cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Partial sparse canonical correlation analysis (PSCCA) for population studies in medical imaging

We propose a new multivariate method, partial sparse canonical correlation analysis (PSCCA), for computing the statistical comparisons needed by population studies in medical imaging. PSCCA is a multivariate generalization of linear regression that allows one to statistically parameterize imaging studies in terms of multiple views of the population (e.g., the full collection of measurements taken from an image set along with batteries of cognitive or genetic data) while controlling for nuisance variables. This paper develops the theory of PSCCA, provides an algorithm and illustrates PSCCA performance on both simulated and real datasets. We show, as a first application and evaluation of this new methodology, that PSCCA can improve detection power over mass univariate approaches while retaining the interpretability and biological plausibility of the estimated effects. We also discuss the strengths, limitations and future potential of this methodology.
Bounds on the Capacity of Channels with Insertions, Deletions and Substitutions

We present novel bounds on the capacity of binary channels with independent and identically distributed insertions, deletions, and substitutions. The proposed bounds are obtained by exploiting an auxiliary system where the channel is the same as the one in the system of interest, but the receiver is provided with (partial) genie-aided information on the insertion/deletion process. In particular, we show that, when this information is revealed, we obtain a memoryless channel whose capacity, evaluated by means of the Blahut-Arimoto algorithm, gives an upper bound on the capacity of interest. We also show that capacity lower bounds can be derived as well, by exploiting the same auxiliary system and resorting to suitable information-theoretical inequalities. In most scenarios, the proposed bounds improve the existing ones, and significantly narrow the region to which the actual capacity can belong.
Evaluation of microcomputer-based implementations of knowledge-based control systems

The author presents a review of several implementations of knowledge-based control systems. He also presents a set of criteria that can be used for classification and evaluation of such systems and implementations. He then outlines a systematic approach for the design of knowledge-based control systems with an emphasis on microcomputer-based systems. >
Body and mind in nineteenth-century medicine: some clinical origins of the neurosis construct.

Contemporary physicians often file the study of relations between body and mind under the rubric of psychosomatic medicine, a mid-twentiethcentury movement inspired by a self-conscious desire to counteract what its founders felt to be the profession's dominant mechanistic and reductionist tendencies. Yet interest in the relationship between body and mind is, of course, much older. Physicians have always assumed that emotional factors can induce sickness, undergird health, or – properly manipulated – bring about its restoration. The hypothetical mechanisms used to explain this interdependence have changed during the past few centuries, but the clinical reality they sought to explain has never been in doubt. This essay was originally delivered as the Benjamin Rush Lecture to the American Psychiatric Association in 1988 – at a moment when the longtime domination of dynamic, intrapsychic models in psychiatry had waned, while somaticism had attained increasing prominence. I tried not only to suggest the antiquity of medical concern with the interaction of body and mind but also to underline a continuing and more general ambiguity. As we concern ourselves increasingly with individual lifestyle as a factor in the pathogenesis of chronic disease – in cancer and circulatory disease, for example, or alcoholism – we underline another aspect of mind: volition and thus responsibility. In that elusive and shadowy terrain between blaming and explaining, the relevance of body-and-mind relationships remains central, especially when we consider choice as well as stress.
Percutaneous endopyelotomy in infants and young children after failed open pyeloplasty.

AbstractPurpose: We assessed the efficacy and safety of percutaneous endopyelotomy in infants and young children with secondary ureteropelvic junction obstruction after previous open pyeloplasty.Materials and Methods: Three boys and 2 girls with persistent ureteropelvic junction obstruction after open pyeloplasty underwent percutaneous antegrade cold knife endopyelotomy via an 18F nephrostomy tract.Results: Percutaneous endopyelotomy was successfully performed in all 5 children with minimal complications. At a mean followup of 2.5 years endopyelotomy was successful in 4 of the 5 children based on the absence of symptoms, normal pressure-perfusion studies and normal or improved diuretic renal scintigraphy studies. One child in whom endopyelotomy failed underwent successful ureterocalicostomy.Conclusions: Percutaneous antegrade endopyelotomy is a safe and efficacious method of treating secondary ureteropelvic junction obstruction in children. This method offers a minimally invasive alternative to convention...
Accommodating Student Demand for Courses by Varying the Classroom-Size Mix

This paper constructs a statistical model that measures the ability of a given mix of classroom sizes to accommodate student demand for courses. Assuming known demand distributions, the model computes the probability that a course-to-classroom assignment can be made in such a way that the number of students assigned to any classroom does not exceed the number of seats in that classroom.
Myosin IIA is required for cytolytic granule exocytosis in human NK cells

Natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity involves the formation of an activating immunological synapse (IS) between the effector and target cell through which granzymes and perforin contained in lytic granules are delivered to the target cell via exocytosis. Inhibition of nonmuscle myosin II in human NK cells with blebbistatin or ML-9 impaired neither effector–target cell conjugation nor formation of a mature activating NK cell IS (NKIS; formation of an actin ring and polarization of the microtubule-organizing center and cytolytic granules to the center of the ring). However, membrane fusion of lytic granules, granzyme secretion, and NK cell cytotoxicity were all effectively blocked. Specific knockdown of the myosin IIA heavy chain by RNA interference impaired cytotoxicity, membrane fusion of lytic granules, and granzyme secretion. Thus, myosin IIA is required for a critical step between NKIS formation and granule exocytosis.
A CDMA network architecture using optimized sectoring

We propose a network architecture for code-division multiple-access (CDMA) cellular systems based on adaptive sector coverage. We show that there is a capacity limit for a CDMA system, which for a soft limit is fairly hard. We also show that for nonhomogeneous traffic, changing the area of coverage for each sector in a sectored-cell can absorb the dynamics of the traffic. For a cell of a fixed radius, divided into n sectors, it is possible to select the angles of coverage of each sector in order to avoid excessive blocking due to temporary nonuniformity of traffic across the cell. This result is based on the fact that for a given set of system parameters (bandwidth, bit rates, E/sub b//N/sub 0/ etc.), a certain amount of area is covered. Hence, the exact shape of the cell/sector is not important. The idea presented is shown to be applicable to overlapping sectors.
Abundance and distribution of planktonic Archaea and Bacteria in the waters west of the Antarctic Peninsula

Polyribonucleotide probes targeting planktonic archaeal (Group I and II) and bacterial rRNA revealed that Ar- chaea comprised a significant fraction of total prokaryote cell abundance in the marine waters west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Determinations of Archaea and Bacteria cell abundances were made during two research cruises to the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research region during the austral winter and summer of 1999. During the austral summer, surface water abundances of Group I (GI) Archaea were generally low, averaging 4.7 3 10 3 cells ml 21 and comprising 9-39% of the total picoplankton abundance in the meso- (150-1,000 m) and bathypelagic (1,000-3,500 m) circumpolar deep water (CDW). Relative to summertime distri- butions, GI cells were more evenly distributed throughout the water column during the winter, averaging 10% of the picoplankton in the surface waters and 13% in the CDW. Surface water GI abundance increased 44% between the summer and winter, coincident with a fivefold decrease in GI abundance in the deeper waters. The abundance of Group II (GII) Archaea was persistently ,2% of the total picoplankton throughout the water column in both summer and winter. Bacterial abundance was greatest in the upper water column (0-100 m) during the summer, averaging 3.9 3 10 5 cells ml 21 and comprised 89% of the total picoplankton assemblage. Generally, GI Archaea varied seasonally in the deeper waters, whereas bacterial abundance varied more in the upper waters. The observed variability in bacterial and archaeal abundance suggests that these two groups of marine picoplankton are dynamic components of Southern Ocean microbial food webs.
Culture variability associated with the U.S. environmental protection agency tuberculocidal activity test method

Tuberculosis continues to be a major world health threat. The etiologic agent is among the vegetative organisms most resistant to chemical disinfection. Tuberculocidal efficacy testing for regulatory approval of chemical germicides has evolved considerably over the past decade. A method currently in use is the Environmental Protection Agency Tuberculocidal Activity Test Method, a suspension test using a Mycobacterium bovis culture grown under specific conditions and stored frozen until used. Differing tuberculocidal label claims on products with similar formulations have raised questions concerning the equivalence of test suspensions prepared by different laboratories. Five M. bovis suspensions from laboratories currently performing this test were compared against a battery of three disinfectants at a single test site. A significant difference between test cultures was found, with two of the five exhibiting a significant difference from the other three and also from each other. There was a significant culture-by-disinfectant interaction, indicating that the five cultures did not respond in a consistent manner across the different disinfectants used. However, these differences were due to cultures that were not prepared in accordance with the standard procedure or otherwise did not meet the test suspension criteria. In addition, a 0.55% sodium hypochlorite solution was found to be a sensitive indicator of culture variability. These data reinforce the need to adhere to published procedures and guidelines when growing and preparing a tuberculocidal test suspension and shed light on the variables associated with this type of testing.
Copper handling machinery of the brain

Copper plays an indispensable role in the physiology of the human central nervous system (CNS). As a cofactor of dopamine-β-hydroxylase, peptidyl-α-monooxygenase, superoxide dismutases, and many other enzymes, copper is a critical contributor to catecholamine biosynthesis, activation of neuropeptides and hormones, protection against reactive oxygen species, respiration and other processes essential for normal CNS function. Copper content in the CNS is tightly regulated, and changes in copper levels in the brain are associated with a wide spectrum of pathologies. However, the mechanistic understanding of copper transport in the CNS is still in its infancy. Little is known about copper distribution among various cell types or cell-specific regulation of copper homeostasis, despite the fact that the molecules mediating copper transport and distribution in the brain (CTR1, Atox1, CCS, ScoI/II, ATP7A and ATP7B) have been identified and their importance in CNS function increasingly understood. In this review, we summarize current knowledge about copper levels and uses in the CNS and describe the molecules involved in maintaining copper homeostasis in the brain.
The Words of Warcraft: Relational text analysis of quests in an MMORPG

As the growth in popularity of massively multiplayer online games and virtual worlds has correspondingly increased research interest in investigating culture in synthetic environments. One representation of culture in games is the narrative provided in MMORPGs’ quest sets. Quests -tasks given to players- provide a window into the traits of artificial cultures created for these environments, and researchers have used specific quests to advance arguments about game cultures. We expand on this work by trying to discern cultural traits expressed in the complete quest set for the MMORPG World of Warcraft, We subdivide this set into three corpora: two for the quests intended for players in one of the two in-game factions, one for those that can be completed by members of either faction. We then performed relational text analysis on these corpora, looking across them for shared textual relationships. We find that while all three corpora employ diverse terms, locations, and organizations, the only relationships present in any of the corpora at least 5% of the time are those emphasizing the relationships between players, enemies, and quest giving computercontrolled characters. Given the simplicity of these relations, we suggest that text is currently not a method used for sophisticated themes in game worlds, and designers should either rethink their use of it or rely on alternate methods if they wish to convey such themes.
Complete Genome Sequences for Two Strains of a Novel Fastidious, Partially Acid-Fast, Gram-Positive Corynebacterineae Bacterium, Derived from Human Clinical Samples

ABSTRACT Here we report the complete genome sequences of two strains of the novel fastidious, partially acid-fast, Gram-positive bacillus “Lawsonella clevelandensis” (proposed). Their clinical relevance and unusual growth characteristics make them intriguing candidates for whole-genome sequencing.
Humans in Space

One of the biggest challenges for a space enthusiast or a person new to the space literature in comparison with someone who is trained or working in some aspects of space is to distinguish between what we “know” about space from all the movies and TV shows we have seen, games we have played, music we have heard, and (for people of a certain age) books and stories they have read, from what the reality of space exploration actually is. Some of us are so immersed in space as popular culture has constructed it that we greatly exaggerate or overestimate what has already been accomplished by members of the space community versus what has actually been done (much less what is actually underway or seriously planned). When such people discover the truth, they are often shocked, disappointed, and perhaps disillusioned. Space fiction and popular expectations generated by the extraordinary and rapid developments between the late 1950s and the early 1970s are so very far ahead of subsequent space achievements, at least in human spaceflight, that many people have lost all faith in space activities.
Human PIEZO1 Ion Channel Functions as a Split Protein

PIEZO1 is a mechanosensitive eukaryotic cation-selective channel that rapidly inactivates in a voltage-dependent manner. We previously showed that a fluorescent protein could be encoded within the hPIEZO1 sequence without loss of function. In this work, we split the channel into two at this site and asked if coexpression would produce a functional channel or whether gating and permeation might be contained in either segment. The split protein was expressed in two segments by a bicistronic plasmid where the first segment spanned residues 1 to 1591, and the second segment spanned 1592 to 2521. When the "split protein" is coexpressed, the parts associate to form a normal channel. We measured the whole-cell, cell-attached and outside-out patch currents in transfected HEK293 cells. Indentation produced whole-cell currents monotonic with the stimulus. Single channel recordings showed voltage-dependent inactivation. The Boltzmann activation curve for outside-out patches had a slope of 8.6/mmHg vs 8.1 for wild type, and a small leftward shift in the midpoint (32 mmHg vs 41 mmHg). The association of the two channel domains was confirmed by FRET measurements of mCherry on the N-terminus and EGFP on the C-terminus. Neither of the individual protein segments produced current when expressed alone.
Synergistic antimicrobial and surface free energy of sol–gel coatings containing fluorosilanes and quaternary ammonium salts

Abstract A need currently exists for chemical agent repellent coatings that also possess antimicrobial activity. Current coatings, primarily polyurethanes, lack chemical and antimicrobial resistance. With this in mind, herein a novel two component hybrid polysiloxane coating was prepared. Fluorosilane and quaternary ammonium salt (QAS) additives were incorporated in order to decrease the surface free energy and to impart antimicrobial activity. The inclusion of the additives independently showed a decrease in the surface free energy for the fluorosilane and antimicrobial activity for the QAS. A synergistic effect however was observed when both additives were used together in the polysiloxane. The combination of fluorosilane and QAS led to a further decrease in the surface free energy of the polysiloxane due to increases in both micro and nanoscale roughness as confirmed by confocal and AFM. Retention of antimicrobial properties was observed with log kills ranging from 3 to 5. The hybrid polysiloxane containing both additives provided a coating with enhanced chemical agent resistance and antimicrobial properties.
Medical professionals’ perceptions of the use of treatment rooms

ABSTRACTAlthough the use of treatment rooms (as opposed to the child’s hospital room) is considered the standard of care for many hospitals in the United States, little research has addressed medical professionals’ perceptions of this approach to treatment. This study examined medical professionals’ perceptions of the use of treatment rooms for intravenous (IV) procedures with young children. Physicians, nurses, child life specialists, and IV team members at a large, regional, children’s hospital completed a survey about their perceptions of the use of treatment rooms for IV insertions. Nurses and IV team members perceived greater administrative challenges and negative impacts and fewer benefits to children with the use of treatment rooms than did child life specialists. Specific concerns and challenges with the use of treatment rooms were identified. Features of an ideal treatment room were also noted. The results of this study provide valuable knowledge on how staff members perceive the use of treatment...
An Inverse Response Surface Method for Finite Element Model Updating

The response surface method(RSM) for finite element(FE) model updating is usually used to obtain the explicit relationship between the characteristic parameters(such as natural frequencies and modals) and the design parameters(such as density and Young's modulus) by the regression analysis method. In this method, the design parameters are used as independent variables and the characteristic parameters as dependent variables. This paper proposed an inverse response surface method(IRSM), which is constructed by using the characteristic parameters as independent variables and the design parameters as dependent variables. Compared with RSM, using IRSM for FE model updating with the characteristic parameters as the target values is able to obtain the updated values directly without iteration, so that the computation can be speeded up with the accuracy improved efficiently. This paper introduced the IRSM and its application,discussed its advantages and disadvantages, and analyzed the function of IRSM, the design of experiment and the evaluation of regression accuracy. A numerical example of a simply supported beam showed that the IRSM can update the FE model efficiently and precisely, and notably reduce the cost of FE calculation in the case that the number of output parameters is less than the number of input parameters. This method is suitable for complex engineering structures.
La3+ and pH sensitivity of Ca2+ entry and intracellular store filling in gastric parietal cells

The fluorescent Ca2+ indicator fura 2 was used to measure cytosolic free [Ca2+] ([Ca2+]i) in order to obtain information about relative rates of Ca2+ influx into parietal cells during treatment wit...
Exchanging Anthropological Duplicates at the Smithsonian Institution

The museum catalogue has historically been used to classify artifacts based on their material and contextual features. The use of natural history, catalogue-based classifications in nineteenth-century museums resulted in curators designating some anthropological museum specimens as duplicates. These items were then used in specimen exchanges among museums and collectors, which served to extend each recipient's scope of collections. This article explores how cataloguing techniques recontextualized anthropological artifacts into specimens, which then circulated based on networks of correspondence. I compare the purpose and goals of three exchanges carried out by the Smithsonian Institution to the Rijks Ethnographic Museum in Leiden, the Historical Department of Iowa, and U.S. Congressman Joel P. Heatwole. Specimen exchange highlights the interconnections among institutions and emphasizes how approaches to collecting by one museum can affect the content of collections in other museums.
Gait speed response to aerobic versus resistance exercise training in older adults

Background Little is known about the comparative effect of aerobic training (AT) versus resistance training (RT) on gait speed, a strong predictor of disability.
Sequencing an Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Genome with “Next Generation” Technologies.

The genetic events responsible for the initiation and progression of AML are unknown for most patients. Although many important mutations for pathogenesis have been discovered, unbiased genomic approaches will be required to discover all relevant mutations. The development of “Next Generation” massively parallel sequencing approaches (454 and Solexa) have substantially reduced the cost of whole genome sequencing, and have allowed us to initiate a study designed to identify all potentially relevant mutations in a case of M1 AML. The first patient selected for study was a previously healthy 57-year-old Caucasian female who presented with a white blood count of 102,500 (91% blasts); the bone marrow biopsy revealed 100% blasts. Cytogenetics were normal. Tumor and skin (normal) samples were banked with informed consent, using our Washington University IRB-approved protocol that specifically permits whole genome sequencing. Resequencing of 14 genes frequently mutated in AML revealed somatic mutations in FLT3 (ITD) and NPM. Oligomer array-based comparative genomic hybridization using the 2.1 million-oligomer NimbleGen array revealed only one small ( ™ algorithm. ∼4,500 sequence variants have been identified thusfar, which are currently being classified (e.g. known SNPs, non-synonymous variants, etc.) for further analysis. Non-amplified tumor and skin DNA samples were also prepared for sequencing. 25 Solexa runs have been completed on the tumor genome (∼19 billion bases; 6.3X coverage). ‘Actual’ coverage is being assessed by comparing the Solexa data to informative (i.e. heterozygous) SNPs detected in the patient’s tumor and/or skin samples on the 500K SNP array. At this time, 18% of the 135,167 informative SNPs have been detected in Solexa reads. Within a few months, we will complete ∼25x coverage of the patient’s tumor cDNA and genomic DNA. The patient’s skin DNA will then be sequenced to identify private SNPs. Potential somatic mutations will be verified with an established PCR-based resequencing pipeline, and the frequencies of validated somatic mutations will be further determined in 93 additional cases of AML. Using comprehensive array-based genomic platforms and Next Generation sequencing, we hope to define all of the inherited and acquired mutations that were relevant for AML pathogenesis in this patient.
Ocean Sediments—an Enormous but Underappreciated Microbial Habitat: Modeling proves essential in efforts to understand the estimated 3×1029 microbial cells that comprise this unusual ecosystem

Approximately 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean—on average, under 3,700 m of water. At the seafloor is a blanket of unconsolidated sediment consisting of continental detritus; particulate organic matter; silica- and carbonate-rich, biologically produced hard materials; and void spaces filled with saline fluids of wide-ranging chemistries. Near the continents, especially where relief is high and physical weathering is prominent, the sediment thickness can measure more than 10 km. However, underneath the oligotrophic open ocean gyres, it can be less than 0.1 km, even on seafloor that is tens of millions of years old, and parts of the ocean floor, especially the mid-ocean ridges, young ridge flanks, and ubiquitous seamounts, are naked or covered by only a thin veneer of sediment.
Fatal Attractions: Attachment to Smartphones Predicts Anthropomorphic Beliefs and Dangerous Behaviors.

Abstract As technology's presence grows increasingly concrete in global societies, so too do our relationships with the devices we keep close at hand from day to day. Whereas research has, in the past, framed smartphone addiction in terms of possessional attachment, the present research hypothesizes that anxious smartphone attachment stems from human attachment, in which Anxiously attached individuals may be more likely to generalize their anxious attachment style to communication devices. In the present study, we found support for this hypothesis and showed that anxious smartphone attachment predicts (1) anthropomorphic beliefs, (2) reliance on—or “clinginess” toward—smartphones, and (3) a seemingly compulsive urge to answer one's phone, even in dangerous situations (e.g., while driving). Taken together, we seek to provide a theoretical framework and methodological tools to identify the sources of technology attachment and those most at risk of engaging in dangerous or inappropriate behaviors as a result...
Applying RE-AIM to evaluate two community-based programs designed to improve access to eye care for those at high-risk for glaucoma.

Abstract Introduction Glaucoma is a leading cause of vision loss and blindness in the U.S. Risk factors include African American race, older age, family history of glaucoma, and diabetes. This paper describes the evaluation of a mobile eye health and a telemedicine program designed to improve access to eye care among people at high-risk for glaucoma. Methods The RE-AIM (reach, efficacy, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) evaluation framework was used to harmonize indicators. Both programs provided community-based eye health education and eye services related to glaucoma detection and care. Each program reported data on participants and community partners. An external evaluator conducted site visit interviews with program staff and community partners. Quantitative and qualitative data were integrated and analyzed using the RE-AIM dimensions. Discussion By targeting high-risk populations and providing comprehensive eye exams, both programs detected a large proportion of new glaucoma-related cases (17–19%) – a much larger proportion than that found in the general population ( Conclusions Evaluation findings from the mobile eye health program and the telemedicine program may provide useful information for wider implementation in public health clinics and in optometrist clinics located in retail outlets.
Other Research Projects

The first ten chapters have related many of the high points of my career. However there have been other interesting projects and these will be briefly referred to here. A major project has been what has been called stress failure of pulmonary capillaries. This refers to the damage that occurs in the walls of the small blood vessels in the lung when the pressure inside them rises to abnormally high values. It was discovered when we were working on the mechanism of High Altitude Pulmonary Edema, but is now known to be a feature of many diseases and other situations. For example we now know that all thoroughbred race horses bleed into their lungs during galloping because of the high pressures that develop.
An Accurate Topic Mining Algorithm Based on Business Dictionary

The text mining is an important branch of data mining. Many scientific research institutions and teams are actively exploring and putting forward algorithms. Because of industry and scene difference, it is difficult to use the common analysis algorithm of log to mine the potential information accurately. For example, a topic is given in one scene, how to find the main related words is not easy. To deal with the problem, this paper provides the accurate topic mining algorithm based on business dictionary. In the algorithm, segmenting with business dictionary is achieved in the document set after screening the valid documents. In this step, the document set is split into professional terms and then the invalid words are removed. Finally, the qualitative analysis is transformed to quantitative analysis. With the relevance index, the relevance degree of every word is computed. The relevance matrix is returned to the user to analyze the relevance of the words and topic. The algorithm has been applied to PMS and the validation result shows the main related factors can be analyzed accurately.
Articular Cartilage Regeneration: An Update of Possible Treatment Approaches

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis, a widespread chronically disabling disorder primarily affecting articular cartilage is said to be irreversible. Researchers have however, been examining processes and methods of promoting articular cartilage repair for some time. QUESTIONS : Can a case be made for the possibility of restoring osteoarthritic cartilage? How advanced is this undertaking? What barriers exist in translating basic studies in the clinical realm? What physical modalities are deemed efficacious in promoting cartilage structure? METHODS: All relevant publications detailing articular cartilage repair themes in the leading databases were examined. Specific emphasis was placed on a broad array of efforts and observations concerning articular cartilage and its repair. Articles of historic significance and more current strategies designed to foster cartilage repair were focused on, and reported in narrative form. Ideas extracted from the voluminous literature were those that answered one or more of the key questions driving this research. RESULTS: Numerous attempts have been made over time to foster cartilage repair, using a variety of approaches such as creating artificial cartilage, and transplanting stem cells into damaged cartilage to promote repair. Most current strategies are forged in laboratories and do not always account for the complex disease process, and the importance mechanical and inflammatory determinants play in the disease. However, manipulating biophysical, and biomechanical stimuli favorably is likely to hold promise for attenuating destruction of/or for fostering cartilage viability and repair, even in the presence of adverse osteoarthritic cartilage tissue changes. CONCLUSION: More work is needed to examine the key upstream determinants leading to articular cartilage destruction, and to enhancing the viability of the tissue. Employing carefully construed therapeutic strategies known to impact articular cartilage homeostasis safely and effectively can potentially preserve chondrocyte homeostasis, either alone or in conjunction with new technologies.
Testing for Ellipsoidal Symmetry of a Multivariate Distribution

An approach to testing a multivariate distribution for ellipsoidal symmetry is suggested. The test statistics are defined as functionals of empirical processes indexed by special classes of functions. The parameters of the underlying distribution (the center of symmetry, the scaling transformation, etc.) are not supposed to be known and are estimated based on the data. General limit theorems for empirical processes that imply consistency of the tests against any asymmetric alternative (subject to some smoothness of the underlying density) and justify the use of a version of the bootstrap to evaluate the critical values of the test are proved.
Toxicity of methylmercury, mercuric chloride, and lead in killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) from Southampton, New York.

Abstract We have previously found great differences in susceptibility to teratogenic effects of methylmercury (meHg) among batches of eggs produced by different females of Fundulus heteroclitus. In the present study we investigated the relationships of resistance to meHg by a batch of eggs with other parameters of resistance. There was a positive correlation between embryonic meHg resistance and HgCl2 resistance, although HgCl2 generally caused less severe defects at a given dose level. The batches that were more susceptible to meHg had a greater uptake of mercury than the more resistant batches. There was a negative correlation of meHg resistance and Pb resistance (as measured by a skeletal index hatching), however. There was a positive correlation of meHg resistance of embryos and the subsequent meHg resistance of larvae after hatching.
Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of Diamond Thin Films Using Embedded Ag Nanoparticles

Silver nanoparticles embedded into the diamond thin films enhance the optical absorption and the photocatalytic activity toward the solvated electron-initiated reduction of N2 to NH3 in water. Here, we demonstrate the formation of diamond films with embedded Ag nanoparticles 225 nm) excitation show significantly enhanced ability to convert N2 to NH3. Incorporation of Ag nanoparticles induces a nearly 5-fold increase in activity using a sub-band gap excitation with λ > 225 nm. Our results suggest that internal photoemission, in which electrons are excited fr...
'Not Too Much, Not Too Little' Wearables For Group Discussions

Here we present a social wearables prototype, i.e. a wearable that augments collocated social interaction: the Lagom. This design is meant to support people to be aware of and better regulate their verbal participation in group discussions. Lagom takes the shape of a colorful, bulky and funny looking flower that senses the wearer's speaking and responds with haptic and visual feedback. We ran a pilot study with nine people participating in a class discussion. Preliminary results show potential of the haptic feedback to increase self awareness of participation, and to help people better regulate their participation in group discussions.
Pediatric Sleep-Disordered Breathing: Criteria and Spectrum of Disease

The spectrum of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is a construct that is universally considered when discussing diagnosis, treatment, and outcome of SDB. This spectrum of clinical severity of the disease is presumed to range from habitual snoring to obesity hypoventilation syndrome, including upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) of varying grades of severity. Diagnosis along the spectrum is commonly based on clinical perception, history, and physical findings, which are subsequently validated by the golden standard; i.e., overnight polysomnography (NPSG). Newer technologies or alternative ways to assess SDB, and more specifically, to gauge the SDB spectrum are increasingly being developed. These diagnostic approaches extend from objective to more subjective instruments. Our data-driven approach uncovered a spectrum of SDB severity clusters in children that can essentially be summarized and allocated into six distinct phenotypes.
Effect of Isotropic Free-stream Turbulence in Favorable Pressure Gradient Turbulent Boundary Layers over a Rough Surface

Laser Doppler and Hotwire anemometry measurements were performed to study the effect of various conditions, namely free-stream turbulence (FST), favorable pressure gradient, and surface roughness, on turbulent boundary layers. Measurements were carried out at Re θ ≤ 4,300 and free-stream turbulence levels of up to 7%, generated using an active grid. Results show that with the addition of FST, classical scaling laws are not able to collapse the profiles of mean velocity. Moreover, boundary layer parameters, including skin friction coefficient, confirm a complex interaction between the external conditions and the inner/outer flow. The discrepancy in the behavior of the stream-wise and wall-normal variances due to the presence of free-stream turbulence suggests that the addition of nearly isotropic free-stream turbulence promotes anisotropy in the body of the boundary layer. Second-order structure functions are examined to identify and quantify which turbulence length-scales contribute mostly to creating this discrepancy. The analysis demonstrates that the effect of FST resides in a wide range of length scales, and is not limited to the largest scales of the flow as in the case of ZPG flows.
Geometrically optimal gaits: a data-driven approach

The study of optimal motion of animals or robots often involves seeking optimality over a space of cyclic shape changes, or gaits, specified using a large number of parameters. We show a data-driven method for computing the gradient of a cost functional with respect to a large number of gait parameters by employing geometric properties of the dynamics to efficiently construct a local model of the system, and then using this model to rapidly compute the gradients. Our modeling step specifically applies to systems governed by connection-like models from geometric mechanics, which encompass a number of high-friction regimes. We demonstrate using our method for optimizing gaits under noisy, experiment-like conditions by simulating planar multi-segment serpent-like swimmers in a low Reynolds number (viscous friction) environment. Our optimization results recover known results for 3-segment swimmers with a 66 dimensional gait parameterization, and extend to optimizing the motion of a 9 segment swimmer with a 264 dimensional gait space, using only 30 simulation trials of 30 gait cycles each. The data-driven geometric gait optimization approach we present is designed to operate on noisy, stochastically perturbed dynamics—as noisy and variable as experimental data—and efficiently optimize a large number of parameters. We believe this approach has the potential to significantly advance our ability to optimize robot gaits with hardware in the loop and to study the optimality of animal gaits with respect to hypothesized cost functions.
"Honey, I Learned to Talk": Multimodal Fusion for Behavior Analysis

In this work we analyze the importance of lexical and acoustic modalities in behavioral expression and perception. We demonstrate that this importance relates to the amount of therapy, and hence communication training, that a person received. It also exhibits some relationship to gender. We proceed to provide an analysis on couple therapy data by splitting the data into clusters based on gender or stage in therapy. Our analysis demonstrates the significant difference between optimal modality weights per cluster and relationship to therapy stage. Given this finding we propose the use of communication-skill aware fusion models to account for these differences in modality importance. The fusion models operate on partitions of the data according to the gender of the speaker or the therapy stage of the couple. We show that while most multimodal fusion methods can improve mean absolute error of behavioral estimates, the best results are given by a model that considers the degree of communication training among the interlocutors.
Extending Health Insurance for Body Modifications for Gender Transitions.

Alex Dubov and Liana Fraenkel (2018) refer to “medical necessity” as a legal doctrine, and they treat that doctrine as the threshold of clinical services “meant to be covered” by insurers. Dubov an...
Reinhard, CarrieLynn D., and Christopher J. Olson, editors. Heroes, Heroines, and Everything In Between: Challenging Gender and Sexuality Stereotypes in Children’s Entertainment Media. Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. 280 pp. $105.00 (hardback). ISBN: 978-1-4985-3957-9.

Teaching gender communication to undergraduates is one of my favorite pedagogical endeavors because students frequently have eye-opening experiences when critical concepts are applied to popular cu...
Mapping free energy regimes in electrocatalytic reductions to screen transition metal-based catalysts

The free energy landscape of catalytic intermediates in the two-electron reduction of proton donors and/or CO2 to H2, CO and HCO2− is mapped with density functional theory to screen catalyst candidates from a library of different transition metals and ligands. The goal is to minimize the free energy corrugations between reactants, catalytic intermediates and each desired product, simultaneously screening against intermediates with low free energy that would be traps, and against necessary intermediates with high free energy. Catalysts are initially screened for those with: (a) standard state free energy of the metal hydride intermediate ergoneutral with HCO2−, which is the lowest energy product with weak proton donors, and (b) standard free energy of the metal carbonyl intermediate sufficiently high to avoid trapping. The design method is tested on a diverse range of ligands including cyclopentadienyl, polypyridyl, amino, phosphino and carbonyl ligands, around three earth-abundant d6 transition metal ions, Mn(I), Fe(II) and Co(III), using the BP86 density functional, the double-zeta 6-31+G* basis, LANL2DZ effective core potential on the metals and SMD polarizable continuum model for acetonitrile as solvent, which have previously provided chemically accurate values of several redox potentials, pKa's and ligand exchange equilibria for transition metal complexes. Among the 36 complexes screened, an Fe(II) center ligated to two bipyridines and a pyridine with a solvent-bound sixth coordination site for hydride formation from phenol as the proton donor is identified as a promising candidate for ergoneutral hydride formation without trapping by CO. The redox-active bipyridine ligands are predicted to provide near ergoneutral sites for accumulating the two electrons needed to form the hydride. To test the predictions, an Fe(II) complex was prepared with the desired ligand environment using a pentadentate ligand to prevent ligand exchange. The synthesized complex was indeed found to be active towards electrocatalytic proton reduction as well as CO2 reduction at the predicted redox potentials with no trapping by CO. However, contrary to the in silico predictions, we found electrochemical evidence of CO2 binding after the first reduction leading to CO production. Mapping the free energies of key catalytic intermediates such as the metal hydride and metal carbonyl species by using density functional theory (DFT) serves as a first step in catalyst screening spanning large libraries of metals and ligands. In order to screen against all the intermediates in the catalytic pathway, such as reduced metal-bound CO2 intermediates, further refinement and validation of the DFT methods are needed.
Fetal Head Compression

EDITOR’S NOTE The Legal Briefs in the July 2019 issue of NeoReviews focuses on the topic of fetal head compression. Several readers wanted to learn more about our current knowledge about this topic. Thus, we asked Dr Weiss, a neonatologist with a particular interest in neonatal brain injury, to summarize the evidence behind our current understanding of fetal head compression during labor and how this compression affects the fetal brain. During labor, external forces are exerted on the fetal head by uterine contractions and maternal pushing. The exact effect of the external forces on the intracranial pressure, fetal brain, and cerebral blood flow are not known. The reason for this lack of information is the difficulty studying the effect of external forces in human neonates with our current technology. However, several studies have been published that give us insight into the effect of these forces on the fetal head and brain during labor. These studies will be briefly reviewed. Please note that more extensive reviews are also available on the subject. (1) Several studies have examined the pressure applied to the fetal head during labor and maternal pushing using pressure sensors placed alongside the fetal head. Most studies have indicated that the peak pressure between the fetal head and the pelvis may be as high as 120 to 300 mm Hg during normal labor. (1)(2)(3) …
The Role of Identity Transformations in Comparative Victim Beliefs? Evidence From South Sudanese Diaspora

There has been a growing interest in the study on collective victimhood and this research has increased our knowledge on how victim groups construe their victimization relative to other groups. However, most of this research has assumed that the groups involved in these construals were pre-existing prior to the conflict and remained fixed during and after the conflict. This study aimed to examine how conflict facilitates the transformation of social identities (i.e., how ingroups and outgroups are construed) and how these transformed social identities are used by group members in their construals of comparative victim beliefs. Eighteen South Sudanese immigrants were interviewed about their experiences during the Sudan civil wars. Thematic analysis revealed two broader themes: “1) “who is ‘us’ versus ‘them’?” (i.e., identity transformation in light of collective victimization and privilege; 2) “what happened to us?” (i.e., construal of ingroup victimization relative to other groups). These findings demonstrate the complexity in how immigrant groups construe social identities constructed in the context of intergroup conflicts, and how these transformed identities are then used in their construals of collective victimhood.
Dispersion of high-quality boron nitride nanosheets in polyethylene for nanocomposites of superior thermal transport properties

High-quality boron nitride nanosheets (BNNs) characterized by large aspect ratios and less defective surfaces and structures are in demand for thermal management and other uses that exploit the uniquely advantageous properties of boron nitride, such as being highly thermally conductive yet electrically insulating and extreme chemical and thermal stabilities. In this study, an ammonia-assisted exfoliation processing method was developed and applied to the preparation of high-quality BNNs. As a demonstration of the excellent potential of these nanomaterials, the BNNs were dispersed in polyethylene polymers for nanocomposite films of superior thermal transport performance at levels significantly beyond the state of the art in the literature. Effects of crosslinking in the nanocomposite film structure on thermal transport were also explored and favorable outcomes were achieved.