cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Optical Frequency Comb Generators for Trace Gas Sensing

Optical frequency comb generators for rapidly re-configurable trace gas sensing are demonstrated using high-bandwidth low-Vπ electro-optic modulators and rapid-scanning microwave sources. These compact devices perform sensitive dual-comb spectroscopy with user-defined line spacing.
Mechanism-driven biomarkers to guide immune checkpoint blockade in cancer therapy

With recent approvals for multiple therapeutic antibodies that block cytotoxic T lymphocyte associated antigen 4 (CTLA4) and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) in melanoma, non-small-cell lung cancer and kidney cancer, and additional immune checkpoints being targeted clinically, many questions still remain regarding the optimal use of drugs that block these checkpoint pathways. Defining biomarkers that predict therapeutic effects and adverse events is a crucial mandate, highlighted by recent approvals for two PDL1 diagnostic tests. Here, we discuss biomarkers for anti-PD1 therapy based on immunological, genetic and virological criteria. The unique biology of the CTLA4 immune checkpoint, compared with PD1, requires a different approach to biomarker development. Mechanism-based insights from such studies may guide the design of synergistic treatment combinations based on immune checkpoint blockade.
Rupture of dissecting aneurysm of thoracic aorta into the right heart chambers.

The patient whose history is described in this report suddenly deveolped chest pain, congestive heart failure, and a continuous cardiac murmur. He was found to have a dissection of the thoracic aorta with rupture into the right atrium and right ventricle. This rare complication was managed successfully with operation.
A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE EXERCISES THAT PRODUCE OPTIMAL MUSCLE RATIOS OF THE SCAPULAR STABILIZERS IN NORMAL SHOULDERS.

Purpose The purpose of this systematic review was to determine the exercises that optimize muscle ratios of the periscapular musculature for scapular stability and isolated strengthening.
The Political Economy of Public Sector Governance: Delegation and Discretion

Detailed legislation and judicial control over its execution are not sufficient to produce harmony between the governmental body which expresses the will of the state, and the governmental authority which executes that will. … The executive officers may or may not enforce the law as it was intended by the legislature. Judicial officers, in exercising control over such executive officers, may or may not take the same view of the law as did the legislature. No provision is thus made in the governmental organization for securing harmony between the expression and the execution of the will of the state. – Frank Goodnow (1900, 97–98) We now consider the central institutional design problem for democratically sound public management, the delegation of legitimate policymaking authority to responsible officials. At its essence, this is an agency problem: Congress passes a law that is signed by the president. The coalition of actors supporting the law, or the enacting coalition, now wishes it to be implemented by an administrative agency, in keeping with the policy intent of the actors in that coalition. As in the agency problem arising between you and your doctor in Chapter 2, the problem may be one of effort, or it may be that the agent has different policy preferences from the enacting coalition. This particular conflict of interest lies at the core of this chapter. The epigraph suggests that this conflict of interest is not resolved simply by specifying the actions that an administrative agency should take in the text of statutes.
A Question of Sex: Feminism, Rhetoric, and Differences That Matter

Kristan Poirot’s A Question of Sex: Feminism, Rhetoric, and Differences that Matter offers a much-needed intervention into existing accounts of U.S. feminist history. Poirot analyzes key points of ...
Buying Justice: Caperton v. A.T. Massey: Campaign Dollars, Mandatory Recusal and Due Process

After the nation's fourth largest coal company, A.T. Massey, drove its competitor, Harmon Mining Co., into bankruptcy, a jury found that the company committed fraud in its business dealings and awarded its bankrupt competitor $50 million. Political issues surrounding judicial campaign funding that arose soon after raised concerns about the politicalization of the judiciary and the effects of campaign dollars on "blind justice."This paper addresses the issue of drawing a "constitutional" line for judicial recusal when required due to the "appearance" or "probability" of bias based on a party's financial contribution to a judge's election campaign. The paper also reviews the history of judicial elections, discusses the scant pre-Caperton cases in which the Supreme Court has found a violation of due process based on the objective probability of judicial bias, and discusses the Caperton decision and the legal minefields that will arise from recognizing a new category of judicial disqualification cases that create substantive due process rights based on a party's financial support to a judicial campaign election. The author concludes by suggesting that state laws and judicial canons can and have remedied the appearance of "buying justice" fostered by judicial campaign financing, without expanding substantive due process and creating a "constitutional" recusal rule.
You Can Lead Students to Water, but You Can't Make Them Think: An Assessment of Student Engagement and Learning through Student-Centered Teaching.

The current project conducted an assessment of three student-centered teaching techniques in a criminal justice and criminology research methods class: Team-Based Learning, Incentive-Based Learning, and Flipped Classroom. The project sought to ascertain to what extent these techniques improved or impacted student learning outcomes and engagement in this traditionally difficult course. Results provide empirical evidence that students were significantly engaged with the course and benefited from these pedagogical techniques.
Constitutive description of human femoropopliteal artery aging

Femoropopliteal artery (FPA) mechanics play a paramount role in pathophysiology and the artery’s response to therapeutic interventions, but data on FPA mechanical properties are scarce. Our goal was to characterize human FPAs over a wide population to derive a constitutive description of FPA aging to be used for computational modeling. Fresh human FPA specimens ( $$n=579$$ ) were obtained from $$n=351$$ predominantly male (80 %) donors 54±15 years old (range 13–82 years). Morphometric characteristics including radius, wall thickness, opening angle, and longitudinal pre-stretch were recorded. Arteries were subjected to multi-ratio planar biaxial extension to determine constitutive parameters for an invariant-based model accounting for the passive contributions of ground substance, elastin, collagen, and smooth muscle. Nonparametric bootstrapping was used to determine unique sets of material parameters that were used to derive age-group-specific characteristics. Physiologic stress–stretch state was calculated to capture changes with aging. Morphometric and constitutive parameters were derived for seven age groups. Vessel radius, wall thickness, and circumferential opening angle increased with aging, while longitudinal pre-stretch decreased ( $$p<0.01$$ ). Age-group-specific constitutive parameters portrayed orthotropic FPA stiffening, especially in the longitudinal direction. Structural changes in artery wall elastin were associated with reduction of physiologic longitudinal and circumferential stretches and stresses with age. These data and the constitutive description of FPA aging shed new light on our understanding of peripheral arterial disease pathophysiology and arterial aging. Application of this knowledge might improve patient selection for specific treatment modalities in personalized, precision medicine algorithms and could assist in device development for treatment of peripheral artery disease.
Proximity Detection and Ranging Using a Modified Fluorescent Lamp for Security Applications

This paper describes a proximity detection system that uses a fluorescent lamp as a capacitive sensor. Because of the ubiquity of fluorescent lamps in commercial buildings, public spaces, and households, the potential applications of a capacitive sensor of this nature are numerous. These applications include people counting, real-time people tracking and detection of anomalous objects on a person for security verification. Modeling simulations and calculations of the electric fields under the lamp in the presence of a person as well as circuitry and electrode setups, which can be used to obtain a practical detection range are presented. Real-time tracking data and outputs collected from a working fluorescent lamp sensor are also presented.
Estimation of Skeletal Muscle Mass Relative to Adiposity Improves Prediction of Physical Performance and Incident Disability.

Purpose We assessed the discrimination of lean mass estimates that have been adjusted for adiposity for physical functioning deficits and prediction of incident disability. Methods Included were 2,846 participants from the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study with available whole-body dual energy absorptiometry measures of appendicular lean mass index (ALMI, kg/m2) and fat mass index (FMI, kg/m2). Age-, sex-, and race-specific Z-Scores and T-Scores were determined by comparison to published reference ranges. ALMI values were adjusted for FMI (ALMIFMI) using a novel published method. Sex-stratified analyses assessed associations between lean mass estimates and the physical performance score, ability to complete a 400-meter walk, grip strength, and incident disability. Dichotomized definitions of low lean for age and sarcopenia were examined and their performance compared to the ALM-to-BMI ratio. Results Compared to ALMI T-Scores and Z-Scores, the ALMIFMI scores demonstrated stronger associations with physical functioning, and were similarly associated with grip strength. Greater FMI Z-Scores and T-Scores were associated with poor physical functioning and incident disability. Definitions of low lean for age and sarcopenia using ALMIFMI (compared to ALMI) better discriminated those with poor physical functioning and a greater risk of incident disability. The ALM-to-BMI ratio was modestly associated with grip strength and physical performance, but was not associated with completion of the 400-meter walk or incident disability, independent of adiposity and height. Conclusion Estimation of skeletal muscle mass relative to adiposity improves correlations with physical performance and prediction of incident disability suggesting it is an informative outcome for clinical studies.
Primary Cytomegalovirus Infection Causing Guillain-Barré Syndrome in a Living Renal Allograft Recipient

Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is a common acute autoimmune polyneuropathy in adults. There have been few reported cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome associated with active cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in renal transplant recipients. Here we present a case of active CMV viremia inducing Guillain-Barre Syndrome in a renal transplant recipient. We discuss the treatment regimen utilized. Furthermore, we performed a review of the literature and discuss the cases of CMV induced GBS in renal transplant recipients.
POSTT: Path-oriented static test compaction for transition faults in scan circuits

Static test compaction procedures that modify tests perform the modification so as to increase the number of faults that some of the tests detect, thus making other tests unnecessary. Tests that become unnecessary are removed from the test set without reducing the fault coverage. This paper describes a static test compaction procedure of this type for transition faults that has the following additional feature. When the procedure modifies tests, it preserves the lengths of the paths through which transition faults are detected. This is important for preserving the ability of the test set to detect small delay defects. The procedure is structured to increase the lengths of the paths as it modifies tests even when it cannot reduce the number of tests. Experimental results for benchmark circuits demonstrate the extent to which it is possible to reduce the number of tests in an already-compact test set while preserving or increasing the path lengths.
Acyl-CoA Oxidases Fine-Tune the Production of Ascaroside Pheromones with Specific Side Chain Lengths.

Caenorhabditis elegans produces a complex mixture of ascaroside pheromones to control its development and behavior. Acyl-CoA oxidases, which participate in β-oxidation cycles that shorten the side chains of the ascarosides, regulate the mixture of pheromones produced. Here, we use CRISPR-Cas9 to make specific nonsense and missense mutations in acox genes and determine the effect of these mutations on ascaroside production in vivo. Ascaroside production in acox-1.1 deletion and nonsense strains, as well as a strain with a missense mutation in a catalytic residue, confirms the central importance of ACOX-1.1 in ascaroside biosynthesis and suggests that ACOX-1.1 functions in part by facilitating the activity of other acyl-CoA oxidases. Ascaroside production in an acox-1.1 strain with a missense mutation in an ATP-binding site at the ACOX-1.1 dimer interface suggests that ATP binding is important for the enzyme to function in ascaroside biosynthesis in vivo. Ascaroside production in strains with deletion, nons...
LONG TERM OUTCOMES AFTER AORTIC VALVE SURGERY IN PATIENTS WITH ASYMPTOMATIC CHRONIC AORTIC REGURGITATION AND PRESERVED LEFT VENTRICULAR EJECTION FRACTION: ROLE OF PRE AND POST-OPERATIVE GLOBAL LONGITUDINAL STRAIN

Baseline left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS) provides incremental prognostic utility in patients with ≥ III+ AR & preserved LV ejection fraction (LVEF); & aortic valve (AV) surgery is associated with improved longer-term survival. We sought to assess whether LV-GLS (obtained
Laboratory Evaluation of the Direct Impact of Biochar on Adult Survival of Four Forest Insect Species

Abstract Application of biochar to managed agricultural and forest ground has been demonstrated to increase soil fertility and productivity and may aid in the retention of H2O and water-soluble nutrients thereby improving water quality while reducing soil acidity and nutrient leaching. However, there have been few studies that examine potential effects of biochar on insect communities. We examined the direct effects of one formulation of dry biochar on survival of four species of common forest insects: major adult workers of the thatch ants, Formica obscuripes Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae); adult bark beetles, Ips pini (Say) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) and adults of two bark beetle predators, Temnochila chlorodia (Mannerheim) (Coleoptera: Trogossitidae) and Enoclerus sphegeus (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Cleridae). There was a significant reduction in survival for three of the four species (F. obscuripes, I. pini and T. chlorodia) when exposed to dry biochar in confined arenas. The decreased sur...
Material symmetry optimization by Kelvin modes

Pointwise optimization of the material symmetry of an anisotropic elastic material with respect to fixed and specified stress (or strain) states is accomplished. The conceptual variables in this problem are the type of material symmetry and the orientation of the canonical symmetry axis for the material at a point in the material. The actual variables are the coefficients of the elasticity (or compliance) matrix. The results are presented in the form of the elasticity (or compliance) matrices that minimize the strain energy with respect to specified, but arbitrary, stress (or strain) states.
The Dynamic Basis of Respiratory Rhythm Generation: One Breath at a Time

Rhythmicity is a universal timing mechanism in the brain, and the rhythmogenic mechanisms are generally dynamic. This is illustrated for the neuronal control of breathing, a behavior that occurs as a one-, two-, or three-phase rhythm. Each breath is assembled stochastically, and increasing evidence suggests that each phase can be generated independently by a dedicated excitatory microcircuit. Within each microcircuit, rhythmicity emerges through three entangled mechanisms: (a) glutamatergic transmission, which is amplified by (b) intrinsic bursting and opposed by (c) concurrent inhibition. This rhythmogenic triangle is dynamically tuned by neuromodulators and other network interactions. The ability of coupled oscillators to reconfigure and recombine may allow breathing to remain robust yet plastic enough to conform to nonventilatory behaviors such as vocalization, swallowing, and coughing. Lessons learned from the respiratory network may translate to other highly dynamic and integrated rhythmic systems, i...
Escherichia coli Ribonucleases: Paradigms for Understanding Cellular RNA Metabolism and Regulation

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses use of Escherichia coli for understanding cellular RNA metabolism and regulation. E. coli has been informative of the mechanisms of synthesis, maturation, function, and decay of RNA. Molecular genetic studies of E. coli and the coliphages show that RNA is the information link between DNA and protein, and that RNA processing is carried out by specific enzymes. The sequencing E. coli , like all other cells, makes a major commitment to RNA synthesis. Approximately 20% of the cell dry mass is RNA, most of which is ribosomal RNA (∼81%) and tRNA (∼14%). The most metabolically labile fraction is mRNA, which comprises only 4% of the RNA. This chapter discusses about E. coli ribonucleases. It explains concepts related to ribonuclease P and ribonucleases HI and HII. It also describes exoribonucleases and polynucleotide phosphorylase. An overview of ribonuclease activity associated with RNA polymerase is presented. The chapter elaborates in detail about ribonucleases involved in ribosomal RNA maturation, and ribonucleases involved in messenger RNA maturation and turnover. The chapter concludes with a discussion on ribonuclease regulation and RNA metabolic control.
Mobilization of Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cell Subpopulations From the Marrow to the Blood of Mice Following Cyclophosphamide and/or Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor

Committed progenitor cells and primitive stem cells mediate early and sustained engraftment, respectively, after lethal irradiation and stem cell transplantation. Peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) from unstimulated mice are deficient in both cell types. To study techniques to mobilize both progenitor cells and primitive stem cells from the marrow to the blood, we collected peripheral blood from C57BL/6 mice 6 to 7 days after a single dose of cyclophosphamide (CY; 200 mg/kg intraperitoneally), after recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) (250 micrograms/kg/d twice per day subcutaneously for 4 days), or after CY followed by G-CSF. Significant increases in white blood cell counts (1.6- to 2.7-fold) and circulating day 8 colony-forming unit spleen (CFU-S) (11- to 36-fold) were seen with all three mobilization methods compared with unstimulated control mice. Transplantation of mobilized blood stem cells into lethally irradiated hosts decreased the time to erythroid engraftment. Blood stem cells were analyzed for primitive stem cell content by Rs, an assay for CFU-S self-renewal, and competitive repopulation index (CRI), an assay of long-term repopulating ability. The primitive stem cell content of unstimulated blood was clearly deficient, but was significantly increased following mobilization, approaching normal bone marrow levels. These results were confirmed by an in vitro limiting dilution long-term culture assay that measures the frequency of progenitor cells and primitive stem cells. Mobilization following CY + G-CSF was accompanied by a marked loss of both progenitor cells and primitive stem cells in the marrow. In contrast, following G-CSF alone the progenitor cell and primitive stem cell content of the marrow was unchanged. Stem cell mobilization following CY + G-CSF was not affected by previous exposure of donors to cytosine arabinoside or cyclophosphamide, but was significantly reduced by previous exposure to busulfan. These data show that stem cell content in the blood may reach near-normal marrow levels after mobilization, the mobilization from the marrow to the blood is temporary and reversible, the specific technique used may mobilize different subpopulations of stem cells, and the type of prior chemotherapy may influence the ability to mobilize stem cells into the blood.
Relationships between the Amount of Sleep, Stress, and Ovarian Function in Women

The incidence of ovulation was studied in a group of 33 normal young women by means of changes in basal body temperature (BBT) and by the pattern of pregnanediol glucuronide and LH concentrations in morning urine specimens. Blood was also drawn for progesterone and LH assays on 10 consecutive days of one cycle in each of 15 of these women. Perceived stress and hours of sleep were recorded daily. Ovulation occurred by hormonal criteria in only 22 of 33 cycles studied, and only 14 of the ovulatory cycles had a detectable midcycle rise in BBT. Anovulatory subjects had significantly less sleep than subjects in the ovulatory groups. The frequency of ovulation was not influenced by the stress of blood withdrawal, nor was it related to the level of perceived stress. However, the perception of stress was significantly reduced during the luteal phases of ovulatory cycles in subjects having a clear rise in BBT.
Operational Oceanography in the U.S. Navy: A GODAE Perspective

Operational oceanography, throughout its long history, has continually evolved in order to remain relevant to the changing operational needs of the U.S. Navy. This transformation continues today as operational oceanography plays a key role in the rapidly shrinking tactical decision timelines of the naval warfighter. Understanding the warfighter’s tactical questions and translating the information available from the ocean sciences into tactically useful answers is key to this transformation. Appreciating and applying advances in oceanography, such as those provided by the international Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE), assures the highest technical quality of these answers. We address these transformation and translation processes and the nature of U.S. Navy operational oceanography today with specific emphasis on its interaction with GODAE.
Two-stage hybrid flow shop batching and lot streaming with variable sublots and sequence-dependent setups

A paint manufacturing firm's customers typically place orders for two or more products simultaneously. Each product belongs to a family that denotes batching compatibility during manufacturing. Fur...
Prolonged breastfeeding in Bangladesh

Abstract The association between breastfeeding and diarrhoeal morbidity was examined in a prevalence study of 5502 children aged 6–71 months from rural and urban Bangladesh. Breastfeeding was found to be associated with reduced prevalence of diarrhoea. This association was most pronounced at the age of six months and declined linearly to zero at approximately 30 months of age; thereafter, breastfeeding was increasingly associated with diarrhoeal illness. The linear association was found only among those children who have no access to modern health services and information, when controlling for urban and rural differences. The literature provides two opposing explanations for the positive association of prolonged breastfeeding with diarrhoeal illness. The first explanation suggests that breastfeeding can be seen as mothers' response to children's poor health. The second explanation incriminates sub-optimal child feeding practices, characterised by prolonged breastfeeding and inadequate quality and quantity of complementary foods, as the cause of malnutrition and diarrhoea. Further studies are needed to identify which explanation is correct, given the public health implications in terms of children's survival, growth and development.
Is more emotional clarity always better? An examination of curvilinear and moderated associations between emotional clarity and internalising symptoms.

Low emotional clarity has been a target for psychological interventions due to its association with increased internalising symptoms. However, theory suggests that very high emotional clarity may a...
The Effect of Operative Field Instrument Clutter During Intraoperative Fluoroscopy on Radiation Exposure.

Abstract Introduction and Objectives: Fluoroscopy units are routinely operated in the automatic brightness control (ABC) mode to optimize image quality. During ureteroscopy, objects may be placed w...
A Severe Form of Arterial Tortuosity Syndrome Presenting With Significant Airway Obstruction in an Infant

We describe a severe form of arterial tortuosity syndrome in a newborn, in which the tortuous course of the aorta masqueraded as a pulmonary artery sling on fetal echocardiogram. The newborn presented with respiratory distress after birth. The clinical course was complicated by extrinsic airway obstruction requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Timely diagnostic work-up in patients with arterial tortuosity syndrome is necessary to plan eventual intervention, and hopefully to prevent complications related to the abnormal vasculature.