cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People

Acknowledgments Introduction: Religion in the American Past 1. The European Religious Heritage 2. The Crisis of Christian Practice in America 3. Magic and the Occult 4. The Renewal of Christian Authority 5. Slavery and the African Spiritual Holocaust 6. The Plural Origins of American Revivalism 7. A Revolutionary Millennium? 8. Toward the Antebellum Spiritual Hothouse 9. Christian Power in the American Republic Conclusion: Lincoln and the Almost Chosen People Notes Index
The effect of processing conditions on structure evolution in melt spun poly(ethylene terephthalate) fibers

An investigation has been made into the structural evolution in poly(ethylene terephthalate) fibers as a function of wind-up speed (WUS) and quench air temperature (QAT). Analysis of the mechanics and mechanisms of cold drawing reveals that the fiber structure is heterogeneous. Evidence from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and density measurements indicates the presence of crystallites which are imperfect according to wide-angle diffraction (WAXD). Increased thread-line stress (higher WUS and higher QAT) appears to induce larger and more oriented crystallites in a progressively oriented matrix. A radially layered structure is disclosed from high resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs.
George W. Bush and the Ghosts of Presidents Past

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” the American philosopher George Santayana famously asserted. By the same token, a president who is well furnished with institutional memory should be less likely to commit avoidable errors and more likely to get the most out of his (and, at some point, her) time in office. The reflections that follow on what George W. Bush might learn from his predecessors were completed three weeks before his inauguration as the forty-third president of the United States. They appear in print after the Bush presidency has passed its hundred-day mark. Although they cannot take account of Bush's initial presidential performance, they do draw on the extensive record of his life and prepresidential political career.
Hypercalcemia in Malignancy

Acute metabolic abnormalities associated with cancer that require urgent treatment may be important causes of symptoms and may constitute a more immediate threat to life than the cancer itself. Treatment of the metabolic complication may save the patient, and once the complication is treated, other appropriate cancer therapy may be undertaken. Hypercalcemia is probably the most frequently encountered of the acute metabolic problems in oncology.
Efficacies of Four Pheromone-Baited Traps in Capturing Male Helicoverpa (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Moths in Northern Florida

Abstract Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a serious pest of grain, row, and vegetable crops throughout much of the world, although it is currently not established in the United States. USDA-APHIS and the Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey program are charged with the responsibility to monitor for this insect pest. The adult stage is the easiest to monitor using pheromone-baited traps. Traps must be easy to handle, portable and cost effective so that they can provide high quality specimens for identifiers. This study was conducted from spring through the fall in 2010 and 2011 to compare the trapping efficacy and cost-effectiveness of 4 pheromone-baited traps for male Helicoverpa moths. Over 11,600 Helicoverpa moths were captured, all identified as the corn earworm, H. zea (Boddie). The Pherocon® 1C “sticky” trap generally captured the fewest number of males, while equal numbers of moths were captured in a wire cone, ScentryTM Heliothis, and Universal (Unitrap) Moth “bucket” trap ...
Compressive Self-Powering of Piezo-Floating-Gate Mechanical Impact Detectors

This paper describes a novel compressive self-powering technique that significantly extends the powering and sensing range of our previously reported piezo-floating-gate (PFG) sensors for applications in mechanical impact monitoring. At the core of the proposed technique is a nonlinear impedance circuit that dynamically loads the output of a piezoelectric transducer in a manner such that the sensor can be self-powered at low-levels of mechanical strain and yet is able to sense and detect large variations in strain-levels. The compressive approach requires precise programming of event detection thresholds and requires precise nonvolatile event counting, both of which are achieved using variants of a linear floating-gate injector circuit. Measured results obtained from prototypes fabricated in a 0.5- μm standard CMOS process validate the proposed compressive powering and the proposed programming technique.
Social and Economic Conditions In Per-Islamic Mecca

Mecca's existence depended primarily on its location near the most important trade route in western Arabia which linked the surplus-producing region of Yemen with Syria. The route branched near Ayla in the north to proceed to Gaza on the Mediterranean and also to Egypt. Another route branched near Mecca to proceed in a northeasterly direction toward al-Ubulla, Ḥīra, and eventually Sasanid Persia. The commercially advantageous location of Mecca was enhanced further by the Zamzam waterwell which made Mecca a convenient stop in the trade of antiquity. Also the concept of the ḥaram, the sacred area, and its center, the Ka⊂ba, made Mecca the object of pilgrimage during the sacred months, pilgrims/merchants traveled with security of life and property and went to Mecca to trade their commodities.
Optimal sensor distribution for variation diagnosis in multistation assembly processes

This paper presents a methodology for optimal allocation of sensors in a multistation assembly process for the purpose of diagnosing in a timely manner variation sources that are responsible for product quality defects. A sensor system distributed in such a way can help manufacturers improve product quality while, at the same time, reducing process downtime. Traditional approaches in sensor optimization fall into two categories: multistation sensor allocation for the purpose of product inspection (rather than diagnosis); and allocation of sensors for the purpose of variation diagnosis but at a single measurement station. In our approach, sensing information from different measurement stations is integrated into a state-space model and the effectiveness of a distributed sensor system is quantified by a diagnosability index. This index is further studied in terms of variation transmissibility between stations as well as variation detectability at individual stations. Based on an understanding of the mechanism of variation propagation, we develop a backward-propagation strategy to determine the locations of measurement stations and the minimum number of sensors needed to achieve full diagnosability. An assembly example illustrates the methodology.
Composing in groups: the concept of authority in cross functional project team work

Despite increasing interest in collaborative writing in industry, little is known about the writing done in companies adopting team-based organizational designs. In such settings, teams organized to produce special documents may include members who do little or no writing for their regular jobs and thus lack experience in generating and selecting ideas, particularly in group settings. In the case study discussed here, the issue of authority provided a subtle but powerful undercurrent during the lifespan of one writing project. The collective and individual voices of team members indicated a constant tug between deep-seated expectations born of traditional systems of hierarchy in organizations and the new responsibilities of making contributions in team settings. Although environmental supports for authentic involvement seemed to be in place, those supports alone could not guarantee the sharing of authority. >
Pyomelanin is produced by Shewanella algae BrY and affected by exogenous iron.

Melanin production by S. algae BrY occurred during late/post-exponential growth in lactate-basal-salts liquid medium supplemented with tyrosine or phenylalanine. The antioxidant ascorbate inhibited melanin production, but not production of the melanin precursor, homogentisic acid. In the absence of ascorbate, melanin production was inhibited by the 4-hydroxyplenylpyruvate dioxygenase inhibitor, sulcotrione and Fe(II) (>0.2mM). These data support the hypothesis that pigment production by S. algae BrY was a result the conversion of tyrosine or phenylalanine to homogentisic acid which was excreted, auto-oxidized and self-polymerized to form pyomelanin. The inverse relationship between Fe(II) concentration and pyomelanin production has implications that pyomelanin may play a role in iron assimilation under Fe(II) limiting conditions.
Dual start motif in two lambdoid S genes unrelated to lambda S.

Abstract The lysis gene region of phage 21 contains three overlapping reading frames, designated S21, R21, and Rz21 on the basis of the analogy with the SRRz gene cluster of phage lambda. The 71-codon S21 gene complements lambda Sam7 for lysis function but shows no detectable homology with S lambda in the amino acid or nucleotide sequence. A highly related DNA sequence from the bacteriophage PA-2 was found by computer search of the GenBank data base. Correction of this sequence by insertion of a single base revealed another 71-codon reading frame, which is accordingly designated the SPA-2 gene and is 85% identical to S21. There are thus two unrelated classes of S genes; class I, consisting of the homologous 107-codon S lambda and 108-codon P22 gene 13, and class II, consisting of the 71-codon S21 and SPA-2 genes. The codon sequence Met-Lys-(X)-Met...begins all four genes. The two Met codons in S lambda and 13 have been shown to serve as translational starts for distinct polypeptide products which have opposing functions: the shorter polypeptide serves as the lethal lysis effector, whereas the longer polypeptide acts as a lysis inhibitor. To test whether this same system exists in the class II S genes, the Met-I and Met-4 codons of S21 were altered in inducible plasmid clones and the resultant lysis profiles were monitored. Elimination of the Met-1 start results in increased toxicity, and lysis, although not complete, begins earlier, which suggests that both starts are used in the scheduling of lysis by S21 and is consistent with the idea that the 71- and 68-residue products act as a lysis inhibitor and a lysis effector, respectively. In addition, the R gene of 21 was shown to be related to P22 gene 19, which encodes a true lysozyme activity, and was also found to be nearly identical to PA-2 ORF2. We infer that the 21 and PA-2 R genes both encode lysozymes in the T4 e gene family. These three genes form a second class lambdoid R genes, with the lambda R gene being the sole member of the first class. The existence of two interchangeable but unrelated classes of S genes and R genes is discussed in terms of a model of bacteriophage evolution in which the individual gene is the unit of evolution.
Unifying the Processing of XML Streams and Relational Data Streams

Relational data streams and XML streams have previously provided two separate research foci, but their unified support by a single Data Stream Management System (DSMS) is very desirable from an application viewpoint. In this paper, we propose a simple approach to extend relational DSMSs to support both kinds of streams efficiently. In our Stream Mill system, XML streams expressed as SAX events, can be easily transformed into relational streams, and vice versa. This enables a close cooperation of their query languages, resulting in great power and flexibility. For instance, XQuery can call functions defined in our SQLbased Expressive Stream Language (ESL) using the logical/ physical windows that have proved so useful on relational data streams. Many benefits are also gained at the system level, since relational DSMS techniques for load shedding, memory management, query scheduling, approximate query answering, and synopsis maintenance can now be applied to XML streams. Moreover, the many FSA-based optimization techniques developed for XPath and XQuery can be easily and efficiently incorporated in our system. Indeed, we show that YFilter, which is capable of efficiently processing multiple complex XML queries, can be easily integrated in Stream Mill via ESL user-defined and systemdefined aggregates. This approach produces a powerful and flexible system where relational and XML streams are unified and processed efficiently.
Agent-Mediated Knowledge Sharing for Services Management

For service-oriented architectures that span multiple businesses, organizations must transfer information back-and-forth about their available services. Because of the potential large volume, it is unreasonable and impractical to expect human practitioners to handle the number of interactions desired and/or required on a continual basis. Intelligent agents offer the adaptability and flexibility to handle the knowledge transfer that must occur in order to share web service offerings. Agents that operate in this domain will require specialized communication protocols that effectively transfer service-oriented information. This paper introduces an architecture and specialized communication procedures designed for this sort of knowledge sharing environment. We show that these procedures perform reasonably when evaluated using current agent communication technologies.
Congestion and Its Role in Network Equilibrium

In this paper, we develop the notion of congestion equilibrium in large scale networks, with the specific goal of understanding the modern multiparty Internet ecosystem comprising of content providers, ISPs and users. We show that the concept of "congestion-taking" is analogous to the concept of "price-taking" in classical market economics. With a wide variety of congestion metrics and under very mild assumptions on the congestion dynamics, we characterize various properties of congestion equilibria and develop algorithms to compute them for large scale networks. Our work provides a new way to model and analyze modern large scale network-economic systems that have a complex interaction of engineering and economics.
Treatment interruptions to decrease risk of resistance emerging during therapy switching in HIV treatment

The development of multi-drug resistant strains of HIV remains the primary reason for treatment failure and progression to AIDS in the United States. The failure of a particular multi-drug regimen necessitates a switch to a new multi-drug regimen. We use a simple model of the interaction of resistant strains to show that the transition to the new regimen involves a significant risk of strains resistant to the new regimen emerging, and that treatment interruptions using the failing regimen can be used to decrease this risk.
Wolffian duct tumors: case reports and review of the literature.

Abstract Background. Female adnexal tumors of probable wolffian origin are a distinctive epithelial neoplasm arising from the remnants of the mesonephric duct. Although generally considered a tumor of low malignant potential, these tumors can recur. Two cases are reported here. Cases. (1) A 38-year-old G 6 P 6 Latin American woman presented with lower abdominal pain and a pelvic mass. She had a history of a total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy with a paratubal nodule found incidentally 3 years prior. The pathologic findings were consistent with a female adnexal tumor of probable wolffian origin. Imaging studies revealed significant metastatic disease throughout her abdomen and pelvis. The recurrence was confirmed at laparotomy and tumor debulking was performed. Four months later the patient suffered a second recurrence and is currently undergoing treatment with systemic therapy. (2) A 71-year-old Caucasian woman who had undergone exploratory laparotomy and tumor reductive surgery for a female adnexal tumor of probable wolffian duct origin was seen for routine evaluation 1 year after her surgery. Her computed tomography scan revealed possible evidence of recurrence. Conclusion. Most female adnexal tumors of wolffian origin behave in a benign fashion. However, there is a potential risk of recurrence. Surgical excision by total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy at the time of diagnosis may be the best recommended mode of therapy. The role of adjuvant radiation therapy or chemotherapy remains questionable.
Standard assessments of frailty are validated predictors of mortality in hospitalized patients with cirrhosis.

The risk of morbidity and mortality for hospitalized patients with cirrhosis is high and incompletely captured by conventional indices. We sought to evaluate the predictive role of frailty in an observational cohort study of inpatients with decompensated cirrhosis between 2010 and 2013. The primary outcome was 90-day mortality. Secondary outcomes included discharge to a rehabilitation hospital, 30-day readmission, and length of stay. Frailty was assessed with three metrics: activities of daily living (ADL), the Braden Scale, and the Morse fall risk score. A predictive model was validated by randomly dividing the population into training and validation cohorts: 734 patients were admitted 1358 times in the study period. The overall 90-day mortality was 18.3%. The 30-day readmission rate was 26.6%, and the rate of discharge to a rehabilitation facility was 14.3%. Adjusting for sex, age, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease, sodium, and Charlson index, the odds ratio for the effect of an ADL score of less than 12 of 15 on mortality is 1.83 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-3.20). A predictive model for 90-day mortality including ADL and Braden Scale yielded C statistics of 0.83 (95% CI 0.80-0.86) and 0.77 (95% CI 0.71-0.83) in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively. Discharge to a rehabilitation hospital is predicted by both the ADL (<12) and Braden Scale (<16), with respective adjusted odds ratios of 3.78 (95% CI 1.97-7.29) and 6.23 (95% CI 2.53-15.4). Length of stay was associated with the Braden Scale (<16) (hazard ratio = 0.63, 95% CI 0.44-0.91). No frailty measure was associated with 30-day readmission. Conclusions: Readily available, standardized measures of frailty predict 90-day mortality, length of stay, and rehabilitation needs for hospitalized patients with cirrhosis. (Hepatology 2015;62:584–590
Postoperative Radiotherapy for Pathologic N2 Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer Treated With Adjuvant Chemotherapy: A Review of the National Cancer Data Base

Purpose To investigate the impact of modern postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) on overall survival (OS) for patients with N2 non‐small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated nationally with surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients and Methods Patients with pathologic N2 NSCLC who underwent complete resection and adjuvant chemotherapy from 2006 to 2010 were identified from the National Cancer Data Base and stratified by use of PORT ( 45 Gy). A total of 4,483 patients were identified (PORT, n 1,850; no PORT, n 2,633). The impact of patient and treatment variables on OS was explored using Cox regression.
Approaching a parallelized XML parser optimized for multi-coreprocessors

Very large scientific datasets are increasingly becoming available in XML formats. At the same time, multi-core processing is increasingly becoming available on desktop- and laptop-class computing machines. Unfortunately, most XML parsers are still using algorithms that are inherently serial, which show little improvement on newer computing hardware. The current XML implementation landscape does not adequately meet the performance requirements of large scale applications. Thus far, applications using Web services (in the grid community, for example) have largely focused on XML protocol standardization and tool building efforts, and not on addressing the performance bottlenecks when dealing with large volumes of XML data. Generic parallel parsing has been studied in depth over the past thirty years. However, as yet, these results have not been applied to the problem of XML parsing. XML documents have some structural properties that make it more amenable to parallelized parsing than general context-free languages. As has been previously shown, XML parsers spend a large percentage of time tokenizing the input in aninherently serial process, typically running a deterministic finite automaton on the input. Our initial approach, described here, separates the process of parsing the XML from the process of reading the input. We take a well-known high performance parser, Piccolo, and apply two different strategies, Runahead and Piped, and examine the timing of the file read time and hence the overall time to parse large scientific XML files. Under the conditions tested here, performance decreases.
Neighborhood crime and depressive symptoms among African American women: Genetic moderation and epigenetic mediation of effects.

Introduction Social scientists have long recognized the important role that neighborhood crime can play in stress-related disease, but very little is known about potential biosocial mechanisms that may link the experience of living in high-crime neighborhoods with depression. Objective The current study introduces an integrated model that combines neighborhood, genetic, and epigenetic factors. Methods Hypotheses were tested with a sample of 99 African American women from the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS). Results Allele variants of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT) interact with neighborhood crime to predict depressive symptoms in a manner consonant with the differential susceptibility perspective. Furthermore, this association is mediated by DNA methylation of the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene. Conclusion The findings provide support for an integrated model in which changes in DNA methylation, resulting from neighborhood crime, can result in an increase or decrease in gene activity which, in turn, influences depressive symptoms.
Accuracy and Gender Differences in the Media Coverage of Governors’ Policy Agendas

The media play an integral role in communicating political information from elected official to citizen. Most research examining the relationship between media coverage and governors focuses on campaigns and concludes that the media at times do not always portray campaign messages accurately for female candidates (Kahn 1994; Devitt 2002). Very little is known about how the media cover the policy priorities of sitting governors and whether it varies by gender. We address this gap in the scholarship and examine the degree to which the media represent accurately governors' policy agendas – specifically those outlined in a governor's most visible speech, their annual state of the state address. To execute this analysis, we content analyze annual state of the state address from 2010 and the resultant newspaper coverage. We find evidence to suggest gender differences in media coverage of governors but additional data are needed to conduct a more detailed analysis.
Surgically Constructed Double-Outlet Right Ventricle

A 32-year-old woman with a history of fibrosing mediastinitis attributable to histoplasmosis presented to Mayo Clinic with occlusion of her right pulmonary artery. She underwent bypass of the occluded pulmonary artery with a 26-mm CryoLife homograft conduit from the right ventricle to the right pulmonary artery. Her postoperative course was uncomplicated, and postoperative cardiac MRI showed a patent right ventricle (RV) to right pulmonary artery homograft conduit, normal perfusion of the lobar branches of the right pulmonary artery, and normal pulmonary venous return (Figure 1). The patient did well after surgery and had an uncomplicated pregnancy 2 years later. Figure 1. A , Computed tomography angiogram performed before the first surgical intervention, showing severe calcification (arrow) in …
Synthesis of Titanium and Boron Containing Polymers: Potential Precursors for Advanced Ceramics

Titanium containing fibers have been synthesized via the modification of organic materials. Thermal processing of these chemically modified organic fibers in reactive/inert atmospheres, has produced materials containing Ti (C,O). Materials analysis was performed using SEM-EDS, ESCA and Auger spectroscopy. Novel monomeric titanium materials were synthesized for the above mentioned modification of organic materials. Boron containing monomers and polymers were also synthesized as possible precursors for B-N-C materials.
Pentatomidae as Vectors of Yeast-Spot Disease of Soybeans

Microbiological examination of soybean pods artificially inoculated in the greenhouse confirmed that Nematospora coryli Peglion causes yeast-spot disease in soybeans. The disease normally occurred only in association with feeding by certain species of pentatomids and with mechanical inoculation. Since the organism was not transmitted incidentally through wounds that simulated insect punctures, an intimate association between insect and micro-organism was implied. Cage tests showed that Thyanta custator (F.); the green stink bug, Acrosternum hilare (Say); the brown stink bug, Euschistus serous (Say); the dusky stink bug, E. tristigmus (Say); the one-spot stink bug, E. variolarius (Palisot de Beauvois); and E. euschi-stoides (Vollenhoven) were capable of transmitting the organism which causes yeast-spot disease in soybeans.
First-principles study of pyroelectricity in GaN and ZnO

First-principles calculations are made for the primary pyroelectric coefficients of wurtzite GaN and ZnO. The pyroelectricity is attributed to the quasiharmonic thermal shifts of internal strains (internal displacements of cations and anions carrying their Born effective charges). The primary (zero-external-strain) pyroelectricity dominates at low temperatures, while the secondary pyroelectricity (the correction from external thermal strains) becomes comparable with the primary pyroelectricity at high temperatures. Contributions from the acoustic and the optical phonon modes to the primary pyroelectric coefficient are only moderately well described by the corresponding Debye and Einstein functions, respectively.
Performance and prospects of far ultraviolet aluminum mirrors protected by atomic layer deposition

Metallic aluminum mirrors remain the best choice for high reflectance applications at ultraviolet wavelengths (90 to 320 nm) and maintain good performance through optical and infrared wavelengths. Transparent protective coatings are required to prevent the formation of an oxide layer, which severely degrades reflectance at wavelengths below 250 nm. We report on the development of atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes for thin protective films of aluminum fluoride that are viable for application at substrate temperatures <200°C. Reflectance measurements of aluminum films evaporated in ultrahigh vacuum conditions, and protected mirrors encapsulated with ALD AlF3 are used to evaluate the far ultraviolet (90 to 190 nm) and near ultraviolet (190 to 320 nm) performance of both the ALD material and the underlying metal. Optical modeling is used to predict the performance of optimized structures for future astronomical mirror applications.
Melengestrol acetate and norgestomet for the induction of synchronized estrus in seasonally anovular ewes.

Two commercially available progestogen products for cattle, melengestrol acetate (MGA) and norgestomet (SMB), were evaluated for their ability to induce synchronized estrus in anovulatory ewes. Seasonally anestrous ewes (n = 232) were randomly assigned to one of seven treatments: 1) control (C); 2) MGA only (OMGA; .3 mg of MGA/d); 3) MGA+zeranol (RMGA; 2.5 mg of zeranol); 4) MGA+PG-600 (PMGA; 400 IU of PMSG + 200 IU of hCG in a 5-mL dose); 5) SMB only (OSMB); 6) SMB + zeranol (RSMB); and 7) SMB + PG-600 (PSMB). Treatments were initiated 10 d before breeding. Immediately preceding progestogen treatment, RMGA and RSMB ewes were given a single i.m. injection of zeranol. Concomitant to progestogen removal, PMGA and PSMB ewes were given a single i.m. injection of PG-600. On May 4, 1992, all treatment groups were combined into one breeding group for a 30-d breeding period. Mating at synchronized estrus was greater (P < .001) for progestogen-treated ewes. Within progestogen treatments, more (P < .001) SMB ewes than MGA ewes were marked within the first 5 d of breeding. Overall, there were no treatment differences in estrus response for the 30-d breeding period. Progestogen-treated ewes had a shorter (P < .001) mean interval from ram introduction to lambing. Fertility and prolificacy were not different for C, MGA, or SMB ewes. Ewes primed with zeranol before MGA or SMB treatment had fertility and intervals from ram introduction to lambing similar to those of ewes receiving an injection of PG-600 after progestogen treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) characterization of metal-organic interactions

Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is emerging as an important analytical technique for the characterization of metal–organic interactions and interfaces. This chapter describes the history and theory of SERS and details recent developments in its use towards gaining a fundamental understanding of metal/molecule interactions. We also summarize several examples of practical applications of SERS, and review progress towards the incorporation of SERS into optoelectronic devices.
New Product Development in a Durable Good Monopoly Market

We investigate the market for a monopolist who introduces a rapidly innovating durable good that is characterized by significant RD for example, we show that the upgrade price is a simple function of the difference between the design levels of first and second versions, and why a monopolist may offer free products. In addition, we prove an important relationship between the optimal revenue and development cost for monopoly markets.
Mayors, Partisanship, and Redistribution: Evidence Directly from U.S. Mayors:

Policymakers and scholars are increasingly looking to cities to address challenges including income inequality. No existing research, however, directly and systematically measures local political e...
CENP-A associated lncRNAs influence chromosome segregation in human cells

Transcription occurs ubiquitously throughout non-coding parts of the genome, including at repetitive a-satellite DNA elements which comprise the majority of human centromeres. The function of temporally regulated centromeric transcription, and transcripts, is consequently a topic of intense investigation. In this study, we use high throughput approaches to identify and describe lncRNAs associated with the centromere specific histone variant CENP-A that arise from the transcription of specific centromeres at early G1, which we then show are physically associated with centromeres, and which are functionally necessary for accurate chromosome segregation. Targeted depletion of one such centromeric RNA, which originates from a single centromere, is sufficient to increase the frequency of chromosome segregation defects. These data support the emerging paradigm of the necessity of centromere-specific lncRNAs in the integrity of faithful chromosome segregation.
A coordinated scheduling policy to improve patient access to surgical services

This paper presents a scheduling policy that aims to reduce patient wait time for surgical treatment by coordinating clinical and surgical appointments. This study is of interest since the lack of coordination of these resources could lead to an inefficient utilization of available capacity, and most importantly, could cause delays in patient access to surgical treatment. A simulation model is used to analyze the impact of the policy on patient access and surgical throughput.
Sim[PLY]: Sustainable Construction with Prefabricated Plywood Componentry☆

The Sim[PLY] framing system was designed and developed in response to the need for sustainable housing and makes use of affordable “low-tech” materials with “high-tech” production technologies. This system has been tested and fabricated for the structure of the Indigo Pine House, an innovative housing module constructed for the 2015 Solar Decathlon Competition. The system leverages CNC routing technology to prefabricate structural components from common plywood sheet goods. These structural components use tab and slot joints secured with hand-applied steel cable ties, allowing for rapid and accurate final assembly without the need for power tools. This paper will explore the next steps in transforming residential construction with the Sim[PLY] framing system. In particular, the paper focuses on a new application: a Sim[PLY] “tiny house” prototype aimed at student housing communities. This flat-packed system is intuitive to use, easy and safe to construct by the average person, and easy to disassemble non –destructively, all while supporting strong thermal and structural performance.
In the Space Between: Creative Workers' Psychological Ownership in Idea Handoffs

In organizations, the task of making a new product is often too large for one person; consequently, ideas are frequently transferred between many different people across a range of departments. Han...
Novel highly active and selective Fe-N-C oxygen reduction electrocatalysts derived from in-situ polymerization pyrolysis

Abstract Among several candidates considered to replace expensive platinum based catalysts for oxidation reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells, iron-nitrogen-carbon (Fe-N-C) composites attract the most interest. In this work, we design a novel method to prepare Fe-N-C catalysts for ORR in both acid and alkaline media. It involves initial polymerization of different amino-pyridines to form a C-N-C backbone, followed by their high-temperature pyrolysis on silica template, HF etching and second heat treatment in ammonia. Polymerization of 2-amino-6-methylpyridine and 2,6-diaminopyridine was done by in-situ and ex-situ templating methods. The catalysts synthesized by this method possess half-wave potentials of ~ 0.88 V versus RHE in O2 saturated 1 M KOH electrolyte, and the best catalyst based on 2-amino-6-methylpyridine was seen to achieve an E1/2 greater than 0.7 V in the O2 saturated 0.5 M sulfuric acid electrolyte. Importantly, the catalysts prepared by this novel method exhibit remarkably low peroxide yield in both acid and base media (
Physiological responses to exercise at altitude : an update.

Studies performed over the past decade have yielded new information related to the physiological and metabolic adjustments made in response to both shortand long-term high-altitude exposure. These investigations have examined the potential mechanisms responsible for the alterations observed in such key variables as heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, muscle blood flow, substrate utilization and mitochondrial function, both at rest and during exercise of varying intensities. Additionally, the occurrence and mechanisms related to the ‘lactate paradox’ continues to intrigue investigators. It is apparent that exposure to high altitude is an environmental stressor that elicits a robust sympathoadrenal response that contributes to many of the critical adjustments and adaptations mentioned above. Furthermore, as some of these important physiological adaptations are known to enhance performance, it has become popular to incorporate an aspect of altitude living/training into the training regimens of endurance athletes (e.g. ‘live high-train low’). Finally, it is important to note that many factors influence the extent to which individuals adjust and adapt to the stress imposed by exposure to high altitude. Included among these are (i) the degree of hypoxia; (ii) the duration of exposure to hypoxic conditions; (iii) the exercise intensity (absolute vs relative workload); and (iv) the inter-individual variability in adapting to hypoxic environments (‘responders’ vs ‘non-responders’).
Altruism by age and social proximity.

This study evaluates the extent to which an individual’s stated altruistic sentiments can be influenced by context–most importantly, by the age and social proximity of the other person and by the nature of what is being sacrificed. We measure willingness to sacrifice own health for another person’s health and willingness to sacrifice own wealth for another person’s wealth. To evaluate these sentiments, two surveys were administered to representative samples of Americans which contained hypothetical scenarios with context randomly assigned; the first survey posed a dictator game question and the second survey was designed to elicit marginal rates of substitution between own and other’s health/wealth. As expected, we find less altruism towards those who are more socially distant (e.g., strangers relative to family). We find individuals are more health altruistic towards young children and more wealth altruistic towards adults, and health altruism tends to be lowest for survey respondents near retirement age. We find no relationship between levels of altruism and the distance between the respondent’s state of birth and state of current residence. These findings improve society’s understanding of situational altruism and kinship and reciprocity as motivations for altruism, and they have practical implications concerning the economic valuation of human lives used to guide public policy-making.
Constraining planetary migration and tidal dissipation with coeval hot Jupiters

We investigate the constraints on the formation of, and tidal dissipation processes in, hot Jupiters (HJs) that can be inferred based on reliable knowledge of the age of a system or population. Particular attention is paid to the role of young systems (such as those in open clusters or star-forming regions) in such studies. For an ensemble of coeval HJ (or proto-HJ) systems, we quantify the effect of age on the distribution of orbital eccentricities with respect to orbital periods as well as the location of the observed "pile-up" feature. We expect the effects of pre-main-sequence stellar evolution to be important only if a substantial fraction of HJs approach their current orbits early in protostellar contraction (ages less than 10 Myr). Application to the HJs presently known in the cluster M67 yields constraints on the dissipation roughly consistent with those gleaned from planets in the field; for those in the Hyades and Praesepe, our results suggest a higher degree of dissipation at early times than that inferred from other populations.
Enhancing Robotic Experiences throughout the Computing Curriculum

The study of robotics is often an excellent recruitment motivation for students entering a computing curriculum. It is also often cited that Artificial Intelligence (AI) and related robotics is a critical area of future innovation in computing. However, there are a number of challenges to implementing a robotic curriculum at the university level. A few of those challenges include, lack of a uniform hardware platform, incongruity in the software used, and the missing significant deliverable artifacts by students at the end of a term to encourage learning and further interest. Educational robotic activities are often treated as advanced research topics with high associated costs that prohibit widespread integration into the curriculum. In this paper, we present the deployment of a multi-stage robotic platform that attempts to address these challenges and overcome the obstacles. We detail the evolution of the hardware from using a readily available LEGO Mindstorm base platform to next include the addition of an Arduino and Raspberry Pi. Likewise, we detail the transition from the basic LEGO Mindstorm software to the use of leJOS and PYTHON. At each stage, additional sensors and software libraries can likewise be added. Finally, we present an achievable academic goal for students to use the hardware and software platforms to develop a model autonomous vehicle with aspects of intelligent control, learning and adaptive behaviour. All levels of projects can be undertaken at the appropriate level of maturity for the students in the computing curriculum.
British Intelligence and Hitler's Empire in the Soviet Union, 1941–1945: Wheatley, Ben, London: Bloomsbury Academic 254 pp., $114.00, ISBN 978-1-4742-9722-6 Publication Date: January 2017

In British Intelligence and Hitler's Empire in the Soviet Union, 1941–1945, Ben Wheatley explores the often overlooked and understudied value of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) as an alternative t...
Deep vein thrombosis is a common life-threatening complication in mucopolysaccharidosis type II

Mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II) is an X-linked lysosomal disorder caused by deficiency of iduronate 2-sulfatase resulting in progressive accumulation of dermatan and heparan sulfate with multisystem involvement including neurological, respiratory, cardiac and skeletal. Long-term enzyme replacement therapy for MPS II has demonstrable benefits in walking ability, endurance and organomegaly and possibly life expectancy and is usually delivered by a central venous port system. Intravenous catheter use is a major risk factor for development of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) which isassociated with significant morbidity, including debilitating extremity pain and swelling, pulmonary embolism, superior vena cava syndrome as well as increased overall mortality. Data from patients who require long-term central venous access show a prevalence of catheter related DVT with obstruction of 3-5%, with higher rates of asymptomatic non-occlusive thrombi. Here we report a series of six individuals with MPS II that presented acutely with severe symptomatic DVT. Of our cohort of 18 MPS II patients, six (33.3 %) ages 12 to 27 years presented with symptomatic DVT, five of which coinciding with site of catheter placement. Veins affected included subclavian, jugular, axillary, common femoral, and brachial veins. All patients were admitted to the ICU and underwent chest CT angiogram, four of which revealed the presence of remarkable diffuse tortuous collateral veins. Coagulation profile and thrombophilia workup were unremarkable in all cases. In conclusion, symptomatic DVT in Hunter patients appears to be at a higher rate than those with long-term central access for other indications. Interestingly, the majority of patients with DVT showed evidence of extensive formation of tortuous collateral vessels. The pathogenesis of these findings remains unclear. This highlights the importance of further understanding mechanisms and clinical implications of DVT and vasculopathy as well as of adopting measures for screening and prevention of these findings in MPS II patients.
Racism, responsibility and autonomy in HCI: Testing perceptions of an AI agent

Abstract This study employs an experiment to test subjects' perceptions of an artificial intelligence (AI) crime-predicting agent that produces clearly racist predictions. It used a 2 (human crime predictor/AI crime predictor) x 2 (high/low seriousness of crime) design to test the relationship between the level of autonomy and responsibility for the unjust results. The seriousness of crime was manipulated to examine the relationship between the perceived threat and trust in the authority's decisions. Participants (N = 334) responded to an online questionnaire after reading one of four scenarios with the same story depicting a crime predictor unjustly reporting a higher likelihood of subsequent crimes for a black defendant than for a white defendant for similar crimes. The results indicate that people think that an AI crime predictor has significantly less autonomy than a human crime predictor. However, both the identity of the crime predictor and the seriousness of the crime showed insignificant results on the level of responsibility assigned to the predictor. Also, a clear positive relationship between autonomy and responsibility was found in both human and AI crime predictor scenarios. The implications of the findings for applications and theory are discussed.
Ignorance is Not Bliss: An Analysis of Central-Place Foraging Algorithms

Central-place foraging (CPF) is a canonical task in collective robotics with applications to planetary exploration, automated mining, warehousing, and search and rescue operations. We compare the performance of three Central-Place Foraging Algorithms (CPFAs), variants of which have been shown to work well in real robots: spiral-based, rotating-spoke, and random-ballistic. To understand the difference in performance between these CPFAs, we define the price of ignorance and show how this metric explains our previously published empirical results. We obtain upper-bounds for expected complete collection times for each algorithm and evaluate their performance in simulation. We show that site-fidelity (i.e. returning to the location of the last found target) and avoiding search redundancy are key-factors that determine the efficiency of CPFAs. Our formal analysis suggests the following efficiency ranking from best to worst: spiral, spoke, and the stochastic ballistic algorithm.
3 – DIRECTED GRAPHS

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses directed graphs. Graphs provide the proper framework for the development of many elementary results about rounding errors, the results that do not depend on idiosyncrasies of machine arithmetic or on difficult or tedious analytical inequalities. A program can be abstracted to represent a graph in which the nodes correspond to program inputs, arithmetic operations, and program outputs. A straight-line program using operations +, - , x, / gives rise to a directed acyclic graph with a node for each input value, output value, and operation; there are arcs from each arithmetic node (that is, one corresponding to an operation) to the nodes for its operands and from each output node to the operation that computes its value.
Catastrophic Failure of Reverse Shoulder Arthroplasty from a Broken Screw: A Case Report.

Case A 63-year-old woman presented with pain and limited range of motion 2 years after undergoing reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA). She underwent revision RSA for catastrophic implant failure caused by central screw breakage, subsequent polyethylene wear, and glenosphere loosening, and achieved excellent outcomes. Conclusion This is a unique case of a salvage procedure with satisfactory outcomes for a rare complication of RSA. It demonstrates the importance of clinical vigilance notwithstanding the absence of radiographic abnormalities in long-term monitoring of patient implant failure.
Laser-Driven Light Source (LDLS TM ) with Multiple Fiber Outputs

A laser-driven light source (LDLSTM) system with multiple fiber outputs is developed for photonic or semiconductor processing applications. Simulation and measurement results of fiber-to-fiber uniformity from 380nm to 1000nm are presented.
Rhamnose in plants - from biosynthesis to diverse functions

In plants, the deoxy sugar l-rhamnose is widely present as rhamnose-containing polymers in cell walls and as part of the decoration of various specialized metabolites. Here, we review the current knowledge on the distribution of rhamnose, highlighting the differences between what is known in dicotyledoneuos compared to commelinid monocotyledoneous (grasses) plants. We discuss the biosynthesis and transport of UDP-rhamnose, as well as the transfer of rhamnose from UDP-rhamnose to various primary and specialized metabolites. This is carried out by rhamnosyltransferases, enzymes that can use a large variety of substrates. Some unique characteristics of rhamnose synthases, the multifunctional enzymes responsible for the conversion of UDP-glucose into UDP-rhamnose, are considered, particularly from the perspective of their ability to convert glucose present in flavonoids. Finally, we discuss how little is still known with regards to how plants rescue rhamnose from the many compounds to which it is linked, or how rhamnose is catabolized.