cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Retail Redlining: Definition, Theory, Typology, and Measurement:

Retail redlining is a spatially discriminatory practice among retailers, of not serving certain areas, based on their ethnic-minority composition, rather than on economic criteria, such as the potential profitability of operating in those areas. Consequently, consumers in these areas often find themselves “vulnerable” because no other retailers will serve them, or they are exploited by other, often smaller, retailers who charge them higher prices and/or offer them inferior goods. What makes retail redlining worthy of scrutiny is that whereas redlining is illegal in the financial industry, retail redlining is still legal in the retailing industry. There are, however, lawsuits and lobbying efforts under way that seek to make this practice illegal. In this article, the authors define retail redlining, identify eight different commonly seen variations of it, look at both sides of the argument on this practice, and finally suggest a methodology for empirically verifying this practice.
Functional trade-offs in succulent stems predict responses to climate change in columnar cacti

Columnar cacti occur naturally in many habitats and environments in the Americas but are conspicuously dominant in very dry desert regions. These majestic plants are widely regarded for their cultural, economic, and ecological value and, in many ecosystems, support highly diverse communities of pollinators, seed dispersers, and frugivores. Massive amounts of water and other resources stored in the succulent photosynthetic stems of these species confer a remarkable ability to grow and reproduce during intensely hot and dry periods. Yet many columnar cacti are potentially under severe threat from environmental global changes, including climate change and loss of habitat. Stems in columnar cacti and other cylindrical-stemmed cacti are morphologically diverse; stem volume-to-surface area ratio (V:S) across these taxa varies by almost two orders of magnitude. Intrinsic functional trade-offs are examined here across a broad range of V:S in species of columnar cacti. It is proposed that variation in photosynthetic gas exchange, growth, and response to stress is highly constrained by stem V:S, establishing a mechanistic framework for understanding the sensitivity of columnar cacti to climate change and drought. Specifically, species that develop stems with low V:S, and thus have little storage capacity, are expected to express high mass specific photosynthesis and growth rates under favourable conditions compared with species with high V:S. But the trade-off of having little storage capacity is that low V:S species are likely to be less tolerant of intense or long-duration drought compared with high V:S species. The application of stable isotope measurements of cactus spines as recorders of growth, water relations, and metabolic responses to the environment across species of columnar cacti that vary in V:S is also reviewed. Taken together, our approach provides a coherent theory and required set of observations needed for predicting the responses of columnar cacti to climate change.
Mapping parallel algorithms onto general-purpose parallel machines

The mapping of very-high-level problem specifications to general-purpose parallel machines is addressed. The objective is to illustrate how such mappings can be successfully achieved by the implementation of a very-high-level, architecture-independent programming language. At the foundation, a macro-parallel abstract machine is devised and combined with a substitution model of functional languages. Features such as data parallelism, functional composition, abstraction, and recursion, give the full power of parallel algorithm specification. These are unified and supported in a single language known as Crystal. A procedure for programming languages, called hyper-stack, is devised for calls to parallel modules. >
Surface modification of ionic liquid-spun chitin fibers for the extraction of uranium from seawater: seeking the strength of chitin and the chemical functionality of chitosan

Chitin fibers, prepared by extracting chitin directly from shrimp shell waste and dry-jet wet spinning from the resulting ionic liquid (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate) solution in a one-pot process, were surface modified by taking advantage of the insolubility of chitin in common solvents (e.g., water, organics). In this proof of concept example, the chitin fiber surfaces were first deacetylated using aqueous NaOH to make available the primary amine (the functional group of chitosan) on the surface. Further treatment of the fibers allowed for the task-specific tailoring of the functionality (here we appended amidoxime for the extraction of aqueous uranyl ions from seawater). Compositional analysis and physical property measurements (e.g., tensile strength and thermal decomposition) of the fibers before and after surface modification indicated minimal change to the bulk material; however, spectroscopy and sorption studies of uranyl ions from aqueous solution demonstrated surface modification. The lower cost, one-pot process used in this study resulted in weak and brittle fibers, suggesting that additional purification of the chitin before pulling fibers will greatly improve the strength and utility of the resulting material. Overall, a platform has been developed for the surface modification of chitin fibers that provides both the physical properties of chitin and the functional properties of chitosan, resulting in an advanced material from a biorenewable resource with reduced chemical input.
High-Power Potassium Titanyl Phosphate Laser Vaporization Prostatectomy

In a search for potential therapeutic strategies for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) that would be associated with less morbidity than transurethral resection of the prostate, various types of laser prostatectomy have been used. Although the neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser allows performance of prostatectomy in an almost bloodless field and without absorption of irrigant, the remaining necrotic tissue causes bladder outlet obstruction and related symptoms for 5 to 7 days after treatment. In contrast, the potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) laser has been found to vaporize tissue with minimal coagulation of the underlying structures. With use of the KTP laser, heat is concentrated into a small volume, the tissue is ablated by rapid vaporization of cellular water, and a 2-mm rim of coagulated tissue is left. After favorable results were obtained in studies of canine prostates and human cadavers, we implemented clinical use of 60-W KTP laser prostatectomy in selected patients. In 10 patients with symptomatic BPH who ranged in age from 52 to 80 years, outpatient KTP laser prostatectomy yielded significantly increased mean peak urinary flow rates (from 8.0 mL/s preoperatively to 19.4 mL/s within 24 hours after the procedure). No patient had hematuria, dysuria, or incontinence after removal of the catheter, and no patient required recatheterization. One patient, however, had urgency, and two other patients became febrile during the 24-hour observation period. Overall, KTP laser vaporization prostatectomy can provide immediate relief from obstructive symptoms of BPH and is not associated with dysuria.
Making the most of alarm signals: the adaptive value of individual discrimination in an alarm context

). The occurrence of an alarm is similarly binary during any given bout and is a function of both predator presence and the particular signaller’s reliability. Each bout has four possible outcomes (Table 1). If a predator is present, the signaller may correctly signal alarm (‘hit’) or may incorrectly fail to signal (‘miss’). If no predator is present, the signaller may either produce a false alarm or appropriately not signal. Individual signallers differ in their response pattern, i.e., where their responses distribute on Table 1. Individual signallers differ in how often they respond accurately and in what type of mistakes they typically make when in error. Two separate variables are thus necessary and sufficient to describe any individual’s alarm signalling habits. Multiple variable pairs are possible; this study will use “accuracy” and “bias score.” It is mathematically straightforward to convert these variables into Type I and Type II error rates or into the proportion of alarms correct and proportion of predators ignored. I define accuracy as the proportion of total active events (bouts where there is an alarm and/or a predator) in which the signaller responds correctly: (1) accuracy = A∩Z/(A
Compensatory substitutions in the HCV NS3/4A protease cleavage sites are not observed in patients treated unsuccessfully with telaprevir combination treatment

Background Development of compensatory mutations within the HIV p7/p1 and p1/p6 protease cleavage site region has been observed in HIV-infected patients treated with protease inhibitors. Mechanisms of fitness compensation may occur in HCV populations upon treatment of HCV protease inhibitors as well.
ACL2s: "The ACL2 Sedan"

ACL2 is the latest inception of the Boyer-Moore theorem prover, the 2005 recipient of the ACM software system award. In the hands of an expert, it feels like a finely tuned race car, and it has been used to prove some of the most complex theorems ever proved about commercially designed systems. Unfortunately, ACL2 has a steep learning curve, and novices tend have a very different experience: they crash and burn. As part of a project to make ACL2 and formal reasoning accessible to the masses, we have developed ACL2s, the ACL2 sedan. ACL2s streamlines the learning process with features not previously available for ACL2. Our goal is to develop a tool that is " self-teaching," i.e., it should be possible for an undergraduate to sit down and play with it and learn how to program in ACL2 and how to reason about the programs she writes. The latest version of ACL2s is a significant step in that direction.
Practitioner Review: Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Children and Adolescents

This paper reviews the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in children and adolescents. Focusing on clinical features of the disorder and its treatment particular to pediatric onset, diagnosis, assessment, and behavioral, pharmacological, as well as new investigative treatments are covered. Adaptation of cognitive-behavioral therapy for children and adolescents, use of augmenting agents in drug treatment, and subtyping of OCD cases are developments relevant for current practice.
IP multicast channels: EXPRESS support for large-scale single-source applications

In the IP multicast model, a set of hosts can be aggregated into a group of hosts with one address, to which any host can send. However, Internet TV, distance learning, file distribution and other emerging large-scale multicast applications strain the current realization of this model, which lacks a basis for charging, lacks access control, and is difficult to scale.This paper proposes an extension to IP multicast to support the channel model of multicast and describes a specific realization called EXPlicitly REquested Single-Source (EXPRESS) multicast. In this model, a multicast channel has exactly one explicitly designated source, and zero or more channel subscribers. A single protocol supports both channel subscription and efficient collection of channel information such as subscriber count. We argue that EXPRESS addresses the aforementioned problems, justifying this multicast service model in the Internet.
An Assessment of ENSO-Induced Patterns of Rainfall Erosivity in the Southwestern United States

Abstract Microerosion processes due to the impact of raindrops on the soil (rainsplash) represent an important mechanism of detachment and removal of soil parcels. The annual and interannual patterns of rainsplash erosion are controlled by the variability of rainfall, vegetation cover, and land-use practice. This paper presents a study of the interannual variability of rainfall erosivity (which is an indicator of the erosive power of rainfall) due to winter precipitation in the southwestern United States and its connection to the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). A remarkable degree of dependence was found between the values of winter erosivity and the Southern Oscillation index (SOI) in the months proceeding and during each winter. In general, it was observed that the erosive power of rainfall is stronger during El Nino years and weaker during the La Nina phase in the U.S. southwest, as is the rainfall itself. It was also observed that the erosivity and SOI are nonlinearly related. This dependence of ...
Thinking through theophylline.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a medical error occurs in 1 out of every 25 hospitalized patients.1 With these medical errors, there is an estimated cost of more than five million dollars per year within a large hospital and about 23 million dollars to the economy.1 Kaushal et al. assessed rates of medication errors in hospitalized pediatric patients.2 After reviewing medication orders and patient profiles, they found that 5.7% of orders had medication errors, or 55 errors per 100 admissions. Medication errors were defined as errors in drug ordering, transcribing, dispensing, administering, or monitoring. Comparing the results to a similar adult study,3 the potential for adverse drug events (ADEs) was 3 times higher in the pediatric setting. Medication errors occur as a result of numerous factors that influence the health care system and have been discussed in depth in a paper jointly published by the Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.4 Due to its narrow therapeutic range, many formulations, and difficulty in dosing,
Gene x environment interactions as dynamical systems: clinical implications

The etiology and progression of the chronic diseases that account for the highest rates of mortality in the US, namely, cardiovascular diseases and cancers, involve complex gene x environment interactions. Yet despite the general agreement in the medical community given to this concept, there is a widespread lack of clarity as to what the term ‘interaction’ actually means. The consequence is the use of linear statistical methods to describe processes that are biologically nonlinear, resulting in clinical applications that are often not optimal. Gene x environment interactions are characterized by dynamic, nonlinear molecular networks that change and evolve over time; and by emergent properties that cannot be deduced from the characteristics of their individual subcomponents. Given the nature of these systemic properties, reductionist methods are insufficient for fully providing the information relevant to improving therapeutic outcomes. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of these concepts and their relevance to prevention and interventions.
Mind: A Context-Based Multimodal Interpretation Framework in Conversational Systems

In a multimodal human-machine conversation, user inputs are often abbreviated or imprecise. Simply fusing multimodal inputs together may not be sufficient to derive a complete understanding of the inputs. Aiming to handle a wide variety of multimodal inputs, we are building a context-based multimodal interpretation framework called MIND (Multimodal Interpreter for Natural Dialog). MIND is unique in its use of a variety of contexts, such as domain context and conversation context, to enhance multimodal interpretation. In this chapter, we first describe a fine-grained semantic representation that captures salient information from user inputs and the overall conversation, and then present a context-based interpretation approach that enables MIND to reach a full understanding of user inputs, including those abbreviated or imprecise ones.
Specific sequences in p120ctn determine subcellular distribution of its multiple isoforms involved in cellular adhesion of normal and malignant epithelial cells

P120 catenin (p120ctn) belongs to the Armadillo family of proteins, which is implicated in cell-cell adhesion and signal transduction. Owing to alternative splicing and multiple translation initiation codons, several p120ctn isoforms can be expressed from a single gene. All p120ctn isoforms share the central Armadillo repeat domain but have divergent N- and C-termini. Little is known about the biological functions of the different isoforms. In this study, we examined the distribution of various p120ctn isoforms and the consequences of their expression in cultured cells of epidermal origin. Immunohistochemical analysis and western blotting revealed that melanocytes and melanoma cells primarily express the long isoform 1A, whereas keratinocytes express shorter isoforms, especially 3A, which localize to cell-cell adhesion junctions in a calcium-dependent manner. The shortest isoform 4A, which was detected in normal keratinocytes and melanocytes, was generally lost from cells derived from squamous cell carcinomas or melanomas. The C-terminal alternatively spliced exon B was present in the p120ctn transcripts in the colon, intestine and prostate, but was lost in several tumor tissues derived from these organs. To test whether p120ctn isoforms serve in distinct biological functions, we transiently transfected the expression constructs into melanoma cells (1205-Lu) and immortalized keratinocytes (HaCaT). Indeed, distinct domains of p120ctn are responsible for its different biological functions. The prominent branching phenotype was induced equally by isoforms 1A, 2A and 3A, whereas the shortest isoform 4A, which was devoid of the N-terminal domain, completely lacked this ability. Also, the exon-B-encoded sequences, as in the isoform 1AB, were sufficient to abolish the branching phenotype as induced by the isoform 1A. The induction of the branching phenotype cosegregated with the nuclear localization of the p120ctn isoforms 1A, 2A and 3A, whereas the isoforms 4A and 1AB, which were excluded from the nucleus, did not induce the branching phenotype. The N-terminal sequences that contain seven out of eight tyrosine residues, recently characterized as potential candidates for phosphorylation by Src kinase, are required for the nuclear localization and for the formation of the branching phenotype. Finally, expression of the p120ctn isoforms, which caused the branching phenotype, was associated with cellular relocalization of E-cadherin in HaCaT cells. Collectively, we have identified sequences within the p120ctn N-terminus that are prerequisites for both nuclear localization and the p120ctn-induced branching phenotype. Loss of the cytoplasmic pool of p120ctn from tumor cells suggests an important function for such isoforms in normal cells and tissues.
Ensuring Basic Quality in Clinical Courses

This article describes some of the features of clinical course design that are essential for ensuring basic educational quality. It does not attempt to be thorough. A number of years ago, I served on a committee that began discussing whether it is possible to come up with “indicia of quality” that could be used to measure the quality of a clinical program or course. The question that framed the issue was “If someone wanted to determine whether one school’s professional skills program is likely to be better than another school’s program, what elements should be examined?” The committee not only guessed that it was possible to define those elements, we also believed that it could be accomplished without a great deal of trouble. Though I still think it is possible to define indicia of quality, we were wrong that it would be easy. Our initial effort foundered fairly quickly. From time to time others renewed the effort, only to abandon the project, with one exception. Sandy Ogilvy, a law professor at Catholic University School of Law in Washington, D.C., is making the most serious effort to date to describe “indicia of quality” for clinical programs.
From the Laboratory to the Classroom: The Effects of Equivalence-Based Instruction on Neuroanatomy Competencies

Equivalence-based instruction (EBI) has been used to successfully teach college-level concepts in research laboratories, but few studies have examined the results of such instruction on classroom performance. The current study answered a basic question about the ordering of training stimuli as well as an applied question regarding the effects of EBI on classroom performance. Students recruited from a Behavioral Neuroscience course learned neuroanatomy concepts using EBI. Outcomes revealed that the ordering of stimuli did not differentially affect performance and that students who completed the tutorial scored significantly higher on the course’s final examination than did students who had not completed the tutorial. Implications for future classroom applications are discussed.
The Proper Role for Antitrust in an International Setting

This paper summarizes what lessons other countries should draw from U.S. antitrust policy. I pay special attention to small economies. I also discuss how antitrust fits in as one of many government policies that affect competition and what policies likely work best together given the level of a country's development.
Satisficing negotiations

Negotiation procedures that are founded on the doctrine of individual rationality, where each participant is committed to maximizing its own satisfaction, are limited in their ability to accommodate the interests of others, and therefore, may unnecessarily constrain the negotiability of a decision maker, particularly in cooperative environments. Satisficing game theory provides a distinct alternative to the hyperrationality of conventional rational choice by waiving reliance on the individual rationality premise and offering an approach to negotiatory decision making that is based on a well-defined mathematical notion of satisficing, or being good enough, that permits the modeling of complex interrelationships between agents. This approach provides a mechanism to compute the attitude, or degree of conflict or contentedness, of the negotiators. Examples illustrate both single-round and multiround satisficing negotiation protocols
A 5-year perspective on a removable overdenture appliance for a patient with osteonecrosis of the jaw, a mandibular resection, and rampant caries

A 78-year-old man with a history osteonecrosis of the jaw and 2 subsequent surgeries to repair a fractured mandible had a condition that contraindicates most dentoalveolar procedures to restore his failing dentition. A Snap-On-Smile overdenture restored his opportunity for natural speech, occlusal function, and esthetics.
Interpreting Davidson's Omniscient Interpreter

Donald Davidson infamously claims that belief is in its nature veridical, and that skepticism is for this reason fundamentally incoherent. To those who take the issue of external world skepticism seriously, Davidson's arguments may seem to involve a conjuring trick. In particular, his invocation of an ‘omniscient interpreter’, whose intelligibility supposedly ensures that our beliefs must be largely true, has the air of incense and lantern-rubbing about it. Davidson's claim has received considerable critical response in the literature, almost all of it negative. In my view, some commentators have indeed lit on a critical and controversial lemma in Davidson's argument, but this basic result has been obscured by being presented amidst an array of other criticisms that simply make no sense from a Davidsonian point of view. The aim of this paper is to clear away some of the confusion that stands in the way of a more productive evaluation of Davidson's important claim.
Worry about health status among the elderly: patient management and health policy implications.

Abstract Health care reform depends on reducing inappropriate utilization and improving access. Elderly people, major consumers of primary care, are a place to begin reforms, but progress has been slow. We combined primary care screening questions for objective (medical condition as wellness) and subjective (perception of health as worry) health in a study of 767 elderly people in Youngstown, Ohio. The worried well(31.2%), a group likely to consume medical care inappropriately, and unconcerned ill(4.4%), a group likely to avoid seeking necessary medical care, account for more than one-third of the elderly. The unconcerned well(57.0%) and worried ill(6.9%) pose fewer problems. Family physicians can predict utilization and access problems for targeted groups (older people, minorities, and women), along with health beliefs and other indicators of health status. Although findings in this study are preliminary, they do point to positive uses in health policy and patient management. Extensive usage of the measu...
The Biology of Hadronotus Ajax Girault (Hymenoptera - Scelionidae), a Parasite in the Eggs of Squash-Bug (Anasa Tristis DeGeer)

Anasa tristis DeGeer is a common pest on squash vines in North Carolina, as well as in many other parts of the United States. Hadronotus ajax Girault is one of the more important parasites attacking the eggs of the squash-bug at Raleigh, North Carolina. The squashbug is difficult to control by chemical means, so even a partial natural control by parasites is of considerable value. An attempt has, therefore, been made to learn something of the biology of this parasite. The work was done during the summers of 1940 and 1941, in the department of Zoology and Entomology of the North Carolina State College at Raleigh, North Carolina.
Student use of health literacy tools to improve patient understanding and medication adherence.

Objective Evaluate curricular changes related to health literacy and determine impact on independent-living senior residents as part of an introductory pharmacy practice experience for third-year student pharmacists. Design Students were randomly assigned a resident whom they visited multiple times to conduct assessments and provide various services using three methods: Ask Me 3™ Four Habits Model, and Teach-back. Setting The study was conducted at independent-living apartments within a 24-mile radius from the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, St. Louis, Missouri. Patients, participants Participants (n = 147 to 173, across all three years) were volunteer, elderly residents, living at a facility that collaborated with the research. Interventions Within one academic year, students collected medical and medication histories, conducted household safety checks, performed screening assessments, assessed adherence, and provided general recommendations to a resident. Main outcome measure(s) Outcomes included resident satisfaction, student satisfaction, and correlations between student use of health literacy tools and resident satisfaction. Results Exit surveys indicated resident overall satisfaction with the program, increased understanding of health-related information, increased confidence in asking health care professionals questions about their health, and greater commitment to medication adherence as a result of the experience. Students were highly satisfied with the program. Analyses reveal some correlations between a previously determined performance level of student communication and resident satisfaction. Conclusions Students' use of health literacy communication tools during encounters with independent-living senior residents can result in greater patient understanding and empowerment, which may in turn help improve medication adherence.
Theoretical and Practical Evaluation of Solver-Specific Mesh Quality (Invited)

The techniques outlined in this paper serve to illustrate methodologies that can help to determine solver specific mesh quality measures. These techniques include a theoretical evaluation of mesh quality on a specific flow solver using a novel grid Stochastic Method of Manufactured Solution (SMMS) strategy. We use this technique to evaluate the effectiveness of mesh stretching as a technique to reduce mesh sizes. We also present a mesh refinement study for a wingtip vortex flow that illustrates a second aspect of mesh quality: adequate resolution of significant phenomenon. The flow solver employed in this evaluation is the CHEM flow solver, which is a chemically reacting compressible flow solver that is used for modeling combustion and hypersonic problems. The CHEM solver uses a secondorder finite-volume algorithm to compute both steady-state and time accurate solutions for multi-component reacting flows on three-dimensional meshes with general elements, and is similar to many cell-centered unstructured finite-volume solution algorithms.
Secondary Rays from Lipiodol and Bismuth Subnitrate Paste on Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus coli communis.

Attempts have been made to inhibit the growth of microorganisms by using secondary rays. These secondary rays are emitted from metals when they are exposed to x-ray. It has been shown that the higher the atomic weight of a metal, the greater is the bactericidal power of the secondary ray.1, 2, 3 Many substances have been used with varying clinical success by different investigators.4-10 Holthusen11 has pointed out that there are many difficulties in the clinical application of secondary rays. The amount of the substance acting as radiators must be relatively large and still nontoxic. The action of secondary rays is limited, since they are so easily absorbed.Experiments were conducted with Lipiodol and Beck's paste as the radiators. These substances are non-toxic, contain a metal of high atomic weight (33% Bismuth subnitrate in Beck's paste and 40% metallic iodine in Lipiodol) and have been previously used for their therapeutic value in certain clinical conditions.4, 13-17Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus...
Place to Create a Harmonious Ecological Class Higher Vocational Colleges of Exploration in Reform

As the school education teaching classroom main position,The organization operation process is harmonious relationship to education teaching quality and effect……Between the teachers and students,curriculum resources and between the elements such as means of harmony,"Teaching" and "learning" the expression of diversification,In the teaching of the dynamic development of "harmonious" realize.Higher vocational education mode of running,Also should be based on their own characteristics and advantages,The purpose of the plan and carry out an accord with the humanities spirit a harmonious ecological classroom.
Frequency conversion technology and energy conservation of air-conditioning

This paper analyzes the effect of frequency conversion technology on air conditioning system.It points out that frequency conversion technology can not only save the cost of supply system,but also modify the energy of chiller.It is an effective energy conservation technology of air conditioning system,but it should be used correctly in air conditioning system.
Nucleic Extraction and Amplification

Publisher Summary Molecular diagnostics of human diseases can be categorized into two major areas: pathogen detection and mutation detection. The other important task of molecular diagnostics is to detect the changes in human genes that alter their functions and/or expression levels. The latter clearly requires that human genomic DNA or RNA material be available for analyses. Inheritable changes to human genes are present in any nucleated cells of the body, except in rare cases due to germline mosaicism or in diseases caused by heteroplasmic mutations in mitochondrial genome. To detect the underlying molecular changes in these inheritable diseases, a variety of specimen types are suitable, including anticoagulated whole blood or bone marrow, cultured or uncultured amniocytes and chorionic villi samples (CVS), cheek cells from buccal swabs, or even saliva. In addition to using peripheral blood and bone marrow in the diagnosis of hematological disorders, frozen or paraffin-embedded tissue specimens are frequently the only available samples for the analysis. Optimal performance of almost all methods used in the detection of molecular targets and genetic changes requires successful sample preparation, a necessary first step. The purposes of these sample preparation procedures are to purify genomic material from pathogenic microbes, to segregate human nucleic acids from embedding materials or cellular/extracellular components that inhibit or reduce the efficiency of downstream applications, and to enrich cells and tissues containing disease-associated genetic or gene expression changes. To achieve these purposes, the most commonly used sample preparation procedure in a molecular pathology laboratory is nucleic acid extraction and, to some extent, nucleic acid amplification.
Construction and Properties of Plasmid Vectors Containing the trp Regulatory Region Suitable for Expressing Foreign Genes

The E. coli tryptophan (trp) operon consists of a regulatory region foIldwid by five structural genes (trpE through trpA)1,2. The trp structural gene products, Which are co-ordinately synthesized in equimolar amounts, catalyze the conversion of chorismate to tryptophan1,3. Transcription of the operon is repressed by tryptophan by two mechanisms. Tryptophan binds trp repressor (trpR) resulting in an increase in the affinity of the repressor for the trp operator4. Since the trp operator sequence overlaps the trp promoter sequence (see Fig. 1) binding of repressor prevents binding of RNA polymerase. Secondly, in the presence of tryptophan about 90% of the RNA polymerase molecules which are able to initiate, terminate transcription about 140 base pairs (bp) frcm the transcription start (see Fig. 1). The ability of the transcription terminator to function is determined by the level of tryptophanyl tRNA9.
Edward Snowden: Hero or traitor?

This article asks this question: Is Eric Snowden a hero or a traitor? It works to the answer with a discussion of each of the following: a brief history of domestic surveillance by the United States Government and how that surveillance was uncovered and made public; the degree of domestic surveillance today, attempts to keep it secret, and how it was discovered; whether today’s domestic surveillance is legal, under both statutory and constitutional law; the need to guard our guardians; and, finally, my answer to the question asked at the beginning: hero or traitor.
Optimal Thermostat Programming for Time-of-Use and Demand Charges With Thermal Energy Storage and Optimal Pricing for Regulated Utilities

In this paper, we solve the optimal thermostat programming problem for consumers with combined demand ($/kW) and time-of-use ($/kWh) pricing plans. We account for energy storage in interior floors and surfaces by using a partial-differential model of diffusion. We consider two types of thermostats: the first can be programmed to vary continuously in time and the second is limited to four constant set-points. Thermostat settings were constrained to lie within a desired interval. Numerical testing shows that the resulting algorithm can reduce monthly electricity bills by up to 25% in the summer with average savings of 9.2% over a variety of building models by using prices from Arizona utility Salt River Project. Furthermore, we examine how optimal thermostat programming affects optimal electricity pricing by using a simplified model of utility generation costs to determine the optimal ratio of demand to time-of-use prices. Our results show that pricing electricity at the marginal cost of generation in this scenario is suboptimal.
A personal health recommender system incorporating personal health records, modular ontologies, and crowd-sourced data

We present an architecture for a Personal Health Recommender System (PHRS) that begins with a person's personal electronic health record (PEHR) and augments it by combining crowd-sourced data mined for symptoms, diseases, treatments and best practices, together with authoritative sources and curated domain ontologies. This novel approach is patient-centric in that the PEHR contains the patient's health stats, specific symptoms, diagnoses, illnesses, medications and treatment plans. By accessing anonymized crowd-sourced data for similar cases, the patient and healthcare providers can ascertain the best course of treatment. In addition, the data in the PEHR can be classified according to authoritative ontologies using Semantic Web services. A modular ontology may be constructed for each of the patient's illnesses, and then they may be combined into an integrated ontology by patient or illness. As the PEHR is populated with more data, the ontology may evolve, guided by resources and services available on the Semantic Web.
Nanonet Force Microscopy

Single and collective cell migration are vital to numerous physiological phenomena including morphogenesis, wound healing, and pathological conditions including cancer metastasis. Cell invasion from wound edges or tumors initiates with single or groups of cells that are able to break cell-cell junctions and migrate away along fibrous extra-cellular matrix (ECM). In order to achieve this, we suggest cell-matrix coupling at the leading edge strengthens over time (outside-in), thus providing the tensile forces necessary to overcome the rear cell-cell junctional forces (inside-out). We believe this occurs by cells sensing the local ECM fiber diameter and structural (bending) stiffness; two independent parameters shown by us to be regulators of cytoskeleton arrangement, migratory behavior and force modulation. In recent years, numerous techniques have been developed to measure cell forces. While these methods have yielded fundamental insights, they lack the ability to provide ECM mimicking fibrous environment for capturing cell-fiber interactions. Here, using our non-electrospinning fiber manufacturing platform (STEP: Spinneret based Tunable Engineered Parameters), we demonstrate development and application of Nanonet Force Microscopy (NFM) for measuring single and cell-cell junctional forces. We demonstrate the ability to measure contractile forces exerted by single cells as they attach to fibers and begin migration along the fiber axis (inside-out). We describe migration on 2, 3 and 4 parallel fiber systems to occur in dynamic coordination of multiple protrusions on individual fibers. Force quantitation of these behaviors provides new biophysical insights in migratory cell decision process. We also quantitate forces exerted by highly dynamic debris shed by cells during migration. Next, we demonstrate our ability to perturb single and cell-cell doublets attached to nanonets using external probes (outside-in) in symmetric and asymmetric loading conditions to calculate the viscoelastic response of cells. Combined together, NFM provides new integrative and multi-scale force quantitation of invasive cell behavior.
Cascading, efficiency, and broadband emission in mid-infrared Superlattice Light Emitting Diodes (SLEDs)

Cascaded InAs/GaSb superlattice light emitting diodes are being developed for broadband, high radiance light sources for spectroscopy, and advanced technologies using large format arrays. Cascading is shown to allow broadening of the SLED spectral output, tuning of the electrical characteristics, and boosting of the maximum output power and efficiency. Wallplug efficiencies are found to be low, but internal quantum efficiency very high. It is anticipated that external quantum efficiency can be significantly increased by using strategies to help extract the light from these high index materials.
A SQL-Middleware Unifying Why and Why-Not Provenance for First-Order Queries

Explaining why an answer is in the result of a query or why it is missing from the result is important for many applications including auditing, debugging data and queries, and answering hypothetical questions about data. Both types of questions, i.e., why and why-not provenance, have been studied extensively. In this work, we present the first practical approach for answering such questions for queries with negation (firstorder queries). Our approach is based on a rewriting of Datalog rules (called firing rules) that captures successful rule derivations within the context of a Datalog query. We extend this rewriting to support negation and to capture failed derivations that explain missing answers. Given a (why or why-not) provenance question, we compute an explanation, i.e., the part of the provenance that is relevant to answer the question. We introduce optimizations that prune parts of a provenance graph early on if we can determine that they will not be part of the explanation for a given question. We present an implementation that runs on top of a relational database using SQL to compute explanations. Our experiments demonstrate that our approach scales to large instances and significantly outperforms an earlier approach which instantiates the full provenance to compute explanations.
EPIDEMIOLOGY OF SPORTS INJURIES AMONG MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

Background Participation in youth sports is increasing. Yet, limited research on the incidence and severity of injuries within middle school sports(MSS) exists. Objective Describe the epidemiology of injuries in MSS within a large metropolitan school system located in the US. Design Prospective descriptive epidemiology. Setting Injury data collected in 9-MSS programs during 2015–2016. Patients (or Participants) Boy(n=1194) and girl(n=1008) athletes(age=11–14 years) participating in 12 school sponsored sports. Interventions (or Assessment of Risk Factors) Each of the 9 schools was assigned an athletic trainer(AT) who attended all practices and games during the fall, winter, and spring sports seasons of 2015–2016. Main Outcome Measurements ATs collected injury and athlete-exposure(AE) data. Injury frequencies and rates with 95% confidence intervals(95%CI) for practices and games were described by sport for all injuries (no-time-loss and time-loss). Injury proportions were described by body region. Results 1643 injuries(182.6±64.8 injuries/school) were reported. Highest rates of injury were: Girls9 basketball (39.4/1000AE 95% CI: 34.7–44.1), American football (30.7/1000AE 95% CI: 27.3–34.1), wrestling (28.7/1000AE 95% CI: 24.4–32.9), and girls9 soccer (26.3/1000AE 95% CI: 22.1–30.6). Lowest rates of injury were: Girls9 volleyball (9.1/1000AE 95% CI: 6.7–11.6), boys9 baseball (10.2/1000AE 95% CI: 6.8–13.5), cheerleading (10.6/1000AE 95% CI: 8.5–12.8), and boys9 soccer (14.7/1000AE 95% CI: 11.8–17.7). Most injuries occurred during practice (n=889, 54%) compared with games (n=390, 24%). The top three injured body regions injured were: lower extremity (n=744, 45%), upper extremity (n=409, 25%), and head (n=297, 18%). The highest rates of concussion were: football (2.9/1000AE 95% CI: 1.9–4.0), girls9 soccer (2.2/1000AE 95% CI: 0.9–3.4), and cheerleading (1.1/1000AE 95% CI: 0.4–1.8). Most concussions occurred during practice (47.3%) compared with games (34.5%). Conclusions Consistent with previous research a greater proportion of MMS injuries occurred during practices than games. However, our finding that girls9 basketball had the highest injury rate differs from prior research. Overall, our rates were higher than those previously reported, yet more precise given our sample size and detailed documentation AE. Our findings highlight the need for medical care at MMS practices and games.
Osteosynthesis of a periprosthetic patella fracture with a locked mesh plate

Periprosthetic patellar fractures continue to be associated with poor functional outcomes and low rates of bony union. We present a patient with a periprosthetic patellar fracture treated with a novel mesh locking plate technique. In this technique, Kirshner wires were used to help reduce the patellar fracture and an interfragmentary compression screw was placed. The fracture was then neutralized with a locked mesh plate compressed anteriorly onto the patella with cortical screws. By two months follow-up, the patient had return to preoperative knee range of motion, mild knee pain, and a Knee Outcome Score – Activities of Daily Living Scale of 88.6.
Data Swapping for Private Information Sharing of Web Search Logs

Abstract With the increasing number of sophisticated cyber attacks on both government and private infrastructure, cybersecurity data sharing is critical for the advancement of collaborative research among various entities, both in government, private sector, and academia. Of recent, the US Congress passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, as a framework for data sharing between various entities. Nevertheless this development raises the issue of trust between the collaborating parties, since shared data could be revealing. Conversely, due to the sensitive and confidential nature of the data involved, entities would have to employ various anonymization techniques to meet legal requirements in compliance with confidentiality policies of both their own organizations and federal government requirements. Secondly, a basic sharing of the data without the privatization process could make entities involved vulnerable to insider and inference attacks. For instance, an entity sharing data on cyber attacks might accidently reveal a sensitive network topology to an untrusted collaborator. As a contribution, we propose a modest but effective data privacy enhancement heuristic; a targeted 2k basic data swapping of individual web search log records. In this heuristic, if individual has a set of x records in their web search log set A, those records are swapped in that individual set A, then swapped again with another individual y records in set B. Our preliminary results show that data swapping is effective for big data and it would be demanding to trace the original issuer of the queries in a given large dataset of web search logs, thus providing some level of confidentiality.
Inferring the interaction structure of resistance to antimicrobials.

Abstract The growth of antimicrobial resistance presents a significant threat to human and animal health. Of particular concern is multi-drug resistance, as this increases the chances an infection will be untreatable by any antibiotic. In order to understand multi-drug resistance, it is essential to understand the association between drug resistances. Pairwise associations characterize the connectivity between resistances and are useful in making decisions about courses of treatment, or the design of drug cocktails. Higher-order associations, interactions, which tie together groups of drugs can suggest commonalities in resistance mechanism and lead to their identification. To capture interactions, we apply log-linear models of contingency tables to analyze publically available data on the resistance of Escheresia coli isolated from chicken and turkey meat by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System. Standard large sample and conditional exact testing approaches for assessing significance of parameters in these models breakdown due to structured patterns inherent to antimicrobial resistance. To address this, we adopt a Bayesian approach which reveals that E. coli resistance associations can be broken into two subnetworks. The first subnetwork is characterized by a hierarchy of β-lactams which is consistent across the chicken and turkey datasets. Tier one in this hierarchy is a near equivalency between amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, ceftriaxone and cefoxitin. Susceptibility to tier one then implies susceptibility to ceftiofur. The second subnetwork is characterized by more complex interactions between a variety of drug classes that vary between the chicken and turkey datasets.