cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Antibacterial mechanism of long-chain polyphosphates in Staphylococcus aureus

The results of previous studies indicated that the antibacterial effects of long-chain polyphosphates (sodium polyphosphate glassy [SPG] and sodium ultraphosphate [UP]) to Staphylococcus aureus ISP40 8325 could be attributed to damage to the cell envelope (cell wall or cell membrane). Also, Ca2+ (0.01 M) or Mg2+ (0.01 M) reversed the bactericidal and bacteriolytic effects of polyphosphates in S. aureus . In the present study, 0.4 M sodium chloride (NaCl) protected the cells from leakage caused by SPG and 0.6 M NaCl protected the cells from leakage by UP. Polymyxin, a peptide antibiotic that causes cell membrane damage, induced leakage even in the presence of 0.6 M NaCl. In the presence of 0.4 M NaCl, bacterial leakage was significantly reduced by disodium ethylenediamine tetraacetate (EDTA), a metal chelator that causes cell wall damage. Bacterial leakage by polyphosphates was significantly greater at pH 8 than at pH 6, which suggested that metal-ion chelation was involved in the antibacterial mechanism. A dialysis membrane (MWCO 100) was used to separate free metal and polyphosphate-bound metal. Levels of free Ca2+ and Mg2+ in polyphosphate-treated cells were significantly lower than those of the cells without polyphosphate. This free-metal dialysis study provided Chemical evidence to show that long-chain polyphosphates interacted with S. aureus cell walls by a metal-ion chelation mechanism. In addition, long-chain polyphosphates were shown to bind to the cell wall, chelate metals, and remain bound without releasing metal ions from the cell wall into the suspending medium. A hypothesis is proposed in which the antibacterial mechanism of long-chain polyphosphates is caused by binding of long-chain polyphosphates to the cell wall of early-exponential phase cells of S. aureus ISP40 8325. The polyphosphates chelate structurally essential metals (Ca2+ and Mg2+) of the cell wall, resulting in bactericidal and bacteriolytic effects. The structurally essential metals probably form cross bridges between the teichoic acid chains in the cell walls of gram-positive bacteria.
On Mao’s Methodology

Having completed our presentation of Mao’s theory of dialectic (based almost entirely on his own texts), we shall now make our critical evaluation of it. Specifically, we shall discuss the significance of Mao’s methodology, his concept of contradiction, and his theory of dialectic in the next three chapters. In so doing, we hope to discover the strengths and weaknesses of Mao’s theory of dialectic as a whole.
Hannah Arendt and the Negro Question

When I first encountered Hannah Arendt in a graduate classroom, I was captivated by her ability to make distinctions between complex terms and abstract them for application in real world situations...
Ekman Transport in Balanced Currents with Curvature

AbstractEkman transport, the horizontal mass transport associated with a wind stress applied on the ocean surface, is modified by the vorticity of ocean currents, leading to what has been termed the nonlinear Ekman transport. This article extends earlier work on this topic by deriving solutions for the nonlinear Ekman transport valid in currents with curvature, such as a meandering jet or circular vortex, and for flows with the Rossby number approaching unity. Tilting of the horizontal vorticity of the Ekman flow by the balanced currents modifies the ocean response to surface forcing, such that, to leading order, winds parallel to the flow drive an Ekman transport that depends only on the shear vorticity component of the vertical relative vorticity, whereas across-flow winds drive transport dependent on the curvature vorticity. Curvature in the balanced flow field thus leads to an Ekman transport that differs from previous formulations derived under the assumption of straight flows. Notably, the theory al...
Using Standards in a Competition to Measure and Solve Industrial Robotics Agility Challenges

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a set of draft standard test methods for measuring and promoting software agility in industrial robots. These test methods are being used as the basis for an upcoming competition called the Agile Robotics for Industrial Applications Competition (ARIAC). ARIAC is being used to promote and push forward the state of the art in software agility and enable technology transfer between academia and industry. This paper describes the background about the test methods, how they were developed, how they will be applied to the ARIAC Competition, and additional information about the ARIAC Competition.
Use of Proprietary Names by Prescribers for Generic Products.

Background:Proprietary names are often used when prescribing drug products in the United States. The purpose of this study is to describe prescribers’ use of proprietary names for generic products,...
Evaluation of a novel piezoelectric bridge transducer

A novel piezoelectric bridge transducer was developed for an energy harvesting application from vehicle induced loading on pavement. A unique electrode design enables the PZT to be poled horizontally, enabling the d 33 piezoelectric coefficient to be utilized by the transducer, enhancing energy output. The transducers were fabricated and assembled in an energy harvesting module and the output energy and power was measured under simulated vehicle loading. In this work, the effective piezoelectric coefficient of the transducer has been measured using the direct piezoelectric effect as well as the converse piezoelectric effect to evaluate the transducer for an actuator or sensor application. The effective d 33 measured by the direct method is 19,000 pC/N and the g 33 is 2150 × 10−3 Vm/N. The reliability and cycles to failure of the transducer design is studied and the transducers are evaluated after 50,000 loading cycles. Inconsistency in the epoxy layer thickness has been identified as the cause of premature failure.
Measuring Farmer Conservation Behaviors: Challenges and Best Practices

This article presents a guide for understanding the purposes and appropriate uses of different measures of conservation behavior. While applicable across natural resource management contexts, we primarily draw upon agricultural conservation research to illustrate our points. Farmers are often of interest to researchers, program managers, extension professionals, and non-governmental environmental organizations due to the significant impact of agricultural production practices on environmental resources. Practitioners are often interested in producer behaviors when they are planning or evaluating a project, developing or evaluating policy, or developing and testing theory. Within those bounds, we identify when it is most useful to assess an actual behavior (self-reported or observed) or behavioral intention (willingness or intent to pay/accept, support/participate in a policy or program, or engage in a conservation practice), and present examples of how they have been used in the past. We close with three recommendations for those conducting research related to agricultural producer behaviors: 1) research should be theoretically grounded, even when the purpose isn’t to develop theory; 2) great care should be used when selecting behavior measures, dependent upon the purpose of the research, and 3) composite measures should be used when possible and appropriate.
A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO THE MANAGEMENT OF A RARE CARDIOMYOPATHY

Determining the etiology and thus, the appropriate management of non-ischemic cardiomyopathies is still one of the greatest challenges faced in the field of heart failure. A 75 y/o female presented to the hospital with acute respiratory distress secondary to heart failure with preserved EF. Past
International migration under incomplete information: a re-migration analysis

This study focuses on re-migration, where individuals return to their place of birth after living in a new location for several years. The objectives of the study are (1) formulate a multiperiod finite-life utility maximization model of an individual's migration decisions, given incomplete information about wage rates and quality of life in new locations, (2) provide econometrics evidence about the contribution of personal and local-area attributes to the hazard rate for re-migration of Puerto Rican born male householders living on the U.S. mainland and returning to Puerto Rico during the 1980s, and (3) provide econometrics evidence on structural differences/changes in wage/earning equations between and within major U.S. ethnic/racial groups (Hispanic, black, and white) in the 1980s;First, a highly stylized five period life-time model of individual decision making is developed where utility depends on the wage and/or quality of life and retirement always occurs in the fifth period. Re-migration is triggered by unfulfilled wage or quality of life expectations, unemployment, and approaching retirement. Second, the U.S. PUMS data for Puerto Rico-born male householders, age 18 to 64 in 1990, residing on the U.S. mainland and re-migrating to Puerto Rico during the 1980s is the sample for fitting a hazard rate model of re-migration. We find a strong quadratic effect of an individual's age, which supports the finite-life conceptual model. Also, males having English proficiency, less schooling, and working disability are less likely to re-migrate. A higher predicted job growth rate for Puerto Rico (U.S. mainland) and unemployment rate for the mainland (Puerto Rico) have positive (negative) effects on the hazard rate. The Puerto Rican real minimum wage is negatively related to the hazard rate. Third, we find that the cohort effect (year of immigration) was the only part of the return on personal attributes that has changed significantly during the 1980s using the 1980 and 1990 PUMS data for Hispanic male householders. There is, however, evidence of significant change in contributions of local labor market conditions to earnings of all groups during the 1980s. Test of structural equality across racial/ethnic groups are rejected.
Timely follow-up of positive fecal occult blood tests strategies associated with improvement

Background In light of previous research indicating that many patients fail to receive timely diagnostic follow-up of positive colorectal cancer (CRC) screening tests, the Veterans Health Administration (VA) initiated a national CRC diagnosis quality-improvement (QI) effort. Purpose This article documents the percent of patients receiving follow-up within 60 days of a positive CRC screening fecal occult blood test (FOBT) and identifies improvement strategies that predict timely follow-up. Methods In 2007, VA facilities completed a survey in which they indicated the degree to which they had implemented a series of improvement strategies and described barriers to improvement. Three types of strategies were assessed: developing QI infrastructure, improving care delivery processes, and building gastroenterology capacity. Survey data were merged with a measure of 60-day positive-FOBT follow-up. Facility-level predictors of timely follow-up were identified and relationships among categories of improvement strategies were assessed. Data were analyzed in 2008. Results The median facility-reported 60-day follow-up rate for positive screening FOBTs was 24.5%. Several strategies were associated with timeliness of follow-up. The relationship between the implementation of QI infrastructure strategies and timely follow-up was mediated by the implementation of process-change strategies. Although constraints on gastroenterology capacity were often sited as a key barrier, implementation of strategies to address this issue was unassociated with timely follow-up. Conclusions Developing QI infrastructure appears to be an effective strategy for improving FOBT follow-up when this work is followed by process improvements. Increasing gastroenterology capacity may be more difficult than improving processes of care.
Infertility and risk of fatal ovarian cancer in a prospective cohort of US women.

Objectives: It is difficult to separate the possible role of fertility drugs from underlying infertility as risk factors for ovarian cancer. The present study examined the relationship between self-reported infertility and death from ovarian cancer among married women unlikely to have been exposured to fertility drugs. Methods: Women were selected for study from the 676,526 female participants in Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS-II). After twelve years of follow-up, 797 deaths from ovarian cancer were observed among women with no prior history of cancer or hysterectomy and 40 years of age or older in 1967 when ovulatory stimulants were approved in the United States. Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to compute rate ratios (RRs) and to adjust for other potential risk factors. Results: Overall, self-reported infertility was not significantly associated with ovarian cancer mortality (adjusted rate ratio (RR) = 1.1, 95 percent confidence interval (CI) = 0.9-1.3). Ovarian cancer death rates among nulligravid women with self-reported infertility, however, were 40 percent higher than for nulligravid women who never tried to become pregnant (RR = 1.4, 95 percent CI = 0.9-2.4). Multigravid women who reported infertility problems were not at increased risk. Conclusions: These results suggest that infertility itself, without concomitant exposure to fertility drugs, may increase risk of fatal ovarian cancer among nulligravid women.
Classical Questions, Radical Answers: Connectionism and the Structure of Mental Representations

The many and obvious contrasts between Connectionism and (something like) “most other work in Cognitive Science” often give rise to rather grandiose talk of scientific upheaval. Thus it is common to hear the proposal that Connectionism represents (or is the beginning of, or at least points in the general direction of) a whole new approach and perhaps even a whole new paradigm in the study of cognition, an approach which directly contests and may even be displacing (something like) the dominant symbolic view. This is an exciting prospect, especially for those philosophers and others who prefer to view such topics as artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology in terms of the grand sweep of intellectual history. Unfortunately, despite the endless tabloid observations, nobody yet seems altogether sure just what Connectionism is, in any sense going beyond the standard fare of dull details and techno-truisms about the nature of typical Connectionist networks. Indeed, in discussion to date there is very little agreement even over how the phenomenon itself is best described: some regard Connectionism as nothing less than a whole new paradigm, while others-using progressively more vague terminology-have described it as a radically new architecture, theory, framework, model, approach, and simply as a new view.
Bootstrapped Rectifier–Antenna Co-Integration for Increased Sensitivity in Wirelessly- Powered Sensors

This paper addresses the challenge of increasing the sensitivity of wireless powering approaches to achieve targeted output voltage for wirelessly-powered sensors with the compact area. The design exploits a bootstrapping approach where the rectifier first stage and the antenna are reused to increase the rectifier output voltage following an initial charging phase. Area-constrained rectifier–antenna co-optimization results in a compact high- $Q~2.4$ -GHz antenna with 1.2-cm2 area which is then used in two topologies [cross-coupled (CC) and cross-coupled pMOS (CP)] based on the proposed bootstrapping concept. Both topologies increase the rectifier output voltage with no additional off-chip inductors or capacitors. The CC/CP topologies and the associated logic are integrated into a 65-nm CMOS with the IC occupying 1.1 mm2 of the area. The CC topology achieves input sensitivity of −34.5 dBm for 1.6-V output voltage with $R_{\mathrm{ LOAD}}$ of 1.8 $\text{M}\Omega $ , while the CP topology achieves −26.5-dBm input sensitivity with the 2.5-V output voltage and $R_{\mathrm{ LOAD}}$ of 250 $\text{k}\Omega $ . These results confirm more than $2\times $ longer distance for wirelessly powering sensors compared to state of the art, with only 1.2 cm2 of the rectifier–antenna area.
Using an anonymous, resident-run reporting mechanism to track self-reported duty hours.

Abstract Background Implementation of resident duty hour policies has resulted in a need to document work hours accurately. We compared the number of self-reported duty hour violations identified through an anonymous, resident-administered survey to that obtained from a standardized, ACGME-sanctioned electronic tracking system. Methods 10 cross-sectional surveys were administered to general surgery residents over five years. A resident representative collected and de-identified the data. Results A median of 54 residents (52% male) participated per cohort. 429 responses were received (79% response rate). 111 violations were reported through the survey, while the standardized electronic system identified 76, a trend significantly associated with PGY-level (p Conclusions An anonymous, resident-run mechanism identifies significantly more self-reported violations than a standardized electronic tracking system alone. This argues for individual program evaluation of duty hour tracking mechanisms to correct systematic issues that could otherwise lead to repeated violations.
A phase Ib study of pembrolizumab (Pem) in combination with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for resectable liver metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC).

680Background: Adjunctive therapies are essential to enhance the effect of anti-PD1 therapies for the treatment of microsatellite stable (MSS) colorectal cancer. SBRT is utilized to treat liver met...
RAPID PROGRESSION TO COMPLETE HEART BLOCK IN A FETUS WITH ENDOCARDIAL FIBROELASTOSIS

Transplacental transfer of maternal anti-Ro/La antibodies (ab) can result in fetal cardiac disease, most commonly affecting the conduction system, but there can also be associated fibrosis of the myocardium and endocardium. Fetal echocardiogram was performed at 20 weeks in a healthy patient
Review: The Hegemony of Heritage: Ritual and the Record in Stone, Deborah L. Stein

Deborah L. Stein The Hegemony of Heritage: Ritual and the Record in Stone Berkeley: University of California Press, 2018, 312 pp., 154 color illus. $39.95 (paper), ISBN 9780520296336 The history of architecture tends to privilege an object's moment of origin as the “authentic” focus of the discipline. The “lives” of an object, however, often extend far beyond the initial context of creation, as the object is moved and modified, forgotten and remembered, and reclaimed and redefined. In The Hegemony of Heritage: Ritual and the Record in Stone , Deborah L. Stein departs from the preoccupation of architectural history with origin stories, arguing instead for a “diachronic history of temples” (1). Taking the “lives” of two interconnected medieval Hindu temple sites in Rājāsthan as her point of departure, Stein explores how temples prompt various actors to construct historical narratives, define identities, perform rituals, and make aesthetic choices in multiple moments over time. She asserts that the architectural remains of a Hindu temple are not only indexical traces of past practices and aspirations but also “catalyst agents” for present and future actions (1). As the book's subtitle suggests, ritual is the key strand linking the multiple moments in this diachronic history. Applying methodologies from ethnohistory and material culture studies, Stein considers the architectural spaces and sculptural programs of the temples as material residues of past practices. Their resonances with present-day rituals therefore provide a broader context beyond textual and epigraphic sources. Rituals performed by a wide range of social groups also reveal unintentional, and often nonelite, “positions, beliefs, ideas, and experiences rather than the imposition of a singular overarching historiographic frame” (16). As Stein points out, ritual has played a prominent and critical role in the most recent “lives” of medieval Hindu temples, including the two key temple sites examined in the book: in twenty-first-century India, Hindu temples designated as archaeological monuments have been restored to active use, transformed into living temples where the claims of private trusts, …
ELSI and the Philosophy of Science

Clinical studies that run over the Internet, if they are not supported or regulated by a federal agency, are generally not covered by the Common Rule, which protects (among other things) the privacy and confidentiality of information obtained from the human subjects of research. Instead, Internet-leveraged clinical studies improvise a variety of their own protocols to protect research subjects from "informational risk." These protocols generally put less emphasis on the analysis of big data and more emphasis on the history of particular cases. The protocols chosen to manage informational risk might then reflect and reinforce assumptions about the philosophy of science and about the progress of medicine.
Island area, body size and demographic history shape genomic diversity in Darwin's finches and related tanagers.

Genomic diversity is the evolutionary foundation for adaptation to environmental change and thus is essential to consider in conservation planning. Island species are ideal for investigating the evolutionary drivers of genomic diversity, in part because of the potential for biological replicates. Here, we use genome data from 180 individuals spread among 27 island populations from 17 avian species to study the effects of island area, body size, demographic history and conservation status on contemporary genomic diversity. Our study expands earlier work on a small number of neutral loci to the entire genome and from a few species to many. We find significant positive correlation between island size and genomic diversity, a significant negative correlation between body size and genomic diversity, and that historical population declines significantly reduced contemporary genomic diversity. Our study shows that island size is the key factor in determining genomic diversity, indicating that habitat conservation is key to maintaining adaptive potential in the face of global environmental change. We found that threatened species generally had a significantly smaller values of Watterson's theta (θW = 4Ne μ) compared to nonthreatened species, suggesting that θW may be useful as a conservation indicator for at-risk species. Overall, these findings (a) provide biological insights into how genomic diversity scales with ecological, morphological and demographic factors; and (b) illustrate how population genomic data can be leveraged to better inform conservation efforts.
Global metabolomic profiling of human synovial fluid for rheumatoid arthritis biomarkers.

Objectives The objective of this study was to analyse the metabolomic profiles of rheumatoid arthritis synovial fluid to test the use of global metabolomics by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for clinical analysis of synovial fluid. Methods Metabolites were extracted from rheumatoid arthritis (n=3) and healthy (n=5) synovial fluid samples using 50:50 water: acetonitrile. Metabolite extracts were analysed in positive mode by normal phase liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for global metabolomics. Statistical analyses included hierarchical clustering analysis, principal component analysis, Student's t-test, and volcano plot analysis. Metabolites were matched with known metabolite identities using METLIN and enriched for relevant pathways using IMPaLA. Results 1018 metabolites were detected by LC-MS analysis in synovial fluid from rheumatoid arthritis and healthy patients, with 162 metabolites identified as significantly different between diseased and control. Pathways upregulated with disease included ibuprofen metabolism, glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid metabolism, alpha-linolenic acid metabolism, and steroid hormone biosynthesis. Pathways downregulated with disease included purine and pyrimidine metabolism, biological oxidations, arginine and proline metabolism, the citrulline-nitric oxide cycle, and glutathione metabolism. Receiver operating characteristic analysis identified 30 metabolites as putative rheumatoid arthritis biomarkers including various phospholipids, diol and its derivatives, arsonoacetate, oleananoic acid acetate, docosahexaenoic acid methyl ester, and linolenic acid and eicosatrienoic acid derivatives. Conclusions This study supports the use of global metabolomic profiling by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for synovial fluid analysis to provide insight into the aetiology of disease.
Fetal Hemoglobin Protects Against Activation of Hemostasis Endothelial and Circulating Blood Cells in Sickle Cell Anemia.

To determine whether fetal hemoglobin (HbF) protects against activation of hemostasis, endotheliium, and circulating blood elements, infants, children and young adults with homozygous SS disease (n=35) were studied. F-cell numbers, biomarkers of endothelial activation (including sVCAM-1, sE- and sP-selectin), white cell and platelet activation (sL-selectin and sP-selectin respectively) and markers of hemostatic activation, including D-Dimer and prothrombin fragment F1.2 were analyzed. Subjects with HbSS demonstrated significant increases (P<0.001) in all cell activation and hemostatic biomarkers. Analyses revealed a dominant, statistically significant correlation between F-cell and biomarkers of endothelial, white cell and hemostatic activation. F-cells correlated inversely with sVCAM-1 (R = −0.64, P<0.00005), sE-selectin (R = −0.51, P = 0.03) and sP-selectin (R = −0.41, P<0.02). Since HbF protects against HbS polymerization, our data suggests a role for the sickle erythrocyte in endothelial activation and is consistent with reported decreases in sVCAM-1 following hydroxyurea therapy or a chronic transfusion regimen. sP- and sE-selectin levels correlated with neutrophil counts (R = 0.63 and R = 0.42, P<0.00006 and P<0.02 respectively) while no relationship between platelets and sP-selectin was noted. An additional correlation between sP- and sE-selectin (R = 0.50, P<0.003) was also observed, reflecting enhanced neutrophil-endothelial interaction as part of an inflammatory and prothrombotic HbSS phenotype. Surprisingly, a positive correlation between sL-selectin and F-cells occurred (R = 0.4, P<0.02) with the young infant with HbSS demonstrating higher levels of this leucocyte activation marker than the older subject. A dysregulation of L-selectin shedding following neutrophil activation has been proposed to occur in sickle cell anemia. Our results suggest that HbF protects against this dysregulation. D-Dimer levels correlated negatively with F-cells (R = −0.76, P<0.000001), with a striking relationship between D-Dimer and markers of endothelial activation, including sVCAM-1 (R = 0.53, P<0.001), sE-selectin (R = 0.39, P<0.03) and sP-selectin (R = 0.41, P<0.02). Such findings are in keeping with D-Dimer’s well-documented role as a biomarker in other inflammatory and ischemia-related disorders including coronary, cerebrovascular and peripheral arterial ischemic states. This report expands our knowledge regarding the protective effects of HbF against endothelial and hemostatic activation, and suggests a role for D-Dimer as a prothrombotic and proinflammatory marker in sickle cell anemia.
Scaling Distributed Training of Flood-Filling Networks on HPC Infrastructure for Brain Mapping

Mapping all the neurons in the brain requires automatic reconstruction of entire cells from volume electron microscopy data. The flood-filling network (FFN) architecture has demonstrated leading performance for segmenting structures from this data. However, the training of the network is computationally expensive. In order to reduce the training time, we implemented synchronous and data-parallel distributed training using the Horovod library, which is different from the asynchronous training scheme used in the published FFN code. We demonstrated that our distributed training scaled well up to 2048 Intel Knights Landing (KNL) nodes on the Theta supercomputer. Our trained models achieved similar level of inference performance, but took less training time compared to previous methods. Our study on the effects of different batch sizes on FFN training suggests ways to further improve training efficiency. Our findings on optimal learning rate and batch sizes agree with previous works.
Labor exploitation of migrant farmworkers: risks for human trafficking

This exploratory study analyzed indicators of labor exploitation among migrant farmworkers in Western Michigan and the ensuing risks for human trafficking. The research was based on interviews with...
Ely, John Hart. Flag Desecration: A Case Study in the Roles of Categorization and Balancing in First Amendment Analysis, 88 Harv. L. Rev. 1482 (1975)

John Hart Ely taught me how to be a legal scholar. I first encountered Ely in the late 1980s as an undergrad assigned his brilliant book on judicial interpretation, Democracy and Distrust. 1 I didn...
Anomalous Annealing Behavior of Arsenic Implanted Silicon as a Function of Dose and Energy

Anomalous annealing behavior of damage in As implanted Si has been investigated by channeling effect measurements. Room temperature As implants with doses from 1014 to 2 × 1016cm-2 at energies ranging from 50 to 250 keV into Si were annealed over the range of 600°C to 1100°C. Anneal temperatures ≥ 950°C reduce the disorder for ion doses of 0.5 to 1 × 1016 cm-2 at energies between 50 and 250 keV. Anomalously high residual disorder was found for the intermediate doses of 2 × 1014 to 2 × 10/cm2 implanted above 100 keV. For this intermediate dose, annealing of implants performed at liquid nitrogen temperatures did not show significant reduction in this damage. However implants at 200° to 300°C indicate a lower amount of damage compared to the room temperature implants.
When pregnancy is a research risk.

A published study reported by Munne using uterine lavage to retrieve in vivo blastocysts for preimplantation genetic testing has been the subject of several technical and ethical critiques. None of these critiques has been based on a review of the study’s IRB-approved informed consent. This commentary seeks to do that, examining the Munne (and related Nadal) consent forms for their conformity to existing requirements for a full and informed consent.
Invasive Species Control and Resolution of Wildlife Damage Conflicts: A Framework for Chemical and Genetically Based Management Methods

Vertebrate wildlife damage management relates to developing and employing methods to mitigate against damage caused by wildlife in the areas of food production, property damage, and animal or human health and safety. Of the many management tools available, chemical methods (e.g., toxicants) draw the most attention owing to issues related to environmental burden, species specificity, and humaneness. Research and development focusing on RNA interference and gene drives may be able to address the technical aspects of performance goals. However, there remain many questions about regulation, environmental risk, and societal acceptance for these emerging biological technologies. Here we focus on the development and use of these biological technologies for use in vertebrate pest management and conservation (e.g., management of wildlife diseases). We then discuss the regulatory framework and challenges these technologies present and conclude with a discussion on factors to consider for enabling these technologies for pest management and conservation applications under a commercially applied framework.
Changing Attitudes and Waning Prestige

This concluding chapter summarizes the findings of the studies presented in this book. This book attributes the changing perceptions of gangtaiqiang to the combined effects of shifting power dynamics, stylization in media, and evolving gender representations. A useful stylistic source for many Chinese mainlanders, gangtaiqiang retains some level of solidarity, but it is losing its status as a result of power renegotiation. Finally, this chapter points to possible future directions for the studies of language and media, as well as Chinese linguistics.
Digital verification and correction of digital intraoral scans for fixed implant rehabilitation of edentulous arches: A dental technique

A method is described for the verification and correction of a digital scan of a complete-arch implant-supported prosthesis for a completely edentulous patient. The technique provides an efficient way to integrate a highly accurate and precise scan of an implant index cast with a digital intraoral implant scan by using a computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) software program. This method allows dental professionals to validate and, if necessary, correct the implant positions in the scan without the need for a conventional impression.
The Staff Study: An Integrative Management Tool for Law Libraries

Mr. Sears describes the purpose and use of the staff study, a management tool that provides an integrative approach to problem solving. He stresses that this concise, written analysis of a problem, requiring concurrence or nonconcurrence by each staff member, taps the knowledge and experience of all staff members, including those who tend not to participate in other forms of group problem solving.
As-Built, As It Were

A growing number of environmental, technological, and cultural reasons support the case for greater attention to the existing building stock and expanding practices of building alteration. And with...
Questioning CRAAP: A Comparison of Source Evaluation Methods with First-Year Undergraduate Students

Librarians and instructors see college students struggle with evaluating information and wonder how to best teach source evaluation in a one-time course integrated library research session to ensure understanding and improve student performance. This research compared multiple sections of first-year students over two semesters taught two evaluation methods: the CRAAP method, and the six journalistic question words. Results indicate that students taught to evaluate information using the six question words produced better end-of-semester papers. Results of the pre-, post-, and end-of-semester quizzes were less conclusive, but do highlight some of the challenges first-year students face when determining credibility. Results have the potential to inform instructional practice.
The time Interval Between the End of Radiotherapy and Surgery Does Not Affect Outcomes in Rectal Cancer.

Introduction The ideal time interval between the completion of chemoradiotherapy and subsequent surgical resection of advanced stage rectal tumors is highly debated. Our aim is to study the effect of the time interval between the completion of chemoradiotherapy and surgical resection on postoperative and oncologic outcomes in rectal cancer. Methods Patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for resected locally advanced rectal tumors between 2004 and 2015 were included in this analysis. The time interval was calculated from the date of radiation completion to date of surgery. Patients were split into 2 groups based on the time interval ( 8 weeks). Postoperative outcomes (anastomotic leak, pathologic complete response (pCR), and readmission) and survival were assessed with multivariable logistic regression and Cox regression models while adjusting for relevant confounders. Results 200 patients (62% male) underwent resection with a median time interval of 8 weeks from completion of radiotherapy. On multivariable logistic regression, there was no significant increase in odds between time interval to surgery and anastomotic leak (aOR = .8 [.27-2.7], P = .8), pCR (aOR = 1.2[.58-2.6] P = .6), or readmission (aOR = 1.02, 95% CI:0.49-2.24, P = .9). Time interval to surgery was not an independent prognostic factor for overall (HR = 1.04 CI = .4-2.65, P = .9) and disease-free survival (HR = 1.2 CI = .5-2.9, P = .6). Conclusion The time interval between neoadjuvant radiotherapy completion and surgical resection does not affect anastomotic leak rate, achievement of pCR, or overall and disease-free survival in patients with rectal cancer. Extended periods of time to surgical resection are relatively safe.
Nutrient and suspended-sediment concentrations in the Maumee River and tributaries during 2019 rain-induced fallow conditions

Abstract Above average precipitation from October 2018 through July 2019 in the Maumee River (R.) Basin resulted in 29% of cropland left fallow, providing a glimpse of potential effects from decreased nutrient application. Ongoing monitoring at 15 water-quality sites on the Maumee R. upstream from Defiance enabled comparison with 2017, which was hydrologically similar to 2019 in precipitation and streamflow. In 2019, nitrate (as nitrogen; NO3-N) for March-July was significantly less than previous years (2015–2018), but the response for phosphorus (P) was more complicated. Relative to 2017, total P (TP) was lower at 7 of 15 sites, but higher at 7, reflecting higher suspended sediment (SS). Dissolved P (DP) was generally lower, but less different than NO3; DP was higher at 3 sites. DP-P:NO3-N was generally higher in 2019, DP-P:TP was lower, and there was less TP relative to SS. Overall, less P was in the system in 2019. However smaller streams showed a large range of difference between 2019 and 2017 for all constituents, indicating variability in land management and physiography. In contrast, all constituents were lower in 2019 in larger (>5000 km2) streams, including the Maumee R. near Defiance, where the difference in NO3 (−37%) exceeded that for TP (−16%), DP (−10%), and SS (−20%). Differences in these relations among N, P, and SS indicate that P was available from legacy sources that are more difficult to distinguish during typical agricultural production years and that some material from 2019 was stored in the system upstream from the largest sites.
Adaptive Processing of Underwater Acoustic Signals in Non-Gaussian Noise Environments: I. Detection in the Space-Time Threshold Regimes

Optimum threshold detection of underwater acoustic signals in nongaussian noise fields is very concisely described, in terms of canonical detection algorithms and performance measures. These systems are parametric-adaptive, with adaptive beam-forming features which allow arbitrary location of the sensor elements in the general receiving array. Basically, detection requires first a nonlinear “matching” of the receiver to the (nongaussian) noise field, followed in the usual way by a space-time matched filter for the desired signal. The former is implemented in terms of the (first-order) pdf of the nongaussian noise samples, while the latter employs a beam-formed waveform or second-moment statistic of the desired signal. Several other statistics of the interference field are described, and the critical role of independent space-time sampling is briefly discussed. References to recent work providing analytical details, numerical results, and specific physical examples are provided.
Immunogold electron microscopy: mapping tubulin isotypes on neurite microtubules.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes immunogold electron microscopy, which is a powerful ultrastructural approach, to visually map the location of cytoskeletal molecules in their natural intracellular environments. It also discusses its usefulness in localizing individual cytoskeletal molecules on subcellular structures. In this technique, gold particles of distinct size are linked to an antibody and the antibody-gold conjugate is allowed to react with cells or tissues containing the specific antigenic epitopes. The location of the antigen is then detected with an electron microscope by visualizing the gold particles. The recognition of the potential of this technique in molecular cell biology has led many workers to invest effort toward improving the quality of the reagents. The goals were largely twofold: (1) to devise standardized procedures that yield colloidal dispersions of uniformly sized gold particles, and (2) to determine conditions that enable efficient coupling of gold particles to the antibody of choice without compromising antigen binding. Immunogold localizations can be performed in three fundamentally different ways—namely, prior to embedding cells in plastic (preembedding), on thin sections of plastic-embedded cells (postembedding), and on the unembedded frozen sections or after freeze substitution.
System design for organic pulse oximeter

Wearable medical devices that would benefit from mechanical flexibility and new form factors represent a great shift in direction of research in the field of printed electronics. The minimal functionality desired from wearable medical devices is the monitoring of vital signs. Pulse rate and blood oxygenation are considered primary vital signs that help to evaluate the general physical health of a person. The methods used to measure pulse rate and blood oxygenation with sensors based on organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic photodiodes (OPDs) are reported here. Departing from the conventional practice of using red (630 nm) and infrared (940 nm) light for measuring pulse oxygenation, we have successfully implemented solution processed red (626 nm) and green (532 nm) OLEDs fabricated from polyfluorene blends in an all-organic optoelectronic pulse oximeter sensor. The red and green OLEDs operate at 9 V, 1 kHz, and transmit light through a human index finger. The transmitted light is sensed by an OPD placed on the opposite side of the finger. After filtering and amplification, the photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal is obtained and used to accurately measure pulse rate and blood oxygenation.
Pediatric Brain Tumors

Brain tumors are the second most common group of malignancies in children. For some pediatric tumors such as medulloblastoma, supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET), ependymoma and germ cell tumors, leptomeningeal dissemination is a route of spread. Imaging of the entire neuraxis is performed in addition to cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) cytology from a lumbar tap. For low-grade gliomas, surgery is the mainstay of treatment. Adjuvant therapy is not needed for patients who have gross total resections. Diffuse pontine gliomas are the most common brainstem gliomas in children. Radiation to a dose of 54 Gy in 30 fractions over 6 weeks is the standard treatment. Current treatment strategies in medulloblastoma, which include maximal safe resection, craniospinal irradiation (CSI) followed by primary site irradiation, and chemotherapy, have resulted in 5-year progression-free survivals of 80 and 70% for standard- and high-risk patients. The extent of resection is the most important prognostic factor for ependymoma. Adjuvant radiotherapy is currently recommended for ependymoma, regardless of extent of resection. Germ cell tumors are divided into germinoma and nongerminomatous germ cell tumor (NGGCT), with the former having a better prognosis. Germinomas are highly curable with radiotherapy alone, while NGGCT is best managed with a combination of radiation and chemotherapy. Late effects of radiotherapy in young children (<3 years of age) with medulloblastoma, ependymoma, and malignant glioma have prompted investigators to delay or possibly eliminate radiotherapy by using chemotherapy. The current trend for treatment of craniopharyngiomas is limited surgery or biopsy followed by radiotherapy, as achieving a gross total resection may result in significant morbidity because of the proximity of critical structures such as the optic chiasm and nerves, circle of Willis, and hypothalamus to the tumor.
Observations and Models of Simple Nocturnal Slope Flows

Abstract Measurements of simple nocturnal slope winds were taken on Rattlesnake Mountain, a nearly ideal two-dimensional ridge. Tower and tethered balloon instrumentation allowed the determination of the wind and temperature characteristics of the katabatic layer as well as the ambient conditions. Two cases were chosen for study; these were marked by well-defined surface-based temperature inversions and a low-level maximum in the downslope wind component. The downslope development of the slope flow could be determined from the tower measurements, and showed a progressive strengthening of the katabatic layer. Hydraulic models developed by Manins and Sawford (1979a) and Briggs (1981) gave useful estimates of drainage layer depths, but were not otherwise applicable. A simple numerical model that relates the eddy diffusivity to the local turbulent kinetic energy was found to give good agreement with the observed wind and temperature profiles of the slope flows.
Climate Change: The Evidence and Our Options

Glaciers serve as early indicators of climate change. Over the last 35 years, our research team has recovered ice-core records of climatic and environmental variations from the polar regions and from low-latitude high-elevation ice fields from 16 countries. The ongoing widespread melting of high-elevation glaciers and ice caps, particularly in low to middle latitudes, provides some of the strongest evidence to date that a large-scale, pervasive, and, in some cases, rapid change in Earth's climate system is underway. This paper highlights observations of 20th and 21st century glacier shrinkage in the Andes, the Himalayas, and on Mount Kilimanjaro. Ice cores retrieved from shrinking glaciers around the world confirm their continuous existence for periods ranging from hundreds of years to multiple millennia, suggesting that climatological conditions that dominate those regions today are different from those under which these ice fields originally accumulated and have been sustained. The current warming is therefore unusual when viewed from the millennial perspective provided by multiple lines of proxy evidence and the 160-year record of direct temperature measurements. Despite all this evidence, plus the well-documented continual increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, societies have taken little action to address this global-scale problem. Hence, the rate of global carbon dioxide emissions continues to accelerate. As a result of our inaction, we have three options: mitigation, adaptation, and suffering.
In Situ Caries Models: Reaction Paper:

In situ caries models can be found in all shapes and sizes and designed for many purposes. Building on previous conferences, Dr. Zero has done a remarkable job in summarizing the many aspects of in situ models, and as such this reactor's paper will be restricted to only several aspects of the model. One of the most important steps in using in situ models involves the reporting of enough details and reasons for choices in model parameters so that the reviewer or reader can judge clinical relevance and applicability. This approach tends to broaden the field as much as restrict it to only one substrate, evaluative technique, or appliance type. Continued work needs to be done on both surface and subsurface lesions; there is a need to establish "gold standards" for model validation in areas such as salivary flow, antimicrobials, food sequencing, etc., and the clinical relevance of each model needs to be explored.
How to teach so students will learn: part one.

(1994). How to Teach So Students Will Learn: Part One. Hospitality & Tourism Educator: Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 47-51.