of biofuels will reduce the GHG emission by reducing the carbon intensity of the transport sector and addressing energy security concerns. In addition to global climate change threat, interests in biofuels are enhanced by growing global energy demand and diminishing crude oil supply. However, there is concern about the existing interlink between biomass , bioenergy, land use, food supply, water use, and biodiversity. The first generation biofuels primarily produced from food crops feedstock are unsustainable due to the potential stress their production places on food, feed and fiber production. The second and third generation biofuels produced from abundant biomass and algae respectively are seen as the attractive solution to limitations of the first generation biofuels and also have higher potential for GHG emission mitigation. Yet, the practicalities of deployment of bioenergy at a large scale are mired in controversies over the potential resource conflicts that might occur, particularly over land, water and biodiversity. Additionally, a number of technical huddles must be overcome before their true potential can fully be realized and evaluated. This chapter summarizes the current knowledge of biofuels , the potential role in mitigating GHG emission, societal dilemma in large scale biofuel production, current assumptions on which global bioenergy resource estimates are predicted and future directions of biofuels research with the emphasis on assessments informed by empirical studies.
The US Conservation Reserve Program: The evolution of an enrollment mechanism

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has evolved from near open enrollment, to competitive enrollment, and now to a mixture of competitive and targeted enrollment. This paper reviews the history of the CRP and the evolution of its enrollment mechanism. I discuss the use of bid caps and the Environmental Benefits Index bid ranking mechanism in the “general” CRP; and the use of highly targeted, but non-competitive, “continuous” CRP. Possible challenges of these designs are discussed, and alternative auction mechanisms are considered that could be more cost effective.
The effects of chemical fixation on the cellular nanostructure

Chemical fixation is nearly indispensable in the biological sciences, especially in circumstances where cryo-fixation is not applicable. While universally employed for the preservation of cell organization, chemical fixatives often introduce artifacts that can confound identification of true structures. Since biological research is increasingly probing ever-finer details of the cellular architecture, it is critical to understand the nanoscale transformation of the cellular organization due to fixation both systematically and quantitatively. In this work, we employed Partial Wave Spectroscopic (PWS) Microscopy, a nanoscale sensitive and label-free live cell spectroscopic-imaging technique, to analyze the effects of the fixation process through three commonly used fixation protocols for cells in vitro. In each method investigated, we detected dramatic difference in both nuclear and cytoplasmic nanoarchitecture between live and fixed states. But significantly, despite the alterations in cellular nanoscale organizations after chemical fixation, the population differences in chromatin structure (e.g. induced by a specific chemotherapeutic agent) remains. In conclusion, we demonstrated that the nanoscale cellular arrangement observed in fixed cells was fundamentally divorced from that in live cells, thus the quantitative analysis is only meaningful on the population level. This finding highlights the importance of live cell imaging techniques with nanoscale sensitivity or cryo-fixation in the interrogation of cellular structure, to complement more traditional chemical fixation methods.
Characterization of an EBV-Associated Protein Kinase

Biologically active Epstein-Barr virions have been isolated in a two-step procedure using affinity chromatography on ricin-agglutinin Sepharose followed by sedimentation in non-ionic density gradients of Nycodenz. A protein kinase activity co-purifies with the virions through both steps. Nucleocapsids prepared by extraction of purified virions with 2% NP-40, 0.05% Na deoxycholate, 1M urea retain more than 85% of the activity present in virions indicating that the kinase is an intrinsic component of the nucleocapsid. SDS gel electrophoresis of autophosphorylated virions and nucleocapsids reveals that the same proteins are phosphorylated in both preparations. The primary phosphorylated proteins have molecular weights of 100,000, 76,000, 52,000 amd 46,000 daltons. Analysis of the phosphoamino acids shows a high level of phosphoserine with a trace of phosphothreonine; no tyrosine phosphorylation is detectable. These data indicate that Epstein-Barr virus, like other herpes viruses, has an endogeneous protein kinase activity contained in its nucleocapsid.
School board member and superintendent dispositions relating to student achievement

The purpose of this study was to determine whether local school board members who have been subjected to more of a specific type of training focused on student achievement create and support conditions in their systems that enable students to achieve at high levels. Of specific interest was the change in disposition of the board members and superintendents as a result of the training. Educational research has endorsed the idea that school districts cannot effectively raise student achievement without strong leadership and teamwork from the school board and the superintendent. Results from this study indicated that board members who participated in more intensive training related to topics around leadership and student achievement consistently identified this training as having an influence on the disposition of the board and the behaviors they exhibited at board meetings. This was demonstrated by the systematic approach to their work with less micromanaging, the use of data in their decisions, a district focus on reading comprehension, and by an "a// really does mean all students" attitude when making decisions related to student achievement. Iowa schools continue to face the challenge of improving student achievement. Schools and school leaders are being asked by policy makers to ensure that all students reach a level of proficiency or face risks and consequences of failure. Past research has focused on the policy development of boards of education rather than on the training and support that board members received. This study concluded that, if board members are going to lead districts in student learning efforts, training for the board members does matter. Among the recommendations were regular self-assessment, and mandated development and training to
Laparoscopic Malabsorption Procedures: The Technique of Biliopancre atic Diversion

Scopinaro’s lifelong commitment to biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) has demonstrated its effectiveness as a tool offering sustained weight loss (1). Scopinaro’s initial technique really has not changed much since the 1970s. The procedure offers a two-pronged attack: initial restriction and then maintenance by malabsorption (2). Benefits derived from laparoscopic techniques applied to abdominal procedures relate to elimination of wound complications, namely pain and suffering, and delayed complications from the incision itself. The greatest benefit has come in those procedures where the morbidity was almost entirely related to the wound, particularly cholecystectomy, fundoplication, and splenectomy in the upper abdomen and inguinal hernia and colectomy in the lower abdomen (3, 4, 5, 6).
Examining the Relationship Between Comparative and Self-Focused Academic Data Visualizations in At-Risk College Students' Academic Motivation

AbstractThis qualitative study focuses on capturing students' understanding two visualizations often utilized by learning analytics-based educational technologies: bar graphs, and line graphs. It is framed by Achievement Goal Theory—a prominent theory of students' academic motivation—and utilizes interviews (n = 60) to investigate how students at risk of college failure interpret visualizations of their potential academic achievement. Findings suggest that visualizations only containing information about students themselves (i.e., self-focused affordances) evoked statements centered on mastering material. Visualizations containing information about students and a class average (i.e., comparative information), on the other hand, evoked responses that disheartened students and/or made them feel accountable to do better. Findings from this study suggest the following guidelines for designing visualizations for learning analytics-based educational technologies: (1) Never assume that more information is better...
Insight into the physiological role of water absorption via the leaf surface from a rehydration kinetics perspective

Soil water transported via the petiole is a primary rehydration pathway for leaves of water-stressed plants. Leaves may also rehydrate by absorbing water via their epidermal surfaces. The mechanisms and physiological relevance of this water pathway, however, remain unclear, as the associated hydraulic properties are unknown. To gain insight into the foliar water absorption process, we compared rehydration kinetics via the petiole and surface of Prunus dulcis and Quercus lobata leaves. Petiole rehydration could be described by a double exponential function suggesting that 2 partly isolated water pools exist in leaves of both species. Surface rehydration could be described by a logistic function, suggesting that leaves behave as a single water pool. Whereas full leaf rehydration via the petiole required approximately 20 min, it took over 150 and 300 min via the surface of P. dulcis and Q. lobata, respectively. Such differences were attributed to the high resistance imposed by the leaf surface and especially the cuticle. The minimum resistance to surface rehydration was estimated to be 6.6 × 102 (P. dulcis) and 2.6 × 103 MPa·m2 ·s·g-1 (Q. lobata), which is remarkably higher than estimated for petiole rehydration. These results are discussed in a physiological context.
Technology Enabling Circuits and Systems for the Internet-of-Things: An Overview

The Internet-of-Things (IoT) network is being vigorously pushed forward from many fronts in diverse research communities. Many problems are still there to be solved, and challenges are found among its many levels of abstraction. In this paper we give an overview of recent developments in circuit design for ultra-low power transceivers and energy harvesting management units for the IoT. The study shows how this research is contributing to enable new IoT applications, by reducing active power consumption and optimizing the extraction of energy from the ambient.
Robust Control Design for Uncertain Nonlinear Dynamic Systems

Robustness to parametric uncertainty is fundamental to successful control system design and as such it has been at the core of many design methods developed over the decades. Despite its prominence, most of the work on robust control design has focused on linear models and uncertainties that are non-probabilistic in nature. Recently, researchers have acknowledged this disparity and have been developing theory to address a broader class of uncertainties. This paper presents an experimental application of robust control design for a hybrid class of probabilistic and non-probabilistic parametric uncertainties. The experimental apparatus is based upon the classic inverted pendulum on a cart. The physical uncertainty is realized by a known additional lumped mass at an unknown location on the pendulum. This unknown location has the effect of substantially altering the nominal frequency and controllability of the nonlinear system, and in the limit has the capability to make the system neutrally stable and uncontrollable. Another uncertainty to be considered is a direct current motor parameter. The control design objective is to design a controller that satisfies stability, tracking error, control power, and transient behavior requirements for the largest range of parametric uncertainties. This paper presents an overview of the theory behind the robust control design methodology and the experimental results.
Controlled Delivery of Pilocarpine. 1. In Vitro Characterization of Gelfoam® Matrices

The potential of Gelfoam absorbable gelatin sponge as a carrier for ophthalmic delivery of pilocarpine was examined. Prolonged in vitro release of pilocarpine was achieved through pharmaceutical modification of the device by embedding a retardant in the pores. The device embedded with cetyl ester wax released pilocarpine in a zero-order pattern (release exponent = 0.93 ± 0.04) for up to 5 hr. This result corresponded well with a linear penetrant uptake by this device. The device impregnated with polyethylene glycol 400 mono-stearate exhibited anomalous drug transport with a release exponent of 0.63 ± 0.02. The absorption of water by this retardant and the formation of a gel layer on the surface slowed the penetration of the release medium into the deeper sections of the matrix, as well as the rapid outward diffusion of drug, resulting in a prolonged release of pilocarpine.
Opening the Floodgates and Draining the Great Lakes One Bottle at a Time: How Privatizing Water Resources Threatens the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are an enormous and precious source of fresh water on earth. Although water such as that in the Great Lakes has long been viewed as a public good, some private companies are seeing huge profits from bottling and selling water from the Great Lakes ecosystem. Concern about such privatization of water resources has resulted in a new interstate compact for the management of water resources in the Great Lakes Basin as well as an international agreement with Canada. Unfortunately, the new laws have a loophole that allows private companies to withdraw significant quantities of ground water and sell it as long as it is placed in containers holding 5.7 gallons or less. The individual states are handling the permitting of such withdrawals in accordance with their own state laws. Michigan now requires that withdrawals of more than 100,000 gallons of ground water per day be registered. Withdrawals of more than 250,000 gallons of ground water per day for the purpose of bottling as water requires a permit and such permits shall not be issued if the withdrawal will have an adverse impact. Unfortunately, not all states have the same program. Moreover, there are no provisions to require the evaluation of the cumulative impact of large withdrawals from multiple locations in the multiple states bordering the Great Lakes. In short, the laws for managing water resources are getting better, but there is still a long way to go to assure the environmental protection and sustainable use of the Great Lakes.
An Increasing Utility for the Early Management Theories: An Exploratory Study

The authors of this study found evidence that the utility for the early management theories has intensified tremendously over the past 50-years, when examined 5-years at a time, for 10 periods, from 1963-1967 to 2008-2012. The investigation reveals that these early theories are not, as some might expect, on the decline. Interest in scientific management, in particular, has increased by leaps and bounds over other early theories. Data analysis shows differences on main effects and two-way interaction effects for each model with large effect sizes. Therefore, the data show that there is an increasing utility for scientific management, management by objectives, equity theory and expectancy theory. Furthermore, these management theories have gained more traction over the most recent 25 years.
Imaging pH Dynamics Simultaneously in Two Cellular Compartments Using a Ratiometric pH-Sensitive Mutant of mCherry

The regulation of pH is essential for proper organelle function, and organelle-specific changes in pH often reflect the dynamics of physiological signaling and metabolism. For example, mitochondrial energy production depends on the proton gradient maintained between the alkaline mitochondrial matrix and neutral cytosol. However, we still lack a quantitative understanding of how pH dynamics are coupled between compartments and how pH gradients are regulated at organelle boundaries. Genetically encoded pH sensors are well suited to address this problem because they can be targeted to specific subcellular locations and they facilitate live, single-cell analysis. However, most of these pH sensors are derivatives of green and yellow fluorescent proteins that are not spectrally compatible for dual-compartment imaging. Therefore, there is a need for ratiometric red fluorescent protein pH sensors that enable quantitative multicolor imaging of spatially resolved pH dynamics. In this work, we demonstrate that the I158E/Q160A mutant of the red fluorescent protein mCherry is an effective ratiometric pH sensor. It has a pKa of 7.3 and a greater than 3-fold change in ratio signal. To demonstrate its utility in cells, we measured activity and metabolism-dependent pH dynamics in cultured primary neurons and neuroblastoma cells. Furthermore, we were able to image pH changes simultaneously in the cytosol and mitochondria by using the mCherryEA mutant together with the green fluorescent pH sensor, ratiometric-pHluorin. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of studying interorganelle pH dynamics in live cells over time and the broad applicability of these sensors in studying the role of pH regulation in metabolism and signaling.
Characterization of Propagation Phenomena Relevant for 300 GHz Wireless Data Center Links

This article presents details about an extensive channel measurement campaign and subsequent statistical channel models for the characterization of 300 GHz channels for wireless rack-to-rack (R2R) and blade-to-blade (B2B) communications in a data center-like environment. Measurements were conducted in various scenarios such as R2R line-of-sight (LoS), R2R obstructed-LoS (OLoS), R2R reflected-non-LoS (RNLoS), R2R obstructed-RNLoS (ORNLoS), B2B RNLoS, B2B ORNLoS, and B2B LoS scenarios. In the aforementioned scenarios, we explored the impact of transmitter (Tx)/receiver (Rx) misalignment and obstructions such as cables, metal cabinets, and mesh structures on terahertz (THz) propagation, as well as feasibility of using existing metal objects as reflectors for NLoS links. For the R2R LoS scenario, an optical lens was used to extend the Tx-Rx separation distance. This led to a waveguide effect in the channels measured thereby resulting into a path loss exponent (PLE) of 1.48 with a shadowing gain of 0.7 dB. When obstructions of cables are present, ORNLoS link outperforms OLoS link with 2.5 dB lower shadowing gain and weaker multipath. Reflector in the RNLoS link has reflection coefficients very close to 1 for all incident angles. For the B2B scenario, a dual-reflector THz transceiver rack system is proposed to enable wireless links across vertically stacked servers and allow easy maintenance and repair of servers. The measured path loss closely follows the Friis values in the LoS link and in the RNLoS link with hollow vertical ground plane. When obstructions of cables are present, the ORNLoS link experiences 5–10 dB higher path loss and on average 0.25 GHz lower coherence bandwidth than the RNLoS link. The measured statistical channel properties show that the shadowing gain caused by cable clusters follows the log-normal distribution.
Social Media During the School Shooting Contagion Period

Abstract School shootings have been on the rise and researchers have documented a “contagion effect” in which school shootings increase in probability during a 2-week period following an event (e.g...
Height, nevus count, and risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma: Results from 2 large cohorts of US women.

Background Taller individuals are at higher risk of melanoma. Objective To prospectively investigate the association of height with nevus count and melanoma and estimate the proportion of height-melanoma association explained by nevus count among white participants from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Nurses' Health Study 2 (NHS2). Methods We used Cox proportional hazards regression and multinomial logistic regression for data analyses, with adjustment of potential confounders in the multivariate model. Results We included 82,468 and 106,069 women from NHS and NHS2, respectively. The hazard ratio was 1.21 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12-1.31) for the association between every 10-cm increase in height and melanoma. Compared with women with no nevi, the odds ratios (95% CIs) associated with a 10-cm increase in height were 1.35 (95% CI 1.23-1.48) in the NHS and 1.12 (95% CI 1.09-1.15) in the NHS2 for women with greater than or equal to 10 moles. The proportion of excess melanoma risk associated with each 10-cm increase in height explained by nevus count was 8.03% in the NHS and 10.22% in the NHS2. Limitation Self-reported height and nevus count. Mole counts were limited to 1 arm or both legs. Conclusion Nevus count is an important explanatory factor for the excess risk of melanoma among taller white women.