cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Death of Cinna the Poet

In an essay entitled ‘Cinna the Poet’ published in 1974, T. P. Wiseman forcefully countered the arguments of Monroe E. Deutsch and others against the identification of the ‘neoteric’ poet Cinna with the tribune Gaius Helvius Cinna, who after Caesar's funeral was torn to pieces by an enraged mob, mistaken by it for the praetor Lucius Cornelius Cinna, who had applauded Caesar's murder. The identification of the poet with the tribune is supported by Plutarch, Brutus 20.4, where the murdered tribune is called a ποιητικ⋯ς ⋯ν⋯ρ. As Wiseman says, ‘there are six other ancient accounts of the murder, drawn from a source or sources unknown; five of them call the victim a tribune of the plebs , and none of them says he was a poet. Impressed by this, many scholars have thought that the victim was not in fact the poet Helvius Cinna, and M. E. Deutsch suggested in 1925 that either (i) the phrase in the Brutus describing him as a poet is a gloss, or (ii) “the tribune also dabbled in verse but was not the famous poet”.’ Wiseman's refutation of the various arguments of Deutsch and his followers against the identity of the poet and the tribune seems to me quite cogent, but the debate shows no sign of having been brought to a close: G. V. Sumner concludes his review of Wiseman's essay with an argument that the tribune was probably somewhat younger than the poet, and the suggestion that the tribune may have been ‘the adoptive , and hence homonymous, son of the poet’.
Sorghum root growth as influenced by soil physical properties

Abstract Variations in the plant growth media were achieved by combining kaolinite clay (<lμm esd.), silt (2–50μm esd.) and sand (100–250 μm esd.) in various ratios. Peds of different sizes were separated from an Okolona clay soil and used as a growth media. A layer (3 cm thickness) of the sand, silt or clay and their combinations were intercalated between sandy loam soil material in a lucite coated cardboard carton. After 21 days the plants were harvested and analyzed for a number of growth parameters and related to the physical and micromorphology of the central control layer. Germination and emergence of sorghum seed were delayed in the finer aggregates. An increase in aggregate size increased the root elongation. An examination of thin sections showed that most of the roots in the finer aggregates were grown in interpedal regions whereas in the larger aggregates roots were found in both the intrapedal as well as interpedal regions. An increase in clay content of the central layer reduced the root grow...
A novel double fluorescent transgenic mouse model for lineage tracing of circulating progenitor cells in vasculogenesis

RESULTS: DDC-injured mice exhibited progressive ductular proliferation and periportal expansion. Fgf10 and Fgfr1b gene expression were significantly increased 6and 10-fold, respectively. Immunostaining demonstrated increased periportal cellular proliferation (PCNA), FGFR1 expression, and nuclear localizaton of NOTCH1 intracellular domain (NICD, a marker of Notch activation). Inhibition of FGF signaling led to a reduction in the periportal cellularity (27%, p 0.05), FGF activation (20%), and NICD nuclear localization.
Risk assessment in regulatory policy making for human and veterinary public health

Risk assessment is the method of systematically identifying and assessing factors that influence the probability and consequences of a negative event occurring. One responsibility of veterinary medicine is to protect animal and human health. Food animal production uses antibiotics to enhance production. Regulators evaluate new production technology to ensure animal safety and safe, edible products and to make public policy decisions by assessing risks/benefits. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Veterinary Medicine's (CVM's) first risk assessment addressed the potential human health impact of campylobacter effects associated with the use of fluoroquinolines in food-producing animals. CVM used the Monte Carlo method to estimate risk by probability distributions that reflect the uncertainty and variability in the data used for the assessment. Enterococci faecium is a species more likely to be resistant to antibiotics of last resort. Effective control of multidrug-resistant enterococci will require a better understanding of the transfer of E. faecium from animals to humans and the interaction between E. faecium, the hospital environment, and humans; prudent antibiotic use; better contact isolation in hospitals; and better surveillance. CVM will model these factors in a second, more complex risk assessment designed to examine the indirect transfer of resistance from animals to humans. Use of risk assessments allows researchers, the industry, regulatory authorities, and educators to make better policy decisions regarding antimicrobial use in food animals and humans and the development of resistance. Today the question of whether the use of antimicrobials for growth enhancement in food animals should or should not be terminated for the benefit of human health remains unresolved.
Longevity of Bolbophorus damnificus Infections in Channel Catfish

Abstract The digenean Bolbophorus damnificus infects commercial channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus, causing mortality, lower feed consumption, and reduced growth in surviving fish. The purpose of this study was to determine the length of time for which B. damnificus prodiplostomulum metacercariae (juvenile trematode stage that infects fish) would remain viable (parasite appearing to be intact or exhibiting movement) in channel catfish. Fish (n = 210) were infected with molecularly confirmed B. damnificus cercariae harvested from naturally infected marsh rams-horn snails Planorbella trivolvis. During the first sampling (at 20 d postinfection), 8.3 ± 3.6 metacercariae/fish (mean ± SD) were found in the host muscle and visceral organs. The channel catfish were then acclimated to a water temperature of either 18°C or 28°C. After 11 months, 6.8 ± 3.5 and 5.9 ± 3.0 metacercariae/fish were found in groups held at 18°C and 28°C, respectively. The mean number of parasites per fish did not significantly differ bet...
Highly linear integrated coherent receivers for microwave photonic links

A coherent receiver with feedback was developed to linearly demodulate the phase of an analog signal. The receiver demonstrates a spur-free dynamic range of 125 dB·PHz2/3 at a signal frequency of 300 MHz.
Efficient computation of covariance matrix entries

It was shown earlier that network parameter errors could be identified using their normalized Lagrange multipliers. However, normalization requires computation of their covariance matrix which is computationally very time-consuming, thus limiting its practical use for large-scale systems. This paper presents an effective algorithm to address this shortcoming. The proposed algorithm is described and simulation results are provided to illustrate the dramatic reduction in computational costs for large power systems.
Conical imaging mirrors for high-speed x-ray telescopes

The conical x-ray imaging mirror represents the long focal length limit of a Wolter type I grazing incidence mirror, in which the curved surfaces have been replaced by simple cones. When many thin-walled cones are nested, such a mirror affords the relatively high aperture filling factor needed for telescopes well suited to broadband x-ray astonomy. A conical mirror also features a constant spatial resolution across the field of view and can be designed to have an arbitrarily high intrinsic spatial resolution. We describe the spatial resolution and filling factor of conical optics as a function of various design parameters as characterized using a Monte Carlo ray tracing procedure.
Model-Based Quality Assessment and Base-Calling for Second-Generation Sequencing Data

Second-generation sequencing (sec-gen) technology can sequence millions of short fragments of DNA in parallel, making it capable of assembling complex genomes for a small fraction of the price and time of previous technologies. In fact, a recently formed international consortium, the 1000 Genomes Project, plans to fully sequence the genomes of approximately 1200 people. The prospect of comparative analysis at the sequence level of a large number of samples across multiple populations may be achieved within the next five years. These data present unprecedented challenges in statistical analysis. For instance, analysis operates on millions of short nucleotide sequences, or reads-strings of A,C,G, or T's, between 30 and 100 characters long-which are the result of complex processing of noisy continuous fluorescence intensity measurements known as base-calling. The complexity of the base-calling discretization process results in reads of widely varying quality within and across sequence samples. This variation in processing quality results in infrequent but systematic errors that we have found to mislead downstream analysis of the discretized sequence read data. For instance, a central goal of the 1000 Genomes Project is to quantify across-sample variation at the single nucleotide level. At this resolution, small error rates in sequencing prove significant, especially for rare variants. Sec-gen sequencing is a relatively new technology for which potential biases and sources of obscuring variation are not yet fully understood. Therefore, modeling and quantifying the uncertainty inherent in the generation of sequence reads is of utmost importance. In this article, we present a simple model to capture uncertainty arising in the base-calling procedure of the Illumina/Solexa GA platform. Model parameters have a straightforward interpretation in terms of the chemistry of base-calling allowing for informative and easily interpretable metrics that capture the variability in sequencing quality. Our model provides these informative estimates readily usable in quality assessment tools while significantly improving base-calling performance.
Improved confidence intervals for estimating the position of a mass extinction boundary

Marshall (1995) used the distribution of the endpoints of 50% range extensions added to the stratigraphic ranges of individual taxa to bracket the position of an extinction boundary. Here we describe two improvements to Marshall's method. First, we show that more precise esti- mates of the position of such a boundary may be obtained using range extensions with confidence levels of less than 50% (e.g., 20%). Second, we introduce a new method of calculating confidence intervals that explicitly takes into account the position of the highest fossil find. Incorporating these improvements leads to confidence intervals for simulated data sets that are approximately four times more precise than those obtained by using Marshall's (1995) original method and approxi- mately twice as precise as those using other published methods. We provide a look-up table that shows for different numbers of taxa the confidence level that should be used to maximize the pre- cision of the estimated position of the extinction boundary, while ensuring that the boundary still lies within the stratigraphic interval bounded by at least one range extension. Unlike some other methods, our method is nonparametric and does not make the restrictive assumption of uniform preservation and recovery potential. We apply the method to Macellari's (1986) ammonite data from the late Cretaceous of Seymour Island, Antarctica.
Self-Differentiation in Christian Perspective

This article examines the concept of self-differentiation in family systems theory and therapy from an explicitly theological perspective and seeks to advance the discussion of its pastoral applications begun by the late and revered Edwin Friedman.
Aqueous Tear Deficiency Increases Conjunctival Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) Expression and Goblet Cell Loss.

The number of mucin-filled conjunctival goblet cells (GC) has been found to decrease in aqueous-deficient dry eye and certain ocular surface inflammatory conditions, such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).1–4 The cause for GC loss in these dry eye/ocular surface diseases has not been established, but mouse models suggest it may be due to imbalanced expression of T helper (Th) cytokines, with increased levels of the Th1 cytokine interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and increased ratio of IFN-γ to the Th2 cytokine IL-13 (IFN-γ/IL-13).5,6 Altered ratios of these Th cytokines have been associated with hyperplasia or loss of GC in the airway and gut mucosa.7,8 Interleukin-13 has been found to promote GC differentiation in the conjunctival and airway epithelium, while IFN-γ has caused conjunctival GC loss in mice.6,7,9 Expression of these Th cytokines and their receptors in the conjunctiva and the relationship between levels of these cytokines and goblet cell density (GCD) and expression of cornified envelope precursors have not been studied in patients with tear dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that increased IFN-γ expression is associated with conjunctival GC loss and mucin deficiency in subjects with tear dysfunction.
SHORT DURATION ANALYTIC EARTHQUAKE

A time-history analysis of an elastic structure subjected to an earthquake can be computationally expensive due to the complexity and time duration of the earthquake. A response spectrum analysis of the structure can also be complex because the natural frequencies and mode shapes must be obtained and then the modal responses must be added together in some probabilistic manner. Previously generated artificial earthquakes typically consist of random oscillatory motion of significant time duration. In this work, an analytic earthquake consisting of variable frequency sinusoidal motion is used. The short time duration and the smooth response spectrum of the sine sweep lead to computational efficiency. It is demonstrated that the sine sweep earthquake, applied to an elastic structure, gives results that agree with those obtained using an actual earthquake. Furthermore, by varying the parameters of the sine sweep earthquake, various design spectra can be approximated. The sine sweep earthquake is shown to give consistent modal participation and therefore a time-history analysis using this short duration analytic earthquake can be confidently employed.
Control Analysis of Isoenzymic Pathways: Application of Directed Graphs and Electrical Analogs

In many metabolic pathways a particular reaction step is catalyzed by different molecular forms of the same enzyme which are known as isoenzymes or simply isozymes. The isozymes are coded by different genes and differ in their amino acid composition. They may act as regulatory enzymes and control the metabolic fluxes and concentrations. An example is the metabolism of ethanol in horse liver by three isozymes of alcohol dehydrogenase1. Other examples include the branched biosynthetic pathway of the aromatic amino acids in E. coli. where the first enzyme, DAHP synthase, exists in the form of three isozymes each of which is inhibited by one of the three end products phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan2.
The Independence Concept Revisited

John L. Carey retired as executive director and administrative vice president of the AICPA in l970. He had been associated with the AICPA since 1925. The first non-CPA to receive the AICPA Gold Medal Award, and one of the few non-CPAs to be elected to the Accounting Hall of Fame, Carey authored numerous articles for professional journals and books. In 1969-70 he authored a two volume history of the AICPA entitled The Rise of the Accounting Profession. The original version of this paper, previously unpublished, was delivered to an accounting seminar at the University of Illinois in 1970. Carey's first major book length work on CPA ethics was published by the American Institute in 1946. A specialist in CPA ethics, Carey continued to follow the developments of the CPA profession from his retirement home in Taconic, Connecticut until he passed away. This paper was first published in 1987 and is reproduced from Catalyst magazine with permission from The Ohio Society of CPAs.
A self-regulation model of sexual grooming

A preparatory process is widely accepted to be a common feature in the perpetration of sexual offenses. Numerous commentators, however, have documented the difficulties in defining and understanding this process, given its transient nature and its specificity to this one form of criminal behavior. This theoretical review aims to provide a universal model of a grooming process for the achievement of illicit or illegal goals in which achievement requires the compliance or submission of another individual-one that can be applied both to the sexual offending process and beyond. First, an evaluation of three process models of grooming is conducted. Second, using a process of theory knitting, an integrated universal model of illicit grooming is developed. This model unites salient elements of the previous models while seeking to address their limitations. It is founded in control theory and self-regulation approaches to behavior, assumes a goal-directed protagonist, and comprises two distinct phases, namely, (1) a potentiality phase of rapport-building, incentivization, disinhibition, and security-management and (2) a disclosure phase in which goal-relevant information is introduced in a systematic and controlled manner in order to desensitize the target. Finally, the theoretical quality of the model is appraised, and its clinical implications are discussed.
The Point-Charge Model for Quadrupole Splitting in 119mSn Mössbauer Spectroscopy

Quadrupole splitting in tin Mossbauer spectra can arise from the interaction between the nuclear quadrupole moment of the 119mSn nucleus and a non-spherically symmetric electric field produced by extra-nuclear charges. Such a situation is produced by the placement of charges of different magnitudes at internuclear distances in tetrahedral or octahedral arrays, or by equal charges placed in arrays of lower symmetries. A simple model using point charges to represent attached atoms is used to calculate the relative magnitudes of the splittings expected for various substitutional patterns involving various coordination numbers and simple symmetries found in known tin systems. The results of these calculations are tested with respect to quadrupole splitting data obtained for organotin (IV) compounds and complexes, and the appropriateness of the point-charge model for these systems is discussed.
Deontology, Political Morality, and the State

Sometimes the government makes a policy choice, and, as a result, innocent persons die. How should we morally assess such deaths? For instance, is the government’s choice of the reasonable doubt standard or its decision to restrict the death penalty to certain narrow categories responsible for deaths of innocents? If so, does the deontological norm against harming people dictate that the government loosen the evidentiary standard for conviction or widen the availability of capital punishment? This Article argues that the traditional distinctions between intending and foreseeing harm and between causing harm and allowing harm to occur are insufficient to absolve the state of its responsibility for such deaths. This Article also argues, however, that it is a mistake to conclude from this observation that the government may be morally required to loosen the evidentiary standard for conviction or to widen the availability of capital punishment. Once we fully understand the distinctive features of government as a moral agent, this Article argues, we will see that the government has obligations both to protect its people from crimes and respond to crimes on behalf of the people and to respect various constraints placed on its power, including desert-based limitations on punishment and standards of proof required for conviction. These obligations may conflict with one another, but that observation does not generate the conclusion that it is morally required to punish people with death or convict people with reduced standards of proof.
Ontology of Megakaryopoesis.

Abstract Abstract SCI-8 Compared to red cells, whose passage from embryonic to adult stages is marked by the expression of distinct forms of hemoglobin, the development of megakaryocytes during embryogenesis is less well understood. However, certain shared characteristics between megakaryocytes, endothelial cells, hematopoietic stem cells and erythrocytes infer developmental relationships between these lineages. Recent data support the model that hematopoietic stem cells derive from the hemangioblast, and that megakaryocytes and erythrocytes develop from a common precursor both in primitive and adult hematopoiesis. Evidence of these common origins can be found in the genetic programs that are activated during hematopoiesis, in that many of the cell surface markers and transcriptions factors that are characteristic of megakaryocytes can also be found in endothelial cells, stem cells and erythrocytes. In this session I will review current views on developmental thrombopoiesis, key megakaryocytic transcription factors and the experimental and clinical phenotypes associated with their disruption, and current controversies in lineage choice during megakaryocyte differentiation. Disclosures Geddis: Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding.
Design for environment at Intel

Intel, a leading semiconductor manufacturer, has focused on design for environment (DfE) for many years, integrating the practice into both semiconductor manufacturing operations and product design. This paper has summarized a few results of DfE programs underway at Intel. In semiconductor manufacturing Intel introduces a new manufacturing process every 18-24 months. In order to integrate environmental concepts into the design process Intel has found that the optimal time for inserting DfE into the design process occurs during the technology development phase. By establishing the DfE programs Intel has been successful in reducing the environmental footprints of each successive technology by establishing environmental goals during each new technology development cycle.
Where Is Family Science in Suicide Prevention and Intervention? Theoretical Applications for a Systemic Perspective

Researchers have primarily examined suicide as an individual phenomenon, yet family scientists who view suicide as a family experience use multiple perspectives for examining the role of families after suicidal ideation or a nonfatal attempt. This article explores how prominent suicide theories can be used to conceptualize a family's role in suicide experiences. Three theories utilized by family scientists—human ecological theory, family systems theory, and social exchange theory—are applied to provide new conceptualizations of family reactions to suicidal behavior. Finally, potential contributions of family scientists to the field of suicidology are examined.
More than a Score: Neoliberalism, Testing & Teacher Evaluations

UNESCO's Education for All initiative, whatever its architects may have intended, has coincided with an acceleration of the neoliberal agenda to restructure public education along market lines. In the advanced countries, this has provided the corporate-driven education reform groups a political framework to advocate expansive and stringent teacher evaluation schemes at the K-12 level. A recent OECD document, "Teachers for the 21st Century: Using evaluation to improve teaching," states: "highly visible teacher appraisal...provides opportunities to incentivize, recognize and reward teaching competence and high performance." In the U.S., the No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top reforms have linked performance to both school improvement and teacher evaluation with the aim of rationalizing and restructuring the role of educators. The intent is to replace traditional collaboration and collegiality with market-style competition with incentives and punishments based on both data-driven quantitative results and qualitative assessment of teacher performance. The imposition of such evaluation methods has disrupted relationships between local school administration and the teaching staff as well as opened rifts within the teaching ranks and sparked resistance from parents and students. A case in point is the new teacher evaluation system imposed by New York State Education Law 3012c. In New York City, conflicts between the United Federation of Teachers and the Department of Education ultimately led to an evaluation system imposed via binding arbitration by State Education Commissioner John King. This paper will examine the New York City teacher evaluation model to provide a case study of the destructive impact of corporate education reform at the school level. As the New York City model is in its first year, this case study can expand our understanding of the impact of teacher evaluation systems on public education in a large urban setting. It will focus on the way in which race and class inequities are perpetuated through the new evaluation system and the disproportionate impact it has on schools that serve emergent bilinguals, students with special needs, as well as economically disadvantaged students. Lastly, this paper will look at examples of resistance and the potential of the nascent opt-out movement in New York City as well as in Chicago and Seattle to pose a challenge to neoliberal education reform.
Mesocorticolimbic hemodynamic response in Parkinson's disease patients with compulsive behaviors.

Background PD patients treated with dopamine therapy can develop maladaptive impulsive and compulsive behaviors, manifesting as repetitive participation in reward-driven activities. This behavioral phenotype implicates aberrant mesocorticolimbic network function, a concept supported by past literature. However, no study has investigated the acute hemodynamic response to dopamine agonists in this subpopulation. Objectives We tested the hypothesis that dopamine agonists differentially alter mesocortical and mesolimbic network activity in patients with impulsive-compulsive behaviors. Methods Dopamine agonist effects on neuronal metabolism were quantified using arterial-spin-labeling MRI measures of cerebral blood flow in the on-dopamine agonist and off-dopamine states. The within-subject design included 34 PD patients, 17 with active impulsive compulsive behavior symptoms, matched for age, sex, disease duration, and PD severity. Results Patients with impulsive-compulsive behaviors have a significant increase in ventral striatal cerebral blood flow in response to dopamine agonists. Across all patients, ventral striatal cerebral blood flow on-dopamine agonist is significantly correlated with impulsive-compulsive behavior severity (Questionnaire for Impulsive Compulsive Disorders in Parkinson's Disease- Rating Scale). Voxel-wise analysis of dopamine agonist–induced cerebral blood flow revealed group differences in mesocortical (ventromedial prefrontal cortex; insular cortex), mesolimbic (ventral striatum), and midbrain (SN; periaqueductal gray) regions. Conclusions These results indicate that dopamine agonist therapy can augment mesocorticolimbic and striato-nigro-striatal network activity in patients susceptible to impulsive-compulsive behaviors. Our findings reinforce a wider literature linking studies of maladaptive behaviors to mesocorticolimbic networks and extend our understanding of biological mechanisms of impulsive compulsive behaviors in PD. © 2017 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
Chapter 10 Mechanisms of Growth Factor Stimulation of Na+-H+ Exchange in Cultured Fibroblasts

The data presented in this paper suggest that we have identified several key steps in the sequence of events occurring between binding of growth factors to their surface receptors and the activation of the Na + -H + exchange system. Our current working model is shown in Fig. 4. The initial step after binding of peptide rnitogens appears to be the release of inositol trisphosphate from membrane pools of phosphatidylinositol 4′,5′-bisphosphate (PIP 2 ). This inositol trisphosphate then interacts with an internal Ca2 + storage site to mobilize intracellular Ca 2+ thereby elevating the intracellular Ca 2+ activity. An elevation of Ca 2+ activity then acts through a Ca 2+ -dependent regulatory protein which somehow leads to the activation of the Na + -H + exchanger. The current data are most consistent with calmodulin being the Ca 2+ -dependent regulatory protein involved in the activation process; however, the synergism between A23187 and TPA suggests that protein kinase C may also play some role in this process, although the lack of effect of TPA alone suggests that activation of protein kinase C is not a sufficient stimulus for activation of the Na + -H + exchanger. The current data on phospholipase involvement are most readily explained on the basis of a mitogen activation of phospholipase C activity which acts to release inositol trisphosphate, which in turn mobilizes intracellular Ca 2+ . However, it should be pointed out that in general the compounds (mepacrine and melittin) that we have used to perturb phospholipase activity have been traditionally thought of as interacting with phospholipase A 2 instead of phospholipase C. However, recent results in our laboratory indicate that mepacrine will inhibit the mitogen-induced release of inositol trisphosphate and that melittin will stimulate its release in the absence of mitogens (Jamieson and Villereal, in preparation), suggesting either that these compounds do interact with phospholipase C or that there is some regulation of phospholipase C activity by the breakdown products of phoshpolipase A 2 activity. A report from Majerus's laboratory indicating that mepacrine directly inhibits phospholi pase C activity suggests that effects of mepacrine in the HSWP cell are probably at the level of phospholipase C. In the summary scheme (Fig. 4), the possibility that the release of inositol trisphosphate could be potentiated via the stimulation of a kinase activity which would increase the substrate (PIP2) available to phospholipase C is presented. This possibility is suggested by the observation that certain oncogene products with kinase activity can phosphorylate phosphatidylinositol to the polyphosphorylated forms (Sugimoto et al. , 1984; Macara et al. , 1984).
Modeling and Inference of CD4 Data

CD4+ T lymphocyte cell count serves as a surrogate marker of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease progression as it indicates how healthy the immune system is. It is well known that total CD4 counts degrade as the disease progress, so that the CD4 data can be treated as a special type of degradation data. It is also critical to identify HIV-resistant subjects with non-decreasing CD4 curves, i.e., the HIV/AIDS nonprogressors. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive statistical analysis strategy motivated and designed specifically to fit unique characters of the CD4 count data, which includes steps such as exploratory data analysis, modeling, and statistical inference. We formulate the problem into a simultaneous hypothesis testing problem. The inferential model (IM), a new prior-free probabilistic inference framework, is applied to locate HIV nonprogressors with the uncertainty characterization. We compared it with the classical Benjamini-Hochberg procedure for controlling false discovery rate (FDR).
Thymidine Metabolism in Bacteria (and “How, or How Not, to Label DNA”)

Radioactive labelling techniques are of major importance in the study of DNA synthesis in bacteria. In order to label DNA in Escherichia coli either radioactive thymine or thymidine is generally used because these compounds are specifically incorporated into DNA. The availability of mutants, unable to synthesize thymidylate (Thy-), makes possible the control of the specific activity of newly synthesized DNA by adjusting the specific activity of exogenously added thymine or thymidine. In experiments which measure the short-term incorporation of labelled precursors other factors must be considered. These include the intracellular precursor pool sizes of bases, nucleosides and nucleotides, the rates of uptake, as well as the points of entry of the particular exogenously labelled compounds. The transport of nucleosides and bases from the medium into the cells is of considerable importance since this may result in differences between strains in the incorporation of labelled precursors into DNA. This effect is evident only when extremely low exogenous concentrations of precursors are used and it can give the appearance of altered levels of DNA synthesis.
Circuit power optimization using pipelining and dual-supply voltage assignment

Abstract Power is one of the most important metrics in the modern integrated circuit design. We optimize the circuit power using two major approaches, pipelining and dual-supply voltage (dual-Vdd) assignment. To improve power efficiency, we have designed a new pipelining to reduce the number of gates need to be assigned to the high supply voltage when combined with the dual-Vdd assignment. Our overall design is tested on a set of standard ISCAS-85 benchmark circuits using an industrial cell library. An average power saving of more than 10% under a specified target delay is observed.
Semantic Technology to Exploit Digital Content Exposed as Linked Data

The paper illustrates the research result of the application of semantic technology to ease the use and reuse of digital contents exposed as Linked Data on the web. It focuses on the specific issue of explorative research for the resource selection: a context dependent semantic similarity assessment is proposed in order to compare datasets annotated through terminologies exposed as Linked Data (e.g. habitats, species). Semantic similarity is shown as a building block technology to sift linked data resources. From semantic similarity application, we derived a set of recommendations underlying open issues in scaling the similarity assessment up to the Web of Data.
The Tanning Process and the Production of Finished Leather Goods

The diverse leather and leather products industries are characterized by a complex international trade in skin and hide raw materials and in leather and leather goods. Worldwide animal slaughter for meat production is the dominant source of the skin and hide raw materials for leather and leather goods manufacture (Table 3-1). The demand for leather products results primarily from aesthetic and functional properties of leather. The imbalance between an inelastic raw material supply and the demand for leather has resulted in raw material price volatility and consequently leather price volatility.
Analysis of socioeconomic gradients in the development of children aged 0–3 years in Fortaleza, Northeastern Brazil

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To identify the socioeconomic gradients in the measures of development and well-being of children under three years of age in Fortaleza, Northeastern Brazil. METHODS We compiled information using a socioeconomic survey instrument, collecting anthropometric measurements, observing the home environment, and applying the Denver Test II to 2,755 children aged between zero and 28 months who are potential beneficiaries of the Cresca com Seu Filho program in Fortaleza. These children were randomly selected from a universe identified from the administrative record of the Cadastro Unico of the Ministry of Social Development of Brazil. For the analysis, we reported descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and mean differences. RESULTS Rates of chronic malnutrition and overweight were 7.0%. The results of the Denver II test indicated that personal social (23%) and language (20%) are the domains in which children have the highest developmental delay, when compared with the international reference sample. Parental practices measured by two sub-scales of the Home Observation of the Environment Inventory were poor, with only 14.0% of families having two or more books in the home and 35.0% of the households reporting having spanked their child in the past three days. CONCLUSIONS We identified clear socioeconomic gradients in the anthropometric indicators, parenting practices, and the Denver Test II (especially in the language domain). Children from poorer households, as well as children of mothers with lower education levels, perform poorly on most measures.
A comprehensive review on wind resource extrapolation models applied in wind energy

Abstract A review spanning across a 40-year period (1978–2018) and including a total of 332 applications has been addressed on theoretical and empirical wind resource extrapolation models applied in wind energy, which can be grouped into three main families: (i) the logarithmic models; (ii) the Deaves and Harris (DH) model; (iii) the power law (PL). Applied over 96 very heterogeneous locations worldwide, models have been tested against observations at upper extrapolation height and assessed by location characteristics, extrapolation range skills, and application economical advantages. The logarithmic models can nowadays be considered unsuitable for extrapolating wind resource to hub height of current multi-MW WTs, mainly because exhibiting a limited extrapolation range capability (about 10–50 m median bin). Finer scores in extrapolating wind resource (mean absolute bias of 3.3%) and in predicting energy output (10.1%) were achieved by the DH model, also showing remarkable extrapolation range skills (10–80 m median bin). However, although among the most economical and forward-looking solutions, its need for accurate z0 assessment and u* observations resulted so far in great limitations to its large-scale application for wind energy purposes (less than 1%). Eventually, the PL confirmed the most reliable – and largely most commonly used (73.5%) – approach for wind energy applications. Out of the plethora of PL models developed in the literature, the PL(α)-αlower and the PL(α)-αI were the finest in predicting both extrapolated wind resource (mean absolute error of 4% and 4.4%, respectively) and energy output (8.9% and 5.5%), also exhibiting extrapolation range skills meeting modern WTs requirements. By contrast, the PL using α = 1/7 returned among the worst scores, yet resulting – since the simplest – the solution most frequently applied (19.6%). This study also demonstrated that extrapolation tools requiring the most expensive instrumentation equipment do not necessarily return the finest scores.
The distribution function of a polynomial in additive functions

A real-valued arithmetic function f is said to cluster around a pointr if the upper density of inputs n for which f(n) is within $$\delta $$ of r does not tend to zero as $$\delta $$ goes to zero. If f does not cluster around any real number, then we say that f is nonclustering. We show that the product of nonclustering additive functions is nonclustering and provide a generalization for polynomials of nonclustering additive functions. We then use these results to prove that products of additive functions possessing continuous distribution functions also possess continuous distribution functions.
Local Authorial Voice and Global Authorial Voice in Community-Authored Knowledge Organization Systems

Folksonomies are crowdsourced knowledge organization systems that rose to popularity during Web 2.0 and that are still actively used today. This crowdsourced approach to knowledge organization moves authorial voice from an individual expert or small group of experts to the community. What does it mean to have many voices contribute to a knowledge organization system? Do community members create a collective authorial voice? Are minority opinions more readily included? How does access to information, especially “long tail” information, change? This paper explores these questions by examining authorial voice in community-authored knowledge organization systems (CAKOS) and expert-authored knowledge organization systems (EAKOS).
NashDB: fragmentation, replication, and provisioning using economic methods

Modern elastic computing systems allow applications to scale up and down automatically, increasing capacity for workload spikes and ensuring cost savings during lulls in activity. Adapting database management systems to work on top of such elastic infrastructure is not a trivial task, and requires a deep understanding of the sophisticated interplay between data fragmentation, replica allocation, and cluster provisioning. This demonstration showcases NashDB, an end-to-end method for addressing these concerns in an automatic way. NashDB relies on economic models to maximize query performance while staying within a user's budget. This demonstration will (1) allow audience members to see how NashDB handles shifting workloads in an adaptive way, and (2) allow audience members to test NashDB themselves by constructing synthetic workloads and seeing how NashDB adapts a cluster to them in real time.
A Modular Transradial Bypass Socket for Surface Myoelectric Prosthetic Control in Non-Amputees

Bypass sockets allow researchers to perform tests of prosthetic systems from the prosthetic user’s perspective. We designed a modular upper-limb bypass socket with 3D-printed components that can be easily modified for use with a variety of terminal devices. Our bypass socket preserves access to forearm musculature and the hand, which are necessary for surface electromyography and to provide substituted sensory feedback. Our bypass socket allows a sufficient range of motion to complete tasks in the frontal working area, as measured on non-amputee participants. We examined the performance of non-amputee participants using the bypass socket on the original and modified Box and Block Tests. Participants moved 11.3 ± 2.7 and 11.7 ± 2.4 blocks in the original and modified Box and Block Tests (mean ± SD), respectively, within the range of reported scores using amputee participants. Range of motion for users wearing the bypass socket meets or exceeds most reported range of motion requirements for activities of daily living. The bypass socket was originally designed with a freely rotating wrist; we found that adding elastic resistance to user wrist rotation while wearing the bypass socket had no significant effect on motor decode performance. We have open-sourced the design files and an assembly manual for the bypass socket. We anticipate that the bypass socket will be a useful tool to evaluate and develop sensorized myoelectric prosthesis technology.
Validity and reliability of a handheld blood glucose monitor during exercise and an oral glucose tolerance test

The purpose of the present study was to examine the validity and reliability of the handheld Nova Max Plus blood glucose monitor during an oral glucose tolerance test and 60-minute bout of exercise. Thirty subjects (mean age±SD=22.3±1.9 years; body mass=77.6±14.2 kg) volunteered for an oral glucose tolerance test or 60-minute treadmill test. Blood glucose concentrations were measured from the fingertip at six time points during both tests. The reference method of blood glucose analysis was the Yellow Springs Instruments (YSI) 2300. Our results indicated that the blood glucose values provided by the Nova Max Plus were significantly (p<.05) greater than the YSI 2300 at all time points of the oral glucose tolerance test and treadmill test. In addition, the Nova Max Plus exhibited an overall mean absolute relative deviation (±SD) of 9.0 (±7.0) and did not meet the 95% accuracy requirements of ISO 15197:2013. The Bland-Altman plot for constant error (YSI 2300 – Nova Max Plus) versus the reference method (YSI 2300) indicated an average negative bias (-8.2 mg·dL-1) that increased (r=-0.23) at higher blood glucose values. Intra-device reliability analyses for the Nova Max Plus demonstrated the ICC was R=0.99 and CV=3.0%, with no mean differences between test and retest values. These findings suggested that the Nova Max Plus provided highly reliable, yet inaccurate blood glucose values compared to the YSI 2300 during the dynamic conditions associated with an oral glucose tolerance test and exercise.
Cheilectomy Combined With First Tarsometatarsal Joint Arthrodesis for Surgical Treatment of Midstage Hallux Rigidus Complicated by Medial Column Insufficiency: Prospective Evaluation of Outcomes.

Abstract The role of metatarsus primus elevatus and first ray hypermobility is under scrutiny with regard to the pathoanatomy of hallux rigidus. Regardless of the underlying biomechanical cause, there is a subset of patients with hallux limitus present with concomitant insufficiency of the medial column identified on clinical exam and lateral imaging as dorsal divergence of the first compared with the second metatarsal. While cheilectomy and decompression metatarsal osteotomy are commonly used to mitigate retrograde forces at the first metatarsophalangeal joint (MPJ) level, traditional hallux limitus procedures do not address more proximal deformity of the medial column. Although the authors prefer to treat this complex condition with cheilectomy combined with tarsometatarsal joint arthrodesis, there is a paucity of literature on this approach. A prospective cohort study of consecutive patients was therefore performed to assess outcomes. Ten patients (3 males, 7 females) and 11 feet (8 right and 3 left) met the inclusion criteria. Mean follow-up was 21.9 months (range 12 to 52). Average age was 50.4 years (range 28 to 61). The average preoperative ACFAS score of 49.6 (range 29 to 61) improved to 78 (range 51 to 92) at 10 weeks postoperatively and 85.4 (range 60 to 100) at 1 year postoperatively. By 1 year postsurgery, 9 of 10 patients (90%) described their satisfaction level as very satisfied, and 1 (10%) was somewhat satisfied.
NMR Studies of Block Copolymer-Based Supramolecules in Solution

Hierarchical assemblies from block copolymer (BCP)-based supramolecules have shown immense potential as programmable materials owing to their versatility for incorporating functional molecules and ...
CardioMEMS Device Implantation Reduces Repeat Hospitalizations In A Veterans Affairs Patient Population: A Single Center Experience

Introduction Little is known about the use of a wireless pulmonary artery pressure monitoring device, CardioMEMS, in the Veteran's Affair (VA) patient population. We report our results of the effectiveness of this wireless device in reducing heart failure re-admissions in the largest known VA patient cohort. Methods We retrospectively analyzed all patients with heart failure-related admissions pre- and post-implantation of their CardioMEMS device. Results A total of 63 patients (93% male, 44% Caucasian and 54% HFrEF), with NYHA Class 3 HF were followed for 12 months. At device implantation, average pulmonary artery systolic/ diastolic /mean pressures were 51/24/34 mgHg while at 6 months were 45/22/31 mmHg and 12 months were 43/21/29 mmHg. The total number of heart failure hospital admissions for patients who were followed for 12 months prior to device implantation was 130, while the total number for the post-implantation period was 57. Post implant patients had 0.47 times the rate of heart failure hospitalizations compared to pre-implant patient (95% CI: 0.31, 0.70; p-value Conclusion In the largest patient population at a VA real-world setting, the implantation of a CardioMEMS results in decreased pulmonary artery pressures and decreased heart failure re-admissions. Further studies are needed to confirm these preliminary findings.