cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Metabolomics and Cheminformatics Analysis of Antifungal Function of Plant Metabolites

Fusarium head blight (FHB), primarily caused by Fusarium graminearum, is a devastating disease of wheat. Partial resistance to FHB of several wheat cultivars includes specific metabolic responses to inoculation. Previously published studies have determined major metabolic changes induced by pathogens in resistant and susceptible plants. Functionality of the majority of these metabolites in resistance remains unknown. In this work we have made a compilation of all metabolites determined as selectively accumulated following FHB inoculation in resistant plants. Characteristics, as well as possible functions and targets of these metabolites, are investigated using cheminformatics approaches with focus on the likelihood of these metabolites acting as drug-like molecules against fungal pathogens. Results of computational analyses of binding properties of several representative metabolites to homology models of fungal proteins are presented. Theoretical analysis highlights the possibility for strong inhibitory activity of several metabolites against some major proteins in Fusarium graminearum, such as carbonic anhydrases and cytochrome P450s. Activity of several of these compounds has been experimentally confirmed in fungal growth inhibition assays. Analysis of anti-fungal properties of plant metabolites can lead to the development of more resistant wheat varieties while showing novel application of cheminformatics approaches in the analysis of plant/pathogen interactions.
The Arp2/3 complex is essential at multiple stages of neural development.

ABSTRACTDuring development of the nervous system, radial glial cells perform self-renewing asymmetric divisions and give rise to intermediate progenitor cells (IPC) and neurons. The neuronally committed IPC subsequently undergo multiple rounds of transient amplification and migrate outwards to form cortical layers as they continue to differentiate into mature neurons. Maturing neurons extend protrusions on their cell surface to form neurites, a process called neuritogenesis. Neurite formation results in the establishment of dendrites and axons for synapse formation, which is essential for sensory and motor functions and even higher-level functioning including memory formation and cognitive function, as well as shaping of behavior and emotion. Morphological adaptation during various stages of neural development requires active participation of actin cytoskeleton remodeling. In this review, we aim to discuss current understanding of the Arp2/3 complex branching nucleator in various neural cell types during ...
Success and Failure in the Insurance Exchanges

The available data on the health insurers participating in the Affordable Care Act exchanges reveal patterns of market entry and exit that are consistent with natural competitive processes separating out firms that are best suited to adapt to a new market.
Contractile force generation by 3D hiPSC-derived cardiac tissues is enhanced by rapid establishment of cellular interconnection in matrix with muscle-mimicking stiffness.

Engineering 3D human cardiac tissues is of great importance for therapeutic and pharmaceutical applications. As cardiac tissue substitutes, extracellular matrix-derived hydrogels have been widely explored. However, they exhibit premature degradation and their stiffness is often orders of magnitude lower than that of native cardiac tissue. There are no reports on establishing interconnected cardiomyocytes in 3D hydrogels at physiologically-relevant cell density and matrix stiffness. Here we bioengineer human cardiac microtissues by encapsulating human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) in chemically-crosslinked gelatin hydrogels (1.25 × 108/mL) with tunable stiffness and degradation. In comparison to the cells in high stiffness (16 kPa)/slow degrading hydrogels, hiPSC-CMs in low stiffness (2 kPa)/fast degrading and intermediate stiffness (9 kPa)/intermediate degrading hydrogels exhibit increased intercellular network formation, α-actinin and connexin-43 expression, and contraction velocity. Only the 9 kPa microtissues exhibit organized sarcomeric structure and significantly increased contractile stress. This demonstrates that muscle-mimicking stiffness together with robust cellular interconnection contributes to enhancement in sarcomeric organization and contractile function of the engineered cardiac tissue. This study highlights the importance of intercellular connectivity, physiologically-relevant cell density, and matrix stiffness to best support 3D cardiac tissue engineering.
Birth on the Playground: Boys’ Experiences Playing with Gender

Using photographic documentation to understand the extraordinary in the ordinary and the experiences of young children in an early childhood education center, I began to wonder how children’s interactions define their identity formation. This research looked at how boys reconstruct their identity based on the knowledge gained from those around them. Specifically, the study investigated the ways in which boys explore gender roles in relation to pregnancy and birthing. Using a phenomenological approach, the purpose of this research was to explore the meaning of young children’s gender and identity play, and the experiences they take to form their identity in the early childhood setting. During the course of the study I drew meanings from the boys’ pretend playing pregnancy and gender role development. From three emerging themes, I came to the conclusion that the boys were not necessarily defining “boy” or “girl”, but using their play to make meaning of another individuals’ experience as related to gender.
Social Psychology, Sociological

This article reviews sociological social psychology, a perspective on relations of person and society assuming the primacy of social variables in that relationship. It discusses three variants within sociological social psychology (SSP). The interactionist perspective stresses the centrality of subjectively held meanings generated in social interaction in understanding social behavior and on self processes, socialization, and interaction itself as research topics. Recent emphases include work on emotions in interaction, on self as multiple identities, and on the generation of culture in interaction. The group processes perspective centers attention on forms of social interaction (cooperation, exchange, bargaining, etc.) in groups and their consequences for social structures and outcomes. Social exchange theory and expectation states theory, underlying much contemporary research on the emergence of status and power structures, reflect important emphases with this perspective. The social structure–personality perspective focuses on the reciprocal impact of macrosociological structure and person characteristics, emphasizing the economy, stratifications, and institutions of work as basic to personality. Life course and status attainment research are two current (in part contrasting) topics approached from this perspective. Underlying variation among these perspectives are commonalities, the most fundamental of which is the increasing recognition that structures on all levels are important to social behaviors they investigate.
Reconsidering the Dismal River aspect: A review of current evidence for an Apachean (Ndee) cultural affiliation

Researchers debating whether Dismal River people of the Central Plains were culturally affiliated with Ndee (Apache) groups have used evidence from site chronology, house form, baking pit use, and dietary preference. This paper assesses the quality of evidence traditionally used by prior researchers. We conclude that the archaeological features traditionally used to argue for a Dismal River–Apache association are highly variable in expression and should not be treated as emblematic of Ndee ethnicity. Despite the variability observed in the Dismal River record, evidence still supports the contention that the Dismal River complex is situated correctly in time and space for an association with Athapaskan-speaking groups.
Association between inflammation and systolic blood pressure in RA compared to patients without RA

The relationship between inflammation and blood pressure (BP) has been studied mainly in the general population. In this study, we examined the association between inflammation and BP across a broader range of inflammation observed in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and non-RA outpatients. We studied subjects from a tertiary care outpatient population with C-reactive protein (CRP) and BP measured on the same date in 2009–2010; RA outpatients were identified using a validated algorithm. General population data were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) as comparison. To study the cross-sectional association between CRP and BP in the three groups, we constructed a generalized additive model. Longitudinal association between CRP and BP was examined using a repeated-measures linear mixed-effects model in RA outpatients with significant change in inflammation at two consecutive time points. We studied 24,325 subjects from the outpatient population, of whom 1811 had RA, and 5561 were from NHANES. In RA outpatients, we observed a positive relationship between CRP and systolic BP (SBP) at CRP < 6 mg/L and an inverse association at CRP ≥ 6 mg/L. A similar inverse U-shaped relationship was observed in non-RA outpatients. In NHANES, we observed a positive relationship between CRP and SBP as demonstrated by previous studies. Longitudinal analysis in RA showed that every 10 mg/L increase in CRP was associated with a 0.38 mmHg reduction in SBP. Across a broad range of CRP observed in RA and non-RA outpatients, we found an inverse U-shaped relationship between CRP and SBP, highlighting a relationship not previously observed when studying the general population.
Haltere removal alters responses to gravity in standing flies

Animals detect the force of gravity with multiple sensory organs, from subcutaneous receptors at body joints to specialized sensors like the vertebrate inner ear. The halteres of flies, specialized mechanoreceptive organs derived from hindwings, are known to detect body rotations during flight, and some groups of flies also oscillate their halteres while walking. The dynamics of halteres are such that they could act as gravity detectors for flies standing on substrates, but their utility during non-flight behaviors is not known. We observed the behaviors of intact and haltere-ablated flies during walking and during perturbations in which the acceleration due to gravity suddenly changed. We found that intact halteres are necessary for flies to maintain normal walking speeds on vertical surfaces and to respond to sudden changes in gravity. Our results suggest that halteres can serve multiple sensory purposes during different behaviors, expanding their role beyond their canonical use in flight.
Comparison of IOS parameters to aRIC respiratory system model parameters in normal and COPD adults

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is an important cause of illness and death. Sensitive assessments of COPD may be obtained by Impulse Oscillometry (IOS) during resting breathing. The respiratory impedance measured by IOS is modeled well by the augmented RIC (aRIC) circuit with parameters R,I,R p ,C p ,C e , representing central airway resistance and inertance, peripheral airway resistance and compliance, and extrathoracic compliance, respectively. IOS measurements (from 5 to 35 Hz) were obtained from ten normal adults and ten adults with varying degrees of COPD. The aRIC parameters were then derived by least-squares-optimal fitting to the IOS data. Using Mann-Whitney tests, the main IOS resistance and reactance parameters (R5, R5-R15, X5) and aRIC model parameters (R,R p ,I,C p ,C e , R p /C p ) were analyzed to determine if the values for normal adults came from the same population as the COPD adults’ values. For IOS R5, R5-R15, X5, the approximating z statistics were -6.47, -6.48, 6.46, respectively. For aRIC R,R p ,I,C p ,C e , R p /C p , the z statistics were -3.04, -4.31, 2.02, 6.34, 1.64, -6.46, respectively. At a 99% confidence level, all of these parameters, except aRIC I and C e , were found to come from different distributions. Furthermore, we calculated the Pearson product-moment-correlation-coefficients between aRIC R,R p ,I,C p ,C e , 1/C p ,R p /C p , and IOS R5, R5-R15, X5, R5-R min , R min . In COPD adults, we found very strong correlations between aRIC R and IOS R min (0.987), R p and X5 (-0.992), 1/C p and R5-R min (0.935), and R p /C p and X5 (-0.962). We conclude that the aRIC model of respiratory impedance is as sensitive as IOS to lung function changes in COPD, and that certain aRIC parameters correlate well to IOS parameters used for clinical assessment of COPD.
Conservation Laws in Crystal Precipitation

The material reviewed in sections 4.1–4.3 below was presented by Peter E. Castro on November 6, 1987 and is a joint work by Peter E. Castro, Anna E. Cha-Lin, David S. Ross (Applied Mathematics & Statistics) and Piotre H. Karpinski (Emulsion Engineering) at Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y. In section 4.4 we present solutions to some of the problems raised in section 4.2.
Czech Billionaires as Politicians

This article analyzes the very rich Czechs who have stood for elected office. It identifies two ideal types—one motivated more by business interests and another more by duty and hobbyism. These mot...
Built capital as a catalyst for community-based tourism.

This article focuses on the role of built capital as a catalyst for the development of other forms of capital in collective community-based tourism projects. As part of a regional initiative, modest built capital projects were implemented in six small towns in the Appalachian region of North Carolina. To discover how each community was affected, the impacts of these physical changes were documented, evaluated and categorized using Flora’s Community Capitals Framework. Over 100 interviews of stakeholders revealed how each project created new social and human capital, improving the community’s psyche, fostering confidence, camaraderie, gratification, and a sense of purpose both within and beyond the tourism-based focus. Additional capitals were cultivated, including spin-off projects, increased visitation by tourists, elected official support, and a more entrepreneurial community. Informants overwhelmingly reported that the physical changes acted as a symbol of the cohesiveness created from the community-centered and participatory approach.
Gravity recoverable gold from −13 mm crushed ore, Ester Dome, Alaska

-A pilot-scale study was performed to evaluate the potential for gravity concentration of gold from −13 mm (−1/2 in.) crushed ore from Ester Dome, AK. 9.04 t (9.94 st) of crushed ore were sampled and processed through a Pan-American jig-Wilfley table pilot plant. Plant products were sampled for assay and material balance calculations. Gold recovery through one stage of jigging and two stages of tabling was 17.4% at a concentration ratio of 615:1. Concentrate grade was 766.3 g/t (22.4 oz/st). The feed grade to the plant was calculated at 1.71 g/t(0.05 oz/st). Jig tailings, primary table tailings and secondary table tailings grades were 1.44 g/t (0.042 oz/st), 1.30 g/t (0.038 oz/st), and 5.47 g/t (0.16 oz/st, respectively. Significant coarse, free-milling gold values were shown to remain in the jig tailings. Concentrate mineralogy is discussed.
Microbial Sterolomics as a Chemical Biology Tool

Metabolomics has become a powerful tool in chemical biology. Profiling the human sterolome has resulted in the discovery of noncanonical sterols, including oxysterols and meiosis-activating sterols. They are important to immune responses and development, and have been reviewed extensively. The triterpenoid metabolite fusidic acid has developed clinical relevance, and many steroidal metabolites from microbial sources possess varying bioactivities. Beyond the prospect of pharmacognostical agents, the profiling of minor metabolites can provide insight into an organism’s biosynthesis and phylogeny, as well as inform drug discovery about infectious diseases. This review aims to highlight recent discoveries from detailed sterolomic profiling in microorganisms and their phylogenic and pharmacological implications.
A non-emulative moment connection for progressive collapse resistance in precast concrete building frames

Abstract This paper documents the experimental development of a new spandrel-to-column moment connection detail for progressive collapse resistance in precast concrete building frames. This study focuses on a 10-story prototype precast concrete frame building with perimeter special moment frames (SMF) that are subjected to a ground-floor column removal. The experimental subassembly represents a spandrel-to-column connection on the perimeter SMF near the middle of the building face (i.e. not at the corners). The connection is non-emulative and utilizes unbonded high-strength steel post-tensioning (PT) bars which pass through ducts in the column and are anchored to the spandrels via bearing plates. The proposed design strives for construction simplicity, avoids field welding and/or grouting, and maximizes ductility by allowing the high strength steel bars to act as structural “fuses” when yielding. A full-scale quasi-static pushdown test is performed on two variants of the proposed connection: one with higher moment-rotation capacity and limited ductility, and another with lower capacity and higher ductility. The results show that the connection can reliably achieve its design yield capacity, performs well under service level demands, and can achieve moderate-to-high ductility. The experimental results are then applied to a system-level computational model of the prototype building frame under a column removal scenario. The results of a nonlinear dynamic analysis demonstrate that the system can arrest progressive collapse in the event of a single column loss scenario when either variant of the proposed connection is considered.
Surname-based ethnicity and ethnic segregation in the early twentieth century U.S.

Abstract In this paper, I discuss a new measure of ethnicity in historical U.S. census data, and apply it in segregation studies. In the early twentieth century U.S., three major sending countries of Central and Eastern European immigrants—namely, Germany, Poland, and Russia—had high degrees of ethnic and cultural diversity. The population in all three countries comprised largely of a mixture of German, Polish, Russian, and Jewish ethnic groups. Consequently, there might be significant heterogeneity in ethnicity among U.S. immigrants born in the same home country. Focusing on the above three sending countries in the 1920 and 1930 U.S. census, I construct an ethnicity variable based essentially on the linguistic origin of the surname. Employing this variable, I examine ethnic segregation within each immigrant group defined based on the country of birth. Results suggest high degrees of within-group ethnic segregation. In particular, ethnic majorities within each group generally resided in areas with significantly more compatriots.
Networked Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning in Continuous Spaces

Many real-world tasks on practical control systems involve the learning and decision-making of multiple agents, under limited communications and observations. In this paper, we study the problem of networked multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL), where multiple agents perform reinforcement learning in a common environment, and are able to exchange information via a possibly time-varying communication network. In particular, we focus on a collaborative MARL setting where each agent has individual reward functions, and the objective of all the agents is to maximize the network-wide averaged long-term return. To this end, we propose a fully decentralized actor-critic algorithm that only relies on neighbor-to-neighbor communications among agents. To promote the use of the algorithm on practical control systems, we focus on the setting with continuous state and action spaces, and adopt the newly proposed expected policy gradient to reduce the variance of the gradient estimate. We provide convergence guarantees for the algorithm when linear function approximation is employed, and corroborate our theoretical results via simulations.
Postoperative Treatment of Oropharyngeal Cancer in the Era of Human Papillomavirus.

Despite an overall decline in the incidence of tobacco-related cancers, human papillomavirus (HPV)–related head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) of the oropharynx is on the rise. The prognosis of HPV-related oropharynx cancer (HPV-OPC) is generally favorable even in locoregionally advanced disease, and a variety of treatment options are available. Though the primary treatment modality of choice remains definitive radiation (RT), surgical resection followed by appropriate adjuvant therapy remains an option, especially in those patients who may not be favorable candidates for definitive radiotherapy, particularly when concurrent chemotherapy is warranted. Upfront resection may offer a chance to avoid the well-described acute toxicity and long-term morbidity associated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in select patients. Despite the overall favorable prognosis of HPV-OPC, indications for therapy remain unchanged from the recommendations for treatment in tobacco-related OPC and other anatomic sites of HNSCC. Ongoing studies assessing deintensification strategies in HPV-OPC are focused on maintaining high cure rates while improving treatment-related toxicities. Currently, no clear guidelines exist for the choice of primary therapy, surgical resection, or RT in patients with HPV-OPC, highlighting the need for multidisciplinary discussion and review of the individual patient before selecting the most appropriate curative modality. This review seeks to present the data for postoperative therapy in HPV-related oropharyngeal HNSCC.
Scalable Processing of Contemporary Semi-Structured Data on Commodity Parallel Processors - A Compilation-based Approach

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) and its derivatives are essential in the modern computing infrastructure. However, existing software often fails to process such types of data in a scalable way, mainly for two reasons: (i) the processing often requires to build a memory-consuming parse tree; (ii) there exist inherent dependences in processing the data stream, preventing any data-level parallelization. Facing the challenges, developers often have to construct ad-hoc pre-parsers to split the data stream in order to reduce the memory consumption and increase the data parallelism. However, this strategy requires more programming efforts. Moreover, the pre-parsing itself is non-trivial to parallelize, thus introducing a new serial bottleneck. To solve the dilemma, this work introduces a scalable yet fully automatic solution - a compilation system, namely JPStream, that compiles standard JSONPath queries into parallel executables with bounded memory footprints. First, JPStream adopts a stream processing design that combines the querying and parsing into one pass, without generating any in-memory parse tree. To achieve this, JPStream uses a novel joint compilation technique that compiles the queries and the JSON syntax together into a single automaton. Furthermore, JPStream leverages the "enumerability'' of automaton to break the dependences and reason about the transition rules to prune infeasible states. It also features a runtime that learns structural constraints from the input to enhance the pruning. Evaluation on real-world JSON datasets with standard JSONPath queries shows that JPStream can reduce the memory consumption significantly, by up to 95%, meanwhile achieving near-linear speedup on multicore and manycore processors.
“An Independent Little Sausage”: Sexual Agency and Desire On Dearborn Street

In the teeming public space of modern U.S. cities at the end of the long nineteenth century, New Women carved out a place for themselves and navigated the opportunities and constraints associated w...
Advanced cyberinfrastructure for intercomparison and validation of climate models

Abstract The current routine of comparison and validation in climate science is frequently static and of low efficiency, which hinders evidence-based decision making and scientific confidence. Due to the aggressively increasing resolution, complexity, and associated data volumes of climate models, objectively comparing multiple models and assessing their accuracy against observations is an ever-increasing challenge. We propose an integrated framework for harmonizing state-of-the-art cyberinfrastructure techniques with the user habits formed by long-term familiarity with existing community-oriented software. An open source prototype named COVALI is implemented and used to compare and validate the results of several widely-used climate models and datasets. Our results show that the proposed cyberinfrastructure-based strategy can significantly automate the comparison and validation processes in climate modeling. More importantly, the new strategy retains the existing user habits in the climate community while making it easier for scientists to adopt new technology in their research routine.
Undertreatment of chlamydia and gonorrhea among pregnant women in the emergency department

The objective of this study is to evaluate whether pregnant women receive appropriate treatment, undertreatment, or overtreatment in the emergency department (ED) when they are tested for chlamydia...
Ca:Mg Ratio, APOE Cytosine Modifications, and Cognitive Function: Results from a Randomized Trial.

Background Deterioration of ionized calcium (Ca2+) handling in neurons could lead to neurodegenerative disease. Magnesium (Mg) antagonizes Ca during many physiologic activities, including energy metabolism and catalyzation of demethylation from 5-methylcytosine(5-mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine(5-hmC). Objective To test the hypothesis that actively reducing the Ca:Mg intake ratio in the diet through Mg supplementation improves cognitive function, and to test whether this effect is partially mediated by modified cytosines in Apolipoprotein E (APOE). Methods This study is nested within the Personalized Prevention of Colorectal Cancer Trial (PPCCT), a double-blind 2×2 factorial randomized controlled trial, which enrolled 250 participants from Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Target doses for both Mg and placebo arms were personalized. Results Among those aged > 65 years old who consumed a high Ca:Mg ratio diet, we found that reducing the Ca:Mg ratio to around 2.3 by personalized Mg supplementation significantly improved cognitive function by 9.1% (p = 0.03). We also found that reducing the Ca:Mg ratio significantly reduced 5-mC at the cg13496662 and cg06750524 sites only among those aged > 65 years old (p values = 0.02 and 0.03, respectively). Furthermore, the beneficial effect of reducing the Ca:Mg ratio on cognitive function in those aged over 65 years was partially mediated by reductions in 5-mC levels (i.e., cg13496662 and cg06750524) in APOE (p for indirect effect = 0.05). Conclusion Our findings suggest that, among those age 65 and over with a high dietary Ca:Mg ratio, optimal Mg status may improve cognitive function partially through modifications in APOE methylation. These findings, if confirmed, have significant implications for the prevention of cognitive aging and Alzheimer's disease.Clinical Trial Registry number and website: #100106 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03265483.
Identifying Modifiable Factors Linking Parenting and Sleep in Racial/Ethnic Minority Children.

Background Young children from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds are at risk for poor sleep, yet few studies have tested behavioral interventions in diverse samples. This study tests factors that could contribute to associations between parenting skills and child sleep to inform interventions for children at risk of poor sleep outcomes. Specifically, we examined household chaos, caregiver sleep knowledge, and caregiver sleep quality as putative mediators that may be relevant to interventions seeking to improve child sleep. Methods Caregivers (M age 31.83 years; 46.2% African American; 52.1% Hispanic/Latinx, 95% female) of 119 1- to 5-year-old children (M age 3.99 years; 43.7% African American; 42.0% Hispanic/Latinx, 14.3% biracial; 51.3% female) completed measures of parenting practices, child and caregiver sleep, household chaos, and sleep knowledge. Indices of pediatric insomnia symptoms (difficulty falling/remaining asleep) and sleep health (sleep duration/hygiene) were constructed based on previous research. Parallel mediation models were conducted using ordinary least squares path analysis. Results Lower household chaos significantly attenuated the relationship between positive parenting skills and better child sleep health, suggesting chaos may serve as a potential mediator. There were no significant contributing factors in the pediatric insomnia model. Sleep knowledge was related to sleep health and caregiver sleep quality was related to pediatric insomnia, independent of parenting skills. Conclusion Interventions to improve sleep in early childhood may be enhanced by targeting parenting skills and household routines to reduce chaos. Future longitudinal research is needed to test household chaos and other potential mediators of child sleep outcomes over time.
Feeling Down, Backward, and Machinic: Queer Theory and the Affective Turn

The engagement of queer theory with the affective turn, particularly in its divergence from the previous discussions preoccupied with the historical development and poststructuralist critique of sexual identity, has generated three distinct yet related strains of affective scholarship: queer negativity, queer temporality, and queer as machinic body. Each of the strains has raises different analytical challenges and potentials for both queer theory and affect theory, which I term respectively feeling down, feeling backward, and feeling machinic. These three types of scholarship describe the varied forms of sociality and levels of intensity that the queer body is affected by and bring three particular contributions to queer theory, including deepening the understanding of cultural processes, shifting epistemology at the temporal scale, and widening sexual ontology beyond its spatial privileging of the Euro-American experience.
Spur Minimization Techniques for Ultra-Low-Power Injection-Locked Transmitters

Frequency multiplying wireless transmitters (TX) employing harmonic injection-locked technique benefit from high energy efficiency and less hardware complexity but largely suffer from reference spurs that violate the TX spectral specifications. This work proposes a self-aligned phase-locked loop (PLL) in conjunction with harmonic injection locking technique to achieve significantly improved spur performance under ultra-low-power (ULP) operations for sub-GHz IoT TXs. The on-chip type-I PLL calibrates the phase error in the ring oscillator (RO) in real-time and avoids large spurs induced from the frequency deviation in the harmonic injection locking. A compact zero power consumption twin-T notch filter for spur suppression is implemented within the PLL loop to tackle the rail-to-rail voltage jump that comes from the output of the phase detector (PD). Designed and fabricated in the TSMC 180 nm CMOS process, the proposed frequency multiplying TX occupies an active area of only 0.0413 mm2. The lowest power consumption with >3X improved energy-efficiency is observed while consistently achieving >62 dB spur suppression with −14 dBm output at 915 MHz. The TX supports OOK modulation with an average power consumption of $200.9~\mu \text{W}$ only at 3 Mb/s data rate achieving a normalized 66.97 pJ/bit energy efficiency.
Third Quadrant Operation of 1.2 kV-10 kV SiC Planar MOSFETs: New Device Findings and Converter Validation

This work presents the first comparative study on the third quadrant behavior of 1.2 kV to 10 kV SiC planar MOSFETs. New findings are demonstrated on the competing current sharing between the metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) channel and the body diode: in high-voltage MOSFETs, if the MOS channel is on, the body diode turn-on voltage is much higher than the built-in potential of the PN junction. Theoretical explanations are developed and validated by TCAD simulation. This device finding suggests that, for high-voltage SiC planar MOSFETs, turning on the MOS channel may lead to a purely unipolar third-quadrant conduction and the corresponding voltage drop could be higher than that of the bipolar body diode, particularly at high junction temperatures. To understand the implication of this finding on device applications, a DC-DC buck converter was built using a 10 kV SiC MOSFET half-bridge power module. In the high-temperature converter test, the third-quadrant voltage drop was found to be lowest with a negative gate bias control. This work illustrates that the optimal gate bias control for third-quadrant conduction of 10 kV SiC MOSFETs could be different from the one for 1.2 kV SiC MOSFETs.
Role of Shocked Accretion Flows in Regulating the Quasi-periodic Oscillation of Galactic Black Hole Candidates

Using a generalized nonspherical, multitransonic accretion flow model, we analytically calculate the normalized quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) frequency qpo of Galactic black hole candidates in terms of dynamical flow variables and self-consistently study the dependence of qpo on such variables. Our results are in fairly close agreement with the observed QPO frequencies of GRS 1915+105. We find that qpo is quite sensitive to various parameters describing the black hole accretion flow containing dissipative and nondissipative shock waves. Thus, the QPO phenomena is, indeed, regulated by "shocked" black hole accretion, and, for the first time, we establish a definitive connection between the QPO frequency and the properties of advective black hole accretion flows. This information may provide an explanation for some of the important observations of Galactic microquasars.
The role of intraparticle diffusion path length during electro-assisted regeneration of ion exchange resins: Implications for selective adsorbent design and reverse osmosis pretreatment

Abstract Inorganic membrane scaling is a major cause of process failure for reverse osmosis (RO). Pretreatment using selective ion exchangers can reduce membrane scaling by removing scale-forming ions such as calcium (Ca2+) and phosphate (P). Ca- and P-selective ion exchangers also enable calcium phosphate recovery via precipitation from spent regenerants enriched with both ions. However, conventional regeneration approaches require substantial chemical and energy inputs. In this study, we designed a RO pretreatment process using electro-assisted regeneration of a column train containing a hybrid anion exchanger (HAIX) and a weak acid cation exchanger (WAC) to selectively remove > 90% Ca2+ and P from synthetic secondary effluent. HAIX and WAC were regenerated using pH 11 catholyte and pH 3 anolyte produced via electrochemical water splitting. HAIX contains ferric oxide nanoparticles (FeOnp) in a parent strong base anion exchanger (SBA). By comparing P regeneration efficiency of HAIX and SBA, we identified that FeOnp dopants reduced intraparticle diffusivity by 85% from SBA to HAIX. However, HAIX exhibited faster column regeneration kinetics than SBA, potentially due to the shortened intraparticle diffusion path length caused by the surface-distributed P in saturated HAIX, which overcompensated for low intraparticle diffusivity. Regenerability enhancement caused by the reduced intraparticle diffusion path length was also confirmed by comparing WAC with shallow-shell WAC (SSWAC), which has surface-distributed carboxylate functional groups. We anticipate that this study will inform selective adsorbent design by identifying strategies to improve regenerability, facilitate process intensification by replacing chemical inputs with electricity, and enhance resource recovery from wastewater.
Is there a need for consultant team for bowel resection? An evaluation of surgical outcomes of bowel resection at time of ovarian cytoreductive surgery

Objectives: Bowel resections (BR) performed at the time of ovarian cytoreductive surgery (OCS) may be necessary to achieve optimal tumor resection rates; however BR has been associated with increased postoperative morbidity. The aims of this study were to determine the proportion of BR performed by the primary gynecologic oncology team versus another consultant team during OCS, and to compare the postoperative surgical outcomes between OCS with BR performed by either the primary or consultant teams. Methods: Women who underwent BR at time of OCS from 2013 to 2018 were identified in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database using corresponding CPT, ICD-9, and ICD-10 codes. Determination of which surgical team performed the BR was based upon the surgical specialty of the primary team and whether the resection was coded as a primary or concurrent procedure. Comparative analyses were then stratified by surgical team to evaluate demographics, preoperative and intraoperative variables, and surgical outcomes. Statistical tests were performed with R Studio v.1.1.456. Results: A total of 8,750 women who underwent OCS were identified, and 1,784 (20.4%) of these women underwent a concurrent BR. Among the women who had a BR, 1,479 (82.9%) were performed by the primary team and 304 (17.0%) by a consultant team. Data was not available for one patient, and she was excluded from the analysis. Between the groups, there were no significant baseline differences in patient age, body mass index, preoperative functional status, American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) class, and albumin and hematocrit levels. The two groups had similar operative times, total relative value units, and total lengths of hospital stay. More stomas were created when a consultant team performed the bowel resection (36.1% vs. 26.8%, p=0.002). When evaluating for the incidence of superficial, deep, and organ space infections separately, there were no differences between the two groups (Table 1). There were also no significant differences in reoperation, readmission, and death rates within the 30-day postoperative period. Download : Download high-res image (106KB) Download : Download full-size image Conclusions: Routine consultation for BR may not result in improved surgical outcomes. There were no major differences in overall complications within the 30-day postoperative period whether the primary or a consultant team performed the BR. When a separate team was consulted to perform the BR during OCS, there were higher rates of stoma creation. Given the known morbidities associated with stoma creation, such as volume dehydration and electrolyte abnormalities, more stomas in this patient population could have an overall detrimental impact on quality of life that is not captured in the NSQIP database.
Sporadic superficial angiomyxomas demonstrate loss of PRKAR1A expression

Superficial angiomyxomas are cutaneous mesenchymal tumors that typically present clinically as slow-growing, solitary, asymptomatic nodules that can occur at any age. Histopathologically, these dermal and subcutaneous tumors are characterized by abundant myxoid stroma, numerous thin-walled and often arborizing blood vessels, and spindled to stellate fibroblast-like cells. While usually sporadic, superficial angiomyxomas can occasionally be associated with Carney complex (CNC), an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by inactivating germline mutations in the 1-alpha regulatory subunit of protein kinase A (PRKAR1A) and various clinical manifestations, including: cardiac myxomas, facial lentigines, epithelioid blue nevi, endocrinopathies, and psammomatous melanotic schwannomas. In this study, we sought to characterize the presence or absence of PRKAR1A expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in sporadic superficial angiomyxomas based on our observations in an index case. In total, PRKAR1A immunohistochemical expression was determined in 15 sporadic superficial angiomyxoma cases retrieved from the surgical pathology archives. IHC demonstrated that the lesional cells in 12 cases (80%) were non-reactive to antibodies against PRKAR1A. This study provides evidence in support of a role for PRKAR1A in the development of clinically non-syndromic superficial angiomyxomas. Along with previous studies, this report demonstrates that PRKAR1A may play an important role in the development of a variety of myxomatous mesenchymal tumors.
Canonical Equation K 32 for Normalized Spectral Functions of Random Gram Matrices with Identically Distributed Independent Blocks. Block Matrix Density

The Chapter extends the “One quarter Law” \( {(2\pi )^{ - 1}}\sqrt {(4 - x)} \;{x^{ - 1/2}},\;{\rm{0}}\;{\rm{ < }}\;x {\rm{ < }}\;{\rm{4}} \) to Gram random matrices with independent random blocks obeying a Lindeberg-type condition and allowing arbitrary dependence of entries within each block. It is proved that Stieltjes transform of the individual limiting spectral function satisfies a matrix canonical equation which generalizes the Bronk-Marchenko-Pastur density. We make the same assumptions concerning random matrices: we only change all entries of random matrices by some blocks.
American Popular Culture, Music, and Collection Development in Libraries

The relationship between American popular culture and music is somewhat broader than many persons think, going significantly beyond the parameters of U.S. "popular music" proper. Five examples (patriotic music, classical music, hymns, popular songs of foreign origin, and Christmas songs) are presented to illustrate the deep and diverse influences these genres have on American popular culture. The implications for library collection development are discussed.
Top-Down Nearly-Context-Sensitive Parsing

We present a new syntactic parser that works left-to-right and top down, thus maintaining a fully-connected parse tree for a few alternative parse hypotheses. All of the commonly used statistical parsers use context-free dynamic programming algorithms and as such work bottom up on the entire sentence. Thus they only find a complete fully connected parse at the very end. In contrast, both subjective and experimental evidence show that people understand a sentence word-to-word as they go along, or close to it. The constraint that the parser keeps one or more fully connected syntactic trees is intended to operationalize this cognitive fact. Our parser achieves a new best result for top-down parsers of 89.4%, a 20% error reduction over the previous single-parser best result for parsers of this type of 86.8% (Roark, 2001). The improved performance is due to embracing the very large feature set available in exchange for giving up dynamic programming.
Approaches to Amazonian Magic and Shamanism

Michael F. Brown. Tsewa's Gift: Magic and Meaning in an Amazonian Society. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1986. 220 pp. $19.95 (cloth). Michael Taussig. Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man:. Study in Terror and Healing. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1987. xix plus 517 pp. $29.95 (cloth).
Estrogen Receptor-β Mediates Dihydrotestosterone-Induced Stimulation of the Arginine Vasopressin Promoter in Neuronal Cells

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is a neuropeptide involved in the regulation of fluid balance, stress, circadian rhythms, and social behaviors. In the brain, AVP is tightly regulated by gonadal steroid hormones in discrete regions with gonadectomy abolishing and testosterone replacement restoring normal AVP expression in adult males. Previous studies demonstrated that 17beta-estradiol, a primary metabolite of testosterone, is responsible for restoring most of the AVP expression in the brain after castration. However, 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) has also been shown to play a role in the regulation of AVP expression, thus implicating the involvement of both androgen and estrogen receptors (ER). Furthermore, DHT, through its conversion to 5alpha-androstane-3beta,17beta-diol, has been shown to modulate estrogen response element-mediated promoter activity through an ER pathway. The present study addressed two central hypotheses: 1) that androgens directly modulate AVP promoter activity and 2) the effect is mediated by an estrogen or androgen receptor pathway. To that end, we overexpressed androgen receptor, ERbeta, and ERbeta splice variants in a neuronal cell line and measured AVP promoter activity using a firefly luciferase reporter assay. Our results demonstrate that DHT and its metabolite 5alpha-androstane-3beta,17beta-diol stimulate AVP promoter activity through ERbeta in a neuronal cell line.
Reasons why patients choose an ambulance and willingness to consider alternatives.

Objectives: To test a hypothesis that patients would accept alternatives to transport to an emergency department (ED) by ambulance and to evaluate factors related to patient willingness to consider alternatives. Concerns about resource utilization have prompted emergency medical services (EMS) systems to explore alternatives to ambulance transport to an ED, but studies have evaluated the safety of alternatives, not patient preferences. Methods: Trained research assistants surveyed patients transported by ambulance to a university ED. Interfacility transfers, trauma patients, and critically ill patients were excluded. The primary outcome was willingness to accept one of several presented alternatives to ambulance transport to the ED for that visit. Demographic and clinical factors were evaluated for association with willingness to consider alternatives. Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were determined by using Mantel-Haenszel stratified methods. Results: Three hundred fifteen subjects completed the survey. Two hundred forty-seven (78.4%) were willing to consider at least one alternative. One hundred ninety-four (61.6%) were willing to consider transportation by car, and 177 (56.2%) were willing to consider transportation by taxi. Factors associated with willingness to consider alternatives included the following: age 18–65 years (RR, 1.25; 95% CI = 1.03 to 1.49), being unemployed (RR, 1.08; 95% CI = 1.08 to 1.33), use of the ED for routine care (RR, 1.25; 95% CI = 1.17 to 1.35), and not being admitted to the hospital (RR, 1.19; 95% CI = 1.04 to 1.40). Race, gender, health insurance status, and EMS interventions en route were not associated with willingness to consider transportation alternatives. Conclusions: Many patients transported by ambulance to an ED would have considered an alternative, if one were offered.
Green technology and service

Climate change, rising energy costs and resource constraints are increasing becoming global issues for government and business. These global issues are driving new trends in the development of Green Technologies. Renewable energy sources, advanced water management, efficient resource recycling, waste reduction, intelligent utility networks, intelligent transportation systems, and energy efficiency in data center are gaining strong interests and supports from both the public and private sectors. One of the key initiatives is the application of Green Technology to supply chain management. The objective of this green application is to reduce the carbon emission of company operations. In this talk, we will discuss the new wave of green technology and the emerging services and business on green assessment, diagnosis and consulting, tools and modeling, manufacture process and re-design. We will conclude with our views on future trend, directions and research topics on green technology, green computing, and green services.
Agriculture versus industry in development policy: The planner's dilemma re‐examined∗

(1969). Agriculture versus industry in development policy: The planner's dilemma re‐examined. The Journal of Development Studies: Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 171-189.