cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Model Tracking Control for Weakly Minimum Phase Linear Infinite-Dimensional Systems in Hilbert Space Using a Zero Filter

Abstract: Given a linear continuous-time infinite-dimensional plant on a Hilbert space and disturbances of known waveform but unknown amplitude and phase, we show that there exists a stabilizing direct model reference adaptive control law with persistent disturbance rejection and robustness properties. The plant is described by a closed, densely defined linear operator that generates a continuous semigroup of bounded operators on the Hilbert space of states. For this paper, the plant will be weakly minimum phase, i.e. there will be a finite number of unstable zeros with real part equal to zero. All other zeros will be exponentially stable. The central result will show that all errors will converge to a prescribed neighborhood of zero in an infinite dimensional Hilbert space even though the plant is not truly minimum phase. The result will not require the use of the standard Barbalat Lemma which requires certain signals to be uniformly continuous. This result is used to determine conditions under which a linear Infinite-dimensional system can be directly adaptively controlled to follow a reference model. In particular we examine conditions for a set of ideal trajectories to exist for the tracking problem. Our principal result will be that the direct adaptive controller can be compensated with a zero filter for the unstable zeros which will produce the desired robust adaptive control results even though the plant is only weakly minimum phase. Our results are applied to adaptive control of general linear infinite dimensional systems described by self-adjoint operators with compact resolvent.
A Case of a Small (1–2 cm) Papillary Thyroid Cancer in a Young Patient: Lobectomy Versus Total Thyroidectomy

Small papillary thyroid carcinomas are very common and rarely threaten any patient’s long-term survival. The majority of patients with tumors below 2 cm in size falls into the American Thyroid Association low-risk group and can be effectively treated and followed using a variety of strategies. The tumor features that increase the risk of further problems with thyroid cancer (death or recurrence) include vascular invasion within the tumor or invasion of tumor into tissues outside of the thyroid capsule, gross lymph node metastases, V600E BRAF mutation in the tumor, or aggressive histologic features. The findings during treatment that increase the patient’s risk include the inability to completely resect the tumor due to local invasion or the presence of local or distant metastases on postoperative radioiodine scan or other imaging modalities. The clinical challenge is to identify the minority of patients with small tumors and higher-risk disease, in order to limit the more aggressive therapeutic strategies (total thyroidectomy, radioiodine therapy, and TSH suppression) to that group.
Cerebral ischemic tolerance mediated by toll like receptor signal transduction pathway

Aim Cerebral ischemic tolerance can be induced by a variety of preconditioning stimuli,such as transient global and focal ischemia,hypoxia,and administration of lipopolysaccharide(LPS),proinflammatory cytokines,anesthetics.Tolerance can be established with two forms: a rapid form in which the trigger induces tolerance to ischemia within minutes and a delayed form in which development of protection takes several hours or days.During ischemia,inflammatory reaction was initiated by toll-like receptors(TLRs) that recognize host-derived molecules released from injured tissues and cells,which exacerbates ischemic injury.In the delayed form of tolerance,the preconditioning stimuli first triggers the TLRs inflammatory pathway,leading not only to inflammation but also to simultaneous upregulation of feedback inhibitors(such as anti-inflammatory cytokines,decoy receptors,and signaling inhibitors),which reduced the inflammatory response to subsequent severe ischemia.The rapid tolerance is achieved by direct interference with membrane fluidity,causing change of lipid rafts leading to inhibition of TLRs signaling pathways.The comprehension of mechanism of cerebral ischemic tolerance highlights new avenues for future prevention and treatment of ischemic brain injury
Pest Control and Main Insect Pests of Pinus Khasya Plantation in Jiangcheng County

Investigation discovered there are four types of pests damaging the Pinus Khasya plantation in Jiangcheng County,which are dioryctria splendidella,pine bark beatle,Dendrolimus houi Lajonquiere and conifer sawfly.The state and degree of their harm are described,and corresponding control and prevention measures are put forward.The article believes that single tree species,simple forest structure,pest control techniques and tools lagging behind are the primary causes for severe insect pest occurred.
Numerical simulation on two-hole blasting under different in-situ stress conditions

Based on damage mechanics theory,a mechanical model for rock blasting is established considering of the rock heterogeneity,in which rock blasting is considered as two consecutive stages,i.e.the dynamic stage caused by the stress wave and the static stage caused by explosion gas pressure.The cracks evolution of two-hole blasting under different in-situ stress conditions is numerically simulated.The numerical results indicate that: ① the initiation of cracks is induced by the blasting stress wave,while the explosion gas pressure can lead to the further propagation of cracks;② the cracks evolution is closely related to the in-situ stress conditions,and the cracks propagation direction coincides with the maximum compressive principal stress;③ the cracks radius and cracks area decrease with the increasing of depth and in-situ stress,which implies the suppression of in-situ stress on blasting fracturing.
Pulmonary artery balloon counterpulsation for acute right ventricular failure

The development and availability of right ventricular assist devices has not kept pace with the evolution of devices designed to mechanically support the systemic circulation. This report describes the application of the counterpulsation concept to the pulmonary circuit to unload the failing right ventricle and augment pulmonary blood flow. Conventional, widely available balloon pumping equipment was employed. Use of this double balloon pump system enabled a patient to be weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass after all other measures had failed. Other relevant potential clinical applications for this technique are discussed.
Bioelectric properties of proximal bronchiolar epithelium

Distal airway epithelium is widely believed to secrete ions and liquid into the airspace, although this process has never been demonstrated in intact small airways. To determine the characteristics of active ion transport in distal airway epithelium, the effects of selective inhibitors of active Na+ absorption and Cl- secretion on the bioelectric properties of intact proximal bronchiolar epithelium were evaluated. Large bronchioles (450-1,200 microns outside diameter, 1.5-5.0 mm length) were excised from 4- to 8-wk-old pigs, cannulated with glass microcannulas, and perfused. Transepithelial potential difference (PD), short-circuit current (Isc), and resistance (Rm) were measured by cable analysis. In 14 tissues, resting PD, Isc, and Rm were -3.4 +/- 0.4 mV (lumen negative), 19.6 +/- 4.7 microA/cm2, and 255 +/- 50 omega.m2, respectively. The conductive Na+ channel blocker amiloride (10 microM) significantly (P < 0.05) reduced PD and Isc by 37 and 41% and significantly increased Rm by 23% in seven tissues. Subsequent bumetanide (10 microM), a blocker of active Cl- secretion through inhibition of Na(+)-K(+)-2Cl- cotransport, significantly reduced the amiloride-insensitive PD and Isc by 41 and 50%, whereas Rm significantly increased 15%. Because amiloride is known to induce Cl- secretion, the order of drug addition was reversed to determine the fractional contribution of active Cl- secretion to the resting PD, Isc, and Rm. In seven different bronchioles, bumetanide did not significantly affect PD, Isc, or Rm.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Education of Residents in the Pediatric Office

Practicing pediatricians can contribute a much-needed dimension to the education of primary care physicians who will care for children by teaching medical students and residents in their offices. This article is intended to help the prospective pediatrician-teacher plan, conduct, and evaluate productive educational experiences in the office. Effective teaching strategies are suggested and the importance of a systematic approach to education, which entails defining objectives and evaluating the students’ learning, is emphasized.
Decreased secretion due to a Ca2+ influx defect in frog peptic cells isolated with EGTA

Cells prepared from frog esophageal peptic glands by dispersal in low-Ca2+ medium (peptic acini) or 1 mM ethylene glycol-bis(-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA)-containing medium (...
Hepatitis risk in cardiac surgery patients receiving factor IX concentrates.

Experience with the clinical use and hepatitis risks of factor IX concentrate (Proplex) in cardiac surgical patients is presented in this report. Seventy-five patients received the concentrate for severe intraoperative or postoperative hemorrhage and 75 patients constituted matched controls. The incidence of probable type B viral hepatitis in patients receiving factor IX concentrate was 13.8 percent (four of 29) versus zero percent (zero of 29) in control patients (difference not significant). However, there was a greater incidence (p
Huzuni na Hadithi: Grief and Stories in Southern Tanzania

For two months in the summer of 2010, I lived in Peramiho Village with a Tanzanian family and conducted ethnographic fieldwork on grief rituals and support systems for my undergraduate thesis. When I returned to Peramiho from September 2011 to November 2012, my further observations of the mourning process more clearly foregrounded narratives. This article focuses on grief narratives in Tanzania as stories that connect people to each other and to the land. Short-term narratives in particular act as rites of incorporation: storytellers initiate others into a shared community and show survivors grappling to ground their experiences with death, a form of control over chaos as they repeatedly narrate events. The mourning process that follows, which includes a secondary funeral ritual and year-long restricted practices, transforms grief and memory, and therefore the narratives themselves. Collected stories provide the structure of this essay, marking shifts in my experience and understanding of the grief process in Peramiho.
Comics as a Medium for Privacy Notices

Online privacy and security notices are rather ineective: Very few people read them, and those who do nd them difcult to understand and remember. How can we create privacy and security notices that are inviting, engaging, comprehensible, and memorable, even for users with dyslexia or a lower literacy level? In this paper, we propose to investigate the use of comics for privacy and security notices. We describe the ongoing development of comic notices for the \transparency and choice" part of Google’s privacy policy, as well as a research plan to test these notices against existing notices in various dierent settings.
Effects of Liming on Quality of Water Discharged from the Supply Reservoir at a Fisheries Research Station

AbstractAnnual treatment of a water supply reservoir with agricultural limestone at the E. W. Shell Fisheries Center at Auburn University has roughly doubled conductivity and concentrations of total alkalinity, total hardness, and calcium hardness in the discharge water. It also has prevented pH values below 6.7. Concentrations of water quality variables decreased following some large rainfall events and during periods of prolonged rainfall. Calcium hardness concentrations were sometimes lower than recommended for hatchery water supplies intended for Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus. Nevertheless, liming has improved the quality of the reservoir discharge for use in both the hatchery and research ponds at the station.Received December 3, 2015; accepted May 9, 2016
A PRET architecture supporting concurrent programs with composable timing properties

In order to improve design time and efficiency of systems, large scale system design is often split into the design of separate functions, which are later integrated together. For real time safety critical applications, the ability to separately verify timing properties of functions is important. If the integration of functions on a particular platform destroys the timing properties of individual functions, then it is not possible to verify timing properties separately. Modern computer architectures introduce timing interference between functions due to unrestricted access of shared hardware resources, such as pipelines and caches. Thus, it is difficult, if not impossible, to integrate two functions on a modern computer architecture while preserving their separate timing properties. This paper describes a realization of PRET, a class of computer architectures designed for timing predictability. Our realization employs a thread-interleaved pipeline with scratchpad memories, and has a predictable DRAM controller. It decouples execution of multiple hardware contexts on a shared hardware platform, which allows for a straight forward integration of different functions onto a shared platform.
Efficient solution of Markov decision problems with multiscale representations

Many problems in sequential decision making and stochastic control naturally enjoy strong multiscale structure: sub-tasks are often assembled together to accomplish complex goals. However, systematically inferring and leveraging hierarchical structure has remained a longstanding challenge. We describe a fast multiscale procedure for repeatedly compressing or homogenizing Markov decision processes (MDPs), wherein a hierarchy of sub-problems at different scales is automatically determined. Coarsened MDPs are themselves independent, deterministic MDPs, and may be solved using any method. The multiscale representation delivered by the algorithm decouples sub-tasks from each other and improves conditioning. These advantages lead to potentially significant computational savings when solving a problem, as well as immediate transfer learning opportunities across related tasks.
Hypothalamic growth hormone receptor (GHR) controls hepatic glucose production in nutrient-sensing leptin receptor (LepRb) expressing neurons

Objective The GH/IGF-1 axis has important roles in growth and metabolism. GH and GH receptor (GHR) are active in the central nervous system (CNS) and are crucial in regulating several aspects of metabolism. In the hypothalamus, there is a high abundance of GH-responsive cells, but the role of GH signaling in hypothalamic neurons is unknown. Previous work has demonstrated that the Ghr gene is highly expressed in LepRb neurons. Given that leptin is a key regulator of energy balance by acting on leptin receptor (LepRb)-expressing neurons, we tested the hypothesis that LepRb neurons represent an important site for GHR signaling to control body homeostasis.
Qualitative Behavior of the Low-Frequency Vibrational Dynamics of Microtubules and the Surrounding Water.

The dynamics of the low-frequency vibrational modes of microtubules play a key role in many theoretical models regarding their biological function. We analyze these dynamics through large scale, classical molecular dynamics simulations of a microtubule composed of 42 tubulin heterodimers to provide insights into the qualitative nature of the vibrational energy absorption and dissipation mechanisms. The computed microtubule absorption spectra and vibrational density of states in the terahertz regime are presented, along with an analysis of the vibrational dephasing rates of the tubulin monomer center of mass dynamics, which are shown to be overdamped. Additionally, the presence of the microtubule modifies the dynamical properties of the solvation shell structure within roughly 10 A of the protein. These vibrational properties are similar to those seen in other globular proteins and indicate microtubules are unlikely candidates for any large scale collective vibrational processes in the terahertz regime suc...
Managing Staphylococcus aureus Catheter Infection in Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

A case of Staphyloccus aureus catheter infection in a patient on peritoneal dialysis is presented and discussed by nephrologists, a social worker, a nurse specializing in the care of peritoneal dialysis patients, and the patient involved. The focus of the multidisciplinary case discussion concerns the management of S aureus catheter infections, including catheter removal, psychosocial issues and the patient's response to the need for catheter removal, the risk factors and prevention of S aureus catheter infections in peritoneal dialysis patients, and exit site care practices.
How Historical Solutions to Thermal Comfort Influenced Modern Construction Efforts

Abstract This paper explores the history behind the international movement for greater climate control and how this progression has influenced modern green building technology. From Greek Hypocaust systems to Mexican pueblos, many cultures have succeeded in manipulating their built environment. How have these seemingly simple concepts transformed modern society and the building industry as a whole? What lessons in geographical adaptive architecture have been overlooked in our desire to control our environment? How can these concepts be applied to modern technology to create a more sustainable construction infrastructure? These questions are explored to provide a greater understanding of how trends toward isolated control are exponential in relative cost and energy use. The future of climate manipulation is hypothesized to be in a melange of historical precedents and modern technology, interwoven to create comfortable but innovative solutions that require less work, money, and energy.
Effects of cadmium on growth, short-term photosynthetic acclimation and metal accumulation in radish plants (Raphanus sativus L.)

Plants displaying heavy metal hyper-accumulation and high biomass could be used in phytoextraction. The present study utilises photosynthetic acclimation rates and morphological measurements to gauge cadmium toxicity in radish plants raised on nutrient solutions containing 0, 5, 10 and 20 µM CdCl2. Growth rates displayed a dose-dependent decline with cadmium exposure. Photosynthetic acclimation was significantly reduced compared to controls in all cadmium treatments. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to determine cadmium accumulation. In both the roots and shoots of the plant, cadmium levels were significantly higher than the controls in 10 and 20 µM treatments. Significantly more cadmium was distributed into the roots compared to shoots. A moderate tolerance for and reasonable accumulation of cadmium makes the radish a candidate for phytoremediation in marginally contaminated environments. Furthermore, the sensitivity of photosynthetic acclimation rates to cadmium exposure serves as a potential bioindicator of cadmium contamination.
Black-box Solar Performance Modeling: Comparing Physical, Machine Learning, and Hybrid Approaches

The increasing penetration of solar power in the grid has motivated a strong interest in developing real-time performance models that estimate solar output based on a deployment's unique location, physical characteristics, and weather conditions. Solar models are useful for a variety of solar energy analytics, including indirect monitoring, forecasting, disaggregation, anonymous localization, and fault detection. Significant recent work focuses on learning "black box" models, primarily for forecasting, using machine learning (ML) techniques, which leverage only historical energy and weather data for training. Interestingly, these ML techniques are often "off the shelf" and do not incorporate well-known physical models of solar generation based on fundamental properties. Instead, prior work on physical modeling generally takes a "white box" approach that assumes detailed knowledge of a deployment. In this paper, we survey existing work on solar modeling, and then compare black-box solar modeling using ML versus physical approaches. We then i) present a configurable hybrid approach that combines the benefits of both by enabling users to select the parameters they physically model versus learn via ML, and ii) show that it significantly improves model accuracy across 6 deployments.
A Poetics for Spatial Justice: Materialism and Legal Historiography, from Bachelard to Benjamin

As the linguistic/cultural turn of the last forty years has begun to ebb, socio-legal and legal-humanist scholarship has seen an accelerating return to materiality. This paper asks what relationship may be forthcoming between the “new materialisms” and “vibrant matter” of recent years, and older materialisms – both historical and literary, both Marxist and non-Marxist – that held sway prior to post-structuralism? What impact might such a relationship have on the forms, notably “spatial justice,” that materiality is assuming in current legal studies? To attempt answers, the paper turns to two figures from more than half a century ago: Gaston Bachelard – once famous, now mostly forgotten; and Walter Benjamin – once largely forgotten, now famous. A prolific and much-admired writer between 1930 and 1960, Bachelard pursued two trajectories of inquiry: a dialectical and materialist and historical (but non-Marxist) philosophy of science; and a poetics of the material imagination based on inquiry into the literary reception and representation of the prime elements – earth, water, fire, and air. Between the late 1920s and 1940, meanwhile, Benjamin developed an idiosyncratic but potent form of historical materialism dedicated to “arousing [the world] from its dream of itself.” The paper argues that by mobilizing Bachelard and Benjamin for scholarship at the intersection of law and the humanities, old and new materialisms can be brought into a satisfying conjunction that simultaneously offers a poetics for spatial justice and lays a foundation for a materialist legal historiography for the twenty-first century.
A Review on Tablet Scoring: Background, History and Current Regulatory Considerations

Tablet splitting or breaking of tablets into multiple strengths has been a common practice across the world. Splitting of tablet offers various advantages such as dose flexibility and ease of swallowing in different population including geriatric and pediatric patients (wide patient acceptance) and cost saving on medications (economic advantage) The tablet products that are meant to be split and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will have a scored line indicating the split location to ensure patient can adjust the dose by splitting and such splitting information will be included in the patient package insert. Having a consistent scored reduces difficulty in dose related problems especially when using products made by different manufacturers such as Generic compared to Reference Listed Drugs (RLD). Physical characteristics such as shape, size and tablet score may affect tablet splitability. Currently, various regulatory bodies (FDA, USP, and EP) provide consistent and useful information to the pharmaceutical industry. In this review, authors have compiled information from currently available resources on tablet scoring.
Modeling public responses to soft-target transportation terror

Transportation systems are one of the most frequent and high-profile targets for terrorist attacks, and such attacks can cause reduced or altered public travel behavior that can have severe economic consequences. Thus, understanding the relationship between transportation terror and public response is critical. We recruited n = 430 participants to read one of three hypothetical transportation-based terror attacks, and use Partial Least Squares path modeling to identify the interrelationships between the affective, cognitive, and (intended) behavioral facets of their reactions. The three terror scenarios were structured to allow for comparisons between a cyber and non-cyber attack on ground transportation, and an aviation versus ground explosives attack, which allowed us to test the robustness of the path model across situational features. Results indicated that the attack features did not moderate any of the interrelationships between reaction variables, but had medium-sized effects on self-reported risk perception. Collapsing data from all three scenarios into a single path model confirmed previously reported findings regarding the opposing roles of fear and anger in risk perception, suggested differing roles for terrorism risk attitudes and general risk attitudes, and found a surprisingly negligible role for self-reported trust in government. Implications for further research on soft-target and transportation-based terrorism risk perception are discussed.
Regulation of Insulin Secretion in Vivo

Disruption of the normal relationship between B-cell function and insulin sensitivity is central to the pathogenesis of hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes. Normal glucose regulation is dependent on a closed feedback loop relationship among the liver, peripheral tissues (primarily muscle) and pancreatic islet cells (1). In individuals with normal islet function, the pancreatic islet B-cell adapts to reductions in insulin sensitivity in the hepatic and peripheral tissues by increasing insulin secretion and thereby prevents the development of fasting hyperglycemia. However, in type 2 diabetes, fasting hyperglycemia occurs when impaired islet s-cell function results in an underproduction of insulin relative to the prevailing insulin sensitivity (1). This chapter aims to provide the basis for the understanding of s-cell function measurements in vivo in as much as this can be useful in unraveling the genetic basis of type 2 diabetes.
Workshop on Diagnosis and Treatment of Cardiac Maladaptive Remodeling

Heart failure is a major health problem. Accordingly, its pathophysiologic basis and pathogenic origins have received considerable research interest. To date much attention has focused on the importance of cardiac myocyte dysfunction and the adaptations of this muscular compartment as root causes of heart failure. Equally compelling to its origins, albeit less well recognized and understudied, is a role for the cardiac interstitium and its extracellular matrix. This dynamic compartment includes pluripotent fibroblasts with considerable phenotypic and functional diversity and a microenvironment composed of signaling molecules that regulate tissue homeostasis, including cell growth and behavior. Matrix remodeling provides a structural basis for ventricular diastolic and/or systolic dysfunction. This brief summary report overviews discussions held at an NHLBI-sponsored workshop focused on matrix remodeling in heart failure. Its purpose was to examine this remodeling process, not only for a better understanding of heart failure, but also to evaluate whether it would be a ripe target for preventive and therapeutic interventions.
A GOLOG Specification of a Hypertext System

GOLOG, a logic programming language for dynamic domains is utilized to give a specification of a hypertext system. The situation calculus is used to specify the basic actions such as traversing a link, while the overall control structure is modelled with the complex actions of GOLOG. The result serves as both a logical specification of a software system and as an executable model of the very same system.
Two Types of Spore Germination in Sarcoscypha Coccinea (Scop. Ex Fr.) Lambotte

(1953). Two Types of Spore Germination in Sarcoscypha Coccinea (Scop. Ex Fr.) Lambotte. Mycologia: Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 302-306.
Viral Anti-CRISPR Tactics: No Success without Sacrifice.

Co-evolution with their bacterial hosts has led to viral countermeasures against CRISPR-mediated immunity. In a recent issue of Cell, Landsberger et al. (2018) and Borges et al. (2018) report that cooperation among bacteriophages and multiple infection events are necessary to overcome CRISPR immune responses.
Spatio-temporal access methods: a survey (2010 - 2017)

The volume of spatio-temporal data is growing at a rapid pace due to advances in location-aware devices, e.g., smartphones, and the popularity of location-based services, e.g., navigation services. A number of spatio-temporal access methods have been proposed to support efficient processing of queries over the spatio-temporal data. Spatio-temporal access methods can be classified according to the type of data being indexed into the following categories: (1) indexes for historical spatio-temporal data, (2) indexes for current and recent spatio-temporal data, (3) indexes for future spatio-temporal data, (4) indexes for past, present, and future spatio-temporal data, (5) indexes for spatio-temporal data with associated textual data, and (6) parallel and distributed spatio-temporal systems and indexes. This survey is Part 3 of our previous surveys on the same subject (Mokbel et al. IEEE Data Eng Bull 26(2):40–49, 2003; Nguyen-Dinh et al. IEEE Data Eng Bull 33(2):46–55, 2010). In this survey, we present an overview and a broad classification of the spatio-temporal access methods published between 2010 and 2017.
The Historical Legacy of (Pre?)Colonial Indigenous Settlements in Mexico

What is the long-term impact of pre-colonial ethnic institutions? I examine the consequences of the fragmentation of local indigenous communities produced by Spanish rule in Mexico. To do this I make use of unique data from 18th century pueblos — the basis of modern-day counties — to study the institutional impact that the formation of these pueblos had on current development in Mexico. I find that after controlling for alternative mechanisms, counties encompassing more historical pueblos, are more developed, and have less poverty, but are more unequal today. The effects are more latent in places where pre-hispanic roots are deeper (historical Mesoamerica and high altitude areas), suggesting the institutional impact has a pre-colonial basis.
Nulle autre voix: by Maïssa Bey, La Tour d’Aigues, Éditions de l’Aube, 2018, 248 pp., €19.90 (softcover), ISBN: 978-2-8159-3018-5

Maissa Bey’s latest novel, Nulle autre voix, finds resonance in the era of #MeToo. Originally founded in 2006 by black civil rights activist Tarana Burke, the MeToo movement (sans hashtag) went vir...
Shear stress-induced nuclear shrinkage through activation of Piezo1 channels in epithelial cells

The cell nucleus responds to mechanical cues with changes in size, morphology and motility. Previous work has shown that external forces couple to nuclei through the cytoskeleton network, but we show here that changes in nuclear shape can be driven solely by calcium levels. Fluid shear stress applied to MDCK cells caused the nuclei to shrink through a Ca2+-dependent signaling pathway. Inhibiting mechanosensitive Piezo1 channels through treatment with GsMTx4 prevented nuclear shrinkage. Piezo1 knockdown also significantly reduced the nuclear shrinkage. Activation of Piezo1 with the agonist Yoda1 caused similar nucleus shrinkage in cells not exposed to shear stress. These results demonstrate that the Piezo1 channel is a key element for transmitting shear force input to nuclei. To ascertain the relative contribution of Ca2+ to cytoskeleton perturbation, we examined F-actin reorganization under shear stress and static conditions, and showed that reorganization of the cytoskeleton is not necessary for nuclear shrinkage. These results emphasize the role of the mechanosensitive channels as primary transducers in force transmission to the nucleus.
3D Janus Plasmonic Helical Nanoapertures for Polarization-Encrypted Data Storage

Helical structures have attracted considerable attention due to their inherent optical chirality. Here, we report a unique type of 3D Janus plasmonic helical nanoaperture with direction-controlled polarization sensitivity, which is simply fabricated via the one-step grayscale focused ion beam milling method. Circular dichroism in transmission of as large as 0.72 is experimentally realized in the forward direction due to the spin-dependent mode coupling process inside the helical nanoaperture. However, in the backward direction, the nanoaperture acquires giant linear dichroism in transmission of up to 0.87. By encoding the Janus metasurface with the two nanoaperture enantiomers having specified rotation angles, direction-controlled polarization-encrypted data storage is demonstrated for the first time, where a binary quick-response code image is displayed in the forward direction under the circularly polarized incidence of a specified handedness, while a distinct grayscale image is revealed in the backward direction under linearly polarized illumination with a specified azimuthal angle. We envision that the proposed Janus helical nanoapertures will provide an appealing platform for a variety of applications, which will range from multifunctional polarization control, enantiomer sensing, data encryption and decryption to optical information processing.
Separation and characterization of 7 and 9 S forms of rat liver aryl hydrocarbon receptor.

Abstract Two forms of rat liver aryl hydrocarbon receptor were separated by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose in the presence of molybdate. After labeling for 2 h at 0 degrees C, the receptor separated on the DEAE column into a flow-through peak (peak I) and a peak eluting at 80 mM KCl (peak II). It had been reported previously that exposure to high salt in the presence of molybdate caused the appearance of both 9 and 5-6 S receptor forms. After confirming this, I examined the relationship of the peak I and peak II receptors to these receptor forms. In high salt buffer containing molybdate, the peak I receptor sedimented in the 5-6 S region and the peak II receptor at 9 S. High salt buffer lacking molybdate converted both peak I and peak II receptors to forms sedimenting in the 5-6 S region. In low salt buffer containing molybdate, the peak I receptor sedimented at slightly more than 7 S and the peak II receptor at 9-10 S. Thus, the peak II receptor could be stabilized by molybdate as a 9 S form, and the peak I receptor was converted by high salt from a 7 to a 5-6 S form, despite the presence of molybdate. Most of the peak I receptor bound to a DNA-cellulose column and was eluted by high salt. The peak II receptor showed very little DNA binding.
Sweet Temptation: From Sugar Metabolism to Gene Regulation

In a recent issue of Nature, Zhang et al. (2019) describe an additional histone post-translational modification, named histone lactylation. Following increased lactate production as a consequence of M1 polarization, histone lactylation regulates the induction of an M2-like phenotype in late stages of M1 macrophage activation to promote wound healing.
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol: TheWeb

The most common use of the Internet today is the World Wide Web, or “the web”. Indeed, most people use the terms “the web” and “the Internet” interchangeably. This section will cover how to implement Apache web services and how to handle multiple virtual websites on the same server.
Desensitization Therapy for Patients with DSA Receiving Haploidentical (Haplo) Stem Cell Transplantation

Introduction The effect of desensitization therapy on patients with Donor-specific Anti-HLA Antibodies (DSA) for patients receiving Haplo transplantation are unknown. Methods Data of all 51 patients with DSA receiving Haplo transplantation between 11/2010-1/2019 at MD Anderson Cancer Center (N=41) and City of Hope (N=10) were included. Patients received desensitization with plasma exchange (PE), rituximab (R), and IVIg +/- buffy coat (BC) infused on day-1, as previously described by us (Ciurea SO. BBMT.2018:53:521). We analyzed transplant outcomes for DSA treated patients vs. those without DSA receiving Haplo transplant in the same period of time (control; N=345). Results The median age of patients with DSA was 51 years (range 19-69) and 47 years (range 18-72) in control group (p=0.15). There were no significant differences in diagnosis, remission status at transplant, DRI and ABO matching between 2 groups. RIC conditioning was used in 28% and 43% in DSA and control group, respectively (p=0.03) whereas 67% and 82% respectively (p=0.02) received marrow stem cell. Median levels of DSA on single antigen assay before desensitization was 5556 MFI (range 2360-28688). Of 51 patients with DSA, 37 (72.5%) DSA patients received desensitization with PE, R and IVIg, and 27/37 (73%) patients also received BC infusion before transplant. Twenty of 37 (54%) desensitized patients had DSA >5000 MFI and 14 out of them had complement binding DSA suggested by a positive C1q assay. Cumulative incidence (CI) of neutrophil engraftment at 28 days for patients who had DSA>5000 MFI and received desensitization was 75% compared with 91% in those without DSA (p=0.12) (Figure 1A) while 1-year NRM was 32% vs. 29% (p=0.57) (Figure 1B) and 1-year OS was 54% vs. 58%, respectively (p=0.18) (Figure 1C). The engraftment rate is significantly improved with desensitization treatment as our previous study demonstrated that only 46% of patients with DSA>5000 MFI achieved engraftment (Ciurea SO. BBMT.2015;21:1392). Remarkably, patients with DSA 2000-10000 who received treatment had 83% engraftment vs. 91% (p=0.86). Among 14 patients who had C1q+ DSA, 8 patients had persistently positive C1q after desensitization and only 4 engrafted, 2 had primary graft failure and 2 died before engraftment with CI of engraftment at 28 days of 43% (p=0.09 compared with control group). Persistent C1q positivity was associated with significantly higher NRM (37% vs. 29% at 1 year, p=0.01) and lower OS (33% vs. 58% at 1 year, p=0.002) compared with control group (Figure 1D). These significances persisted after adjusting for other factors in multivariable analysis. Conclusions Treatment with PE, R, IVIg and BC infusion is an effective strategy to desensitize patients with DSA before haploidentical transplantation. Patients who remain C1q+ at transplantation have high risk for engraftment failure and should not proceed to transplantation.
The effect of culinary doses of spices in a high-saturated fat, high-carbohydrate meal on postprandial lipemia and endothelial function: a randomized, controlled, crossover pilot trial.

Previously it has been shown that incorporation of >11 g of spices into a mixed meal blunts postprandial lipemia, which may reduce acute endothelial impairment. The effect of lower doses of spices remains unclear. The aim was to examine the postprandial effect of a meal high in saturated fat and carbohydrate inclusive of spices (2 g or 6 g) or exclusive of spices (0 g) on flow mediated dilation (FMD), lipids and lipoproteins, glucose, and insulin in men at-risk for cardiovascular disease. A 3-period randomized, controlled, crossover, pilot study was conducted. In random order, subjects consumed a high-saturated fat, high-carbohydrate meal (1076 kcal, 39 g saturated fat, 98 g carbohydrate) with 0 g, 2 g and 6 g of mixed spices. After meal consumption, blood was drawn hourly for 4 hours and FMD was measured at 2 and 4 hours. Serum lipids and lipoproteins, and insulin were measured in the fasting state and at each post-meal time point; plasma glucose was also assessed at each time point. Subjects were 13 men aged 52 ± 9 years that were overweight or obese (29.9 ± 3.1 kg m−2), and had an enlarged waist circumference (102.2 ± 8.9 cm). Time (p < 0.05) and treatment (p < 0.05) effects existed for FMD and triglycerides; no time by treatment interactions were detected. Post hoc testing showed that the meal with 6 g of spices lessened the postprandial reduction in FMD compared to the meal with no spices (−0.87 ± 0.32%; p = 0.031); no other pairwise differences were observed. Triglyceride levels were lower following the meal with 2 g of spices vs. the no spice meal (−18 ± 6 mg dL−1; p = 0.015); no difference was observed between the meal with 6 g of spice and the no spice meal (−13 ± 6 mg dL−1; p = 0.12). Glucose and insulin were unaffected by the presence of spices in the meal. In conclusion, this study provides preliminary evidence suggesting that lower doses of spices (2 and 6 g) than previously tested may attenuate postprandial lipemia and impairments in endothelial function caused by a high-saturated fat, high-carbohydrate meal.
Embodied Phenomenology in Mathematical Modelling of Sailing for Integrated STEM Learning

Mathematical modelling is under-investigated in complex learning environments where embodied knowledge is a natural and essential part of learning, such as sailing. Mathematical modelling is used here as an ongoing process in building and testing models by the participants to make sense of their sailing practices. We demonstrate how a culturally responsive modelling practice can build on learners’ experiences, their funds of knowledge, and existing practices as young sailors. Participants’ embodied knowledge of sailing is used in modelling of tacking to travel towards the wind. Participants engage in experimental and active mathematical modelling of sailing in its own lifeworld in this integrated STEM learning context. We demonstrate and discuss how an embodied phenomenology approach works as learners go through modelling phases from understanding the tacking problem to validating their models.
A characterization of Markov equilibrium in stochastic overlapping generations models

Abstract This paper characterizes the Markov equilibrium in stochastic overlapping generations models with both pure exchange and production using the theory of linear iterated function systems. We provide conditions for the linearized Markov equilibrium to have an absolutely continuous invariant measure or a singular invariant measure. We also examine relationships between the linear equilibrium system and the model parameters. This analysis identifies the set of economies for each type of invariant measure. We show that the attractor of the singular invariant measure exhibits fractal patterns, which supports the proposition that self-affinity patterns in financial data can be explained via rational expectations equilibrium as an economic mechanism.
“Tongues of Fire”: Hiroshima as Hell and a New Pentecost?:

Recalling the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 2020, and Nagasaki three days later, this article seeks to “say something theological” about these horrific attacks. With hel...
Archaean seafloors shallowed with age due to radiogenic heating in the mantle

Given the scarcity of geological data, knowledge of Earth’s landscape during the Archaean eon is limited. Although the continental crust may have been as massive as present by 4 Gyr ago, the extent to which it was submerged or exposed is unclear. One key component in understanding the amount of exposed landmasses in the early Earth is the evolution of the oceanic lithosphere. Whereas the present-day oceanic lithosphere subsides as it ages, based on numerical models of mantle convection we find that higher internal heating due to a larger concentration of radioactive isotopes in the Archaean mantle halted subsidence, possibly inducing seafloor shallowing before 2.5 Gyr ago. In such a scenario, exposed landmasses in the form of volcanic islands and resurfaced seamounts or oceanic plateaus can remain subaerial for extended periods of time, and may have provided the only stable patches of dryland in the Archaean. Our results therefore permit a re-evaluation of possible locations for the origin of life, as they provide support to an existing hypothesis that suggests that life had its origins on land rather than in an oceanic environment. In contrast to present-day seafloor subsidence with age, there may have been Archaean seafloor shallowing and landmass exposure due to high internal heating in the mantle that halted subsidence, according to numerical models of mantle convection.
Is There an Age Cutoff for Intracranial Pressure Monitoring?: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis of the National Trauma Data Bank.

BackgroundDespite mostly favorable past evidence for use of intracranial pressure monitoring (ICPM), more recent data question not only the indications but also the utility of ICPM. The Fourth Edit...
Exploiting Playbacks in Unsupervised Domain Adaptation for 3D Object Detection

Self-driving cars must detect other vehicles and pedestrians in 3D to plan safe routes and avoid collisions. State-of-the-art 3D object detectors, based on deep learning, have shown promising accuracy but are prone to over-fit to domain idiosyncrasies, causing them to fail in new environments---a serious problem if autonomous vehicles are meant to operate freely. In this paper, we propose a novel learning approach that drastically reduces this gap by fine-tuning the detector on pseudo-labels in the target domain, which our method generates while the vehicle is parked, based on replays of previously recorded driving sequences. In these replays, objects are tracked over time, and detections are interpolated and extrapolated---crucially, leveraging future information to catch hard cases. We show, on five autonomous driving datasets, that fine-tuning the detector on these pseudo-labels substantially reduces the domain-gap to new driving environments, yielding drastic improvements in accuracy and detection reliability.
The Fine Line: Rural Justice, Public Health and Safety, and the Coronavirus Pandemic

In this article, we provide an early glimpse into how the issues of public health and safety played out in the rural United States during the coronavirus pandemic, focusing on Washington State. We ...
Exploring the Opioid Crisis Through Systems Thinking and Participative Model Building: An Experiential Learning Event

The impact of the opioid crisis is significant resulting in not only rising mortality and morbidity but also significant social and economic costs. As detailed in Felbab-Brown et al. (The Opioid Crisis in America Domestic and International Dimensions. Brookings Paper Series, [1]), ‘Since 2000, there have been 400,000 opioid-involved deaths in the U.S. In the United States of America the number of people dying from opioid overdose increased by 120% between 2010 and 2018’. Stemming from a 2018 survey, it is estimated that upwards of 2.35 million Americans are suffering from an Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). Today’s public health crisis associated with opioid use is characterized by complexity requiring more than one discipline to address the issues. Healthcare professionals must therefore work in inter-professional teams in order to better communicate and address these complex and challenging needs (Bridges et al. in Medical Education 16, [2]). Systems thinking is an approach to better understand the interconnectivity and interdependencies associated with public health issues including how to intervene to improve individual and population health. Inter-professional experiences thereby support development of skills facilitating opportunities to become ‘…collaborative inter-professional team members who show respect and positive attitudes towards each other and work towards improving patient outcomes’ (Bridges et al. in Medical Education 16, [2]). This chapter examines the application of systems thinking and participative model building in an Interprofessional Education (IPE) event held in November 2019 by USF Health, University of South Florida. The IPE event focused on the opioid crisis and was comprised of a learning journey of concept development, collaborative model building and shared sensemaking across healthcare professionals.