cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Masking: Toward a Phenomenology of Exteriorization

N interpreter of ritual must pay serious attention to the surfaces of things. Even if one assumes that a ritual performance implies a deep structure, access to that structure leads through an exterior which, as Boehme and Paracelsus suggested, bears the "signature" of an essential interior. But reading a signature on an exterior is no easy matter. Only recently in the emerging field of kinesics have we begun systematically to write a grammar of gesture with sufficient precision that we might learn to speak as penetratingly of symbolic actions as of words and sentences. I think ritual studies ought ultimately to collaborate with anthropology and psychology in producing some rather careful, detailed microkinesic studies of religious body motion along the lines illustrated by Ray Birdwhistell's provocative analyses of diaper changing, smoking, and smiling in his Kinesics and Context.' Meanwhile, I would like to offer a broader phenomenological sketch of one kind of ritual gesture, namely, masking. By "masking" I mean to include what we ordinarily think of as masks, but I also intend to encompass any mode of facial stylization, including make-up and even the expressions we wear. My concern is not the ethnographic one of describing and classifying kinds of masks, nor is it the historical one of interpreting a set of masks in a specific temporal and cultural setting. Rather, I propose to inquire into the possibilities of the act of masking. My question is, "In what ways might we interpret the act of donning a mask regardless of who wears it and what it looks like?" I will offer here a typology of four moments in the masking process: (1) concretion, (2) concealment, (3) embodiment, and (4) expression. First, however, I must say a word about the problem of definition. It might seem a simple matter to decide what a mask is, but the variety of phenomena complicates the matter. The Dogon have a "Great Mask" (iminana) which is displayed every sixty years and which is nearly thirty feet long. Obviously, no one wears it. Yet it is a mask despite its lack of an animate human figure inside. Masks are sometimes treated as sculpture by art historians and aesthetic anthropologists, but such treatments ignore the illusion of "wearableness" which separates mask
Continuity of the payoff functions

In his Nash equilibrium paper, Glicksberg states that the payoff functions are continuous. Such a function is defined on the product of mixed strategies, which are the Borel probability measures on a compactum, endowed with the product of the weak topologies. The continuity property is used in proving the existence of Nash equilibria. This note proves that the payoff functions are continuous, which is not immediate to establish.
Learning physics in radiation oncology.

c ver the past few years, the technologic complexity of sing radiation to treat human disease has expanded at an nprecedented rate. The advent of conformal and intensityodulated radiation therapy, lowand high-dose-rate rachytherapy, stereotactic radiation therapy, image-guided ntervention, and particle therapy with electrons, protons, nd other low-Z nuclei provide treatment approaches to ttain levels of precision heretofore unthinkable. Each time hat the technologic capacity and complexity appear to have eached a zenith, new improvements come forward that dvance the field even further. The rate of technologic expansion makes radiation oncolgy an exciting discipline that attracts some of the brightest edical school graduates from around the nation and the orld. This expansion offers many avenues for research eading to enhanced knowledge and opportunities for furher improvements. Radiation oncology encourages physiians-in-training, as well as faculty, to engage in research nd to publish and present research findings. At the same ime, academic programs in radiation oncology are encounering faculty shortages and increased service demands that lace a greater burden on resident physicians. These factors iminish the time that physicians can devote to an organized ducational process, including the learning process necesary to master the complex technologies in or on the threshld of use. Diminution in the time available for organized learning uring residency is occurring simultaneously, with an exonential growth in the technology of the discipline. This ivergence compromises the ability of physicians to master he technology to deliver the best care possible to patients. nderstanding the fundamental physical principles underying a technology is required to master the technology. It is or this reason that physicists have contributed so substanially in the past to educational programs in radiation onology. For the reasons noted above, this contribution is aning today in many residency programs at a time when it hould be expanding to keep up with the growth in technoogic complexity of the discipline. This problem is exacer-
Environmental pollution control devices based on novel forms of carbon : Heavy metals

The use of electrochemistry is an effective means to remove heavy metal contaminants from aqueous effluent streams. In this project, the development and testing of novel carbon materials for the electrochemical removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous wastes have been carried out. Both electroplating and electrosorption were employed by using a packed bed of the carbon material in a flow-through electrochemical remediation cell. The main focus of this work was to develop and test a cathodic material with a large ratio of surface area to volume. To this end, a packed bed of conductive carbon, either as carbon fibers or as carbon foams, was utilized. The increased surface area helps minimize the length of electrode through which the solution must pass. This decreased distance leads to reduced resistance to solution flow. The removal of cadmium, lead, copper, and nickel from aqueous samples using a small-scale electrolytic cell has been demonstrated. Removal efficiencies above 90% have been observed. Continuous removal of lead over a 72 h period was demonstrated at these levels. An effluent concentration below 10 ppm was observed for an inlet solution feed of 100 ppm. The use of electrolytic remediation on waste streams proved successful for the selective removal and recovery of metals. The removal of nickel ions from solution directly onto the bare carbon material was inefficient. By plating a small amount of copper onto the carbon surface prior to use, enhanced removal was obtained. At pH 7.0, a removal efficiency for nickel of 89% was achieved.
Clustering gene expression profile data by selective shrinkage

Clustering of gene expression profiles is a widely used approach for finding macroscopic data structure. A complication in such analyses is that not all genes are informative for forming clusters and different clusters might have different transcription regulation. Driven by these considerations, we present a novel two-stage clustering approach. The first stage identifies informative genes by adaptive variable selection using pseudo-samples modeled by a high dimensional multigroup ANOVA model. Variables are selected using a rescaled spike and slab Bayesian hierarchical model having a special selective shrinkage property. The second stage uses output from the first stage for clustering. We demonstrate why selective shrinkage occurs, and by extension, why it is useful for the clustering paradigm. We analyze a human gene atlas expression dataset where the question of interest is to look for tissue-specific transcription regulation and investigate whether tissues can be grouped together due to similar genomic control.
An algorithm of symbolic computation for stability margin

Introduces an algorithm to solve a stability robustness problem by using differential topological concepts based on symbolic computation. Despite the well-known results shown that the real robustness margin problem is NP hard, this paper shows that we can achieve the accurate robustness margin of the grid method without suffering the troublesome complexity of the grid method.
Effects of dietary amino acid density and metabolizable energy level on the growth and meat yield of summer-reared broilers

SUMMARY The effects of dietary amino acid (AA) density and AME on the growth and meat yield of summer-reared Cobb × Cobb 700 (CCB-700) broilers were evaluated. In addition, the responses of CCB-700 and Cobb × Cobb 500 (CCB-500) broilers to dietary AME levels (with low AA) were compared. All chicks were fed through a starter, grower, finisher, and withdrawal phase program. Grow-out performance, carcass traits, meat yield, and feed cost efficiency were evaluated using 2 separate 2-way ANOVA based on 2 separate 2 × 2 factorial arrangements of treatments. Each group includes 14 replicate pens with 14 chicks/replicate. Mortality was not affected by treatment; however, as compared with birds fed other diets, feeding CCB-700 broilers a low-AME and high-AA density diet decreased feed intake and BW on d 35, 42, and 54, and decreased carcass, breast, wing, front half, and back half weights on d 55. The CCB-500 broilers consumed more feed and gained more weight as compared with CCB-700 broilers at 14, 28, and 35 d of age. However, at 55 d of age, breast weight and wing yield were observed to be higher in the CCB-700 than in the CCB-500 broilers. However, the back half (drumstick and thigh) weights were lower in the CCB-700 than in the CCB-500 broilers. In conclusion, without affecting feed costs, broiler performance and carcass yield were affected by diet in both strains. More specifically, a higher AME diet and lower AA density increased the yield of all cut-up parts, except for legs, in summer-reared CCB-700 chicks.
DREAM: A Data Replication Technique for Real-Time Mobile Ad-hoc Network Databases

In a Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET), due to the mobility and energy limitations of nodes, disconnection and network partitioning occur frequently. In addition, transactions in many MANET database applications have time constraints. In this paper, a Data REplication technique for real-time Ad-hoc Mobile databases (DREAM) that addresses all these issues is proposed. DREAM is prototyped on laptops and PDAs and compared with two existing replication techniques using a military database application.
A compact inverted-spacer TFT for high-density SRAMs

Polysilicon thin-film transistors (TFT) are typically used in high-density SRAMs due to their low standby power dissipation and high on/off current ratio. However, as the bitcell area continues to decrease for higher density SRAMs circuit applications, less space is available for integrating the TFT into the bitcell. In this paper, a new TFT structure is proposed which is self-aligned to the underlying NMOS device, thereby providing a compact load element that exhibits excellent device performance at reduced power-supply voltages. The inverted-spacer TFT channel is formed in a narrow poly-filled lateral cavity around the inside perimeter of the bulk NMOS polysilicon gate stack. >
The effect of urbanisation on the climatology of thunderstorm initiation

This study assesses the impact of urban land use on the climatological distribution of thunderstorm initiation occurrences in the humid subtropical region of the southeast United States, which includes the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area. Initially, an automated technique is developed to extract the locations of isolated convective initiation (ICI) events from 17 years (1997 – 2013) of composite reflectivity radar data for the study area. Nearly 26 000 ICI points were detected during 85 warm-season months, providing the foundation for first long-term, systematic assessment of the influence of urban land use on thunderstorm development. Results reveal that ICI events occur more often over the urban area compared to its surrounding rural counterparts, confirming that anthropogenic-induced changes in land cover in moist tropical environments lead to more initiation events, resulting thunderstorms and affiliated hazards over the developed area. The ICI risk for Atlanta is greatest during the late afternoon and early evening in July and August in synoptically benign conditions. Greater ICI counts downwind of Atlanta suggest that prevailing wind direction also influences the location of these events. Moreover, ICI occurrences over the city were significantly higher on weekdays compared to weekend days – a result that was not apparent in a rural control region located west of the city. This suggests that the weekly commuting cycle and associated aerosol levels of Atlanta may amplify ICI rates. The investigation provides a methodological framework for future studies that examine the effect of land use, land cover, and terrain discontinuities on the spatio-temporal character of ICI events.
Roundtrip Interstellar Travel Using Laser-Pushed Lightsails

This paper discusses the use of solar system-based lasers to push large lightsail spacecraft over interstellar distances. The laser power system uses a 1000-km-diam. lightweight Fresnel zone lens that is capable of focusing laser light over interstellar distances. A one-way interstellar flyby probe mission uses a 1000 kg (1-metric-ton), 3.6-km-diam. lightsail accelerated at 0.36 m/s2 by a 65-GW laser system to 11% of the speed of light (0.11 c), flying by a Centauri after 40 years of travel. A rendezvous mission uses a 71-metric-ton, 30-km diam. payload sail surrounded by a 710-metric-ton, ring-shaped decelerator sail with a 100-km outer diam. The two are launched together at an acceleration of 0.05 m/s2 by a 7.2-TW laser system until they reach a coast velocity of 0.21 c. As they approach a Centauri, the inner payload sail detaches from the ring sail and turns its reflective surface to face the ring sail. A 26-TW laser beam from the solar system, focused by the Fresnel lens, strikes the heavier ring sail, accelerating it past a Centauri. The curved surface of the ring sail focuses the laser light back onto the payload sail, slowing it to a halt in the a Centauri system after a mission time of 41 years. The third mission uses a three-stage sail for a roundtrip manned exploration of e Eridani at 10.8 light years distance.
Low power state assignment targeting two-and multi-level logic implementations

The problem of minimizing power consumption during the state encoding of a finite state machine is considered. A new power cost model for state encoding is proposed and encoding techniques that minimize this power cost for two- and multi-level logic implementations are described. These techniques are compared with those which minimize area or the switching activity at the present state bits. Experimental results show significant improvements.
Resolved: Being Fat Is Good for Dialysis Patients: The Godzilla Effect: Pro

Obesity is the epidemic of the 21st century. Despite the fact that obesity is known to have major health consequences in the general population, an increasing number of large-scale epidemiological studies indicate an inverse association between increasing body mass index and mortality in dialysis patients. Here it is argued pro and con that epidemiological data derived from the healthy general population may or may be not applicable to conditions such as end-stage renal disease.
SEGREGATION TO AND STRUCTURE OF (001) TWIST GRAIN BOUNDARIES IN Cu-Ni ALLOYS

The segregation, thermodynamic, and structural properties of (001) twist boundaries in Cu-Ni alloys have been examined within a wide range of misorientations and temperatures. Cu always segregates to the boundary. The concentration of the first layer adjacent to the boundary increases monotonically with misorientation and no obvious cusps are observed. All other thermodynamic properties vary smoothly with the misorientation, with the exception of the vibrational entropy of the boundaries without segregation. The unsegregated vibrational entropy shows a large peak at the misorientation corresponding to the El7 boundary and two minima around the ~13 and E5 boundary orientations. The concentration distribution within the plane of the grain boundaries can be described by the same structural unit model established for (001) twist boundaries in pure materials. Regions of large tensile stress show greater segregation than do regions of compressive stress. Regions of large shear stress tend to show reduced segregation compared with regions of small shear stress.
Sailing past the horizon. The histologic diagnosis of celiac disease in "nonflat" intestinal mucosa.

When one reads about the histologic features of celiac disease in a textbook of surgical pathology, it is the absence of normal intestinal villi that generally is stressed as the key diagnostic feature. The features of a “flat mucosa,” in combination with elongation of the intestinal crypts, evidence of epithelial damage, and a variable increase in chronic inflammation of the lamina propria, form the histologic diagnosis of sprue. The alteration of villus architecture was deemed so central to the diagnosis of celiac disease that in the past it had been the practice of many institutions to include an examination of the villi in fresh small intestine biopsy specimens with a dissecting microscope before examination of histologic sections. However, just as Christopher Columbus sailed past an apparently flat horizon to help prove that the world is round, the time has come to broaden the horizons of the histologic diagnosis of celiac disease. In the Western world, the major cause of sprue is celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disease triggered by anti
Peripheral gangrene as a complication of rheumatoid arthritis. Report of a case and review of the literature.

The literature has been reviewed on the etiology, clinical picture, and the pathology of vasculitis as it occurs in association with rheumatoid arthritis, and a case is presented with severe involvement requiring amputation.
Are the surface Fermi arcs in Dirac semimetals topologically protected

Motivated by recent experiments probing anomalous surface states of Dirac semimetals (DSMs) Na3Bi and Cd3As2, we raise the question posed in the title. We find that, in marked contrast to Weyl semimetals, the gapless surface states of DSMs are not topologically protected in general, except on time-reversal-invariant planes of surface Brillouin zone. We first demonstrate this finding in a minimal four-band model with a pair of Dirac nodes at [Formula: see text] where gapless states on the side surfaces are protected only near [Formula: see text] We then validate our conclusions about the absence of a topological invariant protecting double Fermi arcs in DSMs, using a K-theory analysis for space groups of Na3Bi and Cd3As2 Generically, the arcs deform into a Fermi pocket, similar to the surface states of a topological insulator, and this pocket can merge into the projection of bulk Dirac Fermi surfaces as the chemical potential is varied. We make sharp predictions for the doping dependence of the surface states of a DSM that can be tested by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and quantum oscillation experiments.
Risk Factors for Ulnar Nerve Instability Resulting in Transposition in Patients With Cubital Tunnel Syndrome.

Purpose To assess the incidence of ulnar nerve instability in patients undergoing in situ decompression and to identify preoperative risk factors to predict the need for transposition. Methods Using our surgical database, we retrospectively identified 363 patients who were candidates for in situ ulnar nerve decompression for the treatment of cubital tunnel syndrome over a 5-year period. During this time, the 3 participating surgeons considered ulnar nerve instability to be a contraindication for in situ ulnar nerve decompression. We collected demographic data including sex, age, weight, height, and body mass index. We recorded the number of patients who underwent ulnar nerve transposition owing to ulnar nerve instability and evaluated whether ulnar nerve instability was diagnosed before, during, or after surgery. Results Of the 363 patients who were considered for in situ ulnar nerve decompression, 76 patients (21%) underwent ulnar nerve transposition secondary to ulnar nerve instability. Twenty-nine patients (8%) were identified with instability before surgery, and 44 patients (12%) were identified with instability during surgery following in situ decompression. Three patients (1%) were not diagnosed with instability until after surgery and subsequently underwent secondary transposition. Patients who underwent transposition owing to instability were more likely to be male and to be younger. Conclusions A notable percentage of patients with a stable nerve before surgery will have ulnar nerve instability following decompression. Identification of factors correlating to instability and the potential need for transposition can aid surgeons and patients in preoperative planning. Type of study/level of evidence Prognostic II.
Production–comprehension asymmetries and the acquisition of evidential morphology

Although children typically comprehend the links between specific forms and their meanings before they produce the forms themselves, the opposite pattern also occurs. The nature of these ‘reverse asymmetries’ between production and comprehension remains debated. Here we focus on a striking case where production precedes comprehension in the acquisition of Turkish evidential morphology and explore theoretical explanations of this asymmetry. We show that 3- to 6-year-old Turkish learners produce evidential morphemes accurately (Experiment 1) but have difficulty with evidential comprehension (Experiment 2). Furthermore, comprehension failures persist across multiple tasks (Experiments 3–4). We suggest that evidential comprehension is delayed by the development of mental perspective-taking abilities needed to compute others’ knowledge sources. In support for this hypothesis, we find that children have difficulty reasoning about others’ evidence in non-linguistic tasks but the difficulty disappears when the tasks involve accessing one’s own evidential sources (Experiment 5).
Submicrometer Particle Formation and Mercury Speciation Under O2-CO2 Coal Combustion

The characteristics of the submicrometer mode of ash and mercury speciation on combustion of coal in an oxygen−carbon dioxide and air (conventional) system were compared. The experiments were conducted at different O2:CO2 and O2:N2:CO2 mixing ratios. On replacing the nitrogen in air with carbon dioxide, the total mass of the particles in the submicrometer mode (<0.5 μm) of ash was smaller. Correspondingly, the geometric mean size (dpg) of the submicrometer aerosol was smaller by approximately 28%. When the O2:CO2 ratio was increased from 1:4 to 4:4, the geometric mean size of the submicrometer mode increased from 29 to 54 nm because of a faster vaporization rate as a result of a higher coal particle temperature. An increase in the geometric mean size was observed on increasing the N2:CO2 ratio at a fixed O2 concentration because of the same reasons. The shape of the primary particles was spherical in all the tests, indicating that a vapor to particle transformation pathway was prevalent. The ratios of ele...
Effect of PCMBS on CO2permeability of Xenopus oocytes expressing aquaporin 1 or its C189S mutant

A recent study onXenopus oocytes [N. L. Nakhoul, M. F. Romero, B. A. Davis, and W. F. Boron. Am. J. Physiol. 274 (Cell Physiol. 43): C543–548, 1998] injected with carbonic anhydrase showed that exp...
Real Time In-Situ Sensing of Damage Evolution in Carbon Nanotube-Polymer Nanocomposites under Impact Loading

The current work aims to explore the potential for in-situ structural health monitoring in polymer bonded energetic materials through the introduction of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into the binder phase as a means to establish a significant piezoresistive response through the resulting nanocomposite binder. The experimental effort herein is focused towards electro-mechanical characterization of surrogate materials in place of actual energetic (explosive) materials in order to provide proof of concept for the strain and damage sensing. The electrical conductivity and the piezoresistive behavior of samples containing randomly oriented, well dispersed MWNTs at concentrations of 0.09-0.6 wt% introduced into the epoxy binder of 70 wt% granulated sugar-epoxy hybrid composites are quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated. Ductile failure behavior going through the initial linear elastic behavior, formation of microcracks leading to reduction in composite stiffness and finally macrocracks result in eventual failure were observed in the mechanical response of MWNT-sugar-epoxy hybrid composites. The real time in-situ relative change in resistance captured the effect of microcracks and macrocracks earlier than the stress strain response resulting in gauge factors between 5-10 before significant macrocrack formation and over 50 at composite failure.
Simulation of Three-Dimensional Strained Heteroepitaxial Growth Using Kinetic Monte Carlo

Efficient algorithms for the simulation of strained heteroepitaxial growth with intermixing in 2+1 dimensions are presented. The first of these algorithms is an extension of the energy localization method [T. P. Schulze and P. Smereka, An energy localization principle and its application to fast kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of heteroepitaxial growth, J. Mech. Phys. Sol., 3 (2009), 521-538] from 1+1 to 2+1 dimensions. Two approximations of this basic algorithm are then introduced, one of which treats adatoms in a more efficient manner, while the other makes use of an approximation of the change in elastic energy in terms of local elastic energy density. In both cases, it is demonstrated that a reasonable level of fidelity is achieved. Results are presented showing how the film morphology is affected by misfit and deposition rate. In addition, simulations of stacked quantum dots are also presented.
Etanercept-induced myositis: do we have to stop it? A surprising outcome

We discuss a case of a 47-year-old man who presented with progressive proximal muscle weakness of the upper and lower extremities and unstable gait. He had been on etanercept for 6 months for severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis with good control of his disease. Serum creatine kinase (CK) level was found to be 5666 U/L and muscle biopsy showed a marked inflammatory myopathic process likely secondary to etanercept. He was started on high-dose steroids and advised to discontinue etanercept. Despite our recommendation, he never stopped using etanercept due to fear of a psoriasis flare. Three months later, he had significant improvement of clinical symptoms, normalised serum CK levels and discontinued prednisone.
Development and Identification of Herbicide and Insect Resistant Transgenic Plant B1C893 in Rice

R893,a hybrid rice restorer line,was transformed with the Bar gene and the Cry1Ca#gene by the Agrobacterium-mediated method,and six plantlets were regenerated under glufosinate selection pressure. The molecular analysis of the regenerated plantlets showed that the Bar and Cry1Ca#genes were integrated into the rice genome and stably expressed. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay( ELISA) showed that the Cry1Ca protein expressed in different organs of the fertile transgenic plants with a single copy of exogenous gene at seedling stage. The expression of Cry1Ca protein was the weakest in root and the strongest in leaf,with the highest value of 35. 073 μg/g in leaf of the transgenic plant B1C893-6. The bioassay exhibited that the transgenic lines were of good resistance to both glufosinate and rice leaf roller.
Dabigatran approaching the realm of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia

Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a serious, immune mediated complication of exposure to unfractionated or low-molecular-weight heparin. Though rare, it is a condition associated with high morbidity and mortality that requires immediate change to alternative anticoagulants for the prevention of life-threatening thrombosis. The direct thrombin inhibitors lepirudin and argatroban are currently licensed for the treatment of HIT. Dabigatran, a novel oral anticoagulant (NOAC) with a similar mechanism of action and effective use in other indications, has recently been proposed as another therapeutic option in cases of HIT. This review serves as an introduction to using dabigatran for this purpose, detailing the clinical aspects of its administration, evidence of its performance compared to other anticoagulants, and the preliminary reports of HIT successfully treated with dabigatran. As the literature on this develops, it will need to include clinical trials that directly evaluate dabigatran against the other NOACs and current treatment options.
Double-brooding observed in a Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanachus phasianellus columbianus) in Idaho

ABSTRACT Double brooding is rare in Galliformes and has only been reported twice in grouse species (subfamily Tetraoninae). To our knowledge, a grouse species producing a second brood within a single breeding season that survived >12 days has not been documented in the published literature. We report the case of a Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanachus phasianellus columbianus) in eastern Idaho (43° 34′ 28.3434” N, 111° 36′ 47.988” W) that successfully re-nested after initial brood loss and had two chicks survive to 42 days post-hatch during the 2015 breeding season. Early brood loss, in conjunction with favorable environmental conditions that contributed to early nest initiation and increased food availability, may have contributed to this female's ability to produce a successful second brood.
Effects of Leader Situational Awareness on Subordinate Safety Non-Compliance

We describe and test a conditional process model in which the situational awareness of leaders has both direct and indirect (through perceived constraints) relationships with subordinate safety non...
Reagan's Law & Foriegn Policy: Reagan Corollary to International Law

The unilateralism of the Reagan Administration's foreign policy has influenced its treatment of international law. Just as it has rejected international cooperation in many instances in favor of unilateral pursuit of perceived national interests, the Reagan Administration has also attempted to mold international law to accommodate those interests. I would call this challenge to the international legal system the "Reagan Corollary" of international law. The Reagan Corollary is not merely a careless disregard for international law. On the contrary, it is an attempt to pressure the international legal system into changing in a manner beneficial to United States interests. In order to realize such change, the Reagan Administration has proffered new rules of international law, relied on previous versions of existing rules, and reinterpreted existing rules and treaties by applying them in unprecedented contexts. The common threads connecting these practices are the assertion of unilateral state action and a broad right of self-defense, less reliance on international institutions such as the United Nations, and an emphasis on a state's right to pursue its national interests.
Bumped-kinase inhibitors for cryptosporidiosis therapy

Bumped kinase inhibitors (BKIs) of Cryptosporidium parvum calcium-dependent protein kinase 1 (CpCDPK1) are leading candidates for treatment of cryptosporidiosis-associated diarrhea. Potential cardiotoxicity related to anti-human ether-a-go-go potassium channel (hERG) activity of the first-generation anti-Cryptosporidium BKIs triggered further testing for efficacy. A luminescence assay adapted for high-throughput screening was used to measure inhibitory activities of BKIs against C. parvum in vitro. Furthermore, neonatal and interferon γ knockout mouse models of C. parvum infection identified BKIs with in vivo activity. Additional iterative experiments for optimum dosing and selecting BKIs with minimum levels of hERG activity and frequencies of other safety liabilities included those that investigated mammalian cell cytotoxicity, C. parvum proliferation inhibition in vitro, anti-human Src inhibition, hERG activity, in vivo pharmacokinetic data, and efficacy in other mouse models. Findings of this study suggest that fecal concentrations greater than parasite inhibitory concentrations correlate best with effective therapy in the mouse model of cryptosporidiosis, but a more refined model for efficacy is needed.
End point of Hawking radiation

The formation and semi-classical evaporation of two-dimensional black holes is studied in an exactly solvable model. Above a certain threshold energy flux, collapsing matter forms a singularity inside an apparent horizon. As the black hole evaporates the apparent horizon recedes and meets the singularity in a finite proper time. The singularity emerges naked and future evolution of the geometry requires boundary conditions to be imposed there. There is a natural choice of boundary conditions which match the evaporated black hole solution onto the linear dilaton vacuum. Below the threshold energy flux no horizon forms and boundary conditions can be imposed where infalling matter is reflected from a time-like naked singularity. All information is recovered at spatial infinity in this case.
THE BIOTA OF THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION IN GEOHISTORICAL CONTEXT

The present Great Basin Floristic Province had achieved roughly its present topographic conformation by some time in the Miocene epoch and had a climate not too different from the present one, though probably a little warmer, moister, amd less continental. Both the flora and the fauna took on a fairlymodern aspect during the Miocene, as a result of worldwide evolutionary changes and more specific adaptation to the conditions of the region. Changes in the biota since that time mainly reflect evoltion and migration at the level of species and, to a lesser extent, genera, in response to regional conditions and the repeated fluctuations in climate. The climatic reversals of the Pleistocene cause repeated inverse migrations of more northern, mesophytic elements in the flora, on the one hand, and more southern, xerophytic elements on the other. These expansions and contractions of range favored hybridization and genetic mixing among related plant species. The fauna of the region, dependent eventually on the flora, must have been subjected to basically the same set of repeated changes in range and local distribution during the Pleistocene. About 10,000 years ago many of the large mammals in the Intermountain Region, as elsewhere in North America, rapidly became extinct, perhaps largely through overkill by primitive man.
Time to push the age limit: Epilepsy surgery in patients 60 years or older.

Objective To summarize the existing literature on resective epilepsy surgery (RES) in older adults (≥60 years old) and examine seizure and neuropsychological outcomes in a single-center large cohort of older adults undergoing RES and their comparison to a consecutive, younger (25- to45-year-old) adult population who underwent RES in routine clinical practice. Methods First, a comprehensive literature review was performed. Then, we identified older adults who underwent RES at our center (2000-2015). Outcome analysis was performed on patients who had ≥1 year of clinical follow-up. A younger cohort of patients who underwent RES during the same period was selected for comparison. The 2 groups were compared with respect to demographic and disease variables as well as key clinical outcomes. Results Seizure outcomes on 58 older patients were reported in existing literature; 72% achieved Engel class I outcome ≥1 year postoperatively. Sixty-four older adults underwent RES at our center, accounting for 2.8% of all RES during the study period. A total of 51 older adults (Mage = 65) among them had ≥1-year clinical follow-up; 80% achieved Engel I outcome after a mean follow-up of 3.2 years. This was comparable to the 68% Engel class I outcome among 50 consecutive younger adults, despite later age of onset, longer epilepsy duration, and more comorbidities (all p < 0.001) among older adults. The majority (86%) of older adults were referred to our center after years of suffering from drug-resistant epilepsy. There were no group differences in surgical complications. However, 1 older adult passed away post-RES. There was no difference in post-RES neuropsychological outcomes compared to younger adults, except significantly higher number of older adults showed a decline in confrontational naming. Significance RES in well-selected older adults is a safe and effective therapy, and advanced age should not preclude consideration of surgical therapy in older adults with pharmacoresistant epilepsy.
Semi-Classical Methods in QCD and Hadronic Structure

These lectures dealt with semi-classical methods in quantum field theory and their application to Quantum Chromodynamics. Most of the material presented has appeared already in published form, including two reviews (see References 1.1g and 1.3b). In lieu of lecture notes I present below a list of references to the relevant literature as well as a collection of problems that may serve as a pedagogical guide to semi-classical treatment of QCD.
Histone deacetylase inhibitor treatment promotes spontaneous caregiving behavior in C57BL/6J male mice

Whereas the majority of mammalian species are uni-parental with the mother solely provisioning care for young conspecifics, fathering behaviors can emerge under certain circumstances. For example, a great deal of individual variation in response to young pups has been reported in multiple inbred strains of laboratory male mice. Further, sexual experience and subsequent cohabitation with a female conspecific can induce caregiving responses in otherwise indifferent, fearful or aggressive males. Thus, a highly conserved parental neural circuit is likely present in both sexes, however the extent to which infants are capable of accessing this circuit may vary. In support of this idea, fearful or indifferent responses toward pups in female mice are linked to greater immediate early gene (IEG) expression in a fear/defensive circuit involving the anterior hypothalamus than in an approach/attraction circuit involving the ventral tegmental area. However, experience with infants, particularly in combination with histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) treatment, can reverse this pattern of neuronal activation and behavior. Thus, HDACi treatment may increase the transcription of primed/poised genes that play a role in the activation and selection of a maternal approach circuit in response to pup stimuli. Here, we asked whether HDACi treatment would impact behavioral response selection and associated IEG expression changes in virgin male mice that are capable of ignoring, attacking or caring for pups. Our results indicate that systemic HDACi treatment induces spontaneous caregiving behavior in non-aggressive male mice and alters the pattern of pup-induced IEG expression across a fear/defensive neural circuit.
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation

From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation is an insightful and historical analysis of racism, structural inequality, mass incarceration, and police violence against blacks in the triumphantly dubb...
Progress and challenges in aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase-based therapeutics

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are universal enzymes that catalyze the attachment of amino acids to the 3′ ends of their cognate tRNAs. The resulting aminoacylated tRNAs are escorted to the ribosome where they enter protein synthesis. By specifically matching amino acids to defined anticodon sequences in tRNAs, ARSs are essential to the physical interpretation of the genetic code. In addition to their canonical role in protein synthesis, ARSs are also involved in RNA splicing, transcriptional regulation, translation, and other aspects of cellular homeostasis. Likewise, aminoacylated tRNAs serve as amino acid donors for biosynthetic processes distinct from protein synthesis, including lipid modification and antibiotic biosynthesis. Thanks to the wealth of details on ARS structures and functions and the growing appreciation of their additional roles regulating cellular homeostasis, opportunities for the development of clinically useful ARS inhibitors are emerging to manage microbial and parasite infections. Exploitation of these opportunities has been stimulated by the discovery of new inhibitor frameworks, the use of semi-synthetic approaches combining chemistry and genome engineering, and more powerful techniques for identifying leads from the screening of large chemical libraries. Here, we review the inhibition of ARSs by small molecules, including the various families of natural products, as well as inhibitors developed by either rational design or high-throughput screening as antibiotics and anti-parasitic therapeutics.
Xist Deletional Analysis Reveals an Interdependency between Xist RNA and Polycomb Complexes for Spreading along the Inactive X.

Summary During X-inactivation, Xist RNA spreads along an entire chromosome to establish silencing. However, the mechanism and functional RNA elements involved in spreading remain undefined. By performing a comprehensive endogenous Xist deletion screen, we identify Repeat B as crucial for spreading Xist and maintaining Polycomb repressive complexes 1 and 2 (PRC1/PRC2) along the inactive X (Xi). Unexpectedly, spreading of these three factors is inextricably linked. Deleting Repeat B or its direct binding partner, HNRNPK, compromises recruitment of PRC1 and PRC2. In turn, ablating PRC1 or PRC2 impairs Xist spreading. Therefore, Xist and Polycomb complexes require each other to propagate along the Xi, suggesting a positive feedback mechanism between RNA initiator and protein effectors. Perturbing Xist/Polycomb spreading causes failure of de novo Xi silencing, with partial compensatory downregulation of the active X, and also disrupts topological Xi reconfiguration. Thus, Repeat B is a multifunctional element that integrates interdependent Xist/Polycomb spreading, silencing, and changes in chromosome architecture.
Infectious Complications After Open Cranial Vault Remodeling for Craniosynostosis.

BACKGROUND Surgical site infection (SSI) after open cranial vault reconstruction (CVR), while relatively uncommon, has received little attention in the literature to date. Here, the authors report our institution's experience with the perioperative management of infectious complications following CVR for craniosynostosis and present the first systematic review of the literature on this topic. METHODS The authors performed a retrospective chart review for patients with syndromic and nonsyndromic craniosynostosis who underwent open CVR between 1990 and 2015 at a single institution to determine predictors of SSIs and a systematic review of studies that evaluated for SSI after CVR to ascertain the pooled incidence of SSI, common infectious organisms, and prophylactic antibiotic protocols. RESULTS Out of 548 primary and 163 secondary CVR cases at our institution, 6 primary reconstruction patients (1.09%) and 9 secondary reconstruction patients (5.52%) developed an SSI requiring extended hospital stay or readmission (P <0.001); overall infection rate was 2.11%. Streptococcus and Staphylococcus species were the most common organisms isolated. On multivariate analysis, syndromic status conferred more than 7 times greater odds of SSI (OR 7.7, P = 0.023). Pooled analysis of the literature yielded an overall SSI rate of 1.05% to 2.01%. In contrast to our institutional findings, the most common organisms reported were Candida species and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The most common prophylactic antibiotic protocol was a first-generation cephalosporin for 24 to 72 hours post-operatively. CONCLUSIONS Patients undergoing secondary reconstruction have higher infection rates after CVR, and syndromic status is an important predictor of infection when controlling for other patient factors. Our literature review reveals nosocomial organisms to be the most commonly reported source of infection, though this is contrary to our institutional findings of skin flora being most common. Antibiotic prophylaxis varies institutionally.
Condensation on Surfaces With Biphilic Topography: Experiment and Modeling

Optimization of the efficiency of the condensers via different surface engineering techniques is a subject of interest due to its wide range of application in thermal management for aerospace vehicles, power generation systems, and etc., which will further result in considerable savings in annual investments and operating costs by millions of dollars. However, the current technologies are lacking either the necessary condensation enhancements or cost-effective, large-scale fabrication method. In this work, we present a new surface topography to enhance drop-wise condensation at low manufacturing costs. These surfaces consist of macro-scale hydrophobic patterns on hydrophilic structures. Due to their high wettability contrast, the biphilic surfaces enhance drop-wise condensation with long-term functionality, and more importantly, they can be easily manufactured in large-scale using conventional methods as no nano- or micro-features are needed.
Candidate foraging gene orthologs in a lower termite, Reticulitermes flavipes

Under a sociogenomic context, the molecular mechanisms underlying gene-behavior associations are of particular interest. The Drosophila foraging (for) gene has been demonstrated to have a causal role in insect behavioral plasticity. Previous studies of for have revealed many facets of for function, including roles in foraging, energy metabolism, learning and memory, circadian rhythm, and stress resistance. for orthologs have been identified in a variety of insect taxa. However, expression patterns are not consistent across all insects, with for orthologs serving as both positive and negative regulators of foraging behavior. In this study, we cloned two for orthologs, Rffor-α and Rffor-β, from the Eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes. Spatial distribution study showed that the termite brain possesses significantly higher expression levels of Rffor-α and Rffor-β than other types of tissues, which suggests that for may act on the brain to influence an individual's ability to respond to its environment. The temporal expression profile of Rffor across different developmental stages suggests that Rffor functions as a negative regulator of foraging behavior. However, results from environmental impacts, that is, temperature and photoperiod, do not fit under a model of negative correlation between gene expression and locomotion. Further testing is warranted to better understand the interaction between Rffor expression and the environment.
Promoter CpG density is predictive of downstream gene loss-of-function intolerance

The aggregation and joint analysis of large numbers of exome sequences has recently made it possible to derive estimates of intolerance to loss-of-function (LoF) variation for human genes. Here, we demonstrate strong and widespread coupling between genic LoF-intolerance and promoter CpG density across the human genome. Genes downstream of the most CpG-rich promoters (top 10% CpG density) have a 67.2% probability of being highly LoF-intolerant, using the LOEUF metric from gnomAD. This is in contrast to 7.4% of genes downstream of the most CpG-poor (bottom 10% CpG density) promoters. Combining promoter CpG density with exonic and promoter conservation explains 33.4% of the variation in LOEUF, and the contribution of CpG density exceeds the individual contributions of exonic and promoter conservation. We leverage this to train a simple and easily interpretable predictive model that outperforms other existing predictors and allows us to classify 1,760 genes -- which currently lack reliable LOEUF estimates -- as highly LoF-intolerant or not. These predictions have the potential to aid in the interpretation of novel patient variants. Moreover, our results reveal that high CpG density is not merely a generic feature of human promoters, but is preferentially encountered at the promoters of the most selectively constrained genes, calling into question the prevailing view that CpG islands are not subject to selection.