cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Inertial Focusing for Tumor Antigen–Dependent and –Independent Sorting of Rare Circulating Tumor Cells

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are shed into the bloodstream from primary and metastatic tumor deposits. Their isolation and analysis hold great promise for the early detection of invasive cancer and the management of advanced disease, but technological hurdles have limited their broad clinical utility. We describe an inertial focusing–enhanced microfluidic CTC capture platform, termed “CTC-iChip,” that is capable of sorting rare CTCs from whole blood at 107 cells/s. Most importantly, the iChip is capable of isolating CTCs using strategies that are either dependent or independent of tumor membrane epitopes, and thus applicable to virtually all cancers. We specifically demonstrate the use of the iChip in an expanded set of both epithelial and nonepithelial cancers including lung, prostate, pancreas, breast, and melanoma. The sorting of CTCs as unfixed cells in solution allows for the application of high-quality clinically standardized morphological and immunohistochemical analyses, as well as RNA-based single-cell molecular characterization. The combination of an unbiased, broadly applicable, high-throughput, and automatable rare cell sorting technology with generally accepted molecular assays and cytology standards will enable the integration of CTC-based diagnostics into the clinical management of cancer.
From the cellular perspective: exploring differences in the cellular baseline in macroscale and microfluidic cultures

Microfluidic devices for cell culture based assays provide new types of engineered microenvironments and new methods for controlling and quantifying cellular responses to these microenvironments. However, without an understanding of the effects of the microenvironments present in microdevices from a cellular perspective, it will be challenging to integrate work done in microdevices with biological data obtained via traditional methods. With the adaptation and validation of In Cell Westerns (ICWs) and in situ analysis techniques to microfluidic devices, we can begin to look at a variety of cellular responses to microcultures. Here we observe several differences in proliferation, glucose metabolism, signaling pathway activation and protein expression levels between cells cultured in traditional macroscale cultures and in microfluidic cultures. The issues of glucose starvation, growth factor restriction, volume density and effects of interactions with poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) were examined to determine the relative importance of each to cell behavior. Changes in glucose metabolism, insensitivity to volume density or media supplementation, and finally reduced proliferation as the exposure to PDMS increased, suggests that perhaps interactions between media/cells and this commonly employed polymer may be significant for some cell based assays. The differences between cells in macroscale and microfluidic cultures suggest that the cellular baseline may be substantially altered in microcultures due to both inherent differences in scale as well as material differences. The observations highlight the need to biologically validate micofluidic devices for cell based assays in order to accurately interpret the data obtained with them in the context of traditional macroculture data. Additional areas of study that will further characterize and validate microscale culture are discussed.
Vector spaces of matrices of low rank

In this paper we study vector spaces of matrices, all of whose elements have rank at most a given number. The problem of classifying such spaces is roughly equivalent to the problem of classifying certain torsion-free sheaves on projective spaces. We solve this problem in case the sheaf in question has first Chern class equal to 1; the characterization of the vector spaces of matrices of rank d 3 due to M. D. Atkinson (J. Ausfral. Math. Sot. 34 (1983), 306-315) follows. We speculate on the situation for higher rank and Chern class. Free resolutions are used to verify some properties of the low rank examples and to produce an abundance of examples of somewhat higher rank, connected with the theory of curves. 0 1988 Academic
Effects of Nematocyst Toxin of Physalia physalis (Portuguese Man-of-War) on the Canine Cardiovascular System.

SummaryNematocyst toxin from Physalia physalis, when injected intravenously into dogs, activated ectopic cardiac pacemaker centers and induced “re-entry” extrasystoles; these effects could be reversed by infusion of KCl. After injection of a fatal dose, these arrhythmias progressed into ineffectual ventricular beats and cardiovascular collapse. In addition to cardiac arrhythmias, sub-lethal doses of toxin caused increased systemic blood pressure and cardiac output, elevation of serum K, decrease of serum Na, elevated breathing rate, and hemolysis.
A Dynamic Molecular Link between the Telomere Length Regulator TRF1 and the Chromosome End Protector TRF2

Abstract Background: Human telomeres are coated by the telomere repeat binding proteins TRF1 and TRF2, which are believed to function independently to regulate telomere length and protect chromosome ends, respectively. Results: Here, we show that TRF1 and TRF2 are linked via TIN2, a previously identified TRF1-interacting protein, and its novel binding partner TINT1. TINT1 localized to telomeres via TIN2, where it functioned as a negative regulator of telomerase-mediated telomere elongation. TIN2 associated with TINT1, and TRF1 or TRF2 throughout the cell cycle, revealing a partially redundant unit in telomeric chromatin that may provide flexibility in telomere length control. Indeed, when TRF1 was removed from telomeres by overexpression of the positive telomere length regulator tankyrase 1, the TIN2/TINT1 complex remained on telomeres via an increased association with TRF2. Conclusions: Our findings suggest a dynamic cross talk between TRF1 and TRF2 and provide a molecular mechanism for telomere length homeostasis by TRF2 in the absence of TRF1.
Sex, Commitment, and Casual Sex Relationships Among College Men: A Mixed-Methods Analysis

Using a sample of 200 emerging adult male college students, we examined how men varied in the meanings they gave to sex and their self-reported engagement in two types of casual sex relationships (hookups and friends with benefits). Using qualitative methods, we conducted a content analysis of men’s written responses to a series of questions about the meanings they ascribed to sex (i.e., intercourse), their perceived connection between sex and commitment, and how they believed these meanings were related to their sexual behavior. Three groups of men emerged: Committers, Flexibles, and Recreationers. Groups were then compared on social desirability, demographic characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, year in school, religious service attendance), and self-reported casual sexual behaviors in the past 12 months. Analyses showed that men in the Flexibles and Recreationers groups engaged in significantly more hookups and had significantly more friends with benefits partners in the past 12 months than did men in the Committers group. Implications for relationship education intervention aimed at men and research on casual sex relationships are discussed.
Noninvasive assessment of human jawbone using ultrasonic guided waves

The problem of detecting defects in jawbones is an important problem. Existing methods based on X-rays are invasive and constrain the achievable image quality. They also may carry known risks of cancer generation or may be limited in accurate diagnosis scope. This work is motivated by the lack of current imaging modalities to accurately predict the mechanical properties and defects in jawbone. Ultrasonic guided waves are sensitive to changes in microstructural properties and thus have been widely used for noninvasive material characterization. Using these waves may provide means for early diagnosis of marrow ischemic disorders via detecting focal osteoporotic marrow defect, chronic nonsuppurative osteomyelitis, and cavitations in the mandible (jawbone). Guided waves propagating along the mandibles may exhibit dispersion behavior that depends on material properties, geometry, and embedded cavities. In this work, we present the first study in the theoretical and experimental analysis of guided wave propagation in jawbone. Semianalytical, finite-element (SAFE) method is used to analyze dispersion behavior of guided waves propagating in human mandibles. The geometry of the cross section is obtained by segmenting the computed tomography (CT) images of the jawbone. The cross section of the mandible is divided in two regions representing the cortical and trabecular bones. Each region is modeled as a linear Hookean material. The material properties for both regions are adopted from the literature. The experimental setup for the guided waves experiment is described. The results from both numerical analysis and guided waves experiment exhibit variations in the group velocity of the first arrival signal and in the dispersion behavior of healthy and defected mandibles. These results shall provide a means to noninvasively characterize the jawbone and accurately assess the bone mechanical properties. Our study is not aimed at characterizing the bone density in human mandibles. Rather, it is aimed to assess bone mechanical properties and defects that cannot be diagnosed by X-ray or other imaging modalities. This work may pave the way to the development of inexpensive noninvasive devices to detect small defects in human mandibles.
Large-Scale Vegetation Feedbacks on a Doubled CO2 Climate

Changes in vegetation cover are known to influence the climate system by modifying the radiative, momentum, and hydrologic balance of the land surface. To explore the interactions between terrestrial vegetation and the atmosphere for doubled atmospheric CO2 concentrations, the newly developed fully coupled GENESIS‐IBIS climate‐vegetation model is used. The simulated climatic response to the radiative and physiological effects of elevated CO2 concentrations, as well as to ensuing simulated shifts in global vegetation patterns is investigated. The radiative effects of elevated CO 2 concentrations raise temperatures and intensify the hydrologic cycle on the global scale. In response, soil moisture increases in the mid- and high latitudes by 4% and 5%, respectively. Tropical soil moisture, however, decreases by 5% due to a decrease in precipitation minus evapotranspiration. The direct, physiological response of plants to elevated CO 2 generally acts to weaken the earth’s hydrologic cycle by lowering transpiration rates across the globe. Lowering transpiration alone would tend to enhance soil moisture. However, reduced recirculation of water in the atmosphere, which lowers precipitation, leads to more arid conditions overall (simulated global soil moisture decreases by 1%), particularly in the Tropics and midlatitudes. Allowing structural changes in the vegetation cover (in response to changes in climate and CO 2 concentrations) overrides the direct physiological effects of CO 2 on vegetation in many regions. For example, increased simulated forest cover in the Tropics enhances canopy evapotranspiration overall, offsetting the decreased transpiration due to lower leaf conductance. As a result of increased circulation of moisture through the hydrologic cycle, precipitation increases and soil moisture returns to the value simulated with just the radiative effects of elevated CO2. However, in the highly continental midlatitudes, changes in vegetation cover cause soil moisture to decline by an additional 2%. Here, precipitation does not respond sufficiently to increased plant-water uptake, due to a limited source of external moisture into the region. These results illustrate that vegetation feedbacks may operate differently according to regional characteristics of the climate and vegetation cover. In particular, it is found that CO 2 fertilization can cause either an increase or a decrease in available soil moisture, depending on the associated changes in vegetation cover and the ability of the regional climate to recirculate water vapor. This is in direct contrast to the view that CO 2 fertilization will enhance soil moisture and runoff across the globe: a view that neglects changes in vegetation structure and local climatic feedbacks.
A Nearest Hyperrectangle Learning Method

This paper presents a theory of learning called nested generalized exemplar (NGE) theory, in which learning is accomplished by storing objects in Euclidean n-space, En, as hyperrectangles. The hyperrectangles may be nested inside one another to arbitrary depth. In contrast to generalization processes that replace symbolic formulae by more general formulae, the NGE algorithm modifies hyperrectangles by growing and reshaping them in a well-defined fashion. The axes of these hyperrectangles are defined by the variables measured for each example. Each variable can have any range on the real lines thus the theory is not restricted to symbolic or binary values. This paper describes some advantages and disadvantages of NGE theory, positions it as a form of exemplar-based learning, and compares it to other inductive learning theories. An implementation has been tested in three different domains, for which results are presented below: prediction of breast cancer, classification of iris flowers, and prediction of survival times for heart attack patients. The results in these domains support the claim that NGE theory can be used to create compact representations with excellent predictive accuracy.
Stabilization of the Pertussis Toxin Secretion Apparatus by the C Terminus of PtlD

Pertussis toxin (PT) is secreted from Bordetella pertussis by a type IV secretion system, known as the Ptl transporter, that comprises nine different proteins, PtlA to PtlI. In this study, we found that PtlD is required for the stability of three Ptl proteins, PtlE, PtlF, and PtlH. A region limited to the C-terminal 72 amino acids of PtlD (amino acids 392 to 463) was sufficient for maintaining the stability of PtlE, PtlF, and PtlH, although this region was not sufficient to support secretion of the toxin. Further analysis demonstrated that a stretch of 10 amino acids at the C-terminal end of PtlD (amino acids 425 to 434) contributes to transporter stability.
Shaping Democratic Practice and the Causes of Electoral Fraud: The Case of Nineteenth-Century Germany

Why is there so much alleged electoral fraud in new democracies? Most scholarship focuses on the proximate cause of electoral competition. This article proposes a different answer by constructing and analyzing an original data set drawn from the German parliament's own voluminous record of election disputes for every parliamentary election in the life of Imperial Germany (1871–1912) after its adoption of universal male suffrage in 1871. The article analyzes the election of over 5,000 parliamentary seats to identify where and why elections were disputed as a result of “election misconduct.” The empirical analysis demonstrates that electoral fraud's incidence is significantly related to a society's level of inequality in landholding, a major source of wealth, power, and prestige in this period. After weighing the importance of two different causal mechanisms, the article concludes that socioeconomic inequality, by making elections endogenous to preexisting social power, can be a major and underappreciated barrier to the long-term process of democratization even after the “choice” of formally democratic rules.
Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer Observations of the Anomalous Pulsar 4U 0142+61

We observed the anomalous X-ray pulsar 4U 0142+61 using the Proportional Counter Array on board the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer in 1996 March. The pulse frequency was measured as v = 0.11510039(3) Hz, with an upper limit of absolute value of the first derivative of v <= 4 x 10(exp -13) Hz/s on the short-term change in frequency over the 4.6 day span of the observations. A compilation of all historical measurements showed an overall spin-down trend with slope first derivative of v = -3.0 +/- 0.1 x 10(exp -14) Hz/s. Searches for orbital modulations in pulse arrival times yielded an upper limit of a(sub x) sin i approximately < 0.26 lt-s (99% confidence) for the period range 70 s to 2.5 days. These limits combined with previous optical limits and evolutionary arguments suggest that 4U 0142+61 is probably not a member of a binary system.
Reasoning in model management systems

The issues involved in the reasoning process are discussed. A hierarchy of abstractions that integrates previous contributions in modeling process is formulated as a planning process by which a set of operators are scheduled to achieve a specified goal. This process involves searches for alternatives that can eliminate the difference between the initial state and the goal state. Various reasoning strategies and heuristic evaluation functions that can be used to improve the efficiency of model integration are discussed. >
Measuring electrically small antennas: Details and implications

This paper discusses the details surrounding the measurement of electrically small antennas, common errors in measurements, and the implications of these errors on system performance. Issues of small ground planes, cable effects, and efficiency measurements are examined for their apparent and interrelated effects on input impedance, radiation patterns, and system performance.
Intracellular [Na^+] and Na^+ pump rate in rat and rabbit ventricular myocytes

Intracellular [Na+] ([Na+]i) is centrally involved in regulation of cardiac Ca2+ and contractility via Na+-Ca2+ exchange (NCX) and Na+-H+ exchange (NHX). Previous work has indicated that [Na+]i is higher in rat than rabbit ventricular myocytes. This has major functional consequences, but the reason for the higher [Na+]i in rat is unknown. Here, resting [Na+]i was measured using the fluorescent indicator SBFI, with both traditional calibration and a novel null-point method (which circumvents many limitations of prior methods). In rabbit, resting [Na+]i was 4.5 ± 0.4 mm (traditional calibration) and 4.4 mm (null-point). Resting [Na+]i in rat was significantly higher using both the traditional calibration (11.1 ± 0.7 mm) and the null-point approach (11.2 mm). The rate of Na+ transport by the Na+ pump was measured as a function of [Na+]i in intact cells. Rat cells exhibited a higher Vmax than rabbit (7.7 ± 1.1 vs. 4.0 ± 0.5 mm min−1) and a higher Km (10.2 ± 1.2 vs. 7.5 ± 1.1 mm). This results in little difference in pump activity for a given [Na+]i below 10 mm, but at measured resting [Na+]i levels the pump-mediated Na+ efflux is much higher in rat. Thus, Na+ pump rate cannot explain the higher [Na+]i in rat. Resting Na+ influx rate was two to four times higher in rat, and this accounts for the higher resting [Na+]i. Using tetrodotoxin, HOE-642 and Ni2+ to block Na+ channels, NHX and NCX, respectively, we found that all three pathways may contribute to the higher resting Na+ influx in rat (albeit differentially). We conclude that resting [Na+]i is higher in rat than in rabbit, that this is caused by higher resting Na+ influx in rat and that a higher Na+,K+-ATPase pumping rate in rat is a consequence of the higher [Na+]i.
Hubert H. Humphrey's 1948 civil rights speech

(1968). Hubert H. Humphrey's 1948 civil rights speech. Today's Speech: Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 43-47.
Global Marketing Management

The greatest challenge of writing a textbook on global marketing is to decide from where to start. We live in a continuously evolving and highly complex marketplace. A strategy that is applicable f...
Do Elections Select for Better Representatives

Incumbents significantly outperform challengers in American elections, but the normative implications of this phenomenon are ambiguous. Do incompetent officials exploit the political system to keep themselves in power, or do open elections effectively select for good leaders? To address this question, I define and estimate three components of incumbent success in elections — (1) party match, (2) quality selection, and (3) officeholder benefit — the first two of which are crucial for evaluating the health of democratic elections. Results are largely reassuring; a significant portion of incumbent success can be attributed to the fact that previous elections selected for high-quality candidates that match the partisan preferences of voters. However, the results vary in meaningful ways across time and settings. For example, party match has decreased over time while quality selection and officeholder benefit have increased, and the magnitude of quality selection relative to party match increases with the salience of the electoral setting.
A simple approximation forJ v (σ v ,κ v ,τ v ,B v ), and its application for temperature-correction procedures

For the case of isotropic coherent scattering plus absorption a simple expression is given (Equation 12) to compute the mean intensity of the radiationJv (as a function of optical depth τv) if the scattering coefficient σv, the absorption coefficientKv and the Planck functionBv are given as a function of depth. In general the accuracy of this approximation is of the order of a few percent.
Organization and Electrophysiology of Interstitial Cells of Cajal and Smooth Muscle Cells in the Gastrointestinal Tract

The functional role of the gastrointestinal tract is to digest and absorb nutrients. These processes are facilitated by the orchestrated movement of the luminal contents (i.e., food, enzymatic and fluid secretions, digestion products, and waste) from the mouth to the anus. This chapter discusses elements of the motor apparatus that generates gastrointestinal motility. The main elements of the motor apparatus consist of three critical cell types (enteric neurons, smooth muscle cells, and interstitial cells of Cajal; ICC). There are elegant descriptions of enteric neurobiology elsewhere in this textbook, so this chapter concentrates on the electrical features of ICC and smooth muscles that are at the heart of phasic and tonic motor patterns. Because ICCs also have a critical role in neurotransmission, this chapter also discusses the connectivity between the terminals of enteric motor neurons and ICC.
On the Radical Historicity of Literature: Althusser versus Bhaskar

The present article takes as its point of departure the recent tributes to Bhaskar published on the occasion of the latter's death. Laudable and understandable though it was to prioritize the career trajectories of younger scholars, one of the unforeseen consequences was to marginalize those of their more mature colleagues. The latter perforce arrive upon the scene of critical realism already burdened with their own overdetermined legacies, which demand rather more in the way of complex renegotiation. Taking as exemplary his own career path, from a traditional ‘lit crit’ of empiricist and Hegelian extraction, through psychoanalysis, to structural marxism, the author of the present article focuses upon his own ‘Bhaskarian moment’, upon the benefits accrued therefrom, but finally upon the difficulty in reconciling structural marxism with critical realism, insofar as the former prioritizes the notion of a social formation, structured on the basis of a mode of production, the latter the individual/structure d...
Chapter 43 – Autoimmunity – Type 1 Diabetes

This chapter briefly describes the general concepts of autoimmunity and the canonical assays and techniques available to date to approach the study of the autoimmune phenomenon in type 1 diabetic patients. Type 1 diabetes most frequently affects children and is characterized by infiltrating mononuclear cells in the islets of Langerhans and selective destruction of the insulin-producing β -cells. As a consequence, the maintenance of normal blood glucose levels is severely impaired and the patient becomes dependent on daily injections of exogenous insulin to correct hyperglycemia. The length of time required for the autoimmune process to complete destruction of the β -cells is unknown. The general view considers that this process may occur over a prolonged period of time. In the majority cases the disease is clinically silent, but the appearance of polyuria, polydipsia, and weight loss, especially in subjects of pubertal age, represents subtle but very characteristic symptoms prodromic of the clinical onset of type 1 diabetes. Generally, the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes is made only when acute ketoacidosis complicates the patient's clinical conditions. Genetic background and immunological β -cell damage in type 1 diabetes are discussed in brief.
CXCL12-induced neurotoxicity critically depends on NMDA receptor-gated and l-type Ca 2+ channels upstream of p38 MAPK

The chemokine receptor CXCR4 (CD184) and its natural ligand CXCL12 contribute to many physiological processes, including decisions about cell death and survival in the central nervous system. In addition, CXCR4 is a co-receptor for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 and mediates the neurotoxicity of the viral envelope protein gp120. However, we previously observed that CXCL12 also causes toxicity in cerebrocortical neurons but the cellular mechanism remained incompletely defined. Primary neuronal-glial cerebrocortical cell cultures from rat were exposed to a neurotoxicity-inducing CXCL12 concentration for different times and the activity of the stress-associated mitogen-activated protein kinase p38 (p38 MAPK) was assessed using an in vitro kinase assay. Neurotoxicity of CXCL12 and cellular localization of p38 MAPK was analyzed by immunofluorescence microscopy. Pharmacological inhibition of NMDA-type glutamate receptor-gated ion channels (NMDAR) of l-type Ca2+ channels was employed during 12- and 24-h exposure to neurotoxic amounts of CXCL12 to study the effects on active p38 MAPK and neuronal survival by Western blotting and microscopy, respectively. Neurotoxicity of CXCL12 was also assessed during pharmacological inhibition of p38 MAPK. Here, we show that a neurotoxic amount of CXCL12 triggers a significant increase of endogenous p38 MAPK activity in cerebrocortical cells. Immunofluorescence and Western blotting experiments with mixed neuronal-glial and neuron-depleted glial cerebrocortical cells revealed that the majority of active/phosphorylated p38 MAPK was located in neurons. Blockade of NMDAR-gated ion channels or l-type Ca2+ channels both abrogated an increase of active p38 MAPK and toxicity of CXCL12 in cerebrocortical neurons. Inhibition of l-type Ca2+ channels with nimodipine kept the active kinase at levels not significantly different from baseline while blocking NMDAR with MK-801 strongly reduced phosphorylated p38 MAPK below baseline. Finally, we confirmed that directly blocking p38 MAPK also abrogated neurotoxicity of CXCL12. Our findings link CXCL12-induced neuronal death to the regulation of NMDAR-gated ion channels and l-type Ca2+ channels upstream of p38 MAPK activation.
Restoring a reputation: invoking the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights to bear on pharmaceutical pricing

In public health, the issue of pharmaceutical pricing is a perennial problem. Recent high-profile examples, such as the September 2015 debacle involving Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals, are indicative of larger, systemic difficulties that plague the pharmaceutical industry in regards to drug pricing and the impact it yields on their reputation in the eyes of the public. For public health ethics, the issue of pharmaceutical pricing is rather crucial. Simply, individuals within a population require pharmaceuticals for disease prevention and management. In order to be effective, these pharmaceuticals must be accessibly priced. This analysis will explore the notion of corporate social responsibility in regards to pharmaceutical pricing with an aim of restoring a positive reputation upon the pharmaceutical industry in the public eye. The analysis will utilize the 2005 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (UDBHR) to establish implications regarding the societal responsibilities of pharmaceutical companies in a global context. To accomplish this, Article 14 of the UDBHR-social responsibility and health-will be articulated in order to advocate a viewpoint of socially responsible capitalism in which pharmaceutical companies continue as profit-making ventures, yet establish moral concern for the welfare of all their stakeholders, including the healthcare consumer.
Exposure to White religious iconography influences Black individuals' intragroup and intergroup attitudes.

Objective Recent studies have found that exposure to White religious iconography via priming techniques can increase White individuals' anti-Black attitudes. To date, however, no research has examined the influence of exposure to White religious iconography on Black individuals' intragroup and intergroup attitudes. We hypothesized that exposure to White religious iconography would influence Black individuals' intragroup attitudes negatively. Method Black participants (N = 120) were either subliminally exposed to religious images (i.e., supernatural agents or concrete religious objects) or nonreligious images (i.e., nonsupernatural agents or nonreligious objects) before their intragroup/intergroup attitudes were assessed. Results Exposure to images of White Jesus, but not exposure to images of generic White men, churches, or nonreligious objects increased Black individuals' explicit pro-White attitudes. In addition, exposure to White Jesus also led to increased devaluation of the ingroup; data on implicit attitudes were more mixed. Conclusion Although there are many contributing factors to explain why Black adults and children may internalize anti-Black attitudes, the potential role religion may play in such processes-specifically the exposure to White religious iconography-cannot be ignored. (PsycINFO Database Record
Paramutation in maize and related allelic interactions

Paramutation has been defined as an interaction between alleles that leads to a mitotically and meiotically heritable change in one of the alleles at high frequency (Brink 1973). In the cases in which the gene function is known, it is clear that paramutation leads to reduction but not loss of phenotypic expression of the affected allele. We will discuss the genetic properties of paramutation of the maize genes b, r, and pl and review recent characterization of the effect of paramutation on gene expression and structure. As we review paramutation, we will compare apparently related phenomena, including: (1) recently described interactions between transgenes and endogenous genes in plants that lead to gene silencing, (2) interactions between transposable elements of plants that lead to heritable changes in gene expression, and (3) transvection in Drosophila and heritable epigenetic effects on gene expression in animals and fungi. For a thorough review of earlier literature on paramutation of b, r, and the handful of other examples of paramutation in plants, we refer the reader to previous reviews (Brink 1964, 1973; Brink etal. 1968; Coe 1966).
Investor Behavior Before and After the Financial Crisis: Accounting Standards and Risk Appetite in Fixed Income Investing

The financial crisis of 2008 in the United States took place in 2005. Evidence was the massive amounts of refinancing of residential mortgages in the United States, right after the peak of the housing price bubble around December, 2014. The three Government Sponsored Enterprises (FNMA, FHLMC, FHLBC) had delayed adopting the financial accounting standard SFAS 133. They were artificially (and falsely) showing that their hedge book was perfectly offsetting the precipitous decline in their mortgage portfolio. The investor had little chance to know. Postcrisis, the investor does not know where to go, to earn yield. Large institutional investors generally exhibit chronic underfunding of liabilities through their portfolio returns. These (as well as retail/mutual fund) investors, exhibit an appetite for “swinging for the fences” when they select portfolio managers. This tendency to exploit fat tails has become entrenched in the markets, and baffles explanation or quantification. The author has attempted to explain investor behavior after the crisis, with a unique model.
Electronic Structure of the Si-SiO2 Interface

After sketching various theoretical models that have been proposed for describing the Si/Si02 interface on an atomic scale, we will discuss an idealized model which is designed to simulate the average contact between a silicon crystal and its oxide overlayer. According to this model, the Si/Si02 interface is represented by the boundary between two crystalline domains, the first being the silicon substrate, and the second an idealized crystalline form of Si02, diamond-like beta Cristobalite. Nearly perfect registry between Si and Si02 is obtained by placing the (100) face of the former next to the 45° rotated (100) face of the latter. Half the Si atoms at the interface are fourfold coordinated, connecting the Si and Si02 regions to one another. The remaining half are connected only to the silicon substrate and are thus twofold coordinated. Localized electronic states in the thermal gap at the interface are associated with the dangling bonds at the twofold coordinated Si atoms. If H, O, or OH groups are attached to these Si atoms, eliminating the dangling bonds, the thermal gap interface states are also eliminated. Even though this model ignores structural disorder, it does provide considerable insight into the nature of the Si/SiO2 interface. We will discuss some of the implications of this model, as well as the results of model-based theoretical calculations. In particular, we will consider the electronic structure of the interface including the effects produced by the introduction of Si and O vacancies and interstitials and other types of localized defects.
Case 16: Zone I/II/III Open Globe Injury with Retinal Strike Site and Post-operative Strabismus

A 13-year-old boy presented with a Zone I-II-III open-globe injury of the left eye secondary to an accidental pocketknife injury while at camp. The patient underwent primary repair of the injury, which required hooking and isolating the inferior rectus muscle and repositioning of prolapsed uvea. The patient subsequently required a pars plana vitrectomy, lensectomy, endolaser and membrane peel. With improvement in vision to 20/40 with a contact lens, the patient developed binocular diplopia from a moderate-angle, sensory exotropia. He underwent a left lateral rectus recession and left medial rectus recession with improvement in the cosmetic appearance of his eyes but not complete resolution of his diplopia.
Characteristics of Behcet's Disease in the American Southwest.

Abstract Objective The goal of this study was to determine the characteristics of Behcet's disease (BD) in the American Southwest. Material and methods This was a cross-sectional study of BD patients clinically encountered during a 2-year period. All subjects fulfilled the International Study Group criteria (ISG) or International Criteria for Behcet's Disease (ICBD). Age, gender, clinical characteristics, substance use, and HLA-B51 status were determined. Results 63 patients (female: male ratio: 4.7:1) fulfilled ISG criteria and 76 the ICBD criteria (estimated prevalence of 8.9–10.6 per 100,000). 84.1% (53/63) were initially diagnosed with non-BD primary diagnoses including inflammatory arthritis (15.9%), fibromyalgia (7.9%), vasculitis (7.9%), or systemic lupus erythematosus (7.9%). Common BD manifestations were oral aphthous ulcers (100%), acneiform lesions (69.8%), genital aphthous ulcers (61.9%), papulopustular lesions (52.4%), pseudofolliculitis (42.9%), inflammatory arthritis (41.3%), anterior uveitis (23.8%), posterior uveitis (15.9%), pathergy (15.9%), deep vein thrombosis (14.3%), non-ocular vasculitis (11.1%), erythema nodosum (7.9%), arterial thrombosis (6.3%), and retinal vasculitis (1.6%). BD ethnic proportions were 49.2% Hispanic American (HA), 31.7% European-American (EA), 14.3% Native American (NA), and 1.7% Silk Road. HLA-B51 was present more in NA (89.0%, p = 0.02) and HA (74.2%, p = 0.02) compared to EA (42.1%). Therapy of BD was conventional, except for the frequent use of hydroxychloroquine. Conclusions BD is common in the American Southwest with a prevalence of 8.9–10.6 cases per 100,000. BD patients are commonly initially diagnosed with alternative primary conditions. Hydroxychloroquine may be an effective alternative therapy for BD. This is one of the first reports of BD in HA and NA populations.
A Closer Look at Campus-Community Partnerships in Engineering Education

This Research Work in Progress paper looks at community-engaged learning, service learning, and similar pedagogies that extend project-based learning beyond the classroom into “real world” communities. Use of such pedagogies is increasingly common in engineering education, and evidence suggests that they are particularly effective at connecting engineering theory to practice, engaging engineering students motivated to “make an impact,” and preparing engineering students for an increasingly globalized world. Community-engaged learning and similar pedagogies typically involve creating a partnership between campus partners (e.g. students, faculty, or staff) and community partners (e.g. community members or organizations) to address an engineering challenge that, if successful, will contribute to student learning and provide value to the community partners. Building upon the existing frameworks of “do no harm” and “engineering to help,” this paper examines the relationships between academic and non-academic partners as a crucial yet relatively unstudied aspect of community-engaged learning. The partner relationship - the shared expectations, commitments, responsibilities, and trust (or lack thereof) between partners - appears to be vital. However, because it is not always the primary focus of those involved, and because partners’ interests, incentives, epistemologies, and worldviews do not always align, partnerships frequently fail, leaving dissatisfaction and disillusionment among campus and community partners alike. This study employs a comparative case study approach using sets of interviews with students, instructors, and community partners involved in different sides of the same engineering projects. Some projects are retrospective while others are current, and some had positive outcomes (as defined by stakeholders) while others were less than positive. We present qualitative findings that suggest a set of considerations for mutually beneficial partnerships in community-engaged engineering courses and programs. Ultimately, this paper aims to provide a current perspective and guidance for engineering educators, students, and community partners who wish to jointly build and nurture enduringly effective and equitable partnerships.
Taming convergence in the determinant approach for x-ray excitation spectra

A determinant formalism in combination with ab initio calculations was proposed recently and has paved a way for simulating and interpreting x-ray excitation spectra in condensed-phase systems. The method systematically takes into account many-electron effects in the Mahan-Nozi\'eres-De Dominicis (MND) theory, including core-level excitonic effects, the Fermi-edge singularity, shakeup excitations, and wave function overlap effects such as the orthogonality catastrophe, all within a universal framework using many-electron configurations. A heuristic search algorithm was introduced to search for the configurations that are important for defining the x-ray spectral line shape, instead of enumerating them in a brute-force way. The algorithm has proven to be efficient for calculating $\mathrm{O}$ $K$ edges of transition metal oxides, which converge at the second excitation order (denoted as ${f}^{(n)}$ with $n=2$), i.e., the final-state configurations with two e-h pairs (with one hole being the core hole). However, it remains unknown how the determinant x-ray spectra converge for general cases and at which excitation order $n$ should one stop the determinant calculation. Even with the heuristic algorithm, the number of many-electron configurations still grows exponentially with the excitation order $n$. In this work we prove two theorems that can indicate the order of magnitude of the contribution of the ${f}^{(n)}$ configurations, so that one can estimate their contribution very quickly without actually calculating their amplitudes. The two theorems are based on singular-value decomposition (SVD) analysis, a method that is widely used to quantify entanglement between two quantum many-body systems. We examine the $K$ edges of several metallic systems with the determinant formalism up to ${f}^{(5)}$ to illustrate the usefulness of the theorems.
Literature, Education, and Romanticism: Childhood, education, and power

In My Lady Ludlow , a novella set in the first decade of the nineteenth century, Elizabeth Gaskell portrays the effect on a small English village of the education schemes then so much in vogue. The plot hinges on the opposition of Lady Ludlow, a dowager countess and virtual tyrant of the neighborhood, to the Sunday school which the new clergyman, Mr. Gray, wishes to establish for the poor children of the parish. Lady Ludlow, who “always said a good despotism was the best form of government,” holds fast to the conservatism of her youth in the face of Mr. Gray's fashionable cause: “The cry for education was beginning to come up: Mr. Raikes had set up his Sunday schools; and some clergymen were all for teaching writing and arithmetic, as well as reading. My lady would have none of this; it was levelling and revolution, she said.” Indeed, Lady Ludlow maintains a policy of hiring none but illiterate serving maids, although she herself is not entirely immune to the “new hobby of education” (21) – she keeps an elitist charity school of her own, imparting the mysteries of baking, needlework, and general deportment to young women “of condition, though out of means” (11). Mr. Gray, earnest and consumptive, holds that Bible reading and a sounder grasp of Church catechism will help prepare his humbler parishioners for the world to come. (Lady Ludlow's steward, Mr. Horner, takes a still more “new-fangled” approach, secretly envisioning a day-school to “train up intelligent labourers for working on the estate” [52–53]).
Instructional strategies to promote computational thinking for young learners

Increased recognition of the importance of computational thinking as a core skill for all students has led many states to adopt and implement computer science standards, with a focus on teaching co...
The current status of orthodontic education in U.S. pediatric dental residencies

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to survey the current status of orthodontic education at pediatric dental residencies in the United States. A similar survey was conducted >10 years ago. With changing healthcare politics, social demands, and technology, it is important to have current information about dental education. METHODS A 23-item anonymous survey was sent to individual pediatric dental residency program directors via Qualtrics email software. The survey was sent a total of 4 times over an 8-week period. If the surveys were not completed in a predetermined amount of time, they were resent to those who had not yet completed them. RESULTS There were 34 responders for a 24% response rate. Of the respondents, 73% reported teaching biomechanics of tooth movement, and 45% reported teaching 2 × 4 mechanics to "marginally acceptable" level. Early (91%) to late mixed dentition (77%) is the most commonly treated orthodontic case. While most programs do not require a minimum number of orthodontic cases for graduation (85%), residents' understanding of growth and development is mostly (71%) evaluated through the results of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry Qualifying Examination. CONCLUSION This study summarizes the current climate of the orthodontic education component in U.S. pediatric dental residencies.
Entangled Crossroads: Inter-Relationality, Masculinity, and Sex-Trafficked Boys:

In this article, I highlight systemic oppression related to identity construction and ontological performativity. I introduce the concept of inter-relationality as a discursive tool that builds upo...
Functional classes of SNPs related to psychiatric disorders and behavioral traits contrast with those related to neurological disorders

We investigated the functional classes of genomic regions containing SNPS contributing most to the SNP-heritability of important psychiatric and neurological disorders and behavioral traits, as determined from recent genome-wide association studies. We employed linkage-disequilibrium score regression with several brain-specific genomic annotations not previously used. The classes of genomic annotations conferring substantial SNP-heritability for the psychiatric disorders and behavioral traits differed systematically from the classes associated with neurological disorders, and both differed from the classes enriched for height, a biometric trait used here as a control outgroup. The SNPs implicated in these psychiatric disorders and behavioral traits were highly enriched in CTCF binding sites, in conserved regions likely to be enhancers, and in brain-specific promoters, regulatory sites likely to affect dynamic responses. The SNPs relevant for neurological disorders were highly enriched in constitutive coding regions and splice regulatory sites. We suggest that our results provide a bridge between genetics and the well-known effects of life history and recent stressful experiences on risk of psychiatric illness.
Judicial Ethics and Conduct: Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview

This is the introductory chapter from the forthcoming law school course book Judicial Ethics and Conduct. The book provides materials that can be used in conjunction with a stand-alone one or two unit course on judicial ethics, or can be used in whole or in part to provide the basis for a sub-unit on judicial ethics within a standard course on legal ethics or lawyer professional responsibility. A heavy emphasis is placed upon the American Bar Association’s Model Code of Judicial Conduct. The scope of coverage is designed to parallel that of the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE), as it pertains to judicial ethics. More specific subjects covered include: Maintaining the Independence and Impartiality of the Judiciary; Performing the Duties of Judicial Office Impartially, Competently, and Diligently; Ex Parte Communications; Disqualification; and Extrajudicial Activities. A number of important U.S. Supreme Court decisions relating to judicial ethics are covered. The book will be available free of charge through the Center for Computer Assisted Legal Education’s (CALI) eLangdell casebook series. CALI Lessons are available that provide questions that review material from each of the chapters after the introduction.
Factors Influencing Adoption and Integration of Construction Robotics and Automation Technology in the US

AbstractRobotics and automation technology (RAT) has emerged as one of the most important drivers of the Industry 4.0 digital transformation of industrial operations. Although RAT has been explored...
The earthquake of July 6, 1934: Amplitudes and First Motion.

Summary The distribution of the first motion of the P waves for the earthquake of July 6, 1934, combined with knowledge of the general faulting trends of the region, leads to the conclusion that the earthquake was caused by movement on a fault bearing about N 40° W, and dipping about 84° northeasterly. The displacement vectors dipped about 26° northwesterly. The displacement consisted of a motion of the Pacific side northerly and of the continental side southerly, as in 1906. This suggests an extension of the fault which broke in 1906 in Humboldt County. A second interpolation would give a fault bearing N 46° W.
Structural Violence and its Effects on Children Living in War and Armed Conflict Zones: A Palestinian Perspective.

The recent events in Palestine–Israel once again have brought anger and frustration to people inside and outside the medical community. Especially for the pediatric community, the recent wars’ toll...