cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The use of a permanent magnet for water content measurements of wood chips

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has developed a device that measures the water content of wood chips, pulp and brown stock for the paper industry. This device employs a permanent magnet as the central part of a NMR measurement system. This report describes the magnet and the NMR measurement system. The results of water content measurements in wood chips in a magnetic field of 0.47 T are presented.
High-Density PWB Microvia Reliability for Space Application

As high-performance, compact semiconductor devices approach physical limitations on the number of input and output pins, board designers increasingly rely on microvias to fan out signals in facilitating board layout. These highly compact and high-density designs are driving microvias with even more closely-packed, smaller-diameter holes and thinner traces. One such embedded computer system used in aerospace applications has 17,018 microvias. Acceptance testing (AT) criteria includes environmental stresses to ensure flight worthy status of hardware. Honeywell AT was able to help identify three failures that after extensive investigation along with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis were found to be attributed to microvia failures. The three failed printed wiring assemblies (PWA) were two processor boards, and one Input/Output (I/O) board. For the processor boards, we have confirmed microvia separation without identifying root cause. For the I/O board, the cause of the microvia separation was identified as delamination within the Thermountreg surface layer. After a thorough failure investigation for each of the failures, a joint failure review board including members from Honeywell, customers, and the printed wiring board (PWB) vendor was held. The conclusion of the meeting was that root cause had not been identified, and experiments were designed to determine either root cause or exonerate Honeywell's manufacturing process. The complete process beginning with board construction at the PWB vendor to board integration into the embedded computer system was evaluated for potential root cause. Honeywell engineers developed six sigma design of experiments (DOE) to validate Honeywell's surface mount technology (SMT) processes, specifically the combination of vapor phase reflow and exposure to humidity. Two different experiments were developed: one for interconnect stress test (IST) coupons representative of printed wiring boards and another using flight PWBs. High-resolution resistance measurements in milliohm range were taken before and after they were subjected to humidity and thermal conditioning. Resistance changes were analyzed for indications of potential suspect circuits with microvias. Results verify that the tested levels of humidity, vapor phase profiles, and moisture re-absorption do not have an impact on microvia integrity.
Down Regulation of Insulin Receptors in Primary Cultures of Adult Rat Hepatocytes in Monolayer

Down regulation of insulin receptor number by insulin at physiological concentrations (10-9 M) has been demonstrated in primary cultures of adult rat liver parenchymal cells in monolayer. However, because insulin is rapidly degraded in this culture system, special efforts are necessary to maintain the concentration of insulin in the medium in order to evoke the down regulation phenomenon.
Using a Sensory Integrative Approach to Treat Self-Injurious Behavior in an Adult With Profound Mental Retardation

The treatment of self-injurious behavior in adults with mental retardation is a major challenge. A critical review of the literature compares sensory-based treatment studies by behavioral psychologists with sensory integrative treatment studies by occupational therapists. In general, therapists have used direct intervention in concentrated daily sessions. This report includes a single subject study that (a) demonstrates the clinical reasoning involved in the assessment and treatment planning process, (b) documents the efficacy of multiple short treatment sessions spread throughout the day, and (c) presents an alternative model of service provision in which direct care staff provide sensory and adaptive activities under the supervision of an occupational therapist. The use of sensory integration with adults with profound handicaps is presented as a valid application of a theory and treatment that was originally developed from work with higher functioning children with learning disabilities.
Mixed Oxidation of Materials in High Temperature Environments Containing Chlorine

The kinetics of high temperature corrosion by chlorine differ from those of high temperature corrosion of most other oxidizing gases because of the volatility of many chloride reaction products. The economic importance of high temperature corrosion in chlorine contaminated environments is increasing because of the presence of chlorine in many municipal and industrial wastes which must be disposed of by incineration. These incineration systems are constructed from superalloys or ceramic materials which are designed for strength at high temperatures and resistance to attack by oxygen. They may be attacked much more rapidly in high temperature environments which also contain chlorine. The mixed oxidation of several transition metals and their alloys as well as several low-cost SiC based ceramics in high temperature gas mixtures of argon, oxygen, and chlorine will be discussed.
Cryopreservation of Stallion Spermatozoa

This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using cryopreserved semen in breeding programs. Included is a discussion of the basic principles of freezing cells in general, followed by a description of the techniques used to freeze stallion spermatozoa. Possible modifications of freezing protocol, which may improve cryopreservation of semen that does not survive cryopreservation well, also are discussed.
Minimum time generation of SU(2) transformations with asymmetric bounds on the controls

We study how to generate in minimum time special unitary transformations for a two-level quantum system under the assumptions that (i) the system is subject to a constant drift, (ii) its dynamics can be affected by three independent, bounded controls, and (iii) the bounds on the controls are asymmetric, that is, the constraint on the control in the direction of the drift is independent of that on the controls in the orthogonal plane. Using techniques recently developed for the analysis of $\text{SU}(2)$ transformations, we fully characterize the reachable sets of the system and the optimal control strategies for any possible target transformation.
A Remark on Biological Consciousness and Free Will

Abstract Biological intelligence is explicable without anomaly as an entirely deterministic adaptive dynamic closed-loop system. Differing as well as confirming prior art is discussed.
Multi-modal integrated approach towards reducing false arrhythmia alarms during continuous patient monitoring: The Physionet Challenge 2015

This work presents a solution for the Physionet Challenge 2015 regarding false alarm reduction in ICU. False alarms can result in alarm fatigue, i.e. reduced responsiveness of the ICU personnel to the true alarms due to an enormous number of false alarms. As a result, it is necessary to effectively suppress the false alarms while ensuring that the true alarms are not ignored. The challenge data contains five different types of alarms which are treated as independent problems in this paper. A separate subroutine is used for each alarm which is composed of two stages, peak detection and alarm verification. This paper uses a multi-modal peak detection algorithm that uses the information from all the available signals and combines the results from several peak detection algorithms to create a robust peak detection algorithm. The alarm verification stage is alarm dependent, composed of simple decision criteria or a complicated neural network model. The proposed approach achieves an overall score of 74.48 for the real-time event, where only the portions of the signals prior to the alarm are utilized, and 76.57 for the retrospective event, where 30 seconds of the signals after the alarm are used as well.
Comparison of free-solution and surface-immobilized molecular interactions using a single platform.

While it is generally accepted that surface immobilization affects the binding properties of proteins, it has been difficult to quantify these effects due to the lack of technology capable of making affinity measurements with species tethered and in free solution on a single platform. Further, quantifying the interaction of binding pairs with widely differing masses has also been challenging, particularly when it is desirable to tether the high molecular weight protein. Here we describe the use of backscattering interferometry (BSI) to quantify the binding affinity of mannose and glucose to concanavalin A (ConA), a 106 KDa homotetramer protein, in free solution using picomoles of the protein. Using the same platform, BSI, we then studied the effect on the binding constants of the ConA–carbohydrate interactions upon chemically immobilizing ConA on the sensor surface. By varying the distances (0, 7.17, and 20.35 nm) of the ConA tether and comparing these results to the free-solution measurements, it has bee...
Reduction of Fasting Blood Glucose and Hemoglobin A1c Using Oral Aloe Vera: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract Purpose: Diabetes mellitus is a global epidemic and one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Additional medications that are novel, affordable, and efficacious are needed to treat this rampant disease. This meta-analysis was performed to ascertain the effectiveness of oral aloe vera consumption on the reduction of fasting blood glucose (FBG) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). Methods: PubMed, CINAHL, Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, and Natural Standard databases were searched. Studies of aloe vera's effect on FBG, HbA1c, homeostasis model assessment-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), fasting serum insulin, fructosamine, and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in prediabetic and diabetic populations were examined. After data extraction, the parameters of FBG and HbA1c had appropriate data for meta-analyses. Extracted data were verified and then analyzed by StatsDirect Statistical Software. Reductions of FBG and HbA1c were reported as the weighted mean differences from baseline,...
Automatic sedimentary facies identifying method based on fuzzy neural networks and image process technology

In this paper we propose an automatic sedimentary facies identifying method based on combing fuzzy ellipsoidal neural networks and image process technology. First, we translate digital well measure curves and stratum parameters into binary image modes. Second, through contracting binary data codes, we distill and store stratum mode characters token from well measure curves. Last, we combine fuzzy ellipsoidal neural networks clustering and BP algorithm to train a multi-layers forward neural network. The neural network keeps properties of being stable, fast learning, awfully memorable and generalized ability. This model is suitable to solve issues of sedimentary facies identify. The test result shows this special method can identify sedimentary facies very well.
The relationship of molecular structure to properties of gaseous and liquid dielectrics

The first electrical property we shall discuss is the d.c. conductivity. Gases have essentially no d.c. conductivity beyond that due to stray charges produced by various radioactive processes always present. The reason for this lack of conductivity even when the gas is composed of a substance quite conducting in the liquid state is the difficulty of separating charge in a medium of low dielectric constant.
Using Storage Class Memory Efficiently for an In-memory Database

Storage class memory (SCM) is an emerging class of memory devices that are both byte addressable, and persistent. There are many different technologies that can be considered SCM, at different stages of maturity. Examples of such technologies include NVDIMM-N, PCM, SttRAM, Racetrack, FeRAM, and others.Currently, applications rely on storage technologies such as Flash memory and hard disks as the physical media for persistency. SCM behaves differently and has significantly different characteristics than these existing technologies. That means there is a need for a fundamental change in the way we program data persistency in applications to fully realize the potential of this new class of device.Previous work such as [1] focuses on designing a filesystem optimized to run over SCM memory. Other projects such as Mnemosyne [4] provide a general purpose API for applications to use SCM memory. Mnemosyne however, does not provide a transaction mechanism flexible enough to allow different SCM updates spanning different parts of the code to be considered one transaction.Our work is focused on employing minimal changes needed to retrofit an existing key-value store to take advantage of SCM technology. We demonstrate these changes on Redis (REmote DIctionary Server) [3], which is a popular key-value store. We show how Redis can be modified to take advantage of these new abilities by allowing the application to manage its own storage in a unique way. Our approach is to use two types of memory technologies (DRAM and SCM) for different purposes in a single application. To optimize the system data capacity, we keep a minimal dataset in persistent memory, while keeping metadata (such as indexing) in DRAM, which can be rebuilt upon failures.Persistency in Redis is currently performed by logging all transactions to an append-only log file (AOF). These transactions can then be replayed to recover from a failure. The transactions are not made persistent until the AOF file is flushed to disk, which is very slow. Flushing after every transaction has a performance impact, but flushing periodically creates a risk of lost data. By using SCM instead of a disk, we can effectively flush every transaction without impacting performance.In order to change Redis to store data objects on the SCM, we must ensure consistency of persistent data even after an unexpected shutdown. To ensure consistency, a modified version of dlmalloc [2] is used for all allocations done on the SCM, and mfence commands are used to overcome unexpected reordering.We model the SCM using a memory mapped file backed on a ramdisk. We compared our changes to Redis using an AOF backed on a ramdisk. Although we don't take into account the latency overheads of accessing the SCM, this comparison gives us a good upper bound of performance benefits of using SCM memory. Our results demonstrate an average latency reduction of 43% and average throughput increase of 75%.
Assessing Efficiency and Effectiveness in Marketing: Applications of Data Envelopment Analysis—Prelude to Chapters 15 and 16

Academic theory and marketing practice have both grappled with the problem of assessing marketing performance, either in terms of effectiveness of marketing strategies and/or the efficiency of marketing operations. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is an important tool for the assessment of marketing efficiency, or the relation between marketing inputs and outputs, as well as marketing effectiveness, or the impact of marketing actions on specific performance results. The following pages provide an introduction to various challenges in the assessment of marketing performance followed by two articles that demonstrate the application of DEA in two different contexts. In the retail context, DEA is used to highlight the importance of considering regional factors when evaluating the efficiency of individual stores within the same retail chain. In the global marketing context, DEA is used to address the fact that most marketing actions involve the creation of marketing assets that in turn impact performance.
What's next after CMOS

This article consists of a collection of slides from the author's conference presentation on new technologies to replace CMOS. Some of the specific topics discussed include: the future for silicon based technologies; the economics involved; new chip design considerations; the likely future of scaling; and the major benefits and drawbacks of silicon based chips.
Biology and Diseases of Reptiles

Since their emergence 310–320 million years ago, reptiles have evolved to be one of the most adaptive and remarkable groups of vertebrate animals on earth. Comprising over 9500 species, they can be found in diverse niches ranging from the arid Sahara desert to the tropical wetlands of the Amazon. Diverse reproductive physiologies and behaviors, along with adaptive characteristics such as parthenogenesis and development of venom glands for prey immobilization, make them attractive models for biomedical and basic biological research. This chapter provides information regarding biology, husbandry, and the diseases commonly affecting captive reptiles most frequently used in research.
Networked Life: How does Google sell ad spaces?

A Short Answer Much of the web services and online information is “free” today because of the advertisements shown on the websites. It is estimated that the online ad industry worldwide reached $94.2 billion in 2012. Compared with traditional media, online advertisements' revenue ranked right below TV and above newspapers. In the early days of the web, i.e., 1994–1995, online advertisements were sold as banners on a per-thousand-impression basis. But seeing an ad does not mean clicking on it or buying the advertised product or service afterwards. In 1997, GoTo (which later became Overture) started selling advertisement spaces on a per-click basis. This middle ground between ad revenue (what the website cares about) and effectiveness of ad (what the advertisers care about) became a commonly accepted foundation for online advertising. With the rise of Google came one of the most stable online ad market segments: search ads , also called sponsored search . In 2002, Google started the AdWords service where you can create your ad, attach keywords to it, and send it to Google's database. When someone searches for a keyword, Google will return a list of search results, as well as a list of ads on the right panel, or even the main panel, if that keyword matches any of the keywords of ads in its database. This process takes place continuously and each advertiser can adjust her bids frequently. There are often many ad auctions happening at the same time too. We will skip these important factors in the basic models in this chapter, focusing just on a single auction.
The role of computational modelling in seizure localization.

This scientific commentary refers to ‘Predicting neurosurgical outcomes in focal epilepsy patients using computational modelling’, by Sinha et al. (doi: 10.1093/brain/aww299 ).
Writing Autograders for Snap! And Integrating them Into Your Course (Abstract Only)

While text based languages have been (relatively) straightforward to grade automatically, visual programming languages have been largely left out of the equation. However, as the demand for introductory CS courses has recently grown, so too has the interest in CS courses that use visual programming languages, and thus the need for a scalable solution to providing student feedback. The demo will present a system an autograder for Snap!, a visual programming language inspired by Scratch. Our autograder is a hosted solution which would allow other courses to use our tools with little effort. At the most basic level, the autograder contains a database of questions, test cases, and a method for presenting results to students. However, there are additional features for integration through LTI and advanced data analysis. The autograder allows real-time feedback for students, and for instructors to write tests in JavaScript, and eventually Snap! directly. We will show how instructors can write test cases and integrate the tool into their classrooms. We will also demo some data analysis capabilities of our system. This demo should be informative to those working with visual programming languages, including ones other than Snap!. We hope to provide a useful tool, and gain feedback for future iterations of the software.
Perelman: Die dreidimensionale Welt (17.7.2003)

Riemann hat den Begriff ”Mannigfaltigkeit“ gepragt: Raume, deren Punkte lokal durch n reelle Zahlen (Koordinaten) beschrieben werden. Im Gegensatz zum euklidischen Raum konnen Mannigfaltigkeiten in sich geschlossen sein wie die Kugelflache, die ”2-Sphare“, und ihr 3-dimensionales Analogon (Kugelraum oder 3-Sphare). Henri Poincare hat 1903 vermutet, dass unter den dreidimensionalen geschlossenen Mannigfaltigkeiten die 3-Sphare die einzige ist, auf der jede Schlinge zusammenziehbar ist. Diese Vermutung wurde 2003 von Grigori Perelman bewiesen. Allgemeiner zeigte er: Alle geschlossenen drei- dimensionalen Raume lassen sich in Bestandteile zerlegen, die (wie der Kugelraum) eine homogene Geometrie tragen konnen. Seine Methode war geometrisch und analytisch: Um zu einer homogenen Geometie zu gelangen, wird auf die Krummung einer anfanglich gegebenen Riemannschen Metrik eine Art Warmefluss angewandt, analog dem Gesetz, nach dem sich Warme in einem Raum gleichmasig verteilt. Anders als beim echten Warmefluss stoppt dieser Fluss immer wieder; Teile des Raums mussen dann abgespalten und der Vorgang neu angestosen werden.
Outcomes and patterns of failure for sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma (SNUC): The Mayo Clinic Experience.

Background Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma (SNUC) is a rare aggressive disease arising in the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses with poor prognosis and unclear optimal management. Methods Forty patients were analyzed. Nasal cavity was the most common primary site. Most patients presented with T4 disease, received trimodality therapy, and were treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Results Median follow-up was 6.9 years. Sixteen patients (40%) experienced recurrent disease, 5 local (12.5%), 1 regional (2.5%), and 10 distant (25%). The 5-year overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and locoreginal control (LRC) were 44%, 39%, and 71%, respectively. Patients treated with trimodality therapy had better outcomes compared to single modality therapy. Improved OS was noted with IMRT and with doses ≥60 Gy. The most common cause of death was distant metastasis. Conclusion SNUC is an aggressive malignancy with a high tendency to metastasize. Better outcomes were obtained with a trimodality approach. Modern radiotherapy (RT) techniques and doses ≥ 60 Gy were associated with improved OS.
Short-Term Field Study Programs: A Holistic and Experiential Approach to Learning

ABSTRACTFor business schools, AACSB and Middle States’ call for more experiential learning is one reason to provide study abroad programs. Universities must attend to the demand for continuous improvement and employ metrics to benchmark and evaluate their relative standing among peer institutions. One such benchmark is the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE, 2013) which outlines 10 “Engagement Indicators” classified under four dimensions representing broad aspects of the student experience. These dimensions and engagement indicators are addressed in this article and may serve as a litmus test of the value and impact of study abroad programs.
Landscape configuration drives persistent spatial patterns of occupant distributions

Variation in the density of organisms among habitat patches is often attributed to variation in inherent patch properties. For example, higher quality patches might have higher densities because they attract more colonists or confer better post-colonization survival. However, variation in occupant density can also be driven by landscape configuration if neighboring patches draw potential colonists away from the focal habitat (a phenomenon we call propagule redirection). Here, we develop and analyze a stochastic model to quantify the role of landscape configuration and propagule redirection on occupant density patterns. We model a system with a dispersive larval stage and a sedentary adult stage. The model includes sensing and decision-making in the colonization stage and density-dependent mortality (a proxy for patch quality) in the post-colonization stage. We demonstrate that spatial variation in colonization is retained when the supply of colonists is not too high, post-colonization density-dependent survival is not too strong, and colonization events are not too frequent. Using a reef fish system, we show that the spatial variation produced by propagule redirection is comparable to spatial variation expected when patch quality varies. Thus, variation in density arising from the spatial patterning of otherwise identical habitat can play an important role in shaping long-term spatial patterns of organisms occupying patchy habitats. Propagule redirection is a potentially powerful mechanism by which landscape configuration can drive variation in occupant densities, and may therefore offer new insights into how populations may shift as landscapes change in response to natural and anthropogenic forces.
Valvular Heart Disease.

Valvular heart disease is a growing public health concern – as our population ages, the prevalence of valvular heart disease will only rise. The expansive topic encompasses numerous disease entities, complex hemodynamics, invasive and noninvasive testing, and involved management decisions. In addition, perhaps more so than any other topic in cardiology, the diagnosis and management of valvular heart disease is dependent on the history and physical examination. Such complexity makes valvular heart disease a prime topic for cardiology board examinations.
The Piancatelli reaction and its variants: recent applications to high added-value chemicals and biomass valorization

The Piancatelli reaction, also called the Piancatelli rearrangement, consists in the direct conversion of furfuryl alcohols to cyclopentenone derivatives through a furan ring opening-electrocyclization process. Discovered in the late 70's, this reaction has been scarcely used for more than 40 years but recently has been the focus of particular interest from the scientific community and an increasing number of publications on the topic have emerged in the last few years. The first part of this review provides an overview of the recent achievements in classical Piancatelli reactions, discussing reaction conditions and catalytic systems, whereas the second part focuses on the variants recently developed, including the use of new nucleophiles in the process. Finally, the third part of this review deals with the recent application of this transformation to the production of commodity chemicals from renewable carbon feedstocks based on sugar-derived furanic platforms.
Acute Pediatric Colchicine Toxicity is Associated with Marked Bradydysrhythmias.

Abstract Background Colchicine ingestion is rare but highly lethal. Patients usually die of multiorgan failure and cardiogenic shock. Colchicine is not only associated with depressed myocardial function but also with fatal heart rhythm disturbances, such as complete heart block, ventricular tachycardia, and asystole. While histologic changes of myocytes are well known, the mechanism by which colchicine affects cardiac impulse generation and conduction is not fully understood. Case Report We present a case of colchicine ingestion with sinus bradycardia, marked sinus arrhythmia, and first- and second-degree heart block. A 10-year-old previously healthy boy was brought to the emergency department for the sudden onset of dizziness, abdominal pain, and vomiting after ingesting his grandfather's colchicine and furosemide. His symptoms improved with ondansetron and intravenous normal saline. However, because of the colchicine ingestion, he was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit for observation. He first developed PR prolongation (∼4–30 h postingestion) followed by marked sinus bradycardia and sinus arrhythmia along with second-degree heart block (∼48–60 hours postingestion). The minimum heart rate was 40 beats/min. Marked sinus arrhythmia was observed, suggesting an increase in parasympathetic activity. His heart rhythm improved initially with less sinus arrhythmia followed by resolution of heart block. He was discharged home without any sequelae. Holter monitoring 1 week after discharge showed normal heart rate variability for age. Why Should an Emergency Physician Be Aware of This? This case provides novel insights into how colchicine may affect the heart's electrophysiology. Colchicine may increase the parasympathetic tone enough to cause sinus bradycardia and different degrees of heart block.
The effects of media characteristics on user satisfaction: A social presence perspective

With the growing popularity of information and comm unication technologies (ICT), researchers from info rmation systems (IS) field are increasingly interested in the facto rs influencing user satisfaction in computer-mediat ed environment. Drawing on media synchronicity theory (MST), this study exp lores how various media characteristics influence u ser satisfaction through social presence. The results from a lab exp eriment supported our hypothesis and found that tra nsmission velocity, symbol sets and rehearsability were positively rela ted to social presence, whereas reprocessability ha d a negative effect on social presence. Social presence in turn positively influenced both process satisfaction and outcome s atisfaction. Overall, this study contributes to IS literature by providing a d eeper understanding on the effect of objective medi a characteristics on user satisfaction.
Population-Economic Data Analyses Relative to Geothermal Fields, Imperial County, California

Geothermal energy worldwide exists in diverse geological, ecological, climatic, and socioeconomic settings. The oldest developed field in Lardarello, Italy has been producing electrical energy since 1904 (Wehlage, 1975). Lardarello has geologic features of steam fields, large production area, and others. Current production is 404.6 MWe (Wehlage, 1975). The socioeconhomic setting has included much overlapping agricultural and geothermal use, rural property in surrounding regions, relatively small amounts of nonelectrical use, long distance from large Italian population centers, and since 1967 a national policy of control of resource development by the Italian Federal Energy Agency.
Through-Thickness Elastic Constant for Aramid-Epoxy/Aluminum Composite Materials

The objectives in this study were to determine the through-thickness elastic constant of fiber-epoxy/metal composites with ultrasonic measurements and determine the elastic constants of the constituent layers. The specimens that we studied consist of alternating layers of aluminum (2024 T3) and fiber-epoxy [1], all of which are 200 to 300 μm thick. As Figure 1 indicates the outer two layers of the composite are aluminum, so that there is always one additional layer of aluminum in the composite. The fiber-epoxy layers consist of a unidirectional layup of aramid fibers for the aramid-epoxy/aluminum specimens. For the glass-epoxylaluminum specimen, the fiber-epoxy layers consist of two sublayers of unidirectional fibers where the fibers of one sublayer lie at 90° with respect to the other sublayer. Because the fibers of both sublayers are perpendicular to the transmitting transducer, the ultrasound perceives the two sublayers as a single layer.
Lighting Up the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: A Case Study of U.S. Tobacco Industry Political Influence Buying in Japan

Confidential documents which became public through civil litigation discovery in the late 1990s reveal that, ten years after the Watergate and Lockheed scandals and just five years after the enactment of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the senior-most executives of the Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation were developing a plan to provide cash and other benefits to one of Japan's most powerful political insiders and a close confidant of then-Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. B&W's officials should have been well aware that the activities described in the plans, if carried out, were very likely illegal under U.S. federal law at the time. Had these industry documents emerged in a timely fashion, B&W's chairman and senior-most executives ought to have been investigated for serious crimes with penalties including up to five years of imprisonment for the individuals involved.This paper presents the historical record of Brown and Williamson's contemplated political influence buying in Japan as demonstrated by the documents. The paper analyzes those facts under the terms of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in effect at the time and concludes that the documents reveal plans that, if carried out, constituted a felony. Drawing at least upon the snapshot portrayed in this paper of one company's inclination towards corrupt activity, the paper proposes further investigation by the United States' Department of Justice and Congress and corresponding statutory, regulatory, and international policy measures. Finally, this paper concludes by arguing that the individuals involved perhaps did not just get away with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It should be time to consider whether the individuals involved got away with murder.
Redefining Rats, Mice, and Birds

It was recently reported (D. Malakoff, News of the Week, 5 Feb. p. [767][1]) that a coalition of animal rights advocates has petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to redefine rats, mice, and birds as animals protected under the Animal Welfare Act. We believe that this move would not
Blockchain-Powered Big Data Analytics Platform

As cryptocurrencies and other business blockchain applications are becoming mainstream, the amount of transactional data as well as business contracts and documents captured within various ledgers are getting bigger and bigger. Blockchains provide enterprises and consumers with greater confidence in the integrity of the captured data. This gives rise to the new level of analytics that marries the advantages of both blockchain and big data technologies to provide trusted analysis on validated and quality big data. Blockchain-based big data is a perfect source for subsequent analytics because the big data maintained on the blockchain is both secure (i.e., tamper-proof and cannot be forged) and valuable (i.e., validated and abundant). Further, data integration and advanced analysis across on-chain and off-chain data present enterprises with even more complete business insights. In this paper, we first discuss a blockchain-based business application for micro-insurance and AI marketplaces, which render blockchain-generated big data scenarios and the opportunity to develop trusted and federated AI insights across the insurers. We then also describe the design of a blockchain-powered big data analytics platform as well as our initial steps being taken along the development of this platform.
Broadening the definition of brain insulin resistance in aging and Alzheimer's disease.

Abstract It has been >20 years since studies first revealed that the brain is insulin sensitive, highlighted by the expression of insulin receptors in neurons and glia, the presence of circulating brain insulin, and even localized insulin production. Following these discoveries, evidence of decreased brain insulin receptor number and function was reported in both clinical samples and animal models of aging and Alzheimer's disease, setting the stage for the hypothesis that neuronal insulin resistance may underlie memory loss in these conditions. The development of therapeutic insulin delivery to the brain using intranasal insulin administration has been shown to improve aspects of memory or learning in both humans and animal models. However, whether this approach functions by compensating for poorly signaling insulin receptors, for reduced insulin levels in the brain, or for reduced trafficking of insulin into the brain remains unclear. Direct measures of insulin's impact on cellular physiology and metabolism in the brain have been sparse in models of Alzheimer's disease, and even fewer studies have analyzed these processes in the aged brain. Nevertheless, recent evidence supports the role of brain insulin as a mediator of glucose metabolism through several means, including altering glucose transporters. Here, we provide a review of contemporary literature on brain insulin resistance, highlight the rationale for improving memory function using intranasal insulin, and describe initial results from experiments using a molecular approach to more directly measure the impact of insulin receptor activation and signaling on glucose uptake in neurons.
In Vitro Techniques to Study Drug–Drug Interactions Involving Transport: Caco-2 Model for Study of P-Glycoprotein and Other Transporters

Transporters play a pivotal role in defining disposition, therapeutic outcome, and adverse reactions of medicines. P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is an efflux transporter that is constitutively expressed in barrier tissues and excretory organs, and has wide substrate specificity; consequently, it may be responsible for wide-ranging drug–drug interactions (DDIs). This chapter critically evaluates the utility and limitations of Caco-2 cells, a model for human intestinal epithelium that expresses most intestinal transporters, in assessing DDIs mediated by P-gp and other transporters.
RNA sequencing of isolated cell populations expressing human APOL1 G2 risk variant reveals molecular correlates of sickle cell nephropathy in zebrafish podocytes

Kidney failure occurs in 5-13% of individuals with sickle cell disease and is associated with early mortality. Two APOL1 alleles (G1 and G2) have been identified as risk factors for sickle cell disease nephropathy. Both risk alleles are prevalent in individuals with recent African ancestry and have been associated with nephropathic complications in other diseases. Despite the association of G1 and G2 with kidney dysfunction, the mechanisms by which these variants contribute to increased risk remain poorly understood. Previous work in zebrafish models suggest that the G2 risk allele functions as a dominant negative, whereas the G1 allele is a functional null. To understand better the cellular pathology attributed to APOL1 G2, we investigated the in vivo effects of the G2 risk variant on distinct cell types using RNA sequencing. We surveyed APOL1 G2 associated transcriptomic alterations in podocytes and vascular endothelial cells isolated from zebrafish larvae expressing cell-type specific reporters. Our analysis identified many transcripts (n = 7,523) showing differential expression between APOL1 G0 (human wild-type) and APOL1 G2 exposed podocytes. Conversely, relatively few transcripts (n = 107) were differentially expressed when comparing APOL1 G0 and APOL1 G2 exposed endothelial cells. Pathway analysis of differentially expressed transcripts in podocytes showed enrichment for autophagy associated terms such as "Lysosome" and "Phagosome", implicating these pathways in APOL1 G2 associated kidney dysfunction. This work provides insight into the molecular pathology of APOL1 G2 nephropathy which may offer new therapeutic strategies for multiple disease contexts such as sickle cell nephropathy.
Skepticism and Genetic Phenomenology

Husserl and Hume shared the conviction that up to now philosophy has failed to provide, as it ought to, an indubitable foundation for the sciences and even all human experience. Hume considered it disgraceful that “. . . philosophy should not yet have fixed, beyond controversy, the foundations of morals, reasoning, and criticism . . .”1 Husserl demands that philosophy be “. . . according to its essence, a science of true beginnings, of origins . . . The science concerned with the radical must also be radical in its procedure, and this in every respect.”2 Yet, the history of Western thought testifies to the failure to establish such a foundational philosophy. This failure . . . implies the crisis of all modern sciences as members of the philosophical universe; at first a latent, then a more and more prominent crisis of European humanity itself in respect to the total meaningfulness of its cultural life, its total „Existenz“.3
Frontiers of Pluripotency.

Humans develop from a unique group of pluripotent cells in early embryos that can produce all cells of the human body. While pluripotency is only transiently manifest in the embryo, scientists have identified conditions that sustain pluripotency indefinitely in the laboratory. Pluripotency is not a monolithic entity, however, but rather comprises a spectrum of different cellular states. Questions regarding the scientific value of examining the continuum of pluripotent stem (PS) cell states have gained increased significance in light of attempts to generate interspecies chimeras between humans and animals. In this chapter, I review our ever-evolving understanding of the continuum of pluripotency. Historically, the discovery of two different PS cell states in mice fostered a general conception of pluripotency comprised of two distinct attractor states: naive and primed. Naive pluripotency has been defined by competence to form germline chimeras and governance by unique KLF-based transcription factor (TF) circuitry, whereas primed state is distinguished by an inability to generate chimeras and alternative TF regulation. However, the discovery of many alternative PS cell states challenges the concept of pluripotency as a binary property. Moreover, it remains unclear whether the current molecular criteria used to classify human naive-like pluripotency also identify human chimera-competent PS cells. Therefore, I examine the pluripotency continuum more closely in light of recent advances in PS cell research and human interspecies chimera research.
Type 1 Diabetes in Adolescence: Considerations for Mental Health Professionals

In the United States, there are approximately 1.25 million individuals living with type 1 diabetes (T1D). This disease is commonly diagnosed in childhood and therefore affects a number of adolescen...
Organizational Factors and Quality Improvement Strategies Associated With Lower Radiation Dose From CT Examinations.

Abstract Purpose The aim of this study was to identify organizational factors and quality improvement strategies associated with lower radiation doses from abdominal CT. Methods Cross-sectional survey was administered to radiology leaders, along with simultaneous measurement of CT radiation dose among 19 health care organizations with 100 imaging centers throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan, using a common dose management software system. After adjusting for patient age, gender, and size, quality improvement strategies were tested for association with mean abdominal CT radiation dose and the odds of a high-dose examination. Results Completed surveys were received from 90 imaging centers (90%), and 182,415 abdominal CT scans were collected during the study period. Radiation doses varied considerably across organizations and centers. Univariate analyses identified eight strategies and systems that were significantly associated with lower average doses or lower frequency of high doses for abdominal CT examinations: tracking patient safety measures, assessing the impact of CT changes, identifying areas for improvement, setting specific goals, organizing improvement teams, tailoring decisions to sites, testing process changes before full implementation, and standardizing workflow. These processes were associated with an 18% to 37% reduction in high-dose examinations (P Conclusions This documentation of the relation between quality improvement strategies and radiation exposure from CT examinations has identified important information for others interested in reducing the radiation exposure of their patients.
Choosing the Leader: Leadership Elections in the U.S. House of Representatives: Green, Matthew N, and Douglas B. Harris. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2019. 304 pages. $35 (softcover).

Much of the recent literature on party leaders in the United States Congress focuses on what those leaders do, but devotes little attention to how those leaders are chosen. The drama faced by Nancy...
Development of martian regolith and bedrock simulants: Potential and limitations of martian regolith as an in-situ resource

Abstract The last decade of Martian surface exploration has increased knowledge of the composition and variability of minerals present in the regolith and bedrock. This informs planning for manned missions to Mars for which these surface materials may be an important in-situ resource in agricultural applications. Soil on Mars is known to contain the majority of planet essential nutrients, but many questions of both the benefits (e.g. bioavailability of present nutrients) and limitations (e.g. extent of toxins) of Martian soil as a plant growth medium remain unanswered. It may be necessary to augment Mars soil with other regolith and bedrock materials (e.g. phyllosilicates, carbonates) to produce a medium appropriate for plant growth. A better understanding of the feasibility of using Mars soil as a plant growth medium could be accomplished with methods common to agricultural practices on Earth (e.g. biofertilization) using appropriate regolith and bedrock simulants as a plant growth medium. The study herein discusses the development of five new regolith and bedrock simulants. These simulants are designed to reflect several mineralogical (e.g. phyllosilicate clays) and chemical characteristics of various Mars surface materials that are most relevant to establishing the potential and limitations of these materials as in-situ resources for agricultural applications. The use of simulants provides a test bed for studies examining the potential of Mars' regolith and bedrock in agricultural applications, understanding data gaps surrounding these materials that will need further characterization, and methods to then conduct needed characterization of true Martian-regolith and bedrock in-situ. The simulants discussed herein are analyzed by X-ray diffraction using Reitveld refinement, X-ray fluorescence, V/NIR reflectance spectroscopy, and 57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy and then compared to equivalent published data available from Mars rover and orbiter missions. The resulting simulants are chemically and mineralogically comparable to Martian regolith and bedrock and reflect data particularly relevant for growing plants on Mars. The developed simulants are relevant for analogue plant growth studies and fertility measurements that may inform hypothesis, habitat design, and mission plans which involve using Martian soil as a plant growth medium.
The oxygen partial pressure in solid oxide electrolysis cells with multilayer electrolytes

Abstract A number of degradation mechanisms have been observed during the long-term operation of solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC). Using an electrolyte charge carrier transport model and a diffuse interface treatment for a multilayer electrolytes, we quantify the oxygen potentials across the electrolyte and thereby provide insights into these degradation mechanisms. Our model describes the transport of charge carriers in the electrolyte when the oxygen partial pressure is extremely low by accounting for the spatial variation of the concentration of oxygen vacancies in the electrolyte which is closely related to the degradation of the SOEC near the interface of hydrogen electrode and electrolyte. Moreover, we identify four quantities that characterize the distribution of oxygen partial pressure in the electrolyte, which are directly related to the degradation mechanisms in the electrolyte as well, and give analytical estimates for them. These analytical expressions provide guidance on the parameters that need to be controlled to suppress the degradation observed in the electrolyte.