cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Bridging the gap between the genotype and the phenotype: linking genetic variation, selection and adaptation in fishes

One of the most challenging problems in evolutionary biology is linking the evolution of the phenotype with the underlying genotype, because most phenotypes are encoded by many genes that interact with each other and with the environment. Further, many phenotypes are correlated and selection on one can affect evolution of the other. This challenge is especially important in fishes, because their evolutionary response to harvest, global warming and conservation actions are among the least understood aspects of their management. Here, we discuss two major genetic approaches to studying the evolution of complex traits, multivariate quantitative genetics and molecular genetics, and examine the increasing interaction between the two fields. These interactions include using pedigree-based methods to study the evolution of multivariate traits in natural populations, comparing neutral and quantitative measures of population structure, and examining the contribution that the two approaches have made to each other. We then explore the major role that quantitative genetics is playing in two key issues in the conservation and management of fish populations: the evolutionary effects of fishing and adaptation to climate change. Throughout, we emphasize that it is important to anticipate the availability of improvements in molecular technology and statistical analyses by creating research populations such as inbred lines and families segregating at fitness traits, developing approaches to measuring the full range of phenotypes related to fitness, and collecting biological material and ecological data in natural populations. These steps will facilitate studies of the evolution of complex traits over informative temporal and spatial scales.
Shoot Axis Galls

Structurally and ecologically, the galls on the shoot axis embrace a greater diversity and complexity of abnormal growths than on the root. Some of the essential characters of these galls may be traced to the fact that in the shoot axis we find both growth in length and growth in thickness. The development and structure of galls on the shoot axis are therefore profoundly influenced by their relation to the primary meristem and the cambial cylinder. Broadly speaking, two types of galls arise on the shoot axis, viz. the acrocecidia or the galls on the growing vegetative tip and the pleurocecidia or the galls that develop at a distance from the growing tip. The galls on the shoot axis are generally solid or hollow swellings, caused by Bacteria, Fungi, some Nematodes, a few Acarina, Homoptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Diptera. No Thysano-ptera are known to give rise to galls on the shoot axis. The relative abundance of galls caused by different organisms on the shoot axis is shown in fig. 34. In the simplest of the galls, the cecidozoa remain externally on the epidermis of the shoot.
Radwaste considerations for economics and siting of ITER and fusion power reactors in Illinois and elsewhere in the US

Experience with regional waste disposal facility siting attempts suggests that low level radioactive waste production from controlled fusion reactors could be a significant impediment to facility siting in many areas of the US as long as current facility siting and waste disposal practices continue. Of particular concern is the resistance of people in lower population density regions to taking on waste burdens produced in serving metropolitan areas. A review of recent costs associated with low level radioactive waste disposal facility siting and nuclear power plant decommissioning plans suggests that siting decisions for ITER and future fusion reactor facilities may need to pay careful attention at the outset to the eventual fate of the low level radioactive wastes to be produced at these facilities.
Continuity of closest rank-p approximations to matrices

In signal processing, the singular value decomposition and rank characterization of matrices play prominent roles. The mapping which associates with any complex m × n matrix X its closest rank-p approximation X(p)need not be continuous. When the pth and the (p + 1)st singular values of X are equal, this mapping maps, in fact, a matrix to a set of matrices. Furthermore, an example is given to show that large errors in computing X(p)can be expected when σ p is sufficiently close to σ p+1 . It is finally shown that this mapping is closed in the sense of Zangwill. The property of closedness is an essential assumption of a global convergence proof for algorithms involving this mapping (e.g., see [1]).
The Hobby-Eberly Telescope medium resolution spectrograph and fiber instrument feed

The Medium Resolution Spectrograph (MRS) is a versatile, fiber-fed echelle spectrograph for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET). This instrument is designed for a wide range of sci entific investigations and includes single-fiber inputs for the study of point-like sources, synthetic slits of fibers for long slit spectroscopy, 9 independently positionable probes for multi-object spectroscopy, and a circular fiber integral field unit. The MRS consists of two beams. The visible beam has wavelength coverage from 450 - 900 nm in a single exposure with resolving power between 5,300 and 20,000 depending on the fibers configuration selected. This beam also has capability in the ranges 380 - 950 nm by altering the angles of the cross-disperser gratings. A second beam operating in the near-infrared has coverage of 900 1300 nm with resolving power between 5,300 and 10,000. Both beams can be used simultaneously and are fed by the HET Fiber Instrument Feed (FIF) which is mounted at the prime focus of the telescope and positions the fibers feeding the MRS . The MRS started commissioning summer 2002.
Decadal Variability in an Idealized Ocean Model and Its Sensitivity to Surface Boundary Conditions

Abstract Variability in a three-dimensional ocean model of idealized geometry is analyzed. The variability is induced in the model by adding a stochastic component to the surface buoyancy forcing. The influence of the surface thermal forcing on the model variability is investigated under conditions in which the surface freshwater flux is specified. The thermal boundary conditions that have been considered include restoring boundary conditions with different restoring times, fixed surface heat flux, and boundary conditions derived by assuming an energy balance model for the atmosphere. It is found that the ocean model response varies considerably with the thermal boundary conditions used, given the specific ratio of thermal to haline forcing chosen for these calculations. A behavior characterized by sudden transitions between states of strong overturning and states of much weaker overturning dominates the model’s response when a strong restoring is used, while quasi-regular oscillations at a period of appr...
Periodontal Disease Increases the Risk of Preterm Delivery Among Preeclamptic Women

Background: Preterm births are a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality, and represent an important public health issue. About 30% of preterm births are due to medical conditions of the mother or the fetus, among which preeclampsia plays a major role. We have previously reported that maternal periodontal disease enhances the risk for preterm delivery and preeclampsia. Our current objective was to determine whether maternal periodontal disease increases the risk for preterm delivery among preeclamptic women. Methods: Women were enrolled prior to their twenty-sixth week of gestation. Periodontal status was assessed at baseline and defined as healthy, mild, or moderate/severe. Repeat examinations were performed at delivery to assess changes in periodontal status. Results: A cohort of 1,020 women was studied, 47 of whom had preeclampsia. A strong association between periodontal disease status at enrollment and rate of premature delivery was observed among preeclamptic women after adjusting for the ma...
Capacity Planning and Management in Hospitals

Faced with diminishing government subsidies, competition, and the increasing influence of managed care, hospitals are under enormous pressure to cut costs. In response to these pressures, many hospitals have made drastic changes including downsizing beds, cutting staff, and merging with other hospitals. These critical capacity decisions generally have been made without the help of OR model-based analyses, routinely used in other service industries, to determine their impact. Not surprisingly, this has often resulted in diminished patient access without any significant reductions in costs. Moreover, payers and patients are increasingly demanding improved clinical outcomes and service quality. These factors, combined with their complex dynamics, make hospitals an important and rich area for the development and use of OR/MS tools and frameworks to help identify capacity needs and ways to use existing capacity more efficiently and effectively. In this chapter we describe the general background and issues involved in hospital capacity planning, provide examples of how OR models can be used to provide important insights into operational strategies and practices, and identify opportunities and challenges for future research.
Academic Department Best Practices: Attracting Students to Study Economics

Internet survey research was conducted to establish the best practices being followed by economic departments at leading research universities in the United States. The survey research and literature review of best practices in online student recruitment will be used by a department of economics at a leading US research university to attract students to its undergraduate and graduate programs including a newly created doctorate in economics. The survey research indicated that a key practice is to supply students with the information they are seeking online. Also, there are opportunities to include undergraduate students in faculty research in order to encourage students to continue studying economics. A source of students that is being tapped is the international market, although many geographic regions are underrepresented. The research also indicated that economic departments are neither using prospect management systems nor much advertising.
Binary interactions and salt-induced coalescence of spherical micelles of cationic surfactants from molecular dynamics simulations.

A direct estimation of salt-mediated potential of mean force (PMF) between spherical micelles of cationic surfactants is obtained for the first time using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Coarse-grained (CG) potentials benchmarked in an earlier study [Langmuir, 2011, 27(11), 6628–6638] are used to model a binary system of cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) surfactant micelles at varying concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) or sodium salicylate (NaSal). The shape and structure of micelles are not subject to external constraints. NaSal is significantly more efficient in screening the intermicelle repulsive interactions shown by the PMF compared to NaCl due to a stronger binding of salicylate counterions to the micelle corona. Upon contact with each other, the micelles coalesce in the presence of NaSal to form a cylindrical structure which is stabilized by the adsorbed salicylate anions. Comparison of the PMF with Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (DLVO) potentials shows qualitative agreement, whi...
Comparison of the Effects of Dopamine and Beta-Adrenergic Agonists on Adenylate Cyclase of Renal Glomeruli and Striatum1

A dopamine-sensitive adenylate cyclase was identified in glomeruli prepared from rat kidney. The properties of central and peripheral cyclase-linked dopamine receptors were then compared by testing the ability of dopamine, isoproterenol, and the dopamine analogues, 2-amino-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene (A-6,7-DTN), 2-amino-5,6-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene (A-5,6-DTN), and N,N -di- n -propyl dopamine (DPDA) to stimulate cyclic AMP production in homogenates and intact cell preparations of rat striatum and glomeruli. Cyclic AMP production in striatal homogenates was increased by dopamine, A-6,7-DTN, and DPDA, although DPDA was much less potent than the other two agonists. A-5,6-DTN (0-1000 µM) and isoproterenol (0-100 µM) were without effect in this preparation. In contrast, in a homogenate of kidney glomeruli as well as in striatal slices and in the intact glomeruli, all of these agonists increased cyclic AMP production. The pharmacological character of this response was further characterized by using the dopamine antagonist, fluphenazine, and the beta -adrenergic antagonist, propranolol. In glomerular homogenates, fluphenazine (10 µM) blocks the response to A-6,7-DTN (100 µM) and dopamine (100 µM) but does not affect the response to isoproterenol (1 µM) or A-5,6-DTN (100 µM). Propranolol (100 µM), on the other hand, blocked the response to isoproterenol, A-5,6-DTN, and partially blocked the dopamine response. A similar profile of activity was observed in intact glomeruli and in striatal slices. These findings suggest that both dopaminergic and beta -adrenergic receptors can mediate the production of cyclic AMP in the rat striatum and in the kidney vasculature. It is further suggested that dopamine can activate both types of receptors, depending on its concentration. The beta -rotameric conformer of dopamine (as exemplified by the semi-rigid analogue A-6,7-DTN) preferentially activates dopamine receptors, whereas the alpha -rotameric conformer (A-5,6-DTN) preferentially activates beta -adrenergic receptors. The potency series for activation of dopamine receptors is dopamine = A-6,7-DTN > DPDA in both tissues. The relative potency for activation of the beta -adrenergic response is also similar in both tissues. On the basis of the limited series of compounds studied, the cyclase-linked receptor in kidney vasculature and that in striatum appear to be quite similar.
Study on Reconstruction Technology of 3D Medical CAD Model Based on Multi-Platform

Comparing with 2D medical image,3D medical model has many advantages at anatomy study,surgery assistant and manufacturing supporting.Because of the difficult on reconstruction of 3D medical CAD model,the 3D model is not widely used in practice although theory study has been done more.Aiming at this problem,a reconstruction strategy based on medical image processing,reverse engineering and forward design is proposed.Application indicates that 3D medical model can be reconstructed facilely and effectively based on multi-platform strategy.
Feedback signals estimation of an induction machine drive

This paper presents the study of flux, torque and speed estimation of an induction machine drive. The d-q model of the induction machine is used to determine the various matrices of the state space representation of the system. The modeling and simulation is carried out by using the MATLAB/Simulink software. Two estimators using the machine voltage and current measurements are analyzed. First estimator is derived by direct synthesis from state equations, and then an optimal extended Kalman filter (EKF) is investigated. The performances of both estimators are presented and good results were obtained for EKF even in the presence of the system and measurements noise.
Silent myocardial ischemia as a mechanism of sudden cardiac death.

Coronary artery disease is the anatomic fault in the overwhelming majority of victims of sudden cardiac death, the most common cause of mortality in the Western World. Relating silent ischemia to sudden death is difficult, but no clear relationship has been observed in most cases. Notable exceptions exist, and silent ischemia may be one of the multiple factors involved in pathogenesis. Further careful quantitative Holter monitoring correlative studies are warranted.
Atomistic material behavior at extreme pressures

Computer simulations are routinely performed to model the response of materials to extreme environments, such as neutron (or ion) irradiation. The latter involves high-energy collisions from which a recoiling atom creates a so-called atomic displacement cascade. These cascades involve coordinated motion of atoms in the form of supersonic shockwaves. These shockwaves are characterized by local atomic pressures >15 GPa and interatomic distances <2 A. Similar pressures and interatomic distances are observed in other extreme environment, including short-pulse laser ablation, high-impact ballistic collisions and diamond anvil cells. Displacement cascade simulations using four different force fields, with initial kinetic energies ranging from 1 to 40 keV, show that there is a direct relationship between these high-pressure states and stable defect production. An important shortcoming in the modeling of interatomic interactions at these short distances, which in turn determines final defect production, is brought to light.
Academic Socialization Among Latino Families: Exploring the Compensatory Role of Cultural Processes

This study examines the relation of parent educational expectations, cultural socialization, and familism with academic adjustment among 150 Latino parent–adolescent dyads (81% Mexican origin; 79% were mothers). Adolescents (53% girls) responded to measures of school engagement, educational utility, parental educational expectations, cultural socialization, and familism. Results suggest that, after accounting for parents’ reported educational attainment, adolescents’ perceptions of academic and cultural socialization messages and their own endorsement of familism were uniquely related to school engagement; only parental educational expectations were uniquely related to beliefs about the utility of education. Cultural and academic socialization may thus complement each other.
Cracks in anisotropic materials: an iterative solution of the eigenvalue problem

An iterative method based on finite element analysis is proposed for the evaluation of the asymptotic crack tip field of an anisotropic elastic material. The method uses several iterations of analyses rather than solving the eigenvalue problem.
Multi-objective optimization techniques to design the Pareto front of organic dielectric polymers

Abstract We present two Monte Carlo algorithms to find the Pareto front of the chemical space of a class of dielectric polymers that is most interesting with respect to optimizing both the bandgap and dielectric constant. Starting with a dataset generated from density functional theory calculations, we used machine learning to construct surrogate models for the bandgaps and dielectric constants of all physically meaningful 4-block polymers (that is, polymer systems with a 4-block repeat unit). We parameterized these machine learning models in such a way that the surrogates built for the 4-block polymers were readily extendable to polymers beyond a 4-block repeat unit. By using translational invariance, chemical intuition, and domain knowledge, we were able to enumerate all possible 4, 6, and 8 block polymers and benchmark our Monte Carlo sampling of the chemical space against the exact enumeration of the surrogate predictions. We obtained exact agreement for the fronts of 4-block polymers and at least a 90% agreement for those of 6 and 8-block polymers. We present fronts for 10-block polymer that are not possible to obtain by direct enumeration. We note that our Monte Carlo methods also return polymers close to the predicted front and a measure of the closeness. Both quantities are useful information for the design and discovery of new polymers.
Celie’s Transformation from Patient to Agent: A Semantic Analysis of Walker’s The Color Purple

Alice Walker’s The Color Purple draws readers’ attention to the way language is used to represent characters, especially a fourteen-year-old girl named Celie who is born with all the odds against h...
Chapter 5 – Tips and Tricks

In this chapter, 13 tips and tricks that are a guide to save time and effort, as well as employ good practices when performing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reactions either in large or small numbers are laid out. Practical tips and tricks for efficient, precise, and successful PCR reactions include preparing and storing premix solution for use in routine PCR reactions, modifying cycling parameters to shorten the PCR time for primers with high Tm, ways to thaw solutions quickly, dealing with nonspecific amplifications, as well as good practice techniques, such as removing bubbles prior to reaction and delivering the premix solution correctly and efficiently.
Allostery at opioid receptors: modulation with small molecule ligands

Opioid receptors are 7-transmembrane domain receptors that couple to heterotrimeric G proteins. The endogenous ligands for opioid receptors are peptides which bind to the orthosteric site on the receptors. The μ-opioid receptor is the target for opioid analgesics, while the δ-opioid receptor has been suggested as a target for pain management, migraine and depression. Similarly, κ-opioid receptors are involved in pain and depression and nociceptin receptors in pain and mood behaviours. However, exogenous orthosteric ligands for opioid receptors cause a myriad of on-target side effects. Recently, selective allosteric ligands for μ- and δ-opioid receptors have been described. These compounds bind to a site on the receptor distinct from the orthosteric site. Occupation of this allosteric site leads to modulation of orthosteric ligand binding affinity and/or efficacy. Allosteric modulators may be positive, negative or silent (neutral) (PAMs, NAMs or SAMs respectively). PAMs may have in vivo activity by enhancing the activity of exogenous drugs or endogenous opioid peptides. Enhancing endogenous opioid peptide activity maintains the temporal and spatial distribution of these molecules but improves, and potentially qualitatively changes, activity at their cognate receptors which could limit side effects compared with traditional opioid drugs. In this review, we describe the rationale and promise for the development of allosteric modulators for opioid receptors, the discovery of selective allosteric modulators, the identification of potential allosteric sites on opioid receptors and the mode of action of the modulators.
A new depression-dominated delineation (D-cubed) method for improved watershed modelling

Prior to hydrologic modelling, topographic features of a surface are derived, and the surface is divided into sub-basins. Surface delineation can be described as a procedure, which leads to the quantitative rendition of surface topography. Different approaches have been developed for surface delineation, but most of them may not be applicable to depression-dominated surfaces. The main objective of this study is to introduce a new depression-dominated delineation (D-cubed) method and highlight its unique features by applying it to different topographic surfaces. The D-cubed method accounts for the hierarchical relationships of depressions and channels by introducing the concept of channel-based unit (CBU) and its connection with the concept of puddle-based unit (PBU). This new delineation method implements a set of new algorithms to determine flow directions and accumulations for puddle-related flats. The D-cubed method creates a unique cascaded channel-puddle drainage system based on the channel segmentation algorithm. To demonstrate the capabilities of the D-cubed method, a small laboratory-scale surface and 2 natural surfaces in North Dakota were delineated. The results indicated that the new method delineated different surfaces with and without the presence of depressional areas. Stepwise changes in depression storage and ponding area were observed for the 3 selected surfaces. These stepwise changes highlighted the dynamic filling, spilling, and merging processes of depressions, which need to be considered in hydrologic modelling for depression-dominated areas. Comparisons between the D-cubed method and other methods emphasized the potential consequences of use of artificial channels through the flats created by the depression-filling process in the traditional approaches. In contrast, in the D-cubed method, sub-basins were further divided into a number of smaller CBUs and PBUs, creating a channel-puddle drainage network. The testing of the D-cubed method also demonstrated its applicability to a wide range of digital elevation model resolutions. Consideration of CBUs, PBUs, and their connection provides the opportunity to incorporate the D-cubed method into different hydrologic models and improve their simulation of topography-controlled runoff processes, especially for depression-dominated areas.
Altered metabolomic-genomic signature: A potential noninvasive biomarker of epilepsy.

SummaryObjective This study aimed to identify noninvasive biomarkers of human epilepsy that can reliably detect and localize epileptic brain regions. Having noninvasive biomarkers would greatly enhance patient diagnosis, patient monitoring, and novel therapy development. At the present time, only surgically invasive, direct brain recordings are capable of detecting these regions with precision, which severely limits the pace and scope of both clinical management and research progress in epilepsy. Methods We compared high versus low or nonspiking regions in nine medically intractable epilepsy surgery patients by performing integrated metabolomic–genomic–histological analyses of electrically mapped human cortical regions using high-resolution magic angle spinning proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, cDNA microarrays, and histological analysis. Results We found a highly consistent and predictive metabolite logistic regression model with reduced lactate and increased creatine plus phosphocreatine and choline, suggestive of a chronically altered metabolic state in epileptic brain regions. Linking gene expression, cellular, and histological differences to these key metabolites using a hierarchical clustering approach predicted altered metabolic vascular coupling in the affected regions. Consistently, these predictions were validated histologically, showing both neovascularization and newly discovered, millimeter-sized microlesions. Significance Using a systems biology approach on electrically mapped human cortex provides new evidence for spatially segregated, metabolic derangements in both neurovascular and synaptic architecture in human epileptic brain regions that could be a noninvasively detectable biomarker of epilepsy. These findings both highlight the immense power of a systems biology approach and identify a potentially important role that magnetic resonance spectroscopy can play in the research and clinical management of epilepsy.
Robust Exponential Stability and Disturbance Attenuation for Discrete-Time Switched Systems Under Arbitrary Switching

In this note, the global exponential stability of discrete-time switched systems under arbitrary switching is investigated. First, for discrete-time switched nonlinear systems, the global exponential stability is found to be equivalent to the existence of an $M$ -step sequence with sufficient length and a family of Lyapunov functions, and then a stability criterion is proposed for the nominal linear case in the framework of quadratic Lyapunov function. In order to extend the stability criterion to handle uncertainties, an equivalent condition which has a promising feature that is convex in system matrices is derived, leading to a robust stability criterion for uncertain discrete-time switched linear systems. Moreover, also taking the advantage of the convex feature, the disturbance attenuation performance in the sense of $\ell _2$ -gain is studied. Several numerical examples are provided to illustrate our approach.
Self: Body Awareness and Self-Awareness

Human beings are aware of their bodies in distinctive ways. Body awareness plays an important role in self-consciousness. This article surveys the different types of body awareness, focusing in particular on somatic proprioception and self-specifying information in vision. It explains how body awareness contributes to consciousness of the self as a spatially extended and bounded physical object that is distinctive in being responsive to the will.
D2 Dopamine Receptor-Deficient Mutant Mice

The generation of transgenic mice lacking specific dopamine (DA) receptor subtypes has allowed elucidation of receptor function in isolation. We have used DA receptor-deficient mice to test the hypothesis that D1 and D2 receptor families modulate glutamate receptor-mediated activity in opposite ways. Accordingly, D1 receptors enhance and D2 receptors reduce glutamatergic activity. Consistent with this hypothesis we found that D1 receptor-deficient mice have a reduced ability to enhance glutamate responses. In contrast D2 receptor-deficient mice display enhanced glutamatergic activity. This enhancement may be due to the lack of D2 receptors on corticostriatal terminals.
Assessing the manufacturing tolerances and uniformity of CMOS compatible metamaterial fabrication

The manufacturing tolerances of a stencil-lithography variant, membrane projection lithography, were investigated. In the first part of this work, electron beam lithography was used to create stencils with a range of linewidths. These patterns were transferred into the stencil membrane and used to pattern metallic lines on vertical silicon faces. Only the largest lines, with a nominal width of 84 nm, were resolved, resulting in 45 ± 10 nm (average ± standard deviation) as deposited with 135-nm spacing. Although written in the e-beam write software file as 84-nm in width, the lines exhibited linewidth bias. This can largely be attributed to nonvertical sidewalls inherent to dry etching techniques that cause proportionally larger impact with decreasing feature size. The line edge roughness can be significantly attributed to the grain structure of the aluminum nitride stencil membrane. In the second part of this work, the spatial uniformity of optically defined (as opposed to e-beam written) metamaterial str...
Physician Awareness of Immune Responses to Polyethylene Glycol-Drug Conjugates

Antibodies against polyethylene glycol (PEG) can critically jeopardize the efficacy and safety of PEGylated therapeutics. For some PEG-drugs, a sizeable fraction of patients develop anti-PEG antibodies (APA), leading to reduced efficacy and potential adverse events. We surveyed physicians from several specialties to assess their awareness of APA. Overall, 83% of the physicians surveyed indicated that they have recently prescribed PEGylated drugs. Although 91% of respondents were aware of antidrug antibodies in general, only 22% were aware of APA responses. Further, there was limited awareness (35%) of PEG's inclusion in prescribed PEGylated therapeutics. These findings bring to light a need for improved awareness of APA, potentially via targeted education of physicians who prescribe specific PEGylated therapeutics that could induce or are otherwise affected by APA. Finally, it will be critical to quantitate the extent of knowledge transfer from the research community to clinicians, especially on topics of patient safety.
Laser Diode Arrays for Pumping Nd:YAG

The practical use of solid state lasers in space is presently precluded by the low efficiency and limited lifetime of the flash-lamp pumps. Laser diodes are an ideal solid state long-lived replacement for this flashlamp tube and while it is believed that in the long term laser diodes will also replace the solid state rod and be used as the primary laser source, the interim solution is to use the laser diodes in a two dimensional array to pump a Nd:YAG slab to create high peak power pulses of coherent radiation. The slab acts as a coherent combiner and a pulse width compressor for the more efficient but relatively lower radiance laser diode arrays.
Global Environmental Change: What Can Health Care Providers and the Environmental Health Community Do About It Now?

The debate about whether global environmental change is real is now over; in its wake is the realization that it is happening more rapidly than predicted. These changes constitute a profound challenge to human health, both as a direct threat and as a promoter of other risks. We call on health care providers to inform themselves about these issues and to become agents of change in their communities. It is our responsibility as clinicians to educate patients and their communities on the connections between regressive policies, unsustainable behaviors, global environmental changes, and threats to health and security. We call on professional organizations to assist in educating their members about these issues, in helping clinicians practice behavior change with their patients, and in adding their voices to this issue in our statehouses and Congress. We call for the development of carbon- and other environmental-labeling of consumer products so individuals can make informed choices; we also call for the rapid implementation of policies that provide tangible economic incentives for choosing environmentally sustainable products and services. We urge the environmental health community to take up the challenge of developing a global environmental health index that will incorporate human health into available “planetary health” metrics and that can be used as a policy tool to evaluate the impact of interventions and document spatial and temporal shifts in the healthfulness of local areas. Finally, we urge our political, business, public health, and academic leaders to heed these environmental warnings and quickly develop regulatory and policy solutions so that the health of populations and the integrity of their environments will be ensured for future generations.
Cross-Cultural Collaboration Research to Improve Early Childhood Education

As concerns about the quality of early childhood care and education have increased globally, so has the need for reliable and valid tools to help administrators and teachers design new programs and better understand the quality of existing programs. In recognition of this worldwide need, the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) developed the ACEI Global Guidelines Assessment (GGA), designed to help early childhood professionals examine and improve the quality of their program services, particularly in developing countries (ACEI 2003, 2006, 2011; Barbour et. al. 2004; Sandell et al. 2010). The GGA is based on the Global Guidelines for Education and Care in the twenty-first century developed by the World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP) and the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI/OMEP 1999). Washington, DC: Association for Childhood Education International.). A study designed to examine the psychometric properties of the GGA, including its reliability and validity for assessing program quality was conducted in four different countries. There were 336 participants in 168 programs from China, Guatemala, Taiwan, and the United States. Overall, the results suggest that the GGA is a viable option for helping participants understand and improve program quality. Future studies with larger samples in additional countries are currently underway to provide greater insight for measuring program quality of ECCE programs on a global scale.
Health Informatics in the Real World

In this chapter, we begin a discussion of the key informatics tools needed to power a Learning Healthcare System. These include electronic records for both providers and patients as well as information sharing technologies to bind them together. There are two similar terms used to describe these records. Electronic medical records (EMRs) are best thought of as “the standard medical and clinical data gathered in one provider’s office”. In the early days of clinical information systems, before data sharing was feasible creating the EMR, as defined, was the goal. The newer term is Electronic Health Record (EHR) and it contains a complete record of a patient’s care across all providers. Increasingly, with the growth of mHealth (mobile health), it may also contain data contributed by the patients using mobile apps or wearable or other devices in the home.
Yield, Quality, Sensory Attributes, and Consumer Acceptance of Seedless Muscat Raisin Grapes Dried on the Vine or on Trays

Summary Goals: The California raisin industry is transitioning from tray-dry to dry-on-vine (DOV) production methods. Grapes dry more slowly on the vine compared to on trays, so the DOV method works better with raisin grape varieties that ripen earlier than Thompson Seedless. Earliness allows drying to commence during a hotter part of the summer, and affords a longer drying period. Summer Muscat and Diamond Muscat are among the earliest ripening of the newer raisin varieties, but they have not been widely planted, partly due to a lack of information about yield and quality, and also because of industry concerns that consumers would not accept their muscat flavor. Therefore, we conducted field research to document yield components and quality grades in Summer Muscat and Diamond Muscat, and we performed sensory and consumer acceptance tests to compare these varieties with Fiesta, a standard neutral-flavored DOV variety. Further, we considered whether the tray or DOV drying method affected consumer acceptance of raisins from these varieties. Key Findings: Diamond Muscat and Summer Muscat were similarly productive, with grapes that could fully dry on the vine, producing raisins with high “B or better” and low “substandard” grades. Both muscat varieties produced a high proportion of fruit from basal nodes, especially when trained to quadrilateral cordons. Fruit from basal buds is undesirable for cane-pruned DOV varieties, so bilateral cordon training is recommended. Compared to Summer Muscat, Diamond Muscat had a higher proportion of “head fruit” (clusters on renewal shoots and below the point where canes were severed), and Diamond Muscat berries were heavier and less acidic. Compared to tray-dried raisins of a given variety, DOV raisins were less brown and more homogeneous in color, smaller and less homogenous in size, had finer wrinkles, and were spicier, sweeter, less sour and astringent, and less chewy than tray-dried raisins. Grapevine variety and drying method interacted to affect consumer preference in raisins; consumers most preferred Fiesta raisins (tray and DOV) and Summer Muscat raisins dried on trays, and they least preferred Summer Muscat DOV raisins. Impact and Significance: We found that Diamond Muscat and Summer Muscat have similar and high productivity, sufficient earliness to ensure consistent and adequate drying, and reliably good quality scores, making both varieties well suited for DOV raisin production from an agronomic perspective. However, consumer acceptance of Summer Muscat raisins was strongly affected by drying method; the DOV method resulted in the least-liked raisins in the study, and the tray drying method produced the most-liked raisins. In contrast, drying method did not strongly affect consumer preference of raisins from other varieties, although drying method consistently affected many of the tested hedonic variables.
Towards inverse design of biomimetic nanostructures exhibiting composite structural coloration

Structural color phenomena exhibited by several organisms result from interference and diffraction of light incident upon multilayer nanostructures. These biomimetic nanostructured surfaces produce structural coloration for desired angle-variant distributions of reflectance spectra. Previous work has demonstrated the utility of inverse design methodologies in the computational formulation of nanostructures tailored for specific spectral responses, generally tailored around a single spectral band. In this work, we depict a design methodology based around computational inverse design for the formulation of nanostructures exhibiting composite structural coloration in a variety of disjoint spectral bands. We furthermore depict example design constraints and study convergence with respect to the design trade space. Such complex biological systems require advanced fabrication techniques, and replication of nanoscale features of this complexity has been difficult. Our designs are constrained for realizable fabrication using direct laser writing techniques such as two-photon polymerization. This process provides a toolkit with which to examine and build other bio-inspired, tunable, and responsive photonic systems and expand the range of achievable structural colors. Sample experimental results of nanostructures fabricated via two-photon polymerization are presented.
Microbiome composition and implications for ballast water classification using machine learning

Ballast water is a vector for global translocation of microorganisms, and should be monitored to protect human and environmental health. This study utilizes high throughput sequencing (HTS) and machine learning to examine the bacterial and fungal microbiomes of ballast water to identify associations between 16S and 18S rRNA genes and the fungal ITS region. These sequencing regions were examined using the SILVA v132 and UNITE reference databases. The highest correlation was found between the communities in Silva_16S and UNITE_ITS (0.74). There was a higher proportion of positive inter-kingdom correlations than positive intra-kingdom interactions (p = 0.032). Understanding the reasons for this difference requires additional research under more controlled conditions. Finally, a machine learning model was used to examine the classification accuracy when using each sequencing region and reference database to identify ballast residence time and ballast sample location. There was significantly higher accuracy using SILVA (0.843) compared to UNITE (0.614) (p < 0.001). In the short term, future research with the goal of classifying ballast water samples based on location or ballast water residence time should be performed using the 16S rRNA gene and SILVA reference database. Research to curate other sequencing regions or the UNITE reference database in the aquatic ecosystem may improve the utility of these tools.
Differential delayed responses of arginine vasotocin and its receptors in septo-hypothalamic brain structures and anterior pituitary that sustain hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functions during acute stress.

Abstract Recently, we proposed that corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) neurons in the nucleus of hippocampal commissure (NHpC), located in the septum, function as a part of the traditional hypothalamic–pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in avian species. CRH and its receptor, CRHR1, are regulated differently in the NHpC compared to the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) following feed deprivation (FD). Therefore, we followed up our work by examining arginine vasotocin (AVT), the other major ACTH secretagogue, and its receptors, V1aR and V1bR, gene expression during FD stress in the NHpC, PVN, and ventral mediobasal hypothalamus/median eminence (MBHv/ME). The objectives were to 1) identify AVT perikarya, fibers and its two major receptors, V1aR and V1bR, in the NHpC, PVN, and MBHv/ME using immunohistochemistry, 2) determine the effect of stress on AVT, V1aR and V1bR mRNA expression in the same three brain structures, NHpC, PVN, and MBHv/ME; and, 3) ascertain the expression pattern of V1aR and V1bR mRNA in the anterior pituitary and measure plasma stress hormone, corticosterone (CORT), concentration following FD stress. Male chicks (Cobb 500), 14 days of age, were divided into six groups (10 birds/treatment) and subjected to different times of FD stress: (Control, 1 h, 2 h, 3 h, 4 h, and 8 h). For each bird, blood, brain, and anterior pituitary were sampled and frozen immediately. The NHpC, PVN, and MBHv/ME were micro-dissected for RT-PCR. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey Kramer HSD test using a significance level of p
A Comprehensive Review of Brain Connectomics and Imaging to Improve Deep Brain Stimulation Outcomes

DBS is an effective neuromodulatory therapy that has been applied in various conditions, including PD, essential tremor, dystonia, Tourette syndrome, and other movement disorders. There have also been recent examples of applications in epilepsy, chronic pain, and neuropsychiatric conditions. Innovations in neuroimaging technology have been driving connectomics, an emerging whole-brain network approach to neuroscience. Two rising techniques are functional connectivity profiling and structural connectivity profiling. Functional connectivity profiling explores the operational relationships between multiple regions of the brain with respect to time and stimuli. Structural connectivity profiling approximates physical connections between different brain regions through reconstruction of axonal fibers. Through these techniques, complex relationships can be described in various disease states, such as PD, as well as in response to therapy, such as DBS. These advances have expanded our understanding of human brain function and have provided a partial in vivo glimpse into the underlying brain circuits underpinning movement and other disorders. This comprehensive review will highlight the contemporary concepts in brain connectivity as applied to DBS, as well as introduce emerging considerations in movement disorders. © 2020 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
Sensory nerve-mediated and nitric oxide-dependent cutaneous vasodilation in normotensive and prehypertensive non-Hispanic blacks and whites

Overt hypertension is known to reduce cutaneous sensory nerve-mediated and nitric oxide (NO)-dependent vasodilation, but the effect of subclinical increases in blood pressure (i.e., prehypertension...
Optical electron spin relaxometry in diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers for applications in quantum and nanoscale photonics

Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond have been long used for spin-based optical sensing and considered viable candidates for implementing spin-based quantum information protocols. Their unique advantages include their nanoscale size and the optical readout of the electron spin state. These features make them particularly fit for the use in integrated nanophotonic and quantum optical devices. We will discuss how the optical Purcell effect in plasmonic systems affects the NV spin readout signal and present the demonstration of this readout through optical plasmons in an integrated nanophotonic interface. We will show that spin relaxometry is a powerful tool that allows to probe the magnonic density of states and its electrical tuning with sub-um spatial resolution. Furthermore, we will discuss how spin signal readout sensitivity can be enhanced with the use of plasmonic nanostructures and Bayesian measurement methods.
Examining Anti-CAA Protests at Shaheen Bagh: Muslim Women and Politics of the Hindu India

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed by the parliament of India on December 11, 2019. Muslim women and many other people in India are contesting this act on the grounds that it provides citizenship status on a religious basis. Key enactments of dissent in relation to anti-CAA protests have become visible globally through the media. One is the very visible presence of a local community of Muslim and other women in the physical space of protests in Shaheen Bagh, Delhi. We draw from on-site interviews with Muslim women protestors at Shaheen Bagh to examine how Muslim women are using their physical bodies in protest sites to show dissent and to challenge the hypermasculine Hindu body politic of India. Based in our grounded analysis, we explore four main themes in this study: visibility of Muslim women in protest sites, using social media for international visibility, pushing against fear, and using care as a protest strategy.