cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
ER calcium and Alzheimer's disease: in a state of flux

The calcium ion (Ca(2+)) plays fundamental roles in orchestrating dynamic changes in the function and structure of nerve cell circuits in the brain. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER), an organelle that actively removes Ca(2+) from the cytoplasm, can release stored Ca(2+) through ER membrane receptor channels responsive either to the lipid messenger inositol trisphosphate (IP(3)) or to cytosolic Ca(2+). Emerging findings suggest that perturbed ER Ca(2+) homeostasis contributes to the dysfunction and degeneration of neurons that occurs in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Presenilin-1 (PS1) is an integral membrane protein in the ER; mutations in PS1 that cause early-onset inherited AD increase the pool of ER Ca(2+) available for release and also enhance Ca(2+) release through ER IP(3)- and ryanodine-sensitive channels. By enhancing Ca(2+) flux across the ER membrane, PS1 mutations may exaggerate Ca(2+) signaling in synaptic terminals and thereby render them vulnerable to dysfunction and degeneration in the settings of aging and amyloid accumulation in AD.
The Common Range and Forage Types of the Islands of Hawaii

On the Ground • The major range and forage types on the islands of Hawaii are principally naturalized plant communities with a steady-state disclimax, though there are more seldom-occurring naturalized and even less-often–occurring native historic types present. • In this article, I describe the characteristics of the six major range types using traditional Clements–Dyksterhuis range models for simplicity. My goal is to assist conservationists or professional agriculturists in making decisions on ranches and public lands of Hawaii.
Profiles of Everyday Executive Functioning in Young Children With Down Syndrome

We investigated executive functioning (EF) in children with Down syndrome (DS; n = 25) and typically developing (TD) children matched for mental age (MA; n = 23) using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool. We sought to (1) compare children with DS to a developmentally matched control group, and (2) to characterize the EF profile of children with DS. Across teacher and parent reports, significant deficits in working memory and planning were observed in the DS group. Parents, but not teachers, of children with DS also reported difficulties in inhibitory control relative to the comparison group. Results extend earlier findings regarding EF impairments in children with DS. The complementary role inhibitory control may play in this profile is discussed.
Properties and performance of the hierarchical hypercube

Interconnection networks play a crucial role in the performance of parallel systems. The paper introduces the hierarchical hypercube (HHC) interconnection topology, which is suitable for parallel systems with thousands of processors. An appealing property of this network is the low number of connections per processor which enhances the VLSI design and fabrication of the system. Other alluring features include symmetry and logarithmic diameter which imply easy and fast algorithms for communication. A wide class of problems, the Divide & Conquer class (D&Q), is easily and efficiently solvable on the HHC topology. The solution of a D&Q problem instance having up to k inputs, requires a time complexity of O(log/sub 2/ k). >
Carbon Sequestration in Agriculture: The U.S. Policy Context

emerging in Europe and in North America, and some of the early trades involve agricultural producers selling carbon sequestration services. In addition, the U.S. government may implement agricultural programs to meet goals for carbon emissions by paying producers to sequester carbon. These developments are a response to international concern about global warming and the growing scientific evidence that emissions of heat-trapping or greenhouse gases (GHGs) have resulted in climate change. Carbon dioxide is the most important GHG of the six included in the Kyoto Protocol, accounting for 80% of the GHGs emitted by developed countries. Official sources estimate that the
Planning for a Real-Time JPEG2000 Compression System

Since the initiation of JPEG in the mid-to-late 1980's, the JPEG standard has remained a viable solution for image compression in many applications. However, many modern applications seek significant improvements in image compression, particularly for compressed image representations at higher compression gains. Coupled with the growing interest in improving compression technology is the fact that bigger image sizes have become increasingly popular. In addition to the combined challenges of higher compression gains, large image sizes, and extremely long image sequences (e.g. in persistent surveillance durations consisting of hours, days, or months), many applications desire real-time or near real-time availability of compressed images for viewing and distribution. JPEG2000 is an often sought compression solution and is being increasingly adopted for future compression systems. However, for real-time compression systems one of the major challenges JPEG2000 presents is its very demanding computational intensity. It is this high computational intensity that mitigates much of the current interest in expanding JPEG2000's use in embedded and real-time applications. Planning for the implementation of a JPEG2000 system requires addressing all of the challenges listed above, particularly the computational needs. Fortunately, this intensive processing can be partitioned into concurrent processing modules that are suitable for FPGA implementation. This paper focuses on providing an outline of the major components of a JPEG2000 encoder and the requirements they impose for an example embedded application.
Functional implications of protein-protein interactions in icosahedral viruses

Biological processes often require that a single gene product participate in multiple types of molecular interactions. Viruses with quasiequivalent capsids provide an excellent paradigm for studying such phenomena because identical protein subunits are found in different structural environments. Differences in subunit joints may be controlled by protein segments, duplex or single-stranded RNA, metal ions, or some combination of these. Each of the virus groups examined display a distinctive mechanism for switching interface interactions, illustrating the magnitude of options that are likely to be found in other biological systems. In addition to determining capsid morphology, assembly controls the timing of autocatalytic maturation cleavage of the viral subunits that is required for infectivity in picorna-, noda-, and tetraviruses. The mechanism of assembly-dependent cleavage is conserved in noda- and tetraviruses, although the quaternary structures of the capsids are different as are the molecular switches that control subunit interfaces. The function of the cleavage in picorna-, noda-, and tetraviruses is probably to release polypeptides that participate in membrane translocation of RNA.
Area fill synthesis for uniform layout density

Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) and other manufacturing steps in very deep submicron very large scale integration have varying effects on device and interconnect features, depending on local characteristics of the layout. To improve manufacturability and performance predictability, the authors seek to make a layout uniform with respect to prescribed density criteria, by inserting "area fill" geometries into the layout. In this paper, they make the following contributions. First, the authors define the flat, hierarchical, and multiple-layer filling problems, along with a unified density model description. Secondly, for the flat filling problem, they summarize current linear programming approaches with two different objectives, i.e., the Min-Var and Min-Fill objectives. They then propose several new Monte Carlo-based filling methods with fast dynamic data structures. Thirdly, they give practical iterated methods for layout density control for CMP uniformity based on linear programming, Monte Carlo, and greedy algorithms. Fourthly, to address the large data volume and inherent lack of scalability of flat layout density control, the authors propose practical methods for hierarchical layout density control. These methods smoothly trade off runtime, solution quality, and output data volume. Finally, they extend the linear programming approaches and present new Monte Carlo-based methods for the multiple-layer filling problem. Comparisons with previous filling methods show the advantages of the new iterated Monte Carlo and iterated greedy methods for both flat and hierarchical layouts and for both density models (spatial density and effective density). The authors achieve near-optimal filling for flat layouts with respect to each of these objectives. Their experiments indicate that the hybrid hierarchical filling approach is efficient, scalable, accurate, and highly competitive with existing methods (e.g., linear programming-based techniques) for hierarchical layouts.
The Effect of Gravitational Compaction on the Structure of Sedimentary Rocks

Many oil field structures have been attributed either to lateral variation in the compressibility of sedimentary strata or to the settling of sediments over buried hills. So far few or no experimental data have been published as a basis for such theories. In recognition of this need, a study is made of the compressibility of clays and shales, and a table is obtained showing the relation of the porosity of shale to the overburden. The amount of closure due to the settling of mud or shale over a hill 100 feet high is then calculated, and the character of structures produced by vertical compaction is outlined. As a practical application of these quantitative data two areas in Kansas are considered. Finally, the porosity of argillaceous sediments is suggested as an index of p essure metamorphism.
Adolescent adherence to oral therapy for leukemia: A focus group study

This secondary qualitative analysis of extant focus group data was performed to develop an understanding of suboptimal adherence to 6-mercaptopurine therapy in adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Six participants, aged 16 to 23 years at the time of data collection, were interviewed about their adherence to oral maintenance chemotherapy during their treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The primary aim of the study was to understand the role of adolescent development in adolescents' perception of adherence to therapy. The secondary aim was to understand how factors other than development, including the features of the disease such as its chronic nature and family involvement, can affect treatment adherence to 6-mercaptopurine. Four broad themes emerged as critical elements in adolescent adherence to oral maintenance therapy: a desire for normalcy, egocentrism, concrete thinking, and parental involvement. Incorporation of these themes into clinical practice with adolescents may help increase adherence and improve clinical outcomes.
Intimate Partner Violence and the Childbearing Year Maternal and Infant Health Consequences

Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a significant public health problem with negative physical and mental health consequences. Pregnant women are not immune to IPV, and as many as 4% to 8% of all pregnant women are victims of partner violence. Among pregnant women, IPV has been associated with poor physical health outcomes such as increased sexually transmitted diseases, preterm labor, and low-birth-weight infants. This article focuses on the physical health consequences of IPV for mothers and their infants. The purpose of this review is therefore to examine timely research ranging from 2001 to 2006 on IPV during pregnancy, the morbidity and mortality risks for mothers and their infants, and the association between IPV and perinatal health disparities. It will also identify gaps in the published empirical literature and make recommendations for practice, policy, and research.
THE RELATION OF ANTIBODY TO THE RATE OF DISAPPEARANCE OF CIRCULATING ANTIGEN.

1. In rabbits previously immunized to horse serum the rate of disappearance of horse serum after reinjection is somewhat more rapid than in control animals not previously immunized. But when the average duration of the persistence of antigen in ten previously immunized rabbits is compared with the average duration of persistence in ten normal controls, the difference is not impressive. This holds true for animals previously immunized by repeated injections but having no free circulating antibody, as well as for animals having a high titer of antibody at the time of reinjection. The same animal may dispose of circulating antigen as rapidly at a time when the blood contains no precipitin as when there is a high titer of circulating precipitin. 2. The intravenous injection of large amounts of potent antihorse rabbit serum immediately after an injection of horse serum does not materially accelerate the rate of disappearance of the horse serum from the circulation. While the number of days that circulating antigen was demonstrable in two experiments of this type was less than the average of controls the duration of persistence was within the limits of variation of normal controls. 3. Under the condition of the experiments intravascular union of antigen and antibody is an unimportant factor in the mechanism for disposal of antigen. By exclusion it therefore seems probable that the rate of disappearance of antigen is largely dependent upon cell avidity for the antigen. 4. Rabbits show a wide range of individual variation in the rapidity with which foreign serum is appropriated by the tissue cells, and in their ability to form precipitins. There does not appear to be any close relation between the amount of precipitin set free in the circulation and the rate of disappearance of precipitinogen. 5. The type of interrelation between precipitin and precipitinogen—demonstrable not infrequently in patients with serum disease—in which the precipitinogen diminishes rapidly when the precipitin rises to the crest of its curve is sometimes reproduced in rabbits. The type of curve which has been observed in patients with little or no serum disease in which the precipitinogen persists steadily in the circulation for many weeks and little or no antibody is formed, has not been observed in the present series of rabbits.
LIM-SPICE for the analysis of power distribution networks

This paper presents the implementation of a new LIM-SPICE simulator. The latency insertion method (LIM) is improved and integrated into SPICE as an accelerating option. Since LIM has linear computational complexity and is substantially faster than SPICE, the new LIM-SPICE simulator can simulate large linear networks with substantially higher speed within the SPICE simulation framework. In addition, mutual inductance between branches are handled by utilizing a K matrix formulation.
Modeling Hedonic Portfolio Products: A Joint Segmentation Analysis of Music Compact Disc Sales:

Abstract The authors present a framework that enables researchers to differentiate better among a wide array of hedonic products. Specifically, the authors define and discuss characteristics of hedonic portfolio products and offer a joint segmentation model that is appropriate for understanding the sales dynamics of this class of products. The model offered in this article can accommodate a large degree of product heterogeneity through product clusters and model covariates. The basic premise is that several generic consumer segments exist and remain fixed across all albums, and each album (or each cluster of similar albums) can be viewed as drawing different proportions from each of these underlying segments. The authors also allow explanatory variables to have a differential impact on both components of the model—that is, accelerating purchase rates within a consumer segment and changing the proportions drawn from each consumer segment by each product cluster—thereby expanding or contracting the potentia...
The Sharia Problem with Sharia Legislation

A much-cited 2013 Pew poll reported that a strong majority of Muslims around the world favor making sharia the “official law of the land” in their countries. This was alarming news for many, especially when followed by further statistics supporting things like hand amputation and stoning as criminal punishment. But does a Muslim desire for sharia necessarily mean “sharia legislation”? Does public support for sharia have to mean Muslim theocracy? The answer is “yes” if sharia is defined as scripturally derived religious legal doctrine. But that is a very narrow definition of religious law, and it is an especially inappropriate way to understand sharia. In this article, I will explain why a country that “follows sharia” need not — indeed, should not — be one that “legislates sharia.” I will also show how an appreciation of this distinction — among Muslims as well as non-Muslims — will open up new solutions to the apparently intractable and politicized conflicts between Islamism and secularism in many Muslim majority countries today.Specifically, I will explain why sharia is best understood as an Islamic rule of law, rather than just the collections of Islamic doctrinal rules known as fiqh. Looking at pre-modern Islamic jurisprudence and Muslim history, I show that sharia rule of law systems were made up of two branches: 1) fiqh rules extrapolated from scripture by religious legal scholars articulating right conduct for Muslims, and 2) siyasa laws created by temporal rulers, legitimated on service of the public good. The role of siyasa as the second of these two branches is especially important to understanding sharia as a rule of law system, but unfortunately is virtually absent in contemporary discourses. As a result, sharia-minded Muslims tend to advocate theocratic systems of government. That is, without an appreciation of the importance of how and why siyasa is part of sharia, average Muslims presume that sharia corresponds only to the doctrinal rules of fiqh, thus leading them to believe that state legislation of fiqh rules is the only way their government can follow sharia. In short, they understand sharia as a collection of rules rather than as a rule of law. This then leads to public support of sharia legislation in politics and in polls. The result is theocracy — government articulating and enforcing religious law upon its people. In opposition to this trend, I will show why “sharia legislation” efforts around the world are misguided attempts by Muslims to make their governments more Islamic. Ironically, these sharia legislation efforts operate from a European paradigm of the nation-state rather than pre-colonial Muslim norms of law and government, and they stand in the way of deeper, more creative and authentic thinking about Islamic constitutionalism in the modern world.
Fieldwork and the Political

The choice of fieldwork is central to the clinical enterprise and intensely political. As Chantal Mouffe argues, “political questions are not mere technical issues to be solved by experts. Properly political questions always involve decisions which require us to make a choice between conflicting alternatives.” The clinician makes decisions about how to distribute scarce resources to people with limited access to those resources. Describing one’s intake criteria as “apolitical,” providing “direct service,” exclusively focused on “small cases,” or triaged strictly by income or wealth are political choices that generate opportunity costs. Though all of these criteria reflect political choices made by clinicians, they are often described in such a way as to elide larger social conflicts, above and beyond the specific contexts of the individual case. This type of description can protect clinics from hostile institutional forces and attract students with a broad range of ideological commitments. However, it also obscures the core social conflicts underlying the life conditions of disadvantaged clients. The challenge then lies in figuring out how to keep “the political”- alternative conceptions of society as articulated by those excluded from the established social structure - at the surface in clinical legal education. In this essay, I briefly describe two types of fieldwork that explicitly facilitate the engagement of clinical faculty, students, and law schools with the political: (1) lawyering in collaboration with social movements; and (2) lawyering on behalf of prisoners and detainees in the United States. The practice areas that I discuss in this essay suggest that there is a modest degree of autonomy in clinical fieldwork selection. This autonomy - which we may underestimate or diminish - facilitates the engagement of clinical faculty, law students, and law schools with the political.
Transcatheter Versus Surgical Closure of Atrial Septal Defects.

The study by Ooi et al. [(1)][1] in this issue of JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions attempts to compare the “value” (defined as outcomes relative to cost) of transcatheter versus surgical closure of atrial septal defects (ASD). They used the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database
Antibodies to DNA.

Antibodies that recognize specific conformational variations of DNA structure provide sensitive reagents for testing the extent to which such conformational heterogeneity occurs in nature. A most dramatic recent example has been the development and application of antibodies to left-handed Z-DNA. They provided the first identification of Z-DNA in fixed nuclei and chromosomes, and of DNA sequences that form Z-DNA under the influence of supercoiling. Antibodies have also been induced by chemically modified DNA and by synthetic polydeoxyribonucleotides that differ from the average B-DNA structure. These antibodies recognize only the features that differ from native DNA. In most experiments, native DNA itself is not immunogenic. Antibodies that do react with native DNA occur in sera of patients with autoimmune disease, but even monoclonal anti-DNA autoantibodies usually react with other polynucleotides as well. Anti-DNA antibodies, especially those of monoclonal origin, provide a model for the study of protein-nucleic acid recognition.
Tim McGirk, Parrhesiastic Rhetoric, and Mass-Mediated Representations of Haditha

This essay provides readers with a critical analysis of some of journalistic parrhesiastic framings of the Haditha “incident.” On November 19, 2005, a squad of Marines killed some 24 Iraqis in a town in the Anbar region in Iraq, and for several months many members of the press tried to compare this incident to the My Lai Massacre. The essay highlights some of the parrhesiastic strategies that were used by Tim McGirk and other critics of the Bush administration who tried to argue that Haditha may have truthfully been a revengeful “massacre” that was perpetrated by enraged Marines. These critics may have hoped that the work by Tim McGirk of Time Magazine would signal the beginning of the end of this Iraqi war, but the author argues that Haditha was recontextualized and domesticated as either lawfare or as a counterinsurgency narrative.
THE PERFORMANCE EFFECTS OF COLOR-CONTRASTING SHADOWS ON LAPAROSCOPIC SURGERY

The viewing limitations inherent in laparoscopic surgery, severely limit depth perception compared to open surgery, sometimes leading to internal trauma caused by the laparoscopic instruments. Recently, the effects of shadows in laparoscopy have been studied and have shown promising results. Previous studies have found that the addition of shadows can improve performance in tasks under laparoscopic condition. Aiming to further improve depth perception in laparoscopic surgery, this study tested the effect of color-contrasting shadows on performance in a depth perception-dependent laparoscopic task. It was hypothesized that the added contrast of colored shadows should make them easier to see on the dark red backgrounds found in the body, thus improving performance. Twenty-four novice participants were included in the study, which compared performance under no shadows, black shadows, and colored shadows on two differently colored backgrounds. In all conditions, the task was performed on an oscillating platform. Results from this study showed that the presence both the colored shadows and the black shadows improved performance compared to no shadows, but the colored shadows did not provide a significant advantage over black shadows.
Quantitative Determinations of the Temperature and pH Stability of Extracellular Amylase Obtained from Mucor Pusillus

(1982). Quantitative Determinations of the Temperature and pH Stability of Extracellular Amylase Obtained from Mucor Pusillus. Mycologia: Vol. 74, No. 5, pp. 847-850.
Estradiol attenuation of beta-amyloid-induced toxicity: a comparison o.

17β-estradiol (βE2) has been shown to attenuate the toxicity of β-amyloid peptides (Aβ) in neuronal cultures with the effective concentration of βE2 ranging from low nM to high μM. This study compares the effective neuroprotective concentration of βE2 against both Aβ-mediated toxicity in a human neuroblastoma cell line, SK-N-SH using cellular reduction of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) as an endpoint to the effective βE2 concentration obtained using a calcein acetoxymethyl ester (calcein AM) viability assay. The minimum βE2 concentration required for protection varied 1000-fold between the two viability assays with 1 nM βE2 conferring significant protection in the calcein AM assay but 1 μM βE2 required for significant protection in the MTT assay. Interestingly, the maximal inhibition of MTT reduction occured at sub-toxic Aβ concentrations and did not correlate with other markers of cellular viability including calcein fluorescence, dye exclusion (propidium iodide or trypan blue), cellular ATP levels, or reduction of another tetrazolium dye, 5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl)-3-(4-sulfophenyl) tetrazolium (MTS). By contrast, there was no difference between the MTT and calcein AM assays with respect to H2O2 toxicity or the neuroprotective effectiveness of 10 nM βE2 against H2 2 toxicity. These results indicate that low concentrations of βE2 can attenuate Aβ and H2O2 toxicity in a human neuroblastoma cell line. Further, these results suggest that the MTT assay is not an appropriate assay for the determination of βE2-mediated attenuation of Aβ toxicity.
The evolution of the self-psychological approach to depression

This paper traces the evolution of the self-psychological view of depression from its roots in classical psychoanalytic theory and technique. Self psychology differs significantly from classical psychoanalysis in its theoretical understanding and its technical handling of the transferences and aggressive tendencies of depressed patients in psychotherapy or psychoanalysis.
Environmental Performance or Productivity Loss

The principle of sustainable growth and development has influenced much of the environmental policies that have come into existence in the last three decades in the USA. Since the establishment of the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970, the regulations put in place have been increasingly stringent on the environmental standards they set over time. For instance, the Clean Air Act introduced in 1963 and the Clean Water Act founded in 1948 have been amended multiple times, each time tightening the control on the type and amount of emission allowed into the environment. This has no doubt accrued much benefit to the society within the USA in the form of reduced morbidity, increased recreational opportunity, cleaner living environment, increased ecosystem vitality, and possible increased land values (Palmer et al. 1995). Such outcomes are essential for an environmentally sustainable future and are also the cornerstone of a society that holds itself accountable to future generations. However, at the same time concerns have also been raised as to whether these benefits are worth the cost of such regulations. In addition to the direct costs of pollution abatement, proponents of this view have blamed stifled economic growth, decline of labor and capital productivity, as well as loss of jobs on such increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
Targeted mRNA Decay by RNA Binding Protein AUF1 Regulates Adult Muscle Stem Cell Fate, Promoting Skeletal Muscle Integrity

Following skeletal muscle injury, muscle stem cells (satellite cells) are activated, proliferate, and differentiate to form myofibers. We show that mRNA-decay protein AUF1 regulates satellite cell function through targeted degradation of specific mRNAs containing 3' AU-rich elements (AREs). auf1(-/-) mice undergo accelerated skeletal muscle wasting with age and impaired skeletal muscle repair following injury. Satellite cell mRNA analysis and regeneration studies demonstrate that auf1(-/-) satellite cell self-renewal is impaired due to increased stability and overexpression of ARE-mRNAs, including cell-autonomous overexpression of matrix metalloprotease MMP9. Secreted MMP9 degrades the skeletal muscle matrix, preventing satellite-cell-mediated regeneration and return to quiescence. Blocking MMP9 activity in auf1(-/-) mice restores skeletal muscle repair and maintenance of the satellite cell population. Control of ARE-mRNA decay by AUF1 represents a mechanism for adult stem cell regulation and is implicated in human skeletal muscle wasting diseases.
Kissinger’s Global Strategy: a Triangular Relationship?

Indeed, Kissinger never explicitly outlined his global strategy — to the delight of his critics — but this did not necessarily indicate that he did not have one. Here it will be argued that Kissinger’s policies with respect to major issues — SALT, rapprochement with the PRC, economic detente, and the Vietnam negotiations — did imply some major premises about the emerging international system and about his assumptions concerning how to shape it. These policies (and the implicit assumptions) approximated rather closely to the guidelines for statecraft that Kissinger had articulated in A World Restored, as distinct from his writings on military strategy and foreign policy. As Seyom Brown points out, it was ‘Kissinger’s reluctance to fully share the premises of his actions with his domestic and international audience’ that made his policies appear ‘more as a brilliantly executed series of improvisations than as a “mosaic” [one of Kissinger’s favourite terms] in which each of the parts is integral to the whole conception’.2 But the best improvisations emanate from a concept underneath the apparent spontaneity, and this was in fact the case with Kissinger’s most important policies.3
A Global Green New Deal: Beyond a green economic recovery

Most of this book has been concerned with articulating a vision for the present world economic recovery from the worst global recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The premise of this vision is that the right mix of policy actions can stimulate recovery and at the same time improve the sustainability of the world economy. If these actions are adopted, over the next few years they will create millions of jobs, improve the livelihoods of the world's poor and channel investments into dynamic economic sectors. Such a timely mix of policies can be referred to collectively as a Global Green New Deal. The previous chapters have aimed to show how a GGND is critical to the lasting success of a world economic recovery. Reviving growth, ensuring financial stability and creating jobs should be essential objectives, but unless new policy initiatives also address other global challenges, such as reducing carbon dependency, protecting ecosystems and water resources and alleviating poverty, their impact on averting future crises will be short-lived. Without such progress, restarting the world economy today will do little to address the imminent threats posed by climate change, energy insecurity, growing freshwater scarcity, deteriorating ecosystems and, above all, worsening global poverty. Rather, it is necessary to reduce carbon dependency and ecological scarcity not just because of environmental concerns but because this is the correct and only way to revitalize the economy on a genuinely sustainable basis.
An Overview of Broadband CDMA

Broadband code division multiple access (BCDMA) refers to a technique which uses 10 MHz of bandwidth in the cellular frequency band to overlay the existing AMPS system with a CDMA network of users. In this paper, we provide an overview of this overlay, and in particular demonstrate that the interference between the two sets of users can be kept sufficiently small so that significant increases in capacity are achievable.
Self-Association and Conformational Stability of NAMPT Protein

Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT), also known as Visfatin and Pre B-cell colony enhancing factor (PBEF), is a rate-limiting enzyme in the salvage pathway required for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) biosynthesis. It is a highly conserved 52-kDa protein, found in living species from bacteria to humans [1]. The protein serves as a cytokine and is involved in cellular regulation influencing cancer, ischemia, obesity, and type-II diabetes [2, 3]. Despite being involved in many regulatory pathways, there is a paucity of information concerning the function of NAMPT, due to the limitations of in vivo assays, and lack of expression systems for the protein. Here, we successfully expressed the NAMPT protein using the pET-SUMO expression vector in E.coli strain SHuffle containing a hexa-His tag for protein purification. Activity assays demonstrated functionality of the protein. Moreover, initial biophysical characterization of the protein using circular dichroism revealed secondary structural elements consistent with crystallographic data. Dynamic light scattering showed the protein exists as large oligomeric units potentially involved in the NAMPT signal amplification pathway. Hydropathy analysis indicated possible hydrophobic patches on the protein surface that explains the native oligomeric state. Most striking, we discovered that NAMPT can be solubilized in n-dodecyl-β-D-maltopyranoside detergent in monomeric form. These findings open opportunities for further structural and functional investigations. Presently we are optimizing conditions for NMR experiments on NAMPT protein. These methods [4] are complementary to X-ray crystallography, and provide valuable information on the structure and dynamics, offering an important tool for understanding biological functioning.[1] T. Wang et al. (2006) Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol 13, 661.[2] S. M. Camp et al. (2015) Sci. Rep. 5, 13135.[3] A. Fukuhara et al. (2005) Science 307, 426.[4] T. R. Molugu et al. (2016) Chem. Rev. (in press).
Beverage Plant Sanitation

Most soils found in beverage plants are high in sugar content, water soluble, and relatively easy to remove. However, control of raw materials is essential to ensure a method of detoxifying a finished product that is contaminated. Bacteria of greatest significance in breweries are non-sporeformers. Spray cleaning is most effective, through the incorporation of a properly blended, low foaming cleaning compound with specific cleaning properties for the soil that exists. Sanitizers such as chlorine, iodine, or an acid anionic surfactant are recommended for the final rinse in fermenters, cold wort lines, and coolers.
Reduced Acute Care Costs With the ERAS® Minimally Invasive Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion Compared With Conventional Minimally Invasive Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion.

BACKGROUND Enhancing Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) programs have been widely adopted throughout the world, but not in spinal surgery. In this report, we review the implementation of a "fast track" surgery for lumbar fusion and its effect on acute care hospitalization costs. OBJECTIVE To determine if a "fast track" surgery methodology results in acute care cost savings. METHODS Thirty-eight consecutive ERAS patients were compared with patients undergoing conventional minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion. Differences between these groups included the use of endoscopic decompression, injections of liposomal bupivacaine, and performing the surgery under sedation in the ERAS® group. RESULTS Patients had similar medical comorbidities (2.02 vs 2 for ERAS® and comparator groups, respectively; P = .458). Body mass index was similar (26.5 vs 27.0; P = .329). ERAS® patients were older (65 vs 59 yr, P = .031). Both groups had excellent clinical results with an improvement of 23% and 24%, respectively. Intraoperative blood loss was less (68 ± 31 cc vs 231 ± 73, P < 0.001). Length of stay was also less with ERAS® surgery, at a mean of 1.23 ± 0.8 d vs 3.9 ± 1.1 d (P = 0.009). When comparing ERAS® surgery to standard minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion, the total cost for the acute care hospitalization was $19 212 vs $22 656, respectively (P < 0.001). This reflected an average of $3444 in savings, which was a 15.2% reduction. CONCLUSION ERAS® programs for spinal fusion surgery have the potential to reduce the costs of acute care. This is made possible by leveraging less invasive interventions to minimize soft tissue damage.
Visualization of high dimensional image features for classification

In image classification tasks, the image is rarely represented as only a collection of raw pixels. Myriad alternative representations, from Gaussian kernels to bags-of-words to layers of a convolutional neural network, have been proposed both to decrease the dimensionality of the task and, more importantly, to move into a space which better facilitates classification. This work explores several methods for evaluating the suitability of the high-dimensional image representations produced by the layers of a convolutional neural network. Quantitative methods are considered along with visualization techniques. These visualizations and metrics aid in understanding what classifiers might be better suited to a given dataset. We demonstrate these methods on the MNIST handwritten digit dataset and compare the results with accuracies obtained from classifiers.
Pathologic study of early manifestations of polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy and pathogenesis of choroidal neo-vascularization.

Purpose To describe the histopathologic features of an early case of presumably bilateral polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) in two eyes obtained at autopsy from a patient with no prior ocular therapy.
Phosphorus export from artificially drained fields across the Eastern Corn Belt

Abstract Field observations that quantify agricultural phosphorus (P) losses are critical for the development of P reduction strategies across the Eastern Corn Belt region of North America. Within this region, surface water bodies including Lake Erie are sensitive to non-point P loadings. It is therefore imperative to quantify the impact of agricultural crop production on surface and subsurface water quality. This study characterized discharge, P concentrations, and P loads in surface runoff and subsurface drainage from 38 edge-of-field research sites in Ohio. Over the four-year study period, 31 ± 16% (mean ± one standard deviation) of annual precipitation became subsurface discharge while 7 ± 8% became surface discharge. Subsurface discharge accounted for 81 ± 23% of annual discharge, 71 ± 26% of annual dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) load, and 69 ± 27% of annual total phosphorus (TP) load. A P balance was also developed using management and loading data from the study sites. Under prevailing management practices, P removal (i.e., surface losses, subsurface losses, crop uptake) was greater than P input (i.e., atmospheric deposition, fertilizer application) on 60% of fields. Even so, further reduction of edge-of-field P losses will likely be necessary to meet watershed-scale P load recommendations. Findings suggest that balancing P inputs with crop uptake may not be sufficient to reduce edge-of-field losses due to a combination of legacy P and high-intensity rainfall events. Implementation of management practices targeting P-source will be needed in conjunction with practices at the edge-of-field targeting P-transport in order to meet recommended P loading targets in the Eastern Corn Belt region.
The Relevance of Theologies for Religious Experiencing

The relevance of theologies for religious experience is illustrated in three content areas in the empirical psychology of religion: (a) projection theories of religious experience; (b) images-of-God research; and (c) identity theories of mystical experience. In each area arguments are made to indicate the relevance of theologies for empirical research.
A Robust Data-Driven Koopman Kalman Filter for Power Systems Dynamic State Estimation

This paper develops a robust generalized maximum-likelihood Koopman operator-based Kalman filter (GM-KKF) to estimate the rotor angle and speed of synchronous generators. The approach is data driven and model independent. Its design phase is carried out offline and requires estimates of the synchronous generators’ rotor angle and speed, along with active and reactive power at the generators’ terminal; in real-time operation, only measurements of the rotor speed, active, and reactive power are used. We first investigate the probability distribution of the transformed dynamic states by means of Q–Q plots and verify that the states of the GM-KKF approximately follow a Student's t -distribution with 20 degrees of freedom when the initial state vector is normally distributed. Under this assumption, our filter presents high statistical efficiency. Numerical simulations carried out on the IEEE 39-bus test system reveal that the GM-KKF has a faster convergence rate than the non-robust Koopman operator-based Kalman filter thanks to the adoption of a batch-mode regression formulation. They also show that the computing time of the GM-KKF is roughly reduced by one-third as compared to the one taken by our previously developed robust GM-extended Kalman filter.
The Warren Court, Legalism and Democracy: Sketch for a Critique in a Style Learned from Morton Horwitz

Morton Horwitz's Transformation books developed a critical approach that elaborates the underlying premises of legal doctrine and compares them to suppressed or ignored alternative perspectives. However, Horwitz's Warren Court book is largely an appreciation of the Court's doctrine that accepts at face value its underlying premises and the judges' claim to vindicate democratic values. In this essay, I speculate on what a Transformation-style critique of the Warren Court might look like and suggest that the Court is vulnerable to criticisms analogous to those the Transformation books make of earlier doctrine. I suggest that book ignores an alternative perspective on social justice that emerged clearly after the Warren Court era but was conceptually available during it.
Bone island (enostosis): current concept — a review

An enostosis or bone island represents a focus of mature compact (cortical) bone within the cancellous bone (spongiosa). Thought by some to be a tumor-like condition and by others a hamartoma, this benign lesion is probably congenital or developmental in origin and reflects failure of resorption during endochondral ossification. A bone island can be virtually diagnosed based on its characteristic clinical and radiologic features. Typically asymptomatic, the lesion is usually an incidental finding, with a preference for the pelvis, femur, and other long bones, although it may be found anywhere in the skeleton, including the spine. Plain radiography reveals a homogeneously dense, sclerotic focus in the cancellous bone with distinctive radiating bony streaks (“thorny radiation”) that blend with the trabeculae of the host bone, creating a feathered or brush-like border. On CT scan, a bone island appears as a low-attenuation focus, and on MRI sequences it shows low signal intensity like cortical bone. A distinguishing feature of bone islands is that they are usually “cold” on skeletal scintigraphy. Thus, bone scan has been and continues to be the means of differentiating bone islands from the more aggressive entities. However, reports of histologically confirmed bone islands that were scintigraphically active have raised a note of caution about relying on this modality in the differential consideration of lesions otherwise characteristic of bone islands. Guides to the correct diagnosis should be looked for in the individual clinical situation and in the morphologic features of the lesion on plain radiography, CT, and MRI, without regard to the lesion's activity on bone scan. If such a lesion, however, is symptomatic and “hot” on scintigraphy, it demands close observation with follow-up imaging studies.
Mindfulness Techniques to Promote Culturally Appropriate Engagement

Attention to a client’s culture is at the core of counseling services. Working within a client’s values and beliefs must be a lifelong commitment and not restricted to training alone, as cultural competence is a journey and not a destination. Two distinct paradigms available for training are the Multicultural Counseling Competence Model and the Cultural Humility Model. These two models provide structure for working within a client’s culture. The authors propose the integration of mindfulness techniques into classroom training activities to move beyond superficial application and into ownership of culturally appropriate engagement.
Robust Temperature and Humidity Dependent Electrical Package Material Characterization

Increasing high speed data rates for digital signaling and emerging technologies such as 5G have expanded the frequency range of interest for package dielectric materials characterization and generated interest in characterization over use conditions such as temperature and humidity. In this paper, a robust dielectric material characterization metrology with high repeatability under different temperature and humidity conditions is presented. Temperature and humidity dependent interpolation of material properties based on measured data is also presented and shown to provide good estimates for environmental conditions not in the original data set.
The Moderating Role of Parents' Dysfunctional Sleep-Related Beliefs Among Associations Between Adolescents' Pre-Bedtime Conflict, Sleep Quality, and Their Mental Health.

Study Objectives:The current study's aim was to examine the indirect effect of parent-child pre-bedtime arguing about the bedtime process on adolescents' symptoms of anxiety and depression via the ...
Advancing in the Larger Scope of Your Field and Community

This chapter focuses on the next stages of what you can do in your professional societies. It is built on the foundation from chapter “ Your Scientific Community,” in which we discussed benefits and avenues to get involved in your professional societies and ways to stretch your skill sets as a manuscript and grant reviewer. This chapter will talk about next steps – ways to further your involvement, seek leadership roles, and expand the groups with which you interact to include organizations such as federal agencies.
Nonrestorative Management of Cavitated and Noncavitated Caries Lesions.

The objective of this article is to review evidence-based strategies available for the nonrestorative management of caries lesions, both cavitated and noncavitated. The goal is to help clinicians make appropriate decisions regarding nonrestorative management of caries lesions. In addition, in the decision-making process, clinicians must consider thresholds for restorative and nonrestorative care and strategies for nonrestorative management that are supported by best available evidence. It is important that this information be considered taking into account a provider's clinical expertise and a patient's treatment needs and preferences, in order to maintain health and preserve tooth structure.