cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Involvement of Pro-Inflammatory Macrophages in Liver Pathology of Pirital Virus-Infected Syrian Hamsters.

New World arenaviruses cause fatal hemorrhagic disease in South America. Pirital virus (PIRV), a mammarenavirus hosted by Alston’s cotton rat (Sigmodon alstoni), causes a disease in Syrian golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) (biosafety level-3, BSL-3) that has many pathologic similarities to the South American hemorrhagic fevers (BSL-4) and, thus, is considered among the best small-animal models for human arenavirus disease. Here, we extend in greater detail previously described clinical and pathological findings in Syrian hamsters and provide evidence for a pro-inflammatory macrophage response during PIRV infection. The liver was the principal target organ of the disease, and signs of Kupffer cell involvement were identified in mortally infected hamster histopathology data. Differential expression analysis of liver mRNA revealed signatures of the pro-inflammatory response, hematologic dysregulation, interferon pathway and other host response pathways, including 17 key transcripts that were also reported in two non-human primate (NHP) arenavirus liver-infection models, representing both Old and New World mammarenavirus infections. Although antigen presentation may differ among rodent and NHP species, key hemostatic and innate immune-response components showed expression parallels. Signatures of pro-inflammatory macrophage involvement in PIRV-infected livers included enrichment of Ifng, Nfkb2, Stat1, Irf1, Klf6, Il1b, Cxcl10, and Cxcl11 transcripts. Together, these data indicate that pro-inflammatory macrophage M1 responses likely contribute to the pathogenesis of acute PIRV infection.
Applying clustering algorithms to determine authorship of chinese twitter messages

Author attribution research of character-based languages such as Chinese is still in its early stages. In this paper, we study the effectiveness of two popular clustering algorithms in determining the authorship of Chinese Twitter messages. We create a data-set of ten authors with 100 tweets each from publicly-available Chinese Twitter profiles. We analyze the data using simple k-means (SKM) and Expectation Maximization (EM), two popular clustering algorithms available in the Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA). Our feature set includes character n-grams and Chinese function words derived from the literature. We achieve accuracy up to 44:53% for three authors, 29:24% for five authors, and 20:52% for ten authors. For our data-sets and the number of authors we compared, SKM returns better accuracy ratings. Lastly, we determine that function words are valuable features in attributing Chinese Tweets, and identify which of these Chinese function words were of most value.
A Cognitive/Affective Empathy Training Program as a Function of Ego Development in Aggressive Adolescent Females.

This study investigated the effects of an affective/cognitive empathy training program on level of empathy in 24 aggressive adolescent females in a residential treatment center. In addition, the relationship between empathy and level of ego development was explored. Empathy was defined as a psychological construct regulated by both cognitive and affective components, interacting in a systemic manner to produce emotional understanding. Subjects were pretested on measures of affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and Loevinger's scale of ego development. High and low scores on the measures of ego development were defined by a median split. Following random assignment to groups, experimental subjects were exposed to four 1.5-hour training sessions directed at increasing levels of affective and cognitive empathy. Posttests revealed significant positive relationships between ego development and both measures of empathy. Training significantly increased levels of affective empathy, while increases in cognitive empathy were unremarkable. There was no difference between high and low ego development scorers in their ability to profit from training. The hypothesized systemic relationship between affective and cognitive empathy was also supported by the findings.
Complications of Photodynamic Therapy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an increasingly popular treatment modality for both malignant and nonmalignant lesions. The most common PDT photosensitizers applied in dermatology are 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and methyl aminolevulinate (MAL). Its use has been shown to be an effective treatment of precancerous skin lesions such as actinic keratosis (AK) as well as some types of localized skin cancer. Besides this treatment has produced excellent cosmetic outcome, there are complications in the dermatology practice as pain, erythema, edema, hypo- and hyperpigmentation, and their management (Rao, Bissonnette, Chapter 18: Photodynamic therapy, in: Wolverton (ed) Comprehensive dermatologic drug therapy, Elsevier Health Science, London, 2000; Wiegell et al., Br J Dermatol 158:727–733, 2008).
Anharmonic frequency analysis: the complement to Fourier analysis

Fourier analysis of a finite time series allocates amplitudes and phases to a given set of frequencies which are integer multiples of a basic frequency determined by the length of the time series. Anharmonic frequency analysis (Afa)collects the spectral components between those frequencies and the results are the average amplitude and phase for each band defined by two consecutive frequencies. A repetition of the transform involved for a later reference time determines the effective frequency within each band by the time change of the phase. This process is by far superior to Fourier analysis especially if unknown discrete frequencies are present in the time series and those frequencies are not harmonics of one common basic frequency. The principles of this method, some of its properties and a few results are presented.
Abstract TP391: Barriers and Facilitators to Self Care in Stroke Survivors

Background: Stroke is a major cause of long-term disability and loss of quality of life. People living with stroke face enormous challenges particularly after discharge from acute care adjusting to...
Finance, power, and the British balance of payments

The Brexit referendum marks a critical juncture in Britain’s political economy. Benjamin Cohen argues that a nation’s monetary sovereignty lies in its balance of payments (BoP) flexibility (2008, 2...
Dissecting respiratory disease heterogeneity through the genetics of diffusing capacity.

Genome-wide association studies of physiological measurements, such as diffusing capacity, can help to explore the genetic underpinnings of respiratory disease clinical heterogeneity http://ow.ly/aXMx30ltt4f
Change in Patient Comfort Using Mobile Phones Following the Use of an App to Monitor Tuberculosis Treatment Adherence: Longitudinal Study

Background: As mHealth apps proliferate, it is necessary for patients to feel capable and comfortable using devices that run them. However, limited research is available on changes in comfort level before and after the use of an mHealth app. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether patients with tuberculosis who used an mHealth app called Video Directly Observed Therapy (VDOT) to monitor their antituberculosis treatment became more comfortable using mobile phones after the intervention and to identify factors associated with change in comfort. Methods: We analyzed data from a longitudinal study assessing the feasibility and acceptability of the VDOT app among patients receiving antituberculosis treatment from public health departments in San Diego, San Francisco, and New York City. Comfort levels on six domains of mobile phone use (making phone calls, taking pictures, recording videos, text messaging, internet and email use on the phone) were measured on a 10-point scale (1=very uncomfortable; 10=very comfortable) at the start and end of treatment using VDOT via telephone interviews. The main outcomes were change in comfort level on each domain (recoded as binary measures) and an overall change score (sum of individual measures). Linear and logistic regression analyses were performed to assess whether sociodemographics, risk factors, and VDOT perceptions were associated with change of comfort measures. Results: Among 120 participants with complete data, mean age was 39.8 years (SD 14.8, range 18-87 years), 46.7% (56/120) were female, and 76.7% (92/120) were foreign born. The combined comfort level at baseline was high overall (mean 48.8, SD 14.2, interquartile range 43.0-60.0) and the mean comfort score increased by 1.92 points at follow-up (P=.07). Statistically significant increases in comfort on individual domains included taking pictures (P=.02) and recording videos (P=.002). Females were more likely to have increased comfort in using the internet on the phone compared to males (odds ratio [OR] 3.03, 95% CI 1.08-8.52, P=.04). Participants who worked less hours per week were more likely to have increased comfort recording videos although this did not meet statistical significance (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.00-1.05, P=.06). Conclusions: Findings suggest that, despite a high level of comfort using mobile phones at baseline, experience using the VDOT app was associated with increased comfort using mobile phone features. Additional research involving participants with lower baseline mobile phone experience is needed. An implication of these findings is that as patients begin to use mHealth apps for one health condition, they could acquire skills and confidence to more quickly adapt to using mHealth apps for other conditions.
Fundamental Importance of Convective Downdrafts and Mass Recycling Within the Tropical Cloud Cluster and the Typhoon-Hurricane

ABSTRACT Most meteorologists think of the organized tropical cloud cluster and typhoon-hurricane weather system as having a strong transverse (or ‘in-up-and-out’) circulation of low-level frictionally driven inflow, upward vertical motion in cloud areas, and outflow at upper tropospheric levels. Tropical weather systems also have another fundamentally important circulation within them which is an additional ‘down-and-up’ (or downdraft-and-updraft) circulation associated with evaporating downdraft motion and mass compensating condensation upward motion. This additional ‘down-and-up’ circulation has yet to be fully recognized and fully appreciated. This paper emphasizes the fundamental role of this additional ‘down-and-up’ circulation which must be added to the accepted ‘in-up-and-out’ basis transverse circulation to obtain a full understanding of the tropical weather system’s complete vertical circulation structure. Only by adding this additional extra ‘down-and-up’ is it possible to make simultaneous mass, energy, and moisture budgets for this class of weather system. This additional ‘down-and-up’ (or downdraft-and-updraft) circulation is indispensible in allowing tropical systems to extract large amounts of surface energy from the oceans.
From Hildegard to Holiday : Collection development in women in music for the small library

Abstract Women musicians were virtually ignored in the literature of Western music until their recent inclusion in standard reference sources and other publications. However, making these works available to the researcher becomes a challenge for library collection development departments, especially for small libraries unaffiliated with music schools that have only a modest music collection and budget. This paper offers guidance in developing a small collection of books on women in music that will complement the current collection and provide a more accuratehistory of Western music. Justification for building a collection on women musicians and an annotated list of recommended books are included.
Sono-photoacoustic theranostics using phase-changing contrast agents

Phase-change contrast agents are low boiling point liquid perfluorocarbon droplets that can be vaporized to form larger microbubbles. Droplet vaporization can be used for both imaging and therapy. Sono-photoacoutics is a non-linear imaging method that uses simultaneous optical and acoustic pulses to activate phase-change contrast agents. By combining photothermal heating from a laser pulse and the negative pressure from an acoustic pulse, lower droplet activation thresholds are achieved than from either source alone. In this study, we demonstrate in an in vitro model that sono-photoacoutics activation of polypyrrole coated perfluorocarbon droplets can be used to disrupt 2-cm long fibrin clots to restore flow. Polypyrrole coated droplets under 200 nm in diameter were introduced upstream and allowed to diffuse into the clot. A 1.24-MHz single element transducer coaxially aligned with a 1064-nm pulsed laser was used to scan the clot, activating any agents within the clot. Agent activation was quantified using passive cavitation detection, while flow was monitored using a digital balance. Our results show that the droplets can freely diffuse into fibrin clots and SPA activation can restore approximately 25% of the flow.
Serum Levels of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D at Diagnosis Are Not Associated with Overall Survival in Esophageal Adenocarcinoma.

Background: Higher levels of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] are associated with longer survival in several cancers, but the results have differed across cancer sites. The association between serum 25(OH)D levels and overall survival (OS) time in esophageal adenocarcinoma remains unclear. Methods: We utilized serum samples from 476 patients with primary esophageal adenocarcinoma, recruited from Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA) between 1999 and 2015. We used log-rank tests to test the difference in survival curves across quartiles of 25(OH)D levels and extended Cox modeling to estimate adjusted HRs. We tested for interactions between clinical stage or BMI on the association between 25(OH)D and OS. We additionally performed sensitivity analyses to determine whether race or timing of blood draw (relative to treatment) affected these results. Results: We found no evidence that survival differed across quartiles of 25(OH)D (log rank P = 0.48). Adjusting for confounders, we found no evidence that the hazard of death among the highest quartile of 25(OH)D (quartile 1) differed from any other quartile [quartile 2 HR = 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.67–1.23; quartile 3 HR = 1.03, 95% CI, 0.76–1.38; quartile 4 (lowest) HR = 0.98, 95% CI, 0.72–1.33]. Sensitivity analyses yielded consistent results when accounting for race or time between diagnosis and blood draw. Moreover, we did not find evidence of interaction between 25(OH)D and clinical stage or BMI on OS. Conclusions: Serum level of 25(OH)D near time of diagnosis was not associated with OS in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma. Impact: Screening 25(OH)D levels among patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma at diagnosis is not clinically relevant to their cancer prognosis based on present evidence.
Animal-vehicle collisions in Texas: How to protect travelers and animals on roadways.

Abstract Animal-vehicle collisions (AVCs) are a growing problem in the United States, resulting in countless loss of animal life and considerable human injury and death every year, especially to motorcyclists. Due to underreporting, collision data generally provide a very low (highly biased) estimate of actual AVC counts and often lack key details, such as the species of animals involved. However, AVC reports cover entire states and nations, and can illuminate differences in wild versus domestic animal-vehicle collisions through statistical and spatial analysis. 51,522 animal-related crashes were reported to Texas police from 2010 through 2016, at a total cost over $1.3 billion annually to Texas motorists – not including the value of lost animal lives. AVC reports jump twice a day: between 5 and 8 AM and between 5 and 10 PM. Motorists are also significantly more likely to collide with a wild animal during the months of October, November, and December. Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) are 64% of total reports, events involving domestic animals (like dogs and cattle) are 31%, and the remaining 5% of reports are unspecified. Most AVCs in the state occur at night in unlit locations, usually on rural roads with very low traffic volumes. Using ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression analysis across Texas’ n = 254 counties, this work finds that less densely populated counties, marked as rural, and those with fewer vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) per capita but more lane-miles per capita, tend to experience the greatest number of AVCs per VMT, after controlling for county average rainfall, share of VMT onsystem roadways, job densities, and vehicle ownership (vehicles per capita). Intervention options for the mitigation of animal-vehicle collisions are numerous and diverse. For wildlife collisions specifically, this work finds that large crossing structures (underpasses and overpasses) at the highway link level return benefit-to-cost ratios near 3.0, while their lower-cost counterparts (wildlife fencing and animal detection systems) deliver ratios up to 30.
‘We control the engine, we control the world’: the geopolitics of gender, nation, and labour in hard-to-place transnational films

Western academe conceptualizes neoliberalism as a political theory of capitalism’s expansion into all facets of being, homogenizing neoliberalism’s disparate geopolitical operations on gendered sub...
A Camera-Based Pulse Transit Time Estimation Approach Towards Non-Intrusive Blood Pressure Monitoring

Blood pressure (BP), as one of the primary vital signs, is of great importance to help assess an individual’s health conditions. Abnormal BP levels may provide clues to, or even induce, some life-threatening severe complications, such as heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, etc. Current BP measuring methods usually require the wearing of either an inflatable cuff or some contact sensors, which may limit the subject’s normal activities and greatly impact the user’s experience. We therefore aim to investigate a robust, non-contact, continuous and portable blood pressure and heart rate (HR) monitoring approach that features great usability and convenience for everyday use scenarios. To this end, in this paper, we propose a novel camera-based health monitoring system towards continuous BP and HR measurements based on pulse transit time (PTT) estimation and PPG extraction from facial regions. Our algorithm adapts the Laplacian pyramid based image processing technique to detect and capture the subtle changes caused by cardiac activities. To evaluate the usability and robustness of the proposed system, we conducted a pilot study with 4 subjects using the facial videos recorded from various mobile devices with different video recording positions. Specifically, compared with the reference readings acquired from a commercial blood pressure monitor, our system achieves the correlations in the range of 0.807 to 0.906 for HR estimation, and in the range of 0.64 to 0.94 for PTT estimates and systolic BP. It has been shown that the proposed system can provide accurate PTT estimations using regular mobile devices, which can be potentially used for non-intrusive continuous BP monitoring.
The My Life, My Story Program: Sustained Impact of Veterans’ Personal Narratives on Healthcare Providers 5 Years After Implementation

Patient-centered care promotes positive patient, staff, and organizational outcomes. Communication is one critical element of patient-centered care. Establishing a patient-provider relationship in which a patient feels comfortable sharing their goals, preferences, and values is important to support patient-centered care and positive health outcomes. The My Life, My Story (MLMS) program was developed in 2013 to elicit and share Veterans' life stories with their healthcare providers. Life stories become part of the Veteran's chart so providers can access, read, and utilize as appropriate. To evaluate the program's sustained value and impact 5 years after implementation, healthcare staff were recruited to complete a short survey with closed and open-ended items. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative survey responses and thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative responses. Approximately 94% of staff indicated they had read MLMS notes and over 86% agreed or strongly agreed that reading the notes was a good use of their clinical time and helped them provide better treatment or care. Staff also described making more personalized decisions about the plan of treatment or care delivery after knowing the Veteran better from their story. Our findings suggest the MLMS program has been well sustained over time, and the use of patient stories in healthcare may be a valuable, practical, and sustainable tool to support the delivery of patient-centered care.
Application and pitfalls of immunohistochemistry in diagnosis of challenging genitourinary cases

Context.— Immunohistochemistry (IHC) has become increasingly important in the evaluation of pathologic conditions in the genitourinary (GU) organs. In addition to careful evaluation of hematoxylin-...
Cerebrospinal fluid circulating tumor cells as a quantifiable measurement of leptomeningeal metastases in patients with HER2 positive cancer.

The CellSearch® system has been used to identify circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to diagnose leptomeningeal metastasis (LM) in patients with epithelial cancers. Using this system, we prospectively explored sequential CSF CTC enumeration in patients with LM from HER2+ cancers receiving intrathecal (IT) trastuzumab to capture dynamic changes in CSF CTC enumeration. CSF from patients enrolled in an IRB-approved phase I/II dose escalation trial of IT trastuzumab for LM in HER2+ cancer (NCT01325207) was obtained on day 1 of each cycle and was evaluated by the CellSearch® platform for CTC enumeration. The results were correlated with CSF cytology from the same sample, along with clinical and radiographic response. Fifteen out of 34 patients with HER2+ LM were enrolled in CSF CTC analysis; 14 were women. Radiographic LM was documented in 14 (93%) patients; CSF cytology was positive in 6 (40%) and CSF CTCs were identified in 13 (87%). Median CSF CTC was 22 CTCs (range 0–200 +) per 3 ml. HER2/neu expression analysis of CTCs was performed in 8 patients; 75% had confirmed expression of HER2/neu positivity in CSF and HER2/neu expression was absent in 25%. Four of 10 patients received 7 or more cycles of IT trastuzumab; in 3 of these patients, increase in CSF CTCs enumeration from baseline was detected 2–3 months prior to changes seen on MRI, and while CSF cytology remained negative. Our study demonstrates that enumeration of CSF CTCs may provide dynamic, quantitative assessment of tumor burden in the central nervous system compartment during treatment for LM and prior to changes on MRI or CSF cytology. Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01325207; registered March 29th, 2011.
Why COVID-19 Silent Hypoxemia Is Baffling to Physicians.

Patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are described as exhibiting oxygen levels incompatible with life without dyspnea. The pairing-dubbed happy hypoxia but more precisely termed silent hypoxemia-is especially bewildering to physicians and is considered as defying basic biology. This combination has attracted extensive coverage in media but has not been discussed in medical journals. It is possible that coronavirus has an idiosyncratic action on receptors involved in chemosensitivity to oxygen, but well-established pathophysiological mechanisms can account for most, if not all, cases of silent hypoxemia. These mechanisms include the way dyspnea and the respiratory centers respond to low levels of oxygen, the way the prevailing carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) blunts the brain's response to hypoxia, effects of disease and age on control of breathing, inaccuracy of pulse oximetry at low oxygen saturations, and temperature-induced shifts in the oxygen dissociation curve. Without knowledge of these mechanisms, physicians caring for patients with hypoxemia free of dyspnea are operating in the dark, placing vulnerable patients with COVID-19 at considerable risk. In conclusion, features of COVID-19 that physicians find baffling become less strange when viewed in light of long-established principles of respiratory physiology; an understanding of these mechanisms will enhance patient care if the much-anticipated second wave emerges.
Combustion Dynamics Simulation of a 30-Injector Rocket Engine

A computational study of the nonlinear rocket-engine combustion instability is presented for an engine with 30 coaxial methane-oxygen injector ports, a choked nozzle, and a combustion chamber. Thre...
User Innovator Community Norms: At the Bounds Between Academic and Industry Research

The legal literature has devoted considerable attention to the tensions between patenting as a mechanism of technology transfer and the traditional norms of academic research.1 In this essay, I consider norms of sharing research tools and materials in what has been called Pasteur’s Quadrant, in which basic science and applied research overlap.2 I employ a user innovation paradigm, along with a rational choice approach to social norms, to address the issue. User innovators intend to use, rather than sell, their innovative technology. They include hobbyists adapting commercial products for their individual needs as well as commercial firms developing equipment or processes for use in their factories.3 User innovators often form collaborative communities in which they share technical advances with one another in a process of “free
Robert Jackson's Non-Delegation Doctrine

This Essay explores Robert Jackson's theory of the non-delegation doctrine, which he first articulated in a brief that he filed as Solicitor General in Currin v. Wallace. The Supreme Court decided Currin without addressing Jackson’s broader arguments and his brief was forgotten. But the Currin brief deserves careful scrutiny both for the quality of its reasoning and for its two conclusions on non-delegation. First, Jackson argued that there are no internal limits on Congress’s discretion to delegate authority to executive agencies or independent boards. Second, he thought that there were such limits on Congress’s discretion to delegate authority to the President himself. The first point confirms, albeit in Jackson’s inimitable prose style, the legal consensus since 1935. His second point, though, would transform separation-of-powers law by extending constitutional limits to the authority that Congress may confer on the President for domestic affairs rather than focusing on only what Congress may take away from the President. Jackson’s brief in Currin also clarifies his canonical concurrence in Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer striking down President Truman’s seizure of the nation’s steel mills during the Korean War. In setting forth the first of his three categories for judging the legality of a presidential act, Justice Jackson explained: “When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at his maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate.” This statement can be read to mean that a presidential action based on a congressional authorization is invalid only if the act is beyond the reach of the federal government. But that reading is wrong. Jackson qualified the phrase “all that Congress can delegate” with a footnote stating that executive action could be invalid because Congress cannot delegate authority to the President. Any ambiguities on that score are resolved by reading the Youngstown concurrence in conjunction with the Currin brief, where Solicitor General Jackson claimed that congressional delegations to the President could be unconstitutional. Embracing Jackson’s non-delegation doctrine would mean that federal statutes that delegate power over domestic affairs to the President would be subject to a constitutional attack on non-delegation grounds. The best example of such a vulnerable delegation is the National Emergencies Act, which gives the President unfettered discretion to declare an emergency and hence gain extraordinary powers. Under Jackson’s theory in the Currin brief and in Youngstown, a constitutional argument can be made against the parts of the National Emergencies Act involving domestic affairs. This non-delegation challenge would also draw from Justice Jackson’s discussion of emergency powers in Youngstown, which implied that an indefinite delegation of such broad authority by Congress to the President himself would be unlawful.
Soft Matter Mechanics and the Mechanisms Underpinning the Infrared Vision of Snakes

Pit-bearing snakes (vipers, pythons, and boas) have the extraordinary ability to "see" and accurately locate their prey and predators in total darkness. These animals use the infrared radiation emanating from objects, that are warmer relative to the background environment, to form a thermal image. While enormous progress has been made to identify the key physiological features that enable the infrared vision of these snakes and a few other animals, the precise thermo-electric transduction mechanism that mediates the conversion of infrared heat to processable electrical signals has remained elusive. In principle, the presence of a pyroelectric material would explain many of the idiosyncratic features of the snakes' infrared vision. However, pyroelectricity is a rare material property and restricted to a small set of hard crystalline materials not found in any of the animals with infrared vision. In this work, we quantitatively outline how cells in the snake's pit membrane organ may convert infrared radiation into electrical signals. Despite the exceptional simplicity of our proposed mechanism and model, we are able to explain many of central experimental results pertaining to the transduction process.
Algebra of diffeomorphism-invariant observables in Jackiw-Teitelboim Gravity

In this paper we use the covariant Peierls bracket to compute the algebra of a sizable number of diffeomorphism-invariant observables in classical Jackiw-Teitelboim gravity coupled to fairly arbitrary matter. We then show that many recent results, including the construction of traversable wormholes, the existence of a family of $SL(2,\mathbb{R})$ algebras acting on the matter fields, and the calculation of the scrambling time, can be recast as simple consequences of this algebra. We also use it to clarify the question of when the creation of an excitation deep in the bulk increases or decreases the boundary energy, which is of crucial importance for the "typical state" versions of the firewall paradox. Unlike the "Schwarzian" or "boundary particle" formalism, our techniques involve no unphysical degrees of freedom and naturally generalize to higher dimensions. We do a few higher-dimensional calculations to illustrate this, which indicate that the results we obtain in JT gravity are fairly robust.
Latent vehicle type propensity segments: Considering the influence of household vehicle fleet structure

Abstract This study applies latent class cluster analysis to a sample of 1,111 survey respondents in Georgia, identifying naturally occurring vehicle type segments based on the influence of both individual vehicle type choices and household vehicle fleet structures. The developed model identifies seven latent vehicle type propensity segments, six of which include individuals who reported being the main driver for (respectively) car, SUV/van, and truck. In three of those segments this was generally their only available vehicle, while in the other three the “main driver” vehicle accompanied other available household vehicles. The seventh segment captures individuals who are main drivers of multiple vehicle types, and who also have other household vehicles available for use. We generate user profiles and discuss differences across segments regarding individual-level characteristics (e.g., gender), household-level characteristics (e.g., household income), land-use and travel-related preferences (e.g., neighborhood type, share of household-serving trips), attitudes (e.g., materialistic), and targeted marketing data variables (e.g., support for charitable causes). Selected results suggest that women choose SUVs/vans due to both personal preferences (e.g., feeling safer while driving a large vehicle) and household responsibilities; show that vehicle-owning behaviors and attitudes are generally consistent, except that strong pro-vehicle-owning attitudes exist within vehicle-deficit households; and suggest that vehicle-deficit households may be less open to alternative fuel vehicles, possibly due to reliability concerns. Overall, this study provides a new perspective on vehicle type propensity segments, and examines the association of a novel range of general and travel-related attributes with these segments, yielding nuanced insights with potential policy implications.
Quantifying the Dualistic Nature of Urban Heat Island Effect (UHI) on Building Energy Consumption

Abstract UHI has significant impact on building energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas globally. However, the nature and extent of these effects are governed by the year-round climatic conditions at specific locations. In a dualistic relationship, UHI tends to increase the annual energy consumption of buildings located in hot climates and decrease it in cold climates. In this study, we conducted building energy simulations for 43 locations around the United States (U.S.) in order to quantify the relationships among the energy impacts of UHI and climatic variables. The energy impacts of UHI were found to be strongly correlated with several variables including degree days, absolute humidity, and solar radiation, while independent of wind speed and precipitation. Consecutively, we developed a multiple regression model to predict the relative energy impacts of UHI based on climatic context and evaluated the effect of UHI intensity on energy impacts across all 15 U.S. climate zones. The results of this study quantitatively validate the dualistic nature of UHI and present a statistical method to estimate the climatic variation in the impacts of UHI on building energy consumption. This can have significant implications in prioritizing UHI mitigation policies based on location and climate.
A node-based index for clustering validation of graph data

Clustering validity indices are designed for evaluating the performance of clustering algorithms in terms of quality of clusters. They are also used for detecting the correct number of clusters. Numerous clustering validity indices have been proposed in the literature for different types of data. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are a few well-known clustering validity indices for graph data. In this paper, we propose a new clustering validity index for graph data called the node-based clustering validity index. The main characteristic of our proposed index is that it captures the exclusive contribution of each node to the separation and compactness of the clusters in a graph. This characteristic gives an advantage to the method which is the detection of the correct number of clusters for cases that two sets of nodes are bonded to each other with a single node. We provide an illustrative example to show that many existing validity indices fail to detect the correct number of clusters in such cases. We evaluate the performance of our proposed index with several experiments on different real-world and synthetic graphs. Experiments show that our proposed node-based index outperforms the existing validity indices for different graph data.
Booker T. Washington Biography: The Making of the Making of a Leader

This article discusses the various biographies that have been written about Booker T. Washington and the social climates that these biographies have been written in. This article is available in Constructing the Past: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/constructing/vol1/iss1/5
Respiratory Muscle Plasticity

Muscle plasticity is defined as the ability of a given muscle to alter its structural and functional properties in accordance with the environmental conditions imposed on it. As such, respiratory muscle is in a constant state of remodeling, and the basis of muscle's plasticity is its ability to change protein expression and resultant protein balance in response to varying environmental conditions. Here, we will describe the changes of respiratory muscle imposed by extrinsic changes in mechanical load, activity, and innervation. Although there is a large body of literature on the structural and functional plasticity of respiratory muscles, we are only beginning to understand the molecular-scale protein changes that contribute to protein balance. We will give an overview of key mechanisms regulating protein synthesis and protein degradation, as well as the complex interactions between them. We suggest future application of a systems biology approach that would develop a mathematical model of protein balance and greatly improve treatments in a variety of clinical settings related to maintaining both muscle mass and optimal contractile function of respiratory muscles.
The involvement of glucose-6-phosphatase in mucilage secretion by root cap cells of Zea mays

In order to determine the involvement of glucose-6-phosphatase in mucilage secretion by root cap cells, we have cytochemically localized the enzyme in columella and peripheral cells of root caps of Zea mays. Glucose-6-phosphatase is associated with the plasmalemma and cell wall of columella cells. As columella cells differentiate into peripheral cells and begin to produce and secrete mucilage, glucose-6-phosphatase staining intensifies and becomes associated with the mucilage and, to a lesser extent, the cell wall. Cells being sloughed from the cap are characterized by glucose-6-phosphatase staining being associated with the vacuole and plasmalemma. These changes in enzyme localization during cellular differentiation in root caps suggest that glucose-6-phosphatase is involved in the production and/or secretion of mucilage by peripheral cells of Z. mays.
A case of Listeria monocytogenes endophthalmitis with recurrent inflammation and novel management

Background Listeria monocytogenes is a rare cause of endogenous endophthalmitis. In the limited number of reported Listeria endophthalmitis cases, visual acuity outcomes have been very poor.
A robust algorithm for fixed-bed reactors with steep moving temperature and reaction fronts

A spatially and temporally adaptive completely implicit finite difference algorithm, which can accurately capture the moving temperature and reaction fronts in fixed-bed reactors with highly exothermic reactions, is developed and presented. For spatial adaptation linear interpolation proved to be more robust than higher-order interpolations. Node placement based on the magnitude of the second spatial derivative was implemented and shown to lead to more accurate results and a more robust algorithm than the traditional node placement based on the magnitude of the first derivative. For improved accuracy the interdependence of the spatial mesh size and the time step size is taken into account by coupling spatial and temporal adaptation. Choice of the time step is also related to the physics of the problem. Advantages of the developed algorithm over traditional finite difference and polynomial approximation methods are discussed. The validity of the developed algorithm is proven by comparing the computed results with analytical solution of a linear heat regenerator model. A nonlinear model of a fixed-bed reactor with highly exothermic reaction occurring in the gas phase is also solved and the results are presented. The reasonableness of the solution for this nonlinear model is shown by comparison of model calculated and approximate analytical equation for the front velocity. The robustness of the developed algorithm in solving multiple coupled equations is demonstrated by solving a nonlinear model of a fixed-bed reactor in which both exothermic and endothermic reactions occur in the gas phase.
Early Spring Nitrogen Uptake by Snow-Covered Plants: A Comparison of Arctic and Alpine Plant Function under the Snowpack

We compared nitrogen (N) acquisition by alpine and arctic tundra plants during snowmelt, and assessed its significance relative to season-long N demand. We then related plant responses in alpine and arctic tundra to soil and air temperature. Parallel experiments were conducted in an alpine moist meadow at Niwot Ridge, Colorado, and in arctic dry heath and moist tussock tundra near Toolik Lake, Alaska. We added 99%-enriched '5NH415NO3 (0.5 g N m-2) to the snowpack, and traced the fate of the 15N into plants and soil by harvesting samples before snowmelt ended. All alpine and arctic plants acquired N during snowmelt. However, alpine plants acquired 100 times more N than arctic plants. Using data from published studies, we estimated season-long N demand for the vascular plant species. In the alpine tundra, N uptake during snowmelt constituted over 12% of season-long uptake for a graminoid species, and averaged 7.4% for perennial forbs. In contrast, N uptake during snowmelt by arctic plants averaged less than 0.1% of season-long N uptake. Soil temperatures were similar in these systems during snowmelt, averaging -0.4?C in the arctic and -0.5?C in the alpine tundra. However, arctic plants experienced lower winter soil temperatures than alpine plants. Winter soil surface temperatures averaged -7.75?C in arctic and -2.43?C in alpine tundra systems, and the lowest weekly mean temperature was -14.5?C in the arctic and -6.14?C in the alpine systems. Thus, differences in plant N uptake are likely due to winter conditions, rather than conditions that occurred during uptake. In conclusion, plant acquisition of N resources during snowmelt is important in alpine systems.
Microwave Diagnosis of Low-Density Fiberglass Composites with Resin Binder

Dielectric properties of low-density fiberglass composites are studied at microwave frequencies and are related to the resin binder content and state of cure. A completely filled short-circuited waveguide method is used to study the dielectric properties of fresh and slightly cured resin binder (used in the production of low-density fiberglass composite materials) in the frequency range of 4–18 GHz. The preliminary results indicate that the dielectric properties of resin binder may be used to determine its state of cure. The same measurement approach is used to determine the dielectric properties of fiberglass materials containing uncured resin binder, no resin binder, and three different levels of resin binder. It is found that the dielectric properties of these low-permittivity and low-loss materials are very similar. Consequently, to distinguish among real fiberglass products with different resin binder levels, an open-ended rectangular waveguide measurement approach, is used. This technique allows for noncontact and on-line inspection. The standoff distance is utilized as an optimization parameter increasing the sensitivity of detection to slight dielectric property variations. Two microwave images, at 24 and 10 GHz of a panel containing five different fiberglass specimens are presented.
Uptake of iron-siderophore complexes across the bacterial outer membrane

gene of M. tuberculosis, naturally isoniazid-resistant bacteria (including M. smegmatis and E. coli) can be converted into sensitive ones. The dominant effect of catalase suggests that this enzyme converts isoniazid into an activated form within the bacterium, and supports the notion that isoniazidresistant variants of M. tuberculosis are usually deficient in catalase activity (Y. Zang, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK). Therefore, one explanation for drug resistance is the deletion of the catalase gene; this does occur in clinical isolates of isoniazid-resistant M. tuberculosis. However, other genes also appear to be implicated in isoniazid resistance: a 3 kb sequence from a highly resistant mutant of M. smegmatis has recently been cloned and found to confer resistance to isoniazid when transferred to sensitive variants (A. Banerjee, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, USA). Because the putative gene within this cloned fragment shares sequence homology with acetoacetyl-reductase, it is likely to participate in the synthesis of cell wall lipids. Drug-resistant strains emerge in individuals by the selection of resistant subpopulations of the original infecting strain during the prolonged therapy (P.M. Small, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford, USA). However, AIDS patients can become infected with multidrug-resistant strains even while undergoing therapy for a drug-sensitive strain. Such studies have fuelled a renewed interest in the molecular mechanisms underlying multiple drug resistance in M. tuberculosis.
Computer Self-Efficiency as an Antecedent to the Acceptance of Instant Messenger Technology

AOL Instant Messenger (IM) is a widely used Internet chat technology. There are indications that users initially do not find it easy to use, and this concerns AOL management; they consider that if popular applications are not easy to use, the ability of AOL to attract and hold loyal customers will be impeded. In this paper, the acceptance of IM technology is investigated within the familiar framework of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), in which ease of use plays a pivotal role in promoting acceptance and subsequent use of a given technology. Computer Self Efficacy (CSE) is examined for possible antecedent roles in structural models of acceptance processes. It is determined that CSE does operate in a mediating relationship among some of the critical subcomponents of the TAM model but that it does not operate within the strictly defined theoretical boundaries established for general antecedents to the overall TAM process.
The EDTA titration of zinc in the presence of cadmium

Abstract Zinc can be titrated with EDTA at pH 5 by using Xylenol Orange as indicator in the presence of cadmium when the latter is masked with iodide. Depending on the concentration of cadmium, up to 50% ( w v ) potassium iodide is necessary. Correct results and good end points were obtained with Cd:Zn mole ratios up to 300. Interferences and tolerable limits in concentrations of some other metal ions have been investigated.
Design of ribonuclease T1 mutants with tryptophan-59 in noncrystallographic conformations

Minimum perturbation mapping reveals that five side chain conformations of tryptophan-59 can potentially pack in the hydrophobic core of ribonuclease T1. In the crystallographic structure tryptophan-59 is in the trans perpendicular conformation. The other four wells in the tryptophan-59 (chi) 1 x (chi) 2 torsion space minimum perturbation mapping are trans antiperpendicular, gauche+ antiperpendicular, gauche+ perpendicular, and guache- perpendicular. The point mutations V33I and V33L are predicted to stabilize the trans antiperpendicular over the perpendicular conformation by 1.3 and 0.6 kcal/mol, respectively. The three gauche conformations require the creation of a new pocket within the protein core. The Mutation F80G creates the pocket for the gauche+ antiperpendicular tryptophan-59 conformation. The additional mutation V78A makes a more generous pocket for this conformation. The three mutation A19G, V78G and F80L creates the pocket for the gauche+ perpendicular conformation. A slightly more generous mutation at residue 80 may be required to fully stabilize this conformation. It does not appear possible to create a pocket that fits the gauche- perpendicular conformation better than the other two gauche conformations. The expression of ribonuclease-T1 mutants with tryptophan-59 in a gauche conformation probably requires filling in the crystallographic tryptophan-59 pocket. The mutations A22F, V33F, or V67F are all promising possibilities for this purpose.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.