cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of evolutionary history on genome wide and phenotypic convergence in Drosophila populations

Studies combining experimental evolution and next-generation sequencing have found that adaptation in sexually reproducing populations is primarily fueled by standing genetic variation. Consequently, the response to selection is rapid and highly repeatable across replicate populations. Some studies suggest that the response to selection is highly repeatable at both the phenotypic and genomic levels, and that evolutionary history has little impact. Other studies suggest that even when the response to selection is repeatable phenotypically, evolutionary history can have significant impacts at the genomic level. Here we test two hypotheses that may explain this discrepancy. Hypothesis 1: Past intense selection reduces evolutionary repeatability at the genomic and phenotypic levels when conditions change. Hypothesis 2: Previous intense selection does not reduce evolutionary repeatability, but other evolutionary mechanisms may. We test these hypotheses using D. melanogaster populations that were subjected to 260 generations of intense selection for desiccation resistance and have since been under relaxed selection for the past 230 generations. We find that, with the exception of longevity and to a lesser extent fecundity, 230 generations of relaxed selection has erased the extreme phenotypic differentiation previously found. We also find no signs of genetic fixation, and only limited evidence of genetic differentiation between previously desiccation resistance selected populations and their controls. Our findings suggest that evolution in our system is highly repeatable even when populations have been previously subjected to bouts of extreme selection. We therefore conclude that evolutionary repeatability can overcome past bouts of extreme selection in Drosophila experimental evolution, provided experiments are sufficiently long and populations are not inbred.
Medical Imaging Safety in Global Health Radiology

Attention to matters of safety is important in any imaging facility. In the context of low- and middle-income countries, limited resources may complicate the attempt to set up and operate an imaging facility with the highest standards of safety, but it is important to see that all applicable safety measures are nonetheless carried out. Imaging safety involves several general principles, including the need to minimize radiation exposure consistent with answering the clinical question at hand. Safety considerations relevant to patients, staff, and the general public must be addressed. Considerations specific to individual modalities include appropriate limitations on exposure in x-ray and CT imaging, attention to magnetic field hazards in magnetic resonance imaging, proper preparation and control of radionuclides in nuclear medicine, and avoidance of excessive prenatal imaging procedures with ultrasound. An important general safety consideration for all imaging modalities is assuring proper clinical utilization, which includes factors such as not performing imaging procedures without medical referral and supervision, attention to image quality to ensure procedures are not repeated unnecessarily, and carefully considering the clinical appropriateness of any requested imaging procedure. Training and credentialing of staff is of utmost importance, and includes staff who design, prepare, and evaluate a new imaging facility as well as medical staff who acquire, order, or review images. Ensuring imaging safety requires the input of a team of experts, including trained and qualified medical physicists, health physicists, radiation safety officers, clinical safety personnel, installation and service personnel, radiologic technologists, and radiologists. With appropriate attention to safety, diagnostic imaging is a useful component of healthcare services in resource-limited regions.
The gut microbiota influences circulatory immune cell dynamics in humans

ABSTRACT The gut microbiota influences the development and homeostasis of the mammalian immune system1–3 and can alter immune cell compositions in mice4–7. However, our understanding of how the microbiota modulates immunity remains limited, particularly in humans where a lack of manipulative experiments makes inference challenging. Here we overcome this challenge by studying hundreds of hospitalized—and closely monitored—bone marrow transplantation patients as they recover from chemotherapy-induced immune ablation. This aggressive treatment causes large shifts in both white blood cell and microbiota populations allowing the relationships between the two to be studied simultaneously over time, with unprecedented resolution. Our analysis shows that the ecological diversity of the gut microbiota had an immunosuppressive effect on circulating lymphocyte counts similar in magnitude to that of anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs administered to cancer patients. Moreover, by controlling for drug treatments and clinical metadata, we identified several microbiota components strongly associated with white blood cell dynamics: Streptococcaceae associated with lymphocyte increase and Actinomycetaceae with lymphocyte suppression, Prevotellaceae with monocyte increase and Enterobacteriaceae with monocyte suppression, Ruminococcaceae with neutrophil increase and Lachnospiraceae and Bacteroidaceae with neutrophil suppression. Our analysis establishes a direct link between the intestinal microbiota and systemic immunity in humans, with implications on clinical outcomes and microbiota-based therapies.
Classical HLA alleles are associated with prevalent and persistent cervical high-risk HPV infection in African women

Abstract Background Persistent cervical high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) infection is a necessary cause of cervical cancer. However, the host genetic factors underlying its risk are not well understood. We hypothesized that immunogenetic variation plays a role in hrHPV infection and persistence. Therefore, we conducted a study of classical HLA alleles and their association with hrHPV infection and persistence among women. Methods We characterized HPV infection using SPF10/LiPA25 in Nigerian women at baseline and at 6 months follow-up visits in 2014. hrHPV infection was prevalent if at least one carcinogenic HPV genotype was detected at the baseline visit and persistent if at least one carcinogenic HPV genotype was detected at the baseline and follow-up visits. Classical HLA alleles were imputed from genotypes in the MHC region using the HLA genotype imputation with attribute bagging (HIBAG) algorithm. HLA association tests were conducted under additive genetic models. Results The mean (±SD) age of the 517 study participants was 38 (±8) years, 48% were HIV negative, 24% were hrHPV positive at baseline and 10% had persistent hrHPV infections. In multivariate regression models adjusted for age, HIV status and the first principal component, DQA1*01:02 and DQA1*02:01 were positively associated with prevalent but not persistent hrHPV infections, while DQA1*05:01 was negatively associated with prevalent hrHPV but positively associated with persistent cervical hrHPV infections. Four haplotypes (A*30:01-DQA1*05:01, B*07:02-C*07:02, B*07:02-DQA1*05:01 and C*07:02-DQA1*05:01) were significantly associated with prevalent cervical hrHPV infections and several haplotypes that included the DQA1*05:01 allelic variant were significantly associated with persistent cervical hrHPV infections. Six amino acid positions on DQα1 were associated with prevalent but not persistent cervical hrHPV infections. Conclusions In this first study to investigate the association between HLA alleles and persistent hrHPV in African women, we identified important risk alleles that merit further investigation. Our findings provide new insights into risk factors for hrHPV infection in African ancestry women.
DPRNet: Deep 3D Point Based Residual Network for Semantic Segmentation and Classification of 3D Point Clouds

Point clouds are an important type of geometric data obtained from a variety of 3D sensors. They do not have an explicit neighborhood structure and therefore several researchers often perform a voxelization step to obtain structured 3D neighborhood. This, however, comes with certain disadvantages, e.g., it makes the data unnecessarily voluminous, enforces additional computation effort and can potentially introduce quantization errors that may not only hinder in extracting implicit 3D shape information but also in capturing the essential data invariances for the required segmentation and recognition task. In this context, this paper addresses the highly challenging problem of semantic segmentation and 3D object recognition using raw unstructured 3D point cloud data. Specifically, the deep network architecture has been proposed which consists of a cascaded combination of 3D point-based residual networks for simultaneous semantic scene segmentation and object classification. It exploits the 3D point-based convolutions for representational learning from raw unstructured 3D point cloud data. The proposed architecture has a simple design, easier implementation, and the performance which is better than the existing state-of-the architectures particularly for semantic scene segmentation over three public datasets. The implementation and evaluation are made public here https://github.com/saira05/DPRNet.
Teaching Writing as Social Justice

If you’re like me, you never imagined that teaching International Relations undergraduates would mean teaching writing. Teaching college writing was meant for the English department, right? But if you’re also like me, you received too-many-to-count unreadable undergraduate papers and had to figure out how to grade them and what to do with them. You vacillated from despair to rage to resentment and maybe even decided to take out the writing assignment the next time. I’ve been there, and this chapter chronicles my story of transformation from my early teaching years of resentment and despair over the state of undergraduate writing at a large, public institution to reframing my approach to undergraduate writing as a critical element of my pedagogy. It shares my experiences of embracing teaching writing as one of our most important deliverable skills to students of all backgrounds and as a critical tool toward social justice.
Designing around Structural Alerts in Drug Discovery

Cumulative research over several decades has implicated the involvement of reactive metabolites in many idiosyncratic adverse drug reactions (IADRs). Consequently, "avoidance" strategies have been inserted into drug discovery paradigms, which include the exclusion of structural alerts and possible termination of reactive metabolite-positive compounds. Several noteworthy examples where reactive metabolite-related liabilities have been resolved through structure-metabolism studies are presented herein. Considerable progress has also been made in addressing the limitations of the avoidance strategy and further refining the process of managing reactive metabolite issues in drug development. These efforts primarily stemmed from the observation that numerous drugs, which contain structural alerts and/or form reactive metabolites, are devoid of ADRs. The Perspective also dwells into an analysis of the structural alert/reactive metabolite concept with a discussion of risk mitigation tactics to support the progression of reactive metabolite-positive drug candidates.
Safe Handling of Sharps and Safe Injection Practices

The use of sharps—including needles—in all disciplines of dentistry is a known risk for transmission of infectious diseases, especially blood-borne pathogens. Best practices regarding safe handling and safe injection guidelines are essential to maintaining infection control standards.
EP732 Bladder endometriosis mimicking invasive pelvic malignancy

Introduction/Background Endometriosis, although common, rarely involves of the urinary tract, with bladder being the most commonly involved organ. First described in 19211, the pathogenesis, management, impact on fertility, and risk of malignant transformation of bladder endometriosis still remains controversial. Methodology We report a case of a patient presenting with an infiltrative pelvic mass with local invasion into the bladder. Results The patient, a 49 year old Chinese female with 2 previous cesarean sections and a laparoscopic myomectomy, had no history or symptoms suggestive of endometriosis (dysmenorrhea, dyschezia, dyspareunia, chronic pelvic pain). An enlarged left ovary was seen on ultrasound pelvis with an irregular papillary focal mucosal lesion in the left lateral wall of the bladder with bladder invasion. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the pelvis confirmed an invasive bladder lesion (figure 1). The 4 cm ovarian mass was inseparable from the left uterus. There were no enlarged pelvic lymph nodes or ascites. Ovarian tumour markers, renal function and an ultrasound of bilateral kidneys were normal. She underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy bilateral salpingectomy with bladder tumour excision and bilateral double J stent insertions. Intraoperatively, the solid left ovarian lesion noted on scan was found to be a 5 cm uterine fibroid. The 3 cm tumour involving the lower uterine segment and bladder extended into the bladder mucosa (figure 2). The tumour was removed en bloc with the uterus, with frozen section noting endometriosis. Both tubes and ovaries and intraperitoneal survey were normal with no pelvic endometriosis. Conclusion Isolated urinary tract endometriosis is rare and may mimic malignancy. It is thus an important differential diagnosis to consider in a woman presenting with an infiltrative bladder mass. Management may be in the form of hormonal therapy or surgery, where complete excision of the bladder mass is ideal to minimize recurrence. Disclosure Nothing to disclose.
Service delivery protests : less frequent, more violent

Community protests have become almost commonplace in South Africa. In 2009 protest activity reached a peak of 17.75 protests every month, on average. This prompted the Community Law Centre to survey data on the frequency of protests and on some of the underlying causes. A report, Community Protests in South Africa: Trends, Analysis and Explanations, was produced in August 2010 (see LGB 12(4), pp 14-16). Jelani Karamoko, an intern from Harvard Law School, recently updated the report to reflect current data on media-reported community protests. While the update produced some new findings, it also confirmed many of the trends that had already been identified.
Assessment of Proton-Coupled Conformational Dynamics of SARS and MERS Coronavirus Papain-like Proteases: Implication for Designing Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Inhibitors

Broad-spectrum antiviral drugs are urgently needed to stop the COVID-19 pandemic and prevent future ones. The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is related to SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which have caused the previous outbreaks. The papain-like protease (PLpro) is an attractive drug target due to its essential roles in the viral life cycle. As a cysteine protease, PLpro is rich in cysteines and histidines and their protonation/deprotonation modulates catalysis and conformational plasticity. Here we report the pK a calculations and assessment of the proton-coupled conformational dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in comparison to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV PLpros using a newly developed GPU-accelerated implicit-solvent continuous constant pH molecular dynamics method with an asynchronous replica-exchange scheme. The calculated pK a 's support the catalytic roles of the Cys-His-Asp triad. We also found that several residues can switch protonation states at physiological pH, among which is C270/271 located on the flexible blocking loop 2 (BL2) of SARS-CoV-2/CoV PLpro. Simulations revealed that the BL2 conformational dynamics is coupled to the titration of C271/270, in agreement with the crystal structures of SARS-CoV-2 PLpro. Simulations also revealed that BL2 in MERS-CoV PLpro is very flexible, sampling both open and closed states despite the lack of an analogous cysteine. Our work provides a starting point for more detailed mechanistic studies to assist structure-based design of broad-spectrum inhibitors against CoV PLpros.
Impact of hepatitis C treatment on long-term outcomes for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: a United States Safety Net Collaborative Study.

Abstract Background Widespread HCV treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients remains limited. Our aim was to evaluate the association of HCV treatment with survival and assess barriers to treatment. Methods Patients in the U.S. Safety Net Collaborative with HCV and HCC were included. Primary outcome was overall survival (OS). Secondary outcomes were recurrence-free survival (RFS) and barriers to receiving HCV treatment. Results Of 941 patients, 57% received care at tertiary referral centers (n=533), 74% did not receive HCV treatment (n=696), 6% underwent resection (n=54), 17% liver transplant (n=163), 50% liver-directed therapy (n=473), and 7% chemotherapy (n=60). HCV treatment was associated with improved OS compared to no HCV treatment (70 vs 21 months, p On MVA, factors associated with failure to receive HCV treatment included Black race, higher MELD, and advanced clinical stage (all p Conclusion HCV treatment for HCC patients portends improved survival, regardless of clinical stage, HCC treatment, or facility type. Efforts must address barriers to HCV treatment.
Meron-like topological spin defects in monolayer CrCl 3 .

Noncollinear spin textures in low-dimensional magnetic systems have been studied for decades because of their extraordinary properties and promising applications derived from the chirality and topological nature. However, material realizations of topological spin states are still limited. Employing first-principles and Monte Carlo simulations, we propose that monolayer chromium trichloride (CrCl3) can be a promising candidate for observing the vortex/antivortex type of topological defects, so-called merons. The numbers of vortices and antivortices are found to be the same, maintaining an overall integer topological unit. By perturbing with external magnetic fields, we show the robustness of these meron pairs and reveal a rich phase space to tune the hybridization between the ferromagnetic order and meron-like defects. The signatures of topological excitations under external magnetic field also provide crucial information for experimental justifications. Our study predicts that two-dimensional magnets with weak spin-orbit coupling can be a promising family for realizing meron-like spin textures.
Systemic ligand-mimicking bioparticles cross the blood-brain barrier and reduce growth of intracranial triple-negative breast cancer using the human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (HER3) to mediate both routes

Crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and reaching intracranial tumors is a significant clinical challenge for targeted therapeutics and contributes to the poor prognosis for most patients with brain malignancies. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has a high propensity for metastasis to the brain and lacks cell surface markers that can be recognized by current targeted therapies used in the clinic, thus limiting therapeutic options. The human epidermal growth factor receptor HER3 (or ErbB3) has emerged as a biomarker of therapeutic resistance and metastasis in a growing range of tumor types and may serve as a possible therapeutic target for TNBC. Accordingly, we have developed HER3-targeted biological particles (bioparticles) that assume polyhedral capsid shapes when encapsulating nucleic acid cargo, forming nano-nucleocapsids (NNCs). The NNCs exhibit systemic homing to resistant and metastatic breast tumors, including TNBC, due to the high cell surface densities of HER3 on these tumors. Here we describe our discovery that HER3 is also prominently expressed on the brain endothelium and can mediate the passage of HER3-targeted NNCs across the BBB and into triple-negative breast tumors localized in the brain. Our findings show that HER3 is present at high levels on the vasculature (but not extravascular parenchyma) of both mouse and human adult brain specimens and associates with the extravasation of systemic HER3-targeted NNCs in mice and in a human model of the BBB (BBB chip). Furthermore, systemically delivered NNCs carrying tumoricidal agents reduced the growth of intracranial TNBC tumors in mice (representing metastatic breast tumors that have established in the brain) and exhibited improved therapeutic profile compared to current therapeutic interventions (liposomal doxorubicin) used in the clinic. This study addresses the major clinical problem of systemically delivering targeted therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and demonstrates a new route for not only accomplishing this but also for reaching tumors localized in the brain.
Detection of Phytophthora capsici from Irrigation Ponds in South Georgia

Phytophthora capsici, the causal agent of Phytophthora blight, is a prominent and economically damaging oomycete pathogen in South Georgia. P. capsici causes crown, root, leaf, stem, and fruit infe...
Simulating 50 keV X-ray Photon Detection in Silicon with a Down-Conversion Layer.

Simulation results are presented that explore an innovative, new design for X-ray detection in the 20–50 keV range that is an alternative to traditional direct and indirect detection methods. Typical indirect detection using a scintillator must trade-off between absorption efficiency and spatial resolution. With a high-Z layer that down-converts incident photons on top of a silicon detector, this design has increased absorption efficiency without sacrificing spatial resolution. Simulation results elucidate the relationship between the thickness of each layer and the number of photoelectrons generated. Further, the physics behind the production of electron-hole pairs in the silicon layer is studied via a second model to shed more light on the detector’s functionality. Together, the two models provide a greater understanding of this detector and reveal the potential of this novel form of X-ray detection.
Truthful incentive mechanisms for crowdsourcing

With the prosperity of smart devices, crowdsourcing has emerged as a new computing/networking paradigm. Through the crowdsourcing platform, service requesters can buy service from service providers. An important component of crowdsourcing is its incentive mechanism. We study three models of crowdsourcing, which involve cooperation and competition among the service providers. Our simplest model generalizes the well-known user-centric model studied in a recent Mobicom paper. We design an incentive mechanism for each of the three models, and prove that these incentive mechanisms are individually rational, budget-balanced, computationally efficient, and truthful.
Star in a Jar

A sonoluminescing bubble has been modeled as a thermally conducting, partially ionized two-component plasma. The use of accurate equations-of-state, plasma physics, and radiation physics distinguishes our model from all previous models. The model provides an explanation of many features of single bubble sonoluminescence that have not been collectively accounted for in previous models, including the origin of the picosecond pulse widths and spectra. The calculated spectra for sonoluminescing nitrogen and argon bubbles suggest that a sonoluminescing air bubble probably contains only argon, in agreement with a recent theoretical analysis.
Comparative effects of chlortetracycline, freezing, and gamma radiation on microbial population of ocean perch.

The microbial populations in chlortetracycline (CTC)-treated (50, 100, 200, and 500 ppm), frozen (-15 C), and irradiated (0.1 Mrad) ocean perch (Sebastodes alutus) were compared. The control sample spoiled at 7 C, primarily because of the growth of Pseudomonas. Irradiation changed this to Achromobacter-dominated spoilage. Freezing or CTC treatment altered the spoilage pattern very little. CTC was particularly effective against ultraviolet fluorescent Pseudomonas species at the higher concentrations. Freezing and CTC were not effective against “coryneforms.”
The passivity of natural admittance control implementations

Natural Admittance Control (NAC) has been proposed as a means of implementing responsive force control that is both gentle and rapid while maintaining an end-effector admittance that is passive. Practical implementations, however, must deviate from the ideal NAC formulation, impacting the passivity of the manipulator. Issues arise particularly in the case where NAC is retrofitted to an existing industrial robot controller. Command input may be restricted to only position commands, and the servo algorithm may be fixed. Direct torque control is often not possible, precluding the use of torque feed-forward. Finally, the feedback sensors signals themselves often contain filters. Each of these three effects is examined and their effects on NAC implementations are identified by considering a simplified, continuous-time model of a typical NAC implementation.
Does Chapter 11 Save Economically Ineffic ient Firms

liquidated, freeing their resources to be allocated to higher value uses,while economically efficient but failing firms should be saved. However,in practice it is difficult to identify which firms fall into which category.As a result, U.S. bankruptcy procedures may operate with error: Type I
BIOLOGY OF BUDDING BACTERIA. II. GROWTH AND NUTRITION OF HYPHOMICROBIUM SPP.

Budding bacteria from aquatic or terrestrial habitats were found to accumulate ferric oxide hydrate (“ferric hydroxide”) on their cell surfaces. Metal paper clips served as the source of oxidizable iron. Pure cultures deposited ferric hydroxide during growth on sea water medium at a pH of 7.8, but not in a mineral salts medium of normal ionic strength, of pH 7.2, and without NaCl, although some active strains came from fresh water or soil.
Libration point trajectory design

Orbits about the Sun–Earth L 1 and L 2 libration points have become very popular for space physics and astrophysics missions. Due to the hyperbolicity of the region of phase space where these orbits are found, they are difficult to compute and analyze. The invariant manifold structure provided by dynamical systems theory has been useful to compute transfer trajectories between orbits. These methods are very promising and require further development. This systematic approach is a great improvement from the difficult and labor-intensive numerical search methods currently popular in the astrodynamics community for studying these orbits. The geometric constraints and mission critical issues are discussed to give the numerical dynamical systems community some insight into the practical considerations and important problems of interest to the space mission designers. It is hoped that this communication will lead to more fruitful exchanges between the two communities.
Ethical Use of Antiretroviral Resources for HIV Prevention in Resource Poor Settings

The effectiveness of antiretroviral regimes (ARVs) to reduce risk of HIV transmission from mother to child and as post-exposure prophylaxis has been known for almost two decades. Recent research indicates ARVs can also reduce the risk of HIV transmission via sexual intercourse in two other ways. With pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), ARVs are used to reduce risk of HIV acquisition among persons who are HIV negative and significantly exposed to the virus. With treatment as prevention (TasP), ARVs are used to reduce risk of HIV transmission from persons who are already HIV positive. The development of these new prevention strategies raises a rationing problem: given the chronic shortage of ARVs for HIV-infected persons in need of treatment, is it ethically justified to allocate ARVs for PrEP and/or TasP? This article examines the intuitively appealing view that allocation of ARVs for treatment should be the highest priority, the use of ARVs for TasP should be a secondary priority, and that utilizing ARVs for PrEP would be unethical. I will argue that selective, evidence-based allocation of ARVs for prevention in certain cases could be ethically justified even when there is insufficient anti-retroviral access for all those needing it for treatment.
Isolation, preliminary chemical characterization, and biological activity of Borrelia burgdorferi peptidoglycan

Peptidoglycan (PG), an essential cell wall polymer of most bacteria, has been isolated from many species of spirochetes. Our interest in the host response to Borrelia burgdorferi led us to isolate and characterize its PG. Extracted cells were solubilized with warm 1% SDS followed by digestion with proteases. Amino acid analysis of the isolated PG demonstrated the presence of alanine, glycine, glutamic acid, and ornithine as occurs in other spirochetes and bacteria. Intense erythematous reactions were observed after id injection of 10 micrograms of PG into normal human skin. PG was not mitogenic for human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Murine splenocytes of certain strains responded to the PG, but only at concentrations of 25 micrograms/ml or more. PG stimulated macrophages to produce interleukin 1. Sixteen micrograms of PG injected iv into rabbits produced biphasic fevers. These observations on the in vitro and in vivo activities associated with the cellular components of the B. burgdorferi spirochete give further insight to how a small number of invading organisms can cause a multisystemic disease such as Lyme disease.
Population shift and settlement patterns of Irish Travellers

Rural to urban migration in the period 1960–1976 has resulted in a conspicuous distributional shift of Irish Travellers, most of whom now reside along the periphery of major cities. The most striking feature of re‐distribution has been the massive convergence of families on Co. Dublin. Urbanization has promoted the transition from nomadism to sedentarization, a process ordinarily facilitated by settlement committees. Most counties have settled 40 to 60% of their Itinerants. Yet the overall pattern of distribution remains highly irregular, owing largely to the disparity in settlement strategies employed by the different counties. Sedentarization is best achieved by the sequential transition from unauthorized roadside encampments to chalets or standard housing. Graduation from one stage to the next represents a shift in both spatial and social locus. Though approximately one‐third of all Travellers have been permanently settled, most still occupy transitional stages ranging from semi‐nomadism to quasi‐sedentarization. An estimated 300 families remain highly transient and resistant to settled life in any form. Their peregrinations can best be accommodated by the provision of ‘halts'; however, this concept has been vigorously eschewed by most counties.
Synchrotron powder X-ray diffractometer beamline at J. Bennett Johnston, Sr., Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices

Abstract The J. Bennett Johnston, Sr., Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD) is a synchrotron ring operating at 1.3 GeV, with the ring current typically ranging from 230 to 100 mA. An X-ray powder diffraction beamline was recently commissioned at CAMD at the bending magnet port 7A. The powder diffraction beamline consists of a Brazilian-designed double crystal monochromator, a Huber four-circle diffractometer, and a Canberra germanium solid-state detector. The monochromator is equipped with Si 111 and Ge 220 crystals. The Canberra high purity germanium solid-state detector has a resolution of 130 eV at Mn Kα. For typical use, the diffractometer circle is set to 17 cm, and the source and receiving slits have been set to 300 and 200 μm, respectively. A sample spinner is used for improved particle size averaging. Wavelength can be shifted in a matter of minutes. Preliminary runs of NIST standards, for example, lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) (SRM 660a), show good performance over a wide two-theta range. Rietveld refinement of novaculite (SiO2) shows lower residual error for the same mineral compared to that obtained from a run with a conventional X-ray source. At the beamline, the user can use MDI's Jade version 7.5 software. The user also has access to International Center for Diffraction Data's Powder Diffraction File-2 database consisting of more than 163,000 inorganic entries and International Crystal Structure Data's crystal structure database with more than 93,000 entries.
Heating chicken breast muscle reduces the amount of dialyzable iron after extraction and digestion

We studied the effect of heating chicken breast muscle on the amount of dialyzable iron derived from added ferric iron. The chicken was homogenized and heated to temperatures in the range of 130–195°F. The heated muscle was mixed with ferric iron and either extracted with acid or digested with pepsin and pancreatin. Similar amounts of dialyzable iron were observed after extraction and proteolytic digestion; however, digestion led to more dialyzable ferrous iron. Heating caused markedly reduced levels of dialyzable iron and dialyzable ferrous iron both by extraction and digestion. In the range of 130–165°F the losses were due mainly to reduced levels of ferrous iron. At 195°F both ferric and ferrous dialyzable iron levels were markedly reduced (>80%) compared to raw muscle. At 165°F losses in dialyzable iron after extraction were much greater than after digestion. Heating caused progressive losses in sulfhydryl and histidine residues and mostly lowered protein digestibility. Our results demonstrate that he...
Multiple Measures of Physical Activity, Dietary Habits and Weight Status in African American and Hispanic or Latina Women

Compared measures of physical activity and dietary habits used in the Health Is Power (HIP) study, and described the associations of physical activity and dietary habits among African American and Hispanic or Latino women, adjusted for weight status. Cross-sectional baseline data were compared for community dwelling, healthy African American (N = 262) and Hispanic or Latina women (N = 148) who participated in HIP. Physical activity was measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) long form, the Check And Line Questionnaire (CALQ) log and accelerometry. Dietary habits were measured using NCI 24-h recall screeners, vegetable and fruit (VF) logs and the NCI Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ). Differences in physical activity and dietary habits were assessed using simultaneous 2 (ethnicity) × 3 (weight status) ANCOVAs adjusted for age and socioeconomic status. Women (M age = 44.4 ± 10.9 years) were obese (M = 34.0 ± 9.7 kg/m2), did not meet physical activity guidelines as measured by accelerometry (M = 19.4 ± 19.1 min MVPA/day) and ate few VF (M = 2.8 ± 2.7 servings/day). DHQ variables differed by weight status. IPAQ was associated with CALQ, and CALQ with accelerometry (P < .05). IPAQ was not associated with accelerometry. Regardless of ethnicity, normal weight women did more physical activity, reported more VF consumption, and consumed more fat calories than overweight and obese women (Ps < .05). African American women did more MVPA than Hispanic or Latino women (P < .001). Relationships between behaviors and weight status suggest accelerometry and DHQ are preferable, regardless of ethnicity; and studies may capture different domains of physical activity and dietary habits depending on measure used.
Plagioclase preferred orientation by TOF neutron diffraction and SEM-EBSD

Abstract The lattice preferred orientation (LPO) of an anorthosite (composed of andesine) sampled from a highly deformed anorthositic mylonite (Grenville Province, Quebec) was measured by TOF neutron diffraction and SEM-EBSD. The quantitative texture analysis of neutron data was accomplished by using the Rietveld texture analysis with the WIMV algorithm, implemented in the program package Materials Analysis Using Diffraction (MAUD). The texture calculations of the EBSD data were performed by using the program BEARTEX. Analyses from neutron and electron diffraction data gave similar results if EBSD data are smoothed to account for grain statistics. The principal pole figures show (010) roughly parallel to the rock foliation, (001) poles exhibiting a low angle (∼25°) to the pole to foliation, and (100) poles close to the Y-direction (perpendicular to the lineation and foliation pole). The [100] crystallographic direction shows a maximum in the lineation direction, [010] directions concentrate near the foliation pole. The geological deformation conditions and the constructed pole figure patterns indicate that the preferred orientation could be attributed to intracrystalline slip dominantly on (010) with [100] as slip direction. Elastic properties, calculated by averaging, document weak anisotropy that has implications for the seismic structure of the lower crust.
Early sonographic aspects of kidney morphology in Bardet-Biedl syndrome

Bardet-Biedl syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by postaxial hexadactyly, obesity, mental retardation, pigmented retinopathy, hypogonadism, and renal disease. Morphological changes are present in all areas of the kidney, the renal medulla being the most frequently affected site. Cystic and dysplastic changes are prevalent. Seven children from five families were followed from birth through their 5th birthday. Serial renal sonography revealed a number of characteristic features. Bilateral renal enlargement and increased parenchymal echogenicity were present at birth. The usual corticomedullary differentiation was absent. Pyramids were either not seen or deformed. With high-resolution ultrasonography, small cysts were detected at the corticomedullary junction. After the 3rd month of life, there was a striking inversion of normal echogenicity, the inner medulla became more echogenic and was demarcated from the less-echogenic cortex. After 12 months, the kidney size regressed significantly. Fetal lobulation persisted in some patients. In conclusion, ultrasonography is a useful tool to evaluate the extent of renal lesions, but more importantly to differentiate bilateral polycystic kidney diseases in the newborn period.
Zinc Finger Database (ZiFDB): a repository for information on C2H2 zinc fingers and engineered zinc-finger arrays

Zinc fingers are the most abundant DNA-binding motifs encoded by eukaryotic genomes and one of the best understood DNA-recognition domains. Each zinc finger typically binds a 3-nt target sequence, and it is possible to engineer zinc-finger arrays (ZFAs) that recognize extended DNA sequences by linking together individual zinc fingers. Engineered zinc-finger proteins have proven to be valuable tools for gene regulation and genome modification because they target specific sites in a genome. Here we describe ZiFDB (Zinc Finger Database; http://bindr.gdcb.iastate.edu/ZiFDB), a web-accessible resource that compiles information on individual zinc fingers and engineered ZFAs. To enhance its utility, ZiFDB is linked to the output from ZiFiT—a software package that assists biologists in finding sites within target genes for engineering zinc-finger proteins. For many molecular biologists, ZiFDB will be particularly valuable for determining if a given ZFA (or portion thereof) has previously been constructed and whether or not it has the requisite DNA-binding activity for their experiments. ZiFDB will also be a valuable resource for those scientists interested in better understanding how zinc-finger proteins recognize target DNA.
Concerns over modeling and warning capabilities in wake of Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

[1] Improved earthquake models, better tsunami modeling and warning capabilities, and a review of nuclear power plant safety are all greatly needed following the 11 March Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, according to scientists at the European Geosciences Union's (EGU) General Assembly, held 3–8 April in Vienna, Austria. EGU quickly organized a morning session of oral presentations and an afternoon panel discussion less than 1 month after the earthquake and the tsunami and the resulting crisis at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant, which has now been identified as having reached the same level of severity as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Many of the scientists at the EGU sessions expressed concern about the inability to have anticipated the size of the earthquake and the resulting tsunami, which appears likely to have caused most of the fatalities and damage, including damage to the nuclear plant.
WiMAX Overview and System Performance

In this paper, the performance of WiMax network with DL SIMO, DL MIMO and UL SIMO is analyzed via system simulations. Two data traffic models are considered, namely Web browsing (HTTP) and full buffer sessions, operating in multi path fading channels such as the ITU pedestrian-B and vehicular-A channels. The control channel coverage and reliability of WiMAX using realistic overhead is also analyzed in this paper.
Reactions of some adult passerines to Bornbus pennsylvanicus and its mimic, Mallota bautias

Adult Blue Jays, Brown Thrashers, Northern Catbirds, American Robins, and Song Sparrows were offered fresh frozen and thawed Bombus pennsylcanicus and its mimic, Mallota bautias, simultaneously with Tenebrio rnolitor pupae. Mealworm T. rnolitor larvae were offered separately in pairs as controls. Most of the birds refused the model and mimic, but all of the Blue Jays and some of the Brown Thrashers had specialized feeding techniques to deal with the aposematic insects. These techniques and other feeding behaviours are described in detail. Beak wiping appeared to be a displacement behaviour in Song Sparrows and American Robins. Predator — prey relationships are discussed briefly.
Pillared Layered Metal Phosphonates. Syntheses and X-ray Powder Structures of Copper and Zinc Alkylenebis(phosphonates)

Covalently pillared layered metal phosphonate compounds were prepared by the reaction of divalent metal salts with alkylenebis(phosphonic acids). Cu(II) yields compounds Cu2[(O3PC2H4PO3)(H2O)2] (1) and Cu2[(O3PC3H6PO3)(H2O)2]·H2O (2) when copper sulfate was reacted with ethylenebis(phosphonic acid) and propylenebis(phosphonic acid), respectively. The corresponding bis(phosphonates) obtained for the reaction with zinc chloride are Zn2[(O3PC2H4PO3)(H2O)2] (3) and Zn2[(O3PC3H6PO3)] (4). The structures of these four compounds were determined ab initio from their X-ray powder diffraction data and refined by Rietveld methods. Crystal data for compound 1: space group P21/c, a = 8.0756(1) A, b = 7.5872(1) A, c = 7.4100(1) A, β = 116.319(1)°, Z = 2. Crystal data for compound 2: space group Pnc2, a = 4.3276(2) A, b = 17.3181(8) A c = 6.7624(3) A, Z = 2. Crystal data for compound 3: space group P21/n, a = 5.6861(8) A, b = 15.230(2) A, c = 4.7923(6) A, β = 91.936(2)°. Crystal data for compound 4: space group Pna2...
Chemical kinetics with reagent dispersion in single-line flow-injection systems

Abstract Simultaneous chemical kinetics and dispersion kinetics in single-line flow-injection manifold can be modeled by using total rate laws for dispersion and chemical reaction. The model combines a (non-equilibrium) mass-transfer rate coefficient with residence-time theory based on extended tanks-in-series. Reagent dispersion is found to play a key role in defining a zone of mixing. Double product peaks and narrow analyte peaks observed in the literature are predicted by the model. When applied to a slow chemical reaction under conditions of constant length of mixing, predicted and experimentally observed response curves agree well.
Bit error sources in 3D optical memory: experiments and models

The photoactive protein, bacteriorhodopsin (BR), may be used as the recording medium in optical three-dimensional memories. Experiments with a sequential, one-photon read/write scheme have shown promising results. In this scheme a planar laser beam activates a narrow slice of the medium, so that the bit patterns of the slice can be read independently of the rest of the memory. This gives rise to a paged memory architecture with approximately 100 Megabytes/page. Experimental images taken of the activated pages show bit patterns subject to degradation, which may be attributed to intensity variations within the activation beam. These intensity gradients are believed to be the result of refraction within the memory page. Writing a bit in the memory changes the index of refraction within the activated memory volume illuminated by the write beam. Bit error rates are directly related to the proportion of 0s and 1s written into the memory page, with minimum error rates recorded at a 50/50 ratio. In addition to experiments with prototype BR memories, we report on a computer model for the activation phase of the memory read cycle. This model may be used to study various schemes for placing the bits within a memory page and ensuring that the distribution of 0s and 1s is uniform.
EFFECT OF LIGHT-DUTY TRUCKS ON THE CAPACITY OF SIGNALIZED INTERSECTIONS

This paper analyzes the impacts of different light-duty trucks (LDTs) on the capacity of signalized intersections. Data were collected at two intersections in Austin, Tex., and regression analysis generated estimates of mean headways associated with various categories of LDTs, as well as passenger cars. Using the estimated headways, passenger-car equivalents were calculated, and these suggest that the impacts of LDTs should be given special consideration when analyzing the capacity of signalized intersections. For example, a single large sport-utility vehicle in through traffic is equivalent to 1.41 passenger cars, and a van is equivalent to 1.34. Such headways reduce intersection capacity and increase urban congestion.
Equivalent fields and scatter integration for photon fields

Equivalent fields are often used in radiation oncology for calculation of dose. This avoids the need to make a scatter integration but has limited applicability and some inaccuracy. We have evaluated the alternative of explicit integration of phantom-scatter dose using a functional representation, , of the ratio between the scatter dose and the primary dose. The independent parameters are depth and the side of the square field. The function chosen has the advantage that the integral for a right triangle is available in closed form, which simplifies the determination of the dose from phantom-scattered photons for irregular fields by summation over such triangles. This approach accounts for the influence of depth and beam quality, which the commonly used equivalent-field tables and the area-over-perimeter relation ignore. The accuracy of this procedure is determined by the accuracy of the function . This has about a 1% error of total dose for high-energy x-rays. We conclude that the tables and rules can be replaced by a computer-implemented integration of the phantom-scatter dose represented by this function and using sectors or right triangles. Summing the closed-form contributions from component right triangles reduces the calculation time, which is particularly desirable when many fields are employed, as for intensity-modulated techniques and inverse planning. Measurements performed on irregular MLC-shaped fields compared well with the result from calculations.
Obsidian hydration dating by infrared spectroscopy: method and calibration

Abstract Low temperature (90–190 °C) hydrothermal experiments have been conducted on seven obsidians where composition of the glass varies significantly in the concentration of structural water within the unhydrated bulk material. Infrared transmission spectroscopy was used to track the diffusion of molecular water into the glass surface as a function of time and temperature. Long-term (60–360 days) hydration sequences at 90 °C show a t0.6 time dependence for the mass uptake of molecular water that forms the hydration layer. The structural water concentration of the unhydrated bulk obsidian is highly correlated with the pre-exponential and activation energy and may be used to estimate the Arrhenius constants. In addition, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) hydrogen profiling of Napa Glass Mountain obsidian hydrated at 90 °C reveals that the early stages of diffusion exhibit a dynamic behavior that includes a fluctuating hydrogen concentration and a changing diffusion coefficient that slows with time.