cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cyclanilide Promotes Shoot Production and Flowering of Coreopsis and Coneflower during Nursery Production

Herbaceous perennials were screened for increased branching and flowering in response to foliar sprays of cyclanilide (CYC), a plant growth regulator with cytokinin-like activity. Coreopsis verticillata ‘Creme Brulee’ (‘Creme Brulee’ coreopsis) and Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’ (‘Goldsturm’ coneflower), the only two species that responded positively to CYC, were used in subsequent experiments evaluating CYC concentration, method of application, and stage of plant development at application. Foliar sprays of 25 to 100 ppm CYC promoted increased shoot development, flowering, and plant width of coreopsis and coneflower, although flowering was delayed. Applying foliar sprays to both species when they were vegetative resulted in similar or more new shoots and flowers than an application when plants exhibited early signs of approaching flowering or at both stages. Increases in shoot counts from the application of substrate drenches of CYC to coreopsis and coneflower generally were less than from foliar sprays, while flower counts either decreased with increasing CYC concentration (coreopsis) or were unaffected (coneflower). Species used in this study: Coreopsis verticillata L. ‘Creme Brulee’ (‘Creme Brulee’ coreopsis), Lantana ×hybrida hort. ‘New Gold’ (‘New Gold’ lantana), Pennisetum setaceum (Forssk.) Chiov. ‘Rubrum’ (purple fountain grass), Perovskia atriplicifolia Benth. (Russian sage), and Rudbeckia fulgida Aiton ‘Goldsturm’ (‘Goldsturm’ coneflower).
Model Development and Design Optimization of a Novel Reciprocating Engine Technology

A novel reciprocating steam engine technology that utilizes reed valves has been developed, prototyped and patented by researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, CA. To assist in proper sizing of this new technology in follow-on development efforts, and to better understand the interactions between various parameters, a system level computational model of the engine was developed from first principles. This model was developed for the express purpose of performing design optimization studies of the engine technology, and thus various modeling decisions were made in an effort to balance desired model accuracy with necessary computational speed. The developed model takes as inputs various environmental, geometric and kinematic parameters of the engine system and calculates the resulting power, work, torque and thermal efficiency of the proposed engine design. The model consists of numerous sub-models including a flow model for the intake fluid physics as it enters the engine, a dynamic model of the intake valve response, a pressure model of the engine cylinder, a kinematic model of the engine piston movement, and an output model that determines engine performance parameters. In order to capture the performance of the engine over time, a crank angle discretization strategy was employed and each of the engine design sub-models was evaluated for each crank angle position considered producing results based on the data obtained from the sub-model evaluations at the previous crank angle position. This strategy was determined to be necessary for accurately modeling the performance of the engine over time and crank angle position, but obviously created a computational effort challenge in that it required that various flow models and differential equations be solved iteratively within the overall model. To produce a model with sufficient computational speed to be useful within the desired optimization studies various simplifying assumptions and modeling approximations were utilized. The model was tested by performing a set of multi-objective design optimization case studies on the engine model using the geometry and operating conditions of the prototype engine developed by LLNL as a baseline. The results produced were determined to properly capture the fundamental interactions of the engine and demonstrated that the design of engine technology could be improved over the baseline through the use of the developed model.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Movement Discordance between Healthy and Non-Healthy US Adults

Introduction Physical activity is known to significantly impact cardiometabolic health. Accelerometer data, as a measure of physical activity, can be used to objectively identify a disparity in movement (movement discordance) between healthy and unhealthy adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the Movement Discordance between healthy and unhealthy adults in a large US population sample. Methods Demographic, health and accelerometer data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (NHANES) 2003–2004 and 2005–2006 cohorts were used for this study. Participants were classified as either having a “normal” or “abnormal” value for each cardiometabolic health parameter examined, based on published criteria. Linear regression analyses were performed to determine significance of each abnormal health parameter (risk factor) in its unique effect on the accelerometer counts, controlling for age and gender. Average accelerometer counts per minute (cpm) by gender and age categories were estimated separately for the groups of normal and abnormal cardiometabolic risk. Results Average cpm for those with healthy levels of each individual cardiometabolic health parameter range from 296 cpm (for C reactive protein) to 337 cpm (for waist circumference), while average cpm for those with abnormal levels of each individual cardiometabolic health parameter range from 216 cpm (for insulin) to 291 cpm (for LDL-cholesterol). After controlling for age and gender, waist circumference, HbA1c, Insulin, Homocysteine, and HDL-Cholesterol were the cardiometabolic health parameters that showed significant, unique and independent effects on cpm. Overall, individuals who have abnormal values for all significant cardiometabolic health parameters (“unhealthy”) averaged 267 cpm (SE = 15 cpm), while the healthy sample of this study averaged 428 cpm (SE = 10 cpm). The difference in cpm between the unhealthy and healthy groups is similar between males and females. Further, for both males and females, the cpm gap between unhealthy and healthy is largest in the 30s (males: 183 cpm; females 144 cpm) and lessens as age increases, with the lowest gap seen in those 80+ years (males, 81 cpm; females, 85 cpm). Conclusion This Movement Discordance between healthy and unhealthy adults represents a gap in movement that needs to be closed to improve the health of individuals with, or at risk for cardiometabolic disease.
My approach to aortic stenosis.

A 75-year-old man presents to the consultation for discovery of a systolic murmur. He claims he has no symptoms. The physical examination notes no thrill, a mid-systolic murmur 3/6 with S2 preserved, apical S4, carotid pulses difficult to judge, no obvious sign of heart failure, and blood pressure 150/70 mmHg. Doppler echocardiography reveals a thickened aortic valve with limited opening, mean gradient of 38 mmHg, peak velocity of 3.8 m/s, and aortic valve area 0.87 cm. What should be done for this aortic stenosis (AS) and what can guide us in the clinical decision-making? The type of information I gather/analyze is described below.
Strategy for Agriculture in Development

UST over a decade ago two promising ideas were set forth relating to the interdependence between agricultural and general economic growth. In his Economic Organization of Agriculture, T. W. Schultz challenged economists to take account of "the process of 'producing' and distributing new production techniques" as a major determinant of the increase of agricultural output [8]. At about the same time, W. Arthur Lewis elaborated his two-sector model which focused attention on the
An Instrument Suite for Detecting Biogases on the Surface of Mars

A new design for an instrument suite for detecting and pinpointing biogases on the Martian surface has been built. It consists of two complementary instruments. BioGAS is an open path, near-infrared absorption spectrometer that can detect a variety of biogases. The spectrometer is specially designed to be placed on a mobile robot and take measurements automatically over a wide range of path lengths. Due to size and power constraints placed on the instruments new measurement and signal processing algorithms have been developed to maximize the measurement sensitivity. Capability at this time includes carbon dioxide (2004 nm), water vapor (1877 nm), methane (1654 nm), oxygen (763 nm) and ammonia (1532 nm). SunSPEC is an absorption spectrometer that uses the Sun as the spectral source. Its spectral range is from the ultraviolet beginning at 200 nm into the near-infrared as far as 1700 nm. SunSPEC gathers the light through a fiber optic cable fitted with a light collection lens. It can survey gases in the atmosphere in line of sight paths from horizon to horizon. Both of these instruments are mounted on a mobile robotic vehicle to allow searches over wide terrain. The search for biogases in this approach differs from other instrument packages in that it can do wide area surveys rapidly over several thousand square meters. Other systems being developed can only make measurements one position at a time requiring extensive amounts of time and resources. A tracked vehicle is being developed to serve as a prototype mobile rover to carry the instrument suite. It is equipped with localization and mobility hazard avoidance sensors as well as a weather station to sense open-path wind speeds and temperatures necessary for data interpretation.
Evaluative and Behavioral Correlates to Intrarehearsal Achievement in High School Bands

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships of teaching effectiveness, ensemble performance quality, and selected rehearsal procedures to various measures of intrarehearsal achievement (i.e., musical improvement exhibited by an ensemble during the course of a single rehearsal). Twenty-nine high school bands were observed in two rehearsals of a common music selection. Separate panels of experts evaluated ensemble performance quality from audio recordings and teacher effectiveness from video recordings. Rehearsal frames were identified in second-day rehearsals, and “before” and “after” rehearsal trials for each target (N = 404) were extracted and evaluated for achievement. Selected rehearsal procedures within each frame also were measured. Results indicated no significant relationships between rehearsal effectiveness scores and any of five conceptualizations of intrarehearsal achievement. Significant, positive correlations were found between performance quality and three achievement computati...
Cyclic AMP activates Ras.

In addition to protein kinase A (PKA), cAMP regulates the activity of cAMP-gated channels and Rap1-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factors. We tested the hypothesis that the targets of cAMP might also include regulators of the Ras protooncogene. In rat thyroid cells, thyrotropin (TSH) stimulates proliferation through a cAMP-mediated pathway that requires Ras activity. Interference with Ras impairs DNA synthesis stimulated by TSH as well as cAMP elevating agents and analogs, demonstrating that the requirement for Ras lies downstream of cAMP. Although cAMP stimulates proliferation, microinjection of the purified PKA catalytic subunit failed to do so, suggesting that factors in addition to PKA are required for cAMP-stimulated cell cycle progression. When added to thyroid cells expressing human Ha-Ras, TSH rapidly and markedly increased the proportion of GTP-bound Ras. Ras activity was increased within 1 min of TSH addition, maximal at 5–15 min, and declined to basal levels 30–60 min after hormone treatment. Cyclic AMP elevating agents elicited similar effects on Ras, indicating that TSH activates Ras through a cAMP-mediated pathway. Although cAMP-mediated, Ras activation by TSH and cAMP was independent of PKA activity. Moreover, cAMP-stimulated Ras activation was not impaired by tyrosine kinase inhibitors. These results indicate that cAMP activates targets in addition to PKA in thyroid cells, and that these targets may include regulators of Ras. The ability of cAMP elevating agents to activate Ras in addition to PKA may explain the inability of the PKA catalytic subunit to stimulate DNA synthesis in thyroid cells.
Pyrolysis of Cellulose under Ammonia Leads to Nitrogen-Doped Nanoporous Carbon Generated through Methane Formation

Here, we present a simple one-step fabrication methodology for nitrogen-doped (N-doped) nanoporous carbon membranes via annealing cellulose filter paper under NH3. We found that nitrogen doping (up to 10.3 at %) occurs during cellulose pyrolysis under NH3 at as low as 550 °C. At 700 °C or above, N-doped carbon further reacts with NH3, resulting in a large surface area (up to 1973.3 m2/g). We discovered that the doped nitrogen, in fact, plays an important role in the reaction, leading to carbon gasification. CH4 was experimentally detected by mass spectrometry as a product in the reaction between N-doped carbon and NH3. When compared to conventional activated carbon (1533.6 m2/g), the N-doped nanoporous carbon (1326.5 m2/g) exhibits more than double the unit area capacitance (90 vs 41 mF/m2).
Slip Transfer across Hetero-Interfaces in two-phase Titanium Aluminum Intermetallics

The role of slip transfer processes across the heterophase interfaces in two-phase TiAl intermetallics has been studied. Polysynthetically twinned crystals of TiAl (PST-TiAl) have been used as model systems for individual grains in technologically relevant polycrystalline lamellar TiAl alloys. Compressive plastic loads have been applied for orientations of the lamellar interfaces parallel and perpendicular to the loading directions to produce hard mode slip activity. Transmission electron microscopy has been used to determine the active deformation modes in the constituent phases and to study the slip transfer across heterophase interfaces. The results are discussed with respect to the mechanical behavior of PST-TiAl and lamellar TiAl alloys, which is of relevance to in-service performance and metallurgical processing operations.
Postmarks of Unlearning: Using Postcards to Record and Remember Artful Encounters

We teach all the time, by what we are and what we do. We learn all the time, by what we see and feel and think and do. The capacity to learn and teach is organic. We take in and we give out. Every ...
Abstract A37: Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP) in the growth and tumorigenesis of ovarian granulosa cells.

Ovarian granulosa cells are essential for successful follicle development. Dysregulation of granulosa cell proliferation and differentiation may lead to impairment of female fertility or development of ovarian tumors. Although studies indicate that the Hippo signaling pathway plays critical roles in both development and tumorigenesis of several organs, its role in ovarian physiology and pathology remains largely unknown. The present study aims to investigate the role of YAP in ovarian granulosa cell proliferation, differentiation and transformation. Immunohistochemical analyses showed that the active form of YAP (nuclear YAP) was highly expressed in proliferative granulosa cells, whereas the inactive form of YAP (cytoplasmic YAP) was detected mainly in terminally-differentiated luteal cells, indicating that YAP may be involved in proliferation and differentiation of ovarian granulosa cells. Knockdown of YAP or pharmacological inhibition of YAP activity in human granulosa cells suppressed cell growth and reduced cell survival in both traditional 2D cell culture system and a novel 3D hanging-drop culture system, suggesting that YAP is essential for the growth and survival of human granulosa cells. In addition, ectopic expression of wild-type or constitutively active YAP impaired gonadotropin-induced differentiation of granulosa cells and stimulated the rapid growth and transformation of granulosa cells, findings which were reflected by increased colony formation in soft agar assay and growth of tumors in a xenograft mouse model. Injection of verteporfin (a selective antagonist of YAP) into female CD1 mice inhibited granulosa cell growth, induced GC apoptosis, and disrupted mouse ovarian follicle development, leading to severe subfertility. Consistently, mice with ovarian granulosa cell-specific expression of constitutively active YAP demonstrated disruption of granulosa cell differentiation and failure of ovarian follicle development. In conclusion, our studies demonstrate that homeostatic YAP expression and activation are essential for ovarian granulosa cell proliferation, differentiation and survival. YAP is a novel therapeutic target for treatment of ovarian diseases associated with granulosa cell dysregulation. Citation Format: Xiangmin Lv, Chunbo He, Guohua Hua, Jixin Dong, John S. Davis, Cheng Wang. Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP) in the growth and tumorigenesis of ovarian granulosa cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Ovarian Cancer Research: Exploiting Vulnerabilities; Oct 17-20, 2015; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2016;22(2 Suppl):Abstract nr A37.
Personal Stake As a Causal Determinant of Influence Tactics in Industrial Buying

The relationship between perceived personal stake in the purchase decision and the importance of five influence tactics is investigated. The personal stake variables are Extrinsic Rewards, Intrinsic Rewards, Departmental Stake Peer Credibility, and Superior Credibility. The five influence tactics are Reason & Logic, Simple Request, Bargaining, going to a Higher Authority, and forming Coalitions.
Stimulation of incorporation of nucleic acid precursors into HeLa cells caused by provaline

1. The effect of proflavine and other acridines on the incorporation of precursors into the nucleic acids of HeLa cells was examined. 2. Relatively low concentrations (50mum) of proflavine completely inhibited incorporation of precursors into DNA, but allowed a small extent of incorporation into RNA. 3. Acridine-resistant incorporation into RNA was unaffected by actinomycin D at 2mug./ml. and persisted even at high concentrations (500mum) of many acridines. 4. A few combinations of acridine and precursor, notably 250mum-proflavine and [(14)C]adenine, caused a stimulation of incorporation. 5. The proflavine-stimulated incorporation was into alkali-stable di- and tri-nucleotides. 6. It was concluded that the effect was due to the preferential inhibition of degradation of a fraction of RNA that normally turned over, thus allowing small radioactive oligonucleotides to accumulate in the cells.
Computerized Analysis of Corneal Topography as an Aid in Fitting Contact Lenses After Radial Keratotomy

To select an appropriate base curve to use in fitting a contact lens in 16 eyes of 10 patients following radial keratotomy, we used a videokeratoscope that generates a 32-ring image, covering the entire cornea, to measure the midperipheral corneal curvature. We then based contact-lens selection on the curvature 3.5 mm superior to the visual axis. Photographic documentation of fluorescein patterns and subjective reports of the patients indicated a successful fitting in all cases.
Mixing and phytoplankton dynamics in a submarine canyon in the West Antarctic Peninsula

Bathymetric depressions (canyons) exist along the West Antarctic Peninsula shelf and have been linked with increased phytoplankton biomass and sustained penguin colonies. However, the physical mechanisms driving this enhanced biomass are not well understood. Using a Slocum glider dataset with over 30,000 water column profiles, we evaluate the relationship between mixed layer depth (MLD, estimated using the depth of maximum buoyancy frequency) and phytoplankton vertical distribution. We use the glider deployments in the Palmer Deep region to examine seasonal and across canyon variability. Throughout the season, the ML becomes warmer and saltier, as a result of vertical mixing and advection. Shallow ML and increased stratification due to sea ice melt are linked to higher chlorophyll concentrations. Deeper mixed layers, resulting from increased wind forcing, show decreased chlorophyll, suggesting the importance of light in regulating phytoplankton productivity. Spatial variations were found in the canyon head region where local physical water column properties were associated with different biological responses, reinforcing the importance of local canyon circulation in regulating phytoplankton distribution in the region. Observations show that the intrusion of warm, nutrient enriched modified Upper Circumpolar Deep Water (mUCDW) plays a smaller role in explaining the elevated productivity observed over the canyon than was initially hypothesized. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Two-Dimensional Analysis of Proteins in the Urine of Male and Female Stone Formers

All urinary calculi contain an organic matrix1. Chemically, two-thirds of this matrix is protein2 and this suggests that protein might play a key role as an inhibitor or promotor of stone formation by controlling the initial steps of crystallization of the mineral phase. Urine is the milieu in which stones nucleate and grow. The matrix proteins are therefore thought to arise from proteins present in urine of stone formers. However, a prerequisite to identify any such abnormal protein(s) would be to study proteins in urine of healthy subjects.
Durchsicht des Manuskriptes

In seinem interessanten und praktischen Werk „Uber den Aufbau wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten“ bemerkt Sir T. Clifford Allbutt, das er ein Manuskript viermal durchzuarbeiten pflege, ehe er es fur druckreif erklare. Die erste Niederschrift entsteht auf Grund sorgfaltiger Zettelnotizen, deren Inhalt logisch aneinandergereiht wird. Dann werden uberflussige Worte Satze oder ganze Abschnitte ausgemerzt, wodurch sich eine Kurzung des Manuskripts um 20–25% ergibt. Gleichzeitig werden an falscher Stelle stehende, nicht in den Zusammenhang gehorende und auserhalb der logischen Gedankenentwicklung liegende Satze nach den richtigen Stellen ubertragen. Selbstverstandlich werden auch Verandenmgen in der Auffassung, wie sie sich dem Verfasser bei der Arbeit ergeben, berucksichtigt. Bei der zweiten Durchsicht werden Satze und Abschnitte so umgearbeitet, das ihr Sinn ganz Mar und eindeutig hervortritt; nur als Zier oder ihres bildhaften Ausdruckes wegen gebrauchte Satze werden geandert oder gestrichen, der Wahl treffender Bezeichnungen wird besondere Sorgfalt zuteil. Einige Wochen spater liest SIR CLIFFORD das ganze Manuskript nochmals aufmerksam durch und macht die letzten Zusatze und Verbesserxmgen.
Health-Care Reform and Its Impact in Medical Reimbursement

The USA spends $8713 dollars per patient per year, more than twice the average of most industrialized countries in the world. The growth of health-care costs outpaced overall GDP growth until recently, inciting fears of mounting government debt, crowding out within the public sector, and increasing cost shifting to individuals. Health-care organizations will have to redesign systems to carefully account for the resources they deploy in the care of patients, deploy them at the right time, and make use of established utilization management strategies to help control costs and usage in order to remain viable and thrive through the transformation of the US health-care system.
Teaching sedation and analgesia with simulation

Objective.This study reports on the efficacy of using the anesthesia simulator to teach sedation and analgesia to nurses. This provision of sedation and analgesia to a patient is accomplished with the goal of maintaining the ability of the patient to respond purposefully to auditory ortactile stimuli. Methods.Nurses working in areas of the hospital where conscious sedation is performed were the participants in this sedation and analgesia training course. Prior to the training session, the participants read the American Society of Anesthesiology Practice guidelines for sedation and analgesia by non-anesthesiologists.At the time of the training session, each participant completed a written pretest, had an introduction to sedation and analgesia with four clinical crisis teaching scenarios using the anesthesia simulator, a practical exam using the simulator, and a written post-test. Each participant was also given the opportunity to complete an evaluation of the session. Results.Twenty nurses completed the training session. The written tests had a maximum possible score of 30. Mean score on the written pretest was 22.9 ±3.54, and mean score on the written post-test was 26.0 ± 4.24 (p< 0.001). Seventeen of the twenty subjects scored higher on the post-test. Mean practical exam score was 5.5 of a possible 6.0. Mean participant rating of the education session was 3.75 (1 = poor, 4 =excellent). All but one participant rated the length of the training sessionas “about right.” Conclusions.The anesthesia simulator provides an excellent tool for teaching conscious sedation skills to hospital nurses. The participants' test performance improved following the session, and they also rated the educational experience as excellent.
Copyright enforcement in the digital age: empirical evidence and policy implications

Government-sanctioned and market-based anti-piracy measures can both mitigate economic harm from piracy.
Longitudinal and Source-to-Tap New Orleans, LA, U.S.A. Drinking Water Microbiology.

The two municipal drinking water systems of New Orleans, LA, U.S.A. were sampled to compare the microbiology of independent systems that treat the same surface water from the Mississippi River. To better understand temporal trends and sources of microbiology delivered to taps, these treatment plants and distribution systems were subjected to source-to-tap sampling over four years. Both plants employ traditional treatment by chloramination, applied during or after settling, followed by filtration before distribution in a warm, low water age system. Longitudinal samples indicated microbiology to have stability both spatially and temporally, and between treatment plants and distribution systems. Disinfection had the greatest impact on microbial composition, which was further refined by filtration and influenced by distribution and premise plumbing. Actinobacteria spp. exhibited trends with treatment. In particular, Mycobacterium spp., very low in finished waters, occurred idiosyncratically at high levels in ...
Leptomeningeal Enhancement at 7T in Multiple Sclerosis: Frequency, Morphology, and Relationship to Cortical Volume.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Perform an investigation of the frequency and distribution of leptomeningeal enhancement on postgadolinium magnetization-prepared FLAIR (MPFLAIR) in multiple sclerosis (MS) on 7 Tesla (7T) MRI and to relate this finding to measures of brain structure and lesion volumes. METHODS Twenty-nine participants with MS underwent 7T MRI of the brain. Three healthy volunteers (HVs) were scanned for comparison. Areas of postcontrast leptomeningeal enhancement were identified. Images were segmented for brain structure and lesion volumes. The relationship between leptomeningeal enhancement and clinical and volumetric data was explored. RESULTS Two patterns of enhancement were found: “nodular” (discrete, spherical nodules at the pial surface or subarachnoid space) and “spread/fill” (appearance of contrast spread through the local subarachnoid space). Twenty-six of 29 (90%) MS participants had at least one focus of leptomeningeal enhancement. Nodular foci were present in 15 of 29 (51%) MS participants. Spread/fill foci were present in 22 of 29 (76%) MS participants. Two HVs had examples of nodular foci, but none had spread/fill enhancement. MS participants with spread/fill foci were older (48.9 years [SD 8.3]) than those without (33.3 years [SD 11.5], P = .005). MS participants with spread/fill foci had reduced cortical gray matter volume compared to those without (P = .020). CONCLUSIONS Leptomeningeal enhancement on postcontrast 7T MPFLAIR is more prevalent than prior reports at 3T—occurring at frequencies closer to histopathologic data. Spread/fill foci are associated with reduced cortical gray matter volumes and may represent blood-meningeal barrier breakdown near sites of meningeal inflammation, whereas nodular foci may be a normal variant.
Irrigation in the Khorezm oasis, past and present: a political ecology perspective

The Khorezm oasis sits at the epicenter of an environmental disaster. Since the late 19th century, the continual expansion of irrigation in this region has altered the natural hydrology of the Amu Darya delta, leading to widespread desertification and the near total disappearance of the world's fourth largest lake, the Aral Sea. The situation is widely acknowledged as an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented scale, and yet it is not the first irrigation crisis in Khorezmian history. Numerous events of irrigation collapse are recorded in the archaeological record of this oasis, with many in the scientific community now very interested in this past record for its potential to inform on the modern crisis. Unfortunately, there has also been a tendency to overlook the different historical conditions that led to irrigation in this oasis over the last three millennia. In this article, I take an alternative approach that draws on political ecology's insights about the cultural embeddedness of environmental behavior. I compare two periods of irrigation in Khorezm, one ancient and the other modern, to show how the particular social contexts of each period shaped irrigation schemes in different ways. Significantly different design and implementation features are apparent in the ancient versus modern systems, with vastly different implications for environmental sustainability and human well-being. Keywords: water, irrigation, Aral Sea, archaeology, collapse, Soviet Union, nomadic pastoralism
What About Bob? The Inadequacy of CPA Security for Proxy Reencryption

In the simplest setting of proxy reencryption, there are three parties: Alice, Bob, and Polly (the proxy). Alice keeps some encrypted data that she can decrypt with a secret key known only to her. She wants to communicate the data to Bob, but not to Polly (nor anybody else). Using proxy reencryption, Alice can create a reencryption key that will enable Polly to reencrypt the data for Bob’s use, but which will not help Polly learn anything about the data.
The effect of insulin on bone mineral density among women with type 2 diabetes: a SWAN Pharmacoepidemiology study

This was a longitudinal study examining the effects of insulin use on bone mineral density loss. Insulin use was found to be associated with greater bone mineral density loss at the femoral neck among women with diabetes mellitus. Women with diabetes mellitus (DM) have higher bone mineral density (BMD) and experience slower BMD loss but have an increased risk of fracture. The data regarding the effect of insulin treatment on BMD remains conflicted. We examined the impact of insulin initiation on BMD. We investigated the annual changes in BMD associated with the new use of insulin among women with DM in the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Propensity score (PS) matching, which is a statistical method that helps balance the baseline characteristics of women who did and did not initiate insulin, was used. Covariates with a potential impact on bone health were included in all models. Mixed model regression was used to test the change in BMD between the two groups. Median follow-up time was 5.4 years. The cohort consisted of 110 women, mean age, 53.6 years; 49% white and 51% black. Women using insulin (n = 55) were similar on most relevant characteristics to the 55 not using insulin. Median diabetes duration for the user group was 10 vs. 5.0 years for the non-user group. There was a greater loss of BMD at the femoral neck among insulin users (− 1.1%) vs non-users (− 0.77%) (p = 0.04). There were no differences in BMD loss at the spine − 0.30% vs − 0.32% (p = 0.85) or at the total hip − 0.31% vs − 0.25 (p = 0.71), respectively. Women with T2DM who initiated insulin experienced a more rapid BMD loss at the femoral neck as compared to women who did use insulin.
Design Flaws: Consequences of the Coverage Gap in Food Programs for Children at Kindergarten Entry

Children age out of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program at 60 months and become eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) upon kindergarten entry. During this period of time, low-income children experience fewer food support services than at any other time. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, we examine the effects of the duration of the coverage gap between WIC and NSLP on kindergarteners’ skills. Results show evidence of negative effects on reading, though not on math. Findings also suggest that, for children in full-day kindergarten, effects on reading fade out in the spring term.
Vesicular, Bullous and Pustular Disorders in Infancy and Childhood

This article presents the pediatrician with the mechanisms for clinical recognition, laboratory confirmation, and effective therapy of many of the vesicular, bullous and pustular diseases seen in the pediatric population.
The Two-Coordinate Grant Machine in Long-Focus Astrometry

A two-coordinate Grant machine at the Sproul Observatory has been in successful operation for the past three and one-half years. Approximately 25,000 plates taken with the 6l cm long focus refractor have now been measured, including plate series-ranging up to several thousand plates. The speed of measuring has been greatly increased over manual methods and the error of measurement appreciably reduced. The machine is veil suited to the particular needs of differential astrometry.
Polarimetric Calibration and Remote Sensing Applications Using an X-C-L-Band SAR

A polarimetric radar has been constructed by the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) for the Naval Air Development Center (NADC) and mounted on a P-3 airplane. This radar operates at X-band, C-band, and L-band and is able to produce fully polarimetric images at each of these frequencies. Over the past few months this system’s performance has been verified and the system has been in the process of being calibrated. Polarimetric calibration involves determining the gain, phase shift, leakage, noise, and stability of each of the four channels used to compute the scattering matrix. Targets with known reflection characteristics have been deployed and used to calibrate the system. These targets include dihedral corner reflectors set at a variety of angles, trihedrals of many sizes, and Active Radar Calibrators (ARCs). Preliminary results indicate that the radar is yielding useful polarimetric data. The remote sensing applications of this radar will be discussed and preliminary backscatter data from a variety of media will be presented.
A game theory based cybersecurity assessment model for advanced manufacturing systems

Abstract This paper presents a method to create and solve a game theory model to address cybersecurity issues specifically for advanced manufacturing systems with high-level computer-controlled integration. This method introduces a unique approach to defining the contents of the game payoff matrix by incorporating maintaining of defense strategies, production losses, and recovery from attacks as part of a cost function that effectively represents the reality in the manufacturing systems domain. Once the cost function is developed to define the payoff matrix, the game is run for all possible combinations to find the best possible combination of the strategies. Finally, a case study is presented to illustrate the application. The proposed method can be applied to different domains, other than automated manufacturing systems, by customizing cost components in the utility function.
The Importance of School-based Healthy Living Initiatives: Introducing the Health and Wellness Academy Concept.

Abstract Over the last 15 years, the number of school and community based health-intervention programs in the United States has grown. Many of these programs aim to prevent non-communicable chronic disease diagnoses (e.g., obesity, cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes). The Department of Physical Therapy in the College of Applied Health Sciences (CAHS) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) created a school-based wellness program (SBWP) that focuses on nutrition and physical activity, providing tailored experiences that motivate adolescents to make healthier lifestyle choices. The SBWP began as a camp for children in the surrounding neighborhoods and implemented healthy living practices utilizing students from Departments in the CAHS. From this camp, the Health and Wellness Academy (HWA) evolved. This paper provides a review of school-based initiatives and introduces the UIC HWA, an innovative and reproducible approach that can bring positive environmental change by improving health outcomes for children and their families.
Relational Long Short-Term Memory for Video Action Recognition.

Spatial and temporal relationships, both short-range and long-range, between objects in videos, are key cues for recognizing actions. It is a challenging problem to model them jointly. In this paper, we first present a new variant of Long Short-Term Memory, namely Relational LSTM, to address the challenge of relation reasoning across space and time between objects. In our Relational LSTM module, we utilize a non-local operation similar in spirit to the recently proposed non-local network to substitute the fully connected operation in the vanilla LSTM. By doing this, our Relational LSTM is capable of capturing long and short-range spatio-temporal relations between objects in videos in a principled way. Then, we propose a two-branch neural architecture consisting of the Relational LSTM module as the non-local branch and a spatio-temporal pooling based local branch. The local branch is utilized for capturing local spatial appearance and/or short-term motion features. The two branches are concatenated to learn video-level features from snippet-level ones which are then used for classification. Experimental results on UCF-101 and HMDB-51 datasets show that our model achieves state-of-the-art results among LSTM-based methods, while obtaining comparable performance with other state-of-the-art methods (which use not directly comparable schema). Further, on the more complex large-scale Charades dataset, we obtain a large 3.2% gain over state-of-the-art methods, verifying the effectiveness of our method in complex understanding.
Tin, Aluminum, and Diamonds:Strengthening the Alchemy of the Journal of Social Action in Counseling and Psychology

The purpose of this article is to articulate the incoming Co-Editors’ plan, mission, and vision to preserve and enhance the quality and reputation of the Journal of Social Action in Counseling and Psychology. Further, it provides some background about each editor, and offers words of appreciation to the individuals and the academic institutions that support them as Co-Editors.
Hydrothermal circulation cools continental crust under exhumation

Abstract The formation of continental crust in magmatic arcs involves cooling of hot magmas to a relatively colder crust enhanced by exhumation and hydrothermal circulation in the upper crust. To quantify the influence of these processes on the thermal and rheological states of the crust, we developed a one-dimensional thermal evolution model, which invokes conductive cooling, advection of crust by erosion-driven exhumation, and cooling by hydrothermal circulation. We parameterized hydrothermal cooling by adopting depth-dependent effective thermal conductivity, which is determined by the crustal permeability structure and the prescribed Nusselt number at the surface. Different combinations of erosion rate and Nusselt number were tested to study the evolution of crustal geotherms, surface heat flux, and cooling rate. Simulations and scaling analyses quantify how erosion and hydrothermal circulation promote cooling via increasing total surface heat flux compared to pure conductive cooling. Hydrothermal circulation imposes intense short-term and persistent long-term cooling effects. Thinner, warmer, fast exhuming crust, with higher permeability and more vigorous hydrothermal circulation, leads to higher steady-state total surface heat flux. Hydrothermal cooling at steady state is more effective when the Peclet number is small. Hydrothermal cooling also changes crustal rheological state and thickens the brittle crust. This in turn promotes the initiation of brittle deformation in the upper crust in magmatic arcs or in regions undergoing exhumation. Interpretation of low-temperature thermochronological data could overestimate average cooling rates if hydrothermal cooling is not considered.
Influence of Unit Cell Size and Fiber Packing on the Transverse Tensile Response of Fiber Reinforced Composites.

Representative volume elements (RVEs) are commonly used to compute the effective elastic properties of solid media having repeating microstructure, such as fiber reinforced composites. However, for softening materials, an RVE could be problematic due to localization of deformation. Here, we address the effects of unit cell size and fiber packing on the transverse tensile response of fiber reinforced composites in the context of integrated computational materials engineering (ICME). Finite element computations for unit cells at the microscale are performed for different sizes of unit cells with random fiber packing that preserve a fixed fiber volume fraction—these unit cells are loaded in the transverse direction under tension. Salient features of the response are analyzed to understand the effects of fiber packing and unit cell size on the details of crack path, overall strength and also the shape of the stress-strain response before failure. Provision for damage accumulation/cracking in the matrix is made possible via the Bazant-Oh crack band model. The results suggest that the choice of unit cell size is more sensitive to strength and less sensitive to stiffness, when these properties are used as homogenized inputs to macro-scale models. Unit cells of smaller size exhibit higher strength and this strength converges to a plateau as the size of the unit cell increases. In this sense, since stiffness has also converged to a plateau with an increase in unit cell size, the converged unit cell size may be thought of as an RVE. Results in support of these insights are presented in this paper.
Optimizing biologic sequencing in metastatic colorectal cancer: first line and beyond

Significant advances in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mcrc) since the early 2000s have led to improved clinical outcomes, including overall survival (os). When fluorouracil was the sole treatment agent for mcrc, os in phase iii studies was approximately 12 months. Now, in 2019, the median os (mos) in the most recent mcrc clinical trials has been approaching 3 years. The biologic agents that target the vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf), epithelial growth factor receptor (egfr), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (her2), PD-1, ctla-4, ntrk, and braf pathways play important roles in the mcrc treatment algorithm, given their significant—sometimes dramatic—activity. Emerging data indicate that the choice of a specific biologic at a particular time (line of treatment) for specific patient populations (based on tumour characteristics) is critical. In the present review, we discuss the available evidence for optimal biologic sequencing in the management of mcrc.
Constructing optimal classifiers from sub-optimal composite hypothesis tests

The general form of admissible solutions to classification problems depends on parameters πi whose values determine performance. However, translating performance requirements into parameter choices requires a difficult evaluation of interdependent probabilities. In this report we build optimal classifiers by combining composite hypothesis tests. The process relates the parameters πi to detection thresholds λ jk , which are more directly predictive of detection and false alarm probabilities. It is found that the constituent composite hypothesis tests cannot be optimal, but instead must be constructed via clairvoyant fusion principles.
Cocaine analogue conjugated magnetic nanoparticles for labeling and imaging dopaminergic neurons

Molecular imaging of the dopamine transporter (DAT) with Positron Emission Tomography (PET) or Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) has been widely used in studies of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Nevertheless, there is a great interest in expanding molecular imaging to include magnetic resonance technology, because of the superior spatial resolution this technology may provide. Here we present a magnetic nanoparticle (NP) that specifically targets dopaminergic neurons and allows DAT imaging with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The nanoparticle (namely, NP-DN) is composed of an iron oxide core and a polyethylene glycol (PEG) coating to which a DAT specific dopaminergic neurolabeler (DN) is conjugated. NP-DN displayed long-term stability with favorable hydrodynamic size and surface charge suitable for in vivo application. In vitro studies showed NP-DN was non-toxic, displayed specificity towards DAT-expressing neurons, and demonstrated a 3-fold increase in DAT labeling over non-targeted NP. Our study shows NP-DN provides excellent contrast enhancement for MRI and demonstrates great potential for neuroimaging.
Evaluating the Genotoxic and Cytotoxic Effects of Thymidine Analogs, 5-Ethynyl-2'-Deoxyuridine and 5-Bromo-2'-Deoxyurdine to Mammalian Cells.

BrdU (bromodeoxyuridine) and EdU (ethynyldeoxyuridine) have been largely utilized as the means of monitoring DNA replication and cellular division. Although BrdU induces gene and chromosomal mutations and induces sensitization to photons, EdU‘s effects have not been extensively studied yet. Therefore, we investigated EdU’s potential cytotoxic and mutagenic effects and its related underlying mechanisms when administered to Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) wild type and DNA repair-deficient cells. EdU treatment displayed a higher cytotoxicity and genotoxicity than BrdU treatment. Cells with defective homologous recombination repair displayed a greater growth delay and severe inhibition of clonogenicity with EdU compared to wild type and other DNA repair-deficient cells. Inductions of sister chromatid exchange and hypoxanthine phosphorybosyl transferase (HPRT) mutation were observed in EdU-incorporated cells as well. Interestingly, on the other hand, EdU did not induce sensitization to photons to the same degree as BrdU. Our results demonstrate that elevated concentrations (similar to manufacturers suggested concentration; >5–10 μM) of EdU treatment were toxic to the cell cultures, particularly in cells with a defect in homologous recombination repair. Therefore, EdU should be administered with additional precautions.
Mapping the Viscoelastic Heterogeneity at the Nanoscale in Metallic Glasses by Static Force Spectroscopy

Nanoscale viscoelastic heterogeneity is an important concept for understanding the relationship between the microscopic atomic structure and the macroscopic mechanical behaviors in metallic glasses...
RELIC-FUN: Logic Identification through Functional Signal Comparisons

The ability to reverse engineer a hardware netlist in order to detect malicious logic has become an important problem in recent years. Much work has been done on algorithmically identifying structure and state in circuits; the first step of which is to separate control signals from data signals. The most current tools rely on topological comparisons of logic in order to identify signals which are uniquely structured in the netlist, as these signals are likely control signals. However, topological comparisons become less effective when a netlist has been resynthesized and optimized. We present a new tool, RELIC-FUN, based on netlist slicing and functional comparison of logic. Experimental results show that depending on netlist size, optimization, and control logic density, the proposed algorithm can be more accurate, and faster, than existing topological algorithms in many cases.