cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Surface Phenotype of LPS-Binding Murine Lymphocytes:

We have characterized LPS+ murine lymphocytes by determining their surface phenotype using double-labeling immunofluorescence. In the spleen, 40% of cells were LPS+mu+ (B cells), 5% were LPS+Thy 1.2+ (T cells), and 5% were LPS+ cells bearing neither mu nor Thy 1.2 (null cells). Peripheral lymph nodes contained 11% LPS+ B cells and 2% LPS+ T cells, and mesenteric lymph nodes contained 15% LPS+ B cells and 3% LPS+ T cells. In contrast, the 4% LPS+ cells in Peyer's patches were all B cells, and the thymus contained 4% LPS+ T cells. Only the spleen contained LPS+ null cells. Within each lymphoid organ examined, the fraction of total lymphocytes identified as LPS+mu+, LPS+Ia+, or LPS+ delta + was similar, indicating that LPS+ B cells possessed the surface phenotype mu+Ia+ delta +, characteristic of a mature B cell. This conclusion was supported by the absence of LPS+mu+Ia+ delta + cells in newborn spleens. The fraction of mu+Ia+ delta + cells which also binds LPS was highest in spleen and lowest in Peyer's patches. Assuming that cells are, on the average, more mature in the progression from spleen to lymph nodes to Peyer's patches, it would appear that LPS+ cells are a less mature fraction of the mu+Ia+ delta + pool, distinguished by the presence of an LPS binding site or receptor. These data illustrate selective binding of LPS predominantly to mature B cells, but also to small numbers of null cells and T cells. The relationship of this binding to cell activation is discussed by considering the characteristics of cells which can be activated by LPS to clonal growth or differentiation under appropriate conditions.
M-components in immunoproliferative disorders. Electrophoretic and immunologic analysis of 200 cases.

Serum electrophoresis, in its various modifications, and Immunoelectrophoresis, as the slide micromodification of Scheidegger, are the simplest and most reliable methods for the detection and identification of the anomalous proteins and the variations of the normal protein concentrations which characterize the immunoproliferative disorders. This report concerns the application of these technics in the study of 200 cases of plasma cell myeloma and related diseases. The results of the analyses are presented and the relative diagnostic value of electrophoresis and Immunoelectrophoresis in these disorders is discussed.
Analysis on Common Diseases among Primary and Middle school Students in Daxing District of Beijing during 2009-2010

[Objective]To understand the status of common diseases among primary and middle school students in Daxing district of Beijing,provide the scientific basis for future prevention and control.[Methods]According to health monitoring dada of all primary and middle school students in Daxing district during 2009-2010,the prevalence of poor eyesight,obesity,malnutrition,dental caries,trachoma and anemia were analyzed statistically.[Results]A total of 62280 students received physical examination.The detection rate of poor eyesight was 48.43%,the detection rate of girls was higher than that of boys,and it increased with increasing grades.The detection rate of obesity was 12.63%,the detection rate of boys was higher than that of girls,and increased with increasing grade.The detection rate of malnutrition was 15.80%,the detection rate of girls was higher than that of boys.It was relatively higher in senior middle school,and was lower in junior middle school and primary school.The detection rate of iron deficiency anemia was 0.77%,the detection rate of girls was higher than that of boys,and it increased with increasing grades.The prevalence of dental caries in permanent teeth was 13.47%,the prevalence of girls was higher than that of boys.It was relatively lower in primary school,and was generally higher in junior and senior middle school.The detection rate of trachoma was 0.73%,and there was slight difference between boys and girls in different grades.[Conclusion]The prevention of poor eyesight,obesity and dental caries are still the top priorities in the prevention and treatment of common diseases.It is important to strive to explore positive and effective preventive measures to control its increase.
Autologous platelet-rich plasma: evidence for clinical use.

Purpose of reviewAutologous platelet-rich plasma (aPRP) is growing in popularity as a therapy to augment wound healing, speed the recovery from muscle and joint injuries, and enhance recovery after surgical repair. High-profile athletes treated with aPRP have increased the demand from the general po
Spectroscopic studies of lipids and biological membranes

My first interest in nuclear magnetic resonance (n.m.r.) spectroscopy began in 1964, when it seemed to me that spectroscopy, and in particular n.m.r., would be a most desirable way to analyse unknowns without smelling everything, or heating with sodium and checking for hydrogen evolution with a match (the classical A-level approach at the time). Unfortunately, I had to wait a couple of years for some hands-on experience with n.m.r. (a Varian A-60), but once an undergraduate, 1 was able to facilitate compound identifications in the organic laboratories (by after-hours use of the research instrument), although such a non-classical approach was not always appreciated. At the same time, Walter Moore’s prescient textbook question [ 11: ‘you have a biochemist friend who wants to study the transformation ATP-ADP in muscle using 31P n.m.r. ..: convinced me of the great potential of n.m.r. in biochemistry, and I started n.m.r. research in 1967. My first experiments were in conjunction with Jake MacMillan at Bristol, where I attempted to synthesize and characterize gibberellin glycosides, but 1 soon found that I was not particularly happy manipulating milligram quantities of natural products, and I began looking for a new research area. Around this time, I was then very fortunate to hear Dennis Chapman give an illuminating lecture on spectroscopic and other studies of lipids and membranes, and decided that this area had just the right blend of chemistry and biochemistry for me, so 1 started a Third Year BSc Honours Thesis with Geoffrey Eglinton in the summer of 1968. The project consisted of incorporating chlorophylls and quinones (plastoquinones and ubiquinones) into egg lecithin multibilayers, in an attempt to monitor electron transfer across the membrane upon illumination, in addition to using n.m.r. to study the interactions between the various membrane components. Fig. 1 shows some typical n.m.r. results thus obtained. Although crude, the indications were that n.m.r. could be used to investigate intermolecular interactions in model photosynthetic membranes, that some quinone peaks could be resolved, and that bacteriochlorophyll appeared to have a ‘condensing’ effect on the lipid molecules, in much the same way that cholesterol does (E. Oldfield, unpublished work, [2]). This seemed like a good area for future research, so I joined Dennis at the University of Sheffield in the Autumn of 1969 for postgraduate research. The 9 months required for an ultrasonicator to arrive provided sufficient time to reflect upon the advisability of using sonication to produce samples for high-resolution n.m.r. work, and I decided alternative approaches might be needed for characterizing lipids and biological membranes. Fortunately, we happened to have on hand a small quantity of perdeuterated dimyristo I lecithin, and Bill Derbyshire,
THE PAST AND FUTURE OF INSECT MUSCLES

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the past and future of insect muscles. Studies on teased preparations by the first microtomes showed that striated muscles of insects and other animals comprise aligned arrays of striated myofibrils, which might reflect a degree of order beyond the resolving power of the light microscope. The insect, with its innocuous hemolymph and readily accessible muscle cells, might fall apart under a needle or cover slip in some instances to reveal myofibrils from which mitochondria detach as readily as peas from a pod. From the functional standpoint, the contractile fibrils of striated muscles are best considered in terms of the accompanying membranes involved in control of cyclic length changes, but it is descriptively convenient to consider them separately. In insects, visceral muscles, the functional counterparts of which in the vertebrate body are smooth, are striated in common with the skeletal cells and display a 12-membered actin orbital around each myosin filament, though imperfect preservation and/or sectioning suggest a less regular situation.
Transcription factors of the alternative NF-κB pathway are required for germinal center B-cell development

The NF-κB signaling cascade relays external signals essential for B-cell growth and survival. This cascade is frequently hijacked by cancers that arise from the malignant transformation of germinal center (GC) B cells, underscoring the importance of deciphering the function of NF-κB in these cells. The NF-κB signaling cascade is comprised of two branches, the canonical and alternative NF-κB pathways, mediated by distinct transcription factors. The expression and function of the transcription factors of the alternative pathway, RELB and NF-κB2, in late B-cell development is incompletely understood. Using conditional deletion of relb and nfkb2 in GC B cells, we here report that ablation of both RELB and NF-κB2, but not of the single transcription factors, resulted in the collapse of established GCs. RELB/NF-κB2 deficiency in GC B cells was associated with impaired cell-cycle entry and reduced expression of the cell-surface receptor inducible T-cell costimulator ligand that promotes optimal interactions between B and T cells. Analysis of human tonsillar tissue revealed that plasma cells and their precursors in the GC expressed high levels of NF-κB2 relative to surrounding lymphocytes. Accordingly, deletion of nfkb2 in murine GC B cells resulted in a dramatic reduction of antigen-specific antibody-secreting cells, whereas deletion of relb had no effect. These results demonstrate that the transcription factors of the alternative NF-κB pathway control distinct stages of late B-cell development, which may have implications for B-cell malignancies that aberrantly activate this pathway.
Stochastic Algebraic Equations

Methods are discussed for solving approximately linear algebraic equations with random parameters, referred to as stochastic algebraic equations (SAEs). Section 8.1 defines SAEs and outlines potential difficulties related to the solution of these equations. Section 8.2 presents solutions of SAEs with random entries of arbitrary uncertainty by Monte Carlo simulation, stochastic reduced order models, stochastic Galerkin, stochastic collocation, and reliability methods. SAEs with random entries of small uncertainty are solved in Section 8.3 by Taylor series, perturbation, Neumann series, and equivalent linearization methods.
Synthesis and intramolecular glycosylation of sialyl mono-esters of o-xylylene glycol. The importance of donor configuration and nitrogen protecting groups on cyclization yield and selectivity; isolation and characterization of a N-sialyl acetamide indicative of participation by acetonitrile

The synthesis and cyclization reactions, leading to spirocyclic medium ring-sized diolides, of o-(hydroxymethyl)xylylene monoesters of sialyl thioglycosides is described. Cyclization yields and stereoselectivities are found to vary as a function of the anomeric stereochemistry of the thioglycoside and of the N5 protecting group, and these effects are discussed in terms of the reaction mechanism. Cyclization in the presence of acetonitrile results in the isolation and characterization of a Ritter-type N-sialyl acetamide, which affords strong evidence for the participation of acetonitrile in the form of sialyl nitrilium ions.
America's War on Same-Sex Couples and their Families: And How the Courts Rescued Them

America's War on Same-Sex Couples and Their Families is a legal, political, and social history of constitutional amendments in twenty American states (with 43 percent of the nation's population) that prohibited government recognition of all forms of relationship rights (marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships) for same-sex couples. Based on 175 interviews with gay and lesbian pairs in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin, the volume has great human-interest value and chronicles how same-sex couples and their children coped within harsh legal environments. The work ends with a lively explanation of how the federal judiciary rescued these families from their own governments. In addition, the book provides a model of the grassroots circumstances under which harassed minority groups migrate out of oppressive state regimes, together with an estimate of the economic and other costs (to the refugees and their governments) of the flight from persecution.
Chloro(p-tolylimido-κN)[N,N′-(trimethylsilyl)ferrocene-1,1′-diaminato-κ2N,N′]vanadium(V)

The title compound, [VCl(C7H7N){Fe(C8H13NSi)2}] or [FeV(C7H7N)(C8H13NSi)2Cl], crystallizes with the aromatic ring in the p-tolyl­imido unit parallel to the two cyclo­penta­dienyl rings of the ferrocene moiety; the vanadium-bound chloride ion also lies in the plane occupied by the imido ligand. A mirror plane bisects the molecule through the V atom, the imido ligand and the Fe atom.
Symplectic structure of statistical variational data assimilation

Data assimilation variational principles (4D-Var) exhibit a natural symplectic structure among the state variables x(t) and x(t). We explore the implications of this structure in both Lagrangian coordinates {x(t),x(t)} and Hamiltonian canonical coordinates {x(t),p(t)} through a numerical examination of the chaotic Lorenz 1996 model in ten dimensions. We find that there are a number of subtleties associated with discretization, boundary conditions, and symplecticity, suggesting differing approaches when working in the the Lagrangian versus the Hamiltonian description. We investigate these differences in detail, and accordingly develop a protocol for searching for optimal trajectories in a Hamiltonian space. We find that casting the problem into canonical coordinates can, in some situations, considerably improve the quality of predictions.
RTL implementations and FPGA benchmarking of selected CAESAR Round Two authenticated ciphers

Authenticated ciphers are cryptographic transformations which combine the functionality of confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. This research uses register transfer-level (RTL) design to describe selected authenticated ciphers using a hardware description language (HDL), verifies their proper operation through functional simulation, and implements them on target FPGAs. The authenticated ciphers chosen for this research are the CAESAR Round Two variants of SCREAM, POET, Minalpher, and OMD. Ciphers are discussed from an engineering standpoint, and are compared and contrasted in terms of design features. To ensure conformity and standardization in evaluation, all four candidates are implemented with an identical version of the CAESAR Hardware API for authenticated ciphers. Functionally correct implementations of all four ciphers are realized, and results are compared against each other and previous results in terms of throughput, area, and throughput-to-area (TP/A) ratio. SCREAM is found to have the highest TP/A ratio of these four ciphers in the Virtex-6 FPGA, while Minalpher has the highest TP/A ratio in the Virtex-7 FPGA.
Study of Methyl Parathion Degradation by Arthrobacter globiformis Ad26 Isolated from Soil

Methyl parathion (MP), a widely used organophosphorus (OP) pesticide, degrader was isolated from MP contaminated soil sample. It was identified as Arthrobacter globiformis AD26 on the basis of biochemical studies and 16s rRNA analysis. MP at a concentration of 1250 μg/mL was totally biodegraded by Arthrobacter globiformis AD26 as the sole carbon source at retention time (RT) for 72 hours on shaker. Cells grown in medium containing MP as sole carbon source, showed higher amount of protein, than the cells grown in presence of glucose as sole carbon source which was estimated by Biuret method. These results were confirmed by SDS-PAGE which showed induction of 97 kDa protein. P-nitrophenol (PNP), a hydrolysis product of MP, was also completely degraded by Arthrobacter globiformis AD26. This strain contained plasmid of approximately 47 kb size. Plasmid-curing experiments produced plasmid-free strain. This strain was unable to utilize MP demonstrating that the degradative genes for MP were located on the 47-kb plasmid.
Relative motion estimation using visual---inertial optical flow

This paper proposes a method to measure the motion of a moving rigid body using a hybrid visual---inertial sensor. The rotational velocity of the moving object is computed from visual optical flow by solving a depth-independent bilinear constraint, and the translational velocity of the moving object is estimated by solving a dynamics constraint that reveals the relation between scene depth and translational motion. By fusing an inertial sensor, the scale of translational velocities can be estimated, which is otherwise unrecoverable from monocular visual optical flow. An iterative refinement scheme is introduced to deal with observation noise and outliers, and the extended Kalman filter is applied for motion tracking. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by simulation studies and practical experiments, and the results show the effectiveness of the proposed method in terms of accuracy and robustness.
The effect of temperature variation on chloride penetration in concrete

Abstract Under a service condition, there are simultaneous temperature variation, moisture fluctuation, and chloride migration in concrete. The coupling effects among them are important for evaluating long-term performance of reinforced concrete structures. In this paper, the effect of temperature gradient on chloride penetration in concrete was experimentally studied. A new experimental technique was established. A systematic experimental study was conducted using the new testing method and concrete specimens with different water-cement ratios, subjected to different temperature gradients and chloride concentrations on the boundary. The test data showed that the temperature variation can significantly increase the chloride penetration process when the gradient of temperature and the gradient of chloride are in the same direction. Gradients in the same direction means that the heat transfer and the chloride penetration are in the same direction. For example, on the right surface of a concrete wall, the temperature is higher than that on the left surface of the wall. Similarly, the chloride concentration on the right surface of the wall is higher than that on the left surface. As a result, both heat transfer and chloride penetration occur from the right to the left. A theoretical model was developed to characterize the coupled chloride penetration and temperature gradient. An additional term was included in the Fick’s law to take into account the effect of temperature gradient. The proportional factor in front of the temperature gradient is defined as the coupling parameter, D Cl-T , which represents the effect of the temperature gradient on chloride penetration. An analysis method was developed to calculate the coupling parameter D Cl-T based on the experimental results. D Cl-T is not a constant but increases with chloride concentration as well as temperature difference in the concrete and decreases with increasing age of concrete. A material model was developed for D Cl-T using the test data obtained in this study.
Leaf Tissue Assay for Lepidopteran Pests of Bt Cotton

Laboratory measurements of susceptibility to Bt toxins can be a poor indicator of the ability of an insect to survive on transgenic crops. We investigated the potential of using leaf tissue for evaluating heliothine susceptibilities to two dualgene Bt cottons, Gossypium hirsutum L. A preliminary study with different cotton leaf disk combinations was performed to determine the best procedure for using cotton tissue to assay bollworm, Helicoverpa zea Boddie, and tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens F. Neonate larvae from a laboratory colony were assayed simultaneously on leaf disks of non-Bt and two dual-gene transgenic cottons in addition to meridic diet overlaid with discriminating doses of a commerciallyformulated Bt product. The bollworm colony in the laboratory was more tolerant than tobacco budworm to the commercially-formulated Bt product. When corrected for the non-Bt check, percentage of bollworm larval mortality was 42.1 and 71.9 on leaf disks of the two dual-gene Bt cottons. No tobacco budworm survived on dualgene Bt cotton leaf disks in the study. Assays using transgenic cotton leaf disks may compliment current meridic diet-based methods by providing a linkage to insect survival on Bt cotton plants.
Abstract 19102: Cell Injection Site Influences the Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy Effectiveness for Left Ventricular Dysfunction in Ischemic Cardiomyopathy

Introduction: Clinical trials have shown that trans-endocardial stem cell injection (TESI) of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) both reduced myocardial infarct scars and normalizes cardiac sphericity, 2...
Framing China: Discourses of Othering in US News and Political Rhetoric

China has emerged in the early 21st century as arguably the most important partner and rival to the United States. Increasingly, the United States perceives China’s rise on the world stage as a thr...
Weighted hybrid features for person re-identification

In video-surveillance, person re-identification is described as the task of recognizing distinct individuals over a network of cameras. It is an extremely challenging task since visual appearances of people can change significantly when viewed in different cameras. Many person re-identification methods offer distinct advantages over each other in terms of robustness to lighting, scale and pose variations. Keeping this consideration in mind, this paper proposes an effective new person reidentification model which incorporates several recent state-of-the-art feature extraction methodologies such as GOG, WHOS and LOMO features into a single framework. Effectiveness of each feature type is estimated and optimal weights for the similarity measurements are assigned through a multiple metric learning method. The proposed re-identification approach is then tested on multiple benchmark person re-identification datasets where it outperforms many other state-of-the-art methodologies.
Glacial/Interglacial Changes in the Carbon Cycle of Lake Baikal

This chapter presents a conceptual framework for understanding the impact of glacial/interglacial climate changes on the carbon cycle of Lake Baikal. To do so, we bring together evidence from mass-balance estimates, from the carbon and nitrogen compositions of plankton, particulate organic matter and the surface layer of bottom sediments, and watershed soils and riverine sediments, as well as from Lake Baikal organic sedimentary records of the last glacial/interglacial transition and of the last climatic cycle to 130 Ka BP. The goal of this synthesis is to offer new ways of examining organic carbon paleoproductivity records.
Multivariate statistical approaches to identify the major factors governing groundwater quality

Multivariate statistical techniques, discriminant analysis, cluster and principal component analysis were applied to the dataset on groundwater quality of Longyan basin of Fujian Province (South China), to extract principal factors controlling the source variations in the hydrochemistry and identify the major factors affecting groundwater quality. The dataset covers ten parameters of monitored wells at five typical locations in the region. The results were evaluated in accordance with the groundwater quality standards suggested by Specification GB/T14848-93, “The Quality Standard of Underground Water.” Cluster analysis results reveal that the groundwater in the study area is classified into two groups (A: 2000–2007 and B: 2008–2011) between the sampling sites, reflecting regular characters of interannual variability. Factor analysis/principal component analysis, applied to the datasets of the two different groups obtained from cluster analysis, resulted in three factors accounting for 85.5% and 100% of the total variance in the water quality datasets, respectively. Three of the ten parameters processed by discriminant analysis obtained a conformation rate of 100% which allowed a reduction in the dimensionality of large dataset, and also it found that most discriminant parameters (total alkalinity, chloride ion, sulfate ion) are responsible for temporal variation of water quality. So this study illustrates the usefulness of multivariate statistical techniques for interpreting complex datasets of water quality, identifying pollution sources/factors for effective groundwater quality management.
Identifying an Empirically-Derived 10-item Religiousness Measure from Lipsmeyer’s Personal Religious Inventory: Psychometric Properties of the PRI-10

Although it is used throughout social scientific research and is psychometrically robust, Lipsmeyer’s (1984) 45-item Personal Religious Inventory (PRI) is notably lengthy and may be less suitable than other more compendious measures of religiousness. The present study sought to identify, describe, and validate a brief yet comprehensive measure of religiousness derived from the PRI. Nine hundred twenty-one university students (M age = 19.24) participated online. Through parallel analyses and exploratory factor analyses, the authors developed a 10-item, four-factor scale (the PRI-10) that measures aspects of Religious Integration; Religious and Social Morality; Nonritual Social Religious Activity; and; Ritual Attendance. Excellent internal validity was identified for the PRI-10 through confirmatory factor analysis (CFI = .991; RMSEA = .041), and robust convergent validity emerged from moderate to strong correlations with well-validated measures of religiousness and spirituality. Divergent validity emerged from nonsignificant and negligible correlations with participants’ age and grade point average. Further, individuals who reported low religiousness on the PRI-10 tended to have higher levels of psychological distress and need for treatment on the Langner Symptom Survey. Moreover, women who reported low levels of religiousness tended to report psychological distress above a clinically validated cutoff score denoting distress and need for treatment. The authors discuss the benefits and limitations of the novel measure, propose future psychometric validation, and suggest ways other researchers might utilize it.
A Dose-finding Study of a Wild-type Influenza A(H3N2) Virus in a Healthy Volunteer Human Challenge Model

Background The development of vaccines and therapeutics has relied on healthy volunteer influenza challenge studies. A validated human infection model with wild-type A(H1N1)pdm09 was reported previously. Our objective was to characterize a wild-type influenza A/Bethesda/MM1/H3N2 challenge virus in healthy volunteers. Methods Participants received a single dose of a cell-based, reverse-genetics, Good Manufacturing Practices-produced wild-type influenza A(H3N2)2011 virus intranasally and were isolated at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center for ≥9 days. Dose escalation was performed from 104 to 107 TCID50 (50% tissue culture infectious dose). Viral shedding and clinical disease were evaluated daily. Results Of 37 participants challenged, 16 (43%) had viral shedding and 27 (73%) developed symptoms, with 12 (32%) participants experiencing mild to moderate influenza disease (MMID), defined as shedding and symptoms. Only participants receiving 106 and 107 TCID50 experienced MMID at 44% and 40%, respectively. Symptom severity peaked on day 3, whereas most viral shedding occurred 1-2 days after challenge. Only 10 (29%) participants had a ≥4-fold rise in hemagglutination inhibition antibody titer after challenge. Conclusions The A/Bethesda/MM1/H3N2 challenge virus safely induced MMID in healthy volunteers, but caused less MMID than the A(H1N1)pdm09 challenge virus even at the highest dose. There was less detection of shedding though the incidence of symptoms was similar to A(H1N1)pdm09. Fewer serum anti-hemagglutinin (HA) antibody responses with less MMID indicate that preexisting immunity factors other than anti-HA antibody may limit shedding in healthy volunteers. This A/Bethesda/MM1/H3N2 challenge virus can be utilized in future studies to further explore pathogenesis and immunity and to evaluate vaccine candidates. Clinical trials registration NCT02594189.
Fraud Allegations and Government Contracting

This paper examines whether fraud allegations affect firms’ contracting with the government. Using a data set of whistleblower allegations brought under the False Claims Act against firms accused of defrauding the government, we find that federal agencies do not reduce the total dollar volume of contracts with accused firms; however, they substitute approximately 14% of the harder‐to‐monitor cost‐plus contracts for fixed‐price contracts. This effect is concentrated in the procurement of services and explained by contract and service substitution. Finally, we find that after the conclusion of the investigation, the government reduces the contract dollar volume by approximately 15% for cases that resulted in a settlement. Our findings indicate that contract‐design changes are used to mitigate uncertainty in suppliers’ reputation.
Abstract 039: A Small Fragment Derived from von Willebrand Factor Improves Survival in a Mouse Model of Endotoxemia-Induced Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation

Introduction: Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a life-threatening condition that results in wide-spread clot formation and organ failure. Sepsis-induced DIC is associated with a high...
Predicted Magnetic Properties of MXenes

Recent success in observing long-range magnetic ordering in two-dimensional (2D) materials has fueled interest in identifying promising material platforms for fundamental investigations of magnetic phases and development of nanoscale magnetic devices. Here, we review theoretical progress on understanding and predicting magnetic properties of MXenes. Predictions of intrinsic ground state ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic ordering, high predicted Curie temperatures, strong magnetic anisotropy, and robustness to oxygen and moisture suggest that MXenes are an ideal family of 2D materials for spintronics and quantum information applications. Moreover, magnetic MXenes are predicted to exhibit semi-metallic, semi-conducting, metallic, and half-metallic transport properties. The magnetic and transport properties are tunable via applied strain, doping, and defect engineering. Exciting challenges and opportunities remain in investigating heterostructures of magnetic MXenes and other 2D materials to realize novel device architectures and magnetic control of quantum phenomena.
Garlic mustard as a potential driver of change in soil microbial community metabolism under controlled conditions

Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) is a biennial plant that is invasive in woodland areas in the Midwestern and Northeastern United States. Garlic mustard has been shown in previous studies to inhibit fungal and microbial growth. It therefore seems plausible that garlic mustard may alter the metabolic function of the soil microbial community and may impact these communities early during its biennial life-cycle. To address whether either of these possibilities occur, garlic mustard and a common native woodland plant, Ageratina altissima (white snakeroot), were grown from seed in soil collected from Iowa woodland plots free of garlic mustard in a controlled environment. After three months of growth, the soil was analyzed with Biolog EcoPlates to determine if garlic mustard seedlings impacted the metabolic profile of the soil microbial community differently than white snakeroot. An ANOSIM determined that garlic mustard and white snakeroot treatments had different effects on metabolic profiles of the soil microbial communities (p = 0.001, R = 0.301), and that garlic mustard depressed the metabolic potential of the soil microbial community. Additionally, the extent to which garlic mustard inhibits native plant growth while also stimulating the growth of subsequent generations of garlic mustard was studied. The growth of white snakeroot and garlic mustard were compared when grown in soil collected from woodland garlic mustard infestations to plants grown in woodland soil lacking garlic mustard. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests indicate that white snakeroot growth was positively impacted by soil history, while garlic mustard was not (p = 0.05; p = 0.60, respectively). We conclude that garlic mustard has the potential to alter the function and possibly the composition of the soil microbial communities, while surprisingly increasing the growth of white snakeroot seedlings. Furthermore, it seems that garlic mustard can elicit effects during its first three months of growth, suggesting that this plant should be targeted for removal early during its biennial life-cycle. Future studies should examine these findings in the field.
Sonic to knuckles: evaluations on transfer reinforcement learning

Reinforcement Learning holds the potential to enable many systems with rapid, intelligent automated decision- making. However, reinforcement learning on embodied systems is a much greater challenge than the simulated environments and tasks which have been solved to date. A learner in an embodied system cannot run millions of trials or easily tolerate fatal trajectories. Therefore, the ability to train agents in simulated environments and effectively transfer their knowledge to real-world environments will be crucial, and likely an integral part of constructing future robotic systems. We perform experiments in an original transfer reinforcement learning task we constructed using the game “Sonic 3 and Knuckles," evaluating two transfer learning techniques from the literature.
Solution-Phase Halide Exchange and Targeted Annealing Kinetics in Lead Chloride Derived Hybrid Perovskites.

Hybrid perovskites are a promising class of materials for a range of optoelectronic applications. Many material properties are dictated by the details of the synthetic process, yet a mechanistic un...
Continuities and Discontinuities: Antiziganism in Germany and Italy (1900-1938)

In both Germany and Italy before WWI, populations labelled as Gypsies found themselves in a “state of exception” which aimed at their elimination from the nation-state by targeting them with policies emanating from the executive. Both states adhered to the liberal idea of equality before the law, but used the flexibility provided by executive authority to pressure Gypsies to leave the state. After WWI, both Germany and Italy were forced to retain “Gypsies” inside the state as a result of changing geopolitical circumstances. However, in fascist Italy before WWII, executive authorities continued to operate in a “state of exception” and ceased adhering to the rule of law, interning Gypsies in concentration camps and seeking to eliminate them through forced assimilation. In Weimar Germany, legislative policies sought to eliminate Gypsies through bringing them inside of the law. The contradiction between increasingly racialized notion of Gypsy inassimilability and forced assimilation’s inevitable failures certainly laid the groundwork for extreme measures in both places during WWII.
Galactic Center Extinction: Evidence of Metallic Needles in the General Interstellar Medium

The extinction curve derived from Infrared Space Observatory mid-infrared observations of the Galactic center (GC) exhibits a surprisingly flat behavior in the ~3-8 μm region, contrary to the deep minimum expected from standard interstellar dust models consisting of bare silicate and graphite dust particles. We show that this extinction is likely caused by the presence of metallic needles in the interstellar medium (ISM) toward the GC. If the needles contribute only to the 3-8 μm extinction, they must have a long-wavelength cutoff at ~8 μm and therefore a typical length over radius ratio of ~600, smaller than the ~3 × 103 aspect ratio determined for the needles in Cas A. Homogeneously distributed throughout the ISM, they comprise only a minor mass fraction of the ISM, with a needle-to-H mass ratio of ~5 × 10-6, which is equivalent to 0.14% of the silicate dust mass. Their total ISM abundance then can be readily explained by the combined production in supernovae and O-rich stellar outflows. The GC observations show that metallic needles, in spite of their low abundance or nonuniform distribution, can be the dominant source of opacity in the 3-8 μm wavelength region. However, expelled into the intergalactic medium, their abundance is too low to cause any dimming of cosmological sources, and their length is too short to make them a significant source of submillimeter emission.
The impact of vicarious gallbladder activity in Tc-99m MAG3 diuretic renography

3029 Introduction: The Impact of Vicarious Gallbladder Activity in Tc-99m MAG3 Diuretic Renography Background: Technetium(Tc)-99m Mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3) is the preferred radiopharmaceutical used in renal scintigraphy. MAG3’s predominant uptake and excretion through the kidneys enables us to noninvasively evaluate renal function and urodynamic obstruction. After intravenous injection of Tc-99m MAG3, it is known that 90% of the dose is excreted through the renal system while the remaining 10% of radiotracer is excreted through the hepatobiliary system. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the frequency of vicarious gallbladder activity seen in Tc-99m MAG3 renal scintigraphy using our standard protocol and to highlight its impact in the evaluation of diuretic renography. Methods: In this IRB approved study, we retrospectively reviewed the MAG3 renal scintigraphy studies performed at our institution from Jan 01, 2019 to Dec 01, 2019. These studies were comprised of 97 renal scintigraphy scans for differential function, and 195 diuretic renography studies using furosemide challenge. The differential function protocol at our institution consists of 30 minutes of posterior dynamic imaging, and the diuretic renography includes an additional 30 minutes of imaging following the intravenous administration of 40 mg furosemide (Lasix). Additional right lateral static and/or abdominal SPECT/CT images were also performed in order to verify gallbladder radiotracer uptake. The imaging data was processed on MIM software (MIM Software Inc.) for calculation of differential split function, cortical emptying, and collecting system emptying - with re-processing at the discretion of the radiologist. Results: On all of the 292 renal scintigraphy studies performed at our institution, there was confirmed visualization of radiotracer excretion into the liver during the first 30 minutes of imaging. Of the 97 differential function studies, no gallbladder uptake was visualized resulting in no artifact and therefore no need to re-process the images. Of the 195 patients in whom furosemide was given, we observed 45 (23%) patients with gallbladder and/or small bowel activity, and 18 (9%) requiring image re-processing or manipulation for more accurate results. In addition, four SPECT/CTs were performed in order to confirm the presence of gallbladder and/or small bowel. Conclusions: Vicarious gallbladder uptake of Tc-99m MAG3 radiotracer is a frequently encountered phenomenon in diuretic renography utilizing the standard protocol at our facility. A lack of recognition could potentially result in the misevaluation of a patient’s urodynamic presentation, and has the potential to lead to misdiagnosis in the right kidney. A post-Lasix right lateral view image and/or SPECT/CT is able to confirm gallbladder radiotracer accumulation and should be considered after diuretic renography. The nuclear medicine technologist should be aware of this phenomenon in daily practice and take extreme caution when drawing regions of interest.
Invasive mussels regulate nutrient cycling in the largest freshwater ecosystem on Earth

Biogeochemical cycles involve the fluxes of chemical elements within and among ecosystems. These cycles are complex, potentially involving interactions among hundreds of species as well as numerous physical processes. Organisms and physical processes can both move elements, such as nutrients, among different ecosystems and across habitats within an ecosystem. Lakes and oceans often have distinct, vertically distributed habitats, which are connected by biogeochemical fluxes. The open water (pelagic) habitat overlies the benthic (bottom) habitat, and chemicals such as C, N, and P are cycled within and between the two habitats by a multitude of processes. In addition, because they reside at low elevations in the landscape, aquatic ecosystems often receive considerable amounts of water and chemicals from their surrounding landscapes (their watersheds). The Laurentian Great Lakes of North America (hereafter, Great Lakes) collectively represent the largest freshwater ecosystem in the world, containing over 20% of Earth’s surface freshwater. In PNAS, Li et al. (1) show that nonnative species of mollusks can regulate the P cycle of these socioecologically important ecosystems. Strikingly, these benthic animals, which reside in a narrow zone at the sediment–water interface, can regulate P cycling throughout the entire water columns of these enormous ecosystems. Historically, biogeochemical cycles have been considered to be controlled by microbes as well as physical processes such as runoff, wind, and currents. Direct effects of animals on biogeochemical fluxes have been viewed as unimportant, compared to fluxes mediated by microbes, except in unusual circumstances (2, 3). However, many recent studies show that animals can be important in modulating biogeochemical cycles in a myriad of ecosystem types and at multiple spatial and temporal scales (4⇓–6). Yet, the importance of “zoogeochemical” effects is quite variable among ecosystems. Within aquatic ecosystems, this paper by Li et al. (1) reveals the importance of … [↵][1]1Email: vannimj{at}miamioh.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Tree-Like Unit Refutations in Horn Constraint Systems

In this paper, we examine the problem of finding unit refutations of Horn constraint systems (HCSs). Recall that a Horn constraint is a linear constraint in which every coefficient belongs to the set \(\{0,1,-1\}\) and in which at most one coefficient is positive. In the current work, we extend the notion of unit refutations from CNF formulas to systems of linear constraints. Recall that for CNF formulas a unit resolution refutation is one in which every resolution step uses a one-literal (unit) clause. The equivalent notion in linear systems requires every inference step to use a one-variable (absolute) constraint. We analyze two problems associated with unit refutations of Horn constraint systems. In the length-bounded tree-like unit refutation (TLUR\(_{D}\)) problem, we ask if a given Horn constraint system has a tree-like unit refutation using at most L inference steps. In the optimal tree-like unit refutation (TLUR\(_{Opt}\)) problem, we ask for a tree-like unit refutation with the fewest inference steps. We show that the former problem is NP-complete and the latter is NPO-complete. We also show that the TLUR\(_{D}\) problem does not admit a polynomial size kernel with respect to a natural output parameter under some well-accepted complexity theoretic assumptions.
Effect of annealing on properties and performance of HfO2/SiO2 optical coatings for UV-applications

The field of ultraviolet (UV)-laser applications is currently experiencing rapid growth in the semiconductor processing, laser micromachining and biomedical markets. A key enabler for these technologies are optical coatings used to manipulate and direct laser beams in a targeted manner. As laser power, laser fluence and pulse frequencies increase, the demands on the physical properties of the coating materials become more stringent. We demonstrate how ion beam sputtering and post-deposition heat treatment are utilized to produce low loss optical coatings at 355 nm and 266 nm. The importance of precisely controlling the sputtering conditions for individual materials is highlighted and the influence of different process parameters on the resulting material properties is discussed. The effect of annealing on key performance parameters for optical coatings such as absorption, stress, roughness, and film structure is investigated. The low absorption achieved in this work results in high laser induced damage thresholds (LIDT) exceeding 2.5 J/cm2 and 6.5 J/cm2 for highly reflective (HR) mirrors and 7.6 J/cm2 and 15.7 J/cm2 for antireflective coatings at 266 nm and 355 nm, respectively.
Beyond Ramen: Investigating Methods to Improve Food Agency among College Students.

Many college students struggle to cook frequently, which has implications for their diet quality and health. Students’ ability to plan, procure, and prepare food (food agency) may be an important target for shifting the college student diet away from instant and inexpensive staples like packaged ramen. The randomized intervention study included two sequential cooking interventions: (1) six weeks of cooking classes based in food agency pedagogy held once per week, and (2) six weekly home delivered meal kits (3 meals per kit) to improve food agency, diet quality, and at home cooking frequency of college students. Based on availability and subsequent randomization, participants were assigned to one of four conditions that included active cooking classes, meal kit provision, or no intervention. Participants who took part in the cooking intervention had significant improvement in food agency immediately following the intervention period. Participants who did not participate in cooking classes and only received meal kits experienced significant, though less pronounced, improvement in food agency scores following the meal kit provision. Neither intervention improved diet quality or routinely improved cooking frequency. Active cooking classes may improve food agency of college students, though further research is needed to determine how this may translate into improved diet quality and increased cooking frequency.
An End-to-end Multi-task Object Detection using Embedded GPU in Autonomous Driving

Autonomous driving has gained popularity due to its high reliability compared to human drivers. Autonomous vehicles combine variety of sensors to perceive their surroundings, and use deep learning (DL) to extract complicated information from the sensing data. However, there are several challenges: Many DL models have explosive model sizes, and therefore not only time consuming but also power consuming when implementing on embedded systems on vehicles, further degrading the battery life-cycle. The current on-board AI treats lane detection and car location separately. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end multi-task environment detection framework. We fuse the 3D point cloud object detection model and lane detection model, with model compression technique applied. As on-board sensors forward information to the multi-task network, it not only parallel two detection tasks to extract combination information, but also reduces entire running time of the DL model. Experiments show by adding the model compression technique, the running speed of multi-task model improves more than $2\times$. Also, running time of lane detection model on Nvidia Jetson TX2 is almost $6\times$ less comparing with running on CPU, which shows reasonableness of using embedded AI computing device on autonomous vehicle.