cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Rise of the Memoir

This work offers close, often brilliant readings of the life writing of seven figures, mostly in the twentieth century. Zwerdling understands the familiar problems of defining the genre and unravel...
The Long and Winding Road: Musicians on Tour from the Big Band Era to Rock and Roll

Since the earliest troubadours, traveling from town to town to perform has been the primary way that musicians have made a living. In the 21st century, the rise of the Internet and digital music has meant a decline in recording royalties and touring has become increasingly important to a musician’s total income. Organizing a tour can be a complicated process, and there are components that can be controlled by the tour manager (hiring the staff, booking hotels, and so on) and those that cannot. Not controllable is uncertainty of the weather and unseen disasters. But also important in the efficiency and profitability of a tour is the state of technology. For the tours we examine, it is the transportation technology and the type of venues that are available to the artist that are crucial. The research question addressed is given changes in musical tastes, and the technology of transportation and venues, are tours today as efficient as those three-quarters of a century ago? We provide case studies of tours from different time periods and musical styles to provide a preliminary answer to this question using miles traveled and time spent on the road as measures of efficiency. Our hypothesis is that tours are most efficient when, given that management has enough experience, there is an appropriate transportation technology, and appropriate sized and equipped venues. We find that in general touring has been efficient measured in these terms. Big Bands mostly utilized trains and buses as a means of getting to the many ballrooms in small and large towns throughout the country. During the early rock and roll era of the 1950s, buses, and on occasion trains, were used as the means of travel between the various venues. Today, touring is by a combination of planes and buses traveling along interstate highways and between airport hub cities. This paper examines big band tours of Glenn Miller and Lawrence Welk and the modern touring of The Beatles, Paul McCartney and the Drive By Truckers. These tours are then compared with the infamous Winter Dance Party in 1959 during which three of the stars of the tour died in an airplane crash: Buddy Holly, J. P. ”The Big Bopper” Richardson, and Ritchie Valens. We find this latter tour to be relatively inefficient by our measures and attribute this to the limitations of transportation and the availability of venues.
Resource Usage Implementing the Surgical Resident Prep Curriculum at a Single Institution

Objective The Resident Prep Curriculum (RPC), published in 2014 and developed as a collaboration of the American College of Surgeons, Association of Program Directors in Surgery, and the Association for Surgical Education, was designed to improve the quality and consistency of medical student preparation for surgical residency. We aim to assess the feasibility of and resource usage for implementation of this curriculum at our institution. Design Our institution expanded upon a pre-existing 2-week surgical preparatory course, adding modules designed to meet the goals and objectives of the RPC. We performed an evaluation of the resources required for these additions, namely time, logistics and incremental cost. Setting The course took place at the Perelman School of Medicine, which is a large, academic medical center affiliated with the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Results Our course satisfied each of the six domains outlined in the RPC. In 2015, 22 students were enrolled in the course. It was run over a consecutive 4-week period in the spring of 2015, with 9 full and 9 half days. To meet the needs of the Curriculum, approximately 33 hours (38%) were spent in the classroom, 34 hours (39%) in a simulation center, and 20 hours (23%) in the anatomical laboratory. Seventy faculty-hours (from 5 disciplines) and 73 resident-hours (double-counting for cotaught modules) were required to support the course. Besides room availability, funding was required for certain aspects of the course such as cadavers, dedicated anatomy teaching, and the costs of supplies in the simulation center. There is also a cost associated with the use of the Penn Medicine Simulation Center. Taking these into account, the total cost of implementing the curriculum amounted to $30,627.10. Conclusion The implementation of the RPC was feasible but relied heavily upon faculty/resident time. As a result of the success of this initiative, our medical school seeks to expand the idea across multiple specialties.
Calcium-independent phospholipases in the heart: mediators of cellular signaling, bioenergetics, and ischemia-induced electrophysiologic dysfunction.

A dyshomeostasis of extra- and intracellular Ca 2+ and Zn 2+ occurs in rats receiving chronic
Diagnosis and management of pediatric sinusitis: A survey of primary care, otolaryngology and urgent care providers.

Abstract Objectives The aims of this project were two-fold: 1) To assess pediatric primary care (PCP), pediatric otolaryngology (ENT) and pediatric urgent care (UC) providers' perception of their adherence to the 2013 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) established guidelines for the diagnosis and management of acute bacterial rhinosinusitis (ABRS) in children 1–18 years old and 2) to assess the same providers' practice patterns in the diagnosis and management of pediatric chronic rhinosinusitis (PCRS). Method A 21-item questionnaire (CVI .9) was designed by th investigators using Survey Monkey®. The survey was emailed to pediatric providers (including physicians and advanced practice providers) in a Midwestern USA healthcare system (94 PCP, 25 UC, 19 ENT providers) from 20 pediatric primary care practices, 1 pediatric UC practice and 1 pediatric otolaryngology practice. Results Diagnosis: The following diagnostic criteria are utilized: persistent nasal congestion/cough lasting >10 days (95%), worsening of classic viral URI symptoms at days 5–7 (70%), severe onset and purulent nasal discharge for at least 3 consecutive days (45%). ENT will most commonly culture their patients. ENT providers (57%) approve of a nasal culture being obtained by PCPs. Management: Typically used antibiotics: amoxicillin (72%), Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (98%), cefdinir (73%), azithromycin (15%). ENT providers will also use clarithromycin and Bactrim more often compared to PCPs. For PCN allergy patients, most providers choose cefdinir. Typical length of antibiotic therapy for providers is 10 days (70%) and 14 days (17%); ENT (21%) prescribes 7 days past any symptom compared to PCP (6%) and UC (5%). Use of adjuvant therapy is variable among the groups. Conclusion This quality initiative project demonstrates that providers' diagnosis of ABRS is consistent with the 2013 AAP guidelines while variation in clinical management exists for both ABRS and PCRS. This survey demonstrates the need to educate all providers on the current 2013 AAP guidelines and define practice across all settings.
“Participant” Perceptions of Twitter Research Ethics:

Social computing systems such as Twitter present new research sites that have provided billions of data points to researchers. However, the availability of public social media data has also presented ethical challenges. As the research community works to create ethical norms, we should be considering users’ concerns as well. With this in mind, we report on an exploratory survey of Twitter users’ perceptions of the use of tweets in research. Within our survey sample, few users were previously aware that their public tweets could be used by researchers, and the majority felt that researchers should not be able to use tweets without consent. However, we find that these attitudes are highly contextual, depending on factors such as how the research is conducted or disseminated, who is conducting it, and what the study is about. The findings of this study point to potential best practices for researchers conducting observation and analysis of public data.
Complex Hunter-Gatherers on the Kodiak Archipelago

In the late 18th century Alutiiq society was the product of thousands of years of struggles and triumphs, the aggregate effect of billions of decisions and actions, some in perilous circumstances and others of seemingly trivial importance. In this chapter we explore the result of this evolutionary history, the product of at least 7500 years of development prior to substantial influence from Eurasian and Euro-American intervention. In the next chapter we will establish the context and character of the initial Kodiak occupation. These two chapters, then, mark the end points, at least 7500 years apart, of a time line. The rest of the book connects these points through evolutionary modeling and archaeological analysis.
Macromolecular Stereochemistry: The Differing Roles of a Helix Reversal in Dilute Solution, in a Liquid Crystal, and in a Polymer Blend

A variant of the Nylons, the polyisocyanates, which were created at the DuPont Corporation in the late 1950’s, have proven to be archetypal stiff helical polymers related therefore to the alpha-helical peptides or to DNA. There is though one essential difference, the absence of a predetermined helical sense. In long enough chains this leads to helix reversals (1) which are discovered to enforce a strong cooperativity for chiral effects.
Security issues in ad hoc networks

In this chapter, we discuss issues and survey current solutions in securing ad hoc wireless networks. The characteristics of ad hoc networks render the trust a host could place on other hosts and a network more precarious than in a conventional network. Any viable security approach ought to address trust concerns for specific applications. As examples, we look at three specific issues and their current proposed solutions: a transient association as host access control policy for mobile appliances, link-by-link and end-to-end authentication for securing routing in open networks, and split control for a centralized service or distributed services for survivable services in a rapidly changing network.
Process Mediation of OWL-S Web Services

The ability to deal with incompatibilities of service requesters and providers is a critical factor for achieving smooth interoperability in dynamic environments. Achieving interoperability of existing web services is a costly process including a lot of development and integration effort which is far from being automated. Semantic Web Services frameworks strive to facilitate flexible dynamic web services discovery, invocation and composition and to support automation of these processes. In this paper we focus on mediation and brokering mechanisms of OWL-S Web Services which we see as the main means to overcome various types of problems and incompatibilities. We describe the process mediation component and the hybrid broker component that present two different approaches to bridge incompatibilities between the requester's and provider's interaction protocols.
Continuous-energy COMET solution to the stylized AHTR benchmark problem

Abstract In this paper, the continuous energy coarse mesh transport code COMET was used to provide the whole core transport solution to a set of stylized Advanced High Temperature Reactor (AHTR) benchmark problems. This set includes two full length single assembly and three full core configurations. Solving this type of reactor core is a significant challenge to high and low order neutron transport methods because of its high heterogeneities due to TRISO fuel and burnable absorber particles imbedded in graphite plates with Y-shaped control blades and molten salt as coolant. The eigenvalue and fission density distributions calculated by COMET were compared with the direct Monte Carlo solutions. In the single assembly calculations, it was found that eight-bin expansion in energy and 2nd order expansion in the other phase space variables used by COMET are sufficient for calculation of the eigenvalue and the assembly averaged fission density distribution, while 4th order expansion in space is necessary to obtain the stripe-wise fission density distribution with accuracy comparable to that of the continuous energy Monte Carlo method. It was also found that it is impractical to use Monte Carlo to generate the detailed solutions (stripe-wise fission density distribution) to the full core benchmark problems because of the prohibitive computation resource requirement (estimated to be about 2200 days on an 84-CPU cluster). It took only about 4.5 h on a single CPU for COMET to calculate the detailed solution including the stripe-wise fission density distribution in the entire core. Given that COMET agreed very well with Monte Carlo in terms of assembly averaged and stripe-wise fission density distributions in the single assembly problems as well as in terms of the assembly averaged fission density distribution in the full core problems, it was concluded that the continuous energy COMET can provide the reference solution to the stylized AHTR benchmark problems.
Winning us with trifles: Adverse selection in the use of philanthropy as insurance

Research Summary: We study the use of corporate philanthropy as a form of reputation insurance, developing a formal model of such insurance to examine how the terms of insurance in equilibrium change under different assumptions about the firm and its stakeholders. We then test the predictions from this model in the U.S. petroleum industry and find that philanthropic donations offer insurance‐like benefits, but are also positively associated with subsequent oil spills—firms that give more, spill more—with this association being stronger for spills that are under firms’ control and in states with low civic capacity. These results are consistent with an adverse selection/moral hazard equilibrium and suggest that the use of philanthropy as reputation insurance may benefit firms at the cost of society. Managerial Summary: Firms that donate to social causes develop a reputation for being socially responsible, and are often given the benefit of doubt when negative information about them comes to light. But are philanthropic firms truly more responsible? We argue that firms that donate more may be more likely to do harm—those that expect to do harm later are likely to give more now, and those that know their reputation protects them may become less careful. Evidence from the U.S. petroleum industry is consistent with this argument, with firms that give more having more subsequent oil spills, but only the type of spills that are under the firm's control, and only in states where the firm faces weaker scrutiny.
When is Graph Reordering an Optimization? Studying the Effect of Lightweight Graph Reordering Across Applications and Input Graphs

Graph processing applications are notorious for exhibiting poor cache locality due to an irregular memory access pattern. However, prior work on graph reordering has observed that the structural properties of real-world input graphs can be exploited to improve locality of graph applications. While sophisticated graph reordering techniques are effective at reducing the graph application runtime, the reordering step imposes significant overheads leading to a net increase in end-to-end execution time. The high overhead of sophisticated reordering techniques renders them inapplicable in many important use cases wherein the input graph is processed only a few times and, hence, cannot amortize the overhead of reordering. In this work, we identify lightweight reordering techniques that improve performance even after accounting for the overhead of reordering. We first conduct a detailed performance evaluation of these lightweight reordering techniques across a range of applications to identify the characteristics of applications that benefit the most from lightweight reordering. Next, we address a major impediment to the general adoption of these reordering techniques - input-dependent speedups – by linking the speedup from lightweight reordering to structural properties of the input graph. We leverage the structure dependence of speedup to propose a low-overhead mechanism to determine whether a given input graph would benefit from reordering. Using our selective lightweight reordering, we show maximum end-to-end speedup of up to 1.75x and never cause a slowdown beyond 0.1%.
Association between sexually explicit messages and sleep health among French sexual minority men

It has been demonstrated that sexual minority men (SMM) participate in sexting. While research has shown that engagement in the exchange of sexually explicit media is associated with poor health ou...
Efficacy of the MMPI-A in detecting trauma among delinquent youth: cross-validation of the Trauma Scale for Juvenile Offenders (TSJO)

ABSTRACTThe Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory – Adolescent (MMPI-A) is a widely researched personality assessment in psychology. However, the utility of the MMPI-A for detecting trauma am...
Effects of thermal conductivity of liquid layer in NIF wetted foam experiments

Numerical simulation of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) capsule implosion experiments requires many plasma parameters corresponding to different materials and their mixtures for a wide range of densities and temperatures. Thermal conduction plays a crucial role in coupling energy to the capsule, is one of the primary mechanisms of energy loss during implosion, has a significant effect on hot-spot formation, and impacts the growth of hydrodynamic instabilities. The determination of accurate thermal conductivity of ICF relevant materials is thus important for understanding capsule performance. Analytic models such as Spitzer or Lee-More models have been extensively used in simulations due to the limited availability of experimental data. First principles calculations have shown that these analytic models tend to underestimate electron thermal conductivity in the warm dense plasma regime for ICF related materials. In this paper, we numerically investigate the effects of different models for the electron heat conductivity coefficients, including both analytic and Quantum Molecular Dynamics (QMD)-based models, for mixed materials in ICF. We also investigate the impact of how conductivities are calculated in mixed cells from constituent material conductivities. We apply this to the modeling of recent wetted foam capsule implosions on the National Ignition Facility, in which a foam layer on the inside of the capsule is wetted with deuterium-tritium (DT) liquid. We have found that electron heat conductivity affects the initial hot-spot formation and its evolution. Strikingly, we observe that capsule performance is more sensitive to the method used to mix material conductivities in mixed cells than how individual material conductivity coefficients are calculated. We have also found that using the first principles QMD-based conductivity model along with an appropriate model for mixed-cell conductivities yields better agreement with experimental results compared to the established modeling strategies. We also investigate the impact of mixed material conductivity modeling on the process of ablator material mixing with DT ice in a plastic ice-layer capsule. In our simulations, the heat conductivity model affects the calculated mix widths at the fuel-ablator interface, particularly near the tent scar. Additional mixing between the DT fuel and the ablator in turn increases the implosion adiabat, which results in a lower hot-spot pressure.
BETA-BLOCKER USE IS ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY IN LUNG CANCER PATIENTS RECEIVING IMMUNE CHECKPOINT INHIBITORS

Whether beta blockers (BB) affect clinical outcomes in cancer patients receiving immunotherapy is unknown. We retrospectively reviewed our database for patients who received immune checkpoint inhibitors (CPI). Between 03/2010 and 07/2019, 3,326 patients received CPI. Use of BB prior to CPI was
Limitations of cell-lineage-specific non-dynamic gene recombination in CD11c.Cre+ITGA4fl/fl mice

Abstract Background The Cre-lox system is a non-dynamic method of gene modification and characterization. Promoters thought to be relatively cell-specific are utilized for generation of cell-lineage-specific gene modifications. Methods CD11c.Cre+ITGA4fl/fl mice were generated to abolish the expression of ITGA (α4-integrin) in CD11c+ cells. Ex vivo flow cytometry studies were used to assess the expression of cellular surface markers in different lymphoid compartments and leukocytes subsets after Cre-mediated recombination. Results A significant reduction of α4-integrin expression among CD11c+− cells was achieved in CD11c.Cre+ITGA4fl/fl mice in primary and secondary lymphoid tissues. A similar reduction in the expression of α4-integrin was also observed in CD11c− cells. Conclusion Cre-lox-mediated cell lineage-specific gene deletion is limited by the transient expression of recombination regulating sequences in hematopoietic cell lines. These methodological issues indicate the need to consider when to employ non-dynamic DNA recombination models in animal models of CNS autoimmunity. An experimental algorithm to address the biological complexities of non-dynamic gene recombination is provided.
Non-perturbative defect one-point functions in planar N=4 super-Yang-Mills

Abstract The four dimensional N = 4 super-Yang-Mills (SYM) theory exhibits rich dynamics in the presence of codimension-one conformal defects. The new structure constants of the extended operator algebra consist of one-point functions of local operators which are nonvanishing due to the defect insertion and carry nontrivial coupling dependence. We study an important class of half-BPS superconformal defects engineered by D5 branes that share three common directions with the D3 branes and involve Nahm pole configurations for the SYM fields on the D3 brane worldvolume. In the planar large N limit, we obtain non-perturbative results in the 't Hooft coupling λ for the defect one-point functions of both BPS and non-BPS operators, building upon recent progress in localization [1] and integrability methods [2] , [3] . For BPS operator insertions in the SYM with D5-brane type boundary or interface, we derive an effective two dimensional defect-Yang-Mills (dYM) theory from supersymmetric localization, which gives an efficient way to extract defect observables and generates a novel matrix model for the defect one-point function. By solving the matrix model in the large N limit, we obtain exact results in λ which interpolate between perturbative Feynman diagram contributions in the weak coupling limit and IIB string theory predictions on A d S 5 × S 5 in the strong coupling regime, providing a precision test of AdS/CFT with interface defects. For general non-BPS operators, we develop a non-perturbative bootstrap-type program for integrable boundary states on the worldsheet of the IIB string theory, corresponding to the interface defects in the planar SYM. Such integrable boundary states are constrained by a set of general consistency conditions for which we present explicit solutions that reproduce and extend the known results at weak coupling from integrable spin-chain methods.
No place for hatred: university presidents’ responses to Charlottesville

This study examined 32 university presidents’ responses to the violence that occurred during and after a ‘Unite the Right’ white supremacist rally in Charlottesville Virginia in August 2017. The pu...
The Costs and Benefits of Making Moral Claims in Organizations

Past research has established that moral hypocrisy is damaging for individuals, leaders, and organizations (Effron, O’Connor, Leroy, & Lucas, 2018; Jordan, Sommers, Bloom, & Rand, 2017). However, m...
Implementing a Protocol to Address Risk for Burnout Among Mental Health Professionals.

BACKGROUND:The magnitude for potential burnout is enormous. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for Addiction and Mental Health, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Ad...
Exposure to Tobacco Smoke and Temperament among U.S. Children 0-5 Years Old.

Objectives This study examined the association between tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) and temperament among children 0-5 years old overall and within age groups: 0-2 and 3-5 years. Methods Data were obtained from the 2017-2018 NSCH (N = 14,345). TSE status was defined as whether children lived with a smoker who: does not smoke inside the home (no home TSE) or smokes inside the home (home TSE). We conducted logistic regression analyses while controlling for covariates. Results Overall, 12.5% of children lived with a smoker with no home TSE and 1.1% had home TSE. Children with home TSE were at increased odds to not always: be affectionate and tender (aOR = 1.74, 95% CI = 1.18-2.58), show interest and curiosity (aOR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.23-2.68), and smile and laugh (aOR = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.13-2.77) than those with no TSE. Among 0- to 2-year-olds, those with home TSE were more likely to not always be affectionate and tender (aOR = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.04-3.74). Among 3- to 5-year-olds, those who lived with a smoker with no home TSE were more likely to not always: bounce back quickly (aOR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.05-1.40) and smile and laugh (aOR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.03-1.54), and those with home TSE were more likely to not always: show interest and curiosity (aOR = 2.24, 95% CI = 1.40-3.59) and smile and laugh (aOR = 2.43, 95% CI = 1.43-4.11). Conclusions Tobacco smoke-exposed children were at increased odds of not always demonstrating positive early childhood temperament behaviors, with 3- to 5-year-olds having more pronounced odds.
Before and After Hinckley: Legal Insanity in the United States

This chapter first considers the direction of the affirmative defense of legal insanity in the United States before John Hinckley was acquitted by reason of insanity in 1982 for attempting to assassinate President Reagan and others and the immediate aftermath of that acquittal. Since the middle of the 20th Century, the tale is one of the rise and fall of the American Law Institute’s Model Penal Code test for legal insanity. Then it turns to the constitutional decisions of the United States Supreme Court concerning the status of legal insanity. Finally, it addresses the substantive and procedural changes that have occurred in the insanity defense since the wave of legal changes following the Hinckley decision.
Engineering the Lymphatic Network: A Solution to Lymphedema

Secondary lymphedema is a life-long disorder characterized by chronic tissue swelling and inflammation that obstruct interstitial fluid circulation and immune cell trafficking. Regenerating lymphatic vasculatures using various strategies represents a promising treatment for lymphedema. Growth factor injection and gene delivery have been developed to stimulate lymphangiogenesis and augment interstitial fluid resorption. Using bioengineered materials as growth factor delivery vehicles allows for a more precisely targeted lymphangiogenic activation within the injured site. The implantation of prevascularized lymphatic tissue also promotes in situ lymphatic capillary network formation. The engineering of larger scale lymphatic tissues, including lymphatic collecting vessels and lymph nodes constructed by bioengineered scaffolds or decellularized animal tissues, offers alternatives to reconnecting damaged lymphatic vessels and restoring lymph circulation. These approaches provide lymphatic vascular grafting materials to reimpose lymphatic continuity across the site of injury, without creating secondary injuries at donor sites. The present work reviews molecular mechanisms mediating lymphatic system development, approaches to promoting lymphatic network regeneration, and strategies for engineering lymphatic tissues, including lymphatic capillaries, collecting vessels, and nodes. Challenges of advanced translational applications are also discussed.
Article III Standing for Violations of BIPA’s Notice and Consent Requirements

The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) is the only state biometric privacy statute with a private right of action. Federal courts have disagreed about whether plaintiffs have standing to sue for seemingly procedural violations of BIPA—in particular, failure to give notice and obtain consent before collecting biometric data. This Note argues that a violation of BIPA’s notice and consent requirement should constitute a concrete injury for the purposes of the Article III standing analysis, as the provision safeguards a well-established privacy interest in controlling information about oneself.
A Qualitative Study of Caregiver Perspectives on Health Policy Discussions Initiated by Pediatricians.

Abstract Background and Objectives Prior studies suggest that pediatricians believe discussing health policy issues with families is important. Caregiver preferences on these discussions, however, have not been examined. We explored circumstances in which caregivers may be receptive to discussing health policy issues with pediatricians. Methods We conducted 26 semi-structured interviews with mostly Black female caregivers at three urban academic pediatric primary care practices. Using both structured and open response questions, we explored four primary content areas: 1) caregivers’ perspectives on discussing health policy issues in pediatricians' offices; 2) which health policy topics caregivers may prefer to discuss; 3) factors that render policy discussions in the clinic inappropriate to caregivers; and 4) which communication modalities caregivers prefer. Interview transcripts were coded and analyzed using content analysis. Results Themes that emerged from interviews included: 1) pediatricians are perceived as trusted information sources on health policy; 2) caregivers want to talk with pediatricians about children's health insurance policy changes; 3) time-constraints are a barrier to health policy discussions; 4) caregivers prefer to discuss health policy topics during well-child visits; 5) caregivers want the option to opt out of these conversations; 6) preferred modalities for communicating about health policy issues, including printed materials and health fairs or educational events. Conclusion Caregivers expressed a satisfactory view of pediatricians discussing directly relevant health policy issues, including congressional debates on health insurance, in the primary care setting. Our findings highlight other caregiver preferences for engaging families in health policy discussions, including the timing of these conversations.
Mechanical characterization and material variability effects of emerging non-proprietary UHPC mixes for accelerated bridge construction field joints

Abstract Accelerated bridge construction (ABC) field joints, e.g. precast deck panels joints, are among the common structural applications of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). The higher cost and limited availability of commercial UHPC products have motivated researchers to develop non-proprietary UHPC (NP-UHPC) using locally available materials. One of these efforts is the recent work by the ABC University Transportation Center (ABC-UTC) in the United States to develop NP-UHPC mixes for use in ABC field joints. This paper documents the ABC-UTC mix design and proportions and has two main objectives. First, provide a full material characterization of such mix to allow for future replication and use of this material for different bridge applications as well as modeling purposes. Second, investigate the effect of material sourcing and variability, such as fine aggregate types and particle gradation, on the main mechanical properties of the material. The material characterization tests included flowability, compression, flexure, and direct tensile tests of the NP-UHPC mixes. The results from these tests are then compared with various proposed equations from the literature to verify their validity for use with the considered NP-UHPC mixes.
Contamination-resistant, rapid emulsion-based isothermal nucleic acid amplification with Mie-scatter inspired light scatter analysis for bacterial identification.

An emulsion loop-mediated isothermal amplification (eLAMP) platform was developed to reduce the impact that contamination has on assay performance. Ongoing LAMP reactions within the emulsion droplets cause a decrease in interfacial tension, causing a decrease in droplet size, which results in decreased light scatter intensity due to Mie theory. Light scatter intensity was monitored via spectrophotometers and fiber optic cables placed at 30° and 60°. Light scatter intensities collected at 3 min, 30° were able to statistically differentiate 103 and 106 CFU/µL initial Escherichia coli O157:H7 concentrations compared to NTC (0 CFU/µL), while the intensity at 60° were able to statistically differentiate 106 CFU/µL initial concentrations and NTC. Control experiments were conducted to validate nucleic acid detection versus bacterial adsorption, finding that the light scatter intensities change is due specifically to ongoing LAMP amplification. After inducing contamination of bulk LAMP reagents, specificity lowered to 0% with conventional LAMP, while the eLAMP platform showed 87.5% specificity. We have demonstrated the use of angle-dependent light scatter intensity as a means of real-time monitoring of an emulsion LAMP platform and fabricated a smartphone-based monitoring system that showed similar trends as spectrophotometer light scatter data, validating the technology for a field deployable platform.
Identifying miRNA-mRNA Networks Associated With COPD Phenotypes.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by expiratory airflow limitation and symptoms such as shortness of breath. Although many studies have demonstrated dysregulated microRNA (miRNA) and gene (mRNA) expression in the pathogenesis of COPD, how miRNAs and mRNAs systematically interact and contribute to COPD development is still not clear. To gain a deeper understanding of the gene regulatory network underlying COPD pathogenesis, we used Sparse Multiple Canonical Correlation Network (SmCCNet) to integrate whole blood miRNA and RNA-sequencing data from 404 participants in the COPDGene study to identify novel miRNA-mRNA networks associated with COPD-related phenotypes including lung function and emphysema. We hypothesized that phenotype-directed interpretable miRNA-mRNA networks from SmCCNet would assist in the discovery of novel biomarkers that traditional single biomarker discovery methods (such as differential expression) might fail to discover. Additionally, we investigated whether adjusting -omics and clinical phenotypes data for covariates prior to integration would increase the statistical power for network identification. Our study demonstrated that partial covariate adjustment for age, sex, race, and CT scanner model (in the quantitative emphysema networks) improved network identification when compared with no covariate adjustment. However, further adjustment for current smoking status and relative white blood cell (WBC) proportions sometimes weakened the power for identifying lung function and emphysema networks, a phenomenon which may be due to the correlation of smoking status and WBC counts with the COPD-related phenotypes. With partial covariate adjustment, we found six miRNA-mRNA networks associated with COPD-related phenotypes. One network consists of 2 miRNAs and 28 mRNAs which had a 0.33 correlation (p-value= 5.40E-12) to forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) percent predicted. We also found a network of 5 miRNAs and 81 mRNAs that had a 0.45 correlation (p-value = 8.80E-22) to percent emphysema. The miRNA-mRNA networks associated with COPD traits provide a systems view of COPD pathogenesis and complements biomarker identification with individual miRNA or mRNA expression data.
Rheological characterization of buffered boric acid aqueous solutions in light water reactors

Abstract The combination of boric acid and corresponding buffer agents is used in light water nuclear reactors to control the neutron population in both normal operation and emergency core cooling. Therefore, it is extremely important to characterize the rheological properties of these cooling solutions at the concentrations specific to nuclear systems. In this research, we measured the viscosities of boric acid solutions buffered with Trisodium Phosphate or NaOH as a function of concentration (16–610 g/l) and temperature (22–100 °C). Moreover, in order to monitor the effect of low concentration of fibrous debris on the viscosity, we produced the debris samples downstream of a sump screen using a horizontal flow loop facility. The present measurements revealed that both buffered and fibrous-debris-loaded boric acid solutions behave like Newtonian fluid and their viscosities are strong functions of temperature and concentration at the studied conditions. For the given concentration of the fibrous debris, no significant effect of the fibrous debris on the coolant viscosity was found.
NO reduction with H2 in the presence of excess O2 over Pd/MFI catalyst

Abstract The NO SCR (selective catalytic reduction) activity with H2 in the presence of excess O2 was investigated over Pd/MFI catalyst prepared by sublimation method. With GHSV=90 000 h−1, a very high steady-state conversion of NO to N2 (70%) is achieved at 100 °C. Significant reorganizations take place inside the catalyst upon its first contact with all reactants and products at the reaction temperature. Pd0, which has a significant role in the NO–H2–O2 reaction, is possibly the active site for NO reduction. The formation of Pd-β hydride deactivates the catalyst for NO reduction. Throughout the entire NO–H2–O2 reaction, no N2O or NO2 is formed; N2 is the only N-containing product. The presence of O2 inhibits the formation of undesirable NH3. The rate of the NO+H2 reaction is fast or comparable to that of the H2+O2 reaction. The oxidation of Pd0 and subsequent agglomeration of PdO are responsible for the decreased NO reduction activity at high temperature.
Regulation of IgD-Receptor Expression on Murine T Cells: I. Characterization and Metabolic Requirements of the Process Leading to Their Expression

Abstract Receptors for IgD (IgD-R) are found on murine CD4+ T cells and T cell clones. Previous work has shown that incubation with aggregated (but not monomeric) IgD causes the rapid upregulation of IgD-R and enables the T cells to respond with augmented helper function in antibody production. In the present study, IgD-R upregulation is shown to be (a) rapid, reaching plateau levels by 60 min, (b) independent of de novo protein or RNA synthesis, and (c) only slightly reduced at 4°C. The IgD-R+ T cells present both before and after upregulation of IgD-R expression are predominantly resting T cells, whose ability to rosette with IgD-SRBC is inhibited by soluble IgD. The upregulation of IgD-R, even after overnight exposure to IgD, does not cause any detectable change in the expression of other T cell surface markers. Also characteristic of resting T cells is that they exhibit IgD-R in response to IL-2 and IL-4 only after overnight incubation with these cytokines, and fail to respond at all to IL-1. In contrast, cloned Th2 cells, expressing IL-1 and IL-2 receptors, show IgD-R upregulation after a 2-hr exposure to IL-1 or IL-2. GM-CSF, TNF-α IL-6, and IL-10 do not modulate IgD-R expression. T hybridoma cells constitutively express much higher IgD-R levels than resting splenic T cells and can be stained with aggregated IgD followed by FITC-anti-IgD. Their levels of IgD-R expression decrease, as assayed both by rosetting and by staining, on 4-14 hr of incubation with tunicamycin or deoxynojirimycin, suggesting that N-linked glycosylation and oligosaccharide processing, respectively, are needed for continued expression of IgD-R. Tunicamycin-treated cells without detectable IgD-R on their surface still show IgD-binding protein in the cell extracts, suggesting that surface expression is more dependent on glycosylation of the IgD-R molecules than on the ability to bind IgD. Ca2+ ions are needed for optimal binding of IgD to IgD-R, in line with previous findings showing IgD-R to be lectin-like in binding carbohydrate rather than peptide regions of the IgD molecule.
Spectroscopic Studies on the Conformation of Cytochrome c and Apocytochrome c

Abstract The appearance of the downfield region of the PMR spectrum of apocytochrome c is consistent with that of an extensively disordered protein. The resonances of the three histidine C-2 protons are almost equivalent and have a pKa of 6.2. In contrast, this region of the ferricytochrome c PMR spectrum shows many sharp resonances, due to the tertiary structure of the protein and contact shifts from the heme group. The complete titration of one histidine residue, with a pKa of 6.41, can be determined in the holoprotein. At low pH, the resonance of a second histidine residue can be observed. The acid-induced conformational transition of ferricytochrome c can be resolved into several component transitions by the use of different spectral parameters. Measurements of absorption at 395 nm and fluorescence emission at 340 nm show a single cooperative transition with midpoint of about pH 2.5. These indices are closely related to the geometry of the heme group. The resonances of the two observable histidine residues change in a way suggesting denaturation only below pH 1.8 but indicate conformational changes at about pH 3. The resonances assigned to heme methyl groups, however, undergo significant changes between pH 3 and 4. The reduced viscosity of acid-denatured ferricytochrome c and the fluorescence emission of its tryptophan residue increase markedly as salt concentration is lowered, indicating that the conformation of the acid denatured protein is sensitive to ionic strength.
The Complete Amino Acid Sequence of the Acyl Carrier Protein of Escherichia coli

The complete amino acid sequence of the acyl carrier protein (ACP) from Escherichia coli has been established. It contains 77 residues with NH2-terminal serine and COOH-terminal alanine. The pantotheine prosthetic group of ACP is attached covalently to the hydroxyl group of serine at residue 36, which is 1 of 3 seryl residues in the molecule. This unique sequence was deduced by sequence analysis of the tryptic, peptic, and thermolysin peptides isolated from enzymic hydrolysates of ACP as described earlier. Important overlaps in sequence were also obtained by partial sequence analysis of one of the two unique peptides formed on cleavage of ACP with CNBr, and by sequence analysis of a single tryptic peptide isolated from tryptic digests of ACP modified at its single arginyl residue with 1,2-cyclohexanedione.
Use of Tris Buffers for Quality Control of Blood pH

Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane buffers have been established as sensitive and convenient indicators of the reliability of blood pH analysis. These buffers were compatible for routine use with blood-pH equipment from major manufacturers, except for two instruments. A seven-month study demonstrated the necessity of a routine quality-control program, as well as the need for systematic cleaning and maintenance of pH equipment. Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane buffers were found not to be suitable as primary standards because we could not obtain the stated values with commercial pH equipment that had been standardized with phosphate buffers from the National Bureau of Standards. The relative standard deviation for measurement of hydrogen ion activity, 4.1% , indicates a need for improvement in the design and operation of equipment for the measurement of blood pH.
Circumvention of the Bankruptcy Process: The Statutory Institutionalization of Securitization Transactions

The Article 9 changes address two fundamental issues relevant to securitization transaction participants: (i) the characterization of the asset transfer, and (ii) the clarity and certainty of the process taken to perfect the transferee's interest in the assets. These changes will eliminate some of the uncertainty that asset-backed security investors and securitization originators face. What the Article 9 changes will also do, however, when read in conjunction with the amendments to the Bankruptcy Code, will be to allow certain financial market participants to avoid participation in the bankruptcy process, notwithstanding their provision of financing to a debtor in bankruptcy. A consequence of these changes is our unwitting abandonment of two socially desirable objectives inherent in the bankruptcy process: (i) the reorganization of potentially viable businesses, and (ii) the equality of distribution of a debtor's assets among creditors. Accordingly, securitization, under the combined Revised Article 9/Bankruptcy scheme, may become the most effective judgment proofing mechanism for those debtors able to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, the impact of such a mechanism will not be felt merely by the parties consenting to the securitization transaction, but by all the participants in the credit markets, as well as all those affected by a firm's business. The Bankruptcy Code amendments affirmatively carving out from the definition of the debtor's estate certain securitized assets, notwithstanding the circumstances surrounding their transfer, will result in fewer assets available for distribution to a bankrupt firm's other creditors. The significance and substantive importance of the definition of what assets are included in the debtor's bankruptcy estate to the commercial markets cannot be overstated.
Analysis of a Recombination Hotspot for Gene Conversion Occurring at the His2 Gene of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

The properties of gene conversion as measured in fungi that generate asci containing all the products of meiosis imply that meiotic recombination initiates at specific sites. The HIS2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae displays a high frequency of gene conversion, indicating that it is a recombination hotspot. The HIS2 gene was cloned and sequenced, and the cloned DNA was used to make several different types of alterations in the yeast chromosome by transformation; these alterations were used to determine the location of the sequences necessary for the high levels of meiotic conversion observed at HIS2. Previous work indicated that the gene conversion polarity gradient is high at the 3' end of the gene, and that the promoter of the gene is not necessary for the high frequency of conversion observed. Data presented here suggest that at least some of the sequences necessary for high levels of conversion at HIS2 are located over 700 bp downstream of the end of the coding region, extend over (at least) several hundred base pairs, and may be quite complex, perhaps involving chromatin structure. Additional data indicate that multiple single base heterologies within a 1-kb interval contribute little to the frequency of gene conversion. This contrasts with other reports about the role of heterologies at the MAT locus.
Selective effects of peripheral lipopolysaccharide administration on contextual and auditory-cue fear conditioning.

The reported experiments explore the effects of peripheral LPS administration on learning and memory processes. As measured by the conditioned freezing response, intraperitoneal LPS administration given after conditioning impaired contextual but not auditory-cue fear conditioning in both juvenile (hooded Long Evans) and adult rats (albino Sprague Dawley) of two different strains. This impairment in contextual fear conditioning was not dependent on the presence of the tone. Preexposure to the context eliminated the effect of LPS on contextual fear conditioning, and in addition, LPS given after context preexposure negated the beneficial effects of preexposure on contextual fear. These results suggest that LPS disrupts posttrial memory consolidation processes. In support of the hypothesis that LPS-induced proinflammatory cytokine release is involved in producing the impairment in contextual fear caused by LPS, peripheral interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) administered subcutaneously at a dose of 100 mg/kg prevented the impairment in contextual fear caused by LPS. These experiments provide evidence for a role of immune activation and cytokine activity in learning and memory processes.