cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Parasite influences on host life history: Echinostoma revolutum parasitism of Lymnaea elodes snails

Using field surveys and experimental infections, we investigated the influence of a trematode parasite on life history traits of adult Lymnaea elodes snails. We found that parasitism significantly affected the growth, fecundity, and survival of host snails. Within five of the six natural L. elodes populations we sampled, shell length of echinostome-infected hosts was significantly greater than for uninfected conspecifics. Furthermore, we show that gigantism occurs among experimentally infected snails due to an accelerated growth rate and size-selective mortality following an Echinostoma revolutum infection. The fecundity of infected snails sharply decreased beginning at 3 weeks post exposure (PE) and all egg production eventually ceased for most hosts by 5–6 weeks PE. Energy constraints, imposed by parasite development, alter the host energy budget. Early in the infection, parasite depletion of host energy reserves reduces host reproduction, but sufficient resources remain to allow accelerated host growth. Mortality was increased among host snails at two distinct stages: shortly after exposure and several weeks after cercariae were first released. We did not observe tissue degradation in snails during the first 4 weeks after exposure to the parasite, but destruction of host tissues was noted among snails dying later in the infection.
Ubiquitinylation of Transcription Factors c-Jun and c-Fos Using Reconstituted Ubiquitinylating Enzymes

Recombinant c-Jun and c-Fos were ubiquitinylated by the ubiquitin carrier enzymes E214k, E220k, or E232k in the presence of the ubiquitin-activating enzyme, E1. Addition of ubiquitin protein ligase E3 substantially enhanced the E214k-mediated ubiquitinylation of c-Jun and c-Fos. Truncated c-Jun and c-Fos mutant proteins including wbJun and wbFos were also ubiquitinylated under the same conditions, suggesting the sites of ubiquitinylation are located within the dimerization and DNA binding domains of c-Jun and c-Fos. The E3-dependent ubiquitinylation of c-Jun was inhibited upon the heterodimerization of c-Jun with c-Fos. Further addition of E220k significantly enhanced ubiquitinylation of c-Jun in the heterodimer suggesting a regulatory role of E220k. Polyubiquitinylated c-Jun, wbFos, and wbJun, but not E220k-ubiquitinylated c-Jun, were readily degraded by the ATP-dependent 26 S multicatalytic proteases. These results suggest that the temporal control of c-Jun and c-Fos may be regulated through the ubiquitinylation pathways, and the ubiquitinylation of c-Jun and c-Fos may in turn be regulated in response to the heterodimerization between them and the cooperation between E220k and E3 mediated polyubiquitinylation.
Temperature dependence of silicon carrier effective masses with application to femtosecond reflectivity measurements

The conductivity effective masses of electrons and holes in Si are calculated for carrier temperatures from 1 to 3000 K. The temperature dependence of the electron mass is calculated by use of a phenomenological model of conduction-band nonparabolicity that has been fitted to experimental measurements of the dependence of the electron conductivity effective mass on carrier concentration. The hole mass is investigated by tight-binding calculations of the valence bands, which have been adjusted to match experimental values of the valence-band curvature parameters at the top of the valence band. The calculations are in excellent agreement with femtosecond-laser reflectivity measurements of the change in optical effective mass as hot carriers cool from 1550 to 300 K.
Branded pork consumption in Taiwan: Analysis of market and product choice

This article studies branded pork consumption behavior in Taiwan. Because branded pork is only available in some markets, the consumer decision process involves two stages: the first relates to a consumer's choice of market, and the second is the consumer's product choice (frozen branded pork vs. fresh pork). The results of a two-stage consumer choice model are presented along with discussion of consumer preferences and purchase habits. The implications for developing branded, certified food products in rapidly developing Asian markets are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Survival and Serum Calcium Levels of Rats After Parathyroidectomy

Survival rates have been studied in parathyroidectomized rats that were placed on a low calcium diet either 4 days before, immediately after, or 7 days after, the operation. In addition, serum calcium and phosphorus levels were determined for periods up to 2 months after parathyroidectomy in rats maintained continually on a normal diet. Of rats maintained on a normal diet, 79 % survived the first 7 days after parathyroidectomy. When these rats were then placed on a low calcium diet for 5 days, 74 % of the original number of rats survived this stress. In sharp contrast with this high survival rate resulting from the imposition of a low calcium diet 7 days after parathyroidectomy were the results obtained by imposing a low calcium diet 4 days before parathyroidectomy; under the latter conditions only 8% survived the first 24 hours after the operation. The functional development of accessory parathyroid tissue during the postparathyroidectomy period, a logical explanation of the survival data, did not seem t...
On the enhancement of the figure of merit in bulk nanocomposites

In this paper we make a detailed comparison of the thermoelectric properties of quantum dot superlattices with those of equivalently doped bulk material and show that a major contribution to the enhancement of the figure of merit comes from the increase of the thermoelectric power over that of bulk, in addition to the lattice thermal conductivity reduction in quantum dot superlattices. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
On slow‐mode waves in an anisotropic plasma

The properties of small-amplitude waves propagating in a homogeneous anisotropic plasma are investigated using an MHD double-polytropic model that incorporates the CGL double-adiabatic model in one extreme and the isothermal model in the other. It is found that the properties of fast and intermediate mode waves remain qualitatively the same as in ordinary MHD but that, in certain parameter regimes, three inversions occur for slow-mode waves: (1) their phase speed exceeds that of intermediate waves; (2) they behave like fast-mode waves in that, across them, the plasma density and magnetic field increase or decrease together; (3) rarefaction waves rather than compression waves steepen.
DNA multiplex hybridization on microarrays and thermodynamic stability in solution: a direct comparison

Hybridization intensities of 30 distinct short duplex DNAs measured on spotted microarrays, were directly compared with thermodynamic stabilities measured in solution. DNA sequences were designed to promote formation of perfect match, or hybrid duplexes containing tandem mismatches. Thermodynamic parameters ΔH°, ΔS° and ΔG° of melting transitions in solution were evaluated directly using differential scanning calorimetry. Quantitative comparison with results from 63 multiplex microarray hybridization experiments provided a linear relationship for perfect match and most mismatch duplexes. Examination of outliers suggests that both duplex length and relative position of tandem mismatches could be important factors contributing to observed deviations from linearity. A detailed comparison of measured thermodynamic parameters with those calculated using the nearest-neighbor model was performed. Analysis revealed the nearest-neighbor model generally predicts mismatch duplexes to be less stable than experimentally observed. Results also show the relative stability of a tandem mismatch is highly dependent on the identity of the flanking Watson–Crick (w/c) base pairs. Thus, specifying the stability contribution of a tandem mismatch requires consideration of the sequence identity of at least four base pair units (tandem mismatch and flanking w/c base pairs). These observations underscore the need for rigorous evaluation of thermodynamic parameters describing tandem mismatch stability.
Effect of Preexisting Immunity on Oncolytic Adenovirus Vector INGN 007 Antitumor Efficacy in Immunocompetent and Immunosuppressed Syrian Hamsters

Immune responses against adenovirus (Ad) vectors pose a possible concern for the outcome of treatment efficacy. To address the role of preexisting immunity in oncolytic Ad vector antitumor efficacy following intratumoral injection of vector as well as tumor-to-tissue spread of the vector, we employed the Syrian hamster model. These animals are immunocompetent, and their tumors and tissues are permissive for replication of Ad type 5 (Ad5). We used the adenovirus death protein-overexpressing Ad5-based vector INGN 007. Subcutaneous tumors were established in groups of hamsters that were or were not immunized with Ad5. Half of the hamsters in these groups were immunosuppressed with cyclophosphamide. For all groups, tumors injected with INGN 007 grew significantly more slowly than those injected with buffer. Under immunocompetent conditions, there was no significant effect of preexisting immunity on vector antitumor efficacy. Soon after the tumors in naive animals were injected with vector, the hamsters developed neutralizing antibody (NAb) and the difference in NAb titers between the naive and immunized groups diminished. Under immunosuppressed conditions, preexisting NAb did significantly reduce vector efficacy. Thus, NAb do reduce vector efficacy to some extent, but immunosuppression is required to observe the effect. Regarding vector toxicity, there was spillover of vector from the tumor to the liver and lungs in naive immunocompetent hamsters, and this was nearly eliminated in the immunized hamsters. Thus, preexisting immunity to Ad5 does not affect INGN 007 antitumor efficacy following intratumoral injection, but immunity prevents vector spillover from the tumor to the liver and lungs.
Novel Mechanism of Impaired Function of Organic Anion-Transporting Polypeptide 1B3 in Human Hepatocytes: Post-Translational Regulation of OATP1B3 by Protein Kinase C Activation

The organic anion-transporting polypeptide (OATP) 1B3 is a membrane transport protein that mediates hepatic uptake of many drugs and endogenous compounds. Currently, determination of OATP-mediated drug-drug interactions in vitro is focused primarily on direct substrate inhibition. Indirect inhibition of OATP1B3 activity is under-appreciated. OATP1B3 has putative protein kinase C (PKC) phosphorylation sites. Studies were designed to determine the effect of PKC activation on OATP1B3-mediated transport in human hepatocytes using cholecystokinin-8 (CCK-8), a specific OATP1B3 substrate, as the probe. A PKC activator, phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA), did not directly inhibit [3H]CCK-8 accumulation in human sandwich-cultured hepatocytes (SCH). However, pretreatment with PMA for as little as 10 minutes rapidly decreased [3H]CCK-8 accumulation. Treatment with a PKC inhibitor bisindolylmaleimide (BIM) I prior to PMA treatment blocked the inhibitory effect of PMA, indicating PKC activation is essential for downregulating OATP1B3 activity. PMA pretreatment did not affect OATP1B3 mRNA or total protein levels. To determine the mechanism(s) underlying the indirect inhibition of OATP1B3 activity upon PKC activation, adenoviral vectors expressing FLAG-Myc-tagged OATP1B3 (Ad-OATP1B3) were transduced into human hepatocytes; surface expression and phosphorylation of OATP1B3 were determined by biotinylation and by an anti–phosphor-Ser/Thr/Tyr antibody, respectively. PMA pretreatment markedly increased OATP1B3 phosphorylation without affecting surface or total OATP1B3 protein levels. In conclusion, PKC activation rapidly decreases OATP1B3 transport activity by post-translational regulation of OATP1B3. These studies elucidate a novel indirect inhibitory mechanism affecting hepatic uptake mediated by OATP1B3, and provide new insights into predicting OATP-mediated drug interactions between OATP substrates and kinase modulator drugs/endogenous compounds.
SSeCKS, a Major Protein Kinase C Substrate with Tumor Suppressor Activity, Regulates G1→S Progression by Controlling the Expression and Cellular Compartmentalization of Cyclin D

SSeCKS, first isolated as a G(1)-->S inhibitor that is downregulated in src- and ras-transformed cells, is a major cytoskeleton-associated PKC substrate with tumor suppressor and kinase-scaffolding activities. Previous attempts at constitutive expression resulted in cell variants with truncated ectopic SSeCKS products. Here, we show that tetracycline-regulated SSeCKS expression in NIH 3T3 cells induces G(1) arrest marked by extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2-dependent decreases in cyclin D1 expression and pRb phosphorylation. Unexpectedly, the forced reexpression of cyclin D1 failed to rescue SSeCKS-induced G(1) arrest. Confocal microscopy analysis revealed cytoplasmic colocalization of cyclin D1 with SSeCKS. Because the SSeCKS gene encodes two potential cyclin-binding motifs (CY) flanking major in vivo protein kinase C (PKC) phosphorylation sites (Ser(507/515)), we addressed whether SSeCKS encodes a phosphorylation-dependent cyclin scaffolding function. Bacterially expressed SSeCKS-CY bound cyclins D1 and E, whereas K-->S mutations within either CY motif ablated binding. Activation of PKC in vivo caused a rapid translocation of cyclin D1 to the nucleus. Cell permeable, penetratin-linked peptides encoding wild-type SSeCKS-CY, but not K-->S or phospho-Ser(507/515) variants, released cyclin D1 from its cytoplasmic sequestration and induced higher saturation density in cyclin D1-overexpressor cells or rat embryo fibroblasts. Our data suggest that SSeCKS controls G(1)-->S progression by regulating the expression and localization of cyclin D1. These data suggest that downregulation of SSeCKS in tumor cells removes gating checkpoints for saturation density, an effect that may promote contact independence.
Absorption spectra of MgF2 and AlF3, in the region of the Mg and Al L2,3 excitations

The absorption spectra of thin films of MgF2 and AlF2 were measured in the region of the Mg and Al L2,3 excitations using synchrotron radiation. The spectrum for MgF2 is similar to that previously reported, but with two differences. The lowest energy (exciton) structure is resolved into two peaks leading to new values of the spin-orbit and exchange splitting, 0.33 and 0.21 eV, respectively, and there are a number of peaks in the original spectrum that were not obtained. The AlF3 spectrum shows that these arose from AlF3, contamination of the original films. The AlF3 spectrum bears a striking resemblance to that of MgF2, indicating that critical point structures probably play no role. Structure in the first exciton peak is not resolved in the absorption spectrum but thermotransmission spectra reveal a splitting of 0.44 eV.
Investigating Race and Gender Differences in Specialization in Violence

Contemporary interest in the study of criminal careers and career criminals can be traced back to the work of Chicago sociologist Clifford Shaw (1930) and his associates (Sutherland, 1937) continuing along with seminal works by the Gluecks (Glueck and Glueck, 1940), Lemert (1951), Becker (1963), and Goffman (1963) (e.g., Bursik, 1989). Perhaps the most seminal treatment of the concept of criminal careers and career criminals was established by Wolfgang and his colleagues (1972) in their book, Delinquency in a Birth Cohort, a study that traced the delinquent careers of 9,945 males who were born in 1945 and who lived in Philadelphia throughout the course of their juvenile years.
MANIPULATION OF ENDOGENOUS AND EXOGENOUS HORMONES FOR RED MEAT PRODUCTION

Summary Growth and development of domestic livestock for red meat production are often discussed in the context of environmental factors, nutritional requirements, genetic potential and the anabolic agents affecting production efficiency. In this minireview, the effects of endogenous and exogenous hormones on animal growth are reviewed. The pituitary, pancreatic and gonadal hormones known to affect growth and(or) carcass composition are cited to illustrate and place into perspective the important contributions that the endocrine system makes to animal production. Manipulation of endogenous hormones through 1) administration of synthetic releasing and inhibiting peptides and 2) immunoneutralization techniques, will likely provide the livestock producer with new technological approaches for increasing red meat production. Researchers continue to evaluate the efficacy of natural and synthetic steroids, and combinations thereof, as suitable anabolic agents. In conclusion, several hormones of both endogenous and exogenous origin can be manipulated to improve or enhance growth and development of the meat-producing animal.
Priapism: evolution of management in 48 patients in a 22-year series.

AbstractThe choice of an effective method to treat priapism is challenging because precise causes in the majority of patients have not been well defined. A review of 48 patients treated during a 22-year period shows evolution of a regimen of management that has yielded a high percentage of success. Idiopathic priapism and sickle cell disease accounted for 81 per cent of the subjects.An evaluation should include a medication history, a search for specific diseases, as well as a thorough physical examination to detect possible etiologic factors. The explanation for the frequent association of fever deserves further investigation. Initial therapy consisting of aspiration and irrigation, and intermittent pneumatic cuff compression should be undertaken for a trial period of 12 to 36 hours, repeating the aspiration 2 or 3 times if necessary. The failure of priapism to resolve after such treatment is an indication for a shunt operation. Patients with known etiology should be treated specifically for the primary ...
Size-based protocol optimization using automatic tube current modulation and automatic kV selection in computed tomography

Size-based diagnostic reference ranges (DRRs) for contrast-enhanced pediatric abdominal computed tomography (CT) have been published in order to establish practical upper and lower limits of CTDI, DLP, and SSDE. Based on these DRRs, guidelines for establishing size-based SSDE target levels from the SSDE of a standard adult by applying a linear correction factor have been published and provide a great reference for dose optimization initiatives. The necessary step of designing manufacturer-specific CT protocols to achieve established SSDE targets is the responsibility of the Qualified Medical Physicist. The task is straightforward if fixed-mA protocols are used, however, more difficult when automatic exposure control (AEC) and automatic kV selection are considered. In such cases, the physicist must deduce the operation of AEC algorithms from technical documentation or through testing, using a wide range of phantom sizes. Our study presents the results of such testing using anthropomorphic phantoms ranging in size from the newborn to the obese adult. The effect of each user-controlled parameter was modeled for a single-manufacturer AEC algorithm (Siemens CARE Dose4D) and automatic kV selection algorithm (Siemens CARE kV). Based on the results presented in this study, a process for designing mA-modulated, pediatric abdominal CT protocols that achieve user-defined SSDE and kV targets is described.
An Information-Theoretic Methodology for Estimating Bayesian Probability Forecast of a Downturn

This paper presents a new Bayesian methodology for predicting a turning point in an economic system. The methodology utilizes information-theoretic measurements for assessing likelihood functions for a turning point. This methodology shows that the total information of a likelihood function consist of two parts: one part measures the information closeness of the observed values to the probability distribution of a given state and one part measures the information content of the serial correlation in data. For application purposes, this methodology allows us to explicitly consider more than one recent observation in the analysis.
Spontaneous pressure-flow relationships in renal circulation of conscious dogs

Renal pressure-flow (P-F) relationships are usually evaluated by measuring effects of mechanically induced changes in renal arterial pressure (AP) on renal blood flow (RBF). We devised a method allowing evaluation of renal P-F relationships during normal changes in AP occurring spontaneously in a conscious animal rather than during artificially induced changes in AP. In 18 trials in 6 dogs standing at rest, we measured average AP and RBF for each cardiac cycle over periods of approximately 35 min (approximately 3,100 cardiac cycles/trial). AP and RBF values for each cardiac cycle were expressed as percent change (%delta) from the 35-min average (beat-to-beat changes). Slope and angle of each consecutive beat-to-beat P-F change were calculated and collated into one of eight zones representing the possible physiological mechanisms responsible for concurrent, spontaneous changes in RBF and AP. In a predominance of the cardiac cycles (approximately 43%), the spontaneous AP-RBF relationship was consistent with being mediated by arterial baroreflexes (i.e., increases in AP were accompanied by proportionately greater increases in RBF during 44.4% of cardiac cycles in which AP increased, and decreases in AP were accompanied by proportionately greater decreases in RBF during 41.4% of cardiac cycles in which AP decreased). Blockade of autonomic ganglionic transmission with hexamethonium markedly attenuated this pattern. Our results indicate that renal circulation participates in moment-to-moment control of AP via a predominant baroreflex-like pattern.
Distribution of Bone Marrow, Bone, and Bone-Ash in Rabbits:

ConclusionsA study of distribution of bone marrow in rabbits showed 47% of the marrow in the hind legs, 18% in the fore legs, 6% in the ribs, sternum, and clavicles, 9% in the head, and 20% in the vertebrae. The distribution of bone marrow, bone and bone-ash in the individual bones is recorded in the tables.
Effect of succinate on contractility and phosphocreatine and adenosine triphosphate content of the dog heart.

SummaryWhen succinate is administered to the heart-lung preparation of the dog at sufficiently high rates (0.2 g or more of un-hydrated succinate anion per kg heart-lung system per minute) the phosphocreatine concentration in the myocardium declines markedly and the heart goes into failure. The concentration of ATP declines to a lesser extent or remains unchanged. Heart failure in the heart-lung preparation caused by pentobarbital and chlorobutanol is intensified by succinate. These findings are discussed in the light of existing information on the coupling of succinate oxidation with phosphorylation and on the metabolism of cardiac tissue poisoned with anesthetics.
Open Innovation: Where We've Been and Where We're Going

OVERVIEW:The term “open innovation” was introduced in my 2003 book, which outlined a new model for industrial innovation. Since that time, the concept has been adopted by hundreds of academic articles and been incorporated into the innovation practices of a similarly large number of companies. At the editors' invitation, this article reviews this recent history and offers a perspective on where open innovation is going in the future.
COMBUSTION AND HEAT TRANSFER DYNAMICS IN A PREMIXED LAMINAR FLAT-FLAME BURNER

In the study of combustion instabilities, chemical heat-release rate is often assumed to be the dominant source term for acoustic pressure waves. The assumption of dominance of the chemical heatrelease rate term in acoustic forcing is examined for the simple geometry of a laminar flat-flame burner. The simple geometry allows the burner to be well represented by a one-dimensional computational model. Burner dynamics are studied by issuing a small step increase in flow-rate to the model and integrating the burner response in time. Unsteady calculations using the model show that even under unsteady conditions, chemical heat-release rate is closely approximated by OH* chemiluminescence. However, chemical heat-release rate is found not to be the only dynamically active component in the energy balance. Heat-transfer processes are shown to participate significantly in the dynamics of the energy balance. The result is that the acoustic forcing term is significantly modified from the form it would assume if the transfer processes were neglected. Since the transfer processes investigated here in the laminar flame environment all have turbulent counterparts, the results found here are expected to be relevant in turbulent combustion environments. With this in mind, measurements of chemiluminescence or chemical heat release rate may not represent the acoustic forcing function well enough to draw conclusions on system stability. NOMENCLATURE ratio of specific heats � conductivity
Research on Quality Tuning Cultivation Technology of Super Rice Yangjing 4038

The early-ripe japonica(Oryza sativa L) variety Yangjing 4038 was chosen as materials,different cultivation measures on rice quality and RVA profile were performed to investigate tuning cultivation technology of rice quality.The results showed that,in Jiangsu province of China,the following tuning cultivation techniques:May 5 to May 15 sowing period,(30～37.5)×104 caves/hm2 planting density,300 kg/hm2 of total nitrogen,and 6:3:1 or 7:2:1 of the ratio among basal,tilling,heading nitrogen can improve head milled rice rate,increase cooking and eating quality properties,and achieve high yield and high quality of the rice.
Comparison of Interventions in Prehospital Care by Standing Orders Versus Interventions Ordered by Direct [On-line] Medical Command

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the patient care measures provided by paramedics according to standing orders versus measures ordered by direct [on-line] medical command in order to determine the types and frequency of medical command orders. DESIGN: Prospective identification of patient care measures done as part of a prehospital quality assurance program. SETTING: An urban paramedic service in the northeast United States with direct medical command from three local hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: One thousand eight paramedic reports from October 1992 through March 1993. INTERVENTIONS: All patient care interventions recorded as done by standing orders or by direct medical command orders. Errors in patient care were determined by the same criteria as in the prior two studies of the same system. RESULTS: Direct medical command gave orders in 143/1,008 (14.2%) cases. Paramedics performed 2,453/2,624 (93.5%) of the total patient care interventions using standing orders. In 61 cases (6.1%), medical command ordered a potentially beneficial intervention not specified by standing orders or not done by the paramedic. 21/171 (12.3%) command orders were for additional doses of epinephrine or atropine in cardiac arrest cases (where the initial doses had been given under standing orders), and 59/171 (34.5%) were for interventions already mandated or permitted by standing orders. The paramedic error rate was 0.6%, and the medical command error rate was 1.8% (unchanged form the prior study of the same standing-orders system). CONCLUSION: Direct medical command gave orders in 14% of cases in this standing-orders system, but 35% of command orders only reiterated the standing orders. More selective and reduced uses of on-line command could be done in this system with no change in the types or numbers of patient care interventions performed.
A Critical Review of Negative Affect and the Application of CBT for PTSD

Forms of cognitive and behavioral therapies (CBTs), including prolonged exposure and cognitive processing therapy, have been empirically validated as efficacious treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the assumption that PTSD develops from dysregulated fear circuitry possesses limitations that detract from the potential efficacy of CBT approaches. An analysis of these limitations may provide insight into improvements to the CBT approach to PTSD, beginning with an examination of negative affect as an essential component to the conceptualization of PTSD and a barrier to the implementation of CBT for PTSD. As such, the literature regarding the impact of negative affect on aspects of cognition (i.e., attention, processing, memory, and emotion regulation) necessary for the successful application of CBT was systematically reviewed. Several literature databases were explored (e.g., PsychINFO and PubMed), resulting in 25 articles that met criteria for inclusion. Results of the review indicated that high negative affect generally disrupts cognitive processes, resulting in a narrowed focus on stimuli of a negative valence, increased rumination of negative autobiographical memories, inflexible preservation of initial information, difficulty considering counterfactuals, reliance on emotional reasoning, and misinterpretation of neutral or ambiguous events as negative, among others. With the aim to improve treatment efficacy of CBT for PTSD, suggestions to incorporate negative affect into research and clinical contexts are discussed.
Damping and stiffening forces of a squeeze film between two plates

This paper presents the analysis of the squeeze film effect on the MEMS power harvesting devices. The effect of the squeeze film has been represented by the damping effect in previous studies. Our goal, however, is to quantify the stiffening effect, which affects the resonance frequency of the squeeze film and the oscillator system. The finite difference method for rectangular geometries is applied to solve the nonlinear isothermal Reynold’s equation for the squeeze film. The approach is validated by theoretical results for small squeeze numbers. The stiffening effect actually appears as a negative added mass. The damping effect obtained from numerical solutions matches perfectly with the equivalent damping formula derived from the analytical formula. The dynamic response of sinusoidally forced oscillator involving one squeeze film is obtained numerically in order to demonstrate the stiffening effect of the squeeze film. Three main parameters are considered: the initial gap of the squeeze film, the excitation amplitude, and the excitation frequency. The relationship between the amplitude of the steady-state sinusoidal response and the excitation frequency is determined. Numerical results demonstrate that the squeeze film gives rise to both a shift in the resonance frequency at small amplitude oscillations and amplitude dependence of the resonance frequency known as nonlinear hardening. These effects are both observed in experiments.
The Difference Between Original, Metaphysical and Geometrical Representations of Space

Tolley argues, first, for a sharper distinction between three kinds of representation of the space of outer appearances: (i) the original intuition of space, (ii) the metaphysical representation of this space via the a priori concept “expounded” in the Transcendental Aesthetic, and (iii) the representation of this space in geometry, via the construction of concepts of spaces in intuition. He then shows how more careful attention to this threefold distinction allows for a conservative, consistently nonconceptualist and non-intellectualist interpretation of the handful of suggestive remarks Kant makes in the Transcendental Deduction about the dependence of various representations of space on the understanding—against recent interpretations which argue that the Deduction’s remarks require that Kant revise the impression given in the Aesthetic (and elsewhere) that intuition in general, and the original intuition of space in particular, enjoys a priority to, and independence from, all acts and representations of the understanding.
Direct Replication of a Cross-Age Tutoring Program Involving Handicapped Adolescents and Children

A cross-age tutoring program designed to improve school performance of tutors (adolescents classified as emotionally disturbed) and tutees (children classified as educable mentally retarded) was re...
Anglocentrism in the American Century

The United States emerged from World Wars I and II as a dominant world power. At the same time, it developed a xenophobic resistance to immigration and foreign languages, especially as these conveyed information from foreign political economies. The US exercised its power as a monolingual hegemon, and “English” came to be understood as the study of all world literature and the central purveyor of meaning. “The languages” came to be seen as skills in the service of English, especially as narrowly defined by The National Defense Education Act of 1958. This monolingual ideology strengthens American exceptionalism and is maintained by cognitive repression and strong defense mechanisms that deflect counterinformation.
Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography of Macular Telangiectasia Type 2 with Associated Subretinal Neovascular Membrane

Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is a recently established noninvasive technology for evaluation of the retinal and choroidal vasculature. The literature regarding the findings in macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel2) is scarce. We report the OCTA findings associated with a subject with MacTel2 and secondary subretinal neovascularization (SNV). The commercially available Cirrus 5000 with AngioPlex (Zeiss, Jena, Germany) was used, without any subsequent image modification or processing. Subretinal neovascularization was detectable with OCTA at the level of the outer retina and choriocapillaris. Microvascular abnormalities associated with MacTel2 were present mostly in the deep capillary plexus of the retina temporally.
Effect of sonication on the viscosity of reconstituted skim milk powder and milk protein concentrate as influenced by solids concentration, temperature and sonication

Abstract Skim milk powder (SMP) and milk protein concentrates (MPCs) are manufactured by evaporation followed by spray drying and are widely used as functional and nutritional ingredients. This study investigated the effects of temperature (40–60 °C) and total solids content (TS) on the viscosity of reconstituted MPC (rMPC) (≥30% TS) and SMP (rSMP) (≥46% TS) in laboratory conditions. Additionally, the influence of sonication in batch (70% amplitude) and flow through systems (90% amplitude) was studied in a laboratory setting. The viscosity increased for all treatments with an increase in TS and decreased with an increase in temperature. Overall, sonication in both batch (30 s) and flow through systems (10.1, 20.2, and 30.2 s) resulted in significant decreases in viscosity for both rSMP and rMPC. An increase in viscosity was observed after post-sonication circulation; however, the viscosity did not return to the pre-sonication values.
Dietary Fiber in Health and Disease

Dietary fiber (DF) was originally defined as the edible component of plants resistant to digestion and absorption by humans in the small intestine, with complete or partial fermentation in the large intestines. Current definition includes functional fiber sources: polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, lignins, and associated substances. DF is water soluble and insoluble. Insoluble fiber includes cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignins while soluble fiber is categorized into gums, mucilages, pectins, and β-glucans. DF has a wide variety of physiological functions including the ability to retain water, form gel, increase viscosity, thereby increasing the bulk, exchange cations, form products of bacterial degradation in the large intestine and modulate immunity. Functions include decrease in glucose absorption and lipid lowering, weight reduction, possible prevention of colon cancer and polyps, and benefits in the prevention of constipation and diverticular disease. The current recommendation for intake of DF is 14 g per 1,000 kcal/day. The most frequent side effect encountered with a high fiber diet is poor acceptability and tolerance especially in the elderly. Side effects include gaseousness, bloating, diffuse abdominal pain, and diarrhea. A concern has also been raised about DF on the impairment of absorption of trace elements particularly in those with marginal intake of minerals.
Multi-agent system architecture for enhanced resiliency in autonomous microgrids

This paper proposes a hierarchical Multi-Agent System (MAS) based controller architecture for enhanced resiliency during the controller failure condition. A self-healing scheme is proposed for fault detection and recovery during the controller failure. The proposed scheme combines both sentinel agent approach and autonomous workload distribution technique. Further, an acquisitive optimization strategy is implemented for energy management during the power generation failure. Faster response is achieved by programming the agents with a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) interchangeable sender-receiver communication strategy. The proposed controller architecture has been verified by considering a power system case study.
Deriving the distributivity potential of adjectives via measurement theory

The boxes are heavy can convey that each box is heavy (distributive), or that some individually light boxes qualify as heavy when lifted together (nondistributive; Schwarzschild 1996, Schwarzschild 2011). In contrast, the boxes are fragile generally requires each box to be fragile (distributive). Which adjectives behave like heavy or like fragile , and why? This paper proposes a measurement-theoretic account. For a gradable adjective to be understood nondistributively, I argue that aâS•b must exceed a and b along the scale associated with the adjective. That way, the contextual standard I¸ for what â€˜counts asâ€™ (adjective) in the context can be set in such a way that the composite object aâS•b surpasses the contextual standard I¸ while a and b individually fall short of it â€“ a nondistributive understanding, in that the adjective is true of aâS•b together but not of a or b individually. This ordering is possible for heavy but not fragile , deriving their differences. More generally, researchers agree that an adjectiveâ€™s potential for distributivity depends on what we know about the property it describes. Making that idea more explanatory, this paper articulates which features of the property described by the adjective matter for distributivity and why.
Katrina T. Forest: A Renaissance Woman in Microbiology

Katrina Forest is a microbiologist in the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is an accomplished researcher, focused in applied and molecular biology, but her interests extend broadly, including encouraging women in science and engineering. This chapter, based on dialog between Dr. Forest and the author, Katherine McMahon, profiles Dr. Forest’s winding career path and includes words of wisdom and “life lessons” to help inspire and guide women entering this discipline.
Ring Diagram Contribution to Electron Correlations

The ring diagram contribution to the correlation energy of an electron gas in 3-D and in 2-D is treated in an accurate and systematic way by applying the Montroll and Ward formula for the grand partition function. Difficulties in the traditional rg series are pointed out and a new direct method of evaluation is discussed. The ring diagram formula can be derived in different ways without using diagrams.
A Software Architecture Process

The role of an architect is much more than simply carrying out a software design activity. The architect must typically: Work with the requirements team: The requirements team will be focused on eliciting the functional requirements from the application stakeholders. The architect plays an important role in requirements gathering by understanding the overall systems needs and ensuring that the appropriate quality attributes are explicit and understood. Work with various application stakeholders: Architects play a pivotal liaison role by making sure all the application’s stakeholder needs are understood and incorporated into the design. For example, in addition to the business user requirements for an application, system administrators will require that the application can be easily installed, monitored, managed and upgraded. Lead the technical design team: Defining the application architecture is a design activity. The architect leads a design team, comprising system designers (or on large projects, other architects) and technical leads in order to produce the architecture blueprint.Work with the project management: The architect works closely with project management, helping with project planning, estimation and task allocation and scheduling.
Kriging and variogram models

Geostatistics is a popular class of statistical methods for estimating, or predicting, the value of a continuous spatial process at unobserved locations given the value of the process at a set of known locations. Spatial prediction of this sort is typically performed using the method known as kriging, which provides estimates that are optimized over the class of predictors that are a linear combination of the observed values of the process. Beyond providing point estimates of the process at unobserved locations, the variances of kriging estimates (or kriging standard errors) are readily available as measures of uncertainty in predictions. An underlying assumption in kriging is that the covariance structure of the spatial process is known. Thus, before kriging can be performed, the spatial-dependence structure must be determined using the observed values of the process. Rather than estimating the covariance function of the spatial process directly, an alternative description of the spatial-dependence structure known as the variogram is estimated from the observed data. In this article, we review both kriging and variogram methods. In addition, we illustrate these methods using a rainfall dataset and provide brief introductions to some extensions of standard geostatistical methods.
Optimizing Carpool Scheduling Algorithm through Partition Merging

The rapidly increasing number of vehicles in roads leads to numerous problems in metropolitan areas. Several researchers show that carpooling can be an efficient solution to relieve the pressures caused by large numbers of cars. Previous research on carpools introduces several additional constraints to simplify the problem, but some of them are unreasonable in reality. In this paper, we focus on removing the static capacity constraint. Doing so allows a vehicle to carry more passengers than vehicle's capacity, which is possible if some people are dropped off and new passengers take their places during the journey. A greedy approach based on multi-round matching is proposed, and it is further improved by taking advantage of geometry properties. We apply our algorithms to both simulated and real world datasets, and experiment results show that our algorithms have better performances than existing approaches.
A qualitative exploration of social and environmental factors affecting diet and activity in knee replacement patients.

Aims and objectives To examine perceived social and environmental barriers and facilitators for healthy eating and activity before and after knee replacement. Background Many patients undergoing knee replacement surgery are overweight or obese. While obesity treatment guidelines encourage diet and activity modifications, gaps exist in understanding social and environmental determinants of these behaviours for knee replacement patients. Identifying these determinants is critical for treatment, as they are likely amplified due to patients' mobility limitations, the nature of surgery and reliance on others during recovery. Design This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews. Methods Twenty patients (M = 64.7 ± 9.8 years, 45% female, 90% Caucasian, body mass index 30.8 ± 5.5 kg/m2 ) who were scheduled for or had recently undergone knee replacement were interviewed. Participants were asked to identify social and environmental factors that made it easier or harder to engage in healthy eating or physical activity. Deidentified transcripts were analysed via constant comparative analysis to identify barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and activity. This paper was written in accordance with COnsolidated criteria for REporting Qualitative research standards. Results Identified social and environmental healthy eating barriers included availability of unhealthy food and attending social gatherings; facilitators included availability of healthy food, keeping unhealthy options "out of sight," and social support. Weather was the primary activity barrier, while facilitators included access to physical activity opportunities and social support. Conclusions Results provide salient factors for consideration by clinicians and behavioural programmes targeting diet, activity, and weight management, and patient variables to consider when tailoring interventions. Relevance to clinical practice Practitioners treating knee replacement patients would be aided by an understanding of patients' perceived social and environmental factors that impede or facilitate surgical progress. Particularly for those directly interacting with patients, like nurses, physiotherapists, or other professionals, support from health professionals appears to be a strong facilitator of adherence to diet and increased activity.
An Examination of Exposure Routes of Fluvalinate to Larval and Adult Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)

Fluvalinate has been extensively used in the United States to combat honey bee colony loss due to Varroa destructor mites. Our objectives were to investigate the extent of fluvalinate contamination in commercially available wax and to define exposure pathways to larval and adult honey bees. All the commercial wax tested contained elevated fluvalinate concentrations, indicating a need for regulation of the sources of wax being rendered for resale. Based on the negative logarithm of the partition coefficient between wax and pollen (-0.54), it is evident that fluvalinate has the potential to actively transfer from the contaminated wax into hive matrices. This was confirmed by adding fluvalinate-dosed wax, fluvalinate-impregnated strips, or a combination of the 2 to hives. Larvae and adult bees were checked for fluvalinate exposure using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. Larvae had detectable concentrations of fluvalinate in all treatments. Bioaccumulation in adult bees was significantly affected by the interaction between treatment type and application time. In other words, residues from hives that only had fluvalinate-dosed wax were comparable to residues in hives that were actively being treated, suggesting that transfer of fluvalinate from wax into adult bees was an important exposure route. In conclusion, exposure of fluvalinate from contaminated wax and treatment strips to honey bees needs to be considered when the risk for colony loss in hives is being evaluated. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:1356-1363. © 2019 SETAC.
Ernst Abbe and His Contributions to Optics

In this chapter I suggest connections between the early life, education, and work experience of Ernst Abbe as well as his seminal contributions to optical metrology and his role as a social reformer. While several sources discuss what Abbe contributed during his career, I suggest links to help answer the question of what prompted him to do so? First, I posit that Abbe’s difficult and financially unstable early life led to his penchant to work as a social reformer at Zeiss Werke and at the University of Jena.