cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Extensional and shear flows, and general rheology of concentrated emulsions of deformable drops

The rheology of highly concentrated monodisperse emulsions is studied by rigorous multidrop numerical simulations for three types of steady macroscopic flow, (i) simple shear ( , 0 0), (ii) planar extension (PE) ( ) and (iii) mixed ( , , 0), where and are the deformation rates, and is the flow parameter, in order to construct and validate a general constitutive model for emulsion flows with arbitrary kinematics. The algorithm is a development of the multipole-accelerated boundary-integral (BI) code of Zinchenko & Davis (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 455, 2002, pp. 21–62). It additionally incorporates periodic boundary conditions for (ii) and (iii) (based on the reproducible lattice dynamics of Kraynik–Reinelt for PE), control of surface overlapping, much more robust controllable surface triangulations for long-time simulations, and more efficient acceleration. The emulsion steady-state viscometric functions (shear viscosity and normal stress differences) for (i) and extensiometric functions (extensional viscosity and stress cross-difference) for (ii) are studied in the range of drop volume fractions , drop-to-medium viscosity ratios and various capillary numbers , with 100–400 drops in a periodic cell and 2000–4000 boundary elements per drop. High surface resolution is important for all three flows at small . Large system size and strains of up to several thousand are imperative in some shear-flow simulations to identify the onset of phase transition to a partially ordered state, and evaluate (although still not precisely) the viscometric functions in this state. Below the phase transition point, the shear viscosity versus shows a kinked behaviour, with the local minimum most pronounced at and . The emulsions flow in a partially ordered manner in a wide range of even when . Increase of to 3–10 shifts the onset of ordering to much smaller , often outside the simulation range. In contrast to simple shear, phase transition is never observed in PE or mixed flow. A generalized five-parameter Oldroyd model with variable coefficients is fitted to our extensiometric and viscometric functions at arbitrary flow intensities (but outside the phase transition range). The model predictions compare very well with precise simulation results for strong mixed flows, . Time-dependent PE flow is also considered. Ways to overcome the phase transition and drop breakup limitations on constitutive modelling are discussed.
Neural decoding systems using Markov Decision Processes

This paper presents a framework for modeling neural decoding using electromyogram (EMG) and electrocorticogram (ECoG) signals to interpret human intent and control prosthetic arms. Specifically, the method of this paper employs Markov Decision Processes (MDP) for neural decoding, parameterizing the policy using an artificial neural network. The system is trained using a modification of the Dataset Aggregation (DAgger) algorithm. The results presented here suggest that the approach of the paper performs better than the state-of-the-art.
Innate and Adaptive Immunity: Barriers and Receptor-Based Recognition

Abstract The body’s defense system is made up of innate (inborn) and adaptive (acquired) immune systems. The innate immune system is the first line of defense against pathogens and consists of physical barriers (skin, epithelium, saliva, etc.) as well as immunological barriers in the form of various immune cells (monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, etc.) that recognize molecular patterns or motifs in pathogens through “pattern recognition receptors” such as Toll-like receptors, NOD-like receptor proteins, C-type lectin receptors and RIG-1like receptors. The ligation of these receptors triggers a proinflammatory signaling that orchestrates the early response to infection, and also leads to subsequent activation of cells of the adaptive immune system (Tand B lymphocytes). Cells of the adaptive immune system are activated in response to antigens expressed by specific pathogens that are “carried” by dendritic cells and presented to T and B lymphocytes causing their transformation into cytotoxic cells that can recognize the antigens of that specific pathogen that was ingested by the dendritic cell. The activated T and B cells also give rise to clones bearing the distinct antigen receptor. This chapter provides an overview of innate and adaptive immunity and details the crosstalk between the cells of these two systems. The defects in signaling associated with these systems and their role in inducing several inflammatory and autoimmune diseases are also discussed.
Global Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production and Associated Resource Decoupling 2010–2050

Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) methodology has previously been developed to assess the intensity of anthropogenic extraction of biomass resources. However, there is limited analysis concerning future trends of HANPP. Here we present four scenarios for global biomass demand and HANPPharv (the most key component of HANPP) from 2010 to 2050 by incorporating data on expanded historical drivers and disaggregated biomass demand (food, wood material, and fuelwood). The results show that the biomass demand has the lowest value in the equitability world scenario (an egalitarian vision) and the highest value in the security foremost scenario (an isolationist vision). The biomass demand for food and materials increases over time, while fuelwood demand decreases over time. Global HANPPharv rises to between 8.5 and 10.1 Pg C/yr in 2050 in the four scenarios, 14–35% above its value in 2010, and some 50% of HANPPharv is calculated to be crop residues, wood residues, and food losses in the future. ...
Effects of Social Experience on the Habituation Rate of Zebrafish Startle Escape Response: Empirical and Computational Analyses.

While the effects of social experience on nervous system function have been extensively investigated in both vertebrate and invertebrate systems, our understanding of how social status differentially affects learning remains limited. In the context of habituation, a well-characterized form of non-associative learning, we investigated how the learning processes differ between socially dominant and subordinate in zebrafish (Danio rerio). We found that social status and frequency of stimulus inputs influence the habituation rate of short latency C-start escape response that is initiated by the Mauthner neuron (M-cell). Socially dominant animals exhibited higher habituation rates compared to socially subordinate animals at a moderate stimulus frequency, but low stimulus frequency eliminated this difference of habituation rates between the two social phenotypes. Moreover, habituation rates of both dominants and subordinates were higher at a moderate stimulus frequency compared to those at a low stimulus frequency. We investigated a potential mechanism underlying these status-dependent differences by constructing a simplified neurocomputational model of the M-cell escape circuit. The computational study showed that the change in total net excitability of the model M-cell was able to replicate the experimental results. At moderate stimulus frequency, the model M-cell with lower total net excitability, that mimicked a dominant-like phenotype, exhibited higher habituation rates. On the other hand, the model with higher total net excitability, that mimicked the subordinate-like phenotype, exhibited lower habituation rates. The relationship between habituation rates and characteristics (frequency and amplitude) of the repeated stimulus were also investigated. We found that habituation rates are decreasing functions of amplitude and increasing functions of frequency while these rates depend on social status (higher for dominants and lower for subordinate). Our results show that social status affects habituative learning in zebrafish, which could be mediated by a summative neuromodulatory input to the M-cell escape circuit, which enables animals to readily learn to adapt to changes in their social environment.
Population Growth, Resources, and Pollution

Few issues have been the cause of almost hysterical response as has the subject of population growth. It is too often described as a cancer or a threat to the very survival of the species itself. Various theoretical formulations are offered from the simple to the seemingly profound to explain our current predicament. Other than a progression of numbers on the size of the global population at various times in human history, very little effort is expended to try to place either contemporary population growth, resource utilization or pollution in the larger perspective of the human and life experience.
Statistical Inference Theory for Measures of Complexity in Chaos Theory and Nonlinear Science

Concepts such as the Grassberger and Procaccia (1983a,b) correlation dimension, Kolmogorov entropy, and measures of sensitive dependence on initial conditions are making their way into economics. But they have been rather drastically modified to cope with the special issues that economic applications raise. In this paper we will survey some literature in economics that deals with these issues. In order to save space and concentrate on what we know best we will focus on our own work. Citations will be given to help the reader locate the work of others. First we will take up the question of testing for low dimensional deterministic chaos in economics and finance where the vast bulk of professional belief is centered on nonstationary and stochastic data. Second, in Section 2 we will deal with some of the technical underpinnings of the methodology we discuss in Section 1. Third, in Section 3, we briefly mention applications and take up unresolved issues not covered in Sections 1 and 2.
Simultaneous Product Representations by Values of Rational Functions

In this chapter R(x)will continue to denote a rational function $$\mathop \prod \limits_{i = 1}^h {\text{ }}{\left( {x + {a_i}} \right)^{{b_i}}}$$ with distinct integers a i ≥0 and integral exponents b j which may be positive or negative, but whose highest common factor is 1. I prove
The Importance of being Nonlinear

In the preceding section we have sketched some of the dominant styles of thought used in the understanding of complex events in natural philosophy. In our discussions we stressed the dependence of these schema on the notion of linearity. The motivation for these presentations was to uncover the often implicit and obscure dependence of these schema on linear ideas. We are now in a position to examine the limitations of some of these ideas in describing a number of familiar, but all too often ill-understood phenomena. We maintain that these processes can be understood by determining the proper nonlinear descriptions to replace the inadequate linear ones. As the title of this section indicates, we focus on the reasons why a nonlinear perspective is to be preferred over a linear one.
Comparative feeding efficiency of indigenous and introduced phytoplanktivores from Lake Victoria : Experimental studies on Oreochromis esculentus and Oreochromis niloticus

The ngege, Oreochromis esculentus Graham (Perciformes;Cichlidae), was a numerically important phytoplanktivore inLakeVictoria, East Africa prior to its extirpation and subsequentreplacement following the introduction of its sister species,O. niloticus Boulenger (Cichlidae). The disappearance of O. esculentus has been attributed to predation, competition,andintrogression by introduced species and to overfishing. Anoverlooked factor is a shift in algal community dominance inLakeVictoria, from large filamentous diatoms (a preferred fooditem ofO. esculentus) to smaller colonial bluegreen and greenalgae.We performed a series of experiments to test the hypothesisthatfeeding performance of the two species differs sufficientlythatalgal shifts could have contributed to the speciesreplacement.Adults of the two tilapiine species were fed individually on amonospecific culture of the small green alga Scenedesmusacuminatus, which grows in a range of colony sizes. Clearingrateswere compared at 4 algal food densities and at the 4 colonysizes.The results indicate that O. niloticus has the abilitytofeed on either smaller or less bulky particles than O. esculentus such as prevail in the postdisturbance LakeVictoria. O. niloticus is also a more efficient filterfeederoverall, with a differential that is inversely proportional toparticle size. Additional data would be required to show thatfeeding performance and limnological shifts were primary tothereplacement of O. esculentus by O. niloticus.Researchers should however, be cautious about invokingcompetitionas the proximal cause of exotic impacts when simpler,extrinsic mechanisms are equally plausible.
Implications of a shrinking Great Salt Lake for dust on snow deposition in the Wasatch Mountains, UT, as informed by a source to sink case study from the 13–14 April 2017 dust event

The deposition of dust on snow accelerates melt by perturbing snow albedo, directly by darkening the snow surface and indirectly by enhancing snow grain growth. The snow darkening process impacts hydrology by shifting runoff timing and magnitude. Dust on snow deposition has been documented in the Wasatch Mountains, snowmelt from which accounts for up to 80% of surface water supply for Salt Lake City, UT, but the impact on snow melt has not yet been investigated. Here, we present a case study of a dust event observed in the Wasatch (13-14th April, 2017), sampled coincidentally in the air and at the snow surface at an instrumented high elevation site (Atwater Study Plot, Alta, UT). Atmospheric backtrajectory modeling, the results of which were supported by measurements, showed that dust originated predominantly from the west: the Great Salt Lake Desert and the Great Salt Lake (GSL) dry lake bed. The deposited dust mass accounted for ∼50% of the season total dust loading in snow, and daily mean radiative forcing of 20-50 W m -2 accelerated snow melt by approximately 25%. This has important implications for The Greatest Snow on Earth α , and snow water resources; the water level of the GSL has been declining, exposing dry lake beds, and there are no legal water rights or protections to maintain lake levels or mitigate dust emission.
Forschung zum Nutzen der Politik. Die Aufklärungsfunktion sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung

Der haufigste Fall, in dem sozialwissenschaftliche Forschungsergebnisse Verwendung finden, ist nicht — wie drei neuere Forschungsstudien aufzeigen — der, in dem gezielt Dateninformationen fur spezifische Entscheidungssituationen produziert werden, sondern vielmehr jener, in dem die politisch-administrativen Entscheidungstrager sozialwissenschaftliche Forschungen eher indirekt als eine Quelle zur Produktion von Ideen, zur Informationsgewinnung und als Orientierungsmasstabe in einer komplexen Welt nutzen. Obgleich dieser Prozes einer indirekten Nutzung nicht leicht zu erkennen ist, vermag er im Laufe der Zeit einschneidende Wirkungen auf die Politik auszuuben. Selbst eine Forschung, die die geltenden Wertnormen und das politisch Machbare in Frage stellt, wird von den Entscheidungstragern als nutzlich eingeschatzt.
Abstract 140: BMI- and Gender-specific Increase of MAP2K3/p38 Activity in Human Cardiac Hypertrophy

Introduction: MAP2K3 is a stress-induced kinase and its role cardiac hypertrophy has been controversial: while in vitro studies have displayed a positive correlation in activity with hypertrophy, i...
Peer Advising at Scale: Content and Context of a Learner-Owned Course Evaluation System

Peer advising in education, which involves students providing fellow students with course advice, can be important in online student communities and can provide insights into potential course improvements. We examine reviews from a course review web site for online graduate programs. We develop a coding scheme to analyze the free text portion of the reviews and integrate those findings with students' quantitative ratings of each course's overall score, difficulty, and workload. While reviews focus on subjective evaluation of courses, students also provide feedback for instructors, personal context, advice for other students, and objective course descriptions. Additionally, the average review varies by course overall score, difficulty, and workload. Our research examines the importance of student communities in online education and peer advising at scale.
Alzheimer Disease: An Update on Pathobiology and Treatment Strategies.

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a heterogeneous disease with a complex pathobiology. The presence of extracellular β-amyloid deposition as neuritic plaques and intracellular accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau as neurofibrillary tangles remains the primary neuropathologic criteria for AD diagnosis. However, a number of recent fundamental discoveries highlight important pathological roles for other critical cellular and molecular processes. Despite this, no disease-modifying treatment currently exists, and numerous phase 3 clinical trials have failed to demonstrate benefits. Here, we review recent advances in our understanding of AD pathobiology and discuss current treatment strategies, highlighting recent clinical trials and opportunities for developing future disease-modifying therapies.
How does Editor Interaction Help Build the Spanish Wikipedia

The English language Wikipedia is notable for its large number of articles. However, 288 other active language editions of Wikipedia have also developed through the intricate interactions of contributing editors. While the editor interactions in the English Wikipedia have been researched extensively, these other language editions remain understudied. To understand how editors currently come to consensus in article building in the Spanish language, a team of researchers has leveraged an existing English framework that depicts how power and policies play a role in mass collaboration. Using this English language framework, we are utilizing qualitative coding methods to build a unique model of the editor interactions on the Spanish language Wikipedia (ES). The results of this study will help contribute to a deeper understanding of how a framework in a different language edition of Wikipedia varies from the English. Our preliminary findings show that the power plays utilized in the Spanish Wikipedia talk pages differ in type and amount from power plays identified in the talk pages in the English language Wikipedia (EN), suggesting different forms of editor interactions and facilitation strategies across this multilingual platform.
Wearable Sensors for Monitoring Human Motion: A Review on Mechanisms, Materials, and Challenges

The emergence of flexible wearable electronics as a new platform for accurate, unobtrusive, user-friendly, and longitudinal sensing has opened new horizons for personalized assistive tools for moni...
Spin polarons, hole filling, and high-Tc superconductivity in YBa2Cu3O7 and PrBa2Cu3O7 alloys and layered films.

Using results from previous work on a spin-polaron model of high-${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$ superconductivity, together with a hole-filling mechanism, excellent agreement with experimental data for ${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$ in Y-Ba-Cu-O and Pr-Ba-Cu-O alloys and layered structures is obtained without introducing either pair breaking by the Pr ions or pairing interactions between unit cells.
Arrhythmia-Induced Cardiomyopathies

Arrhythmia-induced cardiomyopathy is a condition where sustained atrial and ventricular arrhythmias as well as ventricular ectopy result in cardiomyopathy and heart failure. Suppression/elimination of culprit arrhythmia results in partial or complete recovery of left ventricular (LV) function. This condition can develop in all age groups, in structurally normal hearts, and in patients with structural heart disease as well. Diagnosing the condition at clinical presentation is challenging and is usually accomplished following recovery of LV function with arrhythmia treatment. Thus, a very high index of suspicion is required for diagnosis. Early and aggressive treatment of culprit arrhythmias, with a focus on curative therapies, is warranted for recovery of LV function and improvement of symptoms. However, ultrastructural changes can persist following myocardial recovery resulting in vulnerability to recurrent arrhythmia and have implications toward long-term prognosis. Several knowledge gaps exist, especially regarding mechanistic understanding, early diagnosis, optimal management strategies, and long-term prognosis, and should guide future research.
Anonymity vs. Familiarity: Self-Disclosure and Privacy in Social Virtual Reality

Understanding how and why users reveal information about their self in online social spaces and what they perceive as privacy online is a central research agenda in HCI. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews, in this paper we focus on what type of information users disclose, to whom they reveal information, and concerns they had regarding self-disclosure in social Virtual Reality (VR) - where multiple users can interact with one another through VR head-mounted displays in 3D virtual spaces. Our findings show that overall, users felt comfortable to disclose their emotions, personal experience, and personal information in social VR. However, they also acknowledged that disclosing personal information in social VR was an inevitable trade-off: giving up bio-metric information in order to better use the system. We contribute to existing literature on self-disclosure and privacy online by focusing on social VR as an emerging novel online social space. We also explicate implications for designing and developing future social VR applications.
The relation between petroleum product prices and crude oil prices

Abstract We present an empirical examination of the relation between real spot Brent oil prices and real spot petroleum product prices, specifically gasoline and heating oil prices. Based upon weekly price data spanning a 30-year period ending in April 2019, we provide consistent evidence of Granger causality running from oil prices to product prices accounting for both non-stationarity of the series, and separately conditional heteroskedasticity. No evidence of Granger causality from product prices to oil prices is found for the full sample period nor the period up to the end of 2005, but evidence that gasoline prices Granger-caused oil prices is found for post-2005. Similar results are found for an extended model that also includes potentially endogenous real market variables related to supply and demand in the oil, heating oil and gasoline markets. Given the reduced form model results that oil prices Granger-cause gasoline and heating oil prices, we specify and estimate recursively identified structural vector autoregressive models that specifically account for structural supply and demand shocks in the oil market as well as the petroleum product markets. The oil market block follows Kilian (2009) . We find that real spot gasoline prices and real heating oil prices do not respond to structural oil supply shocks, respond transiently to global commodity demand shocks, but do respond to oil-specific demand shocks. We conclude the result that spot oil prices Granger-cause spot gasoline and heating oil prices largely occurs through the channel of oil-specific demand shocks.
Impact of Providing Teachers and Principals with Performance Feedback on Their Practice and Student Achievement: Evidence from a Large-Scale Randomized Experiment

This study was designed to assess the impact of providing teachers and principals with performance feedback on instructional practice, principal leadership, and student achievement. The teacher and...
TRAK proteins encode distinct MIRO-dependent and MIRO-independent mechanisms for associating with the mitochondrial outer membrane

I.Mitochondria are essential to proper cell function, mislocalization of mitochondria leads to disease. Previous research has indicated that MYO19, an unconventional myosin, localizes to the mitochondria outer membrane (MOM) and enables actin-based mitochondrial movement along the cytoskeleton. MOM insertion of MYO19 is assisted by the small GTPase MIRO, a "molecular switch" that facilitates MYO19/mitochondria interactions. MIRO serves as a "recruiter" of MYO19 to the MOM, rather than the tether/receptor that mediates attachment, as MYO19 contains a second, MIRO-independent mitochondrial association domain. MIRO proteins have previously been reported to serve as attachment points for the microtubule-based motors through interactions with the adaptor protein, TRAK. Past research has identified a MIRO-binding domain of TRAK (TRAKMBD) that directly participates in the interaction with MIRO. We chose to investigate whether the interactions between TRAK and MOM paralleled our hypothesized mechanism for MYO19/MOM interactions by examining the MIRO-mediated enhancement of TRAK protein localization to mitochondria, by identifying the location of a MIRO-independent mitochondrial association domain in the c-terminus of TRAK proteins, and by examining the steady-state binding kinetics of various TRAK constructs to mitochondria. We interpret these data to indicate that MIRO proteins serve in the initial recruitment of TRAK proteins to mitochondria, but that the MIRO-independent domain plays a significant role in long-term association between TRAK and MOM.
Biomechanical Comparison of Dart-Throw Motions after Partial Wrist Fusions

Background Multiple partial wrist fusions exist for the management of arthritic disease. Limited information is available on their effect on wrist range of motion in the dart-throwing direction of wrist motion, even though it is used in most activities of daily living. Purpose The purpose of this study was to measure the retained motion for different orientations of dart-throwing motion for seven different partial wrist fusions and proximal row carpectomy (PRC). Methods Eight fresh frozen right cadavers were tested with the wrist intact and followed simulated fusions. Fusions were performed using an external fixation technique and included scaphocapitate, scapholunate (SL), capitolunate, radiolunate, radioscapholunate, scaphotrapeziotrapezoid, 4 corner fusion, and PRC. Results In the intact wrist, the average arc of wrist motion with the wrist oriented at 20 degrees away from the flexion-extension axis was significantly larger than at any other orientation of motion. All partial wrist fusions and the PRC had significantly smaller average dart-throw arc of motion compared with intact at an orientation 20 and 25 degrees away from flexion-extension. The SL fusion provided a significantly larger arc of motion than most of the other fusions at most orientations. Conclusion/Clinical Relevance This study provides a comprehensive compilation of the range of motion in a functional plane, “the dart-throw motion,” for limited wrist fusions and PRC. These data provide the clinician with important information that can be used to educate patients regarding expectations after surgery.
Development of a Connected Corridor Real-Time Data-Driven Traffic Digital Twin Simulation Model

AbstractSmart cities—being equipped with connected infrastructure—receive significant real-time traffic data. In this paper, a data-driven connected corridor traffic simulation model, i.e., a digit...
Faire résonner les récits de vie : la plateforme numérique « Archives vivantes »

Le Centre d’histoire orale et de recits numerises (CHORN–COHDS) de l’Universite Concordia, a Montreal, en collaboration avec l’Association des parents et amis des victimes du genocide contre les Tutsis du Rwanda (PAGE-Rwanda), representant les survivants du genocide de 1994 vivant desormais a Montreal, ont decide en 2016 de creer une plateforme numerique pour partager et explorer 28 interviews (videos) de survivants. Ce projet de recherche et de creation en histoire orale et en humanites numeriques a ete une occasion non seulement de renouveler la recherche collaborative en histoire orale, mais egalement de developper de nouvelles facons d’ecouter, d’analyser et de transmettre les recits de vie.
The phenotype of recovery VII: Delay discounting mediates the relationship between time in recovery and recovery progress

Abstract Introduction Substance use disorders (SUDs) remain challenging maladies to treat in the United States and impose significant societal costs. Despite these challenges, a significant number of individuals endorse being in recovery from SUD. The scientific understanding of SUD recovery has evolved to include not only improvements in substance use but also improvements in personal wellness and psychosocial functioning. The devaluation of future rewards (delay discounting; DD) is broadly associated with SUD inception and outcomes. We sought to investigate the relationship between DD, time in recovery, and recovery progress. Methods We conducted an online assessment of 127 individuals in recovery from SUD who the study recruited via the International Quit and Recovery Registry (IQRR). The research team obtained measures of recovery progress via the Addiction Recovery Questionnaire (ARQ) and the Treatment Effectiveness Assessment (TEA). Additionally, the study collected measures of DD, time in recovery, and endorsement of abstinence in recovery (i.e., requiring abstinence vs. not). We utilized linear regression to test for associations among these variables and performed a mediation analysis to test the role of DD in mediating the relationship between time in recovery and measures of recovery progress. Results Time in recovery was positively associated with the ARQ (p Conclusions This study presents evidence that, for individuals in recovery, the temporal view (i.e., focus on immediate vs. future rewards) is a significant influence on recovery progress. Additionally, an individual's endorsement of abstinence in recovery was not significantly associated with recovery progress, suggesting the importance of a holistic view of SUD recovery. These findings contribute to the understanding of recovery as a multidimensional process and provide further support for DD as a behavioral marker of addiction.
Deterministic Creation of Quantum Emitters in Hexagonal Boron Nitride on Non-patterned Substrates

We propose and demonstrate a novel method to create quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) with an atomic force microscope. This technique applies to hBN flakes on flat (non-patterned) substrates that are compatible with integrated quantum devices. A single-photon-emitter yield of 30% is achieved.
Impact of Chronic HIV Infection on SARS-CoV-2 Infection, COVID-19 Disease and Vaccines

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has developed into a global pandemic that affect the health of hundreds of millions worldwide. In particular, SARS-CoV-2 infection in people with chronic human immune deficiency virus (HIV) infection is of concern, due to their already immunocompromised status. Yet, whether and how the immunological changes brought about by HIV will affect the immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 acute infection and impact the effectiveness of vaccines remain unclear. We discuss the intersection of COVID-19 in HIV-infected individuals. RECENT FINDINGS: People living with HIV (PLWH) may be at increased risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 mediated disease complication due to functional impairment of the immune system and persistent inflammation, which can be ameliorated by antiretroviral therapy. Importantly, limited data suggest that current approved vaccines may be safe and efficacious in PLWH. To address remaining questions and supplement limited experimental evidence, more studies examining the interplay between HIV and SARS-CoV-2 through their impact on the host immune system are required.
Performance Parameters of Imaging Devices

The quality and detailed display of an image are affected by several parameters associated with the imaging systems. These parameters include spatial resolution, sensitivity, uniformity, and contrast, and their various features are described here in detail. A brief description of the quality control tests for gamma cameras is also included.
Desensitization for drug allergy.

Purpose of reviewDesensitization for drug allergy is the induction of temporary clinical unresponsiveness to drug antigens. Gradual reintroduction of small doses of drug antigen at fixed time intervals allows for the delivery of full therapeutic doses, protecting patients from anaphylaxis. Rapid des
Penetrating Disease, Narcotic Use, and Loop Ostomy Are Associated with Ostomy and IBD-related Complications After Ostomy Surgery in Crohn's Disease Patients.

For medically refractory or obstructive Crohn’s disease (CD), ostomy surgery remains an important therapeutic option. Outcomes and complications of this approach have not been well described in the era of biological therapies. Our study aims to characterize CD patients undergoing ostomy creation and assess outcome predictors. We performed a retrospective chart review of CD patients who underwent ostomy creation in our center from 2011 to 2014. Data collected include patient demographics, detailed disease- and surgery-related variables, and clinical outcomes after 26 weeks of follow-up. Of the 112 patients, 54 % were female, the median age was 39 years (range 19–78), the median disease duration was 13 years (range 0–50), 54 % had ileo-colonic disease, 55 % had stricturing phenotype, and 59 % had perianal disease. Sixty-two percent received end ostomies, and 38 % received loop ostomies. The leading indications for surgery were stricturing, fistulizing, and perianal disease (35 %). Forty-three (38 %) patients had 76 major complications, including dehydration (22 cases), intra-abdominal infection (16), and obstruction (14). Increased major postoperative complications correlated with penetrating disease (p = 0.02, odds ratio [OR] = 5.52, 95 % confidence interval [CI] = 1.25–24.42), the use of narcotics before surgery (p = 0.04, OR = 2.54, 95 % CI = 1.02–6.34), and loop ostomies (p = 0.004, OR = 4.2, 95 % CI = 1.57–11.23). Penetrating phenotype, the use of narcotics before surgery, and loop ostomies are associated with major complications in CD patients undergoing ostomy creation. These findings may influence risk management of CD patients needing ostomies.
Housing crowding in developing countries and willingness to pay for additional space: The case of Korea

The very rapid rate of urban population growth in developing countries is placing great strain on their housing stock. Housing policies which aim at reducing or eliminating crowding are generally based on notions of needs and standards of adequacy which are more often based on arbitrarily selected criteria than on domestic economic conditions. This paper attempts to evaluate the willingness to pay for additional housing space by households and the validity of target housing standards. The paper uses three different estimation procedures, each with its own strengths and conceptual limitations, to determine whether they yield consistent estimates of household willingness to pay for space. They show consistently that the willingness to pay for additional space is less than 25 percent of the value of an extra unit of space, everything else being equal.
Should Higher Education Race-Based Financial Aid Be Distinguished from Race-based Admissions?

Higher education admissions and financial aid offices, while sin iilar in appearance, differ in fundamental ways. Because of their key differences, the constitutional issues triggered by the offices! official use of race and ethnicity as a criterion in decisionmaking should be scrutinized differently. Courts and agencies that have considered racebaied financial aid programs have, however, applied the saute strict scrutiny test used in prior admissions cases. The author tracks the evolution or race-based financial aid and scholarships, and then explores the growing need for privately donated financial aid dollars. She then argues that given the pressures currently placed OH the financial aid process, schools should be allowed to accept privately restricted donations for race-based scholarships.
Computer Architecture and Implementation

This book is orientated towards readers who already have an understanding of state machine logic design, assembly-language programming and basic operating systems. Each chapter contains a set of exercises and a number of pertinent and up-to-date references. All chapters except the first incorporate several worked examples. Of the eight chapters, the first two are of an introductory nature. The first chapter gives a historical overview of computer architectures and encompasses the von Neumann instruction set architecture. In the first section I discovered that the Enigma- breaking valve-powered Colossus computer was built at Benchly and not Bletchley Park (see http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk) in the early 1940s. This unfortunate inaccuracy was not noted on the Cambridge University Press web pages and is still present in the 24-page sample version of the book on their site. Performance models and evaluation methods are described in Chapter 2, which incorporates, amongst others, Moore's, Grosch's and Amdahl's Laws. These are used further on in the book. User instruction set design is covered comprehensively in Chapter 3, taking up 78 of the book's 318 pages. This chapter describes CISC and RISC architectural styles using the Intel x86 family as the token CISC architecture and the MIPS R2000 as the token RISC architecture. The motivation for me reviewing this book was my interest in computer memory systems. Professor Cragon covers this topic well in Chapter 4 and the reader can learn about a plethora of memory systems including: segmented & paged virtual memory; interleaved real memory and several different types of caches. The reader's `journey' into computer architecture implemen- tation becomes even more detailed in Chapter 5, which examines processor control design. There is a good description of microprogrammed control and microinstruction set architectures that served to remind me what progress has been made in this field since I encountered it 20 years ago. The performance models described at the start of the book are applied to example RISC/CISC architectures in Chapter 6, which details pipelined processors and the effects, amongst others, of data dependences and interrupts on the pipeline's performance. Input/Output systems are covered in Chapter 7, including a section on queuing theory, which is used to explain performance issues associated with an example of a hard disk drive's response time. Finally, in Chapter 8 the role of the operating system in a computer architecture is acknowledged. To achieve this, quite a lot of emphasis is given to the IBM S360 (and successors) family. However, this is balanced out with an analysis of the Intel Pentium Pro CPU, with which younger readers will be more familiar. In conclusion, this is a good book and would make a useful addition to more traditional computer architecture textbooks. Harvey Cragon's writing style is accessible and is bolstered by useful context-enhancing `nuggets' of background information scattered throughout the book. Fraser Dickin
Raman lidar profiling of water vapor and aerosols over the Southern Great Plains

Raman lidar profiles of aerosol extinction and water vapor are used to characterize the vertical variability of aerosols and water vapor over northern Oklahoma.
Analyzing pathway design from drug perturbation experiments

Drugs that target specific kinases are becoming common in cancer research. In this article, we analyze the design of a modeling approach for drug sensitivity prediction and combination targeted therapy design based on drug perturbation experiments. We consider a target inhibition map model that predicts the tumor sensitivities for all possible combination of target inhibitions. The estimation of the model is based on experimental sensitivity data for multiple target inhibitory drugs. The target inhibition map model provides a steady-state snapshot of the underlying dynamical model. To analyze the robustness of the combination therapy design approach, we consider the inverse problem of possible dynamic models that can generate the target inhibition map model and their transient and steady state response to drugs. We showed that the knowledge of the steady state target inhibition map can be used to estimate the directional pathway using a small number of steady state target expression measurements.
Concentration of 3-Methylindole (3MI) and distribution of radioactivity from 14C3MI in goat tissues associated with acute pulmonary edema

Abstract 3-Methylindole (3MI) can cause acute pulmonary edema in goats. Because of known lipophilic properties and direct effects on biological membranes, the concentration of 3MI and distribution of radioactivity from 14 C3MI in tissues was investigated during development of 3MI-induced APE. Goats were given a 2 hr jugular infusion of 3MI containing 14 C3MI using propylene glycol as the vehicle. Groups of 3 goats were killed at 0, .5, 2 and 4 hr and 2 goats were killed at 8 and 24 hr. Plasma, lung, liver, kidney and other selected tissues were collected. 3MI was rapidly cleared from blood plasma and tissues after infusion, and 81% of the radioactivity was excreted in the urine by 24 hr. Maximum concentrations of unmetabolized 3MI in the tissues ranged from 2.6 to 15 μg 3MI/g, including 7.5 μg 3MI/g in the lung. The ratios of equivalent radioactivity to unmetabolized 3MI indicated rapid metabolism and the presence of metabolites in all tissues studied. The lung contained the highest proportion of metabolites with ratios of radioactivity to unmetabolized 3MI of about 50, 10, 250, 150 and 80 at 0.5, 2, 4, 8 and 24 hr. The data demonstrate that 3MI does not selectively concentrate in the lung and that the concentrations are lower than those usually associated with direct membrane damage. They also indicate that 3MI is rapidly metabolized and that metabolites are present in tissues, especially the lung. These results suggest that direct effects of 3MI on biological membranes are not primarily responsible for lung injury in goats.
PHYSICAL INTERACTION BETWEEN HUMAN RAD52 AND RPA IS REQUIRED FOR HOMOLOGOUS RECOMBINATION IN MAMMALIAN CELLS

The yeast RAD52 protein is essential for DNA double-strand break repair, and meiotic and mitotic recombination. RPA is a protein complex of three subunits (70, 34, and 11 kDa) that has been shown to be involved in DNA replication, nucleotide excision repair, and homologous recombination. Here, we demonstrate a physical interaction between human RAD52 and RPA in vivo and in vitro. In addition, the domain (amino acids 221-280) in RAD52 protein that mediates the interaction with the 34-kDa subunit of RPA was also determined. Overexpression of mutant RAD52 proteins lacking the interaction domain (amino acids 221-240, 241-260, and 261-280) failed to induce homologous recombination in monkey cells. We have previously shown that overexpression of human RAD52 induced homologous recombination in these cells. These results suggest that direct physical interactions between RAD52 and RPA are essential for homologous recombination in mammalian cells.
Activation of calpain in lens : A review and proposed mechanism

The purpose of these experiments was to develop a hypothesis to explain activation of m-calpain in cataractogenesis observed in rodents. The in vitro model used to study m-calpain activation was to correlate breakdown of the 'reporter' protein alpha-crystallin with the appearance of activated m-calpain using protein sequencing and casein zymography. Incubation of alpha-crystallins with m-calpain and Ca2+ caused proteolysis of alpha-crystallins and accumulation of new polypeptides. E64 and calpain inhibitor I each inhibited proteolysis of alpha-crystallins. The N-terminus of the 80 kDa subunit of m-calpain was blocked at time 0 (pro calpain). After incubation with Ca2+, the remaining 80 kDa subunit of m-calpain gave a N-terminal sequence of KDREAAEGLG, indicating loss of nine amino acid from the N-terminus (autolysed calpain). The new 43 kDa m-calpain fragment also gave a N-terminal sequence of KDREAAEGLG, indicating the same loss of the first nine amino acids on the N-terminus as well as a major loss of the C-terminal half of the subunit (degraded calpain). In contrast, the N-terminus of the 80 kDa subunit of m-calpain remained blocked when E64 was present (unautolysed form). Moreover, the Ca2+ concentration required for proteolysis decreased when calpain was pre-incubated with Ca2+, although proteolysis of alpha-crystallin required a higher Ca2+ concentration than proteolysis of casein. These data suggested that the sequence of events for m-calpain activation were unautolysed, autolysed and finally degraded calpain. Unautolysed and/or autolysed calpains may be proteolytically active against alpha-crystallin.
Effect of wavelet bases on compressing digital mammograms

The purposes of this paper are four-fold: (a) develop a variety of wavelet methods, including standard, hyperbolic, and adaptive wavelet bases, for the compression of high-resolution digital mammograms, (b) apply different levels of compression to the images and determine the dependence of the information loss on the compression ratio, (c) determine qualitatively the types of artifacts and errors introduced to the compressed reconstructed images by the various wavelets and make a relative comparison, and (d) discriminate among the various wavelet bases and select those worthy of further analysis and study. >
Using Peer Collaboration to Support Online Reading, Writing, and Communication: An Empowerment Model for Struggling Readers

This comparative case study investigated the implementation of an empowerment model for struggling readers that utilized the Internet as a context for reading, writing, and communicating in 3 different classroom contexts. Through student-centered techniques, such as flexible grouping and peer teaching, we designed Internet Reciprocal Teaching to support the development of the new literacies of online reading comprehension among elementary and middle school students. Results suggest that peer collaboration was the primary means of strategy exchange and that students who were previously perceived as struggling readers became active in coaching, leading, and sharing new strategies. In effect, peer collaboration appeared to reconceptualize struggling readers' role in the classroom and set the context for greater engagement in literacy activities and investment in learning.
Coping with an organizational merger over four stages.

This longitudinal study examined how individuals cope over 4 stages of a merger. The study replicated and extended past coping research by examining changes in coping variables over time. Employee appraisals, coping resources, negative emotions, and emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies were measured. Negative appraisal, social support, perceived control, and emotion-focused coping significantly changed across stages. Coping variables exhibited linear, quadratic, and cubic trends over time, highlighting the complex and dynamic nature of the coping process. The findings provide important insight into how company management may influence employee coping during a merger. Implications for future research also are discussed.
Pseudoaneurysm with rupture in pancreatic pseudocyst wall as demonstrated by computed tomography

Abstract In chronic pancreatitis, inflammation originating in the pancreas may produce walled-off collections of fluid referred to as pseudocysts. This same histolytic process can also erode into adjacent arteries producing pseudoaneurysms that may hemorrhage secondary to rupture. The most common angiographic finding in patients bleeding secondary to pancreatitis is rupture of a pseudoaneurysm. We present a case of this condition that was first discovered incidently by computed tomography during evaluation of a right renal carcinoma.