cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Microsurgical Localization of the Cochlea in the Extended Middle Fossa Approach

Objective In the extended middle fossa approach, a portion of the petrous bone known as Kawase's rhomboid can be drilled to expose the posterior fossa through a middle fossa corridor. During this bony resection, the cochlea is placed at risk. The objective of this study was to objectively detail the position of the cochlea in relation to reliable surgical landmarks. Methods Eleven cadaveric specimens were dissected—including six cadaveric heads and five dry temporal bones by means of an anterior petrosectomy with skeletonization of the cochlea. Three anatomic measurements describing the location of the cochlea in relation to the extrapolated intersection of the greater superficial petrosal nerve (GSPN) and facial nerve were recorded. These measurements were then correlated with thin-cut temporal bone computed tomography scans from 25 patients with morphologically normal inner ears. Results In the cadaveric specimens, the anterior border of the membranous basal turn of the cochlea was located an average of 7.56 mm (6.4 to 8.9 mm) anterior to the extrapolated junction of the GSPN and facial nerve, as measured along the course of the GSPN. The medial border of the membranous cochlea (medial margin of basal turn) was located an average of 8.2 mm (6.9 to 8.9 mm) medial to the extrapolated junction of the GSPN and facial nerve, as measured along the course of the facial nerve. The average maximum distance from the extrapolated junction of the GSPN and facial nerve to the membranous cochlea was 9.3 mm (8.2 to 10.3 mm). These anatomic measurements correlated well with radiologic measurements of the same parameters. Conclusion When drilling Kawase's rhomboid, it is useful to locate the extrapolated junction of the GSPN and the facial nerve. Drilling of the anteromedial petrous bone outside of a radius of 12.5 mm from the extrapolated junction of GSPN and facial nerve appears to be associated with a low degree of risk to the cochlear apparatus.
THE IMPACT OF SPOUSE'S CAREER-ORIENTATION ON MANAGERS DURING INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

The increasing internationalization of business and the rise of dual-earner couples in the labour force combine to make the area of international human resource management and career development complex and important. This article examines results obtained from 67 American expatriate managers (EXM) in Japan of whom 47 per cent were part of a dual-earner couple in America. the study found that career-oriented spouses were almost seven times as likely to find employment after an international transfer as non-career-oriented spouses. It is argued that because career-oriented spouses in general were able to find employment and avoid major job interruptions, there was no significant difference between the adjustment of expatriate managers whose spouses worked in the US before the transfer but not after and EXMs whose spouses worked before and after the transfer.
Subjective decision making in medical school admissions: Potentials for discrimination

Medical schools place considerable emphasis on admissions interviews in the selection of students. Interviews, with unwritten performance criteria and subjective evaluation, contain the potential for unconscious discrimination against certain groups of applicants. This study investigates the contribution of interview scores to the total evaluation of male and female applicants for admission to one medical school in the United States. Findings reveal that interveiw scores are counted more heavily for females than males in arriving at a final ranking for admission. Further, females were rated lower in general than males on interview evaluations. While the magnitude of the associations is small, the combined effect points to a potential for discrimination, however unintended, against women applicants in the present case study.
Acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity.

Abstract In large doses the commonly used analgesic acetaminophen produces a centrilobular hepatic necrosis in man and experimental animals. The toxicity is mediated by a reactive metabolite formed by a cytochrome P-450 mixed-function oxidase system in hepatic microsomes. Following therapeutic doses the reactive metabolite is efficiently detoxified by glutathione. Following large doses, however, the total hepatic glutathione concentration is decreased to approximately 20% of normal and the reactive metabolite covalently binds to protein. Changes in protein covalent binding caused by various treatments correlates with changes in the incidence and severity of the hepatic necrosis. The reactive metabolite is believed to be N-acetylimidoquinone and is apparently formed by a previously uncharacterized mechanism for cytochrome P-450.
DEGRADED SEDIMENT QUALITY IN U.S. ESTUARIES: A REVIEW OF MAGNITUDE AND ECOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Potentially toxic substances that accumulate in the sediments of estuaries can become sufficiently concentrated to be harmful to valuable living resources. Although contamination of U.S. estuarine sediments is widely recognized as a serious problem, the actual severity and extent of this problem is poorly known on a national scale. Data derived from chemical analyses, toxicity tests, and benthic community analyses of sediments (constituting the sediment quality triad) were reviewed. The objectives of this review were to estimate the incidence of chemical contamination and the spatial extent of toxicity and degraded benthic communities, and to evaluate the relative degree of correspondence between matching pairs of the triad components. Based upon two inventories of data compiled from numerous studies, ∼26–27% of sediment samples nationwide had chemical concentrations sufficiently high to warrant concern for potential toxicological effects. The spatial extent of toxicity in acute amphipod bioassays ranged ...
Polarigraphic measurement of liquid-phase species distributions

Abstract In this study, the optical rotatory power of sucrose-water solutions is exploited and digital, spectral image analysis is used to nonintrusively measure one-dimensional species distributions within a liquid. The measurement scheme is described and is used in experiments ranging from one-dimensional isothermal diffusion to layered double-diffusive convection.
A Developmental Analysis of Prisoners' Conceptions of Aids

Prisoners' reasoning about the causes and transmission of AIDS was examined. At a medium security prison in Texas 109 prisoners were administered the Concepts of AIDS Protocol, an AIDS information test, and a measure assessing acceptance of prisoners with AIDS. The majority of subjects evidenced a middle developmental level of understanding AIDS. Subjects' developmental level of understanding AIDS was moderately correlated with their reported level of education, their acceptance of prisoners with AIDS, and their scores on the AIDS information test. Implications are discussed for the development of more effective AIDS educational programs for prisoners.
Rüüg: long-distance communication

To provide a long-distance communication device that would appeal to college students and recent graduates, the Ruug team researched long-distance and face-to-face communication in more than 70 potential users. This research (consisting of surveys, observation, and directed storytelling) revealed the importance of body language and gestures and their communication of interest level, which encouraged comfort within the personal interactions. Ruug is a plush rug embedded with pressure sensors which send input from walking, sitting, and short written messages to a sister Ruug. Input from the sister "Ruugmate" is displayed with the color change of heat-sensitive dye in the plush activated by a grid of heating-element "pixels" underneath the rug. This warm, colorful display communicates presence, level of physical activity, and gesture to provide a sense of "being there" and a better understanding of availability, mood, and level of engagement. By integrating both input and display into an inviting everyday object, Ruug provides a comfortable shared experience in which the transparent human-computer interaction is secondary to the interaction between two friends.
Double hyperfragments and relative parity of Λ and Σ hyperons

A method for the determination of the relative parity of Λ and Σ hyperon is proposed. The possible bound states of the double hyperfragments are predicted from the parameters obtained before. If the Λ−Λ interaction is attractive in the singlet S state, Λ and Σ will have the same parity, otherwise the opposite parity.
Hypopituitarism associated with a giant aneurysm of the internal carotid artery.

An 82-yr-old woman was hospitalized with a serum sodium of 118 mmol/liter after 2 months of fatigue, anorexia, nausea, constipation, and weight loss. Hydrochlorothiazide was discontinued. After iv normal saline, her hyponatremia resolved. A cosyntropin stimulation test revealed adrenal insufficiency. Subsequent pituitary evaluation demonstrated central hypothyroidism and hypogonadism, as well as hyperprolactinemia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography angiogram (CTA) showed an intrasellar 2.0-cm left cavernous internal carotid artery aneurysm, compressing the pituitary gland and abutting the optic chiasm (Fig. 1). Formal visual field testing was recommended, as should be done with any sellar mass adjacent to the chiasm. Although surgical or interventional radiological approaches have been used for sellar aneurysms, our neurosurgical consultant advised conservative management based on a minimal risk of intracranial hemorrhage. The aneurysm was stable by CTA at 6 months. Glucocorticoid replacement preceded thyroid hormone therapy (to prevent precipitating adrenal crisis) and resulted in dramatic clinical improvement. Diabetes insipidus did not develop. Giant carotid aneurysms are a rare ( 0.2% of cases) cause of hypopituitarism but must always be considered in the differential diagnosis (1). Before modern imaging techniques, these aneurysms were frequently misidentified as pituitary tumors with potential catastrophic surgical hemorrhage (2). Flow-related effects on standard MRI sequences may reveal a vascular etiology. Magnetic resonance angiogram may differentiate an aneurysm from a neoplasm. CTA usually establishes the definitive diagnosis by demonstrating an arterial enhancement pattern and direct communication with the internal carotid artery.
Large-scale responses of complex-shaped coastlines to local shoreline stabilization and climate change

[1] When modeling the large-scale (> km) evolution of coastline morphology, the influence of natural forces is not the only consideration; ongoing direct human manipulations can substantially drive geomorphic change. In this paper, we couple a human component to a numerical model of large-scale coastline evolution, incorporating beach “nourishment” (periodically placing sand on the beach, also called “beach replenishment” or “beach fill”). Beach nourishment is the most prevalent means humans employ to alter the natural shoreline system in our case study, the Carolina coastline. Beach nourishment can cause shorelines adjacent to those that are nourished to shift both seaward and landward. When we further consider how changes to storm behaviors could change wave climates, the magnitude of morphological change induced by beach nourishment can rival that expected from sea level rise and affect the coast as far as tens of kilometers away from the nourishment site. In some instances, nonlocal processes governing large-scale cuspate-cape coastline evolution may transmit the human morphological “signal” over surprisingly large (hundreds of kilometer) distances.
Comparison of the Abilities of Ambient and Manufactured Nanoparticles To Induce Cellular Toxicity According to an Oxidative Stress Paradigm

Nanomaterial properties differ from those bulk materials of the same composition, allowing them to execute novel activities. A possible downside of these capabilities is harmful interactions with biological systems, with the potential to generate toxicity. An approach to assess the safety of nanomaterials is urgently required. We compared the cellular effects of ambient ultrafine particles with manufactured titanium dioxide (TiO2), carbon black, fullerol, and polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles (NPs). The study was conducted in a phagocytic cell line (RAW 264.7) that is representative of a lung target for NPs. Physicochemical characterization of the NPs showed a dramatic change in their state of aggregation, dispersibility, and charge during transfer from a buffered aqueous solution to cell culture medium. Particles differed with respect to cellular uptake, subcellular localization, and ability to catalyze the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) under biotic and abiotic conditions. Spontaneous ROS production was compared by using an ROS quencher (furfuryl alcohol) as well as an NADPH peroxidase bioelectrode platform. Among the particles tested, ambient ultrafine particles (UFPs) and cationic PS nanospheres were capable of inducing cellular ROS production, GSH depletion, and toxic oxidative stress. This toxicity involves mitochondrial injury through increased calcium uptake and structural organellar damage. Although active under abiotic conditions, TiO2 and fullerol did not induce toxic oxidative stress. While increased TNF-alpha production could be seen to accompany UFP-induced oxidant injury, cationic PS nanospheres induced mitochondrial damage and cell death without inflammation. In summary, we demonstrate that ROS generation and oxidative stress are a valid test paradigm to compare NP toxicity. Although not all materials have electronic configurations or surface properties to allow spontaneous ROS generation, particle interactions with cellular components are capable of generating oxidative stress.
Repetition in schizophrenic speech.

Previous research on language with the Type-Token Ratio (TTR) indicates an increased repetitiousness in schizophrenics, specifically in thought-disordered schizophrenics. The present investigation involves an analysis of oral language samples utilizing a variety of repetition measures. Subjects were 40 schizophrenics, 20 affective disorder controls and 22 normal controls. Phrase repetitions were found to be more prevalent among the schizophrenic group, and especially among the TD subgroup, and indices of phrase repetition were positively correlated with dimensions of formal thought disorder. The frequency patterns of repeated words in schizophrenic language reflect a less common, but not unusual lexicon compared to controls, thereby supporting the view that word repetition in schizophrenic utterance is not a consequence of a restricted vocabulary range. The intervals between phrase repetitions were not different for schizophrenics and controls, indicating that simple perseveration is also not a likely exp...
Mutation and epigenetic molecular clocks in cancer

A quandary of evolution is how to measure change over time. A natural inclination is to use morphologic criteria—the greater the differences between two phenotypes, the greater amount of time needed to evolve these differences. However, appearances may be deceiving, and another approach to infer time is with molecular clocks. Here, the greater the differences between two genomes, on average the greater the time since a common ancestor. Recent advances in DNA sequencing shed new light on how human cancers might evolve.
Quelle communication possible sur le cholestérol pour des produits alimentaires : points sur les évolutions réglementaires en Europe

L’etiquetage et les allegations possibles pour les produits alimentaires ont fait l’objet de nombreuses evolutions en Europe depuis moins d’une dizaine d’annees. Concernant la question du cholesterol, on peut noter tout d’abord que les attentes consommateurs ont naturellement evolue, en lien avec les differents messages de sante publique et les modifications du discours ambiant. Le contexte reglementaire s’est egalement considerablement contraint, en ouvrant cependant la possibilite a de nouveaux produits pour communiquer sur le cholesterol, sous reserve de respecter les conditions d’emploi de ces mentions et de composition des produits.
Robotic vehicle uses acoustic sensors for voice detection and diagnostics

An acoustic sensor array that cues an imaging system on a small tele- operated robotic vehicle was used to detect human voice and activity inside a building. The advantage of acoustic sensors is that it is a non-line of sight (NLOS) sensing technology that can augment traditional LOS sensors such as visible and IR cameras. Acoustic energy emitted from a target, such as from a person, weapon, or radio, will travel through walls and smoke, around corners, and down corridors, whereas these obstructions would cripple an imaging detection system. The hardware developed and tested used an array of eight microphones to detect the loudest direction and automatically setter a camera's pan/tilt toward the noise centroid. This type of system has applicability for counter sniper applications, building clearing, and search/rescue. Data presented will be time-frequency representations showing voice detected within rooms and down hallways at various ranges. Another benefit of acoustics is that it provides the tele-operator some situational awareness clues via low-bandwidth transmission of raw audio data for the operator to interpret with either headphones or through time-frequency analysis. This data can be useful to recognize familiar sounds that might indicate the presence of personnel, such as talking, equipment, movement noise, etc. The same array also detects the sounds of the robot it is mounted on, and can be useful for engine diagnostics and trouble shooting, or for self-noise emanations for stealthy travel. Data presented will characterize vehicle self noise over various surfaces such as tiles, carpets, pavement, sidewalk, and grass. Vehicle diagnostic sounds will indicate a slipping clutch and repeated unexpected application of emergency braking mechanism.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Acute Hepatic Porphyria

The porphyrias comprise a set of diseases, each representing an individual defect in one of the eight enzymes mediating the pathway of heme synthesis. The diseases are genetically distinct but have in common the overproduction of heme precursors. In the case of the acute (neurologic) porphyrias, the cause of symptoms appears to be overproduction of a neurotoxic precursor. For the cutaneous porphyrias, it is photosensitizing porphyrins. Some types have both acute and cutaneous manifestations. The clinical presentation of acute porphyria consists of abdominal pain, nausea, and occasionally seizures. Only a small minority of those who carry a mutation for acute porphyria have pain attacks. The triggers for an acute attack encompass certain medications and severely decreased caloric intake. The propensity of females to acute attacks has been linked to internal changes in ovarian physiology. Symptoms are accompanied by large increases in delta-aminolevulinic acid and porphobilinogen in plasma and urine. Treatment of an acute attack centers initially on pain relief and elimination of inducing factors such as medications; glucose is administered to reverse the fasting state. The only specific treatment is administration of intravenous hemin. An important goal of treatment is preventing progression of the symptoms to a neurological crisis. Patients who progress despite hemin administration have undergone liver transplantation with complete resolution of symptoms. A current issue is the unavailability of a rapid test for urine porphobilinogen in the urgent-care setting.
Fasting hyperbilirubinemia and its relationship to free fatty acids and triglycerides in the horse.

AbstractBilirubinemia was studied in eight horses fasted for 5 days and then refed for 5 days. In six healthy horses bilirubin rose from 1.3 ± 0.4 mg/dl (mean ± SD) in fed horses to reach a plateau of 5.3 ± 1.4 mg/dl between 64 and 136 hr of starvation. This was almost entirely due to an increase in the unconjugated bilirubin fraction. On refeeding, serum bilirubin fell to prestarvation concentrations within 2 days. Scleral icterus lagged behind changes in serum bilirubin. There was a strong positive correlation between serum bilirubin and free fatty acids, R2 = 0.79. This correlation was not improved when differences in serum albumin were considered, so changes in the affinity of albumin for bilirubin are probably not responsible for fasting hyperbilirubinemia. Including serum triglycerides in the regression equation improved its predictive value, R2 = 0.91. Free fatty acids may influence bilirubin metabolism as a result of competition between free fatty acids and bilirubin for binding to ligandin.
Equitable Poetics and the State of Conflict in Edmund Spenser's Two Cantos of Mutabilitie

This essay argues that Edmund Spenser9s legal poem, the Two Cantos of Mutabilitie , considers how civil conflicts implicitly generate a basis for their own evaluation and resolution. To illustrate this idea, Spenser draws from a tradition of rhetorical argumentation stretching from Aristotle and Cicero to Rudolph Agricola and Philip Sidney. This tradition emphasizes how fictions establish the shared questions that can create a deliberative context for equitable judgment when general law and particular case come into conflict. Dramatizing this rational process through an allegorical legal trial, Spenser illuminates how divergent judgments and actions become ethically legible to one another as parts of the same deliberative whole.
Design and implementation of grid-connected lithium battery energy storage system under total digital control

A grid-connected lithium battery energy storage system is designed based on SKiiP(SEMIKRON integrated intelligent Power) module,which exchanges energy with grid under the total digital control based on DSP-FPGA.The control system adopts hierarchical structure.The grid-connected system charges the lithium battery in constant current or constant voltage mode,and the bi-directional converter feeds the power back to grid during peak periods.The space vector PWM technique is applied to realize the decoupled current control in the synchronous rotating frame and the system operation with high power factor.The designed grid-connected energy storage system has compact structure and experimental results show its stable and reliable operation.
The Survey of Intakes of Edible Oil and Salt among Urban Community Residents

Objective To get intakes of edible oil and salt among community residents in cities for developing requirements of intervention to high intakes of edible oil and salt among community residents.Methods 220 residents were selected randomly from 2 urban communities and investigated with 2 questionnaires on《Residents Nutrition and Prevalence of Chronic-uncommunicable Diseases》and《Intakes of Edible Oil and Salt among Urban Community Residents》.Results Average intake of edible oil was 46g/standad person/day among residents,i.e.as 1.8 times as recommended intake;of them,66% had reached to elementary aim of edible salt controlling(≤8g/standad person/day);55% used plant oil in their diets,only 2.3% chose animal one,otherwise 44% had both;of residents,about 1/4 often ate fried and salted foods and 1/2 was a short of fruits and vegetables.Conclusions Developing a healthy behavior of dieting and controlling intake of edible oil and salt were very important measures for preventing and controlling prevalence of chronic-uncommunicable diseases among community residents.
Using one year post-fire fire severity assessments to estimate longer-term effects of fire in conifer forests of northern and eastern California, USA

Abstract Fire severity maps derived from immediate or one year post-fire satellite images are commonly used by US federal land managers for making post-fire management decisions and provide fundamental insights into broad scale fire ecology questions. How these maps relate to longer term post-fire conditions in the absence of management actions is an unanswered question, and a key issue for post-fire restoration planning. We characterized field-measured fire effects in forests 5–7 years after fire in severity categories as they were mapped with one year post-fire satellite data. The severity maps we used were produced from a relativized differenced normalized burn ratio (RdNBR) derived from Landsat images and calibrated to three severity metrics: composite burn index (CBI), percent change in basal area (BA), and percent change in tree canopy cover (CC). Relationships of field-measured values with severity generally followed expected patterns. BA of dead trees and shrub cover increased with increasing fire severity. BA of live trees, total tree CC, conifer CC, litter cover, litter depth and duff depth all decreased with increasing severity. When forest type (yellow pine, dry mixed conifer, moist mixed conifer, fir) was added as an interaction term there were differences in the relationships of field-measured values to severity, some of which can be attributed to differences between pine and fir dominated forests. We did not find any difference in live BA between unburned, unchanged, low and moderate severity plots for yellow pine forests; the only significant decrease in live BA was in high severity plots. In contrast, both dry and moist mixed conifer forests showed more or less steadily decreasing live BA with increasing fire severity. For yellow pine dead BA there were no significant differences between unchanged, low and moderate categories, while there was a difference between unchanged and moderate for all other forest types. In the high-severity categories ⩾91% of plots had
Stream register files with indexed access

Many current programmable architecture designed to exploit data parallelism require computation to be structured to operate on sequentially accessed vectors or streams of data. Applications with less regular data access patterns perform sub-optimally on such architectures. We present a register file for streams (SRF) that allows arbitrary, indexed accesses. Compared to sequential SRF access, indexed access captures more temporal locality, reduces data replication in the SRF, and provides efficient support for certain types of complex access patterns. Our simulations show that indexed SRF access provides speedups of 1.03x to 4.1x and memory bandwidth reductions of up to 95% over sequential SRF access for a set of benchmarks representative of data-parallel applications with irregular accesses. Indexed SRF access also provides greater speedups than caches for a number of application classes despite significantly lower hardware costs. The area overhead of our indexed SRF implementation is 11%-22% over a sequentially accessed SRF, which corresponds to a modest 1.5%-3% increase in the total die area of a typical stream processor.
Showing versus doing: Teaching by demonstration

People often learn from others' demonstrations, and classic inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) algorithms have brought us closer to realizing this capacity in machines. In contrast, teaching by demonstration has been less well studied computationally. Here, we develop a novel Bayesian model for teaching by demonstration. Stark differences arise when demonstrators are intentionally teaching a task versus simply performing a task. In two experiments, we show that human participants systematically modify their teaching behavior consistent with the predictions of our model. Further, we show that even standard IRL algorithms benefit when learning from behaviors that are intentionally pedagogical. We conclude by discussing IRL algorithms that can take advantage of intentional pedagogy.
Women Physicians Are Underrepresented in Recognition Awards From the Association of Academic Physiatrists

ObjectiveDetermine representation by gender for individual recognition awards presented to physicians by the Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP).DesignCross-sectional survey was used. Lists of individual recognition award recipients for the 27-yr history of the AAP awards (1990–2016) were ana
The Paradigm Shift in Psychotherapy: Implications for the DSM:

The thesis of this article is that understanding the current paradigm shift in psychotherapy, which is the movement from a medical to a nonmedical view of psychotherapy, can provide perspective and...
Design principles for effective video-based professional development

Most studies of teacher professional development (PD) do not rigorously test impact on teaching practice and student learning. This makes it difficult to define what is truly “effective.” The Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis (STeLLA) PD program, in contrast, was studied in a cluster randomized experimental design that examined impact on teaching practice and student learning. The STeLLA video-based PD (VbPD) program demonstrated significant impact, with high effect sizes, on elementary teachers’ science teaching practice and their students’ learning. Previously published reports provide details about research methods and findings but only broad sketches of the STeLLA program design and implementation. Deeper explorations of the STeLLA design principles can contribute evidence-based knowledge about the features of effective PD and enrich the existing but limited consensus model of effective PD. This article addresses the following questions: Results from rigorous studies of the STeLLA program are summarized in this paper; details are reported elsewhere and included here as supplementary materials. This article is not a standard research results paper but instead describes the design principles guiding the development, implementation, leadership, and scaling up of the STeLLA VbPD program. The authors argue that this set of design principles is powerful for four reasons: 1) its demonstrated impact on teaching practice and student learning, 2) its strong theoretical and research foundations, 3) the stability and usefulness of the design principles as implemented in changing contexts over a 10-year period, and 4) the coherence and interconnectedness of the principles. The STeLLA VbPD design principles contribute to the field by empirically supporting and advancing the existing consensus model of effective PD. Further study can build on this effort to strengthen our understanding of effective PD based on evidence of impact on teaching practice and student learning.
Abstract 292: The Role of the ATF6 Branch of the ER Stress Response in the Endocrine Heart

Rationale: Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is stored in the heart in large dense core granules of atrial myocytes as a biologically inactive precursor, pro-ANP. Hemodynamic stress and atrial stretch stimulate coordinate secretion and proteolytic cleavage of pro-ANP to its bioactive form, ANP, which promotes renal salt excretion and vasodilation, which, together contribute to decreasing blood pressure. While the ATF6 branch of the ER stress response has been studied in ventricular tissue mouse models of myocardial ischemia and pathological hypertrophy, roles for ATF6 and ER stress on the endocrine function of atrial myocytes have not been studied. Objective/Methods: To address this gap in our knowledge, we knocked down ATF6 in primary cultured neonatal rat atrial myocytes (NRAMs) using a chemical inhibitor of the proteolytic cleavage site enabling ATF6 activation and siRNA and measured ANP expression and secretion basally and in response to alpha- adrenergic agonist stimulation using phenylephrine. We also compared the ANP secretion from wild- type mice and ATF6 knockout mice in an ex vivo Langendorff model of the isolated perfused heart. Results: ATF6 knockdown in NRAMs significantly impaired basal and phenylephrine-stimulated ANP secretion. ATF6 knockout mice displayed lower levels of ANP in atrial tissue at baseline as well as after phenylephrine treatment. Similarly, in the ex vivo isolated perfused heart model, less ANP was detected in effluent of ATF6 knockout hearts compared to wild-type hearts. Conclusions: The ATF6 branch of the ER stress response is necessary for efficient co-secretional processing of pro-ANP to ANP and for agonist-stimulated ANP secretion from atrial myocytes. As ANP is secreted in a regulated manner in response to a stimulus and pro-ANP is synthesized and packaged through the classical secretory pathway, we posit that ATF6 is required for adequate expression, folding, trafficking, processing and secretion of biologically active ANP from the endocrine heart.
HYSOGs250m, global gridded hydrologic soil groups for curve-number-based runoff modeling.

Hydrologic soil groups (HSGs) are a fundamental component of the USDA curve-number (CN) method for estimation of rainfall runoff; yet these data are not readily available in a format or spatial-resolution suitable for regional- and global-scale modeling applications. We developed a globally consistent, gridded dataset defining HSGs from soil texture, bedrock depth, and groundwater. The resulting data product—HYSOGs250m—represents runoff potential at 250 m spatial resolution. Our analysis indicates that the global distribution of soil is dominated by moderately high runoff potential, followed by moderately low, high, and low runoff potential. Low runoff potential, sandy soils are found primarily in parts of the Sahara and Arabian Deserts. High runoff potential soils occur predominantly within tropical and sub-tropical regions. No clear pattern could be discerned for moderately low runoff potential soils, as they occur in arid and humid environments and at both high and low elevations. Potential applications of this data include CN-based runoff modeling, flood risk assessment, and as a covariate for biogeographical analysis of vegetation distributions. Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data (ISA-Tab format)
A new experimental capability for the study of regolith surface physical properties to support science, space exploration, and in situ resource utilization (ISRU).

Many surfaces found on the Moon, asteroids, Mars, moons, and other planetary bodies are covered in a fine granular material known as regolith. Increased knowledge of the physical properties of extraterrestrial regolith surfaces will help advance the scientific knowledge of these bodies as well as the development of exploration (e.g., instrument and robotic) and in situ resource utilization (ISRU) systems. The Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines as part of the Institute for Modeling Plasma, Atmospheres, and Cosmic Dust of NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute has developed a novel system, called the ISRU Experimental Probe (IEP) that can support studies of dry and icy regolith from −196 to 150 °C and pressure from laboratory ambient pressure to 10−7 Torr. The IEP system and proof-of-concept results are presented in this paper.
Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 mRNA expression in the rat brain during aging

Aging is accompanied by the loss of memory and cognitive functions. The extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway has been shown to play an essential role in synaptic plasticity and memory. Although a reduction in basal ERK1/2 activity has been found in the cerebral cortex in aged rats, changes in ERK1/2 mRNA expression during aging have not been described. In this study, we investigated age differences in the mRNA expression of ERK2 in different brain regions of male Fisher 344 rats (three age-groups) using quantitative in situ hybridization. No age-dependent changes in ERK2 mRNA were detected in the cerebellum or cortical areas. However, in the hippocampus, a 20% decline in mRNA levels was observed in the CA3 region in the 12-month-old group as compared to the 3-month-old group. These results suggest that the impairment in ERK1/2 activity observed during aging is probably not regulated at the gene expression level.
Spatial Localization and Binaural Hearing

The ear modifies and distorts the acoustic signal before it reaches the receptor cells. Thus, the complex acoustic changes produced by the pinnae when a source moves provide information concerning position and result in perception of an unchanging sound at a changing location. This chapter discusses the effects produced by pinnae and examples of how changes in acoustic input are not perceived as differences in the nature of the sound but rather as differences in position. The delayed versions of a sound produced by echoes not only give rise to an acoustic perspective but also impart a pleasing lively character to voice and music. The ability to minimize interference of masking by echoes has been rediscovered many times, and it goes by a number of names including the precedence effect, Haas effect, law of the first wave front, and first arrival effect. The nature of sensory input caused by shifts in the location of a source is perceived in terms of positional correlates, not in terms of the sensory changes themselves. It is important to know the position of a sound source and ability to localize sound. The localization of a source in space involves both binaural cues based upon differences in the input to each ear and monaural cues for which the stimulus to one ear alone provides information concerning the location of the source.
Redox chemistry at liquid/liquid interfaces

The interface between two immiscible liquids with immobilized photosynthetic pigments can serve as the simplest model of a biological membrane convenient for the investigation of photoprocesses accompanied by spatial separation of charges. As it follows from thermodynamics, if the resolvation energies of substrates and products are very different, the interface between two immiscible liquids may act as a catalyst. Theoretical aspects of charge transfer reactions at oil/water interfaces are discussed. Conditions under which the free energy of activation of the interfacial reaction of electron transfer decreases are established. The activation energy of electron transfer depends on the charges of the reactants and dielectric permittivity of the non-aqueous phase. This can be useful when choosing a pair of immiscible solvents to decrease the activation energy of the reaction in question or to inhibit an undesired process. Experimental interfacial catalytic systems are discussed. Amphiphilic molecules such as chlorophyll or porphyrins were studied as catalysts of electron transfer reactions at the oil/water interface.
Promoting Students’ Motivation and Use of SRL Strategies in the Web-Based Mathematics Learning Environment:

Compared with classroom learning, online learning requires students to self-regulate their learning processes and to maintain their motivation to achieve their learning goals. This study investigat...
Campus Clue: Habituating Students to the Information Search Process via Gaming

Escape rooms have become very popular with the public in the past few years. Outside of the for-profit sector many grade schools and public libraries have used them to teach and entertain. This article shows how an academic library was able to successfully use the popularity of escape rooms and their teaching advantages to create an escape experience for students. By creating an experience that remained true to the original purpose of escape rooms, but which spanned the whole campus rather than one room, players learned about the library and other campus services by solving a series of ciphers and riddles.
Looking Behind the Curtain: Identifying Factors Contributing to Changes on Care Outcomes During a Large Commercial EHR Implementation.

Objective: To identify factors contributing to changes on quality, productivity, and safety outcomes during a large commercial electronic health record (EHR) implementation and to guide future research. Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study assessing the impact of a commercial EHR implementation. The method consisted of a quantitative longitudinal evaluation followed by qualitative semi-structured, in-depth interviews with clinical employees from the same implementation. Fourteen interviews were recorded and transcribed. Three authors independently coded interview narratives and via consensus identified factors contributing to changes on 15 outcomes of quality, productivity, and safety. Results: We identified 14 factors that potentially affected the outcomes previously monitored. Our findings demonstrate that several factors related to the implementation (e.g., incomplete data migration), partially related (e.g., intentional decrease in volume of work), and not related (e.g., health insurance changes) may affect outcomes in different ways. Discussion: This is the first study to investigate factors contributing to changes on a broad set of quality, productivity, and safety outcomes during an EHR implementation guided by the results of a large longitudinal evaluation. The diversity of factors identified indicates that the need for organizational adaptation to take full advantage of new technologies is as important for health care as it is for other services sectors. Conclusion: We recommend continuous identification and monitoring of these factors in future evaluations to hopefully increase our understanding of the full impact of health information technology interventions.
Arabinose Alters Both Local and Distal H-D Exchange Rates in the Escherichia coli AraC Transcriptional Regulator

In the absence of arabinose, the dimeric Escherichia coli regulatory protein of the l-arabinose operon, AraC, represses expression by looping the DNA between distant half-sites. Binding of arabinose to the dimerization domains forces AraC to preferentially bind two adjacent DNA half-sites, which stimulates RNA polymerase transcription of the araBAD catabolism genes. Prior genetic and biochemical studies hypothesized that arabinose allosterically induces a helix-coil transition of a linker between the dimerization and DNA binding domains that switches the AraC conformation to an inducing state [Brown, M. J., and Schleif, R. F. (2019) Biochemistry, preceding paper in this issue (DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.9b00234)]. To test this hypothesis, hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry was utilized to identify structural regions involved in the conformational activation of AraC by arabinose. Comparison of the hydrogen-deuterium exchange kinetics of individual dimeric dimerization domains and the full-length dimeric AraC protein in the presence and absence of arabinose reveals a prominent arabinose-induced destabilization of the amide hydrogen-bonded structure of linker residues (I167 and N168). This destabilization is demonstrated to result from an increased probability to form a helix capping motif at the C-terminal end of the dimerizing α-helix of the dimerization domain that preceeds the interdomain linker. These conformational changes could allow for quaternary repositioning of the DNA binding domains required for induction of the araBAD promoter through rotation of peptide backbone dihedral angles of just a couple of residues. Subtle changes in exchange rates are also visible around the arabinose binding pocket and in the DNA binding domain.
Radiation tolerant, photon counting, visible and near-IR detectors for space coronagraphs and starshades

Abstract for Program NASA is considering future missions to seek evidence of life on other worlds. These include a coronagraphic Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor and a starshade-based Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx). Both would use “biosignatures” to assess habitability. Biosignatures are spectral features that are thought to indicate the possible presence of life. Unfortunately, biosignature characterization is photon starved. This motivates challenging detector requirements including zero read noise, negligible false count rate, good near-IR QE to detect H2O (940 nm), and excellent radiation tolerance for use in space. To meet these requirements, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is partnered with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to add high speed photon counting outputs to thick, fully depleted, p-channel CCDs. We present recent test results and discuss future plans. This project is a sub-package within the Exoplanet Spectroscopy (ExoSpec) Technologies Work Package at GSFC. undefined NASA is considering future missions to seek evidence of life on other worlds. These include a coronagraphic Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor and a starshade-based Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx). Both would use “biosignatures” to assess habitability. Biosignatures are spectral features that are thought to indicate the possible presence of life. Unfortunately, biosignature characterization is photon starved. This motivates challenging detector requirements including zero read noise, negligible false count rate, good near-IR QE to detect H2O (940 nm), and excellent radiation tolerance for use in space. To meet these requirements, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is partnered with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to add high speed photon counting outputs to thick, fully depleted, p-channel CCDs. We present recent test results and discuss future plans. This project is a sub-package within the Exoplanet Spectroscopy (ExoSpec) Technologies Work Package at GSFC.
Alaska Native Patient and Provider Perspectives on the Multitarget Stool DNA Test Compared With Colonoscopy for Colorectal Cancer Screening.

Objective: Alaska Native (AN) people have among the world’s highest rate of colorectal cancer (CRC). We assessed perceptions of AN people and their health care providers of a new take-home multitar...
Electron-phonon coupling induced defect recovery and strain relaxation in Ni and equiatomic NiFe alloy

Abstract We study the effects of local heating due to electron-phonon coupling in cumulative 10 MeV Ni ion irradiation on pre-damaged pure Ni and equiatomic NiFe alloy. In particular, we estimate the defect recovery in NiFe compared to pure Ni due to the chemical disorder. The simulations are done using the two-temperature molecular dynamics approach that includes the electronic stopping and electron-phonon interactions. A total of 50% of the damage that consists of isolated point defects and small defect clusters is recovered in NiFe, whereas no noticeable recovery is observed in elemental Ni. We have also demonstrated strain relaxation associated with defect recombination based on the results from both simulation and X-ray diffraction measurements in NiFe. The damage recovery primarily depends on pre-existing damage level, defect configuration, ion energy (stopping powers) and electron-phonon coupling parameter of the materials of interest.