cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Limit on Lorentz and CPT violation of the proton using a hydrogen maser

We present a new measurement constraining Lorentz and $\mathrm{CPT}$ violation of the proton using a hydrogen maser double resonance technique. A search for hydrogen Zeeman frequency variations with a period of the sidereal day (23.93 h) sets a limit on violation of Lorentz and $\mathrm{CPT}$ symmetry of the proton at the ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}27}$ GeV level, independent of nuclear model uncertainty, which improves significantly on previous bounds.
Direct tracheobronchopexy to correct airway collapse due to severe tracheobronchomalacia: Short-term outcomes in a series of 20 patients.

Abstract Purpose Tracheobronchomalacia (TBM) is associated with esophageal atresia, tracheoesophageal fistulas, and congenital heart disease. TBM results in chronic cough, poor mucous clearance, and recurrent pneumonias. Apparent life-threatening events or recurrent pneumonias may require surgery. TBM is commonly treated with an aortopexy, which indirectly elevates trachea's anterior wall. However, malformed tracheal cartilage and posterior tracheal membrane intrusion may limit its effectiveness. This study describes patient outcomes undergoing direct tracheobronchopexy for TBM. Methods The records of patients that underwent direct tracheobronchopexy at our institution from January 2011 to April 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. Primary outcomes included TBM recurrence and resolution of the primary symptoms. Data were analyzed by McNemar's test for matched binary pairs and logistic regression modeling to account for the endoscopic presence of luminal narrowing over multiple time points per patient. Results Twenty patients were identified. Preoperative evaluation guided the type of tracheobronchopexy. 30% had isolated anterior and 50% isolated posterior tracheobronchopexies, while 20% had both. Follow-up was 5months (range, 0.5–38). No patients had postoperative ALTEs, and pneumonias were significantly decreased (p=0.0005). Fewer patients had tracheobronchial collapse at postoperative endoscopic exam in these anatomical regions: middle trachea (p=0.01), lower trachea (p Conclusion The use of direct tracheobronchopexy resulted in ALTE resolution and reduction of recurrent pneumonias in our patients. TBM was also reduced in the middle and lower trachea and right mainstem bronchus. Given the heterogeneity of our population, further studies are needed to ascertain longer-term outcomes and a grading scale for TBM severity.
Reaction of 3-Dehydroshikimic Acid with Molecular Oxygen and Hydrogen Peroxide: Products, Mechanism, and Associated Antioxidant Activity

In the presence of molecular oxygen or hydrogen peroxide, inorganic phosphate catalyzes the conversion of 3-dehydroshikimic acid (DHS) into gallic acid. Other products formed in the reaction of DHS with oxygen include protocatechuic acid, tricarballylic acid, and pyrogallol. With hydrogen peroxide as oxidant, pyrogallol formation is not observed, and smaller amounts of tricarballylic acid are produced. Evidence favoring a mechanism involving phosphate-catalyzed tautomerization of DHS to a reactive enediol intermediate follows from the successful isolation of dihydrogallic acid when oxidant is excluded from phosphate-buffered solutions of DHS. The reductone-like solution chemistry of DHS and the radical quenching reactivity of the phenolics formed from DHS prompted an appraisal of DHS antioxidant activity. Based on two different analyses, DHS was discovered to possess significant antioxidant activity relative to α-tocopherol, gallic acid, propyl gallate, and tert-butylhydroquinone.
Learning Commons: Addressing the Needs of Commuter Regional Campuses

ABSTRACT The Learning Commons concept in academia is now fairly mainstream and in the evaluation phase at many institutions. This model is gradually making its way into nonresidential campuses and has proved to be a challenge for 5 regional libraries of a state university who sought to establish user-centered environments on a shoestring budget and tight quarters. These Learning Commons initiatives addressed the needs of urban, suburban, and rural libraries whose student populations ranged from under 300 to nearly 2,000. While there was no single model to address student needs at all campuses, there were commonalities in users’ expectations that guided the process and allowed the libraries to seamlessly integrate new services in support of student learning. This case study describes the tools used to gauge the needs of the University of Connecticut's regional campus users to enable the libraries to launch learning commons that reflected the unique needs of nonresidential users.
Economic Voting Reconsidered Crisis and Charisma in the Election of Hugo Chávez

This article examines the impact of Venezuelans' economic assessments on the election of a radical reformer, President Hugo Chavez. Multinomial logit analysis of pre-electoral survey data shows that sociotropic perceptions of recent losses and high hopes for future improvements significantly boosted support for Chavez. When political judgments and issue positions are considered, people's prospective assessments retain their significant effect, whereas negative retrospective evaluations indirectly affect vote intentions for Chavez, namely, via rejection of the established political elite. These findings seem to corroborate claims of economic voting literature but cannot be interpreted in narrowly materialistic terms. Instead, the striking gulf between despair about the past and exalted hopes for the future shows the impact of Chavez's charisma. Rather than reflecting a dispassionate assessment of likely developments, people's expectations of a dramatic turnaround seem driven by the psychological need to be...
The impact of hole-induced electromigration on the cycling endurance of phase change memory

The high current density induced failure in Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 (GST)-based phase change memory (PCM) is investigated. A strong dependence of cycling endurance on the polarity of the operation current is observed and reported for the first time. The cycling endurance is reduced by 4 orders of magnitude when the current polarity is reversed. Careful TEM analysis of failed cells revealed a thin void in GST over the bottom electrode, but only in the reverse polarity samples. This phenomenon can be explained by hole-induced electromigration at the electrode/GST interface. The impact of electromigration on scaled phase change memory is discussed.
Erythrocyte deformability and microhematuria in children and adolescents

The aim of this study was to investigate whether erythrocyte deformability is higher in otherwise healthy children and adolescents with asymptomatic isolated glomerular microhematuria and no clinical or laboratory signs indicating renal disorder. Erythrocyte deformability in 33 children and adolescents with unexplained asymptomatic isolated glomerular microhematuria (study group) was compared with erythrocyte deformability in 133 individuals without urinary tract disease and without microhematuria (control group), 26 patients with microhematuria and IgA nephropathy (IgA nephropathy group), and 31 children and adolescents with benign familial hematuria (benign familial hematuria group). The erythrocyte and buffer filtration time was measured, the erythrocyte-to-buffer filtration time ratio calculated, and, on the basis thereof, erythrocyte deformability was estimated as an inverse proportion of the erythrocyte-to-buffer filtration time ratio in all subjects. The erythrocyte-to-buffer filtration time ratio increased with age in all groups (P<0.001). In the study group, the mean erythrocyte-to-buffer filtration time ratio, corrected for age of subjects, was significantly lower than in the control (P=0.042), IgA nephropathy (P=0.004), and benign familial hematuria groups (P= 0.048). Erythrocytes with higher deformability probably pass more easily through the glomerular basement membrane that is assumed to be normal, in which case the mechanism of asymptomatic isolated glomerular microhematuria could be explained by higher erythrocyte deformability.
Nonsustained Ventricular Tachycardia

Nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) has been recorded in a wide range of conditions, from apparently healthy individuals to patients with significant heart disease. In the absence of heart disease, the prognostic significance of NSVT is debatable. When detected during exercise, and especially at recovery, NSVT indicates increased cardiovascular mortality within the next decades. In trained athletes, NSVT is considered benign when suppressed by exercise. In patients with non–ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome, NSVT occurring beyond 48 h after admission indicates an increased risk of cardiac and sudden death, especially when associated with myocardial ischemia. In acute myocardial infarction, in-hospital NSVT has an adverse prognostic significance when detected beyond the first 13 to 24 h. In patients with prior myocardial infarction treated with reperfusion and beta-blockers, NSVT is not an independent predictor of long-term mortality when other covariates such as left ventricular ejection fraction are taken into account. In patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and most probably genetic channelopathies, NSVT carries prognostic significance, whereas its independent prognostic ability in ischemic heart failure and dilated cardiomyopathy has not been established. The management of patients with NSVT is aimed at treating the underlying heart disease. (J Am Coll Cardiol 2012;60: 1993–2004) © 2012 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation Published by Elsevier Inc. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2011.12.063
β-Adrenoceptor-mediated cell signaling in the neonatal heart and liver: responses to terbutaline

Terbutaline, a β2-adrenoceptor (β2-AR) agonist, is a widely used tocolytic that also crosses the placenta to stimulate fetal β-ARs. The current study examines the effects of terbutaline administere...
Surface Properties of Extracellular Malaria Parasites: Morphological and Cytochemical Study

Morphological and cytochemical surface characteristics of isolated malaria parasites ( Plasmodium berghei ) and host erythrocytes were compared by electron microscopy by using thin section and carbon replica techniques. Erythrocytes were uniform in shape and had fine, granular surfaces. In contrast, free parasites exhibited a variety of sizes, shapes, and surface textures. Fine surface stippling was a common topographical feature of isolated parasites. Small, infective forms often had patterned surfaces resulting from the protuberance of an underlying thick intermediate layer. Results of cytochemical analysis using a sialophilic colloidal iron stain indicated that the malaria parasite9s surface lacked exposed sialic acid groups which would normally give rise to a net negative surface charge common to erythrocytes. Biochemical assay demonstrated that malaria parasites contained about one-half the amount of sialic acid per unit weight as did control red cell extracts. Similarly, external acidic mucopolysaccharide coats of free parasites, as revealed by ruthenium red staining were extremely thin as compared with the thick glycocalyx layer of red cells. Lipid plaques at the surface of parasites and red cells were localized by lipophilic iron colloid staining. Although the gross patchwork distribution of plaques was somewhat similar for the two cell types, the parasites were stained more intensely and had a closer-knit patchwork pattern than those exhibited by the erythrocytes. Such findings indicate that there are slight differences in the arrangement of phospholipids at the surfaces of limiting membranes of host cells and parasites. The significance of the above cytochemical surface properties of the malaria parasite (which are seemingly akin to those of intracellular organelles is discussed in relation to certain host-parasite interactions, such as parasite adhesion to target cells and enhanced clearance of extracellular parasites. Images
The dark side of custom animation

Over the last decade, PowerPoint has become the medium of choice for many instructors. The software provides animation options for the emphasis, entry or disappearance of text and figures. Many instructors use these options regularly with the impression that such effects enhance student learning by allowing concepts to be introduced incrementally. This research explores the impact of custom animation in PowerPoint lectures and examines the idea that custom animation may, in fact, negatively impact student learning. To test this hypothesis, two versions of a PowerPoint lecture were recorded in Camtasia Studio. The presentations differed only in the presence of animation to incrementally present information. To assess the impact of custom animation on student learning, students were shown either the animated or non-animated recordings and were tested regarding the presented information. The computational results show a significant difference (p < 0.001) between the means of overall student performance after viewing lectures with non-animated and animated PowerPoint slides, suggesting that static slides allow students to retain more information than their dynamic counterparts.
Mycophenolate mofetil is safe, well tolerated, and preserves lung function in patients with connective tissue disease-related interstitial lung disease.

Background Interstitial lung disease (ILD) frequently complicates connective tissue diseases (CTDs). Glucocorticoids and immunomodulatory agents are regarded as mainstays of therapy for CTD-related ILD; however, apart from those studies that have evaluated certain medications for patients with scleroderma, few studies have been performed. In this study, our objectives were to examine the safety and tolerability of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and to determine its impact on lung function in patients with CTD-ILD. Methods In this retrospective observational study, we analyzed patients at our center who ever received MMF for CTD-ILD. We examined the frequency and severity of side effects associated with MMF and used longitudinal data analytic methods to determine the ability of MMF to maintain lung function over time. Results Twenty-eight patients were treated with MMF over 35.9 patient-years. The most common underlying CTD diagnosis was scleroderma (n = 9). The most common reason for initiating MMF was an adverse effect of a prior immunomodulatory agent. Six patients had clinically significant side effects related to MMF; all resolved with dose reduction. Compared to before MMF, the mean daily prednisone dose while patients were receiving MMF was lower (10 mg/d vs 15 mg/d, p = 0.09). In addition, since starting MMF, the average percentage of predicted forced vital capacity (FVC), average percentage of predicted total lung capacity, and average percentage of predicted diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide for the cohort increased by 2.3%, 4.0%, and 2.6%, respectively. Conclusion MMF appears to be safe and well tolerated in patients with CTD-ILD. Larger-scale studies are needed to further evaluate the efficacy of MMF in this patient population.
Do subsidized housing units depreciate faster than unsubsidized ones

Abstract The economics literature provides considerable evidence on the performance of low-income housing programs. One issue that has not been adequately addressed by previous studies is the relative depreciation rates of subsidized and unsubsidized housing units. Simple economic theory suggests that subsidized projects should depreciate more quickly than unsubsidized units, as the rents received by owners of these projects do not depend directly on the condition of their units provided that they meet minimum housing standards. However, many government programs aimed at modernizing subsidized housing projects exist. Whether there is a difference between the depreciation rates of subsidized and unsubsidized housing units is therefore an empirical question. Using panel data from the American Housing Survey, I find that there is no significant difference in the depreciation rates of subsidized and unsubsidized housing units over the period from 1985 to 2005.
Implementation of a Prospective Clinical Outcomes Study in a CAM/IM Teaching Clinic

implemented an activity to review and evaluate media reports of medical research as an assignment within a year long clinically oriented class. Summary of Work: In 2006 a project was initiated whereby students identified and examined media reports compared with original research studies on which they were based. The project spans three academic terms with graduated series of exercises which elicit growing depth of critical thinking. It was guided by Research Literate Practitioner competencies developed by the grant. Reflection and communication are incorporated into the exercises. A grading rubric based on the competencies was used for assessment. Summary of Results: Based on six cohorts of students, qualitative data indicate that the project had a major impact on students. In written and oral feedback a majority of students report acquiring knowledge of how to use research studies to assess media medical report quality. They also report an increased understanding of research linking to clinical work with patients. A minority of students report not gaining skills from the project due to previous research or ambivalence regarding the import of these skills. Conclusion: Participation in this activity appears to have created an increase in research literacy at the clinical level of interaction with patients. Students can be taught how to analyze media reports of medical studies to determine the accuracy of these reports. This student centered learning activity expands student awareness and practical skills using research in clinical decision making. The practices of self reflection and evidence informed communication with patients are enhanced through this work.
Patterning of the neural ectoderm of Xenopus laevis by the amino-terminal product of hedgehog autoproteolytic cleavage

The patterns of embryonic expression and the activities of Xenopus members of the hedgehog gene family are suggestive of roles in neural induction and patterning. We report that these hedgehog polypeptides undergo autoproteolytic cleavage. Injection into embryos of mRNAs encoding Xenopus banded-hedgehog (X-bhh) or the amino-terminal domain (N) demonstrates that the direct inductive activities of X-bhh are encoded by N. In addition, both N and Xbhh pattern neural tissue by elevating expression of anterior neural genes. Unexpectedly, an internal deletion of X-bhh (ΔN-C) was found to block the activity of X-bhh and N in explants and to reduce dorsoanterior structures in embryos. As elevated hedgehog activity increases the expression of anterior neural genes, and as ΔN-C reduces dorsoanterior structures, these complementary data support a role for hedgehog in neural induction and anteroposterior patterning. SUMMARY
The IASB at a Crossroads: The Future of International Financial Reporting Standards (A)

What are the major challenges to the continued growth of IFRS worldwide? Should countries be encouraged to pursue "full adoption" of IFRS, or should each country determine its own IFRS "convergence" strategy? Given the limitations of governance and information-intermediation institutions worldwide, should IFRS limit the use of fair value accounting? How should the IASB respond to the growing power of emerging markets such as China in international standard setting? What lessons can be learned from the growth and development of IFRS for international harmonization of corporate governance standards more broadly? This case first describes the IASB's major accomplishments over the 2001-2010 period and then outlines the major challenges to the continued growth of IFRS as it enters its second decade.Learning Objective: Capstone case for a course or module on International Accounting.
Disentangling basal and accumulated body mass for cross-population comparisons

Measures of human body mass confound 1) well-established population differences in body form and 2) exposure to obesogenic environments, posing challenges for using body mass index (BMI) in cross-population studies of body form, energy reserves, and obesity-linked disease risk. We propose a method for decomposing population BMI by estimating basal BMI (bBMI) among young adults living in extremely poor, rural households where excess body mass accumulation is uncommon. We test this method with nationally representative, cross-sectional Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) collected from 69,916 rural women (20–24 years) in 47 low-income countries. Predicting BMI by household wealth, we estimate country-level bBMI as the average BMI of young women (20–24 years) living in rural households with total assets <400 USD per capita. Above 400 USD per capita, BMI increases with both wealth and age. Below this point, BMI hits a baseline floor showing little effect of either age or wealth. Between-country variation in bBMI (range of 4.3 kg m−2) is reliable across decades and age groups (R2 = 0.83–0.88). Country-level estimates of bBMI show no relation to diabetes prevalence or country-level GDP (R2 < 0.05), supporting its independence from excess body mass. Residual BMI (average BMI minus bBMI) shows better fit with both country-level GDP (R2 = 0.55 vs. 0.40) and diabetes prevalence (R2 = 0.23 vs. 0.17) than does conventional BMI. This method produces reliable estimates of bBMI across a wide range of nationally representative samples, providing a new approach to investigating population variation in body mass. Am J Phys Anthropol 153:542–550, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Elastic Averaging in Flexure Mechanisms: A Three-Beam Parallelogram Flexure Case Study

Over-constraint is an important concern in mechanism design because it can lead to a loss in desired mobility. In distributed-compliance flexure mechanisms, this problem is alleviated due to the phenomenon of elastic averaging, thus enabling performance-enhancing geometric arrangements that are otherwise unrealizable. The principle of elastic averaging is illustrated in this paper by means of a multi-beam parallelogram flexure mechanism. In a lumped-compliance configuration, this mechanism is prone to over-constraint in the presence of nominal manufacturing and assembly errors. However, with an increasing degree of distributed-compliance, the mechanism is shown to become more tolerant to such geometric imperfections. The nonlinear load-stiffening and elasto-kinematic effects in the constituent beams have an important role to play in the over-constraint and elastic averaging characteristics of this mechanism. Therefore, a parametric model that incorporates these nonlinearities is utilized in predicting the influence of a representative geometric imperfection on the primary motion stiffness of the mechanism. The proposed model utilizes a beam generalization so that varying degrees of distributed compliance are captured using a single geometric parameter.Copyright © 2006 by ASME
Nanomaterial integrated microfluidic devices for virus analysis

Outbreaks of viral infectious diseases are often devastating, causing illness, disability, death and massive economic loss. Viral infectious diseases can spread rapid and affecting a large population. The high mutation rate of viruses are especially challenging for disease control and surveillance. Point-of-care technologies using microfluidic principles and integrated with nanomaterials promise to meet these challenges of future analysis of viral infectious diseases by providing cost-effective and sometimes enabling technologies with extraordinary portability, high sensitivity, and fast processing speed.
State-federal relations: Back to the future?

State-federal relations continue to be buffeted by the increasing polarization between political parties that often accentuates intergovernmental conflict. The hoary antebellum doctrine of nullification also has risen from the dead to point to a future of more state-federal conflict as states controlled by one party, whether Democratic or Republican, enact policies contravening federal laws and judicial rulings. Nevertheless, coercive federalism continues its now 45-year-old onward march as federal power penetrates deeper into state and local authority.
The Biology of Anomala Kansana (Scarabaeidae, Coleop.)

This paper discusses the economic importance of this recently described species. Its life history, with the length of the various developmental stages, is considered. It is found to have a one-year life cycle. The adults appear in June and July. Eggs are laid in the soil and the larvae live over winter. Pupation occurs in late May, June, and early July.
Estimation of Market Area Population from Residential Electrical Utility Data

g~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ Commerce, monthly counts of new single-family electrical hook-ups, new multiple-family building hook-ups, and the total number of housing units in multiple family buildings for all census tracts in the
Laser therapy for cutaneous sarcoidosis: A review

Sarcoidosis is a systemic, multi-organ disease of unknown etiology characteristically defined by the development of non-caseating granulomas. The development of sarcoidosis has been associated with a number of environmental and microbacterial factors coupled with genetic susceptibility. Depending on the type, location and distribution of disease, sarcoidosis can cause functional impairment, symptomatic distress, scarring and disfigurement. The advent of lasers as precise, minimally destructive surgical tools has allowed for their development as promising alternatives that minimize the morbidity associated with current therapies. In this paper, we reviewed the role of laser therapy in the treatment of cutaneous sarcoidosis. A comprehensive search of the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE and PUBMED databases was performed to identify relevant literatures investigating the role of laser therapy in the treatment of cutaneous sarcoidosis. In our opinion, laser therapy, particularly PDL, appears to be an effective, safe and generally well-tolerated modality for the treatment of cutaneous sarcoidosis and should be considered in patients with localized cutaneous disease that is refractory to conventional treatments. Less is known about the efficacy and tolerability of ablative laser therapy for the treatment of cutaneous sarcoidosis, though the limited data appears promising as well. With that said, however, the data is limited and warrants a need for additional larger, randomized controlled studies to further investigate the utility and efficacy of laser therapy in the treatment of cutaneous sarcoidosis.
368 HISPANIC PARENTAL ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS ABOUT THEIR ADOLESCENTS' USE OF CONDOMS AND ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES.

Purpose To examine the accuracy of Hispanic parents9 beliefs about their adolescents9 use of condoms and oral contraceptives. Design Cross-sectional survey. Setting The UCLA/Les Kelley Family Health Center. Study Participants Hispanic parents of adolescents (12-19 years old). Methods A written survey assessed parental beliefs about the effectiveness, safety, and usability of condoms and oral contraceptives. Preliminary Results Subject recruitment is currently in progress. To date, nine parents have participated in the survey. Sixty-seven percent of participants believe that condoms are very effective for STD prevention. Seventy-eight percent believe that condoms are very effective for pregnancy prevention when used consistently and correctly. Seventy-eight percent believe that oral contraceptive use prevents pregnancy all the time when used consistently and correctly, and 56% think that the pill is very safe to use. However, none of the parents believe that most teenagers are capable of using either condoms or oral contraceptives correctly. Plan Enrol another clinic in the study protocol, Hubert Humphrey Comprehensive Health Center. This clinic is located in south Los Angeles and serves a patient population that is over 50% Hispanic. We plan to collect an additional 91 surveys over the next 3 months.
Germination of leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.) seeds under alternating temperatures: the effects of amplitude, midpoint, and imbibition in gibberellic acid

Germinability of dormant seeds or the capacity to germinate under particular conditions is sometimes enhanced by a diurnal alternating temperature regime relative to a constant temperature. Alterna...
49 Use of Stems in Revision Total Knee Replacement

Implant manufacturers offer a wide array of stem and augment options for reconstruction in revision total knee replacement (TKR). Revisions performed with stems have been shown to outperform revisions without stems and thus are widely accepted as standard; however if those stems should be fully cemented or cemented at the joint surface and then press fit into the diaphysis is controversial. Acceptable mid- and long-term clinical results have been published using both methods of implantation. Therefore, the technique and type of stemmed component insertion depend largely on surgeon preference; however, in some situations, bone quality and canal geometry may impact the decision on which method of fixation is selected. This chapter reviews the rationale behind the use of stems in revision knee replacement and describes the surgical techniques of stem implantation.
Multipixel in vivo imaging of coronary arteries

A multipixel spectral imaging system has been developed for obtaining In vivo images of coronary arteries. In vivo data clearly indicate a difference between calcified lesions, atherosclerotic plaque, and normal tissue in coronary arteries.
Antecedent Nippostrongylus infection alters the lung immune response to Plasmodium berghei.

In endemic regions, it is not uncommon for patients to be co-infected with soil-transmitted helminthes and malaria. Although both malaria and many helminth species use the lungs as a site of development, little attention has been paid to the impact that pulmonary immunity induced by one parasite has on the lung response to the other. To model the consequences of a prior hookworm exposure on the development of immunity to malaria in the lungs, mice were infected with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis and two weeks later challenged with Plasmodium berghei. We found that a preexisting hookworm-induced Type 2 immune environment had a measurable but modest impact on the nature of the malaria-driven Type 1 cytokine response in the lungs that was associated with a transient effect on parasite development and no significant changes in morbidity and mortality after malaria infection. However, prior hookworm infection did have a lasting effect on lung macrophages, where the malaria-induced M1-like response was blunted by previous M2 polarization. These results demonstrate that, although helminth parasites confer robust changes to the immunological status of the pulmonary microenvironment, lung immunity is plastic and capable of rapidly adapting to consecutive heterologous infections. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Performance Evaluation of a Pre-computed Brain Response Atlas in Dummy Head Impacts.

A pre-computed brain response atlas (pcBRA) may have the potential to accelerate the investigation of the biomechanical mechanisms of traumatic brain injury on a large-scale. In this study, we further enhance the technique and evaluate its performance using six degree-of-freedom angular velocity profiles from dummy head impacts. Using the pcBRA to simplify profiles into acceleration-only shapes, sufficiently accurate strain estimates were obtained for impacts with a major dominating velocity peak. However, they were largely under-estimated when substantial deceleration occurred that reversed the direction of the angular velocity. For these impacts, estimation accuracy was substantially improved with a biphasic profile simplification (average correlation coefficient and linear regression slope of 0.92 ± 0.03 and 0.95 ± 0.07 for biphasic shapes, respectively, vs. 0.80 ± 0.06 and 0.80 ± 0.08 for acceleration-only shapes). Peak maximum principal strain (ɛ p) and cumulative strain damage measure (CSDM) from the estimated strains consistently correlated stronger than kinematic metrics with respect to the baseline ɛ p and CSDM from the directly simulated responses, regardless of the brain region, and by a large margin (e.g., correlation of 0.93 vs. 0.75 compared to Brain Injury Criterion (BrIC) for ɛ p in the whole-brain, and 0.91 vs. 0.47 compared to BrIC for CSDM in the corpus callosum). These findings further support the pre-computation technique for accurate, real-time strain estimation, which could be important to accelerate model-based brain injury studies in the future.
Design and Evaluation of the Makahiki Open Source Serious Game Framework for Sustainability Education

Sustainability education and conservation have become an international imperative due to the rising cost of energy, increasing scarcity of natural resource and irresponsible environmental practices. This paper presents Makahiki, an open source serious game framework for sustainability, which implements an extensible framework for different organizations to develop sustainability games. It provides a variety of built-in games and content focused on sustainability; game mechanics such as leaderboards, points, and badges; a variety of common services such as authentication, real-time game analytics and ability to deploy to the cloud, as well as a responsive user interface for both computer and mobile devices. The successful implementation of six sustainability educational games in different organizations provided evidence regarding the ability to customize the Makahiki framework successfully to different environments in both organizational and infrastructure aspects. A serious game stakeholder experience based access method (SGSEAM) was used to formally evaluate Makahiki in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of Makahiki as a useful serious game framework for sustainability.
Explicit and efficient discrete energy-averaged model for Terfenol-D

The axis of most commercially available bulk Terfenol-D rods is misaligned with the pseudo-cubic Terfenol-D crystals. Thus, the development of efficient and accurate constitutive models for Terfenol-D has traditionally been challenging. This study presents a fully coupled and efficient discrete energy-averaged model that describes the nonlinear magnetostrictive behavior of Terfenol-D. The model is built on the basis of the Stoner-Wohlfarth particle approximation, where the anhysteresis bulk response of magnetostrictive materials is considered as a weighted sum of local magnetic domain responses and the material hysteresis is defined by an evolution function for the weights. The local responses are explicitly calculated through minimizing the free energy of individual magnetic domains; the weights, also known as the domain volume fractions, are described by an energy-based Boltzmann distribution. Advanced computation algorithms are developed to further improve the model efficiency. The model is used to int...
The Two Cultures Problem

Historically, a division of scientific labor evolved in the USA where universities conducted basic or pure research, federal laboratories and bureaus conducted applied research, and private industry engaged in the development of new products and commercial processes. These boundaries have never been impermeable, but for the most part, basic research and applied research have been conducted by different individuals, who are physically separated by location, and who are also divided by the “two cultures” of academia and business. Much has been written about the incompatibility of the two cultures of business and academia, but that incompatibility is intensified when entrepreneurial culture is brought inside the university, and ironically, this is particularly true in the corporate bureaucratic university. The contradiction between the principles of corporate-bureaucratic organization and entrepreneurial flexible organization is illustrated in four general problems: the pigs at the trough syndrome, the “if I can’t have it, then you can’t have it” syndrome, the campus meetings culture, and the never answers the phone dilemma.
A Microwave Flow Detector for Gradient Elution Liquid Chromatography.

This study presents a microwave flow detector technique for liquid chromatography (LC) application. The detector is based on a tunable microwave interferometer (MIM) with a vector network analyzer (VNA) for signal measurement and a computer for system control. A microstrip-line-based 0.3 μL flow cell is built and incorporated into the MIM. With syringe pump injection, the detector is evaluated by measuring a few common chemicals in DI water at multiple frequencies from 0.98 to 7.09 GHz. Less than 30 ng minimum detectable quantity (MDQ) is demonstrated. An algorithm is provided and used to obtain sample dielectric permittivity at each frequency point. When connected to a commercial HPLC system and injected with a 10 μL aliquot of 10 000 ppm caffeine DI-water solution, the microwave detector yields a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) up to 10 under isocratic and gradient elution operations. The maximum sampling rate is 20 Hz. The measurements show that MIM tuning, aided by a digital tunable attenuator (DTA), can ...
Nanoscale Phase Field Modeling and Simulations of Martensitic Phase Transformations and Twinning at Finite Strains

A thermodynamically consistent phase field approach to martensitic phase transformations for a system with austenite and two martensitic variants has been developed. The model considers two order parameters, describing austenite \( \leftrightarrow \) martensite and variant \( \leftrightarrow \) variant transformations, respectively. The coexistence of three phases at a single material point are consistently penalized. Twinning in the nanoscale sample was studied for two different kinematic models (KMs) for the transformation stretch tensor \( {\mathbf{U}}_{t} \). In KM-I, \( {\mathbf{U}}_{t} \) is taken as a linear combination of the Bain strains, and in KM-II, \( {\mathbf{U}}_{t} \) is an exponential of the logarithm of the Bain stretch tensors. For these two KMs and for an additional model based on simple shear, analytical solutions for elastic stresses within a variant-variant boundary in an infinite twinned sample are presented. The results can be easily generalized for an arbitrary number of variants. They are crucial for further development of phase field approaches to multivariant martensitic transformations coupled to mechanics.
Conservation of mRNA quality control factor Ski7 and its diversification through changes in alternative splicing and gene duplication

Eukaryotes maintain fidelity of gene expression by preferential degradation of aberrant mRNAs that arise by errors in RNA processing reactions. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Ski7 plays an important role in this mRNA quality control by mediating mRNA degradation by the RNA exosome. Ski7 was initially thought to be restricted to Saccharomyces cerevisiae and close relatives because the SKI7 gene and its paralog HBS1 arose by whole genome duplication (WGD) in a recent ancestor. We have recently shown that the preduplication gene was alternatively spliced and that Ski7 function predates WGD. Here, we use transcriptome analysis of diverse eukaryotes to show that diverse eukaryotes use alternative splicing of SKI7/HBS1 to encode two proteins. Although alternative splicing affects the same intrinsically disordered region of the protein, the pattern of splice site usage varies. This alternative splicing event arose in an early eukaryote that is a common ancestor of plants, animals, and fungi. Remarkably, through changes in alternative splicing and gene duplication, the Ski7 protein has diversified such that different species express one of four distinct Ski7-like proteins. We also show experimentally that the Saccharomyces cerevisiae SKI7 gene has undergone multiple changes that are incompatible with the Hbs1 function and may also have undergone additional changes to optimize mRNA quality control. The combination of transcriptome analysis in diverse eukaryotes and genetic analysis in yeast clarifies the mechanism by which a Ski7-like protein is expressed across eukaryotes and provides a unique view of changes in alternative splicing patterns of one gene over long evolutionary time.
Advanced Materials Treatment by Shock Waves

The shock treatment of powders, for example, to increase defect density and activate sintering, or to density them to solid density has a relatively long history of application attempts in the area of advanced materials. Nevertheless, the scale of industrial fabrication is very small in comparison, not only with the traditional powder technology methods, but even in comparison with the explosive forming, welding, or explosive hardening, which use the same type of loading. There are two main reasons for this.
A rapid UHPLC-MS/MS method for simultaneous quantitation of 23 perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in estuarine water.

Abstract Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) represent a large group of synthetic organic compounds which, as a result of their unique chemical properties, render them extremely recalcitrant to environmental degradation. Research concerning the environmental, ecological, and human health effects of PFAS has focused on long aliphatic chain (> C7) compounds having no ether bonds. For new, less studied, or previously unknown PFAS (≤ C7 with ether bonds), there is little to no information about their environmental behavior, transport, fate, exposure, and toxicological effects. LC-MS/MS has proven effective for detection and quantitation of some PFAS, however, straightforward analytical methods for simultaneous trace quantitation of broad mixtures of PFAS in varied complex environmental media, available to a wide range of researchers and also suitable for routine monitoring, remain critical needs. Here we describe a simple, rapid, sensitive, and reproducible quantitative analytical method for trace analysis and monitoring of 23 PFAS in estuarine water, using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). The developed MRM method allows simultaneous trace quantitation of a broad mixture of PFAS, including 13 perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids, 8 perfluoroalkyl sulfonates, and 2 short-chain perfluoroethers. The method provides better peak resolution and peak separation, and shorter run times (method separation/total run time: 6/8 min) compared to those of existing analytical methods. Percent recoveries for the validated method ranged from 78.54 to 112.61. LOD and LOQ values ranged from 0.48 to 1.68 pg/injection and 1.71 to 5.40 pg/injection, respectively. The validated method was used for quantitative PFAS analysis of estuarine water samples collected from 16 locations within the Perdido Bay estuary in coastal Alabama.
Technology Adoption and Critical Mass: The Case of the U.S. Electric Vehicle Market

The interdependence between electric vehicle (EV) adoption and charging station deployment could lead to multiple equilibria. Under certain market conditions, the issue of critical mass arises and a market failing to overcome this hurdle would revert to a no‐adoption outcome. Using panel data of EV sales and charging stations across U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA's), we find that more than half of the MSA's face critical mass constraints and that a subsidy policy targeting these critical‐mass constrained MSA's could be much more effective in promoting EV adoption than the current uniform policy.
TARNISHED PLANT BUG (HEMIPTERA: MIRIDAE) AND PREDACEOUS ARTHROPOD POPULATIONS IN COMMERCIALLY PRODUCED SELECTED NECTARIED AND NECTARILESS CULTIVARS OF COTTON

The effect of nectariless cotton cultivars on tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois), and beneficial arthropod populations was studied in Washington and Sunflower counties, Mississippi, in 1981 and 1982. Fifteen and 18 fields of nectaried and nectariless cotton were sampled in 1981 and 1982, respectively. Field size ranged from approximately 16 to 60 hectares, and all fields were sampled weekly with a D-Vac insect collector during June and July of both years. Adult tarnished plant bug populations were significantly (P < 0.01) lower in the nectariless cotton in overall mean numbers in both years, and overall mean numbers of nymphs were significantly (P < 0.10) lower in the nectariless cotton in 1981. The combined adult and nymph population of tarnished plant bugs was reduced in the nectariless cotton an average of 44.0 and 34.0% in 1981 and 1982, respectively .These results demonstrate that nectariless cotton can suppress plant bug populations over a large area of cotton. A correspondi...
Atlas-Based Multiorgan Segmentation for Dynamic Abdominal PET

Region of interest (ROI) delineation is required to extract tissue time-activity curves (TACs) in dynamic PET studies, to analyze functional changes or estimate physiological parameters. In this paper, we present an automatic framework for atlas-based multiorgan segmentation in abdominal dynamic PET images with three different methods (4D-pair, 4D-PCA, and 3-D), incorporating probabilistic atlas information into the segmentation as a spatial prior using maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation. Due to different tracer kinetics in each organ, PET images from different time periods post injection (p.i.) have great intensity differences. Thus, when dynamic images are available, to use this temporal information, two strategies can be employed. First, tissue activities from two frames with highly different activity distributions were selected, namely, an early 8–10 min p.i. and a late 55–60 min p.i. frame, and modeled as a bivariate Gaussian distribution. Theoretically, this method can be applied if more than one frame of data is available. Second, principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the full series of dynamic images to extract two images corresponding to the first two components. When dynamic image series are not available, the segmentation framework can be scaled down to 3-D, by building a univariate Gaussian distribution based on one 3-D image. The final segmentation results for all three methods were determined by optimizing the MAP-based energy function with two hyperparameters ( ${\lambda }_{l},{\eta }$ ) by multilabel graph cuts. We performed hyperparameter optimization and evaluated the proposed segmentation methods of 4D-pair and 4D-PCA by leave-one-out cross-validation using 30 sets of 4-D abdominal 18F-FP-(+)-DTBZ PET images. To evaluate segmentation results, the pancreas and spleen TACs were extracted, and the percentage error between the area under curve (AUC) of the TACs extracted by manual and automated segmentations was determined. The 4D-pair method with the hyperparameter combination of ( ${\lambda }\_{}{l}=0.1$ , ${\eta }=1$ ) yielded the best performance. TAC AUC %error results with PCA-based methods showed slightly higher %error than 4D-pair. The 3-D method showed much larger %error than the other two methods. The 4D-pair results agreed well with the manual segmentation, with mean pancreas and spleen TAC AUC %errors of 0.3±3.3% and −0.4±8.1%, respectively. In addition, the distribution volume ( $V_{T}$ ) values of pancreas and spleen were determined by kinetic modeling using TACs from either manual or automated segmentations. There were no significant differences between manual- and auto- $V_{T}$ values ( $p$ values of 0.14 and 0.74 for pancreas and spleen, respectively). Thus, the proposed automated segmentation method can provide robust and reliable ROIs of the pancreas and spleen for kinetic modeling.