cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lexical Gesture Interface

Gesture interfaces have long been pursued in the context of portable computing and immersive environments. However, such interfaces have been difficult to realize, in part due to a lack of frameworks for their design and implementation. This paper presents a framework for automatically producing a gesture interface based on a simple interface description. Rather than defining hand positions in a low-level high-dimensional joint angle space, we describe and recognize gestures in a "lexical" space, in which each hand pose is decomposed into elements in a finger-pose alphabet. The alphabet and underlying rules are defined as a gesture notation system called GeLex. By implementing a generic hand pose recognition algorithm, and a mechanism to adapt it to a specific application based on a general interface description, developing a gesture interface becomes straightforward.
Proactive telephone counseling as an adjunct to minimal intervention for smoking cessation: a meta-analysis

Proactive telephone counseling is an effective adjunct to minimal intervention for smoking cessation, but its effect has not been quantitatively synthesized thoroughly. The present meta-analysis reviewed 22 studies published between January 1990 and December 2003 and found that there was a heterogeneous, significant adjunct effect of proactive telephone counseling for smoking cessation. This metaanalytic review also found that the following study characteristics explained most of the variation in the adjunct effect: year of publication, follow-up time, mean age of participants, proportion of female participants, participants’ readiness to quit smoking and number of cigarettes smoked per day before intervention. In other words, based on the 22 studies, proactive telephone counseling is effective as an adjunct to other minimal interventions for younger, male, light-smoking participants. The results of this meta-analytic review imply that researchers and health care providers may need to focus on participants as much as on intervention process to obtain more effective interventions.
Rapid acquisition and tracking of evoked potentials by two dimensional spectral filtering

A two dimensional spectral filtering method is used to enhance auditory brainstem response recordings obtained serially from normal subjects. Spectral filtering using a Gaussian filter gain profile is shown to introduce less distortion than that produced by rectangular filtering profiles. With the proposed filtering method, the authors were able to reduce the number of sweeps averaged to produce a discernable recording from 1024 to 32 or 16. This reduction in recording time allows fast tracking of ABR transitions which would be impossible with current techniques. Experiments performed on simulated data and data obtained from normal subjects at changing intensities show that dynamic tracking of ABR waves with fast updates (1-2 seconds) are realizable. >
Novel therapeutic agents for cutaneous T-Cell lymphoma

Mycosis fungoides (MF) and Sezary Syndrome (SS) represent the most common subtypes of primary Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). Patients with advanced MF and SS have a poor prognosis leading to an interest in the development of new therapies with targeted mechanisms of action and acceptable safety profiles. In this review we focus on such novel strategies that have changed the treatment paradigm of this rare malignancy.
Financial instability in Latin America

Abstract In this paper I deal with a number of issues related to financial instability in Latin America. I first discuss, from a macroeconomic research perspective, what I believe are some of the most important policy issues faced by the Latin American nations. These include the effectiveness of controls on capital inflows, the effect of exchange rate depreciation on output, and the international transmission of the business cycle. Second, I argue that the economic research agenda on Latin America should not ignore history. In Latin America, more so than in any other region in the world, there has been a self-destructing tendency for repeating history.
THE SUPINE STRESS TEST: A SIMPLE METHOD TO DETECT INTRINSIC URETHRAL SPHINCTER DYSFUNCTION

AbstractPurpose: A new clinical test for intrinsic urethral sphincter dysfunction is proposed and compared to abdominal leak point pressure determination by video urodynamics.Materials and Methods: Patients were prospectively included in the study if they had stress urinary incontinence symptoms and were to undergo video urodynamic testing. Patients with urinary tract infection, cystocele, rectocele and vaginal vault prolapse were excluded from study. A supine stress test using cough and Valsalva's maneuvers was performed after bladder filling to 200 ml. with sterile normal saline solution by gravity. Efflux of the bladder solution from the meatus coinciding with the cough or Valsalva maneuver indicated a positive clinical test. A video urodynamic study, including abdominal leak point pressure, was performed. Intrinsic urethral sphincter dysfunction was diagnosed if abdominal leak point pressure was less than 100 cm. water. Test indexes were calculated based on the results of the supine stress test and th...
Automatic Generation of User-Centric Multimedia Communication Services

Multimedia communication services today are conceived, designed, and developed in isolation, following a stovepipe approach. This has resulted in a fragmented and incompatible set of technologies and products. Building new communication services requires a lengthy and costly development cycle, which severely limits the pace of innovation. In this paper, we address the fundamental problem of automating the development of multimedia communication services. We propose a new paradigm for creating such services through declarative specification and generation, rather than through traditional design and development. Further, the proposed paradigm pays special attention to how the end-user specifies his/her communication needs, an important requirement largely ignored in existing approaches.
ISSUES IN THERMAL-MECHANICAL MODELING OF CASTING PROCESSES

Synopsis Mathematical modeling of stress generation in casting processes is a difficult, complex subject that is now receiving increased attention. This paper reviews the basic equations, solution methods and important phenomena associated with casting processes that require special numerical treatment. Stress modeling begins with a coupled, transient heat transfer analysis, including solidification, shrinkage-dependent interfacial heat transfer, and fluid flow effects. Further complicating phenomena include phase transformations, temperature, stress and structure-dependent plasticcreep, interaction between the casting and the mold, hydrostatic pressure from the liquid, the effects of fluid flow, and crack formation. Computational issues include numerical methods for handling these phenomena, mesh refinement, and two-dimensional stress state. Example applications are presented for the thermal-mechanical behavior of the solidifying steel shell in the mold region of a continuous slab caster, using a finite-element model, which accounts for many of these phenomena.
Tuned dither for friction suppression during force-guided robotic assembly

Friction and stick/slip phenomena are a major source of disturbance in assembly tasks, especially under low velocity or frequent start/stop conditions. These friction effects are highly nonlinear, dependent on environmental parameters, and the resulting forces are extremely difficult to model accurately under all conditions. This paper discusses frictional contacts in the context of robotic assembly based on the underlying physics of the phenomenon. A technique employing a high frequency dither is presented which reduces the effect of friction between parts in relative motion. The parameters of this dither are tuned on-line to account for changes in the operating conditions. This tuning algorithm adjusts the dither parameters based on force feedback measurements and a model for the desired forces. Analysis shows that a set of optimal parameters exists. Experimentation demonstrates the algorithm's success, even in the presence of uncertain or varying system model parameters. The discussion includes consideration of previous friction studies and combination with force-guided control.
Female Reproductive Effort and Sexual Selection on Males of Waterfowl

To test the hypothesis that female reproductive effort influences sexual selection on males, the degree of sexual dichromatism in waterfowl (Aves: Anseriformes) was correlated with female reproductive effort, measured as average clutch mass expressed as a percentage of adult female body mass. Sexual dichromatism was found to be significantly positively associated with female reproductive effort in 21 phylogenetically independent matched-pair comparisons in the subfamily Anatinae, and this result could not be explained by body mass differences alone. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that increased female reproductive effort increases competition among males for access to females and thus the strength of sexual selection.
Finite Groups of Lie Type

One of the most remarkable results of this century in mathematics has been the classification — completed in 1980 — of all the finite simple groups. This took over 20 years and occupies almost 5000 pages in the literature, and it is conceivable that there are some errors there, so the details of classification are not really available to us, but the main results can be summarized. There are 17 families of simple groups, the alternating groups and 16 families of “Lie type”. These in turn are broken up into subfamilies in several different ways. There are, first, the historical breakdowns, 6 families of “classical groups”, the projective special linear groups over finite fields, the orthogonal groups, (three types), unitary groups, and the symplectic groups. Then there are the 5 families of groups of “exceptional types”, the groups G 2(q), F 4(q), E 6 (q), E 7 (q), and E 8 (q), the q denoting the order of the finite field over which they are defined. Finally, there are five special families, the groups of “twisted type”, the Suzuki groups Sz[22n+1] the Ree groups 2 G 2[32n+1] and 2 F 2[22n+1], the twisted exceptional groups 2 E 6[22n+1], and the groups 3 D 4(q), the “triality twisted D 4 (q) ’s”. Of course, the most natural classification of these groups is via Lie theory and Dynkin diagrams. A complete discussion can be found in R.W. Carter’s book [Carter].
Shelf Life of Pasteurized Liquid Whole Egg

Abstract Commercial samples of pasteurized liquid whole eggs were stored at 2° and 9°C. for periods up to 12 days. Based on total plate counts and odor, liquid whole egg remained acceptable up to 12 days at 2°C. and 5 days at 9°C. No E. coli, salmonella, streptococci or staphylococci organisms were found in the liquid egg.
Transcriptional regulation of podocyte specification and differentiation.

Glomerular visceral epithelial cells (podocytes) are highly specialized cells found in the vertebrate and invertebrate kidney and make up a major portion of the filtration barrier between blood and urinary spaces. During development, specification and differentiation of the podocyte lineage must be tightly orchestrated to produce highly specialized characteristics such as foot processes and slit diaphragms. Furthermore, podocytes are poised to direct incoming endothelial and mesangial cells during glomerular development. They express a number of growth factors that likely play a major role in these processes. Recent findings from transgenic and knockout mouse models and the identification of genes responsible for human podocyte disease have provided insight into transcriptional regulation of some of these processes. These transcription factors include Pax2, WT1 (the Wilms tumor suppressor gene), Pod1 (capsulin, epicardin), Kreisler (maf-1), lmx1b, and mf2. Furthermore, regulatory regions from a podocyte-restricted gene, NPHS1 (nephrin) that are required to direct podocyte-specific expression have been identified from both human and murine genes and provide a tool to further dissect the transcriptional regulation of podocyte-specific gene expression. This article reviews the present state of knowledge regarding transcriptional regulation of podocyte specification and differentiation.
Construction of Lyapunov functions for piecewise-deterministic Markov processes

The purpose of this contribution is twofold: 1) to present for the first time a Lyapunov function that proves exponential ergodicity of a process studied by the authors in [1], where the problem of controlling the probability density of a swarm of robotic agents was solved; 2) to introduce alongside the method used to construct this Lyapunov function, which is of interest in its own since it may be applicable to a wide class of piecewise-deterministc Markov processes. Our method searches for the Lyapunov function that maximizes a measure of the rate of convergence that appears in the theory of large deviations. Analytical solutions are often possible as shown by examples.
Ethics and the Control of Research

The particular bitterness felt by the men whose interrupted projects were the subject of our inquiry can be understood in part simply as the annoyance and frustration of people prevented from carrying on their work. However, it is clear that they also felt a deep resentment at the charge that what they were doing was harmful and irresponsible, and that they were frustrated by their inability to convince others that their work was, as they believed, useful and proper. These are reactions that anyone might have to being interfered with and accused, but the men we interviewed seemed to feel indignation of a further, special sort. They seemed to feel that because they were doing research they had a special claim to protection from interference and criticism of the kinds they had experienced. This feeling showed itself from time to time in claims that in their cases it was academic freedom or freedom of thought itself that was at stake.
Diagnostic Criteria for Problematic Internet Use among U.S. University Students: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation

Empirical studies have identified increasing rates of problematic Internet use worldwide and a host of related negative consequences. However, researchers disagree as to whether problematic Internet use is a subtype of behavioral addiction. Thus, there are not yet widely accepted and validated diagnostic criteria for problematic Internet use. To address this gap, we used mixed-methods to examine the extent to which signs and symptoms of problematic Internet use mirror DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for substance use disorder, gambling disorder, and Internet gaming disorder. A total of 27 university students, who self-identified as intensive Internet users and who reported Internet-use-associated health and/or psychosocial problems were recruited. Students completed two measures that assess problematic Internet use (Young’s Diagnostic Questionnaire and the Compulsive Internet Use Scale) and participated in focus groups exploring their experiences with problematic Internet use. Results of standardized measures and focus group discussions indicated substantial overlap between students’ experiences of problematic Internet use and the signs and symptoms reflected in the DSM-5 criteria for substance use disorder, gambling disorder, and Internet gaming disorder. These signs and symptoms included: a) use Internet longer than intended, b) preoccupation with the Internet, c) withdrawal symptoms when unable to access the Internet, d) unsuccessful attempts to stop or reduce Internet use, e) craving, f) loss of interest in hobbies or activities other than the Internet, g) excessive Internet use despite the knowledge of related problems, g) use of the Internet to escape or relieve a negative mood, and h) lying about Internet use. Tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and recurrent Internet use in hazardous situations were uniquely manifested in the context of problematic Internet use. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Railway Engineering Education Symposium (REES) — Universities and Industry Collaborate to Develop Railway Education

The national emphasis on highway transportation and a lack of demand for graduates in rail related fields led to a decades long neglect of rail transportation and engineering education by universities in the United States (U.S.). However, the vitality of the private sector freight railroads, along with a growing interest in rail passenger transportation is creating a strong demand for graduates with rail expertise, particularly in engineering and related technical fields. This has re-energized the academic community, and several universities are currently either investigating or implementing rail-related programs. They are finding, however, that the information and knowledge needed for railway engineering course development in the civil, mechanical and electrical fields is hard to find. It has been so long since most U.S. universities offered rail related courses that few present day faculty have expertise in the subject.The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association (AREMA) has teamed up with academia to address the problem through an innovative Railway Engineering Education Symposium (REES). This program brings university professors together to learn the basics of rail transportation and railway civil engineering and to return with materials that can be used for course implementation. REES has been organized biannually since 2008 and is considered a great success, making it a model for extension to railway mechanical and electrical engineering. This paper describes the reasoning behind development of REES, content and organization of the symposium, and its evolution. It also describes REES outcomes based on participant surveys conducted after each event and provides examples showing how universities have used REES to launch railway focused classes.© 2013 ASME
Acute Encephalopathy with Fatty Infiltration of the Viscera

Reye’s syndrome represents a relatively common neurological complication of viral infections which occurs in children at all ages from early infancy through 19 years of age. As a result of a large number of observations regarding the chemical and histological abnormalities which characterize this disorder, diagnosis can be made promptly when presentation is typical. Most pediatricians now consider Reye’s syndrome as the possible diagnosis when a young child presents with recurrent vomiting and an altered state of consciousness several days after nonspecific pharyngitis, gastrointestinal disturbance, or influenza-like illness. Early recognition, coupled with prompt supportive care, can interrupt the possible sequence of events which may culminate in coma.
Binocular eye tracking calibration during a virtual ball catching task using head mounted display

When tracking the eye movements of an active observer, the quality of the tracking data is continuously affected by physical shifts of the eye-tracker on an observers head. This is especially true for eye-trackers integrated within virtual-reality (VR) helmets. These configurations modify the weight and inertia distribution well beyond that of the eye-tracker alone. Despite the continuous nature of this degradation, it is common practice for calibration procedures to establish eye-to-screen mappings, fixed over the time-course of an experiment. Even with periodic recalibration, data quality can quickly suffer due to head motion. Here, we present a novel post-hoc calibration method that allows for continuous temporal interpolation between discrete calibration events. Analysis focuses on the comparison of fixed vs. continuous calibration schemes and their effects upon the quality of a binocular gaze data to virtual targets, especially with respect to depth. Calibration results were applied to binocular eye tracking data from a VR ball catching task and improved the tracking accuracy especially in the dynamic case.
Commensalism and Competition in Mixed Cultures of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus

Cultures of Streptococcus thermophilis and Lactobacillus bulgaricus produced more acid in mixed than in single strain culture. Growth of S. thermophilus in mixed culture was enhanced during the exponential phase and reached higher numbers in the stationary phase than when grown alone. L. bulgaricus was inhibited in the exponential and stationary phases of growth in mixed culture. L. bulgaricus liberated Seitz-filterable compounds during its growth that stimulated growth and acid production of S. thermophilus. These compounds are believed to be responsible for the commensal response observed in mixed cultures. Because of its rapid growth, S. thermophilus was a better competitor than L. bulgaricus for limiting nutrients in the medium. This resulted in inhibition of the growth of L. bulgaricus. The competitive and commensal response was optimal at 37 C and at a ratio of numbers of lactobacilli to streptococci of 2:1 at inoculation.
Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio as a predictive biomarker for response to high dose interleukin-2 in patients with renal cell carcinoma.

Immunotherapy with high-dose interleukin-2 (HD-IL2) results in long-term survival in some metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients but has significant acute toxicities. Biomarkers predicting response to therapy are needed to better select patients most likely to benefit. NLR (absolute neutrophil count (ANC)/absolute lymphocyte count (ALC)) is a prognostic and predicative biomarker in various malignancies. The goal was to determine whether NLR can predict response to HD-IL2 in this setting. Patients with clear cell mRCC treated with HD-IL2 were identified from an institutional database from 2003–2012. Baseline variables for the assessment of IMDC risk criteria, and neutrophil and lymphocyte count, were collected. Best response criteria were based on RECIST 1.0. Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to evaluate the association of continuous baseline variables with disease control. NLR was stratified by ≤4 or >4. Progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard models assessed associations of NLR with survival. In 71 eligible patients, median NLR in those with an objective response (n = 14, 20%) was 2.3 vs 3.4 in those without (n = 57, 80%, p = 0.02). NLR ≤4 was associated with improved progression free and overall survival. After adjustment for IMDC risk criteria, NLR remained a significant predictor of OS (ANC/ALC ≤4 vs >4, HR 0.41, 95% CI 1.09-5.46, p = 0.03; ANC/ALC continuous variable per unit change in NLR, HR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01-1.14, p = 0.03). In this discovery set, NLR predicts overall survival in patients treated with HD-IL2 in mRCC, and may allow better patient selection in this setting. Data needs validation in an independent cohort.
‘Everybody kind of looked at me like I was from Mars:’ preparing educators through qualitative service-research projects

AbstractSkills developed through qualitative research and community partnerships can be essential for developing education students’ cultural competency and understandings about diverse student populations. Toward this end, we developed a qualitative ‘service-research’ project in a teacher education course focused on child development, whereby undergraduate students examined the racial, linguistic, religious, and migration experiences of youth in St. Louis, Missouri. This paper provides a snapshot of this work by defining service-research and showcasing one student research team that developed and analyzed three case studies of young women from Bosnian Muslim families in partnership with a local organization. Through an analysis and discussion of service-research and the students’ results, we argue for the integration of qualitative research skills, service projects, and community partnerships into educator preparation programs.
Online Appendix: The Informational Role of Prices

This is the online appendix to The Informational Role of Prices by Leonard J. Mirman and Marc Santugini.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Development of Clinical Skills Scale (LGBT-DOCSS): Establishing a New Interdisciplinary Self-Assessment for Health Providers

These three studies provide initial evidence for the development, factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Development of Clinical Skills Scale (LG...
Development and validation of the Cholesterol-Saturated Fat Index (CSI) Scorecard: a dietary self-monitoring tool.

Abstract Objective The Cholesterol-Saturated Fat Index (CSI) Scorecard was developed and tested as a self-monitoring tool for patients consuming a cholesterol-lowering diet. Subjects/design Twelve nutritionists used the CSI Score-card to estimate the CSI score of the same five food records. Subsequently, using a revised tool, 12 subjects with hyper-cholesterolemia estimated the CSI score of their 4-day food records and 11 participated in evaluation meetings. Statistical analyses Two-tailed, one-sample t tests and the Spearman p correlation test were used, respectively, to compare CSI Scorecard estimates of nutritionists and participants to CSI scores obtained from computer calculations. Results The CSI scores estimated by the nutritionists were close to the computed scores at the 25th and 75th food record percentiles. The correlation of the estimated CSI scores of participants to the computed scores was r s =.8 (P Application The CSI Scorecard is a new, simple, quick, and accurate dietary self-monitoring tool patients can use in research centers and primary care settings. By numerically illustrating the saturated fat and cholesterol content of foods, the CSI Scorecard facilitates dietary self-monitoring and, thus, self-efficacy in the adoption and maintenance of a cholesterol-lowering dietary pattern. J Am Diet Assoc. 1996; 96:132-136 .
Erasure Correction and Locality of Hypergraph Codes

We examine erasure correction and locality properties of regular and biregular hypergraph codes. We propose a construction of t-uniform t-partite biregular hypergraphs based on (c, d)-regular bipartite graphs. We show that for both the regular and biregular case, when the underlying hypergraph has expansion properties, the guaranteed erasure correcting capability for the resulting codes is improved. We provide bounds on the minimum stopping set size and cooperative locality of these hypergraph codes for application in distributed storage systems.
Social Media and Pediatric Scoliosis: An Analysis of Patient and Surgeon Use.

Introduction The purpose of this observational study was to investigate and analyze the social media presence of both patients and surgeons in relation to pediatric scoliosis. First, patient Instagram (Instagram, Inc., San Francisco, California) posts were evaluated for 1) media format; 2) timing in relation to surgery; 3) tone; 4) perspective; 5) content; and 6) subject reference. To analyze reciprocal engagement, the presence and activity of pediatric scoliosis surgeons at five major academic centers were subsequently analyzed on Instagram, Twitter (Twitter Inc., San Francisco, California), and LinkedIn (LinkedIn Corporation, Sunnyvale, California). Materials and methods A search of public Instagram profiles was performed over a one-year period from February 2016 to February 2017. Posts related to pediatric scoliosis were selected for analysis using a hashtag search with 30 related terms. A total of 982 posts were retrieved, with 669 posts meeting the inclusion criteria. Each post was then evaluated for timing, tone, perspective, and content using a categorical scoring system. An additional analysis was performed using academic orthopaedic hospitals' websites, in which the names of scoliosis surgeons were found and searched for on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Their profiles were analyzed for level and length of activity, number of followers or connections, and references to clinical practice. Results A total of 669 posts related to scoliosis were analyzed, the majority of which were temporally related to non-operative (74.7%) or post-operative (21.8%) settings. Patients (33.3%), friends and family (34.4%), and professional organizations (23.8%) were the most active contributors. The vast majority of posts were positive in nature (88.9 %) and highlighted the patient experience (79.2%), specifically related to bracing (33.1%), activities of daily living (31.7%), and surgical site or x-rays (25.5%). Of the social media sites analyzed, surgeons were found to have the highest presence on LinkedIn (55% have accounts with a mean of 175 connections) compared to Instagram (8%, 57 followers) and Twitter (33%, 61 followers). Surgeons were also noted to have more information regarding their practice, training, and clinical skills on LinkedIn. Conclusions An analysis of Instagram posts related to scoliosis showed that the majority were shared by patients in the non-operative period and overwhelmingly had a positive tone. The content of the posts focused mainly on brace wear, activities of daily living, and post-operative appearance or x-rays. This information provides further insight into what patients deem important regarding pediatric scoliosis care. Analysis of the social media presence of scoliosis surgeons showed that they have an underwhelming presence on Instagram and Twitter, but are more active on LinkedIn, a site geared more toward professional development and networking than other social media options.
Author Correction: Evolution of host adaptation in the Salmonella typhoid toxin

The original version of this Letter has been modified in the abstract and main text to better reflect the distribution of Neu5Ac sialoglycans in humans. Additionally, co-author Lingquan Deng's present address has been further clarified.
Control and Measurement of Photosynthetic Electron Transport in Vivo

We review the literature on the control of photosynthetic electron transport in intact plants, and the instrumentation currently available for exploring these reactions.
A sequential statistics approach to dynamic staffing under demand uncertainty

Service systems are highly dependent on staffing decisions to provide satisfactory quality of service. This paper tackles the problem of decision making under uncertainty pertaining to the source of demand. Regardless of the distribution of the demand, the proposed staffing rule reacts to the requested quality of service to determine the quality of the estimators of the unknown demand-process parameters, as well as making optimal staffing decisions. Theoretical results on the consistency and optimality of the proposed method is illustrated using sequential statistics approaches.
Cas4-Dependent Prespacer Processing Ensures High-Fidelity Programming of CRISPR Arrays.

Summary CRISPR-Cas immune systems integrate short segments of foreign DNA as spacers into the host CRISPR locus to provide molecular memory of infection. Cas4 proteins are widespread in CRISPR-Cas systems and are thought to participate in spacer acquisition, although their exact function remains unknown. Here we show that Bacillus halodurans type I-C Cas4 is required for efficient prespacer processing prior to Cas1-Cas2-mediated integration. Cas4 interacts tightly with the Cas1 integrase, forming a heterohexameric complex containing two Cas1 dimers and two Cas4 subunits. In the presence of Cas1 and Cas2, Cas4 processes double-stranded substrates with long 3′ overhangs through site-specific endonucleolytic cleavage. Cas4 recognizes PAM sequences within the prespacer and prevents integration of unprocessed prespacers, ensuring that only functional spacers will be integrated into the CRISPR array. Our results reveal the critical role of Cas4 in maintaining fidelity during CRISPR adaptation, providing a structural and mechanistic model for prespacer processing and integration.
New Neurons in the Dentate Gyrus Promote Reinstatement of Methamphetamine Seeking.

Addictive drugs effect the brain reward circuitry by altering functional plasticity of neurons governing the circuits. Relapse is an inherent problem in addicted subjects and is associated with neu...
Induced systemic resistance to Alternaria cassiae in sicklepod

Abstract Localized infection of the weed Cassia obtusifolia L. (sicklepod) by Alternaria cassiae Jurair and Khan led to the development of induced systemic resistance (ISR) in the host. Using plants in the two-leaf stage of growth, infection (induction) of the first compound leaf with a spore suspension (52800 spores ml−1) resulted in 43 ± 10% (n = 6) reduction in infection on the second leaf upon challenge 3 days after induction. The threshold number of lesions for optimum induction of ISR was 17 per 0·25 cm2. The degree of ISR expression was dependent on the induction dosage; full expression occurred within 24 h of induction but persisted for only about 9 days. ISR comparable to that achieved with an average of 52800 spores ml−1 was induced by salicylic acid and oxalic acid but not with the other chemicals tested. In addition to ISR, the sicklepod plants developed resistance to A. cassiae as a function of age, i.e., they exhibited an increasing gradient in resistance from top to bottom of the plant after the two-leaf stage of growth. The characteristics of ISR in sicklepod would not be expected to substantially limit the efficacy of A. cassiae as a bioherbicide.
4D Structural Dynamics

We highlight the progress made in the development of 4D structural dynamics in physical, chemical, and biological systems. The joint atomic-scale resolutions in space and time, and sensitivity reached, make it possible to determine complex transient structures and molecular assemblies in different phases. These applications include studies of isolated chemical reactions (molecular beams), interfaces, surfaces and nanocrystals, self-assembly, and 2D crystalline fatty-acid bilayers. With the recent development of 4D microscopy, we are now able, using timed, single-electron packets, to image nano-to-micro scale structures of materials and biological cells. The scope of phenomena is elucidated with prototypical examples.
4.02 – Introduction to Computer-Assisted Drug Design – Overview and Perspective for the Future

This review of computer-aided drug design has a historical emphasis, focusing on the genesis of novel concepts and interpretations of the interactions underlying molecular recognition in biological systems. Assumptions that oversimplify are gradually being eliminated as access to computational hardware becomes less restrictive, and a deeper appreciation of the dynamics of molecular interactions has been compelled by the experimental data. It is the authors’ view that molecular modeling has become sufficiently robust to be a standard tool in molecular biology. But like all tools, unless the user has a deep appreciation of their utility and limitations, abuses will continue to be commonplace. Computer-assisted drug design (CADD) continues to offer much promise for the future. Efforts to assimilate and mine much biochemical and structural information are critical for obtaining structure–activity relationships. Combining three-dimensional structural information with biochemical information has led to important advances, including the active-analog approach and three-dimensional quantitative structure–activity relationships (3D-QSAR). From these techniques, valuable information regarding the binding site can be deduced without explicitly knowing the structure of the site. This is particularly useful for membrane proteins, such as G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), that still prove difficult to crystallize. Advances in docking and molecular mechanics energy functions have led to improved protein-structure prediction, aiding in modeling pharmaceutical targets. Although docking is difficult, current methods of docking can lead to results deemed to be highly accurate in some cases. Peptidomimetic scaffolds derived for drug design have a great potential in protein engineering. These highly constrained scaffolds reduce entropy in the system, leading to smaller molecules that bind tighter to their targets. CADD has played an important role in combinatorial chemistry and also high-throughput screening. Utilizing computer technology is particularly important, given the large amount of information arising from these techniques combined with genome sequencing. In the future, computers will assist drug design efforts not only in predicting the binding mode of a small molecule and its binding affinity, but also how the drug will be absorbed and metabolized in the body as well as its potential toxicity. Perhaps, of even more importance, the insights and techniques developed in modeling and simulation of drug/receptor interactions will provide the foundation for advances in protein engineering and nanotechnology.
Quantifying the relative importance of experimental data points in parameter estimation

Ordinary differential equations (ODEs) are often used to understand biological processes. Since ODE-based models usually contain many unknown parameters, parameter estimation is an important step toward deeper understanding of the process. Parameter estimation is often formulated as a least squares optimization problem, where all experimental data points are considered as equally important. However, this equal-weight formulation ignores the possibility of existence of relative importance among different data points, and may lead to misleading parameter estimation results. Therefore, we propose to introduce weights to account for the relative importance of different data points when formulating the least squares optimization problem. Each weight is defined by the uncertainty of one data point given the other data points. If one data point can be accurately inferred given the other data, the uncertainty of this data point is low and the importance of this data point is low. Whereas, if inferring one data point from the other data is almost impossible, it contains a huge uncertainty and carries more information for estimating parameters. G1/S transition model with 6 parameters and 12 parameters, and MAPK module with 14 parameters were used to test the weighted formulation. In each case, evenly spaced experimental data points were used. Weights calculated in these models showed similar patterns: high weights for data points in dynamic regions and low weights for data points in flat regions. We developed a sampling algorithm to evaluate the weighted formulation, and demonstrated that the weighted formulation reduced the redundancy in the data. For G1/S transition model with 12 parameters, we examined unevenly spaced experimental data points, strategically sampled to have more measurement points where the weights were relatively high, and fewer measurement points where the weights were relatively low. This analysis showed that the proposed weights can be used for designing measurement time points. Giving a different weight to each data point according to its relative importance compared to other data points is an effective method for improving robustness of parameter estimation by reducing the redundancy in the experimental data.
Impact of outdoor air quality on the natural ventilation usage of commercial buildings in the US

Abstract Natural ventilation has emerged as a desirable feature of sustainable buildings given its potential positive impact on building energy performance and amenities for occupants. In some circumstances, natural ventilation can provide a higher ventilation rate compared to mechanical ventilation, thus improving the air quality of indoor space, resulting in lower indoor carbon dioxide and volatile organic compound concentrations. However, this increased ventilation rate also raises the issue of increased indoor pollutant concentration from outdoor sources, which has been proven to significantly affect occupant health. In this paper, we investigate the influence of three major outdoor air pollutants, PM2.5, PM10, and ozone, on natural ventilation usage across 12 major US cities and their corresponding climate zones utilizing the outdoor air pollutant records from the US Environmental Protection Agency. Firstly, a descriptive statistics study presents a general description of air pollutant records in these investigated cities and climate zones. Then two natural ventilation operation scenarios (considering outdoor air pollutants vs. not) are developed and compared to explicitly show the expected natural ventilation reduction in these areas. The investigation results indicate that the most polluted area for natural ventilation is Los Angeles (with a projected 70% reduction), followed by Chicago (approximately 40% reduction), and then Atlanta and San Francisco (20–30% reduction for each). The natural ventilation reduction caused by outdoor air pollutants ranges from 5% to 20% in all other tested cities. Among the three pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, and ozone) we investigated, the influence of PM2.5 consistently emerges as the most critical to consider, while the impact of PM10 is typically trivial. The influence of ozone is not obvious in most cases. Nevertheless, in certain cases, its influence is non-negligible when natural ventilation is utilized. This study aims to provide a general guideline for decision makers to consider the influence of outdoor air quality on natural ventilation usage when adopting natural ventilation in different US locations. The results also confirmed the outdoor air pollutants, especially PM2.5, as a significant factor to consider in the natural ventilation design to shield the occupant from excessive air pollutant exposure.
Trauma-Informed Care and Health Among LGBTQ Intimate Partner Violence Survivors.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and its health consequences occur among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals at rates equal to or higher than cisgender heterosexual in...
MINERAL CHEMISTRY AND PETROGRAPHY OF PASSIVE-MARGIN BASALT, SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Mineral chemistry and textures of Jurassic-Cretaceous basaltic rocks from the southeastern Brazil margin (coastline and offshore) depict the geochemical diversity of these rocks. For example: (1) some low-K basalts (N-and T-type MORB equivalents) have intergranular and subophitic textures (hypabyssal emplacement), while those with CFB-like compositions (high K and LREE) have granular, hyaloophitic, and plagioclase - and clinopyroxene-phyric textures compatible with subaerial and subaqueous emplacement of evolved basalt on rifted continental crust; (2) most diagnostic is Or in plagioclase, where An 60 Or O.8 and An 60 Or 2 compositions distinguish low-K basalt from CFB; (3) some samples arealtered and the positive correlation between Or and whole-rock K 2 0 enables estimating that seawater weathering increased K 2 0 by >1 wt%; (4) augite compositions also parallel whole-rock compositions, Fs correlating with FeO*/MgO, whereas pyroxene Ti-Al relationships distinguish N-type MORB from CFB. Phase compositions and textures corroborate the observation (Fedor & Vetter 1985) that CFB, N-type MORB, and basalt transitional between these types mark the change from continental to oceanic magmatism along the southeastern Brazil margin.
Paracrine Interaction of Cancer Stem Cell Populations Is Regulated by the Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype (SASP).

Dyskeratosis congenita is a telomere DNA damage syndrome characterized by defective telomere maintenance, bone marrow failure, and increased head and neck cancer risk. The Pot1b-/-;Terc+/- mouse exhibits some features of dyskeratosis congenita, but head and neck cancer was not reported in this model. To model the head and neck cancer phenotype, we created unique Pot1b- and p53-null-mutant models which allow genetic lineage tracing of two distinct stem cell populations. Loss of Pot1b expression depleted stem cells via ATR/Chk1/p53 signaling. Tumorigenesis was inhibited in Pot1b-/-;p53+/+ mice due to cellular senescence. Pot1b-/-;p53-/- tumors also exhibited senescence, but proliferated and metastasized with expansion of Lgr6+ stem cells indicative of senescence-associated secretory phenotype. Selective depletion of the small K15+ stem cell fraction resulted in reduction of Lgr6+ cells and inhibition of tumorigenesis via senescence. Gene expression studies revealed that K15+ cancer stem cells regulate Lgr6+ cancer stem cell expansion via chemokine signaling. Genetic ablation of the chemokine receptor Cxcr2 inhibited cancer stem cell expansion and tumorigenesis via senescence. The effects of chemokines were primarily mediated by PI3K signaling, which is a therapeutic target in head and neck cancer. IMPLICATIONS: Paracrine interactions of cancer stem cell populations impact therapeutic options and patient outcomes.
From Two-Time College Dropout to Full Professor: The Non-traditional Route to Teacher and Mentor

The journey to good pedagogy is often a twisted, difficult, and time-consuming path. And often, the pedagogical aspect of our discipline is the one graduate school tends to ignore, under the assumption that most students will land at an R1-type institution. The reality is very different, with teaching-oriented schools being the most likely career path for many prospective professors. This chapter provides an honest, personal account of that difficult pedagogical journey and offers some insight into how a professor might find success at a teaching-oriented institution using active learning methods, like case studies and simulations.
Using Online Simulation of Pediatric Musculoskeletal Cases to Evaluate How Knowledge of Costs Affects Diagnostic Workup.

Rising healthcare costs have emphasized the need to teach cost-conscious care in graduate medical education. To teach high-value care and diagnostic evaluation of pediatric musculoskeletal complaints to residents and rotating medical students through online cases. Six online cases were developed and tested at the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. Learners completed modules in one of two groups, those who saw itemized costs of diagnostic tests or those who did not. All learners completed a post-simulation survey. Measured outcomes included presumed diagnosis, cost of evaluation, tests ordered, and perceptions toward high-value care. Simulation outcomes were assessed using paired t-tests. Survey data was analyzed with Chi-squared tests. Outcomes separated by training year were analyzed using ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey test. Thirty-nine residents and medical students participated and were randomly assigned to complete the cases with costs (n = 19) or no costs (n = 20) displayed during workup. Overall, learners who saw costs spent less money on diagnostics ($1511.11 mean per learner versus $2311.35, p = 0.01). Arrival at the correct diagnosis was associated with lower costs in 3 of 6 cases. When compared to the no cost group, learners in the costs group reported feeling more knowledgeable about the price of diagnostic tests (p = 0.04) and were more likely to factor costs into their practice moving forward (p = 0.03). Third year or above residents demonstrated a statically significant increase in correctly diagnosed cases as opposed to medical students. Interventions that challenge learners to integrate costs into decision-making can potentially change future practice.
Mn 58 Isomers

A new 3.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.1-sec activity with a 6.1\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.3-MeV $\ensuremath{\beta}$ endpoint energy was assigned to an isomer of ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{58}$. The decay of the 65-sec ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{58}$ isomer was studied and a $\ensuremath{\beta}$-decay $Q$ value of 6.1\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.2 MeV determined.