cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Line-Cast: line-based semi-analog broadcasting of satellite images

This paper proposes a line-based semi-analog transmission scheme (Line-Cast) for satellite image broadcasting. At the transmitter, an image is compressed and transmitted line by line. Therefore, it is much beneficial to satellite applications with low onboard memories. The low delay feature also makes it possible that once a line is acquired, it can be readily coded and transmitted. Moreover, a distributed source coding based on an analog modulo-q operation is employed to exploit inter-line correlations and shift the complexity from transmitters to receivers, which accommodates the low encoder complexity requirement for onboard image compression. To accommodate receivers with diverse channel qualities, the proposed Line-Cast adopts a semi-analog approach, which can achieve graceful degradations with increasing noises. Despite low encoder complexity, simulation results show that Line-Cast can achieve comparable or even better performances than Softcast, one state-of-the-art analog scheme for broadcast channels.
Hirschsprung Disease: The Rise of Structured Transition and Long-Term Care.

Hirschsprung disease, like most surgically correctable congenital anomalies, is now survivable well into adulthood. Patients are, therefore, presenting later in life with problems that were previously infrequently encountered by colorectal surgeons or gastroenterologists. The goals of our review are to describe the current state of care transition for this patient population, identify the specific needs for these patients, and propose guidelines which could inform a future model of transition from the pediatric to adult setting. This is a review of the current state of care transition and long-term outcomes for patients with Hirschsprung disease. Although these patients report a generally good quality of life, the majority suffer from some degree of lifelong gastrointestinal complication, regardless of the type of operative repair. A more formalized transition of care will provide a guide for pediatric surgeons and patients, alleviate colorectal surgeon and gastroenterologist concerns, and provide better long-term care for these patients.
Online updating of information based model selection in the big data setting

The generalized information criterion (GIC) is an important tool for model selection in statistical inference. In the big data setting, traditional GIC cannot be calculated when the data size excee...
Consumer Sensory Evaluation of Grass-Fed, Angus, and Commodity Ground Beef

ObjectivesGround beef is one of the major sources of animal protein in the U.S., accounting for approximately 40% of beef consumption per capita. Several studies have looked at the flavor profile between grass-fed and grain-fed beef to identify if omega-3 fatty acids found in grass-fed ground beef play a key role in consumer flavor acceptability. Consumer sensory evaluation was conducted to evaluate consumer palatability ratings of grass-fed ground beef in comparison to Angus and commodity ground beef. Materials and MethodsGrass-fed, Angus, and commodity 80/20 ground beef was obtained from local retail stores and a commercial meat processing facility. For each treatment 14 different production lots were used, and each lot contained 2.26 kg of ground beef. Ground beef patties were manually formed into 113 g patties using a template, crust frozen, vacuum packaged with 2 patties per package, and stored at –40°C for approximately 8 d. The remaining product was vacuum packaged and frozen at –40°C for consumer evaluation and moisture, fat, protein, and pH determination. Frozen ground beef patties were thawed for 24 h prior to consumer sensory analysis. Patties were cooked to 71°C initial internal temperature using a clamshell grill (Cuisinart, East Windsor, NJ) and held for approximately 5 min to allow a post-cook temperature rise to 74°C. Cooked ground beef patties were cut into 4 wedge-shaped pieces, and immediately served to panelists. A total of 98 consumers were recruited from Manhattan, KS and adjacent areas and rated the samples using 100-point continuous line scales with anchors at both ends and the midpoint on electronic tablets. Patties were rated for tenderness, juiciness, flavor liking, texture liking, and overall liking, and each sample was rated as acceptable or unacceptable for each palatability trait. ResultsMoisture, fat, and protein content of commodity, grass-fed, and Angus ground beef used in this study were similar (P > 0.05). Commodity ground beef had a pH that was higher (P 0.05) for all 3 types of ground beef. Overall, Angus ground beef was preferred (P 0.05) overall acceptability to Angus and grass-fed ground beef. Consumers indicated no difference (P > 0.05) for tenderness acceptability, juiciness acceptability, and texture acceptability among the 3 ground beef treatments. Commodity ground beef had the highest (P 0.05) acceptability percentages for flavor. ConclusionConsumers rated grass-fed, Angus, and commodity ground beef similar for all palatability traits, except overall liking, in which consumers preferred Angus and commodity over grass-fed ground beef.
Value of MRI in paediatric closed head injury

Children (and less commonly adults) with a low level of conciousness following acute head injury who have a normal CT sean are often assumed to have diffuse axonal injury of the brain. MRI may be appropriate in the subacute setting as it may demonstrate findings highly suggestive of such injury, as well as other findings not identified on CT. These findings may aid clinicians in determining prognosis. We demonstrate typical findings on various MR sequences using an index case.
Vulnerability Assessments of Electric Drive Systems Due to Sensor Data Integrity Attacks

In this article, a systematic and generalized methodology is originally proposed to assess the vulnerability of electric drive systems due to sensor data integrity attacks. Novel evaluation metrics from the perspectives of steady-state and transient performance of electric drive systems are established to evaluate the system condition under different attacks. By using these metrics, innovative index-based resilience and security criteria, together with the stability theorem, are proposed specifically for electric drive systems, which can then be used for cyber-attack detection and diagnosis in a more systematic manner. Then, based on the simulation results under 15 attack cases (five typical types), the qualitative attack impacts on the dynamic characteristics and the statistical damage of different cyber-attacks to the defined metrics are analyzed, which can serve as useful guidelines for attack detection, diagnosis, and countermeasures.
Inhibition by 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D3 of chemically induced erythroid differentiation of K562 leukemia cells

The physiologically active form of vitamin D, 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3], was found to inhibit erythroid differentiation of human leukemic K562 cells. Differentiation was induced by 1 mumol/L arabinocytosine (Ara-C), 40 mumol/L tiazofurin, 1 mumol/L aphidicolin, or 1 mumol/L hydroxyurea, and was monitored daily by the appearance of hemoglobin in an increasing proportion of cells. Pretreatment for 48 hours with 2.4 x 10(-8) mol/L 1,25(OH)2D3, a concentration that is also optimal for induction of monocytic differentiation of HL-60 cells, reproducibly inhibited subsequent induction of erythroid differentiation by all of the above inducers, and modified the morphologic changes that Ara-C produced in these cells. The inhibition of hemoglobinization was approximately 50% irrespective of the degree of differentiation produced by the various inducers, but growth inhibition associated with exposure to the inducers was not affected by 1,25(OH)2D3. Similar inhibition of differentiation by 1,25(OH)2D3 was observed in mouse erythroleukemia cells MEL-D1B treated with 5 mmol/L hexamethylenebisacetamide. The inhibitory effect of 1,25(OH)2D3 on erythroid differentiation of K562 cells was abrogated by cyclohexamide (20 micrograms/mL), an inhibitor of protein synthesis. The mRNA for 1,25(OH)2D3 receptor (VDR) was detected in K562 cells, and was downregulated by a 96-hour exposure to 1,25(OH)2D3 or a 48-hour exposure to Ara-C. The presence of VDR mRNA suggests a physiologic role for 1,25(OH)2D3 in K562 cells that are precursors of erythroid cells. This role is perhaps to shift the pathways of differentiation from the erythroid to the monocytic lineage.
Touched and Knit in the Life: Barclay's Relational Theology and Cartesian Dualism

I argue in this paper that Robert Barclay fundamentally uses a relational method in doing theology notwithstanding a growing scholarly consensus that his thought is shaped by Cartesian dualism. The claims of dualism in Barclay are assessed through a close textual interpretation of parts of his 1676 work, An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, and his subsequent essay 'The Possibility and Necessity of the Inward and Immediate Revelation of the Spirit of God'. While he explicitly engages Cartesian dualism in this latter work, my conclusion is that when he is arguing apologetically with someone employing dualist categories, as in this essay, he uses Cartesian language in order to find common ground with his audience; but when he reflects on his own experience, he thinks relationally rather than dualistically. That he does not disjoin the self from God, other selves, or its own body, nor does he separate the inward and biblical Christ, has been obscured by his apologetic use of Cartesian dualism. In recognizing his relational approach, we can discover in Barclay's thought a resource for doing Quaker theology today that responds to George Fox's question, 'What canst thou say?'.
Rev. of The Self in Performance: Autobiographical, Self-Revelatory, and Autoethnographic Forms of Therapeutic Theater

Drama therapy is the intentional use of theater and drama to make meaningful change in the lives of individuals, groups, and communities.1 The practice is an active, embodied, and relational form o...
A suspect screening analysis for contaminants of emerging concern in municipal wastewater and surface water using liquid–liquid extraction and stir bar sorptive extraction

The presence of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in wastewater effluent and surface waters is an important field of research for analytical scientists. This study takes a suspect screening approach to wastewater and surface water analysis using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC-TOFMS). Two extraction procedures, traditional liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), were utilized and evaluated for their application to wastewater and surface water samples. Both techniques were evaluated regarding their recovery rates, range of compound classes extracted, and on their application to discovery of CECs. For the 14 surrogate compounds analyzed, LLE was able to extract all of them in each matrix with a recovery range of 19% to 159% and a median value of 74%. For SBSE, the recovery rates ranged from 19% to 117% with the median value at 66%, but only 8 of the compounds were able to be extracted because of the polarity bias for this extraction method. A new method of SBSE calibration was also developed using direct liquid injection of the internal standards before desorption of the stir bars. Initial findings indicate increased sensitivity and a greater range of unknown analyte recovery for SBSE, especially in the more dilute effluent and surface water samples. With the methods used in this study, SBSE has a concentration factor of approximately 416, improving that of LLE, which is 267. Suspect screening analysis was utilized to tentatively identify 32 CECs in the samples, the majority of which were pharmaceuticals and personal care products. More CECs were found using SBSE than LLE, especially in the surface water samples where 13 CECs were tentatively identified in the SBSE samples compared to 6 in the LLE samples.
Neutrino Decoherence in Simple Open Quantum Systems

Neutrinos lose coherence as they propagate, which leads to the fading away of oscillations. In this work, we model neutrino decoherence induced in open quantum systems from their interaction with the environment. We first present two different models in the quantum mechanical framework, in which the environment is modeled as forced harmonic oscillators with white noise interactions, or two-level systems with stochastic phase kicks. We then look at the decoherence process in the quantum field theoretic framework induced by elastic scatterings with environmental particles. The exponential decay is obtained as a common feature for all models, which shows the universality of the decoherence processes. We discuss connections to the GKSL master equation approach and give a clear physical meaning of the Lindblad operators. We demonstrate that the universality of exponential decay of coherence is based on the Born-Markov approximation. The models in this work are suitable to be extended to describe real physical processes that could be non-Markovian.
Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists Should Be Used Cautiously In Heart Failure Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease

Introduction Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) have been shown to be beneficial in heart failure (HF). However, there are concerns about hyperkalemia and renal injury for patients (pts) with HF and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Previous trials excluded pts with serum creatinine (Cr) >2.5 or eGFR Hypothesis We hypothesize that MRAs can be used safely in patients with HF and CKD. Methods Chart review was performed for pts with HF aged ≥18 years seen in cardiology clinic from January 2012 to September 2017. Pts were grouped by CKD (Cr ≥2.5 and/or eGFR Results Group HF CKD MRA+ had 31 pts, 23% men, median age 77, mean Cr 1.4±0.5, eGFR 40.7±12.6. Group HF MRA+ had 30 pts, 47% men, median age 59, Cr 0.9±0.2, eGFR 102±33.6. Group HF CKD MRA- had 30 pts, 33% men, median age 77, Cr 1.5±0.6, eGFR 39±13. Group HF MRA- had 30 pts, 80% men, median age 65, Cr 0.9± 0.2, eGFR 91± 25. There were 11 total MRA DCs in HF CKD MRA+ vs. 2 in HF MRA+ (p=0.01). Of the 11 MRA DCs in the HF CKD MRA+ arm, 7 cited worsening renal function and 3 cited hyperkalemia. In the HF CKD MRA+ group at final visit, average Cr and eGFR were 1.8±0.8 and 33.1±13.9 for pts who had MRA DC vs. 1.5±0.4 and 38.2±12.0 for pts who did not have MRA DC (p=0.17 and p=0.29). Worse eGFR was associated with higher risk of MRA DC (p=0.002). There were 23 hospitalizations (in 15 unique patients) in the HF CKD MRA+ group, of which 12 cited worsening HF and 3 cited worsening renal disease, vs. 13 hospitalizations in HF CKD MRA-. There were 14 hospitalizations in HF MRA+ vs. 21 in HF MRA-. Survival analysis showed increased risk of hospitalization for HF CKD MRA+ vs. HF CKD MRA- (HR 2.3, p=0.02). Conclusions Lower eGFR was associated with higher likelihood of MRA DC, mostly due to worsening renal function, with subsequent recovery by the end of follow up. Pts with CKD were more likely to be hospitalized if they were started on an MRA. Our data suggest that MRAs should be used cautiously in patients with HF and CKD.
Hashtag activism and connective action: A case study of #HongKongPoliceBrutality

Abstract This study applies the connective action framework and network analysis to analyze how counterpublics used social media to form cliques and mobilize support toward a local issue at the global stage. It presents a case study of the 2019 Hong Kong protest to uncover under what conditions hashtag activism can evolve into connective action. The network approach allows us to examine users and content simultaneously to identify three mechanisms underlying the movement: generative role-taking, hashtag based storytelling, and issue alignment through diverse social groups. Combining descriptive network analysis, modularity analysis, and topic modeling, we demonstrated that hashtag activists during the Hong Kong 2019 protests used different strategies of connective action to engage in information sharing and drive the emergence of connective action. (122 words)
Bank Supervision and Administrative Law

This article presents a systematic consideration of how administrative law doctrines apply to banking supervision, an unusual form of administrative practice. First, it describes the rationales for, and process of, bank supervision. Key here is an explanation of why financial regulation that is optimal in a narrow efficiency sense includes a supervisory function entailing considerable discretion. The relative opacity of some important features of this administrative practice has made it difficult for legal scholars to obtain a sufficiently informed understanding of the process to evaluate it against relevant legal norms and standards. Second, the article uses recent administrative law arguments lodged by banking interests against key supervisory practices as the springboard for an analysis of how our largely “trans-substantive” administrative law can be problematic in the context of specific mandates given by Congress to administrative agencies. It argues that courts considering how administrative law doctrine applies to agency practices must consider more fully the substantive law the underpins the mission and organization of the agency. In the context of banking supervision, Congress has regularly included in its amendments to banking law clear acknowledgement of the supervisory function, and has at times created expectations for how that function will advance safety and soundness regulation. When these statutory provisions are taken appropriately into account, arguments that supervisory practices are consistent with administrative law requirements are considerably strengthened. Third, the article demonstrates how even a more tailored application of contemporary administrative law doctrines would miss a critical feature of banking supervision – that it is premised on an ongoing relationship between banks and supervisors. Judicial review of agency action usually focuses on discrete agency actions, thereby eliding this critical fact. As a result, administrative law doctrines such as the “practically binding” test for agency guidance peculiarly inapposite. The last part of the article offers a tentative proposal for shifting the administrative law review of supervisory actions to focus on the iterative nature of the supervisory relationship.
Treg cell-derived osteopontin promotes microglia-mediated white matter repair after ischemic stroke

Summary The precise mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of regulatory T (Treg) cells on long-term tissue repair remain elusive. Here, using single-cell RNA sequencing and flow cytometry, we found that Treg cells infiltrated the brain 1 to 5 weeks after experimental stroke in mice. Selective depletion of Treg cells diminished oligodendrogenesis, white matter repair, and functional recovery after stroke. Transcriptomic analyses revealed potent immunomodulatory effects of brain-infiltrating Treg cells on other immune cells, including monocyte-lineage cells. Microglia depletion, but not T cell lymphopenia, mitigated the beneficial effects of transferred Treg cells on white matter regeneration. Mechanistically, Treg cell-derived osteopontin acted through integrin receptors on microglia to enhance microglial reparative activity, consequently promoting oligodendrogenesis and white matter repair. Increasing Treg cell numbers by delivering IL-2:IL-2 antibody complexes after stroke improved white matter integrity and rescued neurological functions over the long term. These findings reveal Treg cells as a neurorestorative target for stroke recovery.
Added value in stroke imaging: accuracy and utility of additional coronal diffusion-weighted imaging

AIM To evaluate the value of adding additional coronal diffusion-weighted imaging with the same section thickness as standard axial images to improve detection of small infarcts. MATERIALS AND METHODS Axial and coronal diffusion-weighted images (4 or 5 mm section thickness, 1 mm gap) were studied retrospectively in two rounds of data collection. During the first round, two radiologists identified sub-centimetre infarcts on only axial images during one sitting, and only coronal images during a second sitting. During the second round, the two radiologists were asked to identify infarcts on only axial images during one sitting, and on both axial and coronal images simultaneously during the second sitting. An expert reviewer determined true infarcts and artefacts. Relative contrast-to-noise ratios (rCNR) and relative mean region of interest (rROI) within each lesion were calculated. RESULTS During the first round, sensitivity for infarct detection for the two radiologists was 92.7% and 100% on axial and 95.1% and 92.7% on coronal, respectively. During the second round, sensitivity improved from 88.9% to 98.1% for both radiologists (p=0.03). Specificity improved but did not reach statistical significance (p=0.06 and 0.12). False-negative and false-positive lesions had lower rCNR and rROI values. CONCLUSION Including both axial and coronal DWI images with the same section thickness in the stroke protocol improves detection of small infarcts, which can be misdiagnosed on a single imaging plane. A second imaging plane is particularly useful for subtle infarcts, even without acquiring thin-section images.
Association of number of bites and eating speed with energy intake: Wearable technology results under free-living conditions.

Abstract Personalized weight management strategies are gaining interest. However, knowledge is limited regarding eating habits and association with energy intake, and current technologies limit assessment in free-living situations. We assessed associations between eating behavior and time of day with energy intake using a wearable camera under free-living conditions and explored if obesity modifies the associations. Sixteen participants (50% with obesity) recorded free-living eating behaviors using a wearable fish-eye camera for 14 days. Videos were viewed by trained annotators who confirmed number of bites, eating speed, and time of day for each eating episode. Energy intake was determined by a trained dietitian performing 24-h diet recalls. Greater number of bites, reduced eating speed, and increased BMI significantly predicted higher energy intake among all participants (P 0.05). Greater number of bites and reduced eating speed were significantly associated with higher energy intake in participants without obesity. Results show that under free-living conditions, more bites and slower eating speed predicted higher energy intake when examining consumption of foods with beverages. Obesity did not modify these associations. Findings highlight how eating behaviors can impact energy balance and can inform weight management interventions using wearable technology.
A Geometric Condition that Implies the Existence of Certain Singular Integrals of Banach-Space-Valued Functions

Consider first the special case of the Hilbert transform $$Hf\left( x \right) = \frac{1}{\Pi }\int_{ - \infty }^\infty {\frac{{f(t)}}{{x - t}}dt.}$$ If 1 < p < ∞ and f ∈ L p (R), then for almost all x, the above integral exists in the principal value sense, satisfies the M. Riesz inequality $$||Hf|{|_p} \leq {c_p}||f|{|_{p^{\prime}}}\,1 < p < \infty, $$ (1) and has many other remarkable properties.
Where is the Experience of Nature in School

An important observation in this study has been the disjunction between the students’ experience of the world and the world as constructed in the science classroom. The disjunction is symptomatic of what Eger (1992, p. 342) called the “double distancing” between science and Nature that too often takes place in the science classroom. It is all the more unfortunate given the importance the majority of these ninth graders attached to personal experience with Nature and their strong aesthetic and environ-mental views that surely could be used to the advantage of science learning in the science classroom. As previously noted, environmentalism was the source of interest in science for several of the students in this study. Scientific literacy according to Hurd (1993) requires that students be able to independently use their knowledge of science in the everyday world. As Lijnse (1995) puts it, science education should thus seek to scientificalize a student’s world. For the eventual scientific expert this means, “that as expertise is attained, a person restructures his/ her knowledge of the domain into a framework that is based on critical dimensions that facilitate the daily use of that knowledge” (Smith, 1992, p. 179). One has to wonder, however, if the future scientific expert and layperson both start at the same place? It could be that science education facilitates this cognitive restructuring process for all students; or, it could also be that science education is a natural selection device that selects for those students already amenable to a certain type of cognitive restructuring, as suggested by West (1996). For example, The National Science Education Standards opens with a quote from Richard Feynman that is intended to be inspiring.
Novel Carbon Nitride Nanowire (CNW) Conjugates for Breast Cancer Treatment

Abstract : In this program we have tested the concept that carbon nitride nanowires (CNWs)-conjugated to Herceptin can selectively target and photo-thermally ablate HER2-positive breast cancer tissues using penetrating near infra-red radiation (1.06 microns). Our initial results in cell culture suggest that CNWs are far superior transducers of radiation to the SWNTs or Ag nanoshells due to their metallic nature and aspect ratio. Initial animal studies have begun.
A scalable spatiotemporal inference framework based on statistical shape analysis for natural ecosystem monitoring by remote sensing

Modeling the dynamic interactions within an ecosystem and among ecosystems is essential to the sustainability of the biosphere and remote sensing is a proven technology that can effectively map and characterize cultural and natural landscapes. However, the lack of scalable and reliable algorithms and associated implementations to extract implicit patterns in remotely sensed images has severely limited its success. In this paper, based on a key observation that multiple samples of multispectral sensing form a curve in the spectral space (named as mspectral curve), we propose a novel mathematical change detection and land cover classification framework based on statistical shape analysis for natural ecosystem monitoring using remote sensing. By bridging multitemporal analysis and statistical shape analysis, a rich set of robust estimation and optimization techniques can be utilized via tangent space representation to classify land cover and detect changes. The framework also introduces scalable clustering algorithms based on product quantization and residual vector quantization to deal with the labeling problem. In order to deal with clouds and cloud shadows, an adapted Fmask (Function of mask) method is used. Deep network classification is also incorporated for more efficient and accurate context-sensitive land cover classification. The framework provides a fundamental building block to improve semantic classification and change detection using temporal and spatial context to disambiguate spectral classes into information classes.
Computers as cognitive tools: Learning with technology, not from technology

COGNITIVE TOOLS are computer-based applications that are normally used as productivity software. However, these applications may also function as knowledge representation formalisms that require learners to think critically when using them to represent content being studied or what they already know about a subject. Applications such as databases, spreadsheets, semantic networks, expert systems, multimedia/hypermedia construction, can function as computer-based cognitive tools that function as intellectual partners with learners to expand and even amplify their thinking, thereby changing the role of learners in college classrooms to knowledge constructors rather than information reproducers. Cognitive tools are examples of learningwith technologies rather thanfrom them.
Purchasing organic food in US food systems: A study of attitudes and practice

Purpose – This study aims to identify and estimate the influence of consumers' views of specific food aspects (attributes) and personal attributes on demand for organic foods.Design/methodology/approach – A logistic regression is applied to US national survey data to analyze consumers' willingness to buy organic foods. The modeling approach assumes a rational consumer with a well‐behaved utility function (i.e. with preferences that are complete, reflexive and transitive).Findings – Food naturalness aspect (no artificial flavors or colorings), vegetarian‐vegan identity (persons who do not eat meat or animal products) and US production location considerations were critical in determining the regularity of organic food purchases. Food familiarity aspect (whether the respondent has consumed a food previously or prefers a familiar brand) was negatively associated with organic food purchases. Females and young people buy organic foods on a regular basis, as do the more politically liberal and moderately religio...
Professing Performance: Discipline and performance: genealogy and discontinuity

“Differentiation is one strategy that disciplines employ to protect themselves against incursion and self-doubt. But how about the opposite strategy: emulation, imitation, envy?” Marjorie Garber “It is not easy to say something new.” Michel Foucault Coming to terms “Isn't ‘performativity’ the latest thing in ‘English’ theory?” It was one of those over-determined moments in the life of a theatre academic. I had been asked as a faculty member in an English department to participate on a panel responding to a production of the American Repertory Theatre. The question came from a dramaturg – the in-house academic of the theatre profession – as we ate dinner before the ART's subscriber event. The director of the production also sat at the table, looking slightly amused. “Yes, it's actually pretty trendy,” I said, picking up my fork and being fairly certain that neither of them really wanted to hear about the trends. “Perform-a-tivity,” repeated the director, and then once again, “per-form-a-tiv-ity. That's what they call it?” “Yeah,” said the dramaturg, “I hear it alot.” “So maybe I should start using that,” the director was laughing, “No, I'm sorry; I'm not a director. I'm a Performativity Coordinator.” We all laughed. I took another bite of food, hoping that the conversation was finished. “So what do … what does … they mean … that mean?” the two asked one on top of each other. I continued chewing. I swallowed. “Well,” I began, dreading what would follow, “the concept of ‘performativity’ within literary studies is a reworking of the ideas of this guy, J.L. Austin …”
Tumor promoter-inducible genes are differentially expressed in the developing mouse.

Abstract TIS genes are rapidly and transiently induced by tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate in 3T3 cells. We analyzed the developmental appearance of a number of the TIS genes to determine whether, in a normal physiological context, these genes have common or distinct mechanisms of regulation. Each TIS gene has a distinct tissue specificity and/or developmental profile.
Event relationship networks: a framework for action oriented analysis in event management

Event management is a corner stone of high quality service delivery. To date, the focus of event management has been root cause analysis (RCA). We believe that this focus is misdirected in that it does not consider what action to take. Indeed, the root cause may not be actionable, and actions may be required for factors that are unrelated to a root cause (e.g., a condition that signals the end of a problem). We propose a new framework for event management-action oriented analysis (AOA). AOA assigns roles to events so as to determine the actions to take if an event is received. In many cases, the same event can have different roles depending on the context. These ambiguities are resolved by analyzing event relationship networks. AOA also addresses what information is needed from event sources and subject matter experts. This information is identified and extracted by a set of four activities that we refer to as event management design. AOA has been used with much success at IBM's ISM installation and over fifty other production sites.
Measuring Student Engagement in the Online Course: The Online Student Engagement Scale (OSE).

Abstract Student engagement is critical to student learning, especially in the online environment, where students can often feel isolated and disconnected. Therefore, teachers and researchers need to be able to measure student engagement. This study provides validation of the Online Student Engagement scale (OSE) by correlating student self-reports of engagement (via the OSE) with tracking data of student behaviors from an online course management system. It hypothesized that reported student engagement on the OSE would be significantly correlated with two types of student behaviors: observational learning behaviors (i.e., reading e-mails, reading discussion posts, viewing content lectures and documents) and application learning behaviors (posting to forums, writing e-mails, taking quizzes). The OSE was significantly and positively correlated with application learning behaviors. Results are discussed along with potential uses of the OSE by researchers and online instructors.
‘Pharmacokinetic’ and ‘pharmacodynamic’ design of lipophilic drugs based on a structural model for drug interactions with biological membranes

The pharmacokinetic profile a drug exhibits will ultimately depend on how the drug molecule interacts with the different cell membranes it encounters en route to its target site of action. Even if the drug molecule targets a soluble protein as its final site of action, there is a reasonable probability that it will interact with some cell membrane on its pathway to this biological target. In some cases, the final protein, lipid or sugar moiety target could be an integral part of the cell membrane architecture whereby the drug's interaction with the cell membrane could influence its pharmacodynamic profile as well, especially if the final site of action is an integral membrane-bound receptor protein. In either case, drug transport across a cell membrane or within the cell membrane lipid bilayer compartment can dictate partial or dominant control of the drug's bioavailability. A molecular understanding of the equilibrium membrane partition coefficient, the rates of drug partitioning into and out of a cell membrane and the equilibrium location of the drug within the cell membrane can provide critical chemical design strategies for altering overall drug bioavailability and optimal pharmacokinetics.
Microbiomic Signatures of Psoriasis: Feasibility and Methodology Comparison

Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the skin. We sought to use bacterial community abundance data to assess the feasibility of developing multivariate molecular signatures for differentiation of cutaneous psoriatic lesions, clinically unaffected contralateral skin from psoriatic patients, and similar cutaneous loci in matched healthy control subjects. Using 16S rRNA high-throughput DNA sequencing, we assayed the cutaneous microbiome for 51 such matched specimen triplets including subjects of both genders, different age groups, ethnicities and multiple body sites. None of the subjects had recently received relevant treatments or antibiotics. We found that molecular signatures for the diagnosis of psoriasis result in significant accuracy ranging from 0.75 to 0.89 AUC, depending on the classification task. We also found a significant effect of DNA sequencing and downstream analysis protocols on the accuracy of molecular signatures. Our results demonstrate that it is feasible to develop accurate molecular signatures for the diagnosis of psoriasis from microbiomic data.
Molecular genetic confirmatory testing from newborn screening samples for the common African‐American, Asian Indian, Southeast Asian, and Chinese β‐thalassemia mutations

beta-Thalassemia is a serious health problem in the United States, especially in California, due to increased Asian immigration. Neonatal screening by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or isoelectric focusing (IEF) may lead to confusion due to interactions of various hemoglobinopathies with beta-thalassemia. Our purpose was to develop single-tube multiplexed PCR assays using original neonatal screening specimens to identify the mutations responsible for beta-thalassemia in order to expedite diagnostic confirmation. Primers were designed for two to six common ethnic-specific mutations using the amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS). This multiplex ARMS approach was standardized using DNA samples with known mutations for beta-thalassemia in those of Asian (Southeast Asian, Chinese, and Asian Indian) and African-American descent. Specimens from African-American neonates were tested for two mutations (-88 and -29); Asian Indians for five mutations (IVSI-1, IVSI-5, codons (Cd) 41/42, Cd 8/9, and 619-bp deletion); Chinese, Taiwanese, and Southeast Asians for seven mutations (Cd 41/42, Cd 17, -28, IVSII-654, Cd 71/72, IVSI-5, and IVSI-1). We identified each of these beta-thalassemia mutations in multiplexed ARMS from positive control samples. We tested 25 anonymized dried blood specimens from neonates who had been diagnosed with beta-thalassemia and who also belonged to these ethnic groups. We detected a mutation specific to the neonate's ethnic group using the ARMS approach in nearly all specimens, and the results were confirmed by sequencing. Multiplexed ARMS for ethnic-specific beta-thalassemia mutations from the original newborn screening dried blood specimens is a rapid and efficient approach for diagnostic confirmation.
Lead Poisoning and Toxicokinetics in a Heifer and Fetus Treated with CaNa2 EDTA and Thiamine

Lead (Pb) poisoning of a pregnant heifer was diagnosed based upon clinical signs (head pressing, blindness, muscle twitching) and a blood lead concentration of 1.73 ppm. Blood and urinary Pb half-lives with CaNa2 EDTA/thiamine therapy were determined to be 2.08 and 1.38 days, respectively. Many cations (Ca, Fe, Zn, Na, Cu), including Pb, were excreted at higher concentrations in urine during therapy. Blood (0.425 ppm) and liver (4.85 ppm) Pb concentrations in the fetus were 71.7% and 84.3% of the same tissue Pb concentrations of the dam, indicating a significant transfer of Pb in utero. Severe polioencephalomalacia was described in the adult, and hepatic lysosomes with metallic electron densities were present in the fetus.
Comb Filters for Pulsed Radar Use

This paper presents a discussion of the concepts involved in the use of "comb" filters for signal-to-noise improvement in pulsed radar systems. A "comb" filter is one whose frequency spectrum consists of a number of equi-spaced elements resembling the tines of a comb. Consideration is given to the characteristics of the frequency spectra arising from sequences of pulses varying in number from one to infinity. These results indicate that the use of comb filters may be feasible in most cases. Hence, a study is made of the use of three different types of filters to determine their effect on the signal-to-noise ratio. These filters range from the simplest type of uniform filters to the North type of matched filter. The relative merits of these filters are determined in terms of improvement in signal-to-noise ratio.
Turbo equalization for mitigation of linear and nonlinear impairments in high-speed optical transmission systems

In this invited paper, we describe an LDPC-coded turbo equalization scheme, as a universal scheme that can be used for simultaneous mitigation of: (i) fiber nonlinearities, (ii) PMD, (iii) PDL, (iii) chromatic dispersion, and (iv) I/Q-imbalance effects in multilevel coded-modulation schemes.
Association between Anxiety Levels and Weight Change in the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Objective. To examine the association between anxiety and weight change in a multiethnic cohort followed for approximately 10 years. Methods. The study population consisted of participants of the multiethnic study of atherosclerosis who met specified inclusion criteria (n = 5,799). Weight was measured at baseline and four subsequent follow-up exams. Anxiety was analyzed as sex-specific anxiety quartiles (QANX). The relationship between anxiety level and weight change was examined using a mixed-effect model with weight as the dependent variable, anxiety and time as the independent variables, and adjusted for covariates. Results. Average annual weight change (range) was −0.17 kg (−6.04 to 4.38 kg) for QANX 1 (lowest anxiety), −0.16 kg (−10.71 to 4.45 kg) for QANX 2, −0.15 kg (−8.69 to 6.39 kg) for QANX 3, and −0.20 kg (−7.12 to 3.95 kg) for QANX 4 (highest anxiety). No significant association was noted between QANX and weight change. However, the highest QANX was associated with a −2.48 kg (95% CI = −3.65, −1.31) lower baseline weight compared to the lowest QANX after adjustment for all covariates. Conclusions. Among adults, age 45–84, higher levels of anxiety, defined by the STPI trait anxiety scale, are associated with lower average baseline weight but not with weight change.
Effect of ritodrine hydrochloride and dibutyryl cyclic AMP on contractile activity and prostanoid production of uteri from pregnant rats in vitro.

Ritodrine hydrochloride is a β-mimetic amine which is used to inhibit premature labor. While the mechanism of action of β-mimetic drugs is believed to be a function of its action on the adenylate cyclase system, the drug may also act via other mechanisms. We examined the effect of this drug on both contractile activity and prostanoid production using an in vitro preparation of a uterus from a 21-day pregnant rat. Two uterine segments were simultaneously studied in separate incubation chambers.Ritodrine (2.0 mg/ml) was added to one tissue chamber while the other tissue served as a control. Frequency and contractile force were monitored polygraphically for 45 min.Incubation medium was then removed for analysis of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), PGF2α, 6-keto-PGF1α, and thromboxane B2 (TXB2) by radioimmunoassay. Ritodrine-treated uteri demonstrated a contractile force which was 16.8% of that of the control, a significant decrease. Ritodrine-treated uteri also produced less prostanoids. The greatest effect was on PGE production (27.3% of the control, p <0.001). The effect of ritodrine on the other prostanoids was less pronounced (PGF2α, 71%; 6-keto-PGF1α 84%; TXB2, 67% of the control). The presence of 0.2 mM dibutyryl cAMP in the incubation media also suppressed contractile force; however, prostanoids were not reduced and in some cases were elevated.It is concluded that one effect of ritodrine is a reduction in prostanoid production, predominately PGE2 and this in part may play a role in the drug's efficacy. The reduction does not appear to be mediated through the adenylate cyclase system.
Differential contribution of direct-developing and stem cell-derived melanocytes to the zebrafish larval pigment pattern

The extent of adult stem cell involvement in embryonic growth is often unclear, as reliable markers or assays for whether a cell is derived from an adult stem cell, such as the melanocyte stem cell (MSC), are typically not available. We have previously shown that two lineages of melanocytes can contribute to the larval zebrafish pigment pattern. The embryo first develops an ontogenetic pattern that is largely composed of ErbB-independent, direct-developing melanocytes. This population can be replaced during regeneration by an ErbB-dependent MSC-derived population following melanocyte ablation. In this study, we developed a melanocyte differentiation assay used together with drugs that ablate the MSC to investigate whether MSC-derived melanocytes contribute to the ontogenetic pattern. We found that essentially all melanocytes that develop before 3 dpf arise from the ErbB-independent, direct-developing population. Similarly, late-developing (after 3 dpf) melanocytes of the head are also ErbB independent. In contrast, the melanocytes that develop after 3 days postfertilization in the lateral and dorsal stripe are sensitive to ErbB inhibitor, indicating that they are derived from the MSC. We show that melanocyte regeneration mutants kit(j1e99) and skiv2l2(j24e1) that are grossly normal for the overall ontogenetic pattern also lack the MSC-derived contribution to the lateral stripe. This result suggests that the underlying regeneration defect of these mutations is a defect in MSC regulation. We suggest that the regulative functions of the MSC may serve quality control roles during larval development, in addition to its established roles in larval regeneration and growth and homeostasis in the adult.
Increasing the Azimuthal Resolution of Ocean Surface Currents for Dual-Frequency Radars

We describe an amplitude comparison scheme for increasing the azimuthal resolution of ocean suface current measurements using dual-frequency radar techniques. We show that an angular resolution of 4 percent of the antenna beamwidth can be acheived when the signal-to-noise ratio is 10 dB.
Shape Effects in the Infrared Spectrum of Ammonia Aerosols

Abstract Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy has been used to study homogeneously nucleated aerosols of ammonia formed in a low-temperature absorption cell, Spectra are reported that cover the frequency range from 700 to 4000 cm -1 . The observed spectra are compared with those calculated using Mie scattering theory and the discrete dipole approximation, based upon complex refractive index data taken from the literature. The results show a pronounced shape effect in the 9.4-μm band, most likely due to the aggregation of smaller particles into chains. These observations confirm earlier predictions that a range of particle shapes can result in dilution of the peak intensity of the ammonia aerosol spectrum, particularly near 9.4 μm. The implication of this in the remote sensing of ammonia aerosol in planetary atmospheres is discussed.
Are Bioretention Cells Being Installed Per Design Standards in North Carolina? A Field Study

AbstractForty-three bioretention cells (BRCs) throughout North Carolina were assessed for maintenance needs, soil media composition, and as-built surface storage volume to determine whether BRCs are typically constructed per their intended design specifications. Visual inspections identified hydric soils and redoximorphic features (indicators of prolonged anaerobic conditions) and quantified the occurrence of issues requiring maintenance. Particle-size distribution and permeability of soil media were measured at multiple locations within each cell, and topographic surveys were performed to calculate as-built surface storage volumes. Field drawdown tests were used to verify permeability measurements and assess overall BRC function. Of the studied cells, 22% contained redoximorphic features in the upper 30 cm, and 53% were in need of maintenance due to one or more factors. Although 71% of assessed cells failed to meet soil media particle-size distribution specifications, 98% of BRCs contained media with ade...
On the nature of crying and weeping

The nature of crying has been reviewed from the physiological, psychological, psychoanalytic and sociocultural approaches, focusing on the development and significance of tears in relation to the expression of affect.
And so on to viscosity

Much as Lewis F. Richardson[1][1] embraced Jonathan Swift's metaphorical use of smaller and smaller fleas to represent the infinite in his modeling of rheologic disturbance——we now must accede to the infinite complexity of factors that impart viscosity to sickle cell blood. Big whorls have