cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Giant migrating contractions and their myoelectric correlates in the small intestine

We investigated the characteristics of spontaneously and pharmacologically induced giant migrating contractions (GMC) in the small intestine of conscious dogs. Myoelectric and contractile activities were recorded from eight sites, 40-70 cm apart, by surgically implanted bipolar electrodes and strain-gauge transducers, respectively. In addition to the usual phasic contractions in the fasted state, we observed spontaneous GMCs that generally originated in the mid or distal small intestine and migrated caudad. These contractions occurred infrequently and irregularly. The amplitude and duration of these giant contractions were severalfold larger than those of usual phasic contractions during phase III activity. The giant contractions migrated caudad at a velocity of approximately 1 cm/s. These contractions were preceded and followed by a period of inhibition of spontaneous motor activity. Some dogs whined and showed restlessness when giant contractions originated in the mid to upper small intestine. Intravenous morphine at 20, 50, 100, and 200 micrograms.kg-1 .h-1 or gastric instillation of 100 ml of 60% vinegar solution also initiated GMCs whose characteristics were similar to those of spontaneous GMCs. The GMC in response to these stimuli originated at more proximal sites than the spontaneous giant contractions. The GMC in response to morphine infusions occurred repeatedly, but in response to vinegar they occurred only once as a burst of contractions. These agents did not induce GMCs in the fed state. In most cases, the upstroke of a giant contraction was associated with a brief burst of electrical response activity. In some cases the burst of response activity lasted for the entire duration of giant contractions.
Promotion of Influenza Prevention Beliefs and Behaviors through Primary School Science Education

Background: School-based campaigns to improve student health have demonstrated short-term success across various health topics. However, evidence of the effectiveness of programs in promoting healthy beliefs and behaviors is limited. We hypothesized that educational curricula teaching the science behind health promotion would increase student knowledge, beliefs and adherence to healthy behaviors, in this case related to influenza. Methods: Integrated Science Education Outreach is a successful education intervention in Rochester, Minnesota public schools that has demonstrated improvements in student learning. Within this program, we designed novel curricula and assessments to determine if gains in knowledge extended to influenza prevention. Further, we coupled InSciEd Out programming with a clinical intervention, Influenza Prevention Prescription Education (IPPE), to compare students' attitudes, intentions and healthy behaviors utilizing surveys and hand hygiene monitoring equipment. Results: 95 students participated in (IPPE) in the intervention school. Talking drawings captured improvement in influenza prevention understanding related to hand washing [pre n=17(43%); post n=30(77%)] and vaccination [pre n=2(5%); post n=15(38%)]. Findings from 1024 surveys from 566 students revealed strong baseline understanding and attitudes related to hand washing and cough etiquette (74% or greater positive responses). Automated handhygiene monitoring in school bathrooms and classrooms estimated compliance for both soap (overall median 63%, IQR 38% to 100%) and hand sanitizer use (0.04 to 0.24 uses per student per day) but did not show significant pre/ post IPPE differences. Conclusions: Student understanding of principles of influenza prevention was reasonably high. Even with this baseline, InSciEd Out and IPPE improved students' unprompted knowledge of behaviors to prevent influenza, as reflected by talking drawings. This novel metric may be more sensitive in capturing knowledge among students than traditional assessment methods. However, IPPE did not produce further significant differences in student attitudes and behaviors regarding the flu.
It Takes a Village: Post-Prison Community-Based Prevention and Intervention Planning

Literacy holds strong at the core of social justice in the United States. People whose literacy skills are high, earn more, reside in safer neighborhoods, have access to health care, have few violent run-ins with law enforcement, and have a low representation in America’s state and federal prisons (Harlow 2003). President Obama wants a reasonable level of education for federal prison inmates, which the president sees as a college education (NYT, The Opinion Pages, 2.16.2016). Since we know that a majority of America’s prisons are illiterate or semi-literate with mental health disorders and addictions, the president’s goal has a seemingly endless set of problems. In order to educate convict felons, a majority of whom return to prison after their first release, state governments would have to dig deep in tax dollars in order to allocate funds to hire teachers, administrators, and modern instructional equipment. Seems doubtful, in the current crisis of rising costs of a four-year education for youth adults, that America taxpayers will offer dedicate more tax dollars to educate convicted criminals.
Induction of Major Histocompatibility Complex-mismatched Mouse Lung Allograft Acceptance With Combined Donor Bone Marrow: Lung Transplant Using a 12-Hour Nonmyeloablative Conditioning Regimen.

BACKGROUND Despite broad and intense conventional immunosuppression, long-term survival after lung transplantation lags behind that for other solid organ transplants, primarily because of allograft rejection. Therefore, new strategies to promote lung allograft acceptance are urgently needed. The purpose of the present study was to induce allograft tolerance with a protocol compatible with deceased donor organ utilization. METHODS Using the major histocompatibility complex-mismatched mouse orthotopic lung transplant model, we investigated a conditioning regimen consisting of pretransplant T cell depletion, low-dose total body irradiation and posttransplant (donor) bone marrow, and splenocyte infusion followed by posttransplantation cyclophosphamide. RESULTS Our results show that C57BL/6 recipients of BALB/c lung allografts undergoing this complete short-duration nonmyeloablative conditioning regimen had durable lung allograft acceptance. Mice that lacked 1 or more components of this regimen exhibited significant graft loss. Mechanistically, animals with lung allograft acceptance had established higher levels of donor chimerism, lymphocyte responses which were attenuated to donor antigens but maintained to third-party antigens, and clonal deletion of donor-reactive host Vβ T cells. Frequencies of Foxp3 T regulatory cells were comparable in both surviving and rejected allografts implying that their perturbation was not a dominant cell-regulatory mechanism. Donor chimerism was indispensable for sustained tolerance, as evidenced by acute rejection of allografts in established chimeric recipients of posttransplantation cyclophosphamide after a chimerism-ablating secondary recipient lymphocyte infusion. CONCLUSIONS Together, these data provide proof-of-concept for establishing lung allograft tolerance with tandem donor bone marrow transplantation using a short-duration nonmyeloablative conditioning regimen and posttransplant cyclophosphamide.
Future challenges for tracking foodborne diseases: PulseNet, a 20-year-old US surveillance system for foodborne diseases, is expanding both globally and technologically.

Regardless of where they get their information from, Americans are very likely to learn almost instantly whenever there is an outbreak of bacterial pathogens— Salmonella , Listeria , or the “bad” Escherichia coli —from contaminated food products. This is a huge achievement and a great benefit for public health: The earlier this information reaches consumers, the less people will be affected and public health and other authorities have more time to identify and contain the source of the outbreak. However, despite its contribution to public health, most Americans are not aware that a little‐known government program called “PulseNet USA” detects nearly all foodborne outbreaks of pathogenic bacteria. This is a bit odd because PulseNet has not only been very efficient in detecting foodborne disease but has thereby positively impacted public health and saved millions of dollars since it was founded 20 years ago. PulseNet is now undergoing profound changes as it both expands internationally to protect consumers in other countries and invests heavily—financially and scientifically—in new technologies such as next‐generation sequencing (NGS) to further improve its capacity to detect food contaminations. PulseNet is a national surveillance network based in Atlanta at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to detect outbreaks of foodborne bacterial pathogens in real time [1], [2]. Most of the detection itself is done at 83 accredited state, local, and federal laboratories that are connected with each other via an efficient communications network. PulseNet—both the center in Atlanta and individual laboratories—works closely with epidemiologists and other public health officials to investigate the source of an outbreak, establish appropriated public health measures, and assist federal agencies with improving the safety of the food supply. Simply stated, PulseNet's goal is to link information about people who have likely consumed the same contaminated food, even if …
Simulations of graphitic nanoparticles at air–water interfaces

The free energy associated with transferring a set of fullerene particles through a finite water layer is calculated using explicit solvent molecular dynamic simulations. Each fullerene particle is a carbon network of one or more spheroidal shells of graphitic carbon, and include single-shell (single-wall) or nested multi-shelled (nano-onions) structures ranging from 6 to 28 A in radius. Corresponding changes in energy suggest a stronger affinity of carbon nano-onions for water compared to their single-shelled analogues. In the case of multi-shelled structures, the free energy profiles display a global minimum only in the bulk liquid indicating a high affinity of multi-shelled fullerene for complete hydration. Single-wall particles however, display a minimum at the air–water interface and for particles larger than 2 nm this minimum is a global minimum possessing a lower energy compared to the particle's state of complete hydration. While the propensity for single-shell particles to adsorb to the air-interface may increase with increasing particle size, there is an indication based on line tension calculations that larger single-shell particles may actually exhibit enhanced wetting compared to their smaller analogues.
Impact of Facebook Usage on Macau's People Aged 45 and Above: Implications for Marketers, Social Workers and Policy Makers

Facebook kept growing since it was offered to college students in 2004 and became the number one online social network with one billion daily active users in September 2015. The daily one billion active users worldwide are sizeable enough to conclude that Facebook matters. Its heavy usage bridges the online and offline people connections, made Facebook a site for researchers interest. Researches were mainly conducted in western societies with college students and young adults. Not much research has been done on people aged 45 and above in Asia context. Aged 45 and above users were growing in a faster pace than the younger generation. Facebook has undeniably penetrated into different aspects of people’s life in Macau. This research is conducted in Macau and intended to "identify" and "describe" the Macau Facebook users life satisfaction, subjective happiness, and bonding and bridging social capital. The result generated from this research shall have implication and provide useful information for marketer on a wide span of marketing and product decisions on the segment of people age 45 and above. Results could also be employed for service planning and improvement by social workers and policy makers. This research shall be replicated for subjects in other countries and regions. This paper is part of an ongoing research on Facebook users aged 45 and above.
Advancing educational diversity: antifragility, standardization, democracy, and a multitude of education options

This essay is a response to a paper by Avery and Hains that raises questions about the often unintended effects of knowledge standardization in an educational setting. While many K-12 schools are implementing common core standards, and many institutions of higher education are implementing their own standardized educational practices, the question is raised about what is lost in this effort to ensure regularity and consistency in educational outcomes. One such casualty may be local knowledge, which in a rural context includes ancestral knowledge about land, society, and cultural meaning. This essay explores whether or not efforts to standardize crowd out such knowledge, and decrease the diversity of knowledge within our society’s complex ecosystem—thus making the ecosystem weaker. Using antifragility as a useful idea for examining system complexity, the essay considers the impact of standardization on innovation, democracy, and the valuation of some forms of knowledge (and its bearers) above others.
Real-Time Image-Guided Telerobotic System Integrating 3D Slicer and the Da Vinci Research Kit

In image-guided surgery, preoperative images are registered to an intraoperative tracking system and thereby provide visual feedback of the position of one or more surgical instruments with respect to the patient anatomy in the preoperative image. Two significant limitations of this approach are that relying on a preoperative image cannot account for registration error or intraoperative changes to the anatomy, and that the navigation system cannot provide mechanical assistance to the surgeon. We propose a system architecture to overcomeboth limitations by incorporating real-time image feedback in a telerobotic system that can provide guidance via virtual fixtures. We describe the implementation of this system, which integrates 3D Slicer and the da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK), and present a photoacoustic image-guided telerobotic system developed for endonasal skull base surgery as an example application.
Crowd Flow Segmentation Using Lagrangian Particle Dynamics

A crowd of people is composed of groupings that arise due to interdependence among its members. Advanced visual surveillance and monitoring capabilities for crowded scenes can make use of this inherent group-based composition of human crowds to understand its global motion dynamics and to compartmentalize it into sub-parts for detailed analysis. In this chapter we propose an algorithm that uses motion information to locate such distinct crowd groupings in terms of flow segments in videos of large dense crowds. The flow segments are located using a particle-based representation of the motion in the video. This representation enables detection of boundaries between dynamically distinct crowd groupings.
PET–Computed Tomography in Head and Neck Cancer: Current Evidence and Future Directions

Head and neck cancers are among the most common cancers worldwide. More than 90% to 95% are squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs). Accurate staging at diagnosis optimizes treatment planning with improved outcomes. Recently, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET-computed tomography (CT) has shown tremendous value at diagnosis for accurate staging, treatment planning, and prognostication; and after definitive therapy for assessing response and long-term surveillance. Novel non-FDG PET tracers are under investigation, which have great potential for improving patient care in this era of personalized medicine.
More Than Blacks and Whites: Theory Development on Immigrant Perceptions of the Police

The study of immigrants’ perceptions of the police cannot move significantly forward unless more explicit and encompassing theory can be formulated and tested. This chapter systematically reviews the existing research literature that compares attitudes toward the police across minority groups, and more importantly, innovatively proposes a theoretical framework that can help explain group differential views on the police between immigrants and non-immigrants and among immigrant groups. A number of existing and new theoretical perspectives are first organized by the two sources of influence that immigrant attitudes toward the police are subject to: universal factors that shape all residents’ attitudes toward the police, and group-specific factors that only apply to foreign-born individuals. Then within both universal and immigrant-specific factors, there are four subcategories of demographic, experiential, structural, and attitudinal variables. This chapter ends with a discussion of directions for future research.
Constraining the inclination of the low-mass X-ray binary Cen X-4

We present the results of ellipsoidal light curve modeling of the low mass X-ray binary Cen X-4 in order to constrain the inclination of the system and mass of the neutron star. Near-IR photometric monitoring was performed in May 2008 over a period of three nights at Magellan using PANIC. We obtain J, H and K lightcurves of Cen X-4 using differential photometry. An ellipsoidal modeling code was used to fit the phase folded light curves. The lightcurve fit which makes the least assumptions about the properties of the binary system yields an inclination of 34.9 (+4.9, -3.6) degrees, which is consistent with previous determinations of the system's inclination but with improved statistical uncertainties. When combined with the mass function and mass ratio, this inclination yields a neutron star mass of 1.51 (+0.40, -0.55) M_sun. This model allows accretion disk parameters to be free in the fitting process. Fits that do not allow for an accretion disk component in the near-IR flux gives a systematically lower inclination between approximately 33 and 34 degrees, leading to a higher mass neutron star between approximately 1.7 M_sun and 1.8 M_sun. We discuss the implications of other assumptions made during the modeling process as well as numerous free parameters and their effects on the resulting inclination.
Effect of p -Anisaldehyde and a Yellow Color on Behavior and Capture of Western Flower Thrips

Observations in a flight chamber olfactometer and in glasshouses of sweet pepper or tomato suggest a chemokinetic response by western flower thrips (WFT) to p-anisaldehyde rather than a response based on anemotaxis, chemotaxis, or an odor-induced visual response. Yellow water traps baited with p-anisaldehyde increased capture of WFT >10-fold over non-baited yellow traps, and >100-fold over non-baited black traps. Evidence of baited trap interference with nearby non-baited traps was detected, suggesting a need for caution in interpretation of baited versus non-baited trap catches under glasshouse conditions where traps are not adequately spaced.
Development of Cells of the B-Lymphocyte Lineage in Longterm Culture

The objective of this paper is to give a brief overview of our laboratory’s present activities utilizing a culture system which supports the longterm growth of cells restricted to the B-lymphocyte lineage. These studies are aimed at understanding the fundamental mechanisms involved in the normal development of B-lymphocytes. This in vitro system can overcome some difficulties associated with heterogeneous cell populations and interpretations of studies utilizing immortalized B cell lymphoma lines.
Updates in vitamin D therapy in cystic fibrosis.

Purpose of review To summarize recent developments the role of vitamin D and treatment of vitamin D deficiency in cystic fibrosis. Recent findings Although treatment of low vitamin D levels continues to be important for optimizing bone health in cystic fibrosis, increasing data on the extraskeletal effects of vitamin D are becoming available. Exploratory studies of vitamin D in modulation of respiratory and intestinal microbiomes, and the influence of vitamin D on the metabolomic signature of cystic fibrosis, suggest expanded roles for vitamin D in cystic fibrosis disease and treatment. Summary Emerging developments in cystic fibrosis regarding therapeutics and effects of vitamin D on bone health, inflammation, microbiome, and the metabolome are summarized.
Deep-learning-enabled computational imaging (Conference Presentation)

Deep learning is a class of machine learning techniques that uses multi-layered artificial neural networks for automated analysis of signals or data. The name comes from the general structure of deep neural networks, which consist of several layers of artificial neurons, each performing a nonlinear operation, stacked over each other. Beyond its main stream applications such as the recognition and labeling of specific features in images, deep learning holds numerous opportunities for revolutionizing image formation, reconstruction and sensing fields. In this presentation, I will provide an overview of some of our recent work on the use of deep neural networks in advancing computational microscopy and sensing systems, also covering their biomedical applications.
Title VII's Unintended Beneficiaries: How Some White Supremacist Groups Will Be Able to Use Title VII to Gain Protection from Discrimination in the Workplace

Although employment discrimination based on religion was not the primary impetus behind the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII does prohibit employers from discriminating against employees, former employees, and prospective employees based on their religion. Statistics from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission demonstrate that of the five protected classifications within Title VII, claims of religious discrimination in the workplace lag behind claims based on race, color, sex, and national origin. Statistics also show religion-based claims have been rising over the past several years.One set of beliefs with which courts and the EEOC have had to wrestle when determining the contours of Title VII’s prohibition against religion-based discrimination involves white supremacy. Courts and the EEOC have had to determine whether an individual’s membership in a white supremacist organization entitles him to Title VII’s protection against religion-based discrimination. Although early court opinions ruled against granting Title VII protection to these individuals, members of these groups have become more creative and have achieved at least some success in gaining Title VII protection against religion-based discrimination in the workplace. The Creativity Movement now proclaims on its website that it is a religion and that its members are now protected by federal laws that prohibit discrimination. As a result of creative use of Supreme Court precedent and with the clever structuring of their white supremacist organizations, members of these groups have gained, and can continue to gain, protection from a statute these individuals’ intolerant attitudes at least partially caused to be enacted. The Article will analyze and discuss various theories of actionable religion-based discrimination, address the prevalence of religion-based workplace discrimination, and argue that by changing the nature and structure of these groups while staying true to their underlying beliefs, members of white supremacist groups can benefit from Title VII protection.
Inductor Current State-space based Estimation within a Point-of-Load Buck Converter

The recent emergence of digital control for DC/DC converters requires the deployment of modern control algorithms. This paper explores further the usage of state-space based control to buck converters with a discussion of the current estimation methods. These are coded in assembly language for faster calling from a master C program within a microcontroller platform.
On-Chip Precision Residual Strain Diagnostic Based on Gap-Dependent Electrical Stiffness

An on-chip strain measurement device is demonstrated that harnesses precision frequency measurement to precisely extract sub-nm displacements, allowing it to determine the residual strain in a given structural film with best-in-class accuracy, where stress as small as 15MPa corresponds to 2.9nm of displacement. The approach specifically harnesses a spoke-supported ring structure (cf. Fig. 1) surrounded both inside and outside by balanced capacitive-gap transducers that pull its resonance frequency according to strain-induced changes in inner and outer electrode-to-structure gap spacing. The use of a ring structure with balanced electrodes further eliminates uncertainty in the starting gap spacing, which in turn enhances accuracy. The importance of attaining such accuracy manifests in the fact that knowledge of residual strain might be the single most important constraint on the complexity of large mechanical circuits, such as the mechanical filter of [1].
Intra-bone Bone Marrow Transplantation in Pig-to-Nonhuman Primates for the Induction of Tolerance Across Xenogeneic Barriers

Mixed chimerism and thymic tissue transplantation strategies have achieved xenogeneic tolerance in pig-to-mouse models, and both have been extended to pig-to-baboon models. A mixed chimerism strategy has shown promise toward inducing tolerance in allogeneic models in mice, pigs, nonhuman primates (NHP), humans, and a rat-to-mouse small animal xeno-model. However, even though α-1,3-galactosyltransferase gene knockout (GalTKO) pigs have been used as bone marrow (BM) donors, direct intravenous injection of porcine BM cells was detected for only up to 4 days (peripheral macro-chimerism) in one case, and the rest lost chimerism within 2 days.Recent data in allogeneic models demonstrated that direct injection of donor BM cells into recipient BM spaces (intra-bone bone marrow transplantation: IBBMTx) produces rapid reconstitution and a higher survival rate compared to i.v. injection. In order to minimize the loss of injected porcine BM peripherally before reaching the BM space, Yamada developed a xeno-specific regimen including IBBMTx coated with a collagen gel matrix in a preclinical pig-to-baboon model (Yamada IBBMTx). This strategy aims to achieve improved, persistent macro-chimerism as well as engraftment of BM across a xenogeneic barrier. The initial study published in 2015 demonstrated that this IBBMTx strategy leads to markedly prolonged peripheral macro-chimerism detectable for up to 23 days. Furthermore, a more recent study using human CD47-transgenic (Tg) GalTKO pigs as xeno-donors achieved long-lasting macro-chimerism >60 days with evidence of reduction of anti-pig natural antibodies (nAb). This is the longest macro-chimerism that has ever been achieved in a preclinical large animal xenotransplant model to date. In this chapter, we introduce a brief summary of our achievements in regard to successful tolerance induction by utilizing our novel strategy of IBBMTx as well as describe the step-by-step methodology of surgical and in vitro procedures that are required for this project.
Access to Medicines Activism: Collaboration, Conflicts, and Complementarities

This chapter address three phases of access to medicines [A2M] advocacy. The first phase started in the late 1990s and continuing into at least the mid 2000s when global cooperation and collaboration between A2M advocates grew as they confronted the terrible scourge of HIV compounded by the refusal of pharmaceutical companies and rich country governments to take measures to increase affordability of newly effective ART. After some significant victories in securing lower prices and gaining access to off-patent generic ARVs, the second phase, starting in the mid 2000s, focused on using a plethora of access strategies to overcome or bypass patent monopolies on medicines and to resist Big Pharma and rich government pressure to increase IP protections and to cease use of TRIPS flexibilities. Unfortunately, during this phase fractures developed in the A2M movement about the comparative advantages and potential complementarity of voluntary licensing with other access strategies — most especially patent oppositions. In the third phase, as activists turned to new diseases and new issues like delinkage and transparency and to international high-level forums and drug pricing campaign in rich countries, new tensions have arisen about the impact of these activities on the historical global health justice issue of ensuring affordable and equitable access to existing medicines in LMICs. Although truly monumental efforts have resulted in dramatic improvement in access to medicines, the path forward will be complicated and contested.
The canonical join complex of the Tamari lattice

Abstract In this paper, we study a simplicial complex on the elements of the Tamari lattice in types A and B called the canonical join complex. The canonical join representation of an element w in a lattice L is the unique lowest expression ⋁A for w, when such an expression exists. We say that the set A is a canonical join representation. The collection of all such subsets has the structure of an abstract simplicial complex called the canonical join complex of L. We realize the canonical join complex of the Tamari lattice as a complex of noncrossing arc diagrams, give a shelling order on its facets, and show that it is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of Catalan-many spheres.
Absence of neurotensin attenuates intestinal dysbiosis and inflammation by maintaining Mmp7/α-defensin axis in diet-induced obese mice.

We previously reported that high levels of plasma neurotensin (NT), a gut hormone released from enteroendocrine cells of the small bowel, contribute to obesity and comorbid conditions. Gut microbiota has been implicated in the obesity development. Paneth cells are critical in maintaining gut microbiota composition and homeostasis by releasing antimicrobial proteins including α-defensins. The purpose of our current study was to determine the possible role of NT in gut microbiota composition and α-defensin gene expression associated with obesity. Here we show that the ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B ratio) and intestinal proinflammatory cytokines is significantly increased in NT+/+ mice fed with a high-fat diet (HFD) which were improved in NT-deficient mice. HFD disrupted the intestinal Mmp7/α-defensin axis, which was completely prevented in NT-/- mice. In addition, NT treatment inhibited DEFA5 expression and concurrent NF-κB activity, which was blocked by a pan PKC inhibitor (Go6983) or an inhibitor for atypical PKCs (CRT0066854). More importantly, the shRNA-mediated knockdown of atypical PKCτ reversed NT-attenuated DEFA5 expression and increased NF-κB activity. NT contributes to the HFD-induced disruption of gut microbiota composition and α-defensin expression. PKCτ/λ plays a central role in NT-mediated α-defensin gene expression which might be mediated through the inhibition of NF-κB signaling pathways in Paneth cells.
Temporal Decomposition-Based Stochastic Economic Dispatch for Smart Grid Energy Management

This paper presents a temporal decomposition strategy to decompose security-constrained economic dispatch (SCED) over the scheduling horizon with the goal of reducing its computational burden and enhancing its scalability. A set of subproblems, each with respect to demand response, normal constraints, and $N-1$ contingency corrective actions at a subhorizon, is formulated. The proposed decomposition deals with computational complexities originated from intertemporal interdependencies of system equipment, i.e., generators’ ramp constraints and state of charge of storage devices. The concept of overlapping intervals is introduced to make SCED subproblems solvable in parallel. Intertemporal connectivity related to energy storage is also modeled in the context of temporal decomposition. Besides, reserve up and down requirements are formulated as data-driven nonparametric chance constraints to account for wind generation uncertainties. The concept of $\phi -$ divergence is used to convert nonparametric chance constraints to more conservative parametric constraints. A reduced risk level is calculated with respect to wind generation prediction errors to ensure the satisfaction of system constraints with a confidence level after the true realization of uncertainty. Auxiliary problem principle is applied to coordinate SCED subproblems in parallel. Numerical results on three test systems show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Inverse design approaches for volumetric meta-optics

With modern nanofabrication technology, researchers and companies can reliably produce 3-dimensional patterns with feature sizes much smaller than the wavelength of visible light. The ability to do this in a scalable fashion brings nanophotonic research into the realm of commercial technology. For example, metasurfaces achieve high optical performance in fractions of the thickness of traditional bulky optical components and can be designed for unique, custom functionalities. By expanding the design space beyond the metasurface regime and allowing for photonic designs in full three dimensions, we can further increase the degrees of freedom at our disposal. This new design space is complex and inherently involves multiply scattering structures. In order to efficiently search for good solutions, we use an inverse design procedure based on the adjoint variable method. Taking advantage of this large design space, we can computationally optimize multi-functional meta-optical devices that achieve novel functionalities in minimal footprints. We demonstrate wavelength splitting photonic filters with application to color filter arrays on modern-day image sensors. These filters are designed to replace absorbing filters and instead re-route colors to specific sensor locations, thus recovering previously lost transmission. We show that these devices work with a variety of realistic fabrication restrictions and demonstrate their abilities experimentally in the microwave regime where we can realize layered devices via simple techniques like 3D printing. Finally, we comment on potential future applications and avenues where inverse design can help solve inherently difficult engineering challenges in nanophotonics.
Fertility preservation for cancer patients: treatment gaps and considerations in patients' choices.

Women with cancer may desire fertility preservation (FP) prior to initiating cancer treatment, but undergoing FP may result in treatment delays. This study sought to determine whether such delays existed in our population and which factors were associated with patients’ decision to proceed with FP. This was a historical cohort study performed at Montefiore Medical Center’s Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Health. Reproductive age women diagnosed with cancer and consulted for FP were included. The main outcome measure was the number of days between FP consultation and cancer treatment initiation. Factors associated with patients’ decisions to proceed with FP were also analyzed. Thirty out of 51 women in our study underwent FP including embryo cryopreservation, oocyte cryopreservation, ovarian tissue cryopreservation (OTC), both oocyte and embryo cryopreservation, or GnRH agonist treatment. The majority of women who underwent FP chose embryo cryopreservation (36.7%), followed by oocyte cryopreservation (33.3%). Of the 20 patients with partners who underwent FP, 13 (65%) froze embryos. Only 4 of the 30 women who underwent FP had all, or a portion of their services, covered by insurance. The mean treatment delay was 18 days (p = 0.007), with a mean consultation to oncologic treatment gap of 23 ± 16.8 and 41.4 ± 25.9 days in the non-FP and FP groups, respectively. Women with cancer diagnosis who underwent FP prior to initiating cancer treatment experienced a statistically significant delay in initiating cancer treatment. However, the clinical significance of this finding is unknown since FP treatments have not been associated with increased recurrence or mortality.
Attack Resilient Distributed Control for AC Microgrids with Distributed Robust State Estimation

In this paper, we propose an attack resilient distributed control for islanded AC microgrid (MG) systems. The distributed control on an MG is implemented based on a sparse communication network where each agent only has access to the information of itself and the neighboring distributed generators (DGs). Although distributed control has several advantages compared with its centralized counterpart, the increased dependence on communication and lack of access to global information make it vulnerable to cyber threats from malicious entities. To increase the resiliency of the distributed control, we propose to incorporate a distributed robust state estimation scheme. In the proposed scheme, the voltage and frequency references are calculated based on the results of the distributed estimator instead of directly using the local measurements. The performance of the proposed attack resilient control approach is validated through simulation results on a test microgrid system under false data injection attack.
An Analysis of the Individual Socialization of College Students from the Perspective of Social Psychology

Exploring the analysis of the development of individual socialization of college students from the perspective of social psychology. This paper explains the meaning and basis of socialization theory. According to Yu Guoliang’s “Social Psychology,” it further analyzes the transformation of individual socialization of college students. The comprehended results may be used for reference by relevant personnel.
A third COVID-19 vaccine shot markedly boosts neutralizing antibody potency and breadth

Abstract COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) vaccines have been rapidly developed and deployed globally as a measure to combat the disease. These vaccines have been demonstrated to confer significant protection, but there have been reports of temporal decay in antibody titer. Furthermore, several variants have been identified with variable degrees of antibody resistance. These two factors suggest that a booster vaccination may be worthy of consideration. While such a booster dose has been studied as a series of three homologous vaccines in healthy individuals, to our knowledge, information on a heterologous regimen remains unreported, despite the practical benefits of such a scheme. Here, in this observational study, we investigated the serological profile of four healthy individuals who received two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine, followed by a third booster dose with the Ad26.COV2.S vaccine. We found that while all individuals had spike-binding antibodies at each of the timepoints tested, there was an appreciable drop in titer by four months following the second vaccination. The third vaccine dose robustly increased titers beyond that of two vaccinations, and these elicited antibodies had neutralizing capability against all SARS-CoV-2 strains tested in both a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus-based pseudovirus assay and an authentic SARS-CoV-2 assay, except for one individual against B.1.351 in the latter assay. Thus, a third COVID-19 vaccine dose in healthy individuals promoted not just neutralizing antibody potency, but also induced breadth against dominant SARS-CoV-2 variants. Significance COVID-19 vaccines confer protection from symptomatic disease, but the elicited antibody titer has been found to decrease with time. Furthermore, SARS-CoV-2 variants with relative resistance against antibody neutralization have been identified. To overcome such issues, a third vaccine dose applied as a booster vaccine may be necessary. We studied four healthy individuals who received a heterologous booster dose as a third vaccine. All of these individuals had heightened neutralizing antibody titer following the booster vaccination, and could neutralize nearly all variants tested. Thus, a heterologous third COVID-19 vaccine dose may be a mechanism to both heighten and broaden antibody titers, and could be an additional strategy for controlling the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Improving the economics of battery storage for industrial customers: Are incentives enough to increase adoption?

Abstract As adoption of behind-the-meter battery energy storage increases across the United States, implementation continues to lag in the industrial sector. This analysis considers two manufacturing facilities with potential for load shifting to reduce peak demand. Although both facilities have load profiles that demonstrate great potential for regular and programmed demand reduction during peak hours, battery energy storage was deemed prohibitively expensive. A review of several existing utility and state-level policies and incentives determined that few may be rightsized for the industrial customer class. This analysis further considers multiple incentive structures and finds that although incentives increase viability of energy storage, developers must also consider optimization, unique load profiles, and use case to effectively increase adoption of battery energy storage by industrial customers.
Toward a Numerically Robust and Efficient Implicit Integration Scheme for Parallel Power Grid Dynamic Simulation Development in GridPACK TM

GridPACKTM is a highly modular parallel computing package for developing power grid simulations that run on high-performance computing platforms. As one of the key modules in GridPACK, dynamic simulation assesses the transient behavior of power systems and plays an important role in determining the performance of dynamic security assessment applications which rely heavily on the computational speed and scalability of dynamic simulation. This paper presents an ongoing effort on redesigning the existing “fixed step” modified Euler explicit numerical integration scheme-based dynamic simulation module in GridPACK to incorporate numerically robust and efficient “variable step” implicit integration schemes. Promising computational performance over the explicit integration method in addition to the improved usability is presented in the paper as the outcome of this preliminary study.
Rotor Cooling System for a 10-MVA Superconducting Generator

The Cryogenics Laboratory and the Electric Power Systems Laboratory at MIT are currently involved in an effort funded by the U. S. Department of Energy to develop a 10-MVA superconducting generator. This machine incorporates the most advanced concepts available in order to demonstrate the greatest possible growth in the state of the art. A rotor and stator comprise the generator. Within the rotor are the superconducting field winding and two electromagnetic shields. The winding and shields are kept at liquid helium temperature by the rotor cooling system. The rotor is supported between thin-walled, vapor-cooled torque tubes for thermal isolation, and further isolation is obtained by using an evacuated stator bore containing a stationary thermal radiation shield.
Fiscal Stimulus and International Competition

Fiscal policy is frequently viewed as a domestic policy area, with policymakers in each country making decisions independently of actions in other countries. The fiscal stimulus packages announced during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis provide an opportunity to examine international influence on fiscal policy. The case study of car scrapping schemes provides a micro-level account of international influence on the content of fiscal stimulus policies. Under conditions of uncertainty, politicians look for successful policies in other nations, but they judge success by visible results that satisfy politically important interest groups rather than economic efficiency or growth. The diffusion of fiscal stimulus policy occurs through learning, but governments also undertake coercion to shape policies that affect their economic competitiveness.
Towards an Integrated Assessment Framework: Using Activity Theory to Understand, Evaluate, and Enhance Programmatic Assessment in Integrated Content and Language Learning

This article uses activity theory to analyse two different portfolio approaches as tools for programmatic assessment of Integrated Content and Language (ICL) programs. The two approaches include a) a model in which students construct portfolios by selecting artifacts from a range of different contexts and provide reflective commentary, and b) a model in which the portfolio consists of major textual artifacts produced across a design project, with no reflective component. Activity theory provides a tool to explore what these models can offer in terms of an assessment of the integration of content and language in disciplinary contexts, where texts serve to mediate the ongoing work of a discipline. By highlighting the work that texts do in context as well as the access to student meta-knowledge afforded by each portfolio, activity theory provides a means to understand the strengths and limitations of both models. Perhaps most importantly, it points to the need for portfolios to include well-designed reflections that can support both student learning and effective programmatic assessment.
Role of Relative Humidity in the Survival of Airborne Mycoplasma pneumoniae

Aerosols of Mycoplasma pneumoniae were studied at several relative humidities at a controlled temperature of 27 C. Production of an experimentally reproducible aerosol required preatomization of the organism in its suspending fluid and was dependent on the type of fluid used in atomization as well as on the procedures used to produce an aerosol. The airborne particles studied were within the range of epidemiological significance, with most being 2 mum or less in diameter. Survival of the airborne mycoplasma in these particles was found to be best at very low and at very high humidities. The most lethal relative humidity levels were at 60 and 80%, at which levels fewer than 1% of the organisms survived over a 4-hr observation period. However, survival of the organism at most relative humidity levels was such that long-term infectivity could be expected from aerosols of M. pneumoniae. Because of the extreme sensitivity of M. pneumoniae at critical humidity levels, control of the airborne transmission of these organisms may be possible in selected spaces.
Photopic negative response of the human ERG: losses associated with glaucomatous damage.

PURPOSE: To evaluate in glaucomatous eyes the photopic electroretinogram (ERG) negative response (PhNR), a component that follows the b-wave peak and is thought to be correlated with inner retinal activity. METHODS: Eleven patients with open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and moderate field loss (Humphrey 30-2 [Humphrey Instruments, San Leandro, CA] mean deviation < or = -6 dB), eight with ocular hypertension (OHT), and eight age-matched normal subjects were tested. Optic discs of patients and control subjects were evaluated by confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy. ERGs were recorded to long-duration stimuli (250 msec) of photopic luminance (78 candelas [cd] /m2), presented in the macular region (12 degrees x 12 degrees field size) on a steady, adapting background. Amplitudes of the a-wave and b-wave and the PhNR were measured. Pattern reversal ERGs to 30-minute checkerboards were also recorded from patients and control subjects. RESULTS: Compared with control subjects, patients with OAG showed reduced PhNR (average reduction: 62%, P < 0.01), but normal a- and b-wave amplitudes. In patients with OHT, PhNR and a- and b-wave amplitudes did not differ from control values. In individual patients with OAG, PhNR amplitudes were correlated positively with pattern ERG amplitudes (r = 0.80; P < 0.01) and central (12 degrees) perimetric mean deviations (r = 0.68; P < 0.05) and negatively with cup-to-disc area ratios (r = -0.79; P < 0.01) and cup shape measures (r = -0.78; P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Similar to that found in monkeys with experimentally induced glaucoma, the PhNR is selectively altered in human glaucoma. The correlation between PhNR losses and clinical parameter abnormalities suggests that this component depends on inner retina integrity and may be of clinical value for detecting glaucomatous damage.